"War is all hell."....General William Sherman

Katya awoke feeling safe and secure, never realizing how fleeting that feeling was going to be. She snuggled closer to the chest she was currently pressed up against and, knowing she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep, yawned and stretched carefully to avoid smacking Pete. He yawned in return and, rolling her onto her back, smiled down at her. "Good morning, me yankee strumpet. And how do you feel?" Katya mentally catalogued her condition and smiled up at him. "I'm feeling pretty good, actually. A little bit sore, but nothing too bad." Pete slid down her body, finding her wet and ready, and slid into her ready and waiting body. As he thrust into her, she raising to meet him, he smiled, "Well, let's see what we can do about that. You have to work those muscles, you know."

**************

They showered and got dressed together, having fun splashing around and acting like idiots. Katya knew that he had never had the experience of having fun this way anymore than she had, even in the eary days of her marriage when as a newlywed she should have had that pleasure and fun. They grabbed breakfast on the way to the conference room, and walked in together, not really caring who saw them or what. As they both looked around the room though, Katya felt her elation dim slightly. "What's up?" Katya looked at them all looking so solemn and then Harold spoke words she had somehow hoped not to hear. "They're having the meeting early, lass. We've got to move today or the Human High Council is going to die."

They eventually decided on the drive by tractor beam tactic, even though it was a pretty stupid idea. But, it was honestly the best they had without losing a lot of them in the crossfire and they all knew it. As Katya strapped on the loads of guns and other weapons she would need for the fight ahead, she wondered how this was all going to turn out. For some odd reason, she had a sense of doom that she couldn't quite explain, and she never liked those feelings. Anymore than she liked the nightmares she'd had for years of crystals and things not right somehow. Just this once, she wanted to hope that things would work out for the best, and that the best for once would be in her favor. She sensed Rahne coming up behind her before she consciously processed it and next thing she knew she was holding a gun into Rahne's face. This time the gun was cocked and ready to hammer a hollow tipped bullet right into her skull if she so much as flinched. Rahne didn't even flinch at the gun. She instead looked past Katya, now armed with claws and everything, and said words Katya had never thought to hear pass her lips. "I was wrong. I just thought I'd tell ye that now. I just... I've loved him a long, long time now, and seeing him fall in love with someone else just made me snap. I'm sorry I pounded you into a wall." Katya didn't lower the gun, but nodded at Rahne with the security between them that her powers were working fine now outside of the dampening field she had set up in the ring to get her. "Accepted. It isn't forgotten Rahne, but it is forgiven." Rahne nodded as she stepped away and walked without looking back to go and armor up herself.

She put the gun away in its front pants holster after a couple of seconds and went back to checking to make sure all of her knives and hand grendades were in place. She felt him before she saw him, and smiled up at him. She couldn't help it. "Hey." The word was softly spoken, not like her at all, and she wondered for the first time if love was going to make her into a wussie dumb ass. She figured she really didn't have a choice in the matter since her heart was involved, but shit she hoped she'd at least keep her IQ. Pete smiled back at her and repeated her greeting, "Hey," and she could tell the same thing was going through his mind as was going through hers. She almost laughed outright at that thought. Perhaps they were too much alike for words. That one word was all they needed to say as Pete put a hand on her shoulder to assure her that he was there, then walked off to help the others.

The flight seemed to take no time at all, which was unusual since the times right before a battle seemed to drag into eternity, it always seemed to Katya. She took a deep preparatory breath and then looked over at her companions, at one in particular. She exchanged a glance with him for a moment and she made a snap decision. She got to her feet and, moving in the flying craft with her hand on the bulkhead, she moved toward Pete. She was one of the lucky ones that could actually stand up in this aircraft since it was made for speed and power, not comfort. She came even with Pete and, reaching under her high collared uniform, undid a chain. She then took it from around her neck and gave it to him. Pete stared down at the star of David in his hand, winking up at him with a well polished silvery light, and then at Katya. "What is this?" Katya sat down very carefully on an empty space next to him on one of the bulkheads and, giving a blank face to the rest of the crew, let emotion only go through the inflection of her voice, "That is the Star of David. It was my grandmother's and is about the only thing I have to remember anything about my family by. It was passed to my mom and then to me. I know you don't believe in it since you don't believe in God, least I don't think you do. It depends on the day for me, I guess... most of my faith is dead. But I just wanted to share with you one of the beliefs of my people. You see, we believe that this is hell." Pete blinked at her and, giving just as stotic an expression to the others, he had nodded. "I believe I've heard of that one. You're the only religion I know that looks forward to the end of the world really. Well... barring catholicism."

Katya let the humor enter her eyes for a moment, and then continued, "We await the end of the world to achieve the end of suffering and the rejoining of God. Ever since I was little I did indeed believe this was hell, but it was more than that. I've had dreams... nightmares really. I don't know what it is, Pete, but this world is wrong... something went horribly wrong that wasn't supposed to happen, and we ended up where we are now. I've been waiting for it to end since I was about 11." Pete looked a bit doubting, but didn't look at her like she was a nut. It was a definite improvement over the first time she'd told Vic about her nightmares and how she knew this was wrong somehow. He'd given her a bottle of booze and told her to go and sleep off the headache she had, since she was obviously frying her brain due to it. When she hadn't let up then, he had just accepted it as part of her little "quirks" and let it go at that. She reached out her hand and curled his fist around the chain and the pendant. "Just remember one thing for me, okay? I believe, in the old way, that if we are not good souls we come back to this realm and we live this life again. If something should happen to either of us, today, tomorrow, or an eternity from now, I want you to know that we'll meet again. I feel that. I just wanted to give you something to say that I and my love are with you. Stupidly romantic I know, but true all the same." Pete smiled a little bit and, looking at the dainty chain, shrugged and put it into his shirt pocket. "You know there was another old tradition way back when, that, before going into a battle, a knight would get a token from his lady fair. I'll consider this yours." He moved his body armor back into place over the shirt and then closed the trenchcoat over it. "Thank you." Katya let an ironic smile curve up the side of her mouth that Pete could see and said dryly, "I never took you for the romanticly minded type, Wisdom." He let the humor shine in his eyes as he lit a cigarette. "Well, it shows up every once in a while when I go off the deep end, Pryde. But really, thank you for the little piece of you. I'll treasure it."

For some odd reason she felt better for giving him the necklace and felt a small part of her tension drain away. Katya let the smile light up her face a little, not caring who saw, and, looking off to the side, met an expression of hostility. She met Rahne's eyes and didn't even blink. If she wasn't ashamed of her actions she figured that Rahne could just deal with her bitchiness and let Pete, and her, live their own lives. Rahne blinked first... big surprise, and she moved off toward her old position on the ship. She just prayed that they were all alive at the end of the day. The odds were very much against them.

Mike stuck his head from the cockpit and said quietly a couple of minutes later, "Guys. We're at the drop off point." Harold got to his feet and surveying all of them said, "Alright. Katya, you're up with Pete, Romany, Rahne and Agent R. You guys go down there, land on your feet, and prepare for that tractor beam. Agent X and Mike are going to parachute in over some cover with semis and some heavy weaponry to procure you all some cover fire. I'll be covering from the ship after we do the drop off with the debris with the one gun we've got as we do sweeps. Kill anything that bloody well MOVES down there, you got me??? Any questions?" Total silence and a thrill of anticipation came from different directions at him, but not one question. He nodded, "Alright then. You've got two minutes till tractor. Make them count and get yourselves some cover. Good luck. Yank?" Katya nodded as she merely stepped to the hatch and nodded at the others. "Pete, put an arm around my shoulders. Agent R, you do the same. Rahne, grab onto anything that will give you a good grip. Romany, you're hugging me and wrapping your legs around mine through free fall. Ready?" Everyone got into position, Katya barely being able to move and she heard affirmatives from everyone, "Agent R. Pete. Secure your free arms onto Romany to give you some good balance. Alright, people, here we go." With that she simply dropped through the side of the plane by leaning forward. She heard the whoosh of air, Pete cursing all the way down right next to her ear, and Romany muttering that she wished she prayed anymore. Agent R was calm and Rahne was doing a good job of digging her very nice long claws through her body armor and into her back. She was going to have to kick that kid's ass when they got on the ground.

She slowed their desent in on and off spurts of phasing since there were so freaking many of them, and then about a yard from the roof she solidfied them completely. They weren't going fast enough to hurt anyone but they still hit it at a pretty good speed, enough to knock the wind out of some, or just stun them for a couple of seconds. Pete took his landing on his shoulder and rolled to a sitting position, Rahne simply jumped off and rolled to her feet. Agent R increased his density enough that he wouldn't get hurt in the least and grabbed Romany from Katya's arms in midair so that he'd take the impact. Katya rolled into a ball as she hit the roof and felt the impact jar through her whole body, but she just let her body roll. She then rolled to her feet, ignoring the scream of protest from hitting the roof from her still injured back and knee, and pulled her semi from the clip she'd had it attached to at the small of her back, simply swinging it around to get a good shooting spread. She still had ringing ears, though, from people cursing at her and everything else from the fall, so it was no surprise when Pete held up four fingers and a thumbs up. Well, everyone hit and were still going strong. The day was looking up. She ran toward the edge of the roof of the helipad they were currently on and, using her phasing ability, jumped with all her might. It extended her normal jumping range considerably and helped to stop the pretty good fall she would have had to have taken to get to the roof of a cottage nearby. She heard the crackle of the radio she was wearing in her ear. "Alright, we've got positions. Everyone got a clear view of the building and a good shooting spread?" As Pete got affirmatives from everyone, he reminded them, "For those of you new at this..." he let the humor enter his tone at the thought, "Remember to stay out of an ally's crossfire. These machine guns got quite a kick to them and you could easily take off someone's head that you weren't supposed to." Derisive comments came from Agent R and Rahne to that comment as they waited for the time to run out, but Katya didn't join in. She knew they needed the stress relief before the actual battle began so as not to jump the gun, so to speak, but she was used to this job way too much. She simply let her emotions and everything get shoved into the box she put them into when she was on a job, and sealed it tight. All that existed was her and the enemy, and she would see them dead. The cat hunts in shadows, she thought to herself as she always did before blood started to flow, and so a shadow you will be. Logan had used to say that to her when he was training her, and she had learned her lesson well. After that thought she simply blended into the shadow of a small outlay on the cottage and prepared for the kill.

They never even heard the engine from the plane, it was going so fast, the sonic boom coming afterwards. The top of the building got hit with the tractor beam as it was in flight so the structural integrity of the Muir Island base never stood a chance. It ripped away like someone peeling a lemon. Katya just prayed that they had done their math right and that the ship could hold the weight of a couple hundred tons of debris with the redone engines and structural changes they'd made, enough to get that crap to the ocean and drop it in, or they had no way home and her idiot idea had just killed off two members of their team. While the shock of the tactic was still registering with the bad guys down below they could see now crawling through the air ventilation system like ants crawling through a nest, Katya and the others shot downward. Katya balanced the gun against her shoulder and, using one hand to steady it, shot in clear lines through rows of bodies that had suits on. One of the reasons they'd had Pete wear body armor and a black undershirt this time around. So they'd know who in the hell he was amongst the other Black Air agents. Katya watched as the bodies danced with bullets and just knew this was too damn easy. She never believed things when they came easy.

Suddenly she heard the swoosh in the air and the crackle of fire as it hit the rooftop near where she stood. She didn't even think as she phased and watched as the roof around her simply melted. She looked for the source of the power and saw a man standing down below pointing upward with a still flaming hand. She took aim and fired through the smoke and the flame, knowing that he'd never know she was still alive until it was too late, and watched as he exploded into just as much blood and guts. Her radio, specially modified by her came to life, "Shadowcat. Report!" That was from Agent R who probably saw the destruction of the roof. She jumped down a couple of blocks of air and replied when she was below the smoke, "Shadowcat here. Still up and running fine. We've got problems." The last was said as she came even with the man she'd killed, kneeling down to see his face. She looked up, slightly pale, at every stone around her. "What?" The voice sounded worried that she sounded worried. It was a good sign that they trusted her judgement, and not a good sign that the day was going to get any better. "We've got clones running and their mutagenic signature is working fine." She heard curses from three different directions and added her own silent sentiments to it. This... this was not good.

She turned and barely had time to miss the blow as it came at her. She looked up at the visage of a man she'd read about and not liked from the moment she found out what his power was. She dodged another blow, both of them knowing that guns were out of the question this time around, and she heard him speak in Japanese, "Shadowcat, I presume? I've been looking forward to meeting you." Katya dodged another blow, and felt it as his fist skimmed her shoulder even in phased form, her leg sweeping outward to kick at his knee and putting some much needed room between them as he blocked and moved out of the way. "Shinobi Shaw, aka, Energy Reaper. I haven't been looking forward to meeting you." His laugh was pure hatred as he pulled out a knife, and holding the flat of the blade against his wrist, started working the blade with professionally done strokes, trying to catch her offguard as she took his measure. "What are you, kitty cat? Afraid?" Katya waited and, as he lunged expertly at her, she feinted to the right, letting her body armor take the cut from the knife, and reaching with her left hand under her hair pulled the specially made blade from the spine sheath she had had made years ago. The blade slid out with a slight hiss and she held it in her hand as she faced him.

It was a blade about as long as a short sword, which would have made it awkward to hold if you didn't know how to use it. Luckily, she knew how to use it. Katya slashed it at Shinobi a couple of times, attacking not the weaknesses in his fighting style she'd already seen, but the strengths. She figured that with his ego -- that at least had been well reported -- she needed to lull him into a false sense of security. He handled a knife too damn well to let this drag out. She knew he'd outdistance her and she could only arm wrestle the bigger man for so long. Blades clanged as they blocked move after move on one another, Katya at the beginning of the knife fight switching to her right hand so that her weak arm would take it first. She countered his moves and, when he got overly zealous and tried to take off her head, she had had enough. She flung her claws out to block the blow that was coming, her little trump card, and as he perceived them holding his knife, she went after a weak point she'd noticed earlier with him, going in from by his thigh and upward underneath his body armor, and cut. She stepped back while he was in shock and, putting her full weight into it, grabbed the knife with both hands where it was embedded into his abdomen and yanked upward until it hit his heart. She then stepped back a little, put her boot on his shoulder and pushed him off of her blade. He slid to the ground and lay there, but she wasn't taking any chances. Ignoring the blade he had and anything else that might be of value, she touched his shoe gently and watched as he sank into the ground. And then she let go. She couldn't have them bringing him back as one of McCoy's little pets. That would spell trouble for her. She had left a small corner of his shirt above ground and she used that to clean her blade off and put it away.

The battle was coming closer to her as she took off in the direction she'd known it would be. She pulled another semi clip out of her outfit and, popping the clip on the machine gun in mid run, reloaded it with a click and hammered a bullet into the chamber. She then reached down and put the damn thing on high. She'd empty her clip in no time, she knew that, but she knew what kind of heap of bodies were going to be around that place and she was going to have to fight her way through it.