On Your Own
A week had passed since everything had happened. Kurt had woken up several times, but hadn’t stayed conscious for very long before drifting off again. Kitty had been with him nearly the whole time and had only left to get a change of clothes and shower back at the base. She’d brought back a Bible and a couple of other books for him to read.
Meanwhile, Sam and Bucky had taken turns keeping watch over the two of them. On this particular day, Torres had returned from his mission. He’d come to the hospital with Sam and Bucky to see how things were.
When they got to Kurt’s room, they found both Kitty and Kurt asleep. Kitty had fallen asleep upright in her chair and her head was slowly going down. Seeing this, the three men decided to leave them alone for the time being and talk in the waiting room.
Once they’d got to the waiting room, Torres spoke first, “So Walker.”
“What about him?” Sam raised a brow.
“He might be causing us another problem,” Torres introduced the subject.
“What did he do now?” Bucky asked, annoyed.
“He arrested Bobby,” He explained and crossed his arms.
“You’re joking,” Sam spoke with disbelief, massaging his temples.
“He’s really making it impossible for us to have a good relationship with these people,” Bucky pinched his nose and then sat down.
“Have you spoken to Bobby?” Sam asked Torres.
Torres nodded, “Yeah, he’s doing alright, but he’s upset. He didn’t expect any of this to happen.”
“Nobody did,” Sam remarked.
They all received a text and pulled out their phones with varying eagerness. They all checked the text and looked at each other, saying in unison, “Val.”
“Anyways, I’m starving. I’m gonna see what they have at the cafeteria here,” Torres announced as he walked out.
Sam sat down next to Bucky. The two had a quiet conversation before they heard the clacking of Val’s heels.
She stood above them, “Hello, boys.”
Bucky gave a grunt of acknowledgement and Sam greeted her.
“What brings you here?” Sam asked, looking at her speculatively.
“Sam, I’m gonna need to have a teensy talk with you,” She replied.
Sam got up and stood in front of her. Bucky then went to stand as well.
“One on one,” She added as she watched Bucky. Bucky narrowed his eyes and then sat back down in the chair.
As Val led Sam away, Bucky noticed a strange look come over Sam. The look wouldn’t stand out to most people, but his gaze was distant. Like he wasn’t there anymore. He turned away before Bucky could continue to inspect him. He made a mental note of it and then watched them go down the hall.
Meanwhile, Val led Sam down the hall and took a few turns before stopping in a relatively empty part of the hall next to a vending machine.
“So,” Val started, “What’s the plan here?”
“What do you mean?” Sam asked in response.
“Are you going to arrest them or not?” She put a hand on her hip.
“We weren’t planning on it,” He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.
“Sam,” She looked at him with slight judgment, “These are dangerous people. We can’t allow them to run amuck. You saw what that Claws guy did to that SHIELD unit and what that girl did to John. Twice. We should take advantage of their temporary weakness and get 'em.”
Sam thought for a moment. That faraway look returned to his face like he was no longer mentally present. They failed to notice a drowsy Kitty turn the corner and then quickly jump back, hiding behind the corner.
“How about this,” She posed a suggestion, “We wait until Bluey is pretty much healed and then we move them to the States under the guise that there's a better doctor there and arrest them.”
Sam didn’t respond, still wearing that foreign look. Kitty listened in with a hand over her mouth.
“Of course, Bluey and Tech girl are joined at the hip, so we need to keep them separate once we have them apprehended, but I’m sure we can come up with some kinda plan to separate them,” Val continued to ramble off.
Sam was still quiet. Kitty was getting in her head. How could this be happening? Why did she ever trust that things could change? That things could be different?
“How does that sound?” Val finished her babbling.
“Sounds good,” Sam answered in a monotonous tone. It was unusual for him to sound this flat.
“Fantastic. Glad we’re on the same page,” Val smiled and then bid farewell, “I’ll leave you to babysit.”
Val went down the end of the hallway, the clacking of her heels growing faint as she left. Sam remained in place for a few moments longer before he went past the vending machine and towards the corner where Kitty was hiding. As he turned the corner, she remained in place, deciding to confront him.
“How could you?” She spoke accusingly.
“How could I what?” He countered.
“Don’t play dumb, I heard what you were saying,” She fumed, “Bucky said you were true to your word.”
“I’m true to my word when it comes to good people. I never said I was true to my word to dangerous people like you,” He responded, taking a step towards her.
“That is awfully hypocritical,” She pointed out.
“Is it?” He began to rant, “People like you- mutant- pose a threat. A threat that needs to be either controlled or eliminated.”
As he went on, Kitty watched him. Initially, her expression was that of hurt, but then it was slowly overcome by suspicion and then realization. As he continued to rant, she took a few steps towards him and then reached out, lightly touching his hand and then phasing him slightly, enough to keep them on the floor, but the rest of the body one could go right through.
The familiarity in Sam’s face returned. Kitty allowed time for the realization to dawn on both of them. Frost. She got in his head. It was remarkable, but a pain in the ass.
Then nurses and doctors began to walk down the hall, suddenly it was crowded. As Kitty continued to phase him, Sam realized he was unable to breathe and began suffocating. Kitty let go of him and he became solid again. He gasped for air, taking multiple deep breaths.
Things may have been fine if a doctor and a nurse hadn’t noticed the situation. A nurse ran over to Sam, checking him before yelling at Kitty, “What did you do to him?”
Sam was working on regaining his breath, leaving Kitty to defend herself.
“I didn’t mean to- he was-” She responded.
“You nearly killed him,” A nearby doctor cut her off.
“I wasn’t going to kill him, I was trying to help-” She continued.
“You tried killing Captain America,” Another nurse accused.
“Who tried killing Captain America?” A different doctor asked as a new group of medical professionals came in.
“Call security,” One doctor spoke to another, “Before she can harm anyone else.”
They all began to whisper around her, pointing at her. By then, Sam had regained his breath. That familiarity was gone, he was back to being Frost’s puppet. He and a couple of other doctors tried to surround her and get her to surrender peacefully.
Kitty panicked and spun around, sprinting past them and down the hall, phasing through any person she could. Sam and the group of doctors were hot in pursuit. She managed to get enough of a lead to check on Kurt, before sprinting away. In her head, she profusely apologized to Kurt. She got to the waiting room and paused to catch her breath.
Bucky spotted her and stood up, rushing over, “Kitty, what’s going on?”
“It’s Sam,” She panted, “Frost has control over him. Everyone thinks I tried to kill him- I didn’t- I’d never-”
One of the doctors shouted from down the hall and the group ran towards them.
Kitty’s breath quickened and warned Bucky, “Don’t let him anywhere near Kurt and don’t let them take him to the US.”
“Kitty-” Bucky started, but Kitty ran off, phasing through the wall as Sam and the group of doctors ran into the waiting room and looked around.
They then continued down the hall. Bucky walked to Sam, “What happened?”
“Katherine tried to suffocate me with her powers,” Sam responded and then elbowed past him and down the hall.
Bucky was left with no words. That was out of character for him. He was left in confusion and then went to find Torres.
A couple of hours later, Kitty found herself on a plane. How could all of this have gone to shit so quickly? She tried to wipe her eyes before she could cry. She hated feeling this helpless. She hated that she had to leave Kurt. She hated that she’d tricked herself into believing in Sam, Bucky, and Torres. She hated that she still felt like she could trust them. Did she learn nothing? It felt like it.
Most of all, she hated feeling this alone.