All cats are gray in the dark

by ladymaja

Summary: Kitty (22 yo) is spending her summer vacation in Canada at Logan's cottage when suddenly she gets attacked and captured. In order to escape she's gonna need to take a helping hand from a killer.

Chapter Seven: Basic experiences

Kitty's scared. This is the first time something like this happens to her. Well, that's maybe because she has never really been alone. She was always with her parents or with the x-men, or with other friends. But now she's alone with these two.

And she can't use her powers in public. That's just too risky. It's not like she can't protect herself, but still, she never had to fight without using her powers.

And Creed. . . Yeah. She wonders if he really went to the restroom. She can't see the waitress anywhere, so probably he's having fun with her somewhere.

That thought makes her feel sick in her stomach. And not just that. She notices she's actually holding back tears. That makes her cheek turn red.

The fat one notices that.

"Oh, darnil'! Don't worry! We'll take good care of you!"

"Yeah!" says the skinny one "It's gonna be fun!"

The fat one leans closer to Kitty again, and sniffs her neck.

"Stop!" she yells and pushes him away.

"Oh, honey! I know you don't mean that!" says the skinny one and he pulls closer to her.

"You wanna bet?" they hear a deep, growly voice behind them. All of them look up in surprise. He's back from the restroom. He grabs the collars of the pigs and lifts them up high above the floor.

"She's with me! YOU GOT THAT?" he growls menacingly, flashing his fangs.

Kitty's speechless. Of course, this isn't the first time he saves her, but this time. . . this was more.

"Sure, man!" says the skinny one. He's not far from pissing his pants. "We were just making sure she was okay!"

Victor growls again. He seems to be angry. Really angry. And he lets his claws grow. They don't notice that, because his hands are bellow their neck. But Kitty does.

"Victor!" she yells. He picks up on that. He's never heard her calling him on his first name. As a matter of fact, it's been a long time anyone called him that.

She gently puts her hand on his arms.

"No need to cause any. . . sensation." She looks into his eyes, then at his claws and back to his eyes and nods.

Victor pulls his claws back. The jerks heave a sigh of relieves. Maybe too soon.

He puts them back to the ground but he doesn't let go off their collar. They look at him confused. He looks them in the eyes. He looks serious. Then suddenly he shows a sneaky grin. They're about to shriek, but before they could, Victor hits their heads together, knocking them out.

Kitty sighs in annoyance. That was faked of course. She's not annoyed at all. As a matter of fact, that made her. . . feel nice. Oh well, let's just admit it! She loved it! But she wouldn't show him any sign of her looking at him as a hero. And there goes the hero image, passing out of sight as he steps next to them and takes their wallet.

"What are you doing?" she asks.

"What? I thought you didn't want to get off without paying for the food."

"Well, yeah, but. . . "

"No but. We'll eat our meals, and we'll still have some money for gas."

She decided against arguing with him. So they sit down. Kitty noticed the waitress looking at them from the kitchen. So he wasn't with her. That kind of sets her at ease.

She serves their meals, and this time she doesn't even look at him. He doesn't seem to be interested anymore either. None of them says a word.

Not even Kitty. They just eat their meal. When they're done Victor drops the money on the table.

"Wait a minute here." he orders. Kitty nods. He gets up and walks to the other guy, who's sitting a couple tables away. They talk, then he comes back to Kitty.

"Who was that?" she asks.

"Some truck driver. He said there's a gas station down at the corner." he says. "You don't wanna steal a car" she's not sure if that was a statement or a question.

"Why would we want to steel one? We can pay for the gas now."

"Yeah. But those hunters know that car. They could easily track it down. And not just them. Anyone could notice it's not ours, since we don't have the keys."

She's starring at her empty plate for a while. She didn't even thought of that before.

"Let's steal one!" she says.

"What?" asks he in surprise.

"I know it's against the law. . . and basically everything I've every believed in. But I just want to get home. I don't wanna get captured again. God knows what they'd do to me. . ." she looks up and her eyes meet his. "By the way, you've been there for a while. What did they do to you?"

Now he's looking down at his plate as he thinks.

"Not much. They just took samples from my blood and my bones and stuff. You know basic experiences. They didn't talk to me and I spent most of the time knocked out, so I don't know much."

Kitty's eyes widen. Not much?, Basic experiences? He talks about it as if it was just some everyday bother. He goes on.

"I was in Phoenix. Collecting some card debts from. . . well, let's says some friends of mine. I was gonna surprise them, so no one knew I was there. . . That's what I thought. They attacked me in my hotel room. I didn't see it comin'. I was unprepared."

"And you have no idea who they are?"

"I wouldn't say I have no idea. I have some tips." he looks at her and his eyes narrow. "What about you? Why did you help me to get out of there, anyway?"

"I couldn't get out of there alone. There were a million of them, remember?"

"Yeah, but why didn't you just phase out?"

"Well. . . " she stops for a minute. Is it really a smart thing to tell Sabertooth about her weak point? She decides it's best if she lets her only ally in on her secret, just in case. "The walls were electrified. I couldn't phase through it."

" Aha. . . But why did they capture you in the first place?"

"I don't know. I've been at Logan's cottage, when they. . . "

"Wait! YOU've been at LOGAN's place?"

"Yeah. I just needed some time to be alone. He said that place is perfect for that, so he lent it to me." He looks surprised. She knew it was unusual for Logan to lend his place to anyone, but she didn't realize how much until now. The fact that Sabertooth's amazed surprises her.

"Wait!" he says "So this means they were looking for Logan?"

"Possibly."

"Probably." he corrects her. She notices that he's starring at his plate again for a few seconds. He seems to be wandering. But before she could ask him about it, he looks up and smiles.

"Let's go get a car then!"

They're walking on the street. He's a few steps behind her.

Victor can't stop thinking. They were looking for him and Logan too. Those equipment. . . and that base of theirs! You can't get stuff like that, not even from the black market. They obviously have some connection to the government. And they obviously know a thing or two about mutants. There's only one person who could go through with that.

He looks up as the recognition hits him. For the first time in years he opens he's mouth and speaks out his name. . .

"Striker!"