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THE STRAY CAT written by Richard 'Kurogo' Palmer
Warning: This Fan-fiction deals with mature such as substance abuse, profanity and violence.
Garrett Bros. Coffee shop, downtown Boston.
Emma walked into the shop and looked around, as she did an older man stood up and waved. He was in his early forties, had graying brown hair and a mustache, and a thin face with a wide friendly smile. "Emma!" he called.
Emma Frost walked over and sat down, "It's nice to see you again Dr. Laine." She said. Dr. Laine was an old dear friend of hers, a very trusted friend. True the man's past wasn't exactly spotless but neither was hers. But he had one quality she respected about him; the man truly knew how to keep a secret. Dr. Warren Laine was one normal person she never had to mind manipulate to keep her secrets hidden. The only problem with Warren was he was a hard man to find. No one knew what country he would be in next or for how long. "I understand you wanted to see me?"
"Yes, I'm in a bit of trouble with my daughter…"
"Congratulations." Emma interrupted.
"Pardon?" Laine returned.
"Congratulations, you got remarried," Emma replied, "didn't you?" Laine shook his head. "Then how is it that you have a daughter, I don't remember you and Katherine having any children?"
"No, Christy is sort of, adopted."
"What is sort of adopted?"
"She's legally my child but the full facts have been kept from the authorities." He sighed, "I was on assignment in Brazil a few years ago, part of a Zoological crew, y'know tagging and releasing wild animals?" Emma nodded. "Christy was found in one of the humane traps we use for the bigger animals, you know like leopards."
"I don't understand."
"She grew up in the wild, apparently gained her mutant powers in the wild as well. She was trying to break out of the cage with some sort of sizemorph ability but was having trouble due to injury." Warren took a sip of his coffee. "I took her in and raised her, taught her what I could, even took her on a few of the assignments I was on. She's a sweet girl she really is."
"I'm happy for you." Emma smiled, "So what's the problem?"
"I'm always travelling, my life is no kind of life for her, she needs a place to make friends her own age and get a real education, not to mention learn a bit more about her powers." Dr. Laine sat forward in his seat, "Here's the deal, I remembered that letter you wrote me, about reopening the school. I'm just wondering if you could do me the favor of considering her as a new student. I'll pay for enrollment and everything, but there are… problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"Well, her mutancy is apparent if you look at her, and this isn't exactly a small town. I just want you to help her protect her secret, unfortunately since this Onslaught thing anti-mutant hysteria has been on a very high rate."
"You don't have to tell me." Emma said, "but don't worry, we work very hard to protect all the student's secrets."
"And secondly, and this will be the hardest part, She is kind of… finicky."
"How so?"
"Well, Spending a lifetime in the jungle hasn't really given her a whole lot of human experiences, She will act a bit odd sometimes, if you could just do me a personal favor and try to keep things under raps."
Emma nodded, "Sure, what are friends for?"
Warren smiled, "Great thank you Em, you're a lifesaver." He stood up, "I'll send her by your place in the morning, if I see her."
"What do you mean if you see her?" Emma asked.
"She insisted on sleeping in the woods, she has a thing about hotel rooms."
______________
A dirt road leading through the Berkshire mountains.
Christina walked up the road and looked around, So this was the Massachusetts Academy. It passed the first test, there were plenty of trees scattered about, and the woods looked like they only got deeper further back as there were no signs of other buildings, lots of open space. She brushed aside part of her long brown hair and looked ahead; the main building was a large brick structure with a semicircular porch lined with stone pillars. The seventeen year-old girl straitened the large backpack on her shoulders.
As she walked up an older man with red hair opened the door. As she entered the building he said, "Ye must be the wee lass Emma was telling me about." Banshee said, "The one from the Amazon. Ye didn't walk all the way up here from downtown Boston did ye?"
"Well," She said as she set down her backpack, "My father tried to stop me but I insisted."
"Well, then, let me be a good host and carry yuir stuff to yuir room at least." Banshee said as he picked up the pack.
Banshee opened the door to the dorm room, "This 'ere is Jubilation Lee, She's your new roommate."
Jubilee waved as Christina entered. "Sorry about the mess." She said.
"Jubilee yuir in for a treat, She's got a few things in common with your ol' pal Logan." Banshee smiled.
Christina walked in silently and sat down on the bed.
"Well," Banshee said as he set her stuff down, "I'll leave ye two be."
After Sean closed the door behind them Christy sighed, "Well, here's to my new life." She said as she, opened her back pack, "however complicated and ridiculous it may seem to me, it's for the better."
"Not happy about being away from home, huh?"
"Oh, You have no idea." Christina said as she sat down, "The Rainforest is so much… simpler."
"The Amazon Rainforest?"
"Yeah."
"Wow," Jubilee said, "I'll bet that was a blast. All the space you want, no one to bother you."
"It's wild." Christina said as she pulled out a large boomerang.
Jubilee looked a little puzzled, "What's the Boomerang for? Aren't those an Australian weapon?"
"I've done a lot of travelling, the boomerang fits my tastes."
She opened the closets and took out a few of the Hangers, As she unpacked she pulled off her hat, for the first time Jubilee saw Christina's ears. They were like cat ears; they kind of twitched as she moved around the room. Christina also reached around her waist and pulled a clip off of what looked like a fuzzy belt, like one of those you would find in the trend stores at the mall. It unwrapped from her waist and twitched. A tail, obviously another added extremity to this new girl.
"Sorry I'm not a bit more talkative." She said, "I'm just trying to get used to the new place."
"Yeah I know, it'll be confusing for the first couple of days you'll have to get used to where your classes are, the other students…"
"Yeah, and all the new smells…" After she said this Christina noticed Jubilee giving her a funny look. "I'm sorry, sometimes I don't realize what I'm saying. It's just after living your whole life having to learn through your nose…" Jubilee giggled, "Yeah, I guess it does sound kinda funny. I've just got… What did Warren call it… heightened senses is all."
"Really." Jubilee said. At the same time she thought, "So that's what Banshee meant when he said she had a lot in common with Wolvie."
"It's really kinda a hassle," Christina continued, "I mean have you ever smelled fear?"
Jubilee shook her head.
"No, I didn't think so. From what Warren says most people can't smell it, but they sure do give it off. It's kinda like an unwashed sorta, I don't know, bitter musty smell. It's really gross. I guess that's why I tend to prefer animals to people, they generally don't give off that smell unless there's a real reason for it."
"Yeah, I've had problems with people too. We all have. That's why we're here." Jubilee said, "To fight for a world that fears and hates us." Christina smiled as she finished putting things away. She took a look in her backpack and decided that she'd done enough unpacking. These last few item's could wait till she was better settled.
"Would you like to show me around as I look for a place to sleep?" She asked her new friend.
"A place to sleep?" Jubilee repeated, "Your bed's right there. Didn't you hear Banshee? We're roommates."
Christina smiled, "I don't do indoors, I'm not a house-cat." She pulled on Jubilee's arm, "C'mon, you can tell me about this 'Logan' person."
Jubilee smiled and walked to the door with Christina, "Okay," she said as they opened the door. "Do you know about the X-Men?"
Christina shook her head, "Sorry, I've been sorta detached from the world for most of my life. Are they a music group?"
Jubilee sighed, with most mutant first impressions she could make herself feel important by telling them she was a member of the X-Men, this was, maybe, the first time it didn't carry any weight. "No they're a superhero team. C'mon I'll tell you all about them."
______________
Later that night Christina was introduced to the rest of Gen-X.
"Kids," Emma said, "This is Christina, a new student and a new member of Generation-X. She doesn't have that much experience with people so if you could all help her out while she's here."
"She doesn't have much experience with People?" Monet repeated, "What did you grow up in a cave somewhere?"
"Actually, yes." Christina replied.
"She was found in the Amazon Rainforest by a friend of mine, despite her lack of training she'd managed to control her powers pretty well."
"The Amazon, hmm," Monet said again, "So what do you think of this strange and unusual world you find yourself in, or are you still trying to comprehend the magic of fire?"
Christina looked at Monet, who was grinning when she noticed Christy getting uncomfortable. For a few short seconds her hair bristled and she grew in size by about three or four inches.
::Come on yer two, settle down.:: Jonothan said. Stepping between them, Monet just smiled; she'd gotten what she wanted.
"Okay we still have the remainder of next week to show our new student the grounds. Why don't we all return to the dorms for the night."
"Oh come on Ms. Frost! It's the weekend!" Jubilee protested, "Let us go out and have a little fun!"
"You'll need you're strength for training tomorrow." White Queen replied. "Besides our new student must be tired after walking up here."
Christina Shook her head, "I'm fine, the walk wasn't that long." She said, "Besides, I'd like to see more of the town."
"Still, you kids need your rest. The issue is closed." Emma left the room as Jubilee sat and pouted.
"Emma, they're just kids let them live a little." Sean said to his fellow instructor.
"All work and no play? Is that what you're suggesting?" Sean nodded. Emma sighed; deep down she knew Sean was right. "I suppose they have deserved a break. Okay tomorrow we'll go out into town and take some leisure time."
______________
Christina sat down inside a small cave just a few hundred feet from the Academy. She curled up into a ball and prepared to sleep through the night. Suddenly something drifted in the night air, a bitter musty smell, but there was more to it than that. She got up and went outside to investigate.
______________
Emma stepped out of the Biosphere; She'd just gone in to check on Artie, Leech and Penance. They all seemed to be settled in. she headed towards the door to return to her house just the next building over. As she neared the door the doorbell rang. She opened the door to see a young police officer looking back at her, his hat between his hands. "Evening Ma'am." He said.
"Can I help you?" she asked.
"Well ma'am, Um…, This is just standard procedure. We lost a prisoner during a transfer, We think he might be passing through here. We noticed lights on in the dorm rooms so we have to ask you and whoever else might be here to keep the doors and windows locked."
"My heavens." Emma said.
"Yes he managed to escape even with our heavy security, those mutants can be tricky." He paused and caught himself, "I'm sorry ma'am, I'm usually just security detail, I'm not used to these manhunt procedures. See, we aren't supposed to let people know the escapee is a mutant, might send 'em into a panic. I apologize for any worry that might of caused Ma'am."
"It's alright I'll be sure that that information is not relayed with the warning."
The officer tipped his hat, "Thank you ma'am. You have a nice evening."
As she shut the door she contacted Banshee telepathically, ::We may have a situation on our hands, you might want to get the students over here.::
::Something wrong?:: He replied.
::Possibly. I'll meet you and the boys in the briefing room.::
______________
"Damn that Miss Frostbite," Jubilee muttered as she popped her Bubble gum. "She never lets us have any fun."
The door opened to her room and the White Queen entered, "Jubilee, Get into you're gear and meet in the briefing room. We have a situation." She paused for a second as she looked around the room, "Where's Christina?" She asked.
"Uh, she said she preferred to sleep outside," Jubilation Lee responded, "I didn't think it would matter."
Emma shook her head, "Finicky, huh?" She muttered.
______________
Silently Christina followed the scent. She was picking up sounds now too. There was one set of footsteps from ahead of her, with the steps being quick and short paced. There were several other footsteps behind her. A bit uneven, but closing fast. And the smell of fear was coming from all directions. She was quickly closing on the set of footsteps ahead of her. Suddenly they stopped, whoever it was knew there was someone close. She listened hard and heard hard breathing from behind a large rock.
She leapt on top of the stone with graceful precision and looked down below her. A young man in an orange uniform stood in a defensive position with a large tree branch in his hands. He looked to be maybe nineteen, with a thin goatee and bleach blonde hair. His skin also seemed to be a slight silver tone.
Suddenly he noticed the silhouette coming from above him he looked up to see Christina resting on the rock. Quickly he swung at her with the tree branch. She easily leapt out of harms way.
"Hold on!" She said, "I'm not here to fight, I just want to know what…"
"Over here!" Came a voice from behind them, the voices of several other men started to come closer.
The man in orange swung at her again, "No!.. No time!… Must get away… Gotta run!" Christina started to try to reason with this man when some shots rang out. "NO!" the man yelled as small spikes grew from his body. He lifted the large rock Christy had been sitting on earlier and threw it at his pursuers.
Making a quick decision Christina sizemorphed into a twenty-foot tall version of herself, sprouting claws in the process. She dashed at their attackers and knocked them aside with relative ease.
"Look out!" some of the officers yelled, "Run, It's a grizzly!" a few of the men took aim and fired at this new opponent. Shots were fired and embedded themselves into her midsection. However being twenty feet tall at the time she was only momentarily stunned. "Wait a minute," one of the officers yelled, "It's not a grizzly it's another damn mutie!" Suddenly a brilliant flash of light burst into the scene and a couple of rocks fell towards them.
"It's a rockslide, people," Yelled the Marshal in charge of the search, "fall back, fall back!"
Monet landed near Christina, who was now on the ground clutching her stomach, but still at twenty-feet tall.
"Are you Okay?" Jubilee asked as she White Queen, Banshee, Chamber, Husk, Skin and Synch approached.
"I'll live," She growled as she stood up, blood was slowly dripping from her stomach. "He's headed north." She said.
"Who?" Jubilee asked.
"The man they were after," Christy responded, "I have a feeling he is being hunted down wrongfully."
"Why?" Paige asked.
"He smells like fear," Christina replied, "not hate. Not rage" She bounded up on top of a rock, and sat quietly for a moment.
"We need to formulate some kind of strategy," Paige said, "He's headed north we know that, but it won't be easy to find him in this darkness…"
"No problem." Jubilee said as she sparked up some of her pyrotechnic powers.
Husk held her hand in front of her, "without giving ourselves away."
"Oh, Right." Jubilee replied. A raccoon Scurried up to Christina and chittered a bit.
"He's by a creek only fifty yards from here," Christina replied, "heading up stream at the moment."
"How did ye figure that out Lass?" Banshee asked. Christina didn't answer instead she bounded off towards the direction of the stream.
______________
Half a mile north of the Massachusetts Academy, deep into the Berkshire mountains
The man trudged through the murky waters, hoping to mask any scent from the search party's dogs.
Suddenly he heard from somewhere around him, "Shhhhhhh, stay still. I'm here to help."
"I… I just wanna go home… I didn't do it I swear… I never killed nobody… I just wanna go home." The man half sobbed, "They said I did it… they said only a mutant could be so heartless… But I swear… I just found 'er… I just found 'er."
"I know, they don't like us very much… they fear us cause we don't appear… normal." With that Christina's twenty foot frame stepped out from the foliage, "I'll get you outta this, I promise."
The man sat down and sobbed. "She was justa kid, She was justa kid, only a little younger than I was." I just was trying to help, trying to get her to a doctor."
"An they blamed ye cause ye were there?" Cassidy said as he landed from his flight, "Because ye were nae the same as everyone else." The man in the orange uniform got into a defensive position again, but Christina's large hand on his shoulder calmed him down. ::Well, Emma, What do ye think?::, Banshee asked Ms. Frost telepathically.
::I've scanned his mind, he's telling the truth. He found a girl beaten and dying. He was simply trying to get her somewhere she could receive medical attention.:: Ms. Frost reported, ::The authorities found him and assumed because he was obviously a mutant, he must have attacked her.::
::So,:: Banshee replied, ::What do we do?::
"Hold it right there," said one of the police officers, "Who ever you people are, you've done good work, not only did you capture the fugitive but you captured his accomplice, "He said looking at Christina, "I knew it weren't no grizzly." He said as he held a bleeding arm. He held the rifle in the free hand and used his injured arm to reach for his radio to call for back up.
"Yes we found you're escapee, but…," Emma said as she stepped closer to the officer, Apparently he was mauled in a viscous bear attack, which is actually what you saw earlier, not another mutant. There weren't many remains left, but you do have these rags as proof of his death. She said as she ripped part of the orange prison uniform from the man in the shallow stream.
"Yes, ma'am, not many remains left." The officer repeated. He turned and walked off half dazed.
"The nerve of some people!" Jubilee said, remarking on the prisoner's situation.
"Come on, let's get ye to the infirmary," Cassidy said to the prisoner.
"Hey, muchachos, You might want to take our new teammate to the infirmary too," Skin said, "and pretty damn quick!"
Christina was slouched on the ground, slowly shrinking back to normal size. As she did the damage from the bullet wounds grew worse; blood began to pour from her wounds.
"Monet!" Emma shouted, "Get her to the infirmary, Quick!" M picked up the now unconscious Christina and flew as fast as she could to the academy.
______________
"Are you feeling better?" a voice asked. Christina opened her eyes to See Emma and the Kids standing there.
She tried to smile, "My… First day… and I'm already… getting' patched up… from a fight. Guess I'm just the… troublemaker… Now, aren't I?" She looked at Jubilee, "now I kinda… wish I had your friends… heeling ability." Jubilee looked kindly back at her friend, "Cause any damage… I take when I'm big… remains the same size… when I shrink." She smiled weakly, "Nasty trade-off… huh?"
"Save your strength, Chica." Angelo said, "you'll need it when you start trainin'."
Sean tapped his watch. "Okay kids it's getting close to lights out, let's go." Emma turned back to Christy just before she left, "Get some rest," she said, "we'll see you in the morning."
Christy looked up at the ceiling and sighed, she wished she'd been able to sleep outside. She didn't really like the air in here, it was too stuffy. Still she was among friends now. She relaxed and muttered one word before she closed her eyes, "Home."
The End.
________________________________________________________________________
The legal stuff: The Characters from Generation X and the concept of Mutants and are a product of Marvel comics and it's employees and are used without permission. Christina Laine is based off of the Samurai Spirits character Cham-Cham, Beyond that she's a character of my own creation.
This Fan-fiction is entirely dolphin-safe.
