Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Dr. Deborah Risemen could have been placed in prison for her part in Hydra's experiments. She'd been fully expecting it, or worse, when she'd gone to S.H.I.E.L.D. with information on Project X. It would have been worth it, to protect X-23. To try and help the little girl she'd watched grow and become increasingly erratic and destructive. She knew she could never really cleanse herself of her sins, of the horrors she'd helped happen, but this, she thought, was at least a good attempt.
When S.H.I.E.L.D. told her they would like to hire her, instead of strictly imprisoning her, she was shocked. They wouldn't allow her to take part in experiments like she had with Hydra, but that was fine. She was done breaking the laws, the freedom Hydra had allowed had left a bad taste in her mouth and she gladly accepted the rules and limitations set down by S.H.I.E.L.D. It was better than sitting in a jail cell for the rest of her life, or getting the death penalty. She didn't think New York allowed for that, in fact most states did not, but... well... S.H.I.E.L.D., for all their talk of being the 'good guys', was a bit above the law themselves. She wouldn't put it passed them to do whatever they felt was needed.
Two years after she'd joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and had settled into a life that she felt was acceptable, the past came rushing after her.
X-23 showed up in her apartment.
It was late, and Deborah was just getting home. Nothing seemed out of place at first. The lights were out, the door locked, everything was exactly as it had been when she'd left early in the morning, and even her cat was still there. The pretty white feline rubbed against her ankles as soon as she stepped in the door, and flicked on the lights. But it wasn't until she moved beyond the front door, and into the living room, that she found someone sitting on her couch.
The TV was untouched, as it often was, and the only thing that X-23 had disturbed, seemed to be the glass of half drunken water on the coffee table, and a plate that had the remains of ketchup smeared in the corner. The girl on the couch had looked up when the light had flicked on, and Deborah found herself being watched by deep olive green eyes, and was surprised to find there was no anger in them.
X-23 had always been angry back at the Facility. Anger had become her strength. It was... strange how soft her features seemed when she wasn't glaring or looking ready to shove her claws through someone's throat. It was nice.
It made her look like...
Deborah shook the unwanted image of a friend long lost from her mind, and took a tentative step forward. She wanted to reach for her phone, there was a button on it she could press that would alert S.H.I.E.L.D. that there was need of them. But S.H.I.E.L.D. wanted X-23. They wanted to dispose of her, maybe study her. Deborah, despite being terrified that X-23 might be here to kill her, finally, couldn't bring herself to do that. Instead, she clutched her briefcase and coat, and let her fear show on her face. It didn't matter if she showed it, she was sure X-23 would be able to smell it.
"Dr. Risemen?" X-23's voice was deeper than it had been before. Not by much, but at least a little, showing the signs of her having grown physically. Her calmness, the neutral expression, showed maybe she'd grown mentally and emotionally as well. She stood up, hands shoved into the front pocket of a hoodie proclaiming ROBERT A. HEINLEIN SCHOOL FFOR ENGINEERING AND ASTROPHYSICS across the front in big, bold letters over a school logo. The hoodie was worn at the sleeves, but it looked warmer than the ratty, torn jeans the girl wore.
Not able to find her voice, or trusting it to not break upon speaking, Deborah nodded her head. Her cat brushed against her legs again, and meowed for attention. She let her eyes scanned the room, and spotted one thing that was unusual. On dining table, a few feet from her coffee table, there was a small pile of electrical devices. They looked broken, wires peaking out when she squinted at them.
"I've disabled all the surveillance devices in your apartment." X-23 stated in explanation. She didn't move, or do much of anything to be a threat. Her hands stayed hidden in her hoodie, and her eyes never left Deborah.
She was watching for a reaction, Deborah realized, looking for a sign of distress or confusion. There wasn't one. She knew her apartment was bugged. That her car was as well. S.H.I.E.L.D. would likely become aware that something was wrong, by now she would have made noise for the bugs to pick up, but with them laying broken on her table, there was nothing for them to track between her car and her apartment.
X-23 reached down for a black canvas bag sitting hidden behind the coffee table, "I have questions, and I was told you might have answers."
"Questions...?" Deborah repeated, feeling a bit displaced. Why had she been sought out? How had X-23 known to come to her? She may have been there during the girl's life, but she hadn't been an active part. She hadn't been allowed to make contact, to sit with her like... like... She had been a distant observer once X-23 had proven to survive life and her initial training. She was just a name on a long list of other names that had been there.
From the bag, X-23 pulled a manila folder, which she dropped on the coffee table. A few photos slipped from inside, and Deborah moved forward to look at them. The folder was unassuming, but she had seen the images that spilled forth. Picking up one of them, she lifted the photo to look at it a little more closely.
The photo was an old one. Deborah remembered where it'd been taken well, that little dive bar in the only town anywhere near The Facility. She had gone there with Sarah, the two of them needing a night to celebrate what they'd felt had been a great success. They would learn later it was anything but that... but... well, after months, after so many failures, finally finding out what had been the problem, after they'd found out how to make it work, they'd been so excited. So very excited.
Seeing the picture, their excited, proud grins, made her stomach churn.
"The woman in the picture. I need to find her." X-23 stated, her too familiar green eyes locked on Deborah.
With shaking hands, Deborah set the photo down and opened the folder instead. Inside were files she'd not seen before. Profiles for herself and Sarah, information on their locations and the projects they worked on. It was old information, with old addresses and a lot of blacked out sentences. These had to have been in Hydra's data base. It was all freshly printed from the looks of it. The pages were crisp and new.
"You are the only link I have been able to find to her."
Deborah looked at the teenager looking at her. X-23 had been only fourteen when she'd last seen her. A child still, but now, now she was seventeen. There was a hard edge that had always been there, but something else too. Something softer.
X-23's expression shifted, it was obvious she was getting annoyed, her lips pressed into a thin line, frustration and anger flooding into what had been a calm facade, and Deborah watched as she struggled through emotions. The doctor was tempted to step back again, to put some space between them, though she knew it would do no good. And just as she was contemplating how long it would take her to make an escape, and how much chance she might have, X-23's expression smoothed out.
"Please."
The word sounded so strange coming from this girl, the clone trained to kill any opponent she was pointed at. But there was something desperate behind the word, and Deborah gave a nod before she realized she was doing so. With that acknowledgment that she would help, X-23 seemed to relax, her shoulders slumping and her body losing the tenseness that had begun to form.
"There isn't much time..." Deborah glanced at the clock, S.H.I.E.L.D. would be coming soon. She held the folder, and turned away, against every instinct. You don't turn your back on a threat, she'd been told, but she had to tell herself that X-23 was not a threat, not really. "I can't give you her location, but I have something of hers... for you."
The blonde woman moved through her apartment, and though she didn't hear X-23 follow her, she could feel the girl's presence behind her. In truth, Deborah had never thought there would be reason to keep anything of Sarah's. She had a few mementos, of course, of their friendship, but not much else. Except one in particular.
She kept it in the bookshelf in her bedroom, alongside novels and text books she had read. It went unnoticed there. She could feel X-23's eyes on her, as she pulled the large book down. It was heavy, an old copy of Pinocchio. The pages were frayed, and it had that 'old book smell' that Sarah had loved. Holding the book tight in her hands, Deborah turned towards X-23, trying to read X-23's expression, but it had gone neutral.
"This was Sarah's... she left it with me, to give to you, if I ever got the chance."
Sarah had talked about trying to read the story to X-23, when she was small and they were allowed to interact. How important it was that X-23 have some semblance of humanity. But she'd never been given the chance. Instead, she'd been forced to leave the book for X-23 with Deborah, though neither thought she'd get the chance to give it to the girl either.
Still, she had the book now, and found herself looking at the teenager it was meant to go to. The teenager who now looked at it with fascination and curiosity and a cool wariness. There was human in her now, though, it was in the depth of emotion in her eyes, in the way she stood. Not as much trained now, as natural.
Deborah held the book out, so X-23 could take it, "She didn't tell me much... but she wanted you to have this."
They had gone through hell and back to bring X-23 into the world, and Sarah had held the burden of it, "Sarah," Deborah said as if it pained her, "Wanted you to... have something more than Hydra was willing to give..."
X-23's eyes darted to hers, held her gaze and Deborah could see the anger brewing there again. The teenager snatched the book out Deborah's hands, and shoved it into her backpack. Not bothering to look at it now, "I want her location."
"You won't like it."
"I want her location. There isn't much time."
X-23's head turned towards the hall, as if she'd heard something. There was no doubt to Deborah is was S.H.I.E.L.D. So, with little time, Deborah moved to her bedside table. She took a scrap of paper and wrote out an address and Sarah's name, before handing it to X-23. "Good luck."
X-23 said nothing else, before she went back to the living room. Deborah heard her front door break down and agents rushing inside. But when she left her room, all that remained of X-23's presence was the dirty plate and the glass of water. She was gone, like a ghost. As if she'd never been.
Deborah prayed she found what she was looking for. Whatever it was she needed. And maybe, just maybe, having helped her find it, whatever it was, was another step in cleaning Deborah's own sins away.