Lorna's Pov
I was walking down the hallway at a brisk pace. Erg had come for another unexpected meeting and given how the last one of these unexpected meetings went I was anxious to hear what he had to say. I slowed when I heard voices coming from a door to my left.
"Mom, just stop. We didn't want to come back in the first place. The only reason we are here is that Mia was the one driving and we were both not in the mood to argue with her." I heard Lauren say exasperated.
"Lauren, baby, I just got you back. I can't lose you again, either of you. You're all I have left" Caitlin said. I heard movement.
"Mom, we know but we can't stay here," Andy said, "This place for the past month, it's felt suffocating to me. I can't do that to myself again. We just need to get out on our own and finish figuring everything out."
"And what do you plan to do when you get out on your own? Get yourself killed?" Caitlin asked, seeming frustrated with her kids.
"We don't know! That's why we have to go! We have to figure everything out and we can't do that here." Lauren said loudly.
"Please just for a couple of days at least. Just stay, let yourselves rest." Caitlin pleaded.
"Fine," Andy said.
"Whatever," Lauren said at the same time as Andy spoke.
I took this as a break in the conversation and a great time to slip in and talk to Caitlin. I didn't know if she knew about the surprise meeting with Erg.
"Hey Cait, Erg is here, says he has something important to tell us," I said walking into the room.
Andy and Lauren were standing next to each other leaning up against the far wall and Caitlin was standing in front of them.
Caitlin quickly turned around and nodded, "Uh, yeah, I'll be there in a second. I just need to finish up a few things."
I nodded and started to turn around before stopping, "Andy, Lauren, you can join us. If you want."
They looked at each other then nodded.
"Yeah, we'll be there," Andy said, looking back in my direction.
I nodded and left the room walking towards the meeting room. I hoped whatever Erg told us would be helpful. It's been a long couple of weeks.
I got to the meeting room with Caitlin and her kids not far behind me. Erg was already there talking to John and Esme. They were introducing him to Eva who had decided to tag along to the meeting to get a better understanding of both the underground and the Morlocks.
Marcos was standing in the back watching them with his arms crossed. As soon as he saw me he walked over.
I nodded at him, "Hey, what's up"
He shook his head, "Nothing, something just seems off about Eva."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Marcos sighed, "It's probably nothing but she keeps asking questions, too many questions. It's probably nothing. I'm just being paranoid."
"You're just tired. We both are. Dawn keeps waking us up at three in the morning every day for the past week and a half. You'll be fine once you get a night of uninterrupted sleep." I said gently, putting my hand on his arm.
"Speaking of Dawn, where is she?" He asked me to change the subject.
"I dropped her off with Leah before I went to get Caitlin," I said, glancing at the door as Caitlin walked in closely followed by her kids.
John looked up from talking to Eva and Erg and looked at me, "Everyone here"
"Caitlin is in the medical room helping some kids who got hurt playing and Mia's not but last I checked she was doing something with her friend Josh so she'll probably just pop in to see what's up or ask me later," I said.
John nodded, "So Erg thinks he might have some information on the Inner Circle."
"Wait what kind of information?" Andy asked quickly.
John motioned for Erg to explain.
"I have been talking to some other Morlocks in other cities. They have all reported the same things as what I have seen. Mutants attacking smaller banks, stores, occasionally a small military base, or someplace the military uses. These people seem organized. Multiple attacks on the same day in the same city scattering the police force than a direct attack on police. It seems like it may be the Inner Circle." Erg explained looking serious but that wasn't an uncommon expression.
"Anyone notable in the attacks?" Caitlin asked.
"In an attack on D.C. about a week ago there were mutants that seem to match the descriptions of the mutants known as Max, Heather, and Tico," Erg said.
"Those three can cause some pretty big damage when they are working together," John said, frowning.
"We know," Marcos said, glancing at me.
"So these Inner Circle people, they're bad news right?" Eva asked, glancing between Erg and John.
"Literally the worst," Lauren said, speaking up for the first time.
"There are a few rumors of an attack coming but I don't know when, the rumors just say that it will happen someplace they've attacked before." Erg said, " I'll ask the leaders of Morlock groups in other cities, and see if they know more about what's been happening."
I nodded, "Thank you, We'll try to figure out something we can do to stop them."
"Good. I fear if we let this go much longer, there will be nothing we can do to stop it. The Mutant uprising will succeed." Erg did before saying his goodbyes and leaving.
"So, what are we going to do about this?" Andy asked.
Mia came running in looking slightly out of breath, "Sorry I'm late. Cameron was talking to sister Lizzie on the phone and she wanted to talk to me. What did I miss?"
"That's not good," Mia said as we finished explaining.
"Thanks for stating the obvious," Lauren said, rolling her eyes. "So what are we doing about this?"
"We barely know anything about whatever this Inner Circle is doing. We should wait and get more information." Eva said, crossing her arms.
"If we wait we could end up making this all worse. We could just let whatever the Inner Circle is planning just happen without trying to stop it at all," I said. I couldn't just let them win, "After everything they've done to everyone in this room they needed to pay for what they've done. I'm sure at least a few people would agree with me."
"Lorna's right. We can't just do nothing. We can't just let them destroy more people's lives." John said ignoring my second point.
"We could go back to D.C. and try to figure out what they are doing from a closer perspective," Marcos suggested as He put his arm around my shoulders.
"Then you'd be abandoning the Mutant Underground again and leaving everyone here to just figure it out with no experience. Maybe a couple, unimportant people can go check things out just to see but we really need to focus on building up the underground and fixing all the problems instead of satisfying a personal vendetta." Eva said, pressing her lips together. This conversation clearly wasn't going the way she wanted.
"First of all, everyone here is important, and second of all, taking down the Inner circle is about more than just a personal vendetta. They are actively trying to kill, and hurt innocent people. They hurt people just because they can." Andy said glaring at Eva.
"Sounds just like that stunt you pulled at that prison," Eva said pointedly.
"Okay who even are you and why are you here?" Lauren said glaring at Eva.
"Lauren, Andy, calm down. This is Eva. She is helping us try to make the underground better and expand it to more than just the few stations it is right now. She's helping us make the underground what it used to be." John said.
"What even are her powers anyway?" Lauren said.
"I don't think that's relevant," John said growing.
"Not that it matters but I can slightly manipulate people's perceptions. I don't use my powers though, because I don't like how they make me feel. Happy." Eva said, crossing her arms.
"Whatever," Lauren said glaring at her before, rolling her eyes. She turned to Andy, "Can we just go?"
Andy nodded, "Yeah I'm done with this meeting too."
They quickly left slamming the door behind them. I glanced over at Mia. She was frowning at the door. I had to remember to ask her to check on Andy and Lauren later.
"So what are we going to do? We can't just do nothing." I said before anyone could say anything about Andy and Lauren leaving.
"I could go check out some of the places the Inner Circle has attacked before. I know all the places they attacked before I left." Esme said.
"That's probably a good idea. Maybe Lorna and I could go with you, just in case something goes wrong." Marcos said nodding. I could see the gears Turning in his head to figure out what we would have to do.
Esme nodded, "Yeah, we could head down tomorrow-"
"Hold up," Eva interrupted, "You can't just leave. We need you here. I was planning on talking to some people about setting up other stations."
"Well, John can help you. You don't need all three of us here. If you find someone who you both think is a good fit I trust your opinions. If you really want a third and fourth we could talk to them when we get back." I said.
"I guess that will work," Eva said.
"Great so Esme can you ask Leah if she can watch Dawn while we're away? Once we know someone can watch her we can leave as soon as you want." Marcos said.
"Okay, we're all in agreement then," John said, clapping his hands together and smiling.
I walked over to Mia once most people had filtered out, " hey could you go make sure Andy and Lauren are ok"
"Sure that's actually what I was going to do," Mia said as we walked out the door.
"Great," I said smiling. Hopefully, they will be okay. Everything that they went through the past few months was a lot for anyone but them especially.
Lauren's Pov
"I don't like that Eva girl," I said as Andy and I walked back to our old room.
"I don't either but luckily we probably won't be here much longer," Andy said.
"Yeah. We just have to find a time to leave then get out of here." I said getting an idea, "what if we went to go check out whatever it is that Erg was talking about. The Inner Circle hitting places they already have."
"Yeah, I know about a cloud of places that they hit before I left, not many but enough just to check it out. We'd have to go down to D.C. though, we haven't been down there since... what happened," he said. I took a deep breath. There were only two places we avoided the entire time we were off by ourselves, Atlanta and D.C.
"I know but we have to try right, we can't let them win," I said as we walked up to the door to the room.
He nodded as he opened the door, "Yeah, I guess."
I laid down on my old bed. It was so soft and cushiony, I was still trying to get used to it. Andy sat on his and laid back before sitting back up. I looked at him quizzically, raising my eyebrow. he just shook his head, not wanting to talk about whatever though just went through his head
I sighed as I started at the ceiling. I had missed just being able to have a silent conversation with someone. Andy was the only person I could do that with. We knew what each other was thinking just by looking at each other. It was weird yet so natural at the same time.
"I forgot I needed to give this back to you," Andy said suddenly, pulling me out of my thoughts. He was holding out the necklace we had gone to New Orleans to get, the day before I got arrested.
I smiled and sat up slowly taking the necklace, "Thank you. I forgot how beautiful this thing was."
"You were only gone a month," he said.
I rolled my eyes as I put the necklace on, "And we only had it for about a day before I got arrested, excuse me if I didn't commit it to memory."
Andy laughed, making me laugh. I smiled. It was good to be back.
"Do you want to try to leave for D.C. to check out the old attack sites tomorrow?" I asked.
Andy nodded, "We can leave after breakfast during watch change. No one will be looking for us trying to leave then."
I smiled again, I couldn't wait to actually do something I wanted to do again.
Mia's Pov
I silently backed away from the door. I had followed Andy and Lauren from the meeting to try to make sure they were okay. I had teleported a few hallways just to make sure I didn't lose them. I had found them just as they started considering going to search for the Inner Circle by themselves.
I quickly walked away from their room. I needed to warm Lorna.
I found her talking to Marcos in one of the living rooms. I quickly told them what I had overheard.
"We can't let them leave," Marcos said.
Lorna put her hand on his arm, "But what if we do? What if we let them go check out the places they want to check out and we can check out some others and cover double the amount of places."
I pressed my lips together, I honestly kind of agreed with Marcos in this situation.
"Do you really think that's a good idea? I mean you know what they did at that prison. No one wants to even talk about it or acknowledge that they did that. I mean they blew up a whole freaking prison and killed everyone inside." Marcos said, looking worried.
"They got rid of Jace Turner and honestly did us a world of good by getting rid of that guy. The other stuff was questionable but I get why they did it. We could send Mia and her friend to follow them and just keep an eye on them." Lorna said.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," I said, getting completely ignored by both of them.
"Just think about it, it'd work perfectly. We could double check the sites and make sure that Andy and Lauren don't do something crazy again." Lorna said, sounding excited.
Marcos looked at her for a second before giving in, "Fine, I guess. Mia, what do you think?"
I had been looking back and forth between the two of them debating in my head if this was a good idea, "I guess it could work but I don't know if I can convince Cameron and Josh to come with me."
"Great It's settled then, that's what we'll do," Lorna said, clapping her hands together.
I sighed, why do I get myself into situations like this. I could already tell this was going to end badly.
*Sorry, I didn't post last week I have basically no motivation to write. I might skip posting next week too depending on if I can finish the next chapter. I', really sorry I have the rest of the story mapped out I just have absolutely no motivation to write it. I'm going to the beach next week so hopefully, that motivates me a little. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!*