True Love's Kiss

Bucky/Kitty Pryde

ShadowSoldier or Wintercat – it has to be one of those, because otherwise it's Bitty, Butty or Kicky, which are all TERRIBLE.

Theme song:

Faith Hill – This Kiss

"This is it," Scott whispered quite unnecessarily in Kitty's ear. She rolled her eyes, glad he couldn't see her in the darkness. "You ready?"

"Of course." They'd been preparing for the mission for days now, running simulations of every permutation Scott and Logan could come up with in the Danger Room.

"Careful then, darlin'," Logan's hand rested lightly on her shoulder for a moment, and then Kitty was sliding forward alone, her tiny stature and light weight a huge advantage as she moved silently over the rough ground, her shadow in the night so small even if a guard should see it, they would assume it was just a small woodland animal, a fox perhaps, or a large cat – Shadowcat was on the prowl.

She phased in through the wall just to one side of the massive doors, came out behind the desk of the door guard exactly as predicted. He never had a chance to make a sound before she jabbed the hypodermic needle in her hand into his neck, her other hand going over his mouth at the same time.

The guard only twitched briefly before slumping unconscious. Kitty checked the corridor beyond the inner door was clear before bending over the desk and starting to hack the security system, looping cameras, switching off motion sensors. Within two minutes she was done and straightening up, hurrying to the outer door, disarming the security system and swinging it open.

Jean had maintained a light touch on her mind throughout the operation, and the whole team was already running towards her, knowing that she could only leave the cameras on loop for so long before someone might notice. As soon as they were all inside Logan and Scott secured the door again as Jubilee took over the computers.

"Good job, Kitty," Jean whispered softly.

They all had copies of the plans of the facility, one of HYDRA's most secret experimental facilities. It was surprising that the Avengers hadn't discovered it yet, but they were pretty busy clearing up the mess in Sokovia right now, and it wasn't as if the X-Men couldn't handle anything they might find here.

At Jean's mental signal, they all split up, each heading for their assigned targets. Kitty took Logan's hand in hers, glanced up at him. He smiled tightly – he didn't like phasing, but it was the quickest way to get where they had to go, which was the base's control room.

They dropped through the floor, and Kitty was glad Logan was there as he made the drop from the ceiling much easier on her when he caught her before she hit the floor. And then he let go and stepped forward, claws emerging with a snickt.

Kitty looked away from the bloody scene he painted, crossing quickly to the computers. A flash drive from her pocket inserted into the mainframe, a few commands on the keyboard, and she smiled in satisfaction. The base's doors would only open for their codes now.

"Okay, I'm heading for the holding cells," she told Logan quietly, "you hold this area. Weapons storage room is next door. The codes are changed but don't let them break in."

"Go teach your grandmother to suck eggs, Shadowcat," the Wolverine growled, but he was smiling after his own grim fashion as he said it, and Kitty grinned cheekily back at him before dropping through the floor again, this time to the base's lower level. They had no idea who was being held here, but HYDRA had an unfortunate habit of ordering all prisoners executed as soon as they realised they were under attack. Kitty had no intention of letting that happen.

She rolled as she fell to the floor, absorbing the impact on her whole body. There were no alarms blaring just yet, so nobody had noticed their incursion. Springing to her feet with lithe grace, she crossed the room to the single guard gaping at her incredulously in a sprint, and disabled him with a leaping roundhouse kick to the head.

Another memory stick and a few typed commands, and she had the cell block locked down. No one would be getting in or out unless they had one of Kitty's specially made access cards. Now she was at leisure to check the place over.

"Who the fuck are you?" an astonished voice said, and she whipped around, yanking out her gun and squeezing off a shot – but the guard had already slapped his hand down on the Emergency button on the wall.

And there went the sirens, the one thing her hacking was unable to disable as it was on a separate circuit. Kitty grimaced at the noise, but her shot had been good, despite her hasty aim. She checked the monitors, but there were no more guards in the cell block. And, from what she could see, only one prisoner, a man dressed all in black, looking up at the camera in his cell as the alarms went off…

Kitty stared as a metal fist suddenly crashed into the camera, and then the screen went black.

"That's the Winter Soldier," she whispered disbelievingly. "Jean," she said it aloud, knowing the telepath would pick her up, "the Winter Soldier is here."

Do not engage! Jean replied instantly, I'm on my way down to you!

"He's not fighting, he's a prisoner." Jean didn't reply, though, and Kitty, glancing at the number above the now-dark monitor, realised the door to the Soldier's cell was right opposite the guard station. She bit her lip, looking at it silently, wondering what to do.

I could just check on him. Tell him we're friendlies, that we're going to get him out of here… mind made up, she headed over to the cell. The port in the door was stiff, and she struggled with the latch for a moment before realising that it was above her head height anyway. With a shrug, she phased through the thick metal door.

Bucky had been waiting for the door to open, for his chance to ambush the guards who would undoubtedly be coming in to kill him if the facility was really under attack. He couldn't think of any other reason for the cell block alarms to be going off, since he was the only prisoner and it certainly wasn't him making any escape attempts.

He really hadn't been expecting a child to walk through the door.

"Whoa!" Kitty dodged away from the Soldier's upraised metal fist. "I'm not here to hurt you!"

Bucky's lips curled back in a snarl and he struck out without being aware of what he was doing. The words which had appeared on his skin twenty-one years ago had so offended HYDRA's high command that they had ordered him conditioned to kill instantly anyone who spoke them to him. And it appeared some of his conditioning was still in effect, he realised almost with despair, despite HYDRA having been unable to brainwash him again. The machine – the Chair – had been destroyed by Bucky himself, along with everyone who knew how to operate it, before they caught him again.

His memory had been repairing itself slowly. He knew who he was, what he'd been – what he'd done. HYDRA wanted their Asset back, of course, and von Strucker had ordered him confined here while he sought to recreate the Chair. There'd been talk of using some other asset, a witch who could manipulate minds, but apparently they didn't trust her not to manipulate him to serve her own ends.

"Eek!" There was no way Kitty could have deflected that blow, not without breaking her arm with the block – so she phased through it and dodged away. Another blow was coming at her almost immediately, and she phased again. And again, but she wasn't leaving the room. It almost seemed as if the Soldier was fighting against the instinct to hurt her, his lips drawn back in a grimace.

She wasn't a child, Bucky realised. Not much past, barely out of her teens if that, but her body, though small, bore definite feminine curves beneath her tight-fitting black tac suit. And apparently she could walk through walls, which was a new one on him. He wished like hell she'd just get out of here, this girl who might be his soulmate, instead of ducking and weaving around him in a graceful dance, letting his blows pass right through her when she couldn't avoid them.

"You have to get out of here, before I hurt you," he gritted out desperately, unable to control his own body.

Kitty's eyes widened with shock, and he caught her a glancing blow on the shoulder as she faltered. Even a glancing blow was enough to knock her from her feet, though, and she skidded across the floor and hit the wall – and rolled right through it.

And stepped back through in a different spot a moment later.

"I'm not leaving you. You're my soulmate."

"I can't – stop myself – trying to kill you!" He struck out again, and she slipped through the blow and stepped in close, wrapping her arms around his waist, her head tipped back to look at him. He noted distantly how tiny she was, a scant five feet tall even in the thick-soled combat boots she was wearing.

"Will true love's kiss break the spell?" Kitty asked hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," he seemed to be fighting it, but she could sense his arm – and it was made of freaking metal, the whole thing, wow – swinging back towards her, so she phased right through him.

"Shame. Jean, I could really use some help here!"

I can't get in to you. Can't find the cell keys, came Jean's reply, and Kitty realised the telepath was just outside.

"Then we'll just have to come out to you!" She danced around the soldier, leading him in a circle until she had him right where she wanted him, and then phased through him again. He spun around with phenomenal speed, lunged forward – and she caught his arm and stepped backwards, phasing with him and letting his momentum take them right through the wall.

Bucky stumbled, pulled completely off balance, and crashed to the ground with his tiny soulmate beneath him, pinning her to the floor. She struggled, her lips open in an O of surprise, and his hand closed on her throat – just as Jean's fingers landed on his temple.

"That's a nasty business, isn't it?" a soft voice said in his ear, and he felt a light touch on his mind. It felt wonderful, cleansing, and he closed his eyes and moaned with relief. "There, there," the soft voice soothed. "Let go of our little Cat, now."

His fingers unclenched with a clicking and whirring of gears. "I didn't want to hurt her," Bucky said, his eyes still closed.

"I know." Jean looked past him at Kitty, who was staring up at her wide-eyed. She could read in both of their minds their newly discovered soulmateship. "You'll never hurt her, will you, Bucky?"

"Never again," he promised fervently. "As long as there's no more traps in my mind…"

"No more," Jean promised, lifting her hand away from his head. "You're all safe now."

He opened his eyes, looked down into the soft hazel eyes of the young woman lying beneath him. They were beautiful eyes, shifting colours of amber and green. He could have stared into them forever.

Except he was crushing her with his weight and she was struggling to breathe. With a muffled curse Bucky sprang to his feet, stooping to help her up. Jean backed away with a quiet smile, going over to the security station to check the monitors, giving them at least the illusion of privacy.

"I'm sorry," Bucky said inadequately.

"It's all right. It wasn't your fault. Bucky, is that your name? I'm Kitty, Kitty and Bucky sounds kind of funny, doesn't it?" Kitty suspected she was babbling, but, well, up close her soulmate was absolutely gorgeous. He was wearing plain black sweatpants and a black tee, neither of which did anything to disguise the fact that he was built like a tank. Shaggy dark brown hair tumbled around stubbled cheeks, piercing ice-blue eyes seemed to stare right into her.

"Kitty," he said slowly, tasting the name on his tongue. A smile curved his face, flashing a dimple in his chin, and Kitty stared. "It suits you. Little cat." His human hand came up, made to stroke her hair, but at the last moment he thought it might be a bit presumptuous and let it fall away.

Kitty grabbed his hand and lifted it back to her head. "You can pet me. I don't mind."

Her brown hair was so soft under his hand. He stroked gently, wonderingly, and she pushed her head into his touch and made a contented little sound.

"This feels a lot like a dream," Bucky said wonderingly.

"I promise it's not." Kitty gave him a mischievous smile. "I could give you a kiss so you know it's real."

"No, then I'd definitely know it's a dream," he shook his head, a small grin coming to his lips. "What's this thing you have about kissing me? That's the second time you've offered." He adored her smile, the hint of wickedness in it as she looked up over the foot of height difference between them.

"Maybe the third time I'll just take, then," Kitty reached up, put her hands on his shoulders. "Though you'll have to bend down for me."

He couldn't help but laugh. And put his metal arm around her tiny waist, lifting her up easily. "This is better. You won't get a crick in your neck."

"I like the way you think, soulmate." Her arms slid around his neck and she kissed him, her lips soft and tender and everything sweet in the world that he'd been denied for over seventy years. Slender legs wrapped around his waist and Kitty hung on tight as he kissed her back with fierce hunger.

When finally they pulled apart, both panting for breath, they were surrounded by silently watching X-Men. Bucky stiffened, automatically assessing for threats, but Kitty's soft little hands on his cheeks stilled him.

"They're my friends. It's all right, Bucky, no-one here will hurt you."

"Unless you break Kitty's heart," Logan growled, "and then we'll hurt you a lot."

I don't think he'd dare, not with that crew thirsting for blood, do you?

They would be awfully cute together, though!