Chapter Two
Kate went through the school day with ease. Math and chemistry came easily because of her previous studying. At the end of the day she found Kurt. He had been talking to Principal Darkholme.
"What was bugging you at breakfast?" Kate asked him. "Is there something wrong with Mystique and you?"
"Oh, yeah. There's some thing major wrong with Mystique and I. Rogue, too. Mystique is my mother. She abandoned me when I a baby. She adopted Rogue when Rogue was four. She said she's sorry, but some things can NEVER be forgiven." Kurt said scornfully.
"Oh, gosh Kurt, I'm so sorry. How did you find out?" Kate said.
"Rogue started having dreams after she absorbed Mystiques memories. In the dreams, Mystique was running from Magneto and some wolves. A wolf got to her and she-she dropped me into a" he paused, grimacing, "A river. After the Professor investigated, I got a message telling me to be at a construction sight at sunset. I went and Mystique showed herself to me and called me son. I demanded she tell me what went on. Then the brotherhood decided to butt in right then, so Mystique had to go away."
"Well, there's Jean. She's taking me back to the mansion." Kate said, seeing the convertible pull up.
"Meet you there." Kurt said, and ported away.
Kate got into the car, and Jean headed towered the mansion. On the way there Scott said, "Today is your first training session in the danger room. When we get there the Professor will explain what you're going to do. My first session was to shoot targets Jean fired at me."
"And my first session was to fire targets at Scott." Jean said, smiling at the memory.
When they reached the mansion, the Professor was there with a uniform for Kate. It was dark blue with yellow gloves and black boots. It had red Xs on the shoulder pads, belt buckle and knee pads. It was skin tight to allow better morphing. Kate changed, and then headed down to the danger room. The illusion was that of a warehouse.
"The object of this session is to get past the guards without setting off the alarm and save the hostage, Kurt." Xavier's voice said over the intercom. "Go."
The room grew dark, and Kate started towered the warehouse door. Suddenly a guard rounded the corner. Kate crouched in a shadow, and when the guard passed, she morphed an Andalite. Kate started to sneak up on him, when suddenly he turned. The flat of Kate's tail blade met his head, and he went down. Kate demorphed and silently continued around the building. She was able to come up behind the guard pacing in front of the door. A swift movement of an Andalite blade and the guard was unconscious and the door open.
Continuing down the stairs, Kate met up with one more guard locking a door. This one saw her and pulled out his nightstick. Kate morphed a gorilla and blocked the blow from the stick. Then she reached up and conked him on the head. Night night She said, and turned towered the door. She morphed a roach and crawled under.
When she demorphed and stood up, she saw Kurt chained to a pole, gagged, and unconscious. An Andalite tail wouldn't be able to cut the metal, so she morphed a Hork Bajir. Kneeling down, she was about to cut the chain when Kurt woke up and saw her. He started to scream, but Kate placed a hand over his mouth and said Shhhh, it's your rescue party and cut the chain.
Kurt stood, undid his gag, then grabbed Kate' hand. He teleported them up to where Xavier was waiting, in a room attached to the ceiling of the danger room. Storm, Cyclops, and a bug tough looking guy were there, holding ice packs to their heads.
"Geez, what happened to you three?" Kate said.
"We were the guards, kid." The guy answered. "I'm Wolverine."
"What's your p-" Kate had been about to say "power" when Wolverine popped three long metal claws out of each hand. Kate looked at them, amazed.
"I can heal myself, too. Good thing I can, or my head would still be throbbing. I wasn't born with the claws. I can thank SHIELD for them." Wolverine said.
Kate wanted to ask him about SHIELD, but decided to ask Kitty, or Kurt. "Sorry if I hurt anyone. I just did what I had to do to complete the session," She said.
"Yes, and you did it well." Xavier said. "You have perfect control over you morphing, and what the creatures you morph do. As I understand it, when you morph you have the animals instincts in your mind, correct?"
"Yeah, but Hork Bajir are simple creatures, and Andalites are remarkably like us. It's rodents that propose a problem. It's always run, run, run." Kate said.
"Well, we'll train you to easily overcome the instincts of all the animals you can morph. Your next session will be Saturday, with Logan. There's a dance on Friday, otherwise your session would be Friday. Go get some dinner. We cooked this time. Spaghetti." Scott said. "C'mon"
Going down to dinner, Kate was thinking of the thoughtful way Xavier had looked at her in the briefing room. Why had he been so intent in his gaze?
She'd worry about it later. Right now she was focusing on homework and food. Spaghetti. She had NEVER had decent spaghetti. She'd only had cheep stuff at the orphanage. She ate, finished her homework, and then went into her bedroom to read.
As she settled down, she suddenly heard "Hey" from above her. She looked up and saw Kitty's head coming down through her ceiling.
"Ahhhhh!" Kate screamed, startled, and fell off the bed. "Nice entrance. Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Come on down."
"Sorry I scared you so badly" Said Kitty, coming all the way through the floor and landing on Kate's bed.
"It's okay. I startle VERY easily. Just a thing I have. But I'm not stressed. I'm just terribly, terribly alert." Kate said, getting up and sitting next to Kitty.
"I just wanted to ask you something I've asked almost everyone here. Is it really so bad if I like Lance, even if he works for Mystique?" Kitty said.
"No, just so long as he treats daily life and combat like two different worlds. So, tell me more about whose working for Mystique."
"Oh, alright. Well, there's Lance. He can make the earth beneath him shake, and his nickname is Avalanche. Then there's Todd, who can jump like a toad and has a long green tongue with slime like one, too. We just call him Toad. Pietro, or Qicksilver, has superhuman speed, Fred, or Blob, is HUGE, but it's mostly muscle. Last, there's Wanda, Pietro's sister. She's telepath to the extreme. She s her father for leaving her at an institute for crazy people, but he had to leave her. Her powers were too out of control."
"Yeah, but who is her father?" Kate asked, curious.
"Magneto." Kitty said simply.
"WHAT!!" Kate yelled, nearly falling off the bed again.
"Yes. I'm sure he regrets leaving her every day. Anyway, Todd has this thing for Wanda. It's funny."
"Yeah, I saw Todd trying to flirt with her. She sucker punched him into a locker." Kate said, laughing. "I also talked a little with Todd. He seems to joke a lot. He's got social issues in my opinion."
"Hey, speaking of dating, I saw that guy chemistry, Nik, looking over at you the whole time. I think he's going to ask you to the dance."
"Why? No one knows me, I just got here."
Kitty and Kate talked until 9:30, and then Kate tossed Kitty back up through the floor to her bedroom. She fell asleep relatively quickly.
Then next day, when Kate got out of bed, she stepped on something hard.
"Oh, crud! My inducer!!" She picked it up and put it on. Looking at herself in the mirror, she noticed that her tail showed. She tucked it into her jeans and hoped it would stay there.
At school, just after her last class, chemistry, the guy Kitty had called Nik came up to her. She leaned against the locker to make sure he wouldn't see her tail.
"Hey." She said, casually.
"You, um, wanna go to, er, the dance on F-Friday with me?" He said, embarrassed. "I know you just got here but-."
"Hold on. I have to pack my homework." Kate said, and bent down to reach the backpack in her bottom locker.
From behind her she heard "Uh, Kate?" in a shocked voice from Nik. Straitening up, she felt her tail brush her leg. It had slipped out of her jeans when she bent down. Luckily, all the other students accept Kitty and Kurt were out of the hall.
"If you want to find another to ask to the dance, you can." She said, her eyes downcast.
"No. No. I understand. You're one of those mutants. I know some normal people, and some fight against them for us, but that's all I know." Nik said quickly. "I never knew we had mutants at Bayville, though."
"Yeah, we do. I'm one of them. I have to wear a thing called and inducer. This is what I look like." She took her inducer off.
"KATE!" Kitty and Kurt both yelled, and started to run towered her.
"What are you thinking? He's not supposed to see you!" Kurt yelled.
"Kurt! It's fine. He actually understands mutants. He's going to the dance with me." Kate said, as calmly as she could, though she could feel herself getting red in the face.
"So that's a yes?" Nik said.
"Of course, Nik. This is Kitty, and this is Kurt. They live at Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters. I nicknamed it Mutant High."
"Hey, nice choice." She said to Nik.
"Hi. Kitty's just that way. I have to live with her, too." Kurt said. "I need an inducer, too. See." He took his inducer off.
"Cool. What do you guys do?" Nik asked.
Suddenly, Kurt teleported over his shoulder, Kitty stuck her hand through a locker door, and Kate turned into a cat. She then demorphed.
"Nothing much." Kate said, smiling coyly. "So, can you drive?"
"Yeah. I'm in tenth grade. I'll pick you up at six on Friday and we'll go get a pizza. Where do you live?" Nik said, grinning. Kitty and Kurt had ported on home.
"I'll walk you there. You can meet Professor Xavier."
"Kate? Are you coming to the mansion?" Jean said, coming inside the front doors.
"Huh. Yeah. Can you lead Nik to where the mansion is? He's taking me to the dance." Kate said, smiling.
Jean smiled back and said "Sure, c'mon Nik."
After Nik had seen the mansion and assured Kate that he would pay for the pizza, he drove home. Smiling like she'd just gotten a million dollars, Kate went to get dinner. As soon as she entered the dining room, a cry of "Kate's got a date!" rang out. It was Kitty, trying to make her blush.
"Yes, yes I do." Kate said without missing a beat.
"With whom?" Ask Xavier from at the end of the table, a smile on his face.
"A guy named Nik. He's nice. He knows about the mutant sides, too. He'd really like to meet you on Friday night. He'll come pick me up." Kate said, "Oh, by the way, could you fix my inducer? I ally stepped on it, and my tail doesn't go away."
"I'll get to it as soon as I possibly can. There is an extra in Kurt's room if you need it." He said kindly, so Kate would know he wasn't mad at her.
Kate ate her dinner, and started to walk to her room. She passed Xavier's room on the way, and as she passed, she heard Storm's voice issuing from the room.
"Charles, you need to tell her." She said, testily.
"Yes, yes. I know. I just need time; I'll tell her tomorrow." He said, wearily.
"If you don't tell her soon, than I will, Charles." She said, and Kate heard her move towered the door. Kate ran down the hall and out of sight so she wouldn't be found eaves dropping.
Lying in bed, Kate wondered whom Storm and Xavier were talking about. She pondered until she fell asleep.
After school the next day, Kate was reading out on her balcony when she looked up and saw Xavier wheeling towered the park down the street. Kate morphed a hawk and flew down to join him. She landed on the sidewalk in front of his wheelchair and demorphed.
"Hi, Professor!" she said. "Can I come with you?"
Ignoring the grammatical error, Xavier said "Sure you can. I'm just going to the park. It's a favorite place of mine."
It's one of my favorite places, too. Only, I spend time climbing with other squirrels. They're very fun animals."
"I just go for peace, quiet and pondering." Xavier said, smiling.
They soon reached the park, and Kate was about to start climbing trees when she saw an all to familiar face at the far side of the playground.
"Professor, I'd go back. We've got company, and her name is Mystique." Kate said, warningly.
"I can't. My wheelchair controls ore being blocked." He said, fiddling with the controls.
"By what?"
Suddenly, a menacing voice rang out, saying "By me, child. Hello again Charles."
Kate whirled around. A caped figure in a helmet was floating a few feet off the ground. She didn't have a clue who the guy was. She just hoped he wouldn't put up too much of a fight.
Mystique had draw close enough to be within earshot. "Hello, Magneto." She said, smiling cruelly.