Moment

I know it is a short chapter, I just wanted to get a little transition in here.

Kitty and Kurt took a brief shower together before crawling into Kitty's bed for a couple of hours of sleep. The sun was already rising and Hank would doubtless have some work for them. They didn't cuddle under the covers, they slept back to back, but Kurt's tail curled around Kitty's ankle and remained there as they both drifted off. It was a mere ninety minutes later that they both woke to a sharp knock on the door.

"Who is it?" Kitty called out.

"It's me, half-pint." Logan said through the door. "When yer both dressed, you and Kurt meet Hank down in the med lab." Kurt rolled his eyes, there were no secrets from the man with the super-sensitive nose.

Kitty groaned and rolled out of bed. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt from her suitcase. Kurt grabbed his shorts and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Kitty ran a brush through her hair and pulled it into a ponytail. She was reaching for her doorknob when Kurt popped back into her room behind her. He was dressed in his uniform now. He pulled her into his arms and crushed her lips with his mouth in a hard, fast kiss.

"See you downstairs," he said with a wink before disappearing. Kitty smiled to herself and made her way downstairs by way of the elevator. Hank and Kurt were there already, standing around one of the beds. A young woman, appearing to be in her early twenties, lay in the bed, she was talking softly to the two men.

"This is Kitty Pryde," Hank said, gesturing for Kitty to join them. The woman aknowledged her with a small smile. "She went in with Kurt to free you," he explained. "Please tell her what you've just told us."

"I'm a Med student doing my residency at a hospital in Las Vegas," she began. "I recognized a few of my fellow captives as recent patients. I've been in pediatrics and I've seen many adolecents come in who've recently started to manifest their gifts. Parents don't often know what's happening so they bring them to the hospital for testing. Most of us were taken about two weeks ago and at least half of the people in there with me had been seen at the hospital within the previous month."

"Are you required to notify anyone of any mutant power manifestations?" Kitty asked. "Like one of your superiors or something."

"Well, if the testing reveals the definite presence of mutation it is put in their file the same way that all test results are. I don't handle much of the filing and I don't enter their information into the computer systems so I'm not certain if there is any kind of flagging system that's done."

"I think we may have a way of finding out," Hank said, smiling at Kitty. "Thank you, Mandy." He brushed a hand over her forehead. She gave him a bittersweet smile.

"I suppose this means the end of my medical career." She was right. It wouldn't matter that she'd been kidnapped and held prisoner for two weeks, her school would find a way to kick her out of the medical program.

"Professor Xavier will do his best to find a place for you. Just worry about getting better."

"Do you think she could be right about the recent patients?" Kitty asked when she, Kurt, and Hank withdrew to his office.

"Her mutation is apparently a photographic memory. She was able to give me detailed medical information on all of the children she'd seen."

"I guthatthat answers that, Ja?" Kurt flicked his tail playfully. "Feel like another trip to Vegas?"

"You want me to pillage the hospital's computer don't you?" She was a little worried. "As much as I'd lio fio find out if a hospital is responsible for siccing a monster like Trask on mutants-"

"The hospital isn't," Hank interrupted. "But one of their senior Administrators is." He glanced out at Mandy who had gotten out of bed to stand with one of the younger mutants. "I didn't mention this out there, but Xavier has already probed Trask's mind and managed to get that much out of him. He's been tampered with using a neural disruptor that hampers a telepath's ability to read him. We're working a way around it but the more time we spend doing it, the better the chances are that someone will get word to the administrator and allow him or her to hide or destroy evidence."

"I might have a more delicate program," Kitty offered. "It's a little more subtle than 'Pryde the Conqueror', and not as easliy detected. It just takes a little more time."

"'Pryde the Conqueror'? Is that the name of that pillager of hard drives?" Kurt was chuckling.

"Hey! So Pryde's a little violent, he get's the job done."

"I'll say," Hank mumbled. "And he could work on his manners too. I've had considerable trouble trying to get him to interface politely with the other data systems."

"Sorry, I designed him to be a bit pushy, he doesn't play well with others."

"Quite alright."

"Okay, so back to Vegas we go?" She looked at Kurt who nodded.

"Kitty, when you go, I want you to be the only person to look through the files." Kurt looked up quickly at Hank's words. "It's nothing personal, Kurt, I want you there for entry and exit and backup, of course, but patients rights are being violated here, no matter that it is for a good cause. Kitty's mind can't be unwillingly read and any information that she happens to learn that is incidental to our work will need to be kept secret."

"I understand," the young German said. They grabbed clean clothes and re-packed their suitcases before returning to the jet. Logan was their pilot and he ordered them to sleep during the flight and also ordered them on seprate sides of the jet where he could keep an eye on them.

"You need real resthe ghe growled. "Not snuggly, whispering, sleepless rest." Neither bothered to deny any accusations but reclined in their respecive seats and dropped off to sleep.