“GET CLEAR!” Kurt shouted over the din as rafters and rubble threatened to pummel the crowd. BAMF! Bluish black smoke and the sharp stench of brimstone exploded around him before he disappeared. He rematerialized beside a young woman who stumbled on her platform shoes in the scuffle. Kurt covered her body with his, shielding her protectively before ‘porting her to safety. He released her by the exit. “GO, Fraulein, hurry!” he warned. She screamed in terror and disbelief.
“You’re a MUTIE!” she accused, jabbing her finger in his face. Kurt was grateful his image inducer was still working. Otherwise, she’d call him a demon, instead.
“Yer welcome, sweet cheeks,” John growled as he deflected a girder before it could strike her, swatting it away like a fly. She answered him by screeching her way into the stampede of people cramming the exit.
“That’s the least of our worries,” Kurt informed him, nodding toward the decimated ceiling. “Look!”
“Stand down, X-Men!”
They were huge. The operatives wore obsidian armor engraved with an odd insignia of a trident on the yoke. Their domed helmets hid any semblance of their faces from view, but Kurt knew they were smiling malevolently and sizing him and John up.
“Make us,” John countered.
“We have orders from the White Queen to take her in, and to take out anyone who gets in our way.”
“What’s the word I’m looking for…oh, yeah. Bullshit.” CRRRUNNKK! John stomped over to the long serving bar and embraced one end in his brawny arms, digging his fingers into the aged, scarred wood. It groaned and cracked as he tore it free of the floorboards. Amusement and annoyance mingled in John’s eyes and the quirk of his lips.
“Mein Gott!” The floor shuddered and trembled beneath them as he brought the mass down on their heads. Kurt teleported free of the splintered debris. His teammate’s methods weren’t subtle…but they weren’t bad.
Unfortunately they weren’t enough…
“Would either of you mind doing me a favor?” a mellow, whisky smooth voice inquired. Kurt and John turned as one, watching Alison Blaire fan away the smoke and dust, coughing for emphasis.
“Sure, toots,” John offered, saluting her with a wink.
“Explain to the owner of this dump why I won’t owe him thousands and THOUSANDS of dollars in repairs after he did me the favor of setting up this gig.”
“Oops.” Kurt rubbed his nape uncomfortably.
The focus of their search looked ready to rip them a new one. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and glared before stalking over to John.
“Don’t thank us or anything fer gettin’ everybody out,” John snapped. She wasn’t amused. “Hey…OW!” Alison reached up and grabbed him sharply by the ear, giving it a savage twist. She jerked it until his face was eye-level with hers, despite the disparity in their heights.
“Look, Dimples. You. Ruined. My. Gig. And how’s it gonna look when the cops and firemen show up to make a report and start taking statements? Huh? ‘Oh, sure, Officer, I can tell you what happened. This guy just came in, picked up the bar, and dumped it over the heads of a couple of robots. And that’s Alison with one L.’ And you,” she whipped around to face Kurt. “I saw what you did, too. Don’t even think of pulling that disappearing act again, unless you plan to take me out of here, too!”
“Look, Princess…OW!” John protested, wincing as she twisted the crown of his ear again. “LEGGO, already! Sheesh! We came here to find you!”
“Why?”
“To make you an offer,” Kurt explained, “and to ask your help.”
“Unless it’s a record contract, I don’t think you guys can offer me anything I want,” she sniffed, releasing John’s ear and giving him a light shove. He looked thoroughly taken aback.
“Then get off yer high horse and think about helpin’ us instead. We’re lookin’ for a mutant kid. Some of our people got kidnapped when these same goons that crashed yer show blew up that café down the street from here.”
“Wait…you’re here about that explosion? I had nothing to do with it!”
“We know that, Fraulein Blaire. But John’s right. Three of our teammates and our school’s headmaster disappeared in the fire without a trace.”
“It’s Ali.” Before she could ask him anymore questions, the rubble shifted and John caught the sounds of the armor’s defense system coming back online with several metallic clicks.
“GET BEHIND ME!” he cried, gripping Ali by the arm and shielding her just before both operatives burst from the timbers and concrete. She ducked and huddled beneath him with a small scream.
~0~
Kitty blanched at the intrusive glow of headlights against her back as she sprinted over asphalt.
“You’re running out of places to run, little girl,” remarked the operative behind the wheel. He gunned the ignition, enjoying her look of fear as he cornered her.
“She’s tired. I think we’ve got her,” his companion chuckled from the passenger seat of the expensive black sedan. His face changed from smug to dumbstruck two seconds later. “Oh, shit.”
“What…?” Stunning redheads didn’t just come floating down to earth out of thin air, or at lease they weren’t supposed to. That was the thought nagging him as he slammed on the brakes.
“Pick on someone your own size,” Jean ordered, widening her stance as soon as she lit upon the scarred ground. Behind her, Kitty’s eyes had grown wide, and she stumbled back from surprise, falling back against a brick wall to steady herself.
“Aw, you’ve gotta be kidding! Another mutie! This one wants t’be Batgirl!” he sneered. “Look at her costume!” Jean’s telekinetic energy made her hair whip and crackle around her head, and her eyes glowed with golden energy.
“Doesn’t matter. From what my scanner’s telling me, she’s an X-Man! Run her down and grab the kid, and let’s go!”
“Marvel Girl!” Scott cried. “Duck!”
“No,” she pronounced darkly. She didn’t spare her fiancée a glance as she concentrated on the car. She watched and waited, letting the sedan barrel toward her. Kitty cowered against the wall, face down, and she braced herself for oblivion. Her life flashed before her eyes, and she was disappointed that it had to end before she became a prima ballerina, mayor of Chicago, or married John Stamos from E/R.
The speedometer read sixty miles per hour. Marvel Girl should have been a sitting duck, trapped in the headlights like a deer.
All she did was wave her hand, standing fast with Kitty stammering prayers behind her.
The car jerked to a stop; time seemed to, too. But both men kept moving, pitching forward through the windshield. Glass tinkled and glittered across the pavement. The car crumpled like a tin can.
Jean still held it aloft with the power of her mind as Scott ran toward them. Anger made his jaw work and clenched his fists.
“What the hell were you thinking, Jean?”
“Codenames, Scott,” she reminded him soothingly. His lips were still tightly drawn as he brought down the volume a notch.
“That’s the kind of grandstanding stunt that can get someone killed! The X-Men don’t kill, Jean! And you could’ve scared the wits out of the girl!”
“I think I already did,” she hedged, nodding to the blank face of the brick wall. Kitty was long gone. Scott sputtered, completely exasperated and ready to shake Jean until her teeth clicked. He loved her, heaven knew, but she’d become so…unpredictable.
“What now?” Scott grumbled.
“We follow the trail of bread crumbs,” Jean shrugged. Her face lost the blank, rapt look it often took on when she used her telekinesis, and her hair settled back down around her shoulders. The hectic golden cast left her eyes, and she was back to the same, sweet Jean whom he loved. “She’s hiding inside.”
“There’s no door over here; it looks condemned.”
“Then we use the window,” she supplied, taking his hand. Scott felt his feet leave the ground as Jean floated them up two stories and used her TK to flip open the window latch.
~0~
Over the cacophony of John and Kurt scuffling with the two Hellfire guards, Alison shouted “Now tell me again about this mutant kid we’re supposed to be protecting?”
“Our team leader’s out looking for her.”
“And you need a hard rockin’ girl like me to help you?” Kurt continued to teleport evasively from small projectiles that made more impact with the crumbling walls of the club than their target. Suddenly a small attachment in one of the guards’ gloves emitted a high-pitched, keening sound that lit Kurt’s nerve endings on fire. He became dizzy and disoriented and tumbled to the floor, unable to concentrate long enough to use his power.
“That’s it, mutie, take a nice nap,” he crowed, standing over him triumphantly.
“Mind if I sing him a lullaby?” Alison suggested. Slowly her body began to glow, seeming to draw all of the light and radiance from the room. She shone like a star and spread her arms wide, reveling in the heady feel of the sounds around her. She devoured it all, from the harsh pants of John’s breath to the sonar beam, even the stuttering thud of Kurt’s heartbeat.
“Holy shit,” the other operative breathed, but his voice was lost.
Alison’s aura glowed and danced; rainbow prisms of light wove around her body like fireflies.
“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,” she crooned as she gathered the energy she harnessed from the sound in the palm of her hand. She flung it with a flourish and knocked out the first of the two guards. “C’mon, Handsome, look alive and do your thing,” she encouraged. John shook himself from the trance her light show caused and grappled with the other one, easily digging his fingers into the armor plates. She absorbed the sound of buckling metal and his cries of shock as John knocked him unconscious. Ali’s radiance dimmed and she hurried over to Kurt’s limp form. “Are you okay? You took a hard…hit…” Her words died on her lips and her eyes roamed over Kurt, whose image inducer was damaged in the scuffle. He opened his yellow eyes and regretted it as the room around him seemed to spin.
“Hello, fraulein,” he murmured gently, wincing at the pain it caused.
“You’re blue,” she accused him.
“You’re beautiful,” he replied. Her look of apprehension was replaced with a soft smile as she probed a scrape on his temple and felt his smooth, velvety fur.
“Silver-tongued devil. C’mon. Get up. Let’s get outta here.” She nudged her shoulder under his arm and hoisted him up until John relieved her of that duty.
“Feels like someone shook me like a martini.” Kurt’s legs felt like limp noodles. He was grateful for John’s steady gait and the thrum of the pulse in his neck against his temple as he carried him toward the exit.
“Easy, Elf,” he muttered. Almost out…”
The floor beneath their feet shook, and Ali heard the groaning beams as more rubble crumbled down around them.
“Guys…I don’t think this place was built to take the beating we just gave it “GET CLEAR!” She shoved John and Kurt out of a large chunk of debris, nimbly aiming a photon beam and shattering it in mid-air. They coughed as large clouds of dust choked them, leaving their hair and clothes a dirty gray.
“Hurry.” John took off at a run, faster than any other man would be carrying another one who weighed two thirds as much.
“Hey! Slow down, for cryin’ out loud! I can’t move that fast, I’m not exactly wearing roller skates!” Alison puffed.
“Up ya go, Hot Stuff,” John promised, reaching back to snake his arm around her waist. She was buffeted against his solid chest, too scared to appreciate his muscles. John sprinted and leapt down flight after flight of stairs, just footsteps ahead of each crumbling story.
They made it outside quickly enough to take cover behind a large freight truck in the street as the building collapsed to the ground.
“Shit,” Ali breathed. “I hope to God they had insurance.”
~0~
Kitty shivered and hugged herself against the chilly air conditioning.
She stopped the car just by looking at it! What the heck did I get myself into?
Jean padded quietly into the empty office space, silently gesturing to Scott to follow her.
She’s this way. She’s scared.
No shit, sweetie.
Scott… Jean mentally tsked at him. He shrugged and stayed with her as Jean skirted around several cardboard boxes and some swivel chairs. She’s here.
Please don’t find me. Please don’t find me. Please don’t find me…
It’s all right, kiddo. We’re all friends here.
“Who’stherewhowuzzat!” Kitty nearly jumped out of her skin. The redhead with the killer bod didn’t look as scary now, but Kitty’s insides clenched. She prepared to phase until Jean spoke.
“It’s me. Jean. I can see it in your mind that Ororo told you about me. We’re here to help.”
“And we came to help find our friends.” Kitty’s shoulders unbunched themselves slowly, but she still looked wary. The sound of Ororo’s name helped. “We saw the explosion. We’re just as worried as you are, Kitty. We need to find them before anything else happens to them.” His face was solemn and open, despite the fact that she couldn’t see his eyes.
“I wanna go home,” she whispered.
“We need to make sure that the men who came after you don’t send more after you.”
“I just wanna see my mom and dad again. What happens if someone hurts me, or hurts them…” Tears welled in her large brown eyes and her hands shook as she reached up to dry them.
“You’ll see them again. I promise.” Jean knelt slowly down to her level, resisting the urge to mentally calm her. She wanted her trust.
“What if…what if they don’t want me to come back? I’m different now. I mean, I got up today, and I went to school. I came home from dance class, and everything was fine except for this wicked bad headache. Then I just wake up on the living room floor after I went up to take a nap.” Her face was pleading. “What if Mom and Dad think I’m a freak?”
“They love you. And when we get the Professor back, he can talk with them about it. And with you.”
“What if that icky Miss Frost tries to hurt him? Oh, God, she had them locked up in cages, and the Professor was wearing this scary collar! And I…couldn’t…do anything,” she sobbed. Jean crooned soothingly to her and enfolded her in her arms, stroking her hair.
“Poor baby. You’ve been through a lot today.”
“I feel like such a baby,” she moaned into Jean’s uniform.
“I think you’re pretty feisty getting this far. You made it out of wherever they were holding our teammates and you’re safe now.” Scott knelt beside them and probed a deep gash on her arm. “That looks like it hurts.”
“Got it when I was running down the alley. I fell.”
“Let’s go. We’ll fix you up, Kitten.”
“How did you know that was my nickname?”
“Lucky guess, sweetie.”
Once they were outside in the fresh air, Jean paused a moment and bade Kitty to sit on a stoop.
“Kitty, do you know what mutants are?” She nodded miserably. “Can you do something for me?”
“What?”
“I need your permission to look inside your mind.”
“You can do that?” Kitty looked sick with fear. Jean took her hand while Scott sat beside her, wrapping his arm around her narrow shoulders.
“She can do a lot of neat things. And it doesn’t hurt.” He smiled coyly. “She pokes around in my head all the time.” Jean rolled her eyes, and Kitty managed a weak smile.
“Why do you need to do that?”
“I might be able to gather what I need from your memories of where you came from, and what you saw. It’ll help us get where we need to go, except we won’t be on foot.”
“Okay,” she agreed reluctantly. Jean’s touch was gentle as she placed her fingertips against Kitty’s temples and closed her eyes, bidding her to do the same.
Kitty? I’m in.
I can…hear you?
Just taking a look around. It’s nice in here! I like what you’ve done with the place.
Wow.
Yup.
Feels weird.
I bet. Listen, I need…oh. Here we go.
Jean sifted through the fog of memories in her head, seeing them as flashes of light and color. One blurred into the next, faster than she had time to process them from the child’s panic. Take it easy, Kitty. Slow down, give me the chance to find what I’m looking for, okay? Scott stroked her arm soothingly, feeling her body sag from exhaustion.
“You’re a real trooper, Kitty.”
You sure are. A female body began to materialize before Jean, stepping out from the shadows.
Emma Frost. Jean heard Kitty’s voice seem to whisper the name in warning; it echoed off the walls of her mind, resonating around Jean’s astral form.
She’s some piece of work, Kitty.
I hate her.
The scene shifted as different forms around the woman drifted into place. Jean saw a large computer console behind her and glaring lights overhead. There were cages. Three of them.
Jean spied Ororo’s limp body in the first one. Bruises marred her face and she was unconscious. Jean stifled anger that bubbled within her, raging hot.
Uh…take it easy in there, okay?
Ooh. Sorry. Just…got upset for a moment, Kitty. Ororo’s my best friend.
I like her a lot, too. Can we save her now?
In a minute.
Jean could barely hear the words that Emma was speaking. She addressed a large man dressed as garishly as she was. Logan was the first to awaken; Jean caught the dim outline of Piotr’s bulk in another of the cages and felt Kitty’s fear on his behalf. She also detected a hint of girlish admiration from her and secretly approved her taste.
He’s a hunk, Kitty confirmed. Jean’s astral form nodded and smiled.
Jean then saw Kitty’s ordeal through Kitty’s eyes. Her own lungs seemed to burn with her exertions, feet throbbing as she ran. Jean experienced the heady, unnerving buzz of jumping through the wall, the molecules of her body mingling and dancing through its fibers.
Cool gift! She felt Kitty blush before she continued her journey. Jean catalogued each street and alley Kitty traveled, hearing the same sounds of traffic and the gunning engine behind her. Jean tensed as she heard echoes of gunfire.
How could those assholes shoot at a child? Scott heard her words in his head and sighed.
Humans can be cruel. He fed her a brief glimpse of one of his own memories from his time at the orphanage when he was twelve. She felt his sadness and frustration keenly. He knew it better than anyone.
Jean broke contact. “Open your eyes. We can go now.”
“I feel funny. Almost naked.”
“It’ll pass,” Scott assured her.
“Speaking of which, you tore your nice outfit.” Jean looked her over briefly and her eyes glowed golden again. Scott watched incredulously as Kitty’s clothing began to shift and ripple, rearranging itself into snug, black leather coveralls similar to the uniforms she and Scott wore.
“What the heck did you do?”
“These uniforms are special. More resilient in case we get in another scrap. Comfy, aren’t they?”
“I guess…wait. Did you say ‘another scrap’?”
“We’ll fill you in on the way over, Kitten,” Jean said sweetly.
~0~
Logan could feel her pain.
While his body continued to rest and recover from Emma’s latest assault and the sedative effects of the collar, he heard Ororo’s screams from somewhere within the complex. That bitch in the cape was torturing her.
If the cage wasn’t a big enough offense worth Logan kicking asses and taking names, then messing with ‘Ro fit the bill. I’m comin’ for ya, darlin’.
Logan concentrated, letting his awareness of his body be his guide. His claws. He could still use his claws if he focused hard enough. He experimentally tested the restraining cuffs. He could flex his fingers slightly. Logan grunted with the effort. Sweat broke out over his flesh, and he writhed against the cold concrete at his back.
Impressions of Ororo’s fear in the cave and swallowed up in the carnivorous plant at Krakow swam before his eyes. She was afraid of tight, closed up spaces. She must have been in hell down in this dark dump, he realized. It pulled at him, grieving him.
Logan had been caged before. He knew the drill. No one held the Wolverine for long.
His hands cramped and burned with the effort. SNIKT.
Success.
His claws cleaved through the cool cuffs like tin foil. The pain was excruciating. Instead of the sharp, burning sting that only lasted moments before his healing factor kicked in, boosting his endorphins and relieving the discomfort, Logan felt his hands bleeding freely. His entire body shook from the agony, but he knew what they had to do. Piotr stirred in the cage next to his with a low moan.
“Petey! Up an’ at ‘em!” he whispered hoarsely.
“NNnnhhhg,” he protested weakly.
“C’mon, wake up!”
Piotr was down for the count, but he was the least bruised and injured of his teammates, thanks to his near invulnerability. His body was almost too big for the confining cell; he’d no doubt be as claustrophobic as Ororo when he truly awoke.
~0~
“I can’t believe they took out the big guy,” Matt insisted as he made up Logan’s bed. “Now I know you’re pulling my leg, Mr. Howlett.”
“Size don’t matter when yer back’s against the wall. Look at me. Lot of fight’s packed into a runt like me.” Matt believed him. “Thing is, Petey was nice. For all that he looked like this big brawler, he was a softie. Had a big soft spot for the kid, too, even though he treated her like a kid sister. She kinda took exception ta that.” Matt guffawed. “Walked around with big cow eyes and brightened up whenever he walked into a room. Feeds a guy’s ego, bein’ admired like that.”
“So those collars shut off your powers? Man, that sucks.”
“You ain’t kiddin’. But I’ve been around a long time and learned a few tricks, and again, the kid didn’t just come to the rescue, she brought the cavalry.”
~0~
I hope this works. Boy, do I hope this works.
Kitty questioned her own sanity as she wove her way through the complex, feeling like a rat in a maze, except the walls weren’t a barrier. She slipped through them like butter.
Jean and Scott said something about a distraction?
Outside at the gate, the two mutants in question were putting the second phase of their plan into action. A black sedan pulled up outside the security gate. Two Hellfire Club centurions sidled up to the car; one of them tapped on the driver’s side window.
“Report.”
“Got ‘em,” the driver nodded. His eyes looked smug beneath his faceplate. The guard peered inside and smiled in satisfaction at the sight of two X-Men, bound and gagged. The tall male was blindfolded as well.
“Nice work. They give ya much trouble?”
“They tried,” he muttered. “Look, I’m gonna get movin’ and get these two put away for safe keeping. The Queen’ll want to look ‘em over and I don’t wanna keep her waiting.”
“Trying to score brownie points, eh? Eager beaver,” the guard scoffed, elbowing his partner on his shift.
“Ya gonna buzz me in?”
“Hold on a sec. Roll down the window in back, I wanna get a better gander at the redhead.”
In the back seat, Jean fumed. Dumb ass.
“I don’t’ have time for this, Simmons.”
“Then make time, Peterson. C’mon. Open up.” Simmons caressed the stock of his power rifle lovingly but widened his stance slightly. His tone didn’t brook bullshit.
Jean tensed, then rolled down the window with her TK.
The image she projected of them was partly manifested from the guards’ greatest desire, namely to see the X-Men brought in. It was easy enough to manipulate the car without her hands. Kurt, John and their new acquaintance, Alison, were on point on the roof. Bless their hearts…
“Nice,” Peterson crowed. He reached out and tugged lightly on a lock of Jean’s hair; thankfully, when he caressed her cheek, he didn’t touch the holographic “bandage” around her mouth. She still shuddered in disgust at his touch.
Motherfucker. Scott simmered silently beside her. Jean felt his body tense and the effort he exerted not to carve him a hole in his head with his eye blast.
Language, sweetie.
“You don’t have to take them straight inside, Peterson. What’s the rush?”
“Do you wanna be the one to tell Her Majesty that her time isn’t valuable enough to bring these two in ASAP? Like, yesterday?” Jean tried not to make Peterson’s voice sound desperate, having harvested its timbre and tone from Kitty’s memories. The child had a sharp mind, she marveled.
“She doesn’t hafta know.” Simmons leered inside the car again. “Wanna play, toots? Yer boyfriend here can watch.” Jean stifled nausea as the guard reached in, and this time, gripped Scott’s jaw. “Or he can join in.”
Oh, that’s IT!
Simmons was flung back from the car like a rag doll; Scott’s eye beam knocked the wind out of him and bruised his sternum. He felt the unyielding knock of a brick wall against the back of his head before everything went black.
I feel so unwashed. Jean still shuddered from the impressions she’d picked out of his mind. Simmons’ companion wasn’t laughing behind him anymore.
“Freeze, muties!”
“That’s Iceman’s job, but he’s on sabbatical,” Scott informed them. “You’ll have to settle for us.” VRAMMMPT! He knocked the rifle from his grip with another precision blast. Before he could struggle for it, Jean telekinetically grabbed it in mid-air and spun it around, forcing him to back up. The tip of the rifle was planted beneath his chin, prodding the tender tissue. He swallowed roughly, and he felt the sting all the way into his bladder.
“Marvel Girl,” Scott warned.
“I know,” she reminded him. “Whatever gets the job done, lover.” Again, there was that flip confidence and smugness that wasn’t like Jean. THWACK! Jean levered the rifle and clopped him upside the head, knocking him senseless.
“There they are! MOVE!” Reinforcements swarmed out from the entrance of the complex.
“We could use a few more pairs of hands.”
“I’m on it.” Jean’s eyes glowed again.
BAMF! “Miss us, fraulein?”
“You don’t know how much!” Jean glanced at Alison, garishly dressed in her stage gear. “Who’s your friend?”
“My stage name’s Dazzler.” Alison ducked a rifle blast just as John crouched over her, deflecting more fire. “Maybe when things settle down, I can give you my card. Shit!” she yelped.
“Remind me later,” Jean quipped.
~0~
“Mr. Logan?” Kitty whispered. “Mr. Logan?” He didn’t look good from where she was standing.
She’d emerged from the wall, seeming to appear out of nowhere. The chamber was once again dark. Kitty hid in the shadows and still moved silently, hoping that Miss Frost wasn’t there. Kitty’s stomach twisted when she noticed Ororo still wasn’t there.
The sight of Logan’s body, once again twisted in pain, chilled her; that much more, this time, because his hands were bleeding profusely through the strange, gleaming cuffs.
“It’s all right. You’ll be all right, y’hear me?” she soothed briefly, stopping herself before she could reach for him. She didn’t know what would happen if she touched the bars.
She heard him inhale deeply as he stirred. “Kid?” he rasped.
“Hey, mister ““
“Should’n…be here,” he scolded weakly.
“I know. I don’t wanna be, but I hafta get you out. Where did they take Miss Munroe?”
“Took…’Ro…” He sounded anguished and angry.
“I need to get you out of here, so we can find her!” she insisted. “I don’t know how this thing works. Where’s the lock?”
“Ya got me.” In the cell beside his, she heard Piotr moan. Before she could respond to it, she gingerly touched the bars. Nothing happened. Feeling bold, she wrapped her gloved hand around the cold metal and tugged experimentally on it. It didn’t so much as jiggle. She sighed.
“This sucks,” she carped. She had an idea. “Maybe I can, I don’t know, pass through this thing. Get you out, somehow.”
“What’re ya goin’ on about, kid?”
“It’s Kitty,” she nagged.
“Whatever. My bad.” She was a feisty little thing.
Kitty tried to concentrate on the bars, and she urged her body to obey her command to phase through them.
Nothing.
“Shit!”
“Hey, kid, do ya kiss yer mother with that mouth?”
“Sorry.” She tried again. Again, nothing. Maybe she wanted it too much. Her powers weren’t the easiest thing to figure out as it was, but now she had performance anxiety, too. She banged her small fist against a small plate on the cell door in frustration.
CLINK! She jumped back as the door suddenly sprang open.
“What the flamin’…how’d ya do that, half-pint?”
“You’ve got me,” she said, echoing his earlier reply. She hurried forward to help him, cringing at the blood that was still dripping from the cuffs. “They hurt you!”
“I’ll get better.” Try an’ do the same thing ya did fer me with Petey.”
“What’s this thing around your neck? Can you get it off?”
“Haven’t tried yet.”
“Maybe…” She groped for it, tugging it experimentally. CLAK! “Oh, wow! That’s cool!” Her hand passed through it and disrupted the locking mechanism, popping it open. The useless ring of metal clattered to the floor. Logan twisted his lips in a wry smile that almost “ not quite “ softened his face. Kitty still found him scary.
“I don’t know how ya did that, kid, but I ain’t gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.” Before either could react, a shrill shot rang out and Kitty pitched forward with a small cry. “KID!” She felt weightless as he caught her against him. Shock turned to outrage as he eyed the guard who fired the found from the power rifle. Kitty’s faint pulse still beat beneath his chin, but they picked the wrong kid, the wrong guy, and the wrong day when he was in this kind of mood.
“You’re not going anywhere. Lay the girl down and back away, mutie scum!”
“Pussy,” Logan hissed. “Ya shot her in the back. She’s just a girl, and ya act like a coward.” SNIKT! “Ya wanna run now. I’ll give ya a five-second head start before I show ya yer guts, even though I don’t think ya have any.” His smile was back, but his eyes promised hell to pay. The guard froze like a deer in the headlights as he eyed the angry feral and his gleaming claws.
He promptly pissed his pants.
~0~
"You must've been scared shitless when you woke up and she was just gone like that!" Matt had just ducked out into the hallway for Mr. Howlett's dinner tray. He was exuberant as he set it down on the table. "And the kid got you out just by sticking her hand through the lock? That's too friggin' cool!" He lifted the lid from the dinner plate. "Shoot. You asked for no gravy...Mr. Howlett?"
Logan had fallen asleep in his chair. The hardcover book was splayed open, face down in his lap. Matt sighed.
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