Devourer of Sins

DEVOURER OF SINS CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, I think there's an international conspiracy with the mail service... InterNutter, TC and Maxwell Pink, I worship you for archiving. Really. I mean it. Readers/Reviewers: As I write, this duck vampyrism grows more disturbing...in my head, all I hear is quacking...and I have the insane urge to preen my pinfeathers. And I don't even have pinfeathers!

"I don't think that would be wise, Logan..."
"Chuck, if we go down there, we might be able to get to the bottom of this freakishness!" Logan shoved himself back roughly from the desk and slammed handsands down on the wooden surface as he stood, glowering at Professor Xavier.
"If we go down there," the older man stated firmly, "we will only dig ourselves in deeper. Our first order of business is healing Kitty and discovering the origin of that powder in the lab."
Logan gritted his teeth and bit back the urge to growl. "I really try, you know. I try to respect your authority and your wisdom, but sometimes I just can't. You can stay here but I'm going to Mexico City seeiseeing what I can find. This whole thing stinks of conspiracy, and if there's one thing I know, it's conspiracy..."
The Professor exhaled slowly through his nose, schooling his temper to calm lines. "If you go, I cannot promise you that you will have help. I cannot promise we can make it in time to save you should something go awry."
"I'm taking 'Ro with me." His tone brooked no argument and the Professor knew better than to question the man's motives.
"Fine. You can leave in this evening, if need be. The Blackbird is in working order, I trust?"
"Yeah..." Logan straightened, mildly surprised he had not run into an argument. "I'll call ahead and get the permits in order to land there..."
"No, I'll take care of it. Go check on Kitty...Hank should be wrapping up by now."
Logan nodded grimly. "Right. I'll tell her goodbye then I'm off."
"God speed, Logan," the Professor said, a faint smile touching his lips. "Kitty must get her tenacity from you."
"She'd better...I'm gonna kick her ass myself if she lets whatever this is get the better of her..."

"Ow."
Kurt was peering down at her, a blue blur in hazy eyes. "Katzchen, are you okay?"
"I'll give you a minute to think about that," she said somewhat hoarsely. "I feel like I was punched in the stomach..."
Beast's voice rumbled across the small hospital room. "I tried to stay on the same cut, but I had to take some tissue out to either side for the biopsy. There'll be some bruising but you should be right as rain in a few days."
"Looks like my bikini wearing days are over," she said, coming more awake from the twilight sleep she had been under. "As if I could've carried it off next summer anyway. I gained, like, a ton since August."
Kurt smiled. "If you look at it just right,' he murmured, leaning close to her ear, "your scar looks like a smile...and these," he brushed a covert finger over one nipple, "could be the eyes..."
"Great," she half-giggled. "I have a face on my stomach. Just what every teenaged girl likes to have...something other than puberty to make us feel like freaks."
"I think it's cute," Kurt said, kissing her lightly beneath her ear. "Just like the rest of you."
"I must be well for you to be flirting with me...you've looked like your tail's been in knots for the past few days." Kitty squeezed his hand tightly and pressed a kiss to his knuckles.
Kurt glanced over at Beast, hunched over his microscope and myriad equipment analyzing the samples he had taken from Kitty. "I think you're doing fine...that weird sense thing is dying down, isn't it? And you didn't faint when you saw Scott and Jean..."
"I swear, we've got to, like, work out some sort of a system around here. It's only a matter of time before everyone is caught in the act..." Kitty rolled her eyes. "I think I'll scream if I see Todd and Rogue..."
"Ugh. Schatz, don't say such things...I haven't eaten yet!" Kurt wrinkled his nose in distaste.
Kitty frowned. "You haven't eaten? Kurt, if you don't get your cute little ass into the kitchen and eat something, like, totally fattening and unhealthy soon, I'll...I'll make you watch Todd kiss Rogue!"
"On my way!" he yelped, 'porting as she giggled.
"Beast," Kitty asked as soon as she saw his massive blue form straighten at his work table. "What're you testing for, anyway? I'd kinda like to know why I've become a human Operation game..."1
He chuckled mildly as he rounded her bedside, checking her pulse and gently checking her stitches. "I know you've been kept in the dark so far, Kitty, but there's been some discoveries recently that have only deepened the mystery of what's going on with you and what happened in Mexico..." At Kitty's expectant expression, Beast sighed and gave her the highlights of his revelations with the powder, leaving out that he was currently testing temperature extremes in the kitchen and lab, seeing if it made a difference in the substance's ability to hold form. The powder that resulted from the corpse had made piqued his curiosity to new levels, triggering a spate of experiments that had thus far resulted in a rather odd array of packets in every hot and cold surface in the mansion.
"So...huh." Kitty frowned deeply, the science centers of her brain kicking into overdrive. Rather than feeling ill, as Beast half expected her to, Kitty seemed to be interested in the science aspects of the matter. "So this is some sort of symbiote?"
"Well, we're not sure...It may be symbiotic in nature, but it does not seem to be entirely organic much less sentient..." Beast tilted his clipboard towards her so that she could see his notes on her condition. "From what I can tell so far, you seem to have a small amount of these...things...in your system."
"Do they respond to antibiotics or something? Kill the bastards..." Kitty absently touched her abdomen as she stared at the doctor's scribbles.
"So far," he said carefully, "subzero temperatures seems to be the only method...and we can hardly freeze you!"
"Hmmmm..." Kitty stared off into space. "Try radiation? Doesn't it kill everything?"
Beast regarded her appraisingly, her eyes fixed on some point he could not name and her hand tracing the lines of her wound. "It's possible...I haven't tried it yet. I hesitate to try it until I've exhausted all of the less...personally hazardous methods."
"Try it," she said, nodding firmly. "It'll work."
"Kitty, I'd really rather go about this in ascending order of danger," the doctor said kindly. "Let me work through the temperature ranges first, and the chemical experiments..."
"Fine," she said, sighing. "But I'm right...it'll be radiation." She paused and looked up at the door. "Hi Logan..."
The man himself stuck his head around the doorframe. "Supersenses still kicking, Half-Pint?"
"Nah, you just smell like gas and diesel...been in the garage?" she smiled, accepting his half-hug, one arm slung around her shoulder, the other bracing against the side of the bed.
"Smartass," he chuckled, tugging a lock of her hair. "You find anything, Hank?"
"A small amount of those grains, still mobile, but it's too early to tell much else..." Beast made some notes in Kitty's chart. "When you feel up to it, you can get dressed and go back upstairs...these tests will take a while. Until I find out more, I suggest keeping a journal of symptoms and urge you to see me immediately if anything new develops."
"Roger Wilco, Beast!" Kitty said cheerfully, turning to Logan when the doctor moved away, her smile sliding from her face. "You're leaving, aren't you?"
Logan sighed. "Yeah. Me and 'Ro are goin' to Mexico City to see if we can dig up anything on Theo's murder and those people you encountered. We'll be gone some days..."
Kitty sighed. "I know...be careful, Logan. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you," Kitty leaned against his chest and sighed again. "I'm just surprised you didn't go sooner."
"Oh? Why's that?"
"Cause. It's not like you to leave a mystery begging..." Kitty turned a watery smile to her foster father. "If you die, you know I'm gonna kick your ass, right?"
Logan did not bother to chide her for language. "You got a deal, Half Pint..."

Kurt shoveled more left over turkey and ham into his mouth, his cheeks resembling a squirrel stocking up for winter. He spared Jubilee a nod as she danced through, headphones firmly in placearcharching for a can of diet soda. "Hey, Kurt," she said, shutting off her CD player. "Ew."
"Hungry," he mumbled around a mouthful of meat. "Missed lunch."
"Dude, you faint, Kitty'll kick your ass," Jubilee said, shaking her head as she popped open the can of soda. Kurt made a noise of agreement and shoved a piece of bread in after the meat. "I wish I had your metabolism..."
"Trust me, it has it's disadvantages," he said after he swallowed the bread. "Ja, you can eat all you want, but have you seen how OFTEN I eat? That's a liability at school, you know."
Jubilee snickered. "Point. Besides, I don't think I could eat all that stuff without gagging. I mean, meat now and then is fine, but ugh, all the time? Not for me, buster!"
"Oh, I'm sure Remy wouldn't mind if you put on some weight...more to grab, ja?" Kurt ducked an ill-aimed spray of paffs, meant to warn rather than harm. Jubilee glared at him over the top of her soda and he said, laughing, "I'm fucking with you, Jubes! Remy's fine with whatever you have to grab!"
"He'd better be!" she said, taking another sip. She fell silent for several minutes, rousing Kurt's suspicions. Jubilee was never silent unless she was plotting something or nervous. "Kurt, what the hell really happened down there?"
He paused mid-sandwich-making. "Well, it's hard to say...I can tell you what I saw, but what happened, I don't know. I don't know what was real, if any of it was. I don't know what it means, what it will mean later...What you heard earlier was all we know is true."
"What about Kitty?"
"What about her?" he asked, feigning ignorance though he knew Jubilee would call him on it.
"Kurt..."
"She's fine...just...tired. Stressed. She was most affected by what happened. I think she'll be fine in a few days..." Kurt finished spreading mustard over the pumpernickel and made a show of placing slices of cheese and pickles on the bread. "Just tired," he repeated when Jubilee remained silent.
"Mmmm....tired." _If she's just tired, I'm a duck. _ Something outside the window caught her eye and soon, she was pressed against the pane of glass like a kid in a toy store. "Oh! A puppy!"
"Was?" Kurt asked, taking a large bite from the sandwich. He joined Jubilee at the window and sure enough, Scott was walking from the yard with a small puppy in his arms. "Where on earth did he find that?"
Jubilee did not linger to speculate. She bounded to the front door in leaps that would have made Todd proud and flung it open, startling Scott. "Where did you find that precious little pookums?" she squealed, taking the bundle from Scott, only to have him gently but quickly take it back.
"He was wandering near where the boathouse used to be, all bloody like he'd been in a fight...but I can't find any wounds." Scott pushed past Jubilee and headed into the kitchen. "Kurt, can you get some dishtowels out? The old ones, not Storm's new ones she's always on us about. Ku Kurt grabbed a handful of the ratty towels and joined Scott at the sink, cleaning the blood off the small dog. Jubilee bounced on her toes, trying to see the animal and crooning at it like it was an exceptionally simple infant. "Jubes!" Kurt finally cried, "If you don't stop it, I'm going to 'port you into Amara's room and let her deal with you!"
Jubilee nwed wed her eyes and growled at him, but she stopped crooning. The puppy was shaking and licked Scott's hand pitifully, whimpering once as the boys wiped every trace of blood from it's fur. "I think it's okay," Kurt said when they were done. "Maybe it just...got into something."
"Maybe," Scott murmured. "Either way, I'm taking it to the Professor before we get too attached." As the trio moved off, dog in tow, it struck Kurt how oddly human the doeyeseyes were, staring at him unblinking, as if it could read his mind.
1 Possibly the most annoying game ever. No one can ever NOT buzz on that thing...