A/N: Yay, fanfic is having troubles uploading things. Not to worry--I am too smart to be impeded by petty problems! Here I offer another chapter of Snff. Sorry it took so
long to get out, but I had a patch were I didn't know how to connect the ending with what I had already written. It has been completed now. Here y'go--chapter 9.

Oh and PS'es...I have another story all lined up with several chapters written once Snff is completely posted ;-) it's DANANANA House of M.

Ohh and by the way...the title of the chapter comes from Bif Naked's song, You are the master. Pretty awesome...

"I guess you are the master/ I am the dog/ I am the dog". Totally Helix.


š Chapter 9 : you are the master ›


"There is one more person we can try," Laura said finally. "One person will know. I do not like to use this source."

Julian frowned. "Who?"

" Wilson Fisk," Laura said. "The Kingpin. He owes me a favor. This will use the favor-we will no longer have an imbalance in our business relationship."

"KINGPIN?" Julian blinked. "Laura-you can't be serious. The Kingpin owes you a favor? How do you even know him?"

Laura looked at the harbor again. A boat was passing in the distance, its sail gently curved in the breeze. "I have killed for Fisk," she said. "The first time was

under contract of the facility-the others were a favor to him, on my own."

" You-you were an assassin?" Julian had suspected something of the sort, but he'd preferred to ignore it. Yet, here it was-undeniably clear. His neck
prickled again, and he almost pulled his arm away from her shoulders.

" Yes," Laura said simply. She looked away. She could feel how tense Julian was now-he was afraid of her. He was disgusted. He was...

"Come on," Julian said, getting up. " We're going to go to Kingpin-and get your favor. And save our friends. Everything else is water under the bridge, right?"

...

" Stop right there, boy," the guard at the door hissed, pressing the barrel of his gun into Julian's cheek. "I'll blow your brains out. What do you think you're
doing here?"

Laura glared at the guard. "Release him. We are here to see Wilson Fisk," she said firmly. "I am X-23. He knows me."

"Boss said no one was to come in!"

"Please tell him I am here, with a friend." She stared the man down; he nodded to the other guard, who left the room. He returned shortly, and nodded back to
the original man.

" Well?" he demanded, his gun pushing further into Julian's cheek and forcing the flesh up. The boy gave him an annoyed glance, but was silent, as per Laura's
instructions of earlier.

" He said...let them in," the man said nervously. The first guard glared at Julian, then pulled his weapon away and slid it back into its holster. "Fine. Go." He
nodded towards the door.

Julian followed Laura into a white-carpeted office, rubbing his cheek. There was a circular imprint there.

There was a fire, in a brick fireplace, on one side of the room, surrounded by bookcases in heavy oak wood. On the other end, a very heavy-set bald man sat
at a very elegant desk, with elaborate statuettes and golden pencil cups supporting expensive fountain pens. There was an expanse of white carpet in
between, which reminded him of the Sahara desert.

Laura stood in the middle, silhouetted by the firelight. Julian stood behind her, studying Fisk. He'd heard so much about this man-from his parents, from the news,
from the X-man. And here he was-in the impressive flesh. He was wearing a white suit, and eating mixed nuts from a china bowl.

"X-23," he said. He had a deep voice, but it was smooth and finely accented. Julian couldn't place it, but it had hints of English, New York,
and something else-possibly Asian?

"Kingpin," Laura said calmly, her voice even.

Fisk studied her calmly. "My top assassin," he said. "Do you seek employment again? There is always a place for you here."

Julian stiffened. 'Top' assassin?

" No," Laura said. "I have come to collect my favor."

" Ah." Crunch crunch as he ate a nut. A macadamia nut, big and oily and expensive, like him. "You continue to impress me...most people who come to ask for
favors snivel and beg. Like your companion."

" I'm not-" Julian spoke up.

" Be quiet, Julian." Laura held up her hand. "He does not concern you." She paused, formulating her thoughts. She didn't want Julian involved in this-the Kingpin
was dangerous territory, and could be quite effective at making people do what he wanted them to do. She was angry at herself for bringing him.

"You do not scare me, Fisk. You have an empire, and money, and lawyers, yes, but I can kill you before your finger could press the security button under the
edge of your desk. I do not wish to. You already know this."

Fisk smiled-odd for someone who had just been threatened. "Yes, I do. Good memories, good times. Aside from that-I respect you. I wish you would
reconsider your decision to leave. What do you need, Laura?"

Julian swallowed.

"The H.Y.D.R.A. facility responsible for my creation has recovered," Laura said. "They have established another base, here in New York. The Institute which I attend
was attacked, and many of my friends and teachers were abducted. You are the last person I have tried to obtain the location of this base from."

Frisk picked up a walnut, still in its shell, then bit through it. He removed the nut and discarded the shell into the trash can beside him.

" You should have come to me first," he said admonishingly.

" I did not wish to collect my favor until it was absolutely necessary." Laura said. "It is absolutely necessary now. Too much time has passed since the abduction; if
I do not act soon, they will have time to conduct experiments."

Fisk nodded.

" Yes. I do know of a facility that has been recently developed-a mutant experimental lab, operating under the cover of an RX lab named Biovail Pharmaceuticals. It has
been open since two months ago, and is located on Bayswater street, on the East Side." He paused. " You may consider your favor unfulfilled. A trifle of information is
hardly equal to my debt to you."

" Thank you," Laura said, turning to go.

"Keep in touch," Fisk called.

...

Laura turned to Julian, outside the building again. "Do you know where this Bayswater street is?" she asked him.

"...let's buy a map?" he suggested. "And, what the hell was that, Laura? His ' top assassin'? He was treating you like you were his daughter or something!"

" Julian...the less you know, the better," Laura said. "For your safety."

" Alright, alright," he said, following her down the street. There was a corner store there; she held out her hand. Julian rolled his eyes and dug in his jacket pocket.

"You only want me for my money," he said, curling his lip.

"Yes," Laura said. She smiled slightly.

...

In the corner store, as she was picking out the map, Julian stood in front of a certain rack that he'd never considered before, his hands in his pocket. He debated
buying a box while she was otherwise occupied.

" What are you doing?" she asked over his shoulder.

" Uhh-" Julian didn't have an answer. He flushed, very conspicuously.

Laura considered him, then picked up a box. "These would fit you," she said. He stared at her. "What-"

"According to your height, your weight, your build, and the size of your digits, I can roughly estimate any other part of your body. I have not seen you naked."

She handed the box, the money, and the map to Julian. He took them, swallowed, then went to pay.

...

" JULIAN!" Cessily shrieked, jumping out of the X-wing as he and Laura landed once again in the seemingly deserted lot. It was a strange effect, how she
suddenly partially appeared in mid-air.

" Ohmigod! What took you so long!" She flung herself at Julian in a bear hug. "I was so worried! I thought-"

" You should have heard her," Josh said, his head sticking out of the X-wing. "With each hour, she got more morbid. Around sunset she was considering if
you wanted an open or closed casket funeral."

"I was not!" Cessily snapped.

"..." Julian grinned slightly. "Good news...Laura found out where the facility is. We even remembered to get a map." He brandished it, and Cessily grabbed it.

" Yay!" she said. Josh reached over and pulled a receipt sticking out of the top. "XXX product- map $4.99," he read out loud. "Trident spearmint
grn $0.99. Trojan assorted $6.99."

"..." Julian turned red.

" OHMIGOD!" Cessily squealed.

"NO!" Julian said, alarmed. He wasn't even sure why he'd bought them-but he certainly didn't want his friends to know-and he definitely didn't want Cessily
to start making assumptions.

" Way to go, man," Josh grinned. He arched his eyebrows at Laura.

" Nothing's happened!" Julian hissed. "Just shut up!"

Laura watched them, smiling slightly. She didn't know why, but she found his embarrassment amusing. She wondered what his plans for the box were-was he
hoping to use them with her? His recent behavior was suggestive of that.

"Laura! Did you-" Cessily asked.

"You get in the plane!" Julian snarled, pushing her towards the X-wing.

...

"I found it!" Cessily said, pointing at Bayswater streeton the map spread out between Julian's and Laura's seats.

Laura nodded. "That is approximately 43.9350912 kilometers north and 14.484096 kilometers east of this location. I will program the coordinates into the X-wing."

She reached up and tapped something into an overhead panel.

" Kilomo-whatsit?" Julian asked.

Cessily rolled her eyes. "It's metric, stupid!" she said. "It's only the world's standard unit of measurement."

" I know that," Julian said, irritated. "I was asking her why she was using it. I don't know how much that is in miles."

" 27.3 miles north, and 9 miles east," Laura said, pulling back a lever and switching on the ignition. The X-wing began to hum to life. "Kilometers are more accurate.
I did not realize you find it difficult to perform conversions."

"..." Julian sighed.

...

KA-BOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The facility's workers looked into the sky as the ceiling exploded in green, revealing four mutants. One had glowing green eyes, and was baring his teeth-he
seemed to be in charge of the attack.

"SECURITY!" a scientist shouted into his communications device. "KIMURA! Security breach in building one!"

...

Julian set them down, keeping all the scientists pressed against the walls. "Knock yourselves out, guys," he grinned. "These are the people that hurt our friends."

"ARRRRGH!" one screamed to his left. Blood flew by him in an arc, and he heard the sounds of Laura's claws sliding through flesh. Carving.

"OHMIGOD, Laura!" Cessily shouted.

" He is not dead," she said, holding her fist in front of her face and withdrawing her claws. She opened her fingers and backhanded the man in the face. " Where are
the X-men?" she asked. The lacerations she had made weren't serious-superficial.

" NNnggg!" The man made a noise, then spat in Laura's face.

"Hey!" Julian grabbed him by the collar, drew back his fist, and punched him in the stomach. "Watch it, or I'll put it back where it came from! Now you better tell us
what you know, or-"

" Or what?" a vaguely familiar voice said, sounding amused. Horribly familiar to Laura. The teens turned. Kimura, holding a weapon. Josh fell to the floor with a dull thump.

" I'm a big man...with a big gun," she quoted. "You're right...put the spit back. X doesn't deserve to wear human spit-she's not worthy."

She took aim-BLAM. Julian had been shielding them but the bullet went right through and hit him in the stomach, blasting a large hole. "AGGH!" he threw back his
head and stumbled into the wall.

"JULIAN!" Cessily yelled.

"Like it? It's new." Kimura grinned. "Special bullets. All sorts of fancy shit...including bullets with their own energy signatures...and they're adamantium tipped. Can put
a hole in just about anything." She tilted the muzzle-BLAM. Cessily gaped at the hole in her stomach before it sealed up again.

" Hmm. Methinks I should take out golden-boy first, for maximum fun," Kimura said. "Scratch that. You know what would make this really fun? She fished a glass
tube out of her utility belt. Trigger scent. Laura's eyes widened.

" NO!" she pleaded.

Kimura threw the vial up in the air, at the teens, took aim-blam. A mist of trigger scent rained over Julian, Laura and Cessily, the contents scattering everywhere.
Laura looked at Julian, her eyes apologizing, then she inhaled. Snff. Her eye whites faded behind a veil of red, and her claws slid out.

"Have fun!" Kimura laughed. She picked up Josh by his wrist and slapped a handcuff on it.

" JULIAN!" Cessily shouted. "You have to shield us!"

"Ughh..." Julian opened his eyes sleepily. Laura was advancing, her teeth bared.

" O-ooh, shit," he said.

Laura snarled and swiped at him; he jerked away, just barely. The tips caught his cheek and sent a splatter of blood through the air. He swept her away with
a thought, his other hand holding his stomach. "Cess...I'm...I'm not feeling too good..." he groaned. "You're gonna...gonna have to..." his green aura faded, as
the blood loss and shock began to become too overwhelming. He sank to his knees, and Cessily ran towards him, too late.

" RRRRrrrn!" Laura pounced on him like a wolf, knocking him to the floor. She grabbed him by the back of his spiky hair, pulling his head back as she placed her
claws to his throat to slice his head off-snff. She stopped, leaned forwards. Snff. She blinked, then licked his throat.

Cessily watched, confused, and Julian's eyebrows drew together.

" Kimura..." he said. "Kill Kimura."

"HRRrrrk," Laura growled, letting him go, and turned to the woman, her mouth open and her eyes furious.

Kimura looked slightly afraid. "What the-"

" NNNYARRRRGH!" Laura was a blur, spinning through the air. Slash. Slash. Slash. Bits of Kimura's clothes flew off; the chain attaching her to Josh broke; she
stumbled against the wall and Laura followed, stalking her like a dog crazed.

" Josh!" Cessily scrambled forwards and pulled him into a sitting position, slapping his cheek. "Wake up! You have to heal Julian again!"

"..." Josh's eyes opened. "What-oh, man..." he crawled towards his friend, who was again lying with his stomach blown open. It was quite nasty-a little bit of
his organs had spilled out. Josh pressed them back in, shuddering at the feel, then healed the wound shut.

Julian coughed and sat up. "Uh, thanks," he said.

" No problem, bud," Josh said. "Wouldn't want you to die before you got a chance to use your purchase. What's with your girl, anyways?"

Julian flushed. "There's trigger scent everywhere," he said. " I told her to kill Kimura."

"What the-why did she listen this time?!" Josh asked.

"She did something really weird-she smelled him...then she licked him, like a dog," Cessily said.

" Kinky," Josh commented.

"ARRGH!" Laura was bashing Kimura's head into the wall, her claws beating a rhythm on her skin. They refused to penetrate, but Laura was far too viper-like
in the state she was in for Kimura to resist her attack.

"Julian! You have to do something!" Cessily said. " You or Josh!"

" I'm not-I'm never using my powers that way again!" Josh protested.

" Seems wrong," Julian said. "Seems unfair-using my powers to kill someone." He stood up, moved a few steps, picked up a gun on the floor. Kimura's gun.

"Wasn't she just bragging about how her bullets could pierce anything?"

He turned to where Laura and Kimura were scrabbling.

"You-you're never going to hurt my friends again," he said to Kimura, the gun pointed at her head. "You're never going to touch her again. Laura, down, girl."

Laura 's claws withdrew with a snkkt and she crouched. He rolled back the hammer of the gun, then his finger pressed the trigger lightly.

BLAM.

Cessily covered her mouth.

Kimura reeled back, a hole in her forehead. Her head hit the wall and she slid to the floor, leaving a trail of blood leading down from the big splat.

Julian shoved the gun in his belt. "Laura..."

She stood, her eyes still red. Her lip curled, but her claws were contained in her hands. She waited.

"I don't think she'll hurt us," he said after a second of studying her. "We need to get out of here. And wash all the scent off. She's pretty scary
right now. Laura, come here."

She complied.

" Oh, wow. I think you're her master," Josh said, grinning. "Creepy!"

"Shut up," Julian said. Laura snarled at Josh and popped her claws. "No! Laura!" He grabbed her wrist and shook his finger in her face. Her eyes
followed his finger, and the snarl faded. Snff.

"Good thing I used to have a dog," Julian said grimly. "Least she can still help us. Come on...we've got X-men to find."

...

The four teens travelled down the corridors, searching for their friends. They finally reached a room, sealed with an enormous, circular metal door.

" I can't...Laura! Break it!" Julian pointed at the disc in the center; Laura popped her claws and jammed them into the target, sliding them upwards.
There was a giant spark and they slid apart.

" Oh, hell," Julian gasped. They were looking into an enormous chamber of gurneys-some of the students and teachers were stretched out,
unconscious. Dead? The teens weren't sure.

"Wonderful!" a voice said over a loudspeaker. "Smithers, release the hounds."

Glowing, at the end of the darkened room. Glowing eyes. Laura crouched, her claws sliding out again. All of them.

Julian made fists as he shielded them. "Josh! You work on getting the teachers up, then the other kids! Cessily, Laura-you help me distract whatever this is!"

"Hrrrk," Laura snarled. Three enormous things-four-were lumbering towards them, on all fours. The dim light cast itself on their forms-fleshless beasts
with sharp, gleaming teeth. And lots of saliva.

" AHHH!" Cessily screamed as one launched itself on her and bit into her arm, shaking its head.

" CESS!" Julian fired off a bolt at the beast, slamming it into the ceiling. "Laura-get it!" He pointed at the thing lumbering towards him. Laura met it with
a foot claw in midair, over his shoulder.

" MISS FROST IS HERE!" Josh shouted, running towards the unconscious telepath. "Oh my god!" She had a big line on her chest, sewed up. He touched her,
and the line disappeared. She opened her eyes.

" F-foley? What..." she sat up and saw Julian sweeping a beast away, and Laura as she flipped over one of the creature's heads, a trail of blood flying
behind her in an arc. The thing dropped Cessily to the ground, rearing up to attempt to grab the other thing hurting it.

"They aren't human minds," Frost said, the diamond starting at her pupils and spreading. "Elixir, continue to wake the others. I will help them."

...

"Be careful, children!" Emma shouted, wrapping her fingers around the snout of a creature. It bit, uselessly, at her other hand; she gave it a savage twist-a loud
snap-and the creature fell to the floor, twitching.

" ARGH!" A spray of blood-a creature tore off a chunk of Julian's shoulder. Laura launched herself upwards and drove her claws into its open mouth, towards its brain.
It bit down on her arm, and she made a noise of pain as it shook its head. Then it released the arm, heading for Laura's throat. Julian fell to his knees, and pulled the
gun out of his belt. His hands shook as he rolled back the hammer again. BLAM.

It fell to the ground, and Laura stumbled back, her eyes wide-and their normal white. The blood had showered her face and washed away the last traces of trigger
scent. She sniffed the air. Snff. "Julian! You..."

" There's two more!" Julian shouted, holding his shoulder.

Emma nodded. "Elixir, attend to Keller's wounds, please." She ran towards another creature as it advanced on Cessily. " Pathetic...picking on children..." she drove the
long, diamond nails of her fingers into the beast's head. It let out a scream and turned on her.

"Dang, what the hell was that?" A woman at the back of the room was holding her head-white stripe, brown hair.

" Rogue-please be a dear and assist me," Emma said, gritting her teeth as the creature snapped its teeth on her arm.

"Ah'm on it." The woman jumped off the stretcher and hurried towards Emma. A few minutes later, the last of the creatures tumbled to the floor, at the same time as Julian
finally got to his feet, fully healed.

" Well-" Emma started.

"HAHAHA!" the voice in the ceiling said again. " You really think that was all? Sorry to disappoint you-those were the old prototypes we didn't need anymore.
Meet the new, improved Predator X!"

" Oh my lord-" Rogue stared in horror at the end of the hallway.

The same monsters-covered in metal. And many, many more of them. Eight, this time.

"Elixir! Work faster!" Emma shouted. " Get the children out of here, Hellion!"

"Wish Magneto was here," Rogue commented, flexing her fingers as the creatures charged down the corridor, slobbering. "Ah think you should get the squishie
kids out first. Leave the big rock-thing."

" SANTO!" Julian shouted, seeing his friend sit up at the end.

"Jesus!" Santo yelled as one of the predators lunged for him. He lobbed it aside with a stony fist. "Why would anyone want to metal-coat hellhounds?!"

"I'm so glad to see you, you big pile of rocks," Julian said.

"GUYS!" Cessily shouted. " This isn't right! I can feel these things...it's my mercury!" she said. She was kneeling beside one that Emma had just disabled, her fingers
near its face. Drops of the metal floated up to meld into her skin.

"..." Laura whirled to her. "Cessily! In the hallway...when Kimura used the trigger scent! Did she take a sample?"

" Oh my god-" Cessily gasped.

"Shit," Julian said, still working on pushing the younger children into the hallway.

"Agreed," Emma said. "We need the others. Hank. Santo-find them! I can sense their psionic signatures to the south."

" Can you just point?" Santo grumbled.

"Wait-" Josh held up his hand. "If this metal is Cessily's-then it's organic."

"..." Emma turned her clear eyes on him. " Elixir, go to work. Hellion, immobilize them...the rest of us will attempt to distract them, one by one."

...

" Anyone else hurt?" Josh asked, healing Julian for the third time that evening. They were surrounded by the twelve dead, muscular bodies of the predators,
Cessily having reclaimed the metal from the corpses.

"Only my pride," Santo grunted. "I can't believe I got taken down by a girl a third of my size!"

Julian rolled his eyes.

Emma placed her hand on Laura's shoulder as she watched him from across the room. "X-23. What was that about the trigger scent, in the hallway?"

Laura looked down, suddenly remembering Emma's words to her from before.

"You were right," she said, her voice low.

Emma's eyes were cold, even though she was no longer in her diamond form.

Julian was approaching. "Laura, you okay?" he asked.

" I am fine," she said. Emma turned away.

" Come, children. And Rogue. We must find our missing companions."

We will speak later, she told Laura mentally.

...

"Thank you, my dear."

Laura had just liberated Dr. McCoy from a large gurney complete with restraints, gags, and multiple intravenous connections-with a swipe of her claws. He sat up,
brushing his fur off as if it was a business suit covered in lint.

"Good to see you in one piece, Hank," Emma said, picking up a clipboard and examining it. A pair of Gucci shoes could be seen on a pair of feet behind the stretcher,
where the attendant observing the captive had fallen. "It looks like they had some rather interesting plans for your brain...something about separating it from your body."

"Heavens," Dr. McCoy said. He reached down and plucked a pair of glasses-his glasses-from the horizontal man's pocket. "I'd have been terribly upset if the
buffoon had damaged these," he added. "They are custom-designed for minimal snout slippage. It's getting harder and harder to find a pair that will
accommodate my unique needs these days." He paused. "I smell urine."

The two teachers looked across the room, and saw Laura pointing her claws at the throat of the doctor that had been overseeing Beast's case.

"X-23, even though it would be a lovely case of ironic, poetic justice to perform the procedure on the doctor instead of the patient, we cannot let ourselves
sink to such levels," Dr. McCoy said.

Laura glared at the man for a moment, then retracted her claws.

"The honor is all yours, Emma," Dr. McCoy said.

Emma stared at the man hard, and he began to convulse on the floor.

...

Midnight. Finally, all the students and teachers captured had been accounted for, and the militia in the complex completely neutralized.

The seats of the X-wing were flattened to fit the maximum amount of passengers, and it was decided that three trips to the mansion would be made to cart
the students back, as the Blackbird (the main transport) was currently on its way back from Genosha, on board it Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, and
several of the other senior X-men.

Julian had tried to appeal to Ms. Frost that he could also perform transports, but she would not hear of it; he'd sat down in the corner of the jet
(between Laura, Cessily and Sooraya), sulking.

"Stupid...doesn't care about...her students..." he grumbled, then he yawned. Suddenly the day's events were catching up with him-the desperation-the
fear-killing someone-the horrors that followed. He could barely keep his eyes open, and blinked, hard.

Cessily traded a knowing glance with Sooraya. "So-where were you?!" she asked her friend and teammate. "I was sure you'd still be at the mansion
or something, hiding behind a curtain!"

"They captured me with some sort of vacuum," Sooraya said.

"Hah! You got Hoover'ed!" Santo (who was sitting nearby) grinned.

About halfway through the trip, Julian leaned over, and his head came to rest on Laura's shoulder. She stiffened-she was unsure of what to do-but did not
push him away. His regular breathing, combined with the mechanical hum of the X-wing, made her eyelids droop as well.

...

Laura approached his door nervously, the two shirts he'd given her neatly folded in her arms. She'd made up her mind-she was certain-it was the only way.
She had to leave, for the sake of him and everyone else at this school-she had to keep them safe. Emma was right. She stopped, hesitated, turned away
to go back, then spun around again and knocked on his door firmly, hearing motion inside (indicating his presence).

Scuffles within, fabric, then him walking to the door. He ripped it open. "Yeah-what d'you want-oh." Julian looked disheveled and tired, his hair sticking
straight up. His face was flushed slightly. She looked at him for a moment, warily, then held out his shirts.

"Why are you giving them back?" he asked, frowning.

"I am finished with them," Laura said.

"Oh." He took the pile from her, tossed them to the bed behind, then reached for the hem of his shirt. Laura paused-she was supposed to say no,
but-he'd pulled it off, and she didn't refuse the new garment.

She couldn't help it. Snff.

Julian swallowed.

Laura froze, then looked up at him. There was something different-his scent was the same, but there was something else as well-more like the one he'd
had on the balcony, at the hotel. It wasn't unpleasant. It was quite the opposite. It was...her eyes caught something, and she reached out and touched
a wet spot of something on his lower stomach.

"Uh-" he tensed up, obviously not wanting her to notice it. She knew what it was, however. Her sharp eyes slipped past him to the bed, and saw a
hint of green satin amongst the covers.

"I-I gotta-uh-homework," Julian said, embarrassed. Then he realized it was eleven o' clock at night, and there were no homework assignments,
for any of his classes (and that Laura knew this).

He closed the door on her anyways, mortified.

Laura's eyebrows drew together in confusion. Why did he want to hide this so badly?

Snff.