Was the thing dead? Kitty prayed the thing was dead, or as dead as a machine could get, and in Kitty's experience a machine could get very dead. But also in her experience machines could be very much alive even when dead. Even after dropping a building on one. Under most circumstances Kitty would be wary, but Xi'an was pinned beneath her and something inside her brain had shorted out a little.

"You okay?"

They were so close to each other, and this wasn't exactly something that Kitty had expected to happen. She looked down at Xi'an, her hair messy and sweat glistening on her forehead. They were both covered head to toe in dust and there were a thousand reasons why this was a bad idea and just a few that made it a good one.

Kitty leaned in first, hesitant yet eager. She'd kissed a few people before, but never another girl. There'd been times when she'd wondered, or stared a little too long at Rachel or Illyana as they changed, but Kitty's life had been sliding from one crisis to another with no break in between. Even this attempt to lead a normal college life had gotten interrupted by another crisis. So she'd never really had a chance to think about the way many women could make her heart race. Or how this woman twisted up her stomach and made it hard to breath.

Xi'an had been there for her, and Kitty for her. They'd gotten closer than they'd ever been before since they'd started living together and somewhere along the way Kitty's feelings for Xi'an had shifted in a new direction. An exciting direction of soft lips and a body moving beneath her as Xi'an kissed her back.

When Xi'an's hands tangled in her hair Kitty knew she was in too deep. Xi'an rolled them over, pinning Kitty's hips with her own. Her tongue flicked out into Kitty's mouth and if Kitty hadn't already been revved up by the life or death danger they'd just been in, that would have done it. The groan Kitty made came from deep, deep down.

Moving her hands down to Kitty's face, Xi'an broke the kiss and looked down at her. There was hope in her eyes and fear on her face. She'd been into Kitty forever. "Kitty…"

"Wow…" She put her hand over one of Xi'an's. "We make a really good team, don't we."

"I always knew we would." Xi'an held her breath as she asked, "Do you want to get dinner tonight?"

"Like a date?" Putting a finger over Xi'an's lips, Kitty quickly added, "Yeah, yes, I'd love to. We'll need to find a babysitter."

"Leong and Nga are going to be thrilled, they love you." The twins weren't the only ones, Xi'an thought she was going to explode from giddiness. She'd had a crush on Kitty for years and had prayed she wasn't misreading Kitty's signals.

The rubble shifted, and Xi'an scrambled to her feet, helping Kitty up at the same time. The mini sentinel rose up on its tentacle like arms, the red eyes cracked but very much alive. While it wasn't large and intimidating like the classic model, it was still dangerous and deadly. It resembled some kind of horrible alien insect complete with slashing pincers. But its purpose was the same as always; to kill mutants.

Xi'an picked up a piece of rebar, but Kitty grabbed her arm. "We need to run!"

"Oh hell no, I finally get a date with you and I'm not letting a fucking robot ruin my day!"

"Do you have a plan?" Kitty asked.

"Does beating it into scrap count as a plan?"

"No."

"Do you have a better plan?" Xi'an lowered her arm, but didn't let go of the rebar.

"Remember that thing about running?" Kitty replied. "I really think we need to be running."

"We just need to be able to fry it," Xi'an muttered.

"Good idea, come on!" Kitty started dragging Xi'an down the street, the sentinel giving chase. When she zigged, it zagged, stubbornly refusing to give up its prey, but that was exactly what Kitty wanted.

Once Xi'an realized where Kitty was headed, she stopped resisting. It was a good plan, if they could pull it off without either of them dying. Not dying wasn't a certainty, but Xi'an couldn't leave her brother and sister alone. Besides, she had a hot date. Even setting aside her crush, she hadn't had a decent date in longer than she cared to count.

"I still want to bash it to death."

"You'll get your chance!" Kitty phased them through the fence surrounding a power station, then let go of Xi'an's hand. "We get it to the center and you jab that rebar as deep into it as you can then get clear. I'll take care of the rest."

Xi'an gripped her rebar tighter, bolting towards the center of the power station as the sentinel crashed through the fence. Not seeing what it had designated the more dangerous target, it went right for Xi'an.

Though her powers could do nothing to a machine, Xi'an still had combat training and she was really pissed off. She dodged an attack and impaled the machine on her rebar, leaping back as a power line suddenly fell from above, wrapping around the rebar. The sentinel exploded, and when Xi'an opened her eyes she realized that Kitty had grabbed her hand and phased them through the explosion.

Kitty pulled her into another kiss, then hugged her tightly. "Today has been full of shocking developments."

Laughing, Xi'an clung to Kitty and pressed her forehead against Kitty's. She lifted her hand, looping some of Kitty's hair through her fingers. Kitty had never objected to that before, but now it held a new kind of meaning and she felt emboldened. "Just for that I'm making you pay for the date."