Standard Disclaimer: All rights belong to those whose rights they belong to, primarily Marvel, though quite namely not me. Don't own a thing aside from my OCs.
Chitauri Regional Capital, Human Enclave
(Former City of Philadelphia)
Sara tried not to complain overmuch about her lot in life. It wasn't much of a life, working in her parent's tavern from the time she woke up until her head hit the pillow again, but the twelve-year-old knew she had it better off than most humans. She had a roof over her head and was adequately fed. Wasn't a whole lot else to hope for, really.
Her home, the tavern known just as The Bell for reasons her parents never really went into, was situated just over the large gully that ran through the middle of the human enclave. Her dad used to tell her tales of how, back when he was a kid, water used to run through it. Used to be a whole river, not just a dusty canyon that scavengers constantly scoured for some uncovered treasure like scrap metal. Or better yet, unexploded ordinance, that always fetched a high price whether it be through the thriving black market or to the aliens themselves. Granted, the fatality rate for such extractions were high. She'd lost two of her childhood friends just last year to such an occurrence.
But overall, Sara knew she should be content with her lot in life.
If only days like today were more rare.
It had begun as usual, dragging herself out of bed to get the fires started and water boiling. The erratic water system was corrupted yet again this week, and though the Chitauri-appointed enclave leaders promised they'd get it fixed soon, everyone knew there was no guarantee they would actually have it done quickly this time. So it was back to boiling all the water, every morning and afternoon and evening.
At least this time there were only a handful of deaths from the contamination.
Her parents entered soon afterward, giving her a brief kiss on the top of her head as she struggled to fill the water tanks, her hands wrapped in huge mittens to protect her from the scorchingly hot pots. They took one of them back upstairs to wash up while she switched over to food preparation. They didn't get many people in for breakfast, but it wasn't like their food varied much from meal to meal. And the starters would last them throughout the day, for the most part.
Once her parents returned, Sara hustled upstairs, stripped off her sweaty nightshirt and washed herself with the leftover water, brushed out her dirty-blonde hair, dressed, and then carefully emptied the remnants of the washwater into the cistern back behind the tavern for use in watering their small garden.
Then it was time for her to scrub the common room floor while her mom cleaned off the surfaces and her dad worked in the kitchen. The aromas from there made her mouth water, and soon enough some of their overnight patrons filtered into the room for their first meal.
The stranger was the last one to enter the room, taking their usual seat near the front of the tavern. Sara burned with curiosity about their identity. She assumed it was a woman from the small stature, but she never heard them speak and had been unable to get even a peek under the tattered but thick cloak they wrapped themselves in. Her mom always dealt with them, and she'd been far too nervous to ask her about the stranger.
And then her mother was hustling about, bringing food to the earlier customers, when she said the words that made her face light up with anticipation.
"Sara, honey, you handle that one by the door, okay?"
"Okay, mom!" she replied quickly, scampering off before she could change her mind.
She came to a skidding halt by the stranger's table, causing the darkened hood to tilt slightly to the side as if she were being considered.
"Um, hi. I'm Sara, would… would you like breakfast?"
"Hello Sara," a light and feminine voice replied, humor lacing her words. "I'd like that very much. Does your dad have any of that bacon left?"
"Oh, I think so, ma'am!" There was a pig farmer who brought his produce into the enclave every month or so, but it had been a couple weeks since his last visit. However, not many had the taste for the salty food, so it often lasted until his next visit. "Anything else, if he doesn't?"
The folds of the cloak fell away slightly as a small hand snuck out to wave aimlessly. "Whatever else he might have available, long as it has meat."
"Okay, be right back, ma'am!"
Sara scurried off to consult with her dad, who did indeed have some of the pork strips left. She turned again to head back and inform the stranger of her good fortune, when she stopped in her tracks as the front door opened and a group of burly thugs entered.
"Oh, no," she whispered fearfully.
Her mom, immediately noticing the commotion, quickly strode out to stand in front of her daughter protectively. "Welcome to The Bell," she said hastily, a fake smile plastered on her face. "What can we-"
"We don't need your slop, woman," their leader, a man with a wicked scar from his temple down to his chin snarled. "We're lookin' for dissenters."
"Oh, none of that here, good sir, we're a Loyalist place here, we are," she replied nervously.
Sara's dad had come out now, and stood by the kitchen watching the six men spread out across the tavern. His fists clenched and unclenched helplessly at his side.
"Now, that's not what we heard," the leader replied with a smirk, causing Sara's stomach to plummet. It had been six months since the Loyalist bully-boys had smashed the place up last. Whether through sheer boredom or because they actually thought her parents were sheltering rebels didn't matter much to them when they had to put it all back together again.
The other patrons in the tavern stirred anxiously, unwilling to call attention to themselves by either objecting or disappearing. Sara peeked around her mom's skirts to note that the stranger hadn't budged, though her hood indicated she was watching the proceedings with interest.
"Now, I'm not gonna interfere with your work here," the leader said, his voice a little more reasonable, which instantly made Sara suspicious. "Why don't you just go about your affairs while we interview your guests."
Sara almost breathed a sigh of relief. If they thought one of the travellers was a rebel, maybe they wouldn't smash their place up.
Maybe. Unless they didn't find anyone suspicious, and then they returned to boredom.
Her mom nodded rapidly, pushing Sara back behind her. "Very good, sirs," she said, as she headed back towards the kitchen herself.
Sara watched as her parents put their heads together and began to whisper frantically.
"But what can we do?" her mom asked, wringing her hands.
"Not a damn thing," her dad answered harshly. "We carry on, otherwise they'll get suspicious." He turned and grabbed a plate he'd readied with the last of the bacon on it. "Here, Sara take this out."
"No, what if they notice her?"
"They already have, if we keep her in the kitchen it will be worse!" Her father turned anxious eyes to his daughter. "Just act normal, okay, sweetie?"
Sara nodded hesitantly, taking the plate and turning to exit the kitchen.
Normal. Right, she could do normal. Heck, this kinda thing was normal enough for her anyway.
She walked past the men who were roughly interrogating the other patrons, grabbing their arms and pushing the sleeves back before questioning them. Nobody had made it over towards the door yet, or perhaps they hadn't noticed the stranger who was still cloaked and partially hidden by the shadows. She was so still she might almost blend into the wooden walls, which suddenly made her nervous to be bringing the order out. What if she were now noticed, and Sara got her into trouble?
Her hands trembled slightly as she placed the plate gently on the table. "H- Here you go, ma'am," she stuttered.
The hood twitched ever so marginally to the left, and Sara realized she had one of the Loyalist militia behind her now.
"Well, now, maybe today won't be a total loss," the man snickered, moving up close behind her.
"Please, good sir," she heard her mom call out. "Please, she's only twelve-"
"Oh, shut up, woman," he snarled back. "Maybe we should just burn the place down, with you two tied up inside, would you like that?"
Sara closed her eyes and trembled, holding on to the table for support. This wasn't happening, this can't be happening… but it was, it happened all too often, she just never imagined it happening to her…
"Now, you come along with us, girlie, and we'll show you-"
He had started to reach out to clamp his meaty paw over Sara's arm when it was intercepted. The blonde girl's eyes snapped open to see a slim arm in front of her face as the stranger had partially risen from her seat to grab hold of the man's forearm.
Incredibly, though he was a giant of a man like all of the bullies they hired into the militia, he was straining against the slender hand that held him.
"That," a soft voice growled, raising the hackles on the back of Sara's neck, "was a very bad idea."
"What the fuck?" he bellowed, bringing his other arm back to swat away the cloaked figure. Instead the hand twisted, and the sound of his forearm shattering was like a gunshot to Sara this close. She jumped back, startled, as the man's shouts turned into screams of agony.
Then the mysterious woman's grip shifted and the man was suddenly airborne, crashing onto his back in the middle of the floorspace, clutching his arm and whimpering while the other five gazed on incredulously.
With a resigned sigh the figure stood up and slipped off her cloak. Sara gaped at the sight of the small girl, not much older than herself, with curly brown hair, worn dark green pants and a dingy shirt that might have been white at one time. She turned towards Sara and gave her a wink with one of her pale green eyes.
"You might wanna take cover," the other girl murmured as she strode by in her bare feet.
Sara complied without hesitation, crawling under the table as the girl stood with her hands on her hips and confronted the remaining five militia.
"Little bitch, do you have any idea how much trouble you're in right now?" the leader growled, puffing up his chest menacingly.
"Gee, I've never been in trouble before, mister," she replied mockingly. "Whatever shall I do?"
Sara gaped at the girl's bravado. She looked so tiny, not much bigger than herself, against the towering men that faced her. She almost closed her eyes, but stubbornly decided to keep watching. This stranger saved her, for the time being anyway, and she deserved Sara's witness, whether for good or ill.
The combatants faced each other, unmoving, as the other patrons beat a hasty retreat, either upstairs or out the front door. Her parents peeked out from the kitchen anxiously.
Finally the leader snorted in amusement. "Right. Boys, tear this little bitch to shreds. We'll toss the remains out in the street as a warning."
"Wow, that's pretty dark," the girl commented nonchalantly as the five began to close in. "Thanks for removing the kid gloves, though."
And with that she was in motion, spinning through the grasping hands like a leaf drifting on the wind currents. Sara's mouth dropped in awe as she watched the girl twirl in the air, smashing a foot into one of the men's jaw and then backflip to end up in a handstand on top of the leader's shoulders.
The brunette girl was facing Sara at the time, and she had just enough time to see her gleeful grin before her tumble ended, flipping behind the man but keeping her grip on his shoulders. He went over backwards as she threw him up high and then slammed into the floor hard enough that the walls rattled.
She sprang back onto the offense, spinning low to shatter one man's knee with a kick and then, as he began to collapse, her fist shot out and into his throat. The man's eyes bulged as his windpipe collapsed, and he clutched at his ruined neck, vainly trying to breathe again.
The two uninjured men advanced on her with a roar, but she neatly sidestepped them to dash at the man holding his fractured jaw who was rising up again. She slammed her foot into his sternum, causing his eyes to open wide in shock.
If Sara didn't know better, she almost could have sworn she saw the man's entire chest collapse from the impact. But then the man flopped backwards, unmoving, so perhaps she didn't imagine it after all.
The brunette girl twirled back once more and faced the pair again who had reversed course like charging bulls. She intercepted their swings with her forearms, blocking them and neatly turning their attacks. Her leg flew out to the side, buckling the one on the right as his kneecap shattered, and then she pummeled the other with a rapid combination of strikes with her fists. The flurry of hits staggered him backwards, bleeding and bruised, until she landed a fierce uppercut that snapped his neck back. He collapsed to the floor, and Sara dimly noted that his head flopped bonelessly on top of his neck.
She turned again towards the one she'd just crippled, as he sat clutching his leg, and nonchalantly twisted his head from behind, snapping his neck with an audible pop.
Sara was shocked at the brutality of it all. She'd tried to avoid fights in the marketplace or in the tavern itself so as not to get caught up in things, but the fierce grin on this small girl's face both awed and humbled her.
This stranger was a warrior like in the tales of old her parents used to read to her at night.
A hero.
She jumped slightly at a roar of anger and frustration as the leader rose to his feet and lurched towards the brunette, who stood calmly waiting for his approach. At the last second, as he swung his fist at her head, she ducked to the side, latching onto his arm and seemingly climbing up it. Her legs wrapped around his neck, and she used the momentum to carry him back to the ground, where she gave her thighs one final, vicious twist to snap his neck as well.
As she regained her footing, she looked around as if in satisfaction. When Sara did the same she was amazed to see that not a single item of furniture had been disturbed.
And then the brunette girl was marching forward to grab the remaining man by the scruff of his neck as he still cowered in the middle of the floor, clutching his broken arm.
"I want you to listen to me very carefully," she said in a deadly quiet voice. "I never want to see your ugly face again. And if I hear of any more of you Loyalist assholes harassing these nice people, I'm going to find you. No matter where you go, I will find you. And do you want to know what I'm going to do to you?"
The man shook his head frantically as the sight of her menacing smirk. "N- n- no, no I really don't…"
"Well," she said offhandedly as she let go of him. "I'm sure you can use your imagination. I can make a death last a long, long time, understand?"
"Y- yeah, I mean, yes, ma'am."
She tilted her head towards the door. "Git."
He staggered to his feet, whimpering as he flung himself out the front door.
The brunette girl sighed and dusted her hands off. The she grabbed a corpse in each hand and dragged them out the front door after the man she'd let go.
She repeated the action again, and then finally took the leader himself out. Sara was by the window by this point, and watched as the slender girl threw the militia leader's body atop the pile of his team in the middle of the dusty street as if it weighed nothing.
Her eyes were wide as saucers as she watched the girl re-enter the tavern, pull her cloak back around her skinny shoulders, and pick up the plate of bacon. She stuffed one piece in her mouth and then the rest into a pocket before pulling out one of the Loyalist government-minted coins and leaving it on the table. The denomination more than covered her scant meal.
"W- wait!" Sara stuttered anxiously as the girl began to pull her hood up and turn to leave.
The brunette paused to look in her direction, her pale green eyes alight with curiosity.
Sara took a deep breath to gather her courage. "What is your name?"
The girl smiled. "Call me… Scrapper." With that she pulled her hood up and slid out the door, leaving Sara to sit down upon a chair in wonderment.
Human Enclave Marketplace
Caitlin wandered the open-air market aimlessly, munching on the occasional piece of bacon she'd sneak out of her pocket. She didn't really need anything there, but this was the best place to overhear gossip. Sometimes she'd be lucky enough to come across a travelling merchant, and she would very carefully probe them for information regarding either the history leading up to the current affairs or any sign of her missing siblings or friends.
Not that I've had any luck whatsoever in that last bit.
/Patience, Cat. Only been about a week, and I'm sure you guys got scattered a bit./
I know Chris, but that's the problem, isn't it? I'm going off of nothing but assumptions. And what did you call those?
The disembodied voice of her resident, belonging to the soul that powered the diminutive escaped lab experiment, sighed in her head. /The mother of all fuck-ups./
Exactly. So allow me my pessimism.
*Can't afford it, though, girlie. Can't give up on any of them.*
And I won't, Eric, she replied testily to her other resident, a former experiment himself who had died trying to escape from the same laboratory. I'm just sick of not knowing bugger-all, as Abby would say.
/And you're worried./
Caitlin paused and closed her eyes, willing away the tears of frustration and concern. Damn straight I am. Becca's been without me for a week, how much longer can she go and keep her sanity tethered?
/But we don't know for sure how far away the bond works.../
No, again, we don't know. I don't fucking know anything, at least concerning the others, all right?
In the week since she'd been dropped out of the malfunctioning portal, she'd managed to amass some amount of background on how things got the way they were. Initially, after recognizing the Chitauri from news reports, she thought perhaps this was some sort of alternate reality where their initial invasion wasn't halted. But that didn't seem to be the case, there was some other event that happened to cause this second invasion. Some event that weakened the planet, or the planet's protectors at least.
The current state of affairs was easy enough to glean. Humans were now an endangered species, second-class citizens to the Chitauri occupiers. Those of their race were like locusts, taking over a planet and exhausting its resources before abandoning it to die off as the vegetation and animals withered and the waters ran dry.
She'd seen one of the massive mining ships far off into the distance one time. She thought it was a smaller ship at first before it flew behind a distant mountain, and then she realized the scale of the thing. From what she'd learned, the landing ships would plop themselves down and strip-mine an entire region before flying off again to bring the resources back to wherever the Chitauri originated from.
Caitlin was despondent to learn of the areas on Earth that had already been devoured and were now inhospitable. Most of Asia and Africa. The Alaskan and Canadian regions were drained and ground into dust.
Now humanity huddled together in small allowable enclaves in the US and Europe. Only remote communities out on the islands and the like were free from oppression.
And it seemed like it had been that way for quite some time.
There didn't seem to be any sort of calendar anymore, at least she hadn't been able to determine the actual date. She had no idea how long this all had been taking place, or how far into the future she now found herself.
But, all this was secondary to her main mission, and that was to find Rebecca, Abby, Kitty, and Blink.
She could only assume they all arrived together, even if it seemed to be separated by distance. Nobody else had been around when she initially tumbled to the ground about a week ago, and she didn't want to wait for long once she got the lay of the land and the nature of the enemy. She'd made her way towards what civilization she could find, which turned out to be what was, at one time, the city of Philadelphia. It was now the Chitauri regional city, named only in their own language. It had a sizeable human enclave, which is where she'd been lurking ever since, hoping against hope that her friends and sisters would do the same.
*And your bond still isn't telling you where any of them are?*
No, yet another thing pissing me off. I can tell they're here, but it's all fuzzy, I can't get a good direction on either of them. And that doesn't help at all for Blink or Kitty.
/Cat, it's okay to be more concerned about your sisters than your friends./
Yeah, maybe. I can still feel a little guilty about it, though.
Her musing were interrupted as the proprietor the next stall over, selling scissors and knives of rough quality, spoke to the one in front of her which contained cloth and ribbons.
"It's gotten worse," the balding man next door murmured. "The aliens pulled out of the west coast cities altogether, left the enclaves there to fend for themselves."
"Isn't that better, though, for them?" the ferret-like man behind the textile stall inquired.
"Nah, they pull out everything. The tech, the supplies, the patrols… It's like a warzone out there right now, everybody's scrabbling for survival and goods…"
The skinny man with the moustache sighed remorsefully. "Why am I not surprised, huh? We lose a war against the aliens, and it turns into a war against other humans right away."
"Good for business."
"Sure, good for business, bad for humanity, know what I'm sayin'?"
The larger man looked over at Caitlin sharply as he noticed her presence. She kept her movements small and innocuous and her face in the shadows of her cloak, but he was suspicious of her nonetheless.
"Better keep your mouth shut if you know what's good for you," he murmured softly. "Never know when a collaborator is nearby, even here in the slums of an enclave."
Caitlin suppressed a sigh. Really it didn't matter how softly they spoke, she could hear them even if she were across the way, so long as she concentrated. But she doubted she'd get anything more from them now.
The brunette moved on, finding herself in a noodle shop that reminded her fondly of the ones in her neighborhood of Chinatown back home. Well, back home in her time.
She snorted to herself softly. Time travel is such a pain in the ass.
*Becca would be able to keep it straight.*
Yeah, she would, Caitlin thought with a fond smile.
As she consumed her noodle bowl, laced with an unidentifiable meat that she chose not to question overmuch, her ears perked up at a conversation over on the other side of the cafe.
"Idiots," a tattered raven-haired woman snorted irritably. "They set those refugee camps up and just invite an attack."
"Quiet," the man across from her hissed. By the way he closed his hand over her arm, he was either her husband or boyfriend. Possibly a different familial relative, but Caitlin wasn't terribly well versed still in relationship norms.
"Oh, be quiet yourself, not like anyone's listening to us," she replied. Still, her voice was lowered a bit from earlier.
"You know they serve an important function," the man eventually muttered in between bites.
"Yeah, for those who aren't marked. Anybody who is stupid enough to go around unmarked deserves what they get."
Now that got her interest. She hadn't heard anything about this, but it explained why the Loyalist troops in the tavern were checking the forearms of the other patrons. So far she'd been lucky in that she hadn't run across any patrols checking for such identification, but the brunette assumed if she were to venture into a more secure area that would change.
Plus, she now had a new area to check for her friends.
Caitlin listened to them for a while longer, but the best she could pick up on was that this refugee camp was somewhere to the northeast, in between there and what remained of New York City.
Leaving another coin that she had pilfered from the Loyalist gang she'd encountered that morning, she left the shop and re-entered the marketplace. After a good fifteen minutes of searching, she found a canteen of boiled water for purchase and a few dried foodstuffs that might last awhile.
Then she set out on foot.
Northeast of the Chitauri Regional Capital
(Former City of Trenton)
Caitlin had been walking for a couple of hours before she came across any sign of human civilization outside the enclave.
Smoke rose up in the distance, curling up high before dissipating into the wind to swirl and eddy across the dismal grey sky. It looked to be a bit too large for a campfire. As it happened to lie along her current path, however, she continued on, albeit more cautiously than before.
She needn't have bothered.
Set several hundred yards off of the side of the ruined freeway was a large pile of corpses. It was tended by androids, from what Caitlin could see, and they were stoking the fires to keep it burning brightly as they piled more on top.
The brunette sighed heavily and continued on, careful to keep as many items of cover in between her and the gathering.
As night fell, she continued on until she could see no longer. The ever-present sky cover prevented any starlight to shine through, much less a hint of the moon, and she knew even as enhanced as her vision was, it couldn't match the scanners of the alien's android scouts.
Caitlin headed off of the road towards what looked like at one time could have been a mall of some sort, if the barren and torn remains of the surrounding parking lot were any indication. The building itself, of course, was mostly squashed flat, but here and there were some pockets of rubble that would give her both shelter and cover.
Evidently she wasn't the only one with that idea, as a whiff of a campfire reached her nose, causing it to twitch slightly.
The brunette cocked her head to the side, frozen behind a piece of concrete the size of a car, as she extended her senses out to find the source of activity.
/Careful who you trust out here./
Really? You gonna tell me to watch for ambushes as well?
Chris chuckled lightly in her head. /Point taken. Just be careful./
I'm sorry, Chris, I just…
/I know. What's a conscience for, though, right?/
The whiff came by again and she had a definite bearing now. It took her a half hour of stealthy creeping, gently placing each foot so as not to disturb any rubble and feeling outward for any tripwires or the like, before her hearing picked up on several voices. Seemed to be at least one male and one, possibly two females.
As she got closer she finally found the first of the deadfalls. A stick propped up against a pile of debris that would be easily jarred by someone walking by. She snickered to herself softly. Rudimentary, but at least they're trying.
Sidestepping the crude alarm system, she slinked closer until she could see the flickering light that was well-concealed by the surrounding rubble and partially covered by the remains of a corrugated aluminum roof.
The brunette sat there for a full minute, looking over the tableau and making sure there were no surprises in store for her. Then she slipped out of the shadows, removed her hood, and cleared her throat gently.
The reaction of the trio in front of her was instantaneous. The burly man with a barrel chest and short-cropped brown hair stood to the front, a large steel club in his hands held ready, while the two women, one raven-haired and the other a dirty blonde that was closer to brunette than anything, backed him up with what appeared to be hunting rifles, though they kept their eyes roving about to look for other dangers.
"Hello," Caitlin said, her hands held out to her side. "I was wondering if I could join your fire? I got some supplies I can share."
The three stared at her incredulously before muttering amongst themselves, not taking their eyes off of her. Caitlin stood by patiently and listened to them debate whether or not to allow this strange girl, wandering the wasteland all by herself, to join them or to turn her away. Fortunately there was no talk of trying to kill her for the aforementioned supplies, so she stayed put.
Finally the raven-haired woman, in her forties or so and with a small scar on her chin, nodded brusquely and shouldered her rifle. "Yeah, sure kid, come on in."
"Thanks!" she replied, walking over calmly and shrugging off her cloak. She dropped it off to the side along with her small knapsack and spun about once to make sure they knew she was unarmed. "My name's Caitlin," she finally said as she sat cross-legged a few feet from the others.
The others sat as well, their weapons kept nearby and still eyeing her cautiously. "You out here all on your lonesome without weapons?" the large man asked with a surprisingly high-pitched voice.
Caitlin shrugged nonchalantly. "I can take care of myself."
"Riiight…" he drawled. "Well, I'm Jake, this is my wife Kass," he indicated the raven-haired woman, "and then this is Zoe."
Caitlin smiled at the latter, a deeply tanned young woman with eyes that twinkled a bright blue. "Thanks for letting me stay. Like I said, I got some rations I can share if you like."
Kass glanced at her husband before raising her eyebrows. "Anything fresh?"
"Sorry, no, just some dried stuff. Fruit and meat, mostly."
Zoe's face broke out into a pleased smile. "Would you mind sharing some of the fruit?" she asked in a musical voice.
"Sure thing!" Caitlin pulled her pack over and very slowly pulled out a wrapped package before scooting closer to the dirty blonde. "Here, take what you like."
"Oh, is this an apple slice?"
"I think so. The guy from the market wasn't very specific, for all I know they could have mixed in some leather."
Jake chuckled, relaxing somewhat. "Naw, they're pretty reliable, if you came from the enclave. Word travels fast among those of us still alive out here, and they'd never get any more business if they tried to screw someone over."
Caitlin nodded. That made a lot of sense, actually, and was another tidbit about her current predicament to file away.
"So, what are you doing out here?" Kass asked. "Where you headed towards?"
"Well," she said slowly, having earlier decided to stick to the truth as much as she could, "I lost my sisters and friends I was travelling with, and I'm trying to find them again. I heard there was a refugee camp nearby, figured I'd check there."
The other three shared a glance among themselves. "Those refugee camps..." Kas said slowly. "They're dangerous to be around. Broadcasting their existence like that… Sometimes the aliens and their bots will leave 'em alone, but sometimes… I dunno if they get bored or want the practice or whatever. But they just swoop in…" She sighed, a faraway look in her eyes. "Nobody's left alive."
"We've been to a few before," Jake explained. "That's where we met with Zoe, actually, got out just before it was raided."
"Well, all the more reason for me to get there quickly and check it out!" Caitlin replied confidently.
Jake chuckled. "Can't fault your enthusiasm. You're on the right track if you're heading northeast, but you go too far and you'll miss it." He bent down and pulled out a knife to scratch in the dirt. "Here's the road, here's the enclave, and here's what's left of New York City. Right here," he marked with a small 'X', "is where we're at. Now, 'bout a half hour up the road from here you'll find the remains of a big sign for a university. At least, that's what the sign says, not like any of us remember what it actually used to be. Sitting right off the side of the road. You make a left there, head straight west, and you'll reach the refugee camp in no time. It's hidden behind a ridge."
"I don't know if it'll still be there," Kass sighed. "I mean, it's not one of the mobile ones like out in the midwest from what I hear, but still…"
"Thanks, really," Caitlin smiled. "I'll head there at first light."
Zoe handed the half-filled pouch of dried fruit back to the brunette. "You sure you don't wanna stick with us?"
"Can't. I got a responsibility to them, and besides… they're my sisters. I'll find them, no matter what."
"I used to have a sister once," Kass said wistfully. "She was ten when she took a pulse rifle hit to the face. Killed her right in front of me, wasn't but eight myself."
Caitlin looked into the campfire, her soul feeling very weary.
"What was her name?" she finally whispered.
"Kate. Looked just like me." The raven-haired woman sighed. "I wish you luck in finding your family and friends."
"Thanks," the brunette murmured.
They settled down to sleep soon thereafter, Caitlin rolling up her cloak to use as a pillow. They allowed the fire to die down into embers while they slept, taking turns on watch. Caitlin herself didn't really need the sleep much, but her body could use the time to recharge.
Seems almost an impossible task, finding four girls in the middle of all… this.
/For anyone else, sure. For you? I got faith./
She snorted softly. I'm glad you do. My faith in myself is a little rattled at the moment.
/No reason to be. You're a survivor and a tracker. You are likely the most qualified person on the entire planet right now to reunite with them./
Huh. Well, when you put it that way…
Her ears perked up as she heard something off. Some sound crossed her consciousness as she rested, something that didn't belong with the other nighttime sounds.
Caitlin glanced over at Jake, who had taken the first watch, but he didn't seem to react. She gathered herself up into a crouch, head tilted and straining to hear.
There it was again, very faint… but definitely metal on stone.
She slinked over to Jake, touching him on the arm which caused him to jump, but her finger on his lips stilled an outcry. Caitlin touched her own ear and pointed off back towards the road along the path she'd taken to get there.
Jake nodded, gripping his club and moving over to wake Kass and Zoe while the brunette girl crept towards the edge of the rubble that they sheltered in.
And then there was a clatter as a deadfall was triggered.
The two women barely had time to bring their rifles to bear before the enemy was upon them.
Caitlin could see a pair of Chitauri and perhaps six or so androids, which seemed to be twice what their usual patrols consisted of. The bots came in first, crashing in through the rubble with their glowing red eyes set into a fearsome death's-head visage, while the Chitauri led from behind, crouching protectively behind their machines.
The brunette girl decided that wouldn't do at all.
She sprinted straight at a pair of the androids, skipping off of a large rock to get herself airborne. First she sent a powerful kick out to the one on the right, not holding back in the slightest, and was satisfied to see sparks fly from its neck as the head was bashed over onto its shoulder. Then she used the momentum from that kick to land on the other one's shoulders, pummeling with her fists at whatever delicate exposed circuits or wiring she could find before kicking off in a graceful arc behind them. Neither one would be down for the fight, but hopefully it would gain her a little bit of attention and take some of the heat off of the others.
Plus, she figured threatening their Chitauri masters was a great way to really piss them off.
She landed in a crouch right in front of the pair of aliens, garbed in their greyish armor. One had a pulse rifle that encased his hand while the other held one of their staffs that served as a rifle. She was pretty sure she could use the latter one, so she rolled in to attack that one first.
Caitlin spun to the side to avoid their initial barrage, picking up a rock as she went and flinging it at the second one's face. It ducked, but the cessation in fire was enough to allow her to close in with her target.
These aliens were strong enough, perhaps more so that an average human, but it still wasn't up to the standard of Caitlin or her sisters. The brunette sent a vicious kick straight into the alien's leg, causing it to buckle with a satisfying crunch, and immediately grabbed hold of its head, twisting sharply. The differing anatomy didn't allow for an easy takedown that way, but she managed to break his neck through sheer brute force rather than her usual finesse.
By that time the other alien had brought his weapon back around, and two of the undamaged androids had turned as well to deal with her. She flipped over the corpse, using it as shelter while she grabbed hold of the discarded weapon.
Diving forward into a roll, she came up and sent a shot into the midsection of the remaining Chitauri and the head of one of the androids. Returning fire seared into her left arm, causing her to gasp in pain, but she pushed forward and let her injured arm hang limply at her side.
Spinning the energy staff one-handed, she knocked the Chitauri onto its back and then rested it behind her shoulders, pointed at the second android. It had paused in its attack, fearful of hitting the Chitauri, and she sent several bolts at it, staggering it backwards before one of the shots snapped its head up and it collapsed to the ground.
The brunette spun again, planting the end of the staff into the groaning Chitauri's chest and squeezing off one last shot into him, which had the unfortunate side effect of damaging the weapon with the blowback. She staggered to the side once done, wincing at the pain in her upper arm. It was a graze, but enough to almost sever the slender appendage and render it useless. She was fairly certain it took a good chunk out of her bone as well.
And then she noticed the sound of more approaching androids from the direction of the campsite, and her heart sank at the implication. She gritted her teeth determinedly against the agony from her wound.
"Right, you wanna do this, assholes?" she growled as three more machines entered the area, one of which was sputtering sparks from where she'd damaged its neck earlier. "Let's dance."
She flung the ruined weapon to the side and took off at a sprint directly towards the mechanical enemy. In mid-stride, there was a tearing of fabric as her clothes ripped away, and a sleekly muscular black panther tore into the androids with abandon.
The first machine got off only a single shot before it was knocked on its back, but the panther clamped her jaws over its head and twisted it off with a shower of sparks before it could react further. The other two tried to spread out, but the few shots that landed on the beast only seemed to make her madder.
Several minutes of beastial screams overlaid with the sounds of tearing metal later, the panther sat, panting lightly, among a pile of smoking machinery.
Caitlin changed back into her human form again and checked her arm to make sure it had healed. Satisfied, she cautiously made her way back to camp.
The first damaged android was there, Jake's massive metal club embedded in the smoking remains of its head. Jake himself lay next to his kill, several burn marks charring his torso. It was obvious what had killed him, however, as half of his face was missing.
Zoe was on her back, the dirty blonde staring sightlessly at the sky as her insides leaked out of the gaping hole in her midsection, while Kass lay on her side next to her, missing an arm and half of her neck. Their useless rifles were still clutched in their hands.
Caitlin sank to her haunches and closed her eyes, sighing deeply. Then she rose again, gathering her belongings and what edible supplies the group had brought with them. The brunette girl scrounged up a pair of black pants and a grey tee shirt that fit her well enough. Finally she wrapped her cloak back around her. With one last regretful look behind, she strode off into the dark.
Suddenly she no longer felt like resting.
Refugee Camp
(Formerly Princeton NJ)
The camp was relatively easy to find once she knew what she was looking for. It was set up against a trickling stream that looked to be at the bottom of what was once a lake.
Caitlin walked along the perimeter, observing the going ons of humanity inside and out of the camp in the grey light of the early dawn, though no sun was visible. So far she had not come across a single sentry or lookout, though she supposed there could be some up in the ruined tower that was still miraculously standing for the most part. Humans seemed to come and go without restriction, though they were mostly families trudging in with only the clothes on their backs. A few work gangs were set up to haul buckets of water from the stream over to where several large vats were being heated to boiling in order to make them safe for consumption.
The brunette pulled out her canteen and took a sip, glancing up at the staticy-grey sky.
Never seems to change, does it?
/What, the sky?/
Yeah, there's no weather patterns, no clouds, just always this… grey.
*Maybe there's some history behind that.*
What, like that one movie, what was it… Oh! The Matrix, right? Humans tried to block out the sun and all to deny solar power to the machines…
/I don't know how plausible that is. Who knows what these aliens need./
Eh, it's all a moot point. I'm just putting this off.
/Why?/
In case I come up empty again.
/Cat… Don't get discouraged. You will find them, you know you will./
Yeah. I know, Chris. She tried not to let her despondency leak through her thoughts. It was really difficult to hide things sometimes from the disembodied voices in your head.
She wrapped her cloak tighter around her and headed in towards the camp, walking over a fallen sign that read 'Princeton University'.
The camp was a collection of tents and lean-tos clustered around an open space. In the middle of that was a rusty food truck set onto blocks and a large tank of water. The latter was continually refilled from the sanitizing area.
Several long lines snaked their way around the clearing to receive food and clean water, though it seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Caitlin made a slow circuit of the tents, straining her senses for anything familiar, but wasn't able to pick up on anything. After about an hour she found a pile of rubble that several lean-tos had been built up against and adroitly climbed up to to overlook the central clearing.
The brunette sighed as she got a good look at the orderly lines. There had to be almost a hundred people milling about, mostly adults and small children. Almost all of them were bundled up against the mid morning chill, some with concealing cloaks similar to hers.
I suppose I could try moving through the crowds, but that might draw too much attention to myself.
*Why is it we're keeping a low profile?*
Because, Eric, I've beat up too many Loyalist soldiers. I don't need my description getting spread around. Who knows, they might even have a reward out for information.
*Ooh, look at you, big time criminal with a price on your head…*
Oh, shut up. I don't know, okay? I'm just covering the possibilities.
/You might be a little over-cautious, though. Think about it, if your description does get out by asking questions, then the others might hear about you too./
...Okay, I didn't think about it that way. So I could be leading a trail back to me not just for Loyalists but for the girls as well.
/It's just a thought./
No, it's a good one. Thanks, Chris.
Once again she gave a small offering of thanks to whatever power out there, even if it were only her own, that in combination with Charles Xavier's help returned two of her residents to her after she'd been so damaged back in Sokovia. She honestly didn't know how she could have managed this on her own.
As Caitlin was about to hop back down, her ears picked up on joyful laughter incongruous with the generally somber mood of the refugees. She glanced over at the middle of the crowd to see a small girl running gleefully through the lines, being chased by another slightly larger girl, the both of them laughing.
And then the second girl's hood fell back to reveal a familiar face.
Caitlin sucked in a surprised but pleased breath and almost called out to her, but then her ears picked up on something. She cocked her head to the side, listening intently and attempting to identify the sound. What it eventually resolved into made her blood run cold.
The high-pitched whine of repulsorlifts.
Her eyes wide with panic, Caitlin turned to see if the pair of girls were still in her vision. They were, almost to the edge of the crowd, but not far enough. And the repulsorlifts were approaching rapidly.
"Kitty!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Phase, now!"
The others in the crowd looked up, startled, but by now the shriek of the approaching engines had quickly risen to a banshee-like howl. Caitlin threw herself off of the mound and rolled to the ground towards the outskirts of the refugee camp.
Three of the alien's attack craft shot by overhead, each dropping a small silvery cylinder. A half second later, the entire area erupted in fire and noise, the shockwave levelling every tent in the area.
Caitlin coughed against the smoke, staggering to her feet. Her ears were bleeding, she could tell, and the ringing was making her head spin. But she knew it wasn't bad enough to require shifting and would heal on its own soon enough.
She lurched back towards the center of the camp, but paused at the outskirts of a carnage more horrific than anything she had ever witnessed before.
Bodies and body parts were strewn everywhere. The blood and bones and fragments of people were so mixed together that it was like a puzzle had been dumped out on the ground, irrevocably mixed up in a cacophony of red.
She stood stock-still for almost a full minute, her brain trying to catch up with what she was seeing. The horror of it all was far too great for even as enhanced as hers was, and she was unable to truly comprehend the details, much less the big picture. Eventually, though, her ears stopped ringing, and she was struck by the eerie silence that reigned over the remains of the camp.
All save for one girl's sobbing.
She thought at first it was herself, and while she did have tears streaming down her face, no noise was coming from her. Instead it came from the edge of the clearing, where a small form was huddled over the bloody remains of another, clutching it to her.
"Kitty," she breathed, hurrying forward. She tried not to think too much on what she was stepping over, or on, as she darted to her friend's side.
Caitlin crouched down and rested a hand on the other brunette girl's shoulder.
Tortured brown eyes turned to meet her, shining from the tears she'd been shedding. "Cat?" she croaked hoarsely.
"Hey, Kitty," she said softly, pulling her friend's bloody hands away from the pile of loosely-attached body parts that she'd been holding. Kitty gave another sob, and buried her face into Caitlin shoulder, trembling and clutching to her like a lifeline.
"Shhh, it's okay," Caitlin murmured, holding on to one of her best friends tightly.
"H- H- Her name," Kitty sobbed softly. "It was Ellie, her name was Ellie…"
Caitlin just kept her arms wrapped around Kitty as she was wracked with sobs, rubbing her back soothingly. She kept her senses extended in case there was a follow-up attack or patrol, but nothing seemed to be forthcoming. There were a few screams and cries out on the outskirts as those outside the blast zone recovered, but other than that the area seemed quiet.
Eventually Kitty's weeping subsided and she leaned back slightly, wiping her eyes with the dark brown cloak she'd wrapped herself in, now as bloodstained as Caitlin's.
"Okay," the brunette mutant nodded hesitantly. "I'm okay."
"We should get moving," Caitlin said gently. "I don't know when they'll be back, but I'm sure they will eventually."
"Right," Kitty sighed. "Let me… Over this way was our tent. I'll go grab my bag, and… anything else."
Caitlin helped her to her feet and they shuffled forward. Kitty kept her eyes trained on the edge of the camp with a thousand-yard stare, still a bit shell-shocked, while Caitlin tried to steer her around obstacles and the more gruesome debris in their path.
"I met up with them a week ago," Kitty murmured softly. "Lukas, Elana, and their little girl Ellie. She's… She was only six." She sniffled and wiped her face on a relatively clean patch of her cloak. "They found me wandering… and took me in. They were… They were so nice to me…"
Caitlin tightened her arm around her friend reassuringly. "I'm so, so sorry, Kitty," she murmured.
Eventually they came to a stop at one of the flattened tents. Kitty just stared at it blankly.
Caitlin sighed patiently and let her friend go in order to wrestle with the flimsy canvas. Eventually she got it pulled back to reveal the meager belongings of the family Kitty had been travelling with. She got back to her feet and took hold of Kitty's hand, dragging the brunette girl forward.
"Which bag is yours?" Caitlin asked quietly.
Kitty looked about and wordlessly pointed at a small black knapsack. Caitlin nodded and bent to open it up, doing a quick inventory. Then she began to poke through the other items in the tent to find anything else of use. She eventually came up with a serviceable multitool, a half-filled canteen, and a rudimentary first aid kit, as well as a few extra sets of clothes.
One bag she lifted had a few books in it, mostly with tattered covers or lacking covers altogether. She held them up to her reticent friend.
"Do you want any of these?"
Kitty nodded and pointed to the sole hardcover book, the front worn and scratched. Caitlin could just make out that it was a collection of fairy tales. She gave a sad smile as she slipped it into Kitty's bag and then stood with it in hand.
"We need to get going, alright?"
Her friend nodded again. "Alright," she murmured softly, allowing Caitlin to lead her away by the hand.
They walked for perhaps an entire mile back towards the main road, both brunettes quiet and absorbed in their own thoughts, before either of them spoke again.
"How did you find me?" Kitty whispered. She cleared her dry throat uncomfortably.
Caitlin handed her the canteen from her own bag. "Pure luck, really. You're the first I've found so far."
Kitty took a sip and returned the canteen solemnly. "And we're gonna find the others?"
"Damn straight. We're gonna find every one of them."
The brunette mutant nodded again. They continued to walk for another fifteen minutes until she spoke once more.
"I'm glad you found me."
"Me too, Kitty."
Caitlin slipped her arm around Kitty once more, neither one commenting on the tears that ran freely down their faces as they trudged back towards the human enclave.
A/N: Yeah, so... sorry for ending that on such a dark note. It's not exactly a happy or particularly safe space they're in right now, but at least they're starting to collect each other.
Next story we'll see what Rebecca has been up to…
Many thanks for reading so far! Shout out to my faithful Beta, KellyConnely, and for those who have favorited, followed, or reviewed (Trench gun)!
Stay shiny!