Chapter 22: Eye of the (Gazan) Tiger
It had been six weeks after Jean had gotten control over her powers after the whole Power Surge debacle. And he was now finishing up a training session with Chelsea.
The boy had basically made his case to Xavier that if he was going to learn not to use his powers, he was going to have some other way to defend himself in life or death situations, so he was given permission to keep his two guns. On the conditions that he'd only use them if absolutely necessary.
As the boy panted, he looked at Chelsea, who had her hands on her hips, a smirk on her face. The bags under her eyes were finally gone, and she had been happier than ever.
"You really have cheered up after going to those counseling sessions." He told her.
"Yeah, I honestly feel like a totally new woman now." The blonde nodded. "Thanks for helping me Gavin."
"Hey, what're brothers for?" He shrugged as they walked into the halls of the Institute, both having towels draped over their necks.
As they entered the main entrance, there was a knock on the door. Both turned around and saw a woman around Chelsea's age who looked to be Middle Eastern, and had elf-like ears, cat like eyes, and a cat tail.
Chelsea nearly spat out her water as she stared at the woman, who stared back. "...Bast?"
"Chelsea?" Bast stared back. The two stared at each other for a moment longer before Gavin watched his mentor slowly walk towards the door as if she moved too suddenly the other woman would vanish.
"Care to let me in?" the cat-like mutant said calmly in a soft, low voice.
Chelsea opened the door, throwing herself on the other woman, holding her tight. "What are you doing here?!"
"It's good to see you too." The darker-skinned woman replied, with a smile, placing a hand on Chelsea's cheek. "I've missed you."
"You still didn't answer my question." The blond ridiculed. "Bast, where did you come from?"
"It's a long story." The cat woman explained.
"Uh, excuse me, mind to explain what's going on?" Gavin spoke out, trying to get their attention.
"This is Bast, she's one of the friends I told you about." Chelsea told him.
"Oh, right. I remember now." The boy nodded as he held out his hand on the woman. "I'm Gavin Shirakumo. Code name Vampyr." He introduced himself. "We talked on the phone."
"Fatima, but my friends call me Bast." She nodded, shaking the boy's hand. The woman then turned to Chelsea. "Chels, I need your help." She told the Dragoness.
"Is it HYDRA?" The blonde asked.
"Yeah, they're on my tail, luckily I'm two months ahead of them so if we disable my tracker we should be able to lose them." Bast explained.
"Well we can get that done real quick." Gavin mentioned. "I'll go get the professor." He said as he left.
As the boy left Bast looked Chelsea over and saw just how much she had changed. "So, you actually came here huh?" She asked.
"Yep. And I'm so glad I did." Chelsea replied.
"And how have you been doing? You look like a completely different person." The cat woman asked.
"Way better than I was before, and it certainly helps that I managed to find a little brother figure here, too." Was the dragoness's response. "Well, that and actually getting to eat three times a day, getting actual rest and not having to fear for your life can really change ya." Chelsea said sheepishly. "Still me though."
"Of course. You're too stubborn to change too much." Bast said quietly, looking around the foyer. "It's quite the place. Wish I took the Professor up on his offer when he reached out."
"Yeah, Bast you never told me how that happened," Chelsea said, crossing her arms. "When you and I parted you just handed me his card."
The middle eastern girl let out a small sigh. "He approached me while I was out on a food run. that's all."
"And why didn't you tell me?!"
"Well you can't blame me for thinking that's a little creepy. Especially because we were being attacked by HYDRA! Some guy came up, saying he has a perfect place for mutants. It sounded like a trap. Besides you, besides, you wouldn't have listened to me, you were too caught up in doing things YOUR way."
"Bast I was trying to provide for you and the others." Chelsea's tone dropped angrily, her eyes turning draconic. "At least it worked."
"Well did you ever end up getting an STD?" Bast countered with feigning politeness and a smile.
Chelsea growled before taking a breath, figuring it was better to avoid the argument of her escorting career. She was about to open her mouth when behind her the voice of Xavier rang out.
"Bast. It's a pleasure to see you again." The older telepath smiled kindly.
"Likewise Mr. Xavier." Bast nodded.
"Please, Mr. Xavier was my father. You can just call me Professor, or Charles." The man chuckled.
Gavin walked up behind the man before he snapped his fingers, as if remembering something. "Oh yeah I almost forgot! Chels, Miss Frost said she'd be dropping by for your monthly progress meeting, she said she'd be here tomorrow at six."
"Thanks for the reminder, Gav." Chelsea nodded.
"Who's Miss Frost?" Bast asked.
"The Institute's new counselor. She's another one of the reasons why I'm doing better." The Dragoness explained. "She's a telepath, she used her powers to erase most of my traumatic memories and any kind of programming HYDRA may have done and suppressed the rest."
"And the results speak for themselves I see." The cat woman noted. "How much did she erase?"
"Around half. The rest were so either minor or just ingrained to where nothing could be done, and the rest were locked so deep in my head that they basically just became a part of my feral instincts. But honestly I'd say it worked regardless of what it did." The blonde shrugged.
"You should try it too." Gavin piped up to Bast. "Who knows? Maybe it'll work for you too?"
The cat woman was quiet for a second before she shrugged. "Maybe. But first..." she then turned to Charles. "I'd really appreciate it if you could remove this tracking device inside me." She said while pointing at the small of her back as her tail twitched.
"Of course." Xavier nodded. "I've already told our resident doctor to prep our med bay."
"You do have quite the outfitted place don't you?" Bast said cooly as they began to walk towards the elevator.
"You have no idea." Gavin chimed in with a grin. "Chelsea and I can show you around after your procedure."
Bast shivered slightly, but managed a small smile. "Please don't use that word. The less medical terminology the better, especially in a place like this." She said as they walked out of the elevator into the metallic hallway of the med bay.
Gavin grimaced. "Geez, those creeps at HYDRA really screwed with you guys. I gotta say though, you're at least more polite than Chels was when she first came here."
"Watch what you say, kid!" The shapeshifter growled.
At that moment they were approached by none other than Hank McKoy, who had been acting as the Institute's part-time doctor in between his jobs as PE coach and Science teacher at Bayville High.
The man smiled through his glasses as he extended a large hand to Bast. "You must be my patient." He said to the woman.
"Yea, I'd say I am." Bast nodded as she shook Beast's hand.
"Well we'll leave you to it Hank, come on you two." Xavier said as the three of them left.
While they waited Gavin sat upside down on the couch in the Rec room while he flipped through the channels to find something for them to watch, deciding to watch Sanford and Son.
"Hey Chelsea?" He asked.
"Yeah?" The woman answered.
"That base where you and Bast were held, where do you think it was?" He questioned.
"I think it was in the Alps, why?" Chelsea pressed.
"Just curios." The pseudo vampire shrugged. "... So, did you have any other friends?"
"Yeah, four. Romano, Pele, Kai, and Marcus." The blonde nodded. "One died, two were recaptured and the other is in a orphanage in Florida."
"Oh... Sorry I asked." He said sheepishly. "And that guy Rowner, if you were, ya know, ever get revenge on him... What would you do?"
"Honestly? I'd honestly let the others (if we can get them back) torture him, then when he's broken, I'd eat him alive." The woman chuckled darkly.
"Nice." Snickered the younger boy.
"... Why do I have the sneaking suspicion that you'll go on a blood hunt until you find Rowner?" The elder mythical-based mutant deadpanned.
"Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I guess you'll never know." The boy shrugged as they continued to watch TV.
A few hours later, Bast had woken up from having her surgery, and was now resting on the couch of the main living room. As she read a medical magazine that the Professor had loaned her, Chelsea, Gavin and Logan all suddenly entered the room.
"I'm telling ya Logan, if you just let me work on your Harley I guarantee I'll be able to help it get twice as much horsepower!" The boy tried to tell the scraggly mutant as the New Mutants all watched from opposite corners of the room as to give Bast her space.
"And I'm telling you, that I don't want you screwing around with my ride." The metal boned man responded with a huff.
"If I can upgrade a muscle car like mine, I think I can handle an old Harley Davidson." Gavin retorted.
"You mean like how you tried to 'upgrade' the X-Van and accidentally rewired it to where the missile launchers activated when you turned on the windshield wipers?" Chelsea chuckled.
"Hey, that was advanced tech I was dealing with there, not old school rides!" The horror enthusiast rebuked.
"What are they going on about?" Bast whispered to Amara, who was sitting next to her watching TV.
"Gavin wants to give Logan's ride an upgrade, but he keeps getting turned down. Chelsea keeps taking Logan's side at times, but that's mostly to bring up some of Gavin's past failures." Amara replied nonchalantly.
"Then she really has taken a liking to that kid." The cat woman smiled.
"Yeah, they're practically like siblings." Bobby nodded as they leaned over the couch and watched the three mutants arguing. "They, meanwhile, look like a dysfunctional family." He added with a chuckle.
"So what's that guy's story?" The middle eastern woman asked, pointing at Logan.
"That's Logan, he and Chelsea have become pretty close lately. They go drinking every Friday." Kitty said as she sat down next to Bast. "And between you and me, I think that they may even start dating soon."
Bast looked between Logan and Chelsea and could see the chemistry between them. "You might be right." She nodded. "He seems to have a similar air around him like Chelsea. Was he like, part of some sort of experiment like what HYDRA did to us?"
"Yeah. It was called Veapon X, but Kitty, Logan, Chelsea and I destroyed it." Kurt nodded as he teleported on the arm of the couch. "Va names Kurt, by va way."
Bast smiled as she shook his hand. "Call me Bast."
A few seconds later Gavin, Logan and Chelsea finally stopped arguing, and the scraggly mutant noticed the Institute's new arrival sitting on the couch.
"Who's that?" He asked his blonde companion.
"Oh, that's Bast, one of Chels' old friends." Gavin supplied with a shrug.
Said cat woman slowly got up as she clutched her still sore back. "Nice to meet you Logan, I'm Bast. I can't thank you enough for looking after my friend Chelsea, it really means a lot."
"Not a problem, whiskers. It certainly helps that she's a good drinking buddy." The scraggly man replied with a smirk.
"And you're definitely a good friend 'with benefits'." Chelsea chuckled, nudging Logan in the side. This caused Bast to chuckle as well, but for a different reason. "What?" Chelsea questioned.
"Nothing." The woman smiled.
(Two weeks later)
Bast had finally gotten settled in at the Institute and actually ended up getting a job as the Institute's nurse since she had a good amount of knowledge regarding medicine and medical care. Which really came in handy with a house full of rowdy mutant teenagers.
She and Chelsea had also managed to patch things up after being able to talk to each other about things, though there were still some issues left, but the two women decided to leave it for a later date.
Another thing that happened was how well Bast got along with Ororo and Jean, since the three women shared calm and nurturing personalities and could find they had a lot in common with each other.
Right now though, she was talking to Gavin, who had asked her what all her powers gave her. "So, what can your powers do besides make you look part cat?" He asked.
"Other than enhanced strength, agility, speed and senses? Not much really." Bast replied with a shrug before deploying two sets of retractable claws, which were coated in metal. "Except these. HYDRA thought it'd make me a better fighter if they coated my claws in an alloy of Adamantium and Vibranium. And they even injected the same concoction into my bones too. And ya know how they grafted it onto my claws? They tore them out, with no anesthesia, dipped them in it, and then reinserted them. Same thing with my bones, I got no anesthesia for that either."
"WHAT?!" Gavin practically bellowed with fury in his voice.
"Now don't go crazy on me. It may have hurt like hell, but having metal bones has its benefits. For one I'll never get arthritis, and I'll never get a broken bone ever again." The woman told him. "A small silver lining, but it's alright."
"True, but I'm still pissed off." Gavin replied, barely keeping himself from growling.
"I heard, kid. Word is you got a bone to pick with HYDRA too, right?" The woman asked, her tail flicking from side to side.
"More like a whole skeleton." He replied, his fangs deployed. "They were part of the reason the Yashida crime syndicate tried to kill my mother but killed my father by accident. They've tortured those I consider to be my friends, my family, and they're Nazis. So yeah, I hate them." He said, going into detail of his vendetta.
Bast stared at him awkwardly before coughing into her hand. "So… Know anything about cars?" She asked, accidentally digging her own grave.
Gavin stared at her like she was an alien before he responded. "Do I know anything about cars? … DO I KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CARS?!" He repeated.
"Uh, yeah, I just asked that." The woman nodded awkwardly.
"Sister, there ain't a guy in Bayville who loves cars more than me. I can tell you about any car you want: History of the brand, different cars made by said brand, what made them popular, tricks to keep up maintenance, anything you wanna know, I know it." The boy said proudly. "After all, I've been around all kinds of cars ever since I was little."
"Okay… Mind if I get your opinion on a car I'm thinking of buying?" She asked.
"What's the model and manufacturer?" The apparent car enthusiast asked professionally.
"It's a 1956 Ford Thunderbird." Bast explained. "It's in really good condition too, and the guy who's selling it is willing to let it go for a decent price."
"How much?" Gavin asked further with a raised eyebrow.
"About $17,070." She answered.
Gavin nodded in approval. "Good catch there, Bast. Most people would have an absurdly high price in mind for a ride like that." He stated.
"Yeah, I've saved up 15,070 so far. And with how much I'm getting from Professor Xavier, I'll probably have enough to buy it in a few weeks at best." Bast smiled. "So do you think I should have the car redone or restored?"
"Personally? I'd have it restored and then have its systems updated, that way it'll be roadworthy." The horror aficionado told her.
"Alright." She nodded in reply.
(About two weeks later)
Bast was now driving down the roads of Bayville in her new car and was currently enjoying the breeze blowing through her hair as she pulled into the driveway of the Institute.
As she got out of her car she went into the Institute and then to the kitchen to get herself a drink. After that was acquired, she went back into the living room where she saw Chelsea and Gavin talking to a platinum blonde woman in a very sexy looking pantsuit.
"Hey guys, who's the blonde bombshell over here?" The cat woman asked.
"Emma Frost, our therapist and counselor." Gavin replied.
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Fatima." Emma smiled at her with that seductive smirk she always had. "I was here for Gavin and Chelsea's usual routine check ups, but would you like to start a session while I'm here?"
"Well, I've given it some thought. And the answer's yes. I haven't gotten any help for my… Experiences with HYDRA yet. You being here is perfect timing." Bast replied before looking at her sternly, her cat-like eyes narrowed. "But no messing with my head more than what's needed, got it? I've had to deal with HYDRA's personal telepathic torturer messing with me and Chelsea's heads for far too long to take chances."
"But of course. No need to worry, I don't pry past the needed points, doing so goes against my hippocratic oath as a psychiatrist." Emma told her.
"Alright, lets get it over with." Bast sighed as she sat down across from the woman. "Go ahead. Work whatever it is you work."
"Very well." The platinum blonde replied before putting her hands on either side of her head. "Calm your mind, and clear your thoughts." She instructed.
The woman took a deep breath and relaxed as the telepath entered her head. Her memories weren't nearly as bad as Chelsea's, but they were still traumatic. In particular there were the times they grafted metal to her bones and claws. Had her fight for her life in a death tournament, be mentally tortured by Kuo the deranged telepath, and spend most of her days treated like an animal. Living in a cage chained to a wall by a shackle collar, having barely any clothes or none at all, being forced to eat and drink out of cat bowls, being led around on a leash while on all fours, and generally being treated like some sort of pet.
'I'm getting tempted to let Gavin kill them all.' Emma thought in disgust. She then decided to erase 70% of these memories and engrave the rest into her feral instincts. In particular she allowed the experiences to give her one thing: A masochistic pet fetish. This was mainly to help the woman own her experience to make her stronger, and because the blonde found it kinky.
As she pulled back she allowed Bast to snap out of her trance. "Now, how do you feel, Miss Fatima?" Emma asked the woman as she shook herself awake.
"I feel… Slightly empty. Is that normal?" She asked.
"That is to be expected, I erased around 70% of your traumatic memories of HYDRA so it was most likely going to cause some lapses. But it should work itself out within the week." Emma told her. "I will also be coming by every month to check on you, alright?"
"Okay. Thanks for doing this." The cat woman replied with a small smile.
"I'm happy to help. Also, I took the liberty redirecting a few of your memories into an instinctive fetish, I figured they might as well serve some positive purpose for you. So I hope you don't mind." The telepath added.
"Oh, not at all. It… Has a certain rightness to it, actually." Bast replied with a thoughtful look, though her tone did sound sarcastic. 'I'm really not sure if I should really be okay with her changing my preferences, but if it works, it works.' She thought to herself ruefully.
After this, Emma then left and Chelsea and Bast both went into the kitchen.
"So, have you heard anything about Kai?" The blonde asked, wondering how the youngest of their friend group was doing.
"Yeah, she was actually doing really good, but then she was diagnosed with Leukemia about a year ago." The woman sighed.
"She has cancer?" Chelsea gasped in concern.
"Had cancer, she's been in recovery at St. Jude's for about a year now. The doctors say she should be healthy again in a couple months." Bast told her. "Though she's only just now getting over her sister's death… Took her five years, but she's finally coming around."
"Oh good." The dragoness breathed in relief.
"What do you say about bringing her here? I know she's not very trusting of adults, but if you convince her, maybe she can finally start a new life again." The cat woman suggested.
"Say, that actually might not be a bad idea." The Dragoness nodded. "Heck I think she'd love it here. There's even this little kid about her age-"
"You mean little Jamie? Oh I think those two will get along quite well." Bast nodded.
"We're gonna need the Professor's help on this one." Chelsea stated.
"Getting the gang back together, Chels. I think this is the best idea we've had in awhile." The other woman nodded.
"I'll drink to that." The blonde smiled as they toasted and took a sip of their drinks.
(Elsewhere)
-Bayville Airport-
Devin disembarked his plane from Japan and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder. It wouldn't be long now, it was finally time he and his brother finally started acting like brothers again.
'It'll be nice to live those days again.' He thought wistfully as he walked. He pulled out his phone and texted Gavin that he'd be there soon, then he dialed his mother's number.
"Mother? Yes it's me, yes, that's right they are dead. I'm fine, I'm going to be staying with Gavin at the Xavier Institute from now on. Yes, I'm glad we can finally be together too. I know, I know. Yes, mother, I will. And mom? I just wanted to say that I love you. Alright, bye." As he hung up he continued his walk forward to his new home, and his new future. The worst was behind him. Now? The best was only to come.