UNEXPECTED VISITOR

By Yannick Lamarre

Never had life been this good for young Roy McNeal. Here he was, driving a car that wasn’t his, having just accomplished, along with his two best buds, a daring midnight robbery at the 24-hour convenience store at the corner of this street, high on the biggest adrenaline rush of his life, and with more money laying on the backseat than he’d ever seen in his life. Evan had been right. This WAS a good idea.

“You know guys, this doesn’t have to be a one time deal!” he found himself saying to his two partners, who nodded approvingly.

“With this much cash, I’m getting that new bike I’ve been telling you guys about!” Sean continued, staring hungrily at the money.

“A bike? Sean, with this much cash, we could get ourselves a boat!” Evan added.

They were driving away from their homes, to get the car lost in the woods around Westchester. Then they’d get a bus ride back, and be home free hours before anyone suspected anything. It was a perfect plan. Who would suspect three innocent teens home early?

“Guys, I’m thinking maybe…” Roy started to say, but then he saw her standing in the street, and he panicked.

She had appeared out of nowhere, standing there in the middle of the road, and what was that on her shoulder? A dragon? He turned the wheel as hard as he could, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to avoid her. He heard Sean and Evan scream as the brakes screeched. The car swerved to the right, then to the left before finally smashing against a lightpole. Everything fell quiet for a second. Roy didn’t dare look back into his mirror. He was sure he’d see a dead girl laying in the middle of the street.

“You idiot man! What the FUCK did you do?” Evan shouted in his ears, panicked.

“Oh man oh man oh man oh man…” Sean was repeating over and over.

Roy turned the keys of the car, but nothing happened. They were dead in the road with a bag full of stolen money in their backseat, and plastic guns hidden in their coats. They were in trouble.

“START THE CAR, ROY!” Evan screamed.

Roy fought the urge to punch him. Instead he calmly said that he couldn’t. The car wouldn’t start.

“I hit a girl…” he whispered.

“We’re so screwed!” Sean complained.

“Yeah, you guys are!” a voice suddenly said, and the girl he’d hit walked into the car.

Without opening the door. All three boys screamed, and Roy scrambled with his door, finally opening it and running out into the street. Evan followed him soon after, followed by Sean, who by then was pissing in his pants. He saw a yellow blur, and Sean fell flat on his face, unconscious. The girl walked through the car again, but Evan turned to face her. He took out his plastic gun and pointed it at her, but then something purple flew at him and slashed at his arm. Evan shouted and dropped the fake gun, and the girl kicked his face in. Evan fell back. Roy was alone.

He got a good look at the girl, though. She was tall, a brunette, and wore a small mask over her eyes. She was wearing a dark costume of some kind. With a bright yellow X at her belt. A mutant. He recognized that X from the news instantly. He felt a bit better. She wasn’t a ghost. He took out the plastic gun. The purple blur landed on the girl’s shoulder. A dragon. He’d been right. A DRAGON??

“St… stop… I’ll shoot!!!” he managed to say.

A low growl started from behind him. He turned around, and saw a small man standing a few feet behind him. The man had black hair, a whole lot of it, and three knives in his hand. He looked at Roy menacingly. Roy dropped the plastic gun. Before he could do anything else, though, a yellow fighting stick smashed the back of his head and he fell to the floor, thankfully unconscious.

“LOGAN!” Kitty shouted happily and she ran to him.

Just as she was about to hug him though she passed through him, painfully, and lost her balance and fell to the pavement.

“You all right?” Logan asked, offering his hand to help her up. “How’d that happen?”

“I’m good,” Kitty said, taking the hand to help herself up. “I’m just tired.”

Logan didn’t seem to buy it, but he didn’t press the issue. Lockheed kept his distance, watching Wolverine carefully. There’d always been some jealousy between those two. Kitty took out a small plastic wire and attached the hands of the three guys behind their backs while Logan watched. Then she used the cellphone in the car to call the police, and both her and Logan started walking away. Lockheed flew above them, keeping an eye out for anything.

Catching those three had been lucky. It was Lockheed who had seen the robbery a few blocks away, and Kitty’d had the time to go farther down the road to catch them unaware like this. These days, with her power growing more and more out of whack, it was best to be prepared whenever she had to use them. That small mishap with Wolverine had just proved it. Suddenly calling Moira didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“If you say so…” Logan finally said.

“What are you doing here?” Kitty asked him, smiling to hide her worries.

“Was coming up to see you, actually…” Logan said simply. “Got something I wanna tell you, but not here.”

Kitty shrugged, and looked at her watch. It was soon going to be 1am, and she worked the next day at 8 a.m. It didn’t look good for her sleep if Logan wanted to talk to her. Those conversations were always long.

“Look, I have to work tomorrow morning, but if you want to you can come by my place. You could meet Melissa and the gang…” Kitty suggested.

“How about I crash at your place?” Logan asked suddenly.

Kitty blinked, not really sure she’d heard right, then looked at Logan and saw that he was dead serious.

“I don’t feel like going back to the mansion. Change of scenery for a night would be fine,” he explained.

“Hmm, okay… I guess. I’ll have to talk to Melissa,” she finally said.

“Good.”

Logan went back to get his Harley, and Kitty followed him, grabbing the helmet that always waited for her on the side of the bike. She put it on, and they were off for the city once more.

Melissa stared blearily at the TV screen. She was tired. It was almost 1:30 in the morning, and Kitty hadn’t come back yet. The rent was due the next day, and although Melissa knew Kitty had the money, she wasn’t sure she realized that it was due. She heard a soft thump from Kitty’s room, and rose from the sofa.

“Finally…” she whispered.

She knocked on the door gently, but there was no answer.

“Kitty?” she asked, and she slowly opened the door.

Instead of Kitty she found Lockheed, laying down on the bed, exhausted. He was home early, considering that usually he came back home after Kitty every night. Kitty wasn’t sure what the dragon was doing out so late, but Melissa knew the dragon could talk, even if Kitty didn’t.

“Where have YOU been?” she asked Lockheed, who stared at her silently. “Come on, I know you can talk, so cut the crap!”

The dragon rolled over, looking away from her. Melissa fumed, but decided to let it go. If the dragon didn’t want to talk, fine. She went back to the sofa and grabbed the remote, when she heard a key being slid into the lock. It turned, and the door opened slowly. Kitty came in… followed by a small man with a whole lot of hair and a gruff attitude. Melissa ran to her room, throwing her bedrobe away and picking up her jeans and T-shirt.

“Oh come on, Meli, you don’t have to change!” Kitty called from beyond the door.

“You could’ve called!” Melissa replied. “I’ll kill you!”

She managed to change under one minute, then walked back out. Kitty had brought the man into their kitchen, and was pouring him a beer. One of Melissa’s, no less. She glared at Kitty, who smiled and shrugged innocently.

“Melissa, this is my old friend Logan. Logan, my roomate, Melissa,” Kitty said, and the two shook hands.

His handshake was hard, testing, in fact, like Logan wanted to know how strong Melissa was. She gave it her best, and Logan smiled, sitting back down.

“Hello,” she said, and Logan nodded.

“Sorry for the bother,” he apologized. “Kitty wanted to call, but I kind of surprised her.”

“Right…” she simply replied.

Melissa found herself wondering the nature of those two’s relationship. They seemed pretty close, laughing and talking together. Old friends, Kitty had said. He seemed a whole lot older all right. After a few minutes, Kitty looked at the time and yawned, a sure sign that it was late enough for her. Logan nodded, and went into the living room.

“Hmm, what’s he doing?” Melissa asked.

“Oh, he’s going to spend the night on our sofa… hope you don’t mind?” Kitty asked.

“Kitty! I don’t know this guy!” Melissa said. “I’m not big on trust these days, with all I’ve been through…”

“Don’t worry, Meli! We’re safer with him in here than not anyway! I’ll vouch for him,” Kitty said, standing up and going to her room.

Melissa stared at her, unbelieving, as Kitty went into her room and turned off the lights. In the living room all was quiet. The TV had been shut down. Looks like she didn’t have much choice in the matter.

“Good night to you, too,” she whispered angrily.

“Good night!” came Logan’s voice from the living room.

It was impossible that he could have heard her. What if he was one of Kitty’s mutant friends? What if some nutball came in here looking for him? She shuddered at the thought, and decided that she would buy a lock for her room’s door, and an alarm system for the apartment. Better safe than sorry. Melissa went into her room, but didn’t sleep all that well.

The dream started again. Kitty was alone, standing in a vast red desert. She walked under the equally red sun, trying to find some shade. There was a light shining again on the horizon, and Kitty knew what it was. The Soulsword. Illyana’s Soulsword. For some reason, it was drawing her onward in her dreams. Kitty instinctively knew where she was.

Limbo. The demon dimension Illyana had ruled, and where she could teleport through using her mutant powers. This time, though, Kitty was prepared for the dream.

“Illyana!!” she called out.

There was no answer. A wind blew through the landscape, and it seemed to push Kitty toward the light. She didn’t try to resist it. A part of her was drawn by this ongoing mystery. It had to mean something. Illyana had been her best friend, and if this was her way of trying to reach Kitty, she wouldn’t turn away from it.

“Illyana, answer me!” she called again.

The last time, Illyana’s dark side, the Darkchilde, had answered her. It had been a start.

“She is dead!” came a voice that seemed to fill the skies above her.

Still the wind pushed her. She looked at the sword, and saw that it was pointed at her. If she went on toward it, it would impale her.

“NO!” she screamed, but the wind pushed harder, making her feet skid on the ground as she tried to resist.

“Yessssss!” the voice said, encouraging Kitty forward.

Kitty screamed, fighting against the overpowering wind.

“KITTY!” a new voice said.

She knew that voice. It was firm and strong. It had been a reassuring voice for many years, through many dark days.

“Logan?” she whispered.

And suddenly she was in her bed, with Logan watching over her. He had his two hands on her, and he was shaking her slightly.

“Wake up, you’re just having a bad dream…”

She moaned slightly, and turned her head toward her window. It was still dark outside. Lockheed was standing on her bed, watching her with worried eyes.

“You okay, kid?” Logan asked again, letting her go and taking a step back. “That one looked nasty.”

“I’m fine,” she finally said, shaking her head to clear the last of the dream away.

They were getting steadily worse, each one ending with her being on the verge of death. Never a good thing in her book.

“Thanks,” she told Logan as he made his way to her door.

“Get back to sleep,” he told her, and he went on back into the living room.

She stared at the closed door for a while, wondering just what was going on with Logan anyway. Why in the world had he insisted on coming here tonight? Lockheed joined her side, cooing gently to reassure her. She pet him gently on his head, and he rolled himself into a ball beside her, like a cat would. Kitty smiled and let herself fall back on her pillow. She closed her eyes, her hand resting on Lockheed’s back. Everything would be fine. Dreams or no dreams, she would get to the bottom of this mystery later.

When Sam walked inside his shop that morning, he didn’t expect the sight that welcomed him. Jonathan Niles and Michael Ramsey were chatting beside the coffee machine, actually laughing about some joke he hadn’t heard. A week ago those two boys had been at each other’s throat, but now here they were, chatting it up like they were old friends. He still wasn’t quite sure what had happened, though. It had happened after Michael’s disastrous date with Kitty, where he’d ended up stranded in a burning Madison Square Garden, and had been involved in a fight of some kind, but that’s all he’d been able to get out of them when they’d talked the next morning.

“Hey boys!” he told them, walking past them and entering his dark office.

It was a relief, actually, to have one less thing to worry about. Kitty’s frequent vanishing acts notwithstanding, his daughter’s increasing worries and migraines and the shop’s so-so profits were two of all troubles that currently plagued his days and his nights. The growing rivalry between two of his employees was not one he wanted to add on top of that pile.

“Boss, got something I wanna ask,” Michael said, walking in after him.

“Go ahead,” he said.

“What do you think of Kitty?”

Sam looked up at the younger man. Where did that question come from? Sam knew some things about Kitty that Michael couldn’t guess about, at least not yet anyway, but he could never tell. At least not for a long while anyway. Like maybe on his deathbed. It was things he just couldn’t explain yet, and was the main reason why he had hired her that day, despite his misgivings about the whole thing. But maybe he could warn the kid.

“Sorry Mikey, but I think she’s trouble…” Sam said.

Michael seemed surprised at this. He stayed speechless, watching him.

“She’s involved in things we wouldn’t get, Michael. I trust her, but I wouldn’t want to get involved with her,” Sam said simply.

“But, I mean, you let her watch Rachel…” Michael replied, obviously shocked by this answer.

Sam considered this. He let Kitty look over Rachel because he knew there was some kind of link between those two, and that at some point it would have to be explained. Also she seemed to be helping Rachel when it came to her recent problems, something that he hadn’t been able to do. But of course he couldn’t tell this to Michael.

“I’m just saying she’s trouble, and that you should be careful,” Sam finally said, opening up his files to show that the discussion was closed.

Michael simply nodded and walked out of his office. Sam sighed. He hated having to do this, bad-mouthing one of his employees, but it was for Michael’s own good.

When Kitty walked in a few minutes later, she felt as though all eyes were on her. Well, Michael and Jonathan’s certainly were. She smiled at them and went for her own coffee. The beverage had become a strangely welcomed habit over the few months she’d worked here, and now she doubted she could start a working day without one. She went to her post, waving to the two guys before sitting in front of her screen. When she’d woken up Logan hadn’t been there, but she guessed he couldn’t be far. Probably gone for breakfast or something. He’d walk in soon enough.

She booted up her computer and took a sip from her coffee. Sam was already in, she noted, and Rachel wasn’t here. Good. That meant she was in school, and not home because of her migraines. Kitty felt a bit guilty about not talking to Jean about the girl yet, but there was something about the whole thing that rang strangely with her, and until she figured out what, Kitty was wary of introducing the girl to anyone X-crowd related.

“Kitty? Hi!” Michael said, walking up to her. “How’s it going?”

“Fine! How’s the back?” she asked, looking up at him.

Michael smiled and replied that it was fine, but she knew simply from the way he walked that it wasn’t. He’d hurt it during the Garden explosion. He didn’t complain about it or anything, but Kitty felt bad about the whole thing. She knew it wasn’t her fault, that she couldn’t have known about the bombs, but he had been at that concert because of her, and she had left him there to go after Purity to protect Melissa. Still, something had happened between him and Jonathan after the explosion, and good had come from it, so she guessed that the glass was half-full.

“So, um, I was wondering what you were doing tonight? I thought we could maybe go for a burger or something?” he asked.

“That’d be nice,” she replied, smiling. “But I’ve got a guest at home, and I don’t know when he’ll be leaving, so…”

He seemed disapointed, but he tried his best to hide it, smiling even a little.

“That’s fine, raincheck then?” he asked again.

“Sure,” she said.

He beamed, then walked away. Kitty watched him walk back to his small corner of the shop and pick up his tools. Watching him still felt a bit weird to her. It was like watching what Doug might have become had he lived a few more years. That whole debacle with Douglock a few years ago had been bad, but in some ways this was worse. She knew she was projecting Doug on Michael, and that was bad, especially if she really wanted to make something out of the two of them. She sighed, then turn her head in time to see Jonathan look sharply away from her. He seemed to stare pretty hard into his screen. Now what was up with that?

“Jonathan? What’s up?” she asked him.

“Usual,” he replied without looking back at her.

She shrugged. Maybe she had just imagined the whole thing. The door of the shop opened, and she saw Logan walk in. He looked around the place a bit, then made his way to the counter. Since Melissa wasn’t in this morning, it was her job to watch it, so she happily made her way to the front of the shop.

“Hey, stranger!” she happily said.

Michael frowned and looked at the stranger in question. He had never seen him in here before, but Kitty acted like she knew him pretty well. For some reason that unnerved him, and he started on his way toward the front of the store. As he passed by Jonathan, he heard him whisper something, but he paid him no mind. Kitty was showing the man around the store. She stopped as he joined her side.

“Logan, this is Michael…” she started to say.

“Ramsey,” Logan finished, eyeing Michael up and down. “No mistake there.”

The two shook hand. The man had a grip of steel.

“So you knew my cousin? Are you from Xavier’s?” Michael asked.

Logan nodded. “You could say that,” he simply said.

“Logan’s a close friend of mine,” Kitty added, smiling.

Michael didn’t know what to make of that. Close how? Did he have to worry about some past lover or something? The guy looked way too old for that. But he knew Kitty had been abroad to London for a while. Who knew what kind of crowd she ran with over there? He fought the urge to ask how close, thinking it could get very embarassing if he did.

“Like a father,” Kitty added, smiling a bit, like she’d guessed what Michael was thinking.

He smiled and nodded, a bit relieved. Logan didn’t say anything, watching him strangely. Finally Kitty moved on and brought Logan into Sam’s office. Michael went back to his work, thoughtful. He knew Kitty had a complicated past. His cousin’s mysterious death at the Xavier school was anything but simple. For starters, the real reason why he’d been at that school was pretty nebulous. His parents had never said much. And Kitty had been to the same school. What did it mean? And did he really want to find out?

Logan felt strange, standing behind Kitty as she unlocked her door and let him in. He knew what he wanted to tell her, but for some reason just couldn’t find the right way. Right now, Kitty was the closest thing to a daughter he had, well, besides his own adopted daughter, Amiko. And although he didn’t need her approval, he still wanted her to be happy about the whole deal. This little trip had also been about checking up on Kitty, making sure she was recuperating fine from her deal with Apocalypse, and so far as he could see, she was.

Kitty walked inside the apartment and made her way to the kitchen. Logan sat down in the living room, wondering if now was the right time. Kitty was on her lunch hour, her roommate was off to school and the purple dragon was nowhere in sight… the two of them were alone. She came back in the living room a few minutes later, holding a sandwich out to him. He took it and decided that unless he wanted to spend a whole week crashing on this uncomfortable sofa, he had better come out with it. Besides, he didn’t have forever. Elektra was waiting for him.

“Remind me that I have to pay the rent,” she said absently, trashing up a piece of paper Melissa had written her.

“I’m getting married,” he simply said.

“Oh, and remember that bike I told you I could get… what?” Kitty said, staring blankly at Logan.

“In London. Braddock Manor,” he continued.

Kitty’s opened mouth slowly changed into a beaming smile. She could feel her own eyes moistening. So this is what it had all been about. She’d been worried, deep down, considering Logan’s failing healing factor, that things had taken a turn for the worse with him, but this…

“Elektra’s a lucky lady,” she said, and she jumped into his arms.

He hugged her and smiled. Kitty was much more important to him than he’d ever realized. In a way, she represented how good a father figure he could be, and with Elektra pregnant, that was all the more important.

“I’m a lucky guy,” he finally said, and he meant not just because of Elektra, but because of every one of those ladies who had changed his life, one by one.

From Kitty to Jubilee, passing by Mariko and Silver Fox… all of them had led him to this wedding with Elektra. To what he hoped would be the happiest years of his long life.

“And in Britain! I’ll get to see the old gang again!” she added, not caring about those tears sliding down her cheeks.

“Yeah, I thought you’d like that!”

“So… tell! How’d you propose?” Kitty wanted to know.

It would be long lunch hour.

Limbo. A place between time and space. Nowhere and everywhere. Where demons roamed the land and twisted creatures tried to live. The last place anyone would want to be. And the one place Amanda Sefton had chosen to remain. In her dark citadel, surrounded by red plains and red mountains and red skies, she felt very alone right now. Most of her demonic forces had disappeared, vanishing on some errands or simply leaving her to join the other side. The newest to proclaim herself ‘Lord of Limbo’.

Amanda didn’t know much about the woman. Her information network had quickly dwindled down to nothing as her spies joined the other side. Truth to be told, Amanda was starting to become scared. The balance of power had dangerously shifted ever since she’d first heard of this new threat. She jumped in surprise as her door creaked open, and she turned, facing Char’gul, her assistant.

“I didn’t summon you,” she pointed out immediately.

Char’gul’s behavior had been increasingly strange these past few months. Amanda wasn’t sure she could trust him anymore.

“I have a question to ask, my lady,” Char’gul said, his voice as deep and booming as ever.

If anything, Char’gul seemed to have tripled in sheer size and power since she had come here. It was a bit unnerving.

“Yes?” she asked, a bit impatient.

“What do you know of the Soulsword?” the demon asked.

His red eyes were set on her. They were piercing, trying to see deep into her soul. This would not do at all. Char’gul would not live to tell the others of this. Amanda mentally summoned up a spell, and she spoke slowly to the demon.

“It was destroyed the last time someone claimed it. I personally saw to it,” she explained.

“Destroyed… or lost?” Char’gul said, taking a step closer.

“I don’t see how this concerns you. You forget your place, Char’gul,” Daytripper warned.

“And you don’t realize yours!” the beast said, leaping into the air.

She waved her hand, and a powerful bolt of flame escaped from her fingertips. They were like arrows, piercing the demon through its hearts, searing flesh and muscle, leaving behind a horrible stench. The demon landed back on its feet, but fell forward on its face, dead. Amanda turned back to stare at Limbo again. If Char’gul had betrayed her, it meant that maybe she had a handful of demons still loyal to her. She would need outside help. And fast.

There was movement in the corner of her room, and she turned in time to see an older woman cloaked in shadows, staring at her.

“It’s time…” the woman simply said.

Daytripper nodded. At least it meant help was on its way. She only hoped it wouldn’t mean Kitty’s death…

For more on Wolverine’s wedding to Elektra, read Love & Marriage in Excalibur Annual #1, Wolverine Annual #2, and Weapon X Annual #2, all by David Wheatley!

NEXT ISSUE: A horde of demons cross over to our world with one goal: to grab Kitty and drag her back to Limbo, whether she wants to go or not! A few familiar faces return in a story that will change Kitty’s world – and I’m not just saying that!