Of Cats, Bats, and Demons: An Evolution Story
Chapter 1
And So She Arrives
She was so tired; she just had to find a place to land, …to sleep, …to …ultimately…die. She saw it, the perfect roof. It had a large, flat, central area with several nooks and crannies that she could hide in, and there were other flat areas on side branches. She chose a side branch and glided to it. Landing on her paw-like feet, she collapsed almost immediately from hunger and exhaustion. Still conscious, but barely, she began the metamorphosis that would allow her to hide more effectively. With a fluid like motion the webbing in her bat-like wings 'melted' upwards to its source, and then the supports to began to 'melt' into her back till there was no sign that they had ever been there. The spade on the tip of her long stiff tail, that served as a 'rudder' in flight, to 'melted' away till there was no sign of it. Slowly on all fours she sought out a quiet, secluded place to die. She knew that she was going to die because she hadn't had a decent meal in months and she hadn't been able to find food at all fore days now, plus she hadn't been able to find drinkable water in over forty-eight hours. Undernourished and dehydrated she curled up under a ledge and waited. She didn't have to wait long before her chest felt heavy and things went dark as she sank into unconsciousness. If one looked closely they might have seen a tear roll down her cheek.
*****
So far it had been a very lazy Saturday at the mansion and the x-men were not about to complain. Scott was waxing his car. Jean, Kitty, Rogue, and Rahne were sunning themselves by the pool. Jubilee, Amara, Sam, and Bobby were huddled in a circle talking, definitely up to something. Not that any one cared at the moment. Ray, Evan, Roberto, and Kurt were playing a game of two on two basketball and Jamie was watching, wishing he could play too. The adults were inside enjoying a reasonable amount of peace and quiet, for once. A peace and quiet that was all too soon shattered.
"HAY, what do you think your doing Drake?" It was Evan shouting. Bobby had just frozen the ball.
"I would have called 'freeze' but this is more effective!" was the answer given. Jubilee, Amara, Sam, and (of course) Kurt chuckled at the joke. Kurt immediately received nasty looks from those he was playing b-ball with.
"Vhat? Eet vas funny" was the only response Kurt could come up with. To which all present rolled their eyes.
Amara thawed the ball then she turned to Ray and said, "the guys and I have thought of something that we feel you might like to hear."
"O.K. shoot, what do you want me to hear?"
"Come with us and find out." Ray was curious enough to follow Amara and the others.
"What about our game?" Evan, Kurt, and Roberto said in unison.
"I can fill in!" Jamie exclaimed while picking up the ball. Before any one could protest he tried for a basket and missed, completely. In fact Jamie nearly hit Sam in the head, who responded by slamming the ball back in Jamie's general direction. The ball went high, very high and landed on the roof.
"Oops" was all that could be heard from both Sam and Jamie.
"I'll get eet" Kurt said, it was also his turn to roll his eyes. =BAMF= and Kurt was gone in a puff of smoke.
"I might as well join the search too," Roberto said with a sigh as he activated his power and flew up to the roof to help Kurt. All the others could do was wait.
*****
When Roberto got to the roof he saw Kurt with the ball under his arm, staring intently at the ground and slowly walking towards one of the drains.
"What are you doing? You have the ball, come on!" Roberto shouted impatiently.
Kurt turned and gave the other mutant a nasty look, brought a finger to his lips and said "qviet! Zere eest somezing ofer here." With that Kurt pointed out what he had been walking towards.
Roberto skeptically, because he figured it was just another 'Kurt prank', approached for a better look. But when he got with in view of the spot Roberto saw what looked, for all the world, like a tail coming out of a gap near the drain.
"So, what do you think it is? A cat?" Roberto asked.
"Maybe, ve have had catz up here before, but eet zeemz a leetle large for a cat."
Kurt handed the ball over to Roberto and crouched down for a closer look. Creeping as stealthily as possible, not wanting to frighten whatever it was, he made his way over to the gap and looked under. Roberto could see a puzzled expression cross Kurt's face. Roberto nervously watched as Kurt reached into the gap. He slowly began to pull whatever it was out and as it emerged they both gasped.
"Eet's a mutant! A girl!" cried Kurt.
"Is she alive? She's not moving!"
"I don't know, I'm 'porting her to zee med. ving. Tell zee ozers und hurry!!" =BAMF= all Kurt left behind was a puff of sulphurous smoke.
"You didn't need to tell me that last part!" muttered Roberto to the now absent Kurt. He then activated his power and raced off as fast as he could to alert the others.