Chapter 21: it devours from within
" Nngn…" Julian mumbled in his sleep, staining.
You called me, the voice whispered in his ear.
" Julian?" Laura asked, touching his chest. She was concerned.
Is he alright? I hope it is just a bad dream.
" Aggh!" Julian sat straight up. "Oh. Laura. Sorry. W-what did you say?"
" Only your name," she replied, touching his chest. "You are sweating."
He wiped his forehead. "Nightmare," he answered. " Don't worry your pretty head about it."
He bent his head and kissed her hair.
Laura frowned but closed her eyes again.
…
Julian suddenly lost track of the conversation between himself and Cessily, his eyes trained on the tv screen. The news
reporter was detailing a hostage situation by several mutants, happening in Seattle. His heart froze as they showed a
clip—four wild-looking mutants were shouting and throwing things out of the fifth story of a tall office building—and one
of them was Sofia Mantega.
"Oh, no," Cessily said, seeing the same thing. "Julian…"
"Break time's over," he announced, pushing his chair away from the table. "We have to get over there. LAURA!" he
shouted the last part, banging on the wall. Whenever there was an emergency, he usually relied on her to help him
round up the other teammates.
Two minutes later she was in the kitchen, zipping up her uniform and looking groggy. Her hair was still a mess; she'd been
sleeping, again. She slept a lot of late. He took her aside, wanting to deal with her before the others arrived.
"Laura…there's a hostage situation…in Seattle. Sofia's involved."
This brought the reaction he had anticipated. She froze, her head tilted to the side, her eyes wide. "Sofia?" she asked, her
voice rusty from not talking all day.
"Yes," he said. "I need you to know that she doesn't mean anything to me, anymore. She's just a friend to me. I chose
you, okay?" He touched her stomach.
"Okay," Laura said, but he wasn't entirely sure she believed him. He wanted to really convince her but he didn't have time;
he kissed her quickly and, taking her hand, pulled her towards what Cessily had decided would be called the Ready Room
(she'd even crocheted a little wall doily with those words and hung it on the wall on her spare time).
"I swear to God, my uniform shrinks every time I wash it," Santo whined, shifting uncomfortably in his seat once they were in the jet.
"That's because it's hang to dry, Santo," Cessily said. "You should hand wash it. Of course spandex shrinks when you put it in
the dryer, on maximum."
"I thought it would be faster," he grumbled.
Sooraya folded her hands in her lap. She was still cloaked in her usual black burqa and niqāb. Julian made a mental note that he
should spend some time with her; he'd been so busy lately that he hadn't even gotten a chance to ask her what had happened
after the school had been closed down.
Beside him, Laura was also quiet; her head was bent down. He suddenly realized she was reading—a book on pregnancy. He
flushed furiously and hoped no one else would notice. Not that he could hide it for long…he'd never hear the end of it from0
Santo, though.
…
After landing the jet—which had almost been smooth—he just got better with practice—Julian tried to organize the team. "Okay,
hopefully this won't be too hard. I mean, Sofia was our schoolmate."
"I don't know," Cessily said. "She was a little too emotional. She wouldn't talk to me even then, just because I was on your squad."
"Stuck-up bitch," Santo offered.
"Yeah, well." Julian rubbed his neck. "Let's hope she listens. I don't wanna have to hurt her or her new friends if we can help it."
"Blindfold could induce a telepathic sleep." Laura said suddenly, looking towards the girl, who tilted her head in acknowledgment.
"Can you do that, Ruth?"
"Yes," Blindfold said. "She is angry and hurt and excuse me, she is jealous."
Cessily traded a glance with Sooraya.
"Right. Once we get in the building, you guys will wait in the foyer while me and Laura sniff things out. We'll signal you
when it's time to come up."
"Now the only challenge is getting past the security guards," he said.
"Leave that to me," Laura announced. "Stay here. Ruth?"
"I see what you are thinking. Yes, it is done."
Julian watched, his eyebrows raised, as Laura strode confidently towards a group of S.W.A.T personnel, and pulled a card from
the belt of her uniform. "Hello," she said, holding it towards the commander of the squad. "I am from S.H.I.E.L.D; Sarah Kinney,
Director of Mutant Activities. I am here on behalf of Nick Fury; this concerns the Super Human Registration Act." Laura stared
hard at the commander; good acting skills were crucial when the telepath was not fully-trained, or experienced, or all that
strong. Or quite easily distracted.
"Oh…okay," the man said, stepping aside. Laura inclined her head, and the others followed quickly, Blindfold rubbing her temples.
The door swung closed behind them, and Julian cleared his throat. "That was really dangerous," he said.
"But awesome," grinned Santo. "You should try acting, you could put Tom Cruise out of work. He creeps me out almost as
much as Blindfold here."
"I could not have done it without her assistance," Laura said. "Please do not make comments about her in my presence."
She stomped ahead, and Julian grimaced. He shot a look at Santo then made his way down the hallway after her. Once
they reached the foyer, he repeated his instructions and they split off.
…
"Laura, Santo was just joking," Julian said, touching her shoulder when she paused to listen. "We…Blindfold's a little much
for us to handle. I'm sure she has her reasons…but…"
"You used to talk like that, about me." Laura didn't look at him.
"I—" Julian rubbed his neck again, flushing hotly. "Yeah, I did. I had no idea. People can be stupid sometimes, beautiful…if you
noticed, I haven't said anything about Ruth. I'm starting to understand, a bit." He smiled at her.
Laura raised her head. "They are five floors above us. Two mutants are discussing killing the hostages. They are thinking about
throwing a child out of the window. Sofia is standing near the hostages, probably to watch them. There are two other mutants."
Laura opened her eyes and fixed him with a direct look. "They are working for Magneto."
"Christ," Julian said. He felt disappointment; Sofia was really angry, then, and not the person he had thought at all, if Magneto had
taken her in. He knew firsthand how hard it was to join the Brotherhood.
"Your heart rate is increasing, and you smell of adrenaline," Laura said suspiciously.
"C'mon," he said, taking her hand and pulling her towards the stairs.
…
Julian and Laura peered through the glass pane of the meeting room door cautiously. Their eyes took in the sight of two people arguing—an
enormous man wearing armor, and a scruffy, black-haired man holding a wooden staff. In the corner of the room were three others—one was
obviously Sofia, whose long, streaming hair was loose. She looked wild. With her was a girl with dark hair and pale skin—and a third eye that
blinked lazily out of sync with the two on either side of it; as well was a large pink figure with a centralized skeleton that Julian recognized.
He had been a friend of Quentin Quire, an arrogant boy from Julian's old telepathy class (when the Professor had thought he might have the
talent hidden in him somewhere). Of course he had failed all the finals and the Professor had stricken it from his record,
admitting that perhaps he was wrong.
"Glob Herman," Julian whispered after a moment. Laura squinted. "He's made of bio-paraffin wax. Extremely flammable." He looked
at the older members, who were arguing in the center.
"Juggernaut. Oh, shit."
"I can cut off his helmet," Laura said calmly. "Then Blindfold can disable him."
Julian nodded. "I wish we could distract Sofia. Try to talk her out of this," he mumbled. "Maybe Herman too. I don't remember
him being evil. Just easily misguided."
He pushed a button on his wrist and whispered for the others to come upstairs.
…
"So what's the plan?" Santo grumbled.
"I want to talk to Sofia and Herman first. I'm going to hold everyone against the wall—except Juggernaut. You guys still need to keep
them busy—Rockslide on Cassidy. Uh, Dust, you work on that girl we're not sure about. Maybe you should go in with my first wave,
and try to do a sweep. X-23, you and Blindfold on Juggernaut. Try to get his helmet off and then shut him down mentally. All right…
count of three. Best to rush in and take them by surprise, I guess."
The doors blew open, as Julian sent a shockwave through the room. It caught everyone by surprise; Juggernaut crashed through the wall
into the next office, and the others struggled, suddenly pinned, a foot above the ground, against the walls like magnets on a fridge door.
"Aw, look, it's the X-men," Juggernaut grinned, struggling to sit up.
"Hardly," Julian said. "You'd be better off if it was." Laura rushed towards Marko, somersaulting the last few feet and popping all her
claws in midair. She swiped at his helmet; her foot claw caught a bolt on his helmet and it cracked. His hand shot up and grabbed her
leg; he slammed her against the floor, Laura yelping.
Julian tried not to pay attention to this, though it was almost impossible. Maintaining his hold on everyone, he walked towards Sofia,
his expression serious. Sooraya whisked past his face by millimeters in dust form, his eyelashes blowing in the breeze she left.
"Hellion!" Sofia said, gritting her teeth. "Let me go!" She sent a small volcano his way; he swept it aside effortlessly with his free hand.
"Listen to me, Sofia. You don't want to do this. You're not like them."
"I am," she said, glaring. "I found my place."
"You're just angry—"
"This is my place!" Sofia hurled another twister in Julian's direction; he merely pinned her arms against the wall and increased the hold.
She cried out; it felt like all the air was being forced out of her chest.
"Yeah, you always like to talk about what your wind is doing. Well, right now your wind is leaving you, courtesy of my brain, till you hear
me out." Julian said, standing in front of her. "You don't know what you're doing. These are innocent people. What if that was Laurie?
Or David? Or Jay in the corner there? Would you do this?"
"Most of those people are dead, because of humans!" Sofia said, tears streaming down her face. "I don't care anymore!
The humans have to die!"
"The humans must die!" Herman reiterated.
"Shut up, Herman. You're not doing this, either," Julian said. Herman lowered his head; he could already tell that the wax mutant was
just looking for orders to follow, and wasn't really in this for himself.
"Way to 360, Sof. I remember us fighting about the value of humans, and you being on the human-hugger side."
"I do not care to hear you accuse me of being a hypocrite. You let me down," Sofia hissed. "I stopped listening to you the moment you chose
her over me." The air molecules in the room suddenly shifted; Dust was picked up from the area around the other girl (who had seemed to
be putting up a good fight) and blown at full force over Julian's skin.
"JULIAN!" Laura shouted, abandoning Juggernaut's helmet at the last bolt and, ignoring her own directions about not being distracted
during missions, she raced towards him. He was staring down at his hands; he could see the muscles. Everywhere. Most of the room
had stopped to stare at the blood that was suddenly cascading to the floor. Laura touched his shoulder, her heart in her throat.
"Whoah, that was harsh," Herman commented. "Looks like she's a tad angry with you, man."
"Uh.." Julian held up his hand, and watched in amazement as skin suddenly grew around his wrists and met in the center.
Blotchy patches appeared like polka-dots over the exposed muscles that currently composed over three-quarters of his body.
With a weird, slurping noise, the skin sealed perfectly along his middle.
"Huh, didn't know I could do that." Laura seized his hand and examined it. "I think you have retained my healing factor," she said after a moment.
Suddenly, everyone realized they were free, and chaos broke loose. Julian hurled a comet-style bolt at Sofia when her back was
turned; she fell to the floor with an angry sound. "Julian!"
He turned, and paled; Juggernaut had started running, towards him. Once he started, he couldn't be stopped…Julian tried desperately
to hold him back, but he just kept coming. "Laura! Get his helmet off!"
She responded, jamming her claws into the side of the enormous man's neck just as he reached them and picked Julian up like a sack of
flour. "Arrgh!" he yelled as he begun to pull his legs away from his body, one hand on his ankles, the other on his side.
"Take his helmet off!" Laura shouted. "I have severed the bolt!"
Julian concentrated, beyond the pain in his pelvis; the enormous man's helmet flew off like a disk, crashed through the window in a
shower of breaking glass, and fell to the ground below. "Oops," Julian mumbled, spots swimming before his eyes as things began
popping in his lower back.
"Blindfold!" Laura yelled, but the other girl was lying, crumpled, in the corner of the room, under Herman's pummeling hands.
"No! Julian!" She swiped desperately at Juggernaut's head, but he caught her arms and flung her away like a paper doll.
She hit the wall opposite. "Concentrate!" she yelled at Julian as Cassidy began to attack her.
Julian flexed suddenly, sitting up and seizing Marko's head between his fingers. Sleep, he said, without being aware of speaking.
The enormous man's eyes rolled into the back of his head; his fingers let go and he staggered backwards.
"Oh, god! Come help us!" Cessily shouted. She and Rockslide were paired off against the unidentified girl, who seemed to be changing.
Adapting to their attacks as fast as they could produce them. Her body warped to form holes everywhere that Santo punched; she thrust
her fist into Cessily's throat and shocked her with electricity, causing the redhead to lose her grip.
Laura swept her foot under Cassidy's leg and severed his Achilles tendon with her foot claw. He shrieked and dropped to one knee involuntarily;
Herman wrapped his arm around Laura's throat. She made a choking noise, trying vainly to stab at his internal organs, but she couldn't reach,
and the areas she could reach did not make Herman release her.
Julian hit Cassidy in the head with a handy book; he fell to the ground, unconscious. The boy then swept Glob Herman away with a wave of
his fingers, flattening him against the wall. "Stay away from her," he warned. When he let go, Herman was stuff to the wall, his waxy
coating having adhered under the pressure.
The girl that Mercury, Rockslide and Dust were fighting seemed almost impervious. Sooraya did not know how to help; her opponent's skin
had changed to a tough, leathery coating that was resistant to the effect of her flaying, and she did not want to kill her by entering her
respiratory system.
"Ughn!" Laura ran towards the girl and tried to slice her from behind; the girl grew an extra arm that sprung out at X-23 like a jack-in-the-box.
She flew, again, into the wall, her spine making a cracking noise.
"Stand back," Julian shouted, ripping the floorboards up around the girl so she was suddenly standing on air, completely dependent on his
support. "Quit fighting or I'll drop you. We're six stories up, you'll die."
The girl grinned, exposing sharp teeth. "So sure of that," she said with a heavy accent. French? "Not if you die first, monsieur." She opened her
jaws wide and a disgusting disc of mucus emerged and flew straight for Julian's face; it slapped against his skin, sealing off his airways. He
stumbled backwards, desperately trying to separate the molecules. He was burning for air, he'd exhaled just before it struck…he was dimly
aware of Laura trying to pry it away.
Suddenly his skin burned white-hot, and the mucus simply melted away.
"You bitch," he snarled at the girl. "Now I'm just angry." He seized her spine—it squirmed in his mental grasp and tried to adapt away
from him—she was evolving in his grip. He thought deeper, he could see her brain; the girl suddenly went limp as he shut something down.
"What the hell did you do?" Santo panted.
"I…I don't know," Julian said, confused. Half his uniform was gone; he'd been flayed alive by his ex-girlfriend, nearly broken in half,
then suffocated. And to add to his exhaustion, he'd done three things he'd never done before.
"Can we just go home?"
"Yes," Laura said, taking his elbow. "I will fly the jet, with Santo's help."