Chapter Seven: The Kitty, the Wolf and the Cypher
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Rahne stared at the text in front of her, at a complete loss as to what it was supposed to say. She hated French more than anything, well not as much as Kitty phasing into her room in the middle of the night asking to borrow her hairbrush. She could speak Gaelic perfectly and even had a good understanding of Latin but as for French, she had nothing, even basic words like hello or goodbye were unknown to her. She tapped her pen on the page, as if she thought the text would translate itself if she stared at it for long enough.
"How do you get to the restaurant on fifth street?" someone said, Rahne looked up form the page. She saw a boy with blond hair she recognised as Doug Ramsey, one of the most hopeless students in the class, even worse than her.
"What're you saying?" she asked him
"That's what it says, it's a question asking for directions" he told her, she looked back down at the page just as the teacher came over.
"I hope that talking means you've gotten further along with that translation miss Sinclaire?" she asked her
"Err, it's asking how to get to the restaurant on fifth street" Rahne replied, not knowing what else to say
"Correct, now that wasn't too hard to get was it?" she replied before moving on to check on the other students.
"Thanks, I didn't have a clue what it said" she said to Doug
"Funnily enough, I don't either, that just popped into my head and I've got no idea how" he said before turning back round and getting back to his own work.
Meanwhile Kitty was flying through the translations with ease, confident she'd get the high marks she always did, glancing at the door she saw Lance standing outside. For helping them beat Apocalypse the Professor had pulled some strings to get them admitted back into the school (helped by Storm, who'd been spending a lot of time at Bayville high as the Institutes official liaison to the school) and since then they'd all been working reasonably hard, by their standards.
The class ended a few minutes alter and Kitty quickly gathered her things together and left, meeting Lance outside and the two walked to the cafeteria. Rahne glared at the couple as they left, jealous of what they had. All her life she'd been the outsider, always hanging around on the fringes, not a total outcast but not one of the popular girls either, no guys had ever payed her any attention, let alone take a romantic interest in her, all she wanted was to see what a relationship was like, just once.
"What's up Rahne?" a voice behind her asked she turned around to see it was Doug.
"Nothin, wanna get some lunch?" she asked him, not having any other plans. Most of the new students were either training on the football team or watching the training, Rogue, Amara and Bobby were all in detention and Kitty was with Lance.
"Sure" he replied and the two headed to the cafeteria.
"So what did ye mean by it just popped into your head?" she asked him after they'd gotten their food and sat down at one of the tables near the corner next to a open window
"What just came into my head?"
"Th'a translation in French class" she told him, he shrugged
"No idea, it's been happening to me a lot lately. It's not just French either, when I was at the museum at the weekend I could read the heiroglyphics on the ancient Egyptian exhibits like they were written in English and I could read all the street signs and store names in Chinatown when I went to New York last week too. It's pretty weird since I'm usually lousy at foreign languages" he replied
"Maybe you just picked up those languages easy, I could speak gaelic a few months after I started learning it" Rahne replied, taking a bite of her sandwich.
"I don't know, it's like I've developed some kind of ability to understand languages all of a sudden" he said. Like Tai, Doug had a run of very bad luck that day as Graydon Creed was passing by Doug and Rahnes table with his gang at the exact moment Doug uttered those words and his senses heightened like a shark that could smell blood in the water. Luckily for Doug Rahne came to the same assumption that Graydon had and saw the look in his eye as he passed by the table.
"Hey, would ye like to come to the Institute later?" she asked him
"Sure, I guess, but isn't it only for mutants?" he asked her, Rahne thought fast to come up with an explanation
"Err, it's a special open day, the staff are letting normal humans come to check it out, to see if they can take on human students, we should probably meet somewhere first then I'll take you up to the Institute" she replied, hoping he'd buy it
"O.K, sounds good, I'll get my homework done and meet you in town at six, do you know the Grindstone?" he asked her referring to the cafe everyone at school liked to go.
"Yea, meet you at six" Rahne said, finishing her lunch and leaving the cafeteria, intending to find Storm and fill her in on what she'd just figured out about Doug Ramsey.
"Well, well, Ramseys a mutant, imagine that" Graydon said, from where he'd been standing outside the window
Meanwhile Lance had gotten his and Kittys lunches and was carrying them back to their table
"So we're still on for the Grindstone?" he asked
"Tonight at six, it'll be nice to get out of the Institute for awhile" Kitty replied, walking beside him
Just as she was leaving the cafeteria Rahne was so focused on finding Storm that she didn't look where she was going and went flying into Lance, connected with the fully loaded lunch tray he was holding and both went flying to the floor, with the tray contents landing all over Kitty, who'd finally decided to wear her brand new, hundred dollar white sweater.
"Sorry Rahne" Lance said, getting to his feet and reaching down to grab her arm, but touching her hand instead, the Scottish girl and the Brotherhood mutant both blushed and Kitty gritted her teeth in fury, at both her ruined outfit and the apparent attraction between Rahne and her boyfriend.
"Didn't you have somewhere you were going?" she asked Rahne, finding it impossible to keep the anger out of her voice
"Oh, yes, sorry. You should really get that sweater cleaned Kitty, it looks disgusting" Rahne replied, hurrying out of the cafeteria. Lance glanced over at Kitty and saw she was slowly turning red in the face
"What's the matter?" he asked her, Kitty, she shot him an angry look and phased down into the floor.
Two and a half hours later Rahne was walking through Bayville, wearing a long red coat to keep out the chilly autumn wind. She saw the warm yellow light emitted form the Grindstones front windows and happily walked towards it, looking forward to getting into the warm café and out of the cold evening air. Almost as soon as she'd opened the door and stepped inside she bumped into a familiar face.
"Oh hi Kitty, are ye meeting Lance here or something?" she asked
"Yea, how come you're here?" she asked
"I'm meeting someone who could be a mutant"
"Who's a mutant?" Kitty asked her
"Doug Ramsey, he's in our French class" she replied
"I know him, he's in the computer club with me, he writes a lot of software for the computers" Kitty said
"I'm gonna see if he'll come to the Institute" she said
"I don't think that's a good idea" Kitty replied, remembering how she'd first reacted when she'd found out she was a mutant
"Whadda ye mean? He needs to come to the Institute, it's the only safe place around here while those Patriot guys are still around" Rahne replied
"It's his choice, we can't force him to go there" Kitty said, with more hostility than was necessary
"No, he needs to go there, it's bad enough for us and we've got the Institute, if he gets the same kind of grief we get at school at home he'll have no-one" Rahne replied, her anger rising. Her fingernails were starting to form into claws and her eyes were slowly turning yellow.
"Hey Kitty" Lance said, having arrived while Rahne and Kitty had been giving their argument. At the same time Rahne saw Doug walking towards the café from further down the street. She waved to him and he waved back in reply. She saw a car stop behind him and two boys get out, both wearing the familiar P.O.H insignia on their jackets. One of them grabbed Doug and shoved a bag over his head, the other helped bundle him into the trunk of the car before they drove off, disappearing down the street.
"DOUG!" Rahne yelled, running to the door of the café and staring out, unable to believe what had just happened
"What happened Rahne?" Kitty asked, running to join her by the door
"I think those Patriot guys just grabbed Doug, this is all my fault, I should have just brought him to the Institute" Rahne said, knowing what the Patriots would probably do to Doug now they had him.
"Can you track them?" Kitty asked her
"What?"
"If you go wolf, can you track their scent?" she asked
"I…I can try" Rahne replied
"If you're going to save that guy, count me in" Lance said, having overheard them
"Thanks Lance" Kitty replied
"Hey, we mutants gotta look out for each other, come on we can go on my bike while Rahne tracks them" he replied. Kitty noticed Katie was in the café as well and was rushing over, eager to help.
"Katie, call the Institute, tell them what's happened and to track me and Rahne with Cerebro" she replied, Katie nodded, ran over to the pay phone in the corner and punched in the number for the Institute.
Rahne turned into her wolf form and took off down the street, pausing occasionally to sniff the ground, the scent was still fresh but fading fast. Lance and Kitty followed alongside her on his motorcycle. After ten minutes Rahne stopped outside a large abandoned house and turned back into her human form.
"The scent stops here, they must be inside" she said
"Kitty, can you phase in and take a look around?" Lance asked her, she nodded and walked through the outer wall, disappearing inside the house. She walked through corridors and rooms, all of which seemed deserted but had the P.O.H insignia spray painted all over the walls, finally she reached a room near the back. The room was pitch back aside from a small light set in the ceiling near the centre of the room, underneath the light was Doug, with the bag still on his head. She ran over to him and pulled the bag off his head to check he was O.K, he looked unharmed, just unconscious. As soon as she did the lights came on.
"Looks like we got two mutants for the price of one" a sinister, mocking voice said, Kitty squinted against the bright lights trying to see the speaker. As her eyes adjusted to the bright lights she saw it belonged to Graydon Creed and he wasn't alone, there were at least a dozen other guys their age with him, all with the Patriots of humanity insignia on their hats, jackets and shirts. All of them had baseball bats, blocks of wood, rocks and lengths of chain.
"What did we do to deserve this? What did we ever do to you?" she screamed at the top of her lungs
"You were born" Graydon replied, with no trace of emotion in his voice as his cronies advanced, readying their weapons.
Outside Lance and Rahne heard Kittys screams and swung into action
"How do we get in? There isn't a door" Rahne said
"Don't worry, I'll make us one" Lance replied, concentrating he clenched his fists and the ground around the house began to tremble violently. Cracks began to appear in the wall and soon a large section caved in, the two mutants quickly rushed inside, with Lance doing the same to every wall they came across.
Kitty stood her ground next to the chair Doug was tied to, unsure of what to do as Graydon and his henchmen got closer and closer. Suddenly the far wall began to tremble and then caved in, Lance and Rahne stepped forwards trough the cloud of dust
"Lance!" Kitty cried out, realising he'd heard her.
"Get away from my girl" he growled, slamming his hands together and sending a shockwave through the floor, Graydon and the others went flying with many dropping their weapons. Rahne turned into her wolf form and leapt forwards landing in front of Kitty and Doug and partially turning human, resembling a humanoid wolf. She howled at them and most ran the other way, scrambling over one another to reach the door at the other side of the room.
"What're you all scared about. She's just a freak" Graydon yelled, grabbing a baseball bat someone had dropped and running at Rahne, slamming it into her abdomen. Rahnes eyes widened and she let out another howl, this time one of pain and dropped to her knees. A smirk ran over Graydons face as he raised the bat again, this time intending to bring it down on her head, as he brought it down it connected with her head, and passed right through it, Rahne looked behind her to see Kitty and realised she'd phased her through the bats swing.
As he brought it back for another swing a hand clamped on his shoulder.
"You really don't wanna do that bub, trust me" Graydon lowered the bat and turned around to see Wolverine, Cyclops, Beast, Nightcrawler and Storm.
"Drop the bat" Cyclops demanded, Graydon didn't comply
"Come on, give me an excuse" he said in a low, deadly voice, reaching up to his visor. Graydon realised he meant it and the bat fell to the floor. As it did he yanked his shoulder free from Wolverines grip and made a run for the hole Lance had created earlier.
"This isn't over freaks, this isn't over" he yelled over his shoulder as he fled
"No, it's not" Cyclops muttered under his breath
Later Dougs parents shook hands with Professor Xavier and Storm and got into their car, and left the Institute. Doug was already safely home. The Professor and Storm walked over to where Rahne, Kitty and Lance were sitting outside, enjoying the cool autumn air.
"Well that went a lot better than I thought" the Professor said
"What did they say?" Rahne asked
"It looks like you were right Rahne, Doug is a mutant, apparently with the power to translate and understand any language he reads" he replied
"So what's he decided to do?" Kitty asked
"He's not sure, however his parents feel that it would be in his best interests if he were to stay here for awhile, at least until he gets the hang of his new powers"
"Awesome, it's a shame you won't stay here either Lance" Kitty said
"You've got your crowd Kitty, and I've got mine, I appreciate you getting me back into school Professor but I think I'll stick with Blob, Toad and Pietro" Lance replied, getting on his bike and taking off
"Why the long face Storm?" the Professor asked her after the students had gone inside
"It's what Creed said, it's not over is it Charles?" she asked
"No I'm afraid it's not" he replied
'And it's likely not to end well either' he thought as he and Storm headed back inside the Institute, wondering if Creed would abduct someone he only suspected was a mutant, what would he do to the X-men?
In the next chapter – Jean returns and Storm must go beneath the streets of Bayville to save her nephew as Duncan and Creed team up to get revenge on Spike and the Morlocks.
To be continued, please review