ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT

By Yannick Lamarre

It seemed to Michael as though the world itself had gone to hell. One minute he was sitting in his chair, wondering where Kitty had gone, and the next, fire, screams and death surrounded him. Smoke nearly blinded him as he stumbled among with the panicked spectators around him. He couldn’t really see much, but from what he did see, and what he was hearing, it didn’t look too good. He was pretty sure that bombs had gone off, and that really unnerved him. Bombs at the Madison Square Garden were not a good sign.

“KITTY!!” he shouted out desperatly, knowing that she couldn’t possibly hear him over all of this carnage.

He had been to many shows here, and knew where the security exits were. He started on his way to the nearest one, hoping the Garden wouldn’t start falling on them. The last thing he really needed right now was to be stranded under tons of concrete. He was shoved and pushed, and some people ran by him on fire, but the masses were thinning, which meant there had to be an exit somewhere. That was good. Since Kitty had probably been to the toilet or something, there was a chance she’d made it out as soon as the first blast had resonated through the building.

The smoke was thick, and it reeked of burning meat. He really didn’t want to know where that smell came from. His mind became a bit unfocused, blocking out the madness around him, settling down on one simple task – getting out alive. His breath wasn’t coming easily now, the soot blocking his nose and mouth. Even his vision was blackening by the second. After a few minutes he stumbled over… something, he couldn’t tell what, and fell face first, inches from the stairs leading down to an emergency exit. His strength sapped, his mind whirling, he wasn’t sure he was getting up again…

Purity rolled, grabbed her sword and aimed it at Lockheed’s throat. Lockheed was already high above ground, looking down at her, and saw the blade coming. He dived suddenly, and it passed harmlessly past him, vanishing into the night. Purity growled in anger as Kitty launched herself after the assassin. She slammed into her back, and sent her crashing down on the roof. The two women rolled for a while, and finally Shadowcat was able to kick her opponent away for a second. She got to her feet, but Purity was quicker. She grabbed Kitty by the throat and picked up her other blade.

“You’re bothering me…” she said, an edge of menace in her voice.

Kitty only smiled.

“Get used to it,” she managed to say, and suddenly Purity’s hand was holding thin air.

Purity snarled in anger and swinged the blade at Kitty’s head, where it did no damage at all. Shadowcat passed through her, and before the assasin could turn around she unphased and smashed her head against the conditioning machine on the roof. Purity, slightly confused, lashed out with her small dagger, but it passed harmlessly through the now-phased heroine.

“You’re not human,” Purity remarked.

“I’m more human than you! Killing people because they’re different! You sicken me!”

“You’ve got me all wrong, girl. I don’t work for a cause. I work for myself!” Purity replied.

Kitty eyed her carefully. This woman was dangerous, this she knew. And here she was fighting her without her costume. If she escaped, the woman would be able to recognize her everywhere. This was bad. She couldn’t afford to take any chances. Purity gazed at her from under her half-burned masked. Kitty couldn’t see much under there, only a few strands of red hair, and green eyes.

“What are you saying?” Kitty finally said, trying to buy herself some time.

In the distance she could see the fires from the explosion. She wasn’t quite sure where it had happened, but it was disturbingly close to the Madison Square Garden she’d just come from.

“Nothing,” Purity said.

And once more, the woman had a weapon in hand, some kind of pistol. Kitty never saw where it had come from. She tried to duck as it fired, but it hit her leg, and instantly, even though she was phasing, she felt the pain shoot through her nervous system. She screamed and fell back on the roof.

“HA!” Purity exclaimed. “Energy weapon. I came prepared for you superheroes!”

The white-clad woman took a step forward, but a sudden gunshot from below froze her on the spot. Kitty tried desperately to see down the window, but from where she was it was impossible. Under her mask, Purity smiled. So far, so good.

Melissa liked what she was hearing. The Unity meeting had proved to be everything she had been hoping it would be, well, except for the cute guy. The speaker, a man named Harold Phillips, was a true believer in the strength of a united mankind, and she really wanted to believe him when he said it was possible, but her own experience had shown her otherwise. Her legs sometimes still throbbed with pain from time to time, just to prove her point.

Some people around her were talking among themselves, and she frowned at them, trying to determine what they were saying. Instead, she noticed some movement at the edge of the crowd. People were moving toward the front stage. People dressed in black. With masks. She heard some noise on the roof, like people up there were jumping around, and a tiny bit of fear went down her spine. This was suddenly all too familiar. She saw a man walk onstage. A man wearing a strange uniform colored with the colors of the American flag. For a second she almost thought it was Captain America, but this wasn’t so. The man raised a gun from his pockets, and aimed it at the speaker.

“WAIT!” she shouted out.

Beside her the crowd was starting to panic, but before anyone could move a single shot resonated through the room. Harold Phillips fell backwards, blood leaking from his forehead, and the man took his place behind the microphone.

“My friends, thank you for revealing yourselves as the multiracial-loving bastards that you all are! Sigma is pleased to end all of your lives this night!” he announced simply.

And she saw them. Men moving at the edges of the crowd, wielding machine guns and other weapons. They were blocking the doors and the exits. This would be a massacre. She suddenly thought of Kitty, and how if she had been here maybe her and that dragon could do something to save them.

“Melissa!” Kitty shouted as she heard the shot.

Fear ran through her, and her adrenaline rush kicked in, launching her into action. She leapt on Purity before the woman had the time to focus her attention back on her, and the two of them crashed down… onto the bay window, which broke under their weight. The two fighters fell down, and landed on the crowd below. The panic got worse, and the two men blocking the doors quickly got overwhelmed. But seeing this, the Sigma agents panicked, raising their weapons and preparing to fire into the crowd. Kitty didn’t have much time.

She phased, passing through the crowd, leaving Purity behind. There would be time enough for her after the immediate danger had passed. She picked up one of her fighting sticks and sent it flying in the face of one of the agents, who wasn’t even looking at her. Another turned when he saw his friend fall, but she kicked him hard in the face as the crowd started moving toward the front door, and out into the street. She spotted Melissa, who was staring hard at her. What she didn’t see is that Purity saw their two gazes meet, and she frowned slightly.

“You guys shouldn’t play with guns,” she warned another man as she phased out of the rushing crowd and slammed her palm up his face.

Lockheed came back then, flying over the crowd and shooting flame at an agent who had been aiming for her. Up on the stage the man barked orders, but no one was listening to him.

“Fool…” Purity said under her breath.

She started her way to the stage, reaching down her leg for an hidden knife she kept there. True American was starting to panic. This was supposed to be his big night, where with one stroke he would have made his way up into the organization. Now it was all falling apart. He sighed at the purple dragon flying about, and the young woman picking off his agents one by one. He aimed his weapon at her.

“You’ll pay…” he said simply.

“Paul Gainey!” Purity called, and he turned, startled to hear his true name.

“How do you know that?” he asked, eyeing her carefully, bringing the gun about.

“The mutant is mine! Only I get to kill it!” she warned.

“What are you talking about? This is for the organization!” he said, looking back at the emptying room.

Most of his men were unconscious by now, the dragon and the girl making short work of them. The explosion of the concert had to have caused a few deaths among the unworthy, but nothing like this massacre would have been. He was failing. Another failure would not be tolerated. He had to at least kill the mutant.

“I said NO!” Purity said, and suddenly the knife was out of her hand.

Paul Gainey, the man known as True American, never realized he was dead. The knife was now in his throat, and to him it had almost been natural. He fell to the ground, blood flowing from the wound, and suddenly knew no more.

“Nuisance!” she told the corpse, kicking it for good measure.

Then she leapt into the remains of the crowd, picked out the black girl, Melissa, and grabbed her by the throat.

“MUTANT GIRL!” she called out.

The rest of the crowd was mostly out by now, and Shadowcat turned to look at her. Her dragon had just dispatched the last of the Sigma men. She raised her gun at Kitty, carefully adding pressure to Melissa’s throat. She also kept the dragon in sight.

“Let her GO right now!” the mutant demanded.

“Make yourself tangible, eat this bullet right between the eyes, and then I’ll let her go!” Purity said.

Melissa looked at Kitty in horror. This was supposed to have been such a simple and beautiful night. How could it have gone so horribly wrong?

When Michael opened his eyes again, he was laying down on a white stretcher, and people were hurrying around him. He could hear moans of pain, sirens, and various conversations, but couldn’t make anything of them.

“Kitty?” he called out.

“Are you okay, sir?” a man asked, suddenly appearing in his field of view.

He felt fine. He had some trouble breathing, but he figured that had come from the smoke, and it would pass. He slowly sat up, looking stupidly around himself.

“What happened?” he asked the man.

“Some kind of explosion. You were one of the last ones they took out before the roof collapsed. You were lucky,” the guy said, and Michael looked at the Madison Square Garden.

There was nothing left of it. It was gone, its walls having fallen down. Only a blazing inferno remained. Hundreds of firefighters were standing around it, hosing it down, but it would still be a while before the fire was under control.

“I was with someone…” he said.

“Sorry pal, nobody came asking for you,” the male nurse said, and Michael nodded.

After a while the man moved on to see other patients, and Michael got up, getting his bearings. His breathing was clearing up, and he started walking around, looking for Kitty among the other patients, or the onlookers. He didn’t see her. Michael left the area and walked to a phone booth. He fished around his pocket for some change, and punched in Kitty’s phone number. After a few seconds the answering machine picked up, and he hung up. Not knowing where else to go, he started on his way home.

Kitty had to think fast. This woman was holding her roommate by the throat and was threatening to kill her. She had no real moves she could make that wouldn’t end with either Meli dead, or herself, or both. The room was empty now, the only persons remaining were the unconscious forms of the Sigma agents around her, Lockheed, Meli and the woman she had been fighting. She had to stall for time.

“Who are you?” she asked.

“Purity,” the woman replied simply. “Now do as I say or this girl dies!”

“Why are you doing this?” Kitty asked, desperate.

“That’s none of your business!” Purity said.

Melissa eyed Kitty carefully. Purity was cutting off her air supply with a simple choke hold. She had to give Kitty the opening she needed. So she would have to do the catfight thing. Melissa opened her mouth and bit down on Purity’s arm, as hard as she could. The woman howled in pain, but it wasn’t Kitty who reacted first. It was Lockheed. He leapt into the air, and like a cannonball flew straight at Purity’s face, extending his claws. He grabbed at her mask, and felt not only tissue ripping, but also flesh. He smelt a tinge of blood in the air, and Purity screamed.

Melissa was able to slip free, and Kitty ran for the would-be assasin, but before she could reach her, Purity started running, heading for a window. She crashed through it and was out, just as the sound of sirens could be heard approaching. Kitty phased through the wall, just as Purity vanished down a sewer.

“This isn’t over!” she shouted back.

Kitty phased down through the street and into the sewer after her, but as she got to the point where Purity had vanished, all she could see were three different passageways the woman could have escaped into. There was no way to know which one. Besides, Melissa was more important right now than catching the bad guys. Sighing in disapointment, Kitty returned to the surface.

Jonathan Niles heard about the Madison Square Garden explosion, and knowing Michael was there with Kitty, he was actually bothered enough to put on his coat and go outside to make his way there and see if they were both all right. He lived near there, and although this was highly out of character for him, maybe, just maybe, it would be enough so for Kitty to notice.

He walked through the streets and was almost there when he sighted someone walking in the opposite direction. He looked up long enough to recognize Michael, and a shudder ran down his spine. What was he doing here… alone? Where was Kitty?

“Ramsey!” he called out, and Michael looked up at him.

“Oh perfect, just what this night needed!” Ramsey replied, more to himself than to Jonathan.

Jonathan made his way up to him, and looked him up and down. His clothes were darkened by the smoke and debris, and he had a nasty, patched up cut on his forehead.

“You look like hell, Ramsey!” Jonathan commented. “Where’s Kitty?”

“Don’t I wish I knew that!” Michael replied, and Jonathan grabbed his co-worker by the shoulders.

“What do you mean? IS SHE ALL RIGHT?! How could you leave her?!” he said, shaking him angrily.

“Don’t TOUCH me!” Michael said, pushing Jonathan back.

He had had more than his share of misery tonight, and he’d be damned if he took any more crap from Jonathan Niles.

“Where’s Kitty?” Jonathan asked again.

“What do you care?” Michael asked him.

“Fuck off!” Jonathan said, and he pushed Michael and started walking away.

Michael had had enough. He grabbed Jonathan by the arm and held him back, and when Jonathan turned around, he was fully prepared to punch him, only Jonathan did it first. The hit resonated through his head and he fell back, almost losing his balance.

“Leave me alone!” Jonathan warned, but the damage had been done.

Michael rammed into Jonathan, sending him to the ground, and then punched his face. Jonathan kicked him in the gut, which slowed his attack long enough to allow Niles to get back on his feet. He then jumped at Michael, and the two rolled in the street, punching and kicking each other angrily, all the while screaming like mad wolves. Some neighbors looked out their windows at the commotion, but no one came out to separate them. This went on for a few minutes, until the two of them, both with black eyes and bloody lips, paused a second, completely exhausted.

“Kitty… up and left me… in the middle of an explosion,” Michael explained, catching his breath.

Jonathan smiled at that.

“She… doesn’t even give me… the time of day…” Jonathan said, looking at his rival.

“It’s like she has this whole other world she lives in, and won’t let any of us in,” Michael added.

Jonathan looked at him a moment, then at his own ripped clothes and injuries, and started to laugh. Michael looked at him a second, and then joined him, laughing until his lungs hurt.

“My God, look at us, we’re both morons!” Michael finally was able to say.

He got to his feet and helped Jonathan up. “Are you in love with her?” Michael asked him.

“Are you?” Jonathan asked back.

“I don’t know,” Michael honestly replied.

“I don’t know either,” Jonathan said, and they both started laughing again.

“Come on,” Michael said, “let’s grab a donut or something, and then I’ll talk to Sam in the morning about letting you back in.”

Jonathan followed, and after a few minutes, said, “Like I would need you for that…”

Michael smiled. Still the same old Jonathan Niles.

“Melissa, are you all right?” Kitty asked her roommate, eyeing her up and down.

She seemed fine. She smiled slightly, shaking her head.

“The madness seems to follow me everywhere. Thank God you were around, Kitty,” Melissa told her, looking at the messed up room around her.

The police were here now, taking pictures and speaking with the few people who had remained in the area. Kitty had told them she had showed up just after everything had gone down, and didn’t know anything. The officer had frowned at that, but Melissa supported her story, and he let it go. The two started walking away from the scene once they were told they could, and after a while an uncomfortable silence fell on the two friends.

“I’m sorry I got you involved in my crazy life,” Kitty said after a few minutes.

“It’s not your fault Kitty. When I was attacked at the bar, it had nothing to do with you. And here, well, I would’ve come anyway, even if I had never met you,” Meli tried to explain.

“It’s my fault Purity picked you out in the end,” Kitty added, and Melissa looked at her.

“I WAS the only one left. Besides, I prefer knowing the backstory to all this than not. I’m glad you told me about your… other life, Kitty,” Melissa said, smiling.

Kitty smiled back. Good. This would work out fine in the end. She looked up at Lockheed, who came flying down and landed on her shoulder. She petted him on the head and down the neck, and he cooed happily.

“I might even get used to the purple dragon,” Melissa added. “Anyway, I guess your date with Michael was a bust, huh?”

Kitty stopped in mid-step, and looked up at the pillar of smoke coming from what had been the Madison Square Garden.

“Oh shit!” she said, and she started running. Melissa looked at her, but didn’t have enough strength to follow. Figuring it would be better if she just went home, she switched direction and started on her way. A nice bed awaited her, along with a nice, long bath. She couldn’t wait.

When Kitty arrived at the scene of the explosion, she stood, fixed to the spot, staring at the remains of the concert hall where she and Michael had been barely an hour ago. There was nothing left. The building had been completely brought down. Many firefighters remained, trying to control the fires, and a lot of news crews were around too, asking questions.

“MICHAEL!” she called out in the crowd, but no one answered her.

She made her way to the paramedics, guessing if anyone had seen him it would be those guys. There were many wounded around, and a few closed plastic bags she prefered not to think about. She had sent Lockheed ahead to look for him, but the alien dragon hadn’t returned yet. After a few minutes she stopped a man and asked him if he had seen someone looking like Michael, and he pointed to another man who was in charge of the head counts. Kitty made her way to him and tapped on his shoulder.

“Yes?” he asked.

He had a notepad in his hand, and looked very much otherwise occupied.

“Excuse me, I’m looking for my friend, Michael Ramsey, he was in there when I… left… him… and he…” she started to say, but the weight of what she had done was starting to press down on her.

She had left Michael behind, and he had been caught in that explosion. She had left him there to die. But what choice had she had? She hadn’t known about the bombs here, and even if she had… Melissa would have been killed. That would have been an impossible choice.

“Yeah, a Michael Ramsey checked himself out about forty-five minutes ago…” the guy said, pointing out the name on his list. “He was fine, barely a scratch on him.”

Intense relief washed over Kitty, and she sagged to the ground, completely exhausted.

“Are you all right?” the nurse asked, bending down to talk to her.

“Yeah, I just need to rest a moment… Everything’s going to be fine…” she managed to say, before passing out.

Janine Samson carefully removed her destroyed mask, clenching her teeth against the pain. Three nasty, bloody gashes ran along her face, and she knew instantly that unless she did something radical about them, she would be scarred forever. Looks like she would have to call in a few favors before the night was over. Frustrated, she slammed her fist into the wall, going right through it. She swore and pulled her arm back, gazing at her own bloody fist.

“That bitch! THAT MUTANT BITCH!” she screamed, grabbing the mirror and sending it to the ground. “I’LL KILL HER! I’LL FIND THAT MUTIE PIECE OF TRASH AND I’LL PUT A BULLET THROUGH HER HEAD!!”

Screaming out one final time, she walked out of the room.

Kitty?

The voice wasn’t real. She was standing in a place that wasn’t real, and she knew she was dreaming again. But this time someone was talking to her.

“Hello?” she called out, and her voice resonated through the void.

A light shone in the distance, and she started walking toward it, realizing even as she did so that if she was dying, this probably wasn’t a good idea.

I need you, Kitty.

Suddenly she was steps away from the source of the light, and she could see its source. It was a sword. Once she recognized. And someone passed in front of it.

I need you, the creature sneered, and she recognized her too.

The Darkchilde. Kitty’s old friend. Illyana…

And she was awake again, laying down on a stretcher. She sat up, and realized that she was in an ambulance that was moving.

“Try to lie down,” a nice nurse was telling her, but she didn’t have time for this.

“Sorry,” she told the woman, and she phased, letting the ambulance pass right through her.

The woman would freak, but she had to go home and check up on everyone. The sun was rising. Soon she would have to go to work. Looks like this day would go on without her sleeping again. Not that she really minded. No sleep meant no dreams. And those were starting to worry her. Maybe she could seek out Professor Xavier’s help on this. He could maybe fish around in her mind, see where they were coming from. Kitty looked around for Lockheed as she walked, but she guessed the dragon had either gone home or was looking for her, so she gave up and walked home. Today was going to be another long day…

NEXT ISSUE: The prologue to the first major change in Kitty’s life since she moved out of the Chicago Estate. An old friend comes in for a visit, as everyone reels back from the night of violence they just went through. Guest-starring Wolverine!