Disclaimer: I do not own the franchise of X-Men including its characters, I do own the original character Laura Wilkes and any other original character that is in this work of fiction.
Mutant and Proud
Chapter 4: Lab Rat
Laura's P.O.V
We arrived at what the man had said was his off-site facility, a large white building surrounded by hardly any other buildings and the buildings near this facility were more than likely CIA owned buildings, not at all a building which could be used to experiment on mutants. We entered the building, into a large room where a large model of some aircraft that looked liked it had come from the future hung from the ceiling.
"Welcome to my facility. My mission has been to investigate the application of paranormal powers in military defence." the man explained, as he pointed to various things in the room before stopping in front of the aircraft.
"Or offence." Erik interjected I held back a laugh as the man seemed rather taken aback and hurt at Erik's statement. But he had a point, while this man may think that the research he was doing was for defence, others in the CIA could use it for offence.
"This guy, Shaw-Schmidt, whatever you want to call him, he's working with the Russians. We might need your help to stop him." he explained looking very serious. Charles' eyes brightened at the thought of helping out the CIA, while Erik seemed somewhat dubious of the whole idea. I myself couldn't quite trust working with the government on this, past experience had cemented the fact that when the government got involved with a mutant there was a lot of experimentation and not a lot of say as to whether you wanted to participate.
"Marvellous. So are we to be the CIA's new mutant division, yes?" he asked as he started to inspect the model aircraft in the room. The man seemed rather pleased that Charles was so accepting of this task.
"Something like that." the man murmured as he followed Charles around the room and explaining anything that Charles had asked about in the room.
"Is he always like this?" Erik asked nodding over to where Charles was no examining the aircraft closer.
"Always has been, always will be." I replied laughing slightly, Charles would always be fascinated by new opportunities to further his and the world's understanding of mutants. "He's always wanted to further everyone's understanding of mutations."
"I am one of the leading people in the field."
"Oh you wish you were the leading expert, no quit being nosey."
"So he's a telepath and your mutation is what exactly?" Erik asked bringing me back out of my mind and into reality.
"I'm telekinetic, I can move nearly any object within reason." I replied spotting some various stationary items on a desk, deciding it was better to demonstrate and pulled them towards me. "I'm guessing your ability has something to do with metal, given the fact you tried to stop a submarine and attacked the yacht with its own anchor."
"Yes, exactly, I can bend metal to my will." he answered he too decided to demonstrate his ability and focused on my bracelet on my right hand. The clasp unclipped and it hovered over to Erik who inspected it closer.
"It was from my father, before he was sent off to war." I explained remembering my father's smile as he handed it to me. He and my brothers never made it home from the war; they'd been killed during an aerial attack in a town in France. "He never returned home."
"I'm sorry." Erik placed the bracelet back onto my wrist his fingers lingering for a moment before he withdrew back to his previous position observing Charles and the CIA agent.
"It's alright." I reassured no one unless they knew me already, would know the story behind the bracelet, nor that my father and brothers had never returned home.
"Your mutation is definitely more powerful than my own. You can move anything you want to." He stated moving the conversation on from the small moment of silence that had occurred after I had brought up my family.
"Your mutation is still, as Charles would put it, groovy." I joked but it was something that Charles would say about every mutation he'd come across. Hell he'd called Amy's Heterochromia groovy and that was just a mutation in her eyes.
Charles' P.O.V
The facility was marvellous and we had only been shown this one room with a magnificent aircraft. While I had been more fascinated in the room, Laura and Erik had passed the time getting to know each other. The pair had similar abilities with Laura being able to manipulate any material while Erik was limited to metallic objects. They also shared distrust in government agencies' interest into mutants, with both of them having been experimented on as children. Another person entered the room; he was younger than me, rather tall with dark brown hair and thick rimmed glasses.
"Hank, these are the special new recruits I was telling you about." the man addressed the new person in the room. "This is Hank McCoy, one of our most talented young researchers."
"How wonderful! Another mutant already here." I exclaimed as I went over to shake Hank's hand, completely missing the confused look on the agent's face and the look of shock on Hank's. "Why didn't you say?"
"Say what?" the CIA man asked I turned to look at him no fully realising that Hank hadn't told anyone here of his mutation. And I had just told the entire room something that he had wanted to keep secret.
"Because you don't know." I concluded I turned back to Hank and offered a sympathetic smile; it wasn't going to remedy the situation. "I am so, so terribly sorry."
"Charles, maybe you should think before you start telling people who the mutants are in the room." Laura reprimanded she was right, I should think before exclaiming that someone is a mutant.
"Sorry, I thought he knew."
"Try to hold back your excitement next time."
"I promise I will."
"Hank?" the CIA man questioned, Hank looked down at the floor before he looked back up and looked him in the eyes.
"You didn't ask, so I didn't tell." he answered sheepishly, Raven who had been rather quiet since we first arrived here seemed a lot more interested in the situation now.
"So your mutation is what? You're super smart?" she asked excitedly as she appeared by my side from where she had been idly sat next to Laura and Erik. I'm sure if I read her mind at this moment in time it would have everything to do with Hank.
"I'll say. Hank here graduated Harvard at the age of fifteen." I said turning towards Raven she looked very impressed, Laura and Erik joined our little group. I was sharply hit on the back of the head. "Ouch what was that for?"
"He could have explained it himself." Laura reprimanded once more again I guess I got over excited and had said more than I should have, something I couldn't quite control.
"I wished that's all it was." Hank stated avoiding everyone's eye contact as we all openly stared at him; I guess he felt like a zoo exhibition at this moment in time.
"You're among friends now, Hank. You can show off." I ushered giving his shoulder a squeeze to try and get him to relax. There was nothing that could possibly turn us against him; we were all mutants…well excluding the CIA agents.
"Says the biggest show-off in the room."
I shook my head, turning to look back at Laura who had a rather large grin on her face. Our attention returned to Hank who was removing his shoes and socks. His feet rapidly expanded, to those you would expect to find a wild beast to have. He then jumped up onto the model of the aircraft gripping onto it with his feet.
"Wow" Raven said in awe as she walked over towards Hank. Now that was an interesting mutation, both intense intelligence and brawn.
"As you would say…" Laura began in a joking tone as she stepped up by my side as Hank came back down to the ground with Raven handing him his shoes.
"Groovy." I finished I then ushered Erik and Laura out of the room to follow the CIA man, to learn more about what they knew about Shaw, leaving Raven to learn more about our knew friend Hank.
"I never knew he was a mutant! Astounding!" the CIA man mused as we headed down the corridor passing a couple of side rooms which seemed to function as offices.
"Some don't want to be found." Laura murmured as she surveyed the place before locking eyes with the agent who seemed rather shocked at her statement.
"Why not?" he asked now this could turn rather nasty if Laura wanted it to go that way; I turned my attention away from the other rooms and focused it all on her.
"Laura could you not do this now."
"I'm afraid we are doing this now."
"Because of institutes like this take them away and experiment on them." she answered sadness and anger in her eyes. What had happened to her when she was young was…was absolutely horrible! Her own mother subjected her to that torture, leaving her in the hands of those doctors. Thankfully her grandfather had managed to get to her.
"We don't do that here, everyone here is here voluntarily."
"You may not, but others do."
"She's right." Erik agreed he too had suffered experimentation because of his mutation; however his tale didn't end like Laura's did. He had suffered so much more and the anger in his mind I had felt that night was testament of this.
"I'm sorry, I need air." Laura stated before she turned and walked in a direction she picked not knowing where she was going but clearly wanted to be away from here.
"Laura." I whispered trying to grab her before she got away and failing to do so. I turned my attention back to Erik and the agent. "Shall we do this later once everyone's settled?"
"Sure, I've got reports to file." the CIA man replied taken aback by the events that had just unfolded. He pointed over to a couple of rooms to the left before he went on his way. "Your rooms are through this door."
"Thank you." I said hoping that he wouldn't take to heart what had just happened. I sighed I'd have to go find Laura and make sure she's alright.
"What happened to her?" Erik asked as he followed me down the corridor in the direction Laura had gone down. It may not be my place to tell him, however now was the best time to explain somewhat of what had happened to her. She could later fill him in better if she so wished to do so.
"She was held in a facility for a while…but you're better asking her, it's quite…complicated and well very personal." I explained he nodded understanding that it was probably better to hear it from her than from me. After all he himself had quite a tale to tell and he probably wouldn't like it if someone close to him told everyone about it. "If you'll excuse me, I better go see if she is alright."
Erik nodded before he disappeared through the door leading to one of the rooms that would be our home for the next couple of months. That was if we could deal with Shaw quickly enough and be on our way back to normality. I continued down the corridor which led to a door to the small garden area out the back of the facility. I hadn't noticed how late it was until I saw the burnt orange sky; just a few feet further down the steps sat Laura. I took a seat next to her and put an arm round her shoulders, she leant her head over so that it was leaning on top of my shoulder.
"How are you feeling?" I asked she sniffled a bit obviously she had been crying. She had most likely been relieving all those painful memories in her mind.
"Better." She mumbled into my shoulder, not that her tone suggested she felt any better than she had inside the building.
"You really aren't are you?" I questioned her head flopped down before she looked up at me. Her eyes were red, but not the puffy red they'd been when she first explained what had happened to her. "Would I ever let anything or anyone harm you or Raven?"
"You wouldn't, but Charles this sort of facility…something just feels slightly off."
"I promise you, if I catch even the slightest thought from any of the agents of keeping us here against our will, I will wipe their minds and we will leave." I promised taking her hand in mine and squeezing it reassuringly. "Come on. Let's go back inside, it's getting cold."
"Thank you, Charles."
Erik's P.O.V
The parting words Charles had spoken had struck a chord in me. Could she have suffered like I did? She'd obviously seemed distressed at this whole facility.
"Because of institutes like this experiment on them." she'd said had she been experimented on? The first mutants I'd come across and one had been potentially been experimented. I'd never heard of any other people that had been experimented on…then again I'd only just found out I wasn't the only mutant. It was a relief to know I wasn't the only one who was 'different' from everyone else on the planet, but I wasn't about to play happy families with these people, I had one goal and one goal only. Kill Schmidt.
I walked back through to the room we'd only just been in, to find the young boy called Hank and Raven, having what seemed like a date. I stopped mid-step to make sure I wasn't about to walk in on something that was better left private. Raven moved closer to Hank.
"Go ahead. Take the blood." she encouraged it echoed a bit in the cavernous room. Exactly what were these two doing…was this the new kind of dating? Taking blood of the person you're on a date with? Hank then proceeded to take Raven's blood.
"Sorry. Did I hurt you?" Hank asked concerned, Raven just looked at him. I looked down at my watch…damn I couldn't stand here forever. I cannot stand their idle chit-chat either. Screw it; if I walk in on them I walk in on them, I've already heard all their weird kinky date chit-chat. I started to walk towards the door on the other side of the room. Raven had begun to lean in for a kiss by the time I was walking passed them.
"Kinky!" I exclaimed I just couldn't help myself from saying something to this utterly weird couple. They both quickly separated from each other, looking alarmed at my presence. "By the way, if I looked like you, I wouldn't change a thing." And with that I headed for the door, with Shaw's file that I had 'retrieved' from one of the rooms I'd been in before. I headed for the exited, freedom from whatever plans these CIA agents were planning, when the darn telepath stopped me in my tracks.
"You're leaving already?" Laura asked concerned, I turned round to look at her. Her eyes were red as if she'd been crying, why was I concerned over someone I'd only just met? There was just something about her that made you feel for her.
"From what I know about you, I'm surprised you managed to stay this long." Charles added looking slightly disappointed, but if he knew as much as he thought he did, he shouldn't be disappointed. He moved towards me, leaving Laura next to the doors. Had he been rummaging through my memories and thoughts?
"What do you know about me?" I asked coldly, his gaze turned stern, Laura on the other hand seemed more concerned.
"Everything?" he replied simply. I gritted my teeth; he was much too cocky he couldn't know everything about me we'd barely just met.
"Then you'll know to stay out of my head." I hissed turning to leave once more only to be stopped once more.
"I'm sorry, Erik. But I've seen what Shaw did to you. I felt your agony. I can help you." he explained I looked back at him. His eyes shone with concern and sadness, even Laura looked saddened.
"Charles." she whispered walking towards us, but Charles waved her off, stopping her from approaching us.
"I don't need your help." I said through gritted teeth which made Charles just shake his head.
"Don't kid yourself. You needed my help last night. It's not just me you're walking away from. Here you have the chance to be part of something much bigger than yourself. I won't stop you leaving. I could, but I won't." Charles all but yelled, turning to walk back to the building clearly exasperated by the situation.
"Shaw's got friends. You could do with some." I said, before I heard the tell-tale click of the door shutting. I began to walk once again.
"You know, we all need someone sometimes. Even those who believe they're better off alone." Laura added stopping me in my tracks once more; I turned back round to face her. She'd walked further down the path.
"You're better off without me." I muttered and I meant it, I was better off alone and they were better off without me. She shook her head, her eyes filled with determination.
"You said it yourself. Shaw's got friends." she stated I held back a smirk at the way she'd twisted my words back at me. "You'd also benefit with having some."
She then walked back towards the building and I once again walked away. Where I was going I had no clue.
A Couple of Days later
Charles' P.O.V
"Hank turned that radar installation into a transmitter." the CIA man explained, as he pointed out towards the weird spherical object in the garden. "It's designed to amplify brain waves, so with you it could enhance your telepathic powers. Help us find other mutants for our division."
I nodded, I knew this wouldn't sit well with Laura, however it was all in the effort to fight Shaw and I'm sure by now she hated him as much as the rest of us, she'd seemed to have grown somewhat fond of Erik…though he was nowhere to be found.
"What if they don't want to be found by you?" I looked towards the door to find Erik, when had he come back? And just over his shoulder I spotted a happy Laura.
"Erik! You decided to stay." I exclaimed he smirked at my surprise; it was a major positive for us to have him back. He knew Shaw well enough to know his tricks, which meant we could prepare much more efficiently.
"When did he get back?"
"Just now."
"If a new species is being discovered, it should be by its own kind. Charles and I find the mutants. No suits." he stated firmly, if he'd have seen the look on Laura's face when he hadn't mentioned her, he would have run a mile.
"Excuse me! What about me?" she exclaimed swatting Erik on the back of the head. He rubbed one of his hands over the place where she'd hit him.
"Sorry. You're welcome to join." he added the look on his face at Laura's outburst was one of the funniest things I had seen all week.
"Good."
"First of all, that's my machine out there. Second of all, much more importantly, this is Charles's decision." the agent stated as if it was just that simple, Erik looked at me, now whether to choose what I thought was right and probably get kicked off the property or just go along with the CIA man? "Charles is fine with the CIA being involved. Isn't that right?"
"No. I'm sorry, but I'm with Erik. We'll find them alone." I stated Laura's smile grew as she patted me on the shoulder.
"I knew you'd see it our way."
"What if I say no?" the agent asked sceptically, oh we had forgotten we were about to use CIA technology without involving them in the actual using of the technology.
"Then good luck using your installation without me." I answered as I stood up and walked over to Erik. "And I assure you if you don't allow us to use your technology, you'll have to face a very, very angry woman."
With that we left the stunned man and walked out towards Hank's machine, at the end of the corridor Raven and Laura were waiting for us.
"So are we on our own in the finding of the other mutants?" Laura asked Raven looked extremely intrigued, though I doubted whether I should bring her along…Laura could handle herself against mutants that could turn on us and use their powers on us. But I didn't want Raven in any situation that could cause her serious harm.
"Yes, no CIA suits involved." Erik replied triumphantly, Raven and Laura smiled broadly as we left the building towards the garden in which Hank's machine was situated. Hank was waiting for us just outside the spherical building, he ushered us all inside, where a lot of computers buzzed in the background and in the centre was a kind of helmet that was hooked up to the computers by a lot of wires.
"I uh...call it Cerebro." Hank said nervously as he began checking the computers, what a clever name.
"You...?" I laughed, Laura also caught on. It really was a good name, Hank really was a genius.
"Ingenious name!" she exclaimed as she looked at all the various screens and wires occasionally getting in the way of Hank.
"As in the Spanish for brain." Hank finished we both nodded, he smiled nervously.
"Yes." I said as I inspected the weird helmet in the centre of the room.
"Okay. So the electrodes connect Charles to the transmitter on the roof." Hank began to explain, everyone listened to him intently. "When he picks up a mutant, his brain sends a signal through a relay. And then the coordinates of their location is printed out here."
Erik looked rather sceptical, Laura had done slightly however since Hank was also a mutant and this was his invention she was definitely a lot calmer. She had not completely warmed to the idea of working with the CIA, but she wasn't about to fight me on every single thing we were going to do, she trusted my judgement and that was good enough for me.
"You designed this?" Raven asked she seemed so…infatuated with Hank. Most likely because he was like her, he wanted to hide a part of his mutation; he wanted to be accepted into society like she did.
"Yeah." he answered smiling sheepishly at her and clearly he was also rather interested in her. They made quite the unique couple.
"Adorable." Laura whispered quietly to no one in particular however both Erik and I had heard her. While Raven and Hank seemed completely oblivious to the three of us.
"You never walked in on them on their 'special' date." Erik whispered we all tried to retain our laughter, though I'm sure they still wouldn't have noticed. After a couple more minutes of some chatter and more explanation of the workings of Cerebro, I stepped up to the stand in which the helmet was placed, and put it on my head.
"What an adorable lab rat you make, Charles." Erik said sarcastically, Laura, Erik and Raven stood in front of me as Hank moved around checking all the equipment once again.
"Don't spoil this for me, Erik." I stated this would be the first time I found out how many mutants there were in the world. How many more people were just like the five of us in this little sphere?
"No. I've been a lab rat. I know one when I see one." he said as he leaned against the railing in front of me. I would have shaken my head, but Cerebro limited movement of my head.
"This could have been a great chance to draw whiskers on you face." Laura joked I tried to give her a stern look but she was just out of my line of sight. "Make the whole lab rat look complete."
"Not now, this is a serious moment."
"Okay. Great." Hank said as he began adjusting Cerebro's helmet. "Are you sure we can't shave your head?"
"Don't touch my hair!" I exclaimed Hank nodded sadly before he went back to the computers behind me. I liked my hair, I wasn't about to shave it for this.
"You've got to admit, his hair is quite sexy." I'm sure I heard Laura whisper to Raven. But then I found myself seeing millions of people in a large white room. The sudden jolt of people's minds buzzing around in my head; I lurched forward grabbing the railing in front of me. Everyone looked concerned, thinking something had gone wrong and I was in danger. But I wasn't, it was so amazing I could see all these people, people like us, other mutants.
"Are you okay?" Laura asked I looked up at the three in front of me and smiled.
"There are so many, just like us." I replied everyone smiled in relief that I was fine and that this had actually worked. Hank's footsteps began pacing from one side to the other side of the sphere as he busily checked all the computers and read outs. After a couple of minutes we already had a list of mutants and their locations. Our mission was about to begin.
Author's notes:
Hi, I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and the previous chapters in this series. Thank you so much for the support as well, it means a lot to know what you think about the series and really helps when writing the next couple of chapters. I'm hoping the upload schedule is still going well and I hope you enjoy the next few chapters as much as you have enjoyed the first couple.