She had discovered long ago that traveling as a cat made life easier. No one looked twice at a little black-and-white housecat wandering the streets of a suburban neighborhood, no one cared if that cat sat on the fence of a particular house looking in the window and watching the people within for hours. People did however look twice at a young woman with a face full of piercings and a black trenchcoat (evidence of her teenage years that she'd never quite had the heart to get rid of). They whispered and questioned if that same young woman spent too long stopped on the sidewalk or perched in a front yard not her own. Things like that couldn't be afforded in her line of work. Second glances got you recognized from the news footage.
It felt uncomfortable being on a level with people's feet, ducking and dodging out of the way of teenage boys on skateboards and occasionally having her tail stepped on. But it was the only acceptable form she could manage. A panther would get shot as soon as looked at walking down a street. So she raced across another street, barely avoiding being run over, and dashed up the driveway of the house she had spent the past month staking out.
There was a perfect spot on their back fence where she could see into the room of a young teenage boy, the one she was supposed to be watching. A few years ago it might have made her feel dirty to look into his room, to watch his daily life. Now it was just business, just another day in the life of a mutant terrorist. Watching acne-faced teenage boys was definitely not what she had signed on for when offered the gig, but it got her a place to sleep and the bills paid along with the mass amounts of food needed to fuel her mutation. She never asked how, she honestly didn't want to know where the old man got the money.
The kid was running late that day, she knew because she had been watching the front gates of his highschool and walked behind him most of the way home. It was all too easy to stay unnoticed in the shadows, he never paid much attention to his surroundings. She almost felt bad for him. If she had any intentions of kill him it would have been disgustingly easy. Someday that would get him killed, the easy targets always went first, especially when they were such dangerous mutants.
She settled on the back fence as comfortably as was possible, cursing Magneto again for sending her. While it was easy for her to watch him it was not at all glamorous, exciting, or comfortable. She would be half asleep by the time he got home no doubt. And she was.
When the light in the small room she had spent the past hour staring into finally flipped on she shook out of her trance, eyes suddenly sharp and interested. If the boy followed his usual schedule he would collapse on the bed for half an hour and shoot bolts of light (energy of some sort, even Magneto wasn't sure what) at the ceiling, then get up and play video games. At which point it was safe for her to go through the dog door in the kitchen (as long as no one else was home) and pick her way through the mess of a house to his bedroom.
He did follow his schedule, she watched the distorted colored light dance through the window until he stopped and sat up. That was her cue. She jumped easily from the fence, landing gracefully in the garden and picking her way through the bushes. The dog door was heavy and frequently stuck, though the hundred pound German Sheppard the boy's brother kept had no trouble leaping through it to chase after her.
As it had been every day for the past week, his door was slightly open. She dashed through and pushed her weight against it, slamming it shut in the massive dog's face. She hated that animal. Dogs had never been her cup of tea, even as a child long before her powers manifested. They were big and loud and messy. Cats were small, quiet, and graceful. You didn't need to bathe them every week because they'd rolled in something, they cleaned themselves. It was only appropriate that her favorite form was one.
The boy looked up, smiling when he spotted her still tense form. "The puppy bothering you again?" He asked teasingly. That thing was no puppy. It was huge. "Come 'ere." He patted the bed beside him, picking up an xbox controller in the same motion.
Obediently she jumped up onto the bed and collapsed beside him, back pressed against his thigh. A hand stroked through her soft fur and she purred, more for his benefit than out of any actual enjoyment of the feeling. "It's been a long day, Sweetheart." If she was in human form she would have laughed, he had no idea.
After a moment the annoying sound of a fake rifle began. She didn't tense as she had the first few days, used to it now. Simply tried to shut it out, ignore it, rather than scan the room for a threat that didn't exist. "You can only stay for an hour today." The boy murmured, as though he actually expected the cat to understand and completely unaware that she did. "My mom's getting home early," His mother was allergic to cats and unaware that he hid one in his room most days. "to help me pack."
The reminder of his upcoming departure was a reminder that she needed to do her job fast. Get into the boy's affections so that he would take her along for the trip, to the Xavier Institute. No one would question a boy's pet wandering the halls. She could listen to everything and retrieve necessary information, track their moves. If she was careful. If she wasn't caught by an amateur telepath. If…too many ifs. But it was her job to deal with situations full of 'if's and 'maybe's that could get her killed. She was used to it. Or at least that was what she told herself.
"I don't know what I'm going to do with you. I can't just leave you here alone, there's no one to take care of you." The boy mumbled to himself, stroking a hand briefly through her fur before going back to the game.
Take me with you. It was more emotion than thought, carefully implanted in his mind to feel as though it was his own idea. She had been doing the same thing for days now, constructing emotions and ideas in his mind and layering them into something like attachment too deep to be ignored. You can take care of me yourself if you take me with you.
"I don't know if they allow animals there or I'd take you." Ask. "I'll ask them when they come to pick me up." Content with the sincerity rolling off the boy she turned over and curled closer to his leg. It was naptime, she wouldn't get another chance to sleep until the next morning while he was in school.
Yes, I do realize that I have yet to mention her name. It is the same girl from the last chapter. Three people have this this story on alert, and only one has reviewed. Please review people!