PART 5

Tabitha Smith, the member of X-Force known as Meltdown, fumed as she watched her boyfriend walk out of Kavik's bedroom. She had gone to see him before, to check that he was all right after his collapse in front of the mansion, only to find that his bed was empty. When she asked for Cannonball's whereabouts Cerebro had informed her that he wasn't on the grounds. She went to wait in Sam's room until he returned and had told Cerebro to contact her via her communicator when he was back. However, when Sam had finally returned hours later, he had stayed downstairs. Tabitha waited for a while longer, but it became obvious that Sam wasn't going to come up to her. She eventually decided to go to him, but when she had been standing at the top of the stairs she heard quiet voices. One was Sam, and the other was that of the new X-Man, Kavik MacLeod. She couldn't hear the words, but Sam's tone was pleading. She listened until she heard both of them walk up the stairs. She hid in the shadows as she watched them walk into MacLeod's bedroom.

Tabitha's mind screamed, as she slumped down the wall she was leaning against. Tears of anger and betrayal ran down Tabitha's cheeks.

Tabitha stayed in the same position until she saw the door to Kavik's room open and Sam standing there. Sam's voice carried over to where she was hiding, "What will ah tell Tabitha?" Fresh tears ran down her cheeks as Kavik gave her answer. "The truth, it's the only fair thing to do." She watched from the shadows as Kavik kissed Sam on the cheek and wished him sweet dreams. She watched as Sam stared at the closed door for a few seconds until finally heading back to his room.

Tuesday, 5:16 AM

Kavik buried her head under her pillow, but the insistent beeping of her alarm still rang in her ears. She had already hit the 'snooze' button twice and now the alarm wouldn't silence until it was turned off properly. Grumbling angrily, Kavik reached out blindly for the clock. Opening the window of her room with her powers, she threw the clock as hard as she could out of the window, smiling triumphantly when she heard the loud *CRASH!* it made as it hit the ground and broke.

Tuesday, 5:17 AM

Bishop had just finished his morning patrol of the grounds when he heard something crunch beneath his feet. Looking down, he saw the mangled remains of an alarm clock scattered across the ground.

"Bishop," a voice called, "what are you looking at?"

Bishop turned to see Scott walking towards him from the direction of the boathouse.

"It appears to be the remains of a clock," answered Bishop. "It would also appear to have been dropped from a height."

Scott scowled and looked up. Directly above where the clock had smashed was an open window. It was one of the guest rooms, or, more correctly, it *had* been.

Scott frowned. Sighing, he looked back down at the clock. It was totally destroyed and way beyond redemption. Using his optic blasts, Scott vaporised the remains of the clock and stormed into the mansion. Scott couldn't explain it, but there was something about Kavik that got to him.

Although he didn't want to admit it, the young woman intrigued him. Both Charles and Logan claimed to have known her for years, and yet the two men moved in very different circles. What kind of a person could live in both Charles' *and* Logan's world. Her performances in the Danger Room had served to increase the intrigue. She had the grace of a dancer, but her movements were those of a warrior. It wasn't so much the fact that she had gone through the team on that first session, but more that she had taken on Wolverine and won. That was something people twice her age, with more power and experience had failed to do. Not only that, but Logan had laughed about it. The last time Logan had ended up on his backside in the Danger Room, it had taken him two hours and most of the battle droids to calm down. Yet, when Kavik had disarmed him and flipped him on his butt the day before, Logan had simply grinned. And Jean couldn't read her, according to his wife Kavik was as telepathically slippery as Gambit was. Gambit, that was another thing. The first person Kavik had hooked up with when she arrived was Gambit. The kind of person who had the background and experiences to get on with both Wolverine and Gambit made Scott nervous. But it was more than that, he hadn't realised it until she had looked straight at him when she had grabbed his wrist in the Danger Room, and he found himself staring into her eyes. Her eyes belied her youth and held a look of age and experience.

As he walked up the stairs, Scott realised that Kavik reminded him of a panther: sleek, smooth, beautiful, and very, very deadly. Scott reached Kavik's room and rapped on the door. All he could hear was an inarticulate mumble that could have been 'go away' coming from the room.

He knocked harder.

"Enough with the noise, already, I'm up." The growl came through the door.

"There's a training session in 40 minutes. I expect you there. I also expect you to refrain from throwing alarm clocks out of your window."

Scott was slightly startled as the door opened and Kavik stood before him. "I know about the training session and I *will* be there. However, if I wish to throw my alarm clock out of the window, I'll do so. It's my alarm clock, and if I wish to dress it in pink taffeta and compose sonnets to it, then I'll do just that!"

The door was shut abruptly and Scott heard a laugh coming from behind him. He turned to see Logan leaning against the wall. It was obvious that he had heard their 'conversation'.

"Don't take it too bad, Slim," smirked Logan. "She tends ta be irritable if she doesn't get much sleep."

"You're not kidding," muttered Scott.

"She'll be fine by time the session starts. Ya may as well come down and get a coffee and some breakfast."

Scott watched Logan saunter down the stairs to the kitchen. Taking one last glance at the closed door, Scott followed him.

Tuesday, 5:54 AM

Several of the X-Men were standing in the Danger Room, waiting for the rest of the team to arrive so that the training session could start. All the X-Men were going to be there, except for Cannonball. Hank wanted him to take the day off to make sure that he was over whatever had caused his headaches the day before. When Kavik heard this she sighed with relief. She hadn't yet figured out a way for her and Sam to fight together while keeping far enough away from each other to retain their powers.

"Does he do this often?" Kavik asked to the group of people she was standing with.

"Does who do what often, sugah?" Rogue answered with a question of her own.

"Scott. Does he make a habit of moonlight training sessions?"

Rogue laughed. "Yeah. Our fearless leadah is pretty fond o' the early mornin' trainin' sessions."

"You know, this is all Jean's fault," muttered Kavik.

"What you mean by dat?" Remy grinned.

"Well, the level of sadism needed to drag people out of nice warm beds at disgusting times in the morning is indicative of sexual frustration," she replied.

"Huh?" Bobby looked confused.

"He ain't gettin' any!" Kavik elaborated.

The laughter that followed was cut off by the Danger Room doors opening.

However, it started again when Scott walked in.

One glance at the bemused look of paranoia on Scott's face sent Kavik into fresh gales of laughter. "It's okay, Scott," she gasped between laughing, "just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean they really *aren't* out to get you."

Scott waited until the laughter had died down before he started to divide everyone into teams for the session.

Tuesday, 6:05 AM

Tabitha had set her alarm to go off just after the X-Men's training session was due to start. Getting out of bed, she grabbed a shirt and a pair of jeans and threw them on. Checking with Cerebro that Kavik was in the Danger Room and Sam was still asleep, Tabitha quietly opened her bedroom door and crept through the halls to Kavik's room. She tried the door, and, finding it unlocked, slipped inside.

she thought.

Tuesday, 6:08 AM

The two teams of X-Men looked over at the flag at the far end of the Danger Room. The first team to reach and retrieve the flag was the winner. The Danger Room was empty and inactive, but everyone there knew that looks were deceiving.

"We may as well take the offensive," said Joseph as he raised himself off the ground using his magnetic powers. As soon as the Danger Room registered an active use of powers, it came to life. Battle droids emerged from the walls and began to converge on the teams. The flyers all took to the air, but they weren't safe from the Danger Room's toys as it released it's heat seeking missiles.

Riding his ice slide, Bobby trusted his ice powers to keep the missiles from attacking him. He realised he was wrong when one turned it's attention on him. "Damn, they're attracted to cold, too," he yelled.

"Iceman, stay there," Angel shouted as he flew towards his team-mate, a second missile after him.

Angel flew between Iceman and the cold seeking missile, timing it so that the two missiles collided in mid air and exploded. However, one of the missiles wasn't totally destroyed and it went spiralling out of control.

"Betsy! Watch out!" Warren shouted as he saw the missile hurtle towards his lover.

The warning came too late. Psylocke dodged the flying piece of metal, but it still hit her in the side, knocking her to the ground, dazed.

Scott immediately called for the simulation to be shut down as he ran to where Hank was checking Betsy. "Is she okay?"

"Yes," Hank nodded. He turned to Betsy, "there's some superficial burns, if you come up to the infirmary, I'll go over them with the dermal regenerator."

Betsy nodded as she stood to follow Hank out. She staggered slightly as she stood and Warren was by her side instantly to help her to the infirmary.

Scott glanced around.

"Does this mean I can go back to bed?" Kavik inquired innocently.

Scott scowled as he answered. "I want everyone back here at eight."

"Is that a 'yes'?"

"It's an 'I don't care what you do, as long as you're back here at eight'."

"Good enough," shrugged Kavik as she followed Ororo out of the room.

Tuesday, 6:12 AM

Tabitha walked over to Kavik's cabinet, but could find nothing. Tabitha looked around the room but couldn't find any suitcases. Getting to her knees, Tabitha stuck her hand under the bed. She felt the handle of a case and pulled it out. A long, black case appeared from under the bed. Tabitha picked it up and placed it on the bed.

Meltdown thought, as the latches on the case came open at the first try. Tabitha removed the empty top layer of the case, her eyes opening widely when she saw the two swords. Picking them up, she placed them gently on the bed and went back to her exploration. Tabitha's eyes were drawn to a small black case. Picking the case up, she pulled on the tags that held it closed and opened it out. Inside the case was an entire set of lock-picks. Embroidered on one of the pockets were the entwined letters K and A. Tabitha mused. Tabitha resumed her exploration of the larger case. Meltdown was so engrossed in her spying, that she didn't hear the door to the room open.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, girl?"

Tabitha dropped the piece of tartan she was holding and spun round to face the voice.

Kavik was shocked to find anyone in her room. She had expected just to crawl in her bed for an extra hour's sleep, not disturb someone rifling through her things. "I said, what do you think you're doing?" Kavik demanded.

"I know what's going on," snarled Tabitha.

"And just what's that?"

"I know about you and Sam."

Kavik thought, assuming that Tabitha was taking about their immortality. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing."

"I'll find something to show him the true side of you. I mean, what kind of person carries swords around?"

The question confused Kavik.

Meltdown continued her tirade. "I saw him coming out of here last night. Very cosy. Tell me, do you always go after other people's boyfriends? Or did you make an exception for Sam?"

The light clicked on in Kavik's mind. "Wait a minute. You think that Sam and I - " Kavik shook her head. "Kid, you are *way* off."

"Don't call me 'kid'," fumed Tabitha. "I'm not that much younger than you."

"You have *no* idea."

"No, *you* have no idea." Tabitha poked her finger at Kavik angrily. "No idea if you think I'm just going to let you steal Sam."

"I don't want Sam."

"No? Then what were doing last night?"

"Oh, this is ridiculous. Kavik grabbed Tabitha's arm and dragged her out of the door.

"Where are you taking me?" Tabitha tried to yank her arm away, but Kavik was too strong.

"We are going to sort this out."

Tabitha realised they were heading to Sam's room.