Stryker looked at the sobbing girl. He grabbed a handful of her thick red hair. "Heal your sister, girl," he growled and shoved her toward the table.

Attempting to slow her hiccupping breath, Luki put her hands on the side of the mess that was her sister's abdomen. She didn't' know the technical name for all the lumps and bumps but decided that since they normally weren't visible, it wasn't good that you could seen them. "I-I'm h-h-here, T-Tanny," she stammered. "I n-need you,

please don't-go."

Katania's vision suddenly cleared, her hearing sharpened. Luki stood over her. Katania desperately wanted to hug her but then Luki was suddenly pulled away. Luki stumbled and her knees gave out, weak from more healing than she'd ever done.

That's enough. Get them out of here," Stryker ordered.

Their "training" started the next day. The first half of the day was spent in the beginnings of brainwashing techniques that Stryker himself had developed. By the end of the program the two would be blindly loyal to the cause and do whatever they were bidden.

There was a break where they were allowed to eat then they began the first stages of combat training, mainly building stamina and some mild strength training. They were allowed to be together at night and they decided they would take what they needed and ignore the rest. They made plans to stay faithful to each other, not whatever they were brainwashed into.

They were never given an extensive amount of time together again. Later they learned that surveillance and microphones had picked up their whispered plans. They saw each other only during relevant training and mission simulations. Luki honed her healing ability and could simply call on it when necessary, not beg for it.

They learned to be irrelevant to each other, especially in a part of their training where they were both taught to take the pain of torture in case there were ever caught. That part of their training seemed to snap something deep in Luki and she began advancing quicker in her combat classes, though not nearly as fast as Katania went through them. In combat, Luki had more of a blind, angry rage, where she'd attack anything, anywhere. Katania was cruel and brutal but making in clear that she had defeated her foe completely and utterly.

When Stryker was convinced that the twins were completely under his control, he began giving them knowledge. Katania seemed to pick up quicker on personal things, Excelling in things like different languages, and psychology. Luki was more technically minded, reading math equations and computer data as easily as books.

For ten years, their long days were filled with combat, teaching and brainwashing. Or so Stryker though. The twins were able to give each other silent messages whenever they did see each other. A slight wink, the barest nod, a meaningful look.

They knew the other had changed just because they felt themselves change. But they still had each other and they knew it. Let Stryker keep the illusion of what he called the "New Generation of Weapon X," his precious warrior Hellcat and his genius Wild Thing as he'd dubbed their codenames.

When the time came, they would leave. That time was quickly approaching. They'd decided that Katania was ready for the adamantium bonding process. The day of the procedure, Katania was back on the metal table, Luki standing nearby, in case something went wrong. Probe after probe was pushed into Katania's, once again, paralyzed body. Except this time Katania was unconscious, floating in a vat of viscous green liquid.

The first things pushed in her body were millions of micro bots, each seeking out the pores in Katania's bones, covering them and taking over the process of sending blood into the body.

Then the adamantium. Boiling silver liquid pumped through the various feeds, into her body. They had to keep the feed at a relatively slow rate to Katania's own healing power could keep up with it.

When the process was finished, Katania was sent out and Luki was prepared. When she was unconscious, the micro bots went first. Then the adamantium. As soon as they started, they knew something was wrong. It wasn't clinging to her bones like it should have, it was...disappearing. "My God...she's digesting the adamantium, even quicker than Wolverine did! Sir, I can't promise we'll have enough to coat her skeleton."

"Do what you can. We'll have to procure more adamantium and finish the process later."

But the process wasn't able to finish. By the time the feeds ran dry, not an ounce of the metal had stayed in Luki's body. They removed her from the operating room and took her to recovery.

Katania sat, sweating hard in the briefing room. She'd just come from physical training, to adjust her to her new qualities. It was harder than normal despite chemically enhanced muscles.

On the overhead was a set of floor plans which she quickly stored in her memory. They were schematics of a very large building. "Its cover name is Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters. Your main job will be to protect the troops. They'll do most of the hard work," the briefing officer explained. "Your base orders are to protect the troops but kill no children."

Katania narrowed her eyes. "Children..."

"It's an extraction mission," he clarified. "This is a mansion full of mutants, which is why we're sending you two. You will help the troops in capturing some of the children. Understood?"

"Yes," Katania replied, no surfacing hints of the thoughts running through her mind.

After going over the finer points of the mission, Katania was escorted back to her room. Luki was being led to the briefing room. As they passed, they locked eyes and Katania gave her a slight nod.

At that time, Luki wasn't sure what the gesture was for but she knew something was going to happen...soon.

Luki had barely been seated in the briefing room when the alarms sounded all over the compound and emergency lock-down was automatically enabled, several locks clicked into place on the door.

The briefing officer grabbed a hidden shotgun from under a ledge, preparing for anything. Still the shiny blades that slide through either side of the steel door was a surprise. They slid up, slicing locks and hinges as easily as a hot knife through butter. There was an almighty BANG and the door fell inward.

The briefing officer raised his shotgun at Katania, poised in the doorway but never got further than that.

Luki ripped the shotgun away and slammed the butt into his temple. Katania and Luki grasped hands. "I'll explain later," Katania promised.

"God, I sure hope so," Luki said. "It better be worth it, there're far better ways to stage an escape than this."

"Hey, give me a break, I had to think fast."

Luki clapped Katania on the back, stepping over the door. "Leave that job to the ones who can do it, sweetheart."

Katania trailed after Luki, sneeringly mocking her.

The twins cut a bloody path out of the compound, escaping into the sweltering heat of Death Valley. They ran for miles, managing to hide from or destroy any parties sent out after them.

Katania chose the direction and they set off at a brisk jog, heading east. "So you gonna tell me what this is about?" Luki asked.

"Our mission," Katania replied. "They wanted us to go to a school for mutant children and help kidnap some of them."

"At least it was worth it."

Stryker watched the surveillance tapes of the twins' first candid reaction in ten years. "It's as if nothing happened," he mused. "They just picked up where they left off."

He filled the information away to use on future experiments.