Kitty Pryde, Jubilee, Sabretooth and the X-Men are trademarks of Marvel Comics. This story is an unauthorised work done purely for my personal enjoyment, and is not intended to
infringe on any of their rights in or their profits from these characters. But this story is copyright to me.
Comments, especially (constructive) criticism, always welcomed. Please e-mail me at
mshakespeare@callnetuk.com
Notes:
This story is set after Kitty's return to the X-Men. It assumes that Kitty and Logan (along with the rest of the X-Men) had an adventure where they ended up fighting a bunch of psychotic tiger-man creatures (the "Kzin") without their powers. As a result, Logan gave Kitty some weapons he'd had made for her, including the sword mentioned here and the shuriken, and she's started putting in a lot of practice in using them. It forms part of the same universe as my "Excalibur Redrawn" series, but precedes it chronologically. It also precedes my forthcoming "Shadowcat and Wolverine : Hunters Moon" Limited Series.
I've also decided to go with Chris Claremont's retconning of Kitty being vulnerable to Adamantium even when phased. Not that I totally agree - it's just that, in this story, it does make Kitty find another way to beat him.
indicates thoughts
Catfight
She rocked forward onto her right foot, the weight of her body smoothly transferred forwards, as her right arm snapped downwards, releasing the two-pointed throwing spike, or bo shuriken, which spun end over end before thudding into the target tree. It wasn't a clean entry - the spike hung downwards at an angle of about forty-five degrees from the horizontal. "Damn! Didn't quite calculate the arc properly! These things are a lot harder to get right than the star shuriken - they turn end over end on the way, whereas the stars just skim along to their target. Judge it wrong and these either go in at an angle, not getting the proper penetration, or else they hit side-on and just bounce off! Oh well, keep practicing, Pryde, you'll get it right eventually."
She checked how many spikes were still in her thigh sheaths - three to go. She walked back to the throwing line she'd made in the earth, took out another spike, held it firmly between the index and middle fingers of her right hand, and raised her arm, shoulder crooked, until the forearm was vertical and the hand was over her head, the weight of her body balanced on her trailing leg, the left, the right leg advanced. She sighted on the tree, cocked her hand to throw, and ....
"Hey, Kitty! What'cha doin' out here, huh?"
Jubilee's voice broke her concentration. The spike flew from her hand, spun in the air, and hit the tree sideways on, bouncing off with a thud and dropping into the undergrowth. Kitty glared at the new arrival. "Thanks a lot Jubes, you managed to make me blow that completely! I'm practicing using shuriken, what does it look like?"
"Jeez, no need to go ballistic on me! I was just askin', is all!" The fifteen-year old former X-Man was not exactly Kitty's best friend - there'd been more than a little jealousy from Jubilee about Kitty's prior relationship with Logan - but they'd grown closer since Illyana's death. Still, a tension could sometimes manifest itself, usually at precisely the wrong time.
"Well, next time, could you try to wait until after I've thrown before calling out? I really don't want to lose these just yet - that can wait until I use them in a real fight". Kitty tried to keep her voice a bit calmer than before - there was no use antagonising Jubilee over something so trivial, and anyway, she'd have to learn how to use the weapons without being distracted by noise, such as in a fight. She pondered switching to using the sword, or maybe a touch of staff fighting, but decided to persevere with the shuriken, at least until her accuracy improved.
Jubilee cocked her head curiously. "So, why ya trainin' with these, then? You serious about using them in a fight?"
Kitty had wandered over to the tree to retrieve her mis-thrown spike, and the four that were already embedded in the trunk. "Of course I'm serious, I wouldn't be practicing otherwise. That's why I've got these sheaths for eight spikes on my right thigh, and a pouch for a dozen throwing stars on my left hip. That's why I've got my sword here, and my fighting chain, and my staff."
Jubilee blinked at the recitation. "Wow, you're a walking arsenal! Um, fighting chain? I see no fighting chain, kemosabe."
Kitty grinned at her. "Right here, in plain sight." And she unwrapped the slender steel chain from around her waist, and held it out for inspection. Jubilee took it, looked at it, and handed it back with a mystified look. Kitty decided to demonstrate. "Okay look, you hold it like this", she gripped it in her right hand, coiled up, the two small weights on the ends protruding from between her fingers, "so your opponent doesn't see you've got it ready, then you use it like this", and she snapped her arm out, the chain unraveling from her hand. It wasn't swung in an arc, but cracked like a whip, the weight on the end stopping about half an inch from Jubilee's forehead. The younger girl jerked back as if being attacked for real, and brought her hands up as if to unleash a barrage of her trademark plasma fireworks, as Kitty gave a quick jerk to pull it back into her hand.
"Man, don't do that, I nearly blew ya head off!" Jubilee yelled at the older girl. "Jeez, though, that's lethal! That hits the head at that speed, there's gonna be a cracked skull for sure!" It had certainly made an impression on the young Asian-American girl.
"Precisely. One opponent down, one opponent less. And the whole point of this weapon is, you can carry this on you, and no-one would ever expect it to be a weapon. I think maybe you should carry one yourself, get Logan to teach you how to use it. Get a gilt one, maybe, so everyone thinks it's just jewelry, till you use it ..... "
"I dunno. Could do, I suppose, but it might look a bit ...... uncool, y'know? Say, ya wanna come an' watch something neat, maybe a film or somethin'?"
"Well, actually I was going to practice a bit more. Why not ask Logan? I'm sure he'd oblige, make up for not seeing you recently." Kitty was surprised - Jubes didn't usually want to spend much time with her, not when Logan was available.
"Naw, he's gone out. So's everyone else. Fact is, it's you an' me round here at the moment. Place is like a morgue, ya know?" Jubilee's expression showed Kitty clearly that the younger girl was NOT amused. Not surprising, she thought, since Jubilee had come down to visit him especially. But VERY surprising he should slip away like that. Hmm, he'd better have a good reason, and he'd better tell Jubes, otherwise I'm carpeting him! Ha, maybe that's what I do best - Kitty Pryde, chewer-out of X-Men when they deserve it! And I may as well add the Prof. to the list while I'm at it!
"In that case, I think you could learn how to use the chain - you've got time."
"Nah, maybe later. I'm gonna go and dig up my Babylon 5 tapes - I think there's a couple I've only watched a half-dozen times or so ........ See ya back at the morgue, shadycat! Oh yeah, where's Lockheed? Maybe he'd like ta watch!"
"He's off doing ...... whatever it is he does when he's not with me and not eating ........ you know, I've never managed to find out!?"
**********************************
After Jubilee had gone, Kitty carried on practicing with the throwing spikes and stars for another half hour, then switched to the six foot long bo staff. She had worked up a good sweat when she switched to the three foot short staff, the jo stick, working on techniques for blocking blades, kicks and punches. By now the sun was fully overhead, and the day was getting warm. A number of insects were beginning to get interested in the scent of fresh sweat, but were kept at bay by the insect-repellant that Kitty had remembered to put on - she always did nowadays, after the first time she'd forgotten, and had been bitten to shreds as a consequence.
Finally, she drew her sword - not a katana, but a ninja-to, or ninja sword, shorter than a samurai blade, and lacking the decoration. She took up a two-handed grip, and began working through the katas. Then came a switch to a one-handed grip, then the reverse grip, with the sword held in one hand, the blade hidden behind the arm. She practiced various styles of fighting - aggressive, defensive, against one opponent or against many. She quickly worked up to speed, flowing through the moves like a dancer, but the cuts and stabs and strikes were as fast as the strike of a cobra - and would have been as deadly.
***********************************
"Hey Jubes, where are you?" Kitty hollered. After about three hours of almost non-stop practise, she'd finally decided to give up, get showered, and unwind. She got no answer, so decided to head for the shower first, and track down the younger girl later.
The hot shower was certainly a wonderful feeling, easing the ache of her long practise session, as well as giving her a fresh, clean scent. She luxuriated in the sensation of the hot water on her skin, as she rubbed herself with a sponge. She washed her hair, contemplating getting a new hairstyle, as against the current simple cascade of wavy chestnut hair down to below her shoulder-blades.
Quickly dressing in jeans and t-shirt, and barefooted (she'd got into the habit around Meggan), Kitty ran down the stairs, heading for the TV room. She was, of course, completely unsurprised to find Jubilee sitting watching Babylon 5 - as far as Kitty could tell, this was an episode she'd only watched about fifteen times ......
"Hey kitty-cat, 'bout time ya showed up! I was beginnin' to wonder if you'd had a heart attack or somethin', or you'd been kidnapped by the elves, or maybe you'd - "
"Okay, okay! I get the picture! Are you watching that, or do you want to try something else?"
"Like what?"
Kitty grinned and produced a handful of tapes from behind her back. "You ever see a British TV series called Red Dwarf?"
***********************************
"Oh man!", Jubilee choked out between giggles, "I can't believe they cracked that joke about 'driving while rat-arsed!'"
(Author's note : I am not going to describe this - see Series Eight for yourself!)
Kitty was herself struggling to control her laughter - and failing. "Yeah, I know. Bad, wasn't it? I tell you what, somewhere upstairs I got a load of back-episodes - maybe we can watch some this evening? Like, say, 'The Four Gunmen of the Apocalypse'? Or maybe the one where they go back in time and accidentally prevent the assassination of JFK, then have to go off to the 'grassy knoll' and do it themselves!"
"Oh YEAH! Say, what's for dinner? We gonna go out, or what?"
Kitty laughed again. "I dunno, everyone used to make fun of my appetite, but you're worse by far! No, I can cook something up. I'll see what's in the fridge, wait for inspiration to strike."
********************************************
Kitty was just bringing the rice to the boil when she heard the crash from the living room. The sound of the windows shattering had her turning off the gas and running towards the sound as quickly as possible. "Jubes? What's -", she ran through the wall and skidded to a stop. Jubilee was down, glass from the smashed windows scattered across the floor, and standing over Jubilee - "Sabretooth!"
"Well, well. The runt's other little surrogate daughter's here, is she? Oh goody, I c'n really piss the boy off now, killin' you both. Time ta die, girlie!" he growled, throwing himself at Kitty.
She caught his wrists in her hands, going backwards into a roll. "Like I told you in the Morlock tunnels that time, Creed -" she snarled, bringing her feet into his stomach as she did so, " - you talk too much!" And she extended her legs as hard as she could, even as she continued to roll with the impetus of his attack, throwing her much larger foe head-first into the wall. He hit hard, even his unbreakable skeleton and healing factor not preventing him from being momentarily stunned.
It was all the distraction she needed. Kitty threw herself onto Jubilee's prone body, phasing her down into the ground. She knew there wasn't time to call for backup before Sabretooth caught up with them again, and at the moment Jubilee was in no state to fight. That left only one option. Kitty was going to have to fight Sabretooth herself, and win. That was a problem - firstly, he was bigger, a lot stronger, and faster than her. Secondly, he had his Adamantium skeleton, which not only was unbreakable, but also, due to the density of its atomic structure, would cause her intense pain if she phased through it. She was going to have to beat him, despite his advantages, without the use of her biggest asset. That left only one course of action .......
***********************************
Sabretooth knew well where his two prey had escaped to, from the time he'd spent at the mansion. He also knew that, whilst neither of them would give up without a fight, neither of them had anything in their arsenal of powers which would put him down. Almost too easy, but so long as there's blood at th' end, I don't care! He ran silently down the corridor to the Danger Room, expecting to find that the kitty-cat had programmed it to attack him as soon as he entered. But when he burst in, he found the room bare. Jubilee still lay in a crumpled heap, unconscious from the blow he'd hit her, and Kitty stood between him and her, with -
He goggled. Kitty held a sword two-handed, and some sort of quiver on her right thigh. As soon as he entered, she brought the sword up into a guard position. "If you want her, Creed, you've got to go through me first!"
"No problem, girlie! Your precious Logan couldn't stop me, what makes you think you can?" He advanced towards her, grinning evilly, and extended his claws. "Your stupid sword won't stop me, ya can't cut through my bones, remember? Guess I got ta teach ya, huh? I'll put ya down, girlie, then I'll teach ya a few lessons, pretty-kitty, that you'll remember for th' rest o' ya life - which won't be long!" He leered at her.
Kitty made no response, merely aimed her sword at him. She'd already worked out her strategy in her mind, now it was simply a case of implementing it. That's all - hah! Even when Logan had his Adamantium, and Sabretooth didn't, he could never do more than fight him to a draw. And when Betsy tried to defend Tabitha, she got disemboweled during the fight. Brian went ballistic when he heard. And I'm going to try to do better than either of them could! I just hope my strategy pays off, or we're both dead. Still, I think I can do better than Logan, 'cause he always gets too carried away when fighting Sabretooth, due to their past history. I intend to beat him by outthinking him, not be being more skilled, faster, more ferocious, or whatever.
"Time ta die, kitty-cat!" Sabretooth roared, and he lunged at her, swiping at her head with his left claw. Kitty brought her sword up in a rapid parry, then stepped back and parried the right claw in a similar way. As Sabretooth slashed again, she tried a cut/parry to his wrist, then dropped low and spun away under his arm, blocking the other claw again as she did so. Sabretooth swung round to face her. "Not bad, kitty-cat, but ya got - ", then he broke off in astonishment, looking down at his wrists.
"That's the advantage of parrying a claw strike using a sword", Kitty's voice was almost polite, " if done correctly, not only do you deflect the attack, you can cut the veins and the tendons in the opponent's wrists - as I have." She then stepped forward and slashed at his neck.
He sprang back, snarling with fury, his hands not yet able to work properly. "Maybe so, ya little bitch, but I got a fast-healin' factor, remember? Whatever ya do, I'll heal!" Then his voice seemed to choke off, as the blood began to pour from the slash in the side of his neck.
"So I intend to keep hitting you until your healing factor can't take any more, like I've just opened your jugular vein." Kitty moved to attack again. Her strategy was currently working - counter his speed and size advantages with the longer reach of her sword, use the parries as an opportunity to wound him, avoid blows to areas protected by bone and instead cut where blood vessels and tendons lay open to attack. It was her only hope of victory.
If Betsy had used a sword, or something similar, when they fought, she might have gotten away unharmed. Just goes to show, if you have a skill, use it! Even if the Professor, or Scott, or Ororo might get hot under the collar about using a weapon, better the bad guys die than the good guys. Christianity might say 'turn the other cheek', but Judaism says 'an eye for an eye', etc. etc.
He struck again; she dodged back. He pressed his attack, driving her backwards. All I gotta do is hit her once; phasing or not, it'll hurt, she'll unphase. Once I done that, she's easy prey, an' I take her down. Then she an' th' other bitch're mine! An' I won't be gentle with 'em - they're both gonna suffer! He didn't fear her sword, even if at the present moment it was holding him off. It couldn't put him down though - no matter how often she cut him, he'd heal, and she couldn't keep this level of activity up forever.
By now Kitty was being pressed back towards the wall of the Danger Room. Sabretooth was cutting down on her room to maneouvre. Again he drove forwards, slashing with both claws, expecting her to dodge back again, which would then trap her against the wall. If she phased to get round him, he could ignore her sword and slash her, his Adamantium-laced claws causing her agony and forcing her to unphase and become vulnerable; or she could phase through the wall and escape, but that would leave Jubilee at his mercy; an unacceptable choice either way. "Now die, ya little bitch!"
Instead she took him by surprise. Rather than moving back to keep her range advantage, as he'd expected, she moved in. Ducking under his attack, she dodged behind him, dropped into a low crouch, and, spinning on her toes like a ballet dancer executing a pirouette, she slashed her sword across the back of his knees, hamstringing him, before using the momentum of her own counterattack to spring away out of his reach. He roared in pain as he collapsed onto his knees.
"Gotta catch me first, Creed!" she taunted him. "Come on, jerk, I though you were supposed to be tough!" She transferred her sword to a one-handed grip, and quickly drew a bo shuriken into her hand. She watched as his healing factor quickly repaired the damage, and he surged to his feet. As he spun round to face her, she threw the spike. her aim was true; it caught him squarely in the left eye. He screamed in pain and anger, clutching at the metal protruding from his face, yanking it out and throwing it away with another shout of pain. He roared in fury and charged at her full-tilt.
This, of course, was part of Kitty's strategy; get him furious, so he wouldn't think about how he should fight in order to win. If he charged her without thinking, he left himself open to a counterblow. And if he got too angry, he wouldn't think to cut down her avenues of escape, thus forcing her to fight on his terms..
***********************************
Jubilee groaned. Her head felt about ten times its normal size. She clutched her hand to her temple. "Ow, my head! I need some aspirin, fast! Oh jeez, I remember now - Sabretooth! He came through the window! So how come I'm still alive, and where - " she stopped in amazement, as she looked around. There was Sabretooth, facing Kitty. But his costume was slashed to ribbons, the material soaked with blood, whilst Kitty didn't seem to have a mark on her. Jubilee gawped. She could see Kitty's sword spattered with blood, and red droplets all over the floor of the Danger Room. Kitty held her sword in what, to Jubilee, seemed a strange position - one-handed, her right arm behind her with the sword held to that the blade lay along the back of her arm, concealed from view, with the left arm outstretched in front of her. Jubilee blinked - she seemed to be holding something in her left hand - the chain? Was she holding the ch -.
"Now, I'm gonna kill ya, ya little slut! Remember what I did ta your little purple-haired friend? I'm gonna do that to you, now!" He charged Kitty head-on.
He didn't reach her. Kitty's left hand snapped out, and the chain cracked like a whip. The weight on the end hit Sabretooth between the eyes, stopping him dead. "Oh, I remember what you did to Betsy, Sabretooth!" she snarled, gripping the sword two-handed, and swinging it with all of her strength into his belly. "Let's see how you like being on the receiving end!"
The blade carved deep, almost to Creed's spine. Kitty slashed it all the way from the left side of his body to the right. Jubilee gasped in shock as Sabretooth's entrails spilled out, as he collapsed to the floor. "Whassa matter, l'il Creedy? Howdja feel about losin' to a seventeen year old girl? Gutted?" Kitty smiled. "Where's your much-vaunted healing factor now, eh?" She stepped up behind him, then lowered the tip of the sword into his skull. "Selective phasing, ain't it amazing? Especially when I unphase it till it reaches the correct state to scramble your nervous system, like I did against Rogue once. Not fatal, but a winning move, I think." Sabretooth's body jerked, and his eyes widened. "Okay tough guy, heal that!"
Sabretooth slowly toppled to the ground.
***********************************
Logan sniffed suspiciously. There was a scent he recognised, if he could - "Sabretooth!" he snarled. "That murderin' son of a bitch's here!" His claws popped out without him even thinking about it. If that killer had done anything to his girls ...!
"Sabretooth?! Oh hell! Jean, 'path the others - we've got trouble!" Scott snatched his spare visor out of his pocket and put it on, to ensure perfect control of his optic blasts in the fight he was sure would soon follow.
"Was?? Are you sure, mein freund? Mein gott, Katzchen and Jubilee were still here! Jean, can you find them??" Kurt was worried - the savage killer could easily take the two girls. Scott was already moving down the hallway, all senses alert for danger. Bishop, the other X-Man with them, had already brought his plasma rifle up to his shoulder ready for trouble, and was also moving down the hallway, eyes scanning every corner.
"If they're - wait, I've found them, they're in the sitting room, watching ... TV!?" Jean's voice was almost incredulous. "They don't seem too upset, or afraid at all....."
"TV?! Ya sure, Jeannie? Creed was here, what the hell they doin' watchin' TV?? Elf, 'port me there - NOW!" There was a 'bamf', a cloud of sulfurous smoke, and the two X-Men were gone. Scott and Jean were after them immediately, and they ran into the sitting room only a few seconds later, though Bishop got there before they did.
"It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere,
I'm all alone, more or less,
Let me fly far away from here,
Fun, fun, fun, in the sun, sun, sun
I want to lie shipwrecked and - "
"Jubes! Kit! Ya okay, darlin's?"
"Of course Logan, why shouldn't we be?" Kitty sounded almost surprised that he was concerned. Jubilee lay on her stomach on the floor, a huge bowl of popcorn in front of her, from which she was grabbing one handful after another. Kitty was sitting with her back against a chair, knees up under her chin, arms wrapped around her legs. Lockheed lay on his back next to her, cooing as she gently rubbed his stomach.
"Well, mebbe I was imaginin' it, but I'm sure I smelt Sabretooth ....... " Logan's voice trailed away in uncertainty. Surely the two of them couldn't beat Creed, could they?
"Sure thing, Wolvster! Kitty-cat took him down alone. He's down in the Danger Room - alive, just. Ya can do what'cha want - right, Kit? Hi Bish!" Jubilee mumbled the last through a mouthful of hot popcorn, ignoring Jean's disapproving glare, and waved at her friend. Kitty simply nodded , and used the remote control to fast-forward to the next "Red Dwarf" episode.
Logan gave the pair, and especially Kitty, an incredulous look. "Kit, ya actually beat SABRETOOTH? Alone? How in th' name o' God did ya do that??"
Kitty smiled. "I just used some of the skills you taught me, Logan. I beat him by carving him up with a sword, so badly his healing factor couldn't cope, then phased it to scramble his brain. He's downstairs in the Danger Room, as Jubilee said. Thanks for all the lessons - they sure paid off just now!"
Logan looked at her in disbelief, then turned to Kurt. "We'd better make sure he ain't goin' ta get free again, cause us any more grief! For all we know, that flamin' killer's gonna break free an' start killin' again! That AIN'T gonna happen while I'M here! Kurt, 'port me down there - an' be ready for trouble!" The two of them teleported away.
Bishop looked surprised, but not too unhappy about the turn of events. In the opinion of the time-displaced X-Man, his one-time heroes were far too easygoing about letting killers off the hook. He didn't really know the girl well, but if Kitty wanted to use a weapon to defeat Sabretooth, that was just fine with him. At least it meant Jubilee was unharmed. Sometimes using lethal force was the best course of action.
Jubilee grinned back at Kitty. "Don't think there's gonna be trouble, do you Kit? I loved the way ya tied him up - phasing his ankles together, then his wrists, then his wrists into his ankles, leavin' him trussed up like a Christmas turkey!" She sniggered, remembering Creed's reaction to his predicament.
Kitty smiled at her. "Since his bones are unbreakable, it's the best way to hold him - the only way he can escape is to tear his own arms and legs off! If he wants to do that, it's fine by me!" Jubilee giggled. .
Scott and Jean were looking at Kitty in shock. "Kitty, you used a sword? Look, I'm glad you and Jubilee are okay, and I understand you had to do what you did to beat Creed, and at least this time you didn't wreck half the mansion - but I don't think it's a good idea for you to start using weaponry as a matter of course, especially weaponry which could be used in a lethal manner, such as a sword. X-Men don't kill, remember? It's wrong to take a life when there is another - "
"Oh, shut up Scott!" Kitty snapped in anger. Jubilee's eyes widened - she really hadn't expected the other girl to take on the senior X-Man like this. "If I hadn't, Jubilee would be DEAD, Scott - would you prefer that?? Maybe both of us would be dead! I did what I had to do to survive, and save Jubilee's life. Now if that doesn't meet with your approval - TOUGH! You don't get any say in the matter! I'm a big girl now, Scott, I can make my own mind up about right and wrong. Understand this - if in order to survive, or to save a friend's life, I have to kill, I will do, without hesitation, or regrets afterwards. I've killed before, for your information - ask Kurt, it was his then-lover I killed, by running her through with a sword. And I didn't care about having done it then, and I don't care that I did it now! So cut the lecture Scott, I'm not interested!" And she turned her attention back to the video just starting.
Scott and Jean stood openmouthed, Jubilee was stunned by Kitty's counterattack.
Only Bishop responded. "That is a logical stance to take. Sometimes the only way to preserve the life of innocents, or those we love, is to slay those who threaten them. After all, the dead can no longer kill." Scott and Jean both stared at the hulking X-Man, then back at Kitty, sitting calmly on the floor, staring back at them as if daring them to continue the argument.
Jean spoke up. "Scott, calm down - they didn't kill, Kitty didn't kill, she just saved their lives against someone who could so easily have slaughtered them both. Look, Kitty, I know Scott may be overreacting, it's just we were afraid of what Creed might have done to you."
Kitty glanced at Bishop. "Well, I wouldn't go quite as far as to say that killing is sometimes the best way, it's just that maybe it's sometimes the only way, even if still one I'm not keen to follow too often." She turned her attention back to the TV.
"Right, next episode."
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FINIS