Kela, Meet the X-Men
Kela jerked awake as she felt a cool, clammy hand gently on her shoulder. Her eyes focused on the large yellow orbs that were Caliban pressed into her face. He smiled, and motioned for her to come off the plane. He held out a hand, and she gingerly took it. She felt a bit woozy, but she put that down to the fact she had never been on a real live plane before. Gently, Caliban pulled her to the door of the X-Jet, it releasing with a soft hiss. She jumped, and slowly walked out into the lights that lined the large room where the jet was parked. To Kela, there were dozens of smells, from the lingering scent of jet-fuel to the subtle hints of a perfume, which belonged to a light-skinned African-American woman, who was walking down some steps to greet the small group of mutants.
"Logan, where have you been? It shouldn't have taken long to find her, what with Caliban helping. Is this her? Hello, my name is Ororo, but you can call me Storm." She said.
Kela felt the voice give off a feeling of warmth. Something told her that this voice had met these people before.
I used to teach her, it told Kela. She was one of my first students. She seems to be getting well along without me. Kela detected a sense of sadness, like the voice longed to be back among them; in some body she had no idea what it looked like.
Kela was still a bit standoffish, not used to the whole idea of being in a place that was open, surrounded by people who could be potential Catchers. Storm just smiled and dropped the waiting hand, hoping for a handshake. Kela seemed at awe with the massive space that housed the Jet. She never had been in a building this large since, well, ever.
"I understand that you have been, out of touch with most of the world, so let me get you settled in. We'll have to take you shopping, I think those are the only clothes you own, and New York can get pretty cold in the winter. You can room with Kitty and Jubilee, they will be happy to share." Storm continued on, but Kela began to tune her out. She was just waiting for anything that could mean she could leave. She hoped to stay in Mexico, but complications from Logan and these…people meant she was back in the States. And being here meant she was in constant danger, and the people around her were also in danger. These non-Shifters had no idea what the company was capable of, how they would destroy anyone who got in there way. And no healer like Logan or the woman Storm could save them.
You should pay attention; she is saying some pretty important things, the voice said.
Charles, I don't understand why I'm here, can't they just leave me alone? Kela answered.
You need to be patient, and they can teach you some valuable lessons, which can help you…
I don't want help! I want to be alone. Just to be alone, back in the jungle. And I want you get out of my head!
You need to relax, calm down your mind—
"No!" Kela answered, out loud. Logan, Caliban, and Storm stared at her, as if she was crazy. Maybe she was. Kela hated being the center of attention, and these people were making her very uncomfortable.
"I—I don't want any of this, I want…to go back. Thank you, for saving me, but, I would rather just…go south." This was the most Kela had spoken since Logan had found her. It was in a hushed voice, for sure, but she had spoken. She felt her heart hammer through her chest, and she felt as if she was both on fire and surrounded by an ice-cold river at the same time.
She started backing up, toward a possible exit, before hitting a solid, warm mass. She turned around, and came face to face with a large, thing, covered in blue fur and a nice, somewhat causal looking suit. He put on the glasses he was cleaning on his shirt, and Kela collapsed.
Hank McCoy grabbed the falling girl as she fainted. Picking her up, he shook his head. "Did anyone check her for diseases or parasites before she stepped off the jet? You could endanger everyone in this school"
"Well, I was too busy saving her ass from those damn clones that kept attacking her." Logan retorted. Dr. McCoy just groaned and took Kela into a nearby room, and set her on one of the beds. He began hooking her up to an IV, and he quickly and methodically took any vital signs. He sighed, her body was wracked with fever, and he noticed that there was a small insect bite on her right ankle. "So that's how you became sick," he mumbled to himself. He injected a basic antibiotic into her arm, and hoped the sleep and proper nutrition would help.
In truth, Dr. McCoy had been hoping she would arrive soon. He was amazed to find that a girl had stayed hidden so long, that no one, save for the Professor could have found her. She's so young, he wondered. What happened to you?
Kela was running. She was running, back in her jungle, the way things were supposed to be. Maybe what she had seen was all a vision, some crazed delusion that she saw as the thing was chasing her. She heard the feral roar coming at her in all directions. Whispers sped through the air like planes, so fast; there was no way to detect them. A slip, and she was falling. Again. But this time, something was wrong. She couldn't shift. She was spiraling, down, down, not knowing or daring to see when she would hit bottom. When she would die, smashing to the ground like an overripe fruit. As she fell, she could make out a face, the face of a man, bald, with kind eyes. She smiled, and she smashed to the ground, pain bursting through her.
This is it, she thought. This is my death. Unfortunately for her, she merely fell out of the bed she was lying in, the IV needle piercing her arm. Waggling up into a sitting position, she yanked the needle out of her arm, and ripped off the electrodes attached to her chest.
Kela, calm down. You don't want to set off any sensors…
Shut up! I don't want any of this. Just leave me alone! She yelled at the voice. She ran on down a corridor, and ended up at the end of a hallway, with three doors, two of them were locked, but the third yielded a dark room. She could smell something like moistened wood, and she ran inside, hoping the familiar smell would give her a type of greenhouse.
She ran inside, and shut the door. The darkness was comforting, so she ran deeper inside. Her pants that Logan had given her were covered in sweat, though she had never run long enough to be covered in sweat. She began to lose herself in the smells, the sweet scent of maple, the light, almost mint-like scent of pine. Slowing down, she began to wonder.
I don't remember any windows, now, how is it that a greenhouse can thrive without any natural light? She thought.
Kela, don't move. You are in the danger room. The voice answered, very nervous.
What's a danger— she began to think, but was thrown back about twenty feet by a large blast somewhere right in front of her. There was a ringing in her ears, and she struggled to regain balance when another blast hit the floor. She formed in her mind, the picture of a wolf. She hunched down on all fours, growing large canines and a long snout. She madly raced off in the general direction of what she thought the exit was. She soon found herself lost. Running in circles, she was desperate to escape whatever was shooting blasts at her.
Another blast hit her again. This time, it singed the fur she had recently sprouted, and she howled in pain. What's going on? Someone, help, HELP! She mentally shouted, but it was no use, she could be heard in about the same sense as a person could hear the sound of a dog-whistle.
Running further still, she noticed that this room seemed to have no exit, or even a wall. Scratch that, there was a natural rock-wall that she nearly ran into. She made to turn around and race away, but she sensed, no, felt, something coming. The ground shook and she was too frozen to move. She pinned her wolf-ears back in fear when she saw it. It was a gigantic robot, with square features, eyes glowing red. The chest had a hole, about twice the size of the Kela-wolf, and it to began to glow. She shut her almond eyes, bracing for the inevitable. The blast sounded, and at the last second, something or someone grabbed her around the middle and she felt a sort of tingling sensation as the large ball of energy…passed right through her.
"Jesus, I didn't know the danger room became this detailed to actually add animals inside it." A girl, very ordinary but very pretty, mumbled to herself. She swiped a bit of brown hair that escaped from her ponytail, and ran off to join the others. The robot began to follow her.
Kela raced after the girl that saved her. She hoped that by sticking close, she could find a way out. As she ran on, she heard yet another voice in her head.
The Kela girl should not be here. She is in danger. The word choice told her it was Caliban.
Get me out then! She snapped. She chased the girl, and soon found herself face to face with the same robot. She crouched down, and was about to spring away when she saw that a boy, roughly the same age as the girl Kela followed, ran toward them.
"Kitty, look out!" he yelled. He thrust his hands forward and a jet of ice spilled from his closed fingers like water from a faucet. The ice cracked a bit as it hit the robot square in the chest, blocking the cannon that had attacked them both.
"Thanks!" She said as she ran toward the stunned piece of machinery. Kela was stunned as she saw the girl, Kitty, run right through the thing, not coming out the other side. The robot shook a bit, and then collapsed. A feminine voice sounded in the air, "Sentinel one destroyed. Please report to Logan to as soon as possible. He and Ororo are having trouble with Sentinel two." Kela slunk off in the shadows, hoping to find the way to Logan before the two could wonder if she really was a fake, as Kitty had thought. Kela relied on her nose to guide her there. The smell of Logan was unmistakable—he had this musky scent with an undertone of Canadian wilderness she had longed for since childhood.
It wasn't long before she saw him. Slinking along in the shadows, she tried to avoid the robot's gaze. Logan seemed to be having trouble, weaving in and out of the robot's monstrous hands, barely avoiding the blasts from its chest-cannon. With an angry scream, he ran around and was launched into the air by a rather large, muscular man that was covered in a shiny silver metal. Kela watched in wonder as Logan flew through the air, and then get hit with the full force of the robot's hand. He fell bodily to the ground. Kela yipped in alarm, and felt the gaze of the robot.
From its chest, the being shot out a large metal ball, which hit the ground and transformed into smaller version of the robot. It ran toward the Kela-wolf, and began to shoot small, sniper-like bullets towards the wolf.
Kela, let your instinct take over, empty your mind, feel the air around the bullet before it comes to you. The voice told her.
Empty my mind! It's taking all I know to not get killed! Tell be something that might actually work!
In the Program room, Hank McCoy and Caliban were busily trying to stop the simulation, trying to get Kela out.
"Why is this not working? Caliban, try overrides seven zero three dash two." He punched in a series of numbers, beginning to hate the words "access denied".
"Caliban has tried the overrides seven zero three dash two, and the numbers will not allow to stop the simulation. The Kela girl is in danger." McCoy slammed a blue-furred fist down in frustration.
Listen to me! I can help you. Empty your mind and you will survive. Kela tried to do what she was told. She began to calm down, and the miraculous happened. She began to weave in and out of the bullets just seconds before they whizzed passed her. As the miniature robot went to attack, she leaped over the thing and ran around to attach her teeth between the spot on its neck, where there were exposed wires inside.
Logan watched with amazement. Here was a girl who would barely talk, and she was avoiding the smaller Sentinel with surprising grace and ease.
"Kid!" he yelled. As Kela looked at him, the robot launched a small blast from its arm. It hit the wolf in the side, and she flew off to the side, and graphically hit a tree and was still. Peter ran upon the robot and smashed it to the ground. It twitched with comic effort, and died. The man called Colossus stared at the wolf, and raised an eyebrow, asking the unspoken question: Who is she? A new mutant?
Logan nodded, and turned to face the large Sentinel. Storm ran up to them, flanked by Kitty and Bobby. They began to attack the Sentinel. Peter tried the same tactic again with Logan. Having the metal cover his entire body, he picked Logan up and threw him at the Sentinel's head. Logan attached himself to the neck of the robot, and began to hack away at the exposed wiring.
Seconds later, the dismembered head of the robot fell to the ground, and Logan along with it. Kela gasped awake, and covered herself as she painfully shifted to her normal human self again. Her arm was on fire, and her side felt as if the skin was charred off. "Sentinel two destroyed. Simulation over." The feminine voice sounded again, and the scene shifted from the woods to the normal silver-gray of the danger room. Storm hurried over to Kela, who was shaking like a leaf, curled up in a small ball. Taking off the cape, she wrapped it around the girl, who looked up into her eyes.
"Help me, please." She whispered. Storm just held her in her arms, and Hank rushed in, a medical kit in hand. He picked her up, and carefully took her out of the room. The rest of the X-Men were speechless. They stared at each other in shock, and it was Peter who broke the silence.
"Anyone want to tell us what's going on?"