TIMES OF CHANGE

Part II: A New Life

By Yannick Lamarre

“Well, are you ready to see how it looks?”

Kitty asked the question as she slowly climbed the stairs up to her new apartment’s door, helping Melissa stay on her two legs as she did so. Behind the two girls, Michael Ramsey struggled to bring up the wheelchair which Melissa was now forced to travel in for the next two weeks.

“You’d better not have wrecked the whole place while I wasn’t there!” Melissa warned.

“Don’t worry, I think it looks just perfect!” Kitty replied, smiling at her friend.

“Yeah, we’ll just see then.”

Melissa and Kitty both waited for Michael to arrive at the top of the stairs with her wheelchair, and then gently sat her down in it.

“Boy, that thing is heavy,” Michael said as he swiped his forehead with his arm.

“Hey, I thought guys didn’t complain as a general rule,” Melissa said, grinning.

“I must have missed that meeting,” Michael replied.

“Okay, drum roll please?” Kitty announced, putting her hand on the door handle.

Michael imitated the sound of a drum slowly rising in intensity as Kitty opened the door wide, letting Melissa take a good look as she rolled herself inside. She took a long look around, making her way into every room of the apartment before coming back to where Kitty had sit down, on the couch in the living room, kindly donated by Warren Worthington III himself.

“Well?”

Melissa seemed to consider the question for a few seconds, and when she finally smiled Kitty released a breath she hadn’t known she was holding.

“It’s perfect, Kitty! I’ll have to put my room in order, but the rest seems just right! And we even have a full-size TV!”

“Yeah, it pays to have friends in high places,” Kitty commented.

“So, how about we throw you girls a welcoming party?” Michael suggested. “It could be just us from the store, or others if you guys want to invite people. It could be fun.”

“Sam won’t mind?” Kitty asked.

“Come on, the store’s under us. No one there to mind…” Melissa said, obviously agreeing with the idea.

“Always the party girl, huh?”

“Never misses a beat!”

“I’ll call the others. 7:30 fine by you?” Michael asked.

“Sure,” both girls answered at the same time.

“Cool, I’ll see you then!” he said, and then was outside before anyone could change their mind.

“Well, that should be fun!” Melissa said as she quickly made her way to her room. “I’ll be putting my room in order. Pizza for supper?”

“Deal. And if you need help, I’ll be in my room! In OUR apartment!” Kitty said, some of the excitement of it all getting to her.

“I know, isn’t it great?”

“Perfect!” Kitty responded before Melissa vanished in her room, and Kitty quickly went into hers.

Lockheed watched from under the bed as Kitty walked inside the room and went to work unpacking some boxes she hadn’t touched yet. She didn’t ask where he was. She didn’t even question his absence. He growled, angry, and slowly made his way towards the edge of the bed, where he could see better. She was unpacking some of her stuff from her room in the mansion. Those had only gotten here this morning. Obviously someone at the mansion wasn’t eager at seeing her leave the fold. In fact, Lockheed wasn’t too sure of this move either. It meant he had to hide in here all the time now, and it wasn’t really fun to do. So what if Kitty’s new friend learned he existed? If she was Kitty’s friend, she wouldn’t go around and tell everyone.

As he watched, Lockheed had the impulse to set one of the empty boxes on fire, to show how angry he was, but he decided against it. That would only make Kitty angry at him, and he didn’t want that. Kitty was his best friend, after all. Lockheed crawled out from under the bed, still outside Kitty’s view, and climbed up on the bed itself. Kitty was busily studying a few of her old X-Men costumes she’d worn over the years. She put aside the ‘X’ badge, and suddenly searched through the boxes for her sewing kit. Still not looking for him.

“Hmmm, if done right, a good patch up job of all of these could give me a real nice new costume…” she mused out loud.

Lockheed growled again, and this time Kitty turned around in surprise to see Lockheed looking down at her angrily, standing at his tallest on his four legs, his wings fully stretched.

“Lockheed, I thought you were out…” she began to say, but Lockheed cut her short when he blew a small flame in the air.

“O… kay… I can tell you’re angry by now. I’m sorry you’re forced to hide, but I’m going to tell them about you as soon as I think they’re ready. I still don’t know how they all feel about mutants, and even less about the X-Men. And explaining you would mean explaining them. You understand?”

Lockheed slowly folded his wings back, but he still looked angry. He joined Kitty’s side and started to growl.

“Whadda ya mean I forgot about you? You know I’d never do THAT! You’re my best friend, Lockheed!” she replied, hugging the small dragon fiercely. “Come on, help me out here, I need to sew myself a new costume to go with the change… and get ready for tonight’s party.”

Lockheed growled in return, and finally felt that maybe things would work out after all.

“This won’t work at all!” Melissa screamed in despair as she saw what was waiting in the fridge of the apartment. “Where’s the junk food? The Coke and Seven-Ups? The beer?”

“Um, I didn’t think we’d need them right away…” Kitty replied apologetically.

“They’re going to be here any min…”

The doorbell rang, cutting off on-cue what Melissa was saying. Before any of the two girls could move, the door unlocked itself and Sam Young, holding a spare set of keys, entered, followed by Rachel Young, Michael Ramsey, and Jonathan Niles.

“We’re not bothering anything, are we?” Sam said, smiling broadly. “Hey, you’ve done great with the place!” he then commented, whistling in admiration.

“Thanks,” both girl answered simultaneously as Melissa quickly slammed the fridge door shut.

“Well then,” Michael said as he sat down in the living room, “let’s get this welcome party started!”

“I’m sorry to report, sir, that our agent sent into the dancing club was taken down before he could do considerable damage…” True American told the man watching him over a giant viewscreen.

True American wasn’t used to this level of technology yet. Only a few weeks ago, he’d been a simple construction worker angry at the ways the other races were taking over this country that his ancestors had fought for. Only a few weeks ago since the Sigma organization had approached him and had changed him into a powerhouse in their employ. He was proud to serve them to cleanse America. Proud to be a True American.

“Well then, it seems you have a new problem to take care of… want to take care of it? Or should I send reinforcements?” the Sigma leader asked, some hidden level of threat in his voice.

“No. Me and Purity will take care of it. We believe we know who the culprit may be.”

Purity. The only female agent of True American’s section of Sigma. There was something in her that even True American feared. A coldness that nothing could ever warm.

“Very well then. I trust you with this. We must rid our fair country of those pests that plague it, and that includes anyone who stands in our way. Got it?”

“Yes sir!” True American responded, saluting like a soldier.

The man nodded, and the screen became blank.

“Time to go for a hunt…” True American said as he turned and left the room.

“So that’s your room, huh?” Michael commented as he entered Kitty’s room, following her inside it.

“Yeah, it’s not completely unpacked yet, though. A few boxes came in later than others,” she explained, waving at the pile of boxes waiting at the end of the bed.

She saw Lockheed hide under the bed from the corner of her eye, just as Michael turned around to look in that direction.

“Yeah, I guess it’s pretty nice. Not my style, but nice,” he said, walking around.

There were pictures she had put up on her desk, some from the X-Men, many from Excalibur, and a few with the New Mutants, all the time in civilian clothings, of course. He stopped to look at those, finally picking up one of the early New Mutants pictures. The entire team was there, with Kitty passing an arm around Illyana and Douglas.

“Um, he looks happy…” he whispered out.

“Yeah, those were the good days,” Kitty said, a wave of nostalgia washing over her.

“You know, I didn’t see him often back then, but every time we did meet, he always talked about you… I think he had something of a crush…”

Kitty nodded, smiling at the memory.

“It might be. But I was with someone else back then. I didn’t see it. Who knows? It could have been. He was cute, with a boyish grin, and a mind rather unrivaled,” she said, smiling still.

“Kinda like me…” Michael said.

“Yeah, you look a lot like him,” Kitty replied, looking up at Michael’s face.

He smiled the most boyish grin he could, and Kitty felt her heart almost miss a beat. Was it because for a second it was like she was seeing Doug again, or because of something else? Silence fell on the two as Michael’s face slowly became serious, but before either of the two could say anything a shout came out from outside the room. Both Michael and Kitty rushed out to see what was going on, only to see Jonathan backing away from an angry Melissa.

“Hey, don’t bother me, okay! I didn’t mean it to come out that way!” Jonathan was saying, trying to apologize in his unique way.

Melissa, in her wheelchair, had poison in her eyes, and in her words, when she replied.

“My ass you didn’t mean it! You’re always like this! You hate everyone around you, and put yourself above all the rest of the world! What the hell gives you the right, huh? Just get out of here!” she shouted, suddenly twisting the chair around and rolling towards the kitchen.

“Aw crap, the hell with it,” Jonathan said dismissibly, heading for the door.

“Hey, what happened?” Kitty said, intercepting Jonathan by grabbing his arm.

Michael meanwhile had headed for the kitchen, probably to learn just what had happened. Sam was just sitting in the living room, watching the whole thing without doing a thing. Kitty couldn’t see Rachel.

“Let go of me, I’m getting out of here.”

“Tell me what happened first!” Kitty asked again.

“Look, I said something I shouldn’t have said, and she jumped at my throat for it. Now, can I go?”

Kitty released her grab on Jonathan’s arm, and he walked away, slamming the door behind him.

“Well, that went well…” Kitty mumbled darkly, heading for the kitchen to get Melissa’s version.

She never saw Rachel watching her leave, and then slowly making her way toward Kitty’s room, careful to stay out of her father’s view. She silently slipped inside, and closed the door behind her, careful not to make a noise. There was something strange in this room. Rachel knew it. She didn’t know how exactly, but she could feel a presence of some kind, something weird, almost alien.

“Hello?” she called out to the empty room.

No answer, of course. More and more she was realizing that this was stupid, that the ‘presence’ was all in her mind, that maybe she was going crazy… until a small noise grabbed her attention. A ruffling sound. Something trying to crawl on the floor. She closed her eyes, and again she felt the presence, more precisely this time. Under the bed. There was something under the bed.

“Hello? Come out kitty kitty…” she said gently, slowly kneeling down to look under the bed.

Lockheed saw the girl slowly coming down, and he knew that unless something happened, he was going to be caught. Maybe a burst of flame to scare her? Or a growl? He backed slowly away from the bed’s edge, going as far against the wall as he could.

“Come on, I won’t hurt you,” Rachel said, calling out to whatever was under there.

The door behind her suddenly opened, and Kitty came in, only to suddenly stop as she registered Rachel’s presence in the room.

“Rachel? What are you doing?” she asked.

Rachel quickly straightened up and took a step back in surprise.

“Nothing… nothing…”

“Is something wrong?” Kitty asked, sending her gaze under the bed.

‘I hope she hasn’t seen Lockheed…’ she thought alarmingly.

“No, nothing wrong…” Rachel quickly said, but there was something in her eyes which Kitty caught.

A doubt of some kind, like maybe there was something wrong.

“You sure? Maybe I can help?” Kitty offered, but Rachel shook her head and started running out of Kitty’s room.

“THERE’S NOTHING WRONG! I DON’T NEED HELP!” she shouted out before rejoining Jonathan outside.

“Well, there’s a trait those two have in common…” Kitty realized as she bent down to talk to Lockheed.

“Did she see you?” she whispered.

Lockheed answered negatively. Good. She hadn’t spotted him. Kitty walked out of her room and saw Sam looking worriedly at her.

“Is she all right? What happened?” he asked.

Kitty nodded. “Yeah, I caught her sneaking around in my room, but then she flipped and ran out.”

Sam shook his head, thoughtful.

“I’m worried for her. She’s going through tough times, and has no real friends to help her out…”

“I’ve been through it. Maybe I can help, if she’d just trust me,” Kitty said, thinking back to the short time before she met the X-Men.

“Well, if you think you can…” Sam said, smiling, and Kitty nodded in answer.

“I’ll do my best.”

A few hours later.

Kitty slowly opened the door of her room. The rest of the apartment was dark. Everyone else had gone home. Kitty slowly walked over to Melissa’s room, and, using her phasing powers, peeked in through the door. Melissa was breathing regularly on her bed, soundly asleep. Good.

Kitty pulled back and went back to her room. She opened a shoe box waiting in her closet and took out the new costume she’d just finished sewing together. Lockheed was standing on the bed, staring at her, waiting. He’d been trapped in this room the whole day, and his wings were aching for a night flight. She quickly put the costume on, and looked at herself in her mirror. The costume was dark spandex, taken in part from her old New Mutants uniform, and had a small eye mask from her Excalibur days. She tied her hair back in a ponytail, and put on gloves, just for effect.

“Well?” she asked Lockheed.

Lockheed jumped to the floor and picked something up in his small paws, offering it to Kitty.

“Of course! That’s what’s missing!” Kitty said, picking up the object from Lockheed.

She quickly searched through her stuff for a belt, which she hurriedly put on, and on which she added the object Lockheed had given her. An shining ‘X’ symbol.

“Now I’m ready!”

She showed Lockheed her various weapons that she had available. Hidden fighting sticks, even two knives and shooting stars if things got bad, a sword – gift from Logan – and various other gadgets like flashlights and the such, waiting in her utility belt. Kinda like Batman, only much less obvious.

After making sure that nothing was missing, she grabbed Lockheed, phased, and went up through the window leading to the roof, and unphased once there. She let go of Lockheed, who immediately spread his wings and soared off, happy to just be flying again.

Kitty waited there, taking in the night, letting the wind blow around her as she stepped nearer to the roof’s edge. It was time for her first night as a solo super-heroine. A whole new career, if she could handle it. She stretched her legs, and made her first leap across close rooftops. She landed easily, and was glad to see her gymnastic skills she learned through dancing hadn’t left her. Thank God for the Danger Room. She smiled as Lockheed landed on her shoulder. The pose was perfect. She just couldn’t resist shouting it out loud.

“WATCH OUT WORLD! THERE’S A NEW HERO IN TOWN, AND HER NAME’S SHADOWCAT!”

NEXT ISSUE: It’s the new Millennium, and that means it’s time for… Apocalypse? Yep, it’s the second prologue to the Genetic Eclipse event, and the Big A himself comes calling, sending his Dark Riders after Kitty! But why? You’ll have to read Cable #7 then come back here next issue to find out!