Kitty and Pete belong to Marvel, the Boy belongs to me. Please don't sue me.

Notes: I wrote this in a few hours, inspired by the picture of Kitty looking disdainfully at a computer screen saying "Logged out". I know the original context, but this was cool nonetheless.
 
 

A boy is sitting in front of the comforting glow of his screen. On it, little letters appear and disappear, caught in a dance of his devising. His fingers move across a keyboard with lightning speed, and he is not looking at them. He is far more interested in what the letters have to say, for they are really really scaring him.

The boy has an old copy of a comic next to him, the pages open to a specific scene. He too remembers certain Computer Geniuses from the University of Chicago, a half forgotten book he'd flipped through in a friend's house eagerly borrowed from him and pored through.

His friend had been curious. "Did you get interested when the movie came out?" he asked, when he handed it over. "Keep it if you like, man, I lost interest as soon as they canned Ex..." the box he'd put his head into to search for some more books muffled his voice. "Just one more issue I got, the one in your hands, mate."

"No, not exactly. Just someone I randomly pinged for a messenger contact," he replied. "I did it about, say two weeks ago? It was the middle of that weird power surge."

"I remember, the Minister copped a bit of flak for that one."

The boy remembers. After all, he wasn't the one who got severely hax0rzed by his intended mark.

Two Weeks ago...
 

Instant messenger:

Wacky: So, you live in the states, right?
Pryde: Well, yes. In Chicago.
Wacky: Umm, yes, I'm in Australia.
Pryde: I can tell, you ISP numbers are obvious.
Wacky: You're currently in the University of Chicago from the looks of yours.
Pryde: Respect.
Wacky: Nice. A denial of service attack for my unwanted intrusion. But a bit old, say. You like your old        software, eh?
Pryde: What do you mean? This is state of the art. I made it myself.
Wacky: yeah right, you made it four years ago then.
Pryde: What, do you think it's 2004?
Wacky: Well, it is.
Pryde: ????? Last time I checked it was 2000.

One Week ago...

The boy frowns as the letters continue to form and reform on his screen. He'd checked up on that one too. One more test.

Instant Messenger:

Wacky: Do you know someone called Katherine Pryde? She's at the Chicago Uni too.
Pryde: What, you'd hacked my comp for that one? *Changed name to Kitty*
Wacky: No, I worked it out.
Kitty: Hacker.
Wacky: Mutant.

Kitty has logged off.

Instant Messenger:

Wacky: You know, I'm really sorry about that last comment but I knew what your response would be...
Kitty: Go away.
Wacky: Wait, just one more question. Do you have a comic book called "The X Men"?
Kitty: No. It's a team.
Wacky: You may find it hard to believe, but we don't have mutants here.
Kitty: What, the Aussies killed them all?
Wacky: No. THERE ARE NO MUTANTS. The year is 2004. I know your intimate history from a comic book.
Kitty: Prove it.
Wacky: Right. What boy knows that you ended up in space befriending a small purple dragon, that you'd        fall for a British Secret Service agent, that you personally defeated 3 demons at The Prof's house?
Kitty: ...
Kitty: You exist, according to the internet. You still go to school.
Wacky: No, I don't. I'm at University now. And in my world there's an art teacher in Canada called Kitty Pride.
Kitty: So what are you saying...
Wacky: I am the luckiest bastard alive. Let me try something.
Kitty: What.
Wacky: wait one week and see what happens to the Sentinels hunting you down.

Wacky has logged off.

The boy takes out a pen, and looks at the comic. He starts to scrawl on it. In one week, he has gone through his friend's collection, defacing the bit here or there. He buys the latest issues and scrawls in ugly red ink onto
the pristine pages.

One Week later...

Instant Messenger:

Wacky: So what happened?
Kitty: Sentinels... they just stopped... existing. Just Disappeared.
Wacky: Nice.
Kitty: What did you do?
Wacky: I erased them. Literally.
Kitty: Who said there weren't any mutants...
Wacky: I did it with a pen. An ugly great big red pen. Over the comics.
Kitty: Are you saying I'm not real?
Wacky: Don't worry, I might not be.
Kitty: ???
Wacky: Watch the Matrix. It'll be out later in the year for you. :)

Two Weeks later...

Instant Messenger:

Wacky: So, the authors who made you, they decided to completely ruin your life.
Kitty: I thought the mood swings were just growing up.
Wacky: You should have been grown up already.
Kitty: Lisa Simpson syndrome?
Wacky: Naah. They want a nice girl like you to sell comics like a slut for teenage boys.
Kitty: I'm still not buying this.
Wacky: Let me try something then.
Wacky: ...
Kitty: My god, these clothes look slutty. Why are they on me?
Wacky: ;)
Kitty: I get your point.
Wacky: You want a personality change too?
Kitty: Actually, since you can do this, Can I ask something of you?
Wacky: Anything for my favourite X Girl.

Kitty Pride looked around her room. It smelt of cigarettes and whiskey, and her desktop had been replaced by a Cray Super Computer. She heard the deep sounds of snoring from the bed, and a slightly mumbled English curse. She smiled.

"Stop playin wit' the bleedin' scrap heap an' come over 'ere!" came the low growl.

"Not unless you worship the computer goddess."

As she got up, dressed in a wool jumper and loose jeans, she looked fondly at the callsign who had done this for her. She pressed a key, and huge lines of ghostly green text floated up over her computer screen, covering her desktop.

"One good turn deserves another," she said softly. She typed a series of quick commands.

Instant Messenger...

Kitty: Enjoy the present, Wacky. You deserve it.

Kitty has logged off.

The boy looked suspiciously at the signed photographs that had suddenly materialized in his room,  all signed with a characteristic flourish of "Kitty". All with her looking as real as possible.