A Shield from the Spectrum

Ch. 2

K I T T Y
Kitty woke. Very abruptly in fact. She looked around her in complete fear. Another nightmare. Kitty smiled at the crook of her arm where she found her kitten lying. She tried to sit up, but couldn't. Pain shot up through her spine that forced her to lie back down.

Reaching up to brush hair from her sweaty forehead, she only felt cold metal. Great, she thought, still cuffed.

Then something hit her like a bowling ball. If her kitten was here, did that mean...

"Michael..." she heard herself whisper.

A door opened. In stepped two of the people there during her break in. One was a girl who looked pretty normal, as far as Kitty could tell, except for the fact that her eyes were constantly flitting around the room. She looked a little crazy.

Next to her was a man, or a man... Thing, that had a face of scarlet. A yellow stone was at the centre of his forehead. A long cape hung from his powerful shoulders. His hands hung in loose fists. She knew immediately this was not someone to mess with. But what really captured her were his eyes. His eyes looked almost... Inhuman.

Maybe she was hallucinating. Right?

He leaned over to the girl and whispered something to her. His face was ridden with worry. He touched her arm in a comforting way. She nodded and stepped back from Kitty a little.

Maybe she was afraid of Kitty?

The man levitated towards her, his head cocked to the side. He kept glancing at the girl protectively. It made Kitty wonder what happened to that girl to make him so worried for her.

"Miss... What do I call you?" he asked with a voice Kitty thought sounded like silk.

"Uh, Kitty," Kitty stammered out. She felt extremely vulnerable in the cuffs. No powers, and she was weak as well.

He seemed to read her mind. "Oh, Miss... Kitty. I don't not intend to hurt you."

"Not yet, anyway," a voice said from outside the open door.

The man shot the mystery voice's owner a warning look. Kitty in turn shot a glare towards the man.

The girl stepped forward. "Watch it," she said with a glower at Kitty. Her voice was heavily accented from somewhere... Russia? Red tendrils swirled around her fingers.

The man stuck his arm out in front of her. "No Wanda, dear, she didn't mean any harm. Just afraid." His voice still sounded like music in Kitty's ear. "Your abilities could kill her even without her being cuffed. That's not what we want."

"Vision, I don't like the way she looked at you. She's dangerous..." the girl, Wanda, said in her accented voice. She had started rocking on her heels.

Kitty knew then that the two people in front of her could kill her. And what terrified her most was that the only thing stopping Wanda from doing it was him.

The man, Vision, shot Kitty another one of his silencing warning looks and embraced the shaking Wanda into a comforting embrace. He whispered something to her and she nodded her head, dazed. She stood next to him, silent.

"I'll have to apologise, Miss. Wanda has had some terrible things occur in her life. Please be patient with her. Your blasts in the Dining Hall brought back some trigger memories," the Vision said, his voice soft.

Kitty nodded, averting her eyes to the floor. "Why did you come here, anyways?" She felt angry at them all for taking her from her brother. Unless they brought him back here too...