Chapter 2
E.L.E.
"Bear! Steve, wait!"
"It's just Jaydn."
"What?"
"She's an animorph."
There's a giant polar bear just sitting there, waving at me and making a weird sound.
"What?"
The bear shrinks and its noise turns into laughter. She's still in that black wetsuit and she's laughing.
"I got cold! Polar bears have better insulation. Damn it, my cheeks hurt."
"How'd you beat us here?"
"A good magician never reveals their secrets."
"Have you been inside yet?"
"One person in there."
"One?"
"One."
"Stark here yet?"
"Haven't seen him."
"Must you climb on me?" I ask
"He's still talking. My feet are still freezing."
She's climbed on me like a monkey.
"Why not just go inside?"
"It's a giant cell and I don't do cages."
Once we're inside and the door closed, she hops down.
"Then how do you know someones here?"
"My senses are higher than yours. No ones been in here for over a decade. The new scent is all over the place."
"That talk of ours just got longer. No gun?"
"I'm not one for guns."
"You are now." She's not thrilled but she takes it. "You do know how to use it, right?"
"This end's the dangerous side, right? Dibs on taking point."
"Like hell."
"Jaydn,"
"Steve."
"I'm taking point. You're in our rear."
"Y-"
"The foot is down."
Her brows bend and she stares at him with an expression I don't remember seeing on her before.
"He's not used to how you heal. Do you want to scare him?"
"No."
"Do you want to distract him?"
"Rear it is then."
"Just how quickly do you heal?"
"I'll freak you out another time." She looks around the elevator and I can see she doesn't like it.
"It's an elevator. Not a cage. C'mon."
"Elevators give me vertigo." She steps in and bring the gate down.
"What is it with you and cages?"
"Humans like to put mutants in them."
When it jerks she presses herself against the wall.
"Is there an owl in here?"
"Shove it Steve."
It does it again and there's another little whoo from her.
"Woman faces certain death and she's afraid of elevators."
"I'm not afraid of elevators. I don't like 'em. There is a difference."
"It wouldn't kill you to admit it."
"I'm not afraid of elevators, Steve. I do however, fear boybands from the 90s, science and large crowds of stupid people."
I get why she doesn't like it here. I don't like it here. It's cold and dead here. Nothing good ever came from here.
"I think Stark is here."
"What makes you think that?"
"You know anyone else that clinks when they walk?"
He's behind us, prying open a set of doors to get in.
"Tony."
"Steve. You look a little hostile."
"It's been a long day. Why are you here?"
(Insert scene from movie here. Because I'm lazy.)
"You know about this?"
Steves silence says it all.
"Tony, don't do anything rash."
His glare moves from Steve to her. "We're on a first name basis again? Since when? Right. Bucky."
"It wasn't him and you know it."
"Do I?"
"They were friends. You weren't alive to see that. Y-"
That giant metal hand of his lands on her forehead and when he pushes, I hear her neck snap.
And I see red.
"Bucky?" Poke. "Bee? Hey, look at me. You in there?"
"Joan? You're alive."
"We'll talk about it later. C'mon, we're getting outta here."
"Steve?"
"Right here. I got ya."
When I wake up, I'm five seconds from having a panic attack. Steves awake in the bed next to me, flicking through the channels.
"Steve?"
The TV goes on mute and it's on cartoons now.
"Hey Buck. How you feeling?"
"Like my arm got sawed off. Again. Where's Joan?"
"With Eric next door. They're discussing rebuilding your arm." When I don't say anything he continues. "We're in the infirmary at her school in New York. Stark is on the war path. Wanda and the others are still in prison. The president's pushing. Jaydn's standing her ground and is ready to go nuclear. Some poor idiot from the papers calls her. He got the sound of a howling monkey in his ear."
"A what?"
"It's so high pitched and loud he's probably temporarily deaf in that ear. Viki, can you let Jaydn know we're awake?"
"Viki?"
"Artificial Intelligence. All her schools have one designed to be her eyes and ears while she's away."
"I don't want her to see me like this."
"Don't worry about it. She's had worse."
"Worse? Steve, I have no arm."
"I'm aware."
I didn't even hear the door open and she's in the room. The curtain to my left sweeps to the side revealing her and a red haired woman, and-
"Who are you?"
"Eric H. Stark. I see you've met my sperm doner." He knocks on my shoulder. "Had to remove a few pieces, but the base is intact. We didn't want it malfunctioning while still attatched to you."
"He's not working on my arm."
"Bucky."
"No, Steve. I'll learn to live without it. I'm not doing it! You can't make me!"
"Why don't you two step outside?"
"He's gotta hear his options some time."
"Dumping it on him right this second isn't a good idea. Outside. Both of you."
"Joan, don't tell me you're going to- to-"
"No, Bucky. I'm not going to make you do anything." She circles around the bed to my right side. "This isn't SHEILD and this isn't HYDRA. If you don't want something then no ones going to make you." She returns the squeeze of my hand. "With exception of a life threatening injury. Then I'm gonna fix you wheither you like it or not. You're in stable condition and when you're ready to discuss options, we will."
"I didn't know Stark had kids."
"He doesn't have kids. He has just the one. Eric. Who is also my son."
I pull my hand out of her grasp.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. Unfortunately. We met when he was celebraiting his 20th. Huge party at the manor and I had been theifing from Obediah Slone."
"Don't know him."
"He was living in Stark Manor and operating Stark Industries. Tony had fucked off to school and contiuned to fuck off some more. Slone operated his fathers company, and began manufacturing weapons and selling them on the side. It wasn't my place to bring it to Tonys attention but I did anyway and he did nothing. It was one night of far too much absinthe and abstinance."
"You abstinate? Since when?"
"Gina, I told you out."
"I am out."
"No eavesdropping."
The redhead pokes her head in the doorway. "And miss eavesdropping on a coversation with an exboyfriend? Never."
"Am I star of your private amusing soap opera?"
"Of course not."
"Then don't be a twat."
"Do I get juicy details later?"
"Gina."
"What? He's so your type. Dark and broody."
"Viki, close the door."
The door slides shut on her fingers.
"Ow! Jaydn! You hagfish!"
"Some privacy please."
Jaydn waves at her and closes the blinds on her.
"How are things outside?"
She breathes in deeply and sighs. "In short, not good."
"I noticed Viki won't allow me to view news stations. Any reason why that is?"
Her arms cross. "President has pushed through the bill regarding heros and mutants to register. Those that do not are viewed as criminals. Riots, riots everywhere, followed by more looting. You two have been out of it for a good 40-hours. The only reason I'm here is because I needed a brake before I tore the city apart."
"They declaired war on us?"
"Oh, not just you. But everyone not human."
"When was this declaired?"
"When Stark reached American soil and spoke to the president directly via webcam confrence." Her finger taps against her arm as she stares at Steve. "Tony burned the bridge with me the second he agreed with the fucks that want to turn me into their pin cushin. If I get my hands on him, make no mistake that I will not rip that arc light out of his chest."
He sighs. "I know."
"Then you best make sure you find him first and take away his technology and keep him as your prisoner, because my amnesty is running dry."
"Jaydn."
"Steven." Her head tilts. "You jumped at the chance to become what you are because you thought it was right that you do it because it would enable you to help others. Stark is siding with the people that take away peoples rights. The governments known about mutants since the 1960s and since then the number of mutants going missing has quadrupled.
"The bills they have passed announce to the world what a person could do. Y'know what that means for a mutant? That means we are subject to discrimination where we live, where we work, where we can shop. That means every mutant known has a target on their back by someone looking to make the world burn. That means the government can deem it okay to isolate a 13-year old child because they're a telepath or harvest organs from someone that can regenerate and if they don't want to do it willingy, then it doesn't matter because mutants are viewed as animals.
"You didn't sign because of your faith in people. Majority of humans have none where mutants are concerned, and they've gone as far as killing their own kind because they're viewed as traitors to their species. Did you forget that I was in Europe during the holocaust? I lived through the Civil War. I was at Pearl Harbor when it was bombed. I was rounded up into a camp with the Americans that were descendants of those that came from Japan because I speak the language and I look Japanese to them. And if you'd like to go back even further, I was on this shore when smallpox arrived. Humans have declaired war on us and this time there is no hiding, and over my dead body will I tolerate yet another genocide. Be careful where you step with me."
"Miss Jaydn?"
"Yes Viki?"
"It is now ten after ten. You wished to know when the sun has set but I did not want to interrupt your conversation."
"More like speech. Thank-you Viki. The two of you are not prisoner here. You can leave when you like. But be aware that those that sided with Stark are also on my shit list. If you associate with them, I will question where you stand and the middle ground of neutrals is shrinking." Her attention turns to me.
"If you want to talk tomorrow, we will. Keep your hands off Eric. If I hear anyone has been butting heads, I will put a foot in the ass of everyone involved." She pulls the blinds and he and Gina are there with their faces up against the glass.
"And you two, stop behaving like a couple boobs watching the tele. You, don't be a nag. And you, don't be up his ass and don't treat him like a thing."
"Yeah, yeah. And what'd I say about introducing me as his son? He's my sperm doner at best."
"Fine then, son of mine."
"That's better. Viki, ready mah suit."
"Cancel that."
"What?"
"Sorry hun, but nope."
She gives him a push so he lands in the chair so hard he nearly tips it over. "Viki, keep that room locked. I'll see ya for breakfast tomorrow."
"What? No! Ma! Maaa! Viki, unlock this door!"
"Nope!"
"Unlock the door! Ma! Jaydn!" He beats on the glass with both fists but it doesn't break. It barely even rattles. "Viki! Open this door!"
"Sorry Sir, but my programming dictates that since you are in danger of harming yourself, that I am to listen to Jaydn and ensure your safety."
Followed by him screaming and beating on the glass until the chair breaks.
"Mute, Viki, please."
The glass of the room across the hall frosts over and we can't hear him cursing her in a language I've never heard before.
"Aren't you going to suit up?"
"Viki isn't letting anyone leave this floor until Jaydn comes back. She told the AI we're not to leave until she returns."
"So much for being free to go."
"HYDRA and what remains of SHEILD doesn't know where we are. I almost pity the fools that attack any school of Jaydns. Her physical education isn't running track and doing push ups. It's stuff like archery, martial arts and wilderness survival training."
"She's been building her own army? Jesus, did I know her at all?"
"There's mutants that can read peoples minds, walk through walls, and much much more. Y'know those stories about kings that had oracles and could forsee the future? Turns out there's a lot more truth to those stories than people realize. Jaydn gives them that knowledge because in the event that war does break out, they're likely to be on their own at one point or another, and this way they will have a higher chance at surviving. When they graduate they can further their education with college and-or join her militia for more training. She has a militia because of what her seers have seen coming. If things play out as expected, well, there's about to be a huge dent in the overall population of the planet."
"How bad we talking?"
"Elle."
"That's a who, but I'll bite. Who is Elle?"
"Not Elle. E-L-E. It stands for extermination level event."
"Extermination level event? Who? Humans or mutants?"
"Everyone."