Chapter 8: Kamikaze Love Song, Part 2
Darkness slowly opened to two blurry figures standing above Kat.
"Hurry Kurt, go get the Professor, I think she's waking up!" said a voice that seemed relatively close, fallowed by a loud "BAMF" noise, and then a whiff of smoke that soon floated around her nose. Blinking back the haze in her eyes she saw the Professor role into the room as Kitty got up to leave. "See ya later!" she said with a wave.
He smiled warmly at her in his typical caring manner. "Good to see you've woken up. You lost quite a bit of your bodily fluids, burning down those doors like you did. I'm afraid your not quite use to using that much of your acid yet."
Kat sat up quickly in her bed remembering the events that had taken place in the Danger Room, but in doing so she began to feel dizzy and laid back on her pillow. She had never been in the hospital wing before, but she figured that was where she was now. She looked at the Professor. "Is every one O.K.? Who did this? How bad is the damage?" she sputtered, her mind buzzing with questions and concern.
"Everyone is O.K., and we managed to save most of the Danger Room," he paused for a moment, his face slowly changing from gentle to serious. "but when we ran back the salvaged surveillance tapes, we saw that Pietro was the one who had broken in and tried to destroy the Institute."
Her jaw dropped as the words hit her like a slap in the face and she could still feel the sting, when she found her voice after a sort pause. She realized it was all her fault. She had trusted him and in doing so she almost killed everyone that had ACTULLY cared about her. For the first time in her life she had found people to call friends, she had found a place where she felt like she actually fit in, and she was the one who could have destroyed it all. But Pietro. How could he have done something like this? How could he do something like this…to her? Complete anger began to consume her. She felt her eyes begin to glow, and she closed them quickly.
"As long as everyone's ok." She replied as calmly as she could. "I'm afraid I feel a little tired." Kat said as she turned on her side away from the Professor.
"Well I'll let you rest. I'm glad your doing better." Said the Professor smiling gently as he wheeled around to leave the room. He knew her feelings as he left, but decided to leave her alone until she was better. Time would fix her mood.
Kat's eyes continued to glow in the pale light, illuminating the side of the outer wall she was facing as she scaled the side of the building, clinging to a sheet she had pulled of her bed and was using as a makeshift rope.
Pietro would pay for what he had done. She would make sure of it. Finally reaching the ground, she ran around to the back of the Institute, grabbed her bike and blindly rode towards the Brotherhood home.
Grabbing the door handle, she found it to be locked. Quickly ripping off each glove, she shot acid onto the handle and kicked the door wide open. It slammed hard against the wall as she stepped in looking for any sign of Pietro in the disgusting, dirt-covered house.
"Hey no girls aloud." Said an extremely large boy with a Mohawk that had stepped into the entry- way after hearing the door crash open.
"Don't get in my way tubby, I'm really not in the mood." Kat replied. She was breathing hard and her eyes and nails were glowing brightly. Soon, Lance and Todd had joined the small gathering.
"Who are you?" Lance demanded.
"Where the hell is Pietro?" Kat shouted at the three boys. She was not about to let these losers slow her down.
"Why do you want to know?" Lance asked angrily.
"Just TELL ME!" she yelled.
"I say we get rid of her on our own." Fred said eagerly waiting for orders from Lance. Lance squinted at Kat. He figured her to be a mutant due to her eyes, but he wasn't about to cooperate with anyone.
"Fine we can make this hard." She muttered. Looking up above Lance, she sent a steam of acid at the ceiling, causing it to crash down around him. Then she shot a ring around Fred, quickly collapsing the floor under him, sending him crashing down into the basement. Kat turned to Todd. He yelped seeing his teammates overcome and in different states. He sprung onto the couch narrowly avoiding another splash of acid.
"Wait yo!… I don't know where Pietro is… He's not here…JUST DON'T DISSOLVE ME!!" he shouted, but Kat was already out the door. She knew where he was.
"PIETRO! GET OUT HERE! FACE ME!" Kat shouted into the empty darkness of the warehouse. He had to be there, it was the only other place she could think. Her eyes were casting a soft greenish glow that slightly lit up the large seemingly empty room. Suddenly there was a fierce burst of wind and there stood Pietro. A smug satisfied look on his face. He may not have succeeded but he was proud of the fact that he at least showed them what he was capable of.
"What's wrong? Didn't like my little surprise?" He asked coldly. Kat glared at him. How dare he be sarcastic after what he had done?
"You used me!" she shouted. He didn't even flinch.
"What, did you just catch on?" He replied. The venom in her veins boiled, as anger ran through her. She hated him, but mostly she hated herself. She loathed the fact that she had had let her self feel safe, fool herself into believing that she could ever fit in or be accepted by anyone. She had been stupid, and it had almost cost certain people their lives. There was no place for her in this world and she knew it.
"You're going to pay Pietro!" she said as she shot a ring of acid around him. The thick concrete would take a while to completely eat through, leaving a moat-like circle at his feet.
"I wouldn't try running through that," Kat smirked devilishly. "the second your foot hits that acid, it will burn right down to the bone. And I don't think you want to start running on your ankles." Her head was pounding, but she didn't care. She was solely bent on getting revenge.
Pietro glanced down at the bubbling acid with slight worry. It was a minor set back, but he didn't like the feeling that he was trapped. But he couldn't let on that he was concerned. He had to act calm, as if none of it mattered.
"So, what is it you think you're going to do to me?" he asked smugly.
Kat paused for a moment. She hadn't thought about that. Then her smile slowly returned. "Well I could see how fast my venom reacts to your blood stream." She said looking over her fingernails. Pietro's eyebrows went up. "Or we could see if your heart really is as black as I think it is." She took a few steps closer to where Pietro was ensnared.
Pietro quickly thought about the suggestions. He wasn't sure if she would actually carry out her pay back plans or not. She wasn't like the rest of the X-Men. It would turn out better for him if he played on the fact that she had to stop and think about it. At least if he could keep her talking, he could stall until enough of the acid was gone and he could get away.
"You can't do it. You don't have it in you." He said confidently.
"Watch me." But when she put out her hands to spray the acid, she froze. Somewhere a voice told her to just kill him, but then she knew she would be just like him. The thing she hated the most right next to herself. She just stood there. She could move, she couldn't feel anything.
"Some day Pietro, your going to hurt someone you really love…and that's when I'll stop regretting that I didn't kill you." She turned around and walked blankly into the darkness. She didn't want to see his reaction. She didn't want to see him. Ever, ever again.
The entire Institute was sleeping. The main lobby was dark and silent and she was almost sad to leave it.
"Running away from your problems won't solve them." Said the Professor from behind her. She knew he would get to her before she left. She was calm now, empty in a way. As if she was completely numb.
"If I'm not here there won't be any problems." She replied facing the door.
"There will always be problems. Each of us have our own demons to face." He said.
"As long as I'm gone no else has to face my demons with me. No one will get hurt." A tear ran down her face and splashed to the ground instantly eating into the marble. She was still facing the door. "Good bye Professor." She said in the dark as she stepped forward and opened the door. She took a deep breath of the fresh, crisp night air. She had stopped acting long ago, but some how she still felt like she was hiding.
It had started to rain just as the 1:30 train pulled into the station. Normally Kathleen would have been outside soaking wet, but she needed to board her train. She needed to leave, to run away. Again. She wasn't sure where she was headed exactly, but wherever it was she was headed, she would not make the same mistakes she had made before. She just had to keep in mind her odds. She would be on her own again, like she had been so many times before. The world would hate her again, because of what she was, who she was. She was against the odds. And when against all odds, you lose. It's purely that simple.