Chapter Six: The First Mission

Kitty felt truly free as she bounded over the rooftops of the city, searching for any sort of trouble. Her mission was to help anyone she could find that needed help. She was able to communicate with Rogue through an earpiece, while Alison had decided to go solo without anyone's help.

"Hey, Raven, how's it feel out there?" she asked.

"You know you can just call me Rogue, right?" Rogue replied. "It's not a normal name anyway, you know?"

"True. Still wanna call me Shadowcat, or would you rather just calling me Kitty?"

"Kitty's still the name that I'm used to calling you. We just need to be careful with what we call each other in public. Anyway, how do you feel right now?" She was referring to the rain and lightning.

"Thanks to you, I feel a whole lot better. Thanks for the help last night. I really needed it."

"You're welcome, little sis. Now get out there and make sure you make the professor very proud. I actually noticed a couple of people planning to mug a young woman over in your area a couple of minutes ago. They're heading for an alley. I'm leaving it all to you to finish things."

"Got it!"

Kitty made her way, looking through the alleys to find the woman and her muggers. She finally came across them. They were starting to corner her right an the end against a wall.

She noticed that there were only four of them, and knew it wouldn't be too hard, especially not with her phasing abilities.

"I've found the muggers, and I'm ready to get them. Wanna help me, or are you just gonna go on your own way?" Kitty teased.

"I'm not far from you, so if you get into trouble, then just call for me, and I'll come over there," Rogue told her.

Kitty jumped down into the alley, knocking one of the muggers onto his butt in the process.

"Hiya," she greeted. "Wanna fight me, or are ya too scared?" She wanted to make them feel intimidated, but she'd made sure she wouldn't be surprised if they didn't take it from a small 18-year old girl who they thought was normal.

"Get outta here, ya little shrimp!" one of the men growled at her in a deep, menacing voice; but it didn't phase Kitty.

"Now wait just a minute," the man who'd been knocked on his butt said. "We could use the little shrimp. We might as well go ahead and mug her, too."

Kitty was ready for their attacks, and too surprise them. "Bring it," she said with a smile.

The largest of them all was the first to attack her. Using her gymnastics skills, Kitty dodged out of the way. The man attempted to hit her with a pipe, but Kitty let it phase right through her.

The man stared at her in horror, allowing Kitty the upper hand. She kicked him in the chest and then in the head, knocking him out.

The next man to attack her was the smallest of them all. He held a knife in his left hand. Kitty realized he was possibly the most dangerous. He leapt at her, hooting and howling.

Kitty succeeded in getting out of the way, and the man landed on the ground hard. As he got back up, grunting and growling, still hooting and howling at her, he actually threw the knife. Kitty concentrated once more, and the knife phased right through.

"You really want to fight me?" Kitty said to him. "It's not going to be much easier for you." She heard the sounds of someone running at her, but she was still intangible, causing them to fail at their attempt to hit her.

The man that had held the knife suddenly became all too scared, and ran away screaming for his life.

"You may have gotten two of us, but you still have two more!" one of them said. "Now get your hot butt over here and let me kill ya!" He looked over to the girl they'd originally attempted to mug. "And you'll be next, my sweet."

Kitty jumped at him and succeeded in a kick between the legs, causing him extreme pain. She finished him off with a kick right in the face.

She turned around to see only one man left, who seemed to be the leader of them all. Kitty turned to the woman.

"Everything's going to be alright," she said. "You can leave now."

The woman nodded thankfully. "Thank you so much!" she said, and then ran off.

The last man could only stare at Kitty. "You're one of them!" he exclaimed. "You're a mutant! I need to get out of here!"

He started running for his life and went around the corner. He saw the open door of one of the buildings and ran inside, hoping he'd lost the mutant girl.

With his back turned to one wall, he began laughing, knowing for sure he'd lost her. Or so he hoped...

"Going somewhere?" said a voice.

The man turned around and saw the girl there once more. She only stood there, staring at him with cold blue eyes.

"What are you going to do to me? I swear, I'll report you to William Stryker if you don't let me go! Please!"

Kitty turned back around, seeming to the man as if she were to leave, but then she whirled right back around and knocked him unconscious with a hard kick.

She smiled at his body as she left, phasing through the wall and coming out on the other side.

"Hey Rogue, it's all over," Kitty told her through the earpiece. "I knocked every one of the muggers out without a scratch on me."

"Nice job, Kitty," Rogue replied back. "I haven't found a thing over here. I think that in about an hour I'll come back over to you, and then get out of here. What do you say about that?"

"Good idea. What about Alison?"

"She can handle herself for right now. We shouldn't have to worry about her, because she can blind her enemies."

"Alright. Hey, Rogue?"

"Yes?"

"I know this might not be the right time for this, but do you have any fears of your own? I'm sorry if that question is uncomfortable, but I just need something to talk about."

"No, it's fine. I'm not sure about my fears right now. One thing I do know is that I don't want to keep thinking of my past. Now there's something that scares me."

Kitty stayed silent for a few minutes. She didn't know what she could say afterward.

"Okay," she finally said. "Anyway, I think that maybe coming to get me in thirty minutes is a better idea. It's cold out here, and I don't do well when it's cold."

"I understand," Rogue said. "I'll make sure to come to you then. You deserve it anyway."

Kitty smiled. She looked up and saw a ledge that she was able to climb up onto. Using the fire escape, she made her way up and sat there.

She noticed how wet her hair was, and how cold she had suddenly become, and how badly she was shivering.

Looking for a place where she could take shelter from the rain, and saw such a place over by the docks.

Kitty hurried as fast as she could to the place before she could become any colder. As she sat there, attempting to warm herself up, she noticed a human-like shadow down right on the dock. She wondered what it was.

Curiosity began to bite at her, and after awhile, she couldn't take it anymore.

"Hey Kitty," came Rogue's voice. "I'm coming over to get you in about 10 minutes, okay?"

"Alright. I'm over by the d-docks, trying to w-warm m-myself up right n-n-now," Kitty told her. Her teeth were beginning to chatter.

As Kitty jumped down to the ground, she noticed that the shadow was not moving. While on the dock, she noticed it was much taller than a normal human, causing her curiosity to peak even more.

She came closer, and right as she was just behind it, she noticed that it was metal, meaning that it was a robot. The name of the makers were on the back: TRASK INDUSTRIES, INC..

Kitty reached out her hand to touch it. Right at that moment, the machine suddenly came to life. It whirled around quickly and saw Kitty, who was mesmerized by it.

A red light came out of its red eyes and went up and down Kitty, as if it was checking to see if she was dangerous or not. On its chest was a computer-type device. Words appeared on its screen, saying "Mutant Alert! Mutant Alert!"

"Alert!" said the robot. "Alert! Mutant!"

"Oh c-crap," Kitty said. The robot swung at her, but she dodged. She turned back around and began running for her own life. "Rogue!" she called into her earpiece.

"Kitty? What is it?"

"I-I n-need you t-to c-c-come right n-now!" Kitty said, her teeth still chattering from the cold. "Hurry!"

She ran to a small flight of stairs that allowed her to be closer to the water. She wondered why she'd done that, as it didn't work very well for her. The robot was still following her.

Oh please come soon, Rogue! Kitty thought to herself.

The robot closed in on her. It was about to hit her across the face with its metal arm, which Kitty knew would hurt, and that it could possibly kill her.

"Stop it right there!" The robot turned around, and Kitty saw Rogue standing there behind them. "Leave her alone, you worthless piece of scrap metal!"

The robot scanned her as well and learned that she was a mutant.

Rogue noticed how badly Kitty was shivering, which made her want to get through the robot even quicker and leave with Kitty.

"Kitty, run! I'll meet up with you later! Try contacting Logan or someone!" Rogue called to her.

Kitty nodded, and attempted to phase through the robot and get out of there, but just as she was about to do so, the robot swung its arm right back at her.

She was hit hard up into the air. She caught onto a pole, but her hands slipped on the wet metal and fell to the ground.

"No!" Rogue yelled.

When Kitty landed, there was a snap, as well as a cry of pain from her, and then she fell backwards into the river.

Rogue suddenly became very angry at the robot and hit it with as much force as she could in its metal head. Although it was painful, Rogue watched as the head came right off and plunged into the water.

She ran to the river and plunged her hand down into the water, searching for Kitty. She felt her hand and pulled her up.

Kitty was shaking with cold, her teeth chattering hard.

"C-Can w-we g-g-go home n-now?" she asked. Rogue nodded and helped her up. But as soon as Kitty put weight on her right foot, she cried out in pain and nearly fell.

"Kitty, I think your ankle might be broken," Rogue told her. "But I can't carry you. Just hold on to me. I'll get you out of here."

Kitty nodded and held on as hard as they could up the steps.

"Th-thanks f-for that, Rogue," Kitty said.

"No problem. Like I said last night, I'll always take care of you, no matter what happens, no matter the consequences. Now here, take my jacket. You must be freezing."

"You ladies need help?" said a deep, gruff voice. The girls looked up the steps and saw Logan. "What happened down there?"

"I came over here because Kitty told me to. I found her cornered by this robot thing. As soon as she tried to run, it hit her, and when she fell, she broke her ankle and fell into the river. She's freezing."

Logan came down nearer to them. "Give her to me. I'll help her up the steps," he said to Rogue. "I know an easy way out of here. Where's Alison?"

"She's probably still out there. She's in a less dangerous part of the town. But what matters is that we get Kitty back to the mansion before she freezes."

"Got it. Come on, Kitty. You're gonna be alright," he told her. He held her close to him, trying to warm her up.

"W-What was that th-thing?" Kitty asked.

"I don't know," Logan admitted. "Whatever it was, it wasn't very friendly."

"I-I know th-that. After a-all, it t-tried to k-kill me! On it, it s-said that it w-was p-property of T-Trask In-industries."

"Oh crap," Logan said. "That's not good."

"What do you mean?" Rogue inquired. She put an arm around Kitty and got closer, hoping to warm her.

"I'll explain it later. But right now, we need to get to the mansion and help Kitty with her ankle." He pulled out a remote control-type device and pressed the only button in the middle of it.

A small plane came out of it.

"This is called the Blackbird," Logan explained. "It travels really fast, so we'll get back to the mansion very soon. Unluckily, we don't have any blankets in there, so you'll need to keep Kitty as warm as you possibly can, Rogue. Do you understand?"

"I do," Rogue told him.

After helping Kitty up onto the Blackbird, Rogue climbed in and did her best to keep her warm.

Once Logan was inside, he closed the top of the Blackbird. "Professor, we're coming back," he said into a radio.

"Good," came Professor X's voice. "Were the girls' missions successful?"

"We can talk about that later. I have urgent news for you when we return. Alison's still out, but she's in a less dangerous part of the city, so we shouldn't have to worry about her as much."

"Is there anything else wrong?"

"Kitty and Rogue got into a fight with a large robot. Kitty's ankle was broken during the fight, and she fell into the river, so she's all wet and shivering."

"Come back as soon as possible!" Professor X's voice had suddenly become much more commanding and urgent.

Once they'd taken off, Rogue hugged Kitty. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Well, I-I'm s-still sh-shivering right n-now," Kitty said. "I've n-never been this c-cold b-before."

"It's alright, Kitty. You're alright," Rogue comforted.

"Be happy that thing didn't hit you with full force. It probably thought that since you're smaller, it takes less to kill you," Logan told them.

"I g-guess it had it wr-wrong," Kitty laughed.

"Kitty, aren't you from Illinois?" Logan asked.

"Y-yes."

"Shouldn't you be more adapted to the cold?"

"W-well, I s-see where y-you're c-coming from, but I j-just n-never d-did."

"Well, all I can say is that you should get used to this kind of a thing. When you're a member of the X-Men, things can really get dangerous."

"Th-thanks f-for the t-t-tip."

"And don't worry about falling into the river. After all, not all cats can swim that well."

Although Kitty liked Logan's joke, she was a little angered by it.

"Y-you know, L-Logan, if I w-wasn't f-freezing to d-death and m-my ankle w-wasn't b-broken, I'd k-kick y-you right in the h-head right about n-now."