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"You were gay?" Mom asked in surprise. I nodded mutely. "Are you still attracted to men?" I nodded again. "That's convenient."

I was a little surprised at her blasé attitude. "Uh, yeah, it is." I replied lamely.

Dad laughed, "You didn't really think we'd have a problem with you being gay, did you? Never mind, of course you worried about how we'd react! Don't worry; we love you no matter what." Mom hugged me to show she felt the same way.

"Thanks." I said. "I guess it was silly of me to worry so much, especially after you'd already found out I became a girl and Melissa was transsexual."

Mom waved that off. "It's only natural. Our society is so close minded! How are you dealing with being female?" she asked worriedly.

I shrugged, "Okay. It was difficult at first, but I've gotten used to it."

"Don't you have any more feminine clothes than that, though?" Mom asked, pointing at my ragged ship uniform. It had been patched several times, and the pants were cut off at the knees when the legs became too torn to be useful.

"We're kind of low on clothing on the island. We were shipwrecked, after all. Thomas brought us some blankets and medical supplies, but otherwise we've had to make do with what we were able to get off the ship. Elaine's been working on making some more feminine clothes for herself, but none of the rest of us were really interested." I replied.

Mom shook her head at me. "Well, I guess it's a good thing we got you some clothes too, then!" she said disapprovingly.

"What?" I exclaimed.

Melissa smiled and pointed at the bags, "Some of those clothes we packed up are yours. Your parents asked me to help them since I have experience with the difficulties wings pose for your wardrobe."

"You realize we'll be living on an island with no amenities to speak of, right? I hope you didn't get me delicate stuff that's going to get shredded the first time I wear it!" I complained.

"Don't worry dear, we took that into account. It's all durable enough." Mom replied.

"I've been thinking about the trip back." Dad said suddenly. "Melissa obviously doesn't have the stamina you do, no offense Melissa." She nodded. "Perhaps you should consider towing her so she can make it the whole way without being in danger of falling into the ocean."

"Towing her? How would I go about doing that?" I asked.

"If we got some rope we could tie it to your backpack and hers. If we make the rope long enough you won't interfere with each other. That way Melissa can glide and you'll be doing the lion's share of the work. You said weight wasn't an issue." Dad replied.

"I guess that could work." I said thoughtfully. "Do you think the stores are still open?"

"I think so, yeah." Dad replied.

"What do you think about this Melissa?" I asked her.

"It sounds like a good idea. We could even skip Hawaii if you want to. I can fly your dad in to pick up the rope right now." Melissa offered.

I shrugged, "Okay, go ahead." I replied. Melissa picked up Dad and they flew off to get the rope.

"I think we shouldn't skip Hawaii." Mom said after they'd left. "I don't want you overdoing it."

"Okay, I don't mind. I don't think there's a big hurry, the most immediate threat was to you two. I don't think anyone's going to go after the island too soon after what happened with that ship." I replied.

"Are you alright about that honey? You've had to do an awful lot of fighting since you mutated." Mom said worriedly.

She said fighting, but I was sure she meant killing. "I'm okay. I've only done what I had to. The hardest part was when I almost ate that commander, that still bothers me a bit." I admitted.

Mom hugged me again, "I can't imagine what it must have been like for you all this time! I'm so glad you're alright!" she murmured. I found myself tearing up and hugged her back.

"So, tell me about your boyfriend!" Mom said once she'd let me go. I groaned, but told her all about Paul. Shortly thereafter Melissa returned with Dad. He had a large coil of heavy duty rope, probably a hundred feet long.

We talked a while longer and then slept under the cover of our wings. We rose bright and early in the morning and made sure everything was packed up and the bags closed tightly. Dad put on the two smaller back packs and tightened them down, and then Melissa and I put on the larger ones and made sure they were secure. Then we tied the rope to both. We didn't use the entire hundred feet, of course, so I cut off the extra and stuffed it in one of the bags.

"Everyone ready?" I asked. They nodded, so I picked up Dad and took off. I made sure not to climb too high too quickly so as to keep some slack in the rope. Melissa picked up Mom and followed.

It was touchy at first, as I'd pull ahead too fast and pull Melissa off balance. Eventually we reached a good altitude and I motioned for Melissa to lock her wings and glide and I pulled ahead at full speed. It was weird towing Melissa behind me, but it worked out really well.

We made good time to Hawaii and I found a secluded area for us to land and rest. Landing was more difficult than taking off, but not too bad. I was glad to unload after the flight, though I wasn't really tired. Melissa's wings were tired despite gliding most of the way, so Dad's idea was a very good one.

"Why don't we stay here tonight and go on in the morning." I suggested once I'd returned from hunting for a snack.

"I'm rested now, we can keep going." Melissa protested.

"Catherine's right, we should rest here for today and go on fresh in the morning. There's no point taking chances." Mom said.

Melissa didn't argue any further. She really was still tired, I think, but didn't want to hold us up.

We got settled and spent most of the rest of the day listening to the rest of Melissa's story. It was a sad story that made me want to tear those bigots apart, but I settled on comforting Melissa, who had started crying once she'd finished telling us. I'd felt sorry for myself a few times since my mutation, but at least I still had my parents, and they were as accepting as Melissa's had been!

I thought a lot about the "clinic" that mutated Melissa as I lay awake that night. I could only assume that there were, or would be, other clinics like that. There was too much interest in figuring out and marketing the mutations for there not to be. I just hoped they didn't all end as violently.

In the morning we got ourselves all strapped in again and took off for home. The trip home was uneventful, except for the group of ships we saw making their way directly towards the island. There were six ships of various sizes, including an aircraft carrier! I powered home as fast as I could after seeing that. A jet was launched after us, but we were well past them by then so I had time to land and drop off Dad and get the bag off before flying back up to intercept the jet. I made sure to meet it out over open water and watched to see what it would do. I didn't want to fight if I could help it, but it seemed inevitable.

The jet never fired a shot. It flew past, and well above me, and flew over the island. I tensed up, afraid it might bomb the island, but it just flew a circle around the island and then flew back. I wonder what that was about… I wondered as I returned to the island.

As I approached I realized there was an amphibious aircraft anchored just off shore. I hurried back to the village, afraid that someone had already gotten soldiers on the island again.

My parents were talking to Paul when I got to the village and Mom gasped when she saw the way I landed on the Cat Pad. "It's okay Mom, I always land like that. It doesn't hurt at all." I assured her. She looked skeptical, but didn't say anything about it. "Paul, did you know there's an amphibious plane anchored out there?" I asked him.

"Yeah, Shawna's mother came on it, along with Thomas and two other people. Everything's okay." Paul replied. I sighed in relief.

"Oh good, I was afraid they'd already gotten some soldiers on the island." I replied.

Paul looked confused at that. "Already? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"There are six ships heading our way, including an aircraft carrier. That's where that jet came from. I think it's safe to say they're here to take the island." I said.

"Yes, that's what I was afraid of." A man I'd never heard before said as he approached with Thomas. "While they still want KittyHawk, they're more afraid of her disrupting their operations than they are interested in figuring out why she's so powerful." He was a middle aged man with light brown hair.

"Who are you?" I asked, glancing at Thomas questioningly.

"This," Thomas said, gesturing at the new man, "is Carl Kleinman. He's here because he wants to help."

"Yes. I used to work for Genarm Industries. They're trying to refine the mutation process. They've already produced some very strong mutants, though not nearly as strong as you. Since you've been collecting mutants from all over the world they've become afraid that you would try to disrupt their operations. They have strong connections to the US military and are using those connections to wipe this island off the map." Carl said.

"So it is safe to assume that they intend to bomb the island?" I growled. Carl seemed taken aback at that, but nodded.

"Calm down, Cat. We need to evacuate the island." Thomas said. Paul rubbed my back, which did a lot more to calm me.

I took a moment to look over our situation. We had an aircraft carrier filled with planes that could drop an awful lot of ordnance on the island coming our way, along with support craft that probably had some guns or missiles of their own. I knew I could destroy them all given time, but they weren't likely to give us that time. Then I noticed the rather dark storm clouds moving in. "No." I said firmly.

"Cat, we don't have a choice. We can't fight off bombers!" Paul protested.

"We can't, but I can." I replied. "I'll make sure those bombers never get to the island."

Paul sighed in frustration. "Cat, you're fast, but you're not as fast as a jet! They'll fly by you so quickly you won't have a chance to do anything!"

"They are fast, but they're not faster than electricity." I replied with a feral grin.

"Catherine, you were wiped out after only destroying two gunships! What makes you think you can handle an aircraft carrier full of jets!" Dad protested.

Paul looked at him oddly at that. "Paul, I discovered a new ability when we rescued my parents. I can absorb electricity, and I can direct it. I used that trick to take out the two gunships Dad's talking about. I was wiped out afterwards, but that was only because I'd run out of power. I'm currently holding a charge several times greater than what I had then. I can do this. Besides, I might be able to talk them out of this before a shot is fired." I said.

"I don't think that's likely." Carl warned.

I shrugged, "I know, but I have to try. And once they've made their intentions clear I can attack with a clear conscience."

"Cat, please, let's just leave!" Paul begged. "I don't want to see you hurt again."

I wrapped us up in my wings so I wouldn't feel self-conscious kissing him in front of my parents and pressed my lips to his as hard as I dared. He responded and time seemed to come to a halt. When we finally came up for air I breathlessly said, "Do what you can to protect the others, but I have to do this. I love you!" With that I took off and sped on towards the approaching ships.

I heard Paul call out, "I love you!" as I flew away. I smiled and winged my way over to the aircraft carrier.

I flew straight to the tower roof. I heard alarms going off below me, but ignored them and climbed down the side of the tower until I spotted a window. I cut my way in with my claws and jumped in. There were several officers inside, gaping at me in shock and fear. "Who's in charge here?" I asked as calmly as I could manage.

The man I should have guessed was in charge due to all the medals and such on his uniform spoke up, "I am. What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"I'm here to find out what your intentions are, naturally. I think we all know, but I'm hoping I'm wrong. So, am I?" I replied.

"I don't know what you think you know, but we're here to sterilize a contamination zone and take care of some terrorists while we're at it. Chief among them you!" he said with a glance to the side. I glanced over and saw several men come in armed with machine guns and pistols. I sighed and let a little power out, stunning everyone in the room. It wasn't even as much as I'd used in the truck, but it was enough to keep anyone from shooting me as I climbed out the hole in the window.

Sounds like they're going to just bomb everything! Guess it's time to be destructive. I thought as I jumped down onto the deck. I walked over to the nearest aircraft and sliced into it, spilling jet fuel all over the deck. I moved onto the next one and did the same. By the time someone found me I'd already torn up five planes and fuel was covering the ground beneath them. I hurried on to the next plane, but gunfire rang out from multiple weapons, tearing into me. I still managed to tear open the fuel tanks of two more plains before I was forced to retreat.

I made sure to lead the pursuing soldiers into the area where the damaged planes were when I retreated, then let a few sparks hit the nearest part of the spilled fuel. In seconds all seven planes were engulfed in flames, along with several of the soldiers that were shooting at me. I hurried away from that area, putting lots of intact planes between them and me. Once I was out of sight I started slicing open fuel tanks again. I only got three open before another group of soldiers were shooting me again. This time there was so much gunfire going that I had to retreat immediately, but the only place to go was the ocean!

I tried to dodge to the side, but dozens of bullets tore into me, knocking me back and off of the aircraft carrier entirely. I fell a long time. I tried to fly, but my wings were all but severed from the many hits they'd taken. My arms and legs were in similarly bad shape. I hit the water, hard, sinking deeply under the surface. My limbs still wouldn't obey my orders and I continued to sink. I tried to hold my breath, but it took too long for my limbs to heal and I inhaled a mouthful of water. And then another, and another.

The strange thing was, I was feeling better instead of worse! After a minute or two of panicking I realized I was somehow breathing! By the time I realized this my legs had finally healed to the point that I could begin to swim back to the surface. I was still below the aircraft carrier when my arms started obeying my commands again. Soon even my wings were working, albeit painfully. With all six limbs working properly I fairly flew through the water. When I reached the surface I grabbed onto the side of the carrier and pulled myself up until I was high enough to fly.

Flying up above the deck of the carrier I realized it was poring down rain, and that this was helping them to get control over the fires I'd started on the deck. Roughly half their planes were damaged or destroyed, but that still left more than I wanted to think about. One of them was being lined up to take off as I watched. I looked around frantically, but there were no other planes in the air. Sighing in relief I started thinking about how I'd deal with the remaining planes.

I kept gaining altitude so I could see what was going on better. Someone must have seen me, because guns on the support ships started firing at me. At this distance they weren't too hard to dodge, but I couldn't do any damage while I was dodging!

In my frustration I reached in a way I didn't even know I was capable of. I felt a channel open up not from me, but to me. As soon as I felt the channel open a bolt of lightning struck me and my world was filled with light and pain! I reeled and began to fall, but recovered after a moment. The lightning had hurt like nothing else at first, but now I felt so powerful, as if I could take on the world by myself! I looked down on the ships shooting at me and opened a channel to the nearest one and released some of that energy.

Arcs of electricity shot out from my hands to the ship, striking specific points. Ammunition exploded, fires raged, and lights went out. In a flash, literally, that entire ship was dead in the water! This might be easier than I thought! I mused as I chose a new target. Fingers of electricity shot out from my hand again, leaving another ship without power or weapons. The only light illuminating either ship were the flames raging both within and without.

I was about to blast the next ship when the plane took off. I realized I could only hit a plane flying at that speed if my timing was right. I might be able to hit it when far away, but the distance would rob the blast of most of the power. Flying into the path it was most likely to take to get to the island I waited for it, idly blasting another ship while I waited. The power I'd adsorbed from the lightning was getting low, but I figured I had enough for the other two support ships at least.

As I waited more planes were taking off, one right after another. This is bad, if even one gets past me everyone could die! I thought frantically. Soon a dozen planes were flying at me, along with more gunfire from the remaining smaller ships. In desperation I opened up another channel to the storm clouds above, and left it open.

White hot pain filled my world and I couldn't see anything. But I could feel the planes approaching and easily swatted them out of the sky with fingers of lightning. I was distantly aware that I was channeling much more power than before, but I was too preoccupied to think much about it. Every plane that left the deck of the carrier was soon a burning wreck falling down into the ocean. Moments later, the remaining support ships were blasted into immobility, much more strongly than the first three. Then I turned my attention to the aircraft carrier.

Guns were still firing, so I assumed they were on the carrier itself. They didn't bother me a bit; somehow the impacts didn't even register. I turned the full fury of the storm on the aircraft carrier, reigniting the remaining fuel on the deck and starting several more fires. The entire carrier was soon without power, except for that I was pumping into it. Most of the ship was aflame, and then the fuel tanks caught. Unlike in the movies, they didn't explode. But they did burn, and hotly!

My vision slowly returned as I closed the path to the clouds. I could still feel immense amounts of power within me. I felt strained, or stretched, or something. I knew I had much more power in me than I could have handled before without pain.

Once I could see clearly again I realized that two of the smaller ships had sunk! The other three seemed alright, but they weren't going anywhere anytime soon. The aircraft carrier was burning from within and I suspected there wasn't anybody left alive on it. What have I done?! I thought, horrified. At the same time, I felt exhilarated at channeling such immense amounts of energy.

Shaken and confused, I flew back to the island. I feared I'd find it in ruins, that a plane had gotten past me without me noticing, but the island was untouched. I landed on the Cat Pad and went looking for everyone. No one was in the village. I was confused at first, until I tried to think what Paul would do. Then I remembered the cave and hurried over there. Sure enough, everyone was hiding in the same cave we'd held those sailors in.

"It's safe to come out now." I called into the cave.

Paul came out first, "Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned look. He took a close look at me and seemed even more worried. I looked down and realized I was covered in dried blood. My clothes were shredded and largely absent. What was left was smoldering.

"I'm okay Paul. In fact, I feel great!" I said, just before everything went black.

I awoke slowly. The sky was clear and bright, which told me I'd been out for quite a while. Paul was leaning up against some rocks at the entrance to the cave. I was surprised to find myself in the same place where I'd blacked out. "Paul?" I called out, but he had already seen I was awake.

"Hey Cat, how're you feeling?" he asked, kneeling down beside me.

"Okay. Why am I lying here outside the cave?" I asked, confused.

"You've got a little too much of a charge in you. When I tried to pick you up I got electrocuted. Thomas had to give me CPR to get my heart working again. After that we decided we'd better wait for you to wake up on your own." Paul replied.

"CPR?" I repeated, horrified.

"Don't worry about it Cat, you didn't have any control of it. But you do need to release some of that charge you're carrying." Paul replied.

I sat up and looked around. We were the only ones there and someone had draped a blanket over me. When I pulled it back I realized why, my clothes were less than rags! I climbed to my feet and wrapped the blanket around myself. "I don't suppose you have a target in mind?" I asked hopefully. If I was that charged up I'd do some damage when I let off the extra charge.

"Amazingly enough, the aircraft carrier didn't sink. It's been pretty well gutted, but it's still there. Why don't you unload into it?" Paul suggested. I nodded and took off. The carrier had drifted a ways from where it had been when I blasted it, but it was so big it wasn't hard to find. Especially since it was still smoking from a few places. I tried to feel how much energy I needed to discharge to get control of it, but couldn't be sure. I decided to just let it out until it felt right, so that's what I did.

I opened a channel and felt the energy draining out of me. Since I didn't need to worry about doing maximum damage to the carrier, I just kept the blast in one place. By the time I felt comfortable the hull was glowing white hot and had partially melted where the arc hit. I hadn't even realized how uncomfortable I was until I'd released the excess energy. I was still carrying a good charge, but nothing I couldn't handle.

I surveyed the damage to all the remaining ships while I was there. The aircraft carrier was totally gutted; it was just a floating chunk of metal now. The three smaller ships were mostly intact, but they still hadn't gotten power back. I marveled at the amount of damage I'd done as I flew back to Paul.

"Feeling better?" he asked cautiously.

"Yes, much!" I replied, touching his hand carefully. I easily kept the energy inside and he pulled me to him in a crushing hug. Well, it would have been a crushing hug if he was as strong as me, anyway!

"I'm so glad you're okay, I was really worried when you passed out." He said softly as he held me at arms length to look me over.

"I think I should be the one to be worried, you're the one whose heart stopped!" I replied.

Paul chuckled, "Come on, your parents are worried about you." We walked back to the village and I told him what happened on my trip on the way.

When we got back to the village we found everyone gathered in the square. Besides our original dozen, Shawna, Arachne, and Melissa, there were also Thomas, Carl, my parents, and two others. "Who are they?" I asked, pointing out the two women talking to Shawna, Arachne, and Jill.

Paul smiled, "Shawna's mother and neighbor. They came looking for Shawna and Thomas brought them here."

"What about her father?" I asked.

"All three of them mutated, but he didn't survive it. Shawna's mother is Millie, and the other woman is Kara. Neither seems to have any powers, though Millie has a rat tail." Paul replied.

"Well, at least one of her parents was able to come back. Are they going to stay?" I asked.

"I think so. Millie's been begging Shawna's forgiveness long past the point where she'd given it. Kara's also been apologizing constantly, apparently she feels responsible for the death of her father." Paul said.

My parents saw me then and there was a lot of commotion as everyone asked how I was feeling. It took me a while to reassure everyone, even with Paul's help. Finally we all got settled around the fire pit to exchange stories.

"You were amazing Cat!" Melissa said in awe. "They never got close to us, just like you said!"

"I saw you fall off the carrier. You were so long coming back up I was sure you'd drowned, how did you survive?" Mom asked

"Apparently I can breathe underwater." I replied. "I would have been up sooner, but I had to wait until I was healed enough to swim." I realized my mistake as soon as I said that, but it was too late.

"Healed?! How badly hurt were you?" Mom exclaimed.

I was about to pass it off as inconsequential when she gave me the look I'd seen many times before that told me she wouldn't accept any prevarication. "Um, well, I think my left wing was just about severed. My right wing was almost as bad, and my arms and legs were all useless for a while. I was pretty much Swiss cheese, I guess." I said sheepishly.

Carl shook his head, "I told you talking to them wouldn't work."

I shrugged, "I had to try. Besides, it wasn't talking to them that led to the damage. I got away from that encounter without injury. It was when I started trashing their planes that they perforated me."

Millie looked around at everyone in confusion, "How can you talk about being shot so many times as if it's not a big deal? How could you even survive it?!"

"She heals really fast Mom! She's the toughest, most powerful mutant in the world!" Shawna gushed.

"Yep, that's my Cat!" Paul agreed, putting his arm around my shoulders and giving me a squeeze. I responded by wrapping a wing around him and snuggling into his side. It was great to be back!

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To Be Continued…