Wanda- that sucks that you're injured and that you didn't get my PM. If you want to send me a msg that I will actually get faster, send it to , just keep in mind that I am going to delete this after you either review or email me, so that it isn't at the top of the chapter, announcing my email to the world! Lol. Emails go to my phone, so I will get it quickly, and I can reply within an hour, even if I'm at work!
The Right Cause
Chapter 5
Distract me sweetly
"Ok guys, let's get this damn building going!" Kitty cheers enthusiastically at the construction team for the main mansion. Every imaginable piece of construction equipment was there. Everything from a cement mixer to a crane, and anything in between was in the clearing where the building would soon stand.
"Kit sugah, did ya just cuss at them?" Rogue asks slowly blinking. "And Ah don't think they can hear ya since they are underground workin."
"Yes, I do know how
to do that, after all. I have been around Logan for how long?
Eventually it had to wear off a little bit, doesn't it?" Kitty
smiles happily ignoring Rogue's blatantly obvious remark about the
team being below ground, something that everyone could see with their
own eyes.
"You are just the last person that I ever expected
to cuss at anything, even someone attacking you." Pietro remarks
with a contented smile gracing his face. "And I should know, since
I attacked you more than once."
"So have Remy, and Piotr, and Logan, and even Rogue, and none of them have ever heard me cuss. Rogue was my roommate during the Lance fiasco, and rarely heard it. So stand in line buddy." Kitty chides lowering her eyelids and giving Pietro a look that would fit better on Rogue's face.
"No need ta snap mon chere. No one doubts ya. We all be in your debt in our own ways." Remy adds casually throwing his arm around her shoulders only to have it slide through her body.
"Just because you take my side doesn't mean that I'm going to let you be all close and cuddly. Nothing changes because you back me up when I'm not in the wrong. I don't want to think that I only have a following because I have the financial backing." Kitty rants crossing her thin arms over her petite chest and turning a glare to Remy.
"No one every said that life was fair, sugah. Kurt an Ah would be here money or no money. That don't matter ta us. We're here as long as you need us." Rogue says also glaring at Remy.
"Since it is very early spring, let us find a proper spot and prepare for planting. I can teach everyone." Piotr volunteers to relieve the tension.
"That sounds good." Kitty says instantly smiling at the idea that would keep everyone busy. "Logan, you can be on well duty, or should we wait a while, since the house will be up soon, and the plot will be needed first?" Kitty asks rubbing her temples as she tries to weigh her options.
"I can take care of it. Let me keep Pete and Evan, and let me borrow Boom Boom for a while, she will be needed to get it deep fast."
"Deal, I am going to go back into town and get some supplies. I figure we could use some of the necessities of life, and were in dire need of laundry." Kitty says wrinkling her nose in disgust, and then smiling broadly. "Plus we might as well look into plants that can grow around here. We also need something to take a bath in, that creek is killing me, and it's not killing the odor a la mutant of anyone."
"Well, if you're getting survival stuff, don't go alone. Take Pete with ya, I trust him not ta fuck up too badly, since the Cajun did such a bad job before."
So Remy didn't grab any dynamite. Dat don't mean dat Remy be a bad thief, or dat he no longer be an asset. Remy just don't believe in blowing up everything he can get his hands on."
"Well, with your power, isn't that a bit of an oxymoron?" Kitty asks laughing as she walks toward the trucks and literally jumps into one.
"I'll go with the bird. She better not be flighty the second we get there and leave me." Pete grumbles, walking off behind a still laughing Kitty.
"Get something strong Pete! We're going to need it!" Logan taunts as they leave.
"So why would you want to leave Xavier? It seemed to be a good set up. All expenses paid, huge house, nice house, and you didn't have to do anything immoral. Where was the catch?" Pete asks, as Kitty swerves down the road, seeming unaffected by her bad driving, the only give away being his white knuckles on the handle above his door.
"I was black balled. Literally they turned against me, and I had to leave, or be hassled with no end in sight. I had a boyfriend in the Brotherhood, and after a while, everyone turned. It went from day to night that was how bad the change was.
"One day everyone was cool enough with it, and the next, the all had issues. Normally, it wouldn't have mattered, but it started to. I would get picked on in training, punished for nothing, I'd be forced to do more than the rest of them, and yet I was still the demon among angels.
"At its best it was just annoying, and at its worst it was unbearable. I just snapped after I ended my relationship and they still treated me like I was sleeping with the enemy. I told Xavier end it, or I'm leaving, and I'm sure that you can assume the rest." Kitty says through clenched teeth phasing through a parked car.
"Yeah, I can. You seem to have an effect on people, and I can't see this combination working without you. From what I hear the Acolytes and the X-Men never got along. "
"The only rivalry that I'm worried about now is Pietro and Evan. They have issues, but I'm hoping they can get over it for now."
"Hopefully. Logan will grate on some nerves before long. He has a talent for that. Pissing large masses of people off is his specialty."
"Yes, but I think that I have an idea. Amara said that she can play string instruments, and most o the guys like sports. I'm thinking if we get things that then people will have something to do and that will help them vent. I hear Piotr paints, and I know some cards and a card table would be appreciated."
"That could help." Pete agrees nodding. "It's only been a couple of days, but morale will die quickly, and that will kill your cause, very quickly."
"That is what I was thinking. There is an old driveway just a few yards away for where our current lodging is. Pietro found it and told me that he could level it and pour new concrete in under an hour. He is currently leveling out the cracking concrete and getting ready to lay more.
"I'm also grabbing paint. Well, paint to spray on, and only temp paint, but we need it. I'm also going to get radios, food and some big things to use as tubs. Somebody is going to get sick, and quickly at this point. I also want to buy some gravel to place around our campfire, to be on the safe side."
"You've been thinking this out." Pete nods approvingly. "We're going to need some ways to communicate before long. I'd recommend a walkie talkie system or a cell phone system. If you get some small traps we could catch rabbits, I've seen some around.
"Logan and I know how to skin and gut the kill. Remy probably also knows, and so does Kurt. If you get the traps, get some salt. We should probably get personal water containers, lost in the woods without water sounds like a bad idea."
"I hadn't thought of that at all. You can tell I was never in girl scouts. I'm just hoping that this wall gets going fast, because I feel like a sitting duck. My family wants to have the house restored identically on the outside, and the fence has to match. I can add buildings, but they have to be in the same style. His money, his orders. I don't mind, because all of the high tech stuff will be underground. If they wanna spy, then they are gonna have to try, and try hard."
"Very noble idea, but flawed in its own way. If people see you hiding something then it will raise suspicion on its own. A rush order fence, unless you house out of state contractors people are going to talk fast and tip off anyone looking for rogue mutants, no pun intended."
"I can understand the talk, but my grandfather is connected, to the mob. His father ran a speak easy during the prohibition, and they got lucky during the Great Depression, and there was always someone with good business sense as the heir. Today my family toys in this and that. Mainly though, we have a restaurant and hotel chain in New York City, San Francisco and Las Vegas."
"Wow, so you're from old money in the states?"
"You could call it that. We were solid middle-class before the prohibition, and solidly one of the upper elite after. Granted, we have our problems, but by next week the money from this entire project will be back from the interest on the family bank account." Kitty says pulling in front of an outdoors store. "Watch this, they know me here." Kitty whispers stepping out of the truck and waltzing into the store.
"Ms. Pryde, good to see you. Did something happen to your last supplies already?" An elderly, balding woman asks running to Kitty's side.
"No, not at all."
"Ok, everyone, Pete is on a mission to distract Kitty. He is going to keep her in town, and keep her talking. He has a certain charm, and there is a problem that needs corrected while she is gone." Logan growls out to the mutants sitting around the banked fire.
"And what would that be?" Pietro asks smoothly. "I have an assignment that I need to get to, orders from Kitty herself."
"Well, then Rogue can just borrow your power for a little while." Logan says dismissing him without an instant of thought. "And she can borrow Piotr's powers at the same time. We need to build some sniping and lookout locations. Think of these as mini tree houses. I know Half-Pint won't approve, but it has to happen. And what is she going to do once they are built?
"There are only a couple of you that have no way to snipe through your powers, and Kitty will be one of them. We have to set up an alert system, but that will be on Kitty to figure out. I can't stay more than another day, so let's get this going. Kitty won't like the idea of sniping. Pete is here to help teach you all defensive strategies, or at least that is the plan for him to earn his keep.
"All of you will have to take turns, even those of you who can't snipe, because you are all resourceful. You have to be prepared for the worst, and if it never happens, well then that is much better than never being prepared.
"In all honestly I'm shocked that you all haven't had any trouble yet. There has to be a reason, and it can only be one of a few. Kitty has secrets, or family connections; somebody has them scared stiff, or they are planning something huge. We are going to assume the last one.
"We have to get started, now. There is no time to wait, because if it's her connections they may have just been waiting so she isn't in the crossfire. Never assume that everything is out in the open."
"Why did you tell me all of that?" Pete asks as they are walking out of the store, with him loaded with shopping bags.
"Because Logan told me about you. He told me what you are still running from. I thought that you should know that I can offer you some protection. It's not as much as you'd like I'm sure, but it is more than you expected. He also told me that you might have an inclination to run after I told you, so I thought that I would tell you now, while you still aren't tied to us, while you can still run without regret." Kitty says jumping into the truck again.
"I still don't understand why you told me, I could expose you." Pete says thoughtfully.
"And then there would be an ordered hit. Do you honestly think that I couldn't do it? My family has connections to other mutants, mutants who want protection from humans. We may end up housing a few, for security purposes." Kitty comments dryly as Pete buckles himself into the seat.
"Are you sure that you are still a teenager?" Pete asks skeptically.
"Yes. I began talking to my grandfather about this when trouble began with Xavier. My grandfather announces me as his heir at the end of the week. Apparently I passed a test. We are connected to the human aspect of the world, more than the other mutant groups ever dreamed of being. We are officially off the human's mutant radar." Kitty says starting the truck and jerkily pulling out of her parking spot.