Space- Friday afternoon FT
Danger
The day had been eventful. Hank and Brand had figured out that the actual end of the world would most likely be because Kruun's thronehouse sat upon a reactor that powered the planet, which could be destabilized by someone made entirely of metal. Scott had totally died, but as he'd predicted been brought back by Kruun, who'd found himself on the wrong end of a concussive blast since someone had regained some control over his power again.
Once he was back and they were all reunited, Scott dished out the plan. Scott, Clint and Emma were off to the throne house to hopefully confront Kruun and end things there. The others had to try and disable the missile, which meant Kitty and Hank, though Danger was there since hi, computer. Logan and Hisako were there to help in case anything went wrong, which it did immediately and they had to fight their way into the station. But they managed it, and Danger set to work on trying to hack the missile controls.
"I'm getting a signature from the base that I can't decode," Danger reported. "Running it against my records, I'm getting one name: Rasputin. This is so primitive... Constant position adjustment from the orbit thrusters, combustion detonation, and a clock. No uplink to the missile."
Kitty
"What about the Rasputin signature you can't decode?" Kitty asked. "How is this connected to Peter?"
Danger
"Not Peter," Danger corrected. "Illyana Rasputin."
Hank
"Dammit, of course!" Hank realized. "It's not Illyana, it's magic. Danger can't read it precisely because they've thrown up mystical protection for the thing. We've got no way of knowing what kind."
Logan
"Anyone wanna hear about the army headed our way? It's a colorful story..." Logan said.
Kitty
He was right, and they had to end this soon, before they were in another fight. Plus Kitty was exhausted thanks to the very nature of this planet and needed this to be over.
"Enough. I'll take the shortcut," she said, and dove down through the floor.
Once inside, she phased down until she got to the missile. There weren't any controls or hatches, and the outside was perfectly smooth. So bracing herself for another world of ow, she started phasing inside, to see if she could take it out from there. It seemed to take forever, and physically hurt after a while of pushing herself through, but she couldn't exactly stop in the middle. And when she finally got through the metal to the inside of the missile... nothing. She was in a hollow area.
Kitty unphased, not entirely of her own doing as much as exhaustion made her do it. She hit the floor a little ungracefully, and then a second after she got to her feet was knocked down again as the missile shook around her, and couldn't get up thanks to centrifugal force.
That couldn't be good.
Scott
They'd pretty much had to drop Peter off at the thronehouse because of the message they'd gotten as soon as they got there: the Breakworlders had fired the missile, which was actually a bullet, and Kitty was inside it. Clint, Scott and Emma had gotten Kruun's fastest ship and taken off, and that left the others to back up Peter. They'd gotten in touch with the heroes on Earth, and while they were trying to find something that would save the world from a speeding space bullet, Scott was hoping they could at least save Kitty here.
He wasn't sure they'd be able to do it, but he hoped.
"We throw everything at it, it wouldn't alter course. Hell, we ram the thing and we'd just be a bug on the windshield. Unless you've got a notion, Emma, it's up to the others."
Clint
As far as Clint was concerned, not saving Kitty wasn't an option. He wasn't even allowing himself to consider it, because that would take time away from considering all the ways they could save her instead. "Of course Emma has a notion. She's always got good ideas," he said with a hopeful tone. "There's got to be something."
Emma
"One moment," Emma said, and did something by falling silent.
Kitty? she sent. Help is on the way. But we're going to need you to phase out of there.
Kitty
Oh, if only. In the entire time Kitty had been stuck in here, she hadn't really been able to move. Her whole body felt weird and too heavy, and when she looked at the skin of her hand she caught flecks of what looked like metal, like it was in her. It had left her with a very serious problem.
I can't, Kitty thought back. And it sucked to admit it, but there she was. I've been trying, but this metal... It's been affecting me since I found Pete. I barely made it in here. I won't make it out.
Emma
Emma stood abruptly, not as okay with that as she thought she might be, given their relationship. This is a very bad time to play weak kitten, kitten. You are going to phase out of that thing and we'll fly right through you. It's not a request.
Kitty
I don't feel weak, Emma. I feel sick, she explained. Not pain, not... Like it got in me. Like I'm meshed to the metal. I'm in the cage I freed Peter from.
Emma
And now Emma was pacing a little on the deck of the ship. Kitty, you know any chance we have of stopping this thing...
Kitty
Was going to involve them throwing something at the bullet, or it crashing into something, or blowing it up, all with her still inside. If they didn't stop it, she'd be part of the thing that took out the Earth. I know, Kitty thought, trying not to choke up.
Clint
Clint hadn't thought much of it when Emma ignored him, but the pacing was a little much. "Emma? What's going on?" he asked lightly.
Emma
Emma hated so much that she had to be the one to do this. "I'm talking to her," she said. "It isn't good."
Clint
"What do you mean?" Clint asked, stepping closer to her and lowering his voice. "She knows we're coming, right? That we're going to do something?"
Emma
"She seems to be turning pessimist," Emma said, more frustrated than she would ever admit. She tried not to notice that Scott absolutely heard all this, but was instead focusing on talking to the people back home to work out a plan.
"You think at her," she said, letting him in on her link with Kitty.
Clint
Having thoughts that weren't his own in his head was always a little weird, but Clint didn't mind so much this time. Kitty? What's going on. You've got to stick with us, sweetheart.
Kitty
Oh god. She didn't know if it was going to hurt more or less to have him around for this.
I don't think it's up to me anymore, she thought wryly. You know how the metal and planet's been affecting me worse? Well...
Clint
Well... then we'd better get you away from the metal, Clint thought, but he didn't sound so sure of himself anymore. All you have to do is phase out, and we can get you.
Kitty
I can't, she told him. It's too much, and it's... I'm not going to make it out of here, Clint.
She had been hoping if she was going to go out, she could do it like some stoic badass but she already knew the stoic part at least wasn't gonna happen.
Clint
Yes you are! That was maybe a little more forcefully thought than needed. You are one of the strongest people I know. Just... just try, for us. For me. Please?
Kitty
I am, she thought. I'm really trying to get my strength back up.
She just wouldn't have time.
Clint
They were running low on time. Clint knew they were running low on time, and while he tried to be optimistic on missions, it was getting hard to ignore reality. I love you, he thought. You have to get out of there. I can't do this without you.
"This" meaning "exist without completely messing up his life."
Kitty
Yes, you can. She really wished she could get across how much she meant that. You'll be okay. You're stronger than you think. Just don't do anything stupid, okay? Nothing that would make me yell at you.
Clint
Clint was absolutely, 1000 percent certain that he was not going to be okay, actually. If I do something stupid, you'll have to come back to yell at me. After a second, he added, It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to get a whole life with you.
Kitty
She'd held it together right up till that.
I know. I'm sorry. I thought we'd both get to be old and grossing out the grandkids before we had to worry about this.
Clint
Clint had a quick thought of Lexi, and tried to shut it down before the thought went through to Kitty. I love you, he said again. Tell me you're not hurting right now. I know you're tired and... I'm so sorry.
Kitty
I'm okay, she assured him. At least she was for a little while, and then not so much anymore. I love you too. You're the best thing that ever happened to me.
Clint
Later, Clint knew he'd come up with a million things he could have said in return, but right now, all he could do was look at Emma. "Emma, I don't know what we should do now," he said weakly.
Emma
"Scott's talking to the people on Earth to find a solution,"'Emma said evenly. "Help him."
She doubted Clint would be a ton of help but then she also doubted that he was in the headspace for that anyway. Besides, saving Earth was the bigger picture, and if they could do that they might save Kitty, too.
Clint
Clint nodded, and went over to Scott, stepping carefully behind his chair. "If you need any help, now would be the time to give me a distraction," he said.
Scott
If anyone got how he was feeling, it was Scott. Though Clint was less likely to make out with someone on Kitty's grave.
"Talk to Ororo. See if anyone there's got anything," he said.
Kitty
There'd been one time Kitty'd been roughly seconds away from death before, and it'd felt a lot like this. She'd had way too long to consider what it all meant and just wait for it to happen, and it still sucked. She took a few minutes to calm herself down, and then thought, So. Can't be long now, huh.
Emma
Kitty... I can put you somewhere else, Emma offered. Make you less afraid.
Kitty
Nah. I'm gonna see this through. If she was going to die, she kind of wanted to know about it. Tell Peter it's okay. He doesn't always handle this sort of thing well.
Emma
That was another conversation Emma was not looking forward to. This was never meant to... Not you.
Kitty
I was supposed to take you out, if I recall. Had that really only been yesterday? Disappointed, Ms. Frost?
Emma
Astonished, Ms. Pryde.
Kitty
Kitty actually managed the tiniest of smiles at that.
Since she was trapped in a bullet with no windows and no controls, she couldn't tell when she was getting close to Earth except for when she started nearing the planet's gravity. So she was about to die, along with her entire planet. And then she was out of options, except one.
Saying a prayer, Kitty closed her eyes and flattened herself against the floor of the bullet to get as much contact as possible, and phased, focusing on phasing the entire thing along with her. She'd never phased anything this big, or at this speed, but this was probably just what happened when you put a self-sacrificing superhero in the path of everyone on her planet. She felt like she was going to drop through it- which mind you, would still kill the hell out of her right now- but she gritted her teeth and stayed in contact with the metal no matter what.
And then the bullet passed harmlessly through the Earth. Might've freaked people out a bit, but at least they lived to be freaked out.
The bullet continued on into space, with Kitty still inside.
[Taken from Astonishing X-Men, NFB, NFI, OOC okay. Preplayed with so_hawkward, who's SO GREAT for putting up with this much preplay and letting me torture her character.
No one ever really dies in comics...]