While the shock had cut deep, the next morning, Katja felt like waking up from a bad dream. After all, except for these strange thunderstorms, nothing had changed. Her body least of all. She wasn't growing horns or spikes as one could sometimes see in startling pictures of mutants. Her skin had not suddenly turned green either, and there was no shooting poison from her mouth or fire from her hands. Everything was perfectly normal.

She just had far too much time to brood since Fabian was no longer around, and because of walling herself in. In this hillbilly town, as much as she loved it, she had to constantly fear running into her ex-boyfriend. There weren't a lot of people in her life worth staying in personal touch with. Katja badly needed to find something to do. Probably best to spend even more time with sports, going for a run for half an hour in the morning as she'd used to ... And when had she last been to the horse ranch, anyway? There was more than one horse owner who would be grateful if Katja started occasionally taking their stubborn geldings for a good spin through the forest again. She had let this bizarre trip into the black scene turn her away from her hobbies far too much. It was ridiculous, being that much out of shape if one had been working out ever since childhood because of some insane urge to just move. Somehow, corsets, leather, and far too depressing music had been all that had mattered lately.

Enough. Katja would drill this guy and everything she connected with him out of her head.

Then normality would surely return to her life. In all respects.

Coming home from work earlier than expected that evening, her mother promptly caught Katja putting her decision into action, sitting on the floor, with a box full of photos of Fabian in her hand, torn as to whether she should burn them ceremoniously or use them for dart practice.

For a few minutes, Maria watched her silently, hesitatively. Although she must, of course, have heard from the gossip around every corner of this town that Fabian and Katja had broken up, she had not pushed Katja to talk yet – which was rather unusual, given her notorious overprotectiveness. She probably sensed that this failed relationship got to Katja more than the few shallow ones that had existed so far. And they hadn't gone along particularly well recently anyway.

Katja often felt that she couldn't breathe freely around her mother, in this far too small half of a house that they'd both had to move into after the death of Katja's father last year, but her own place, she couldn't afford right now. One disagreement after the other ... There had been some bad words on both sides, which Katja was now feeling sorry for. Just because she had not wanted to hear what her mother had known for a long time: that Fabian had been a mistake.

But Maria was not the "I told you so" type. It was something Katja appreciated a lot about her, as much as Maria could get on her nerves sometimes.

"A little early for spring cleaning," she finally said when Katja herself made no move to speak up, nodding towards the many loose skirts and black tops scattered about the floor; almost exclusively what Katja had worn outside for the past few months.

"You rather want me to keep walking around like this?"

"Your look is not my business." Her mother tried in vain to sound indifferent. Of course, she had cared. In a village where everyone knew each other and where people had always been gossiping about this clique of weirdos that Katja was no longer a part of now, it was impossible not to.

"As long as a potential new boss doesn't mind ..." That, however, sounded a lot sharper already.

"I know. Rent went up."

Katja dropped onto her bed with a sigh. "That's why I'm going back to the old office tomorrow. Maybe the senior partners will be lenient if I dress a little more appropriately and help out at the front desk until I leave. Discharge compensation is not off the table yet. Then I can take enough time to find something new." She grimaced. There were few things she hated more than dolling up for business. "Time to put on the big girl pants, huh?"

"Can't hurt."

Her mother came to the rescue of Katja's cat, who was hopelessly tangled in the cord of one of her corsets.

Morpheus thanked Maria by hissing at her in offense and left the room with his tail raised high, but when he realized, no one was in the mood to pity him today, he jumped onto Katja's mother's lap for cuddles after all.

Which was very convenient. That way, Maria didn't have to look Katja in the eye when mumbling the question she had actually come to ask. "Anything you need to get off your chest?"

"No need," Katja said after a moment of silence. Her mother had enough to deal with due to her line of work, and there was nothing left to say about that thing with Fabian anyway. There wasn't a guy in this world worth shedding tears over. Had Katja not learned a long time ago that she was best off on her own? That was probably the reason for this urge for a radical change. She had to find herself again.

"Come on, then. Cocoa time." After a brief hug, her mother pulled her up in determination and led her to the living room, where the enticing smell of chili and marshmallows quickly drowned out the gloom.

Enough of that. Katja was doing alright, apart from her fortunately quickly healing, broken heart. And everything having to do with this mutant thing had to be just her imagination.

In case of setbacks, holding her head up high and moving on had never failed her so far.

The plan to dope herself with an extra dosage of serotonin and dopamine worked. Katja stopped by for free workouts at the local school gym every evening, took a few riding lessons to work on her show-jumping skills, wrote dozens of applications, and met her mother in the kitchen for a glass of wine after work almost every day so that she was usually too tired even to start brooding at the office. In this way, she got the week over well, and everyday life began to settle back in.

It wouldn't be until much later that she realized, it was this keeping herself busy by force exactly that was the reason, she had not noticed anything more unusual after the first strange incidents. Right after the breakup, her thoughts and feelings had simply been numbed.

But then Friday afternoon came and brought a job interview in a small town near Katja's village. If she would do well, she could hope for a much better-paid job in a more prestigious law firm. Maybe this whole stupid thing with Fabian had even been good for something in the end.

Surprisingly optimistic for a change, she walked to the bus stop, as her mother needed her car today herself. As so often, however, number 42 was late. For 20 minutes, Katja was standing around in the cold and kept on getting more irritated by the second, as this so very important appointment was drawing closer and closer. By the stars, it was really about high time that she made better money and could afford something as trivial as her own car. She was definitely not yet compatible enough with people for public transportation again.

All these weeks of fearing that something might be wrong with her relationship, finally knowing how right she had been, then that one surreal evening ... She'd become thin-skinned. She was yearning for someone to hold her when she came home from the office frustrated and bored. Someone, she could snuggle up to at night. And that, too, annoyed her because that asshole she'd been with wasn't worth such longing. And yet, for a while, Katja couldn't get the image out of her head of how Fabian had often sat next to her on the bus on such evenings, distracting her from the ride with a few kisses that were almost too deep for the public.

Lost in these painful memories that she could simply not turn off, she didn't even realize that there was already a soft rumble in the sky again. When the bus finally arrived, she was close to snapping.

As the door closed behind her, another bus arrived on the other side of the street. The two drivers rolled down their side windows, greeted each other cheerfully, and began a little chat as if their shift was already over.

Another restless look at her watch shattered the last of Katja's composure. She opened her mouth to say something, something ironic, impatient ... She never got the chance.

A moment later, the whole vehicle was electrified. Bright flashes of lightning, sparks flew, and people screamed. A terrible smell filled the bus – burnt skin, charred hair.

Now Katja knew what Jubilee had been talking about. Wide-eyed, she stared at the horrific scene just a few feet away – and yet she was not a part of it. It was her who had caused this. Her unnatural powers that she'd not even wanted to believe in. Now she could no longer hide from it. It was true ... She was a mutant ... And her childish fear of the inevitable she had just caused a catastrophe.

A wave of panic made her body shake. Raindrops hit the glass reflecting her pale appearance. A mutant ... She had hurt these people, her gift ... She was a criminal ...

A badly wounded woman fleetingly known to Katja from her hometown, staggered towards her across the aisle, groaning. The face and arms of her acquaintance were disfigured by huge blisters. The woman reached out to Katja, looking for help, crying out again and again, louder and louder, as the pain really started to set in after the initial shock was gone. The woman collapsed before she could reach Katja who had frozen motionlessly.

Katja began to scream herself.

"You were damn lucky, Miss." A still quite young policeman with a bushy mustache put an awkward hand on Katja's shoulder after making sure once again that nothing was wrong with her.

She ignored him. She had not spoken a word since the incident. Her expression blank, she stood next to the vehicle, which had been completely destroyed by the heat and the electricity, paying no attention at all to the man talking to her. What was she supposed to say to him? That she was to blame for this disaster? What would happen to her then?

"Something about your chair must have deflected the lightning. I'll take you home, come on."

Katja allowed the man to take her to the blue and yellow car without resistance, dropping into the back seat and staring dully out the windshield, at the ambulances across the street.

The stretcher with the last of the injured was just being lifted into one of them. All the passengers had suffered most severe burns, they would remain disfigured forever. Thirteen victims, thirteen lives destroyed. It bordered on a miracle that no one had been killed.

And everyone would know that it had all been Katja's fault. At the latest when there would be newspaper reports tomorrow about her being the only person involved remaining unharmed. The people she knew would remember the evening with Fabian – and they would be talking ... Soon the whole village would know ...

And then? Katja had no idea about the legal situation in such a case. Was there even one? Here in Germany, where there had hardly been any mutant cases so far? Now people would definitely start asking questions, and demanding laws. They would demand punishment – and they would be right to.

Covering her face with her hands Katja cried into her palms silently.

Whatever had happened to her that night in the club's parking lot wouldn't just stop. It never had. Every single strange weather phenomenon in the last few days suddenly made sense. This had all been her. She needed to leave, right now. Be safe from herself and also from persecution by the authorities, even though she would probably no longer be able to look in the mirror afterward. At least until she had sought advice from people who maybe knew such tight spots, unlike herself who had never been in conflict with the law before. What if they would lock her up? She wouldn't have been able to deal with that.

It would be hard enough as it was, knowing all her life that she was responsible for the fate of those thirteen people. Now all she could do was make sure it had been the last time.

The night passed quickly and without rest, starting with a plane ticket to the States that devoured pretty much every penny for rainy days ever saved in Katja's accounts. She randomly threw things into a suitcase, a few pairs of pants, sweaters, shirts, she didn't even really look. How was she supposed to prepare for anything when she didn't even know exactly what she was going to do now? A couple of prints from the internet for travel plans ... Applying for one of those short-term emergency visas for a week that had been introduced a few years ago, though Katja had no clue how she was supposed to manage to show up at the responsible immigration office within three days ...

Then a long, lonely cab ride to Munich airport was waiting. Also expensive but at least anonymous and hopefully safe for everyone involved.

And whether it was a curse or a blessing: That way, no one noticed Katja's silent departure. Her mother was doing a late shift at the nursing home.

Katja left her a small note, saying she would be in touch, poured her cat a double portion of wet food in his bowl, and filled a second litter box for him before pulling the front door shut behind her. Shivers ran down her spine when she realized, she didn't know if or when she would ever be able to get back here. For a moment, courage wanted to leave her. She was close to cat back inside and canceling everything ...

But what good would that be? In a few hours, half the state would know that a villain lived in this area, a mutant ... Katja literally fled down the stairs in front of the house.

Not much later, she tensely wormed her way through far too many people towards check-in, her eyes downcast. It was her first time flying such a long distance, but nothing could have excited her less right now. She swallowed a couple of strong sleeping pills, for the first time in her life, and probably far too many of them, because she was afraid that another thunderstorm might endanger her ride. Airplanes were supposedly very safe against lightning, but so were buses, they said … In her situation, Katja could no longer rely on supposedly. She also deliberately did not let them assign her a window seat. She better not got too close to the sky for a while.

Her eyes, burning with unshed tears, fell close even before takeoff. She indeed didn't wake up until the arrival announcement for New York came.

There weren't any dreams.

It was probably only luck that the mental weakness was joined by a physical one only at the end of a nerve-wracking drive in a dumpy rental car. A drive that Katja got lost three times on, despite the navigation system.

As she pulled into the huge courtyard of the mansion that Jubilee had said was her destination, she suddenly felt like she was about to pass out. Her head was spinning. Every movement cost her strength, even simple things like stepping on the brake pedal. She felt sick to her stomach, and her hands were shaking even more than they had during that damn fight with Fabian. Never before had her body let her down like this.

Maybe this was the first punishment for what she had done already ... Katja knew that was a paranoid thought, but once there, she couldn't get rid of it. It was only fair that she felt like crap. Those people from the bus, they were feeling even worse ...

She stopped the car crossways like an asshole, taking more than one spot in some parking lot, and dragged herself to the building. A grey veil darkened her sight. If she had had to search longer for the right entrance, she would not have made it.

Half an eternity seemed to pass before someone answered the call.

Finally, the huge, dark wooden door opened, and standing before Katja was a petite, almost fairy-like thin person with white hair and dark skin. The woman's eyes lit up snow-white for a moment when she saw Katja. A light breeze brushed through Katja's hair. The stranger frowned in confusion, obviously as confused by her own reaction as Katja was. She closed her eyes for a moment, and the white disappeared. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for ... Jubilee." Those were the last words Katja managed to get out before she passed out.

"Katja, can you hear me? Hey! Wake up, girl!"

It felt like 100 years had passed before Katja came around, completely disoriented. When the dancing stars before her eyes finally disappeared, she quickly realized that she must be in some kind of sick room. It reeked of medicine and blood, of pain. The dark blue paneling of the walls, small cabinets and tables with instruments, and the hard mattress she was lying on completed the still somewhat blurry picture.

Next to her stretcher, there was a very slender, tall woman with dark red hair and quite pale skin standing, who waited, with a slight smile, for Katja to regain her senses for good.

"Hi ..." Katja didn't recognize her own voice, deep and scratchy, as if she hadn't had anything to drink in years. That was about how her throat felt, too. Had she been out for so long? And where exactly had she ended up, anyway? She must have been crazy to just go visit complete strangers of all people, in her situation ... Who could say, they wouldn't judge her here just as much as everyone who knew about what Katja had done undoubtedly already did? The clearer Katja's mind became, the more relentlessly the fear of the future struck once more.

"Hello." The woman saw the unease in her frantic blinking, saw Katja trying to sit up, and briefly took her by the arm, a soothing gesture. "Slow down. It's alright. You're safe here. I'm Doctor Jean Grey. How are you feeling?" With movements that were visibly routine, she wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Katja's arm.

"I have no idea," Katja stated after thinking about the question for a moment. Physically, at least, she wasn't feeling so miserable anymore, that was probably good.

"How do you know who I am?"

Jean just grinned cautiously. "You had your passport in your purse, remember? We should try to get your system going. Can you get up?"

"I guess." Katja sat up carefully and swung her legs over the side of the bed, reassured when the dizziness didn't return.

"Feels fine. I don't usually just collapse like that. I don't even know what happened earlier."

Earlier, was that accurate? She had no idea what day it even was. This had been the first time she had passed out, and she could have gladly done without the experience. "When ...?"

"Yesterday. You want to know what happened?" Jean replied with sudden sharpness in her voice. "You obviously mistook yourself for Supergirl, that's what happened. You had nothing in your stomach but a whole lot of pills, not to mention your dehydration. It's a wonder you got this far on your own as it is. Were you trying to set a new record?"

Katja didn't know why this was when it happened. Perhaps because she suddenly realized that she had indeed arrived where she had meant to go. That she was now with people who might be able to help her. Or because her nerves just couldn't deal with Jean's reproachful tone at that moment. A sob escaped her as if she'd been a little child.

With two steps Jean was back with her, wanting to put an arm around her.

Katja backed away, not even knowing exactly why. It was very unlikely that lightning could enter closed spaces like this. But the last time she had felt too safe had ended with a dozen people being seriously injured. She knew nothing about her new condition, and as long as she didn't, she couldn't make any more reckless assumptions. "No, please ... I ... I'm scared ..."

"It's okay," the stranger nodded. "Go ahead, cry. I think you need that far more than any drugs right now."

And that was exactly what Katja did. All these tears of the last hours and days suddenly came. For too long, she had clenched her teeth, unwilling to admit what was going on with her before somehow making her way here, only with the goal in mind not to lose her mind completely ... Now her strength was failing her.

Jean waited for her outburst to end without any hurry, with a calmness that Katja found admirable already. The woman kept standing next to her without pushing her, wordlessly handing her a glass of water or new handkerchiefs now and then. Every now and then, Katja saw her typing a few lines into the keyboard of a computer terminal in the corner. But Jean didn't leave or say a word until Katja finally calmed down a bit.

Only when Katja was finally wiping her face sheepishly with a last cloth, and another sip eased the annoying burning in her throat, she asked, kindly, "Wanna show me what's going on with you?"