The Cat's Claws

Prologue: Birth of the Shadow Cat

Laying naked in the fluidic bed of the infusion chamber, Katherine Pryde relaxes as her body finishes recovering from the final Vibranium treatment. With the last of her organs regenerating, she was happy she was breathing comfortably. The terror of blacking out as her lungs were vaporized from the molten metal combining with her ribs was but one of thousands of memories she could live without. Glancing around the laboratory, she sees her closest friend and confidant Maria Gonzales laying back on a parallel table recovering from the ordeal as well. Dressed in a hospital gown and covered in sweat, she is visibly exhausted and pants as she tries to recover from the past six hours of work on Katherine. Though the company had two other telepaths who aided in the process, Maria felt strongly obligated to help her long-time college friend. Though the love was focused on the memory of Katherine's deceased girlfriend, Elvira Montoya, the two were close cousins and her love transferred to Katherine after her murder.

With most of the horrific memories clouded and diffused thanks to the telepaths, many remained cruelly vivid. With various mutants repressing or activating her various mutant abilities, Maria focused on telepathically keeping Katherine's sanity in check through the ordeal. Often letting Katherine or 'Kitty' roam in her memories while the molten metal flowed into her bones, the two were intimately aware of every aspect of their lives. From personally intimate to uniquely horrific, their thoughts and memories freely mingled. Making both hilarious and intimately personal conversations, Kitty couldn't believe how entirely ineffective regular communication was when compared to telepathy. Channeling not just conversation, the process shared the entire spectrum of senses across the connection allowing her to escape her ordeal and sit in refuge as her body was assaulted at a molecular level. Designed to make the metal become an integrated part of Kitty, the metal had to do more than just plate her skeleton, but become indistinguishable to her mutant abilities. Having a molecular phasing ability to pass through solid objects since she was a child, her regenerative healing powers came along afterwards as they attempted to turn off her phasing powers. Though the project was a total failure, she admitted super healing abilities were nice to have. Without the healing abilities, she wouldn't be sitting in the tank recovering, and would be a puddle of slag on top of a pool of molten metal.

Helped out of the tank, Nurse Jackie presents a terrycloth robe and matching slippers to step into. The soft cloth welcomes Kitty and she instinctually purrs as it slips over her new skin. Moving her arms and legs, Kitty immediately notices the increased weight her body possesses with the metal skeleton. As she mentions it to the nurse, a mature woman's voice rings out over the intercom.

"You'll get used to it Kitty. You will notice a thirty-two to sixty-five percent increase in muscle mass over the next month. You were already uncannily fit for a young woman, but you will experience many negligible changes as your body becomes accustomed to the metal. Unfortunately, you'll never go swimming ever again, but it'll be difficult to drown thanks to your healing."

Nodding, Kitty lets the strawberry blonde nurse lead her to the showers to get the residual muck and debris off her body. As she stands in the shower, she feels her forearms and is shocked to feel three long shafts running the entire length, just under her muscles. As if reading her thoughts, the intercom comes back on with the woman, Doctor Carol Hines, asking comically.

"What's on your mind Katherine?"

As Kitty bathes she yells upwards to the microphones in the ceiling. "I thought you removed my claws, yet I still feel them under my skin?"

With a chuckle Dr. Hines replies. "We did. Those are the replacements composed of the same metal that makes up your skeleton. I think its inhumane to declaw animals, and your situation was no different. Now instead of bone claws, you have metal ones. They are razor sharp and will more than likely never dull in your lifetime."

Nodding, Kitty points her right arm away from her and is amazed as three blades pop out from forearm through the top of her hand. Less than twelve inches each, the glorious blades glimmer and sparkle in the blasting water. Eyeing the shower's wall, she wonders how well they will cut; only to hear Dr. Hines plead over the speaker.

"Please don't tear up our showers. Tomorrow I'll schedule your combat courses to get you accustomed to your new body and weaponry."

Snickering, Kitty retracts them and resumes showering.

Slashing the wooden targets as they swing menacingly towards her, Kitty incorporates her last ten years of martial arts training to entangle, attack, and leap to her next target to bury her claws in the aluminum clad foe. Vigorously leaping and evading imaginary attacks, Kitty executes a roundhouse kick at the upper portion of the simulated opponent. As her foot cracks the shell, she follows through snapping the upper torso in half at her point of contact. Showering the floor with shards of metal and wood, she punches its lower body with both her fists, burying her claws to her knuckles. Catching the torso before it hits the floor, she grins as she retracts her claws letting the dummy fall uselessly to her feet. The camera momentarily moves to Kitty's foot, though covered in her blood, it shows the muscle, tendons, and skin regenerating to completely seal the wound by the time she steps back to look over her handy work. Turning to the camera trained on her, she bows and flourishes her arms out in appreciation of imagined applause and cheers.

Pausing the video, Tony Stark shakes his head in disbelief.

"That was a Adamantium core she kicked through, correct?"

Doctor Adam Harkins nods subtly with pride as his star project amazes the seemingly unimpressible genius extraordinaire. Raising his hands to his face to scratch his eight-day-old stubble on the verge of becoming organized into a beard, they are jerked to a stop as a chain connected his handcuffs become taught reaching the limit of his leg shackles. Remembering his predicament, he lowers his hands back down to his lap and he replies in a humble tone.

"The Vibranium we utilized is unlike the Wakanda and Antarctica varieties used to date. Miss Pryde's phasing powers are entirely uninhibited by this type and she is now capable of phasing through all known varieties of Vibranium. We started implanting microscopic particles of the Vibranium into her body when she was just starting to gain her abilities. For the first year, her powers were nearly extinct, but they suddenly surged back completely by the time she was thirteen. It was then we discovered that she could phase through Vibranium like any other known material. After that, we were inspired to fully execute the Weapon X program on her. It took quite a bit of trouble to locate anyone involved and source any Adamantium. Unfortunately, no one wanted to help us; but we finally found a sponsor who provided with a superior substitute."

Picking up a glass tube with a two-inch shaft of grey metal, it was no bigger than a roll of dimes in the glass tube.

"There are a hundred people running around with metal skeletons and claws?"

Shaking his head he represses a chuckle as he speaks. "No. She was designated X-101 as she was the first of a new generation super-soldiers which they incubated, not in test tubes but in life. Her genetic properties were adjusted to accommodate the source project's genetic code alongside her own, making a super mutant of sorts. She was the first and only successful subject, as we never got funding for any more, thus why we were very protective of her."

With a noticeable level of disdain against experimenting on children, Tony inhales deeply before replying.

"And your sponsors never once told you where they obtained this unique metal? The isotopes of this Vibranium are unlike anything we've seen in our solar system. I find that extremely difficult to imagine or conceive doctor."

Shrugging, Doctor Harkins grins evilly. "Let's just say my contacts were aware I could be asked this line of questions under oath or have my thoughts scanned against my will. They took extraordinary measures to ensure their identities and sources were kept a guarded secret."

Grinning just as proudly, Tony leans over his desk towards the doctor.

"They never imagined your small group going bankrupt, did they? Well I own all your work and research now, and you will stand trial for the murder of Elvira Montoya. The assassin you hired may have not been able to finger you, but your financial records did a fine job in his place. Fortunately for the majority of your employees, they had no idea of your illegal operations; just minute pieces of a massive puzzle."

Standing angrily, Tony beams down at the prisoner and rages on. "And by all rights I should tell that young woman you are responsible for the murder of her girlfriend…all for the sake of your expensive science project! Since she was ten, you have genetically modified and secretly manipulated every aspect of her life to ensure she made the choice to become your expensive asset; from ruining every relationship which might lead her to abandoning your project, to finding a husband and getting married prematurely!"

For the first time since he had entered Stark Tower, Doctor Harkins showed genuine fear and concern. Knowing that there was no prison or facility on Earth Katherine Pryde could not enter or escape from, his life was in serious jeopardy. As he begins to beg, Tony Stark silences him by raising his hand.

"But! But in this case, that young woman would be either imprisoned for the remainder of her life for your murder or be destroyed by the truth; neither outcome is acceptable in my books. You've already destroyed one incredibly good part of her life, I don't want to damage her further. You will accept your full sentence or I will release the entire file to her and damn the consequences. The things she would do to you go beyond civilized conversation, and I don't want that innocent girl to become that kind of monster. Do we have an understanding or do I have my secretary make copies of everything and have it show up on Miss Pryde's breakfast table tomorrow morning?"

Nodding his head numbly, the doctor agrees as the two burly SHIELD officers yank him out of his chair and return him to their facility to await trial. Standing, Tony goes to his bar and pours a whisky into a cold tumbler. Throwing it back, he grimaces as it tracks down his throat and he snarls momentarily disliking his position. Taking a deeper refreshing breath, he returns to his desk to key the intercom on his desk phone.

"Pepper! Would you see if we have any openings for a computer science major with a Master's Degree and half of their Doctorates completed? You know Darlene down at HR will have kittens if I arbitrarily hire another person without an existing open position for them.

A cheery woman replies from outside the office.

"Look in the green file folder on the right side of your desk."

Shaking his head smirking, Tony finds the folder buried near the bottom of the stack. Surprised to see five positions needing filled, he sits back imagining which were best-suited for one Katherine Pryde: computer scientist, genius, mutant, and an incredibly lethal killing machine if provoked.

Chapter 1: Boat Trip

Leaving the computer lab, Kitty chats absently with the five other scientists from her office. With most of their work theoretical, there was little hands-on until they fleshed out their latest design. After half a year working at Stark industries, she still felt she was dreaming. Though she wasn't doing the kind of crime-fighting she imagined after getting the "Dip" as she fondly put it, it was the kind of work she had always dreamed of doing after college. Though she still had another year before she would finish her Ph.D., the experience was not only priceless, but a well-paid position to fund her lack of support. Though her parents were paying part of her rent, she knew the lease was draining them. Expecting a raise after a year, she didn't need the help her parents were giving. Imagining it was for how life had treated her up to now, or that they never needed to help her before due to the previous company paid for everything in California, she didn't have the heart to stop them. Sharing an apartment with Alexia Grande, a computer nerd like herself at Stark, they worked on different teams allowing them to have breathing room when away from work.

Bidding her coworkers farewell, Kitty turns and goes to the rear of the facility. With the past eight hours behind her, she couldn't wait to get into the company's gymnasium. After changing, she bumps into Margot Rumsfeld, one of the company's security officers. After exchanging a friendly hug, they continue to the gym chatting about the coming weekend. Leading Kitty to a private area, Margot swipes her access card and opens the door for her friend. With rounds of hellos and cross-talk, Kitty finally finds an open bench next to a large sparring mat. As Margot carries on about the benefits program for Stark Tier One security, a massive bruiser of a man comes over and sits beside Margot. Nearly seven feet tall, his devotion to athletics brings an admiring grin to Kitty's face, if only momentarily. Easily two hundred and sixty pounds of pure muscle, his soft pleasant voice makes Kitty do a double take when he says hi. With his soft ebony curls and Midwestern accent, his wonderfully soft cocoa-tinged skin was wrapping his extraordinary level of fitness. Margot smiles warmly and slaps his knee briskly.

"Kitty, this is Marcus Henry. He was hired a month ago, and he's been stuck in HR's onboarding process since he arrived. I couldn't wait to get him on the mats with you. Marcus, this is Kitty Pryde; one of the company's prized computer geeks."

Kitty fights the snicker seeing Marcus momentarily taken back hearing Margot's last words.

"She's adept at hand to hand combat, the extent of which is for you to find out."

With a truly friendly persona, Marcus nods and smiles cordially. "I have two black belts; one in Taekwondo, and the other in Hapkido."

Margot sneers jokingly. "See! He's more than a living wall of muscle, that's why they hired him...mostly. He has some military experience as well; he spent four years in the Marines, and well is just unstoppable when he sets his mind to it."

Shrugging modestly, Marcus takes off his running pants. As he heads towards the center of the mat, Margot stands and stops him to whisper in his ear.

"She's a computer scientist, not security. Don't go too hard on her at first."

With an understanding nod, he continues stretching on the mat waiting for Kitty. As Kitty takes off her sweatshirt, Margot stops her to whisper.

"Hey, he's new. Take it easy on him for the first few rounds. I need him to work tomorrow, not be on sick leave in recovery."

Rolling her eyes incredulously, Kitty shakes her head.

"You ask too much."

After a respectful bow towards each other, Kitty breaks into a sprint towards Markus and roars as she leaps into the air to deliver a debilitating knee strike to the chest. Markus, momentarily taken back by her aggressive posture, barely evades the blow and uses his shoulder to shove her on past him. Crouching into a controlled tumble, Kitty rolls out of it on her feet and leaps back at him. Feeling like he struck a brick wall, from experience, he shakes it off and instinctively puts some distance between the girl. As she charges again he switches tactics and wants to see how much martial arts experience she has. Trying to time his kicks and swings to where she will be, he is surprised with her agility and instincts to not be in those places. Though her technique needed great refinement, he was impressed with her skills of evasion.

With a grin, he was pleased to see sweat trickling down the small computer scientist's forehead, the first sign she was challenged. As he launches a new round of blows, he is surprised that most never connect when they should have, momentarily giving him doubt as to his skill level versus hers. As she loses her footing on the mat, he takes advantage of her position and entangles her around the waist. With increasing resistance, he finds it unbelievable that the meek girl could nearly outweigh him in any conceivable fashion. Lifting her up off her feet, with noticeable difficulty, he screams to her louder than he intended.

"Do you give!"

With a snarl, Kitty thrusts her head up into his left shoulder and neck, and kicks her right leg up to strike him in the face with her foot. A bright flash fills his eyes and he instinctually releases her. Grabbing him around the neck as she drops down out of his grasp, she uses her momentum to pull him down towards the mat, and stands. Flipping him onto his back, many spectators imagine hearing the gym rumble when he lands. A moment later, when he jumps to his feet, he feels his face wet with blood. Feeling his nose, he shakes his head and motions for Kitty to stop as she winds up for a follow-up attack. Standing erect, he bows graciously making Kitty stop mid step. Remembering her training, she throws her arms to her sides and replies with a similarly deep bow.

Kitty quickly goes to him to shake his hand to make sure he didn't have any hard feelings. With a sore chuckle he shakes and takes the towel Margot hands him. Turning to Kitty, he growls as he sighs out his tight breath.

"Damn! It was like fighting a pissed off wildcat; and you're not a petit little geek, either. Thanks Margot for the set-up."

From behind him a tall burly blonde man in a white undershirt places his hand on Marcus's shoulder.

"It's okay son! I asked her to do it. Everyone standing around gaping has been on the mats with her at least once. You fared the best so far, with only a broken nose. Even better, you had enough sense to get out of the fight! That's something I train all my people: if something isn't right, then momentarily retreat and reassess. Don't keep fighting senselessly. It's sloppy; and today you proved you don't have that in you. I don't have to spend the next six months fixing your bad habits and instilling the kind of sensibilities you will need to work here. Hell! Most of my people go on to work for top corporations after a few years, and earn their worth, not what everyone is paid. Your little booboo is nothing compared what can happen tomorrow by any number of agents of mayhem or chaos. We have to be prepared for the unexpected, because no one in their right mind would attack us head on."

Nodding, Marcus takes his nose in his right hand and roughly resets the break.

"The nose was nothing; its already stopped bleeding. My pride on the other hand…"

As the laughter carries around, Marcus interrupts them.

"…it will heal eventually." As Kitty turns to the bench, Marcus snags her arm. With a cordial smile he whispers: "Next time, I won't fall for that Rothrock kick."

Shrugging, Kitty pats his hand as she replies. "Next time I'll take off the kitty gloves."

Chuckling he turns to the weight room and disappears.

As Kitty dries her hair in the locker room, Margot exits the showers and sits next Kitty. Extracting her clothes from her locker, Margot sighs as she shakes her head.

"I'm not joking Kitty, if you weren't a computer genius, I'd had found some way to get you on my team. Mr. Stark was adamant that you were needed in his computer science division. You are unlike anyone I've ever sparred with. You have natural instincts you don't get with training alone. Do you want to meet up with me Saturday? Greg and Mia are renting a boat to go out and relax. I think Greg and Nathan will be fishing but the rest of us are just going to hang out and catch some rays."

Looking at her friend incredulously, Kitty shakes her head. "I don't think so; sounds like it will be really crowded."

Laughing, Margot pats Kitty's muscular forearm. "Honey, it's a boat by name, a yacht by design. You'll love it! Two people to a cabin and I'll give you a choice who you want to room with, except for Mia and Greg, of course."

With a long weekend discussing nerd science or computer games with her roommate, Kitty couldn't resist an excuse to sneak away. With underlying reluctance to go over water, Kitty swallows her fear and nods.

"Sure, I'm game."

Kitty gave up watching the boys fish from the back of the ship, after two hours. With boredom overcoming her, she finds her way to Margot's side. Clad in a black bikini, something that Elvira convinced her to purchase after they were going steady; it was a massive hurdle to become comfortable in her once boyish body. Having weathered puberty, her level of physical fitness ensured she had the body to wear the skimpy outfit, while never quite overfilling where most boys wanted to it. Content with her current measurements, Elvira boosted her self-confidence, and she wore the meek outfits with the pride her late lover instilled in her. With abs any guy would kill for, she ran five miles every couple of days, and spent hours keeping the pounds away in the gym.

Kitty hadn't been with anyone since Elvira had passed, and she couldn't deny the lingering pain of her absence striking against the overwhelming sorrow of loneliness. As the weeks became months, she passed through the eighteen month anniversary of her murder, counting the days until the two year mark. Lost in her thoughts, she misses Rochelle Hunter's direct question. Snapping her out of her doldrums, she blinks repeatedly realizing the previous question was directed to her.

"Huh?"

As the women break out laughing, the corporate operations executive repeats her question.

"I'm surprised you didn't hook up with Nathan or the new guy Markus. You really impressed him, and well I can't think of any woman who wouldn't want to share his company all weekend."

As the suppressed laughter stays at the front of the boat, Margot shakes her head before replying.

"Kitty has her reasons and I respect them; and that's why we're bunked up together."

Kitty takes a deep breath and injects herself into the conversation before Margot can continue.

"Thanks Margot, but I think I'm old enough to speak up for myself. I've been playing on the all-girl team for many years, and I still don't want to get back into the game just yet. My girlfriend died not too long ago and I just don't feel right to be with anyone just yet. I'm not against spending a weekend with Markus, I'm just against being with anyone, girl or guy, while she's still in my heart and head."

Feeling like a smear of crap on the bottom of a Louis Vuitton, Rochelle nods in approval, unable to word anything appropriate. Kitty stands abruptly and throws her towel over her shoulder.

"I'm going to take a little nap, Margot. I'm feeling a bit tired."

Nodding, Margot stares coldly at Rochelle while Kitty disappears down to the cabin. As she leaves, Rochelle curses herself and throws her sunglasses on, unwilling to meet the glares of the other people on the forward deck.

Kitty Pryde sits up in bed, and immediately scans her surroundings trying to discover the source of the overwhelming sense of danger. It wasn't that she was sensing danger per se, she interpreted something in the air wasn't right and it heightened her concern. Seeing her bed empty, she throws on a pair of cutoff jean shorts and t-shirt over her bikini, and puts on her tennis shoes. Striding onto the forward deck, she notes the majority of the occupants standing just outside the outer door. Sliding the door open, she carefully walks out to find Margot on her satellite phone. Following where everyone's eyes are drawn, she gasps when in the waning light of dusk she sees the spitting of gun fire around a supertanker. In three speed boats, the aggressors take pot shots at the armed crew above, while avoiding return fire.

As she watches the people on the ship fall dead either on the deck or overboard, Kitty growls her disdain for sitting back and watching.

"We've got to get in there and help."

Margot grins appreciatively, while Rochelle oozes her concern.

"Excuse me? This is not an armored troop carrier missy. Those things they are shooting will make our little boat sink faster than the Titanic."

As Nathan comes out from the ship, he instinctively whispers to Greg.

"All the interior lights are dead."

Kitty turns to ask, but Greg practically reads her mind and replies before she can speak it.

"I killed the running lights just after we passed into the shadow of the tanker when I heard the first shots. Probably why none of those boats are engaging us."

Margot slams her phone closed obviously disgruntled.

"SHIELD won't get involved because it's a matter for the Coast Guard, and they are over an hour out and we're in international waters, which they couldn't tell why that even mattered!"

Nathan emerges from below deck toting a pair of old model rifles and two slim green ammo cans. As Marcus starts to scoff at the fifty-year-old weapons, Greg stops him by raising a finger.

"Don't even. They fire 30 Gov't '06 which penetrates better than most common rounds, and are lethal in the right hands."

Slamming a magazine into the bottom of the rifle, he cycles the weapon and hands it to Margot. As Marcus begins to protest, Rochelle speaks instead.

"What are the rest of us to do?"

Shrugging, he lets the question go unanswered. Margot looks the weapon over and seethes at the group. "Get inside, stay low, and be prepared to jump ship if things go bad for us. Nathan, get to the bridge and stand by for more orders to follow."

As people disappear, Margot isn't surprised to see Kitty and Markus hanging back. Shaking her head comically, she mutters as she points to the top deck.

"Just stay low for now."

As the battle rages, they are amazed that the small boats haven't disengaged, until finally Markus points out a crewman on the tanker is toting an RPG launcher. In disbelief, they see a round shoot out and strike the water feet behind one of the boats. Though the boat crew survived, they were undoubtedly shaken. As they expect the boats to disperse, everyone shakes their heads as the boat speeds back in for another go. As Margot gets back onto the phone, Markus yells out to look. From the back of one of the boats, a large bulky man crouches down low to the deck and leaps up to catch the railing on the tanker's edge. With inordinate strength, he manages to flip his massive bulk over the edge with one arm and lands atop the tanker. As more gunfire erupts they see dozens of hapless guards launched over the rail into the ocean, most broken and contorted in agonizing ways. After a moment, the gangway ladder extends to the waiting boats who unload two more people. Boarding safely, they begin to methodically search the top deck. More screams erupt, frantic and pain-filled.

In an instant, Margot is back on the phone.

"Yah, it's me again! Just verified the attackers are meta-humans or supers. Now is it your problem? Copy."

Turning to Greg, she whispers despite the inordinate level of noise the attackers are making.

"On their way. ETA seventeen minutes."

Kitty shakes her head. "Seventeen? I guess they saw this might become their problem. You know they will be dug in by the time they arrive? Worse, if they take the bridge, that ship's radar will ping us big time."

As Greg opens his mouth to protest, he stops it half way and shakes his head. "Momma said there'd be days like this."

Throwing the rifle to Markus, Greg launches himself to the bridge and Margot leads them to the starboard-side of the yacht. Making a wide turn, they pull up behind the speedboat running alongside the tanker and Greg blasts the small ship with a powerful handheld high beam searchlight. With the other boats on the starboard side of the tanker, the single boat was their only worry. Over the loudspeaker Greg belches out his best authoritative voice.

"You are ordered to shut-off your engines and prepare to be boarded!"

Margot grabs Kitty and Markus's shoulders as she sees the driver reach for an object in his bag beside him. Pulling out an Uzi, he sprays the deck of the yacht with bullets shattering the bridge's windows. Margot pops up with the rifle in her shoulder and lets off a single shot before ducking back down. A moment later, the speedboat glides to the left and disappears into darkness out of control. Margot curses under her breath.

"I wanted that boat." Reaching a phone to the bridge, she tells Greg where to go so that they can board, and where to back off at until they give the all clear.

With astute precision, he brings the yacht alongside the lowered gangway and the three disappear up the path as Greg turns sharply into the night. Strewn on the deck, Kitty counts four carbine rifles and the headgear from three of the guards. Pausing to swipe one off the deck she sees a diamond pierced by an arrow emblem on the black cap. Handing it to Margot, she nods with understanding and tucks it into a cargo pocket in her shorts. Scooping up a rifle, she checks it out then hands it to Kitty. Kitty rolls her eyes and hands it to Markus as she takes the magazines from the remaining weapons.

A blood-curling scream erupts from above, as a crewman is thrown from the door next to the bridge. Landing with a grotesque thud, Kitty cringes hearing bones break as he slams into the deck fueling her anger. Unsure if her teammates can hear as well as she, Kitty discerns laughter coming from the bridge because of the man's fall. With no need to check for a pulse, they rush to ascend the stairs to reach the bridge in less than a minute. On a three-count, they burst in and surprise two of the armed men in the bridge. Dressed in grey coveralls, they stand out from the casually dressed tanker crew. One, obviously the leader spins around to take aim, only to drop as Markus puts a round in the man's chest. The second, having been slow on the draw wisely considers his options faster than his boss, and raises his hands. As one of the crew disarm him, Margot uses some handcuffs from her pocket to secure him to a pipe on the farthest wall. As the crew begin to thank them profusely, Margot silences them with the rise of one finger.

"Where's the rest of them? The big guy and his gang?"

The captain, after putting back on his hat, tugs his shirt back into place and spits at the dead man at his feet. That lot headed down to the cargo bay. Its sealed so they won't get very far. There's five of them plus another eight armed troops. If they aren't in black uniforms, they aren't with us."

Margot nods. "SHIELD is on their way, ETA about…"

Pausing to look at her watch, Margot misses the subtle flash of disdain the crew showed hearing her say shield.

"…eight minutes, give or take a couple. Do you have control of the ship now?"

The captain nods affirmatively, allowing her to continue.

"Excellent. Lock this up and wait for the cavalry to show. We're heading down to keep them from tearing up the place until SHIELD arrives."

With a dull nod, he resumes control and turns the ship directly towards the coast as the trio disappear down below. After several minutes of descent, Margot warns them to be quiet as three voices can be discerned talking a deck below. As they inch to the rail, they count six dead crewmen splayed out across the deck. Talking on a satellite phone, a black spandex-clad Asian woman berates the person on the other end, uncaring that the person on the other end of the phone was probably hearing her perfectly well.

"I have no fucking idea how SHIELD found out! Sounds like a leak on your end mister! Don't give me that! My team is being left to take the fall for your security issues! We did exactly as we were paid to do! We're standing right outside the hold, I just need you to send the chopper to haul it out! I don't give a rat's ass if they are in route to our position; then we will need extraction!"

Then a second muscled bruiser in a blue-black armor exclaims over the woman's voice. "We can punch through this but I'd like to know how much clearance we have to work with. I know that they don't want us smashing up their precious stolen cargo."

With a nod, Margot leads her team around to the next lower deck sending Markus and kitty one direction while comes from the other. Waiting for Margot, Kitty and Markus nervously wait as the seven remaining armed guards meander around the area waiting. On cue, Margot slips out from the corner while using the metal door frame as cover.

"FREEZE! Everyone throw the guns down and get onto the floor!"

Markus does the same as Margot, getting a wash of surprised expressions from the armed men. The woman, keeps her cool and snarls as she replies.

"Who in the hell are you two! We killed everyone else, and you weren't on the manifest!"

Margot eyes a guard subtly unslinging his rifle and fires one shot into his right shoulder dropping him to the deck.

"I'm giving the orders around here, now DROP!"

The Asian woman shakes her head in disbelief. "I can't believe our luck! Would someone waste these two already, or do I have to do everything myself?"

As she grabs the pistol hidden on her companion's back, Margot begins taking down the guards as they try to follow their leader's orders. As the room explodes in weapons fire, Kitty starts looking around for another option. Phasing as she passes in front of the door, she's sure two or three bullets passed through her before she got to the other side. Despite Markus's objections, she sticks her head out drawing more fire away from him. With fewer guns aiming at him, he manages to drop four of the armed guards, before tossing his first rifle and claiming the thrown down carbine from the top deck. As he tries finish off the guards, he watches as the huge men punch their fists through the steel bulkhead and pry the metal apart to make a small door.

As they leap through the hail of bullets to the next compartment, the woman in charge sneers as she launches herself towards Margot. Ignoring the bullets hitting her, she is just a dozen feet away when she gets to the wall. Despite Markus hitting her with round after round, she continues to Margot. As Margot drops an empty magazine, she yelps as the woman slashes through the metal wall and doorframe. With her shoulder nearly cleaved off, she shakes off the pain and blood loss to try and run away from the woman. Toting claws as long as her forearm from her fingers, she sneers as she overtakes Margot and throws her into the wall. With blood flowing from her wound, she falls to the deck waiting for her death. Lifting her up by the neck, the woman glares at Margot, knowing she was the last person she would ever see.

Drawing back her right arm, she lunges forward letting Margot fall towards her rising claws, only to have her claws cut at the empty air. Having blinked to keep her eyes being splashed by Margot's blood, she opens them a moment later in shock. Looking around frantically, she cannot understand what happened and exclaims: "What the hell? Did she just do an Obi Wan fucking Kenobi? That's fucked up!"

From inside the cargo bay, the big fat man yells at her. "Hey Yuriko! We're leaving! You coming or what?"

Shaking her head, she rushes into the hold trying to make sense of what just took place. As SHIELD agents secure the ship, they find Kitty binding Margot's wounds, desperate to save her friend's diminishing life.

In the massive central processor room of the hidden lunar base, a small shape carefully slinks in the shadows as the technicians toil at the banks of computer servers and storage bays. With almost all of the access doors open at every cabinet, the small shape finds its job made easy as they carelessly work at another part of the room. Stealing a glance over the panel door, he grins inwardly as the people are pulling their hair out tracking down the source of the faults plaguing their brand-new system. Installed no less than eight months prior, he quickly resumes his handy work by removing and reinstalling various replaceable processing cards in the cabinet. Using his small clawed hands, he easily slides the card from the slot and waits five seconds. Fighting back the laugh as the techs begin to scream out in frustration, as their faults moves to the rack the small creature resides, he quickly reinserts it and ducks back out of sight. Careful not to make any sounds, he patiently waits as a tech comes to his panel and begins looking over the diagnostic tablet in his hand.

Slowly learning the language, he didn't have a complete dictionary yet, but he was slowly beginning to follow their conversations. As he watches another tech come alongside the young female human, they shake their heads in frustration as the evidence of the failure was clearly displayed. As they find a stool to sit at the panel to work, a tall red-headed human woman enters displaying her anger and frustration to the roving malfunctions. Obviously of some notable authority, he watches as she receives the latest reports from a tall skinny male far below her rank or position. Wishing it could fully understand their conversations, he hopes all his attempts to warn them of the extreme danger brewing under their feet were understood.