*Chapter 5*
~The Loop~
Kitty relaxed in the front passenger seat of the black Grand Cherokee as Logan drove them from O'Hare to their apartment. She kept her gaze fixed firmly ahead in an attempt to ignore the other passenger of the SUV. This German, known only as DX-0, was undeniably creepy. Not only did he look half-dead from lack of sleep but something else seemed wrong about him. She wasn't quite sure what it was but this guy definitely had some problems.
His eyes, there's definitely something wrong about his eyes. She decided. He may be tired but even Dad had more life in him after a graveyard shift than this guy does. Kitty thought. She remembered the year when her father had to work nights to help support a nephew in college. That year had not been a pleasant one. She glanced behind her to their 'team-mate' who was still awake and staring blankly out the window. Is he even seeing the stuff around him? She wondered. It certainly doesn't look like he does. Kitty turned back to the front unnerved by his silence. Finally she couldn't take the oppressive quiet anymore and decided to try talking to him again.
"Are you still alive back there?" Kitty asked jokingly as she turned back to face the German again.
"Ja." Was his emotionless response.
"Well that's good to hear." She replied with slightly forced cheerfulness. "So since we weren't given your name what should we call you?" Kitty asked politely.
"Whatever you want." The German flatly responded.
"That doesn't help us much." She grumbled. "Don't you have a name?" She inquired. The German agent remained silent and impassive. Kitty growled quietly in frustration.
"Just call him Zero for now." Logan gruffly suggested.
"Where did you get that from?" Kitty asked shifting her focus to the older Mutant.
"It's just his designation without the letters." Logan replied.
"Why not call him 'DX'?" Kitty wondered.
"That makes him sound like some sort of black rapper wannabe. Zero fits because there's nothing going on in that kid's head." Logan grunted. Kitty turned back to the German Mutant to gauge his reaction to Logan's comment. There was none.
"I guess it makes sense." Kitty hesitantly agreed after a moment. "So until you tell us your name or we decide otherwise you are Zero." She decreed to the German in the backseat. He only nodded in response. Kitty turned back to the front as silence once again descended on them. This guy is so weird.
***
DX-0 needed sleep badly. No wait, he was Zero now, couldn't forget that. He felt more disconnected than usual, like he was moving in a dream. Wait, that wasn't right, he didn't dream anymore so how would he know what that felt like. The sounds that did seep into the cab of the SUV sounded more muffled and distant than they should and everything looked blurry. He was never going to pull an all-nighter ever again if he could help it.
Zero leaned his forehead against the window and gazed out at the scenery. He watched as it changed from relatively open spaces outside the airport to the increasingly cramped confines of the city. The buildings started off short and small and grew massive and tall. The sidewalks were choked with a manner of people from the homeless to wealthy business executives, families and tourists to gang-bangers. It all bled together in one liquid blur that held as much meaning to him as a puddle of spilled coffee.
But as much as he wanted, needed, to sleep he couldn't give in just yet. For one the Americans might want to talk with him again and for another they hadn't told him that he could. So he had to stay awake until they said otherwise. He watched as the SUV wove in and out of the chaotic city traffic, over and under bridges and through a few short tunnels. They passed under some elevated train tracks and turned down side-street after side-street. After more turns than Zero's tired brain could remember they stopped in front of an old but decent looking apartment building. He moved in a daze up a couple flights of stairs to some plain numbered door. Just trade one cell for another it seemed. Not that it really mattered anyway.
"Home sweet home!" The girl exclaimed as they entered the sparsely furnished apartment. Zero half stumbled after her, barely taking note of his surroundings, closely followed by Mr. Logan.
"Okay Kit, show him to his room before he collapses." Mr. Logan gruffly commanded. This order completely changed the girl's demeanor from bright and cheerful to irate and upset.
"Can't we talk about this some more?" She nearly whined in protest.
"No, we already talked this through and you agreed to it." Mr. Logan asserted firmly.
"I know but I didn't think he would be this creepy. I mean, I knew he probably would be kinda creepy, but this is above and beyond creepy. I don't know any word to even describe how creepy and weird he is. Like, honestly, who just stares out the window and doesn't react to anything said or done around him? Did you even look at his eyes? It's, like, looking at a zombie or something, there's nothing in them. That's totally creepier than I want to deal with first thing in the morning. There has to be some other way. Maybe-" Mr. Logan interrupted her ranting with a raised hand and she grudgingly fell silent.
"Don't jump to conclusions here. He could be this way 'cause he's practically half-dead. And you did agree to give this a shot no matter how he is for one week. Now quit stalling and get on with it." Mr. Logan said in a no-nonsense tone of voice. The girl gave the older man a pleading look but he didn't change his mind.
"Oh alright." She snapped. "Follow me." She muttered to Zero as she dragged some of his bags across the room. Zero simply moved after her without comment or question. The teen mumbled various unintelligible things under her breath as she led the way to Zero's room. He really didn't pay much attention to it, hearing only 'stupid Wolverine', 'stupid mission', and 'stupid tenants'. He didn't think much of it.
"Well here we are." She muttered leaning his bags against the wall. As he glanced around the room Zero got the feeling that he might know why she was so upset about this. The small bedroom was crowded by a desk, two dressers, and a bunk bed. This apparently was her room too. "You get the top and that dresser." She stated gesturing towards the shorter of the two. "And don't you dare try anything funny with me or you will regret it." She warned.
Zero only sighed and began unpacking his things into the indicated dresser. Once he finished that task he dragged himself up the ladder and onto the top bed. He only meant to take a look at it, to see what it would be like up there. Perhaps it was because of his sleep deprived state or maybe the bed shared part of the blame, but whatever it was it knocked him out in seconds. One moment he was awake and the next there was only darkness.
***
Kitty was livid. This just wasn't fair. She was trapped in a small room with a strange German Mutant who could be borderline psychotic and, worst of all, was a guy. If he wasn't a boy she might be able to put up with it. Her room-mate back at the Institute was Rogue after all, the untouchable Goth Mutant. If Kitty could survive her she could survive any room-mate. Any female room-mate that is and Zero is most definitely not female.
True she had agreed with Logan to try and share her room with the guy but that was before she met him. If he had been anything like the boys she knew back at the Institute she might be able to deal with it, but he wasn't. He was unlike any person she'd ever met before and she wasn't sure that it was a good thing. As far as she could see he had zero personality and was something of an emotionless shell. Maybe Logan was right that his being half-sleep had something to do with it but it didn't account for all of it. The Professor had warned the German agent might have emotional and social difficulties but the reality was far worse than she had expected.
Kitty lay on her bed staring up at the bottom of the bed above and let her mind wander. She pondered the total un-fairness of the universe starting with the moment she learned that she was a Mutant. Now she was perfectly comfortable with it but the rejection and isolation she experienced early on still pained her. People she'd known her whole life and considered close friends left her in an instant. She had new friends now but it wasn't the same, it would never be the same. Next was settling into Institute life, which had been an interesting experience indeed. Then came her crush on Piotr and Rogue's realization of it. If she didn't come up with a solution to that particular problem soon Rogue would find ways to blackmail her into doing anything. And now this little fiasco waiting to happen, life was truly cruel.
I could kill whoever lived here last. She mentally growled. Well, maybe not kill them, but definitely hurt them! Sure it was a good thing that the apartment had come fully furnished, much easier to move in and less work for them, but the beds were a problem. The previous tenant must have been either a single mom or a single dad with two kids since one bedroom contained a single small bed and this one had the bunk bed. Too bad that it was too awkward for her and Logan to share a room, but it was, and he hated bunk beds more than she did. So she was stuck with the creepy German until further notice. I really hate my life right now. She sighed inwardly. I suppose it's better than whatever Zero's life is like if those empty eyes of his were any indication. She shuddered, suddenly very uncomfortable. Creepy, creepy, creepy...
She glanced at her new alarm clock and noticed that it was near dinner time. Oh yum, frozen pizza...again. She thought sarcastically, careful not to crack her head as she got up. If she'd gotten the room all to herself she would've taken the top bunk to avoid that worry. But at times she suffered from nightmares of falling and tended to phase through her bed, and if she was going to share she didn't want to end up with him in the morning. If she took the bottom then most of the time she'd end up under the bed instead. Kitty was about to head off to the kitchen/dinning room to consume her meal of frozen pizza when she remembered that her new room-mate Zero was still up on his bed.
"Hey, you awake up there?" She called; no response. "Hello?" She tried again. "Anyone up there?" And again her only reply was silence. Great, just great. Now I have go up there and wake him up to see if he's hungry. She thought nervously to herself, slowly working up the nerve to climb up there and wake him. It took a few minutes but she was finally ready. Kitty slowly clambered up the ladder, somewhat curious as to what she'd find since the room was too narrow and crowded to get a clear view of the top bunk. When Kitty reached the top rung she was greeted with a close-up view of the back of Zero's head. His back was almost pressed up against the short guardrail that prevented people from rolling off the bed and was facing the wall. He was also fully clothed and laying on top of his covers, a testament to how tired the poor guy was. Kitty let out a loud sigh before shoving him over so she had a place to sit and wasn't clinging to the ladder for dear life. Zero didn't stir one bit, he was completely dead to the world so it was rather pointless to try and wake him up.
Kitty sighed again; she couldn't leave him like this. Before she left for her frozen pizza dinner she would try and make the poor guy a bit more comfortable. Maybe they would get along a bit better if she tried being extra nice to him. She phased off his button-up shirt a bit nervously, leaving him to sleep in the plain cotton T-shirt he had on underneath. Then she moved on to removing his shoes, carefully crawling over him to reach them. Fortunately he didn't show any signs of waking so she wrapped her hands around his right shoe to take it off and became confused.
This doesn't feel like a shoe. It feels...furry? She froze in sudden realization. Wait...he isn't wearing any shoes. This is his foot! Kitty hastily dropped the foot belatedly realizing that his shoes were a part of his holographic disguise. Ick, now I have to wash my hands extra good before I eat. Who knows where this guy's been? Kitty thought as she phased the sheets up through him so he would be covered. She then scrambled off the bed, down the ladder, and out the door pausing only to turn off the light and shut the door behind her. The young Mutant stopped in the bathroom to wash her hands before she consumed her dinner. Creepy, creepy, creepy...