Chapter 2: The Intruder

Kitty Pryde was inside her office still signing documents for the Institute's financial support. Normally at this hour, she would be in her bed, dreaming of good things that would make her dance with joy in the mornings. But here she is, doing more paperwork than necessary, which was one of her least favorite duties that she has to do as the headmistress of the Institute. Kitty sighed in exasperation as she continued signing the papers when suddenly, her skin started to crawl. Usually, Kitty would get these creepy feelings whenever she senses that something is wrong and with the way that her skin had crawled a few seconds ago, she knew that someone or something was inside the Institute. Kitty then immediately got up from her desk and went out into the hallway to see what was going on.

Meanwhile, Piotr Rasputin was lying on his bed, thinking about his conversation with Kitty today. In all honesty, Piotr wanted to say more to Kitty then about the great day she was having. He wanted to talk to her about what he said when he was possessed by the Phoenix Force and how it had made him felt terrible for the past two years. Even though he knew that it was the Phoenix Force talking about possibly killing Kitty and bringing her back to life, that was not something he would ever say to Kitty or anyone and this revelation made him feel so miserable. Piotr was still deep in thought when suddenly; he heard a crashing noise coming from downstairs. Piotr immediately got up from his bed and went down the hallway to investigate.

Piotr crept quietly around the hallway as he tried to search for the intruder and just as he was approaching the stairs, he bumped into someone and immediately changed into his steel form to protect himself. But when he saw who it was he bumped into, he changed back into his normal form and said, "Katya?"

"Peter?" Kitty said, getting out of her fighting stance. "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing," said Piotr.

Kitty briefly looked around the hallway and asked Peter, "Did you notice that something weird is going on around here? Like, did you have this creepy feeling that someone is inside this Institute at this moment?"

"Da. I also heard a crash coming from downstairs. Maybe it is a burglar trying to break into the Institute," said Piotr.

"Or maybe it's something much worse. We got to find out who this intruder is before it reaches the students," said Kitty.

"I agree," said Piotr.

Kitty and Piotr then crept quietly through the hallway and when they reached the middle of the staircase, Kitty said, "Hey Peter, I know that we are trying to find this intruder in the Institute, but I think we need to talk."

"Talk about what?" asked Piotr as he turned to look at Kitty. "Talk about how we feel a little old when we are teaching the students the same things that we were taught when we were younger?"

Kitty briefly smiled and said, "No, although that thought has definitely went through my head a couple of times. I mean "the talk" about you and me; you know when we were a couple."

Piotr briefly stopped, causing Kitty to bump into him and he said, "You mean the conversation we had with each other earlier today?"

Kitty looked up at Piotr and said, "Peter, whatever we were talking about earlier today was not a "conversation." That was just a way to burn time just so we could avoid talking about the real touchy situation that happened to us two years ago. I mean, I'll admit that I'm still shook up over the events that happened years ago, although stuff like that happens to us all the time for some oddball reason and furthermore…"

Kitty stopped talking as soon as Piotr gently put his hand over her mouth.

"It is good to know that you still talk too much when you are upset," said Piotr smiling.

As soon as Piotr took his hand off of Kitty's mouth, Kitty was about to say something snarky, but then she just smiled softly and said, "And you always knew how to shut me up." Kitty sighed and then said, "What happened to us Peter?"

Piotr was about to say something, when they heard another loud crash coming from downstairs.

"Oh no! That must be the intruder! We got to hurry!" said Kitty.

Kitty and Piotr then started running down the stairs, when another crash was heard upstairs.

"It seems that there are two intruders in the Institute now. This is not good," said Piotr.

"Let's split up! You take the upstairs and I'll take the downstairs," said Kitty.

Piotr nodded and started running upstairs while Kitty ran downstairs.

Minutes later as Kitty neared the bottom of the stairs, she started looking around to see if the intruder was still in the area. When she saw that the intruder was nowhere to be found, she was about to go back upstairs when she suddenly heard footsteps coming from upstairs. Kitty stood in a fighting stance, ready to attack whoever was coming down the stairs until she saw who it was.

Piotr was walking slowly down the stairs, his body in its steel form. Kitty sighed in relief when she saw Piotr and she said, "Oh Peter! Thank goodness you're here! Did you find the intruder? He doesn't seem to be down here…" Kitty stopped talking when she took a good look at Piotr. Piotr's eyes were white, as usual when he transforms into his steel form, but there was something very unsettling about the way he looked at Kitty. As if he was about to harm her…

"Peter? Are you feeling okay?" asked Kitty a bit frightened.

Piotr smiled eerily at Kitty and then said in a quiet and chilling voice, "I have never felt better." Then he lunged at Kitty, grabbed her neck and started strangling her.

Kitty then started gasping for breath as she felt Piotr's grasp on her neck tightened, but then she quickly phased through Piotr's hands and fell to the floor, gasping wildly.

"Peter! What do you think you're doing!?" gasped Kitty.

Piotr just looked at Kitty with coldness in his eyes that froze Kitty and said, "After being exposed to the Phoenix Force, I now know what it is like to have so much POWER! Can you not feel the energy coursing through me? It is so BEAUTIFUL! And now, I will use this power against you for scorning me!"

Piotr then leaped at Kitty again, but this time Kitty dodged him and he crashed into the wall. He then quickly turned around and tried to grab at Kitty again while Kitty was yelling, "PETER STOP THIS! This isn't you! You're letting the power go to your head! STOP IT!"

Kitty threw her hands in front of her to stop Piotr, but she felt nothing but air. Kitty opened her eyes and saw that Piotr was no longer there; like he just disappeared out of existence.

"What…what was that all about? Was I…just imagining that?" wondered Kitty to herself. Kitty looked around again with dread and she quickly ran up the stairs to avoid anymore "traumatizing" surprises.