Disclaimer: Only thing I own is Kai. Unfortunately, not X-men

Kai woke with a familiar cold feeling on her back. Had she been injured the previous night? Her mind was reeling, but she couldn't wake up. Her eyes wouldn't obey her command to open, and once again she couldn't feel her arms. Except, this time she knew it wasn't because she was injured. Shocks rattled her body as the previous nights events came crashing back into her head. Why, why hadn't she been able to control it this time! Why! Her eyes finally responded to her urgings and the lids opened slowly. Kai saw the world spin before her, until she realized that she was spinning. Sitting up hurriedly, she saw that she wasn't in the hospital, but a very large circular metallic room. Everything around her was silver and she could see large slits in the wall. Forcing her numb limbs to move, she stood on shaky legs. The moment she could stand without swaying, bright white light poured into the room, blinding her.

Scared, she pushed her wings open and poised her tailas small spikes erupting from either side all the way down. She heard the bolt before she saw it and jumped sideways, staring back at a small blackened area in sharp contrast to the dull silver. Her ears perked up as she heard gears moving behind the walls, and internally the rumbling of that thing that wanted to get loose. She couldn't do this herself, her body was always left weak after giving into the beast, but it wouldn't be if she gave in again. Sighing, she fell backwards into her mind.

Two minds occupied the body. The same changes took place as they had the night before, except now in the bright light the armor that replaced her normal skin was visible. Also, this time the human wasn't lost to the beast, they were one. Kai wouldn't let it take advantage of her weakened physical body; her mind was sharper than it had been in awhile, she didn't know where she was or if she was even still in the Institute. What she did know was that she wasn't about to die to some mechanical lasers. Baring her fangs, she focused her hearing on the entire area, waiting for the tiniest sound that would betray the cannons and anything else that could be lurking in this place. She'd made this change so many times that she knew exactly what she could do with this body. Kai gathered the crackling energy into a ball in the palm of her hand. Head cocked towards a cannon she was sure was going to fire at any second.

The gear clicked.

Hermouth carved itself into a fierce smile as she released her attack before it could fire. And then it began. Soon, the cannons started clicking more and more often, but she was always ready for them. But, she was careful to never let that beast take over her entire body. Finally, she couldn't hear anymore clicking and took flight, reveling in the wind, the way her body responded to her as the beast receded back into the depths of her mind. It didn't surprise her later that she fell nearly sixty feet just barely catching herself at the last moment after hearing a familiar voice in her head.

Very well, now please come down.

Slowly fluttering her way down to the floor, boots scraping neatly on the still dull silver, she was startled when she heard more grinding and she finally noticed the tower that stood in a tucked-away part of the room. She took off again, gliding close to the floor to reach it. A small door made a soft whoosh sound as she neared it. Quietly coming to a stop she made her way through the door, climbing the winding steps to the top. Not surprisingly she found the Professor sitting calmly there staring out the window that faced out towards the room.

"The Danger Room. Mutant training ground. Or at least it was until you got into it, now the repairs are going to take forever!" The strange man that had first caught her was again standing in front of her next to the Professor, who was now facing towards Kai.

"Kai, this is Logan, I'm sure you ran into him before this. It was my idea to have you placed in the Danger Room before you woke up. The incident last night led us to the need to find out what exactly happened. Perhaps you could explain in a bit more detail exactly what we just witnessed."

Kai closed her eyes and clenched her hands into fists. "If you can read minds, why not just find out yourself?"

"I'd rather hear it from you."

"I don't know what it is, the night after I mutated and ran away. I was so frustrated and confused and all other things that I guess I just lost it. One minute I was standing in a small group of trees near a road and the next I've lost control of my body and can't get it back. This thing was in charge and I couldn't stop it. Then I blacked out. I woke up the next morning in an alley. I still had all my stuff so I just kept walking and I stopped into a small convenience store to get something to drink and it was this news report blaring a mutant attack that had severely wounded three people. I ran."

Logan stepped forward. "So, that was you." Kai nodded. He walked to the controls of the tower. "A beast behind the face of a scared kid, worlds full of surprises these days."

Xavier looked back towards Kai. "Rouge should be waiting outside, you'll probably need to eat something after this."

"Professor, about last night…"

"You probably only shocked people a little, Kai. There have been many weirder occurrences here than that."

Smiling Kai made her way back down the steps to meet Rouge outside the door.

Very sorry for the very long delay, but hopefully I'll get updates up more quickly! Life may slow down for me… Well, please review and read the next chapters if you like it! Dragonfeather