MHA #10- Saturday afternoon

[throughaphase]

After a perfectly normal day in Chicago that didn't include any seizures or the killing of anyone, accidentally or otherwise, Kitty finally got back to her apartment.

She'd fully intended on just jumping into things like normal when she got home... and managed the super daunting task of unpacking before proceeding to sit on the sofa thinking/moping. For like an hour. At that point she decided this wasn't productive and she was bored with herself, and picked up her phone to send a text. Not that she particularly wanted to tell anyone what had happened, but she'd have to do it at some point.


[For the saver of awesome puppies.]

Comments

[so_hawkward]

The difficult part here, clearly, was going to be staying calm, because getting angry wouldn't help Kitty now that things were over. "I imagine there's a lot of mutant-haters out there, unfortunately. Was he looking for you specifically, or was it just chance that he found you?"

[throughaphase]

"They got me at my old job, a one night fill-in for my old boss. They were definitely after me specifically. My powers kind of make me a hot commodity," she admitted with a frown, figuring with as often as that happened, he should know about it. "I'm just not really sure on what he was planning on doing with me."

[so_hawkward]

Clint held Kitty a little closer, like that would do anything to help. "What did he do with you, if it wasn't what you think he was planning?"

[throughaphase]

"I'm not completely sure, and here's where I'll sound a little like a crazy person," she admitted. "One second I was in a cell somewhere, and the next I was getting yelled at by different versions of myself until Stryker started talking about being my salvation." If she was a little eyerolly about that now, well. Thursday had happened. "But then a couple of, um, dead friends started telling me not to go with him, so I'm really not sure if it was like a Danger Room type of simulation or if it was all in my head. And then things went to hell before he could really do anything with me."

[so_hawkward]

...yeah, Clint wasn't going to be letting Kitty out of this hug any time soon. "So, it was some time of mind control?" Oh boy, Clint's favorite thing ever! "Did he hurt you? I wish I'd known what was happening."

[throughaphase]

"He didn't not hurt me, but it's fine," she told him. She'd get something checked out if she had to, but if she was fine now she'd try to blow it off. "And I'm not sure if it was straight out mind control or indoctrination he was trying, because he didn't get that far. Because apparently a mutant he'd been working with had her powers go haywire and he moved me somewhere way worse and with definite mind control happening."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm sorry," Clint said, rubbing Kitty's back again. "I don't know what else to say except that I'm sorry. How'd you get away?"

[throughaphase]

"No real idea. I wasn't really conscious for that," she admitted, a little reluctantly since she didn't want him to worry when worse stuff had happened. "I ended up with a family bringing me to a town full of mutants run by a sentient AI reverend with mutant powers."

...Was the space dragon weirder than this, actually?

[so_hawkward]

"A... okay," Clint said, laughing softly. "That sounds safer, at least?"

[throughaphase]

"...You'd think," Kitty said with a sigh. "He called the place Mt. Haven, and was calling mutants there for it to be a sanctuary. Except that adults and normal humans were all killed. For everyone else, he was releasing microbial nannites that they were breathing in, which bonded them to him and gave him some kind of control, and he didn't even have any idea he was doing it. Didn't even know what a mutant was."

[so_hawkward]

Clint frowned deeply as he tried to imagine that. "Have I mentioned that I'm glad you're okay? Because I'm really glad you're okay."

[throughaphase]

"Thanks," she said with a little smile she didn't really mean. "Because I really wasn't for a while there."

[so_hawkward]

"I'm so sorry." Clint felt a little like a broken record, but dismay and anger that she'd had to deal with this stuff was cycling through him. "What else happened?"

[throughaphase]

This was the part she really didn't want to have to go into, but she did have to. Though if she was specifically not looking at him when she said it, she kind of expected everyone to react the way Stryker and Paul had.

"One of the things with my powers is that I disrupt electrical systems when I phase through them," Kitty said. "So when I had nannites all up in my central nervous system, my body couldn't handle it. I started having seizures... and when I freaked out and phased through someone trying to help me, I killed her." And then she added lamely, "It was an accident."

[so_hawkward]

Clint was just about the last person in the world who could judge Kitty, and thinking about how she might be feeling meant she was getting all the hugs now. "I know it was. It wasn't your fault, you didn't mean for it to happen. That's not who you are."

[throughaphase]

As relieved as she was that he didn't shy away or call her a monster, that response also made her a little nervous. Maybe a lot nervous. "And if I tried to kill Stryker on purpose?"

[so_hawkward]

Clint fell quiet for a moment, possibly longer than he should have. It was hard to imagine Kitty trying to kill anyone, and at the end of the day, Clint just didn't like the idea of killing anyone when there was any other option available for dealing with them. But, what little Kitty had said about this Stryker guy made him seem like an exception to the rule. "He hurt you. It's understandable. Justifiable. It's okay."

[throughaphase]

"I know it's justifiable. He tried to kill me several times, his kind of ideaology has taken away far too many people I love, and I don't know that he has a single redeeming quality," she said. "I still tried to do something that needs to be justified."

[so_hawkward]

"During the battle in New York, I kind of blew Loki up," Clint admitted, watching Kitty carefully. "I was pretty sure the blast wouldn't kill him, being a god and all, but in that moment I didn't entirely care and... that's not exactly the first time I've done something that needed to be justified either. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm the last person who can throw stones, and if you're expecting me to think less of you, I don't."

[throughaphase]

While that didn't make it all better- that'd be a while- it did make her feel better, so don't mind the huge hug or anything. "Thank you."

[so_hawkward]

"You're welcome. I'm just glad you're back, and that you're not hurt now. That's all that matters," Clint said.

[throughaphase]

"And I didn't cry once." Probably because Clint had the reaction that he did.

[so_hawkward]

"Because you're badass," Clint said easily. "I wouldn't think less of you if you did that either though. You'd just get another hug."

[throughaphase]

"Good. Becaujse you're good at hugs and I'm a crier," Kitty warned. "I kind of had to explain it to a lot of people. Maybe I got it out of my system." She was probably wrong.

[so_hawkward]

"If you didn't, I'll be here. Lucky can help too." From where he was sprawled on the floor, Lucky picked his head up and sniffed at them, which Clint was taking as confirmation.