Same old.
Kitty padded down the stone steps from her room into the Shadow Force living room. It was several hours after they had gotten back from the failed rescue, and the rest were asleep. But Kitty couldn't sleep, she kept thinking about Kurt, the laptop, and what had happened after Lance called a retreat. She remembered phasing through everything with Lance and the laptop, until they reached the car that was hidden outside...
*flashback *
"Quick!" Lance yelled as they ran towards the hidden car, gunshots rang behind them but they were almost there. The car was quiet, no one else was there yet. Lance leapt into the front seat, Kitty got into the passenger side.
"Where's Toad?" Lance asked to no one in particular, craning his neck around to look at the military prison while turning on the car. Kitty pushed a button on her comlink watch, "Come in Toad, where are you?"
"Toad here, I'm comin', roll down the back window."
"Why?" Kitty asked, pushing the button that would roll down the back window. Toad's feet swung through the window, followed by the rest of him. He landed neatly on the seat.
"You ok? Any injuries?" Lance asked Toad.
"Oh a couple close calls," Toad said, holding up his hand and spreading his fingers, revealing a bullet sized hole in one of his webs, "But nothing too serious."
"That's good." Lance hit the gas and the wheels squealed beneath them as the car shot out of its hiding place towards the front of the building.
"Where are we going?!" Kitty was forced to shout over the noise of the roaring engine, crunching bushes they were razing through, and pursuing gunshots. "What about like, Gambit and Hydra?"
"We're going to give them a pickup, buckle your seatbelts, we're gonna rock!" Lance replied as he swerved around a metal pole. Toad and Kitty hurriedly put their seatbelts on right before Lance sent a tremor through the ground to knock an obstructing military car out of the way and screamed around a corner, through the destroyed gates, and past the unmoving guards on two wheels.
"After all these years, Rockhead still uses those lousy rock puns!" Toad said, looking a little greener than usual.
"Be quiet and show some respect for your leader, Frogger; besides, I like my rock puns!"
Kitty giggled, despite the fact that she felt her stomach had just flown through the roof. Things had changed dramatically in ten years, but Lance was still handsome and adorable, at least she thought so. The car screeched to a halt, just as Gambit and Hydra ran out of the building. Gambit was flinging cards behind him, leaving a wake of destruction. With every brilliant explosion of each card a guard fell. Gambit didn't aim to kill, but he made sure his blows were devastating enough so the fallen wouldn't be a threat to them. Hydra was a different sight completely. Her pointer and middle finger and her thumb had elongated and grown long curving claws, which flashed with lethal sharpness. Kitty couldn't see this but her pupils had changed into harsh slits, and her tongue had become black and forked, like a serpent's. As she ran she looked behind her and breathed. Her breath came out thick, almost like mist but not, almost seeable but not, and hung in the air like wisps of semi-visible silk. When the running guards hit her clouds of breath they fell to the floor choking and gasping, and soon lay still.
"Are they..?" Kitty asked.
"Hydra has two types of poison breath: one lethal, one temporarily paralyzing. She doesn't have very good control over it though, so who can say?" Toad answered.
"Well I'm sure _they_ can tell." Lance said grimly.
Gambit and Hydra reached the car. Gambit threw the extra charged card he was holding, and Hydra pulled a special cloth over her mouth, so she wouldn't poison her own team. The drive home was a silent one, except for when Lance explained how they had broken in the cell, only to find a laptop: an old fashioned one at that! It took a while before Hydra was able to calm down enough so her transformation would go away, and she turned back to normal breath and all. When they had reached the secret garage to the cave, everyone else had tended their minor injuries and went to bed, being too exhausted and disappointed to investigate the laptop for tomorrow..
So that's how Kitty ended up sitting by herself in the middle of the night in front of a loading laptop screen in the living room of a secret underground cave base.
"Wow, there's still plenty of battery charge!" She thought to herself. The screen lit up, the desktop had a boring gray background and only one icon: a W with a lightning bolt through it. Kitty's heart skipped a beat with excitement as she moved the mouse and double clicked on the icon.
"Password please." Said the screen.
"Drat!" she said quietly. There was no way she was going to guess the password! She was just going to have to hack it. After hours and hours of tedious computer hacking work (Which I have the grand total of 0 clue about) she finally, triumphantly, hacked into the file.
Immediately the computer started to shake violently and emit electric bolts from nowhere. Kitty phased through the couch she was sitting on and peeked up over its back. The computer was jumping around on the table making crackling sounds as waves of energy and light ran around inside it like some hyperactive poltergeist. The whole frame of the computer lit up and white light spilled through the cracks, throwing sharp dancing shadows around the room, much like a constantly moving strobe light would.
Lance was the first to start sprinting downstairs, he took the stairs 3 at a time. Toad was the first to reach the downstairs, he had taken the stairs 15 at a time (which was the whole staircase). At the bottom Lance and Toad narrowly avoided a collision before they both dived behind the couch where Kitty was. Gambit and Hydra weren't far behind.
"What did you." Lance began but suddenly the computer stopped. It sat there still and quiet like it had never moved at all. Its stillness was short lived; a huge white bolt suddenly shot out of the screen and onto the floor. The energy detached from the computer and stood there independently. The energy concentrated, lost its glow, and took a flesh and blood form. There stood a man in a white lab coat, glasses, and what would be described as a very nerdy appearance.
"Hello" he said in a nasal voice before fainting to the floor.
Kitty padded down the stone steps from her room into the Shadow Force living room. It was several hours after they had gotten back from the failed rescue, and the rest were asleep. But Kitty couldn't sleep, she kept thinking about Kurt, the laptop, and what had happened after Lance called a retreat. She remembered phasing through everything with Lance and the laptop, until they reached the car that was hidden outside...
*flashback *
"Quick!" Lance yelled as they ran towards the hidden car, gunshots rang behind them but they were almost there. The car was quiet, no one else was there yet. Lance leapt into the front seat, Kitty got into the passenger side.
"Where's Toad?" Lance asked to no one in particular, craning his neck around to look at the military prison while turning on the car. Kitty pushed a button on her comlink watch, "Come in Toad, where are you?"
"Toad here, I'm comin', roll down the back window."
"Why?" Kitty asked, pushing the button that would roll down the back window. Toad's feet swung through the window, followed by the rest of him. He landed neatly on the seat.
"You ok? Any injuries?" Lance asked Toad.
"Oh a couple close calls," Toad said, holding up his hand and spreading his fingers, revealing a bullet sized hole in one of his webs, "But nothing too serious."
"That's good." Lance hit the gas and the wheels squealed beneath them as the car shot out of its hiding place towards the front of the building.
"Where are we going?!" Kitty was forced to shout over the noise of the roaring engine, crunching bushes they were razing through, and pursuing gunshots. "What about like, Gambit and Hydra?"
"We're going to give them a pickup, buckle your seatbelts, we're gonna rock!" Lance replied as he swerved around a metal pole. Toad and Kitty hurriedly put their seatbelts on right before Lance sent a tremor through the ground to knock an obstructing military car out of the way and screamed around a corner, through the destroyed gates, and past the unmoving guards on two wheels.
"After all these years, Rockhead still uses those lousy rock puns!" Toad said, looking a little greener than usual.
"Be quiet and show some respect for your leader, Frogger; besides, I like my rock puns!"
Kitty giggled, despite the fact that she felt her stomach had just flown through the roof. Things had changed dramatically in ten years, but Lance was still handsome and adorable, at least she thought so. The car screeched to a halt, just as Gambit and Hydra ran out of the building. Gambit was flinging cards behind him, leaving a wake of destruction. With every brilliant explosion of each card a guard fell. Gambit didn't aim to kill, but he made sure his blows were devastating enough so the fallen wouldn't be a threat to them. Hydra was a different sight completely. Her pointer and middle finger and her thumb had elongated and grown long curving claws, which flashed with lethal sharpness. Kitty couldn't see this but her pupils had changed into harsh slits, and her tongue had become black and forked, like a serpent's. As she ran she looked behind her and breathed. Her breath came out thick, almost like mist but not, almost seeable but not, and hung in the air like wisps of semi-visible silk. When the running guards hit her clouds of breath they fell to the floor choking and gasping, and soon lay still.
"Are they..?" Kitty asked.
"Hydra has two types of poison breath: one lethal, one temporarily paralyzing. She doesn't have very good control over it though, so who can say?" Toad answered.
"Well I'm sure _they_ can tell." Lance said grimly.
Gambit and Hydra reached the car. Gambit threw the extra charged card he was holding, and Hydra pulled a special cloth over her mouth, so she wouldn't poison her own team. The drive home was a silent one, except for when Lance explained how they had broken in the cell, only to find a laptop: an old fashioned one at that! It took a while before Hydra was able to calm down enough so her transformation would go away, and she turned back to normal breath and all. When they had reached the secret garage to the cave, everyone else had tended their minor injuries and went to bed, being too exhausted and disappointed to investigate the laptop for tomorrow..
So that's how Kitty ended up sitting by herself in the middle of the night in front of a loading laptop screen in the living room of a secret underground cave base.
"Wow, there's still plenty of battery charge!" She thought to herself. The screen lit up, the desktop had a boring gray background and only one icon: a W with a lightning bolt through it. Kitty's heart skipped a beat with excitement as she moved the mouse and double clicked on the icon.
"Password please." Said the screen.
"Drat!" she said quietly. There was no way she was going to guess the password! She was just going to have to hack it. After hours and hours of tedious computer hacking work (Which I have the grand total of 0 clue about) she finally, triumphantly, hacked into the file.
Immediately the computer started to shake violently and emit electric bolts from nowhere. Kitty phased through the couch she was sitting on and peeked up over its back. The computer was jumping around on the table making crackling sounds as waves of energy and light ran around inside it like some hyperactive poltergeist. The whole frame of the computer lit up and white light spilled through the cracks, throwing sharp dancing shadows around the room, much like a constantly moving strobe light would.
Lance was the first to start sprinting downstairs, he took the stairs 3 at a time. Toad was the first to reach the downstairs, he had taken the stairs 15 at a time (which was the whole staircase). At the bottom Lance and Toad narrowly avoided a collision before they both dived behind the couch where Kitty was. Gambit and Hydra weren't far behind.
"What did you." Lance began but suddenly the computer stopped. It sat there still and quiet like it had never moved at all. Its stillness was short lived; a huge white bolt suddenly shot out of the screen and onto the floor. The energy detached from the computer and stood there independently. The energy concentrated, lost its glow, and took a flesh and blood form. There stood a man in a white lab coat, glasses, and what would be described as a very nerdy appearance.
"Hello" he said in a nasal voice before fainting to the floor.