Chapter 5
'Everything's so blurry'
'And everyone's so fake'
'And everybody's empty'
'And everything is so messed up'
'Pre-occupied without you'
'I cannot live at all'
'My whole world surrounds you'
'I stumble then I crawl'
'You could be my someone'
'You can be my scene'
'You know that I'll protect you'
'From all of the obscene'
'I wonder what you're doin''
'Imagine where you are'
'There's oceans in between us'
'But that's not very far'
-Puddle Of Mudd-Blurry-
Tobius noticed Kurt staring at Kathy. "You would think a guy that saw a woman naked would be satisfied, but not Kurt Wagner, no, he just has to keep staring."
Kurt turned his head and looked at his friend. "Tobius, vhy don't go jump of a cliff."
"Ouch. But let's imagine what it would be like if did tell. It be like a race horse announcer telling who's in the lead.
"Here comes blue and fuzzy, followed by liquid courage, then stammering, but is caught up with what do you want, then I want to say something to you, but stammering is neck and neck with um, then it's um, then stammering, then um, then stammering, and it's stammering, but then creep makes it's way up, followed by bruised ego, then laughing friends, and then, he gives up wins." Tobius smiled.
Kurt ogled at him. "I hate you. Tobius, I vant to tell you something."
BAMF
"Kurt." Kathy exclaimed
"Sorry Kathy, didn't know you vere zere." Kurt gave Kathy some room. He ported right in front of her, so close that their noses almost touched.
"It's okay blue boy." Kathy scratched an imaginary itch on the back of her neck.
Kurt noticed the bandage on her arm she received from her bullet wound was red from fresh blood. "Vat happened?"
Kurt gingerly took Kathy's right arm and straitened it.
"Oh, I guess the wound reopened in the dry heat."
"Here let me help you."
"No, I got it." She put her hand on the wound
Scott walked up to the two. "Any signs of aliens?" He asked
"Nien, just za one in front of me." Kurt grinned big. Kathy playfully pushed his shoulder.
"Guess not, only to goofballs." Scott took out a bag, of what looked like cameras. "Since the two of you have nothing better to do, but flirt with each other, you two can put these surveillance cameras in the trees to keep a look out for either aliens, or Tigris."
"Ve're not flirting, ve're just talking." Kurt said worriedly. Kathy just smiled, not agreeing with him.
"Uh, huh. Well like I said, the two of you put these around here okay." Scott handed Kurt the bag.
"Geez, how many are zere?" Kurt heaved the bag up. It weighed at least fifty pounds.
"Enough for about a mile. Their small so there's a lot of those buggers. Don't work too hard now."
Kathy and Kurt both looked at each other. "A mile's worth." Kathy said with great dread.
"Let's get going."
"Hey, watch it fuzz ball." Kathy said as he teleported to the tree she was in.
"Sorry süsses Herz." Kurt grinned. Kathy smiled back.
"Hey pass me that wire."
"Do you actually know how to put zis togezer?"
"I am the sister of Tobius." Kathy said with pride.
"You take pride in zat?"
"Actually I'm beginning to reconsider." Kathy said with a fake look of being off in thought. The trees in Australia ranged from tiny, to huge. They mainly chose the big ones, for the view it gave. They were also very bushy this time of year, because of the recent abnormal amount of rain this year, making it harder to find a bare branch to hook the cameras up to.
"Yahh!" Kurt yelled. A huge cockroach fell of the branch, onto his shoulder. He quickly brushed it off, and it fell to the branch he stood on.
Kathy walked over steadily, her tail held out for balance, and picked up the roach. "This is just a giant cockroach. It only eats plants, and can come to the command of 'here cocky'."
Kurt grimaced as he watched Kathy handle the ugly thing with care. "All I know is zat it's ugly."
Kathy shook her head. "You should be the last person to judge something on it's looks. They've been around for over 350 million years. They are the image of perfection." Kathy put the giant bug on a branch above her head. "That's why the Raptor was resurrected." Kathy said with great ego.
"Ja, and I look like a demon because nature made me zat vay."
"Kurt, do you even know what a demon is?" Kathy walked up to him and put her hands on his sides. "It's a fallen angel." She whispered into his ears. Kurt turned around, his eyes met hers. She didn't smile, but her eyes did.
"Um." Kurt blushed. Kathy took her hands from his sides.
"Yeah, little awkward moment there." Kathy took a few steps back. She slipped, but Kurt caught by wrapping his tail around her waist and holding her from falling. She smiled. "Are you hitting on me Nightcrawler?" She said as he dragged her back up.
"Now zat vould not be too good, since I'm currently vith anzor voman." His accent stuck out more that ever.
"Now why would that matter?"
By mid day, the temperature had risen up to 100° .
"It's too hot." Kurt moaned. He took off his shirt and poured the ice cold water from his water bottle on top of his head.
"Don't waste all your water blue boy. In this weather your more likely to dehydrate faster." They were still putting up the cameras. It took so long because they would stop at random moments and rest, but usually spend their time flirting.
"Zere are bugs everyvere here." He swatted at gnats that encircled him.
"It's hot, lot of animals, and your sweaty. They're attracted to that."
"Hey! Zere's a lake zere. Vant to go swimming?"
"Not after yesterday's incident."
"Oh come on, get over it."
"How would you like it if I just came up to you when you were naked, huh?" Kathy put her hands on her hips.
"I might no like zat to much."
"Exactly."
Kurt shrugged and jumped into the lake with a load splash. "C'mon in! za vaters fine." He called out to her.
"Let's not."
BAMF
"Vat are you? Afraid zat I might see something?"
"No, if you were living with hit-men since you were 13, then you wouldn't care if a guy saw you naked."
Kurt flipped his wet hair back and stripped to his boxers. He did a cannon ball of the rock they stood on.
"I give a three."
Kurt gasped for air. "Vat? Only a zree?"
"Your splash was sucky." Kathy took off her shorts and dove in.
"You make no splash." Kurt complained
"Well, you didn't dive head first, sleek and streamlined, did you?"
"Vell, I guess not."
Kathy swam to shore and pulled off her shirt. Kurt blushed and turned away. "It's just like a two piece."
"Nein, two pieces are vater proof, not bras and panties."
Kathy rolled her eyes. "This is coming from the guy that teleported me into his tent, which I might add is extremely cramped, naked."
"Vill you stopped brining zat up."
"Okay fuzz ball." Kathy went back into the lake and swam up to Kurt. "Hey blue boy." She smiled seductively. He smiled back, her smile irresistible. she dived under the water. Kurt looked around, and felt a tug on his tail. He dove in after her, but the water was too murky to see anything much more than two feet in front of him. He swam under the water, searching for her, but he was greeted by a kiss on the lips. He grabbed her and they shot up toward the light on the surface. When they broke the water's horizon, they're lips were still interlocked.
BAMF
Kurt teleported the two of them to the beach, inside a small rock cave. He kissed her again, this time open mouthed. Their tongues intertwined, and Kurt undid the back of Kathy's bra. She slipped her underwear off, and Kurt took his boxers off. He pressed his body against hers, and kissed her neck. His tail curled around her upper thigh. Kathy let out a small bird like chirp as he penetrated her. He kissed one of her breasts, it tasted sweet. Kathy enjoyed the feeling of his velvet like fur brush against her bare body. Her claws dug into his shoulders, but he didn't care.
Kurt opened his eyes. For about ten seconds he didn't know where he was. Then it all came back to him. He was about to get up, but found Kathy sleeping on top of him, her arms wrapped around his abdomen, and head resting on his belly. He smiled, but soon his happiness disappeared. Instead he felt anger, at himself. Kathy was his best friend, and the thought of him having sex with her just sent chills up his spine, but then again, it wasn't as different then when he did it with Kitty. "Ach, nein. Was tat ich gerecht?" He said in German. He felt Kathy stir. She opened her eyes.
"Kurt. Did we really?"
Kurt nodded in horror.
"Oh my god." She shook her head. She got up and staggered. "Wait? What time is it!?" Kathy said in horror, and looked at her image inducer, which was still on. It read 2:30. "Thank God. It's only two thirty."
"Only, seemed longer."
"Kurt!" She yelled at him
"Vat, old habits die hard."
"Yeah, I'll tell that to the court when they find your body dismembered." Kathy leaned against the rock wall, her head started to throb again.
"Kathy? You okay?" He stood up and walked over to her.
"My headache is back." She put her hand to her forehead.
Kurt put his boxers back on. He let her have her privacy to dress up. He put his shirt and shorts back on, and picked up Kathy's clothes.
"Kathy?"
"Yeah? Oh thanks." She took her tank top and shorts.
After about ten minutes, Kathy walked up to Kurt. "Well I think we're done with the cameras."
"Sounds good to me." He loped over to her and put his hand on the other side of her waist.
Kathy and Kurt walked into camp.
"Did it take you two that long to put up cameras?" Scott asked
"Nein, mien fruend, ve took some breaks."
"You two, seem different?"
"How?" Kathy asked
"I don't know, but I'll find out." Scot turned around and watched the two of them stroll away, noticing their tails entwined.
'Why? Why are you doing this? They don't mean to hurt us. They're not all bad. Please Leo, stop, don't hurt him. No, NO!'
Kathy shot up from her sleeping bag. She looked around, it was pitch black. Her head pounded with white hot pain. "Uggh." Tears of pain rolled down her face. "It was only a nightmare. It was only a nightmare." 'Yeah right, just keep telling yourself that Raptor.'
She shivered in the cold Australian night. Her stomach up heaved, and she ran out of her tent, and vomited in the bushes. It was getting worse. She bent back up, moaning in pain. The taste and burn of stomach acid flooded her mouth. She breathed hard, not knowing what to do. Her mind drifted in and out. She went back into her tent, after making sure that she was done.
Inside she had her knees up to her chin, rocking back and forth, sobbing. She wanted the pain to stop. She wanted Leo to leave her alone. To get out of her head, to stop causing her pain. She wanted the dragon to get out of her head, but his dark soul enveloped her, like the moon shadowing the sun in an eclipse. She closed her eyes, shuddered, and fell asleep.
Tobius woke up in the morning, remembering the sounds he heard last night. Kathy weeping, crying out, pain, and torture.
He hated to think about his sister. It always brought back the memories of her leaving, watching her climb down the fire escape of their apartment home in Chicago, the last time he saw her, until a few months ago. Over that time, she changed. The years of her childhood of being hated, then her early teen years of being a killer, then all of a sudden she comes here, uncertain, not knowing how to react. The years of being hated turned her cold, but she quickly bounced back after coming to the institute. Tobius hated his parents as much as Kathy did. Then school. Kathy handled school well, better than the others, but something's bit at her, he could tell. He could see rage in her eyes when they called her a monster, a freak. Just like what mom called her. Tobius had to admit, he wasn't the worlds best brother, and they were twins, so they were supposed to be closer. 'Right?' Tobius thought to himself, but he knew Kathy was a loner, even more so than Logan. She did enjoy the company of people, but she also liked to be alone at times, walking or driving to school by herself, even when Kitty or Kurt offered to come with her.
He sighed. "Why did you hate her mom? Why couldn't you except her for who she was."
Kathy got up last. She couldn't sleep the rest of the night because the nightmare kept coming back. Her head hurt her still. She was wearing her uniform, along with everyone else.
"Sleeping beauty has awakened." Scott said
"Shut-up Scott." Kathy said.
Kurt looked up, and saw that her face read that she had a rough night. He looked away, just when she picked her head up.
"We got good news. The others found the alien things, so now we like, have to find Tigris." Kitty said with repulsion.
"Whoop-de-do." Kathy waved an imaginary noise maker, with sarcasm.
"What's, like, tweaked you?" Kitty asked
"Bad night." She leaned against a tree. Tobius was silent, eating his cereal, without milk.
Kathy slid down the side of the tree, into a crouching position, that, unlike most people, she could sit comfortably for a long time. Her headache burned in her skull like a cast iron helmet, sitting in a twelve thousand degree oven, and then putting it on her head, and clamping it around her skull. Leo was getting at her. Staring into his black lifeless eyes that year ago, had finally taken it's deadly toll.
"Kathy? Kat? You okay?" Scott asked with fear.
"Get him out, get him out of my head. Why did I look into those eyes, those horrible black eyes." She screamed in pain.
Leo concentrated on his prey. It had been a year since she had looked into his eyes, and he kept her alive only because he wanted to see his father dead, but she failed, and now she would pay. The dragon came closer to his prey, huddled into a corner. He came closer, his huge wings spread out like an eagles, his jaws opened in, soon he would feed.
"Kathy. Shit. We need Jean or the Professor. God damn it." Scott tried to contact the second party in the south.
Kurt rubbed Kathy's cold hand. She shivered with each breath, as if the Australian heat was the Antarctic wind. "Oh, my Raptor. Don't leave me." he said quietly to himself.
"Hello? Hello? Storm, hi. Are you near the X-Jet? We have a problem with Raptor. Come here as fast as you can, it's urgent."
In the infirmary Kathy lay in a bed, wires attached to her head to monitor her brain waves.
Kurt and Tobius sat next to her. For the whole time Tobius was silent, since he woke up, to now.
The Professor wheeled in. "How is she?"
"Cold, and not avake, no difference."
"Well, she seems to be fine, except for the fact I heard her say the name Leo a few times." Hank said.
It hit Tobius. "Leo?" It was the first thing he said all day. Kurt stared at him as if he said his first word ever. "Leo. Kurt, you remember that weird guy from school, with the white hair?"
"Ja, his name vas Leo."
"Maybe that's the same guy."
"Ja, she said zat she stared into his eyes, black eyes, and she said he vas in her head."
"Hmm." The Professor put his hand on her head and concentrated.
With a sudden rush, he was in a black void. He looked around and saw Kathy huddled in a corner.
"Kathy?" He said
"He will kill them, all of them."
"Who Kathy? Who will kill?"
"Leo. He will kill them all…" She pointed her finger at him. "…then you."
"What?" he asked frantically. Behind him the dragon came. The Professor spun around and was face to face with the dragon. "Leave know. I know who you are, Leo."
The dragon backed down. He let out a blood curling roar, then dissipated into black dust.
Then as soon as he arrived, he was pushed out.
Kathy gasped, then opened her eyes.
"Kathy." Kurt smiled.
"Hey sis." Tobius greeted her.
The professor shook his head.
"Something wrong Charles?" Hank said
"Yes, something is terribly wrong."
In his study everyone was there. The younger mutants, the older mutants, everyone.
"I have shocking news. Tigris isn't the threat. His son is. That is why he went after us, because he was afraid that we would find his son, Leo, and we would except him here at the institute.
"I have learned that Leo is not only a threat to us, but to the whole world. After using Cerebro to track him down, I have learned that I was tracking two beings, a human, and dragon. Leo has two souls. He has the soul of a dragon living inside him, so if you kill him, then the dragon in unleashed.
"He also can kill every living thing on the planet if he was mad enough. If you look into his eyes, you will die slowly, like what Kathy was suffering. The dragon will go into your head and take over, leaving you with a headache as you fight for control, it is apparently strong, when you are close to him, or he concentrates on you." He paused and looked around, seeing the terrified looks and his students faces. "But we must get rid of him, and we can't do it alone."
On that cue the Brotherhood came in.
"They will help you in stopping Leo. And so will he."
Reptilian came into the room, limping.
"Zeke? You want to trust him? He's a back stabber. You know how many times he betrayed Trex, then came back crawling to him. You can't trust him, even if he did save my life, you can't trust this snake in the grass." Kathy said
"Gee, Raptor. I'm sssso glad to ssee you again." His forked tongue flicked back and forth as he talked, and his S's more exaggerated. He had a greasy tone to his voice, and he had his black hair slicked back. A pale almost greenish complexion made him look more like a scum bag. His lamb leather jacket, and black cargo pants, made him more untrustworthy.
"Who's the braud?" Pietro asked
Kathy shot him a look with her icy green cat eyes. "I'd shut that mouth if I were you, unless you want your foot shoved into it." She threatened.
"Kathy?" Lance said
"Lance?" She replied with as much puzzlement
"You two know each other?" Kitty asked
"Yeah, we met at a bar, had a few drinks, talked, left. Nothing really happened." Lance said.
"Hey monkey boy." Todd sneered at Kurt.
"I hope that there won't be any problems with this arrangement." The Professor said, making a steeple with his hands like he always does.
"It shouldn't, as long as we all get along." Jean said.
"Getting along will be fun with this batch." Kathy said coldly, not liking the guests that intruded in her territory.
Kathy sat at the kitchen table chair, typing on her laptop.
BAMF
"Do you zink it's so could zat your on za computer, vith your headaches lately." Kurt cooed.
"I'm fine, I think after earlier today I'll be better."
"Vat are you typing about?"
"I'm still working on my Mothman article."
"Still?" Kurt opened the fridge. "Hmm. Looks like time to clean out za ol' fridge again."
Kurt threw away a carton of two month old eggs, holding tail's length from him.
"Hey monkey boy." Todd said.
"Your Toad right?" Kathy asked
"Yes'm."
"Hmph. Well I suggest you leave 'monkey boy' alone, or I'll kill ya and make it look like accident."
Todd glared at her. "Fine, your freaky looking too."
Kathy got up and walked over to Todd, standing over the short fellow. "I always wanted to try frog legs."
"Pity, I'm a toad." he made a fake laugh
"I'm not picky." Her fangs gleamed.
"Kathy, try no to scare the Brotherhood, 'kay. Their tryin to help us." Rouge said
"What's to eat in this joint?" Todd asked
"I vouldn't look in zere if I vere you."
"Why?" Todd stock his head in the fridge and pulled out a Tupper ware from the back of the fridge. He opened it up and shrieked. "What the hell is that thing in there?!"
"Za coleslaw zat time forgot." Kurt covered the Tupper ware with the lid and tossed it away. (If you remember from 'Portal', when Kurt did a little skit on it.)
"I thought that you and Tobius cleaned that damn fridge out?" Rouge said.
"We only got halfway, that's when they rebelled and used tiny hand grenades." Kathy said.
"Creepy." Kurt shuddered. "Ve should cremate zat fridge, zen zrow za ashes into to sea, vere za Kraken vill make vay vith it as it pleases."
"Fact is the Kraken is probably dead from water pollution." Kathy said
"You two actually believe that load of trash?" Rouge said.
"It's not trash, it's cryptozoology." Kathy said
"Ya, trash."
Kathy went back to typing. It was weird, earlier today, she could've died, but now it seemed as though nothing happened.
"I have arrived." Tobius said
"Make way for yee royal highness, King Arsewhole of Spamalot."
"Very funny, Monty Python copyrighter person thingy." Tobius said.
"Nein, she needs coconuts."
"But where could he have gotten them from? This is a temperate climate, coconuts grow in tropical zones."
"But maybe zey came here, like za goose, or svallow."
"Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?"
"Nein, I'm saying zat maybe they came here by a svallow, zey do migrate to tropical zones."
"But a swallow is too small, how could it carry it carry it?"
"It could grab onto za husk."
"But this is a five ounce bird carrying a 1 pound nut? How could it to that. If you calculate the wind and speed velocity."
"Maybe by African svallow, zey are bigger."
"True, but they don't migrate."
"And now for something completely different. A woman who was abducted by vegetables." Tobius said to finish it off.
"You three watch too much Monty Python." Todd said
"Ahh, but you can't forget about za clinic for arguments. Now vould zat be five minutes or half an hour?"
"But a coconut can't get here."
"Yes it can."
"No it can't."
"Yes it can."
"No it can't"
"Yes."
"No, now this isn't an argument, an argument has an issue of intellectual sentences, this is a contradiction." Kathy said
"If I'm to argue vith you zen I must take up a contrary position."
"Yes, but it isn't just saying "No, it isn't."
"Yes it is."
"No it isn't."
"Good morning." Kurt said
"What?"
"It's been five minutes."
"No it hasn't."
"Yes it has."
"It has not been five minutes."
"I'm sorry, but I can't argue vith you if you don't pay."
"But it hasn't been five minutes."
Kurt said nothing.
"This is stupid."
"Nein it isn't."
"But you said I have to pay to argue with you."
"I argue on my free time."
"Will both of you stop doing skits from the show!" Tobius said.
"Excuse me for being a little happy that I don't have a demonic dragon psychopath in my brain." Kathy said. She went back to her article. She felt a slight sting in her head, but shook it off. 'probably nothing' She took a deep breath as the pain got worse. 'I hope' She saved her article and shut off her laptop. She didn't dare try to make her pain obvious, for the last thing she wanted was for them all to worry again. An image of a great black dragon appeared in her mind. She got up and staggered.
"Kath? You okay?" Tobius asked
"Yeah, I just my head hurts again." She almost fell backward before Kurt caught her.
Leo flew toward the Mansion. He knew where she was. His huge eighty foot wings outstretched as he rode on a thermal. He looked around, his black eyes sadly had no affect when in dragon form, and neither his powers. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain of which he never in his life. A large blade cut threw his thigh.
"Die you damn dragon!" Demon flew right at him. His wing healed.
Leo let out a roar of frustration and fear. Demon, with his unnatural power could easily kill him.
Despite the fact that Demon was about four times smaller than Leo, the energy from the souls he takes made him stronger. They plummeted to the ground, Demon ready to kill Leo. They crashed to the ground near the Mansion. Leo had a large gaping wound in his chest. He stared down at the black blood that seeped through the wound.
"Now suffer the fate of so many you killed." Demon outstretched his arms, hands ready to take the life out Leo, but with one swift whiplash of Leo's tail, he knocked Demon over.
Demon got back to his feet. Leo took off to the complete his mission. Demon went after him. They approached the Mansion.
"Kathy, what did you see?" The Professor asked her. It dark and she sat in his study, her body an empty vessel.
"They were all dead, all of them. No one was left. The sky burned red with the blood of millions, but a winged demon stood up to the dragon, but failed, along with all the others, along with you." Her gaze migrated to the Professor face, her feathers drooped, hiding the top of her face.
"What does she mean Chuck?" Logan asked.
"I don't know. Kathy tell me, who was dead?"
"All of them, all the humans. He only spares the mutants, the mutants that don't defy him." Kathy looked up. "and he will kill us."
Kurt stared at his broken friend. Her eyes didn't glint anymore like they used to, now they were dull and lifeless.
Tobius rushed into the room. "Prof. There's something you guys should see."
"Thank you Tobius." He took a second glance at Kathy before he wheeled out of the study.
"C'mon Elf, we better get a goin." Logan ushered.
Kurt looked up. "I don't vant to leave her."
"Geez Elf, let's go! Leave Scaly, she'll be fine." Kurt got up and walked out the door. "I hope."
Kathy knew who was here. The Dragon Reaper has come.