Of Mind and Magic
Chapter 7
With the florescent lights above him buzzing in his ears, Harry strode down the hallway leading away from his former prison, his footsteps echoing off the linoleum floor. His blurred reflection moving along with him in the steel walls that made up the hallway.
He glanced around him, men and women in lab coats walked up and down the hallways, going about their business. His hands curled into fists, how could so many people be part of abusing a child?
Shaking his head, he focused on the tracking beacon still burning in his mind. Reaching out with his senses, he could tell it was near X twenty-three. It was time to find out why his spell brought him here.
–XX –
Fourteen-year-old X twenty-three sat with her legs curled beneath her, heat building on the leather pants clinging to her legs. Removing her feet from beneath her, she swung them off the bench that made up her bed. Her blue eyes scanned around her, taking in the white tiles that covered the walls of her room.
She glanced to the top corner of her room, a strand of black hair hiding one eye.
A black dome with a red light in the center was mounted to the corner. The tension in her body eased as the red light moved away.
Reaching into the leather vest that covered her chest, she pulled out a white tear shaped jewel.
It pulsed with power, sending a pleasant warmth through her body.
Laying her hand down on her bed, she made sure the jewel was hidden between her palm and the bed.
The door to her room hissed open, her mother, Sarah, walked in. Her dark hair pulled back into a bun, to loose strands coming down to frame her face. Her green eyes looked her over. An emotion X twenty-three didn't understand flashing through her eyes.
Her mother moved forward, her white lab coat opening slightly to reveal the seafoam green blouse and light Brown khakis hidden beneath. Her dark brown slip on shoes slapped against the floor.
Sarah moved to her smoothing out her lab coat as she sat down, "How are you today, X twenty-three?"
X twenty-three tilted her head to the side, wondering why this woman didn't call her daughter like in the books she read to her. The scent was similar, they had to be mother and daughter, so why?
"I am fine, Doctor Kinney," X twenty-three replied, watching the minute wrinkle of the woman's face.
"That's good," Sarah glanced at the camera in the corner. X twenty-three followed her gaze, finding the red light in its center missing.
"So what are we…?"
The door to the room hissed open, causing both women to tense.
–XX –
Harry stopped before a door with a thick metal frame. The thick square piece of steel in the frame reflected his blurred red-haired visage.
The door hissed open, revealing the mother-daughter duo within.
X twenty-three tensed, two metal claws slowly emerging from the knuckles of her ring and middle finger.
Raising his hands, Harry stared into X twenty-three's light blue eyes, "Easy, I'm not here to hurt you, I just need some information."
"Who are you?" The elder of the two asked, laying a hand on X twenty-three's shoulder.
"I'll gladly answer your questions, but could I maybe enter the room."
"Enter just enough for the door to close, then freeze where you are."
Harry stepped over the threshold, the door hissing shut behind him.
"Now who…"
Harry locked eyes with the woman, diving into her mind.
–XX –
Harry found himself standing in a kitchen on a white linoleum tile floor. A fridge set in a recess beside the sink. The window above the sink revealed a middle-class neighborhood. Bright midday sun bathed the houses, each of them a little blurry in the memory.
A circular table with three chairs around it sat in the center of the room.
A heavily pregnant Sarah Kinney sat at the table with her sister Deborah.
Deborah ran a hand through her short dark hair, her green eyes locked on to her sister, "So what are you going to do?"
Unconsciously a slender hand drifted down to her protruding stomach lightly rubbing the soft pink fabric covering it, "I don't know. X twenty-three belongs to the facility."
"This is more than just some project, Sarah, this is your daughter your own flesh and blood."
"I know that," Sarah snapped, strands of black hair flying into her face, "but I never wanted children not after how we were treated."
Watery images split the room, showing a dark haired man beating two young girls, his screams were unintelligible, but the meaning behind the image was clear.
Harry's hands curled into a fist at the way the girls cowered before the man.
The blurred image of a woman cowered in one corner, her hands clasped before her as she watched the man beat her children.
The images faded.
"I didn't want to accidentally continue the cycle," Sarah whispered staring down at the table.
This memory let him know that Sarah probably would not stop him from helping X twenty-three, but he needed more. Reaching out with his mind, he pulled on a more recent memory.
The world around him spun, becoming a myriad of colors.
–XX –
Sarah stood before a large rectangular window, staring down on a wood-paneled room with white mats covering the floor.
X twenty-three stood across from a man of Chinese descent, both of them wore loose white clothes. Light reflected off the man's bald head as he charged forward, his thin mustache and pointed goatee bending with the wind.
He lashed out with a foot, X twenty-three caught it only to be knocked to the ground by the man's left fist. His dark eyes narrowed as he helped X twenty-three climbed to her feet, "You must always be aware of your surroundings"
Throughout the exchange, Harry kept his gaze on Sarah.
The reluctant mother leaned forward, her fist pressing into the keyboards before her, the computer screens around her zoomed in on X twenty-three.
Sarah leaned forward, her green eyes unblinking as the new bruises on X twenty-three faded away. Sighing, she leaned back in her chair, running a hand through her long black hair.
'Funny, I was afraid to raise Laura because of my own abusive past,' she shook her head, 'the facility is more abusive than my father ever was.' She glanced at Laura, 'I have to do something. I have to get my daughter away from here before she loses all of her humanity.'
More images flew by of Sarah reading to Laura, spending as much time as she could with her away from prying eyes, anything to help her remember that she was more than just a weapon.
Seeing enough Harry willed himself to the conscious world, allowing the connection between him and Sarah to vanish with his departure.
–XX –
"Who are you?" Sarah repeated, her green eyes narrowing.
Laura slid from the bench. Crouching, she held her arms out, her clause gleaming in the florescent lights of the room as she prepared to jump.
Harry raised his hands, "Easy, my name is Hadrian Grey, I just followed the clues left behind by a recent attack. I wasn't expecting to find a place like this." He cocked his head to the side, reaching out with his senses, finding no mystical energy around Laura residual or otherwise, "as a matter of fact, I think my spell went awry."
Despite the situation, Sarah raised an eyebrow, eyeing the boy in front of her.
He was tall about 5'10". Short red hair the color of blood crowned his head. Blue eyes the color of ice surveyed his surroundings. Her eyes trailed downwards, taking in the metal gauntlets on his thick arms with the Chinese blue Dragon etched into them.
She shook her head, her gaze sliding over the broad black chest plate with the golden Chinese Dragon in its center. 'He's definitely not someone of the facility.'
"What do you mean by spell?"
Harry curled his fingers.
Sarah marveled at how smoothly the metal moved.
A glass jewel flew from Laura's hand, hovering in the air between the two teens.
"This is the main part of a tracking spell I used to try and track down a perpetrator of a recent attack on Victoria Montesi."
He shook his head, "I really don't understand why it didn't work, the most important ingredient is a hair from the attacker, but then again they did seem to have some magical protection, so maybe there shielded."
Ignoring Hadrian's mutterings, Sarah turned to Laura, "Did you have a mission to take out Victoria Montesi?"
Laura shook her head, her eyes never leaving Hadrian, her body tense.
Sarah turned back to Hadrian, "There you have it. You've got the wrong girl."
Hadrian inclined his head. "I figured that out about two minutes ago when I realized she had no residual magic clinging to her." His gaze flicked over to Sarah, "I'm just trying to figure out what I should do now."
"What do you mean?" Sarah asked her body tense. She may not have been a fighter, this man may have been able to sneak into the facility, and have abilities unknown to her, but she would protect her daughter.
"I've read the minds of the scientists here," his gaze settled on Laura, "I've seen how they treat her. I can't in good conscience leave her here to be tortured," his gaze flicked back to Sarah, "from what I picked up in your mind, you want to get her out of here as well."
"You read my mind?"
Hadrian raised his shoulders, gesturing to Laura, "I had to make sure you wouldn't interfere with me getting her out of here."
Sarah moved behind Laura, setting both her hands on the girl's shoulders. Laura relaxed slightly, lowering her arms just a bit, but still prepared to attack.
She'd wanted to get Laura out of here for a while now, but she had no help. Without help she would most likely die, leaving Laura in the world with little understanding of how normal humans can be. Taking a deep breath, she took a leap of faith, hoping she wasn't making a mistake, but for her daughter she would take the chance. "Where would you take her?"
"My aunt of sorts lives at the Xavier Institute, I would take her there." A smile spread across his face, "I doubt the facility would attack a place with so many powerful mutants."
Sarah nodded, "Alright we'll go with you, but if you betray us, Laura will kill you, and I will find out the secrets of your body."
One corner of Hadrian's mouth curved, highlighting his high cheekbones and square jaw, "Fair enough, but if you wanted to learn my body secrets, you could at least take me out to dinner first."
Sarah shook her head at the teen's antics, "Let's just get out of here."
An invisible force flared out from the redheaded teen, wrapping its way around the two.
Sarah shuddered as she felt a warm sensation like water wash over her, while Laura barely reacted at all.
"What was that?"
Harry shook his head, the grimace on his face smoothing away, "I added you to the cloak that allows me to move around this facility undetected."
Turning towards the door, Laura moved behind her mother, leaving Sarah in the middle of the two teens.
"Well, let's go."
The door hissed open, the group filed out.
The moment X twenty-three crossed the threshold of her room, alarms began to blare.
"What's happening?" Harry yelled over the alarms.
"You're the psychic, shouldn't you know that," Sarah yelled back.
"I didn't absorb everything, just the science of this place, and Laura's treatment."
Sarah shook her head, "They must have implanted a new security measure in Laura," Sarah said, glancing at her daughter.
Laura cocked her head to the side, "They gave me a shot the other day," Laura said in a quiet voice.
"Must be some type of…" Sarah was cut off by the sound of stomping feet. Security personnel and black combat fatigues started pouring down both sides of the hallway.
A light blue aura blossomed out from Hadrian's body, in moments, he seemed to grow larger. He turned, locking glowing blue eyes onto Sarah, "If you and Laura get an opening to escape, go I'll find you."
Harry turned to the right, while Laura moved up beside her mother facing the left.
Slowly, metal claws slid out of Laura's hands, she glanced at her mother, the fight for her freedom was about to begin.