Kat closed her eyes and tried to remember the tricks Uncle X had taught her to drained her emotions from her memories.
She took a deep breath and tried to turn away from them. It didn't help to remember that he couldn't hurt her anymore. That just brought up another nightmare.
No, no, no. She wouldn't go there. She wasn't going to pull all that up.
She fed her determination on the anger. Opening her eyes, she turned to Kindle, her jaw set, ready to deal with the disappearance of Cyclops.
The door to the tarmac opened. He walked through, the all too real human that haunted her, even after all these years. "Who the hell are you?"
Kat froze.
An instant before Kindle's fireball exploded in his face, he faded, leaving behind a stranger.
The man standing beside him flew into the room, landing hard on a crate. Cyclops stepped out of the darkness, his hand on his visor control.
"Where have you been, mate?" Kindle said, fire still sparkling in his hand.
Cyclops looked embarrassed for a moment before he pulled himself together, "Checking the perimeter. These are the last of them. But a plane just took off."
"Bloody wonderful," Kindle shook his head and made a quick fist, putting out the last of the fire.
The earpiece in Kat's ear crackled and Alex's voice came through, "Lynx, come in. Do you read me? This is Cam, please respond."
"I'm reading you Cam, where are you?"
"I'm on the plane and there's a bit of a problem."
"And that would be?"
"I want to change our destination but the autopilot is asking for a password."
Kat's dismay must have shown on her face, because Kindle asked, "What now?"
"Alex is on the plane. I need a computer. Now."
"There is one on the second floor," Gambit said, than gestured towards the main entrance, "The stairway is over there."
As she ran for the stairs she heard Cyclops ask, "Does that mean the plane is under control."
"I don't know, mate. I just don't know."
Kat took the stairs two at a time. When she got to the top she groaned. Gambit's blast damage had taken out the operators chair as well as the screen. A body lay against one wall. Years of Alex's teaching made her move to the body. A quick check found that he was unconscious, but alive. Sighing in relief, she moved back to the keyboard, and prayed the computer was in better shape.
Leaning over, she rested her fingers on the keys. She was instantly sucked into the computer world.
Cam, she thought, sending it through her hookup with Alex, I'm in their system.
She did a quick look around, easily finding the password, but she hesitated to give it to Alex. She went in deeper.
Shit, she thought, Cam, their tracing the plane, if I let you change destinations they'll know, and probably be waiting for you.
"They'll be waiting for us if we don't change it."
Give me a minute, I'll see what I can do.
Kat when in deeper, then branched out onto the remote network. It took her a few minutes, but she found what she was looking for. She started spinning out code, like a spider did web, quickly becoming lost in her work.
"Lynx?"
Almost done. She worked a few more minutes before opening her eyes.
OK, I've duplicated the plane in the Air Control computer, I'll leave the dummy to fly to the original destination. The bad guys won't know it's not real until they can't get visual comf. I've given you a new flight number and origin point. So, where are we headed this evening?
"XSY."
As in X-ray Sierra Yankee?
"Or Xavier School Youngsters."
Ahh.
LeAnna sat back and watched as Charles played her cards, the warm weight of Syrus leaning on her leg. It was an odd habit, playing cards with her elders. But as long as she could remember, at night, they had always played cards. When she was younger, it had been Go Fish and Old Maid. Now they played Crib, Harts, Spades, Poker, and tonight Bridge. And since her partner had one the bid, at the moment she didn't have to play.
Charles won the first trick.
"Serves me right for playing against a Telepath," Maranda said over her cards.
Charles smiled, "You know that I don't cheat."
"Of course not," she said, "You just make effective use of your abilities."
Charles just smiled and shook his head.
"Your team is not without its own advantages," LeAnna said, leaning back in her chair.
"Oh?"
"You have Trish."
"Are you implying I cheat?" Trisha said, doing a very good job of looking down her nose at LeAnna.
"Aren't you the one who is always saying you can't control when your going to get a flash, that you can concentrate to bring one, but they can pop up any time?"
"True," Trisha conceded, as she laid down a trump and won the second trick.
"But a flash of a hand of cards won't do me much good if I don't know who's going to get it, or when. It could be tonight, it could have been last night, or it could be a week from now."
"Party pooper," LeAnna said. Trisha laughed.
Syrus wined beside her. She automatically reached out and ran her hand over his head. He just wined louder.
"Syrus," LeAnna said, warningly.
He butted her hand with his head and whimpered. LeAnna scratched behind his ears.
"Is anything wrong?" Charles asked.
"No," LeAnna said, "He just doesn't like it when Mom and Peter are both gone."
"Oh?"
"Alex and Peter are the pack alphas," Maranda said.
Charles looked more confused.
"Pack hierarchy," Trisha supplied, "Alex and Peter are the leaders of the pack-"
"Peter will be glad that you think so," Maranda broke in.
"And Syrus is a bodyguard, or enforcer," Trisha continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "specifically assigned to this very valuable pack mate, who of course can't defend herself."
"Thanks a lot," LeAnna said.
"Your welcome."
"And the pack leaders absence makes him uneasy?" Charles said.
"Yeah," LeAnna said, "It leaves him vulnerable. Alone he can't protect all of the packs territory, let a lone any one member of the pack, and a vulnerable territory leaves all the pack in danger."
"But he's not alone?"
"He knows that we can't fight a trespasser physically," Maranda said, including Trisha and LeAnna as well as herself in the we.
"And he doesn't know how your gifts work," LeAnna added, "So that leaves him."
"Ah," Charles said, finally returning his attention to the game enough to play his next card.
Syrus wined again, pulling his paw in her lap.
LeAnna rolled her eyes, "Or maybe he just wants a treat."
Pushing her chair back she excused herself and made her way to the kitchen. Syrus's nails clicked on the hard wood floors as he walked beside her. Her hand rested comfortably on his neck. She was almost always in physical contact with him, and he was never out of calling distance, not since he had been given to her as a pup three years earlier, by a family they had helped relocate. They had bonded so quickly he had refused to leave when the family did.
He turned his head and looked at her, and she could have sworn he smiled. But he did that often, panted just so that the corners of his lips turned up.
She gave him a pat and paused to open the kitchen door, holding it open for him to go ahead of her.
He did a quick tour of the floor, looking for anything Maranda might have dropped in making dinner.
LeAnna reached up to open the door over the peninsula that separated the cooking area from the rest of the kitchen where they normally ate. Standing on her tiptoes she reached for the box of dog bones on the top shelf.
A light flashed out side of the floor to ceiling windows. Syrus lifted his head, going into alert mode.
The bones forgotten, LeAnna stared out the windows, "Sarah, could you turn off the lights please."
The room fell into darkness. Slowly LeAnna made her way around the counter, staring out the window, trying desperately to figure out what she had seen out side.
Syrus growled beside her. She looked down at him, "Do you know what's out there?"
He made no response.
As she turned to look back out the window, Syrus leapt at her. Bringing her hands up automatic to cushion her fall, she hit the floor hard. Glass shattered around her. She fought to breath.
Everything around her shifted. The darkness around her changed, and in what little light the moon-the moon? -provided, she saw the tops of three giant heads. Human heads. And they weren't huge, she was tiny. There was too much to get used to, too much had changed. One of the men put a loaded crossbow to his shoulder, aiming at the house on the opposite hill. LeAnna realized it was her house. She screamed, and leaped from the branch she had been perched on, diving at his head. Bird cry filled her ears.
He automatically ducked away from her, sending the arrow into the air. It arced and landed in a snowdrift, sending a plume of white dust into the air.
On the other side of the group, another man loaded a crossbow. LeAnna dove at him.
Pain radiated out from her shoulder blades an instant before the world snapped black.
She didn't even have time to scream.
She took a deep breath and tried to turn away from them. It didn't help to remember that he couldn't hurt her anymore. That just brought up another nightmare.
No, no, no. She wouldn't go there. She wasn't going to pull all that up.
She fed her determination on the anger. Opening her eyes, she turned to Kindle, her jaw set, ready to deal with the disappearance of Cyclops.
The door to the tarmac opened. He walked through, the all too real human that haunted her, even after all these years. "Who the hell are you?"
Kat froze.
An instant before Kindle's fireball exploded in his face, he faded, leaving behind a stranger.
The man standing beside him flew into the room, landing hard on a crate. Cyclops stepped out of the darkness, his hand on his visor control.
"Where have you been, mate?" Kindle said, fire still sparkling in his hand.
Cyclops looked embarrassed for a moment before he pulled himself together, "Checking the perimeter. These are the last of them. But a plane just took off."
"Bloody wonderful," Kindle shook his head and made a quick fist, putting out the last of the fire.
The earpiece in Kat's ear crackled and Alex's voice came through, "Lynx, come in. Do you read me? This is Cam, please respond."
"I'm reading you Cam, where are you?"
"I'm on the plane and there's a bit of a problem."
"And that would be?"
"I want to change our destination but the autopilot is asking for a password."
Kat's dismay must have shown on her face, because Kindle asked, "What now?"
"Alex is on the plane. I need a computer. Now."
"There is one on the second floor," Gambit said, than gestured towards the main entrance, "The stairway is over there."
As she ran for the stairs she heard Cyclops ask, "Does that mean the plane is under control."
"I don't know, mate. I just don't know."
Kat took the stairs two at a time. When she got to the top she groaned. Gambit's blast damage had taken out the operators chair as well as the screen. A body lay against one wall. Years of Alex's teaching made her move to the body. A quick check found that he was unconscious, but alive. Sighing in relief, she moved back to the keyboard, and prayed the computer was in better shape.
Leaning over, she rested her fingers on the keys. She was instantly sucked into the computer world.
Cam, she thought, sending it through her hookup with Alex, I'm in their system.
She did a quick look around, easily finding the password, but she hesitated to give it to Alex. She went in deeper.
Shit, she thought, Cam, their tracing the plane, if I let you change destinations they'll know, and probably be waiting for you.
"They'll be waiting for us if we don't change it."
Give me a minute, I'll see what I can do.
Kat when in deeper, then branched out onto the remote network. It took her a few minutes, but she found what she was looking for. She started spinning out code, like a spider did web, quickly becoming lost in her work.
"Lynx?"
Almost done. She worked a few more minutes before opening her eyes.
OK, I've duplicated the plane in the Air Control computer, I'll leave the dummy to fly to the original destination. The bad guys won't know it's not real until they can't get visual comf. I've given you a new flight number and origin point. So, where are we headed this evening?
"XSY."
As in X-ray Sierra Yankee?
"Or Xavier School Youngsters."
Ahh.
LeAnna sat back and watched as Charles played her cards, the warm weight of Syrus leaning on her leg. It was an odd habit, playing cards with her elders. But as long as she could remember, at night, they had always played cards. When she was younger, it had been Go Fish and Old Maid. Now they played Crib, Harts, Spades, Poker, and tonight Bridge. And since her partner had one the bid, at the moment she didn't have to play.
Charles won the first trick.
"Serves me right for playing against a Telepath," Maranda said over her cards.
Charles smiled, "You know that I don't cheat."
"Of course not," she said, "You just make effective use of your abilities."
Charles just smiled and shook his head.
"Your team is not without its own advantages," LeAnna said, leaning back in her chair.
"Oh?"
"You have Trish."
"Are you implying I cheat?" Trisha said, doing a very good job of looking down her nose at LeAnna.
"Aren't you the one who is always saying you can't control when your going to get a flash, that you can concentrate to bring one, but they can pop up any time?"
"True," Trisha conceded, as she laid down a trump and won the second trick.
"But a flash of a hand of cards won't do me much good if I don't know who's going to get it, or when. It could be tonight, it could have been last night, or it could be a week from now."
"Party pooper," LeAnna said. Trisha laughed.
Syrus wined beside her. She automatically reached out and ran her hand over his head. He just wined louder.
"Syrus," LeAnna said, warningly.
He butted her hand with his head and whimpered. LeAnna scratched behind his ears.
"Is anything wrong?" Charles asked.
"No," LeAnna said, "He just doesn't like it when Mom and Peter are both gone."
"Oh?"
"Alex and Peter are the pack alphas," Maranda said.
Charles looked more confused.
"Pack hierarchy," Trisha supplied, "Alex and Peter are the leaders of the pack-"
"Peter will be glad that you think so," Maranda broke in.
"And Syrus is a bodyguard, or enforcer," Trisha continued as if she hadn't been interrupted, "specifically assigned to this very valuable pack mate, who of course can't defend herself."
"Thanks a lot," LeAnna said.
"Your welcome."
"And the pack leaders absence makes him uneasy?" Charles said.
"Yeah," LeAnna said, "It leaves him vulnerable. Alone he can't protect all of the packs territory, let a lone any one member of the pack, and a vulnerable territory leaves all the pack in danger."
"But he's not alone?"
"He knows that we can't fight a trespasser physically," Maranda said, including Trisha and LeAnna as well as herself in the we.
"And he doesn't know how your gifts work," LeAnna added, "So that leaves him."
"Ah," Charles said, finally returning his attention to the game enough to play his next card.
Syrus wined again, pulling his paw in her lap.
LeAnna rolled her eyes, "Or maybe he just wants a treat."
Pushing her chair back she excused herself and made her way to the kitchen. Syrus's nails clicked on the hard wood floors as he walked beside her. Her hand rested comfortably on his neck. She was almost always in physical contact with him, and he was never out of calling distance, not since he had been given to her as a pup three years earlier, by a family they had helped relocate. They had bonded so quickly he had refused to leave when the family did.
He turned his head and looked at her, and she could have sworn he smiled. But he did that often, panted just so that the corners of his lips turned up.
She gave him a pat and paused to open the kitchen door, holding it open for him to go ahead of her.
He did a quick tour of the floor, looking for anything Maranda might have dropped in making dinner.
LeAnna reached up to open the door over the peninsula that separated the cooking area from the rest of the kitchen where they normally ate. Standing on her tiptoes she reached for the box of dog bones on the top shelf.
A light flashed out side of the floor to ceiling windows. Syrus lifted his head, going into alert mode.
The bones forgotten, LeAnna stared out the windows, "Sarah, could you turn off the lights please."
The room fell into darkness. Slowly LeAnna made her way around the counter, staring out the window, trying desperately to figure out what she had seen out side.
Syrus growled beside her. She looked down at him, "Do you know what's out there?"
He made no response.
As she turned to look back out the window, Syrus leapt at her. Bringing her hands up automatic to cushion her fall, she hit the floor hard. Glass shattered around her. She fought to breath.
Everything around her shifted. The darkness around her changed, and in what little light the moon-the moon? -provided, she saw the tops of three giant heads. Human heads. And they weren't huge, she was tiny. There was too much to get used to, too much had changed. One of the men put a loaded crossbow to his shoulder, aiming at the house on the opposite hill. LeAnna realized it was her house. She screamed, and leaped from the branch she had been perched on, diving at his head. Bird cry filled her ears.
He automatically ducked away from her, sending the arrow into the air. It arced and landed in a snowdrift, sending a plume of white dust into the air.
On the other side of the group, another man loaded a crossbow. LeAnna dove at him.
Pain radiated out from her shoulder blades an instant before the world snapped black.
She didn't even have time to scream.