Present Day
Florida
"Katherine."
There were only two people on the planet who called her Katherine. And Kitty knew without a doubt it wasn't her father standing in the doorway ten feet behind her. She lifted her eyes from her computer screen, setting aside the screwdriver she'd been holding.
"Victor."
He looked mad as hell framed in the doorway.
"I don't know if I should kiss you or kill you."
Kitty didn't reply.
"Get over here."
"I need ten more minutes-"
"Are you listening to me?" Victor demanded quietly. "I said- get the fuck over here."
Kitty crossed the distance between them with measured steps, heart pounding against her ribs. Victor's eyes studied every inch of her. From her bruised cheek, and to her split lip, down to her busted arm. There were two felled soldiers in the corner of the room, clearly the cause of Kitty's current state.
"You look like hell."
"Serves me right for running half way around the country without you."
Victor grumbled something about wise ass women being the death of him.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Victor demanded when she finally came to a stop in front of him.
Kitty tilted her head to one side, the end of her pony tail slipping over her shoulder to brush her cheek.
"I was thinking of you, and all those times you told me I was unstoppable. With my powers or without them," she replied calmly. "So I came out here to save the world. Because you told me I could do it."
Victor scrubbed a hand over his face, "In the future, remind me to keep my mouth shut."
"Unless that was all bullshit."
His expression turned fierce, "Don't."
Kitty shrugged a shoulder, wincing when it shifted her makeshift sling, "Either I'm wonder woman, or I'm not. There is no in-between."
Victor let out a groan of defeat, pulling her to his chest, careful of her arm, and said against her lips, "I've told you before and I'll tell you again, Katherine. You're one helluva woman."
He kissed her sweetly, his mouth whispering over her bruised lip. Kitty sagged against his chest, allowing herself ten seconds of weakness in his arms.
"Victor."
He lifted his head, eyes on her face, "We need to get out of here."
She squirmed, wincing when the motion strained her shoulder.
"And who the fuck is on the operating table down the hall," Victor suddenly demanded.
"Me," Kitty replied. "Well, sort of me."
"Start talking," Victor growled.
"We interrupted the last of Sinister's experiments in Louisiana, so he brought them along," Kitty replied. "There were three mutants he'd yet to have his hands on, one of them was Emma Frost."
Victor's brow lifted, "Frost is here?"
"Yes, and she let Hank-"
He couldn't help but let out a low laugh, "You teamed up with the White Queen?"
Kitty let out a sigh, "Are you going to let me explain, or not?"
Victor held up his hands in mock surrender, keeping his mouth firmly shut as she continued.
"Emma created an alternative Kitty."
"There's two of you walking around this place?"
"Was," Kitty replied. "I think Sinister finally killed the other Kitty."
Victor squeezed his eyes shut, trying to erase the image of Kitty's prone form on the operating table from his mind. Trying to forget the feel of her unfamiliar skin against his palms as he looked down at familiar face.
"I held you," he said, teeth clenched tight enough to crack.
Kitty's good arm lifted, "It wasn't me, Victor."
He released a growl, the muscles in his jaw working under the strain of his rage.
"Please-"
"Keep talking," he finally growled.
Kitty dropped her hand from his arm, tone business-like, "Emma's been keeping up with the projection, while I've been destroying the X-genes Sinister has collected."
"What's Emma getting out of all of this?" Victor asked, knowing all too well Emma Frost did nothing without selfish gain.
"Bringing down Sinister, and getting out of here alive," Kitty replied.
"How are you bringing down Sinister, little kitten," he said quietly.
Kitty reached back, pulling the silvery inhibitor cuff into view, "We need to get this onto Sinister."
Victor's brow lifted, "How."
"Hank shared some of Emma's DNA with me-"
"That fucking-"
Kitty held up a hand, stopping Victor's explosion mid-sentence.
"If I use her diamond-form I can approach Sinister, untouchable, and get the cuff on him."
"You think he'll let you get that close?"
"Why wouldn't he?" Kitty said. "He won't be expecting me, or for me to have Emma's powers. He'll think I'm an easy target."
"You will be an easy target," Victor growled. "The cuff will mute your powers-"
Kitty shook her head, "Emma's diamond-form is invincible."
"The cuff-"
Kitty gestured behind her, "That's what I've been doing."
He lifted his brow, waiting.
"I've been concentrating the cuff's power so it doesn't effect the mutant holding it."
Victor looked unconvinced.
"We can't leave until this is finished," Kitty said, tone brooking no argument, her plan fully on the table.
Victor's expression darkened.
"This is the last facility Stryker established for Sinister," Kitty continued. "The first two were only stopping points to get here. There is no next time, Victor. If Sinister leaves today, we'll be fighting a very different battle."
His expression shifted, annoyed by the truth in her prediction.
"This ends today, or we risk losing humans and mutants to Sinister," she said quietly. "Are you willing to take that chance?"
"What's so different about this facility?" Victor finally demanded, scrubbing a hand over his face.
"The New York and Louisiana locations were focused on mutant harvesting, this one has been dedicated to filling Sinister up with only the best of the harvested mutations," Kitty replied. "I thought-"
She shook her head, disappointed.
"What?" Victor demanded.
"Remy and I thought he'd been foolish enough to use your mutation on himself," she said. "Your healing factor would have undone all of the other genetic modifications and restored him to his usual mutant self."
"But?" Victor prompted.
"He's only been using it on his men," Kitty said. "He must have known how powerful your healing factor really is."
"So now what?" Victor demanded.
Her expression betrayed more than a touch of surprise, "You mean it?"
"If all of this goes to hell, I'm carrying you out of here kicking and screaming," Victor warned.
Kitty smirked, "You're not carrying me anywhere."
Victor opened his mouth to reply but she interrupted him, hand phasing through his chest.
"Your powers-"
"Hank shared some of your mutation with me once we arrived at the facility," Kitty said. "It fixed whatever block Sinister placed on my x-gene."
"You've had a busy twelve hours, baby."
She looked radiant, hand halfway through his chest, so certain that victory was equally within her grasp. Hank had equipped her with Victor's mutation upon arriving at the facility. He'd gotten his hands on some of Sinister's more serious equipment, procured after Emma had projected a soldier into the space Hank's large, blue body normally occupied.
Kitty's powers were quick to return once Victor's healing factor had undone whatever trick Sinister had played on her DNA. She couldn't help but smile, her powers were back, and to hell if she'd forfeit them again.
"Where is Hank?"
"After he administered Emma's mutation I asked him to wait for me outside the walls of the facility," Kitty replied. "This way one of us would be alive to tell the others everything going on in this place."
Victor let out a low growl, "He left you here?"
"He did what was best for the team," Kitty replied stiffly.
He turned, running both hands through his hair, furious. The sounds of booted feet coming down the hallway interrupted his frustration.
"We need to get moving," Kitty said, slipping away from him to pack up her computer and toolkit.
"You said you needed ten more minutes-"
"This can wait."
"What can wait?"
Kitty snapped her laptop shut and stuffed it into her knapsack ignoring his question. She stowed the cuff carefully in her pack, shifting her back to Victor so he couldn't see the protective case she was sealing it within. She placed a hand on his arm, leading him into intagability and through the nearest wall, "Come on-"
