Off Balance
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Chapter Three – The Hospital
"Professor!" Rogue hit the door several times. "Professor! Please!"
After a minute the professor came out in his wheel chair. "Rogue… what is it?" He asked, confused.
"It's Kitty – she's in tha hospital, and they say she might not survive her injuries. They don't know what happened." Rogue said, almost hysterical.
The professor didn't hesitate. "Wake the others – Scott, Jean, Kurt, Logan, Hank and Ororo, and I suppose Bobby – as quickly as you can. Tell them to get dressed – we're leaving in five minutes."
Rogue nodded and raced off. She pounded on the closest person's door – Scott. "Scott, get up!" She shouted. A bleary Scott opened the door. "What's the matter Rogue?"
"Kitty's in the hospital. We're heading there in five minutes – get dressed." She said, running off and knocking on Jean's door.
In four minutes they were all at the door. Rogue was last, pulling on her gloves as she raced through the mansion. They got into the x-van, and drove off quickly.
"So Rogue… what exactly happened?" The professor asked her as she shivered in the car, looking out onto the road.
"Ah told you, ah don't really know." She said, concentrating on her words. "They just rung, and asked if there was a girl on our team with brown hair and could fall through beds. I said yes, that was Kitty, and they said that she was in the hospital with terrible injuries and they said that they weren't sure if she was going to survive."
"Kurt, didn't you say she was with Alverz?" Scott said suddenly, turning to Kurt (who wasn't wearing the hologram, in case you were curious).
"That's vhat she told me." Kurt nodded.
Logan growled. "Then for his sake, he'd better be in the hospital too because they'd been attacked by someone."
Bobby nodded. "Yeah. If he's the reason that she's in hospital…" He trailed off.
"That doesn't make sense." Jean shook her head. "Lance did care about Kitty – you just had to look at him to see it. No-one's that good an actor – well, Lance isn't."
Professor X nodded. "We shouldn't judge anyone until we've figured out the facts of the matter."
"We're here." Storm announced as they pulled into the hospital. Everyone piled out, shivering in the early early morning air. The x-men walked into the hospital.
"Excuse me." The professor went up to the desk, Storm pushing the wheelchair. "Could you please tell us where we could find Katherine Pryde?"
The secretary typed into the computer. "I'm sorry, but we don't have any record of that name." She shrugged.
"What about a mutant named Kitty?" Jean asked, stepping forwards. "Do you have any mutants with the ability to walk through walls here?"
The secretary frowned, and then hesitated, her blonde hair sliding over her glasses. "You're the mutants?" She asked, biting her lip. She hesitated, and then typed in the words 'mutant' and 'Kitty'.
"Actually, yes. We do have that mutant here. She's in surgery now, but you're welcome to wait. We'll tell you if any thing pops up." She gestured to the waiting area.
Everyone but Scott took a seat. A woman with a toddler playing on the blocks glanced over, saw Hank and Kurt, gathered that they were mutants and collected her son, pulling him further away. "Let's see if Granny can see you now." She murmured as they left.
"Is it just me, or do we meet a weird amount of women with young children who pick up their kid and yank them away from us?" Bobby asked, glancing over at her.
"Miss, I was wondering if someone else was admitted with Kitty." Scott said. The woman looked back up from the computer.
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to be more specific."
"Um, he's about seventeen I think. He's sorta… uh… well, his clothes are always torn, I think he brushes his hair once a week, and he generally makes earthquakes."
The woman typed in a few words. "I'm sorry, but I don't think any other mutant has been admitted here recently. I don't think at all, actually. But I'm sure you'll find your friend soon."
"He's not our friend. He's… well, he might be the reason that Kitty is in the hospital in the first place." Scott shrugged and walked into the waiting room with the others.
Bobby sipped at his drink of water. "How long has she been in there?" He asked the room.
Kurt was lying upside down on the seat, his head over the seat of the rest. He glanced automatically at his wrist, but he wasn't wearing his watch.
"Half an hour." Jean answered, shivering. So much could go wrong in that time… what if she didn't make it?
"You know," Rogue said, lying back against her seat, "I've decided that if Lance can't come up with a good explanation as to why he and Kitty went out together and only Kitty is in the hospital, Ah am going to slap him without my gloves on."
"Vhat would you classify a good explanation?" Kurt asked, grabbing the arm rest and pulling himself up from the fallen over position.
"Ah dunno… maybe someone attacked them, pushed Kitty off the cliff and kidnapped Lance?"
Jean looked over at Rogue. "What if it was an accident?"
"And he didn't realise that she was dying?" Rogue retorted.
Jean shrugged, but before she could say anything a doctor walked in. They all glanced up as he asked "Are you the family of Kitty Pryde?"
"Yep." Bobby nodded. "We're not related, but we're her family."
"She's more stable now."
There were a few whispers of 'thank goodness' and 'yes' but everyone waited to hear more.
"But there's still no guarantee. It's just more likely that she'll survive. She cracked two ribs – neither of which punctured a lung –, her left arm was broken, her right leg broke in two places, mild hypothermia and a minor concussion. I think she had a heavy fall – but I also think that she knew how to protect her more important parts? Assuming she survives the next forty eight hours or so, there ought to be no lasting damage."
"Thank you." Kurt whispered softly, looking up.
"Can we see her?" Hank asked.
"Yes, but she's in a coma. If she wakes up, try not to distress her by asking what happened. Hopefully any mental trauma will be temporary."
The X-Men walked into the room with the doctor in the lead. He gestured to the bed that Kitty was in.
Kurt gasped, Rogue clasped her hand to her mouth, Bobby froze (no pun intended), most of the colour drained from Scott's face, Jean rubbed a tear out of her eye, Storm whispered 'no', Logan blinked, Hank shook his head sadly and the professor just stared.
Kitty was lying on the bed with her hair spread out beside her. There was no blanket over her, revealing cuts and bruises all over. Her shirt was torn and there was slices through her pants, leaving dark gashes. Her arm and leg were in casts and already huge purple bruises were blossoming up all over her body.
She was barely recognisable.
"Alverz." Scott muttered softly. "I am going to kill you."
This time, Jean didn't object. Even if it was just for a moment, seeing Kitty like this, so fragile and delicate, made her almost wish that Scott wasn't being metaphorical.