Chapter 7

Shadowcat


Gabby had never been more furious in her entire life than when she saw Kimura with her arms around Laura, and the dead, soulless eyes of her sister looking straight at the camera as she named herself X-23 and claimed to love Kimura even while her amputated hands and feet lay atop an operating table.

Several of the X-Men hadn't even wanted to tell her or Meg about the video, but they'd all warned them not to watch it. Meg had run out of the room five seconds in, but Gabby stayed, at least until Kimura claimed to own Laura's body, soul, and mind, and Rogue ordered the video stopped. Apparently it continued for another five or ten minutes.

It was now a calm rage that Gabby felt, and she suspected it was similar to how Laura spent most of her days feeling. There was a berserker's fury within them both courtesy of their father, but there was also the cold blooded, analytical mind of a psychopath masquerading as a scientist. The kind of woman who could oversee a live autopsy of her own daughter and go to sleep later that night with a clear conscience because she'd read her a bedtime story.

Gabby wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do to Kimura. Bullets to kneecaps were her personal preference whenever somebody made her especially mad, but that wouldn't work on Kimura, and it also wasn't nearly painful enough in her estimation. Part of the problem with not being able to feel pain was having a poor reference point when it came to torturing someone, but she'd worry about the details later.

The only thing that might've been able to stop Gabby from killing Kimura was Laura herself, but deep down she couldn't help but wonder if Laura was ever going to be the same once they got her back. Would she still be her Laura, or had Kimura taken away her potentially last surviving sister?

"You alright," Meg asked quietly, sitting beside her in the back of The Blackbird. She'd been even more affected by the video, her imagination filling in the blanks, but when Cyclops tried forcing her to stay behind, Gabby had made more than a few colorful threats involving kneecaps. Meg would subsequently be staying aboard the jet and monitoring things there. None of the X-Men were particularly happy about putting her in harm's way, but as Laura once so eloquently put it, pissed off wolverines and honey badgers usually got their way.

"Just trying to get my head in the game," Gabby said honestly, hoping none of the other X-Men overheard. They already viewed her as a child and treated her with kid gloves despite being raised as a soldier since birth, and having already been in her fair share of battles. Not to mention having Laura as an older sister.

Meg smiled and squeezed her hand. "I'm scared too, and I'd be especially scared if I was the one going into battle, risking my life."

Gabby shook her head. "Fighting doesn't scare me. I don't feel pain, and I don't feel fear the same way others do. If Laura's under the influence of trigger scent, she'll come down from it eventually. Last time I just ran laps around the facility, shot her in the legs a bunch, and led her to enemy soldiers for about twenty minutes." She took a deep breath and sighed. "What I am scared of is what Kimura's done to her. Mentally I mean. Laura already has issues, lots of issues, and even if she's the strongest person in the world, I don't know what kind of shape she's gonna be in when we get her back home..."

Her cousin nodded, eyes watering as she looked out the window to the darkness of night, both of them tightly clutching their cross necklaces. "Laura didn't talk much when we first met," Meg said. "I immediately recognized her as the girl that saved me when I was little, but I was also scared of her after what she did to the man t-that-"

She swallowed and took a deep breath. "Laura had been wandering from place to place for about a year. Living on the streets, figuring out how people lived in the real world. She was curious back then, trying every food she came across, and excited over every little new thing. You should've seen her face when I first took her to a library." She smiled suddenly but it quickly passed. "Life was good there for a while, but then Kimura came for us, and we ran. Mom and I have been running ever since..."

"Not any more you're not!" Gabby cried, grinning ear to ear. "And after tonight, you, me, your mom, Laura, and Jonathan are gonna be one big happy family! Kitty, Jubilee, and the rest of the X-Men included! Kimura's gonna be dead, we're gonna eat dessert after every meal, and together we're gonna teach Laura how to smile and actually be nice to people!"

Half of the jet laughed, including Meg. "Thanks, Gabby," she said, "but right now, all I want is for Laura to be safe and alright, and to be on our way home without anybody getting hurt."

"No worries, dude," Jubilee said, sitting across from them. "Gabby can't feel pain, and for me it just kinda tickles. Usually in a fun way. Scott might be an asshole with a stick up his ass that got turned sideways, but he's a smart asshole. The plan's gonna work. Trust me."

"Er, thanks, but I think he can hear you," she whispered, pointing at the front of the plane, flying it in fact.

Jubilee shrugged. "He knows I love him. I just think his blood probably tastes really gamy is all. Not bad, but an acquired taste. Kinda like Laura, I guess. The personality, not the blood." She licked her lips just thinking about sinking her fangs into Laura's neck.

Meg smiled weakly and scooted closer to the window, glad to have Gabby in between her and the vampire. She liked Jubilee, liked her a lot in fact, but too many late night horror movies made her self-conscious around her. Jubilee for her part seemed to sense this, and didn't invade Meg's personal space. She seemed to prefer sitting by herself anyway, and Meg couldn't help but wonder if it was to avoid any temptation.

In the seats immediately in front of her sat Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler, spending more time facing backwards in their seats talking to Jubilee, Gabby, and Meg than they did facing forward. In the front of the plane were 'the adults' as the younger X-Men referred to them, Cyclopes, Storm, Colossus, Rogue, and Gambit. As was X-Men protocol, one of the three leaders, in this case Jean Grey, remained behind to protect The Institute and to be the designated survivor in case the worst should happen to Cyclops and Storm.

Since resurrecting for a second time, now without The Phoenix Force, Jean Grey's powers had greatly diminished and returned to what they'd been before becoming the vessel for an all-powerful entity. Along with telekinesis, she could read minds and speak to people from across the world, but those powers would be next to useless against Kimura and Laura, both of whom were immune to telepathy.

She wasn't necessarily happy about being left behind, but both her husband and Storm were co-leaders of the X-Men while Jean was the headmistress of The Xavier Institute, and all agreed that the importance of the X-Men paled in comparison to The Institute which sheltered dozens of wayward mutants, and gave them one of the finest educations in the world. Along with two humans, a mother and daughter that hadn't had a real home or decent night sleep in nearly five years.

'It's never going to be over, is it?' Meg half-prayed, half-cursed. Some days she wasn't sure if anybody was actually listening, or if they were, that they were actively working against her.

The dark thoughts began to spiral, just as they had since she was a little girl and her mother was bouncing from boyfriend to boyfriend, sometimes going days barely even seeing each other until one fateful day when she was eleven and walking home from school. Her mother hadn't even realized she was gone until the next day...

'Don't worry, Meg,' a woman's voice said in her mind. 'We're going to save Laura, and everything will be alright. You'll see.'

Meg jumped in her seat but quickly settled back down, recognizing the voice as belonging to Jean Grey. As disconcerting as it'd been hearing it for the first time, Jean's voice was calm, almost motherly, and Meg more than anything appreciated the distraction from her thoughts.

'Um,' she thought back, 'I-I don't really know how this works, you're not-'

'I am only reading your surface level thoughts, Meg. Don't worry, I don't go snooping where I don't belong. I sensed that you were feeling stressed about the mission, amongst other things, so I thought I'd offer a little encouragement. Your cousin's in good hands, Meg. You can count on us. Don't lose faith.'

"Thank you," she said aloud before quickly thinking it instead, seeing bemused looks on everybody's faces when she finally found the courage to look. "I-I'm not crazy! I swear! My therapist told me so! I was just talking to Jean!"

"No worries, Meg" Kitty said, "we kinda figured, and we're used to it by now. If it makes you feel any better, Jean used to surprise me in the middle of class like that all the time, except she'd usually scream or tell me to stop thinking about boys. Do you know how hard it is not to think naughty thoughts when a telepath tells you not to?"

Jubilee laughed. "Nah, you double down on the degeneracy. That way they stay out of your mind for good."

"I can't hear her voice," Gabby admitted. "Laura says it's because there's an echo in my head, but I think it has something to do with what Weapon X did to us. Jean says she can still get an idea of what I'm thinking if she concentrates really, really hard, but even with Cerebro, she can't sense Laura at all."

"That's because Laura has even less going on in her brain than you do, Gabs," Kitty said with a sly grin. Gabby giggled and stuck her tongue out which Kitty reciprocated by phasing her tongue through her lips, which made her giggle even harder and got the entire jet's undivided attention. Even if she wasn't technically Laura, it was still surreal to hear what it might've sounded like to hear Laura laugh, much less giggle.

"Shadowcat. Nightcrawler," Cyclops interrupted. "You're up!"

Sighing, Kitty and Kurt got up from their seats and checked over their gear one last time, a matching pair of rapiers hanging from their utility belts.

"Go get 'em, dudes," Jubilee said, earning a smile from them both. "Try saving some baddies for the rest of us. I'm getting tired of being everybody's backup. What's the point in being a scary vampire if you can't even drink anybody?"

"Do you call everybody 'dude'?" Meg asked. Jubilee nodded gleefully, as did the rest of the X-Men, albeit less enthusiastically.

Kitty turned to Nightcrawler. "You want a free ride to the ground, Kurt, or are you still chicken after last time?"

Nightcrawler glanced out the window to the ground far, far below. "That is quite alright. I do not wish to vomit inside solid matter ever again." He waved goodbye to Gabby and Meg before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Of all the mutant powers I've seen," Meg said, "I think I'd want to be able to disappear like that the most."

Kitty shook her head. "If you think that's cool, just wait and see. You haven't seen anything yet."

"You're on a mission, Shadowcat," Cyclops admonished. "It would've been faster if you teleported with Nightcrawler."

Kitty stuck her tongue out at the back of his head. "What's the point in having superpowers if you can't show off in front of the muggles?" She winked at Meg and after blowing a kiss to Colossus and performing a quick gymnast routine, dived head first through the floor of The Blackbird like an Olympic diver.

Meg blinked, struggling to believe the impossibility she'd just witnessed. She was already well-aware of Kitty's powers, but was still taken aback by her phasing through solid matter every time.

"I don't think I'm ever gonna get used to hanging out with you guys," she said, "and my cousins are literally the daughters of Wolverine."


"X-Men! X-Men! This is the day! This is the day! X-Men! X-Men! Coming your way! Pryde of the X-Men!"

Despite hurtling toward the ground at terminal velocity without a parachute, and both a dangerous mission and a friend's life resting upon her shoulders, Kitty Pryde struggled to feel anything except for the best adrenaline rush she'd had all week.

Jubilee and Nightcrawler were always good for a laugh, but Meg and especially Gabby were both easily impressed by her powers and always laughed even at her lamest of jokes. To the senior members of the X-Men however, Kitty was still their kid sister, having enrolled in The Xavier institute at fourteen-years-old, and despite going on missions shortly thereafter due to the nature of her powers, she might as well have still been fourteen considering how they treated her.

She was now barely old enough to legally drink but had already lived several lifetimes of adventures. She'd just returned from one such adventure early in fact to help pull reconnaissance with Nightcrawler. The mission to stop Kimura and Weapon X was near the top of the X-Men's priorities, but nothing was more important than rescuing one of their own.

'Except this isn't just an ordinary rescue mission,' she reminded herself before quickly shoving the thought aside. She still had about thirty seconds before she needed to get serious again, and she intended to use all thirty seconds to forget her troubles and thoroughly to enjoy herself for once.

Still, in the back of her mind, Kitty couldn't help thinking about Logan and all she owed the man, and how she had already failed his daughter once back when they were roommates. How could she not have known that Laura was cutting herself multiple times a day in the bathroom? Or had tried committing suicide more than once? What kind of friend was she? What would Logan say?

She had barely spoken to Laura the past couple years, which she blamed herself for entirely. Even alone in the sky, Kitty couldn't help talking to herself, but she couldn't pick up a phone or manage anything more than small talk whenever the two awkwardly ran into each other?

"We'll save you, X," she promised, unconsciously using the name Laura had first given her. As Kitty understood it, the name 'Laura' had been her mother's final gift before passing, and was something Laura found deeply personal and had kept private for many years. Eventually however she grew to despise the designation of X-23, which Kitty liked to think she had played a small part in, but still occasionally caught herself still thinking of her as X. A young woman looking for an identity besides the one given to her, bent to the point that most thought she was broken on the inside, and in some ways more resembled a small child frightened by the world around her rather than a stone cold killer.

"Well that was a waste of thirty seconds," Kitty said to herself. "Guess I'm just gonna have to find a way to make up for it. LOOK OUT, KURT!" She dived straight for the dark shape she assumed to be Nightcrawler, phasing through both him and the snow covered ground, reappearing a moment later, doubled over in laughter. "You should've seen the look on your face!"

"That wasn't funny, Kitty!" he shouted. "I thought something might have been wrong with your powers, or perhaps we were under attack!" Despite his harsh tone however he didn't bother trying to hide his wide grin. "Anyway, Scott would not approve, which I suppose means I very much approve."

She grinned back at him and sank into the ground up to her neck. "Alright, hard part of the mission's over. You lead the way since I can't see crap in the dark."

He nodded and allowed the shadows that normally only covered his face now envelop his entire body, turning him almost invisible in the darkness.

"Wow, Kurt. That's a good look on you."

"And you look good being half-buried in the ground, although I think I would prefer if your mouth was also covered."

Kitty obliged by covering her mouth with her hand, but her lips phased right through. "Lead the way snow elf."

Nightcrawler did so, sneaking through the snowy landscape, leaving as few footprints behind as possible thanks to his teleporting while Kitty followed the sound of him popping in and out of existence and the smell of brimstone while swimming through the snow and permafrost, preferring the backstroke and making snow angels whenever Nightcrawler paused to get his bearings or survey the terrain.

"There's the base," he said quietly, pointing ahead. "It does not look like anybody's home, and hasn't been for a very long time."

Kitty nodded, barely able to see the dark shape in the distance due to the cloudy overcast courtesy of Storm. "Hopefully it's only because it's past everybody's bedtime. If Laura's not here, it means we lose our only lead. More importantly, it means I've been freezing my you-know-whats off for nothing."

Nightcrawler chuckled. "No offense, Kitty, but I don't believe you have any you-know-whats to freeze off. Ow! It was just a joke! You don't have to hit me!"

"Just because you look better in women's clothing than me doesn't mean you get to make fun of my tomboyish figure!"

"And I told you never to mess with my holographic image modulator ever again!"

She laughed and grabbed his hand, shaking slightly from the cold, or so she told herself. "Come on. Get your barf bag out. We're going inside."

Nightcrawler nodded and took a deep breath as Kitty phased them through the ground and shifted through solid matter as easily as swimming. Their heads poked out of the ground a minute later, both gasping for air due to having to hold their breath, but once Kurt signaled that he was ready, Kitty continued until they were poking their heads out of a cement floor.

"Lights are on," she said quietly, studying the long, dimly lit hallway. "And the floors are clean. Means somebody's home."

"Yes, but is it Kimura, or the Russian military? Or Weapon X?" Nightcrawler muttered. "From what Gabby says, Weapon X is on its dying legs, especially now that Kimura has turned on them. It's possible they have retreated here with the approval of Russia's government."

They peeked inside a nearby room, and seeing it empty, Kitty phased them out of the ground. "Looks like this building was built during the Cold War," she said. "I guess Weapon X didn't really care whose side they were on so long as they were the winners."

"I do not like this," he said, wiping several layers of dust off a table, "and I haven't from the start. Kimura might be insane but she's also highly intelligent. Why take Laura to a facility that she knows we're watching?"

"Because it's another trap," Kitty said matter-of-factly. "You saw what she did to Laura, and heard what she said. She wants Laura to kill us, probably as another way of punishing her."

Nightcrawler scowled. "I walked out of the room as soon as I saw Laura's hands and feet lying on the operating table, and the dead look in her eyes." He shook his head. "Now is not the time for that. If you've caught your breath, I believe it is time for us to do what we do best."

She nodded and touched her ear. "Kitty to Blackbird. Come in Blackbird." All she got was static, and Nightcrawler said the same a moment later.

"Could be standard interference," he said. "If this is now a Russian military base, they could be jamming any and all signals leaving the building, or perhaps its leftover from Weapon X." He closed his eyes and concentrated. "On the other hand, Jean's not responding either."

"Seeing how she laughed at my joke just a couple of minutes ago, I'd say we're probably in the right place after all, in which case we should probably take things slow." She held Nightcrawler's hand and they poked their heads into the next room, discovering an abandoned computer lab at least thirty or forty years old judging by the computers.

"This is awesome!" Kitty squealed, checking over one of the monitors. "Reminds me of playing Zork on my dad's computer when I was a kid."

"I take it your state of the art flash drive will not work on computers this ancient."

Kitty shook her head and retrieved a flopping disk from her utility belt. "Don't worry, I came prepared, not that I'm expecting to find anything. I'm surprised Weapon X didn't destroy them or self-destruct the facility before clearing out. OH!" Her face brightened suddenly. "These computers are so old, even if the hard drives have been completely wiped, I'm bound to pick up some ghost files from at least a few of them. Good thing my boyfriend's Russian that likes to read, huh?"

"Very fortunate, but hold that thought." He moved toward the door and put his ear against it. "I hear somebody walking toward us."

She followed him. "Think we tripped a silent alarm?"

Nightcrawler shook his head. "They're walking past. They don't sound to be in a hurry, or on patrol."

Kitty grabbed his hand again and poked their heads out of the wall, low to the ground, and watched as a man in uniform walked down the hall as if inspecting its integrity, not appearing particularly pleased at what he saw. The pair returned to the room a moment later. "He could be Russian," Kitty said, "but that wasn't any military uniform I've ever seen."

"Me either, but they could very well be black ops. Weapon X was officially funded by the American and Canadian governments after all, and I'm betting the Russian and Ecuadoran governments as well. You can check out these computers later. Let's start searching for Laura."

Together they phased through empty room after empty room, barren hallway after barren hallway, only occasionally seeing an unarmed man in uniform walking the halls. They traveled from one side of the massive complex to the other, spanning multiple floors, and Kitty eventually found herself tiring, as did Nightcrawler. They continued searching however until finally entering the only brightly lit room in the entire facility, filled with modern-looking equipment that very clearly hadn't been there during the Cold War.

Standing in the middle of the massive room were a pair of young women wearing matching red tops and leggings, and might've been sisters on their way to the gym if not for the way the elder had her arms around the younger. While the taller of the two wore a wolfish grin however, the shorter was staring blankly ahead, and didn't seem to notice having visitors.

"Laura!" Nightcrawler cried.

Kitty drew her blades. "Kimura," she growled.

"I thought I smelled mutants nosing around where they don't belong," she said, a tight grip on Laura's shoulder. "We've been expecting you."

"Think you can teleport Laura out of here?" Kitty whispered.

"Not without teleporting Kimura with us," he whispered back. "You'll have to distract her, or kill her if you prefer."

Nightcrawler stepped in front of Kitty and continued walking forward. "Laura, it's me, Kurt. I'm with Kitty. We are here to rescue you. Your sister Gabby and cousin Meg are waiting outside for you."

Laura gave no sign that she'd heard and Kimura laughed, her grip tightening. "Laura Kinney never existed. She was nothing more than a delusion. A fantasy created by Sarah Kinney to spite me." She leaned over and brought her lips to Laura's ear. "Those are the people I was warning you about. The ones that lied to you and want to take you away from me."

"...Lied to me. Take me away..." she repeated.

"Get your hands off of her!"

Kimura looked at him coldly. "Careful, boy. I might think you're trying to claim what's rightfully mine, or that maybe you've had your hands on her too."

"She does not belong to you!" Nightcrawler said, stepping closer than he dared. "We are her friends and family. You are nothing more than a demon destined for hell!"

"A demon? Is that true, X? Tell me, who do you belong to?"

"...My designation is X-23..." she said quietly, still not having blinked. "...Kimura is my master. I am her weapon. Her dog. Her tool. Her plaything. And I will slaughter all those who oppose her..."

Nightcrawler growled, hands on his swords. "Whatever you did to her, hell is too good a place for you."

Kimura laughed. "Queen of hell has a nice ring to it. Better to rule in hell than serve in Heaven as the saying goes." She laughed again and grinned wickedly. "You'd be proud of your little X-Girl. It took me over forty-eight hours to restore X-23 back to her default factory settings. It was just like old times again, except I've learned a few new tricks since then, and we're not little girls playing anymore. Would you like to see how I did it?"

Looking Nightcrawler in the eye, she planted a kiss on Laura's lips, and Kitty flew out of his chest, thrusting a blade into Kimura's.

She casually looked down at the sword and the wide eyed young woman holding onto it, and grabbed hold of the blade with her other hand. "Your little tricks won't work on me, girly. Adamantium can't cut my skin, and you can't phase through it either. Tell me, how long do you think you'll last on one of my operating tables?"

*bamf*

Kitty disappeared in smoke and reappeared across the room with Nightcrawler, and Kimura shattered the sword with her vice-like grip. "Not long from the looks of it."

"What the hell is she?" Kitty whispered. "And why the hell didn't you save Laura when you had the chance?"

"I'm more worried about us than I am her at the moment," he said calmly. "I do not know what she did to Laura, but I will not allow her to hurt you as well, Kitty."

"Aww, how touching." Kimura touched a button on her utility belt, and immediately a high pitched whine was heard coming from the vents.

"Gas!" Kitty cried, reaching for her rebreather.

Nightcrawler grabbed her wrist. "Not gas. Trigger scent..."

Laura turned to the pair, her head cocked to the side like a dog, a look that might've been recognition briefly crossing her face, when her eyes suddenly turned red and she roared like an animal.

"Stay," Kimura ordered, and Laura immediately stood at attention. Grinning at the pair, she gave Laura a long, lingering kiss that by the looks of it, made them seriously consider throwing their lives away to try and stop.

"This will probably be our farewell, X," Kimura said sadly. "Until next time. I'll remember the past week very fondly. At least we'll always have the memories, and the home videos we made together. As a parting gift, I want you to kill these intruders for me, and everyone else that enters this facility. Now go!"

Laura ran on all fours like an animal possessed, screaming as she leaped for their heads only for Kitty to grab Nightcrawler's hand and phase them through the nearest wall.

"Contact The Blackbird!" Kitty ordered. "I'll hold Laura off and lead her to the eastern entrance like we planned! Warn Rogue about Kimura's skin while you're at it!"

He nodded and handed over one of his matching rapiers, knowing there wasn't time to argue, and that he'd only get in the way. "Please be careful, Kitty," he said before teleporting away.

Kitty took off running eastward, and the wall behind her exploded. Sensing Laura just behind her, she immediately phased into the ground, and a moment later would've screamed if she'd been able to when adamantium claws were driven straight through through her non-corporeal skull. She immediately phased out of the ground into a nearby room, out of breath from the sheer physical and mental strain of phasing through one of the densest substances on Earth.

The wall shattered and Kitty rolled away. "You're cheating!" she screamed. "How the hell can you sense me when I'm in a solid freaking object? Gabby can't sense me when I'm just phasing through air, and half the time neither can Jubilee, you know, the freaking vampire!"

Rather than run away again, Kitty raised her rapiers and deflected Laura's claws when they lunged for her. Although she didn't trust the Damascus steel blades to survive a direct assault, she trusted them and her skills just enough to parry and deflect.

Seeing an opening, she dived through Laura's chest, making only her swords corporeal which she flourished, leaving behind gaping, zig-zagging wounds that Laura didn't seem to notice. She immediately spun and thrust her claws into Kitty who cried out, but brandished her swords in an attempt to disarm her opponent. Laura retracted her claws at the last possible second however, and the steel blades harmlessly bounced off her forearms.

Kitty phased through the ground once more, and grabbed Laura's ankles so that she was submerged in the concrete up to her chest. She then phased herself back to the surface, breathless and sweating, and wanting to vomit. Thankfully it was only beta adamantium she was phasing and not true adamantium like Logan's, which was even denser, and that it was mostly just Laura's claws coated in metal instead of her entire skeleton.

Blood immediately pooled around Laura's body and poured from her mouth, but all it seemed to do was make her even angrier.

"I'm really sorry, Laura," Kitty said, looking away, "but you didn't exactly leave me much choice, and besides, it was Scott's idea." The leader of the X-Men might not have always been right despite acting like he was, and not always the most moral despite his sanctimonious attitude, but he had the annoying habit of rarely being completely wrong. Now however was one of those rare times.

An arm broke free and Kitty cursed loud enough for the entire facility to hear before sprinting in the opposite direction, and only seconds later heard Laura break free and crash through the wall behind her.

Cyclops' other idea had been to cut off Laura's head and immediately reattach it to her neck. Theoretically she should come back to life, and potentially no longer under the influence of trigger scent, but it wasn't a theory Kitty bothered considering. Not for very long anyway.

She phased through another wall and found herself back in the main hall heading east just like she hoped. Laura dived through the wall only seconds later, cutting through it with about as much effort as Kitty phased through it.

Glancing behind her, Kitty noted that Laura was holding her arms in front of her chest in an X formation, which gave her some hope that Laura Kinney was still inside somewhere until she noticed the claws raised defensively in front of her neck, and moving her head from side to side like a boxer. If Kitty wanted to behead her now, she'd have to phase through two, perhaps even four adamantium claws while also hoping Laura would stand still long enough to lose her head.

'Her mind's still with her,' Kitty noted, hoping that was a good thing. There were large chunks of concrete being pushed out of her body as she healed faster than Kitty had ever seen her or her father, and just like her physical attributes, figured the trigger scent also accelerated her healing factor as well. Thankfully the concrete seemed to be slowing her down, at least for the moment.

"Wow, Laura! You get any angrier and you're gonna turn green and rip through your clothes, which would honestly be an improvement cause you look like a mini-Kimura in that outfit. Red is so not your color."

Laura responded with another roar, slowly catching up to the young woman who could literally walk on air due to the lack of resistance against her.

"Not gonna lie, I kinda miss the leather pants and sports bra you were rocking a few years ago. Not saying you don't still look great. Yoga pants and crop tops are definitely you, but I miss the mysterious goth chick vibe you had going on. On that note, how come someone that grew up wearing hospital gowns and hates shopping has better fashion sense than me? It's not fair! Oh, by the way, I've always wanted to ask. Being Logan's daughter, how often do you have to shave?"

Kitty ducked under the expected claw strike and phased through a series of walls, which thankfully slowed Laura down for more than just a few seconds this time.

"Listen, Laura," she said, "if this is about the time I pushed you into the pool, I already said that I was sorry! How was I supposed to know you'd sink to the bottom?"

She dived into the ground and came out moments later in an office filled with bewildered men and women in lab coats, and Kitty gave them the most innocent smile she could manage. "I know you're the bad guys and all, and probably deserve what's about to happen, but I'm still really sorry about this..."

The wall exploded behind her, and Kitty backed away, trying to keep Laura's attention, but she stopped and sniffed the air, and was immediately on top of a middle aged woman, dismembering and disemboweling her before finally and mercifully decapitating her.

"Old friend of yours?" Kitty squeaked, trying not to vomit while everyone else ran screaming for the exit. Laura leaped at her and Kitty phased through the wall once more, assuming she was right and that the woman had probably deserved what she'd gotten.

"Just so you know, Kurt was flirting with your cousin!" she said breathlessly, the wall coming down behind her. "Maybe you should try killing him instead!"

Laura roared again, angrier than Kitty had ever heard The Hulk before pausing to sniff the air once more, a confused expression on her face. Kitty stopped running as well, trying to catch her breath, but not taking her eyes off Laura even for a second, scared to even blink.

"I'm also sorry for playing my music too loud, talking too much, snoring, forcing you out of your comfort zone, talking too much, smelling like boys, and overall not being as good of a friend as I should've been, especially back when you really needed one..."

Kitty frowned at the enraged expression returning on Laura's face, wondering if she could understand her, and if that anger wasn't just because of trigger scent.

"I wish I could say that I didn't know just how badly Weapon X hurt you, or how badly you were hurting, but I think a part of me always knew. I just didn't wanna think about you killing innocent people, and it was easier to just pretend none of it ever happened. I was so focused on getting you to come out of your shell that I didn't stop to think why you were in it to begin with. I'm sorry..."

Laura screamed, and Kitty didn't quite get out of the way in time of getting disemboweled, and quickly phased through the ground to recover, reappearing down the hall with only her head poking out. "Logan asked me to look after you, and later he asked the same of Jubilee. We're his girls, were his girls, and I'm sorry you didn't get to know him like we did, and that he always treated you differently. For a while I was even jealous, wishing I was his daughter instead, not realizing you never really saw him as your father like we did."

Kitty retreated back into the floor when Laura attacked, and reappeared on the other side. "Logan was there for me and Jubilee when times were tough, and he taught us to be even tougher. With you, he wanted you to soften up. Take away those rough edges. He hated you being a part of X-Force, to the point I thought he was actually gonna kill Cyclops this time, but then he thought maybe giving you purpose again would help."

Laura paused to sniff the air again, appearing to be confused by the scent.

"From what Gabby tells me," Kitty continued, "you're using your skills for good. You won't see judgment from me when it comes to killing rapists and child molesters, especially since I know how much you hate killing. You never loved it, which is what makes you different from Kimura. Killing left a gaping hole inside of you. That's why Logan left you with us, Laura. To fill that hole with better memories. I'm sorry that I couldn't do that for you, and I'm sorry if you hate me now..."

Laura took off running toward the source of the scent, and Kitty tearfully turned and ran in the opposite direction. "Kitty to Jubilee and Honey Badger," she said. "If you can hear me, I think Laura senses Gabby. I've done all I can do. I just hope I didn't screw up again and make things even worse..."


(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I really like the idea that Kitty "failed" in helping Laura where Jubilee later succeeded, who in turn also failed where Gabby succeeded. Kitty couldn't really relate to Laura, but tried helping her as best she could, not knowing the full extent of Laura's past. Jubilee could relate to Laura, and taught her how to live, but Gabby gave Laura a REASON to live, helped heal her soul, and forced her to "move on" so to speak. Logan failed where Gambit succeeded, and overall I like to think that's a recurring theme with Laura, and ultimately it was Laura who helped Laura the most.

As for Kitty Pryde, due to her close relationship with Logan, and being Laura's former roommate, I liked the idea that she feels guilty about being unable to help his daughter, especially after learning she was cutting herself in secret. I think that's something Kitty would struggle looking herself in the mirror after learning, which is why I find her relationship with Gabby so interesting here. It's like being given a second chance, and I don't think there are any hard feelings from Laura, though I do like to think there's some lingering jealousy/enviousness in regards to Kitty and Jubilee's father/daughter relationships with Logan, which is canonical. I don't think Laura would take that sort of thing personally at this point, but it's something that has to sting a bit, especially now that he's gone.

Fun fact, but back in the early 2010s, I very nearly wrote a slice of life "X-Men: Evolution" fanfic featuring Kitty Pryde, which may explain why I wanted to feature her character in this fic so many years later. It's funny how life comes full circle sometimes. Regardless, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you for your continued support. I hope you enjoy the coming chapters.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you. God bless)