A/N: Thanks for all the great reviews on this story! XD
SONG TITLE: #1 Crush by Garbage~check it out, totally a Laura song. Even when not in the context of Helix!
"I would die for you...I would die for you...I've been dying just to feel you by my side...to know that you're mine..."
"I would twist the knife and bleed my aching heart...and tear it apart...I would kill for you...I would kill for you..."
Chapter 6 : #1 Crush
Laura awoke to the sound of a jet leaving the Institute. The Blackbird. She leapt out of bed and ran to the glass pane, staring at the small black dot in the blue
September sky. She was uneasy. The last time that dot had disappeared, she and the other New X-men had almost died.
She frowned, then tried to make herself relaxed. The X-men knew about combat—they would not leave the mansion unguarded.
…
English class. Laura opened the door to the empty classroom, disgruntled. She wasn't having that good of a day—a strap had broken on her boot, her hair had
been tangled in the morning, she'd ripped pages in her book, and she'd been stabbed by a robot in the Danger Room in her solar plexus—three times. Then it had
broken her nose, and it had healed crookedly. It now had that odd bump. She'd been distracted, allowing her mind to wander on the job.
And to add to the bad circumstances, she'd had this irritating sense nagging her all day.
She stomped to her desk, then threw her book bag down with a loud thump. It hit the edge and pencils spilled on the floor (of course the pencil case had been open).
Laura pushed back her hair, scowling. The door opened behind her just as she kicked her eraser, thoroughly annoyed; it was Julian, of course. He always seemed to
catch her at her most unflattering moments, like clockwork. Moments that highlighted her ineptness, either socially or performance-wise—this one just made her
appear physically awkward.
"Aww, clone had a wittle accident?" he asked, grinning.
Laura looked away, biting her lip, then knelt and started picking up pencils.
SHRRPT. She fell back on her behind in surprise as the cylinders skitted across the wooden floor with a loud noise, then rose into the air in a neat line formation,
surrounded by a green plasma-like energy. "There you go," Julian said as they gathered together a few feet from her face. Hesitantly she reached for them, a
little uncertain. It looked like acid. The energy felt warm on her fingers, however, and caused no cellular decomposition.
"Thank you," she said, standing up and placing the pencils back in her bag.
"Don't mention it," Julian said dismissively, sitting down behind her again.
"Why not?" Laura wondered why he didn't want to talk about it. He seemed to like talking, a lot. She wished she understood half the things he said—the
references, the informal speech.
"…" Julian reconsidered. "I meant, you're welcome."
"Oh." Laura sat down; her chair creaked loudly and she looked down in alarm. He snorted in laughter, and she felt her cheeks grow hot. She hadn't understood why
she should be embarrassed, but his laughter was mocking. She didn't want him to mock her—her feelings dictated that she wanted his admiration.
Which she was very far from having.
She sighed.
…
"LAURA!" Cessily jogged to catch up with the clone in the hallway, her book bag swinging. They had just left Biology class. "Anything new with Julian? I'm expecting his
conscience to kick in any day now…"
"I do not wish to discuss this," Laura said firmly, her books pressed against her chest as she walked down the hallway, followed by Cessily. Several people bumped into her,
laughing and talking; Cessily followed, undeterred. They turned down a deserted corridor.
"LAURA! Alright, he told me he talked to you! What did he say?!"
Laura shook her head. "I…" her expression changed suddenly, and she dropped her books. "No…no…NO!"
She had spotted a woman—all too familiar—at the end of the hall, holding up a test-tube with a grin. "Miss me, X?" she shouted, then threw the tube at Cessily.
"Ow! Hey! What the—" the tube had broken, the orange liquid it contained running down her silvery form.
Laura turned to Cessily, her eyes red.
…
Moments later, her vision cleared. "NO!" she gasped, looking around. Splats of silver were everywhere, all over her claws, the rug, the ceiling, the walls. Her clothes. Laura
whirled around—Kimura was gone. "Cessily! CESSILY!"
"AHH!" Cessily's face reformed in a puddle under the table; it crawled forward, and the droplets slowly gathered back together.
"…" Laura backed away, her teeth gritted and her eyes wide.
"What the hell was that?!" Cessily gasped, now whole again.
"The trigger scent," Laura said fearfully. "Kimura is here. There are militants. In the school. We have to warn the others."
"…" Cessily grabbed her hand. "Come on!"
Laura raced after the other girl, their boots making dull thudding and squeaking sounds on the wooden floor. They screeched to a halt by the staircase, gasping for
breath (even though Cessily didn't need air).
"Come on, come on…" Cessily was on the first stair already. Laura paused to look around—there were a few students lying on the floor. She could hear their faint heartbeats—they
were unconscious. She could also here the clomping of many booted feet on the stairs above them.
"No," Laura said, grabbing Cessily's wrist. "We need to go downstairs."
"But!"
"Follow." Laura pulled the other girl towards the emergency staircase. She knew its location because Logan had used it once, back in the days when she had stalked him. It
would be prudent to utilize it now. They should avoid the elevators.
She pressed her fingers on precisely the spot he had used—162.5 centimeters up, 309.88 centimeters from the right corner of the hallway—and a section of several panels of
the wooden planking slid in and over on concealed runners.
"Go!" Laura pushed Cessily down the stairs. "Find a way to contact the teachers."
"Wha—where are you going?!"
Laura turned. "There is someone I must find."
Cessily froze. "Ohmigod! No! I'm coming too!"
Laura slapped her palm on the control, and the door slid shut, cutting off Cessily's words to her. Even she couldn't hear what the girl was saying—the staircase was thoroughly
sound-proof, so the girl's words were a faint hum.
She turned and ran down the hallway, towards the main staircase.
…
Laura crouched behind the statue, listening intently. The floor was devoid of lighter footsteps now; it was all the clumping of boots.
She knew Julian had been heading up to his room, having finished his classes, along with Santo and Josh. They'd been four minutes ahead of herself and Cessily; halfway up main
staircase, when she'd been confronted by Kimura and had lost control. It had seemed like moments but she couldn't be sure of the accuracy—for all she knew it had been minutes. Hours.
There. A scramble of running footsteps—three sets, in the library. She crept towards the area, her claws still in. She liked to keep them retracted for the element of surprise, as Snff.
well as the acceleration provided when they were released suddenly. She made it to the door without hazard, and stopped to listen, pressing herself against the doorway.
SHLUNK! She exhaled as five long things burst through her abdomen, then slid out. She pressed her palms to the wall to keep her balance as the wounds began sealing up; then she
swung around the corner and met her opponent with her foot, popping the claw into her face.
"AHH!!" It was a woman, horribly thin, with straw-like hair and long, razor sharp metal-tipped fingers. She staggered backwards, a stream of blood flying from her nose and arcing
through the air. She'd pulled back before the claw could penetrate her brain.
"Laura…" Weakly, from the corner. She glanced—it was Julian, and he was the source of the blood. His whole front. Her eyes shifted—a golden hand was sticking out of the next
row of shelves, on the floor. She hoped it was still attached; it probably was—she didn't smell Josh's blood—
POW! Laura staggered as an enormous encyclopedia was brought down forcefully against her skull. She whirled around, her claws coming out in time to meet the five
razor-sharp fingers arcing down towards her neck.
CLANG. Her eyes widened—the fingers held, equally unyielding. The woman increased her force per square centimeter, pushing Laura's own hands down towards her throat.
"You have stolen my father's work too!" the woman shouted, her voice low and melodious. Laura suddenly pulled on her arm, jumping in the other direction; the woman
tumbled to the floor with a surprised noise.
"Julian! Leave!" Laura crouched on the floor as the woman rolled away momentarily.
"Mmm…" his eyes were closing.
The woman leapt to her feet, her fingers snapping together.
"I know who you are," Laura hissed.
"You are a stupid child. I do not care what you know."
"You are Lady Deathstrike. You are a cyborg, with cybernetic devices fused to a biological system and an adamantium-bonded skeleton. Synthetic regeneration factor."
The woman smiled—a horribly wide smile that made her scars scrunch together.
"And you have no right to the adamantium in your body, little girl. DIE!"
She charged towards Laura, who leaned back on her hands and kicked the woman in the stomach, slicing vital organs with the claw; then she pushed herself forwards and plunged
her hands into the temporarily gaping hole, ripping her claws upwards and out, along the path of the solar plexus There were clangs against Death's ribs as Laura's claws grazed them,
traveling through the cartilage; she was too close to the woman for her overly-long claws to reach.
"AHHHCK—" Deathstrike gurgled. Laura's fists swung violently apart, between the clavicles, and then she parted the cybernetics in the shoulder joint.
BANG. Laura reeled backwards, her head spinning; Deathstrike had knocked her jaw against her head, and it seemed to be made of pure metal. She hit the floor, and the woman
advanced again, her arms sparking at her shoulders.
"You…your strike barely drew blood," she sneered, although she was obviously seriously wounded. "Pathetic."
"I was not aiming for your blood," Laura said calmly.
The woman tried to lift her arms. "My cybernetics!" she exclaimed, sounding fearful for the first time.
Laura smiled slightly, her eyes gleaming. "And, consequently, your healing factor."
The woman backed away.
"You were dead the second you touched Julian Keller," Laura snarled. "Hup."
Julian raised his head. "Laura?" he asked faintly. Then he saw something really scary—Laura was flipping over the woman's head—the crazy woman's head—like she didn't exist,
her claws dragging through it. Slash. Slish. Thud.
He passed out.
…
"…" Laura considered the two unconscious boys before her. Josh had a concussion; Julian would die soon if he did not receive medical treatment immediately. There were
no tools for a blood transfusion, and no guarantee that it would work. The best chance of his survival was waking Elixir.
She tried slapping him, she tried shaking him, she tried pouring water from a vase on his face, all to no avail. She was beginning to drag Julian out of the library when Josh
coughed and wiped his face.
"What the—why am I wet?—OHMIGOD!" he sat up. "HOLY! OH WOW—" he'd just spotted Deathstrike's corpse on the floor.
"Josh, concentrate. Julian needs your help," Laura said firmly, lowering the boy again. "Come here."
"Oh god—" Josh scrambled to his knees unsteadily and stretched his fingers out. Laura grabbed his hand and pressed it to Julian's stomach, through the holes in his shirt that
corresponded with Deathstrike's still-sparking fingers.
"UHH!" Julian sat up. "…" he, too, was staring at Deathstrike. Then he looked at Laura—obviously afraid all over again. She held her hands out to the boys. "We must leave. Now."
"We have to help the others!—Santo!" Julian said fearfully.
Laura shook her head. "They are not here. I believe they have been captured. We must leave, now, or be captured ourselves. The militants are searching for us."
Josh took her hand and heaved himself up.
"How do you know they're not here?!" Julian persisted. "Cessily! Santo! What about David and Nori? You just going to—"
"Cessily is safe. She is downstairs."
"Julian—your girlfriend just said they're not here. I'm the one who got hit in the head—you're just fine." Josh rubbed his forehead.
"She is not my girlfriend!" Julian said, choosing the simplest argument.
"Well, if you're not dating her, I am," Josh said. "She's three kinds of awesome. Look at what she did to Ms. Freddy Krueger there!"
"…" Julian looked away.
"We do not have time for idle discussion," Laura said, walking away. Towards the door. Josh jogged after her and Julian scrambled up. "Wait for me!" he said, panicking;
he caught up to them at the staircase and stuck quite close.
…
" JULIAN! Oh thank god!" Cessily jumped up. She'd been sitting on the staircase, in the dark, exactly where Laura had left her. She ran up the few steps and hugged her friend.
"Where's Santo?!" she asked.
"They got him," Josh said, his voice small.
" Oh no…" Cessily pulled away and covered her mouth.
" We need to go. Head downwards. This passage connects to the X-wing transport hangar." Laura pushed on Julian's back, guiding him into the corridor; the door slid closed
behind them, sealing the group in blackness.
" What about Santo?!" Cessily said.
"They're not here, Cess," Julian said quietly.
" OW!" Josh had missed a step. "Goddamnit! Aren't there any lights for this place?" Josh asked.
Julian held up his hand and illuminated the way slightly with his powers. Cessily turned her head slightly in time to see him take Laura's hand in his free one, but did not
comment, otherwise preoccupied.
The staircase finally led into a metal corridor with dim floor lighting. Laura looked to the right and saw a dead end; to the left, another dead end.
" Look," Julian pointed at a spot on the wall; a door was very faintly visible. The movement had broken his grasp on her hand, as he naturally used his left hand for gestures;
he did not take it again. Laura hung back for a moment—she had enjoyed the feeling. She would ponder it later, she decided.
The boys set to prying the door open; finally Laura jammed her claw into the control panel, and it hissed apart, revealing a big metal X-door. She repeated the action; and
when this slid aside, they could see into the X hangar.
And someone could see them.
" Hiya, X!" Kimura grinned, twirling a knife in her hand like a baton, then plunging it into the girl's stomach.