WHERE’S KITTY?

By Yannick Lamarre

Sam’s Electronics, near the commercial center of Manhattan, New York, 14:00 pm.

Five people were reunited around a small table, a cake waiting uneaten in the center.

“Well, it’s time and she still isn’t here,” Jonathan Niles remarked, sending one last look at the clock. “Let’s get this over with so I can get some work done.”

“Meli, you sure she hasn’t called?” a seemingly worried Michael Ramsey asked as he kept watch on the door of the store.

“Nope, and I couldn’t care less!” Melissa Heartridge answered, knowing that she really didn’t mean it.

Kitty had vanished just when Melissa had needed her the most. But she was starting to know Kitty, and she didn’t seem like the kind of girl to do that. Or was she?

“Well, I’m not worried. Kitty’s a big girl, and she can handle herself. And if she couldn’t make it here in time, then I’m sure she had a good reason!” Sam Young, the owner of Sam’s Electronics, insisted.

Rachel Young, Sam’s daughter, looked at her father with surprise. It was rare these days that he seemed to take anything to heart. She frowned slightly, but decided it was best if she didn’t say anything. She would probably screw up again anyway.

“You’re… probably right,” Michael admitted, looking away from the door. “I guess I’m worrying too much.”

“Absolutely,” Sam said, and for now the discussion was considered finished.

The five employees sat down and started eating their cake in silence.

Lockheed gazed at the descending sun from the roof of Kitty’s apartment. Another day was over, and Kitty still hadn’t come back. He puffed a small flame in frustration and leapt down to land on the edge of Kitty’s window. He’d thought he’d warned the other girl. Why hadn’t she called Kitty’s friends yet? Inside the room was dark, left completely untouched since Kitty had left so suddenly. But as he watched the door slowly creaked open and Melissa, now able to walk on her own, entered. She looked around, uncertain of what to do, then stepped in and closed the door behind her.

“Hello?” she called out gently.

Lockheed froze, unsure of what to do. If he showed himself, he knew the girl would probably freak out, maybe even try to chase him away, or call the cops or something. And he just knew he couldn’t have that. What then? In a state of complete panic, he glided quickly under the bed just as Melissa turned on the lights. But Lockheed had forgotten about the piles of books that Kitty had started stacking under there, and he rammed into them, nearly knocking himself out and sending them all scrambling over the floor. Melissa let out a small cry of surprise and took a step back, looking at the bed like it was about to jump her.

“Who’s there?” she said, as her eyes quickly darted around the room for a weapon.

There was always the lamp, standing in the corner and waiting for her to take it and smash someone’s skull. Lockheed, under the bed, didn’t see this, but did see her feet slowly heading for the lamp. His mind did a quick calculation. He wouldn’t be able to get back to the window without risking getting hit. He sighed. This would have to be it then. No other choice now.

“Why not help Kitty?” he said, trying to translate the English as best as he could in his mind.

“I thought I had dreamt you up!!”

Her voice sounded a little terrified, and Lockheed took a decision right then he hoped he wouldn’t regret. He slowly edged out from under the bed and looked up at Melissa. Her reaction was the one he’d been expecting. She screamed out loud, grabbed the lamp and swung hard at him, and he dodged as best as he could, using his wings to draft himself upwards and on the bed.

“WAIT!” he called out, but she swung again, and he flew for the window, crashed through it and escaped into the night.

This hadn’t gone too well.

Michael Ramsey sighed and closed down his computer after checking his e-mail for the tenth time in the hour. He very much doubted Kitty would have written him anyway, but it had been a week without a single word from her, and he was pretty worried. Not that they’d gotten all that close, really, they hadn’t had a date or even talked on the phone yet. Still, she seemed to like him well enough, and he was damn sure he liked her more than that, but nothing would ever happen if Kitty just up and vanished on them.

He got up and walked to his window, staring absently outside. Where was she right now? Was she in any danger? What on Earth could have happened to her?

He turned and looked at a family portrait that he had brought with him in his apartment. Douglas Ramsey’s unmoving face stared at him, a bright smile on his features. Michael shuddered and looked away. Dwelling on the past, not a good thing. He was sure Kitty was alive. She HAD to be!

Rachel’s head hurt, and that was never a good thing. It meant tonight she would have nightmares. It meant she would start guessing stuff she possibly couldn’t have guessed. It meant she was going to hide herself in the closet until it stopped again. It was a chilling experience, one she hoped would one day vanish. The attacks were getting more and more frequent. Kitty had talked about helping before she’d vanished on them, but she should have known this would happen. This always happened to her.

“It isn’t fair,” she whispered out loud.

The sound of her own voice in the darkened room she called her own surprised her. She wrapped her knees around her and closed her eyes. Alone on her bed, she felt the tears coming, overwhelming. And also…

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

She looked up at the locked door. She just knew it was her father. Who else could it be? He’d dropped by at this time every night to look in on her ever since they’d moved here…

Rachel got up and opened the door. She held it open slightly and gazed at her father. He looked beyond tired, his face flat, his eyes red and bloodshot. He wasn’t feeling good, that was for sure.

“You okay in there, Ray?” he asked, his voice a comfort to her in this loneliness.

He was the only one who seemed to care about her, but even the generous Sam Young couldn’t help her.

“I’m fine, Dad. Get some rest, you look horrible,” she managed to say, and it amazed her how little of her despair passed through her voice.

It came from years of practice.

“I will, it’s just, with the shop and Kitty disappearing and everything, I can barely get a few hours of shuteye every day, you know…” he explained, passing his hand lovingly through her hair.

She let him do it. It was just about the only physical contact they shared now that she was all ‘grown up’…

“She’ll be okay,” Rachel said with some reassurance. “I can feel it.”

Sam smiled at her.

“I know, Rachel. I know she’ll be okay.”

Rachel looked puzzled for a second, and Sam nodded, taking a step back outside her room.

“Now get to bed,” he said, and he walked to his room.

She stared a few seconds into the closing door of her father’s room. He seemed so sure. How could he be so certain Kitty was fine?

Rachel shrugged and went back inside her room. She never noticed the headache was completely gone.

Jonathan Niles’ eyes were getting blurry from staring into the computer screen for so long. Once, a few years ago, he was able to go all night without ever feeling his eyes could fail him. Now he could barely make it to 2 a.m. before it started to happen. Perhaps he should start to worry about it. It wouldn’t do him much good to go blind. So he got up from his chair in his two room apartment and walked to the fridge. He opened it and took out some coke, which he promptly drank from the bottle itself. He took a few gulps and then put the bottle back in. He closed the fridge again and looked around the small place.

It was pretty much his whole life in here. A DVD collection and a small T.V., a Playstation 2, his bed and of course the computer. He looked at the phone. It didn’t ring often. When it did, it was always either his mom or Sam.

“I miss school,” he realized out loud.

Well, school being the classes and the friends, not the bullies and the hot girls mocking him or all the aggravations and humiliations that had come from it. Still, it’d been a while since he’d heard from his old pals. Maybe he’d call them tomorrow.

“Yeah right. You say that every night. You have as much chance of calling them tomorrow as Kitty walking in for work…”

He stopped himself. Why had he said that? Why was he even thinking of her at all? He shook his head and walked back to his computer. His trusty, old, Pentium 4. A few programs needed to be debugged for work tomorrow. He’d never be done in time if he got so introspective every few minutes. But still…

“Kitty Pryde.”

A smile creeped on his face, and he didn’t like the implications.

“Michael will probably wisp her off her feet anyway,” he warned himself, and he found that the other half agreed, which filled with a cold he didn’t much care to explore.

“I just hope she never shows up again,” he finally said.

The voices in his head seemed to agree, so he got back to work.

Kitty stared outside her small window in the room that had once been hers. It was bare now, only a bed and a desk, but they’d still kept it empty. Just in case.

She had a few pleasant memories in this room, but a bunch of bad ones as well. She’d been sad a lot in here. But it was going to be her last night here. She was well enough to get back to work. Well enough to rejoin the real world, and get back to Meli and her stuff. And Lockheed.

“He’ll be pissed off that I left him in the dark like this.”

And he won’t be the only one, she realized, and a pang of guilt washed over her. She’d needed this last week to heal from all of this. Apocalypse, the end of the world, the kidnapping, the betrayal, the Twelve, everything…

But maybe she should have phoned it in. Maybe… but how could she explain it all? She wasn’t even sure she could. She took a deep breath. No. You know what? She had waited long enough. She stood away from the window. She had nothing here to take with her. This would be easy. She would go home right now. Tonight. And tomorrow, she’d go back to work.

Kitty resolutely walked out of her room and back through the living quarters, heading for the front door. As she stepped out, she smelled a familiar smell. Cigar. She looked beside her, and there he was, as always, his back to his motorcycle, staring at her. With knowing eyes she’d always found so annoying, and at the same time charming. Like an all-knowing father.

“Took you long enough.”

She looked at him and smiled.

“Need a ride?”

“If you’re up for a trip to the city…”

“For you, darling, always…” Logan said, handing Kitty an helmet.

She frowned.

“You can never be too careful.”

Lockheed risked a look back in the apartment. There was no one that he could see. Nodding, he slipped inside through the broken window and quickly looked around. The room was empty, but the door was wide open. Melissa wasn’t taking any chances. He growled softly. Showing himself HAD been stupid after all.

“Come out!” a voice called from outside the room.

Lockheed froze. Melissa’s voice. What did she want? A trap? Or did she have news? Staying hidden would probably make matters worse anyway, so he carefully stepped outside of the room. Not flew, because he knew now that could scare her. Melissa was standing on the living room table, baseball bat in hand. Lockheed stared at her. She seemed pretty nervous.

“Wha-at are you?” she asked.

Her eyes never left his long snout.

“Lockheed,” he simply growled out.

“Are you a dragon?” Melissa whispered, recognizing his basic shape.

Two wings, long snout, sharp, although small, claws. He could also breathe some fire, but she didn’t need to know that just yet. Lockheed did his best impression of a human nod, and her eyes grew larger. It was easier to believe he was a dragon than to believe he was an ‘alien’ dragon.

“Kitty friend,” he growled out again.

Speech was so difficult for him. He needed to work his lungs, throat, and tongue in ways he was pretty uncomfortable with.

“Oh,” Melissa simply said.

And then some knocked on the door. Lockheed flew back inside the room, not wanting to be seen by anyone else. Melissa yelped in surprise and fell down the table, dropping the bat which rolled under the sofa. Cursing, she got to her feet and headed for the door.

“Yeah?” she called outside.

“It’s me,” a voice said on the other side, and Melissa’s heart skipped a beat.

All of her rage over Kitty’s disappearance threatened to overwhelm her once more, but she held it in check. She unbolted the door and opened it slightly. Kitty stood behind it all right. She looked horrible, like she’d been through hell and back. Little did Melissa know, she had. But before she could say anything else, Lockheed rammed through the small crack in the doorway and into Kitty’s arms. He purred and growled and just pushed himself against her, and she held him tightly, just glad to be in his presence again. He didn’t care about her leaving him behind, at least for now. Soon, he’d want to know, but for now she was just back.

Seeing the two together, Melissa shook her head and sighed, then opened the door a bit more, letting Kitty walk in. She did, still hugging Lockheed fiercely. It was so good to be back. Melissa closed the door after her, and Kitty sat down on the sofa. But then she realized she was holding a baby dragon, and knew then that things had changed. Kitty looked up at Melissa, who looked back.

“Where were you?” Melissa asked simply.

Kitty battled different scenarios in her head, but then finally decided that there was only one way for this friendship to heal.

“Sit down, Meli. It’s a long story…”

Sam’s Electronics Shop, the next morning.

Sam walked in early, as usual. He’d seen Rachel off to school and then come straight here. He put the mail on the counter and breathed in the air of the shop. It was sunny outside. This really felt like it could be a good day. He went into his office just as Jonathan walked in, laptop in hand. He always brought it around. Bringing work home with you was never healthy in Sam’s experience. He’d have to have a talk with the young man.

He saw Michael’s bike pass in front of the store, heading for the alleyway around back, which he always used to get in. He looked to his ceiling. Melissa lived up there, and she didn’t have classes this morning, so she’d be here soon too. All except HER, he realized darkly. Michael walked in, saluting Jonathan who didn’t even bother to answer, and then dropped by his office door.

“Any news?” he asked Sam.

He’d been asking the same question for a week now. He always answered the same thing.

“No.”

Michael nodded and headed back to his workstation. He heard the front door jingle, and Melissa walked in. It was good to see just walk. That damn wheelchair seemed to be sucking the life out of her…

His train of thought stopped when a shadow appeared at the door, and it slowly opened. Melissa’s smile was beaming, and everyone looked up when the door jingle rang. A figure entered, and Sam stepped out of his office, smiling.

Kitty Pryde stood in his shop once more. She was back.

“Hey guys! Hope you still want me around?” Kitty asked sheepishly.

Smiles welcomed her back, and Sam even thought he saw Jonathan smile. All was well…

NEXT ISSUE: A Skrull hits Kitty’s neighborhood, and she needs the help of the unlikeliest of persons to seek him out. And Sigma strikes!

Editor’s Notes

Well, he’s back! Yannick has returned to the Shadowcat series after a long hiatus. A note to those who are wondering: this series is picking up right where it left off, which was during Genetic Eclipse (how’s that for a blast from the past?). So with this issue, the series is resuming right after GE, and Yannick will be finishing all the stories he intended to tell and eventually get this series caught up to the present continuity. So, keeping with the fact that these are past-continuity tales, all these issues will be back-dated, as you can see that this one says April 2000. So, there you have it.

Enjoy!

~Ryan
08/05/03