C O L O S S U S

“Petey, look at me. I understand, it’s for the mutants and it’s for Russia but you need to remember, me helping you out with this puts me in an awkward situation but I’m still willing to help as much as I can. I won’t tell anyone else about it, not unless you want me to and not unless something goes wrong.” Kitty said as she gently turned his face towards hers so he could gaze in her eyes.

She nodded as he told her more, and she let go of his face.

“That’s good. That’s a start, but even I know that the relationship between Krakoa and Russia is just like the relationship between Krakoa and the US. Our relationship with Russia is very touchy, very sensitive… arguably our relationship with The States is worse but neither relationship is where it should be… one wrong move and a potential conflict could occur, a conflict that I know The Council is trying to avoid from happening with any country, let alone Russia. You need to tread carefully… figuratively speaking.” She explained.

Kitty sighed before gazing at the countertop before shifting her gaze back to him.

“Dammit Pete. Yana can help us, besides you need backup to go with you through the portals in case something happens. If something happened, I would have to jump on a boat to Russia. There’s no way in Hell I’d get to you in time.”

“Or we could ask someone else to help us who can also pass through the portals if you don’t want Yana to help you. But I don’t want you to go without some sort of backup. I have no doubt that you wouldn’t be able to handle it on your own, but I care about you so I need you to go with someone else just in case.” Kitty pleaded.

Kitty liked how stubborn he could be, but it did frustrate her sometimes.

“What’s your plan? And also when exactly is the mission?” She asked.

She opened the box with curiosity and her frown turned into a grin and a chuckle as she saw the Lockheed compass.

“Oh Petey, I love it! Thank you! Ah his little snout is pointing at the cardinal direction, it’s so freaking cute! It’s such a nice gift, thank you so much. I definitely needed this.” She said before squealing and kissing his cheek.

“I do not need someone else.  I have you.” Stated so simply it sounded declarative, and he didn’t offer up any further explanation, just the gift.

He smiled—and despite his best efforts, his cheeks flushed after she placed a kiss upon one—and guided her to turn it over in her hand, to show her the small groove in the side where the top and bottom wooden casings met and the switch was housed. He stood up, tugged at his shirt and hoped his clothing could handle it when he gave a glance down to the compass indicating she should flip the switch, and after a moment of letting the lockheed-head guidance go blank, he used his mutation to turn into Colossus, towering and shining, perfectly polished and segmented.  

The compass immediately found its magnetic pull again and pointed straight to the side where he stood and, after a moment to let the gift’s uses be processed, he shifted back and sat back down on the stool he’d moved away from to avoid breaking.  He’d broken a few while drinking before.

“The plan is for you to set sail first. Once you are at port in Russia, I step through portal. You are my backup, Katya. I would like you to draw their attention and pretend at second rescue before I go in. After you get attention, I arrive and sneak past main defenses to get information on where they are keeping mutants and get them out. Then we meet up at secondary destination.”  That part hadn’t seemingly been figured out yet, though it was for a reason: he didn’t know which place would be best.

It also relied on his stealth, which wasn’t exactly the best considering his height and.. shinyness.  He was the type meant to grab aggro, not avoid it. But her boat had some pretty big turrets on it, all things considered.

An arched brow was the only response she got that indicated he had zero doubts about his ability as someone over twice her weight and Russian, to boot, to be able to drink her under any table, pirate captain or not—But the change of subject denied him the chance to make it an official offer.  Another time, perhaps.

She wasn’t wrong. It was dangerous. Going back through that portal could be suicide, and doing it without informing anyone could be bad for a host of reasons.  And yet—”I would rather not.” He looked away from her eyes, to the hand his eclipsed, lifting his just to be able to see some of hers underneath.  “Easier to ask forgiveness.”  Which was his way of saying—without directly saying—that he didn’t care for their permission.  It was his homeland.  He’d been recruited by charles to help save people from Krakoa. It—”I have to do this, Katya.”

It felt like fate.

“Charles and Erik know of Russia situation. It was why I was there.”  But he didn’t know of their position on it now that Russia had played their hand and shown a total lack of cooperation or acknowledgment of mutant sovereignty. And he suspected they might not want him to go back to make a diplomatic incident of something that was already delicate.

“I.. could talk to Illyana,” He admitted, with a soft squeeze of her hand, “But I would rather not.” An entirely different reasoning to the prior, of course—Just the slight roll of his shoulders was a bit of a tell. He was her older brother. He did not want her to worry about him. “She left Russia much younger.” Which was to say, a lot less fond memories for her to be fighting for than he. It would only be her fight because he made it his, and he’d be a bad brother to put her into harm’s way.  She was plenty good at doing that all by herself.

“I have a plan, Katya.” He withdrew his hand from hers finally, allowing her to open the box up again with a little bit more effort.. and perhaps with him grabbing the vodka bottle from her to take a drink from while she worked on unwrapping.

Kitty ordered a second vodka bottle for herself, so two were in front of them… one for her and one for the both of them.

She cracked hers open and drank some out the bottle before she stopped and gazed at Piotr with wide eyes.

“Sorry, bad habit of mine.” She cleared her throat as she wiped her mouth.

“For me? Aw Petey that’s so sweet, oh my gosh thank you!” She said as she hugged him.

“Oh no you didn’t have to get me anything, it’s a given that I’m gonna save your life at some point silly, we’re X-Men it’s what we do.” Kitty said before grinning.

“Oh that’s so sweet, I can always use more swords though but I’m excited to open this baby up and see what it is!” She squealed.

That was one thing she definitely learned when she was in Japan with Logan, you can never have an overabundance of swords.

“Wanna help me open it? I’m so excited that I’m fighting the wrapping and it’s winning.” She said with a chuckle as she struggled to get the wrapping off.

He couldn't help but watch and admire her total willingness to just start chugging away at a vodka bottle—some things did not change, but it seems others did. And he was impressed, shaking his head when she began to apologize to reaffirm the lack of need. "Nyet, nyet—go ahead. You are not so lightweight now," he said while smirking.

He wrapped an arm around her to return the hug, but canted his head after, "But you are marauder now, da?" They seemed different, even if only for plausible deniability of whatever she had to do. He knew how it felt from his time in X-force, but it was a different sort of heroism, for sure.

There was a moment his cheeks flared red and he looked at the gift wrapping in a moment of awkwardness—"Ah—Da. Uhm." He put his hand over hers atop the small wrapped box, to get her to pause just briefly in attempting to open it, though his initial plan to have her wait was.. well. He knew better than to fight her when it came to opening gifts.

"There was—one other thing, Katya. I also have a request." Even in the dim lighting of the tiki bar environment, the blue of his eyes was frozen over and intense in the way he looked at her, like he was looking into her and already knowing what her answer might be—and ready to face stubbornness with determination. "I have to go back. To Russia. We got some mutants out, but I did not stop them. Not fully." He paused, just to take a slow breath. "I need to go back to finish it. And I need your help. I—want your help, Katya. They will sabotage the portals to keep me from escaping." Getting in was easy. Leaving was not.