Jessica

Connection Part Two

"So, this is the Blackbird."

Jessica pretended not to know what it looked like. She acted like she saw the red lights for the first time, just like she acted like she didn't know most of the people inside.

Being anywhere near Jean scared the crap out of her. She wasn't exactly known for being respectful of others' minds but thankfully Monica taught her ways to hide her subconscious thoughts. She only hoped that curiosity wouldn't make the redhead force her way in.

She noticed Iceman looking at her in a weird, almost upset way but she didn't look back at him, instead she used her emotionless lenses to hide her eyes while she looked at Kitty. She kept up with the news and was aware of everything she had accomplished since she left but she didn't expect her to have changed this much physically.

The slight tan was expected, now that she lived in the desert. She was also aware of her newfound love for the colour white but in all the photos and recordings she didn't notice how much her face changed. She saw bravery in her eyes accompanied by a hint of sorrow, her features were more defined like those of a statue. The events of the past two years turned Katherine into a woman that only vaguely resembled the girl in her memories.

The voice that made her realise how intensely she had been staring remained mostly the same: "Have we ever met before?"

"Oh... I don't think we have." Deep down she started panicking and wondered what could have given her away. Perhaps it was the texture of her hair or maybe, despite all her efforts to change them, some of her mannerisms resembled his.

"I think we have actually..." she said, touching her chin.

"Yeah...?"

"That day. When... Magneto... you know..." she said, her voice getting weaker with every word. To anyone around the world, naming him was like uttering the ultimate demon's name.

"Oh! Yeah, I remember." she replied, relieved "I tried to hug you— you know, just because I was scared— and I walked right through you."

"Exactly. Sorry about that, I was just worried about Peter... But you helped so, thanks."

"Hey, you don't need to apologise. You didn't know me, I was just acting dumb..." she said, confused as to why she would see herself in the wrong.

"Maybe we could get to know each other now. I'm Kitty." she told her, offering her hand.

"Well, duh. Of course I know. I'm a fan of your work." and she accepted the handshake anyway

"You like Utopia?"

"Of course I do. You worked so hard on it... all of you, I mean..."

"That means a lot."

The jet landed, Jean wasn't looking at her weird and she got to talk to Kitty. Everything seemed to be going just fine as they exited the jet and she escorted them over to her leader, as if they were some kind of aliens.

The people on the island welcomed them with their fingers crossed, diffident, like a group of ambassadors with the power to destroy with their bare hands. Jessica wasn't too worried about them but she couldn't stay by their side, especially when Director Chang joined them.

"X-Men, I assume you're here for some kind of request?"

"Where's Director Fury? We must speak to him urgently." said Colossus, after bowing respectfully.

"I'm the director now. You'll need to wait, though. I must speak with agent Drew, here. It's more urgent."

When she heard that, Jess looked at her just as baffled as everyone else, wondering why she would be considered a priority over them. Then, her paranoia kicked in and she prayed that it wasn't what she thought.