The past cannot be cured.
Elizabeth I
***
Kitty didn't open her eyes as soon as she woke, instead indulging in the memory that she was no longer in that horrible lab. Hoping that it wasn't just a dream. Slowly she opened one eye at a time. It took a while for her to fully focus on her surroundings, but when she did she was truly happy to see Kurt sitting next to her bed.
"Hello stranger," she muttered softly, trying to sit up. He smiled and propped a pillow behind her back.
"Hello yourself." He replied.
"You've lost your accent." She said still softly.
"I've lost a lot of things." He said in the same soft voice, "But at least I got one of those things back… Well two…"
Kitty smiled and took in the rest of her surroundings. It was a small private room. Nothing really in it, except her bed, a desk, and the chair that Kurt was sitting on. "How long have I been asleep for?" She asked finally.
"A little less than two days. You'd physically exhausted yourself, and pretty much collapsed as Chase was about to examine you." He explained, rubbing his blue chin. "You have no idea how happy everyone is to see you here. We've been looking for you for 4 years."
"Four years," Kitty breathed out softly, as if she was testing the idea. "It never seemed like that long."
"It is. You've changed so much Kitty, you look so old." Kurt said sadly.
Kitty sighed, "I feel old…" She closed her eyes again, hoping to get rid of the overwhelming exhaustion. It didn't leave her, but she opened her eyes and ignored it. "How is Jean?"
"She's fine. She woke up yesterday, and has been hobbling round the complex for a while now."
"Complex? Where exactly are we?"
"Officially? This is the Residence of 'Millionaire' Marie Denver, but unofficially, this is our safe house. And our headquarters, for the biggest Mutant rebel organization in the whole of the United States."
"You've been working hard at this I see. Didn't waste any time."
"Yeah well, it was mainly Rogue and Logan, they're the leaders around here. After that night, the four of us that got out, Me, Rogue, Ororo and Logan and most of the new recruits, went to stay at the Brotherhood house for a while. Logan wasn't too happy about that, but we had no choice, because after they raided the house, they blew it up. Even the underground bits. We spent days trying to find where they'd taken you, but we couldn't find anything. When we found the body of the Professor. Rogue had a breakdown. A massive one, it made her lose control of her powers temporarily. Since then she's been able to use the powers of people she's absorbed, even if she hasn't absorbed them in a while. But I think she already told you that.
"She's never really been the same since, she went full force into starting up this organization. Because at the time, there was a lot of Anti Mutant terrorism going on. Somehow she managed to build this place. It's bigger than the mansion, and it has heaps more underground than it used too."
Kitty just listened to Kurt's story. Then when she thought he had finished she asked, "What about you?"
"What about me?" He looked her straight in the eye. His yellow eyes boring into her own brown ones.
"Why did you change?"
He stayed silent for a while, then said in the coldest voice she'd ever heard coming from his blue furry face. "Because about a month after the Mansion was attacked, they attacked the Brotherhood house. And I watched them kill my mother in cold blood, and I didn't even do anything to stop them."
Before she could respond, the door opened and Lance walked in. He smiled slightly at her. "You're awake," Kitty nodded and smiled. He turned to Kurt, "We have a briefing in the meeting room in 5. Kitty can come too, Jean is going to be there."
"Ok, thanks Lance." Kurt said softly. Lance nodded and walked back out. Kitty pulled back the covers to see that she was only wearing a long hospital gown. Kurt teleported out and back with some of Rogue's old clothes which she quickly changed into.
When she was ready, they began slowly walking to the meeting room.
***
The meeting room was very similar to the old dining room at the Mansion. A long oval table was in the middle of the room. People she knew and many that she didn't know were all seated at various places along the sides. At one end Rogue sat in the head chair, Logan sitting next to her, looking bored as usual. She spotted Lance and Todd next to each other, not far from the centre. Kurt sat down next to Logan and Kitty sat in the only other available seat, next to Jean and someone she hadn't met before.
Rogue smiled and began talking, "Glad we're all here. Nice to see you're awake Kitty." She said in her old southern voice. She started introducing Jean and Kitty to all the people they didn't know.
"These two yeh might know, we fought 'em once." She pointed to two men. One with red hair who was the other person sitting next to Kitty, and the other with shoulder length brown hair, and red eyes.
"Remy Lebeau, and St. John Allerdyce, also known as Gambit and Pyro. They used to be members of Magneto's Acolytes, but he's been missing for a while, and they've sided with us. Gambit can charge objects with a very reactive Kinetic energy, and Pyro is pyrokinetic… He can control fire." Remy smiled charmingly at the two new girls. Pyro however turned and held out his hand to Kitty
"Hey Kitty, Nice to meet you." His voice had a very distinctive Australian accent.
"You from Australia?" Kitty asked quietly.
"Yep, born in Sydney and raised in the fine city of Brisbane, Down Under." He smiled and winked at Kitty in a friendly way.
Next Rogue gestured to a blond haired man who was sitting at the other end of the table on a stool. Massive wings curled into his back. "You might remember Warren Worthington, or Angel. He was around when you were still with us." Kitty vaguely remembered Rogue and Scott telling her a story about Angel, who had saved Rogue one Christmas.
"And you've already met Chase. He can heal people, and is abnormally strong." The tall doctor nodded at them politely.
"Nice to meet you all," Kitty said smiling.
"Do you mind if we ask you both some questions about the past 4 years?" Rogue asked gently.
Kitty gave off an involuntary shudder, and Jean beside her let out a long harsh breath, "If you can't answer, we'll understand." Rogue said soothingly to her two friends.
"No it's ok." Jean said finally. Kitty nodding softly in agreement.
"Firstly, what happened the night you were captured?" Rogue said softly.
"I can't remember how they took us, I think it was some sort of drug, because I remember waking up in the back of a van, with Kitty, Evan and Mr McCoy. We rode in there for a while, then they opened the doors, and escorted Kitty and me into this holding cell sort of thing. We stayed there for a while, a few days at least, there was no window, so we couldn't see if it was day or night. Then they came for us." Jean paused for a little, then continued. "They took Kitty first. Probably because she looked smaller and younger. I can remember when she came back. I didn't even recognise her anymore. Then they took me, and left Kitty by herself to heal. They beat me and tortured me. Then they asked all these really strange questions about Professor Xavier. None of them made any sense, so I couldn't answer. That made them angry and they beat me more."
Jean paused again. Kitty took over. "They brought us back, and after another block of a few days or so, they moved us into the holding area. There were other Mutants there. We saw Evan and Mr McCoy there. They'd been through the same thing.
"It went on like that for a few months, I think, They'd beat us, do tests on us, torture us. Then leave us alone to heal. Then a few days ago, when we were in the holding cell again, this man who we'd never seen before came into the holding area. He took Evan away first. And then about an hour later, they brought back his body. They just dumped it in the middle of the room. And left it there. Then, they took some of the other people in there. This other girl around my age, well at least I think she was my age. They dumped her body on top of Evan's. Then they took Hank and the same thing happened with his body an hour later. They just did that until Jean and I were taken together. They put us in this room, told us to prey or 'whatever it was that us mutants did.' They left us alone and that's when we escaped. There was a window that we could reach, so we managed to get through it and jump out. That's when Jean busted her foot." Somehow Kitty had managed to keep talking even though there were tears streaming down her face in a steady flow.
Rogue offered her a box of tissues, which she graciously grabbed. "How did they stop you from using your powers?" Rose spoke up for the first time.
"When we woke up in the van we were wearing these collars. No one could use their powers while they were on." Jean explained quietly. "If you did, you sorta got this massive shock, and it gave you a massive headache for a few hours."
"Ok then, that's all we needed to know. Now you can ask us anything you want to know."
Jean asked first. "Where is Scott?"
Rogue visually tensed up, "We don't know. He went missing the night that you were taken; we had always thought that he was taken to wherever you were taken."
Kitty shook her head, "No, we never saw him at all, and I don't think Evan or Hank saw them." She paused silently before she asked the next question
"Why are you Marie Denver?"
"Have you heard about the Mutant Registration Act?" Rogue asked. Jean and Kitty didn't respond. "Well, basically it's a bill that congress is trying to pass that will mean that every single Mutant in America will be put on this list. And it'll mean that on our driver's license or ID it'll say if you are a mutant or not. As you can imagine that will cause much havoc. People will be ostracised and scapegoated all over America. "No Mutant" signs will be erected everywhere. Essentially what will happen is similar to what happened in Nazi Germany. Fanatical Non-Mutant groups will gain popularity and eventually we will be in the middle of a second Holocaust.
"So I have started making appearances as Marie Denver, a normal Human who is strongly opposed to this act. So far, we've managed to create a strong opposition to Senator McPherson. We've had several other Senators call us, and tell us what they are going to vote. Most of them have been good."
"You said Magneto was missing? Any idea where he is?" Jean asked.
This time it was Remy who spoke up. "I believe dat I can answer dat chère." His voice had a thick French accent. "After de mansion was blown up, he went lookin' for his ol' amis. We tink dat he went a bit crazy when he found out dat Xavier was dead. Haven't seen de ol' guy since."
"Though they had different views on the world, Mags and Xavier were actually real good mates. Like Brothers really. Me and Gambit think that he went into a recluse and eventually carked it after a few months." Pyro explained. "That little speedy runt, what was his name again? Oh yeah Pietro. He followed his dad, and he never came back either. Gift from up above that was… I mean, Mags was a nice bloke and all, but god he had a temper. And speedy runt? I wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire"
"What happened to everyone else? Ororo? All the New Recruits? Bobby, Amara, Jamie and Everyone else?" Kitty asked.
"Most of them are here actually. Working for us. Amara is actually our operative in Senator McPherson's office at the moment. Roberto and Ray were killed when the Mansion blew up. Rahne's parents took her home after the accident but we still keep in contact with her. But everyone else has been with us for a while. Jubilee Jamie and Bobby are finishing their schooling, but still train with us."
"And Ororo?" Kitty urged. Everyone was silent for a while, then Logan spoke up sadly.
"She died about a year ago. Killed in battle"
Kitty and Jean struggled to say anything to Logan's comment. However Todd broke the silence.
"Yo, we should show 'em the New Danger Room. They'd like that."
Kitty and Jean looked at Todd surprised. He had a grin that spread from ear to ear.
Rogue nodded. "Yes, it's about time we finish up with this meeting. I have to get to Boston by 3:00. You think you could show them everything Todd?"
He nodded and stood up. St John also stood and said, "I'll help the frog boy. Got nothing better to do."
With that, everybody stood up and left the room. Jean hobbling along on Crutches, her foot bandaged up.
"I thought Chase could heal…" Kitty said confused.
"He did, but there was some more muscle damage, that I got from using it while it was broken. He said it was a bit too complicated for him to fix. The bone is all healed up though, and I only have to spend about a week on these things.
"Yo we're all real happy you two are here," Todd said walking in front of Jean and Kitty.
"We're real happy to BE here Toad…" Kitty said smiling.
"You have no idea how much nicer the atmosphere is around here now." St John added. "You two have made the whole place so much brighter. And Rogue is much more relaxed now."
"She was relaxed?" Jean asked incredulously, following Todd into an elevator at the end of the hall. Kitty and St. John followed her inside, while Todd pressed the button reading 'sub floor 2.'
Todd nodded, "Yeah, she's been pretty uptight for a few years now. Ever since that night, she stopped the Gothic thing. She had a breakdown, then she just stopped one day, when we were out searching. It was like she couldn't be bothered anymore. She ran the whole way back to the Brotherhood house, and locked herself in her room. She stopped eating and lost heaps of weight then she got really sick. Plus her powers were being really wack.
"Then one day, Logan just got so pissed off at the fact that she just gave upthat he sliced open her door, and gave her a real mouthful. She came out of her room that night, and ate dinner with us. Ever since then, her and Logan have been real close. They never go anywhere without each other."
"Are they… you know?" Kitty asked as the elevator reached 'sub floor 2'
"An item?" St. John asked, "Hell no, Rogue has the hots for Remy, and visa versa. No… Logan is more of a best mate to her."
Kitty nodded and Jean smiled.
"Here we are…The new and improved Danger Room… Especially designed by Logan." Toad announced and pressed a button next to a door that automatically opened.
In front of him was a massive space. Bigger than the last danger room. Its walls were still metallic, though they weren't panelled like the last one. The walked inside, and stood in the middle and looked around.
There was no observation deck at the top of the room. And as soon as they were inside the door that they had entered through closed and basically disappeared. "Want a demo?" Pyro whispered into Kitty's ear. She nodded.
"Computer, begin Pyro's simulation 73 – Alpha," Pyro yelled out loud. The whole room shimmered and suddenly the ground underneath them moved and they were standing on grass. In front of them was a magnificent view of a river and the skyline of a city that Kitty didn't recognise. They were standing on what seemed like some cliffs, over looking the city. It was a beautiful view.
"Where are we?" Jean asked. Looking down at a small yacht that was sailing down stream.
"Technically, we're still in the Danger Room. But it's a simulation of my home city. Brisbane." Pyro explained, turning and looking wistfully at the passing cars on the road Kitty hadn't realised was behind them.
She bent down and touched the ground. It felt like soft dewy grass. Her hand even felt wet. "It's so realistic." Jean said amazed.
"Yeah, Logan did real well with the small things. He was very picky with the attention to detail." Todd said looking around. "This isn't all it does…
"Computer, Toad's exercise 4," Todd yelled out to the invisible computer.
The image around them shimmered again, and they were back in the metallic Danger Room. Todd warned them to stay in the middle. He then hopped towards the wall, when all of a sudden; blasters and guns popped out of the walls, and began shooting at Todd, who deftly avoided them by bouncing around the place. Pyro stood in the middle making sure that the two girls weren't in any danger, and a few times, he used his lighter and used the flame to create a fireball to direct a blast in another direction.
After about a minute of Toad's exercise, Pyro yelled out "End Sequence" And the whole room returned to its normal state.
"That is pretty cool." Kitty said in awe. "When do we get to try it out?"
Pyro shrugged, "We could make you up an exercise by the end of the week. You could try it then I suppose. Jean, you might not be able to try until your leg is fully healed."
She nodded and followed Toad who was now hopping away from the middle, and out the door that they came through. Kitty and Pyro made their way outside.
"Where did they get all the money to Build all this?" Jean asked, as they walked down the road.
"Well, some of it, was the Professor's, He willed it to Logan and Storm, since they were the two other adults in the house, and he knew that they would keep the school running with it if something should happen to him. Some of it Rogue got from Irene and Kurt inherited a lot from Mystique. When Warren joined, he alone brought in over a billion dollars. When it's all combined, it's a lot of money." Todd explained.
Pyro nodded, "We also have some contacts who are deeply involved in technological advances, so we often get state of the art equipment and technology before the public even knows about it. We have all sorts of fancy gadgets. Like the BlackBird II, the first one was destroyed when they destroyed the mansion."
"What happened to the rest of the Brotherhood Todd?" Jean asked, causing Todd to turn deathly white, and stop dead in his tracks.
He gulped, "You mean Wanda and Fred and Tabby?" He said hoarsely. Jean nodded slowly urging him to continue.
"Fred, he… he was injured in the Brotherhood fight. So was Tabby. They didn't make it to the Hospital. And Wanda, she got hit pretty bad…" Todd gulped slowly, as though he was holding back tears. "She stopped me from getting hit by a stray bullet. She was still alive by the time we got her to the hospital. But, when we got there… The doctors… they, refused to treat her, because she was a mutant…" A stray tear fell down his face. It was a very strange sight to see Todd crying.
"She died in the Hospital parking lot, In the back of Lance's Jeep. Rogue got pretty pissed off at the Hospital staff, and I think she zapped the doctor that refused Wanda's entry." Pyro explained softly, as Todd was unable to continue.
"Now you see why Rogue and the rest of us are so adamantly against the Mutant Registration Bill." Pyro explained softly to Kitty as Jean comforted Todd, Obviously using her telepathy to soothe his pain. "That was 4 years ago, when mutants were only just beginning to emerge. It wasn't legal then, and it still isn't, but people still do it. If it comes into action, this sort of thing will happen all over the state. There will be segregation. Hospitals for mutants and hospitals for humans."
"It'll be like the old segregation of Black people and White people. And I though America was the home of the free. What type of country will we be if we let this to happen again?" Jean said softly.
"I don't know, but it doesn't look good for the future." Pyro said softly, shaking his head, and heading down the hallway.
***
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters you recognise. They belong to Marvel. But I wished they belonged to me.
A/N: Hehehe… yay!! I got 18 reviews so far!! That's heaps!! :D Yay!! Yeah well, I gave you this nice long chapter for you lot to read. Hope you liked it. And if you did, leave a little review saying so. If you didn't, leave a little review saying so. If you think it could be better, leave a little review saying so, and what you think should be changed. All criticism is taken into account.
And a note to a reviewer whose name I can't remember right now, but I will eventually. The reason I added a new character instead of taking an old character from the comics, is that I didn't know any characters who have the ability to heal. However, you'll find in later chapters that other characters from the original series will pop up. I assure you :D
Yeah, So now you've read my ramblings, you can leave that little review I asked for. I review fics I read!! So it's only fair people do it back…:D