A/N: Happy New Year! For those who are wondering, the Hellfire Club will be making an appearance shortly. :) Thanks for reading!
Jean and the Professor hadn't taken either of the X-Jets. They drove.
From what Kitty understood – which honestly wasn't very much – it wasn't really about the where. The Professor had been working with Jean to control her powers. They were still growing. But Apocalypse had gotten to him – had turned him into one of the four horsemen – and during the battle in Egypt Jean used Cerebro to try to free the Professor from the mind control. When she couldn't do that, she held her own against him. Kitty hadn't been there – she was in Mexico, taking on a similarly brainwashed Magneto with the Brotherhood - she hadn't seen it… but she'd been told the strain of that psychic fight put Jean in a vulnerable place. So she and the Professor had left for… some quality telepathic time, or something like that. Like she said, it wasn't about a physical place. It was a mental thing. And it was important that Jean be able to focus solely on herself, on rebuilding what had been stripped away. That's why they respected the 'no calls' rule. To give Jean the space she and the Professor needed.
The fact that they'd gotten back in touch so suddenly – it had to be a good thing, right? They must've made some big breakthrough. Kitty thought that was definitely worth celebrating.
By the time Jean and the Professor pulled through the front gates, (almost) everyone was waiting for them. They were mobbed as soon as they got out of the car, and Hank and the Professor were already deep in discussion by the time they reached the foyer. Jean looked a little tired, but good. She seemed happy to be back.
Kitty was one of the first to throw her arms around the redhead. "I missed you so much, Jean."
She could feel Jean laugh a little, modestly, and felt the squeeze of a returned hug. "I missed you too, Kitty."
The two X-girls broke apart and Kitty smiled up at her friend. "It just hasn't been the same without you." And now she felt like things were finally getting back to normal.
Rogue greeted Jean next and Kurt took her luggage upstairs. Then she spoke to the rest of the X-Men in turn – Bobby, Roberto, Sam, Jamie, Ray, Amara – and even introduced herself to Alison, who'd come downstairs to check out what everybody else was so excited about. Luna was noticeably absent and Laura kept her distance. She nodded to Jean, though, which was about as 'nice' as she got.
Scott stood back from the others because he didn't want to crowd her. But he didn't take his gaze off of her and she searched for him, green eyes sweeping above the heads of the X-Kids. Then she saw him.
Jean took a small breath before she said his name, "Scott." He stepped forward and Kitty could see the tension in his jaw and his shoulders soften.
"Welcome home, Jean." She smiled at him and he moved to hug her, wrapping his arms around her waist. She rested her cheek on his shoulder, face turned inward toward his neck. And she didn't say a word but Kitty just knew they were talking, saying things that maybe… not everyone needed to hear. She and Kurt used to make fun of them – it took them long enough to get together, and then they could be so sappy with the flowers and the soul-searching gazes into each other's eyes – but no one was laughing now. It was hard for someone like Scott to stand aside and to recognize that this was something Jean had to do on her own. He'd do anything for her. And everybody knew that Jean tempered Scott's rigid personality, and she helped him to loosen up (a little, much to the gratitude of the whole mansion). Sometimes he walked around like he had the world on his shoulders. Jean was always there to bear the weight with him.
And without her? He just wasn't himself. He pushed them harder than before, he smiled less (not that he was ever much of a practical joker - that was Kurt's area of expertise). He never slacked on his job, he never contradicted the Professor's decision (not openly), but this was hard on him. It took a lot out of him not to show how worried he was about Jean. Not that anyone would have blamed him but Scott shielded his insecurities and anxieties from the rest of the team. Kitty guessed he didn't see those parts of himself as fitting his 'leadership role'.
"Alright," Boom Boom hooted gleefully, over the dull roar of the rest of the X-Men excitedly talking to one another, "Let's get this party started!"
Jean and Scott broke apart and she laughed lightly. "What party?"
"The one we wanted to throw for you," Kitty chimed in, glancing between Tabby – was she still mad? – and Jean. Scott said they should wait but… that was then, and this was now. And the last few days had been super stressful so she thought it'd be a great idea.
"Well," Jean began, glancing around the room at the eager faces of all the X-Kids, "That's very thoughtful of you girls, but Scott and I were planning to go out…" alone, "Could we take a raincheck on the party until the weekend?" Kitty didn't blame her for turning them down – she must have been exhausted, and she deserved some alone time with her boyfriend – but she was still a little disappointed. She felt like everyone could use a night to unwind.
"Raincheck, got it." Tabby was the first to respond, shrugging off the party like it was no big deal.
"No problem, Jean."
"Yeah. Friday's good too."
"Not like we got anything else to do." The murmured consensus followed – reassuring her - and Jean's face relaxed into one of those hundred watt smiles that made her 'Miss Popularity' in school. Then she and Scott made their excuses – Jean said she had to 'unpack' - and went upstairs together. Boom Boom wolf-whistled after them.
Now that the guest of honor was gone, the rest of the X-Men glanced around at each other. Bobby shrugged. "So much for the party."
"I got a pile of calc homework with my name on it," Sam agreed. His Kentucky drawl dipped in resignation.
"C'mon, boys," Tabby teased, fingers tugging at the belt-loops of her frayed shorts, "You're not gonna punk out on me, are you?"
"I'm not," Alison interjected bluntly. Sam gave her a sideways look and she preened, tossing blonde hair over one shoulder.
"You heard Jean," Kurt said, arching a furry brow in Boom Boom's direction.
"Yeahhhh," she replied with a grin, "They're going out. So let's all go out."
"And do what?" Sam asked.
"Man, we should go to the fairgrounds," Bobby said, clapping his friend on the shoulder, "They've got all kinds of cool Halloween stuff going on. Haunted house, corn maze, free food, the works. It's sweet."
"That's a good idea," Roberto grudgingly admitted (annoyed he hadn't thought of it first).
"Yeah, let's do it," Jamie agreed, "I wanna go!"
Ray nodded. Kurt's ears perked up at the mention of 'free food'. "That sounds fun," Kitty admitted, "I don't remember them having that last year." Either because Bayville didn't sponsor it - or because it was right in the middle of some bad anti-mutant protests so 'Halloween' didn't seem like a good idea. Some people were jerks.
"'Mara?"
Amara smiled softly, "Sure."
"Way to go, Bobby," Tabby said approvingly, "We're gonna get our Halloween on."
"Don't y'all remember what day of the week it is?" Rogue reminded them, hands on her hips. Monday. "We still got curfew," and half the people in this room had to go to school tomorrow. Five-thirty a.m. wake up call. Kitty doubted that Scott would cancel a morning training session just because Jean was back.
"So?"
"So everybody has to be back by ten," Kitty said, excitement waning in response to Rogue's reality check.
Tabby waved it off. "That's a million hours from now." Seeing the uncertainty in some people's faces, she said, "Look, me and 'Mara are rolling out after dinner. Be there or be lame."
Kitty was not lame. She did have class tomorrow but she'd finished (most of) her homework on Friday. Her parents weren't thrilled that she was going to college 'part time' - and that she'd chosen a local school so that she could be closer to the X-Men. She and her dad had a long talk about whether or not she was 'marginalizing' herself by letting the X-Men influence her academic decisions.
But what her dad didn't seem to understand was that... as a mutant, she was already marginalized. If he didn't think admissions offices excluded mutants from getting into school, then he hadn't been following the news closely enough. There were no laws in place to protect them from discrimination - and the persistence of that 'mutant ban' just proved how far they had to go. Besides, the X-Men would never pressure her one way or the other. The Professor was extremely supportive. Being here in Bayville with them was what she wanted. She wanted to go to a school without a killer commute that would allow her to live at the Institute while taking classes. She was doing her best to balance both her education and her obligations to the X-Men.
And sometimes, she just needed a night off.
So she ate dinner quickly and changed her clothes. But she wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to bring Alison along. The boys were fine with it, and she guessed it would be a good thing if she bonded with some of her potential teammates. It might convince her to stick around. But what about those men who went after her in Brooklyn? If they'd bothered to ask the Professor or Hank before leaving, Kitty bet one of them would've vetoed this.
"Kätzchen, relax. Bobby'll keep an eye on her," Kurt reminded her for the third time since they left the Institute.
"Yeah, that's reassuring." Kitty liked Bobby but sometimes he could be really... irresponsible. He was taking the X-Van with the guys and Alison. Everyone else was getting a ride with Kitty. Her parents had bought her a car as a belated graduation present. She got it in September: a totally cute, totally safe four-door car. It was blue. She hadn't had any accidents... unless you counted the driver's side mirror that she broke off when she ran into a dumpster, but that was fixed now. And you couldn't even see the scratches on the front bumper where she got in a fender bender with the front gate.
Even though she was completely legal, Rogue still insisted on driving (and Kurt agreed). So Kitty sat in the passenger's seat and took charge of the radio. Fifteen minutes later they'd pulled into the grounds and parked a few cars down from the X-Van. Everybody agreed to meet back here at a quarter to ten and then they split up. Kurt joined Amara and Tabby for a run through the haunted house, Roberto saw a pretty girl from school and decided to hit on her by the caramel apple stand, and the rest of them went for the free cider and the live music.
That left Rogue and Kitty standing by an impressive display of gourds and pumpkins.
"Ooh let's do the corn maze," Kitty suggested brightly, pulling a reluctant Rogue over in the direction of a scarecrow dangling an 'entrance' sign. "This is so cute. It reminds me of the fall festivals I used to go to as a kid," with her parents, back before her powers ever manifested. "We have a lot of corn mazes in Illinois," which outside of Chicago wasn't known for very much - but Halloween? Illinois could do Halloween.
"I don't know, Kitty." Rogue eyed the scarecrow's red painted maw unenthusiastically. "I just ain't in the mood."
Kitty turned to Rogue and gave her best attempt at puppy dog eyes. "Come on, Rogue, it'll take us... like, ten minutes," she said persuasively, linking arms with her friend, "Besides, I thought this was your favorite holiday."
"It used to be." Back before people started dressing up as 'muties' and acting like it was funny. It wasn't. Rogue glanced at Kitty through her heavy make-up and something in her roommate's face made her sigh. "Alright, fine, I'm comin'," she muttered, "But nothin' better jump out at me."
The two girls stepped into the shadow of the corn maze and took the first left they saw, passing by a skeleton slumped over a hay bale. "What's going on?" Kitty asked her after a few seconds, "You seem... kind of bummed." Rogue wasn't a very sociable person and it'd taken some cajoling to get her to agree to come at all, but this was more than that. "Trouble with a certain Cajun we all know and love?" By 'love' she meant 'tolerate (until he proves he is not super shady and going to hurt our friend)'.
Rogue glared at her. "No."
Kitty pursed her lips to hide her smile. "Okay."
"We're just friends."
"Mhm," Kitty changed the subject clumsily, "Oh hey, look at that. Creepy." At the end of another row of corn there were cobwebs draped over the hay - and a doll in a child's rocking chair. The front of its face was covered in blood. Ugh.
"I'm worried about Jean." Okay, so maybe it really wasn't about Gambit.
That got Kitty's attention. "Why?"
Rogue just shook her head, lifting a strand of cobweb - and the fat, plastic tarantula glued to it - to walk under it. "You weren't in her head, the last time that kinda thing happened." Jean lost control of her powers once before, and they overwhelmed her. She started hearing dozens of voices at once, and her telekinesis flung a shotput ball through the principal's window and nearly skewered Kitty. People could've died if Rogue hadn't risked her life to take on some of that energy, that confusion, so she could be stabilized. "I've never felt anythin' so... chaotic. If she's back to square one," on account of what happened with Apocalypse and what it cost her to do what she did, "It's gonna take more than a couple weeks..."
"I know that." Kitty wasn't in her head, true, but she was there when it happened. "But I bet the Professor will keep working with her at the Institute. They wouldn't have come back if things weren't okay." Right? It wasn't like there was a crisis at the Institute that cut the roadtrip short. It was a choice. That was a good sign.
Rogue shrugged. "Maybe you're ri-"
"Raaaaaar!"
Some guy with a plastic werewolf mask jumped out in front of them.
Kitty shrieked - and immediately stepped into a defensive position. Rogue just gut punched him.
"Oof." He hit the ground on his knees with a groan, and gasped through the mask, "What the fuck, man!"
Rogue exhaled once harshly, and crossed her arms over her chest unsympathetically. "Don't jump out at people if ya don't want to get smacked," she shot back, and Kitty bit back a laugh. Her Mississippi accent got a lot thicker when she was ticked off. Rogue turned to her. "C'mon."
"Sorry," she said to the boy as she stepped past him, still cursing in the dirt, "But she's right, you know. You really shouldn't scare people."
Kitty and Rogue took a left but it was a dead end with some gruesome severed body parts under the skull and crossbones sign. They took a right instead, and then another right past a coffin with a lopsidedly wrapped mummy inside. Kitty skirted the edge of the coffin but he didn't move. He was just a dummy.
"I talked to Lance earlier," she said.
Rogue gave her the side eye. "And?"
"And... nothing. It was, like, a two second conversation," Kitty didn't really want to talk about him, but she did want to talk about what he had told her. Some of it was interesting. "He says he doesn't know anything about Alison," and she believed him, "But he also said that they're concerned Mastermind is back in New York. He's in the city."
Rogue was silent for a moment, working through what that might mean. "Ya think Magneto's up to somethin'?"
Kitty shrugged. "I don't know, and I don't want to be the first one to say it," since the Professor trusted him and everything, "What if I'm wrong? Then I'll just look like a jerk."
"If anybody's used up their 'benefit of the doubt' chances, it'd be him," Rogue replied matter-of-factly, "We could do some recon on our own."
"That's true." Kitty hated to keep secrets from the Professor - and she was a really bad liar - but she genuinely thought there was something to this. And if she told Scott that she got this info from talking to Lance, he wasn't going to listen to her. He'd be too busy telling her what a bad idea that was. Jean might be able to talk him around but Kitty didn't want to dump this on her. She just got home. And why couldn't they handle this on their own? They were senior X-Men.
The only downside she could see - right now, anyway - was that she didn't know where to start to look for Mastermind - and then to follow him to see what he was up to. And maybe he was up to nothing, but S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be concerned over 'nothing'.
Kitty was about to mention that when she heard the most obnoxious revving sound coming from behind her. She turned and saw some creepy guy wearing a bloody apron, a hockey mask, some dirty jeans, and carrying a chainsaw. He was lumbering straight towards them.
"Let's cut this guy a break," Kitty murmured. Instead of fighting him, in the spirit of Halloween they could do what most people did when faced with a mass murderer, "And run!" Rogue protested when Kitty grabbed her by a gloved hand and pulled her down the path.
It turned out to be the right one, because a few minutes later the two emerged from the corn maze no worse for wear.
"Hey look, they've got face painting!"
"Forget it," Rogue said with a sharp gesture, putting her foot down, "I am done. And I am not lettin' anybody near my face." It wasn't just about her powers. Rogue wasn't big on makeovers in any capacity - and she'd had about enough excitement for tonight after her confrontation with the 'werewolf'.
"Will you at least come with me?" Like, as moral support, "I want to check out the booth."
Rogue glanced around and did a double take. Over on the stage, Alison had taken over the paid entertainment and she was singing karaoke with Bobby. "Fine," Rogue only agreed because of the two options, Kitty's seemed a little less painful. Not that Alison was a bad singer, but Rogue didn't feel like watching the two of them make fools of themselves.
The face painting booth was amazing: glitter tattoos, henna, and a catalog of sparkly designs. Kitty figured she might be a little too old for this, but tonight was supposed to be a fun night (a do-whatever-you-want-until-curfew night) and she could wash it off before tomorrow. It was only two dollars for a partial paint job and there were no kids in line behind her... so Kitty fished out the crinkled bills from her wallet and pointed out exactly what she wanted.
Rogue left halfway through the paint job to get some cider - and a break, she wanted to see where Kurt had gotten to - while Kitty chatted with the artist about the latest episode of Veronica Mars (which, they'd both discovered, they shared an interest in). The artist painted a green mask around her eyes in the shape of a dragon's wings, and its cute little head was right in the middle of her forehead. It looked just like Lockheed - her favorite stuffed animal, a little dragon they still slept with sometimes when she had a really bad day - and she finished in under fifteen minutes. It took that long for Rogue to get back with the cider.
"This looks so cute," Kitty gasped as the artist turned the mirror towards her. She turned her face to the side so it caught the light and she could see the glitter, "Thank you so much, Melanie. It's the best." She was so happy with the paint job that she poured the rest of her change into the tip jar.
She got up, and that's when she saw Rogue's face. "What? What is it? You don't like it?"
Rogue shook her head. "It ain't that," she said, handing Kitty a small plastic cup full of juice. "Look who's here." She stepped out of the way and steered Kitty towards the pumpkin display. There, standing there, looking just as sullen as she remembered...
"Lance?" Oh my god. Kitty immediately spun around and hissed at Rogue to come here. "What is he even doing here?" What were the chances, seriously, that Lance of all people would show up at the same Halloween festival that she was at on the same night? After he'd managed to avoid her for four months with no problem? The odds were, like, a million to one.
Rogue raised a brow. "Why don't ya just ask him?"
"No way." Not with a big dragon painted on her face.
"Kitty, he's lookin' right at us."
"What?"
"I think he saw what you did," turning around very subtly and hoping he didn't see her face (or recognize it), "Go talk to him so I don't have to."
Kitty glanced sideways at Rogue in profile, and her roommate rolled her eyes. She turned around and saw that, yeah, Lance was staring at her. So she did the only thing she could and with a grimace, waved at him. "But I don't want to," she mumbled in response, fully aware that he was watching their exchange.
"I'm not the only one who figured that out," Rogue replied, and that made her feel bad. She did want to avoid Lance - or at least, not run into him when she was hanging out with her friends and doing something as silly as getting her face painted - but she didn't want to be mean. He did give her a call when he didn't have to, and he gave her information that was actually useful. "Just use it as an excuse to find out more about Mastermind."
She had a good point - and even better, it would keep Kitty on task. Maybe then she wouldn't say anything stupid. "Okay."
"I'll keep the others out of your hair," Rogue promised, and that might've been a nice gesture if she didn't use it as an excuse to leave.
Kitty took the first step towards Lance and once it was clear to him she wasn't just going to blow him off, he helped bridge the distance between them. He looked good. She thought S.H.I.E.L.D. would've put him in a uniform, but he was still wearing old jeans with the knees worn out - it wasn't a stylistic choice, it was more of a 'he-probably-only-has-three-pairs-of-jeans-to-his-name' thing - and a black t-shirt with a logo so faded in grey she couldn't read it. He'd gotten rid of that ugly vest he used to wear all the time, but he still had the gloves. His hair was longer than she remembered.
She always felt small next to him because he was a good six inches taller than her, and broad-shouldered. He was built like a... rock. Kitty felt nervous but she wasn't intimidated by him, not even when he stopped about a foot away from her. He seemed uncomfortable too. He wouldn't meet her eyes. She hadn't seen him since their last big fight. Things were over for good between them and Kitty could not be happier. Right? So much happier.
"Here to pick up a pumpkin?" To decorate his new digs at S.H.I.E.L.D.? "That's pretty festive of you."
"Hey Kitty." He paused, then frowned in response, "No."
"Hi." Why did she say that?
"What's on your face?"
Kitty tilted her chin up confidently. "It's a dragon," she said, deciding to own the face paint because Lance Alvers was not going to make her feel self-conscious, showing up in places he had no business being, "Obviously." It was very clearly a dragon. Anybody could have guessed that.
"Yeah, but... why?"
Kitty was getting annoyed - four seconds into the conversation, this was such a good record - because she could feel herself starting to blush. So she went on the offensive and got snarky. "Because it's fun," and because this was a Halloween festival, and it was practically free, and why not? "Why do you care? Are you part of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s face paint division now?"
Lance's bemusement shifted into a scowl. "No."
"Good," because that would be a pretty lame division. "What are you doing here?" That was a way more important question than what Kitty had on her face, "Are you following me?" she demanded, because she just didn't believe in coincidences - not like this. This was one of the last places she expected to find Lance.
"No." He glared at her. "I-"
"Oh, so you expect to believe you just strolled over here because you're such a big fan of hot cider?" And he had to come to the exact same place in Bayville that Kitty just happened to be at with her friends? Please. How dumb did he think she was?
"What? No." Lance wasn't a 'hot cider' kind of guy, Kitty knew better. That's why this was so ridiculous. "I-"
"Then what?"
Lance said nothing.
"Well?"
"Are you gonna stop interrupting me?"
Kitty glowered at him. He glowered right back at her. "Sorry." Not really.
He waited a beat, and when she didn't open her mouth he said, "I was gonna say, Boom Boom invited us."
"You talk to Boom Boom?" Did she talk to everyone? Or did Lance only ignore Kitty?
"Not really. She told Pietro. He told me."
"Why?" Didn't that seem a little weird? Pietro didn't even want to give Kitty Lance's phone number. Why would he tell him where to find her?
"Dunno."
"Where are the rest of your friends?"
"Wanda's at home. Toad's with her. Blob's here though." Lance nodded to his left and Kitty turned. The guy was even bigger than she remembered, just huge and very befitting of his codename, and she couldn't believe she'd missed the sight of him. He was standing in front of the 'free samples' stand, totally dwarfing it with how wide and tall he was, and she could see the volunteer-girl cowering in his shadow. Someone should really go help her.
Just as Kitty came to that conclusion, Tabby hollered across the grounds, "Freddy! Is that you?"
Thank you, Boom Boom. She had things under control (sort of), so Kitty turned back to Lance. "What about Pietro?"
He shrugged. "He said he had stuff to do."
"What kind of stuff?" she asked, "Does he know where Mastermind is?"
Lance narrowed his eyes at her. "Dunno." That one word was terse.
"You don't know or you're not going to tell me?" He didn't say anything. He couldn't, or he wouldn't. Either way, Kitty was irritated. "What was the point in S.H.I.E.L.D. telling us about him if-"
"I wasn't tellin' you as S.H.I.E.L.D.," he interrupted her.
"Okay fine. Why did you tell me?" Especially if that was all he knew - or ever planned to tell her about Mastermind. No hint about where he was, or what he was doing, or who he might be involved with.
"I just wanted to give you a head's up," he muttered, in a way that made her think he was starting to regret that decision, "Didn't think I'd be gettin' the third degree about it."
Kitty put her hands on her hips. "What did you expect?"
Lance looked at her. Something in his face hardened. "Nothing," he said finally, glancing away, "Not a goddamned thing. I gotta go."