A few days later, Ororo was back to knock on Katja's door, this time trying to persuade her to go on that ride the Brotherhood's appearance had canceled.
Probably a heroic attempt to save Katja from another horrible enemy called boredom, seeing as she was busy attempting some of the yoga exercises Jean had taught her, to try on her own, too, every now and then, to stabilize her control over her emotions. A trip to the forest behind the mansion would actually have been just what she needed right now.
Charles had recently bought a new horse, a four-year-old Arab-Haflinger cross breed half on its way to the slaughterhouse as their owner no longer had had the time or interest to use the mare. She was a bit chubby because she'd hardly been worked in the last few months, but she was extremely well trained, hardworking, and, above all, very well-behaved.
Katja had fallen in love with the animal instantly and been very happy when Xavier had entrusted her personally to care for it. She'd decided to name the mare Adora, and she would have loved to spend each of the minutes not reserved for Scott with her.
Reason, alas, would not allow for that. "I should make some progress with this today." She ducked her head apologetically. "What about Jean? If she's busy too, let me know. I can pick this up later."
"No, never mind." Ororo put her off, fortunately not offended in the least. "It's time my gelding gets a chance for a really good run again anyway. Your walking rolled roast couldn't keep up with that."
"It's not her fault, no one's taken her out lately." Katja pursed her lips in a pout. "You just wait. Once she's back in shape, all you two will see from us in the woods is our cute behinds."
"Like I keep saying, we really need to do something about your megalomania," Ororo returned with a dry wink. "I'm out of here. You and Buddha have fun."
"You're not helping."
Katja went back to meditation with all of the enthusiasm she could come up with, little as it was. But her concentration was gone, she quickly realized.
Finally, she gave it up for the moment and decided to take at least a trip as far as to the riding arena across the street. She needed a little distraction. There had been an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach all day that she couldn't explain.
That recent attack had unsettled her, as much as she hated to admit it; that was probably all.
And that, in no small part, was thanks to Scott, who had been very shocked by how quickly that whole thing had happened that one afternoon. He'd been even more of a pain in the ass than usual in Katja's training in the last few days, to drill her to perfection more by the hour, and she wouldn't have dreamed of complaining. They were both all too aware that it might be crucial before long that Katja was no longer entirely helpless in hand-to-hand combat.
But there was no sparring on the agenda again until the early evening, so Katja might as well make herself useful in the stable a little.
On the way there, she passed the garage where Scott was tinkering with Jubilee's moped.
Encountering Toad at Liberty Island had left the brave little ride with some unsightly damage. For Jubilee, who didn't have a driver's license yet, this was of course a real catastrophe. Just how was she supposed to get to town to go shopping now? Intolerable conditions, absolutely intolerable. Now that the mansion's tech geek was taking care of the problem, she was already beaming again. Impatiently, she watched Scott work with the tuned engine, obviously eager to get back in the saddle.
Katja instinctively stopped for a moment in the huge driveway gate, taking around a look of awe, something she had never really gotten around to doing before.
All these cars and motorcycles, some of them very rare, that the X-Men had standing around here, could probably have financed the whole school alone for a couple of years if need be. A collection presumably mainly acquired by Scott, from how Katja had come to know his weakness for anything with wheels or wings.
"How many of these are yours?" she grinned at her partner when he looked up from his work with a pleased smile.
"Less than the rumors say, but technically, they're all my babies," he returned sheepishly. "Why? Do you need a ride? I'm afraid I'll have to retrofit it with parking aids first, though."
"Says the guy who still hasn't dared to take me kart racing because he knows fully well that he can only lose there," Katja commented the repeated teasing regarding her somewhat bumpy arrival at Mutant High with an amiable snarl.
"And no. I prefer saving up for such things myself. There are busses to take to get to college. In New York, you can't park anywhere anyway."
The long side of the garage, however, attracted Katja's gaze far more often than she would have liked to admit. Horsepower on two wheels was something she'd always found fascinating. She'd only refrained from getting that certain driver's license for her mother's sake because Maria had thought it was too dangerous. By now, Katja could only shake her head at such exaggerated caution. There were far greater dangers waiting for her in her new life, that she even was exposing herself to willingly.
"Those look like fun though. How much do you pay for one of these things around here? And for the lessons to go with it?"
"You on a bike?" Scott eyed her doubtfully. "No offense, Katja, but with your size, something like this would be easier." He pointed at Jubilee's moped. "A motorcycle, when it comes to it, you need to be able to pick up off the ground on your own after you've kissed the road."
Great. Katja had almost started to miss that occasional touch of sexism. While during her first meeting with Scott, she had found that somewhat charming, this time she was mortally wounded in her pride. "Who says I can't? Weights training, remember?"
"I'll be right back. Try to tighten those two on the left on your own."
Scott thrust the screwdriver into Jubilee's hand and rose from his kneeling position, briefly patting the dust off his light-colored pants in a typically pedantic gesture before beckoning Katja with him to the bikes. "I love the mouth you got on you, babe, you know that. But especially when you're out there alone, I need to be able to rely on you having complete control over whatever you ride in case of a possible pursuit. So, you think you can do that with one of these?" Crossing his arms, he leaned against a heavy Harley that barely swayed even a little under his weight.
"I don't think so. I know." Fine. If that was how Scott wanted to play this, it took two for that.
Unfazed, Katja straddled the bike, wistfully stroking the polished dashboard with her fingertips. She was sorely tempted to just start that engine right now and take that baby for a spin around the yard. To actually own such a beauty, not always having to ask someone else for a ride ... Getting on her machine whenever she felt like it and chasing down some highway, feeling the wind in her face ...
Suddenly, so many dreams were within reach. Not too long ago, she'd always thought such things too big for her. Now she knew that she could achieve a lot if she worked hard enough. A couple of driving lessons wouldn't be much of an obstacle along that way.
Without further ado, she kicked up the Harley's stand and deftly wriggled it out of the line of the other vehicles.
The sharp way Scott was eying her amused her. He was clearly afraid she was about to crash into something any second.
She decided, that touch of condescension a minute ago demanded revenge. She pretended to cut the corner to the gate too closely and allowed the machine to tip over, only to catch it again at the last moment and lift it back up with a strong grip. "You were saying?" she asked with a charming smile in Scott's direction.
Skepticism or not, that was clearly an impressed – and, incidentally, a rather dirty – grin on his lips. He obviously liked the sight of his girlfriend on one of his rides.
"So you really want to learn to drive, huh?" Half laughing, half sighing, he stood next to Katja and wrapped her long braid around two fingertips, gently pulling her close, but backing away before a kiss could happen. "Alright, I'll give you lessons myself. If I can allow you on the road after less than ten units, you can have one of my bikes."
"You are so gonna regret that offer," Katja stated confidently before leaning in for a quick kiss, enjoying the brief moment of tenderness despite the discussion. The soft touch of his lips, the alluring note of his pleasant aftershave, endlessly delicate touches on her cheek, her neck ... A slight, excited shiver running down her spine, as usual when they had a second to get closer ...
Yes, this was a bet she was only too happy to enter. Because that meant, they'd soon be able to get away from here for a few days with the machines. Just with a tent and backpacks, on the road somewhere around here ... A very tempting idea.
"You haven't won yet, babe." Scott was rude enough to pat her butt before pointing toward the gate unmistakably. "I still got work to do here. Don't get in over your head. This is still my baby."
"Who knows for how long ..."
With a teasing last glance at the Harley, Katja fled from Scott's murderous gaze to the stables.
Those thoughts regarding the Brotherhood couldn't be locked away as easily as hoped. Katja wished she could have spent more, far many more hours alone with Scott. That teasing and intimate moments like earlier always helped chase away too gloomy thoughts.
But both of them simply had their duties in this institute, Scott even more so than she did with the classes, the whole technology, leading the team, the driving lessons, and everything. Then the constant combat training, which he, too, needed to keep up with, to stay in shape ... Other things often had to take a back seat there.
Still, maybe tonight the two of them would finally manage to spend some quality time tonight ...
Leading her saddled mare towards the neighboring property, she saw Ororo on her Arabian horse leaving the grounds in the distance with some delay, and a guilty conscience promptly stirred in her. So she and Katja could have gone out together after all. Perhaps that would have been better.
Was it clever for any of the team to be out alone at the moment after the Brotherhood had been able to enter the Xavier institute so easily? What if these people were still around somewhere? Katya should have at least asked where exactly Ororo was going.
Annoyed with herself, she rummaged for her cell phone in her vest pocket as soon as her exaggerated paranoia did no longer have her look out for any blue-red or greenish figures nearby.
"Oh, are they paying you guys for talking on the phone on a horse instead of working? Give me that job too."
Katja looked up with a startle. Entering the arena, she hadn't even paid attention to the only other rider inside.
Yes, that was indeed Marie catching up to her on her own foster horse, once again a snappy quip on her lips, something that had been happening delightfully often lately. Bit by bit, the teenage girl was coming out of her shell.
"Says she who ran from tutoring again."
"That's the Professor's class, and Doctor Grey kidnapped him from right under our noses earlier. I think she had some kind of vision in her sleep."
Marie didn't seem awfully sad about the cancellation, only a hint of incomprehension marked her expression.
Telepathic powers and everything related to them was sometimes still very suspicious, especially to new mutants like Katja and her. There were far too many things one could abuse such powers for, and far too much that was unclear in this regard despite decades of research. Blurry images that might as well have come from a crystal ball at some fair were among them.
"We postponed class. Thank god. Studying is seriously starting to piss me off. I finally want to do something useful."
"Feel you," Katja groaned. "I'm just glad that Charles is nice enough to spare me taking any exams. These summer lectures starting soon will be far more useful. Why don't you talk to the Professor? Tell him you'd rather be working. If an apprenticeship is what you want, there's no point in bothering with theory for years to come that you'll never need. And until you find something you like, let your Bobby help you. The guy even manages to make me understand at least half of what Charles is talking about."
"He's not my Bobby," Marie growled, a noise sounding suspiciously like Logan's preferred form of communication. "He's nice enough, fine. But turning him down three times should really get the message across. If I ask him for more tutoring, that shit starts all over again."
"Don't you like him?" asked Katja as casually as possible. Once Marie was in the mood to talk, you had to make the best of it. It still didn't happen that often.
"Of course I like him. And I like Logan. I like animals, too, especially horses. Even sea lions are pretty cute. Still doesn't mean I can touch any of them. St. John has already scored one stay in the sick bay. I'd hate to cause a second one, especially for Bobby."
"I heard. Doesn't St. John know ...?" Somehow, Katja wasn't particularly surprised that it was the often rebellious and stubborn Pyro, of all people, who had only had to learn firsthand that flirting with Marie wasn't entirely without danger.
"Of course, he knows. It was an accident." Marie shrugged, trying a little too hard to not let it show how heavily such incidents were still weighing down on her.
"On the upsides: At least now there's no one in my way in the Danger Room. Beating up holograms is a lot more fun on your own. They say, you and Professor Summers hardly come out of there, too, as soon as the lights go out." Today, there wasn't quite as much teasing as usual regarding Scott and Katja's relationship in Marie's half-hearted grin. Training had little to do with romance. And Marie knew best how it was, having an invisible danger breathing down your neck. "Does the Professor have any idea what those freaks from the Brotherhood want from you by now?"
"From what I'm getting, it's not uncommon for Magneto to be interested in mutants with rare powers, especially if that gift could hopefully become really useful someday. Recruit early and all that. But that's actually a kind of conversation the guy usually comes for himself."
Katja shortened the reins a bit when Adora began to shake her head restlessly, quickly bored with the warm-up walk as so often, after her urge to move had been caged for far too long. "Easy. You'll get to run in a minute, girl, I promise."
"Maybe they're hoping for you to help them get that psycho out of jail." Marie's pretty, heart-shaped lips twisted into an even more aggressive grimace. "The guys on that team are really into pain, aren't they?"
Katja still had nothing but an uneasy shrug to offer regarding that question. "Charles can't be sure. Doctor McCoy had a different idea. Apparently, late mutants have always been of particular interest to Magneto. Something about the genes of people like me is different from those of normal mutants, they say. And if Magneto possibly refuses to give up that weapon from Liberty Island just yet ..." She reached aside briefly when she saw Marie wince at the memory of her own personal experience with the damn thing, squeezing her covered arm apologetically.
"I'm sure he won't try anything like what he did with you again, don't worry. After all, it was me and my stupidity who just had to say hello to Mystique in person when we found Logan and you. If Magneto tried to find out about me before Liberty Island, he had enough clues in certain German media, as you know."
And even though Magneto himself was out cold at the moment, there was no doubt his comrades would continue to try and put his plans into action. Therefore, these people might not necessarily mean Katja any harm; the whole thing might well have been the Brotherhood's breathtakingly friendly way of inviting her for a short stay in their lab.
Which wasn't any kind of reassurance.
"Let them try. They'll have to get past us first." Marie returned Katja's friendly gesture with the same delicate shyness that was still shaping her every touch.
"Weren't you supposed to call someone?"
Katja looked down at her cell phone again, then put it away. Who was she to baby people who were a lot more powerful than her? Ororo could take care of herself a hell of a lot better than she could.
"Wasn't important I think. What was that vision Jean was talking about? I know you guys were eavesdropping again when she was talking to Charles."
"We never eavesdrop," Marie claimed with utter conviction, but then promptly blushed. "Occasionally it might happen that you overhear things. Not our fault you guys all talk so loud. That thing was weird though."
She chewed thoughtfully on one of her front strands of hair, which had turned white, probably forever, after that disaster at Liberty Island. "Doctor Grey said she foresaw something happening soon, with her gift. She said she saw Sabretooth. But that guy's dead, isn't he?"
Katja got Adora to stop so suddenly that this lazy Noriker mule under a third rider, who had joined them in the meantime, almost bruised its nose on Adora's equally well-padded rear end.
"Stupid mutant bitch!" the man shouted in offense, trying hard, with the help of a sickeningly sharp curb bit to bring his bucking animal back under control. "You wanna look out, maybe?"
"You wanna know what it's like to be in a coma?" Marie sneered back.
"Flashwind?"
"Just a second."
Impatiently, Katja steered Adora to the second track so that at least she wouldn't be in anyone's way, while already digging out her phone again with her other hand to press the redial button. This time she waited until the ringtone came. Once. Twice. Three times. "Come on, Ororo ..."
'Hello, you've reached the voicemail of ...'
"Damn … What's the point of having a cell phone if you never turn it on?"
"Wait ..." Marie frowned. "Ororo? She said something earlier ... I asked her for Doctor McCoy's number, but she didn't have her phone on her. It's in her apartment, charging."
"This just keeps getting better and better. Did anyone else see her go off on her own?"
Marie shook her head with a jerk, becoming rapidly uneasy herself in the face of this suddenly looming danger, coming from someone who had threatened her, too, several times in the last crisis. "She took the kitchen back door so she wouldn't be stopped for the fourth time about some school stuff. I think she just wanted a moment to herself."
Katja dismounted, silently, fiercely reminding herself to keep calm. "Can you hold my horse for a minute, Marie? I want Jean and Scott to know at least. Someone may have to ride after her."
"Why don't you take the jeep?"
"Because Ororo always takes the long forest trail right through the undergrowth. A car can't quite keep up with that. Horses are faster. Maybe Logan can help, too."
Katja answered halfway on her way out already, instinctively sensing that there was no time for long discussions. If she was drawing the right conclusions right now ... Then one of her team might be in very grave danger right now.
"I don't understand," Marie called after her, neutrally phrased fortunately in spite of her own agitation, so as not to reveal what this was all about to the other rider, who seemed to have little sympathy for the mutant guests from across the street anyway. "I thought you people dealt with that guy!"
"Me too, yeah." In retrospect, an annoying kind of naivety.
Hadn't the X-Men at first also thought that Toad could not possibly have survived Ororo's attack? And his amphibious genes equipped him with only comparatively mild enhanced healing.
Sabretooth's body had not been found, that much was for sure. The Brotherhood didn't go down so easily. As if a six-foot beast with abilities similar to Logan's couldn't survive a simple fall.
Gritting her teeth, Katja only quickened her pace. There was no way to undo this mistake. Now all that counted was making sure it would not have any serious consequences.
"What was it exactly that you've seen, Jean?" Scott, too, was immediately alarmed after Katja's warning.
At the latest since Liberty Island, they all knew how dangerous an enemy Sabretooth was, with those supernaturally fast reflexes, a strength far superior to any of them, with Logan maybe being an exception ... And above all, with that animalistic temperament that, according to Charles, even Magneto often had trouble controlling.
With the prospect of possibly encountering such an opponent again soon, the team members didn't even meet for a preliminary discussion in Xavier's office, but straight in the basement, by the locker rooms.
"Not much, really." Jean shrugged, at a loss. "Just him, in my head. Lurking. He's on the hunt, that much I'm sure of. It was … scary."
"Could be just a memory come to life." Logan still didn't sound convinced.
Maybe he just didn't want to believe that one of his archenemies was back in his life so soon. The Battle of Liberty Island had revealed Sabretooth and him sharing some common past at some point, as Jean had told Katja later. That was something, Logan didn't want to talk about with anyone for the time being, though, and compared to Logan walling himself in, even Scott's well-practiced poker face was pure pantomime.
"I saw him, don't you get it? I saw him lying on some clearing nearby!" Jean paced restlessly up and down the hallway, unable to stand still for even a second. Again and again, she harshly rubbed over her upper arms that were covered with clear goose bumps.
Scott, still slightly better suited to estimate his ex-partner's powerful mental abilities, had heard enough. "We'll look for Ororo. If this guy is after her, she definitely needs help. And if it's a false alarm, at least we've had some good training for the next emergency."
"Let's go saddle up. Charles will try narrowing down the possible areas with Cerebro in the meantime." Jean seemed to have the same thought as Katja and stopped Scott before he could hurry toward the garage.
In the dense forest behind the school, where there was rarely someone from the city forestry department showing up, some of the trails were barely manageable even on two or four legs.
"I'm coming," Logan stated, with what continued to be a very reluctant grimace, but he probably hated the thought probably even more of missing a possible fight, whereas he enjoyed these encounters exactly very much every time.
Not to mention that in the last few weeks, more bonds than just the one with Jean had been forged. And even though occasional conversations with Logan on their morning runs together had given Katja a bit of insight into his abilities and the part of his past that he remembered, and she, therefore, knew that Logan, due to his memory loss, which naturally included decades of experience with his mutation as well, could not always rely one hundred percent on his heightened senses, especially not his sense of smell ... He obviously wanted to try anyway, and for that, they should be very glad right now, given the lack of time. "Unless there were a lot of people out there today, I'll find her. Especially if the guy is really around her."
"You can ride a horse?" Jean asked in surprise.
"Let's just say I usually stay in the saddle. Give me one that doesn't make a fuss and I'm in."
"Why does she never has her cell phone on her?" Scott grumbled to himself on the way to the stables. "And of course, we won't get the tracker watches from U.G.E.R. before next week. We could really use those right now."
"She usually stays close to the school, doesn't she?" Katja tried her best to spread something like optimism in spite of everything.
Only now did Scott seem to really realize that she was still with the group. For a moment, that harsh tug of deep-rooted concern distorted his lips again. She was almost certain that he would tell her to stay ... He would have been right to.
After all, Katja had still a long way to go before officially being accepted on this team. She still was lacking months, if not years, of training for that.
But after the dozens of times that Scott had already trained her, he knew by now not only about her weaknesses, but also about her strengths. Of which riding was undeniably one. In any case, in a possible hunt through the forest, she would not be half as useless as she had been at Liberty Island.
"No hand-to-hand combat today, we clear on that?" he finally stated with gritted teeth when Katja eyed him questioningly, trying to let him know that it was entirely his decision and that she respected that by now. She wouldn't have liked it, but if he'd said no, she would have obeyed. Maybe it was that growing realistic kind of reason he could sense in her, too, that convinced him today he could risk her getting involved.
"I would very much prefer if they don't get to see you at all. Especially when you're being targeted by the Brotherhood for some reason."
"I'll hold back. For real this time," Katja promised, and she meant it.
"But honestly, Scott ... Today is not about me, I'm afraid."
Scott took a moment to caress her arm before entering the tack room at the end of the aisle between the stalls by her side, lifting Pharaoh's saddle off the assigned rack. "We don't know if Sabretooth is trying to go for Ororo specifically. After all, we were all there to kick his ass."
"If you'd seen his face in that lounge in the Statue of Liberty, you'd know better. He wants her. And she's already gotten away from him a couple of times, so I guess that's only made it worse."
Katya shuddered, recalling that look of deep hatred and sadistic lust in Sabretooth's black eyes. The eyes of a psychopath, no doubt.
"If that's the case, he's not in for a good time today," Scott remarked, nodding at their group before they made their way across the narrow path between the horse farm and the Xavier institute so that for the time being, none of the pupils would notice them. The kids shouldn't be unnecessarily alarmed.
Unfortunately, Katja had a feeling that would come soon enough. "I'm scared." She wouldn't have needed to mention it. Hailstones were falling down on the X-Men within ten square yards, icy cold, sharp-edged, painful. "I think we're already far too late."