ACT 1: EAGLE CLAWS
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Somewhere in the 27th century…Bastion Woods
Kitty's eye flickered open. She was lying on soft grass, surrounded by many trees. The moonlight sparkled on their leaves, bestowing them with a silver glow. The young women slowly moved to her feet. She winced at the sudden ache that throbbed in her head. She felt as if hot liquid swirled within her head, forcing her surroundings to rotate around her eyes. She leaned against a nearby tree. Bile roused from within and she vomited a few times. A glimmer of white caught her eyes. The colour belonged to the ruckus that brought her here.
Pietro Maximoff was sprawled unconscious not too far from her. The premature colour of his hair was brighter than the moonlight. Kitty was surprised that he had on a normal t-shirt and a pair of jeans while she chose to wear her X-Men uniform to return to the past. Her last thought frightened her. Her eyes skimmed the surroundings in panic. Were they successful? Did they truly return to the past? As much as Kitty wished to explore the area, she didn't want to leave Pietro behind. After all, he was the only link between her and her era. Now, she was an intruder of the current era.
With regret, she knelt beside Pietro and tapped his cheek, urging him to get up. She tried a few times but the speedy mutant remained out cold. Kitty huffed in anger before striking her palm against the young man's face. Her action awakened the mutant, who yelped in shock. Pietro swiftly rose to a sitting position, rubbing his cheek and glaring at his rival.
"What was that for?" he asked, eyeing her with scrutiny. Kitty responded by slapping him upside the head.
"Look where we are, you jerk!"
Pietro indeed surveyed the area. Shadows covered his facial features, creating a gloomy expression. He shifted his gaze to the starry sky where a large full moon glowered above them. Kitty sighed, her shoulders fell in despair.
What should they do now? They hadn't a clue where they were and worse of all, which era did they land in? She allowed her determination to spur for nothing. For the second time in her life, Kitty felt worthless. She wanted to see her friend in such desperation that she neglected the consequences of time travel. Now, she was stuck with a mutant whose IQ rivalled that of a goldfish. She glanced at her corporeal misfortune who scanned the area in confusion. A burning rage took over her.
Kitty was frustrated. She curled her fingers against her palm and used her arm as a swing to strike Pietro. The speedy mutant didn't expect the sudden attack on his jaw and stumbled backwards. He spat crimson saliva onto the grass, chest heaving with anxiety. His fingers stroked the newly formed sensitive lump on his jaw, wincing in pain.
"What gives!?" he roared, wiping the blood that trickled down his chin.
Kitty didn't feel like complying. She aimed for another punch but Pietro disappeared from her sight, his speed leaving her bangs flying in the air. He was instantly behind her, grabbing her wrists and pressed her arms against her back. The Shadowcat groaned in pain. Her mind was exhausted. The rational side of her urged her to cooperate with Pietro and find a way home. However, the part of her that was suffering since the funeral, that new part of her that was growing with each anguished thought, didn't want her to yield to a new companionship. Kitty phased through Pietro's grip. She performed a low kick, evidently tripping the other mutant.
"Not bad, you're fast," Pietro said, halfway between a groan and a triumph, "But I'm faster!" He used his speed to circle around her, creating a small whirlwind.
Kitty gasped as her body soared into the air. She could easily phase through the manmade whirlwind but the burning warmth of fatigue spread through her limbs. She muttered to Pietro that she agreed to cooperate. Once he heard her words, Pietro lowered her to safety. He clearly planned revenge because once Kitty was a few inches away from the ground, he stopped running, causing the young woman to land roughly on her backside.
"We need to think of a plan," Kitty said, rubbing her backside and glaring at Pietro.
"I have one!" her unruly comrade offered, obtaining a grimace from Kitty, "I'll search the area and look for any people around."
Before they could discuss any further, a roaring hum escaped their stomachs. Pietro clutched his stomach and blushed.
"I think we should eat something first and then find a way to return home," Kitty iterated, "But I don't have any money."
"Leave that to me!" Quicksilver was gone with his words.
Kitty watched a few leaves scattered to the floor after Pietro's extra swift departure. She placed her hand on her erratic heartbeat. A feeling of dread burdened her chest. Why did she trust Quicksilver? What if he leaves her here and finds a way home by himself? He was the son of Magneto, after all. Not only that, Scott hated him almost as much as he hated Lance.
Kitty sat underneath a tree, its branches casting ominous shadows across her and the trunk that she leaned on. She clutched her knees and moved her legs against her chest, gently rocking backwards and forwards. Every second that passed by seemed like an eon to her. Pietro should have been back by five seconds, right? After all, his powers manifested ultimate speed.
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Pietro sniggered to himself. He was at ease to be far away from that psychotic bitch. All this time he thought Rogue was the neurotic one of the X-Men. Pryde, it seemed, was close behind her. Of course, this wasn't Kitty's diurnal attitude. She was distraught due to the death of her comrade. What intrigued Pietro was why she was suffering like this. Surely the man who died was not her relative and she was still dating Lance.
"Now, time to find a way to get home," Pietro mused, "But where to start looking?"
He was still surrounded by trees but he managed to locate a small town nearby. To his astonishment, there were no street lamps but floating spheres of light along the roads. The cars that passed by floated on air and appeared thinner to what he normally sees. He came to halt, surveying the area with shock.
"What the hell?" he said to himself, "How far did we go back in the past?"
A sheet of old newspaper smacked against his face, providing him the answer that he needed. He frantically skimmed through the newspaper. His eyes widened to the size of saucers upon the revelation of the current era. They, in fact, did not go back in the past.
"We're in the freaking twenty-sixth century!?"
He was not the brightest star in the sky. He needed Pryde to help him discover a way home. She was the brain box when they were back in high school and a renowned computer genius. Perhaps she will have a plan on how to fix their situation.
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Kitty counted the seconds. It was almost five minutes since Pietro left but it seemed like five hundred years to her. She was about to search for help by herself until he suddenly appeared before her again. He was holding a pair of flats and a yellow sundress for her.
"What is that?" she asked, pointing at the dress with a disgruntled look.
Pietro passed the dress to her and rolled his eyes. "If we're gonna blend in with our current time, you gotta dress like a normal person. Ditch the geeky X-Man outfit, pipsqueak."
She narrowed her eyes at him, taking the flat shoes from his hand before phasing through a tree so that a large trunk separated her from his view. She slipped from her outfit and threw on the yellow dress. It was a sleeveless dress that reached her knees and accentuated her waist. Her fingers brushed over the front of the dress. She touched her ribs, surprised at how much weight she had lost since the funeral.
"Where did you get these anyway and what did you find out about our current era?" she questioned, tying a bow behind her waist.
"You'd rather not know since you X-Men are all up for 'morals' and all that crap," he replied.
Kitty was sure her jaw would have reached the ground if it was anatomically possible. She slipped on the flats, phasing through the trunk to face Pietro again.
"You mean you stole these?"
"For a good reason!"
"You are, like, unbelievable!"
They walked quickly to the little town ahead of the woods. Pietro explained the time travel situation to Kitty along the way. She digested the words, too exhausted to panic. The walk took almost an hour without Pietro's speed. They stopped outside a café.
"Let's go have a coffee and then find a slow X-Man to possibly get us back home. I mean, since we are in the twenty-sixth century, time machines should have been constructed by now," Pietro uttered, holding the door to the café for her.
"Yes…Umh," Kitty met his gray eyes and for once she allowed him a glimpse of her genuine kindness, "Thanks Pietro."
The speedy mutant's features contorted into confusion.
"For what?"
"Just…For staying here with me. I was certain that you would leave me and return to our time without me but you didn't. I thought differently about you so…Thank you for showing me that the Brotherhood members are not complete jerks," Kitty chuckled.
She entered the café, unaware of the guilt displayed on Pietro's face.
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The café was small inside. There were about ten tables for two, lined with red linens. A vase of white lilies were placed in the middle of each table, a beautifully cut doyley held the vase in place. The walls were painted a light pink, the shadows of floating candles danced against them.
"Not my kind of place for a coffee," Pietro muttered. Kitty agreed.
They occupied one of the tables, sitting opposite each other. Pietro used his speed across the room to steal two creamy lattes from another couple. The couple glanced at their empty order as if the Armageddon had arrived. They decided to give out to the waiter. Pietro returned to Kitty and handed her one of the lattes. She scolded at him and warned him not to perform such immoral acts.
"What? How do I know the currency hasn't changed after five hundred years?" he admitted, eyes shimmering with feigned innocence.
Kitty eyed a blue prop that was prodding out of Pietro's jean pocket. Her hand phased through the table cloth and she grabbed the blue object, which was a wallet. She waved it in his face and reprimanded him for stealing once again.
"Hey, we need the money to survive, duh," Pietro defended himself, snatching the wallet from her hand and stuffing it back into his pocket.
The hairs at the back of her neck rose. Kitty stared over her shoulder and noticed a strange man glancing in their direction. He was sitting alone at a table away from them. He was clad in a dirty white business suit complete with a filthy white trench coat and gloves. The only colour he wore was a red lopsided bow tie, just as soiled as his other garments. He ran a gloved hand through his smooth white hair, revealing a smile that contained pointed teeth, as yellow as his eyes.
Kitty raised a brow. The bizarre man did not send threatening vibes towards her direction but he wore a grin that stated he knew something about them. She urged Pietro to analyse the strange little man.
"He seems completely normal to me," Pietro suggested.
Kitty huffed in anger. "Yeah, but, like, look at that creepy smile on his face and why is it that he doesn't look away when I glance over at him?"
She gazed at the weird man once again. To her astonishment, his grin became wider and he even plucked the courage to wave a gloved hand at her. She bit her bottom lip, annoyed at the man and at Pietro's sniggering.
"Maybe he thinks you're pretty?" the speedy mutant asked.
"What?" Kitty stammered; a red flush creeping up her neck and jaw.
"He's got pretty bad taste if that's the case," Pietro smirked and Kitty was ready to scratch the malicious grin off his face.
They drank their coffee to the very last drop before Pietro decided to order fresh, heated chicken sandwiches for them. Under Kitty's watchful eyes, he paid for the food using the money he had stolen. They ate the sandwiches in silence. Kitty never felt so hungry before. She realised how much she starved herself back at the Xavier Institute since the funeral. She skipped her daily meals, consuming her sorrow instead. The thought allowed tears to brew. How long had she been willingly killing herself?
She gulped down the last few bites when a shadow approached. It was the strange man that had been sitting across from them. He was quite short up close, no more than four foot and five inches. Even Pietro moved his feet up from the ground, ready to run away if the man had other intentions.
"My name is Von Richtor and I am a member of the Eagle Claws," the man introduced himself, placing a gloved hand on their table, his eyes never leaving Kitty's. He still sported his wide, pointy grin.
"Eagle Claws, what's that?"
"Oh my sweet, sweet, beautiful girl, how can I tell you how much danger you're in? I will explain everything else later but you must run away with your boyfriend right this moment."
"Boyfriend, like eew!" Kitty bellowed, receiving an equally disgusted look from Pietro.
"Listen short dude, there is nothing like that between us," Pietro confirmed, teeth gritted in fury.
"Umh, well…I…" Von fidgeted with his trench coat and looked for words to say but it seems that they had slipped away through the cracks, like words tend to do.
Instantly the doors burst open and three men stormed inside the restaurant. The man in the middle was tall and sickly looking. He had on a black hood with a skull imprinted where his face should be. His gothic trenchcoat swayed with his confident strut, a hand holding up a palm sized badge which had a triangle imprinted on it. Inside the triangle was a hieroglyphic eye.
"My name is Duce Craen and I have been sent by the Triangle Organisation for investigation. There has been a sighting of two mutants here. Whatever you do, go hide in the bathrooms but avoid the main entrance."
People screamed and begin rushing towards the bathrooms. Von grabbed Kitty around the waist and placed a hand over her mouth before she could protest. He rolled across the floor and underneath one of the tables before the men notice her. Kitty squirmed in his grasp but Von held her tightly, his own grip shivering with terror.
He whispered to her that Duce, otherwise known as Jager, was one of the best mutant hunters in the area. Duce showed no mercy to mutants that he captured and handed them straight to the Triangle Organisation, a group that wished to eliminate all mutant kind.
Kitty relaxed herself in the stranger's grip. Her eyes searched for Pietro who was panicking at their table. Quicksilver decided to use his speed to escape through the front door.
"Ack!" he cried as his body became tangled with invisible thread. Pietro's arms were stuck to his side and his legs were crossed over each other as he struggled to break free from the thread. It was no use, his body stumbled to the floor and he groaned in defeat.
Duce slowly turned to face Pietro. "Bingo,"he chuckled darkly. He ordered the other three men to look for the final mutant.
Kitty gasped and fumbled her hands together in fear. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She was unaware of what to do.
Von pulled out a luminous, hand sized, cylindrical device. He blew onto it and held Kitty more tightly than before. Kitty felt her view become elongated. She watched from afar as Duce grabbed Pietro by the hair and pulled him to his feet. The monster then smacked the helpless mutant across the face. The lump on Pietro's jaw from earlier was now inflated, blood spewing from his mouth.
Kitty closed her eyes, a single tear fell down her cheek as she and Von vanished from the room.
A/N: I was gonna make this chapter longer but it was getting too long haha. thanks to everyone for reviewing!
Featured OCs: Von Richtor, aka, Doctor Bunny, by The Big Bad Bunny
Duce 'Jager' Crace by S Ruru
More OCs will be introduced in the next chapter, please review!
