They pulled in to the house just in time to see Heather dropping off Sage for the night. She got out of the car and quickly went around to open the door for her, then Heather smoothly helped the shorter woman out. They spoke for a few moments, then Sage went up on tiptoe to kiss the taller blonde gently on the cheek. Sage was still waving good-bye when she noticed Kitty and Rogue walking towards her with broad smiles on their faces. "So what happened?" Kitty demanded. "We're going out again later," Sage admitted, blushing slightly. At Rogue's smirk she quickly said defensively, "I'm just trying to cultivate a future X-man." By the looks on their faces, neither Kitty or Rogue was buying that line. They began to walk together towards the mansion when Rogue wondered aloud, "I wonder how late Ororo and Raven are going to be?" "Probably quite a lot," Sage noted. She looked over at Kitty and Rogue, "So how was your night out?" Kitty shrugged casually, "We drank, danced, then I got attacked by Lady Deathstrike." "What?" Sage looked over at her in surprise. Ororo and Raven arrived home in the morning, and walked in on a small meeting going on in the living room. Kitty and Rogue sat on one of the couches, Elizabeth, Neal, Sage and Bishop scattered around the room. "You're sure that's what she said?" Bishop asked with a frown on his face. He had been absent more often than not the past few days, building up his police identity with the Australian police department. "Stories going around that I'm the best, yeah," Kitty nodded. Elizabeth snickered softly, "I can't quite see you growling that out like Logan does." Kitty rolled her eyes, "Gee, thanks." A bit more serious, "Did you have any luck checking on that rumor with your intelligence contacts?" "The story's spreading there, too," Elizabeth said. "Why ask Elizabeth?" Rogue asked Kitty softly. "Couldn't you have called your old teammate, Pete Wisdom?" she asked. "He started hanging around with X-Force," Kitty answered quietly, "and may have gotten himself killed." Rogue winced, "Sorry, Kitty. I didn't know." Kitty smiled, gently patting her hand, "It's OK, love." "What's going on?" Ororo asked, looking around curiously. All eyes immediately focused on the pair, taking in the rumpled, slept in clothes. The two stood close together, their stance indicating they really didn't intend to be parted. A bit of a blush touched Ororo's cheeks as they stood there as moment. "And where were you all night, young lady?" Rogue teased Raven with a cheeky grin. "The Rose, if you must know," Raven smiled. "Oh ho!" Rogue exclaimed. Turning to Kitty, "I have got to take you there one night." Kitty smiled at Ororo, "It seems I've got a little problem." With that, she explained the events of the night before, including what Deathstrike had said. "Congratulations, Kitty," Ororo smiled. Raven looked a bit more serious as she offered, "I'll check with my contacts in the underworld, too." Quietly, she added, "I suspect that you may be stuck with it, though." "Well, let's hope things stay quiet for a while," Rogue said quietly. Rogue ducked the punch, but just barely. "Give it up, Shaw!" she growled. The Hellfire club had landed in Australia. The red and black costumed troops were fighting X-men in downtown Sydney, and the Black King, Sebastian Shaw, was there, too. Rogue did her best to avoid hitting him, even as she dodged his blows. A mutant, Shaw had the ability to absorb the force of any blow, boosting his own strength and invulnerability! "Give me Tessa," Shaw barked, "and this fight is over, X-Man!" "Sage is an X-Man, now," Rogue answered him, "and we stand by our own." The black hared businessman was enraged, and Rogue could guess why. As Tessa, Sage had spied on him for years, secretly helping the X-men, and now he wanted revenge. With the help of Lady Mastermind, he was trying to brainwash Sage into serving him once again. A group of Hellfire troops charged down the street to reinforce the others, when a battered officer staggered out of an alley. "There's a group of X-men stragglers," he reported, "head down there and you can intercept them!" "Let's go!" the leader of the troops cried out, and led his people down the alley. They emerge on another street, and right in the middle of a police squad. Bishop and the police quickly surrounded them. "I'd advise surrender," he smiled. The Hellfire troops looked at each other then raised their hands. The soldier who gave them those instructions smiled and slipped away. The uniform suddenly morphed, and Mystique chuckled softly. "I could get used to this," she said. Storm smiled, giving her lady love a wave as she rose above the battlefield to get a broader view of the situation. The police, Shadowcat, Mystique and Psylocke were handling the Hellfire army quite efficiently, while Thunderbird and Rogue were engaging Shaw. But that still left Sage in jeopardy. If they had a telepath on the team, Mastermind would be less trouble, but Psylocke had lost those abilities, and Rogue wasn't comfortable with psychic powers. She suddenly stopped in mid-air as an idea occurred to her. Storm quickly took off, flying at top speed towards the beach. Lady Mastermind frowned as she studied the motionless Sage. She had been bombarding the X-man's mind with illusions, but so far it had very little effect on her. The woman's mind was quite strong, and well trained in resisting psychic attack. Mastermind's strategy was quite simple: in the illusions she was distorting Sage's training under Xavier, making it seem much harsher than it had been. Then she manipulated her memories of the Hellfire club, making them seem much more pleasant and appealing. The problem was, it wasn't working. Kitty dropped another trooper, even as she kept an eye on the big fight. Rogue kept trying to get in close to drain Shaw's powers, but she wasn't having much look. Thunderbird was using his plasma bolts to try and drive him back, but Shaw seemed to be able to ignore the heat. Psylocke bobbed and weaved, blades flashing, and several enemies just dropped. 'Kitty's training's really paid off,' she thought with a smile. They were taking down troops by the dozen, and the flow of soldiers had finally begun to lessen. "What next, sensei?" she asked Kitty. "We check with Bishop to see if the police need any help," Kitty started to say, when they both heard it. Boom! Kitty turned just in time to see Rogue hit the building, then crumple to the ground. She lay there, silent and still, then Kitty heard something else. Shaw, laughing. "Go help Rogue," Kitty instructed Psylocke softly, then she began to walk towards Shaw. Thunderbird hesitated, and she called to him, "Help round up the troops," then more quietly she added, "Shaw is mine." Kitty reached him, and Shaw looked at her quizzically. "I know I can't hurt you while you're phased," he noted, "but you can't hurt me, either." "Not quite," Kitty calmly said, then she stuck her hand in his chest. "What many people forget," she said as she calmly rummaged around in his chest, and Shaw's face grew pale, "is that my power also messes up electrical currents." "What... are you... doing?" Shaw managed to get out, his breathing labored. "I'm interfering with the nerves in your heart," Kitty said quite conversationally. She clenched her fist, and he spasmed visibly. "I'm only going to say this once," and Kitty's voice was as cold as ice, "get out of Australia, or I'll kill you." Shaw staggered, as Kitty drew her hand out. He could feel his heart spasming in his chest, his breathing labored. He looked at her, and knew that not only could she kill him, she would. He brought his communicator to his lips. "Hellfire troops, withdrawal," he commanded, then he headed off towards his nearby helicopter. "This isn't over," he vowed to Kitty over his shoulder. Kitty ignored him, running to where Rogue was being helped to her feet by Psylocke. Rogue was muttering, "Lemme at 'im, I can take him!" "Sorry, champ," Kitty smiled in relief to see that Rogue was all right, "he took off." Lady Mastermind frowned, receiving Shaw's signal. 'I wonder if I have enough time to finish the job?' she wondered. Storm blew the door open, and threw a lightning bolt at her, only to see it harmlessly pass right through Lady Mastermind. "Sorry, X-man," she smiled, then Lady Mastermind began to disappear, "I'm not even here." Sage slumped in the chair, her eyes glazed and a bit of drool running from the corner of her mouth. "What's wrong with her?" Heather demanded of Storm. The X-Man had grabbed her off the beach, only saying that Sage was in some kind of danger, but she hadn't been expecting this. "She's trapped in the illusions," Storm frowned, gently shaking her shoulders. "You thought this might happen," Heather realized, looking at Storm thoughtfully. "But I don't know if my power can help with something like this," she confessed even as she bent down to Sage's side. Storm's eyes widened as Heather's body armored up, even as she stiffened like Sage was. They remained there like that a few moments, and Storm began to pace nervously, hoping she had made the right choice bringing Heather there. A loud gasp, and Heather and Sage relaxed visibly. "Are you all right?' Storm quickly asked them both. Heather helped Sage up, "I'm fine." She paused, and shaking her head added, "That was a really odd experience." "Thank you," Sage smiled up at Heather. Something seemed to pass between the two young women, some new bond forming. "Lets go see if the others need any help," Storm said, leading the two of them out. She rather suspected all that remained was the clean up. "Sensei," Elizabeth said as they shared a formal tea, discussing and assessing how they had done in the battle, "did you really mean your threat to kill Shaw?" Kitty sipped delicately. "Did you know that Shaw's son Shinobi tried to kill him by inducing a heart attack in his father, then blowing him up?" she asked instead. Elizabeth's eyes widened, "You were playing mind games with him." She shook her head in admiration, "You knew his son had done something similar, and you played on that." "Yes," Kitty said, "and no. I really was effecting his heart, and I could have done it." With that, she excused her self to see how Rogue was doing. Elizabeth watched her go thoughtfully. She had known Kitty was an excellent fighter, otherwise she wouldn't have asked her to train her. But she hadn't known Kitty had that degree of ruthlessness as well. Elizabeth smiled suddenly as another thought occurred to her. 'I wonder how her taking on Shaw that way is going to do to her reputation?'
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