See part 0/5 for disclaimer.

Please send comments to claire at <claire.fenwick@unn.ac.uk> or i can
forward them for you, my address is in my sig file.




The 'Of Mutants And Immortals' Arc

Welcome To The X-Men, Kavik. Hope You Survive The Experience!
Part 1

by Claire L. Fenwick

Saturday,  11.23 am

  Professor Charles Xavier sat at his desk looking at the piece of paper he
was holding. A knock on his door broke his reverie and caused him to look up. 
   "You wanted to see me, sir."  Scott Summers walked into the room and
looked at the Professor.
   "Yes, Scott. I have just received this letter from an old friend of mine.
I have spent years persuading her to join the X-Men and it appears that she
has finally consented to give it a try." Xavier smiled as memories came back
to him. "In fact, I had wanted her to be a member of the original X-Men, but
she did not want to tie herself down."
   "What can she do?" Asked Scott.
   "Kavik exhibits control over the elements."
   <Kavik> thought Scott <weird name.> But all he said was "Like Ororo."
   "No, Ororo controls the weather elements, Kavik controls the four basic
elements of fire, air, earth and water."
   "That would make her powerful."
   Xavier looked straight at Scott. "It's more than that, Kavik is probably
one of *the* most powerful mutants."
   "And she's coming here to learn control?"
   "No. If learning control had been the primary reason for her coming, I
would have sent her to the Massachusetts Academy. She's coming here because
I believe she will make an excellent addition to the X-Men."
   "When's she arriving?"
   "In about two hours."

Saturday,  1:46 PM

   The doorbell startled Jean Grey-Summers out of her reverie. She walked
into the hall and straight into her husband.
   "That should be the woman Charles is expecting." She said.
   They walked to the door and Scott opened it. Standing in front of him was
a young woman. He placed her age as no older than 22. Obviously not the
person Charles was expecting.
   "Yes, Miss, what can we do for you?" Asked Jean.
   A look of puzzlement crossed the woman's face, quickly replaced by a
fleeting, dazzling smile as she said, "Charles Xavier is expecting me."
   Jean noticed the suitcase at the young woman's feet about the same time
that Scott spotted it. "Kavik MacLeod..?" He asked hesitantly.
   "Yes, and you must be Scott and Jean."
   "Yes, we are." Jean stepped in front of her husband. "Please, come in."
   "Er, yes." Stuttered Scott. "I'm sorry about the confusion, it's just
that, well, I was expecting someone..." he paused, "...older." He finally
finished.
   Kavik smiled. "That all right, you'd be surprised at how many people do."
   "Kavik!" A voice exclaimed.
   Scott turned to see Charles Xavier come out of his study.
   "Charles, it's been too long." Grinned Kavik as she walked over to Xavier
and kissed him lightly.
   Charles Xavier looked at the young woman who had just kissed him and
smiled. "I'm glad that you finally consented to join us."
   "Well, you know what I wrote in my letter. We'll try it and see what
happens."
   "Of course. But first, I'll have Scott show you to your room. You can
freshen up and then meet the other X-Men. Will one hour be enough?"
   "Yeah, an hour'll be fine."

Saturday,  2:54 PM

   "Who is it?" Asked Kavik after the knock on her door.
   **It's Charles** Came the voice in her head.
   "Just come in."
   The door opened and Xavier's Shi'ar adapted wheelchair floated through
the door.
   "The rest of the team is downstairs. Are you ready to meet them?" Charles
looked at Kavik's hair, which was still damp from her shower.
   "Yeah, just give me a sec." Kavik concentrated and the water molecules
that were still on her hair lifted off her and hung suspended in the air.
Motioning with her hand, the water moved through the air and landed on a
plant that Kavik had placed on her cabinet. With perfectly dry hair, Kavik
turned to face Charles. "Okay, I'm ready to face the world."

   Charles and Kavik walked into a large lounge. Most of the X-Men were
there. Charles began the introductions. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet
Kavik MacLeod, she's going to be joining us." He turned his attention to
Kavik "Scott and Jean you've already met. This is Ororo Munroe."
   A tall, regal, dark-skinned woman walked up to Kavik and shook her hand,
smiling. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
   "Likewise." Kavik smiled
   Charles continued. "Bishop." A large, black man walked up to her and
looked at her suspiciously.
   "Don' worry, Chere. Bishop does dat to ev'ryone." Kavik turned in the
direction the Cajun accent was coming from, and looked straight into a pair
of red and black eyes. "De name's Remy, Chere. And it be a pleasure to meet
such a beautiful lady."
   Kavik couldn't stop herself from smiling as the tall man, with brown
hair, lifted her hand and delicately kissed it.
   The rest of the introductions were less extravagant than Remy's, but went
just as smoothly, except for one. When Kavik was introduced to Rogue, she
was sure she could feel some hostility coming from her, but was unsure as to
why.
   "There is also a young man by the name of Sam Guthrie, but he is away for
the weekend and won't be back until Monday. I have also left the
introductions with X-Force until later. And I had assumed Logan would be here."
   "Don't sweat it, Chuck, I'm here to meet ya precious Kavik." Came a low
growl from the doorway.
   "Wolverine!" Gasped Ororo, shocked at her friend's behaviour.
   Logan ignored Storm and walked up to Kavik. "So you're Kavik." He said,
looking her up and down.
   "And *you're* Logan." Came the reply
  "Funny, I'd thought you'd be older." Scott winced as Logan spoke to Kavik
with a note of distrust in his voice.
   Kavik smiled sweetly, "That's all right, I thought *you'd* be taller."
   Scott went to put himself between Kavik and Logan as they glared at each
other. But before he could move grins spread across each of their faces.
   "Damn, it's good to see you again, Logan." Kavik smiled as she put her
arms around Logan.
   The embrace was enthusiastically returned by Logan. "Lookin' good there,
kid."
   Kavik laughed at being called 'kid', but Scott was unsure why.
   Charles looked at Kavik and Logan, neither of them had mentioned that
they knew each other, but then the X-Men weren't required to give him a list
of everyone that they knew. "Well," he said. "Now that the introductions are
over with, I have some work to see to." He turned his attention to Kavik.
"I've scheduled a session in the Danger Room tomorrow to evaluate your level
of control. I want everyone in the Danger Room at noon."
   Kavik nodded.
   "Everyone?" Asked Bobby Drake.
   "Yes, Robert, *everyone*." And with that, Xavier left the room.

Saturday,  8:03 PM

   Remy LeBeau paused outside of Rogue's door, on the way back from having a
shower. He could hear voices coming from within the room and recognised them
as Rogue's and Joseph's. He knew he need to get out of the mansion before he
did something he probably wouldn't regret. Going back to his room, he
grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeans out of his wardrobe. When he had put
them on, he grabbed the keys to his motorbike off his cabinet and walked out
the mansion, and straight into Kavik.
   "Sorry, Chere."
   "That's okay. Remy, isn't it?" <Like I could forget.> She thought. Even
without a perfect memory, Remy LeBeau was someone who wasn't easily forgotten.
   "Oui." Remy smiled, Kavik was a beautiful young woman. "What ya doin' out
here in da cold?"
   "Nothing. It's just been a long day and I needed some air. How about you?"
   "Gambit feel da need to cut loose ev'ry now an' again. Guess tonight's
just one o' dem nights." He said spinning the bike keys around his finger.
   Kavik eyed the keys "Harley?" She asked.
   "Oui." Answered Gambit, a little confused how she could tell that just by
looking at the keys.
   Kavik's smiled expanded into a wide grin. "Fancy some company?"
   Gambit looked at Kavik. Her grin was contagious. Remy smiled as he
answered her. "We'll be goin' pretty fast, Chere. Ya bet'er hold on tight."
   "Oh, I think I could do that." Kavik said softly.

   Rogue looked out of her window just in time to see Remy straddle his
bike. She considered calling out to him, but then she saw the newest
addition to the X-Men climb on behind him. She watched as Kavik wrapped her
arms around Remy and the bike sped off into the night. She watched until the
bike was no longer visible, and then she slowly wiped away the single tear
that had rolled down her cheek. She had seen Remy's eyes light up when Kavik
had walked into the room, he used to look at her like that. His attraction
to the young woman was obvious.
   "Rogue?" A voice from behind her drifted into her ears. "Are you all right?"
   "Yeah, Joseph," she answered. "Ah'm fine." As she turned away from the
window.

   Remy stopped the bike outside of a club. He turned to Kavik. "Feel like
dancin', Chere?"
   "All night long." Came back the answer.
   Remy and Kavik walked into the club. The smoky atmosphere and the music
instantly enveloping them. 
   Remy leant over to Kavik and spoke into her ear "Drink?"
   Kavik nodded, unsure if he would hear her reply or not. Walking over to
the bar, Remy ordered a beer for himself and asked Kavik what she wanted.
"Southern Comfort and Coke." She answered. The barman placed the drinks in
front of them and walked off to serve someone else. Kavik and Remy walked to
a table and sat down.
   Remy looked at Kavik and then finally spoke. "I thought dat I 'eard Jean
say dat de Professor wanted you on da original X-Men."
   "He did."
   "But de original X-Men was formed o'er ten years ago. You would'a bin too
young, surely."
   Kavik smiled, enigmatically. "Trust me, I'm older than I look."
   Remy regarded Kavik curiously, but didn't probe deeper. He knew how much
he hated people questioning him about his past, he wasn't about to do it to
someone else. The time passed with Kavik and Remy drinking and talking, and
Remy found himself forgetting about Rogue and Joseph and every thing that
had happened back at the mansion. He also found himself wanting to know more
about the woman sitting opposite him. 
   The band in the corner of the club began to slow the tempo of the music
down and the singer started a sultry ballad.
   Remy held out his hand to Kavik and they walked onto the dance floor.
Closing her eyes, Kavik began to sway in time to the music. She could feel
Remy's arms around her, his body pressed to hers. She broke loose of his
embrace and gathered her hair in her hands and let it fall back seductively
across her shoulders. The voice of the singer seemed to weave it's way into
her soul:

Days like these no one should be alone, no heart should hide away.
Her touch is gently conquering my mind, there's nothing words can say.
She's coloured all the secrets of my soul, I've whispered all my dreams.
But just as night-time falls, this vision falls apart, into a riddle of her
heart.

   Remy looked at Kavik, with her eyes closed and her body moving
seductively. Reaching out to her, he pulled her into his arms. She opened
her eyes and smiled at him. He could feel the warmth of her body through his
shirt. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he began to move with her. The
heat and movements of her body against his were impossible for Remy to
ignore and he began to respond to her closeness. Remy's close contact let
Kavik know just how aroused he was. Kavik felt Remy's hot breath on her neck
and closed her eyes again. She felt him kiss her neck. Feeling her move
closer to him instead of away, Remy moved one of his hands from her waist to
her shoulder. Seeing she had her eyes closed he whispered in her ear. "Look
at me, Chere." Kavik opened her eyes and smiled. Remy laid his hand on the
side on her face. Kavik opened her lips and caught his thumb in her teeth.
She flicked at it with her tongue and sucked at it until she felt him pull
it out of her mouth. He removed his thumb, glistening with her saliva and
ran his hand down the rest of her face and neck, leaving a trail of wetness.
He blew on the wetness, sending shivers down Kavik's spine. The song
finished and Remy and Kavik stood in the middle of the floor, looking at
each other. Hesitantly, Remy used the arm still around Kavik's waist to pull
her even closer to him. Moving the hand he had on her neck, he entwined his
fingers into her hair and pulled her face to his. Kavik's hands wrapped
around the back of his head as she brought her lips to meet his. Remy's lips
pushed at Kavik's as his tongue invaded her mouth. She responded by moving
her tongue and wrapping it around his. They remained attached like that for
several minutes. Finally, Remy broke away from the kiss.
   "I t'ink dat we better go some place a little more private, non?"
   Remy and Kavik walked out of the club hand in hand.


end of part 1


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Always running before the sun

Suzy {ee0u4051@liverpool.ac.uk}