X-Men: Black
Fire
By Paradox
BOOK
II
Several Hours Later
Prologue
Kitty watched the clouds sweep past the Blackbirds canopy as the stealth
plane streaked towards New York. She had tapped into the radio frequencies
and had music playing softly in the background, her foot absently tapping
in time to the beat. Normally, she might be singing along with the band that
was playing, but her thoughts were otherwise occupied. More specifically,
her thoughts were overwhelmed by memories and images of a certain young man
who wielded red, crackling energies. The image of his steel
gray eyes looking into hers with an intensity that could only
be described as love took her breath away for a moment.
Shaking her head, she swiveled her chair around so she was facing the
communications equipment. Quickly adjusting several readings, she pushed
a button, opening a communications channel. X-Men, this is Shadowcat,
anyone read me?
The radio crackled to life. This is Logan, Kitty, good to hear from
you.
Kitty smiled. Good to hear you too Logan, how is everyone
there?
Doin good, came the reply, Weve all pretty
much shaken the effects of Draculas mesmerizing.
Kitty nodded, even though no one could see her, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Great, I should be back in a few hours and Ill give you all a
brief about what happened.
Sounds good, Wolverine said, Well see you then.
The com switched off.
Kitty sighed and leaned back in her chair, thinking about everything that
had happened recently. Not more than three days ago, the infamous vampire,
Count Dracula, had come to them requesting assistance in retrieving some
property of his that had been stolen in Chicago. At first, Kitty had denied
helping him, but he had used his vampire powers to force her into helping
him under the threat that he would have her fellow X-Men kill each other
if she didnt.
Of course, she agreed to go with Dracula to Chicago and help him. Normally,
the vampire lord could have forced her into doing anything he wanted, but
she had some magical aid of her own. In specific, a mage by the name of Cole
Raven had come to the X-Men several days earlier and asked to become part
of them. He had only just begun training for the team when Dracula had shown
up making demands. Fortunately, Cole had dealt with Dracula before and knew
how to handle him, along with the fact a powerful vampire friend of his had
shown up. After using the X-Men as leverage, Dracula convinced them to help
him and the three had gone to Chicago and met up with the Prince of Vampires
in Chicago, Priest. The vampire had agreed to help them out and assisted
in finding the lost article of Draculas which turned out to be just
a normal piece of jewelry. The trip had ended with Cole staying behind in
Chicago to help Priest run the city, but he promised to try and visit her
soon.
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, Kitty steadied her nerves through
a ninja calming technique. When she opened them, the large form of the X-Mansion
loomed in front of her. Expertly manipulating the controls, Kitty guided
the craft into a secret, underground hangar, and prepared to reenter the
life of an X-Man.