These stories are copyrighted to V. E. Lehkonen.
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What if the X-Men had really died in issue #113?
Forgive me, stars, for it is an X-Men fan fiction! I'm sorry. It's probably not even a good one. Probably better than some, but not very good.
Except for Ktelor, all the other characters in this story belong to Marvel Comics. This story is being written just for entertainment purposes.
| Chapter one | How did the situation develop after the death of the X-Men? |
| Chapter two | Let's go get Kitty. They run into the Hellfire Club... to "honor" the original plot. Kind of. |
| Chapter three | And then what happens? Things get complicated. |
| Chapter four | Time to head home with what is left. |
| Chapter five * | I am so embarrassed. |
| Luku kuusi * | Ja mitä löytyykään Arizonasta? |
Thanks to the last battle with Warhawk, a nice mutated influenza virus and too much drinking approximately a week ago, Ktelor Gilian, a genderless mutant telepath, had caught an illness so tough that even eir healing powers could not defeat the illness. However, ey was now happily but boringly recovering on a vacation with Professor Charles Francis Xavier, a world-renowned geneticist and the founder of the X-Men, and Lilandra Neramani, the now exiled Princess-Majestrix of the alien Shi'Ar Empire. Xavier, for once Ktelor knowing so, had been genuinely worried for the survival of his youngest X-man.
However, after Ktelor had recovered from the illness, the thing more worrying was the fact that both Xavier and Ktelor lost the telepathic linkage to the other X-Men. They did not have a clue what had happened. No one at home answered their calls.
Nevertheless, the vacation time was now over. Ktelor, Xavier and Lilandra had returned to the mansion. The place had been deserted for quite some time.
"Huh?" began Ktelor. "This place is empty... All our mail is here."
"The X-Men are really gone... Lilandra, Ktelor, wait here. I'll check the Cerebro." Xavier rolled away, leaving Lilandra and Ktelor in the entrance.
"An' I wonder who was kind enough t' put it on the kitchen table, eh!?" said Ktelor, grinning.
"Well, obviously someone's been here to do it, how else?"
"Duh."
"It's Beast", said Xavier. "He came here to find no one in the mansion, found the X-Men using the Cerebro and went to rescue them. Now I can't find any of them, even with the help of Cerebro. This is strange..."
"No kiddin', prof?!" Xavier was silent for a moment. Ktelor went through the mail. "Geeze... bills... ads... a hair magazine? For Prof. More ads... more bills... Women's magazines? For... uh... Hunting magazine? For Logan. Friggin' fishing magazine? Who likes fishin'!? More ads an' bills... Ah, science magazines. Comics. For me an' Beast. At least I get something... ...News of the new household technology? Beast reads this? Holy crap..."
"We cannot do much", said Xavier. "We don't even know if the X-Men are still alive. We can do nothing but sit around, waiting..."
"Not bad, but it's rather boring, now isn't it?"
"Who said you won't be taking your regular Danger Room sessions?"
"What? Come on..."
And so, even though the X-Men were gone, apparently fighting once again, as always, the lives of the remaining people remained approximately the same.
Days later, Ktelor, Xavier and Lilandra were having breakfast in the kitchen. The phone rang suddenly.
"Freakin' telephonemarketers", said Ktelor, grinning.
"Now now Ktelor." Xavier picked up the phone.
He talked for a few short moments.
"It was Jean... she's coming." Xavier seemed worried.
"With the others?" asked Lilandra.
"She wouldn't say." Ktelor looked at Xavier, worried. "We can still do nothing but wait... Jean will be here after a few days." Ktelor sighed.
A few days later, a sleek shield hoverjet landed on the backyard of the mansion. Lilandra went to welcome the comers while Ktelor sat inside, looking at them. They brought bad news. Beast went for a walk with Lilandra while Jean came in. She glanced sadly at Ktelor and went to meet Xavier in his office. Jean was very upset.
"You're so young, Ktelor", said Jean. "You shouldn't have to hear anything like this..." Jean went. Ktelor read Beast's thoughts as he explained to Lilandra what had happened.
The X-Men had died. They died in Antarctica, they were left under molten lava. Jean had seen it with her own eyes, she had felt them dying in her mind. There was no way they could have survived that. Scott, Logan, Ororo, Sean, Kurt, Peter... all gone.
Ktelor looked at the hoverjet. She felt empty. The X-Men had been Ktelor's only friends. Ktelor cried. She was just a kid... no more than 14 years old, and what all things she had seen! She had sometimes been left home from too dangerous missions, but she had also fought among the other X-Men, as one of them. And now... the others were gone? What would happen to her? Ktelor got up, heading for her room to cry.
Ktelor was an orphan. Her family had died in an accident that occurred while the X-Men were saving the unfortunate family from being kidnapped by Magneto. Xavier and the X-Men had before that known that Ktelor was a mutant; however, before that Ktelor had not been willing to come to Xavier's school. After the death of her family, she had basically no other choice.
However, after Ktelor had moved in to the school, she learned many new things about her powers. She was born with weak telepathy, and recently her developing had increased her powers immensely. She had also manifested two other powers, supernatural agility and a healing factor that allowed her to heal up to five times as fast as a normal child could. Xavier saw the potential in her, starting to train her to become an X-man like his other students Jean Grey, Scott Summers, Hank McCoy, Bobby Drake and Warren Worthington, and later the new students Logan, Ororo Monroe, Sean Cassidy, Kurt Wagner, Peter Rasputin and the now late John Proudstar. Due to her age, Ktelor could not take part in every fight, but every now and then she went off with the other X-Men to fight against the threats of the world that hated and feared them.
At that time, Ktelor did not mind being a superhero; she was playing the role of a normal angsty teenager, as far as "normal" could be considered. After all, Ktelor lived in a school with no family, her best and only friends were a team of older mutant superheroes and their mentor and she had almost no chance of leading a life the humans in this world would consider normal. Ktelor was not only a mutant telepath with amazing power, her genetic structure had been drastically changed, making her whole organ system to be inverted, not even mentioning that Ktelor was in fact genderless, born with no reproductive organs at all.
Ktelor would now have to grow out of her already questionable adolescence sooner than expected. The X-Men were not there to help her anymore.
Xavier was broken. What would have happened to his students, if he had just let them live their own lives? What would have happened to Ktelor? After all, it was his fault that she had to live through this... Without him, Ktelor's parents might still be alive, and Ktelor would not have to live in the mansion, or training to be a superhero. Ktelor would not have had to experience the pain of losing all her friends she had... Did Xavier really have the right to take young Ktelor's freedom and security away like this? Or those of his other students? Was there any other choice? Should Xavier found... another... team of mutants... just to be killed in another fight? What great feelings of sorrow, anger and regret were swelling in Xavier's mind! Would he ever recover from this?
Jean and Beast went off to the Muir Islands. Jean would probably stay there, studying her own new unknown powers, and never fight again. Beast was going to join the Avengers.
During the next few months, nothing really happened at the mansion. Xavier was just upset and did not speak of it to Ktelor at all. Ktelor wondered if he even spoke to Lilandra. Xavier left all the supervillains for Avengers, Spider-Man and others. He would not force Ktelor to do anything what a normal teen would not have to do.
Ktelor got used to it. She concentrated on training her powers, learning how to fly the Blackbird, reading sciences and computer technology. After all, there was nothing else she could do.
After Lilandra had come to Earth and her Empire had been saved from her insane brother D'Ken, it was thought that it would only take a few bureaucratic gestures to make her the heir to the throne. However, since she had committed treachery against the Empire, the others would not accept her as the ruler. The Shi'Ar were going to elect a new ruler, leaving Lilandra wherever she may wish to leave. Since she had nothing to keep her bound to the Shi'Ar, she decided to stay on Earth with her beloved Xavier. She then took a more active role on Earth and sometimes went to aid the other superheroes. She had her possessions transported to her new home, along with a few surprises.
One surprise was of course the technological enhancements to the Danger Room. Now the room could do far more than simple mechanics.
When the winter and Christmas came, Ktelor, Lilandra and Xavier traveled to the Muir Islands to spend the holiday. Many of Xavier's older students and a few other mutants were there: Jean Grey, Robert Drake, Hank McCoy, Warren Worthington III, Brian Braddock, Scott's little brother Alex Summers, Jamie Madrox and Lorna Dane. To Ktelor, Xavier seemed more relaxed now, and he even shared his ideas and thoughts at the Christmas table. Apparently Ktelor was, once again, the one who was told last.
"After a long, very long time of pondering, I have finally decided what I shall do. I shall form a new team of mutants, new X-Men. Even with all the risks, the mutants in this world need somebody to look after them and to speak for them." Ktelor stopped eating and looked at Xavier. The others clearly knew what was coming, and had not even started eating. "It has to do with you, Ktelor." Ktelor looked at Xavier, quite dumbfounded. She still had some food in her mouth. "My old students have their own lives to lead, and that is what they want to do. The new team of X-Men will be formed of kids, even younger than my first team, I will teach them to control their powers, and we should only fight when we absolutely have to. And Ktelor, since you not only have knowledge, but also already have experience and ability, you will be the leader of that team!"
Ktelor's eyes were big as plates. She quickly swallowed all the food still in her mouth and shouted: "What?!"
"Yes, Ktelor", said Xavier. He had a kind of a smirk on his face. "I know you better than you think, Ktelor. I prepared this all without telling you, because now you cannot decline!"
"Ooohhh, you cheesy sneaky cue ball... I'll kill ye with my fork", said Ktelor, pointing her fork at Xavier. Ktelor looked at her food and put the fork down. "Uhh..."
"Please, think about it, Ktelor." Ktelor looked at Xavier, seeing him smiling at her. "Now, I suggest we start eating. We have some magnificent dishes here..." Ktelor did not concentrate to hear the praising of the food, but thought about what Xavier had just told her.
Ktelor? A leader? Right... You could not find a more selfish or careless telepath on Earth. But leading was about all Ktelor could do in a fighting situation. She was not strong physically, and could not direct powerful amounts of energy from her body. What a mutant power telepathy was. Thanks to her agility, Ktelor would survive on a battlefield without help though.
Xavier was right. Ktelor would make a perfect leader, if she were up to it.
Ktelor, Xavier and Lilandra returned home for New Year.
"Ktelor, have you though about what I said at the Christmas table?"
"Oh yeah, I have, actually."
"Have you decided anything?"
"Uh... yeah... ...I think... I could try." Xavier smiled.
"Good, Ktelor. I'm sure you'll be fine."
"Heh heh heh."
They all ate and went to sleep.
The next day, Xavier told his plans. He would look for other mutants, mainly about the same age as Ktelor and form the new X-Men. And before he collected them, he would have to teach Ktelor many things about leading.
"And before I can do that, I should, once again, try to understand you. I did not manage two years ago, but I want to try again."
"Okay... What do ya want to hear from me now?"
"What do you think?"
"Yeah, I must've guessed. Okay... Prof, I was raised far from the civilizations. I was raised as a human being free from the common restrictions. There are some things I do have respect for, and that is privacy, individual opinions an' stuff like that. Mass opinions I couldn't really care less about. Religions and their ambiguous morals disgust me. Thinking is good, but very rare people can even do that properly. I can use my powers an' I know I have a lot to learn. I'm logical. I'm a freaking teen finding out what the heck I am."
"Who are you?"
"Me, created by my parents. I think." Xavier sat there for a moment and looked at Ktelor. "No, I don't let ya sneak in my mind. That'd be disrespecting my respect for privacy."
"Why do you then read people's minds without their permission? I know you do it. You even deep-scan them."
"But do I ever tell about it to anyone or use it otherwise to hurt them? No. Do I use it to behave more appropriately an' to gain knowledge about others? Hell yeah."
"And how about when you don't like what you're seeing?"
"Psychopaths, mad people, people dwelling in sorrow? I can use my powers to help them, can I?"
"And your respect for privacy?" Ktelor sighed.
"You still don't understand me... but we got further than last time." Ktelor smiled and walked away.
Xavier could not help thinking about what would become of Ktelor in the future. "That kid is something I've never seen before. She might just as well end up being as powerful as I am, if not even more powerful. She is completely unique, and she understands. What thinking for a 14-year-old, even a telepath!" Xavier dug up a couple of photos. They were of Ktelor. Her parents. "Or could it be her parents? They weren't mutants..." Xavier did not go any further, but looked at the photos. He would start teaching Ktelor to lead tomorrow.
Ktelor would turn fifteen on the sixteenth of January.
Xavier found no problems while training Ktelor; she could make a good leader. At the same time, he continuously searched for new kids with Cerebro, and now that Ktelor managed to keep her telepathy much better in control, he even let her use it.
Ktelor's powers and physical abilities developed much further than Xavier had thought; however, that was not a problem at all. Xavier was in fact happy for Ktelor as she could end up having an incredibly accurate coordination between her mind and body. Ktelor on her turn realized this, and in order to make it happen, she kept on exercising, even increasing the intensity and difficulty of the exercises as opposed to her younger days when she hated the whole thing more than everything, doing whatever she could to get from taking part in the exercises.
By May, Xavier had found rather many mutant kids who he could go see and check if they would want to join. The mutant Ktelor and Xavier would go see first was a thirteen-year-old girl named Katherine Pryde. Her parents were deciding into which school to put their daughter in. They actually phoned Xavier, asking if he was interested in taking Katherine into his school. Xavier talked with them and they were interested. Finally the parents asked Xavier to come over for the final discussion.
Ktelor and Xavier then left the mansion one morning, took a taxi to the airport and got on a plane going to Chicago. On the plane Xavier told Ktelor what he knew about Katherine Pryde.
Katherine was thirteen years old and she was in high school because of her superior intelligence. Her powers had just manifested and she probably did not know how to use them, maybe even did not know what powers she had, or if she was a mutant at all.
Xavier would talk with Katherine's parents privately first, while Ktelor could tell stuff about the school to her. Later they all would talk together.
They arrived at a Chicago airport and took a taxi to the Prydes' home, which was located in a nice development area in Deerfield, with big clean houses, streets and lots of plantation. Ktelor glared around in an ironical way, glancing at everything behind the sunglasses she had to hide her eyes.
"This place creeps me out for some reason, y'know that?" said Ktelor, not really serious.
"Yes, Ktelor, I can notice", replied Xavier as the taxi driver helped him on the wheelchair. "Go on, Ktelor, and ring the doorbell." Ktelor waltzed, not really knowing what it meant or how to do it, to the door, posed like a ballerina and pressed the doorbell button which made a funny snobby sound.
"Oh please."
Xavier looked at the pair of stairs in front of him. "Ktelor..." Ktelor turned at him, went behind him and tried to push him over the stairs.
"Ooh yeah... urhh... here's my today's exercise, eh. I gotta say I never noticed how much you actually do weigh." Ktelor just managed to push Xavier on the door level when Carmen Pryde, Katherine's father, opened the door.
"Good day, Professor Xavier", he said, shaking Xavier's hand and glanced at Ktelor. "And hello there."
"It is nice to meet you, mister Pryde", replied Xavier and turning slightly to Ktelor, he continued: "This is one of my students, Ktelor Gilian. Say hi, Ktelor."
Ktelor grinned. "Hi, Ktelor." Carmen Pryde chuckled a little and made way for Xavier, while Ktelor pushed him in. The house looked as clean inside as it had looked outside. It was a light, modern average home. Theresa, Carmen's wife, came and shook Xavier's hand while Carmen shook Ktelor's hand. As usual, Ktelor did not manage to shake the hand correctly, and as she noticed how Carmen wondered about it, she said: "I'm left-handed."
"Oh", said Carmen. He glanced up at the second floor with bedrooms, and as Ktelor followed his sight, she saw the girl they had come here for. Theresa came to Ktelor and took her hand.
"Hello there, Ktelor."
"My dearly sincere greetings of good day to you, madam, and have a most pleasant day", said Ktelor and bowed deep, excessively shoving her left arm somewhere behind her. Theresa chuckled.
"Aren't you a clever kid." Ktelor straightened herself and looked at the adults.
"Please excuse my student Ktelor for not taking off his sunglasses, but he has something wrong with his eyes." Xavier continued talking, as did the Pryde parents, but Ktelor did not bother to listen. They moved to the dining room just by the kitchen.
Ktelor leaned on a doorframe, watching the adults while really concentrating her thoughts on Katherine, or "Kitty" as she seemed to be often called. Kitty was looking at Ktelor from upstairs. She thought Ktelor was a boy, surprisingly even finding Ktelor good-looking and interesting. Ktelor chuckled at the thought of that. Ktelor turned to look at Kitty. She was a thin little girl with long curly brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a striped sleeveless shirt, vest and ordinary, rather fashionable trousers that actually fit her well. The almost unnatural way Ktelor had turned straight at Kitty made her startle. Ktelor grinned, and Kitty pulled away, pretending she had not been staring at Ktelor. Ktelor laughed shortly and then turned at Theresa, who had come to her.
"Ktelor, would you like to go out and have lunch with Kitty? I'm sure she will appreciate your company, and we have some personal things to talk about here. Take this and go anywhere you like, but come back by five so we can talk more." Theresa handed Ktelor a twenty-dollar bill. "Kitty should be upstairs."
"Will-do, Mrs. Pryde. Thank you", replied Ktelor and headed over to the second floor while Theresa walked back to Xavier and her husband.
Kitty was waiting for Ktelor at the end of the stairs, as she had heard what her mother had said. Ktelor stopped on the last step because it was easier for her to look straight at Kitty instead of looking down at her. "Eh... hey."
Kitty smiled a little and looked at Ktelor. "Hi... Y'know, I... I'm sorry I like stared at ya."
"Heh, don't worry about that... I get stared at way too often than I'd like, so I'm used to it. Mostly because of these though." Ktelor took off the sunglasses to show Kitty her black eyes. "An' you haven't seen what my hair does either..."
Kitty was slightly surprised, but not freaked out. "Yikes!"
"It's just a pigment disorder. I think I'm lucky in a way that my eyes aren't bright blood red."
Kitty chuckled. "Hehe... Oh", said Kitty, as if she had just remembered something. "I think I should at least like introduce myself... I'm Katherine, though most people just call me Kitty."
"I'm Ktelor Kadrei Gilian... an' most people call me just Ktelor."
"You have a strange name..."
"Well, it wasn't me who chose it, now wasn't it? Anyway, Xavier has a more special name for me though."
"Really? What is it?"
"It's a few sentences long... here it goes: 'No! Stop doing that, you pest! Don't you know how many months it took to build that – insert a fancy name for a technical thing here – !' Yeah... and then I take what I broke an' fix it in a day or so."
Kitty laughed. "Goodness... You and Xavier surely sound better than that Frost lady with that Massachusetts Academy of hers."
"Who? Ah well, never mind, I won't know her either way. Shall we go, eh? Yer mom gave me twenty bucks to go... Do you know any good restaurant places?" Ktelor turned and walked down the stairs Kitty after her.
The restaurant Kitty presented was eight blocks away. While walking there Kitty told Ktelor what had been happening to her lately, for no particular reason. She had had headaches that kept on continuing with increasing intensity and numbers. Those headaches were starting to worry her, but she knew there was not much she could do. To be honest, this kind of stuff did not really interest Ktelor, and after scanning Kitty's mind and the rest, she was rather bored. Kitty was a good kid, and Ktelor could tell her things about the school as well as Xavier and herself. If she bothered to, that is.
They soon got to the restaurant. Kitty had been doing pretty much all the talking, and after getting their food she started to get much more interested on Ktelor.
"And now we get to the interesting point of this discussion", said Kitty, looking at Ktelor.
Ktelor was a little puzzled, even though she knew what Kitty meant. Ktelor could not figure out much connection. "Huh?"
"You. Y'know, all this time you've like barely said a word. I know you guys are a bit quiet, yeah, but you're like... mute."
"Oh? Well... Should I do something?"
"Sure you should!" said Kitty, grinning. "Like, tell me something about yourself... where are you from? Why are you attending Xavier's school?"
"Oh... Well, uh... Well, I was born in Antarctica along with my twin brother... my parents were researchers there. We lived there until I was twelve... Then we moved to Canada, an' at that point Xavier found me an' my brother. He invited us to his school then, but frankly we were pretty happy with our parents, so we didn't go there. A few months after that there was a some sort of incident... Tell me, do you know the X-Men?"
"Sure, they're superheroes and so on... like the Avengers. But they disappeared a year ago..."
"Okay... well, some person named Magneto tried to kidnap me an' my brother. The X-Men came there to fight Magneto an' saved us, but my parents were killed because of the fighting. It was a nice lose-or-lose situation... either us kidnapped or my parents dead. An' I couldn't even choose. My brother was severely injured an' the X-Men took us to their headquarters... which, surprise surprise, is Xavier's school. My brother died there, an' I didn't have much choice but to stay there in Xavier's school with the X-Men."
Kitty was rather surprised. "Oh my goodness. I'm sorry... But then... you are... an X-man?"
"Kind of... As ye said, they disappeared a year ago... that's because they died. They were really Xavier's students. Xavier spent half a year thinking about whether or not to found a new team... He decided to do it. I'm his only student as for now, but he's gathering a new class now. He hopes y'll join."
"Um... am I really getting this right now? Xavier teaches the X-Men, and they're his students? What do they have to learn from a guy like Xavier?"
"How to control their... powers?"
"Powers? God, are you serious? What kind of place is his school?"
"It's a school for mutants. An' yeah, if you haven't noticed – –"
Suddenly a big, bright red, human-figured, robot-looking thing came through the front door by smashing it to bits, followed by another robot thing. This had to be the luckiest day of Ktelor's life. She stared at the robots in shock for a short while, but then moved away from Kitty and got up, saying: "Get back, Kitty!" Kitty was in panic.
Ktelor could not do anything before one of the robots had smashed her. Having been able to step aside from the full force of the swing, she did feel a dull strike of pain on the right side of her chest and flew right toward Kitty, but hitting the tile wall instead. Ktelor got her feet on the windowpane and leaned on the table with her hands. Very quickly, she examined the robot things. They were very thoroughly protected from telepathic attacks, but Ktelor sensed that there was a person inside.
In panic, Kitty had just wanted to get out of the way as the robot smashed Ktelor into her direction. She pushed herself away, and like a miracle, she flew right through the wall to the back street. How could she have done this? How was it possible? Kitty did not know, and her headaches were making their comeback. The pain stung like never before, and Kitty was very tired. She passed out.
Since the robots were telepathically protected, Ktelor would not have much choice against them. Picking up a plate, Ktelor swirled it with her full strength at one of the robots. It shattered to pieces, and the robot was unharmed. Both of the robots now made their move, stretching their arms out toward Ktelor to grab and hold her. Ktelor quickly jumped out of the way. She now wished that the bartender had a gun somewhere. Ktelor ran behind the counter, and to her luck, found an old shotgun. In no time, Ktelor caught the gun, took a shooting position, leaning against a wall with her leg, and shot at the other robot. The robot was slightly damaged, but that did not really slow it down. In a blink of an eye, Ktelor shot at the other one, then at the first one again. By that time, the second had pulled out a weapon of some sort. It looked like an energy weapon. As the robot started firing, it became clear that it was an energy weapon. The firing started from Ktelor's left toward her. Ktelor jumped to the left before the firing hit her, and the firing continued to her original place and right from there. The only problem was that Ktelor had jumped into the reach of the other robot. Before Ktelor could get back to jumping again, the robot grabbed her arms and waist. Ktelor was trapped.
The customers had fled from the restaurant and only Ktelor and the armoured men were left. Ktelor could not see Kitty either, and she did not have time to try to find her, as a curvy but yet thin woman with pale hair and white clothes walked through the door with two less armoured robot-looking men. Ktelor instantly noticed that the woman was a strong telepath – maybe not as strong as Xavier, but very close. Her clothing was odd though, the style of it looked like what was in fashion a century ago, except that the clothes she had revealed much more of her body, making it look sexy in the eyes of a man from a western culture.
The woman blocked Ktelor from doing anything with her telepathy, but as Ktelor was rather strong herself, the woman did not manage to force Ktelor pass out, even though she tried several times repeatedly. She had done all this while walking to Ktelor from the doorway, and right after she had stopped, she said: "Aren't you a tough one, kiddie! Now be a good mutant and let me take care of you unless you want to be hurt."
Ktelor looked straight at the woman, still slightly trying to struggle from the grip of the robot. "Who exactly are ye anyway, an' what makes ye think I'd obey you?"
"I am the White Queen, and you should show some respect, you little brat! If you want to know why you should obey, I'd want you to consider the man holding you, tightening his grip. Is it difficult to breathe yet? Another reason would be these guns, as you see." The White Queen and the men that had come with her took out some sort of gun-looking shooting weapons that Ktelor had never seen before. Ktelor was very nervous and definitely did not want to get shot. However, if they wanted to kill her, they would have done so already. Ktelor figured that for now she did not have to fear for her life but it was almost a dead-end anyway. She was too afraid to say anything and thus stayed quiet. The White Queen understood. "Now, will you be a good kid and let me into your mind?" Ktelor felt how the woman tried to penetrate her psychic defenses, but they held. Ktelor would not have to worry about it. "Alright, play difficult!" One of the two men handed a white handkerchief to the White Queen who then walked to Ktelor with it. The grip of the robot holding Ktelor tightened, and it became hard to breathe, not to even mention the fact that Ktelor did not have a chance to break away. Ktelor smelled some chemical in the air. The woman placed her left hand on the back of Ktelor's head and slightly gripped her hair.
With a quick movement, she tightened her hold on Ktelor's hair and pressed the handkerchief on Ktelor's face. Ktelor passed out soon.
Kitty woke up shortly after passing out. She heard some people talking around the corner, peeked to see them and saw how a woman in white clothing stood by and watched as a few grunts placed Ktelor's limp body into a car. The woman looked inevitably similar to the Frost lady from the Massachusetts Academy, who had visited the Prydes' home an hour or two ago. The people then left the car alone for a moment to see something. There was Kitty's chance. She rushed to the car, opened the back, went in and closed it as carefully as possible. Soon the car started moving, and Kitty, being tired, fell asleep.
Ktelor woke up in a room that looked like a laboratory. She was inside a cage on a table and she could not think clearly. Everything seemed blurry and she was tired, very tired. She did not even have her own clothes on anymore, but some sort of underpants instead and no other clothes.
She leaned on one wall of the cage, trying to get her thoughts in order. Soon she heard somebody enter, but it was unclear and Ktelor could not focus on anything. It sounded like the cage door had been opened. Ktelor moved in attempt to get out, but someone grabbed her chin and held her still. Ktelor's thoughts became clearer.
Ktelor snatched the hand that held her chin but did not have strength to move it. She looked up at the hand's owner. It was the White Queen. She intended to break into Ktelor's mind but Ktelor had too powerful psychic defenses for her to do anything.
"You're a tough one, aren't you, Ktelor Gilian!" Ktelor looked at the woman, slightly afraid.
"How... do y' know... my name?"
"Oh, Ktelor dear, I know a lot more about you than your name! But there is no need for you to know anything about it. The only thing I want to know is the location of young Kitty Pryde."
"...Who?" Ktelor barely remembered that she had gone to a food place with some girl, and just after that remembered that girl had been Kitty.
"Don't play with me, kid!"
"How the hell should I know where she is, huh? Now is it even possible?"
"Oh yes, it is."
"I don't think so, no."
"Well, take a look at this then." The White Queen grappled Ktelor's hair and turned her head toward another laboratory table. Xavier was on it, asleep. "Do you see those electrodes on his head? They keep him asleep. If we tune them a bit more, he'll be in a coma. And a little more and his brain will stop functioning. Want me to readjust it?"
"Oh, you could kill him? Please do... He's been nothing but trouble, y'know. Plus, if he dies, I'll most likely inherit his nice mansion, now wouldn't I? Uhh..." The White Queen let go of Ktelor's hair and Ktelor's head dropped a little before Ktelor could react.
"Hm... And what good would that do to you if you spent your whole life in that cage?" Sitting up, Ktelor laughed shortly.
"Don't worry, you piece of warm meat, I'll find a way out of here in a month at maximum, won't I?" Ktelor smiled and turned away, crossing her arms on her chest.
"Don't play arrogant, kid! We are the Inner Circle of the Hellfire Club, and you won't be escaping that cage before we decide to let you out. Xavier has again come to make my quest here difficult. Always when I find a new good student for my Academy, he is there to take them first! So we decided to just get him out of the way. You would be a moderate student for the Academy yourself. Why wouldn't you come to my school and meet some new people, instead of gathering mold at Xavier's pitiful mansion?"
"I like gathering mold an' hate people. They've always just made my life difficult."
"These people will not bother you. They're intelligent like you, some are mutants too. You'll be accepted and respected."
"Somehow I doubt that. But what the heck is the Hellfire Club? You probably all burn in hell for joining the club, eh? In their different levels or circles or whatever they are?"
"See, there are gaps in your education that Xavier cannot give. The Hellfire Club is a club for the rich. The Inner Circle is formed completely of mutants, though the normal members don't know it, of course. However, the Inner Circle is incomplete at the moment. I am the White Queen, Sebastian Shaw is the Black King, Leland
The White Queen banged the door of the cage shut and Ktelor's thoughts became unclear once again. She flounced outside, leaving Ktelor and Xavier alone in the room. Ktelor lost her consciousness for a while.
Ktelor woke up when she felt someone touching her back. Ktelor startled and looked at the one who had touched her. It was Kitty. Ktelor's thoughts still were not clear.
"Kitty! What... how'd ye...?"
"I... I... couldn't just let them take you away like that... I... there's no time! How do I get you out of that cage?"
"I... don't know..." Kitty moved rather hesitantly, still holding her hand on Ktelor's back.
"Would... would it help if I did this?" Due to Ktelor's blurry and unclear thoughts and sense perceptions, she could not see what Kitty exactly did. What was more important was that the door of the cage had opened.
Kitty had used her mutant abilities. She did not yet know what exactly they did, but in practice, she could move her atoms and molecules through other atoms and molecules, that is, she could walk through walls. What her powers also did was that they made electrical devices malfunction, as in this case, the door of the cage in which Ktelor was.
Ktelor's thoughts instantly became a little clearer. Kitty moved over to the door and started helping Ktelor out of the cage. Ktelor dropped on the floor and Kitty managed to soften her landing a little. Ktelor's thoughts became almost as clear as they usually were, though she felt rather tired.
"Ktelor... Ktelor, are you okay?" asked Kitty. She held Ktelor's head with her other hand and touched her shoulder lightly with the other.
"Um... Yeh. I think so." Ktelor glanced at Kitty's eyes, but at the same moment, one door in the room opened to reveal several guards of some sort. Ktelor stood up instantly and telepathically struck the first two soldiers down in no time. She jumped at the other two, her legs straight at them, kicked them and jumped up from their chest, landing on the wall. She took speed off the walls and knocked the two down with her elbows. Ktelor managed to telepathically force them unconscious also.
At the same time, a few more people had appeared from the other door. There were two men in Victorian clothing, a big fat one with red hair and a red suit and a big muscular one with dark hair, and two grunts like the four others. Ktelor very quickly swept through their minds, finding out that the two men in Victorian clothing were mutants, the other one with the ability to turn any kinetic energy directed at him to strength and the other one with the ability to alter an object's gravity. It did not take long for Ktelor to penetrate the fat man's psychic protections, and instantly she used his powers to increase the effect of gravity on the other three men.
"Leland!" the other man shouted. He then looked at Ktelor. The other two men lost their consciousness and Ktelor had the fat man's, Leland's, powers concentrate on the dark-haired man. The faster Ktelor had Leland increase the gravity on the other man, the faster his strength multiplied.
"Kitty!" Ktelor managed to cry out. "Free Xavier! Take off those electrodes an' wake him up!" Kitty was almost too scared to move, but as soon as she was able to move herself, Xavier woke up. He instantly struck the dark-haired man unconscious. Ktelor felt a sharp pain on her right shoulder and fell onto the floor. The White Queen had entered the room and was now fighting mentally with Xavier. Neither of them could do anything. Kitty was attacked by a grunt.
Ktelor received several strikes and hits on her back before she could turn around. Her head hurt and she was hit a few times on her chest before she could react. She slammed both of her fists on both sides of the grunt's head. Ktelor forced the grunt unconscious.
Kitty used her powers and phased every time the grunt tried to hit her, materializing always after it so she could breathe. The grunt was rather confused and did not know what to do, but managed to hit Kitty a little occasionally.
Ktelor suddenly almost lost control of her telepathy. She was extremely tired, confused and afraid and had no idea why. She ran behind a corner and tried to get her mind in order. She breathed heavily and fast, partly shaking because of the sudden fear. Somebody was affecting her thoughts. Ktelor tried to search for the reason. It was not the White Queen since her mind was fully occupied with Xavier. Ktelor could not concentrate enough to help Xavier. Ktelor suddenly turned around and saw a young boy looking at her. He was a weak telepath with high empathic abilities. He was affecting Ktelor's mind. Ktelor tried to put up her psychic protections, but she could not concentrate enough. She stepped toward the boy. The boy was afraid himself, and was not sure what he should do now. He just tried to affect Ktelor's mind enough to make her unable to do anything to him. Ktelor took a few more steps until she was in front of the boy, still unreachable.
"Stop it", demanded Ktelor. She tried to gather her powers enough to affect the boy's mind, and succeeded to some extent. "Stop it, or I'll..." She took one more step toward the boy and snatched his neck. "Stop it now, or you won't live long." The boy was now extremely horrified and channeled his fear to Ktelor. Ktelor struggled against the effect, but could not control herself in the end. She cried out in panic and collapsed into a corner, as did the boy. Both of them were paralyzed of fear for a moment. Ktelor got herself together soon, and secured her empathic protections. She moved over to the boy, sat next to him and clutched his throat. "Now, do as I say or I swear I'll kill you." The boy still refused. Ktelor squeezed the boy's throat so that in two seconds it would break. The boy was clearly in extreme panic.
"NO! I'll obey! Don't!" the boy shouted to Ktelor. Ktelor let go and the boy rubbed his throat. He was still very afraid.
"Now, remember, if you don't obey me, whenever I have the chance, I'll hunt you down and kill you." Ktelor was very angry and serious, and the boy easily noticed that. He thought it would be the best choice to do what Ktelor said.
The White Queen had managed to beat Xavier by using a gun bottom to hit him unconscious. She was extremely exhausted and basically could not use her telepathy at all. She walked round the corner to where Ktelor and the boy were. Ktelor got instantly up, but could not evade the hit the White Queen delivered. Ktelor's cheek started bleeding. She jumped at the White Queen and grabbed her throat. The White Queen caught Ktelor's arms, and even though she could not move them, she managed to keep Ktelor from hurting her and squeezed Ktelor's arms so hard that Ktelor had to let go somewhat.
"Now, boy, make her fear! Remember what I said!" The boy hesitated for a few seconds, but then used his power on the White Queen, making it possible for Ktelor to knock her out with the help of her telepathy. The White Queen fainted. Ktelor dropped on the floor along with her. Her arms were aching like never before. After a short while, she felt a touch on her shoulder. It was the boy.
"You... you dragged me into this! I have no way of going back!" he shouted in panic. "It's all your fault! What will I do now!" Ktelor saw tears running down his face. She got up, held the boy's shoulder and looked at him.
"Come with me and Xavier then, now will ye? We'll help you, I'll promise." Ktelor left for the boy to choose whether or not he dared to trust her, though he could probably sense Ktelor was seriously speaking the truth.
Ktelor walked back to the main room, still holding her arms, and saw the back of the grunt still chasing Kitty. Ktelor hit the grunt as hard as she could and telepathically forced him unconscious.
"Are ye okay?" she asked Kitty.
"I... I think so", replied Kitty. She was out of breath, tired and afraid but okay.
Ktelor looked at Xavier. He was unconscious. Ktelor looked behind her, seeing the boy. "Are you coming?"
The boy was silent for a moment that seemed very long after the fast-paced fighting. "...Y-yes..."
Ktelor saw her and Xavier's clothes on a table. "What's your name?" Ktelor asked as she went to get the clothes.
"Empath."
"I meant your real name. What should we call ye?" Ktelor pulled on her trousers, moved the clothes on Xavier and started to unload the devices from the portable bed Xavier was lying on.
"Manuel..."
"Okay. We have to get out of here. Do you have any idea where we should be going?"
"Um... I think the transport halls are that way. They have a lot of cars there..."
"Alright. Come after me, both of ye, will ye." Ktelor started pushing the portable bed out of the room.
They arrived at the transport hall after a few dead ends and six more unconscious grunts. The halls were mainly empty. Ktelor saw a few cameras, but they could be easily avoided.
"We need a car... Can ye drive? How old are you?" asked Ktelor.
"Fourteen..."
"Great... Xavier's the only one who can drive here, but even if he was conscious, he can't use his legs... Oh well, driving can't be that hard, now can it?" Ktelor took her shoes, pulling them on. After that, she sneaked into the hall, found a good car and beckoned Manuel and Kitty to her. They pushed Xavier over also. Ktelor managed to get Xavier to the back seat of the car, strapping the seat belts so that he would not fall off even if she stopped suddenly. Kitty and Manuel soon moved to the other front seat. Ktelor sat on the place of the driver.
"Um... How old are you?" asked Manuel.
"Fifteen. I know the theory an' have driven once... So... no problem at all. Thank goodness this is an automatic. I'd be screwed with our good car... An' fasten yer seatbelts, will ye, ye're gonna need them." Ktelor started the engine and drove carefully, tricking the door guard to think they were allowed to go. After that, they had lots of straight road ahead of them and plenty of fuel in the tank.
They soon got away from the area and onto a highway.
"We're... in... Boston?!" exclaimed Ktelor. "And it's 5 AM! Your parents are going to be SO pissed..."
"Oh god", sighed Kitty. Ktelor was overly concentrated on the traffic.
"I... I can't drive like this for long. We have to stop somewhere..." She continued driving.
They soon passed the human living areas, stopping at the nearest gas station. Ktelor managed to park the car so that it actually fit the square.
"Okay... We can't go further now. Let's sleep an' think about this in the morning, shall we? If ye want to go to the bathroom, do so now an' come back real soon." Both Kitty and Manuel left.
Ktelor looked at Xavier, sighing. Her life would probably be just endless fighting in addition to the occasional death of a friend, unless Ktelor managed to die first. But that was not probable. She snatched the rest of her clothes and dressed before Kitty and Manuel came back. She also took Xavier's clothes to use as a pillow and his jacket to use as a coat.
"Now... Is everyone okay with sleeping first and talking then, like after we all have woken up at ten or something?"
"Yeah", said Kitty. She looked very tired.
Ktelor would have probably needed a ten-hour night of sleep after all that fighting, but that was not really an option now. She turned her legs at Kitty. "Come on. We'll sleep better this way, now won't we? I won't do anything." Kitty hesitated a little, but then moved over to Ktelor and lay on her. "Are ye okay, Manuel?"
"Yeah..." said Manuel. After Ktelor and Kitty had settled, he also took a comfortable position, trying to sleep.
He could still basically go back. He could call the White Queen and hand the runaways to her. But she would know that he had rebelled, even if he was forced to do it. She would not help him anymore. It was best he went with these mutants. And Ktelor had been serious. He fell asleep.
Manuel woke up in the morning. The time was around half to ten. Ktelor and Kitty were still sleeping. He looked to the back and saw Xavier moving and waking up. He quickly shook Ktelor's leg to get her awake.
"What? Who are you?" asked Xavier from the back. "What on earth..."
"Um, Prof!" muttered Ktelor from under Kitty. She moved Kitty a little, waking her up, and looked at Xavier.
"What on earth has happened, Ktelor?" Ktelor gave Xavier a short description of the few past happenings. "Goodness, Ktelor... We're still in Massachusetts?"
"Yep..."
"My god... The Prydes have probably reported us missing already... God..." Xavier lay back for a moment, and Ktelor straightened herself.
"What's going on?" asked Manuel.
"Well, nothing much... we're just screwed."
"What will happen to me?"
"What would you like to happen to you?"
"Jump back in time about seven hours and just forget my exercise..." Manuel leaned forwards and covered his face with his hands.
"Well, I wish I could jump back in time three an' half years and get my parents stay in Antarctica. It's an unfair world, so get used to it." Ktelor was quiet for a moment, and no one else did anything either. "We'll take you to New York with us. We have this school there, where Xavier teaches mutants how to deal with their powers. I'd guess you'd be good there."
Manuel did not reply. He just thought about what he had done. His previous life was over, there was absolutely no way going back. Everything he had done in the Massachusetts Academy, his friends, the teachers, everything... more or less gone. Maybe he could contact his friends sometimes. What would he do at Xavier's school? Probably the same stuff as in the academy. It did not sound that bad.
Ktelor sensed Manuel's depression but ignored it. She knew Manuel knew she sensed his feelings, and thus paid no attention, to respect his privacy.
"Xavier?" asked Ktelor. "What'll we do now?"
"Uh... I'm not that sure. Manuel, will you come with us to my School for Gifted Youngsters?"
"I guess I have no choice."
"...Alright. I think we could do it like this: I'll call for Lilandra and she will pick you up here. Then she'll take me, Ktelor and Kitty back to Chicago to talk with her parents. You will go back to the mansion and we will come later by plane."
"Sounds okay."
"Yeh", said Ktelor. Kitty nodded slightly.
"Who's Lilandra?"
"She is my ...wife, if that can be described that way. I'm sure she will tell you more when you meet her. Ktelor, take my hand. Help me to contact Lilandra..."
"What, no end to the exercises even in this kind of situation..." Ktelor took Xavier's hand and they formed a connection to Lilandra. Lilandra took a small jet and left for them.
She arrived in a bit less than an hour. She took Ktelor, Kitty and Xavier back to Chicago and then took Manuel back to New York. She had brought a new wheelchair for Xavier, for the previous one had been left at the complex in Massachusetts. They ordered a taxi and traveled back to Kitty's home.
Kitty's parents had been extremely worried and anxious, and Carmen was very angry with Xavier. Fortunately, he bought Ktelor's vivid explanation about an extraordinary incident at the restaurant they had been eating in. He was still rather suspicious though, but trusted Xavier enough to continue talking with him.
The adults still had some things to discuss as of now, so after they all had had lunch, they sent Kitty and Ktelor upstairs. Kitty took Ktelor to her room.
"Well, this is my room... Nothing much to it", said Kitty as she stepped into the room. Ktelor looked around. The room looked pretty much like an average teen girl's room. As Kitty had said, nothing really special to it.
"Looks nice." They were quiet for a moment. Kitty yawned. "Tired?"
"Oh yeah... I don't think I've ever seen more than last night. ...Is... is that what a superhero's life is like then? Unexpected fights and threats everywhere?"
"Well... kind of. They aren't that frequent... usually we go looking for the trouble rather than them coming at us, but yeah, that's life. I hadn't fought in a while though..."
"Didn't you get hurt? I saw how one of those grunts hit you back there..."
"It's no big deal... I have a healing power, it takes care of me. It isn't that fast though, and I need a lot of food for it to work... Did ye see how much I ate?"
"Ah, that's where the food went!" Kitty chuckled.
"Heh... Well, honestly speaking, my back is hurting now... I think I slept bad. My head's putting up something too... After using that much of my power suddenly, I'd need a lot more sleep. Oh well, I'll sleep this night. Hopefully."
"Your back's hurting? C'mon, take off your shirt. I'll have a look at it." Ktelor turned to Kitty, rather surprised. Kitty was honest; she wanted to look at Ktelor's back. She was going to rub it. She also wanted to see Ktelor without a shirt...
"Um..."
"C'mon."
"Well... uh... okay." Ktelor lifted her shirt over her head and looked down. She even had some bruises on her chest from the beating.
"Ouch... Goodness, Ktelor. That doesn't look good..." Kitty reached her hand and touched Ktelor's chest right under her left collarbone. Ktelor blushed but did not want Kitty to see that, so if Kitty looked at her, she would trick her mind to see her the normal way.
"It's okay. It'll heal." Kitty moved her hand to Ktelor's shoulder.
"Come on, turn around." Ktelor turned and felt Kitty touching her back. Kitty rubbed it slightly, and it felt nice. "Let's sit down... my arms are gonna get tired if I stand here like this." Ktelor sat down, Kitty after her. Kitty started rubbing Ktelor's back properly. "Does it feel good?"
"Oh, yes, very..." They did not speak for a while, and Ktelor enjoyed the rubbing.
Kitty stopped rubbing after a while.
"My arms are getting tired..." She leaned forward and lay her upper body against Ktelor's back. Ktelor was slightly surprised. Kitty put her arms around Ktelor, on her stomach.
"Kitty... Do I... have a reason to... believe you like me?"
"And only now you noticed?" said Kitty, chuckling. "Geezers Ktelor, you're a telepath an' ya didn't figure it out?" she asked, smiling.
"Well, I, uh... I've just... I don't know..." Kitty got off of Ktelor.
"Ktelor... Is there like anything that you don't take seriously? I mean – –"
"Well, Xavier. I know, I'm acting weird... but... I don't know how else I would act. I just.... I'm not used to other people." They were quiet for a while.
"Do ya want me to rub more?"
"Yes, please... if you want to." Kitty started rubbing Ktelor's back again, and Ktelor enjoyed it while it lasted.
Kitty's father interrupted them.
"Kitty, Ktelor – –" He was cut off when he saw them. Ktelor turned her head away. Kitty blushed, but just slightly. "...come on downstairs. We need to talk with you again... Oh, Ktelor, you have some bruises on your back."
"Yeah, I know", replied Ktelor while she pulled on her shirt and reached for the sunglasses. "I got a little beaten yesterday in that incident... nothing big, it's just bruises." Kitty had gone downstairs already. Ktelor got up and went to the door.
"Ktelor", said Carmen.
"Yes?"
"I take it Kitty seems to like you quite a lot."
"Uh... I guess."
"Do you like her?"
"Um... I... I don't know. I... I just don't... I don't know. I've never been in love an' I uh... I've never really had friends so I... Um... I should probably just be quiet when I don't know what I'm talking about." Ktelor looked down, slightly embarrassed. She had no idea what she should have said and Carmen did not give any clues. "But... I... She..."
"It's okay, kid. I would be confused if I was your age, really. You're a bit shy, aren't you?"
"Uh, really?" Ktelor was surprised. "Um, oh, yeah... Yeah, I am... I guess..."
"It's okay, Ktelor", said Carmen and patted Ktelor's shoulder. "Let's go down." Ktelor was slightly confused and even reading Carmen's mind a little did not help. Ktelor went down.
They all sat around the dinner table to eat some dessert. It was decided that Kitty would come to Xavier's school. She would pack her stuff now and go to the mansion with Xavier and Ktelor. Kitty was soon done with packing. She had two big bags and one small bag full of her stuff, clothes, some books and other things. They soon got on the plane and flew to New York City, where Lilandra and Manuel were waiting.
Lilandra had already directed Manuel to a room of his own, and he had calmed down. To him it seemed that this place wouldn't be much different from the Massachusetts Academy. There were not near as many students at Xavier's, but personalized teaching was about as good as teaching could get anyway. Moreover, here Manuel would be able to meet more mutants than in the Academy, not having the need to hide his powers.
It was likely that the White Queen and the Hellfire Club would not come after Manuel. His talents were not really valuable in any way; he was not important. Besides, after what Ktelor had done to the members of the Hellfire Club, it was likely that they would keep their heads out of it for at least a while.
After the fight with the Hellfire Club, Kitty was very taken by Ktelor. She had been impressed by Ktelor's skills in addition to the fact that she thought she liked Ktelor's appearance. As far as Kitty knew, Ktelor was a modest, honest, pretty-looking boy.
The next morning, after they all had had a good night's sleep, Xavier asked Ktelor to show the two new students around. Ktelor did as was told, boringly showing the place in accustomed routine that had not really became routine at all.
After finishing the tour, Ktelor turned around to face Kitty and Manuel. "That was it for the tour. Anythin' ye want to ask?"
Kitty stepped closer to Ktelor. "Ooh yeah... can we see your room?"
Ktelor was slightly startled. "Ehm..."
Manuel looked from Ktelor to Kitty and back at Ktelor a little disbelievingly. "No. See ya later." Manuel turned on his heels and walked away toward his own room.
"Well, can ya show me your room?"
After looking at Kitty for a while, Ktelor turned her eyes away, looking after Manuel and at the floor. She looked back at Kitty. "Um... I guess." Ktelor walked down the corridors to a corner of the mansion. There was a lonely door in a corner of the corridor that turned to the right. It had a sign that read "Ktelor Gilian / Teleshade" on it.
"Hey... Is your like, your codename Teleshade?"
"Yes." Ktelor opened the door and went in. Kitty followed.
To describe Ktelor's room in one word, it looked metallic. It was cold, both literally and emotionally. The walls under the several blueprints, sci-fi movie posters and metal music posters were bare, painted gray. In the ceiling were two fluorescent lamps. The room was long and rectangular. Right in front of and left from the door there were shelves filled with old technological stuff, albums and papers. To the right from the door there was a small table with a few small things on it and Ktelor's narrow and messy bed. Behind the bed was a clothes closet, a rather small one. Its doors were open, some clothes hanging on them. Opposite to Ktelor's bed there were more shelves and a rather long working desk with boxes under it. After it there were two windows with curtains and venetian blinds. Then there were just more shelves and boxes until the end of the room. Behind the clothes closet there was a room to the bathroom. Before the bathroom door there was a TV and before the shelves in the back a couch on which to watch the TV. The TV was very adjusted, full of wires of which some lead outside, where Kitty could see a satellite plate and antenna.
"Uh... oh, wow", Kitty managed to mumble.
"Ye don't have to hide it. If ye don't like it, just don't come here. No one ever likes my room. Even... even Logan didn't like it." Ktelor looked down as she said this. "You probably want to show me yer room. Let's get."
"No, Ktelor... I, I don't like, y'know, dislike it. It's okay."
"Kitty, I'm a telepath. Don't lie to me. There's no use an' secondly, it hurts me. Let's get." Ktelor went outside, waiting for Kitty to come out. Kitty took a look at the room before she went out. Even though its general feeling was very repulsive to her, she had never seen such a mysterious place; there could be almost anything in there. Ktelor could probably do almost anything there. It was dark, misty... just something Kitty had not seen before.
Kitty had not even seen all there was to Ktelor's room, for there was a door hidden behind the shelves before the back wall. The door led to a light, normal, soft-coloured but small room. There was a big couch in there, joyful landscape posters hanging on the wall and a cassette player. Ktelor had prepared that room herself, soon after the X-Men had died. Xavier, Lilandra or others did not know what was in it, or even that it was there. Even Ktelor never went there anymore.
As of now, Kitty's room was rather plain. Most of Kitty's stuff was still in the two big bags that she had dragged along from her home. The room was nice and light, like every other room except Ktelor's.
"Doesn't look like much", said Kitty. "Not near as interesting as yours... but it'll be better." She turned to Ktelor, smiling. "You want to help me unpack?"
"Um. If... you want to."
"Sure I do. Here." Kitty handed Ktelor the other one of the bags. Ktelor opened it, seeing in it mostly clothes. "Now... this closet is gonna be my clothes closet. Can you hand me the stuff an' I'll pile it in?"
"Okay." Ktelor handed over Kitty's jeans, T-shirts, other shirts, jacket, some other kind of trousers, socks, shoes and a few weird things Ktelor did not know about. "Kitty, um... ye want to look to yer underwear yerself, right – –"
"Just hand them over." Ktelor could sense that Kitty was slightly embarrassed, but Kitty wanted Ktelor to hand them over. And Ktelor did as was told. She had not really seen girls' underwear before, and blushed slightly while handing them.
"Okay – –"
"Can you help me with the other stuff too?"
"... Okay." Ktelor kept on handing Kitty's stuff over to Kitty, and Kitty searched for a proper place for each thing.
Later the both big bags were empty.
"You can store the bags in the closet", said Ktelor, opening a small closet door next to the bathroom door. "An' other stuff ye don't really need. "Um... if ye need some more stuff, we've got a storage room in the first floor. I can take you there some time."
"Okay."
Ktelor was quiet for a moment. She did not actually feel like spending any more time in Kitty's room. "I think I should better be going."
"No... c'mon Ktelor, we like just started talkin'."
"Eh... What do ye want to talk about?"
"Anything?"
Ktelor's line of sight wandered around the room for a moment. It was quite a surprise. "Eh... anything?"
"Ktelor..." Kitty looked rather frustrated. "You don't mind if I hug ya, will ya?"
Ktelor startled slightly. "What? What did..." Ktelor became quiet as Kitty stepped closer to her, placing her arms around Ktelor's neck. "K-Kitty..."
"Sh." Kitty hugged Ktelor, pressing her body against Ktelor's and laying her head on Ktelor's shoulder. Ktelor was stunned, standing there like a statue. "C'mon, Ktelor. Ya gonna hug me or not?"
"Eh, oh..." It was like Ktelor had suddenly realized she had arms, now having no idea at all what to do with them. She then just placed them on Kitty's back, very gently but stiffly.
"Ktelor... have you... Have ya like never even hugged anyone before?"
Ktelor tried to speak calmly, seeming to know what she was doing at least verbally if not practically. "No, I haven't. Not like this I mean." Kitty let go of Ktelor a little, looking Ktelor straight face-to-face. She moved her hands from Ktelor's neck to her face. Ktelor was pretty much terrified, still standing like a statue.
"Ktelor, come on... don't be scared. What's the matter with me hugging ya? It can't be that bad..." Ktelor tried to speak but could not get out a word. She turned her head down, looking at her own chest, breathing quickly.
"I..."
Kitty took a moment before speaking. "Ktelor, relax. Just relax... take it easy... you don't have to worry about it..." Kitty let go of Ktelor and stepped back a little. Ktelor had never been this uneasy. While the majority of her body and mind wanted to just run out of the room screaming like hell, a small part in her wanted to do just what Kitty said, and even a smaller part wanted to grab Kitty and kiss her passionately. So, Ktelor just stood there, tensed and terrified, looking at Kitty. Kitty was worried. "Ktelor... y'should like, relax..." Ktelor could do nothing. Kitty sighed, reaching out with her right hand for Ktelor's left hand. She took and held it. Ktelor looked at the hands and did nothing. "Are ya okay?"
Ktelor pushed Kitty's hands away, marching outside the room. It was clear to Kitty that Ktelor was just inexperienced and had no idea what to do. She figured Ktelor would need time to think it over. She would catch Ktelor later.
Ktelor rushed to Xavier who was in his office for a change.
"What is it, Ktelor?" said Xavier, not that surprised at Ktelor's coming.
"She hugged me!" exclaimed Ktelor, rather tight-lipped. She leaned on Xavier's desk, hanging her head down.
Xavier looked up at her, slightly amused, but remembering that this was Ktelor in question after all. "She hugged you? Is that all?" Ktelor shook her head, still looking down. "What did you do?"
"Nothing! I did nothing! I couldn't even move! Ah!"
Xavier moved his hoverchair from behind his desk to where Ktelor was. While he lay his hand on Ktelor's shoulder, Ktelor continued leaning on his desk, turning her face away from him. "You just walked away then?"
"That was all I could do, now wasn't it."
"Ktelor, relax. You can't hide from your peers forever."
"Why... why did she do it. Why'd she pick me?"
"She met you first. You impressed her. Now, I'm sure she isn't that serious anyway, after all, you haven't even told her anything about yourself yet."
"What should I do then?"
"You don't really like her that much, do you?"
"That's right, I don't."
"Well, considering your previous life and relationships, I'd recommend you to play along for a while. A few days. I'm sure it'll do you both good. Kitty will realize that you aren't really what she wants."
"What should I say to her?"
"I don't know. Ask her. Maybe it'll be a little inconvenient, but you're just practicing, after all. Both of you. Now relax a little. Moving on, have you read the optics extension?"
"No, not yet."
"Good. Then go read it, do the first exercise and come for lunch."
"...Okay." Ktelor turned slowly, walked a little unsteadily across the room and outside.
Xavier shook his head slightly and looked after Ktelor, smiling.
Ktelor did as Xavier suggested and read physics until lunchtime. After reading the chapters, she went to the kitchen, where Xavier and Lilandra had been preparing the lunch.
"Ah, Ktelor. Can you help?" asked Xavier as he saw Ktelor come. "Lay the table for five, please." Xavier gave a telepathic image of what the table should look.
"Alright, it's not like I had something better to do, is it?" As soon as Ktelor was done, both Kitty and Manuel arrived. Ktelor looked at Kitty, not saying a word. Manuel noticed the tension.
"Huh, what's up?"
Ktelor looked at Manuel. "Tension." Manuel rolled his eyes.
Xavier looked at Manuel and Ktelor. "Come on, let's eat. I'll explain to you later, Manuel." He turned to Ktelor. "And what I am going to explain to him is how to use his powers. So don't worry, Ktelor."
Ktelor sat on her usual place. "As if I really cared much."
"What's for food?" asked Kitty eagerly, sitting next to Ktelor.
Lilandra put the dishes on the table while Xavier took his usual place. "Nothing very special", said Lilandra. "But I think you'll be surprised at the dessert."
Ktelor chuckled slightly. "What, we're gonna get some Shi'Argharel again? Why not just blow out their taste receptors beforehand?"
"You are such a spoilsport", answered Lilandra happily.
"What, alien food?" began Manuel. "Um..."
"It's quite alright, Manuel. It does taste rather extraordinary, but it is very good", said Xavier.
"Yeh, it's good. It's just a little funny on human taste receptors y' know. That's why we use it as dessert. The Shi'Ar take it for appetizers."
"Oh. ..." Manuel looked at the food.
"Let's start, shall we?" said Xavier, grabbing a pair of knives.
Ktelor looked at Lilandra's pair of forks, amused. "Whoops." Xavier grinned at Ktelor as he switched one knife for Lilandra's other fork. They started eating.
When they were done, Xavier told Kitty and Manuel to come later to his office so that he could tell more of the school.
Kitty was about to leave for her room, when she noticed Ktelor was following her. "Ktelor?"
"Can I come with ye?"
"Of course", said Kitty, looking at Ktelor, smiling. She turned and Ktelor followed her to Kitty's room. After they had stepped in, Kitty turned to Ktelor.
"Um... I'm sorry that I just... walked away like that. I was just... y'know, shocked."
"It's okay... I mean, you've probably been all alone pretty much your whole life an' all. I'm sorry I startled you." Ktelor just smiled at Kitty. She was being so nice; Ktelor was a little confused by Kitty's kindness. Even though this had surprised Ktelor, she still found Kitty rather boring and too normal. Ktelor reached out, taking Kitty's hand in hers. Kitty smiled, looking up at Ktelor, and hugged her again. Even though Ktelor was still rather uneasy about it, she decided to hug back properly, wrapping her arms around Kitty. Kitty smiled and nudged her head against Ktelor's shoulder.
"Kitty... um... Have you, y'know, ever done anything like this? I – –"
"No, not really. I've like hugged people before, but not exactly like this... y'know." Ktelor hummed a positive answer. They just stood there for a while, cuddling.
After a moment, Kitty let go of Ktelor, but still holding her hands on Ktelor's shoulders. "So... What do you do here usually?"
Ktelor almost let completely go of Kitty, but then kept her hands on Kitty's sides. "Um... Well, I read... an' exercise... do what Xavier says... build things an' fly the plane... I guess that's it."
"What do you read?"
"Well, physics... math... comics, magazines... and stuff..."
Kitty let go of Ktelor and stood in the middle of the room for a while. "Say, would cha like to take me for a walk? Around the area..." They went.
Kitty was quite fond of Ktelor for the moment.
However, unlike Kitty, Manuel did not quite approve of Ktelor. To him, Ktelor was definitely something that should not be. Now that Ktelor did exist anyway, he did not like the fact that Ktelor had beaten him when they had fought. Then again, Manuel did not bother with it that much, so he just kept his mouth shut about it, occasionally having a few conversations about it with Xavier. Ktelor did not bother even that much, basically wholly ignoring Manuel.
A few days later, Ktelor was sitting in a tree with Kitty. Ktelor had noticed that Kitty was getting tired of em as well, so ey thought it would soon come to an end.
"Y'know, Ktelor... about your room."
"What about it?"
"Y'know... if no one likes being there, why don't ya just reorganize it? An' repaint it... I think it could look a lot better."
"But I don't want to. I like it."
"... Are ya serious?"
"Yes, like always. I like gray, electronic devices an' stuff like that. I thought I said ye don't have to come to my room if ye don't want to." Ktelor held a branch in eir hand, looking down. "I don't think... Kitty, I don't want to change."
"...I don't know..."
Ktelor was quiet. Kitty was rapidly thinking about everything she had gone through these past few days. Ktelor tried not to read her mind just now. Ey looked away, concentrating on something else.
"Ya reading my mind again?" asked Kitty, smiling, after she had figured things out in her mind.
"Trying not to."
Kitty put her hand on Ktelor's shoulder. "Y'know... I thought... I had this silly idea that ya could be like my boyfriend or something... but I don't think it'd work... I'm sorry."
Ktelor had no idea what to say. Ey turned to look at Kitty. Ey was quiet for a moment. "Kitty, you know I'm not a boy."
"Yeah, but... whatever... I just..." Ktelor turned away again. Kitty looked at em, rubbing eir neck a little.
"Yo, lovebirds!" came a shout from below. Manuel was standing under the tree. He noticed the manner of emotions, refraining from the next comment. "Xavier wants to show us something over there." Kitty glanced at Ktelor and dropped herself on the ground. Ktelor did not bother to leave the tree. Ey lay on the branch and relaxed while Kitty and Manuel walked away.
"Finally this crap is over", ey thought.
From that moment on, Ktelor did not bother paying any attention to Kitty, even though every once in a while ey wished ey could hug Kitty a little or have her rub eir back for a while. However, Ktelor was too shy to ask for anything like it, even though Kitty would have done it for em.
Viikko Kittyn ja Manuelin tulon jälkeen Ktelor ja Xavier lähtivät hakemaan kolmatta nuorta mutanttia. Kyseinen poika, James Proudstar, oli John Proudstarin eli Myrskylinnun pikkuveli. Vaikka hänen vanhempansa olivatkin olleet katkeria Johnin kuoleman takia, Xavier sai heidät ylipuhuttua, ja hän ja Ktelor tulisivat keskustelemaan vielä kerran, ja jos kaikki menisi hyvin, he veisivät Jamesin mukanaan New Yorkiin.
Xavier ja Ktelor lensivät Arizonan intiaanireservaattiin pienellä jetillään. He jättivät jetin kauemmas, ja Ktelorilla oli taas hauskaa saadessaan työntää Xavieria hankalalla hiekkatiellä, puhumattakaan tukahduttavasta kuumuudesta. Onneksi ilma sentään oli kuivaa.
James istui vanhempineen talonsa terassilla puhelemassa, kun Ktelor ja Xavier saapuivat. James nousi seisomaan, katsoi Xavieriin aika halveksivasti hetken aikaa, kääntyen sitten katsomaan Kteloria. Ktelor huomasi heti, että toisin kuin lähes kaikki muut, James oletti hänen olevan tyttö. Ktelor työnsi Xavierin Jamesin vanhempien luo sisälle taloon, jonne he asettuivat keskustelemaan. James ja Ktelor jäivät ulos.
Molemmat olivat hiljaa hetken ja katselivat toisiaan. James oli Kteloria vuoden nuorempi, mutta hieman pidempi ja huomattavasti isokokoisempi. Hänellä oli päällään farkut ja vaalea T-paita. Ktelorissa James näki lähinnä atleettisen tytön. Hänelle ei tullut mieleenkään, että Ktelor ei ehkä olisi sitä, miltä näyttää. Ktelor ei jaksanut sitä alkaa selittämään ainakaan tällä haavaa, niin kuin aikaisemminkin. Hiljaisuus jatkui, ja toisin kuin useilla muilla kerroilla, tämä hiljaisuus ei ollut kiusallinen vähäisimmässäkään määrin. Ei heidän tarvitsisi puhua. James kuitenkin päätti ottaa Ktelorin nimestä selvän.
"Ootsää Ktelor?"
"Juu. Ktelor Kadrei Gilian, jos halluut pilkkuu viilata." Ktelor seisoi paikallaan hetken. "Mie tiiänkii siun nimes."
"Kas kummaa."
He kävelivät hiljalleen pois ihmisten asuttamilta alueilta katsellen maisemia. Ktelorista tuntui, että James halusi puhua jostain, mutta hän ei jaksanut ottaa selvää mistä. Kertokoon, jos siltä tuntuu tai olkoon hiljaa.
"Ktelor..."
"Mitä?"
"Miten sä kestät tota Xavieria lähelläs? Mua kauhistuttaa ajatuski siitä, että mä eläisin jonkun sellasen kanssa, joka voi lukee mun ajatuksia ja pistää mut tekemään mitä hyvänsä."
"No kas vain. Mietihän vaihtoehtoja." He olivat hiljaa. James ei tullut ajatelleeksi, että Ktelorkin oli telepaatti. "Kerrotaanpas nyh ensiks pari asiaa telepatiasta. Xavier on sellanen rautakangen nielassu puku, että se ei moraalisääntöjään rikkois vaikka henkesä ois pelissä. Toiseks telepatiaa ei ou pakko käyttee, jos hallihtee voimasa. Niinku Xavier. Mistä sie sait tuommosen asenteen?"
"Ei John ois itteensä tapattanu sillei." Hänen mielestään Xavier oli ohjaillut Johnia, ja että hän tälläkin hetkellä ohjaili Kteloria. Hänelle ei tietenkään tullut mieleen, että häntä tässä saatettaisiin ohjailla, vaikka asia ei tietenkään ollut niin. Ktelor oli hieman hämmentynyt, mutta ymmärsi Jamesin väitteen.
"Mistäs tiiät?"
"Ei se ois tehny niin. Xavier pisti sen tappamaan ittensä ihan suotta."
"Eipäs."
"Mistä sä sen muka tiiät?"
"Mie olin siellä."
"Ai jaa." James ei ollut tätä odottanut, mutta se ei hänen puhettaan haitannut. "Mistä sä tiiät että Xavier ei pistäny sua uskoon että se muka teki niinku sää sanoit?
"Mie oon ite ainaki melkein yhtä vahva telepaatti."
"Häh?!"
"Ja ihan vaan omaks tiiokses, mie en lue siun mieltä tai tee mitään muutakaan. Ei ou syytä."
"Miten mä voin muka sen tietää?"
"Et kai sie voi." Ktelor pysähtyi ja hyppäsi eräälle kivelle, joka oli ison puun varjossa. "Kyllä mie tiiän, että sitä on hankala hyväksyy. Mutta nyt ku täällä kerran on telepaatteja, niin ei sille voi mittään. Totuttele siihen. Ja usko vaan, jos mie olisin niin voimakas kun sie luulet miun olevan, tämä maailma olis ollut parempi paikka jo pitkään."
"Se on epäreiluu."
"Niin on kaikki muukii." James ei vastannut. "Eikös se nyt kuitenkin ole tässä tärkeintä, että sie tunnet olos hyväks? Luota minnuun. Mie en piä Xavierista kovinkaan paljo enempi kun sie. Se äijä ärsyttää minnuu. Ja mie tiiän, että se ei lueskele muitten mieliä ees vahingossa. Kyllä mie sen huomaisin. Mie en hallihe voimiani yhtä hyvin, mutta kokemusten perusteella niitä mieliä on parempi olla lukematta. Siinä vaan masentuu." James seisoi paikallaan ja katseli ympärilleen. Ktelor nojasi taaksepäin, katsellen taivaalle ja alkoi ajatella jotain ihan muuta.
James yritti päättää, mitä ajatella tilanteesta. Hän ei voisi periaatteessa mitenkään tietää, lukiko joku hänen mieltään vai ei. Hänestä itsestään ei tuntunut erilaiselta. Ehkä Ktelor puhui totta. Ja miksei olisi puhunut? Ehkä koko homma oli järjestetty, vain siksi että Xavier saisi hänet kartanoon, aivopesisi hänet ja pakottaisi hänet liittymään miniarmeijaansa. Eihän hän siitä aivopesun jälkeen mitään tietäisi. Mutta jos Xavier haluaisi tehdä niin, miksi hän viettäisi pitkiä aikoja puhuessaan ja keskustellessaan Proudstarien kanssa? Hänhän voisi vain pakottaa Jamesin mukaansa ja pistää Jamesin vanhemmat uskomaan, että James meni vapaaehtoisesti. Siispä James tuli päätökseensä, että Xavier oli sittenkin rehellinen, vaikka hänen tapansa olivatkin hieman kummallisia. Tuskinpa James siitä huolimatta antaisi veljensä kuolemaa anteeksi, mutta hänellä ei ollut syytä pelätä.
James katsoi Kteloriin, joka parhaillaan rötkötti kivellä yrittäen haihduttaa vähän enemmän lämpöä ja mietti autolla ajamista. James hyppäsi hänen luokseen ja istui hänen viereensä. Ktelor katsoi häneen, ja hän oli hetken hiljaa.
"Mä päätin luottaa suhun ja Xavieriin."
"No sehän on hyvä. Kiinnostaako vielä lähtee mukkaan?"
"No kaipa siellä paremmin elää kun tällä tylsällä tilalla, rajotetussa reservaatissa." Ktelor käänsi katseensa jälleen taivasta kohti. "Onksulla kuuma?"
"Totta kai."
"Tää muka kuuma? Missä sä oikein oot eläny? Etelämantereella vai?"
"No siellä just."
"Häh? Ihan totta?"
"Juu. Asuin ensimmäiset 12 vuotta siellä, sitten muutin Kanadaan ja sitten New Yorkiin. New York on kans hirveen kuuma kesällä... Onneks mie voin istua sisällä." He hiljenivät jälleen. Ktelor jatkoi makaamista, ja James nojasi käsiinsä katsellen ympärilleen.
"Sä näytät aika kivalta."
"Häh? Ai... näytän vai? Mi... ihanko totta?" Ktelor hämmentyi; mitään tällaista hän ei todellakaan ollut odottanut. "Öh... tämä on vähän hassua. Ylleensä porukka lulloo minnuu pojaks."
"Miks?"
"No en mie tiiä. Ei sillä että mie olisin tyttö tai poika, mutta silti.
"Siis mitä?"
"Mie oon sukupuoleton. Johtuu siitä kun oon mutantti."
"Ai. No, musta sä näytät enemmän tytöltä."
"Aivan sama se miulle on. Ne kaks muuta siellä Xavierin koulussa luulloo minnuu pojaks, vaikka kyllä niille on kerrottu etten mie oo." Ktelor vilkaisi sivulleen, Jamesin taakse, ja näki siellä noin kolmen sormen paksuisen käärmeen. Hän ei tunnistanut sitä, eikä hänellä ollut harmaintakaan aavistusta, oliko käärme myrkyllinen vai ei. Hän päätti kuitenkin olla ottamatta riskiä. Ktelorin koko keho hätkähti, kun hän heilautti nopeasti kättään ja nappasi käärmeen pään sormiensa väliin. James kääntyi katsomaan.
"Mitä?" Käärme kietoutui Ktelorin käden ympärille.
"No... se oli käärme... ja mie kun en tiiä, onko tuo myrkyllinen tai vaarallinen tai jotain, niin päätin napata sen, ettei pääse puremaan meitä."
"Ei toi vaarallinen oo... Kyllä siitä ehkä vähän pahemman tulehuksen saa jos se puree. Mut ei tommonen minikäärme pysty ees puremaan mun ihon läpi."
"Jaa ei vai?"
"Mä oon superkestävä niin kun Johnki. Sä taisit tässä olla pahemmassa vaarassa."
"No enpä ny niinkää. Miulla on paranemisvoima."
"Aha." Ktelor alkoi irrottaa käärmettä kätensä ympäriltä, ja saatuaan sen irti hän heitti sen pensastoon. Hän nousi istumaan. "Onko siellä Xavierin koulussa paljonki muita?"
"No ei oikee. Mie ja kaks muuta kidiä. Ne on kumpikii sinnuu nuorempii. ...Pitäskös meiän männä takasin? Tuskin niillä kovin kauaa mennee puhhuu..."
"Mitä?"
"Männäänkö takasi."
"Vaikka." He laskeutuivat kiveltä ja lähtivät kävelemään takaisin tilalle. "Sä puhut vähän hassusti."
"No niih puhut siekii." James ei vastannut. He jatkoivat hidasta kävelyään, katsellen maisemia. Kohta James pysähtyi. Hänen pysähdyttyään Ktelor teki heti samoin. "Kumma ääni."
"Nii just. Joku elukka on tulossa. Joku biisoni tai jotain."
"No, onko ideoita?"
"Juoksutetaan se pois mun kodin läheltä."
"Se palloomisesta."
Eläin oli juoksemassa Ktelorin ja Jamesin ohi aika tarkkaan päin Jamesin kotia. Oletettavasti se tietenkin kääntyisi nähdessään ihmisasutusta, mutta James ei voinut vastustaa haluaan näyttää Ktelorille, mihin hän pystyi.
"Kuinka lujaa sää juokset?"
"Luultavasti lujempoo kun sie."
"No, koita pysyä perässä." James pinkaisi juoksuun lähtien biisonin suuntaan. Ktelor lähti hänen peräänsä. James ei juossut kovinkaan lujaa, vaikka vauhti oli huomattavasti enemmän, kuin mihin tavalliset ihmiset pystyvät.
"Etkö sie piäse lujempoo?" Ktelor heitti Jamesille. "Mie juoksen kaks kertoo kovempoo!" James virnisti ja alkoi juosta vielä lujempaa. Ktelor kiihdytti vauhtiaan samoin mitoin. Saavutettuaan biisonin James kiersi sen toiselle puolelle, joten hän ja Ktelor juoksivat nyt biisonin eri puolilla.
"Hypätään sen selkään!" James huusi Ktelorille ja hyppäsi hetken kuluttua sen selkään. Ktelor jatkoi juoksemista hetken, katsoi Jamesiin ja hyppäsi hänkin biisonin selkään, Jamesin taakse. Hän otti kiinni Jamesin olkapäistä. Biisoni hämmentyi hieman ylimääräisestä kuormasta selässään mutta jatkoi silti juoksemistaan, vaikka tuntui hieman siltä, että se ei osannut päättää mitä tekisi. "Mä aion kääntää sen poispäin meiän tilan suunnalta. Pidä kiinni."
"Sopii." Ktelor aisti, että James oli tehnyt tämän aiemminkin. James tiesi, että tästä saattaisi tulla hankalaa, ellei jopa vaarallista. Siispä Ktelor irrotti kätensä Jamesin olkapäiltä kietoen ne hänen rintakehänsä ympärille. James hivuttautui eteenpäin, kunnes ylsi biisonin sarviin. Hän tarttui niihin ja käänsi niitä varovaisesti vasemmalle. Biisoni säikähti liikahtaen vasemmalle, kiihdytti vauhtiaan ja teki pari äkillistä liikettä, joiden aikana Ktelor ja James melkein putosivat. Sen jälkeen James aloitti uudestaan, kunnes hän sai biisonin juoksemaan haluamaansa suuntaan. Hän kiskaisi biisonin sarvia vielä kerran säätääkseen suuntaa, mutta biisoni, joka tässä vaiheessa oli jo perin kyllästynyt ylimääräiseen kuormaansa ja sarvien kiskomiseen, päätti viskaista päätään niin lujaa, että voima lennätti ilmaan Jamesin ja Ktelorin tämän mukana.
James lensi pääasiassa ylösalaisin, joten hän ei voinut tarttua kunnolla juuri mihinkään. Ktelor oli päästänyt irti juuri sen verran, että hänen kehonsa oli kääntynyt sopivaan asentoon. Hänen vasen kätensä oli vapaa, kun oikea vielä piteli kiinni Jamesista. James nappasi nopeasti Ktelorin käden omallaan ja piti kiinni. Ktelor huomasi puunoksan sujahtavan aivan vierestä, ja nopeasti tarttui siihen vapaalla kädellään. Vauhdin voima oli kuitenkin liian suuri, joten vaikka Ktelorin ote piti rasituksesta huolimatta, oksa ei ollut asiasta samaa mieltä. Ktelorin ja Jamesin vauhti melkein pysähtyi ennen kuin oksa katkesi. James putosi maahan jaloilleen, samoin kuin Ktelor. Biisoni juoksi jo matkan päässä.
"No olipa tuokii kokemus", Ktelor sanoi hymyillen ja hieroen käsiään, jotka olivat hieman venähtäneet rasituksesta.
"Niin oli. Ooksä kunnossa?"
"Juu. Käet vähän venähti. Männöö kohta ohi."
"Sä otit hienosti kiinni siitä oksasta." Ktelor hymyili, mutta ei sanonut mitään. "Oikeestaan mä luulin, et sä putoisit ennen kun mä saisin se biisonin menemään oikeeseen suuntaan."
"Epäuskone." Ktelor nosti molemmat kätensä ylös ja vei ne siitä alas taakseen, jolloin niistä kuului pari mukavaa naksahdusta. "Aah. Paljo parempi." James katsoi Kteloriin hieman huvittuneena. Ktelor käänteli vasenta rannettaan useisiin suuntiin, jonka seurauksena se naksahteli vielä enemmän.
"Joko on valmista?" James kysyi hymyillen.
"Eiköhä." Ktelor vilkaisi Jamesin kodin suunnalle. "Koitahhan pyssyy perässä." Ktelor pinkaisi juoksuun jättäen taakseen heikon pölyvanan. James kummastui Ktelorin vauhtia, mutta lähti kuitenkin pian juoksemaan. Hän ei mitenkään pysynyt Ktelorin perässä. Hetken kuluttua hän saapui talolleen, jonka luona Ktelor seisoskeli. James oli hieman nolona, eikä sanonut mitään.
Ktelor huomasi sen. "Elä ny. Miun voima on yliluonnollinen ketteryys ja nopeus. Ei se mikkään ihme oo, että mie juoksen kovempoo."
"No, munki pitäis olla ketterä ja nopee."
"No ei kai kaikki voimat samantasosia oo. Sie oot varmasti vähintään kolme kertaa vahvempi kun mie. Toisaalta miun mutanttivoimiin ei kuulu yliluonnollinen lihasvoima, mutta silti."
"Paljon sää sit nostat?"
"Oman painoni... Neljäkymmentä killoo." James naurahti pahan kerran jatkaen kikatusta. "No mitä nyh? Kyllä mie pystyn enemmänkii nostammaan... mutta vuan hätätilanteissa... ja no juu, kyllä mie voin pakottaa kehoni nostammaan noin kaheksankymmentä kiloo mut sen jälkeen se tekee jo liian pahhaa."
James hihitti vieläkin. "Heh heh... mä pystyn kuule nostaan pari sataa kiloo."
"No onnee sen johosta. Siehän oot vielä kestäväkii?"
"Joo."
"Kuinka kestävä?"
"Aika."
"No saanko kokeilla?"
"Kai..."
"Niinkun näin..." Ktelor venytti yläruumiinsa leveästä haara-asennosta taaksepäin, oikea jalka edessä ja kädet vasemmalla puolella. Siitä hän heitti yläruumiinsa eteenpäin ja löi molemmilla käsillään ilmaa. "Ja sinnuu päin mie voisin kai yrittee tulla suoraan läpi... mitäköhän siitäkii tulis."
"No yritä." James asettui seisomaan asentoon, josta hän tuskin liikkuisi, mutta jos Ktelor löisi häntä tarpeeksi lujaa, hän vain horjahtaisi hieman taaksepäin. Ktelor asettui aikaisempaan asentoonsa ja löi Jamesia rintaan.
James tosiaan horjahti, ja Ktelorkin lähes kaatui tullessaan alas. James hieroi rintaansa hetken.
"No olipas tossa vauhtia."
"Miulla ei paljon muuta oo... Ei massaa eikä voimaa, mutta onpa ainakii nopeutta." James hymyili. "Ja liike-energia kasvaa nopeuden neliönä kun taas massa kasvattaa sitä vaan suoraan suhteessa."
"Jaa mitä?"
"Et oo varmaan ikinä lukenu fysiikkaa?"
"No vähän... mä kyllä yleensä nukuin niillä tunneilla."
Ktelor vain kohautti olkapäitään. Hän ei halunnut alkaa riitelemään fysiikan tärkeydestä. "Tiesitpä ainaki mitä kilot on."
"No, sen verran mäki olin hereillä. ...Kuule – –" Samassa Jamesin isä tuli ulos talosta. Ktelor ja James kääntyivät häneen päin.
"Tulkaahan kumpiki tänne." James meni sisälle ja Ktelor seurasi.
Jamesin äiti istui olohuoneen kaltaisessa huoneessa pöydän ääressä. Xavier istui pöydän päässä, jossa ei ollut penkkiä. Jamesin isä istui vaimonsa viereen ja James istui äitiään vastapäätä. Hän viitoi Kteloria tulemaan hänen viereensä.
"Hei, James", sanoi Xavier. Hän huomasi, että James ei nyt ajatellut hänestä yhtä halveksivasti kuin aikaisemmin.
"No hei."
"Mie oon Ktelor", Ktelor sanoi Jamesin vanhemmille, jotka olivat hiljaa.
"No, James, professori Xavier on kertonut meille koulustaan, ja vaikka menetimmekin jo Johnin, hän vakuutti meidät koulun turvallisuudesta. Mitä mieltä olet?"
"Joo... öh, Ktelor kerto mulle jo siitä koulusta." Xavier huomasi, että James valehteli osittain. Ktelorkin vilkaisi häneen huvittuneena. "Kuulostaa ihan hyvältä paikalta." James väläytti kunnon tekohymyn päälle. "Ja sitä paitsi, onhan tää hyvä mahollisuus päästä eteenpäin ja niin pois päin... mä haluun että musta tulee jotain isona."
Xavier ja Jamesin vanhemmat jatkoivat vielä selittelyä, mutta James sen pahemmin kuin Ktelorkaan ei jaksanut kuunnella. James nyökytteli puheille ja jatkoi hymyilemistä.
Kymmenen minuutin kuluttua hän oli jo hieman liian tylsistynyt. Hän katsoi Kteloriin, joka oli kuin aivan muissa maailmoissa. James sai idean. Hymyillen pahaenteisesti hän siirsi kätensä Ktelorin reidelle.
Ktelor pomppasi. ""Mitä vit– –?!"" hän huudahti omalla kielellään. Xavier ja Jamesin vanhemmat hiljenivät. Ktelor katsoi Jamesiin, joka siirtyi vähän kauemmas. Hän oli huvittunut, mutta myös hieman nolo, koska ei ollut ajatellut, että Ktelor reagoisi näin voimakkaasti. Ktelor virnisti Jamesille, kun sai selville miksi hän oli sen tehnyt.
"Mitä tapahtui?" Jamesin äiti kysyi.
"Hermostollinen ylikuormitustila", Ktelor vastasi. Kukaan muu ei ymmärtänyt mitä Ktelor sillä tarkoitti, mutta ketään ei kiinnostanut sen vertaa, että olisi kysynyt lisää.
"No, te kaksi näytätte kyllä jo tylsistyneiltä."
"En kiellä", James vastasi.
"Sinä siis pidät Xavierin ehdotuksesta?" Jamesin isä kysyi pojaltaan.
"No joo... ei se ainakaan pahalta kuulosta." He kaikki olivat hiljaa hetken.
"Te kai... haluaisitte puhua siitä vähän keskenänne?" Xavier sanoi.
"Joo", Jamesin isä vastasi.
"Jaha, pitää kai taas ruveta työntelemään", Ktelor sanoi noustessaan pöydästä. Hän otti kiinni Xavierin tuolin kädensijoista ja työnsi hänet ulos.
"Mitä siellä oikein tapahtui?" Xavier kysyi tarkoittaen Ktelorin hypähtämistä.
"James koski miun reiteen."
"Reiteesi?" Xavier oli selvästi huvittunut; hän jopa hymyili. "Miksi?"
"Pitäskö miun tietee mitä sen päässä liikkuu", Ktelor vastasi virnistäen.
"Hän kyllä tuntuu luulevan sinua tytöksi."
"Nii... en tiiä miks, ja kyllä mie sille kerroin et mie en oo, mut..." Ktelor vain kohautti hartioitaan. "Aivan sama. Vähän vaihtelua elämään."
"Ktelor... oletko varma ettet vaikuta häneen voimillasi?"
"Jaa mitäh?" Ktelor vastasi hymähtäen. "Ootsie seko?"
"Telepatian mukana tulee empaattisia kykyjä. Saattoi olla, että sinä itse pistit Kittynkin pitämään itsestäsi."
"Mitä hemmettiä? En mie pitäny Kittystä!"
"No et selvästikään tarpeeksi paljoa, kun et onnistunut."
"Kuule nyt – –"
"Sen jälkeen kun lopetit, Kitty meni taas aivan normaaliksi. Minä olen tavannut Jamesin aikaisemminkin, eikä hän ole ollut näin huoleton aikaisemmin. Luulisi hänen kantavan kaunaa enemmän Johnin kuolemasta... ja hän oli hyvin vakava."
"No mitä jos se muuttu? Et kai sie voi pistee kaikkee miun syyks?"
"Se kyllä selventäisi. O– –"
"Okei, hyvä on! Mitä sie halluut miun tekevän, häh? Pistee jonkun voimienestolaitteen miun piähän vai?"
"Ei, Ktelor, ei nyt sentään. Minusta sinä tarvitset vain lisää opetusta empatian hallitsemisessa."
"No tätä mie oon aina halunnu."
"Kyllä sinun pitää hallita voimasi."
"Niinkun kaikkein muittenkii, häh? Pitääkö miun harjotella Manuelin kanssa vai? Ei se onnistu, kun meiän voimat estää normaalit tapahtumat."
"No ehkä sinun pitää vain harjoitella lujempaa", Xavier sanoi hymyillen. Ktelor pyöritti silmiään.
"No nyt kun sie sen kerran mainihit... tämä on kumminkii semmosta ajitajusta hommaa... miten ihmeessä mie hallihen alitajuntaani? Kyllä kai sie ymmärrät, että empatia tulee telepatian mukana ja mie en voi hallita sitä tietosesti ollenkaan. Etkä muuten pysty siekään."
"Nyt pääsit jo kärryille. Se siinä onkin ongelmana. Sinun pitäisi tyhjentää mielesi tunteista ja vain ajatella, mutta se nyt tuskin on mahdollista. En tosin epäile, ettekö sinä pystyisi siihen yhtä hyvin kuin minäkin."