Memories

Choices

Disclaimer: I don't own the X-Men or any of their characters. Tora and Weapon X-ii are my own though.

Kitty was sulking. If only she hadn't looked so shocked at the choice of clothes she had picked out. But there wasn't a chance she was wearing those clothes. She'd pulled her out of the shop and wandered the streets, catching scents, wanting to follow them up. Finally Kitty had seen sense and taken her into a shop where the clothes looked and smelt well made. The stitching was strong and there wasn't one of those long skirts that she'd been wearing out of necessity in the shop. She'd felt bad about using Xavier's money but he'd told her she couldn't be expected to have any. She'd tried to explain she couldn't repay the debt and once again he'd waved aside her objections. Tora had a moments panic when it came to actually buying the clothes but Kitty had been wonderful. She'd only started getting annoyed when Tora had started a low growl in her throat as a man had passed. Kitty had dragged her past but when she'd finally found a public toilet in which to yell at Tora, she was a wreck, shivering and scared.

"Know him. He's one of them. One of the guards. He used to hurt me and laugh. He…he was the worst."

Kitty had offered all sorts of help but Tora had brushed them off, fear making her curt. Kitty had taken offence and was now sulking. Tora hadn't a clue on how to deal with her and they'd gone back to the mansion in silence. Only when she returned did she realize she was supposed to have had a haircut. Luckily, she didn't need scissors. Sure, the fringe was a little wavy but at least her hair had a definite shape again. She'd just cut it straight across. Anything else and she'd risk a severed ear. But at least there were some clothes that she wouldn't trip over the skirts of. As if she'd wear a skirt.

That would remain the same. She'd never agree to wearing a skirt, dress or any other clothes that restricted her fighting ability. It was really rather amusing. The number of times she'd get in trouble for that. There was that charity event that Stark had wanted a mutant to give a talk on their rights and she'd turned up in her usual outfit. She'd been turned away three times before anyone realised that the woman in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt was the mutant lecturer.

Scott sat tense in the corner. Kitty had locked herself in her room after the shopping trip and Peter had spent the last half-hour trying to get her downstairs. And Tora was nowhere to be seen although Ororo had found her clothes neatly folded outside her door. When Peter had came down all he had to say was that Tora had seen an old guard in town and panicked, upsetting Kitty.

"It couldn't have been a mistake, could it?"

"Nah. She'll remember the scent of anyone who hurt her. That's if they didn't mess around with her memory like they did mine, but Chuck says they didn't."

"Would she panic if she saw them again?"

"Scott, just think about what you said. Would you panic if one of the men who tortured you when you were a kid and helped turn you into a weapon went past you in the street?"

"Excuse me."

He turned and looked. She was standing quietly in the corner of the room…how had she got there? She'd managed to get her haircut and instead of the wild mane, there was an obvious fringe, straight across the forehead, shading the eyes. Her hair hung long and straight down over her shoulders. She sure looked better than she had in Ororo's clothes. Skirts didn't suit her. It was almost funny. She was wearing trousers and a checked shirt that looked as though they came out of Logan's wardrobe. She wouldn't…no the shirt was a woman's.

"I am sorry about Kitty. I was…afraid and she offered to ring you but I snapped at her. And I told her I didn't like the clothes she had picked out for me."

Ah. Not the best of trips then.

She remembered that. The love-hate relationship with clothes shopping. She couldn't spend more than ten minutes in a clothes shop before she got edgy and started looking for assassins in the kids section. But put her in a bookstore and she'd be there from dawn to dusk. That was one of the things that drew the woman to her. She would spend a week in pursuit of one small fact. In fact, she'd do all sorts of stupid things to prove a fact true. Hence two weeks into her stay with the X-Men…

…She was trying to prove to Kurt that just because he could teleport, he wasn't as fast as her. That was the reason she was diving through the woods, speeding up, leaping over logs. If she could get to the mansion three seconds under her previous record then she had won. He wasn't allowed to do it in under four jumps and she knew she could get there first if she wanted to. It just was annoying the snow slowed her down. She'd move faster if she didn't have this stupid scarf getting in the way. Why was she wearing it anyway? Or the gloves? Or the hat? She didn't feel the cold. Not the way the others did. OK then, she felt it but it didn't bother her like it did Kitty and Scott. Logan was fine with it and 'Ro didn't feel differences in weather. She assumed that Peter must be acclimatised. Right, the scarf kept getting caught. She left it in the snow. She'd go back for it later. Claws cutting through the brush, she leapt out onto the lawn. Only a few hundred metres to go. Almost there. And suddenly she was hit between the shoulder blades. She turned, ready to fight only to see Kurt and Logan on the edge of the woods. Kurt had thrown some snow and as she watched, Logan threw his, hitting her full in the face. Laughing she scooped up some snow, but being uncertain, simply threw it as it was, so it flurried and swirled, not landing anywhere near either of the men.

"Elf, this ain't a fair fight. Let's say you versus us. Loser buys the beer."

"Until she learns how, then it's us versus her mein Freund."

"Sure Elf."

The fight was swift and unmerciful. As soon as she had been shown how to compact the snow to form a projectile, Logan switched sides and when Tora finally came in, race forgotten, she was soaked to the skin.

It was difficult to believe she was the same person. While she was still slight- the Professor explaining that the adamantium implantation had halted her growth- she was no longer painfully thin. She had lost the paleness of someone who never went outside and she no longer moved as warily. That talk with 'Ro had come in handy as well. Why hadn't the Professor or any of the other staff told her about that? She'd come to like it here. The X-Men were friendly and open and they didn't laugh when she made mistakes like when she assumed that the man who came to sell double-glazing was telling the truth about the insulation properties. It had taken a while to persuade the glazers that they didn't want every window in the manor downgraded to double-glazing from triple glazing.

But a few mistakes aside, she had grown to care for the X-Men. Kitty, with her endless questions and enthusiasm reminded her of Eva. Ororo had helped her through trials and tribulations, protecting her from some of Kurt's more overzealous jokes. Kurt seemed to think that she needed to have water thrown at her every time she walked into a room. Charles- she no longer thought of him as Xavier- had taken to spending time with her to talk about her past. It helped. She unloaded a lot of stuff to him. But not Eva. Somehow she couldn't talk about her. Scott had gradually warmed to her and had been the first to take her side on training. Now she trained separately and also with the X-Men. She'd been the one to start the sparring contest by accident. She hadn't meant to say that she thought she could beat Logan. Peter was the one who stuck up for her. He liked the fact she could talk to him in Russian and spent time telling her about his family. Logan was…well Logan was the one who looked out for her. He had given her hints in combat. The man knew more tricks than her old teacher. But what he had that his teacher didn't was honour. Until now, all fights had been skewed in Tora's favour. Now she saw the world from her opponents' view. It was…interesting. He'd made her fight him without her claws and in an inhibitor field from which he was shielded. She'd been beaten in a moment. Deep down she knew she had stayed too long, she should move on. But every time she thought that she answered I'll leave soon. Within a few days. I'll go and I won't come back.

As if. Not a chance of her going. In fact she was about to make a choice that shaped the rest of her life. Should she get the Eye to play it in slow motion? Probably not. It was impressive enough as it was.

She sat quietly with Charles as he explained the rules of chess to her. The others were on a mission. Nothing dangerous, just surveillance. As she wasn't officially an X-Man she didn't go. She didn't mind. It was at this point Charles discussed her past. He was good at helping her see the way out. He made her think about what had happened. He tried to tell her again and again it wasn't her fault. Easy for him to say. He didn't have his best friend's death hanging over him. She couldn't tall him about Eva. That pain she kept to herself. But the talks still helped. They eased the pain of life. And chess was rather interesting. Strategy mattered. Also, Charles couldn't read her and she could read him. She'd still never beaten him though.

They often sat like that, in silence, waiting for the other to make their move. They rarely spoke except when he asked her if she was certain about a move she had made. It was at this time her guard could drop. Which really wasn't a good idea right now.

The walls suddenly burst in on themselves. Stupid. Let her guard down. She tried to get into a low combat position to leap towards him but an arm like a hammer slammed her across the room and into the opposite wall. Half-stunned she tried to get up only to see Charles knocked out of his chair and their assailant towering over him.

"No!"

She managed to stand upright and then leapt, hoping against hope this man would turn to see her. He did and she managed to punch him in the face before dropping down, grimacing at the fact that this was her first proper fight in the real world and she didn't have a clue about her opponent or his abilities. The man- whoever he was- seemed surprised that the woman he had thrown across the room and who should now be unconscious had just broken his nose.

"Wotcher doin' here? X-Men should be 'way."

She snarled and leapt again, hoping to take him off balance only to be caught around the neck.

"You don talk much. You'll talk less when I've finished."

He twisted his hand, expecting to hear a sickening crack and have this irritating little woman stop getting in the way of his job. Therefore, he wasn't prepared for her to kick out with her dangling foot, hitting home. She hit the floor hard, the bruises around her neck already healing. As the man crouched over, groaning she dived towards Charles, righting his chair and pushing him into it.

"Go."

She turned and once again, the hammer fist slammed into her. But while the first blow had clouded her mind, this one cleared it. The pieces of metal in her head gave her the information she needed. They broke down the man into sections, giving her all the stuff she knew about him in bitesized chucks.

He's strong. Hits like Peter.

He isn't a mutant. You can smell mutants.

His powers are tech-based.

That wire on the right arm. That's the wire you need.

She considered, then decided. She moved as though she had been injured, dragging her left arm.

"You ain't gonna last much longer witch. I'll kill ya if it's the last thing I do."

"I could arrange that."

"Ya talk alright. Ain't heard anyone that proper since…Well I ain't never heard anyone talk so proper in my life. Now step aside and lemme get to Xavier and I'll not hurt ya. I'll just kill ya."

"People have tried, believe me. None have succeeded. I am good at surviving. And I cannot allow you to hurt Charles."

"Yar wings clipped. Ya'll not last long."

With that he stepped closer, towing over the slight woman who looked preposterously small in comparison.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not."

She leapt, going straight for the face, nails clawing at his eyes. Damn Logan and his honour code. She was going to win this fight. This man would kill Charles and Logan wasn't here to stop it. Fingers caught the wire and she tugged, pulling it out of place. She landed and spun a roundhouse kick, heel landing firmly in the man's stomach. He collapsed and she pinched her fingers at the base of the nerve cluster. The man couldn't move.

"Damn you."

She let the smooth metal slide out of her right hand.

"Yar a mutie!"

"I am a mutant. And now I have a question. Answer it or you'll find how sharp these claws are."

He paled. Charles looked worried. She didn't look at him. If she had to, could she, would she kill him? Let's hope she didn't have to find out.

"Why are you here?"

"I was hired. Kill Charles Xavier. The X-Men would be out of the picture."

"Who hired you?"

"Some mutie. Don't know his name. All I know, the cash was there and it wasn't fake."

She snarled and then hit him between the eyes…with her left hand. He collapsed, unconscious and she looked round to see Charles.

"Tora. Thank you."

She smiled, a light sparkling in her eyes.

"Where shall I put him?"

"I'll ring the police."

"Charles…"

"Yes?"

"I was wondering… Would you allow me to stay? To become an X-Man?"

"Child, I would like nothing better."

She bent over to drag the man out of the room and then turned, pointing to the broken chessboard.

"I was winning that game."

She had decided. She wouldn't regret that decision. Even when she saw the world die, Tora would never once disagree with that impulsive moment after saving Xavier's life. The woman with no family now had one.