Subject: [OTL]: Atomic (Xi'an, Kitty, Pete) [6:6] Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2003 09:28:03 -0800 (PST) From: D Benway Atomic [6:6]: The Dead Lands ex Benway This story kidnaps a tiny detail from Mekanix and takes it for a ride. Certain characters are borrowed for not-for-profit use from Marvel. Warning: contains language. Many thanks to Luba K and Sevenall for their editorial comments. ___________________________________________________________________ "Kitty?" "Hey." "I didn't expect to see you here." "Got an invite." "I know." "Suppose I've got you to thank." "I saw your name on the list when I was entering it. You have friends here." "Doesn't feel like it." "I'm-" "Sure you are." "You look well." "For a one-armed chick." "The prosthetic looks so real, no-one would ever know." "It even works when I'm phased. Can't feel anything with it, though. Keep breaking stuff." "Oh." "How are the kids?" "Nga is going to Stanford next year, on a scholarship." "Leong?" "He's being pardoned next week." "Get out of jail free, huh?" "I asked the Professor. He intervened." "So he fixed it." "Yes. Leong made the wrong choice, and he's going to have to live with the consequences of that choice, to the extent that he can understand it. There was permanent brain damage. Keeping him in prison wasn't going to do anyone any good." "Huh." "I keep thinking-" "He was in touch with that asshole Uncle of yours months before we met." "I know. The Professor has given him a job working on the grounds. He's good with plants." "Huh." "Are you seeing anyone?" "Are you?" "A man." "Love him?" "Perhaps. He buys me things. We sleep together. He's Chinese." "You wouldn't even eat in a Chinese restaurant, back then." "I went to the Professor. I got over it." "Marriage?" "If he chooses to leave his wife, perhaps." "Huh." "What about you?" "I see some people, sometimes." "Would you see me?" "Fuck off, Xi'an." "Kitty, please, I'd leave him in a moment. It's so empty, being with him, and it was so empty with the one before him. I want to be with you. I did what you wanted me to, I fixed the problem, I took the pills, I'm a different person now. I want to love you, I want to live with you, I want to feel like I did that night when we were angels just one more time-" "Xi'an, is it?" "Mr. Wisdom." "Pete'll do. Who're you talking to?" "Myself." "Huh. Those Gauloises? "Here. Do you need a light?" "Your hands are shaking." "Yes." "This place does that to people. Too many damn ghosts around here." "Yes." "Didn't mean to upset-" "Yes, I believe that you are right." FIN __________________________________________________