"Huck!" Mary-Jane Watson gasped as her eyes fluttered open. The last thing she remembered seeing was a humanoid Monstrocity bearing down on her vulnerable body. Her very vulnerable body, which was something almost unheard of, in her own mind. Never had she once considered herself to be at risk for injury after absorbing the moon rock. But after seeing that figure tower over her like it did...
"Easy," a voice said, causing MJ to turn her head, as she discovered that she was lying down on a bed. Beside her, was a somewhat frazzled-looking Jessica Drew. She had discarded her mask, letting her long brown hair fall out of it's tight pony-tail and down her back. Now, more than ever, she could see the influence of Peter's genetics. Which, admittedly, seemed to be working in the woman's favour.
"What...what happened?" MJ asked in a somewhat sheepish tone as she tried to rise from the bed.
"We where ambushed," Jessica sighed deeply. "Apparently Hydra's been really busy lately. They've created a second attack dog," she continued as MJ felt something rub the back of her hand. She saw a series of worry lines cross the agent's face as she continued. "It tore through both you and me. Agent Thompson was able to stop it, but only when working with Agent Stacey. You suffered several lacerations," Jessica finished with a heave.
"Not possible," Mary-Jane replied as she traced her free hand across her stomach. "Bullets bounce right off me. And-"
"Simmons pulled tiny fragments of Adamantium from your wounds," Coulson said as he entered the room. He carried a small tray of food with him, which he set down on her bedside table. "Which is a feat to be admired, Miss Watson. Considering that the only record we have of Adamantium being broken is by the Hulk. And that was a pin. We suspect," he continued as he sat in one of the three unoccupied chairs in the room. "That this man-creature had his fingernails replaced with artificial keratin, which was later covered in Adamantium."
"Are you sure it was human?" MJ asked, remembering that her attacker seemed to be more beast-like. Added to the fact that she remembered something about the Y chromosome not being clone-able for some reason. "Because-"
"It was," Coulson remarked with a slight shrug. "At least, at one point it was. Hydra's ability to manipulate genes in an already existing body has always been advanced. They could have taken a normal human being and turned him into that thing against his will." She shook her head in disbelief. She didn't think it was possible to just brainwash someone like that. That it was impossible to erase all of someone's personality. She couldn't imagine the pain that the person's friends and family would feel. "Agent Stacey and Agent Thompson are looking into it right now. Hopefully they have some answers for us."
XXX
"Can you at least tell me your name?" Kong asked with a somewhat tired sigh as he glanced towards the two scientists, who monitored X-23's vitals. He could tell that they where almost as tired as he was, the only break in the last six and a half hours being when MJ had been rushed into the lab and operated on by Simmons. That had been three hours ago. And it had been dead silence from the girl who was strapped to the chair, which Coulson had deemed to be a substantial upgrade from the table. Kong agreed, although he made it clear that he believed that if she gave them anything else, she should be given additional privileges, such as a cell, or food. "Is there something I can call you?" Kong asked as his head hung low. The girl simply shook her head, refusing to make a sound.
"Agent Macfarlane," Leo Fitz offered as he stepped forward. "Might I suggest we resume this interrogation in the morning?" Kong turned to the smaller man and sighed. Part of him saw the fruitlessness of his current endevours. But still, a small part of him wanted to stay and try and ween something out of their captive. It was a difficult choice for him, but eventually, he began to give in.
"You're right," he sighed as he got to his feet. "I guess she's not going anywhere to quickly," he continued as both the scientist exited the room. He would have followed, but something drew his attention. A small noise, that was a little more than a gurgle. Normally, he would have dismissed it altogether, but it was coming from X-23's mouth.
"Moure-nig...?" she gargled, much to his surprise. "Morg-ning?" she continued, despite the obvious amount of difficulty she was having enunciating with her jaw. He moved closer, as both Fitz & Simmons re-entered the room. Presumably they wished to confirm where the words where coming from with their own eyes, and seemed to be shocked once they did.
"Oh my god..." Simmons muttered as she leaned in from where she stood, behind Kong's back. "It's not that she wasn't talking to us because she hadn't been broken but..."
"She's not talking because she can't," Kong finished for her, appalled by the arrogance and cruelty of the person who had most likely kept her as an animal in a cage. He curled his hands into fists, doing his best to refrain from breaking something as he spoke through gritted teeth, "go tell Coulson, both of you. I'll stay here, with her," he said as the two scientists ducked out of the room. "Morn-Ing," he said in a drawn-out fashion, enunciating the second half of the word for her sake.
"Morg-inguh," X-23 imitated to the best of her ability. Even though she failed, Kong smiled, hoping that he was forming a trusting bond with the girl. After all, he assumed that she didn't have real friends wherever she came from. "Morgn-ing..." she stuttered once more.
"Mor-N-ing," he said calmly as he began to hear whispered words coming from the other side of the door.
"Morninggg..." X-23 stuttered, correctly this time, despite the elongated last part of the word. He placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping that she would take it as a sign of friendship. As soon as his hand touched her exposed skin, she bucked, as if she was reacting to imaginary pain. He quickly withdrew, and she began to calm down. She then proceeded to give him a strange look, that asked the question 'why didn't you hurt me?'
"Friend," Kong said in a soothing tone.
"Mornning," she struggled to say, pulling on the chains that bound her wrists and ankles as she did so. "Ffrriend?" she finished, with a still uneasy tone of voice as she looked at him with bright green eyes.
XXX
"I'm not comfortable with you putting mutants in a 'facility'" Kitty Pryde growled as she stared the taller, blonde S.H.I.E.L.D agent down with cold fury in her words. She hadn't let this woman intimidate her several years ago, and she wasn't about to let her do it now.
"And I'm not comfortable with you being on this team," Carol Danvers snapped back aggressively as she set down several papers on the round table in the centre of the room.
"Excuse me?" Kitty growled as the older woman circled around.
"With you being on Coulson's personal team of Peter Parker's favourites," Carol Danvers continued in a merciless tone of voice. Kitty took a small step back, which caused the woman to smirk slightly. "Don't think I didn't notice what he did. Director Fury noticed it as well," the woman continued aggressively. "Agent Coulson sought out every super-powered individual who Peter Parker associated with and-"
"Spider-Man," Kitty shot back with a steely glare.
"What?" Danvers grumbled.
"He didn't give you his name," Kitty stated clearly as she straitened her back. "And that means, you have no right to use it," she finished with a curt nod to the woman who she was beginning to hate as much as she did Magneto and his brotherhood of mutant supremacy. Which was saying a lot.
"I have every right," Danvers growled in retaliation as she snatched up a series of papers. "I have just as much right to refer to that boy as I wish as I do to detain a mutant."
"But what you don't have the right to do," Kitty fumed as she inhaled deeply, "is detain an individual who is under the protection of a foreign country."
"A foreign-?" Danvers stammered disbelievingly.
"The U.S government claims that Mutants don't qualify for citizenship," Kitty continued, as a smirk edged at her mouth. "And Utopia claims being a Mutant is the only requirement for citizenship. If you don't like that, then I suggest you give the president a call and ask him to change your policies," she finished with a victorious smirk, knowing that she had won the argument.
XXX
"Well," the man smirked as he placed his hands on the table. All around him his fellow Hydra commanders sat on ornate chairs, waiting for him to finish giving out commands. "Even with the loss of X-23, our plans are moving along as expected. X-50 was more than capable of dealing with three supers on his own."
"Then we are to move along as intended?" a woman on the other end of the table asked intently. "The phase two soldiers will be ready in three days time, sir. I suggest we wait until then, at the very least."
"No," another man cut in from across the table. "That will take to long. S.H.I.E.L.D is already onto us. I say we wipe them off of the table before it's to late." The man was certainly onto something, in his mind. And several others at the table seemed to agree with him.
"Strucker is right," A second woman said with a nod, "any delays in the operation would be detrimental to our plans," she continued as she turned to face the man at the head of the table. "I can have a battalion equipped in five hours time, sir."
"Our super-soldiers will be enough," Strucker said as he stood up from his chair.
"But to be sure," the woman replied with a steely tone. "We should send in regular troops to provide fire support. And for data retrieval."
"Fine," Strucker sighed with slight defeat. "We move out in six hours. Hail Hydra," he finished as he snapped to a sharp salute and exited the room.
A/N: what do you think Hydra's planning? What's the mystery of X-23 & X-50?
