Why I Left the X-Men

By: Cougar9

Note to Readers: OK, so I like the Cougar character. My first fic with her was How I Joined the X-Men and revolved around a young mutant trying to make her way to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. That fic had a lot of the X-Men in it and, since I like Wolverine the best, a lot of Wolverine. The second fic Now that I'm an X-Man centered around Cougar and her new team but of course the X-Men were there and Wolverine. This fic will have the X-Men in it (and of course Wolverine) but it may take some time. If you don't like fics that revolve around OC's then don't read it. If you are already a reader I wrote this for you so you better review. :D I suggest any new reader should read my previous two stories, as this one has references to both and is actually very closely tied to the last one.

Read. Review. Enjoy.

Quote: The caribou love it [the Alaskan pipeline]. They rub against it and they have babies. There are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at. --George H. W. Bush

Chapter 1

Through my left eye, the one not swollen shut, I watch the floor slowly pass by. I lift my head enough to confirm that they are, indeed, dragging me back into the cell and not another blood room. That's what I call them. The goons say Lab Room # whatever.

The guard on the left drops my arm to swipe his security card and I crash to the floor, grunting at the old aches and bruises.

"Get up, mutie," the other guard barks, yanking on my right side.

I don't comply. Even if I could move, I wouldn't help that pig.

The first guard pulls a remote control out of a pocket and points it threateningly into the room as the door slides open. "Against the wall, freaks," he orders.

I glance up through my blood matted hair to see movement of obedience, then I'm roughly thrown into the center of the room. A snarl rips from my throat as I hit the cold metal floor and roll, but its wasted effort. They're gone before I can even sit up. Instead of cursing the door—which I've been doing frequently—I turn back to the other bodies in the room, doing a mental head count. Callie, Trinity, Sara. It hurts to use my jaw still, but I ask, "Where's Lexi?"

"They took her," the cheetah-furred Sara answers, "right after they got you."

I growl slightly but push myself up onto my hands and knees. Its the farthest I can get right now.

"You need to stop fighting..." Callie warns me, bringing a wet rag that, long ago, I'd stained red.

"Where's the fun in that?" I grin angrily, then spit a stream of blood.

It started with a phone call...

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sitting at the bar, I ordered another Pepsi. The bartender reluctantly brought me one. He wasn't being rude because I was a mutant (big surprise in these times) but because I wasn't ordering anything expensive. I paid with a big tip to compensate for my non-alcoholic beverage. I couldn't afford to get drunk because I was waiting for an anti-mutant protest to break out in the very mutant-tolerant bar that I was sitting in. Word on the street was that they were going to rough up the staff and chase out all the mutants. How original.

It was just going to be a few punks from a local gang that wanted to affiliate itself with the FoH. Wanna-be's irritated me.

My phone rang. Since no one actually knew the number, I answered cautiously, "Hello?"

Static, then a familiar voice whispered, "Cougar?"

I was on my feet and half way out the door before I demanded, "Who is this?"

Quiet buzz of the other line, then the voice answered, "Wolf...I'm in –ble...let me..."

"What?" I yelled in to the phone, drawing all sorts of unwanted attention. "What's going on?"

"Feds won't...leave...--et me?...Francisco...--ome get me?"

"San Francisco?" I asked, racing down the alley ways to an old lot where I'd left my pickup truck. "Gimme an hour and I'll get the team together."

"No!" that came through loud and clear, "I don't... –et them too."

My steps slowed, "Nay, we might need help."

"....alone. I'll be wait--...the bridge."

"Hold on," I fumbled for my keys, "Stay on the line." My phone was quiet though and I checked it to confirm that the call had been lost. "Dangit," I growled, and flung my pickup door open.

I sped down back streets that I'd been prowling for months, now completely familiar with them. Hopefully someone was at the Hotel. The gate was closed, making me park outside the grounds. I didn't have a key anymore, so I scaled the gate with little effort and a lot of mumbled curses. After sprinting to the front door, I found that that, too, was locked. "Since when do you people care so much about security?" I asked no one in particular. I could have picked the locks but it would have undoubtedly set off all the alarms in the school. I opted for pressing the door bell repeatedly in the most annoying manner. Finally some one swung open the door.

Lisa was still dressed, I assumed because she was still up this late working. "Yes, who--" her eyes flew open when she noticed me, "Cougar! What are you...I mean--"

I brushed past her, "Where's the team?"

"Come in," she offered sarcastically, having regained her composure. "The X-Men are out on a mission to the south...that's all I know."

I rolled my eyes, "God, Lisa, ya say it like I'm gonna try ta beat the truth outta ya." I started toward the hanger.

"Well, from our end that seems to be what you're good at these days," she remarked dryly before realizing that I wasn't waiting in the parlor or what ever the fancy word for that room would be. "Cougar, where are you going?"

"I need the mini jet," I answered without breaking stride.

"Excuse me? You're not authorized to fly either of the jets; you're not on the team anymore."

I slammed open the door to the hanger. My life, as of late, had forced me to be on the paranoid side. I didn't even notice anymore that I checked behind every door. I reply off handedly, "Hey, once an X-Man, always an X-Man, right?" I paused by the mini.

"I believe that rule is for rejoining X-Men, not borrowing their million dollar aircrafts," she stood infront of me.

I stopped to narrow my eyes, "Listen, Lisa, I didn't wanna come back like this--"

"We were under the impression that you didn't want to come back at all."

"OK," I moved to the cabinets lining the walls and took out a small tracking device, "I'll be low-jacked the whole time. When they get back from 'the south', have them track me ta where I go and then they can yell at me. Totally not yer fault." I placed the magnetic tracker on the belly of the plane.

"I can't let you do this. You'll just have to wait until Crayola and the rest get back," she crossed her arms over her chest and stood her ground.

I stared coldly at her, "Wolf is in trouble. I'm takin' the jet. Don't make me take it from you specifically."

She stood still, thought I could see her throat swallow. "I--"

My foot connected with the side of her head. To be nice, I caught her before she crashed to the cement floor. "Sorry, Lisa, but I don't have time for this."

It had been awhile, but it was more or less like riding a bike. I flew out of Denver at max speed and aimed for the San Francisco bridge. It seemed like it took forever.

I didn't know how legal it would be to park a jet on the grass, but I did it anyway. I used my cell to call back the number that Wolf had reached me on but all I got was a happy woman saying that it was no longer a working number.

I started to slink around under the bridge and had gotten only a few feet into the shadows when a voiced called out through the dark.

"So you're the infamous Cougar?" It was a man's voice. He sounded more bored than interested in who I was. "I thought that you were supposed to be hard to find. Arriving in a jet attracts a little too much attention for your reputation, doesn't it?"

My cat eyes scanned the darkness and found the owner of the voice leaning up against a wall. He had weird goggles over the top half of his face and through the straps across his head I could see his short hair was thinning noticeably. "Who are you?" I demanded, moving silently to my right. His head turned to follow me. Aha. Night vision goggles.

"A man of little importance to the world but of a great deal to you at this exact time."

My senses cranked up and I scanned the area wearily, "Where's Wolf?" I continued moving toward him.

"Wolf. Oh, yes, you see she is what we call affiliated (with the government none the less) so we can't touch her. You, on the other hand are what we call rogues. And it's open season on rogues."

A tranquillizer dart slammed into my shoulder, making me snarl in both pain and at my own stupidity.. I'd been set up. I pulled the dart out and tossed it away. My leather coat may have been heavy enough to keep some of the drug out of my body. My instincts kicked in: Fight or Flight?

I lunged at the man, a mere distraction, but still, I wanted to spill his blood if nothing else. He turned to run but I was on him too quickly, shredding through his clothes and skin of his turned back. He screamed right before another dart hit my own back.

I threw off my coat, dislodging the needle from my skin, but the drugs were taking effect. Flight time. I tried to run to the jet but there were two or three black shapes that my fuzzing eyes couldn't distinguish until one of them tackled me to the ground. Like a cornered cat, I bit and clawed and did a satisfying amount of damage to the one man and the second that had come to help. They pulled away from me suddenly, leaving their skin in my claws. Then a tazer hit me and I was out cold.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

It's been too long. When I first arrived at this...place...my internal clocks were still working. I had a vague recollection of day or night or time. Now its all melted. The florescent light is always on, always buzzing above our heads. There's no consistent periods between when the guards come and take one of us away or when/if they bring us back.

I wake up from an uncomfortable position propped against the cold metal wall. Something heavy weighs on my thigh and I look down to see Trinity's head resting on it. I carefully move the girl and she stays asleep as I get up and stretch the kinks and knots from my muscles. Lexi is still missing and with a sick feeling weighing on my empty stomach, I conclude that she's not coming back.

The other girls are still sleeping so I do my pacing silently, observing the room; checking every square inch for cracks, holes, weaknesses; trying to take stock of what we have and how we can use it. We're all barefoot. They'd taken our shoes and clothes and given us black cotton pants and long sleeved shirts. They looked like pajamas, which I find ironic because PJ's are comfortable where as nothing in this place brings comfort.

I flex and open my fingers, watching my bloody claws. Finally, I sigh and sit back down. I'm tired again and annoyingly weak.

"They're not coming," Sara whispers.

I look across the room to where she's curled up on the floor and staring her green cat eyes back at my golden ones. My mouth opens and closes. I don't know what to say because I'm not sure if they're coming. I had known that they were, then had hoped, and now I'm starting to doubt that they're coming.

She stares a little longer then closes her wide eyes again.

I lean the back of my head against the wall and stare at a spot on the ceiling.

"Why did you leave? I thought they were the good guys," Trinity crawls across the floor to huddle next to Callie, who's awake now too. "Why would you leave the good guys?"

They're all looking at me now. "We...disagreed."

Sara stretches like a house cat as she asks, "Does that mean they kicked you out?"

"No," I answer blandly, "I left."

"But why would you leave the X-Men?" Trinity presses.

I stare at the spot in the ceiling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

OK, so are you hooked? Liking it? Not? More of the story next chapter, and a little less bouncing between times.