9

The smell of aged leather, furniture polish, and a hint of dust assailed Kat's sensitive nostrils as she sat in a red leather wingback chair in the corner of Professor X's office.

Professor X sat behind his desk having a quiet conversation with an obviously pissed off Scott and a much calmer Logan. She chuckled. That's a switch. She thought. Even with her sensitive hearing, the majority of the conversation was beyond her scope of eavesdropping, although she did manage to pick up on a word or two, mainly from Scott. "Irresponsible" was a favorite of his.

Every time Scott would use that word, he'd gesture in her direction, but, eager as she was to jump into the verbal fray, she clasped her hands across her stomach, crossed her legs and let her twitching tail be the only indication of her temperament.

Professor X finally held up a hand to Scott's protestations and looked at Kat.

"I apologize, Kat, for not including you in these discussions, especially considering that they concern you." He gestured for her to approach.

She stood and rubbed her hands on her thighs. She hated sweaty palms. She looked down at her thighs and made a mental note to take a shower later to remove the sweat from her fur, and to get some clothes. She can't run around in nothing but fur forever.

She stood between Logan and Scott and faced Professor X.

"I realize that you've been through a lot, and, according to Logan, you want to stay. But, for me to grant you permission to remain, you have to tell me everything. Why you left, why you want to stay this time, everything." He held up his hand when Scott opened his mouth. "Now, as I'm sure you've gathered, Scott is not at all pleased about the method of your return. So let's start with that. Why is it that when we picked you up in Tennessee, you did not identify yourself? At the very least to me."

"Well, I believed that keeping my true identity secret from Naturess would protect her from Sabertooth."

"But, it di…" Scott said.

"It didn't." Kat said cutting him off like he didn't exist. "I realize the flaw to my plan now. But, you have to understand. Shortly before I left, I received a mental distress call from Naturess. And that is why I left. To save her. I did not immediately return, because of the way I left."

Five years earlier….

"Kat, pay attention!" Scott called out.

Kat whipped her head around and jumped to one side as a man bearing a M-16 fired at her. If she'd been half a second slower, she'd've been cut in half. She launched herself at the man, changing herself into a half-cat half-woman creation. Her weight knocked the man down and she knocked him out with a single punch to the jaw. Damn Scott and his 'No Killing' order. She thought as she looked down at the unconscious man.

She looked around for her next target and saw her fluttering above the battle. WarAngel looked down at the line where her troops met the X-Men in battle. Kat ran toward her and launched herself into the air. She caught hold of WarAngel's boot with her teeth and began clawing up her leg, trying to bring her to ground. She ignored the bite of WarAngel's whip and fist.

Suddenly, an image exploded in her head. She saw, through someone else's eyes, a dozen men running toward her.

"Get that mutie freak." One yelled.

"Your kind ain't welcome here." Yelled another.

Dear God, someone please help me. Kat heard inside her mind. She dropped from her attack on WarAngel and ran from the battlefield.

"Kat, where in hell are you going, girl?" Yelled Logan as he sliced the barrel off of another machine gun.

She ignored him and disappeared into the night.

"Yeah, well, two things. One: we already knew all of that, and two) that almost got several of your so-called teammates ki…" Scott began.

Professor X held up his hand to stop Scott. "Please continue Kat."

Kat completed her transformation into her panther form and started running through the woods towards the distress signal. She was almost there when a familiar scent caught her attention. She came to a halt. Logan had left the battle too, this time under orders from Cyclops, to stop her.

"What the hell are you doing? You don't just up and leave your team in the middle of a battle."

"Logan, you don't understand, there is something I need to do. I'm coming back as soon as I can."

"Don't think so, we all have orders to follow and you're breaking them."

"Like you're one to lecture about following orders." Kat snarled.

Suddenly, it happened again. An image hit her, this time the men were right there, she saw feet and fists closing in on her. "Please help me!"

"Damn it, Logan, I'm running out of time." Kat said, emphatically, as she tried to maintain her balance. That last one almost knocked her over.

Logan was getting pissed. "No! My orders are to bring you back. Look, I'll drag your ass back if I have to, don't make me."

Kat hung her head. She owed her life to Logan, and here she was, going against everything he'd taught her.

"Logan, damn it, this is something I have to do."

"We're a team, Kat. And I'm not talking about the X-Men here. I'm talking about you and me. You can't just run off and do your own thing, kid, you gotta stay where I can protect you."

Logan was just about to boil over, and didn't immediately realize what he'd said. Kat, knowing that she had to go, didn't waste the time to call him on it. Another image assailed her. This one was of a man with a very large knife. She had to go. Now!

"I'm sorry, Logan, but I can't go back just yet, and there's no way I'm letting you drag me back."

Like a flash of lightning, Kat charged Logan, spun 360 degrees and smacked him in the stomach with her tail sending him flying several yards through the air into a tree trunk. Before he hit the ground, she was off and running through the trees.

Up to this point Logan was nodding in confirmation.

"My ribs were sore for a week after that." Logan grunted.

Professor X nodded for Kat to continue.

She knew she didn't have far to run, she could smell them even from where she was standing with Logan. In mid-stride she shrunk from the size of a black panther to the size of a black tabby and crept through the shadows. She peered around a tree and counted eight men surrounding a small, young woman. She'd been beaten, apparently, with an inch of her life. But the men had stopped and watched as one gripped the young woman's hair and held a 12-inch hunting knife to her throat.

The tree Kat was behind was a large oak. She took advantage of the tree's size to shapeshift back to her panther size. Using her claws she climbed the trunk and maneuvered around until she was above the group. With a roar, she dropped down onto the man with the knife. Using her tail, she knocked a couple of the men away and her claws she chased the rest away. Kat turned to face the young child.

The girl stared at her, fear and anxiety apparent in both her eyes and her scent.

Are you ok?

"Whoa are you talking to me?" The girl was beginning to lose her fear and nervousness, gaining confidence in equal parts. "Either I'm going crazy, or I got hit on the head harder than I thought."

I heard your cry for help and felt compelled to come running.

"You are talking to me!" The girl had completely overcome her fear by this point. "I still think I'm crazy."

Kat chuckled. No. You're not crazy. I am talking to you. She touched the side of the girl's head with her tail. Up here.

Kat went around and sniffed the men that lay around the tree trunk. The thought that was running through her mind, she kept to herself. Shit! What have I done! Two of these men are dead, Yeah, they're bad men, doing something almost inhuman, but as an X-Man, I'm under orders not to kill. Man, I'm in deep kimche. Kat sat still as an ebony statue. She could practically hear her world come crashing down around her ears. Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her neck.

"Thank you for rescuing me. I don't know why they did this to me. I never did anything to them." The girl started to cry. "Why do people hate people like me?"

Kat turned and wrapped a paw around the girl and squeezed slightly. In her current form this was the closest she could get to a hug.

That's because they fear what they don't understand. It's the nature of people. She looked around, testing the air. We can't stay here for long. Those rednecks will be back with reinforcements and nice healthy dose of whiskey.

"I can't walk." The girl whimpered.

Kat looked down at the girl's legs. She was right, she had a bad gash in one thigh and the other knee was a swollen mass of skin and muscle sharing its coloration with a bruised plum.

Can you climb on my back? She lay down onto her belly.

"I think so." The girl maneuvered herself onto Kat's back, keeping her arms wrapped around her neck. "Who are you?"

Kat gut up and began moving away into the forest.

Call me Baku.

Kat looked in the direction of the X-Men. She knew she couldn't go home now. She'd broken too many rules, disobeyed too many orders. After what she'd done, the only one who'd accept her back, maybe, was Logan. She continued winding her way through the trees. Besides, she thought to herself, staying at the mansion keeps me on Sabertooth's radar. Not exactly how I want to live the rest of my life.

The silence that followed Kat's tale was almost absolute as each of the men reacted in their own manner to what she had said.

Professor X stared intently at Kat over steepled fingers, Scott's jaw dropped, and Logan was barely maintaining his calm.

"If you had told me that you were saving someone's life, I'd've been there for you and to hell with Scott." Logan said quietly.

"Which is why I didn't tell you. I'm okay with being on the outs with the X-Men, but I couldn't force you into that decision." Kat explained.

"If you had come back afterward, we would've understood." Scott said, his authorative tone retuning.

"I broke one of the basic tenants of the X-Men. I killed." Kat explained.

"So has Logan, but we've accepted him back."

"Good point, however, I did not realize that at the time." Kat looked back at Professor X. "Sir?"

Professor X looked at Scott and Logan. "Gentlemen, if you'll excuse us. I have matters to discuss with our wayward X-Man."

They nodded and left, but not before Logan put his hand on Kat's shoulder and gently squeezed.

Outside the professor's office, Scott and Logan ran into Tommy.

"What's going on?" Tommy asked. "Is she in trouble?"

"We'll find out when Chuck's done with her." Logan said, lighting a cigar. He ignored Scott's look of disgust. "I believe I owe you a beer." He clapped Tommy on the shoulder. "C'mon."

"Sorry, Logan," Tommy said. "I don't drink."

"Fine." Logan smiled. "More for me."

"Not that I'm turning you down, but I can't go to a bar looking like this." He indicated his wings and the wisps of fire dancing on his skin.

"We've got just the thing." He led Tommy to the elevator. After they stepped inside, Logan pressed the button for the Sub-basement.

"Ok, what?" Tommy asked.

"An old invention of Hank's. One that has served him well in the past. Him and Kurt." Logan led him from the elevator and into Hank's laboratory. "Hey, Hank." Logan said.

Tommy saw that the blue furred X-Man was hanging upside down by his toes.

"Ahh, salutations, Logan and Firebat." Hank said as he flipped off the bar he'd been hanging from and landed nimbly on his feet. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Fire-boy here needs an Image Inducer."

"Can't do better than the classics." Hank smiled as he walked over to a wall of metal lockers. His feline-like finger danced a complex series of routines on a number keypad and a door opened. He rummaged around the interior and pulled out a metal circle. "Here we go." He turned with a smile. "Firebat, this is for you. Consider it a," he waved his hand around a little, "welcome to the team gift."

Tommy was staring intently at the chalkboard. "You're calculations are a little off."

Hank walked over to the chalkboard. "Well, the board's upside down." He spun the board around. "Try it this way."

Tommy's eyes widened. "You're right." He said. "Their way off." He picked up a piece of chalk and the eraser. "The coefficient of this figure here is way off." He erased the mistake and chalked in the proper answer.

"You understand multi-dimensional quantum physics?" Hank asked, surprised.

Tommy just stepped back and looked at the board. "Apparently." He wasn't sure who was more surprised, Hank or he, himself.

Tommy took the metal circle and placed it around his neck. Logan touched a button on the device and gone was the mutant looking Firebat replaced by a man of Caucasian persuasion with long brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard wearing a black leather trench coat, faded blue jeans and red flannel shirt.

"Thanks, Hank." Logan said as he led Tommy out of the lab. He clapped Tommy on the back. "I've never seen Hank flabbergasted into silence before." He chuckled.

"I can see why you may not have wanted to return," Professor X said, motioning Kat into a chair. "However, even after everything that you went through, Scott and Logan both are correct, you should have returned. You were a member of the team. And like any team in the world, from the Cub Scouts to the X-Men, every member is important." Kat opened her mouth to interject, but Professor X held up a hand. "Thankfully we prevailed that night, WarAngel fled with a few members of her organization, you tore up her leg bad enough that she couldn't finish what she started. But, because of the way you left, both Cyclops and Psylocke were shot. I understand that it was due to no fault of your own, believe me. But several months afterward, Logan lead a manhunt looking for you." He commanded his chair to rise and move over the desk. He set down behind Kat. "Now, as part of the condition for you to remain here, I have to examine your psychic shield. I've never felt one so complete, outside my own of course. And I will trust you not to use it while here. I may have need to contact you at any time. If you use your shield, you won't hear me. I will counsel you to use it around your most private thoughts, but not your entire mental process."

Kat turned her chair around so that she was facing him.

Please show me your psi-shield. Bring it up slowly.

Kat brought the shield up slowly. When it was in place, Professor X closed his eyes to study it.

Thank you, please keep it in place for a few seconds. And I must apologize this will hurt.

Suddenly, Kat was hit with a mental backlash. She let out an inadvertent squeal. She resisted the urge to massage her temples. Her brain felt like it had been hit with a mental tractor-trailer traveling at 75 miles per hour. She tumbled out of her chair and landed on the front of Xavier's chair. He helped her to steady herself as she pushed herself up and slumped back into the chair. The mental backlash hit her harder than even Charles had anticipated and she felt weaker than at any other time in her life. After about a minute she felt her strength returning, the headache on the other hand never left.

"Are you alright?" Charles asked. Kat nodded. He touched a button on his chair. "Ororo, please come to my office, and bring some aspirin."

"Right away, Charles." Storm replied.

Charles moved his chair over to his non-alcoholic mini-bar against one wall of his office and poured a glass of water. As he was handing it to Kat, Ororo entered the room. He noticed that, as with all his X-Men, as soon as she'd returned from her last mission she'd changed from her uniform of skin tight silver bordered in yellow into work boots, tight blue jeans, light flannel shirt, with her long white hair pulled back into a pony tail.

"Here you go, child." Ororo said kneeling next to Kat hand handing her a couple.

Kat nodded her thanks as she popped the pills into her mouth and chased them with a drink of water.

"Kat has agreed to stay with us," Charles said. "Conditionally."

"Conditionally?"

"Yes. She's under probation, and she's under your guardianship."

"Under probation for how long?"

"Until you deem otherwise."

"Understood." She turned back toward Kat. "Let's go get you settled into your room." She said, helping Kat stand.