Fatal Attractions [Charles Xavier | Book One]

Chapter 2: First Meetings

        Control. That was what Charles said, what he kept repeating to Kat to keep her calm as she adjusted to her newfound power. The instinct to panic made the voices come back to her amplified, the noise of it loud enough to make Kat's head pound. She had to control it, he insisted. And she knew she had to trust him. After all, he was the first person in her life to offer her some truth and insight to who she was, and he was the only man other than Erik to see her features and not recoil in disgust. Instead, he looked at her with fascination.

        Nonetheless, Kat remained skeptical. Once she relaxed enough she found that she could no longer keep her questions to herself. Seated on the suite couch under the gazes of Charles and Erik, she tried them for answers.

        "So why are you here?"

        Charles and Erik, each seated at the end of the two beds, shared a glance with each other.

        "It's none of your business," Erik answered decidedly.

        Kat barely flinched; she took it as Erik's personality. "You're the one who asked if Charles found me. And Charles, you said it was the CIA. Recruiting mutants, right? That was what you were looking for. So tell me what I've been found for. And don't lie to me," she added.

        Charles met Kat's eyes. "Yes, well, call it a matter of. . . national security. There is a man—another mutant with enough power to change the world as we know it. Only we can stop him and his followers."

        "So you found me just to recruit me?"

        Erik considered it for a moment before answering, "Technically, yes."

        "Absolutely not!" Charles gave Erik a pointed look before returning his gaze to Kat. Then, clear in her head she heard Charles's voice so Erik couldn't listen, 'I won't lie to you; there are just some things you need not concern yourself with for now.' 

        Kat exhaled pointedly, crossing her legs as she relaxed back on the couch, tail swishing freely to her side. "Tell me how you found me, then."

        It was clear Charles had to take the question, as he immediately began to explain. "One of the scientists of our mutant division built a facility designed to amplify telepathic powers and identify the mutant gene in others to then record their location. We found you as one with one of the strongest links to the gene itself."

        Kat sat forward then. "Me? And you came for me last?"

        "There was no telling how strong you could be, but yes, we were hoping to find you individually."

        For a minute, Kat was silent. She looked towards the window in thought. How many years had she spent alone on the streets like those below? In all that time, never once had she known anything about herself or her own kind. Now she knew there were others like her, like Charles and Erik. She looked at them again, sitting up straighter.

        "And what about my abilities?" All her life she had only struggled to hide a physical mutation, and now she found she could gain other powers as well.  And now she had telepathy, but without Charles, she feared she would be unable to control her abilities. "What if I hurt someone?"

        "That won't happen," Charles assured her with utmost confidence in his voice. "We will help you to explore and control all that you are capable of."

        "Well, I can still hear those voices." Kat began to rub at her temples, soothing away her ongoing headache that had only dulled so much.

        "Yes, they'll be quite insistent for a while. And what of the metal, can you still feel it?"

        Kat lowered her hands, glancing around the room. She couldn't. In fact, she hadn't since—