"A million roads, a million fears,
A million suns, ten million years of uncertainty,
I could speak a million lies, a million songs,
A million rights, a million wrongs in this balance of time,
But if there was a single truth, a single light
A single thought, a singular touch of grace,
Then following this single point, this single flame,
This single haunted memory of your face."....Sting

Katya reached their destination in record time. Even she was impressed by the speed she got there, but she knew that the main reason for that was to get one black-haired distraction out of her immediate proximity and to get the job done and done fast. She reached back to wake Pete up, shaking his foot a little to get the reaction she wanted. All she got out of it was a slight snore. She shook harder and still didn't get an awakened Brit as her reward. She growled something under her breath about men and sleeping soundly, since the S.O.B. had enough nerve to be able to sleep when she'd had a hell of a time thinking since she'd met him and, reaching where his head and shoulders rested on the cot, reached down and shook his shoulder. Hard. She wasn't prepared for the arm that came around her waist and suddenly pinned her to a very male chest. Shocked brown eyes met startled blue as Pete looked up at her face a couple of inches from his, his hand very close to the side of her head so that he could put hot knives through her skull in a second's time, she knew. Recognition came to his eyes a couple of seconds later, and with it heat. Katya was vividly aware of his body pressed along the length of hers and was trying to figure out a way to get up quickly, to get away from the feelings she'd never felt before in this capacity before, when Pete's hand that had been at the side of her head moved to cup her face and turn her gaze to his once more. She hadn't noticed she'd looked at the wall to try and get some much needed clear thinking, but looking down at him realized it didn't help much. His hand sifted through her hair at the back of her neck where some of it had slipped her bun and she felt when he released the locks of blonde hair downward and heard the specially made pin fall to the floor.

Her hair was suddenly falling free around her shoulders and he plunged his hand into the soft tresses and pulled slightly. Katya resisted for a moment, and then realized that Pete had stopped. Waiting, she knew, for her to make one hell of a decision. Even though it wasn't any decision at all. She realized that, since the moment they'd met, she'd been fighting this, and she didn't know about him, but she was tired of fighting. She bent down and, grabbing a handful of his hair to make them even, tugged and then bent down and slanted her mouth across his. His lips possessed hers like liquid heat and she was completely lost. She felt heat explode through her entire body and she heard a soft groan, not even knowing or caring where it came from anymore. His head shifted slightly to the side to give him better access to her mouth and, when she felt the glide of his tongue across her lips asking access, she wasn't in any mood to deny. She opened her mouth to give him the access he had asked for and, when he quested into her mouth, she gave him her tongue to duel with. And she wanted more. So much more she really didn't understand completely.

It took a moment to realize that the ringing that was in her head was also coming from the control panel. Her head snapped up from Pete's at the same time he sat up and plunked her onto the bunk beside him. Both of them bolted for the front at the same time and were reading over the breakdowns the computer printed out in record time. Katya was still having a bit of a problem concentrating since her lips were burning as was most of her, but she understood what the computer was telling them and started to curse. Pete joined her, "Great... just bloody great. The whole freaking contingent of Apocolypse's army is right near here. How the hell did they get past surveillance?" Katya had a super bad feeling as she plunked down into the pilot's seat and hit some keys harder then was probably necessary, but she figured taking out her frustrations on them was a better deal than repressing them.

Her suspicions were confirmed a moment later, and she slammed her fist down on the seat arm so hard she left a hard dent in the cushioning. "If I ever get my hands on the son of a bitch that has betrayed us all this time... look at this..." She pointed with her finger to a point on the screen with a jab and Pete, not being able to see very well, leaned over her. When his hand touched her shoulder, her finger shook on the screen a bit, and she knew he saw the shudder that racked her body that was far from disgust. She'd curse herself out later, she knew, but for now she figured he'd look past it. She was right. He carefully removed his hand to the back of her seat and, leaning over her, saw the numbers on the screen. "Yeah. It says that... god damn! I just looked at those numbers on the schematic Rahne handed me not three hours ago. How in the hell did they get your cloaking device?" Katya felt rage replace the desire she'd felt a moment before, and welcomed the change since this one she knew what to do with. "That's what I'd like to know and, if I ever find out, someone is going to die. And painfully." The voice was soft, the tone deadly, as she plugged in some more computations into the computer. "Here's what I'm going to do. We're going to let the minor convoy get by, but before we leave I need to have a talk with McTaggert. We cannot have that type of advantage just plain given over to Apocolypse. It could be the death of us all. I'm going to give Moira the means to shut it down. Shit. One more advantage to my people gone." She swung the chair around to face Pete and got up to get around him. He moved out of her way. Smart man... she wasn't in any mood to deal with people unless they were on the other side of her claws right now.

She stopped before the hatch, and placing her fist on the side of the door took a couple very carefully placed breaths to bring her sizeable temper under control. She then looked behind her at the man that was a source of great confusion for her and said, "Alright, pilgrim. Let's go." Pete looked at her calmly and then jerked his thumb toward the tops of the city that showed through the cloaking the ship was under. "Don't you think we should land first?" Katya lifted her lip a little in amusement as she offered her hand to Pete. "I know what I'm doing, Peter. Trust me." It was the first time Pete had ever heard her use his full name and seeing her with amusement glowing out of her brown eyes was almost enough to make up for the next part of the trip. He wondered exactly what he was giving away to her as he walked up and calmly placed his hand in hers, but knew it was more than just his trust... and that was a hell of a lot for him to give on any day. She reached over and hit the panel and, smiling at him in something almost akin to happiness, stepped off the plane. As they plunged headlong into freefall after stepping off the ship, Pete figured he was going to die and was thinking it was a shame that a woman as hot as her was so insane. And he cursed he didn't have his cigarettes out and one lighted, because he figured it'd be the last one he was ever going to get. They did start to slow about ten feet from the ground in his estimation and stopped about six inches from the roof of the capital building, him holding tight to Katya for more than one reason. He released her as he stepped down off the couple inches of air and hit the ground solid, which he was actually really thankful for. Better than dead. It was than he decided that he hated air brakes on any human being and did NOT want to do that again.

He would have lit a cigarette, but knew they couldn't call attention to themselves at all. Katya motioned toward a storage unit about five feet away and Pete nodded at her in understanding, quickly running in that direction. She spoke in a whisper to him to make sure he understood what she said next, "Alright. We've got two guards at least on this roof. I waited until I knew that they were going to be somewhere else when we got down here, but we don't have much time. I disrupted the field around the building when I phased through it, so it'll show up as a mere glitch. We've got to get down into the building quickly and I don't want to use my phasing much. We've got to do this carefully. You ready?" In answer Pete reached behind Katya from one side so that she moved out of his way and then, looking at the air vent very carefully, concentrated and shot a hot knive through each of the screws. It melted them off and the door fell with a slight whoosh into Pete's hands. He then motioned for her to go first, but she shook her head and, grabbing the air vent, motioned for him to go first. He shrugged and quickly moved into the air vent, surprisingly quiet even in the small space. Katya waited until he had gotten in front of her and then carefully went in after him, holding the vent with the toes of her left foot after carefully removing her boot and handing it to Pete. She concentrated on getting the proper fit on the air vent carefully and then, phasing it into the top of the vent just slightly, let go. The air vent stayed as if it had never been broken and Katya motioned for Pete to go as she slipped her boot back on with her other leg. Pete started down the tunnel, using his communicator's readout to show him the map that they'd need to get to their destination. When they came to a crosspath a couple of minutes later, Katya moved in the opposite direction from him so they actually came abreast of one another. Pete was about to ask her what was up carefully when she leaned over and put her lips to his ear to make sure that they were as quiet as possible. "I want to find out what in the hell one of Apocolypse's people is doing in the lower reaches of this place. It's not on the agenda, but I want to make sure they're not going to be a problem either." Pete shook his head vehemently and leaning close to Katya whispered, "You can't go that way to find out. We've got ten minutes to get through this network of tunnels before the alarm sounds that something is up, and you know it. Don't worry. We've got surveillance all over the capital at base. We'll find out what's going on around here if it's anything important." Katya looked toward her right longingly, but knew that Pete was right, and nodded at him to continue onward, quickly following in his wake.

They arrived at the point that the others had told them to check in pretty good time, considering the tight space they were in. Katya looked at the laser barrier before them and swore mentally. That was one hell of an obstacle to their destination down below. Pete leaned closer carefully, checking to see what the lasers were composed of, Katya letting him do it since there wasn't room for the two of them. He leaned back a couple of seconds later and swiped the sweat from his brow carefully to make sure none of it dribbled down and hit the lasers to disrupt the stream. He looked back at Kitty and, leaning close again, asked, "Can you get through this somehow? That's one of the tightest laser nets I've ever seen and it's got motion detectors on it too. If we've got a chance in hell of getting through this with little or no detection, we've got to get over that grid, and that would be a tight fit even for you, since there's one on top too." Katya studied the area carefully and then, looking over at Pete, held out her hand, "Give me the belt from your trench coat, would you?" Pete blinked a couple of times and then, shrugging slightly, did as she asked, removing his belt from his coat and handing it to her after he had carefully rolled it to make sure it didn't even drip near the stream of lasers. Katya studied the laser grid again carefully. There was an opening leading into the room below that had lasers approximately a half an inch apart and one on the opening above that opening to allow air in. And also an escape hatch, if she wasn't mistaken -- should the appropriate codes be inputed into the computers down below the laser grid would go bye bye, and anyone with a rocket pack below could pretty much blow this place in no time flat. Problem was getting across that type of problem. There was enough room, she thought, for her to float across carefully laying flat, but it would require some heavy concentration on her part...and some modifications to her to do it. She took the belt and laid part of it against the front of her chest and then rolled it around her back to the front again. Pete's confused and very soft tone broke into her concentration since the act she was doing was taking a hell of a lot of effort and flexibility. "What are you doing?" Katya pulled the belt tight as she wrapped it around her back again. "I'm doing the only thing I can think of to get rid of one big obstacle to get across that barrier. I'm binding my chest down. What the hell does it look like?" Pete's slightly amused tone floated on the air like a breeze as he muttered to her, "You don't want to KNOW what it looks like." Katya was about to ask if he had actually cracked a joke, but was drawn back to her task at hand as she tried to pull the damn belt tight enough. "Damn it." The tone spoke volumes, and she looked up at Pete a couple of seconds later in frustration. "I can't get a good angle to tie this thing off at the side. Can you get it?" She didn't see the flash of burning heat in Pete's eyes as he heard that question and nor did she see the slight shaking in his hands as he reached for the belt. She just heard the self assured tone of "Sure" as he grabbed the one end from her hand. She realized the other problem immediately as he had to reach down through her bound breasts to grab the other part of the belt. Not the smartest thing she'd ever done in her life, she reflected, as he found an opening and squirmed his hand in between the bindings. When his hand brushed sensitive flesh she couldn't help the stream of fire that seemed to erupt from the spot through her entire body, nor could she help the slight gasp that passed her lips. Pete looked up, a slight amount of concern reflecting from his eyes, "You okay? I could always loosen this and we could try it a different way." Katya gritted her teeth, determined that no matter what she felt from that point on she wouldn't give a vocal reaction and merely gritted out, "I'm fine. Get on with it."

The next two minutes were pure hell as Pete searched for the other end of the belt along the surface of her breasts, but he finally found it and pulled it out in success, tying it off quickly to her side. "Alright. We don't have a lot of time yet, so get to it, Pryde." Katya didn't like the leap her heart gave when the nickname passed his lips, but ignored all of her reactions to get the job done. She touched her now relatively flat chest, studied the area of the opening, and nodded. She backed up a bit in the small confines of the vent and laid flat on her stomach, her eyes studying the grid the entire time. She had always loved this part of her mutant power best...it was almost like flying. A couple of seconds of concentration later and she was at the proper height, air keeping her aloft. She kept herself phased at that level and then carefully put her hands out in front of her in a straight line from her head. Pete didn't know what she was doing until her fingers clenched and she moved a bit more toward the grid. He couldn't help but feel somewhat shocked since he'd thought that she'd simply float on over the damn thing, but he then remembered the specifics of her mutant power in that she could go lighter than air or float through something no problem, but for fine control she had to do things like "air walk" or in this case "air crawl" on her belly to keep the proper height and not simply continue to float. She moved a bit closer to the grid, not even seeing him as an obstacle to get there. She simply held her breath and crawled through him.

He'd never had her phase through him before. He didn't realize that until she actually did it. It was a rather freaky but addictive feeling to him...it was like a cool breeze in the old days of summer, but through his entire body. It seemed to him almost healing to have everything that was her pass through him...like her essence accepted his and simply slid along his the entire time. For some odd reason he found that thought somewhat welcoming.

She crawled across the grid as carefully as if she was going over a pit of vipers, which essentially she was. If she screwed this up, she knew, there would be enemies down their backs so fast it wouldn't even be funny. When she started to sweat, she made her body temp fall through concentration so she'd stop. When she felt her muscles cramping, she pressed onward. And when she reached the other side, she almost cheered. She laid herself even with the floor and unphased herself with relief, slumping into the prone position for more than a few seconds just to catch her breath since she hadn't even dared breathe going through that thing. She'd had a whole millimeter to spare going through there so breathing hadn't really been an option. She caught her breath quickly and, leaning over toward the right, popped her claws and pried off the side panel. She then looked at the box inside and looked over her shoulder at Pete, whispering, "Pete. Can you shoot this box here with a hot knife? Quietly?" Pete leaned back against the side of the vent carefully and, seeing where she was pointing, nodded. He pointed his finger at the box, steadying it with his other hand. As his finger started to glow his eyes narrowed in concentration and glowed as well. It was over in a second as, with a slight "woosh" of heat, the box blew with a slight snap and a spark, the outer casing melting as Katya hoped it would. She adjusted her gloves carefully and then, reaching into the melted plastic, carefully pulled out all of the wires. Checking them over she saw that they had indeed been tampered with by a minute cut in one wire and, motioning toward Pete, whispered, "This is where they are going to go in. We guessed right. Any good vantage points to take them out from here?" Pete considered for a couple of minutes and, settling back against the vent, hit a couple of keys on his wrist pad/watch. After a couple of seconds perusing the map on the keypad, he hit it off. "We'll figure it out later at the base. Right now, it seems pretty secure for them to take them out from here without us having a chance in Hades, but there has to be an opening. Get back across here. We have four minutes till transit if we're going to stay on time."

Katya nodded and, looking at the grid, gritted her teeth. Lord, she really hated this bit. She pulled out the new box cover from her uniform and carefully replaced it after removing the melted one. The electromagnetic field that protected the box zapped into place a couple of seconds later, with her only slightly singed for the effort. She was doubly glad that Pete had melted the damn thing... it would have fried her in phased or non-phased form to take that sucker out fully armed. She then took a deep breath and began to crawl back across the opening when, about half way across, she heard a noise from below. Immediately she and Pete both froze in place, not a sound betraying they were there. Katya angled her head carefully and narrowed her eyes so she could see through the lasers to below, taking very shallow quiet breaths so as not to be heard. She concentrated on what was being said and almost felt her heart come up into her throat. From his place on the other side of the vent Pete couldn't see as a cloaked figure stepped into the room and looked over at none other than Havok. If only she had a gun, she thought to herself, she could take out a tremendous source of frustration to the X-men in a big way. The cloaked figure turned toward Havok and a soft voice spoke from its folds, someone Katya couldn't place but who sounded vaguely familiar somehow. "We are alone here. You may trust in that. This is the inner sanctum on the Human High Council. It seemed the ultimate safe spot to meet with you."

Havok looked around warily. "Whatever. I don't like being in this cow infested pit, but that cloaking device you gave us does seem to work for the couple of hours you gave us. Now then, what do you have for me this time?" A gloved hand reached into the depths of the cloak and pulled out a disk. Havok snatched it before the hand could clear the cloak all the way, so Katya couldn't look for any distinguishing marks or anything, which made her want to curse. She heard the voice speak calmly, "There is a traitor amongst you, Havok. He has been helping the enemy. Here are the plans for the base and where they will infiltrate. You have twenty four hours." Katya felt her heart drop temporarily into her stomach and felt like phasing down to them, shaking the lousy traitor, whoever it was, to a pulp before cutting off pieces to cause pain, and demanding to know who it was she was setting up. Was it the X-men? Was it the Human Resistance? Was it another team of good guys out there? Which one was it??? She felt the need to scream that question rise in her soul, but held it in by sheer force of will, clamping down on her tongue, so hard she almost tasted blood, in an effort to distract herself.

The figures below stepped toward the exit, and Katya quickly shimmied along the air to get over to Pete, but stopped when Havok spoke, "Did you hear something?" Katya felt her blood freeze as he looked around the room and upward toward where she was, so she did the one thing she hadn't done in a long time. She shadowed. It wasn't an easy aspect of her mutant power by any means unless she was going long distances. She wasn't sure if it was just some side effect that turned the pigment of her skin dark, or if she went into another dimension, or what, but she had found she could do it after her stay with a very mad scientist a couple of years ago. She held the state for the three seconds it took for Havok to make his assessment of the area, praying that the shadowing was enough, and almost sighed when he said, "Must have been my imagination. Now then you were going to show me around the place and give me a good hole in the defenses in the North Grid?" The figure nodded inside the cloak, Katya figured, because they were gone in a minute. Katya switched back to her regular state and got the rest of the way across in record time. As she plunked onto the air vent enough to make a very slight dong, which caused them both to freeze for a minute, she caught her breath. She was crawling toward Pete and freedom since she was getting really claustrphobic in there, when a hand reached out and grabbed her arm. She stopped and looked back at Pete, feeling the need for air rise in her to almost the point of panic, but, suppressing it by sheer force of will, "What?" The tone was very apparent in its agitation, but Pete ignored it as he asked in a deadly tone, "What in the HELL was that you just did? It looked almost unnatural. You just turned to shadow suddenly like you were a bloody natural one." Katya phased her arm out of his hold and, as she quickly crawled toward freedom and his and the others' possible scorn, she said quickly, "Later. I'll tell you about it later. Let's just get the hell out of here alright?"

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