Cat Fight
Chapter Four: Sekhmet
"Did you see the look on her face? It was priceless!"
"I know, yo!"
Jas and Todd laughed, remembering how confused Kitty had been when she had been told that they were waiting for Jas, and not her.
"What's the matter, Lance?" asked Jas, noticing the strange look he was wearing.
"It's just - the X-Geeks aren't gonna like you hanging around with us."
Jas waved her hand dismissivly. "That's part of the fun. I mean, what girl doesn't hang out with a rebellious teenage guy at least once in her life." She grinned, baring two slightly-pointed teeth. "I just happen to be hanging with more than one, that's all." With that, she transformed into a cat, and leapt onto Freddy's lap. Her purrs could be heard by everyone as Freddy scratched her behind the ears.
Lance still seemed slightly worried. "I don't know what they're gonna do."
"Come on, Lance," Pietro replied. "Isn't it obvious? They're gonna worry about how we're corrupting this innocent girl, who obviously doesn't know the first thing about us, and then work out a plan to rescue her from us."
"Hole in one, yo!"
X X X
Pietro couldn't have been more right.
"I spoke to Jas, and she didn't seem like the kind of girl to hang with the Brotherhood," said Jean.
"She could just not know what they are," Xavier agreed.
"Or maybe she does."
"Are you saying she's a mutant?" asked Scott.
"That's exactly what I'm saying," replied Logan. "The Brotherhood would not take in some strange girl unless she could do something for them."
"Pietro might."
The laughter that followed this remark was cut short by Kitty running into the library where Xavier, Logan, Ororo, Jean and Scott were having their meeting.
"Professor! It's the Brotherhood!"
"What!" demanded Logan, immediately rising to his feet.
"They're here!"
Everybody except Professor Xavier leapt to their feet and ran out the door.
X X X"What are you doing here?" asked Shadowcat of the Brotherhood, as both teams stood facing each other on the sweeping lawns of the Xavier Institute, even though her question was mainly directed at Avalanche.
It was Quicksilver who retorted, "Still upset about this afternoon?"
Shadowcat shot him a look that could shatter a mirror into a thousand pieces.
"Maybe we should just get this over with, yo." Although normally such words would have, coming from Toad, have been said in fear, this time they carried a hint of anticipation, like some big surprise was about to be revealed.
"All right, then," Avalanche replied. "Quicksilver, if you would like to do the honours?"
Quicksilver needed no further prompting, and it was obvious that he was taking it all in his stride.
"Ladies and gentle-mutants! The Brotherhood of Mutants is proud to present its newest member, the one, the only. . . SEKHMET!" He gestured towards the treeline, as if this Sekhmet was about to make its debut from the trees.
"Is this some kind of joke?" demanded Wolverine. "'Cause if it is. . ." He trailed off as a pair of large yellow eyes appeared amongst the trees.
"Uh, guys?" The worry in Spyke's voice was obvious. "What is that?"
"Be careful what you say," Quicksilver warned. "She might just get. . . catty."
The Brotherhood began to roar with laughter.
"She? So it is Jasper!" exclaimed Jean.
"Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner! Now tell her what she's one, yo!"
Quicksilver dashed forward, and before Jean could react, he was leaning on her
shoulder. "Well, Jean, your prize is. . . this! Jasper Howard, come on out!"
There were several gasps of shock and surprise as a sleek black panther made its way out of the trees, stopping at Avalanche's side. He seemed quite unconcerned that this was a dangerous wild animal; he even scratched it behind the ears, and it closed its eyes with pleasure.
"That's Jasper Howard!" demanded Shadowcat. "But. . . how?"
"She used to be my pet cat," Blob said, as if that explained everything.
"And then she did this," Avalanche added, looking down at the panther.
The panther stepped forward, and began to change.
Fur began to recede, limb shrank and grew at the same time, the tail disappeared as though it was being sucked up by a vacuum cleaner. At some point during the transformation, the thing that was half-panther, half-human rose to stand on two legs, but it did not falter – even half-and-half, it retained the perfect balance of a cat.
The paws enlarged, and from each one four long slender fingers and one thumb appeared. The soft pink nose protruded into a human one, as the whiskers retreated. Pink lips appeared, forming a human mouth that smiled as if it knew a secret. The ears became pink and human, sliding down from the top to the side of the head. Pale gold eyelashes appeared above the yellow eyes, replacing the disappearing black fur. All over the body the black fur grew inwards, and it revealed pink skin, short gold hair the same colour as the eyebrows and lashes, and sleek black fabric which hugged the body like a second skin.
The last things to change were the eyes, from wild yellow to dazzling green. Actually, that was the second to last thing. The last thing to actually change was the pupil of the eyes, from slits to round human ones.
The transformation was complete. Where a black panther had stood, in its place was Jasper Howard – or rather, Sekhmet, as it seemed she was calling herself.
Sekhmet curled her lip back over her teeth, which retained a hint of fangs. "Meow," she said sarcastically, drawing out the word.
"You must be Jasper Howard," said Wolverine. "Or rather, Sekhmet."
"Who were you expecting? Puss in Boots?"
The Brotherhood boys laughed. "Now you know why we're keeping her around, yo."
"At least, not why Quicksilver is!"
Sekhmet laughed. "Please. I have some integrity, you know. Although," she appeared thoughtful, "if I'm thinking of having cheetah cubs, I'll have to give you a call, Quicksilver."
"And that's why we might not keep her around, yo. Talk like that!"
"Sorry." Sekhmet looked down at the ground. Then she looked up.
"What's with the name Sekhmet?" asked Spyke.
"Well, Catwoman was already taken," Avalanche said.
"I don't wanna be sued for that. Stop that, you perve!" That last comment was aimed at Quicksilver. "Stop picturing me in that outfit and with that whip!" She turned to Avalanche and the others. "Can you take him anywhere?" Avalanche shook his head.
Sekhmet mimicked the motion. "I swear, he's worse than a tomcat surrounded by an army of female cats on heat!"
Everyone, X-Men and Brotherhood included, just stared. Sekhmet just waved the stares away. "Sorry, just speaking from personal experience."
There was a chorus of 'ew' and 'gross' and other disgusted noises from the teenagers. Even Storm and Wolverine seemed disturbed by her Sekhmet's comment.
"Again, sorry."
"So what were you saying about the name?" Nightcrawler asked, as there had been no real answer to Spyke asking the question earlier. Before the train of thought had been. . . diverted.
"Oh, right. Silly me, blonde as I am." She smiled her lazy, catlike snarl of a smile before continuing. "Sekhmet was an Egyptian goddess. The goddess of war and strife." She smile/snarled at Cyclops. "You and I have something in common, Cyclops. Oh, they told me about all of you: Cyclops, whose gift is also his curse; Jean-Grey-the-mutant-without-a-name; Shadowcat – Avalanche couldn't stop talking about you; Nightcrawler – Guten Tag; Spyke, who has a long history of rivalry with the only person here who can beat me in a sprint; Rogue, my predecessor as the sole female member of the Brotherhood; and the adults, Wolverine and Storm. How'd I do?"
"An A plus," Cyclops replied grimly.
"Nice to know that there is someone with a brain on the Brotherhood side," added Rogue.
"There was something else about the goddess Sekhmet that I forgot to mention," she said, cutting off the X-Men's laughter. "She was often represented as a lioness, or a woman with the head of a lioness."
Shadowcat laughed. "Now it makes sense!"
"There was something else that the boys told me," Sekhmet added. "They said that you guys have a little rivalry with my boys." There was nodding. "Well, let me tell you a little something about me. Just like Sekhmet, there is a little bit of a lioness in me, as well as every other cat you can think of, and the lioness is part of the pride – which she will fight to protect." She held out her hands, and bent her legs slightly, in the smallest of crouches. "And, like it or not, the Brotherhood is now my pride."
That was when she went into a cat-like leap/pounce, claws extended.