A combination of real-life priorities and my muse influencing me towards other writing projects has caused this story to remain on indefinite hiatus. Though this story hasn't been abandoned, I must apologize to my readers who have been waiting so long to see the next part of Christy's tale. I'm hoping that my muse will be a little more flexible in the new year, but for now... here's an early seasonal gift to you all.

Official Disclaimer:
I acknowledge Marvel Entertainment's ownership of the distinctive characters and names within this story for which they hold Trademark(s) and that the inclusion of said characters within this story does not imply any authorization, support or agreement with Marvel Entertainment. This story is purely written under the Fair Use Clause for the purposes of Fan-Fiction and is not to be sold or distributed in any way that would constitute an infringement of Marvel Entertainment's undisputed ownership of any relevant elements for which they hold copyright.

The author maintains creative ownership of the story itself and grants BigCloset TopShelf permission to post it online for free viewing by this site's visitors.

After their heart-warming reunion of the night before, Christy and her mother were content to spend quality mother-daughter time together. Being that it was Thanksgiving Day, they stayed at home and spent a lot of time going through Ms. McGee's wardrobe. Both Christy and her mother wanted to get a feel for the sorts of clothing that they would be looking for when they went on their planned marathon shopping expedition the following day. Christy's Mom was so thrilled to see how well the female clothing suited her new daughter that she had Christy try on practically everything she owned.

In the early afternoon, they both descended upon the kitchen dressed in similar dress-and-apron outfits and spent the next few hours preparing dinner together. Ms. McGee noted with interest that in the past Chris had often helped in the kitchen wherever he was asked but hadn't really shown any interest in it. As Christy, her daughter now literally attacked every task she was giving with great enthusiasm. Her mother was amazed with the speed at which Christy could cut vegetables. It wasn't until she occasionally noticed the faint aura of blue-green light around her that she'd realized that her daughter was probably tapping her mutant abilities to move so quickly. And Christy hadn't even noticed until her mother had pointed it out to her. She blushed a bit and then for the rest of the afternoon she seemed to be making a conscious effort to slow down.

Though it was only the two of them sharing the holiday dinner together, when they finally sat down to eat, Christy was humbled by how much she found herself to be genuinely thankful for. In only a few short months, her previous unhappy life had been transformed into one filled with never-ending wonder and adventure. Where there had been scorn and rejection from others in the past, now she had true friends who not only cared for her but also accepted her for who she was. Her mother had always loved her, but now that love had become even more special since her homecoming and their bond seemed even stronger then it ever had been before.

Thus, when it came time to say grace, both mother and neo-daughter shed tears of happiness when Christy revealed those feelings aloud. For the McGee household, it truly was a time of Thanksgiving.

The next morning, both mother and neo-daughter enjoyed a quick breakfast before heading out for their long overdue mother-daughter shopping extravaganza.

Dressed in a stylish blouse and a pair of form-fitting denim jeans that displayed her curves nicely, Christy wanted to look as feminine as she felt. She had been mildly disappointed that the weather had turned too cold to get away with wearing a skirt, but after checking her appearance in the bathroom mirror she was satisfied just the same.

After they drove to the mall, Christy and her mother spent the morning exploring every clothing store they could find. Christy had begun to develop a little fashion sense thanks to the other girls of the Xavier Institute and some of their previous shopping excursions. She was eager to learn more about her mother's style and tastes. Sure, she'd gone shopping with her mother plenty of times in the past as Chris, but this time the feeling was almost magical. For her mother's part, she was probably enjoying the experience even more than Christy was. Together, they'd made several purchases -- including a few matching outfits -- and would repeatedly make trips back to their car to pack everything inside. By the early afternoon when they'd finally stopped for lunch, Christy found herself wondering how much of her new wardrobe she was going to be able to carry back to Bayville with her and how much she'd have to leave behind until her next visit home.

After lunch they had just finished browsing what had to have been the 7th or 8th shoe store when Christy spotted a certain establishment that she'd just as soon never have seen again. It was the electronics shop where she'd been attacked by a certain unpleasant, mutant-hating store manager. She glanced over at her mother nervously, but before she managed to vocalize her thoughts, her mother saw what she'd been looking at and a thoughtful expression formed on her face.

"That reminds me," she said to Christy, "I'd never gotten you a proper 'going away to school' gift when you'd departed so suddenly for Bayville. Maybe we should look into getting you a notebook computer for your studies?"

With that, she grasped her daughter's hand and started to lead her towards the store. Christy tried to gently pull her mother back and lead her away.

"Er, maybe it'd be better if we tried to shop somewhere else, Mom," Christy said nervously.

It occurred to her that although she'd told her mother the story of what had happened here just over two months ago, she hadn't actually told her mother which store was involved.

She leaned closer to her mother and said, "Do you remember that problem I'd told you about that I once had with a store manager? Well, let's just say that they don't like umm... my kind in that store."

With the other mall patrons around, it was a little too public a place for her to get into any more details and she hoped that her mother took the hint. She did, but unfortunately when the realization hit her, she started to overreact.

"Is this the place you'd told me about, darling?" Her mother asked in what was probably a little more volume than she'd intended.

The angry tone in her voice was apparent to anyone who happened to hear it. They'd stopped just in front of the store's entrance and she glared at some of the store employees that were in view.

"This is where that ignorant prick works? Can you point him out to me dear? I believe I would like to have a little chat with that gentleman."

Christy tensed as she saw her mother's temper start to gear up. She started to back away from the store's entrance and tried to gently coax her mother to come with her. Her training at the Xavier Institute had conditioned her to be cautious as well as to avoid any situations where being a mutant might be called into issue. While she wasn't about to start displaying her mutant powers in public, there was still a good chance that the store employees might recognize her. Undoubtedly a few of them remembered well what had happened the last time she was there.

"Come on Mom, it's not worth it. Please, let's just go, okay?"

Christy quietly pleaded with her mother while she continued to gently pull her away from the front of the store. Ms. McGee looked into her daughter's eyes and paused for a moment before her anger subsided. She gave a deep sigh and then nodded her head.

"I'm sorry dear, you're right of course. Well, that store certainly won't be seeing any of my business in the future -- or that of any of my friends either."

Christy was relieved that they'd managed to avoid a potentially disruptive scene, but her relief was only temporary. Just as the two McGee women had turned around and begun to walk away, Christy accidentally bumped into someone who was walking rapidly towards the store with a cup of coffee in his hand. Though the impact was relatively light, it was enough to cause the person to spill a little of his coffee onto himself and he cursed loudly.

"What the F... why the hell don't you watch where you're goin', ya idiot?!"

Christy took a step back and began to apologize to the guy but suddenly froze when she looked up into the face of someone she’d hoped she wouldn't ever see again, or at least not so soon. It was none other than Robbie.

He was wearing the uniform shirt and name tag of the electronics store, clearly indicating that he now worked there. As he'd been expelled from school for attacking her months before, it made sense that he had time for a job now. She thought wryly that he and that store's bastard of a manager probably got along quite well with each other.

"McGee?!" Robbie exclaimed as he stared incredulously at the person before him.

"Holy shit! The little mutie freak is back in town!"

Christy winced at his words and glanced around nervously as several nearby mall patrons suddenly looked over at them.

"I can’t wait to finish what we ... urk!!!"

Robbie suddenly gasped as he found himself mere inches from Ms. McGee's furious glaring eyes. For the moment, he hadn't seemed to notice Christy’s mother standing right next to them as he had been focusing all of his malevolent attention on her child. That changed quickly when she grabbed him by his necktie and yanked him around to face her just as he was about to shout more of his verbal abuse at Christy.

"So," Ms. McGee said through clenched teeth as she grabbed the knot on Robbie's necktie with her other hand and yanked it viciously tight. "You're that vicious little bastard who attacked my daughter?"

Robbie gave a strangled gasp and dropped his coffee onto the floor. He frantically reached up with both hands to free himself from Ms. McGee's grip on his tie but instead fell to his knees when she kneed him in the groin.

Christy was stunned by her mother's actions and could only stare with her mouth hanging open while her mother pressed her advantage. Though taken by surprise, Christy knew that Robbie was a tough brute and could quickly turn the confrontation around. She quickly snapped herself out of her temporary trance and started to coax her mother to release him so that they could get out of there. Already they'd attracted far too much attention to themselves and that was precisely what she'd hoped to avoid.

After a few moments of throttling Robbie with his tie and hissing expletives at him which Christy was surprised that her mother even knew, Ms. McGee finally came back to her senses and released her hold on him. With her anger somewhat spent, she suddenly became aware of the gathering crowd of mall patrons around them and decided that it would probably be better to leave as her daughter was frantically urging her to.

Glancing over her shoulder, Christy winced as she saw the manager of the electronics store come out to see what the commotion was all about. He took one look at his employee on the floor and then looked up at Christy and her mother. For a moment, he had a curious expression on his face which rapidly changed to one of recognition, surprise and then finally anger.

"You!!" he snarled through his teeth at Christy. "You're that mutant freak from before! Now you're even attacking my employees!"

His face turned a bright shade of red and he started to stalk menacingly towards Christy. Though she wasn't anywhere near as afraid of him as she had been that first time, she felt that retreat would be the better course of action at the moment. It also didn't help that he and Robbie had just announced to everyone within earshot that she was a mutant, and the last thing she needed was to be caught in some situation where she'd be forced to prove it.

"Time to go, Mom!" she said urgently and quickly led her mother by the arm as they fled the scene.

Since running would look too suspicious, they maintained a brisk walking pace as they withdrew from the scene before the confrontation could escalate. Fortunately, the surrounding crowd of people was a bit too stunned by the scene they'd witnessed to even consider stopping them from leaving. Mall security had probably already been notified, and a confrontation with them could lead to a bunch of questions that Christy wouldn't be able to answer.

Christy and her mother decided to take a roundabout way through the mall corridors before heading back to where they'd parked their car. Thanks to the spectacle in front of the electronics store, they wanted to first ensure that they didn't have an entourage or any mall security following them before they went outside.

Since they’d draw less attention individually as opposed to being together, at her mother's urging they temporarily split up to further throw off anyone who might try to follow them. After twenty minutes of occasionally ducking into stores to see if anyone had been tailing her, Christy met up again with her mother. They quickly left the concourse via an exit on opposite side of the plaza from their car. As they looked around to get their bearings, they discovered that they'd exited into what looked like the shipping & receiving docks for the mall which, due to the holiday weekend, had no activity at the moment.

They both breathed a mutual sigh of relief to finally be away from the crowds and outside in relative peace and quiet. Their brief calm was quickly interrupted by a series of angry shouts from behind them.

They both turned around to see that several of the electronics store’s staff had just come through the same exit from the mall. Most notably Robbie, the store’s manager and a few of the other salesmen. The group quickly fanned out and encircled the two McGee women, cutting off any opportunities for retreat. They slowly rotated around their trapped prey and gradually tightened their circle to draw closer.

Christy quickly took stock of the situation and noted the angry looks on all of their faces. That, unfortunately, was normal. What wasn't normal was that now they were all wearing what appeared to be thick, insulated gloves that extended midway up their arms almost to their elbows. On top of that, each of them was aiming small black devices at them that resembled small guns. Through her mutant senses, Christy could feel the high electrical charge that each was carrying and immediately deduced that they were probably stun guns. Thanks to the nature of her mutant abilities the stun guns didn't present any danger to her, but the fact that their opponents were also wearing those gloves indicated that they were prepared to raise the game to a physical fight as well.

Fortunately Mr. Logan had been training her well back in Bayville with the rest of the team. Additionally, after her infamous encounter with Principal Darkholme’s ‘Brotherhood Boys’, she had confidence that she could prevail against this group of normal humans provided that she kept her wits about her. They’d be a bit of a challenge for her by herself, but unfortunately she wasn’t alone. Now her mother was at risk as well and she had to make sure that her mother didn’t get caught up in the fight that was about to begin.

"Mom, I'm going to try to keep them busy while you get out of here. I won't risk you getting hurt because of me." Christy said quietly but firmly to her mother.

"Christy, no! There's too many of them for you to deal with. Besides, they're probably just trying to scare us. They wouldn't dare attack two unarmed women," her mother answered back.

"Mom.. they already know that I'm a mutant. By now they either think that you are too or they just don't care. You did try to strangle one of them, after all."

With that, Christy turned her attention towards the manager.

"I'm the one you want, so let my mother leave. There's no need for her to get involved with this!"

Several of their opponents just laughed in response. The manager growled back at her.

"If she's your mother, then she’s probably another mutie freak like you! And if she's not... well, maybe we'll just teach her a lesson for not drowning you like a rat when you were young as she should have, you mutant filth!"

"Besides," said a voice from behind them that Christy knew came from Robbie, "I got me a score to settle with that bitch, and here's some payback!"

In that instant, Christy heard and sensed Robbie's stun gun as it fired its electrodes. To her horror, she suddenly realized that she wasn't the target.

Before she could react, her mother let out a short, painful scream and then collapsed limply to the pavement. Christy was momentarily frozen in disbelief at the sight of her mother on the ground. She quickly knelt down next to her and verified that she was still breathing.

"You're partly right, freak," said the store manager with a maniacal laugh. "We aren't really interested in her, but we don't need any witnesses to the fun we're about to have with you. It’s too bad you freaks are still covered by the law, but that's gonna change real soon!"

The manager, who had circled around to stand closer to Robbie, continued to monologue like some two-bit villain from a bad sci-fi movie.

"The world's going to know about you freaks soon enough. This government cover-up that keeps you hidden won't last forever, and when the word gets out to enough people, we'll be able to cleanse the world of mutant filth like you! After we’re finished dealing with you here, we'll have what's left of you as proof of what you are and maybe then everyone will finally see the truth. They won't be calling us crazy anymore!"

Christy slowly rose to her feet with her hands clenched tightly at her sides. Her anger that had been building up had boiled over into rage over what they'd just done to her mother. She stood before them with her head bowed as she fought to maintain her self control.

"You're crazy anyways. Proof of mutants isn't going to stop anyone from saying that you're nuts. You people are psychotic." She answered in a quiet, icy voice.

"Brave talk, freak!" Robbie snarled in reply. "I don't see any of your mutie freak pals here to save your ass this time!"

"Yes..." Christy agreed, in a soft, faraway voice. "That is too bad... for you. If they were here, they would hold me back from dishing out the world of hurt that I'm about to unload on you."

Her voice changed back to its previous quiet, icy tone as she finally raised her head to look straight at the manager and Robbie.

"Let's dance," she said with a menacing glare.

They had been slowly advancing towards her and suddenly froze in their tracks as she displayed a pair of glowing eyes at them. Instantly, a bright blue-green aura of light surrounded her. She assumed a martial arts stance and electricity bean to arc angrily from her fingertips. In moments, she'd gone from a somewhat harmless-looking female to something extremely intimidating, and it caused everyone to involuntarily back a few steps away from her.

After they'd gained some distance, they seemed to recover some of their resolve and spread out again to surround her on all sides. Since Robbie had already used his stun gun, he backed off a bit and figured he'd let the others try to bring the little freak down before getting in closer. Though he'd only seen the kid use whatever his mutant power was once, his new boss and a few of the other sales guys had told him about how the kid was more dangerous than that. Hence the heavy gloves, as he sure as hell didn't want to end up feeling like he’d stuck his finger in a wall socket when he pounded the crap out of the sissy freak.

As Mr. Logan’s training kicked in, Christy’s mind began to analyze the situation tactically. She guessed that they'd try their ranged attacks on her first, so she calmly held position in the center of their group while she waited for them to try.

She didn't have to wait long, because at a signal from their manager the guys on either side of her simultaneously fired their stun guns at her. With her mutant powers ramped up to their current level, not only could she easily sense the electrical attack as it came in, but her enhanced speed and reflexes enabled her to easily back flip out of the way. The two unfortunate guys who'd discharged their weapons at her had stupidly aligned themselves in each others line of fire and promptly took themselves out of the fight.

Robbie, the manager and the remaining salesman stared at her with dumb looks on their faces for a moment before shaking themselves back to reality. The manager called the remaining salesmen over and whispered some quick instructions to him, after which the two of them separated and then took opposing positions around Christy. This time they took care not to stand in each others line of fire.

The sales guy shot his stun gun at her and again she jumped to avoid the electrodes, but while she was in the air the manager fired his own at her thinking that she’d be unable to dodge it.

Though dodging in mid-air was more difficult, Christy still had more than enough speed and reflexes to do it. Instead of dodging, however, she decided to play up the intimidation factor a bit more and give these idiots a taste of what they were up against. With that thought, she effortlessly caught the manager’s electrodes in one of her hands and absorbed the discharge. She landed perfectly on her feet again and then simply smirked at the astonished expression on the manager's face when she didn't seem to be affected by the stun charge. That expression quickly turned to panic when she sent a blast of energy back down the electrode lines at him and caused his stun gun to explode in his grip. Lucky for him he was wearing those heavy-duty insulator gloves or he might have suffered some lasting damage to his hands.

"Is that all you've got?" Christy asked in a bored tone of voice. "If so, please don't waste any more of my time.”

Her casual dismissal of them had the desired effect of enraging them further. As one, they all charged at her and attempted to dog-pile her. Since they had seen her demonstrate her ability to dodge, they tried to tackle her from different heights. What they didn't expect was for her to rush forward towards the manager before he could completely close distance with her and then use his body as a springboard just as he was diving towards her legs. The impact forced him face-first into the ground and knocked him out cold while she performed a back flip and landed harmlessly behind the pile of three guys. Robbie got up to his feet and noticed that he was the last of his team since he'd landed on the other sales guy and knocked the wind out of him.

"I guess that leaves just you and me doesn't it, Robbie? Are you sure you're up for this, or would you like me to wait for you to call in more of your thugs to help you fight me?"

Robbie growled and slowly advanced toward her. He smacked his fist menacingly into his palm, thinking mistakenly that it would intimidate his opponent.

"I don't need nobody’s help to handle you, freak! I beat your ass before and I'll do it again. After I'm finished with you, this time you won't be runnin’ off to the cops afterwards, neither!"

Christy narrowed her eyes a bit at his words and could easily see the murderous intent in his eyes. For the first time, she found herself wondering about the Professor's ideals of coexistence with humans. It was a noble concept, to be sure, but she found it difficult to imagine being able to reason with someone like Robbie. Was coexistence even possible with people like him? Time will tell if the Professor is right, she supposed. In the meantime, she had this sorry excuse for a human being to deal with.

A small, dark part of her mind briefly considered that the world might be a better place without Robbie in it, but she figured it was just her anger talking and brushed the thought away. Despite what that violent, psychotic son-of-a-bitch had done to her and now to her mother, Christy wouldn't bring herself to kill him. That wasn't the sort of person she’d allow herself to be.

She was going to hurt him, though. Nothing permanent, but she'd see to it that he'd remember this encounter for a long time to come.

"Bring it on then, Robbie," she finally said as she calmly dropped back into a defensive combat stance that Wolverine had taught her.

Due to her thin stature and light body weight, Logan had emphasized aikido in her training regimen as her primary martial art. Though Robbie had more weight and strength than she did, she could use her speed, reflexes and lower center of gravity to maximum advantage. Even though she'd only been training for a couple of months with Logan, he’d had her put in a lot of time on the mats to help her catch up to the others on the team.

Robbie wasn't much more than a clumsy brawler and she was fairly certain that she could probably take him with martial arts alone. Though she could easily just zap the asshole if she had to, it wouldn’t be anywhere near as satisfying.

Being a big, stupid brute as well as sadly predictable, Robbie charged towards her with a punch aimed for her face. She easily dodged around it, seized his wrist and then used his inertia to throw him several feet away where he landed painfully on his back.

That had to hurt, she mused to herself.

After a few moments, Robbie staggered to his feet and charged at her again. This time, he tried to throw a low punch to her stomach. Again, she dodged around his fist, reversed direction and seized his wrist to put him into a painful submission hold. While he was caught off guard by her maneuver, she stepped forward and dropped into a crouch while using his trapped wrist to throw him onto the ground again. That time, it looked like he'd landed on his face.

This went on for a few minutes as Robbie continued to throw clumsy punches and kicks at her, all of which were easily dodged or used to throw him repeatedly and painfully to the ground. He was getting progressively slower after each attack, though it wasn't certain if it was because of injury, fatigue or a combination of both.

Finally, Christy was actually starting to feel sorry for the big idiot since he obviously didn't have the sense to recognize that he was outclassed. She was certain that she'd dislocated one of his shoulders and cracked a few bones in his fingers and wrist joints. She'd decided it was enough, and on his next attack she put his wrist into a painful submission hold which she'd used to force him to the ground. She twisted his arm behind him and braced it against her knee. She then leaned forward to put painful pressure on his arm and held it for a moment before easing off slightly.

"Have you had enough yet, asshole?" She asked him.

He let of a series of alternating curses and painful grunts, which changed to yelps as she added more pressure to his trapped arm.

"Alright, I give! I give!! Lay off!" He yelled frantically.

With that, she released his arm and watched as it fell limply to the ground. Eventually, he rolled over onto his back and painfully pulled himself up into a sitting position against a nearby wall. In the meantime, Christy was relieved to see that at some point during the fighting her mother had recovered from the shock she'd received earlier and was sitting on the ground a few feet away looking at her with a wide-eyed expression on her face.

"Th..that was incredible, sweetheart!" her mother said as she accepted her daughter's assistance to stand up.

"I had no idea that you were so skilled a fighter. Was that part of your mutant powers?"

"Er, no... that was just some of the fighting techniques one of my instructors has been teaching me," She answered with a slight blush. "I'm not very good since I've only been studying for a few months now. I was able to beat Robbie so easily because he's a clumsy and stupid fighter."

Robbie suddenly shouted angrily back at her.

"Bullshit, you little freak! There's no way you could beat me without usin' some kinda mutie ability on me! Well, it won't help you this time!"

Christy had turned around just in time to see Robbie swing at her head with a length of pipe that he must have found lying nearby. She quickly pushed her mother out of the way of the swing and then ducked under it. She opened up some distance between them and then shook her head in disgust.

"You just don't have enough sense to stay down, do you asshole?" Christy snapped back at him.

"Let's see you try to beat me now! You can't use your powers on me if I'm wearing these gloves, and you can't get close enough to pull any of that sneaky Jap-shit on me while I've got this!"

Robbie swung the pipe through the air a few times to emphasize the point.

Christy was through fooling around with this guy. She used her powers to boost her speed and reflexes, and then charged under Robbie's guard. She delivered a point-blank shock to his solar plexus at roughly the same volts that his stun gun had put out.

Robbie collapsed instantly to the ground and managed to croak out, "H..how?"

"Those gloves only protect your hands, you moron. I could've taken you out anytime I wanted to, but I wanted to show you that I don’t need my powers to beat you."

Her expression changed from anger to one of pity and mild disgust.

"I'm done with this, Robbie. Do you hear me? You aren't worth the effort. You're just a pathetic bully... and to think that I actually used to be afraid of you."

She crouched down and extended an electrically-charged, sparking hand towards him and he tried as best as he could to cower away from her.

“You're stupid, Robbie, but even so I hope that at least you'll remember this lesson today. Don't force me to put you down permanently like some rabid dog. You lay off me, and you lay off my family. You got it?"

Despite the residual effects of the shock she'd given him, he managed to give a jerky nod of his head. In addition, Christy noted with some amusement that there was a growing puddle forming underneath him on the pavement. She was satisfied that she'd made her point.

Just as she was heading back over to where her mother was waiting for her, Mall security had finally managed to locate them and came charging into the area. Christy groaned and wondered if the day could possibly get any worse.

"Go, dear!" Her mother quickly said to her.

"I know you're fast, so just run as fast as you can and I'll meet you at home later. Don't worry about me. I'll stay here to talk to the guards and file assault charges against that group of self-righteous pricks," she said as she nodded towards the bodies on the ground that were slowly starting to move again.

Christy hesitated, uncertain about leaving her mother behind.

"It's okay, sweetheart. It'll be okay. Just go!"

"Okay Mom," Christy answered reluctantly. "If you're sure you'll be alright."

She gave her mother a quick hug, then charged herself up and took off in a speedy blur out of the area.

Just to be on the safe side, she'd decided to take a less direct route home to ensure that she wasn't being followed so she plotted an elaborate route through many side streets and a few parks before returning home.

When Christy finally returned home, she paused just inside the front door and finally let the floodgates loose. She was glad that she'd been able to keep her emotions in check for as long as she had, but now she was ready for a good cry. She remembered her conversation with Rogue earlier that week and conceded that she'd been right. Trouble does have a way of finding you, whether you go looking for it or not.

Even so, she hadn't imagined that it'd be this bad for her back when she’d originally been looking forward to her first trip home. The Professor's policy on the use of mutant powers in public not withstanding, Christy above all else had hoped that she wouldn't ever have to put on such a display in front of her own mother. She knew that her mother loved her regardless, but such displays were bound to make her mother feel uncomfortable around her and that was something that Christy wanted to prevent as much as possible.

She sat down in the living room and cried for a little while. It was such a great emotional release. Before she became Christy, she'd always been too afraid of the 'boys don't cry' stigma to ever properly take advantage of its therapeutic value. In the past she had a tendency to keep her unhappiness within her, but right around the time that her mutant abilities started to manifest, her emotions became much more difficult to suppress. Although she tried anyways, the other girls at the Institute had noticed this habit right away and chided her about 'still thinking like a boy'. Jean had explained to her that it was unfortunate how boys were conditioned not to show such feelings, because it often puts a large strain on them. Girls tended to be more emotionally balanced overall because it was more acceptable for them to let it all out when they really felt the need.

Already, Christy was starting to feel a lot better. She'd have a good talk with her mother when she got back and then the two of them could enjoy the rest of the long weekend without giving that day's mishap another thought.

Speaking of her mother... where was she? Christy wondered why she was taking so long to return to the house. She waited for a few more minutes before getting up and turning on the living room stereo for company. Over the past few months she'd gotten used to the general boisterous mayhem that was a daily component of life at the Xavier Institute. Now, sitting by herself in an empty house, she really missed it.

Just then, she'd heard her mother's car pull up in the driveway. She waited until her mother had made it into the house before she threw herself at her and gripped her in a tight hug.

"Oh Mom... I'm so sorry!" she said softly.

"Whatever for, dear?" her mother responded.

"For the trouble today... the things that I did. I'm really sorry. I wanted to have a normal visit with you this weekend and the last thing I wanted was to remind you that I'm a mutant."

"Christy dear, don't you worry at all about that. It didn't seem as though you had much choice in the matter. They got what they deserved. Besides, with a little luck those assholes might learn something valuable from the experience and keep their distance in the future."

Christy's brow furrowed a bit at her mother's words. She sounded a little harsher than she usually did, but perhaps she was still feeling some residual anger. After all, she had been on the receiving end of a stun gun attack earlier that afternoon.

Her mother's expression brightened and she changed the subject.

"Well! Let's not spoil the rest of our time together this weekend by dwelling on any of that. Let's unload the car, and then after that.. would you care to help me get dinner started?"

Christy smiled and followed her mother back out to the car. After they'd brought all of that day's purchases back into the house and put them away in their respective closets, Christy joined her mother in the kitchen, where they spent the next hour or so chatting while they prepared dinner together.

Her mother seemed to be really interested in the Xavier Institute and spent a lot of the time asking her all sorts of questions about it. While Christy was certainly eager to answer any of her mother's questions, she was starting to feel a little nervous. Some of the topics were coming uncomfortably close to the nature of the X-men and her own involvement as a member of the team. She had already decided earlier that she would only tell her mother what was necessary, but her mother seemed determined to hear more details. Christy deflected most of those questions by implying that the 'special' training at the Institute was simply a sort of sparring, but sometimes they'd use their mutant abilities to make things interesting. Still, the questions persisted and eventually Christy finally decided a change of topic would be safer.

"Say Mom," Christy said in what she hoped was a joking tone of voice, "I'm supposed to be on a break from the Institute, but I'm starting to feel as though I never left! How about we talk about what your life's been like for awhile? I haven't seen you in two months, after all!"

Her mother simply looked at Christy in silence for a moment with a totally unreadable expression on her face. Finally, she nodded gently and sighed.

"You're right, dear. I'm sorry. We shouldn't waste our time together on such things. It's just that I missed my little girl so much while you were away..."

She sniffed a bit and wiped away a tear that was forming in her eye before continuing.

"I guess I just wanted to know as much as I could about your new experiences at that Institute. Today, when those awful people tried attacking you, I got really worried. I don't know what I'd do if anything was to happen to you..."

Christy smiled back at her reassuringly.

"It's okay Mom. I promise that everything's okay. The professor and the others take really good care of me in Bayville, and they're also teaching me to take care of myself as well."

Her mother gave an amused laugh at that.

"Yes, you certainly proved that this afternoon! I'm quite impressed with how you're able to handle yourself now. Even so, try to remember that no matter how much you seem to grow up, you'll always be Mommy's little girl to me."

For a moment, Christy felt a brief… something, but it passed just as quickly. There was something strange about the way that her mother was talking to her, but Christy couldn't quite put her finger on it. In fact, she’d been having the sense that something was a little off with her mother since she’d arrived home. Perhaps she was still a little unsettled by what she'd witnessed that afternoon.

"... Tomorrow," her mother continued, "I was thinking we could spend the day together here at home. Since it'll be your last full day before going back to Bayville, I thought we could pass the time doing all sorts of fun things together like we did when you were a little girl."

Christy's heart skipped a beat.

Say what?! She thought to herself.

Warning bells started ringing in her head and she gave an uneasy glance at her mother who was working at the kitchen counter with her back turned away from her.

"You're awfully quiet all of the sudden, dear," Christy's mother said as she started to turn around. "Is there anything wr..."

She was interrupted by a powerful electrical jolt that caused her legs to collapse beneath her and she sank to the kitchen floor. She looked up to see her daughter standing over her with a grim expression on her face. She was holding one of her hands outstretched towards her and it was glowing with an intense blue-green light.

"Wh... Why?" She stammered weakly. "What did you do that for?"

"I don't know who you are, but you're not my mother," Christy told her evenly. "Who are you, and why are you here?!"

Her 'mother' started to laugh and she smiled back at Christy with an amused expression on her face. It was a strange, malevolent sounding laugh that gave Christy the creeps.

"Well, well... it seems that you are a lot sharper than I gave you credit for."

The person before her began to change and within moments Christy's 'mother' had become a lean, blue skinned woman dressed in a long, white form-hugging dress with open slits down the sides of the skirt to allow for plenty of movement. A really gaudy outfit, Christy thought to herself. Although she hadn't seen this particular form before, she had a pretty good idea who this mutant was.

"Principal Darkholme," Christy said flatly. "We're a long way from the hallways of Bayville High. Can I assume that you're not here on official school business?"

Mystique rose gracefully to her feet and Christy carefully retreated a few steps to keep some distance between them. She assumed her defensive posture and charged herself up. Her opponent took note of Christy's stance, as well as the bright aura of energy she was generating. Being a highly skilled martial artist herself, she sized up her smaller opponent with a smirk.

"This can go easy or hard, McGee. You caught me by surprise just now, but I'm really curious to see just how much Wolverine has taught you. And you can be sure that I won't be as easy to defeat as those fools you fought earlier today. I hadn't expected getting a workout when I came here, but since you insist..."

She suddenly lunged at Christy and started throwing a rapid series of punches and kicks that her quarry dodged with incredible speed. Mystique intensified her attacks, but she was unable to land a single blow against Christy's mutant-enhanced speed and reflexes. Christy continued to dodge her for a couple of minutes until Mystique began to tire, and then she moved in and landed a hard, open-handed strike to her midriff. Upon contact, she'd also discharged another hefty electrical burst which blasted Mystique out the kitchen door and sent her sprawling out on the dining room floor.

"This can go easy or hard, Mystique," Christy said in a deliberate parody of Mystique's own words.

Under any other circumstances she might even have enjoyed the irony, but Christy was in no mood for playing around at the moment. She wasn't sure how long Mystique had been impersonating her mother, but it was a good bet that she'd hidden her mother away somewhere in order to pull it off.

"I don't know why you're here, but I know you've done something to my mother. I don't want to hurt you, but you'd better tell me where she is or I'm likely to do something that we'll both regret!"

Mystique shifted her form into her Principal Darkholme identity and then slowly pulled herself up from the floor. Her hands were shaking slightly, but whether that was from anger or the residual effect of the last electrical shock, Christy didn't know.

"I guess you aren't quite the little mouse that I thought you were. I see those fools at Xavier's precious Institute have taught you well. Too bad you and the others insist on wasting your potential on Xavier's short-sighted ideals. You saw it yourself when you battled those barbaric simpletons this afternoon. Tell me, McGee... can you honestly see Xavier's notions of a peaceful co-existence working with ignorant fools like them?"

Raven Darkholme drew herself up into the familiar imposing figure that Christy knew well as the strict dictator of Bayville High. Christy almost laughed at such a petty display of intimidation, but she kept her face as expressionless as she could while waiting for Mystique's next move. Mystique might be a certified whacko, but she was also extremely dangerous and was not to be underestimated.

"I'm sure you're aware that not all mutants share Xavier's views about normal humans. In fact, among the mutant population, Xavier and other mutants who think like him are in the minority. The rest of us work towards the promise of a future where all mutants can live without fear of these lesser humans and assume our rightful place as the next dominant species of the planet. You are young, but your mutant power has great potential — a potential that you will surely never realize under the tutelage of that fool Xavier!"

Christy shook her head slightly as she listened to Raven's tirade. She'd heard a much more watered-down version of this mantra a few months back when she'd had her initial encounter with the Brotherhood Boys, but she found it a bit unsettling to hear it spoken so clearly by a much more sophisticated and powerful mutant like Mystique. Although Christy was still pretty new to the world of mutants, she understood enough not to buy into the renegade philosophies of mutants like Mystique and her Brotherhood Boys. Just the same, a mutant like Mystique couldn't be discounted out of hand as she usually did with Lance Alvers and his cohorts. She needed to proceed carefully, especially since she didn't know what or if Mystique had done anything to her mother.

Mystique took advantage of Christy's seeming lapse of attention to jump towards her and launch another series of strikes. Despite the business attire she wore in her Raven Darkholme persona, her hand-to-hand combat skills were still extremely fast. The two combatants continued their high-speed sparring session for another minute or two until Christy disengaged by performing a gymnastic back-flip and landed in a defensive stance on the top of the dining room table.

"I'm sure you didn't come all this way just to give a speech and to spar with me. What do you want, Principal Darkholme?" Christy said evenly.

Raven gave a short laugh and replied, "I work with a group of mutants that has a greater interest in your development than Xavier does. My... 'employer' wants to meet with you personally, so I have come to invite you to attend an interview."

She then jumped up and attempted to sweep Christy's legs out from under her with a spinning kick, but Christy easily dodged by flipping over her. She landed just behind her, where she quickly spun around and hit her opponent with another electrical discharge. Raven immediately collapsed to the floor in a heap and groaned slightly.

"Thanks, but no thanks. You can tell your friends that I'm not interested."

She took a couple of steps back from her and added a little more intensity to the glow around her to make herself look more threatening to her temporarily winded opponent. The effect was mostly for show, but Raven wouldn't know that. Despite the fact that Christy seemed to be holding the upper hand in this little duel, she wasn't going to let her guard down for even an instant.

"...I'm afraid that wasn't a request." Raven answered once she caught her breath.

She slowly rose to her feet and brushed herself off, then withdrew something from her pocket and tossed it towards Christy. She caught it easily and felt her breath catch in her throat as she examined what she held in her hands. She was holding a photograph of her mother, who had been stripped down to her underwear and was lying hogtied and gagged on a bed in what appeared to be a typical hotel room.

"You.... you bitch!" Christy hissed at Raven.

She suddenly lunged at Raven in a blur of motion that would have impressed Pietro Maximoff. Before she could even react, Raven was shoved hard up against the wall and held at bay by a sparking hand that was held mere inches from her face. She noted the lights in the house started to flicker as Christy drew more power from her surroundings.

"WHERE'S MY MOTHER?!!" Christy shouted. "The last few shocks I gave you will seem like nothing compared to what I'll do next if you don't start talking!"

Slowly, Raven formed a wicked-looking grin on her face.

"That won't get you anywhere, McGee. She's hidden away where she isn't likely to be found for days. If you cooperate and come with me, then I'll make a phone call and have her released. If you refuse, well... we can continue our little match here until one of us wins, but it'll only make things worse for your mother."

There was a long, uneasy silence as Christy tried to consider her options. The truth was that she knew she didn't really have any options. She thought back to something that Scott had once told her about Mystique during her first week at the Institute. Mystique was like a kind of serious card player, and one that has no problems with cheating to win. Her mother was Mystique's trump card, and she'd played it well.

She sighed deeply and then took a couple of steps back from Raven. Her aura quickly dimmed out as she brought her energy levels back down and stored them away.

"You win," she said softly.

Raven gave a satisfied nod.

"Smart choice, McGee."

Raven carefully withdrew a small tube from her pocket and cautiously stepped towards Christy. It wasn't until she held it up that Christy could see it was a small aerosol device of some kind. Probably a tranquilizing agent, Christy thought.

"How do I know that you'll keep your word, Mystique?" Christy asked as she eyed the device with a bit of apprehension.

"Our interest is in you, not your mother. As an ordinary human, she has little value to us. We have nothing to gain from harming her, particularly since you'll have no reason to cooperate with us if we did. Now, hold still..."

Raven discharged a gentle mist into Christy's face which took effect almost instantaneously. She collapsed forward into Raven's arms, and was gently lowered to the floor by her sometime-school Principal. Raven casually withdrew a cell phone from her pocket and hit her speed-dial. A deep voice answered almost immediately.

"Well?" The voice asked expectantly.

"I've got her. She saw through me a little faster than I'd anticipated, but even so I'm sure she'll cooperate with us for the time being."

"Good. Bring her at once, then. We have to get her away from there before Xavier and his people can respond -- it's unlikely that Charles would fail to notice all of the recent 'activity' in the area. I'll be waiting for you at the municipal airport."

Without waiting for a response from her, the line went dead and Raven glanced at her phone in mild irritation. She sighed and made another call to the nearby hotel's front desk.

She placed a room-service order to the suite in which she'd left the girl’s mother and asked that the order be brought directly into the room, despite the ‘do not disturb’ sign she’d hung outside. She quickly ended the call and smirked a bit as she thought of the surprise that some hotel employee was about to get when he delivered that order. Maybe he'd jump to the wrong conclusions and assume that particular guest was interested in some kinky 'play' before being untied. Well, if that was the case, she wished her former captive lots of fun.

Shifting back into her guise as Ms. McGee, she gathered Christy up off the floor and quickly carried her out to the car. Magneto was not the sort of man you wanted to keep waiting.

To be continued in:

Chapter Three - Christy's Challenge