The world was no longer what it once was.
There was no definite turning point in the past, no specific event that changed the tides. Looking back, one could see plenty of red-flags, plenty of violent acts or discriminatory actions that would shock someone looking from a distance. But to the majority, it seemed natural and needed.
There was practically no resistance as they passed laws prohibiting mutants in the workspace, in the school space; they slid each rule under the table, as if they knew it was wrong, knew it had dirtied their hands. But yet they continued.
Then the sterilization started, the screening of every human and subsequent actions on those that even carried the possibility of birthing a mutant. For safety, the assured; there were many events which resulted in civilian casualties, so it was better that way, for humanity as a whole. The Mutant gene was a disease on civilization, just a bump in human history. They compared it to the black death, as if it were similar.
There was rebellion, dissent, but as the government grew stronger, the voices grew quieter. Heaven forbid a mutant voice disatisfaction on their own damnantion.
Last Kitty Pryde had heard, they'd started cleansing the waters even further by murdering the parents of mutants, ones that did not even exhibit mutant abilities. Her own were not excluded.
But that was last she had heard on the outside, and Kitty had not seen the outside in a very, very long time.
Kitty Pryde
Shadowcat
Location Unknown
Time goes by slowly.
It's all a haze in her mind, a questioning of what is reality and what is dream- or more accurately, nightmare. It's just a blur of bright, bleak lights, and hospital instruments and screams and the inescapable feeling of terror. She was Kitty Pryde, the Shadowcat, one of the best X-Men, the protegee of the Wolverine himself. But she was utterly, completely terrified.
She doesn't know if it's ever night or day, she doesn't know how long she'd been underground. It has been a lifetime for her, one she'd rather forget. She isn't even sure what old memories of hers are real, and which are just dreams she longs for in this place.
She wonders about her teammates, the ones she thought were still alive. She wonders about her friends, the world. She wonders if there's even a humanity still out there, wonders if she will ever see it again.
Then one day, time stopped. It didn't crawl by anymore, but rather broke. It was like a mirror she'd been gazing into had suddenly shattered.
There were alarms going off somewhere, and then a deafening roar. She had been in some weird trance between sleep and wake, listening to the quiet hum of the facility. And then it was all plunged into chaos. Kitty had thought she'd died in that moment. She wasn't sure whether to be upset or grateful at the sudden change of events.
The lights were off, save for a dim red emergency light flickering. It moved in a circular pattern, bathing her in red line every few seconds and then leaving her to the inky darkness. There were wires hanging from the walls serving as a supplemental flicker. There was earth falling from the ceiling, rubble raining down everywhere. It was a scene from a nightmare. Her ears were ringing from the shock of whatever had caused this apocalypse.
Her cell door was open- rather, ripped apart, the metal bend crudely around the edges. Kitty blinked at it, wondered if this was just another test, another way to experiment on her, to find out what made her tick.
She still had that damned collar on her neck, muting her abilities. It was loose- she was
a bit smaller than the average mutant, after all. Surely they would've taken that off if they wanted a demonstration. She couldn't put on much of an extraordinary show without her powers.
Her bare feet slid across the cold concrete floors, and she focused on the feeling of it beneath her. This was reality, surely. Her heart ran rapid in her chest.
She saw figures run past, dark shadows illuminated only when the red alarm flashed in her direction. Kitty pressed herself against the wall, holding her breath.
They didn't stop for her.
Kitty wasn't wearing clothes, she realized. Had she ever worn clothes here? She didn't remember. There was a thin hospital gown by her metal cot, a ghostly white lit up by flaming red light. She slipped it on. Just in case.
She was in the hallway before she knew it; her feet knew the way, longed for the escape. She was numbly following along, feeling like an outsider in her own body. She felt drugged.
There was a hallway to her right, barely lit. It stretched beyond her eye, illuminated only by the round of the red alarm and the sparks of wires, showing the crumbling architecture.
Kitty saw a figure.
Big, lumbering, falling over itself. She stood her ground.
It was coming closer, far faster than she had anticipated. It moved like an animal, and the as the ringing in her ears slowed, the roar from the creature heightened.
She ran, terror clutching at her heart. What a shame, she thought, to die right after she escaped the hands of death himself.
It grabbed her from behind, sharp claws tearing at her sides; she screamed despite herself, throwing an elbow that hit the side of its head. It whipped her around, pushing her against the nearest wall, held up by one of its massive hands at her neck.
The red alarm flashed by, illuminating his sharp features, nearly black eyes, the sweat glistening from his temple, the snarl on his lips.
She wouldn't forget Victor Creed in any lifetime.
Panic set in further, adrenaline pumping through her. It wasn't just Victor Creed- no, it was the animal side of him taken over, likely poked and prodded at by the scientists here. She wondered dimly if there was even any human part of him left.
Kitty kicked her feet, landing blows to his legs, but he hardly registered it. She was completely off the ground, suspended by his hand. She was losing air, gasping for breath, wondering if this was it.
He leaning in to her neck, sniffing; his grip tightened as his nose trailed up her neck.
"I know you." He growled, but the snarl on his lips no longer seemed dangerous for her. In one swoop he slid his fingers under the collar, his hands burning at the tender skin on her neck. He ripped the collar off her, leaving her gasping.
Kitty fell to the ground, on her knees, heaving for air. She could feel the electricity burning through her veins, the tell-tale sign of her powers back. She felt tears staining her cheeks, and she turned back to her attacker.
He looked down on her for a long moment, his chest heaving, his fists clenching and unclenching. And then he turned and ran, lit only by the timed red flashes in the hallway.
Kitty continued. She did not follow in his direction; she sensed that he was after far more than just escape. She had no interest in that yet.
Besides, she had a faster route.
She phased through the walls, but it seemed that the facility was more of a maze. She felt lost in it, her head reeling with the toll of her powers. It was like exercising a limb that had been missing; she ached with the power of it, a need to use it but also rest it.
How long had she been running for? It felt like hours since she had escaped her cell. Kitty thought that they must've noted her disappearance by now. She didn't have much time left.
She passed many figures in the dark, not bothering to stop long enough to study them. Perhaps if she'd been the person she was a year or so ago, she would've stopped to save those around her. Hell, she had one of the easiest paths out of here. But she was a much different Kitty Pryde now, and she would do anything to escape this place.
One wall led her into a room identical to her own, and she barely stopped in her run, until she felt an arm go through her, the familiar tingling rushing through her shoulder.
"Well, hello, Kitty-cat." A familiar drawl said, making her shoulders tense. She glanced over her shoulder at the all too familiar face of Pietro Maximoff, full of sharp angles bathed in red light. His tone was humorous and patronizing, but his face was anything but; his silver eyes were narrowed, his mouth in a straight line. His unclothed chest heaved, sweat glistening in the red light. He was in pain.
Kitty stopped moving, but kept her phased state, lifting her chin high.
"We can help each other here, in this hell." Pietro offered, looking down at the small girl in front of him, caught like a deer in the headlights. She offered no fear to him, though, just quiet resentment. "Or, more accurately, escaping from this shithole."
"Where's your collar, Maximoff? Were you not even important enough to chain up?" Kitty offered, narrowing her eyes up at him. She didn't need his help, and she never would. She wouldn't forgive him for his past crimes, regardless of the new world.
"You can phase and I can make us move fast. It's not rocket science, Kitty-cat." Pietro said, glaring her down. His teeth were gritted now. She wasn't sure if he were even in a state to exercise his powers.
"I can." He said strongly, sensing her questioning.
"It may not work. I've never phased at high speeds. Might make us both mush, ripping our molecules apart." Kitty answered, the wheels turning in her head, her voice little more than a hoarse growl. It shouldn't work, it couldn't. It was just a suicide pact.
"Much rather that happen on my own accord, rather than by the hands of the assholes here." Pietro said, offering her a sharp grin, his silver hair falling across one eye.
She didn't have anything to lose, if she were honest, and she was too preoccupied at the time to let that reckless thought scare her.
Kitty held out a hand.
They were outside in a split second, leaving Kitty's head reeling somewhere, her body mentally miles behind them. She hit the ground beneath her, the meager contents of her stomach coming up around her. Kitty had sworn she'd felt her body rip apart and rearrange itself thousands of times in that split second. Her limbs were jelly beneath her, her head throbbing.
When she came to, her senses snapped into place around her. She was cold and wet, frost biting at her.
She was kneeling in snow.
Kitty felt fat tears rolling down her cheeks, stinging at the sensitive skin, irritating it further. But she couldn't help it. She thought she'd never see the outside world again, except in dreams. And dreams didn't do reality justice. There was fresh air whipping her curls around her face, snow pooling at her legs, and tall trees blocking her in.
Pietro was next to her, but in a very different position. His face was buried into the snow, his whole body practically trying to absorb the cool feeling. Kitty wondered for a split second if he were dead- and she hated the fact that that scared her, the opportunity of being alone.
He moved, pulling up his face enough to groan loudly, the sound vibrating through the snow around them. He eyed her through tired squints of silver eyes.
"I think I left half of my body in those damn walls." He grumbled, and Kitty moaned in agreement.
They were miles away, but the smoke from the flames still rose above the treetops, maring the night sky above them. It was oddly surreal, the snowy forest untouched and beautiful, and the chaos raging calmly next to it, far away but still too 'd ran through bright streaks of fire to get to their location, flames of red and orange. Kitty was happy to watch it burn.
"What now?" Kitty asked, because it had to be addressed. They hadn't budged from their previous location, still disoriented and weak. It was a smart move, Kitty thought, but still stupid regardless. Mutant powers shouldn't be mixed so violently, and their bodies were taking the toll. The cold was beginning to creep into her warm, sick body, and she doubted that was a good combination.
"I wouldn't mind laying in this snow until I can feel my legs again." Pietro grumbled, trying to brush off her question. His fingers were curling and uncurling in the snow.
"We're sick from that stunt we just pulled." Kitty told him, a rush of irritation going through her. "You're going to get hypothermia without even noticing."
He didn't even have a shirt on; she'd already noticed that a few times, though she would never admit that to him as long as she lived.
Why should it matter? He could die for all she cared, after all he had done.
No, she told herself strongly. She couldn't be alone. She needed another mutant.
She hated needing people.
Pietro didn't outwardly agree with her, or admit she was right, but he still pulled himself to his feet, his joints cracking and protesting at their use. He let out a string of curses, a grimace on his face. He stood up all the way, and Kitty realized he was much, much taller than him.
It had been a long time since they'd been face to face, she had to admit. But he didn't frighten her. If it came down to it, she could kill him.
"Let's find something. Shelter, food, something useful." Pietro said, more talking to himself than her. He stumbled his first few steps through gritted teeth.
"And then what?" She questioned, following quietly beside him. She felt god-awful as well, but she was able to keep up his strides with considerably less pain than him. There was something more wrong with him, but she wasn't going to question it.
"God, I don't know, Pryde. Got any more fucking questions?" Pietro growled, narrowing his eyes in the dark. Kitty bristled but made no response.
She could've let him lean on her, could've offered him some warmth as the chill set in and they began to search for shelter. She could've been a healer, a mender, someone meant to repair and support. It was something she was once accustomed to doing.
But that was the old Kitty Pryde, and this one could care less.