Disclaimer: I own S4 and Dr. Martingale. Anyone else is property of Marvel.

Author's Note: Here's the scoop. What if X23 wasn't the only clone from a weapon X operative? What if Hydra intended to make a team of them before her escape? What will the post- Ascention brotherhood/acolytes do with the wounded girl at their door? Slightly AU. Has nothing to do with my Misfit-verse stories.

Forever Friends

1. Prologue

My ears pricked as the doors slid open. I peered through the food slot to see what was going on. No one ususally came to visit my contianment unit. About six guards marched in with an unconscious girl, followed by Viper and a dark haired woman. Dr. Martingale. Wonder what she has to do with this?

"Don't take the device off until after you exit the cell." Martingale ordered. The guards threw her into the cell adjacent to mine, slammed the door, and shorted the restraining device on her forehead. She began to come around instantly.

"Subject is contained, Dr Martingale." One of the guards said. Martingale grinned.

"Good. I'd hate to have to chase her before her bonding date tomorrow."

Viper smiled at the thought. I became weirded out. I was supposed to go in for the bonding process and it weirded me out. She spoke up first.

"Yes, S4 will make a wonderful partner for X23. The pair will be unbeatable." Dr Martingale frowned.

"S4 will not need the help of X23. She is the perfect killing machine on her own."

"Too perfect." Viper corrected. "She is far too impulsive, or have you forgotten the Stegman incident this week? The pair will check and balance each other to perfection. Don't worry, Martingale, S4 will not be short changed on this assignment."

Viper left and the rest of the group followed. The girl started to sit up now, and I wondered at their conversation. This person was my partner? I've never needed a partner before. Why give me one now? And who the hell is she?

"Where the hell am I?" S4 asked as she whipped her blond head around, looking none to happy about being brought into a cell. Lucky twit.

"A containment cell, what else does it look like?" I asked her. She growled.

"Smart ass are ya? Where am I really? What area?"

I cocked my head. I'm not even sure where here is. "I don't know. Some kind of prep station. Where are you from?"

"South end of base. Next to Martingale's lab. Bitch." She swore. Looks like the 'I hate Martingale' club has three members now. The other two being Dr. Ristman and me.

"What tests do they put you through?" I asked, changing the subject. She stares at me through the tiny window in the wall.

"Tear apart the robot and let's kill the ninja master. Oh, and outside endurance drills. Of course I haven't gone out since I tried to climb the wall. I hate being cooped up like this!"

"We can't leave." I told her. "Hydra won't let us. We are their property."

"No we're not." She said. "Make no mistake, there is freedom beyond these steel doors and adamantium bars. It just may take a while to reach it. You want out too, I can see it in your eyes. Don't lie, cause I can smell it when you do."

I groaned. Great, my partner thinks we can just walk out of here. But she's wrong. Hydra will never let us leave.

Two years later

S4 is a great partner, but a bad listener. Although, I'm sad to say this, she is right. What lies outside of Hydra is very vast. Exploring enemy territory is fun, except when she tries to outrun the rest of the group and escape. The group being the other field agents who come in after us and bring us back to the main base.

Today, though, I swear she's lost it.

"X, just listen to me! We can find out donors and confront them!" She tried to tell me through the window. She really has gone crazy.

"We don't know where they are, S. Besides, they knew this was happening and didn't do a thing about it."

"You don't know that!" S replies, glaring at me with her amber eyes. "We're clones! Geneticly altered clones! All any of the agents had to do was extract some DNA from a fight (which from the records I've seen, wouldn't be so hard) and make a copy from it. Pretty simple. Besides, don't tell me you don't have questions!"

"How would we find them, S?" I asked.

"They're taking you on a solo to SHIELD hq, right?" she asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Look it up there." She said. "Then get out. Break free. Get away from this place and find Weapon X!"

I stared at her. If I leave, what will she do?

"I'll be waiting at the Epsilon base—you remember where that one is, right? They're taking me there for some anger management or whatever. Contact me there and tell me where this 'Bigfoot' guy is."

I sisghed. There was no way I would get out of this. And she was right: if anyone could manage alone, it was S4. "Fine. I'll do it. But I'm coming back for you."

"Don't worry." She grinned. "I can get myself out of this hellhole."

She escaped. I found out about a month before I faked my own death. That would be six months ago. It seems like six years. It turns out, S was right: Wolverine had no idea what happened to me until Ristman confessed. When I came here, to the Xavier Institute, to live, he took me in without questions. The rest of the group wasn't as thrilled. Well, Xavier and the staff seemed okay with it, not to mention Rogue. But the other students wouldn't come within five feet of me. Then again I did take them all down and tried to kill their instructor, so I did have it coming. Still, acceptance is good. I just wish S4 were here to share it with me.

But she is out there somewhere. I asked Xavier to look for her, but she's not using her powers very often. He gets a weak reading, then she's gone again. No doubt, Hydra wants her back, just like they did me, but she'll elude them as long as she can. As it turns out, her donor is staying in Bayville now. She seems to be heading this way, but I don't know how long it will take her to get here. I just hope she's still alive the next time I see her because Hydra will only leave her alone if she's no longer breathing.