Feral Bonds Chapter 9 REVISED

Oops, originally uploaded my rough draft. Fixed it.

Morgannia: I appreciate the vote of confidence. Who knows, I might just put a pairing or two in for kicks.

Juice: Thanks, I'm glad you liked the mindscape. That had to be the single hardest scene in this fic so far. How do you describe a telepath constructing a personality in a nonvisual medium? Break out the symbolic representation! Honestly I didn't know how this was going to be received.

Pyrolova: I appreciate it.

Xavier's Institute Medlab

Kitty slowly swam back to consciousness. Feeling the light from the hallway hitting her eyes, she rolled over and started to pull the covers over her head when she saw a dark outline looming over her. Letting out a piercing scream, she slammed into the ground when she accidentally phased through the bed. Scrambling away, she saw two bare feet that poked out of green pant legs. She phased through the supports of the bed and started sprinting for the door when she finally focused on the form standing next to her bed.

Mark was standing to the left of the bed, hands on the rail and shirtless. He had turned his head towards Kitty and was looking at her with a puzzled expression. He reached out and poked the bed with a finger before grabbing the sheets in one hand and ripping them off. They fluttered to the floor as he continued to poke the mattress.

Kitty willed her heart to stop wildly pumping. "JESUS CHRIST!" She walked to the next bed and sat down heavily. "What the hell were you like doing?"

Mark gave the mattress one more hard poke before turning to her. "You fell."

Kitty sighed. "No I didn't. I kinda phased my way through the." Kitty stopped and blinked. "Did you just say I fell?"

Mark stared at her for a moment. Just as she was about to repeat her question, a look of comprehension appeared on his face and he answered. "Yes." He then turned back to the bed and poked it again.

Kitty was speechless. This was the first time he had spoken since they had rescued him. She turned and pushed the door open an inch. "Mr. Macoy! Come here quick! He's 'talking'!" Hank pushed the door open and almost burst into laughter at the sight of a gaping Kitty to his left and Mark poking his finger into a bed to his right. He was puzzled as to why Mark was doing it, but he soon recalled Kitty's penchant for phasing through her bed. He stepped into the room and flicked the lights on. He took a step towards Kitty when he heard a barely audible growl. Looking up, he saw that Mark had abandoned his mattress poking and was fully turned towards him and was staring at him with narrowed eyes. Hank remembered the Professor talking about not being able to break the imprinting during the procedure. Turning and walking to a bed across the room from Kitty, he noted that the growling had stopped.

He sat down the clipboard he was carrying and hopped onto the bed. His eyes tracked Mark as he walked over to the corner bed that Kitty was sitting on and stood motionless beside her. Kitty glanced between them, a small frown on her face. "Um..yea. Anyway Mr. Macoy, he like totally spoke."

Hank smiled. "I assure you Kitty, it is to be expected. From the report the Professor sent down this morning, the ability to speak was the first thing he implanted during their... operation."

Kitty nodded before turning to Mark. She gestured to Hank. "So.. like say something."

His eyebrows fell and his face took on a look of massive concentration.

Several minutes later, still waiting in silence, Hank spoke. "Perhaps we should let him get used to his new understanding Kitty. I don't think he is quite ready to vocalize yet."

Kitty shook her head. "I really don't think so Mr. Macoy. He did this earlier, I think he's like trying to figure out what I said. He's just slow."

Hank picked up his clipboard and started writing. "Ah, he's probably trying to integrate the language into his working personality, fascinating."

Mark's head lifted a moment later. "She fell."

Hank's face split into a nearly disturbing grin. "It appears as though he's integrating well. He can determine you are female and that you wanted him to say something to me."

The set of double doors whisked open and Xavier rolled in with Storm at his side. "Ah, he has awoken. Tell me Mark, how do you feel?" He was met with silence. He folded his hands under his nose and his eyes turned to Kitty.

She responded to his unspoken question. "It takes him a minute to like figure out what you are saying." Xavier nodded and they all waited patiently for his response.

Unfortunately, it was not the response they were looking for. Mark glanced around and walked off. Four sets of eyes tracked him as he walked back to the bed and resumed examining the bed Kitty had originally been on.

Hank chuckled at the almost shocked look on the Professor's face. Xavier's brow lifted in question and Hank replied. "It seems he startled our young Kitty and she phased through her bed. I believe he's looking for the hole Professor."

Xavier smiled. "I imagine that it came as quite a shock to him to see."

Meanwhile, Kitty had walked over to Mark and was trying to get him to stop. "Like, just watch." She phased her hand through the bed a few times. "See? There isn't anything wrong with it." He looked between her hand and the bed before resting his own on the spot she had phased through. A snort left him as he tapped the bed a few times just to make sure. Kitty flinched when his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her own in an iron grip. Before she could phase, he had pulled her hand over to the bed and gently pushed down. She grinned before tugging her hand out of his grasp. She was saved from trying to explain why she could do it, but he couldn't by Scott's timely entrance.

Scott walked in with a large duffel bag over his shoulder. After a quick glance at Mark, he handed the bag to Storm. "Everything you wanted is in there. We just got back from Forge's and the gloves are in there as well." Storm nodded and took the bag's strap from Scott. He stared at Mark for a few seconds before turning on a heel and walking out.

Xavier turned to Kitty and Mark. "Kitty, I took the liberty of sending Jubilee to the mall this morning and picking up some clothing. And Forge was nice enough to produce these." He reached into the bag and removed two black fingerless gloves. "These have adnamantium laced through them. Mark should not be able to extend his claws while wearing them." Seeing the frown starting to form on her face, he added. "It is just temporary. Until his personality fully fuses and he integrates it all, you are still the only ironclad method of control we have over him. And you do have to go to school eventually."

Kitty 'eeeped' and glanced at the clock, almost visibly choking when she saw that she had slept in past three. She threw the Professor a worried glance.

Xavier smiled. "It's alright Kitty, I've already explained to the school that you would not be attending for the next few days." He inwardly laughed at the relief that flooded her face. "Now why don't you go ahead and get him dressed. Then bring him upstairs for something to eat. A change in scenery and meeting the rest of the team should do him some good."

Storm sat the bag down on a bed and looked at Kitty, a small grin barely visible on her face before she walked out and tossed a "Good luck." over her shoulder.

Kitty looked at the bag like it was a two hundred pound slug. Glancing at the Professor, she spoke. "Um.. like why do I have to like dress him?" Xavier leaned forward on the arms of his chair. "I am quite certain he does not know how to operate a zipper or for that matter, tie his shoes. He will need an inordinate amount of your help for at least the next few days Kitty."

Kitty sucked her bottom lip in and chewed on it for a moment. "Why can't you like, just.." She waved her hands next to her head. "..you know, put it in him or something?"

Xavier shook his head. "I don't want to subject him to any further mental shocks until he's fully healed. And there was not sufficient time to add that information last night."

Kitty looked from Xavier to the innocent expression Mark seemed to have permanently etched on his face, unless he was raging of course. She slowly opened the bag and rooted around until she pulled a pair of blue jeans out. Looking closely at them, she turned to the Professor. "How do you know any of this is going to fit anyway?"

He grinned, "Well I 'am' psychic you know."

Kitty smiled herself. Pulling the tags off the jeans she handed them to Mark and dove back into the bag. Pulling out a black long-sleeved t-shirt, a pair of leather engineer boots, a package of socks and, she suddenly froze as she pulled out a pair of boxers. Turning to Xavier and dropping them like they were live snakes, she spoke. "Oh hell no Professor. There is like 'no way' I'm helping him with those."

Xavier had to focus all of his considerable willpower to keep himself from laughing. "Kitty, he does need them."

Kitty cut him off with a hand gesture. "Professor, if the fate of the world was totally hanging on whether or not I like helped him put those on, we would all die. Just hell no."

Xavier nodded, still straining not to burst out in laughter. "Very well Kitty, but you do need to get him dressed. He will not let anyone else close enough yet."

With that, Xavier and Hank both filed out the door leaving Kitty alone with Mark. With the long-suffering sigh only a teen can produce, she turned back to Mark. "Ok, like put those on." Gesturing to the pants he had in his arms. He looked at the jeans then back to her, no comprehension visible on his face. She thought for a moment before reaching down and gently tugging on the medical scrubs he had on to draw his attention to them. "Ok, see these?" Another tug. "And those?" She tugged on the jeans. "Like put those on instead of those." He glanced between the jeans and the scrubs. Looking back at her, his eyes lit up. he threw the pants over his shoulder and dropped the scrubs. Kitty spun around so fast she felt dizzy. She squeezed her eyes shut trying to banished the image of mark standing there totally naked. She squeaked/yelled "Professor! He's like naked!"

She almost missed the barely audible snickering from the next room. Thoughts of revenge ran rampant through her head.

Hearing a zipper run a few times, she covered her eyes and slowly turned around. Gathering her courage, she peeked out between two fingers. She blew a sigh of relief when she saw he had actually gotten himself covered to an extent.

Grabbing the rest of the clothes, she quickly finished dressing him. Turning back to the bag, she picked up the gloves. She looked at them for a moment before turning back to Mark. "Ok, like I totally want you to do your claw thing." making gestures like claws sprouting from her hands she waited for him to catch on.

He watched her hand gestures closely for a second before raising his right hand and sliding the two claws out. Kitty smiled. "That's right! Now put them back in." After some additional gestures, the claws retracted. She noticed that the outer claw wobbled a bit when it was extended. Filing that away for something to tell the Professor later, she grabbed his hand and strapped the glove on. Mark frowned and flexed his hand before looking at her questioningly. Kitty mined extending claws again and the front of the gloves jerked outwards. He frowned and reached for the glove to take it off. Kitty grabbed his hand and shook her head. "You have to wear those for a while. Put the other one on." She handed him the left glove and watched as he slid it over his fist.

Kitty grabbed his arm and started leading him out of the room. "Time to meet the rest of the x-men."