ax_main | Kitty and Bobby | Backdated to 9/18

Kitty goes to see Bobby the morning after her infiltration of the Brotherhood.

Kitty had been miserable all of Sunday night. The Professor had asked to see her in the morning, which had only kept her up all the more, which meant that between him and Magneto looming in her head, she'd just laid there and stared at her ceiling for five hours before getting up and heading down to meet him.

The meeting with the Professor had gone...better than expected, at least. She'd been grilled, and he'd asked for a copy of the flash drive. He definitely hadn't answered her questions about what his relationship was with Lensherr. And, in the end, he'd been too distracted to set a punishment. Which was why Kitty slinked out of his office and headed straight for Bobby's room, unwilling to splash her finds all over the school just yet.

With dark circles under her eyes, redness lingering, she tugged at her hoodie and knocked on his door. "Bobby? I know it's early. I just...can I...It's Kitty."

Bobby, for reasons even he wasn't prepared to explain, was actually awake. Not up, per se - he was still lying in bed, putting in his next guess at Trivia Crack on the game he'd been playing with his cousin Mary, who fortunately wasn't any better at it than he was. His head jerked up, though, at the sound of a knock at the door, and he glanced over to see that Kurt was already up and about.

"Umm...yeah, hang on." He got up, decided that the cut off sweats he'd been wearing to sleep in were okay girlfriend-visiting attire, and went over to answer the door.

"Come on...are you okay?" he asked with concern as he caught sight of Kitty's face and reached out to usher her inside.

Kitty glanced at Kurt's side of the room, then let Bobby pull her inside. "No. Not really. No. I did something stupid."

Bobby's forehead furrowed. "Like, what kind of stupid? Because I usually do two or three stupid things by this time of morning, but I'm guessing it's not the norm for you."

"Like taking off after Pyro's tracer alone and infiltrating his group's headquarters," Kitty breathed out quietly.

"That would be a really stupid thing, yes." Bobby helped her over to the bed, figuring sitting down was a good idea. "Are you okay?"

"Besides humiliated and tired and really confused and hiding from Yana?" Kitty asked, following with him dazedly.

"Okaaaay. Kitty, I woke up like, fifteen minutes ago. Can we take those one at a time, maybe?" He helped her sit down on the bed, then sat down beside her. "And can we start with an answer to are you okay? Like, physically?"

"Just tired. I did a lot of running when I left, and didn't sleep all night," she told him quietly, staring down at her knees.

Bobby let out a sigh of relief and wrapped his arm around her back. "Okay. So, why were you running? Did they catch you infiltrating?" For now, at least, he was biting back the question of just why she'd done this alone. Priorities.

Kitty reached up and rubbed at her forehead. "Yes. Their leader did. And he...he gave me the information on the Right and Friends of Humanity," she told him, pulling the flash drive from her pocket. "Because he says he hopes we're on the same side as mutants being persecuted."

"Okaaay." Bobby's forehead furrowed. "So, that's...good, right? You got the info and you didn't, y'know, get killed or anything?"

She nodded. "It's good. Mostly. But Yana is going to kill me, and I'm...still not sure about what the man told me."

"About us being on the same side? Or you think he gave you bad data?" The part about Yana he let go for now. Personally, he kinda figured that if she was dumb enough to bring a terrorist to a party, she kinda had whatever she got coming.

"I'm not sure about us being on the same side," Kitty agreed. "I'm guessing the data is good. He...really wanted me to know that the FoE and Right are terrible people. Honestly, I haven't had the stomach to look at it yet. It's just that he...really came off as the bad guy who wanted me to think he was good."

"And you're figuring it's bullshit, I'm guessing? Have you talked to the Prof yet?" Because yeaaah. He'd be putting that off, himself. But it maybe wasn't a bad idea.

"He felt me get back last night," Kitty sighed. "I talked to him this morning. He asked a lot of questions and wants a copy of the data. But get this, Bobby - he knows the leader of the Brotherhood. Magneto. They've known each other for years. And their server room? It looks almost exactly like the one here."

"That's..." Bobby frowned and shook his head. "That's really weird, right? I mean, not something that would happen by coincidence? And did he say how he knew him?"

"No. Magneto said to ask the professor, and the professor just skirted the question," Kitty frowned.

"That's...kinda ominous." Bobby quirked a crooked and not very convincing smile. "I'm guessing it wasn't just something embarrassing like they were both in glee club in college?"

Kitty shrugged. "How many mutants do you know that are their age?"

"Well, up until five minutes ago, I'd have said one. So now I guess two? Which, yeah, probably rules out the glee club theory. Unless we're talking Douglas Adams levels of improbability." Bobby rubbed Kitty's back absently, considering. "I don't suppose this Magneto gave out his real name or anything, huh? Because we could try Google."

She looked over at him, blinking. "Why didn't I think of that? Oh my god, Bobby, am I dumb now?" she reached for her head. "Did he do something to me and now I'm dumb?"

"Ummm...no? I mean, you don't seem dumb to me," Bobby admitted, quirking a grin. "Stressed, overtired...I can make a list, but dumb isn't on it. Or, y'know, you could just give me credit for a brilliant idea?"

Kitty groaned and curled over his lap. "I'm sorry. You're brilliant. His name is Erik Lenscherr."

"Which is Google-able, if we can figure out how to spell it." Bobby continued rubbing Kitty's back and reached over to grab his abandoned phone. And paused. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

She raised her head, frowning. "It does? Did I lose my memory too?"

"You remembered my name," Bobby pointed out. "So I'm guessing no?"

"Right. Good thinking," she moped, laying her head back down on her arms, which she'd crossed in a flop over his lap. "So why does the name sound familiar?"

"I can't remember," he admitted. He rested the phone on her back and started pecking at it, one handed. "Something to do with homework, I think?"

She hummed softly. "Now that you mention it, I think he said something about being an advocate of mutant rights. But like, the cameras couldn't capture his face because of his power. Which is electromagnetism, by the way."

"That was it!" Bobby grinned as he pulled up his favorites list. "Stupid report for ethics. There was something..." He tapped on a page and waited for it to load. "Easier to find it again than to figure out how to spell his name," he admitted.

Kitty pulled out of his lap and leaned against him instead, peering at the phone's screen.

"Aaand here we go." Bobby looped his free arm around her back and scrolled down. "Right. There's not much - it's an article about the 'mutant question'." His voice made quote around the words, and he rolled his eyes, then began reading. "Erik Lenscherr - and yeaah, I wouldn't have guessed that as a spelling - has been a vocal advocate for mutant rights. Often comparing the prejudice against mutants to that of Jews leading into the Holocaust - my mom'd love that - he has predicted that the government will ultimately attempt the same solution." He wrinkled his nose. "That's pleasant."

"In that it's really not," Kitty frowned, then looked closer at the spelling of the name. "But. If he's descended from Holocaust Jews, that might explain some of it."

Bobby grimaced, but nodded. "Anyway, it goes on to say that pretty much the only difference between the two groups is that mutants are better able to protect themselves. Which...yeah. That kinda fits too, huh?"

"Way to give them more reasons to hate us, Erik," Kitty pouted.

"No shit." Bobby sighed. "So, maybe the Prof knows him from some conferences or something?"

"Could be," Kitty said, but at the same time, she thought of the server rooms, and how alike they looked. One had to have come before the other, and the mansion was a lot older than the club. "Anyway, I think...I think he might have been feeling me out for recruitment."

"Yeah?" Bobby turned his head to look over at her, surprised. "Do you think that's what Pyro was doing here? Looking for potential recruits? And...what did you say?"

"He didn't ask outright," Kitty shrugged. "He just asked...I guess, probing questions. Both he and Pyro wanted to know what I would fight for. If I would fight to protect my friends. I had told Pyro at the party that if it had been Yana on the ground and Quicksilver standing over her when I showed up that I might ask a question before blasting him away like Scarlet Witch did with me. Neither him or Magneto seemed to like that answer. Magneto said it was 'admirable' but not 'practical.'"

"Well, he is a terrorist. I'm not sure they're big on the questions." Bobby gave her a half hug. "So, are you off to join the Dark Side?"

Kitty smiled tiredly at him. "Do I look like a Dark Side kind of girl to you, Bobby Drake?"

"Well, I hear they have cookies," he pointed out. He leaned in and kissed her softly, then grinned. "But I think there are some of those in the fridge, if those'll tempt you to stay here."

"Find me some thin mints ice cream and I'm all yours," Kitty promised him.

"For breakfast?" Bobby feigned astonishment.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You got a problem with that?"

"Hey, I am totally problem-less," Bobby assured her. "I'm also ice cream-less, though, so if you want ice cream, I'm going to have to go downstairs and check the freezer." He gave her a hug. "Want to crash here while I go look? Because I demand an opportunity to make sure you're not going to go off and turn to the dark side of the force."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'll stay here, ice boy."

"With or without ice cream?" Bobby grinned. "Also, have you ever heard that saying about not sticking it out unless..." He let it trail off, but waggled his eyebrows.

Kitty pulled her tongue back in and pouted at him. "Ice cream? I'll take any flavor."

So much for that - not that he'd expected otherwise. "You're way too cute when you pout. It's an unfair advantage," he pointed out as he got to his feet. "Thin mints if I can find it, anything if I can't. I'll be back in a few."

He left, and Kitty curled up on his bed, trying not to let herself drown in uncertainty. It worked, at least to the extent that by the time Bobby got back, she'd fallen completely asleep, exhausted as she was.