The next morning came differently from the others. The door to my room shot open and I cracked one eye open. Stryker was standing with guards all around him. He said nothing to me, simply stared down at me. I stared back up at him curiously. Stryker's behavior was odd on more than one occasion but he always seemed at least a little happy. Not today. He had an odd, almost downtrodden look on his face. He motioned for me to stand, and swallowing my pride, I did. I was painfully aware of how bare I was.
There wasn't a speck of clothing on me. I waited for Stryker to laugh or make some crude comment. It never happened. The guards would normally laugh too. Today they didn't. They simply stared at me. Most were wearing masks so that I couldn't even see their eyes. The whole air put me off. Something seemed wrong. I knew that something was wrong. This was not going to be another day of training for me. Perhaps the day had finally come that they would either figure out how to kill me for good or I would be able to escape. I had seen seven birthday's come and pass in my time here. I did not anticipate seeing another one pass me by. I was getting out of here. Maybe today.
"Come on," Stryker ordered me. I nodded and began to walk, feeling overly embarrassed as we walked through the halls. I was slightly concerned that one of my trainers would come and point and laugh but I never saw anyone that I knew.
For a moment I thought that Stryker might parade me through the dining hall or force me to train naked today but he did neither of those things either. Instead he sent me to the hallway with the hydro-chambers. I remembered my conversation with Logan the night before. See if you can meet me in the hydro-chambers tomorrow. Had Stryker found out about my conversation with Logan? Or perhaps on someone subconscious level I had gone into Stryker's mind and discovered that he wanted me here today. Either way I knew that I was about to find out.
We walked through the doorway to the first hydro-chamber and I stepped in. More like was shoved in. I stumbled slightly and stood on the platform facing into the room as the door slid closed behind me. The room was mostly a steel room with a platform that was risen on the far wall. There were one-way mirrors that most likely hid someone that was watching the experiments. There was a large catwalk that stretched below the windows that a few guards and important-looking men were standing at. One woman in uniform was there as well. They were all watching me.
My cheeks burned a soft red as I aimed my eyes straight in front of me. It was the hydro-chamber itself. I'd never actually seen it before. The machine was made of a clear glass as I stared at it. My hands were shaking gently at the sight of it. It looked extraordinarily dangerous. The thoughts of the other guards in the room told me the same things. There were silver tubes and syringes sticking out of every crevice of the hydro-chamber. There were also black straps that seemed to be designed to hold down whoever was inside. Whoever was going in there was not going to be happy. Of course, it was probably going to be me. It was always me.
"Victoria, come forward please." It was a man that I had never seen before. Although one quick glance at him told me that he was a scientist. I'd never met one before. Not a real one. "You are aware of what this is?" The man asked me. I nodded. "Please define adamantium."
My head began to spin as I searched through the endless data bank of knowledge that was stored. "Adamantium," I repeated, sounding every bit like a machine, "is the strongest metal known to man with the exception of Vibranium. A Wakandan metal. The components of the alloy are kept in separate batches - typically in blocks of resin - before molding. Adamantium is prepared by melting the blocks together, mixing the components while the resin evaporates. The alloy must then be cast within eight minutes. It has an extremely stable molecular structure which prevents it from being further molded even if the temperature is high enough to keep it in its liquefied form. In its solid form, it is a dark, shiny gray like high-grade steel or titanium. It is almost impossible to destroy or fracture in this state, and when molded to a sharp edge, can penetrate most lesser materials with minimal force," I recited easily.
"Good," the scientist nodded to me. Stryker was standing next to the man and walked me a few steps backwards. We stood and waited as the scientist jotted down a few notes. "Adamantium has other abilities as well. Abilities that will come out when mixed with Chronicle. Which we have successfully managed in the laboratory. We are testing it today," the man told me.
I didn't understand what the man was saying to me but I chose to remain silent. Stryker never liked me asking questions. "Would you like to know what that means, Victoria?" Stryker asked me.
No part of me liked the suddenly serious attitude that Stryker had suddenly taken on. He always seemed so laughable. He was always in such high spirits. I had never seen him like this before. Whatever was going on today was clearly something either extremely important or extremely dangerous. Probably both. "Yes," I finally answered.
Stryker nodded to the scientist. "We aren't sure exactly what will happen. But there are a few things that we can be confident of. Adamantium can congeal over heavy substances, such as bone. We intend to give you an adamantium skeleton." My eyebrows shot to my hairline. "It will make you impervious to broken bones. Your healing factor will be advanced. It will slow down your aging. There is a chance that it might actually completely stop your aging."
"Making me immortal?" I asked, interrupting Stryker.
I thought that I would be hit for the interruption but Stryker merely nodded at me. It was odd to see him like this. Speaking to me like I was a human rather than an experiment. "Perhaps. That will remain to be seen. It may also take away your pain receptors." Taking away pain receptors? I'd never even heard of that. I didn't think that it was possible.
"So I won't feel pain?" I asked.
Stryker shrugged. "We aren't sure. This has never been attempted before. Logan! Come in, please." I watched as Logan walked in through the doors. Unlike me, he at least had a robe wrapped around himself. He looked at me before looking away quickly. At least he was respectful enough not to stare. My cheeks burned. "Logan, this is Victoria. The two of you have a lot in common. We'll be putting you both through the hydro-chamber. Who goes first?" Stryker asked with a grin.
There it is. I knew that he couldn't be serious for too long. "I will," Logan immediately stepped in. Thank you, I said into his mind. Logan turned to me, managing not to make his face too surprised. He gave me a curt nod.
"No. Ladies first! Come, Victoria. Let's go. Gentlemen, get Logan ready." Logan was dragged off by a few men. He gave me a reassuring nod before disappearing through the door. I had a painful feeling that they just didn't want Logan to see what type of procedure this really was. "Go to the chamber," Stryker instructed me.
Nodding weakly I walked over to where the hydro-chamber was raised. It was much more menacing looking from up close. I stood on the outside of the chamber until a man gave me a rough shove towards it. The only reason that I walked in was because I knew that they wouldn't take my refusal well. My hands were shaking slightly. I was sure that I'd never been so afraid before. I wanted to leave but I also knew that I had made Logan a promise. We were both going to be able to get out of here. We were both going home. We just had to make it out of here. And it started with us getting together. Once they brought him in here we would be able to leave.
As I stood in the center of the hydro-chamber and awaited instructions I let myself slip into Logan's mind. His thoughts were jumbled. Mostly they were of me and what was to come. Logan. We are leaving here today. They will kill you if you stay. Wait for my warning. I need help getting out of here. I believe that you are the help that I've needed.
What the hell, Kid? What is this?
I'll tell you when we leave.
Just give me the signal.
Deep in his mind I could hear that he didn't quite believe me about how awful this place was and I could tell that he didn't believe that I was really going to leave. He would learn. Very soon, he would learn. The man that was standing at the edge of the tank motioned me to lay down on the straps that were on the inside. I nodded to him and laid down on it. The chamber was dry as of now. The man laid a breathing mask over my face. Over near where the doctors were standing I could hear the machines beeping out my vitals. They were high. I was nervous.
I watched with heaving breaths as my hands, ankles, and chest were strapped down with thick, black pads. The man that was strapping me down nodded to the people controlling the tank. Water began to fill underneath me. The bed that I was laying on would lower itself into the water once they were ready to actually put me under. I knew that I would be staying awake for this procedure. Needles and syringes were all around me. I hated even thinking how many of them were going to be stabbing me.
After a few seconds the platform was dropped. Slowly I was completely submerged. My eyes closed at the sudden intrusion of water but I managed to open them a moment later. My vision was slightly blurry as I attempted to look through the surface. I could see the adamantium coming into the tubes that were attached to the machine and syringes. That would be going into me. If it worked. This might kill me too. This could be the one thing that the Chronicle couldn't fix. My heart rate was way too high. One eleven and climbing.
I stared in horror as the mechanical syringes began to spin over me. They were spinning so fast that the tips of the needles had turned a bright red. My entire body was shaking as the needles on the mechanical arms began to drop towards me. The moment that they hit the water the water began to bubble and steam rose behind them in the air. It took me too long to realize that it wouldn't just be my torso, arms, and legs that were going to be injected. My skull would be too. One needle was hovering over my nose while the other two were at my temples.
Had I not been using the air filter I would have screamed at the sight of them coming closer and closer to me. My heart was pounding as my body began to release adrenaline. They spun above me in a sudden suspension. The needles were still spinning. They were only a few centimeters away from my face and the other areas on my body. The needles then took a sudden dive towards my body. When they first hit it was only a mild stinging. That was just because they hadn't pushed all the way in yet.
It took a moment of drilling for them to pass the bone. And when they did I couldn't hold it in anymore. Through the breathing mask I let out a piercing scream. It hurt. It hurt more than anything I'd ever experienced before. The needles were drilling into my brain through the two in my temple. They were past my nose and into the brain stem through the one in my nose. The ones in my torso were grating against my rib cage and internal organs. I could feel them scratching both my lungs and heart, making breathing extremely difficult. The ones in my arms and legs were tearing through the muscle and digging through bone. It was excruciating.
If I'd thought that just feeling the needles in my bone was bad I was dead wrong. A moment later the adamantium compound was released. It felt like molten lava had been released into my body. Every end of my nerves were on fire. My skin was boiling. The adamantium was slowly melting over my bones and sealing itself onto me. Slowly I could see the nerve clusters underneath my skin turning black. The pain faded until I was left feeling nothing more than the pounding of my heart and Chronicle rushing to push the needles from my skin.
Exhaustion took over and I was shoved into another reality as my eyes slipped closed, barely feeling the adamantium fuse to the bones. I was still twitching, desperate to get away from the machine. I could feel my heart pounding. Heart rate over two hundred. Slipping into cardiac arrest. Blood pressure two-fifty over one-twenty. Internal organ failure. My head spun as I tried to think of one last happy memory. If I was going to die I wanted it to be with one last thing to smile over.
So I let my mind wander, searching for Bucky or Steve's. I found Bucky's first. His thoughts were loud. He was walking around a pretty place. There were flying cars and levitating plates that would bring you your drinks. I could feel Bucky's excitement. I smiled as I looked around. The Stark Expo. I'd only been once. I wanted to go. Bucky had promised that he would take me the year that I'd disappeared. He was there with Steve. Steve was walking just behind him. There were two girls with them. One was a brunette and the other was a redhead. The brunette was with Steve. The redhead was hanging onto Bucky's arm. A pain worse than the injections went through my chest.
She grinned up at him and grabbed a small piece of the cotton candy that they were sharing. Bucky was standing with her and staring at a machine that had a promise of making something akin to super-soldiers. There was even the promise that a woman would one day be able to join the rankings of super-soldiers. "Why would anyone want that?" The girl asked.
I could feel the hope sink from Bucky's chest. He stared at the girl and smiled. "Come on, doll face, don't want a little adventure?" He asked her with one of his classic grins. I scowled. That smile shouldn't be for her.
"Proper ladies do not fight. We support the men that go out and fight for us. Our job is to have dinner ready. A clean home and a family. You can't honestly tell me that something like a woman fighting in the dirt with blood and sweat all over her is attractive to you?" The girl asked haughtily.
"Might be kind of cute. I like knowing that a girl can protect herself," Bucky told the girl with a smile.
She rolled her eyes. I could feel Bucky's exasperation with her. He just thought that she was pretty. "We aren't meant to protect ourselves. We're the housekeepers. You're the protectors. It's how it is. It's how it always will be," she told him.
Bucky shook his head at her. "Vika would have loved it," he said softly. In his mind I could see him pull up a memory of the two of us. We were laying in the grass and laughing, tangled up together after a three-legged race gone wrong. Steve was in the background shaking his head at the two of us. I remembered that day. It was one of my happiest.
"Yeah. She would have," Steve said, speaking up for the first time. He had been standing rather awkwardly with the girl he had been paired with. Clearly she was Bucky's date's friend. I could hear it in his thoughts. He had made her bring her friend for Steve. He was always good like that.
"Who's Vika?" The redheaded girl asked.
Better than you, I could hear Bucky think. A grin passed over my face. After all of these years he still held some type of love for me. Bucky's thoughts of me were more than sweet, many of them degrading the redheaded girl, but he said none of them. Instead he opened his mouth and, "An old friend. She's gone now," he said softly. The pain in his chest was horrible.
It made my eyebrows knit together. I wished that I was back with him. With them both. I should have never left. I was going to make things right. If I ever got the chance. "Well you have me now," the redheaded girl flirted. Bucky's thoughts were still on me as he smiled down at her and took her hand, guiding her to the next display. An early prototype of a flying car.
Despite wanting to watch more of the scene I fled Bucky's mind. It was his life. Not mine. Not anymore. A sudden voice brought me out of my thoughts. "Adamantium reservoir is depleted. No rejection. Procedure completed," the voice called from over the intercom.
The needles ceased their spinning and the platform that I was laying on rose from the water. I didn't feel the needles leave. As I was raised from the platform I stared curiously as the man that had loaded me into the machine freed me. I stood and shook my shoulders out. I felt heavier. As I walked off of the platform a man handed me a towel. I was only allowed to wipe off my face before it was snatched from me once more and I was left bare again. Stryker walked over to me and I stared blankly at him. I felt different. It almost felt like someone had ripped my soul out of my body.
As I weakly made my way up the stairs to the platform behind me Stryker came to my side. "Extend your arm." I did as told and watched as he produced a sharp knife. He took my damp arm and sliced up the inside of my forearm. I watched curiously. It didn't hurt a bit. It more tickled. He pulled the skin back long enough for me to see a soft silver glow to the bone underneath. Adamantium. It was officially sealed to my arm. "My God. It worked." Without giving him a chance to do something else I snapped my arm back. It took less than two seconds for the skin to seal itself.
The healing factor was faster than it used to be. Overall I felt stronger. Stranger. It was like the adamantium was only helping as a conductor for the electricity that was buzzing through my veins. I smirked under the veil of my hair. Today was the day that I was leaving this place. Never again would Stryker lay a hand on me. I just had to wait for Logan. Speak of the Devil and he will appear. Logan was walked through the doorway with two guards on each of his sides. They were walking at a distance as they walked him over to Stryker, near where I was standing.
As he walked over his eyes traveled over me. Not in the way that he was looking at my body, more to check if I had any outstanding injuries. I gave him a reassuring nod. It hurt like hell but we needed this. I was sure that it made me stronger. It would make him stronger too. It didn't mean that I still wasn't embarrassed that he was seeing me like this. It was even worse that he was now completely naked too. I avoided staring directly at him to avoid seeing something I didn't want to. I was still raised to be somewhat of a proper young lady, after all. You didn't see a man in that type of dress until it was your wedding night.
But this was a desperate time. And desperate times called for desperate measures. I watched as Logan walked over to us. His eyes traveled over my wet hair and I heard his thoughts call out to me. You alright, kid?
I nodded at him. Gotta be. And I'm not a kid. I'm twenty-one. I'm a woman.
Yeah, I can tell. He gave me a once over and a heavy blush filled my face as I looked away from him. He was shameless. Perhaps it was the way that he was raised. All I knew was that Bucky and Steve would be besides themselves if they knew that Logan, who appeared to be in his late thirties, was looking at me the way that he was.
Interrupting my thoughts, Stryker walked over to Logan and put a hand on his shoulder. "Today, we're gonna create Weapon X," he told my friend proudly. Maybe we weren't friends. But we were at least allies. Or so I thought.
"X?" Logan repeated curiously.
Stryker nodded. "Roman numeral. Ten." It didn't take a genius to realize that Stryker meant that Logan was the tenth because the other nine had died. It was dangerous enough putting me through it. I'd gone into cardiac arrest. If I didn't have the Chronicle in me I would have died. It made my nerves stand on end watching Logan. But he had a regenerative healing ability. I could feel it. He had the best chance to live of anyone that they had put through this experiment other than myself.
Logan was sent down to the hydro-chamber after that. I watched as he was cleaned off by the guards, somewhat more gently than I had been. He stared up at us the entire time. I tried to give him a reassuring nod. A moment after laying down on the same restraints that I had been on I felt my heart rate pick up. Heart rate at eighty-two. I took in a few deep breaths and steadied it. I was concerned for him. Heart rate at sixty-five. Not enough but it was better than nothing. Logan was strapped in and given a small black pad to cover his lower regions. More than I had been given.
The button to start the machine was pressed and I watched as Logan was sent under the water. He seemed calmer than I had been. After a moment the needles began to spin and I cringed softly. I knew just how bad it hurt. Although it seemed that now nothing would ever hurt again. "We are about to begin bonding Adamantium to Weapon X's skeleton," one of the scientists called, waiting for Stryker's approval.
I glanced down at my body before they started administering the adamantium to Logan. The nerve endings underneath my arms and the rest of my body were still blackened. It looked almost like a strange tattooed pattern. It had gotten slightly light though in the few minutes since I'd been taken out of the hydro-chamber. "Let's begin," Stryker finally called.
The syringes began to spin faster and I watched as they closed in on Logan. They were spinning seemingly even faster than they had been when I was under there. I watched as they pierced Logan's skin. He jolted slightly but was otherwise still. I waited for a moment before the needles pushed their way into his skin. Logan was clearly screaming under the water but nothing was heard. I watched in fear as he began to seize. The grey adamantium was pushed through the syringes and under his skin. His movement only became wilder as his eyes sprung open.
"Body temperature is one-oh-eight and rising," the only woman in the room other than myself said. God no. He'd be dead in a minute if his temperature sustained there for an extended period of time.
One of the men that was standing next to Stryker walked over to us. Stryker was the only one here, other than myself, that looked the slightest bit worried that Logan would not survive the experiment. "Why is he like that? Why isn't he sedated?" The man asked. There was a plan for sedation? "Just like her. He'll feel the pain," the man continued.
I could understand Stryker not giving me the anesthesia, he wanted me feeling the pain, but why not Logan? "Anesthesia won't work on him. That's why he had to volunteer," Stryker answered. I knew that Logan had been a volunteer. I supposed that it was something about his regenerative abilities that kept him from being able to process the anesthesia.
The man shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't taken his eyes off of Logan other than to ask Stryker his question. "Will he survive this? She did," he said, pointing over to me.
Stryker shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." My hands bunched together. He was treating this like it was nothing. He was acting like this wasn't someone's life. "I think she's stronger than him," Stryker added.
Perhaps. But Logan was older. He was better trained. We would be unstoppable together. But I had to get out of here with him. I couldn't so this alone. "Heartbeat is close to maximum," the woman near the monitor read out.
"Blood pressure?" Stryker asked the woman.
She stared at the screen for a moment. "Two-sixty over one-eighty," she answered.
Everyone nodded and watched as Logan continued to trash around in the chamber. He was trying desperately to get out of the restraints. "He can make it, he can make it," Stryker muttered to himself. The machines that were reading out his vitals were to the point where I knew that he would die soon if he got no help. "I guess he can die," Stryker said softly.
No. He can't die. I need him. "Heart rate rising," the woman spoke up.
I let my mind slip into his. The pain that he was going through was almost unbearable. His body was not accepting the adamantium as easily as mine had. Logan please, I need your help. Come back. I got no answer. Instead the monitor that was displaying his heart rate let out a loud beep before showing a flat line. Logan was dead. No. No. This can't happen. Logan please, wake up. Wake up. You aren't dead. Come back. My heart was racing as I desperately searched his brain for something to show me that he was alive. But it was blank and the monitor continued to drone out the flat line tone. Logan was dead. And so was any chance of me escaping.
Just as I turned to head back to my cell I saw a tiny blip on the monitor. Fearing that I had seen only what I wanted to I looked back at him. He was still. He looked dead. But slowly the heart monitor began to beep steadily once more. Logan's vitals were slowly rising. He wasn't dead. And my plan just might work. "Adamantium reservoir is depleted. No rejection. Procedure completed," the mechanical voice rang out once more.
"We did it," Stryker said softly.
"We take him to the island?" Another asked.
What the hell was the island? I wanted to go to an island. I think it was high time that I got to relax on the beach on some island. "The island?" I asked Stryker. He ignored my question.
"No," he answered the other man, who nodded. I waited for Logan to raise over the water but they never did. They were still leaving him under the water. I waited for them to bring him up like they had done with me. "The bonding works. We use his DNA for the Eleven. Erase his memories. Fry his brain!" Stryker shouted as an order.
"No!" I shouted.
Stryker walked over to me and for a moment I thought that he might hit me. Maybe it wouldn't matter. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't feel pain anymore. I saw Logan's eyes open as he began to thrash around underneath the water. He was writhing back and forth and I watched as the bones in his hand seemed to be shoved around. What the hell was happening? A moment later the skin on his knuckles gave way and three large, adamantium claws shot out. Logan's eyes shot open and the breathing mechanism that had been in his mouth came out. He was now screaming under the water, trying desperately to get out of the hydro-chamber.
"I think he heard you," an Asian man standing off to the side of the main area where I was said to Stryker. No one acknowledged him. Everyone was staring and watching as Logan fought against the restraints.
It was a moment after that that Logan finally broke the restraints that had been on himself and jumped from the hydro-chamber. He was still standing inside, letting out an animalistic roar. Stryker stumbled back from me and I watched as the Asian man shot Logan. It took me a moment to realize that it was Agent Zero, who I had met so long ago. My heart skipped a beat as it had been a perfect head shot. Logan's head rolled over to us and he glared darkly, gnashing his teeth together, giving a look that could kill.
If we wanted to leave we had to do it now. "Logan move!" I shouted. He looked up at me, seemingly finally noticing that I was here. He nodded and jumped out of the tub. I watched as he was shot at and I followed. Guns were blazing after me, many were hitting the two of us over our backs, but it didn't bother me. Not anymore. It didn't feel like a damn thing. This was their fault.
A man stepped out in front of me with his gun aimed at my head but I didn't let him get to me. The electrical current shot over my arm and I thrust out, catching the man around the throat and ripping the gun out of his other hand. The electricity shot into his throat, frying his vocal chords, before I dropped him. As he fell to the ground I used his gun to shoot him through the skull. Logan was slightly in front of me as I turned back and stared up at the people that had once ruled my life. No more.
Without warning I let out an animalistic yell and shot the electrical currents through the air. They shot into the monitors and stations that they were all standing at, electrocuting everyone who had been standing there. Two armed guards tried to run after me but I switched gears, moving to the flames. The first man came within arms reach of me when I brought the flames over my hand and grabbed his mask. It melted together before falling back onto his skin. He let out a piercing howl as the plastic seeped into the weak skin on his face. The other guard went to shoot me but just as he did - the bullet landing in my thigh - I saw Logan jump from behind me. He swiped at the guard and I watched in a stunned silence as the man's head came off, hitting the ground.
Armed guards were behind us and following, clearly wanting to stop us from leaving. "Come on!" Logan shouted at me. It didn't take anything more to get me running alongside him. As men began to shoot after us Logan stepped in front of me, shoving me to the door.
We ran through the door and I watched as Logan slammed it behind us. I could hear the bullets clinking against the door as men tried and fought to get out to us. We were trapped in a hallway. The wall that we were standing in front of would take us to the outside. We could have run through the halls but we were trapped. It was too much fighting. We had to get out of here. "Take care of the door. I've got them," I told Logan.
My teeth were ground together as an odd humming began to wrack through my body. I glanced down to see that my body was not only shaking slightly, I was turning a soft golden hue. The guards were running towards us with guns out, each shooting at us. I didn't know what had come over me - I had never seen this power before - but I dropped to the ground, slamming my fists against the ground. The energy released was like the fusion of hydrogen nuclei to form deuterium. It was large enough that it shook the entire building. Columns and wings began to fall as the energy blast shook through the walls. The blast of yellow light was so bright that it had burned the guards eyes out. Their brains were being invaded by the radiation from the blast. Their internal organs were shutting down. It would be a slow and painful death.
The loud bang that had gone off during the blast was still echoing through the woods. As Logan cut open the wall he shoved me through. His skin was bubbling with boils forming over his face and back. My own skin was still tinkling with a gentle golden glow. The black veins under my skin had faded. They were now the same soft gold. Logan was shoving me out into the woods, before the remaining guards could collect themselves. The guards that had been advancing on us were all dead.
Two that were behind us were faster. Logan motioned for me to stop as the two men came up to us. His claws were bared, ready to fight. But he never got the chance. As the two guards came near us they began to collapse. The metal and plastic on their suits melted first. Their skin boiled afterwards, just like Logan's. They collapsed to the ground and I watched as their eyes expanded before popping. Their mouths opened and as they screamed blood came up. It was trailing from the holes that their eyes had once been in as well. Blood was pouring out of every crevice on the men as they fell to the ground. Skin was peeling off of them as Logan motioned me backwards.
Stryker's voice suddenly cut through the air. Or through my mind. He was inside the building. Somehow he had survived my electrical blast in the hydro-chamber. Mother of God. She can embody high-levels of radiation. She's an Omega.
What do we do?
Catch her! Do not let her get away! Either one of them!
"Lockdown!" I could hear someone shout over the mechanical speakers in the building. Logan shoved me forwards once more. The skin on his hand boiled off and I watched as it immediately began to form again, not making it past the bloodied particles.
He was staring at me in horror. "Keep away from me! Go!" I howled at him.
We were standing on a rocky cliff that had a waterfall at the edge. We had to be at least a hundred feet from the water below. Maybe two hundred. The rocks were slippery as Logan shoved me across them. From his grunts of pain and curses I could tell that I was still burning the skin off of him each time he touched me. The waterfall came up faster than I thought that it would. Logan nodded to me as we hit the edge of the rocks and I took a deep breath. I had wanted to get out of here. And now I was. I just had to take the final jump.
As we hit the edge of the rocks I took a flying leap at the same time as Logan had. For a moment we were hovering over the waterfall. Logan was at my side as we fell through the air. Himself being heavier than I was - he fell faster. My feet were about at his knees as we fell in line with the heavy water. It was pounding over me and practically drowning me. I held my breath as the water completely overtook me. Had it not been for the weightless feeling in my stomach I would have thought that I'd already hit the water.
Suddenly as fast as I had jumped from the edge of the rocks I hit the water. It was easy to register that the fall had been just over two-hundred feet. As my body was pounded by the water I fought to get to the surface. I could still drown. I had to get out of here. I swam deeper in the water before desperately getting away from the pounding water of the waterfall. I had swam about twenty feet when the water finally wasn't heavy enough that I could no longer swim up. So I did, breaking the surface and taking in a huge breath of air.
The sun was painful. The wind felt strange. I was freezing. The air was dirty out here. It had been so long that I had been outside I had almost forgotten what it was like to not be inside. I took a quick look down at myself and saw that my skin was no longer glowing. It had gone back to the sickly pale tone that it had been for the past seven years. The only evidence from the previous tone of my skin was the gentle golden glow of the nerve endings underneath my skin. As I weakly swam over to the bank I realized that the adrenaline that had flooded my body was gone now. I felt like I was about to drown. I needed food and water desperately.
As I swam I realized that I hadn't gotten out of here alone. Logan had been with me. And I didn't see him. Panic built in the bottom of my chest. "Logan! Logan!" I shrieked. I slipped into his mind. It was still here but dark. He was alive. "Logan! Logan, where are you? Logan! Logan! Logan!" I continuously shouted.
"Calm down, kid, I'm right here," I heard Logan call out. We were in a deeper part of the water, probably about eight feet, when I saw him. He was just a few feet behind me. His boiling skin was coming back to its previous look. The only difference now was that it was still slightly red. But I was sure that it would be back to normal within a few minutes.
"Oh thank God," I muttered softly. I swam over to Logan, hesitating for a minute - I didn't want to hurt him - but it seemed that the radiation that had previously been emitting from me was no longer a problem. Perhaps the water had done something. Or maybe it was the loss of adrenaline. Either way, I swam over to Logan and he caught me in his arms as I fell against his chest.
His arms were tight around me as he swam us over to the bank, near the edge of the waterfall. If someone looked over they wouldn't be able to see us. A few tears slipped out of my eyes as he dragged the two of us up onto the bank. I had never thought that I would live to see the sun again. I glanced up and let out a soft laugh. It felt so good. A warmth spread over me, despite the freezing cold from the water. The sand that we were laying in felt good too. It was curling between my toes and covering most of my body. I liked the feeling of it. Logan rolled slightly so that I was halfway underneath him. Our arms and legs were tangled together as we let out a soft laugh.
My head was pressed against his as I stared up at him, laughing gently. It sounded so foreign. I hadn't heard myself laugh in years. But my laughter was cut off abruptly when I realized the position I was laying in. We were both soaking wet and completely in the nude. We were laying on top of each other and our limbs were tangled together. I scrambled away from him, stumbling over myself slightly. Logan smirked up at me.
He came to a stand, towering over me. His claws had since gone back into his hands. "Cute, kid. You never seen a guy like that before?" Logan teased as he motioned for me to follow him through the woods.
"No," I answered honestly. "I've been there since I was fourteen. Never had a chance to be doing something else." Logan had nothing to say back to that. "Have you always been able to do that thing with your claws?" I asked carefully.
He nodded at me. "Yeah but it was always bone. Never seen the claws like that before," he told me.
"It's the adamantium in you now. Your bones are plated in it. I believe that your entire skeleton is. It will make you indestructible. Or near indestructible. You have the increased metabolism and healing factor and now the adamantium skeleton. I suppose it's the one mutation that we have in common," I ranted, wanting to say something to avoid talking about the elephant in the room... or woods.
Logan nodded. "What's that thing that you did back there? You were melting the skin off of me. Them too."
"The only reason that you were able to withstand it was the healing factor. But it's why I was trying to stay away from you. I didn't know how much you were able to take. I could hear Stryker saying it back in that room. He isn't dead. The electrical current didn't get him. He must have let go of the panel before I could get to it. The mutation is something with radiation. It allows me to take on a pure form of it. Destroys organic tissue near me. Seems like it can destroy synthetic material too. I don't know what happened that made it stop. Maybe it was the water. Maybe it was the lack of adrenaline. I've never been able to do that before," I told him softly.
Logan stopped me and nodded. We were standing in the thick of trees. Even when Stryker and his remaining men came for us I knew that they wouldn't be able to find us. Not at first. We had time. "That was pretty damn impressive. I'd make sure to keep that in the back of your mind," he told me. I nodded and gave a small smile as we walked.
We both knew that we had other places that we needed to go. We would only be able to travel together for so long. But what had happened back there, what we had been through together, I knew that it meant that we would be friends forever. Two people didn't go through something like that together and then just never speak to each other again. Logan and I were in some type of way bonded now. It sounded strange but it was the truth. And it was that truth that made it so hard to admit that we were only going to be able to be together for so much longer.
The two of us walked for hours until the sun was starting to set. We were getting close to what looked like a farmland. We had already traveled about thirty miles. The only conversation had been tiny bits and pieces to learn a bit more about each other. Other than a few small conversations we'd been in silence. We were both clearly trying to delay the eventual leave that we would need to take of each other. "I need to go east," Logan said, finally ending the delay of the inevitable.
I turned to him and nodded. I would need to go east eventually too but for right now I needed to go elsewhere. "I need to go south," I said softly.
Logan nodded at me before giving me a slight smile. "I got a brother to kill," he told me.
In the back of his mind I could see his brother's face. I could see him from Logan's eyes, leaning over his wife and killing her. I wouldn't try to stop him from his quest for revenge. If I ever saw Stryker again I would get my revenge on him. Not necessarily for what he had done to me but because of how stupid and ignorant I'd been. I had followed him like a fool. I'd thought that he was safe. He seemed to know me. He promised me that he would help me. If I could go back in time I'd have slapped myself for what I'd done. I'd left Bucky and Steve without a word. I had to get back to them. If nothing else just to explain that I hadn't left them without thought. I'd left because I thought that it was the right thing to do. I was wrong.
It took me a moment to realize that Logan was waiting for me to say something. "I've got friends that need a damn good reason as to why I've been gone all these years," I told him.
He nodded, knowing that it meant that our brief time together was coming to an end. "Kid-" Logan started before I cut him off.
"Victoria," I corrected him. He raised an eyebrow at me. "If you're going to continue looking at me the way that you do you had damn well better stop calling me kid," I told him with a smirk.
Logan grinned at me and shook his head. "Get some food in you and take a shower and you'll look even better," he told me. I laughed softly and shook my head. He had been around for too long to care about proper communication in society. Being raised by Bucky and Steve's parents I had been forced to learn them. "I've been around a long time. I forget about social manners. I know it's not proper for a young lady to see a man like this. Or vice versa," he said.
A sudden frown marred my features. A proper young lady. That wasn't what I was. Not after what I'd done in there. Not with what I had done to those people. I'd killed them all. Fried their insides and melted their skin. I could have killed Logan had he not had the regenerative power. Perhaps it was safer that I stayed away from people. I didn't even know that I had the radioactive power. I couldn't risk doing that again in someplace that was crowded. Not with Steve or Bucky anywhere near me. Perhaps it was better that I was gone.
No one would ever look at me the same way if they found out what I was. I wasn't sure that I would be able to look at myself the same way ever again. "You saw what I did in there. I'm long past proper," I muttered softly.
Logan stepped up to me, his brown eyes boring into my yellow ones. "You're right. You're Savage," he told me.
My eyebrows raised. "Savage?" I repeated.
He nodded at me and took a step back. "Yeah. Savage. They like to name us different things." I raised an eyebrow again, not really sure what he was getting at. "My brother, he calls himself Sabretooth. My wife called me Wolverine. Us - the mutants - we all have names. Gotta give you one too." I smiled slightly. Perhaps we were almost like a family. "I like Savage," he said.
Wolverine and Savage. It was a good mix. It sounded dangerous. "I like it too," I said with a smile. We stood together in silence for a moment before I stared sadly at Logan. "Logan are you sure that I can't convince you to come with me?" I asked.
A small smirk spread over his face. "Ah, you gonna miss me?" He teased.
I rolled my eyes at his childish manner. "You know it." In some ways I would miss him. He was the only person like me that I genuinely felt that I knew. Part of me wanted to stay with him but I knew that we both had things to do. "I know. We both have things we need to get done and we can't do them together. Please be careful. Revenge isn't always the best choice. And Stryker and his men will be after us," I said.
It was only a matter of time before they realized that Logan and I hadn't died during the fall. And once they knew that we were still out there they would come after us. "I know. I'll leave a trail, make sure they follow me." I opened my mouth to argue with him but Logan spoke over me. "You still got a whole life to live, kid. I'll take care of Stryker. Go find that boy you love," he told me with a smirk.
My heart sank as I looked over at Logan. "What?" I asked him dumbly.
He grinned at me. "If there's anything that I should know by now it's the look of a girl who's in love. I overheard Stryker mention two boys by the names of Bucky and Steve. Must be one of them." My eyes fell to the ground. I didn't want to admit that I felt something for them. Because I couldn't. I'd hurt them enough. I was afraid to hurt them even more. "Get out of here. Go find him," Logan said.
Looking up at him I shook my head. I loved Bucky and Steve more than anything but I couldn't hurt them again. "Logan, you're right about one thing. I'm savage. What I did in there could get him killed. He's just a man," I told Logan. A flash of emotion shot through his eyes and I realized that his wife must have just been human too. We both knew the pain. "Me and you, we're something more. The longer I've thought about it the more that it makes sense. I won't age. What's the point of being with him and watching him grow old and die? Only to continue living myself. These mutations are dangerous. I could accidentally kill him," I argued.
Logan took a step forward and for a moment I thought that he was actually angry with me. "So why are you going to find him?" He asked me.
I wanted to say that it was because I owed him an apology or just to show him that I wasn't really dead. But I knew that wasn't it. It was because I wanted to see him. Just one last time. "Because I owe him an apology," I said softly.
Logan let out a soft sigh before taking a step forward and placing a hand on my shoulder. "Victoria, you know how to find me if you ever need me," he told me seriously.
I smiled at him and nodded. "And the same goes to you," I told him honestly.
We stood together for a moment. We both laughed softly after a moment and took a step backwards from each other. Despite the fact that we knew that we were going to have to leave each other it was hard for the two of us to take the first step away from each other. "Goodbye, kid. I'll see you again," he told me before leaving.
"You so sure about that?" I called after him.
He nodded at me. I could tell that he really did mean it. If we were both never going to age I knew that the time would come that I would cross paths with Logan again. "The last time that I see you it's not going to be bloody and battered without clothes and starved half to death," he told me and I nodded. When we saw each other again I intended for it to be on better terms. "Well, you can always come back without the clothes," he said after a moment of silence.
"Shut up," I told him with a laugh. We were both smiling and laughing at the other. I knew that he was just teasing me. And the more that I thought about it the funnier that it really was. I'd only known Logan for two days and here we were laughing and teasing each other, standing naked in the middle of the woods. "Goodbye, Logan. I'll see you again. Be careful out there," I told him.
He nodded at me. "You too." My legs felt like bricks as I tried to force myself to leave our little clearing. "Do me a favor while you're out there. Tell that boy you love him," he told me.
My face fell as I stared at him. He didn't understand that I really did want to say something to Bucky. But I couldn't. Not when I would have to watch him grow old and die. Not when I held the potential to kill him just under my skin. "I'll think about it," I finally told him.
Despite nodding at me I knew that he knew that I was not going to say anything to Bucky. "Get out of here. The train tracks are about two miles that way," Logan pointed behind me. "Follow them south. They should bring you over into either Idaho or Montana. Maybe even North Dakota. Go through the low population areas and make your way over to New York. If you're fast it should take you about three or four days to get there," Logan told me. I nodded, trying to map out a way to get back to Brooklyn.
"Thanks. I don't know if I'll head to New York right away," I said after a moment. "Might hide out for a little while and try and put some weight back on. Get a little healthier before trying to actually rejoin civilization," I told him with a smile.
I still looked like something between a ghost and a skeleton. Being out in public right now might not be the best thing. And I wasn't so sure that Bucky and Steve wouldn't run from me if they saw me the way that I was. "Good girl. Get out of here," Logan said. Before I could leave I turned back to Logan and walked up to him. He opened his arms to me and wrapped me in a hug. As he loosened his grip I leaned up on my toes and pressed a small kiss to his cheek, almost against the edge of his mouth. "Thanks for everything, kid," Logan said.
Smiling at him one last time I nodded at him. "Anytime," I said softly. With that I turned and walked through the woods. I turned back a few times as I walked to check on Logan. He hadn't left yet. He stood in the same spot that I had left him in. It wasn't until I was about to disappear over a small hill that he gave me a wink and turned, running off. A small sigh escaped my lips as I began the trek back to New York.
Four Days Later...
Brooklyn, New York
I made my way through the old housing area with soft steps. I didn't want to alert anyone that I was here. The last four days had been hell. Like Logan had said, the tracks were just two miles south of where we had been. They hadn't taken long to find. I'd walked on them for about two hours before a train had passed. From there I'd jumped on and rode it overnight, getting up on my own for the first time in seven years. The train had taken me as far as eastern Ohio. From there I'd stuck to the woods. Out there I'd been lucky enough to find a tattered old coat. It was the only amount of clothing that I could find. I was still wearing it.
That day I'd trekked through Ohio and found myself in Pennsylvania. It had taken me the entire third day to get through Pennsylvania. There wasn't much around the state to actually find myself held up with. I'd stolen a few pieces of fruit from outdoor markets and later that night I had managed to find a folded up five dollar bill on the ground. I'd found some small tavern and eaten there. A greasy cheeseburger and a mountain of fries with a large cola. I'd barely been able to move afterwards. I could barely remember ever eating like that.
Thankfully there was a public bathroom not far from there. I hadn't bothered sleeping last night. Instead I'd walked over to the bathroom and spent the night there, taking care of myself. I'd been collecting small supplies, stealing them from outdoor markets. I felt bad but I had to do something. I'd used a small sponge to wipe the dirt, Chronicle, and sweat off of me. A small razor had taken the hair off of my legs and a few other areas. A pair of scissors had cut my hair to a normal length. It was slightly uneven but it was good enough. It now fell just underneath my shoulders. I couldn't find a brush but the shampoo and conditioner I'd found was enough to take the giant knots out. It was still scraggly but it looked better.
I'd done a full assessment of myself that yellow in my eyes was slightly brighter than it had been before I'd left Stryker's place. They still looked too dull but they were better. And the red had gone down in them too. My hair was not the same disgusting rat's nest that it had been. My skin had tanned slightly from the long walks in the sun. It was still too pale but darker than it had been before. It was almost impossible to see the golden nerve endings underneath my skin now. They had darkened too, but they were still slightly visible.
My body had not yet filled out, not that I'd been expecting it to. It looked like I might have gained a pound or so but that still wasn't enough. I didn't look the way that I knew I could but I had waited long enough. In the early hours of the morning I had made it into New York. Hitching a ride on a train that was transporting coal I'd ridden out to Brooklyn. It was late afternoon judging by the sun and I was finally here. Walking through the old rows of apartment buildings my heart gave a painful twist as I walked up to the apartment building that had once been mine.
I'm home. My heart was pounding as I walked up the stairs to the level that Steve and Bucky both lived on. The place was more derelict than it was the last time that I had seen it. It was not as nice as it used to be. There were less people and the building almost looked like it was falling apart. But it was no matter. They were here. And that was all that mattered. I walked up the final flight and - even after seven years - automatically let my feet lead me over to Bucky's apartment.
But something was wrong. This whole thing was wrong. There were no signs of any life in the apartment. I couldn't hear their thoughts. Not through the telepathy or just with the advanced hearing. They weren't here. But as I looked in I realized that they weren't just out for the day. Nothing was in the apartment. There was no furniture in the apartment. I couldn't see a thing. My heart was pumping heavily as I walked over to Steve's apartment, only to be met with the same thing. There were no people in the apartment and there was nothing that could be seen. Where were they? I had just seen them at Stark Expo through Bucky's eyes a few days ago.
There was a soft clanking behind me and I turned back, almost expecting to see Bucky or Steve there. For a moment hope bubbled in my chest until I realized that it wasn't them. It was an older woman with a friendly smile on her face. "You looking for someone, dear?" She asked me.
Keeping my eyes aimed at the ground, glad that it was dark in the hall, I nodded at her. "Yes, actually. Steven Rogers lives here. James Barnes was just two doors down. Um they both lived here with their families. Do you know where they are? Any of them?" I asked her.
A sad smile crossed her face and she shook her head at me. "Oh dear. It must have been some time since you've been here," she said. I nodded at her. "James' mother died quite a few years ago. Maybe six or so. Flu took her." My God. Mrs. Barnes had died not long after I'd left. "His father died just over a year ago in an accident at Camp Lehigh. His sister was sent to a boarding school. Don't know what happened to the others. As for Steven, his mother and father both died around the same time, about five years ago. Sickness took them both," she told me.
Everyone. Everyone was gone. It hurt deep down to think about. The people that I had once considered as my family were gone. Even their siblings were gone. But I had to remember that it wasn't them that I was here for. I was here for the boys. "Do you know where they are? James and Steven?" I asked, fighting to keep my voice steady.
The older woman shrugged her shoulders at me. "I'm not quite sure. They both sold their homes after James' father died. I believe they left to live together but that was a year ago. I haven't heard from either of them." Gone. They were gone. And I had no clue where to look. "I think this place has too many memories," she said, looking all around her.
"Yes. It does," I said softly. Not just their parents but me. Everything that had happened to them. I almost couldn't blame them for leaving. "Thank you. I'll be on my way," I told the older woman, fleeing down the stairs as quickly as possible.
They had to still be in New York. I had seen them at the Stark Expo just days before. But no matter how much I tried to search for them I couldn't find them. I could see Steve sitting on a couch and laughing with Bucky - who was in the kitchen and sipping on a beer. I desperately tried to figure out where they were but I wasn't that strong yet. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that it was not the same place that we had grown up. And unless I wanted to go through every house in New York I might not ever figure out where they were.
So I headed away from the apartment complex and left towards the northern end of the state. The entire time that I walked, eventually hitting a woodsy area of the state, I tried to convince myself that it was for the best. Perhaps it was for the best. Maybe this was some type of divine intervention telling me that it was for the best that I couldn't find Bucky and Steve. Maybe this was my punishment for being such a fool and going with Stryker. I hadn't wanted to see Bucky and Steve again for fear of hurting them, but maybe it was always me that would end up hurt.
Walking past an old farmhouse I headed through the field and over to the barn. It looked like whoever lived here didn't actually utilize the farm. It looked like they more just liked the space. So I figured that tonight I would sleep in the barn and be gone by the morning. Maybe I would head to an information center and see if I could find something out about Bucky and Steve. Or perhaps an Army recruitment center. I knew that they both wanted to go in. Maybe I would walk around the business center of Brooklyn. See if there was a chance that I could find them.
No matter what I owed them both an apology. A gun clicked behind me and I froze in my tracks. There was someone behind me. Clearly the owner of the home. "You'd best get off of my property," the man's scratchy voice called out to me.
Turning back I stared at him. He was an older man, tall too. He appeared to be somewhere in his mid-sixties. He had a wrinkled face and hard eyes. A military man no doubt. His brown eyes were looking over me. He had gone from staring at me with a mean glare to a curious glance. He was still aiming the gun at me but I noticed that his grip had loosened. "Go ahead. Shoot me," I told him.
The man looked appalled at me. He shook his head and lowered the gun. He still had his finger over the trigger but he looked less tempted to shoot me now. "I'm not going to kill a kid," he said.
I shrugged my shoulders. "You won't kill me. You won't even hurt me." It was the truth. I'd found that out right after Stryker's experiment on me. My pain receptors were gone. "Can you just point me in the direction of a hotel?" I asked.
It wasn't like I was going to actually be able to stay there. I didn't have any money. But maybe I could break into a room and manage to take a real shower. Perhaps I could even break into their kitchen. The man shook his head and dropped the gun. "Kid, you look like hell." Should have seen me a few days ago. "Come on inside. Get you something to eat. Take a shower," he told me.
He was motioning back to the farmhouse and I shook my head. The old man seemed nice enough but I wasn't going to go with him. I didn't know him. He didn't know what I was. I couldn't have what happened with Stryker to me happen again. It wouldn't. It wasn't in me to let that happen again. "You don't want me near you," I told him.
"Why? Because the police are looking for you?" He asked. My eyes widened and I let the electrical current run through my veins, keeping it just below the surface. A good shock might give some memory loss but it wouldn't kill him. I had to keep it in the back of my mind. Just in case. The man seemed to sense my hesitation. "Not too many people have yellow eyes." Oh. I'd forgotten about that. "Or match a physical description of a fugitive on the run. Thirteen years you've been in hiding. Not bad," the man told me, swinging the shotgun over his back.
He had a very nonchalant attitude about him. It was nothing like the almost desperate way that Stryker had once spoken to me. I stared at the man for a moment before looking him over. "You're in the Army," I stated.
He nodded at me and went into a brief salute. He held out his hand to shake mine but I ignored it. He didn't look offended. "Colonel Chester Philips. Good to meet you, Victoria Davies." My eye twitched slightly. I hadn't heard someone call me that in a long time. The man nodded back to his house and motioned over his head. "Come on in," he called back to me.
I followed him with the electrical current still running heavily under my skin. I stood a slight distance from him. He was just one man but I didn't want to test him. "You're not going to report me to the government?" I asked him.
If there was an chance that he would I was going to turn and run. I would never be held up in a lab like a test rat the way that I had been again. "Nah, never really liked the government." I almost snorted. He worked with the Army, what sense did that make? "You're a kid that's clearly in something bigger than herself. And look at you. You're starving and you look like you've been living in the woods. If I'd have thought that you were going to hurt me I would have shot you," he told me.
As we walked into his house he tossed the shotgun that he had been holding into a side closet carelessly. I watched as he walked into the kitchen and began to make himself coffee. "It wouldn't make a difference. It would only make me angry," I said.
The man turned to me and gave me a small smile. It was the first emotion on his face other than anger and a simple nonchalance. "You're not normal, are you, Victoria?" He asked me.
"Normal is subjective."
The man grinned at me and motioned me to a room in the back of his house. "Come with me." I walked with him, standing behind slightly. The electrical currents were still at the tips of my fingers. The man began to look through a cabinet in a big wooden desk before grabbing a manila envelope and handing it to me. "I haven't looked at this file in a long time. Reports say that we should immediately report you to the FBI if you're ever found. But I never did like to follow the rules," he told me with a small smile.
I opened the file quickly and realized that it was a file with my name on it. It had my picture and all sorts of information about me. It even had images of my childhood home, burned down. There were also the death certificates of my parents. My heart was beating quickly as I looked up at the man. He was watching me curiously. "How did you get this?" I asked him softly.
The man sighed and motioned me to follow him back into the kitchen we had just come from. "At the time of your escape everyone had it. Nearly every Colonel in the military had it. Every police department, hell your pictures were all over convenience stores in your area. No one thought that a little kid could make it as far as Brooklyn. How'd you hide for so long? You had to have been enrolled in school?" He asked me.
For a moment I stared at him. I didn't trust the man but I could tell that he wasn't bad. If there was one thing that I could thank Stryker for it was teaching me who is trustworthy and who isn't. "Yes. I was enrolled under another name," I answered plainly.
The man seemed pleased enough with my answer. "Smart. What do you go by now?" He asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders and leaned back against the table that he had set out. "Nothing. I've been locked away for a number of years. Nowhere for me to run and no way for anyone to find me. Only got out recently. Headed straight for Brooklyn. Came out here when I couldn't find what I was looking for. Just trying to find some place to... be," I said softly.
He didn't need to know that I was still searching for two of my friends. Not yet. "Some of the things in that record say that you're pretty smart. Got a penchant for genetics," he told me.
Once more I shrugged. He wasn't wrong. I was extremely good with genetics. It was probably because my own genetics were scrambled. I wanted to see if I could learn more about it. See if I could find out why I was the way that I was. "I'm alright," I muttered.
The man stared at me for a moment before taking a step towards me. I backed away immediately and I noticed that he stepped back as well, clearly understand that he had overstepped his boundaries. I appreciated that he had stepped back. "What if I told you that I could give you a life? A job? A place to belong?" He asked me with a small smile.
My eyebrows shot to my forehead. No one could give me those things. I wasn't the right type of person to have a normal life. I never would be. "What do you mean?" I asked him slowly.
"Like I said, I'm a Colonel in the Army. I can pull some strings." He wanted to give me a job in the Army? "If you're as good with genetics as it seems that you are we could have some use for you. We have a doctor on site that is very good with genetics. We're working on a special project. I think you could be useful." My eyebrows knitted and the man seemed to catch his mistake. "As a consultant. We need someone that understands genetics. We have biologists and chemists and even some geneticists. But none like you. And if you're as... different as everyone claims that you are you could be useful to me for training the recruits," he added.
The things that he was saying were like a dream. It was a way for me to start the life that I had always wanted. But I couldn't trust him. Not after everything that had happened. I would not be that fool again. "I've been through a hell of a lot in the past seven years. You'll excuse me if I don't trust you right off the bat," I told the man after a moment of silence.
The man nodded at me. "Trust me or don't, that's your choice. I'm the only person that lives here. No one ever visits. The only time I leave is when I live at Camp Lehigh during training. You could come with me. Help out there. It's the Army. There are barracks. You'd live with the other women on site. No one would hurt you. You agree to this and I'll tell you about everything else that's going on with the project. Something tells me that you know that I'm being honest," the man told me.
After a long pause of the two of us staring at each other I dropped into his mind. I could see a training place. Camp Lehigh. The same place that Bucky's father and the other Army recruits trained. The man was shouting at the recruits and rolling his eyes as the men fell over. A few times I felt a bubble of amusement when they took particularly hard falls. There was even a science lab that he was in from time to time. A German scientist was trying to explain to him what it was but I could feel the man's confusion. He merely nodded and make it clear that he needed this done.
Finally I broke away from his mind. He wasn't lying. He really was being honest with me. I wished that I had been able to do that when I'd met Stryker. I wished that I'd thought to do it. "I do," I finally told the man. He nodded at me and extended a cup of coffee to me. After a moment I took it. "Why are you helping me?" I asked him.
The question had been slightly rude but the man didn't look offended. He merely smiled at me and walked over to the table. He motioned to the chair, almost asking if he could take a seat. After a moment I nodded. "I can be a bit of a hard-ass. Probably why I never married or had a family. But that doesn't mean that I don't love kids. Doesn't mean I don't love to help. It's why I joined the Army. It's why I do what I do when I'm there. Because I want to help. I know potential when I see it. I think that you have potential," he said.
"To help this project," I said drearily.
The man shook his head at me. "To be human. To have friends and family that surround you. No one deserves to be treated the way that you have been," he told me.
My eyes narrowed. "How do you know how I've been treated?" I snapped at him.
The man still didn't look offended by the way that I had spoken to him. "I'm an old man. I've seen a lot of eyes. Some are happy, some are sad, some are pained, and some are calm. But I've never seen a set of eyes like yours." I huffed. That was just because they were yellow. "There's nothing in them. Not a spark of life. Not a spark of love. I'd like to change that," he told me.
We sat together in silence for a moment before I finally spoke once more. "You sure you weren't a father?"
The man gave a soft smile and shook his head at me. "Positive," he said with a small chuckle. He looked better when he was smiling. "But if we're going to bring you into the Army we have to give you a different backstory. I can say that I took you in through adoption. After adoption, records are sealed and destroyed. We give you a new name. Victoria Philips. How is that?" He asked me.
I assumed that he meant that his last name was Phillips. At least I knew something to call him. "I'm willing to try it," I told him after a moment.
Philips nodded at me with a small smile. He stood to walk back into the kitchen. "That's all that I'm asking," he called over his shoulder.
As he walked around in the kitchen I called out to him once more. "Just know that if I sense that something is wrong, if for a minute I think that you're like the people that I just came from, I will kill you. And I promise you that. I'll never have what happened to me there happen to me again," I told Philips with complete seriousness.
"Good," he called. My eyebrows quirked. "Then we're on the same page. I have no intent to hurt you, Victoria. But I can see why you're suspicious. I know that I'm old but I would appreciate my death being put off for a few more years," he told me.
There was a small grin on his face and for a moment one threatened to pop up on mine too. I watched as Philips walked around the kitchen. He didn't seem to be a master chef or anything of the sorts but it looked better than anything else that I'd had in a long time. "What should I call you?" I asked him, realizing that I only knew his last name.
The man turned back to me with a slightly surprised face. "Yeah, that would help. Chester is fine," he told me and I nodded. "There's a spare bedroom upstairs. I take it you don't have anything with you?" He asked me. I shook my head. "We can take you out shopping tomorrow. Army Colonel's make a fair amount of money and I don't have any girls in my life to drain it." At his comment I couldn't help the small smile that turned up the corner of my lips. You can go upstairs and get ready. I've got dinner on the table. How do you like casserole?" He asked me.
In all honesty I couldn't remember ever having casserole. But it had to be better than starving to death. "Anything is better than dog food," I muttered under my breath. Chester looked slightly pained at my passing comment. I watched him work for a minute before calling out to him. "Chester? Can I ask you something?" He hummed back at me. "Do you know any recruits by the name of James Barnes or Steven Rogers?" I asked.
Chester glanced up to the ceiling for a moment before shaking his head at me. I let out a defeated sigh. "Neither sound familiar. But I'll keep an eye out. I get paperwork on every new recruit coming into Camp Lehigh. I'll let you know if I ever see them," he told me. I gave him a grateful nod. "Friends of yours?" He asked me.
"People that I owe an explanation to," I weakly explained.
For a moment I thought that he might press me to explain myself more but he only nodded. I appreciated that he wasn't going to pry. "Go ahead upstairs and get a bath or something in. I'll get you something to eat down here," he told me.
I stared at him for a moment before standing from the chair. Chester simply motioned over his shoulder at a set of stairs that seemed to lead to a large second floor. I stood and headed over, walking to the staircase. As I stood on the first step with my hand on the railing I turned back to Chester. "You know I'm dangerous to have here," I told him before walking up the stairs.
He turned back to me and smirked softly. "Good. I like danger," he said before turning back to his food. I grinned to myself before walking up the stairs to take the first shower I would have in seven years. Maybe Chester would turn out to be a bad man after all. But somehow I doubted it. His mind was innocent. He was good. And maybe, just maybe, he would be the second chance that I needed.
Let me go on a quick rant here. If you have something negative to say about my story, please make it constructive. Don't say that something that I wrote was stupid or that my OC - who I work very hard on- is stupid or anything of the sort. I don't appreciate it. Either stop reading or offer constructive criticism. Try and be polite. Not every story will be your cup of tea. Don't be rude when you don't like something. Thank you -A
A/N: Be patient guys! I think that you might like the next chapter ;) Remember that this is still one year before Bucky enlists in the Army. This is not their trip to the Stark Expo that we see in Captain America: The First Avenger. That is why the dialogue/actions are not the same. It's also why Bucky isn't in uniform. And it's also why Chester doesn't recognize Bucky's name. Just wanted to clear that up! So Victoria has left with the promise that she will see Logan again. Think that she will? And she's also met Chester Phillips! No translations this time. As always thank you for the follows and favorites! Please review! Until next time -A
CherryBlossoms016: Thank you! Yes, I've since realized this. It was a mistake that I didn't think about when I was writing. Perhaps one day I'll get around to going back and fixing it. I promise it's the only time I'll make a mistake like that!
Guest: Thank you for your opinion. I have a million things to rebut to your review with but I doubt that you're still even reading. So thank you for at least giving the story a try.