Parts from Beauty and the Beast belong to Disney. Characters belong to LOSH. Reviews are both encouraging and helpful, so please let me know how I'm doing.
Chapter 4
Timber Wolf, we have a problem. The girl—
"Brainiac, now's not the time," Timber Wolf snapped. "Whatever she's doing, I can deal with it later. Right now, I need to be alone."
I am afraid that is not possible, Brainiac said. Per your instructions, I am notifying you that not only has our guest attempted to leave, but also that she has succeeded in doing so.
"What!? How is that possible?" Timber Wolf shoved bits of wreckage out of his way as he fought to get to a working computer screen.
In answer, Brainiac turned on the screen. A video of the outside front door of the mansion appeared. At first nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary, but then the girl tumbled through the solid mass without having to open the door. She landed hard on her hands and knees, picked herself up, and ran to her car.
Surprised, Timber Wolf raised an eyebrow at the display of the girl's hidden powers. No wonder she understood the danger that normal people presented to metahumans. She's one of us.
"Show me where she went," he instructed as he watched the car tear out of the driveway and into the forest. The computer screen blinked as it switched to the view of a different camera that followed her trail. Her car zipped through the trees without any real sense of direction until— He froze. Everything seemed to stop as he watched her car slam into the robots that his father had sent for him.
No, no, no!
He was out of the mansion and on her trail in a heartbeat, but he had no way of knowing what he'd find at the end of it. Trees flew past in a dark blur as he sped through the forest with a single-minded focus to find her before it was too late.
…
Tinya shook her head to clear the haze surrounding her vision. She blinked a few times, bringing into view a large metal robot that was currently tearing the top of her car open. She lunged for the door and managed to scramble out of the wrecked vehicle. She quickly regained her footing on the uneven ground as she started to run. Her escape was cut off by the arrival of three more metal monstrosities. Slowly, she backed away and looked around. To make matters worse, she saw hideous monsters prowling around the outside edges of the circle as they eyed her like a piece of meat.
Surrounded on all sides, she had no idea how she was going to make it out of this alive, but she wasn't going down without a fight. She kept her eyes moving as she slowly knelt to take a large branch in her hand to use as a weapon to defend herself against the animals. She doubted that it would stand up well against the robots. Swinging the branch in a wide arc, she managed to hit one of the creatures that had ventured too close for comfort, but she immediately had to duck under a red blast from the robot in front of her. As the creatures backed away from the attacking robot, she took the slight opening she found and ran. She didn't get far before she was yanked back by a metallic vice-like grip around her arm. She tugged at her arm in an attempt to pull away, but she knew that it wouldn't work unless shephased her way out. The problem was, her ability wasn't something she knew how to control. After so many years of keeping it hidden, she had no idea how to phase on command. She was caught.
A loud roar reverberated through the forest, grabbing her attention. Out of nowhere, Timber Wolf landed on top of the robot. The robot released its hold her and moved to attack him instead. Tearing through the metal with his claws, he made quick work of destroying it. As he tossed the broken robot away from him, their eyes met briefly. In his predatory gaze, she saw things that she couldn't decipher. He no longer seemed angry. Well, at least, no longer angry at her. When a growl sounded from behind her, she saw his eyes narrow at the oncoming threat as he launched himself at her would-be attacker. His rage exploded, less controlled, more violent than she'd seen even when he'd found her in the West Wing. He became a blur of motion among the hideous creatures, taking them out left and right.
He took one out with a swipe of his claws. Another one proved more difficult, and he sustained a hard hit to his side before he managed to chase it off. He grabbed the horn of a charging monster and rammed it into a nearby tree before turning to snarl at a catlike freak of nature that had managed to claw him in the shoulder. He was bleeding from a bite on his arm and he had cuts from monsters with claws as sharp as his own, but he didn't let any of that stop him from fighting.
While his hands were full with the nightmarish creatures, Tinya had finally figured out how to make herself intangible. She knew from a past accidental experience that phasing through an electronic device could stop it, and she intended to use that knowledge to take out the remaining robots. Or try to, anyway. Jumping from a branch that she'd swung herself up onto earlier, she grabbed hold of a robot heading for Timber Wolf. Placing her hand on the back of where she thought its control systems were located, she focused very hard on phasing her hand through the robot's head all the way up to her arm. She shoved off of the robot as a high pitched beeping noise started emitting from the robot as electricity crackled from the ruined operating systems. She quickly repeated a similar process with the other two robots, destroying their electrical systems just as Timber Wolf was fighting off the last of the creatures. After he tossed one of the bigger beasts against a tree with a sickening smack, the pack of monsters backed away from one they now recognized as an unbeatable threat.
"Timber Wolf! Find cover!" Tinya shouted as the beeping of the three robots increased in both noise and speed. She knew they only had moments before the robots were going to explode. Despite the fact that he was swaying slightly on his feet, Timber Wolf moved towards her with astonishing speed.
She was knocked to the ground as he shielded her body with his so that he would bear the impact of the blast when it came. With his hands on either side of her, Timber Wolf hovered only inches above her. She looked into his burning red and gold eyes and saw a determination that frightened her. He would die if she didn't do something.
Tinya squeezed her eyes shut, tears of effort escaping as she searched for any remnant of phasing ability she had. At first, there was nothing, and then she started to feel something start to change. The beeping had reached an intolerable pitch; detonation was only moments away. Tinya gripped the front of Timber Wolf's tattered jacket and opened her eyes to see him watching her, resignation and regret evident on his face.
"Stop looking at me like that," she forced through clenched teeth. "I'm not going to let you die." She imagined becoming intangible and – straining with an effort so intense that made her hands start to shake – she willed that intangibility to spread to him as well.
She felt her powers extend to him, just in time, as the robots exploded one right after the other and nearly cried in relief when it was all over. They were both safe. She released her hold on Timber Wolf as he rolled to the side, lying on his back. His eyes closed in exhaustion, his breathing uneven. Tinya moved so that she was kneeling next to him and placed his head in her lap. She wanted to go for help, but she couldn't just leave him there alone. How was she supposed to handle this?
The sound of shouting reached her ears, and she looked up to see Reep running towards them. "Tinya! There you are. I—" he stopped short at the sight of Timber Wolf. "What happened?"
"No time to explain," she said. "Right now I need to know if you can carry him back to the mansion."
"Yes, but—"
"No buts! Just do it, now!" Tinya snapped. She didn't want to be sharp with the young shapeshifter, but time was of the essence. She had no idea how far Timber Wolf's injuries extended, and she wanted to get him home as quickly as possible. She had a promise to keep.
…
Regaining consciousness, the first thing Timber Wolf noticed was the scent of jasmine mixed with lavender in his room, followed by a soft voice. "I think I've just got one more wound to patch up."
"He's a fast healer," he heard Reep say nervously. "This really isn't necessary. He'll be fine in a few days. You should get out before he wakes up."
"Reep, we've been over this. I don't care if he has advanced healing abilities or not. Cleaning the dirt, blood, and goodness knows what else out of a wound keeps it from getting infected," the girl said evenly.
"What is going on?" Timber Wolf asked as he finally opened his eyes. Propped up in his bed by pillows, he saw a small table nearby with a bowl of slightly steaming water and bandages.
"You're awake!" the girl sounded unexpectedly relieved.
"Obviously," he said, looking down at the bite marks he saw on his arm and picking at a piece of dried blood. He couldn't bring himself to look at the girl. She had seen him surrounded by blood and carnage as his rage broke free in a grisly display of violence that had shown him for what he was, a monster. In that moment, he had become exactly what he feared.
And she had witnessed it all.
"Don't do that," the girl scolded, reaching for him with a damp cloth in her hand. "Just… hold still."
He snatched his arm away from the stinging sensation almost as soon as the cloth touched the open wound. Any reservations he had at what he might find by looking at her vanished as he glared at the girl. "That hurts!"
"Stop being such a whiny little puppy." The girl impatiently snapped him with the cloth. There was no fear in her eyes, and she actually seemed to be rather annoyed with him. In other circumstances he might have found her reaction amusing. "If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt as much," she said, grabbing his arm again, her grip firmer this time as she managed to clean the bits of dirt and dried blood completely away.
He scowled at her. "Well if you hadn't run away, this wouldn't have happened!"
"Well if you hadn't frightened me, I wouldn't have run away!" she argued back, shoving the cloth back into the bowl of water and splashing liquid over the side.
He stared at her, his mouth open. Closing it, he started again. "Well you shouldn't have been in the West Wing!" he said, refusing to let her have the last word.
"Well you should learn to control your temper!" the girl irritably snapped while she snatched a bottle of antiseptic and poured it onto a fresh cloth.
Since he had no response readily available, Timber Wolf stubbornly looked away from the girl's accusing glare. He saw Reep nervously standing a few feet away as he watched the exchange between him and the girl. The shapeshifter seemed to be torn between wanting to help and not knowing how to do so.
The girl's voice drew his attention back to her when she said, "Now hold still. This may sting a little."
Timber Wolf let out a surprised hiss of pain before gritting his teeth as she applied the antiseptic. He said nothing while she carefully wrapped a white bandage around his arm. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the concern on her face, a look which belied the snarky comments she had just exchanged with him. He sensed that underneath her irritation, she was genuinely worried about him. He ignored the strange feeling that this revelation brought.
"By the way…" He looked at her as she spoke. "Thank you, for saving my life."
"I believe I should be thanking you," he responded. He cocked his head to the side and watched the girl as she stilled beside him. She ducked her head, her hair falling like a curtain between them to hide her face. But he didn't need to see her face to know what she was feeling. Guilt. Fear. Shame. Worry. He could sense it all.
"What's wrong?" he asked when the silence became too much for him. Normally, silence wasn't something that bothered him. He could go days at a time without speaking to Brainiac or Reep when he wanted to be left alone, but now he found the girl's silence worrying. Still not giving him an answer, the girl got up to leave. He quickly cast about for the name she'd given him the other night and called, "Tinya?"
She stopped. Her hands clenched at her sides, and her shoulders tightened.
Reep and Timber Wolf exchanged a look. The shapeshifter gave a silent nod of acknowledgement and left the room as Timber Wolf swung his legs over the edge of his bed and stiffly got up. He paused for a moment to let the room stop spinning and steadied himself. After a few experimental steps, he made his way over to Tinya and touched her shoulder.
She turned to him and there was a glimmer of unshed tears in her eyes that inexplicably made him want to do something, anything, to take that look away.
"I don't deserve your thanks. You were right; this whole mess was my fault. I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" He was confused.
She wrapped her arms around herself. "I made you a promise that I wouldn't leave, and I broke that promise because I was afraid."
"Afraid of what?" he asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted the answer. The last thing he wanted to hear was that she was afraid of him. His breath stilled as he waited.
"Afraid that…" She hesitated. "That you were a killer." The next part came very quickly, her words almost running together as she said, "I went into the West Wing looking for answers. I had to know the truth behind all the rumors and secrets. When I saw the blood and the shattered machines, I assumed that someone really had died in there and that you were the one responsible." She stopped herself and closed her eyes, a tear escaping down her cheek. "But I was wrong. You risked your life to save mine. There's no way it could be you."
Timber Wolf sighed. For so long his thoughts, past, and secrets had been his own and in his seclusion away from the city, he hadn't known about the stories surrounding his home. By forbidding Tinya to enter the West Wing, he'd only sparked her search for answers and led to this whole mess. With her now living in his home, he realized that some secrets could no longer be kept to himself. While he wasn't going to reveal everything to her, there were questions that he could answer for her if it would give her peace of mind. He took her by the hand and led her over to his bed so they could sit down.
"Tell me what you want to know, and I'll answer you as best I can," he offered.
She took a deep breath and said, "Who are you, really?"
"I'm one of many experiments that went wrong." He leaned back against his pillows. "The scientist who lived here lost his wife and became consumed with his work. He was convinced that he was creating life, enhanced genetic research to create an ultimate being. Those creatures you saw in the forest were some of his early experiments. Reep and I are two of his later ones. The scientist was obsessed, insane to the point that he even used his own son as a test subject. That's whose blood you saw in the lab."
Tinya was silent.
"I knew him well, but, you're right, I didn't kill him," Timber Wolf continued. "The experiments did that. After he died, I chased the scientist away from here and told him to never come back, but he still sends robots from time to time to see if he can catch more test subjects."
"Which is what would have happened to me if you hadn't come." Tinya pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Her eyes were sad. "People with metahuman abilities are always a target for people like him, which is why I've fought to keep my powers a secret ever since they manifested and also why I don't know how to use them properly." She blushed, embarrassed at the admission.
"Actually, I think you managed to use them fairly well." He grinned.
"Whatever." Tinya rolled her eyes and laughed.
He tilted his head to the side and realized he could get used to that laugh.
Unfolding her legs and getting up, Tinya told him that it was getting late and that he should get some rest. He thanked her once more for her help, to which he noted another slight blush on her face before she simply told him, "You're welcome" and left to go to her own room for the night. As soon as he was alone, he went to his bathroom and looked at his reflection in the mirror to see the extent of his injuries. Most were shallow enough that they'd heal in a couple days. As he saw the neat, white bandages that Tinya had used to cover the deeper wounds, a stray thought that crossed his mind.
"Brainiac?" he called out.
Yes?
"Can you check to see if Tinya has any injuries from our run-in today?" Timber Wolf tensed as he asked the question. He really should have asked earlier. Heading back to his bed, he waited for Brainiac to complete his scan.
She sustained some injuries, but nothing serious, Brainiac reported.
The information only made Timber Wolf feel slightly better. He made a mental note to check in on her tomorrow. "Thank you, Brainiac."
Indeed. Good night.
"Good night." The lights in his room flickered out, making it easier for Timber Wolf to try to find sleep. The day's events had tired him out, and he had a feeling that he was going to need all the rest he could get. Adjusting to having another person in his life wasn't going to be easy, but he owed it to her to give it his best effort.
