[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/7rzp20d.jpg?1[/img][/center] [b]Three Weeks Ago[/b] "You shouldn't do that," the girl recoiled from the doctor's touch as the physician went to check the girl for broken bones and bruises. The girl he had saved from the Church of Humanity had come to on the way to the doctor's office. She panicked initially, but Steve was able to calm her down and explain the situation. She protested going to the doctor, but he insisted. Scout helped calm her down too. That dog was worth his weight in gold. "Trust me. It wouldn't be fun." "Please, young lady," the doctor motioned towards Steve, "Mr. Rogers says you were out in the wild alone for a long time. I just want to make sure you're okay." The doctor moved in closer and the girl yelled "No!" But she was too weak to move out of the way, and the doctor managed to brush against the girl's skin. What happened next seemed to go in slow motion for Steve. The doctor's body siezed. It went rigid as if she was undergoing rigormortis in moments. Meanwhile, the girl seemed to go into a trance. Steve moved in and pulled the doctor away. Once he did, she gasped for a breath, and the color seemed to come back to her face. He looked up to see the obvious fear and shame in the girl's eyes as she cowered in the corner. "She's...she's one of them," the doctor choked out. "A mutant." The girl merely nodded, and the doctor fainted. Clarity started to come to Steve's understanding of the matter. The Church of Humanity was experimenting on the girl because she was a mutant. But why? Were they trying to synthesize a virus that attacked the mutant genes in her blood? Or was it some other reason? Whatever it was, it wasn't going to be a good thing. "Yes, she is," Rogers nodded. He offered the girl his gloved hand, "Come on. We need to get you out of here." "I...I didn't mean to," the girl responded through tears. "I n-never mean to." "I know you didn't mean to," he smiled warmly down at her. "I know you didn't. But we need to get you out of here. I don't think it's going to be safe for either of us much longer." She looked up at him with watery green eyes, tears still streaming out of them, "You should leave me. I'm no good to anyone. Just gonna end up accidently hurting you. Better off alone." "That's no way to talk about yourself," Steve smiled. "And I'm not leaving you. I made the decision to get you out of there. And I'm going to make sure no one ever hurts you again." She took his hand, and they ran. [hr] [b]Now[/b] "You're really standing at a payphone?" Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, and one of Steve's former teammates asked, an air of detached irony floating along her Russian accent. "Like an honest to goodness payphone?" "Yea, Nat," he whispered, looking through the dingy glass of the payphone towards the McDonald's where he could see Anna Marie, the girl he had saved, paying for their meager dinner for the night. "And if I didn't know any better I'd say you're trying to track my position." "Okay, okay, sorry. You always were such a square," he could hear the smirk on her face, somehow. "You were apparently spotted in Tennessee a few hours ago. Considering you're nowhere near there, I think you're safe. But Pierce and Waller have been keeping a tighter eye on me. I don't know how much longer I'll be able to feed you info. Stay safe out there." "Will do, thanks, Nat," he breathed a little easier. Only a little longer and he'd be able to get the girl somewhere safe and he could go to ground a little easier. "Anything for you, Cap." "I'm not Cap anymore, remember?" "You'll always be Cap to me," she hung up the phone. He did as well, and rubbed his hand over the beard that was starting to fill in, before pushing out into the snow and stuffing his hands in his pockets. As he approached the truck, Anna came out of the fast food joint shaking the bags of food in the air with sarcastic excitement. The two of them took their seats in the front, and Scout poked his head through the gap in the seats, so excited to see the two people he had been spendinig every waking moment with for the better part of the month. Anna patted the German Shepard on the head and passed him a few McNuggets, which the pooch scarfed down with aplumb. "You're gonna spoil him," Steve shook his head as he put the truck in reverse and made for the motel they'd be spending the night in. "You're just mad he likes me more than you, sugah," she winked and popped a few fries into her mouth. "Oh there's no way that's true," Steve lookekd down at the dog. "Isn't that right boy? I'm still your favorite right?" Scout looked from Steve to Anna, and from Anna to Steve. After a few double takes, the dog let out a surprisingly human whimper of indecision, and turned away from the two of them to lay on the back seat. "Ha! Baby boy doesn't want ta hurt your feelings." She passed him the bag, "Honestly you must be the only person in the world who eats the Filet o' Fish." "Not the only one," Steve responded defensively. "They wouldn't have it on the menu, otherwise." "Okay, the only person under seventy...which you technically aren't, so maybe it all makes sense," she shrugged and reached back to pet Scout. After the incident at the Montana's doctor's office, Steve had been worried about her hurting Scout with skin-contact, but it turned out that her powers only seemed to work with human-to-human contact. She wore a pair of leather gloves at all time in public now. An easy thing to explain away in this cold. But it may be a bit more conspicuous in summer. The truck rumbled into the motel's parking lot, and the three of them quickly made their way to the room. Once the door was shut behind them, Steve pushed the couch to block the door, and sat down at the table to finish his food. Anna plopped down on the bed and started flipping through the channels, "Oh man, they have HBO! I'm totally catching up on Game of Thrones. I'm pretty sure I was in a medically induced coma for a full season." "No smut," Steve said, cursing himself as he did. Why did he always have to be such a square. "Ha! Okay, dad," her voice was sarcastic, but he could sense a tinge of bitterness in there as well. "You're not, you know. And even if you were, you'd be a deadbeat. Looking to drop me off the first chance you got." The words stung, even though he had only known the girl for a month. They had bonded in that time on the run, holed up in one motel after another. He didn't see her as his daughter, but he still cared about what happened to her. Wanted her to be safe. That's why he was going to get her somewhere she could be safe. "Anna, it's-" "Rogue," she cut him off. "I told you. My name is Rogue." He put his head down. Her mutant name. He still didn't understand mutant kind fully, but many of them chose to make their own names, especially those shunned by their family or society at large. He didn't blame them for that, but it was going to take getting used to. "Right, Rogue. Sorry," he said, breaking the awkward silence. "I'm not dumping you off. I'm taking you somewhere you can be safe. With people who can take care of you better than me. People who won't be getting shot at constantly." Rogue shuffled her feet along the bed, "We been together for a month now and ain't no one shot at us yet. I figure we can keep that going. I can handle myself." Steve chuckled lightly, "I'm sure you could. But I can't have anything happening to you on my watch. I've already got too much on my soul." His thoughts drifted to Sharon, then to Bucky. Two of the people he had loved the most in this world, and two people he lost under his command. There was no way he was going to allow a kid to do the same. "Okay, well...you better visit," she responded, defeated. "With Scout,. If anything happens to baby boy, you'll have me to answer to." Steve looekd over to see the dog cuddled up next to the girl, "It's a deal. I don't think I'd be able to keep him away." She flipped through a few of the channels, until the TV landed on the New Years celebration from Times Square. In all the craziness, Steve had completely forgotten the holidays. The ball dropped and people on the screen went crazy, and the TV flickered, just for a second, due to some kind of interference. "Happy New Year, Steve," Rogue smiled, yawned, and flipped the TV off. "Yea, you too Rogue," he smiled as he laid down on the couch, which only smelled a little musty, and switched off the light. [hr] [b]The Next Morning[/b] "Well, ain't this fancy," Rogue whistled as the truck rolled through the automatic gates. On the brick column on each side was a plaque that read "Xavier's School for Talent Youth".