Shoutout to all the new followers and special thanks to Cheshire, Fluffybunny2, and LoveKitaSoMuch for the reviews. Kita, without giving too much away, Kara is not psychic but she does have some more surprises ; ) Keep reviewing and asking questions and I'll do my best to answer.
"And then she left Professor. That's all that happened." Raven picked at her tights, a clear sign to Xavier that the young empath was uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.
"Rachel," Xavier's tone was soft as she briefly looked up from across the desk, "I'm honored that you felt you could tell me about what happened. And I think it's a positive step that you shared your story with Kara. But I know there's another reason that you have for telling me this story." Xavier nudged the girl gently.
"I don't -" Raven paused, realizing how ridiculous it must appear to try lying to the world's literal most powerful telepath, "it's not just what happened. It's what," And Raven caught the look the professor was giving her. "Don't make me say it." she grumbled.
"Say what?" Xaivier prompted with a slight smile earning a groan from the disgruntled teen.
"What I felt." Raven mocked, her voice going up a pitch before she slumped back down on her chair."I just ... I just don't know how to make sense of it." she finally admitted.
It had been two days since Raven had felt ... whatever she had felt when Kara's mind had lashed out at hers. She had meditated on it for hours, but felt no closer to understanding what she had seen ... felt ... sensed ... it was just so difficult to describe.
Xaivier watched the girl shift in her seat for a bit, choosing to ignore how she had propped her boots over the side of the expensive armchair obviously bothered. He clasped his hands together for a bit before deciding to take a stab in the dark. He knew how Raven prided herself in being reserved. Her feelings always in check. An apathetic empath ... a young teenage empath still unsure of her powers. Yet here she was showing obvious concern for a classmate. Xaivier decided to encourage this new development.
"I don't blame you Raven. Kara is an interesting one I'll give you that. Particularly for those of us who might peak into her mind," and he knew he got her attention, the girl's eyes shifting back to him. "That would be because Kara senses and remembers things differently than you or I."
"Differently?" and Xaivier reached over for the little model of the human brain from his desk.
"Yes see, while our long term memory is shaped by mostly what we see and hear, you can tell, because our hippocampus take up the most space."and the professor pointed at the model. "Those sights and sounds get translated or well connected to our associations with them: Happiness, sadness, anger. That's how we visualize and 'see' memories. Kara on the other hand, as a feral, has a more developed amygdala, specifically a more developed sense of memories based on fear." and Raven rolled her eyes.
"Yeah this is all sounding a little too much in the realm of eugenics to me. Also have you met Kara? That girl isn't scared of anything." and the professor chuckled.
"I don't mean fear in the traditional sense Raven. What I meant, is that as a feral, Kara is hardwired to survive, first and foremost and to do that, her brain employs all five senses to be aware of her surroundings. Whether to fight or take flight. Are the people around friend or foe. Therefore I believe she associates her long term memory differently from us." Xavier explained, his tone as if he was in class.
"That makes sense ... or at least helps me understand why I don't understand much of anything I get from Kara." Raven muttered.
"Would you allow me to help make sense of things?" and Raven saw the look Professor X was giving her. With a deep breath to center herself, and a somewhat reluctant grumble Raven nodded and the two closed their eyes as Xavier reached out to connect with Raven's mind.
'No wonder the girl is confused by what she felt.' Xavier kept to himself, careful to separate his thoughts from Raven. But it was indeed a cacophony of confusion. Barely a concrete image presented itself ... or any memory as he was used to seeing. It was as if everything Raven had sensed was jumbled together and hidden behind a distorted screen.
"Very interesting." Having seen enough, Xavier slowly left Raven's mind and allowed the typically guarded teen a moment to herself.
"See what I mean, Professor? It doesn't make any sense." Raven said, her frustrations clear. And Kara hadn't been any help ... the pantheress seemingly had no memory of what had happened and whenever Raven tried bringing it up Kara just got quite and slipped away. The fact that was her usual move only made it more annoying.
"Well let's try and make some sense then. Rely on your powers Raven. As an empath your connection to anothers emotions may be even deeper than their own. What emotions did you sense?" Professor Xavier's question seemed to strike a chord with Raven who furrowed her brow as she worked to sift through the memory.
"Pain." Raven gritted her teeth at the sensation. It wasn't so much pain like being hit but the memory of being hit ... all the time. Everywhere. She felt alone. Helpless.
"Don't conflate your feelings Raven." Xavier corrected, and as usual he was right. Raven felt helpless ... the feeling she remembered from Kara was - was ... anger. Determination. Repetition.
"Training?" Raven tried and Professor X nodded in agreement.
"Look broader ... deeper." Xavier encouraged. Raven took another breath and tried to look past the feelings that had first assaulted her. To move past them ... around them.
For some time all Raven could sense was pain ... loneliness ... anxiety ... determination ... and then she came to it. The blank spot. The bubble.
"Do you see it Professor?" Raven asked, the caution clear in her voice.
"I do ... it appears to be a barrier. A rather strong one." Xavier's tone reminded Raven of Dr. McCoy when he analyzed a new specimen under his microscope.
"Is - is it dangerous?" Raven recalled the last time she'd tried pushing against it ... so did her wall.
"I'm not sure. This may be a block Kara's mind has put in place to protect her from some harmful memory. What do you sense Raven?" Raven braced herself and reached out.
"More of the same Professor ... but ... It's hard to describe ..." Raven paused.
"Yes?" Xavier urged, Raven unable to see the look of pride he had watching her work.
"Darkness. Shadows. Claws. Cold. But past that ... I'm getting ... a scent? It's warm. Safe." And for a moment Raven was able to sense as she imagined Kara did all the time. The scent more detail than she'd ever experienced with more information than she knew what to do with. But she knew the feeling. It reminded her of how she felt when she thought of -
"Her mother!" Raven hit the back of the chair as she jerked backwards as her eyes flashed open. She'd been so deep in the memory with Xavier that she'd almost forgotten where they were.
"Very good Raven. And if not her mother than certainly someone important to her." Professor X smiled, clearly proud of the young empath who rubbed her temples at the exertion. She'd never done something like that before. Combining her powers with a psychics.
"But why block that? What about all that -"
"I think that's enough for today Raven. I appreciate you trusting me to help you with all of this." Professor Xavier's tone was genuine but Raven knew when their time was up.
With a nod, Raven got out of her chair and headed to the door but stopped just before the handle.
"Professor ... I'm worried about Kara." Raven admitted, something Xavier knew to be true from the moment she'd entered his study.
"Kara is perfectly safe here, Raven. But perhaps it would be best if you kept an eye on her. And we keep what we may have learned to ourselves. Just for now." Xavier finished as he saw Raven chew on her lip but finally nodded and slipped out the door.
Xavier waited for her to be down the hall before leaning back in his chair and letting out a long sigh. Kara's revelations were enough to have Xavier engaged ... but it hadn't only been the young feral's memories he'd seen. Raven's nightmares were coming more frequently ... and clearer with each passing month.
Reaching into a drawer in his desk, Xavier pulled out a notebook and scribbled in a single word, 'Apocalypse'
Kara came into the bedroom with a smirk firmly in place.
It had been a good day. She'd figured out that so long as she rotated clothes and kept them mostly blood free, she could wear the running shorts and tanks she preferred. Kitty had tried saying something but Mako had cut in to say he liked her current clothes better than the suffocating outfits Kitty had insisted on and for some reason that had cut Kitty short.
Classes were getting easier. She still didn't understand what good most of these things were for in the real world but at least they were interesting. She'd had lunch with Dr. McCoy and he'd given her some more books. Now she had five books. Less than Raven ... but a start.
On some level, a part of her that she couldn't explain knew that all of this was almost too good to be true. But the panthress really REALLY couldn't help it when she allowed herself a low rumble and a fairly undignified leap into her new bed.
Raven had been listening to music and watched her roommate nuzzle her way into the sheets, the pillows, and even wrestle with her bolster a little before settling down in a little fort of her own making. Then she caught the look Raven was giving her.
"What?" Kara rumbled out from her den of blankets. Raven stared for another moment before shaking her head a little and reaching for the book she was intending to finish that night
"You do you kid." the purple haired teen said in a tone Kara would almost describe as encouraging. But as Kara settled in for the night, Raven shot the feral another look. Her time with Professor X had helped her figure out a little of the mystery that was her roommate, but as she looked over at Kara, Raven's interest in her roommate's strange memories had only continued to pique.
"C'mon Widow ... you really gonna make me play this game?" Logan called from Widow's couch. He'd finally gotten in touch with her after calling in a favor with Hawkeye. She'd given him a set of coordinates which had taken him just north of Portland, Maine.
Logan appreciated the location. Single road to the house. Fairly good security around the perimeter. Place was a touch too modern for his taste, all steel and glass, but Nat had always gravitated towards the finer things when she could.
"You know I'm not going to tell you what you want Logan. Otherwise you'd be having this conversation directly with Nick and not with me. Besides, you know he never tells anyone everything." Widow came back into the room dressed in sweats, her hair still wet from the shower. The Glock 26 not so subtly placed on the coffee table between them as she walked past.
"So you really gonna try and sell me that you were sent out to pickup a kid? A kid, in the middle of an Avenger's mission ... and you didn't ask why? C'mon Nat I know you, not your style." Logan's tone was enough for Widow to smirk.
"So you think I have style? Nicest thing you've ever said to me." And now it was Logan's turn to smirk as Widow pulled a folder out from her well stocked bookshelf. The other wall floor to ceiling glass looking out at the woods and mountains in the distance. There was no one for miles around.
"So what did you find?" Logan flipped through the few documents in the folder. There really wasn't much there. He recognized a few of the insignias on the documents. S.W.O.R.D. ... HYDRA ... 'Red Lotus' ... Hellfire Club ... AIM.
"Honestly? Not much. Ferals are a particular interest to basically every organization, operator, and scientist on the planet. Mostly thanks to you," Nat tipped her head in mock salute to Logan who just grunted in assent, "so there's always a market looking for a new one."
"So what Fury wanted a feral for himself?" Logan didn't bother keeping the heat out of his voice. But Widow just shrugged without much concern.
"Certainly seems that way. Least that's what I found. Fury wanted some type of weapon and I was sent after the kid."
Logan leaned back and thought of what he knew. What Natasha said made sense but it didn't quite fit.
"What are you not telling me Nat?" Black Widow was one of the top operators in the world. She might have been the best liar in the world period. But Logan was one of the best too. Everyone had tales ... even the infamous Widow. And Logan had seen them all.
Widow just scoffed as she crossed her legs and leaned into her very comfortable leather couch, occupied with toweling her hair. But Logan pressed harder.
"You haven't been at your New York City loft for weeks. You're not at your place in Geneva. You shot yourself in the god damn shoulder to cover losing the kid to me. You got a 50 cal on the roof. You've looked out at the woods twice now. And," Logan tapped his nose. "I know this place is laced with enough C4 to level it to Latveria."
Logan leaned forward as Widow kept her eyes on Wolverine as if nothing he had just said was true.
"And you recognized Kara," Logan deliberately using the feline's name now, "When we were down in that hole." and could tell that struck something. It had been very brief, almost undetectable even to his enhanced senses, but that slight hesitancy behind that blink was enough.
"What's goin' on Natasha? What's got you spooked?" Nat looked Logan over, clearly working out what part of the truth to tell him before rolling her eyes in resignation.
"Der'mo," Nat cursed as she ran a hand through her red hair, "it was nothing Logan. I was young. Inexperienced. Its basically a ghost story."
"Spill it." Logan growled and the redhead narrowed her eyes, Logan could tell she was trying to read him, to see what she could get her way around.
"I was fresh out of the Red Room. My team was contracted to take out a Middle Eastern sheik. Didn't have a name. Didn't really matter to us. Just another target. We were on site. But we weren't the first ones there."
Natasha shook her head, clearly back in the memory. Logan noted the rapid eye movement.
"The place should have been a mess. Bullets. Scorch marks. Chunks missing out of walls. It's what we would have left for a place that well protected. But there was just ... bodies. The entire place had been wiped out."
"A team beat you to the target?" Logan wondered, but Natasha shook her head.
"Possible but unlikely," she said matter of fact before going serious again. "But it wasn't a team. Each body was laid out one after the other. Same style of kill. No resistance. Whoever had gone through there had taken them out one at a time without anyone else noticing." Logan could tell from Nat's tone that this had made quite the impression.
"C'mon Nat ... either one of us could pull that off. I could list another five that might be able to do the same." Logan insisted but Nat just gave Logan a look that made it clear she wasn't finished.
"I would agree with you Logan." and he noted the hardness in her tone."But can you name Nextwave? U-Foes? The Inheritors? " and he furrowed his brows.
"Exactly." Natasha pointed out "Our shadow turned them all into ghost stories. Literally. Taken down before they could even get started." She said it as a joke but it predictably failed to distract Logan.
"So this spook took out some D- Listers, Big deal-"
"H.A.M.M.E.R., HYRDA, AIM ... Heard from them lately?" and there was silence, the two of them looking at one another before Widow crossed her arms.
"Speaking of which, why didn't you go to Nick? You figure out that he's been pretty quiet after he paid that school of yours a visit? Might want to check up on him." and Logan got out of his seat. Now he understood what had Nat so spooked. Honestly this would have been enough for him but he had to know just one more thing.
"But you did see something,"and he gave her one last knowing glance, "Didn't ya?"
"I ..." Widow rubbed her hands together as she bit her lip. There was more silence before she looked him in the eye.
"Whatever... thing ... did that to the target it - it did the same thing to my team. All six of us. That many Red Room operatives are capable of toppling a mid-size government in a day. It, whatever it was, took us out one by one. I never even saw it Logan. Only reason I made it out at all was I jumped out a fifth floor window and had to practically crawl back to Russia."
Logan leaned back again as Widow pushed off the couch and walked back over to look out the window as if deep in thought. Logan gave her a second before joining her.
"There's no way Kara could do what you said. She's good but young. Raw. It doesn't fit." Logan tried but Widow wasn't looking at him.
"If it was me?" Widow husked out, her back still to Logan, suddenly very interested in drying her hair again, "I'd go straight into that school of yours and put an end to it. Cause Logan I don't care what kind of weapon that kid might be ... it's going to bring something worse to your door."