Literally Pirateninja (shadowcat) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-09-12 19:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, !trigger warning, kitty pryde (shadowcat), lorna dane (polaris) |
Come at me, bitch.
Who: Kitty, evil!Lorna and Good!Lorna
What: Fighting an evil twin, wrecking a house
When: Wednesday
Where: Kitty's house
Status: complete
Rating: Pg-13 for killing evil twins
Malice spent most of the day Monday trying to pick a fight with Nate. She was disappointed that he was having such an easy time repelling her. Surely he would be a great prize to bring to Sinister, but she was smart enough to know when she was overpowered.
She wandered for a while, until she spotted another of the X-men. Malice didn’t remember this one, but Lorna did. Kitty Pryde who could walk through wall. Surely her genetic material would be of interest to Sinister. At the very least she’d be a good warm up before Malice tried to bring Jean Grey in.
She decided to make her presence known by pulling the front door off of Kitty’s house. That should get her attention.
It startled Kitty, who was hunched over her laptop typing code furiously. She dropped the laptop, jumping for cover behind the couch, and hoped she didn’t look too ridiculous with tinfoil over her head.
For the record, it worked. She peeked up over the edge of the couch. What the fuck. “Lorna?!”
Malice laughed and the tinfoil spread down Kitty’s neck and shoulders, dragging her outside. She wasn’t going to relieve Kitty of her illusions. She knew that a powerless version of Lorna was somewhere around town, and wouldn’t it be fun if that pansy bitch got blamed for all this?
“Shit..” Kitty squirmed out of her hoodie, her head exploding in pain as she left the safety of the tinfoil. She crouched until her vision cleared. “What’s wrong with you? Does this have to do with those meteorites?”
Malice didn’t see a need to reply. Fighting the X-men singly would be much easier, she decided. “Join or die.” Was all she really cared about. She knew Sinister was here, she could feel his mind slinking around. He was close. She knew he must be watching, evaluating her performance. It was just like him, the sadistic bastard.
“Join who?” If Kitty could buy herself some time to think…
Hey.
She focused her thoughts like a dagger, right into Malice’s mind. It wasn’t elegant, or pretty, but it might distract her. Then she bolted back towards the house.
Malice yelled and clutched at her head, her concentration broken for the moment. When did this one get telepathy? She eyed the house for a moment. It would be so easy to tear it down, but that wouldn’t do much to Kitty. “I wonder if I can hurt you while you’re phased.” Malice said as she followed Kitty inside, ripping the electrical system to shreds. In the dark her ability to see electromagnetic fields would give her an advantage.
Oh, that was going to take time to repair. Kitty avoided the kitchen, and ran into the den. She needed something to defend herself that couldn’t be used against her. She stashed her star of David in a drawer and pulled out the dagger she'd found. It hummed with magic.
The she phased through the wall.
Malice turned, smiling widely. “There you are.” The dagger was cute. What a stupid weapon. “I thought you were a genius.” She tried to use her powers to take the dagger, but it didn’t work quite right. She could feel and see the energy around it, but normally that made things more susceptible to her powers, not less.
She frowned and pulled the oven out of the kitchen, wrapping it around her body like armor. The paint mostly flaked off, and the action of her powers on the metal made it look like she was coated in mercury. “Come at me, bitch.”
"Good thing I don't cook." Kitty ignored the pounding in her head, and weaved towards the other woman. She figured she could maybe disable Lorna.
"But you owe me an oven."
Kitty lept, kicking off the wall and phasing as she got closer to Lorna. She passed through her, trying to drag the "armor" with her.
Malice tried to dodge, but Kitty did manage to get her eventually. “You have to turn solid to hit me, and then I’ll have my armor and your knife.” Because she’d just wrap the metal around the dagger. Not to mention Kitty was closer to the kitchen, now. The appliances would be handy weapons.
Kitty heard a sound in the kitchen and realized it was time for the twins to be home. Suppressing a surge of panic, she dodged behind Lorna and jumped into her back, trying to get her into a sleeper hold. "Sorry about this." She jabbed the knife into her side.
She shouted. "Bad guy! Bad guy! Safe room now!"
Lorna used the metal from the oven to shove Kitty away when she was solid, and put an electrical field around herself, which she hoped would disrupt Kitty while she was phased. “I bet I know how to make you comply.” She said with a laugh, putting distance between her and Kitty.
Fuck. Kitty gave chase, searching for an entrance into Lorna’s mind. This time she didn’t even try for finesse. She tried for metaphysically dumping a fridge onto her brain. The feedback was enough to make blood dribble out of her eyes and nose, and she wiped absently at it as she angled for another attack. She had to get her out into the street, or the back yard.
Malice gave way for a moment under the psychic attack, and Lorna’s panicked mind tried to latch onto Kitty’s. Before she could do more than bring the body to a halt Lorna was pushed under again, and Malice resumed her attack, shoving Kitty into the kitchen.
Kitty grabbed onto something and slammed it into Malice’s head. She’d mourn the coffee maker later, and slashed at the woman’s face, hoping to get her to back off long enough to get ahold of the only other thing in the kitchen she thought might work - the set of ceramic cooking knives that she’d gotten Xi’an as a wedding gift.
Malice screamed and recoiled, hovering a hand over the side of her face that was hit. Blood dripped down her neck and off the end of her chin, but it didn’t distort her vision. She rushed for Kitty, while pulling the refrigerator forward toward Kitty, the door sprouting razor sharp spikes.
Phasing, Kitty dropped through the floor. She searched Malice’s mind, trying to figure out what was going on, who she was or who she was being controlled by. She grabbed her ankles and pulled her down until the soles of her shoes were in the ground, and then she let go. That should distract her for a bit!
Malice huffed and shrugged. She didn’t really need to move much, when nearly everything in the world contained something she could manipulate. She pulled the fridge into strips and set them swirling around herself, hoping to catch Kitty with one of them if she was solid, or at the very least make sure Kitty stayed phased if she got close.
Kitty emerged in the living room. She was stressed and angry. She could sense the twins closing the safe room door. She needed to get to a phone, she wasn't sure she could broadcast with her mind far enough without knocking herself out. And her mind raced as she kept going through ways to knock the other woman out. "What the fuck do you want? What did you do to Lorna??"
Malice sighed, trying to get her shoes unstuck. She couldn’t properly threaten the damn woman if she kept running off. She decided after a minute to just go barefoot. “I’m recruiting, like I said. None of the other losers are around, so I can only assume he wants more of you flesh puppets to use as his guards and errand boys.” She threw a strip of fridge at Kitty, just to make her jump. “What’s the room reinforced with? Could it possibly be metal? That would be pretty dumb, all things considered.” She grinned wickedly.
"Who's "he"?" She asked. They'd reinforced that room with non-ferrous metals should Magneto ever be a problem. "Apocalypse? Stryker? Sinister? Where's Lorna? Are you in her head, or is she somewhere else?"
“Both, either, who cares? You’re not dealing with her, are you?” She turned her attention away from the panic room. She didn’t really care about the kids. She just wanted to finish recruiting. “You know what’s funniest about all of this? In the dreams nobody ever suspected she’d been taken over. You all just assumed she’d gone evil, that she was working for Sinister on her own. Like she’d have the stomach for any of this.” Malice knew she needed to do something beside throw things at Kitty. If she could keep the woman phased enough, she could keep trying different wavelengths to try to find one that would disrupt or hurt her. So she threw a couch at her.
"I just need to know how much I'm gonna have to suck up to her for beating you senseless," Kitty quipped. She took a breath, then ran upstairs for her room, ducking below the couch. She knew exactly what she needed. "We had a wedding planned you bitch, now we're gonna have to move it!"
She dropped through the ceiling from her bedroom, right on top of Lorna. She hazarded a kick and sprung off, phasing to avoid swirling blades of death. She rolled and popped up, a claw sliding out between the knuckles of her left fist. "Bring it, bub. And I'll bitch everyone out for assuming later."
She was going to distract Malice with the claw, and get an inhibitor bracelet slapped onto her wrist.
She hoped.
“You have to touch me first.” Malice replied. She didn’t know what exactly Kitty had in hand, but she didn’t care, either. She threw the bracelet away from Kitty, and brought several blades up to slice through the woman if she came close. It took a lot of concentration to keep the blades so close to her body without cutting herself, but if she let her guard down she wouldn’t be able to repel the other woman.
Damn. Kitty didn't watch the bracelet fly away. She'd hoped that Lorna would be too distracted to notice. So. Plan B.
She flung a group of flash balls at Lorna's feet. They exploded with sound and light and smoke, and she charged forward.
That was enough to make the metal strips pause and Malice propelled herself away from the lights. It was an overload to have so much energy released right on top of her at that moment. She rubbed her face, shaking her head.
Kitty grabbed Malice's head and brought her knee up while shoving it down. She knew she only had a short window and she planned to make use of every second. She jabbed her claw into Malice's arm, then punched her in the stomach. She could end this in a second. She really could. But she'd never forgive herself if she killed a friend.
Malice stopped receiving pain signals from the body when she was hurt the first time. What did she care if this body died? She could just take over Kitty, or anyone else close by. Maybe one of the kids, just to mess with her.
She grabbed Kitty’s arm, then sent a slice of refrigerator zooming toward her. “You can’t beat me, but I can beat you.” She waited for Kitty to phase again, she thought she had the right energy frequency to really fuck her shit up.
Kitty dodged, then phased when she realized she couldn't move fast enough.
That was the opening Malice needed. She couldn’t begin to fight Kitty physically in this stupid body, but she could use her powers to create a very powerful energy field. She wasn’t sure how much this would hurt, but she was pretty sure she could play it by ear. Her smile was ghastly, her lips coated with drying blood, but her teeth were bright white as she attacked Kitty.
Kitty screamed, her body twisting up in agony as her molecules were thrown completely out of whack. She hit the ground and writhed, then picked herself up as she regained control of her body and pulled herself away from Lorna.
That was bad. She fell into a ready stance. She could hear some of the thoughts of the twins, and was glad they couldn't see anything from where they were at. And she'd lost the claw. She pulled the magical dagger again, twisting it around into a backhand style. "Lorna, if you can hear me, fight this. Because I really really don't want to hurt you."
“You think that stupid bitch is even capable of fighting me?” Malice asked hovering closer. “You think I even care if you kill her?”
Kitty ducked behind the railing on the staircase. "If I kill her, what happens to you?" Her mind powers poked around in Malice's brain. Something anything, even an image to give her a chance to not hurt Lorna too much any more.
Malice tried to trap Kitty inside her head. “You won’t find her. Most of her is in the other body.” She didn’t tell Kitty what she would do. She definitely wouldn’t say that she could use Lorna’s powers to become powerful on her own.
Kitty pulled back mentally, even as she launched herself off the bannister. She had detected no deception, not about that. This wasn't Lorna's body. That's all she needed to understand.
She hit Malice, knife feinting for her throat and her other hand phasing into her chest, and then out her back - heart in hand.
Lorna’s body wasn’t skilled enough to really dodge the initial attack, but she tried. She stared at Kitty dumbstruck, the glee and delight fading from her expression. Malice was on the move. If she could just get to one of the kids, then she’d have some real fun.
Lorna’s lips moved and she tried to form words, but she died before she could say anything. Malice never felt her own end. One moment she was there, and then she was gone.
Kitty rolled off of her, sitting on her haunches and fighting the urge to throw up. She looked around at the mess of her living room and kitchen, and then grabbed Malice’s body. She phased, taking the remains below ground. She left them in a pocket in the bed rock, to worry about later. Then she came to the surface to clean up.
Even her house wasn’t safe. She grabbed her phone as she let the twins out and hugged them. “Come on Lorna, answer…”
Lorna blinked when her phone rang. She was on her way home from work, but thankfully she had a headset. “Hello?” The day at work went surprisingly well. Even without smoking. Maybe she didn’t need it after all.
She very nearly started sobbing. Her voice sounded choked up. "Oh thank god. Lorna, are you okay? Did anyone hurt you?"
She could deal with everything else later. Killing someone, let alone someone who looked like a friend. The kids were safe, Lorna was safe, it was okay.
“Uh, my plants? Well, no, they just attacked me but. . . are you okay, Kitty? Is something going on?” She pulled her scooter over, so she could turn around if she had to.
“You just attacked me,” Kitty said, sinking to the floor and not letting either Leong or Nga out of her grip. “But it wasn’t you. She was just… totally evil. Do you have any idea how hard you are to solo?”
“Oh. I wondered where she went.” Lorna frowned. “Um, sorry? I’ve only been training as support, I didn’t think I’d be able to cause much damage.” Then a thought occurred to her. “Uh, crap. Do you think she had the same dreams as me? Where is she now?” She thought it would be best to get to Kitty. If her otherself was Malice-y and loose, God knew what she would do. At least Sinister wasn’t around to pull her strings.
"I don't know, probably? What happened." Oh god. Kitty facepalmed and paged back through her text messages. "Split in two. I'm an idiot. I could have saved so much property damage, but I was so panicked I didn't even remember." She looked down at the twins. Her voice shook. "Uhm. She's no longer a threat."
“That’s creepy, but good?” Lorna wasn’t sure how to react to that. “How much property damage?” She hoped it wasn’t too bad. It was only fair for her to pay for what she’d wrecked, even if she hadn’t been doing it intentionally. “I’m on my way, are there police or anything?”
"No police, it's pretty soundproofed in here. Door's gone though, and most of the kitchen and living room. And I still need to catalog the electronics damage but really I'm just glad I'm only bleeding a little and you and the kids are okay." She closed her eyes, and rubbed at Leong's back. "Still need to... get rid of things but it's out of sight a few hundred meters down for now."
“Sorry, and eww. I’ll replace it all. Hopefully I can get some of the electronic things going again.” She frowned. Without studying the layout beforehand that would be tricky. “I’m sorry we didn’t go after her earlier. I didn’t think she’d. . . be nothing like me at all. This isn’t like Star Trek where Jerk!Kirk and Lame!Kirk make sense as two parts of him. I don’t even know what half of me I actually am.”
"Good and evil maybe? Everyone has their darkside. She kept thinking of herself as Malice. Maybe I'm getting better at this telepathy thing." She started to check herself over for injury as the adrenaline wore off. She was cut up, and sore as fuck. "You're taking this really well."
“Yeah, huh. It’s weird and not good, but if you’re okay and everyone else is okay all that’s left for me to do is fix things, which is fine with me.” She pulled up outside of Kitty’s house. whistling. “I just remembered that I don’t have my powers.”
“yeah. Uhm. I’m pretty sure my insurance isn’t going to cover this.” She sighed and got to her feet with some effort. “Okay guys, you need to let go or I’m never going to be able to walk.”
Lorna hung up her phone and peered inside the house. “Wow.” She knew her powers were capable of enormous destruction, but the only time she’d done it she’d been dreaming of Genosha and too preoccupied to notice. She went to Kitty, looking her over. “Are you all okay?”
“Kids are fine. I probably need stitches.” She looked Lorna over. There was worry in her eyes. She wasn’t afraid of Lorna. There wasn’t fear there, not like there’d been with Alicia. (and she knew better than to think she had fully dealt with all that. She still wished she’d gotten to talk about it with the red -head.)
“You’re okay. You’re really okay. I thought she might have done something to you. Or was you with someone in your head. Or something. God I was so busy trying to not die I forgot about Alex’s text.”
Lorna took a deep breath and squeezed Kitty’s shoulders. She was going to freak out so hard when she got home, but for now she actually felt okay. “No. I think she just wanted to do drugs, because that’s the biggest change I’ve noticed from how I was before.” Well, the need for kinky sex had lessened, and she was having an easier time with her anxiety, but those were all relatively small changes.
“She said she was working for someone. Needed a test subject. Apparently I was the first one on the list.” Kitty started to relax.
Lorna’s eyes widened, and her grip on Kitty’s shoulder tightened. She felt like she’d just been punched in the stomach. “Wh-what?”
“That’s what she said. I don’t think there’s ...actually anyone there, I don’t think.” She shook her head. “her thoughts were...muddle, and I have no idea how to sort through them. But It’s probably related to those rocks.”
Lorna nodded, but she wasn’t very comforted. “You know, one hit me on the head before we split. I bet one fell in the shed too.” She perked up. “Hey, finally something I can do that doesn’t involve people getting shot or beheaded. I’m gonna study the crap out of those rocks! I even have a geiger counter now.” Then her face fell again. “In New Mexico.”
Kitty sighed, then hugged her gingerly. “There’s probably one at the ranch. Otherwise I know where you can get one, so don’t worry about that. Maybe you can find a way to shut down my head.” She smiled ruefully, and prayed they didn’t need to put Lorna back together again.
“Magneto had a helmet with, like, circuitry in it and stuff. That would work, right?” She assumed it would. Telepathy was probably just the brain’s equivalent of a ham radio.
“Tinfoil helps, believe it or not. But not all the way. Makes it a dull roar. So anything better than that would be nice.”
Lorna nodded. “Well, your place is wrecked anyway, so why don’t we board up the door and go to the ranch? You’ll need a place to stay and our guest room is already booked.”
“I’ll just rent us a hotel. We were gonna do Illyana’s wedding here, too.” She sighed. “I think I just want a great big bed and the kids could have a pool.”
“Well, you have time to rent a space or something, right?” Lorna asked, trying to be optimistic.
She smiled, a little ruefully. “Maybe the timing isn’t too bad. Illyana and Clarice are moving out, I have this huge house and it’s just us and the memories…I don’t know if I could stand to live here anymore anyway.”
“Being attacked by Malice can’t help, either.” Lorna noted, kicking one of the long strips taken off the refrigerator. “You could hack into your homeowner’s insurance and put in a claim for a. . . uh, man what would you even say happened?”
“Exactly. I don’t want to have some kind police report. What do I say in that?” She shook her head. “I’ll have to dip into savings. I’ve got a shit ton of money in investments from some..jobs I did. It shouldn’t hurt their college or anything.”
“You’ll still need to do something with this house unless you want to pay two sets of property taxes.” Lorna pointed out. “Can’t sell it like this, either.”
"I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way," Kitty replied. She still had a virtual deathgrip on Leong and Nga. "Work up a sweat."
“Right now I guess we should focus on getting you to that hotel.” Lorna noted, shaking her head at herself. “Do you need help packing?”
“..yeah, thanks.” She looked down at her feet and took a moment to compose herself. “And I’ll need to hammer the door shut first.”
“Well, you know where that is, so why don’t I take the kids to their rooms and help them pack up while you do that? Or you can tell me where the hammer is and I’ll do the door, whichever works for you.”
Kitty nodded. “There’s tools in the utility closet. Thanks Lorna.” She took the twins’ hands and then led them upstairs.
Lorna nodded, then looked around. “Okay, so there’s, like, five closets I can see. I hope she has some wood or something.” She sighed and started opening doors looking for the tools.