Pandora's Box- even later Sunday
Finding the young Broodling wasn't actually much trouble, since Brand knew where he was and they didn't come across any Brood on the way. It took the better part of a day for the Brood to take over their hosts, so they should have plenty of time to get the kid and go, and get back to the Peak before anyone changed over. But still, something seriously bothered Kitty.
"Okay, before we do something we'll regret," she said as they stood outside the Broodling's stasis chamber, "let's remember this is a Brood creature. It's compassionate by the standards of the Brood. That might just mean it says 'thank you' before chowing down on your spleen."
"Do not worry, Katya. If it is hostile, we are more than match for a single youth," Colossus reminded her.
"I guess..." She wasn't feeling reassured, though, and made sure her gun was aimed at the chamber just in case. "Be prepared, they usually go for the throat."
Beast opened the chamber, and slowly, a young Brood peeked his head out, and then nervously came to the door. "H-hello. Have you come to kill me?"
"Oh, you poor child," Storm said, making her way over to the chamber as Beast called the Peak for an extraction team. "No one is going to kill you. We are here to set you free. To give you a home."
"Ah," said a Brood voice from behind them. "I see you have met our wayward youth."
"Easy," Beast said when he saw Kitty had her gun in the Brood queen's face the second it got too close to her. "We knew they'd try to stop us from leaving."
"But we can kill them, right? Now that you're playing surrogate mom?" Kitty checked.
"Only as a last resort. They're still endangered."
A second later, the other X-Men and Brand were crying out in pain, or falling on the ground, or becoming violently ill. Oh, god, nothing could be good here.
Kitty whirled back on the queen. "What are you doing to them?!"
"We are stronger. More fertile. And our young mature faster," the queen said.
"Oh, god," Kitty said, realizing with no small amount of horror what was happening.
When her friends got up, their faces were distorted into that of the Brood, their voices far more Brood-like than Brand's was.
"She is useless to us, egg-brothers," Beast said.
"Crush her," Storm agreed.
Colossus just hissed at Kitty, and then grabbed her by the throat. "No! It's me!" she said, and was cut off when he shoved her against the wall, which couldn't knock the wind out of her, but it could scare the hell out of her. He couldn't do anything to her if she could get out of the suit, but she couldn't phase out of it or that would defeat the point, and so she was just trapped in it.
"Dispose of her," the queen said. "Open the airlock and cast her out."
Colossus hit the door control panels and lifted Kitty up over his head. "Peter, no! Don't do this!" she begged, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, and then trying to grab onto him after he tossed her out the airlock. Once again, she was going to be forced to hurtle through space forever. "Please! You have to fight this!"
Then came a flash of fire, and a moment later a little purple dragon emerged from it to fly out and grab a hold of Kitty. "Lockheed?" she said, so happy she would have cried if she was physically able to.
I'm not going to say it, he told her, bringing her back towards the station. All right, I told you so.
"The damned dragon!" the queen cried. "Lock the hatch! Under no circumstances-"
The Broodling pulled the door control panel off the wall just before anyone could get to it. "No!" he yelled, and threw the panel down as Lockheed pulled Kitty safely inside. "You left me in the dark. In the cold. They let me out. I'm not one of you. I'm one of them."
"Very well, tainted one," the queen said. "You can die with them."
When the transformed X-Men made a move for them, Kitty, the Broodling, and Lockheed took off as fast as they could. Today was just the worst day.
So you're associating with Brood creatures now? Lockheed asked, flying beside Kitty.
"He's not like the others. He's a good Brood creature," Kitty replied. "Anyway, that's what Agent Brand told us. Who's now a Brood creature. So take that for what it's worth."
"I know neither one of you particularly likes me," the Broodling said, "and given your past experience with my kind, you probably have a good reason. But can we focus a little more on running?"
With the X-Brood gaining on them, Kitty noticed a room up ahead, and unzipped her glove up to the elbow in order to stick her hand through the lock and pop it. "We need time to think. I'm going to buy us some."
Lockheed and the Broodling followed her into the small, blue-lit room, and Kitty got the door slammed in the X-Men's faces. "Okay, I shorted out the system, so even Agent Brand's security clearance won't open it. Peter, on the other hand, will tear it down in less than a minute. We need a plan fast. Tell me it's not too late to save my friends," she said, zipping her glove back up as she glared at the Broodling. "Maybe I'll be less angry about risking their lives to save yours."
"There's time," said the Broodling. "They still look somewhat human. When they fully transform into Brood creatures, they'll lack any characteristics of their old selves... except their powers. A bigger concern would be how we even survive. They're completely under the influence of the queens. If there were just one, they might be able to fight her off. But two of them is too much to overcome."
"So we even the odds," Kitty said.
"I hope you have a plan as to how."
"I do. I'm just trying to decide if I can trust you."
The Broodling looked nervously towards the door. "Not to be rude, but that sound of metal tearing makes me think you should decide quickly."
He was right. Peter would be able to rip that thing open in no time, so Kitty knelt in front of the Broodling to see him at eye level. She told him what she would do, and then gave him very important instructions: "When I was infected, years ago, I felt this hive-mind thing. It's a two-way street. They can touch your mind... and you can touch theirs. Think about what makes you different from them. That when you see another being in pain, you feel bad. You put yourself in their place. Think about how... how scared you are. Being alone. Like the others of your kind, but different. Always apart... and how sad it makes you that they hate you for it. Take everything that sets you apart from them, and shove it into their minds like a knife. Can you do that?"
The Broodling nodded. "I can."
When Peter broke down the door maybe thirty seconds later, Kitty and Lockheed were gone, with the Broodling looking alone and very small in the room by himself. He was immediately surrounded by the X-Men and both queens, one of which demanded, "Where are the ghost-human and the winged rat, traitor?"
"Gone. They didn't trust me either," the Broodling said. "They callled their headquarters. Diverted the escape shuttle to the south airlock. They've probably reached it by now."
"Liar! Abomination! This disease of the mind, this 'compassion' of yours, leads you to deceive your own kind to save mammals! I'll kill you!"
"Wait. We can learn the truth easily enough," said the other queen. "The Broodling is a monster, but he is still Brood. Simply use the hive-mind to access his thoughts."
The first queen hissed. "Very well. But then I get to kill it."
And then when that queen tried to get into the Broodling's head, what followed was grunts of pain and then a scream, and that was Kitty's cue to yell "Now!" and break through the glass window in the room with Lockheed, who finished the Brood queen off with a burst of flame.
But the other one was still there, and Storm was backing her up, and Beast had grabbed Lockheed out of the air, and Kitty decided to appeal to Colossus, since she felt like she would have an easier time getting through to him, even if he was advancing on her. "Peter, it's me!" she said, not that she was dropping her weapon on anyone. "You can do this now! One of the queens is dead! You can fight off the other one!"
The other queen grabbed Kitty by the legs, pulling her back, and wrapping tentacles around her limbs to prevent her from getting away. The queen still couldn't kill her, but if she did the airlock thing again, no one would be able to save her this time.
"Peter, please!!" she yelled.
Colossus stopped in his tracks, pretty clearly struggling, and finally yelled back, "Katya!" He grabbed onto her, pulling her away from the queen, and thank god.
"There we go!" Kitty grinned.
"Ororo!" Colossus called. He was probably doing something with that through the hive-mind, too. Kitty wasn't really sorry to not know for sure. "Fight it! You hate small, dark places! Do not let them confine you within yourself! Follow my voice! Come to us!"
"I... I hear you, Peter," Storm said, stopping and bracing herself against the wall. "I have returned."
As if part of a chain reaction of sense, Beast let Lockheed go.
"I'm back, too," Brand said. "One queen, I can resist, for now."
The surviving queen lunged toward them. "Disobedient, willful children! You will all be punished."
Kitty held her gun on her, and realized that she had the entire rest of the X-Men and Brand behind her. "I think you've got that backwards."
[NFB, NFI, yadda yadda yadda. Taken from Astonishing X-Men #40 and #42!]
"Okay, before we do something we'll regret," she said as they stood outside the Broodling's stasis chamber, "let's remember this is a Brood creature. It's compassionate by the standards of the Brood. That might just mean it says 'thank you' before chowing down on your spleen."
"Do not worry, Katya. If it is hostile, we are more than match for a single youth," Colossus reminded her.
"I guess..." She wasn't feeling reassured, though, and made sure her gun was aimed at the chamber just in case. "Be prepared, they usually go for the throat."
Beast opened the chamber, and slowly, a young Brood peeked his head out, and then nervously came to the door. "H-hello. Have you come to kill me?"
"Oh, you poor child," Storm said, making her way over to the chamber as Beast called the Peak for an extraction team. "No one is going to kill you. We are here to set you free. To give you a home."
"Ah," said a Brood voice from behind them. "I see you have met our wayward youth."
"Easy," Beast said when he saw Kitty had her gun in the Brood queen's face the second it got too close to her. "We knew they'd try to stop us from leaving."
"But we can kill them, right? Now that you're playing surrogate mom?" Kitty checked.
"Only as a last resort. They're still endangered."
A second later, the other X-Men and Brand were crying out in pain, or falling on the ground, or becoming violently ill. Oh, god, nothing could be good here.
Kitty whirled back on the queen. "What are you doing to them?!"
"We are stronger. More fertile. And our young mature faster," the queen said.
"Oh, god," Kitty said, realizing with no small amount of horror what was happening.
When her friends got up, their faces were distorted into that of the Brood, their voices far more Brood-like than Brand's was.
"She is useless to us, egg-brothers," Beast said.
"Crush her," Storm agreed.
Colossus just hissed at Kitty, and then grabbed her by the throat. "No! It's me!" she said, and was cut off when he shoved her against the wall, which couldn't knock the wind out of her, but it could scare the hell out of her. He couldn't do anything to her if she could get out of the suit, but she couldn't phase out of it or that would defeat the point, and so she was just trapped in it.
"Dispose of her," the queen said. "Open the airlock and cast her out."
Colossus hit the door control panels and lifted Kitty up over his head. "Peter, no! Don't do this!" she begged, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, and then trying to grab onto him after he tossed her out the airlock. Once again, she was going to be forced to hurtle through space forever. "Please! You have to fight this!"
Then came a flash of fire, and a moment later a little purple dragon emerged from it to fly out and grab a hold of Kitty. "Lockheed?" she said, so happy she would have cried if she was physically able to.
I'm not going to say it, he told her, bringing her back towards the station. All right, I told you so.
"The damned dragon!" the queen cried. "Lock the hatch! Under no circumstances-"
The Broodling pulled the door control panel off the wall just before anyone could get to it. "No!" he yelled, and threw the panel down as Lockheed pulled Kitty safely inside. "You left me in the dark. In the cold. They let me out. I'm not one of you. I'm one of them."
"Very well, tainted one," the queen said. "You can die with them."
When the transformed X-Men made a move for them, Kitty, the Broodling, and Lockheed took off as fast as they could. Today was just the worst day.
So you're associating with Brood creatures now? Lockheed asked, flying beside Kitty.
"He's not like the others. He's a good Brood creature," Kitty replied. "Anyway, that's what Agent Brand told us. Who's now a Brood creature. So take that for what it's worth."
"I know neither one of you particularly likes me," the Broodling said, "and given your past experience with my kind, you probably have a good reason. But can we focus a little more on running?"
With the X-Brood gaining on them, Kitty noticed a room up ahead, and unzipped her glove up to the elbow in order to stick her hand through the lock and pop it. "We need time to think. I'm going to buy us some."
Lockheed and the Broodling followed her into the small, blue-lit room, and Kitty got the door slammed in the X-Men's faces. "Okay, I shorted out the system, so even Agent Brand's security clearance won't open it. Peter, on the other hand, will tear it down in less than a minute. We need a plan fast. Tell me it's not too late to save my friends," she said, zipping her glove back up as she glared at the Broodling. "Maybe I'll be less angry about risking their lives to save yours."
"There's time," said the Broodling. "They still look somewhat human. When they fully transform into Brood creatures, they'll lack any characteristics of their old selves... except their powers. A bigger concern would be how we even survive. They're completely under the influence of the queens. If there were just one, they might be able to fight her off. But two of them is too much to overcome."
"So we even the odds," Kitty said.
"I hope you have a plan as to how."
"I do. I'm just trying to decide if I can trust you."
The Broodling looked nervously towards the door. "Not to be rude, but that sound of metal tearing makes me think you should decide quickly."
He was right. Peter would be able to rip that thing open in no time, so Kitty knelt in front of the Broodling to see him at eye level. She told him what she would do, and then gave him very important instructions: "When I was infected, years ago, I felt this hive-mind thing. It's a two-way street. They can touch your mind... and you can touch theirs. Think about what makes you different from them. That when you see another being in pain, you feel bad. You put yourself in their place. Think about how... how scared you are. Being alone. Like the others of your kind, but different. Always apart... and how sad it makes you that they hate you for it. Take everything that sets you apart from them, and shove it into their minds like a knife. Can you do that?"
The Broodling nodded. "I can."
When Peter broke down the door maybe thirty seconds later, Kitty and Lockheed were gone, with the Broodling looking alone and very small in the room by himself. He was immediately surrounded by the X-Men and both queens, one of which demanded, "Where are the ghost-human and the winged rat, traitor?"
"Gone. They didn't trust me either," the Broodling said. "They callled their headquarters. Diverted the escape shuttle to the south airlock. They've probably reached it by now."
"Liar! Abomination! This disease of the mind, this 'compassion' of yours, leads you to deceive your own kind to save mammals! I'll kill you!"
"Wait. We can learn the truth easily enough," said the other queen. "The Broodling is a monster, but he is still Brood. Simply use the hive-mind to access his thoughts."
The first queen hissed. "Very well. But then I get to kill it."
And then when that queen tried to get into the Broodling's head, what followed was grunts of pain and then a scream, and that was Kitty's cue to yell "Now!" and break through the glass window in the room with Lockheed, who finished the Brood queen off with a burst of flame.
But the other one was still there, and Storm was backing her up, and Beast had grabbed Lockheed out of the air, and Kitty decided to appeal to Colossus, since she felt like she would have an easier time getting through to him, even if he was advancing on her. "Peter, it's me!" she said, not that she was dropping her weapon on anyone. "You can do this now! One of the queens is dead! You can fight off the other one!"
The other queen grabbed Kitty by the legs, pulling her back, and wrapping tentacles around her limbs to prevent her from getting away. The queen still couldn't kill her, but if she did the airlock thing again, no one would be able to save her this time.
"Peter, please!!" she yelled.
Colossus stopped in his tracks, pretty clearly struggling, and finally yelled back, "Katya!" He grabbed onto her, pulling her away from the queen, and thank god.
"There we go!" Kitty grinned.
"Ororo!" Colossus called. He was probably doing something with that through the hive-mind, too. Kitty wasn't really sorry to not know for sure. "Fight it! You hate small, dark places! Do not let them confine you within yourself! Follow my voice! Come to us!"
"I... I hear you, Peter," Storm said, stopping and bracing herself against the wall. "I have returned."
As if part of a chain reaction of sense, Beast let Lockheed go.
"I'm back, too," Brand said. "One queen, I can resist, for now."
The surviving queen lunged toward them. "Disobedient, willful children! You will all be punished."
Kitty held her gun on her, and realized that she had the entire rest of the X-Men and Brand behind her. "I think you've got that backwards."
[NFB, NFI, yadda yadda yadda. Taken from Astonishing X-Men #40 and #42!]