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.]

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[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.

[throughaphase]

"Have I mentioned lately you're the best?" she said, completely seriously. "And Lucky by association."

[so_hawkward]

"I guess that makes you pretty awesome too, since I like you so much," Clint said, leaning in to give her a kiss. "Whatever you need, you just let me know, okay?"

[throughaphase]

"This is a good start," Kitty told him. She hadn't thought she'd be feeling better at all for a much longer time than this. "Unless you've got a time machine..."

[so_hawkward]

"I wish I did. I guess you'll have to settle for hugs for now," Clint said.

[throughaphase]

"Lucky for me you're so good at them." See, she found a positive in all this.

[so_hawkward]

"And I have a limitless supply, so you can take as many as you want." Not that she'd need them because see: badass. That was much better to imply.

[throughaphase]

"You say that now, and then I'm gonna end up calling you at 3 am for one." She was teasing. Mostly. For some strange reason she wasn't sleeping very well.