Chapter 3

"The X-Jet?"

""No, I think Kurt's working on it right now."

"Rachel, I believe you're blushing!"

"What about the danger room, maybe a workout to the music?"

"I think Scott and Emma have a session booked about now."

"Ewwww… there's an image I didn't need. Maybe a car?"

"A car it is!" exclaimed Kitty, "Now who has the best sound system?"

Rachel pondered a bit as the two walked swiftly through the halls. "There's the Rolls, I guess, or Bobby's jeep…"

"Iceman is the only person I know who drives a jeep in New York in the winter. Besides," Kitty said, "I think he only has a cassette player in it. What about your fa-, er, Cyclops?"

"What about Cyclops?" came a voice that chilled both their hearts. Emma Frost was standing in their path, along with her lover Scott Summers, clad (and unclad, Rachel thought) in their costumes. "I see our Miss Pryde seems to have recovered from her earlier bout of peevishness. And now the terrible two seem, shall we say, hell-bent on some sort of mischief whilst their long suffering headmaster and headmistress are distracted by a training session. Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Emma. Scott." Rachel greeted them in a level tone. "Kitty was just looking for a place to play her new CD's and we were wondering if there was a car we could borrow that had a CD player."

"Rachel dear, I am afraid Katherine has too much work to go off gallivanting and listening to teeny bopper boy bands. I believe there is that little matter we were discussing earlier that still needs to be resolved and-"

She stopped abruptly as Scott placed a hand on her arm. "Emma, there will be time for that later. Kitty and Rachel need time to enjoy themselves too. Lord knows we get so few chances around here to relax." He turned towards the two young women, "You can take mine- the blue RX-8."

"What about the red convertible?" Rachel asked eagerly.

"Don't push your luck, kiddo," he replied with a soft smile.

"Scott, darling, don't you think our Kitten should stay close to home? With all the recent attacks, we may have need of her abilities, such as they are. She can't help us if she's miles away."

Scott frowned, his brow furrowing behind his ruby quartz glasses. "Storm's team is in residence for the moment. Between them and us, we should be able to handle anything that may pop up."

Emma looked closely at her lover, then shrugged. "Then run along, girls. And remember to drive carefully and call if you'll be late."

Kitty grabbed Rachel's forearm and dragged her off towards the garage before she could reply. "Thanks," she called over shoulder, "I owe you one, Scott!"

Kitty! Rachel's mindspeak had an angry tone that rattled in her head. Let go of my arm and let me give the Ice Queen a piece of my mind!

"No way, Red. After what you told me about her schooling you at that Hellfire club, you shouldn't be so quick to offer up anything now. Besides, this is way too good a day to worry about her. We have our out, let's use it."

Rachel broke free of her friend's grasp, and turned back towards Emma and Scott, who were in the middle of a discussion of their own. She paused, her fists balled, her muscles tense. Kitty held her breath, hoping that this wouldn't escalate, not now. Time slowed, and as the seconds ticked away, so went Rachel's anger.

"You're right, it's just- we can talk in the car. Getting away from this place is certainly the best thing for both of us right now." Rachel turned back and started walking alongside her friend, who let out a long, relieved sigh. "Shall we?"

"Oh, let's." Kitty flashed a grin, taking the offered arm.

They strolled down the hall, laughing and carrying on and generally letting the recent bad blood melt away. One student pointed them out to his friend, who shook his head and created a hologram of Colossus while pointing at Kitty. This didn't escape Rachel's attention, but she resisted the urge to give them both telekinetic wedgies and a psychic admonition to mind their own business.

The walked into the garage and looked around. Kitty stopped at Logan's bike sadly, then moved to key storage, where a pleasant, English accented voice prompted her for voice print identification. "Shadowcat", she spoke evenly, and a panel slid open. She eyes scanned for a Mazda key chain and she snatched the keys and closed the panel.

They walked along the rows of cars until they found Scott's RX-8. With a chirp, Kitty unlocked the doors and she and Rachel climbed in. They adjusted the settings more to their liking, sliding the seats forward, adjusting the mirrors. As Kitty put the keys in the ignition, Rachel spoke up, "You know, we could still take the convertible…"

Kitty smiled, "You're a bad girl, Red." She turned the key, and the rotary engine whirred to life. The speakers blared out Joe Mantenga's voice.

"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush…"

Rachel's slim fingers stabbed at the eject button and the CD player obligingly spat out the disc. The two women looked at each other, their eyes wide. And broke out laughing.

"He actually listens to the Art of War…"

"In his car! I can't believe…"

"My dad is SUCH a nerd!" Rachel giggled, unable to control herself. Kitty didn't know if she caught herself calling Cyclops her father, and didn't press the sensitive issue.

The radio was now on; a familiar theme was playing through the speakers. "-Neal Conan, and this is Talk of the Nation. Today we will be discussing a controversial new Texas bill that would ban Mutant marriage. With me are Dr. Rory Cam-"

"Don't give me that look, Pryde. We're here to have fun, and we don't need to get all pissed about some stupid law that we can't do anything about. We're here to listen to music, so pop that cd in there and let's get rolling." She took out a pair of designer sunglasses and put them on, "Besides, you know Hank archives all that stuff, so we can get all riled up about it later."

Kitty laughed, and threw the car in reverse, backing out slowly. At the push of a button the garage door raised, and the sleek sports car pulled out into the sunlight.

"So Scott's an NPR junkie too, huh?"

"I said he was a geek. Oh, and Kitty?"

"Yeah?"

"You do know how to drive, don't you?"