EACH NEW BEGINNING IS ANOTHER BEGINNING’S END

By Yannick Lamarre

NOTE: This series takes place before the events of Uncanny X-Men #1

The regular citizen of New York these days has seen plenty of action. There doesn’t seem to be a week without being a madman trying to destroy the city, or some fight between so called superheroes, or any other hazards related to supervillains and the like. But in the past, one could always rely on normal people, like the folks at S.H.I.E.L.D. to protect them. Which is why seeing the Helicarrier turn its considerable artillery on them was having such an effect. People were running everywhere, trying to escape from the incoming doom above. Screams of panic and fear were burying any other sounds, and to her horror Kitty was stuck in the middle of it. Her father’s… no… Ogun’s face had just vanished from the viewscreen, and now here she was, staring stupidly at the screen, Lockheed flying around her as she tried to make sense of everything that was happening to her. Lockheed shot a burst of flame in front of her to try and snap her out of her daze. She suddenly looked up at him, and noticed the panic that was now surrounding her. People were fleeing all around, running on each other and basically causing major chaos everywhere.

“I have to stop this,” she said, her resolve returning. “This… insanity has to stop!”

She knew that in a way, this was happening because of her. Ogun was after her. Her father had become involved because of her. The city was threatened, and it was her fault.

“I have to stop it!”

She looked around her, regaining her bearings. Lockheed landed on her, cooing a question.

“I have to make sure the others are all right, and then I’ll deal with him personally,” she answered.

She finally spotted the shop through the running crowd. She released her mind and started to walk towards them… only to be bumped into and thrown backwards by the scared citizens.

“What the hell is wrong with my powers anyway?” she complained out loud.

Readjusting, she concentrated on making her powers work, and tried again. She walked through the crowd, Lockheed phased with her, and nobody seemed to really notice. They were freaked out enough already. She reached the shop and this time released her mind, and she solidified. Her powers had switched back to the way they had been in the old days.

“I’ll have to check with someone about this…” she said out loud. “Lockheed, wait on the roof for a few minutes, I’ll be right back.”

The alien purple dragon seemed to nod, and flew off her shoulder. Kitty entered Sam’s Electronics. They were all looking at her with strange, questionning look. They were all at the counter, obviously wondering what was going on and what to do about it.

“Finally! We were beginning to worry!” Sam welcomed her.

“Speak for yourself,” Jonathan muttered under his breath, but still loud enough for Kitty to hear.

“Shut up!” Melissa replied for her. “Where have you been?”

“My walk got really weird,” Kitty replied with a sarcastic note.

“Why are the people so scared? They’ve been threatened before!” Rachel suddenly exclaimed.

Kitty looked at her for a second before answering. The young teenager had a strange look on her face.

“They never figured S.H.I.E.L.D. would ever turn on them,” Kitty explained.

“So what do we do about it?” Melissa asked.

“You guys just stay put here. You should be safe. I’m going back outside,” Kitty said.

“What? Why?” Melissa said, surprised that Kitty would even want to get back out there.

Kitty hesitated before answering. What could she tell them?

“I… have other people I need to check up on. Don’t worry,” she said, and Kitty was suddenly on her way to the door, not wanting to answer any other question.

But Sam stopped her just before she went outside.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

She looked back at him, and he had a look in his eyes that startled her. It was like… he knew.

“Um, listen, I can put an end to this. I may be the only one who can, in fact. And I will,” she simply replied, and before anyone else could say anything, Kitty was outside.

Lockheed flew down from the rooftop and joined her as she made her way in the street. Lockheed grumbled another question, and she answered at once.

“The mansion. I need to pick something up,” she told him.

She grinned mischieviously, and hurried back to the Institute.

She threw the front door of the Xavier Institute open and ran in the halls, not bothering with anything or anyone she encountered on the way. She barely glimpsed Ororo trying to tell her something, and Nightcrawler walking past an hallway. Piotr tried to speak to her too, but she simply didn’t have time. She phased down a couple of levels, until she reached the hangar bay. As luck would have it, Logan was there, doing his weekly turn at cleaning up the hangar.

“Kitty?” he asked as she popped up near the Blackbird.

“I have to take the Blackbird, Wolvie. Something personal has come up,” she said, phasing through him.

“Fine by me, but if you need backup…” he started.

Lockheed cooed something in return, and she smiled.

“I’ve got all the backup I need,” she said. “Tell Xavier not to send anyone after me until I say so, or before an hour.”

“Don’t worry kid. Be careful,” he said.

She nodded and got inside the Blackbird, activating the commands and blasting off into the sky, towards the Helicarrier. Halfway there she set the computers to head back to the mansion as soon as she was off the plane. She took a parachute and opened the door. The wind rushed past her, and she barely held on. The defensive systems of the Helicarrier activated, but obviously missed her on purpose. Ogun needed her soul, not her death. Lockheed stretched his wings and grumbled. Time for action.

“Let’s do it,” she said.

She jumped off into the wind, the Blackbird changing course back to the mansion the moment she was off the plane. Lazer beams and cannons shot after the plane, but it escaped without a scratch. They completely ignored her as she landed on the top of the Helicarrier. Sheer and utter silence welcomed her. No alarms. No shouting guards. Nothing.

“I don’t know whether to be glad or worried,” she told Lockheed, who looked as worried as she was. “Come on, let’s do this.”

She approached the main door carefully, and when she touched the control panel, it opened up for her. Looks like Ogun was expecting her. Just swell. Lockheed flew off her shoulder and glided inside, letting out a few blasts of fire to scare whoever might be in there. When nothing reacted, he landed and grumbled to Kitty that the path was clear. Kitty nodded and carefully stepped inside. Unconscious S.H.I.E.L.D. agents were laying on the ground everywhere, apparently all caught by surprise. The faint smell of some kind of sleeping gas remained in the air. She took the pulse of one of them. Steady and strong. Not real harm done to any of them.

“Good,” she whispered. “To be able to put the gas into the vents, Ogun has to have accessed the main control units. He might still be there,” she told Lockheed, who nodded in agreement.

Lockheed seemed nervous, and the tension of the whole thing was getting to her too. Why was she the only one here anyways? Weren’t there Avengers and Fantastic Fours in this town?

“Something fishy’s going on,” Kitty decided. “Let’s get to the control room, and get this over it.”

Lockheed landed on her shoulder again, and they both began phasing through various walls and systems, heading towards the control room.

“You’re crazy if you think you can pull this off, you piece of shit!” Nick Fury screamed at the man sitting in the command chair.

Around them, various Friends Of Humanity agents, all handpicked among them all for their intelligence and capabilities with machinery, were busy at controlling the Helicarrier with such a limited crew. There were 50 of them on a ship which could hold thousands.

“I already am, you simpleton,” Ogun replied.

He really wondered why in the world he had kept Fury awake when he sent the gas into the entire ventilation system. It had been easy using his own computer access through his “good” side still in the computer.

“Let me go and we’ll see who’s the simpleton!” Fury replied in anger, testing out the shackles holding him to the wall.

The man once known as Carmen Pryde smiled. This body had served him well. It has shattered Kitty’s soul, and had allowed him to use a lot of ressources that his previous hosts hadn’t allowed him. And speaking of which… Kitty Pryde suddenly walked inside the room, her cursed dragon on her shoulder, looking defiantly at Ogun.

“Ha, Kitty, welcome! You were expected!” he said, grinning madly.

“Ogun,” she simply spat out, her eyes shining with anger. “I’ve got just a question.”

“This should be interesting. Ask away,” he answered.

“How did you get into my father’s body?” she asked.

“Fair enough. Long ago, when I was still adapting to this new life, I contacted your father to draw you out with another host I had possesed. I threatened him with your identity as a mutant, and he sought to protect you, by making a deal with me. HA! A deal!” he explained, still grinning.

“To protect me…” Kitty said slowly.

“Yes. And I accepted. I planned out a meeting place, and left some of my soul inside of him, hidden deep so no one would find it. And then I challenged you and got trapped here in these computers. I then called on your father and brought him here after being separated from my “good” side, and took him over, planning out this scheme to use the F.O.H. to take over the Helicarrier and bring you here, where we could have our final confrontation,” he finished.

Kitty closed her eyes, taking all this in. All of this madness just to get her. Even her father got involved. This was overwhelming.

“You monster,” is all she could find to say.

Fury used that moment to break his shackles and charge Ogun. The supernatural being leapt into the air and kicked Fury into the jaw. The roughneck fighter was sent to the floor, but was quick on his feet. He grabbed for a weapon and aimed at Ogun.

“No!” Kitty shouted.

She couldn’t let Fury kill her father. Fury hesitated for a second, distracted by Kitty’s call, and Ogun used that moment to attack. He kicked Fury again and jab him in the throat, cutting his breath. He then uppercutted the man and kicked him again, sending him to the floor, dazzled.

“Enough, Ogun! It’s me you want, it’s me you’ll get! I’M challenging you for my father’s soul!” Kitty said, taking off a sword she had hidden beneath her clothes that morning.

She had it on ever since she had seen the good Ogun on the Helicarrier a few days ago.

“Very well. But not here. On the launching pad,” Ogun answered, taking out his own sword.

Seeing her father with a sword was somewhat a shocking sight, but she guessed that Ogun must have passed on his skill to whatever host he’s wearing. Kitty studied him for a second, unsure of what he was planning, then finally nodded. It was time to end all this.

They were both standing a good distance apart from each other, gazing into each other’s eyes. She could actually see her father under the Ogun mask, looking back with a cold stare, like the eyes of a dead man. She put on a stern face, sure of herself, but she was scared. She couldn’t possibly hurt her father. How was she going to win this? Lockheed asked a question from where he was standing, a meter or so behind her.

“Just stay there, Lockheed. I’ll be fine,” she told him.

“Are you ready?” Ogun asked.

“Yes,” she simply replied.

He nodded and held his sword before his face.

“Let us begin!” he said.

And before she could move he was on the offensive, swinging his sword all around her not to critically wound Kitty, but to weaken her. They were both equal on this part, at least. No one wanted to kill the other. She blocked most of his blows, but some still got through. She barely had time to concentrate on her swordplay, let alone activating her powers. There would be no phasing in this fight.

“You’re slow, kitten!” Ogun said, smiling.

She gritted her teeth and suddenly she was on the offensive, putting in blow after blow, taking Ogun off guard. But even surprised the ancient warrior was able to block and parry Kitty’s attacks, leaping over the low strikes, ducking the high ones.

“Not good enough!” he taunted, swinging his sword at her head.

She blocked the blade and pushed it back, like Ogun expected she would. He let her push the blade back, but with the same momentum Ogun brought his blade forward, swinging it toward Kitty’s sword arm. It got through, cutting Pryde’s arm badly. She shouted in pain and dropped her sword in shock. But something deep within Ogun reacted, and suddenly the Asian master took a step back.

“No, what am I doing!” he screamed in anger.

But it wasn’t Ogun’s cold voice. It was her father.

“Dad?” she called out, reaching out to him.

“No!” Ogun replied, swinging his sword at her again.

Kitty picked her sword in time and brought her guard up just as the blow reached her other arm. The shock still sent her to the ground, though. Around them the wind lashed out, breaking the two fighter’s balance. Lockheed chose that time to interfere, speeding towards Ogun and shooting off bursts of flame. Ogun screamed in rage and swung at Lockheed, but the purple dragon easily avoided the attack. Kitty retrieved her balance and her sword and lashed out at Ogun, putting him on the defensive again.

“Not so sure of yourself now, huh?” Kitty said in confidence.

“Silence!” Ogun responded, shifting position to let Kitty pass before him.

She fell forward in surprise, and Ogun struck the handle of his sword against the back of her. Totally dazzled and groggy, Kitty fell to the metal floor with a thud. They had both neared the edge of the launching platform without noticing it. Ogun brought his sword up in victory, but suddenly something stopped him and made him drop the sword.

“I’m sorry Kitty!” her father suddenly said. “I’m so sorry!”

“Dad, fight him!” Kitty said, trying to stand, but too weak to do so.

“I can’t! He’s been here too long!” Carmen replied, his body refusing to stand still.

He was dangerously close to the edge, and Kitty suddenly realized it.

“I’m not beaten! I am a master!” Ogun’s voice suddenly declared. “I won’t be beaten by a child! I prefer to die!”

Kitty’s eyes widened in terror as Ogun ran for the edge of the Helicarrier and let himself fall.

“NOOO!!” Kitty screamed, using all her remaining strength to reach out and grab her father’s hand.

Miraculously, she caught him, and he looked straight into her eyes. Ogun’s mask fell off his face and continued its fall to the ground.

“Dad, I’ll pull you up!” Kitty told him.

But she didn’t know if she had the strength. She couldn’t think. She felt nauseous and her head hurt from the blow she had taken. She couldn’t concentrate. No way to phase him…

“No, Kitty. I’m so sorry. It’s all my fault. I don’t deserve a chance…” he whispered.

“Dad, please…” she called out.

And then he let go. Carmen Pryde, Kitty Pryde’s father, let go of his daughter’s hand, too ashamed of his actions to go on, and fell, his eyes locked on his daughter the whole way, and in complete silence, until he was too far for her to see. It was over. Tears were filling Kitty’s eyes as she pulled herself away from the edge. Lockheed flew around her, purring gently and sitting on her lap as she sat down herself. It was all over… Everything… No one was left for her now…

“It’s all my fault…” she let out before falling into hard sobs and screams of sadness.

And only Lockheed was there for her, cuddling up to her as best as he could, not knowing what else to do.

THE END OF KITTY PRYDE: SHADOW OF THE CAT

NEXT: Don’t miss Shadowcat #0, picking up from the events of this issue and showing us a special view of how Kitty will deal with her loss… Don’t miss it.