Tempest in a Teapot

Tempest in a Teapot Chapter Fifteen (really! )
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *glomp * Wish me luck this weekend… InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. J ProPhile: Ten is all I can do right now. Morgan: *waves * You there? Readers/Reviewers: This one and maybe one more, then back to the big fics… J Thanks for reading/reviewing as you can!



Beast flipped through the stack of reports one more time, not quite believing his eyes. “I… apologize, Kitty.”
She shrugged, but could not help the grin that spread across her features. “It was no problem,” she fibbed. She was honestly, she admitted to herself, surprised that no one from the hospital or a law enforcement office had come knocking yet. “So from what I can tell, the best thing to do is give them a sort of retrovirus made from their own cells.” She paused and blushed slightly under Beast’s intense scrutiny. “I mean… we all have samples on file, right? Unadulterated ones? It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Beast sighed heavily. “Kitty, I think it’s time you learn than we can’t just do something like this at the drop of a hat. I have a wonderful lab here but I hardly have the facility to easily create the serum you’re proposing. We don’t even know if it would work for sure yet.”
She glanced sidelong at Saint John and his dejected, ashamed expression. “Beast, we have to try, you know? Saint John had no idea the plants released a chemical that would bond with our freaky chromosomes!”
Saint John winced at the reminder. “I just thought it’d make Storm loopy and we’d have a good laugh. I’m so fucking sorry about this.” He seemed to be holding his breath, waiting for an outburst that would not come. When the silence stretched for too long, he stood. “I’ll go. I don’t deserve to be here.”
It was Kitty that moved to stop him before Logan could reach out. “Saint John, putting the stuff in the tea didn’t make this happen. The teapot is made out of some African clay that we don’t have here. It contains these minerals that combined with the plant oils and…” she paused, seeing that the other teenager was not really listening to her. “Saint John, it is not your fault.”
Rahne stood slowly, licking her lips in anticipation of making a confession. “I didn’t say anything when Storm and Kurt first got sick so I should go too. I’ll go back to Muir Island where I belong.”
“Oh for the love of…” Kitty shot an exasperated glance at the Professor, who spread his fingers as if to say ‘all yours’ and at Logan, who was grimly watching from the sidelines. “IT ISN’T YOUR FAULT! CHEMISTRY DENIES YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!”
Saint John blinked at her like a man waking from a deep sleep. “What?”
“Oh, never mind!” Kitty cried. “Just sit down and shut up, okay? Storm did this to herself… they all did! The teapot wasn’t fit for drinking out of and it would have made them at least sick to their stomachs. The plant oils in her drink mingled with the clay of the pot and created this funky reaction. It made a chemical that bonded with mutant DNA!” She was practically panting with her annoyance and excitement.
In the relatively surprised silence that followed her shouted announcement, the door to Beast’s office creaked open, Rogue, a red bump rising rapidly on her forehead, stood angrily, framed by the partially open door. “Y’all had better come out here. I’m gonna kill Mark.”

Kurt almost literally flew into Kitty’s arms when she stepped out of Beast’s office. His tail was singed and his eyes were wide. He was emitting noises akin to the whoops of earlier but more closely related to wails of terror. Mark and Todd were engaged in some sort of deathmatch on the bed behind him. “Let go of me, you raving looney!” Mark shouted.
“Kiss me!” Todd replied, sounding angry. “Kiss me, damn it!”
“Be nice!” Storm demanded. She stood on the bed near the door, naked as the day she was born but with strips of bandage tape wrapped around her arms and legs, almost like some spiraling woad.
“What the Hell,” Logan began, but abandoned his line of questioning as Todd made a leap at Mark, knocking over a tray of needles and vials.
Mark rolled to his feet, staggering towards Kurt. “That madman,” he accused, pointing a shaking finger, “has ensorcelled us! He is a demon!”
Kitty snarled. “Back off!” She put her body between Mark and Kurt, her arms spread to offer her befuddled boyfriend some measure of protection.
“Kiss me!” Todd demanded again, grabbing Mark from behind. “You’re my prince!”
Beast winced as the dueling duo knocked over yet more equipment. “Kitty, if I let you have run of the lab…”
“I’ll see if I can get the serum done by midnight,” she replied.