Chapter Five

Yang: Here's chapter five if anyone's interested. Not too many reviews and already on our fifth chapter… this is disheartening.

Meddie sat in a small cold room that was the size of a prison cell; it had a bunk bed pressed up against one wall with an area of floor space that was the width of the door and the length of the bed. She sat on the bed leaning against the headboard with Minerva curled up against her side having cried herself to sleep.

It was getting late and Meddie was just nodding off when the cell door slide open and someone was literally thrown into the cell. The person was unconscious and landed sprawled out on the cell floor. The door then slid closed and she started for a second before gently removing the child from her grip and over to the kid on the floor.

She rolled the person over onto his back and checked his breathing and pulse, then took a good look at the kid. It had been easy enough to assume they were male by their short hair, but she had originally thought that he was younger judging by his height from the back. She realised, when she turned him over, that he was older than he had first appeared. Judging by his face he looked like he was about the same age as her brother. She bit her lip at the thought of her brother and pushed it to the back of her mind, hoping that he was ok.

She glanced over at the bed, then going over she picked up Minerva and placed her on the top bunk for now. Then turning around she attempted to pick the boy up and was surprised at how light he was. She could pick him up with little effort. She turned, placed him gently on the lower bunk and tucked him in, then climbed up onto the top. She placed Minerva between herself and the wall so the girl wouldn't fall out, the child curled up against her in her sleep.

Maveryk groaned as he came to slowly, rubbing his head where it ached and wishing that he could do the same for his poor abused stomach. He still felt slimy from when that guy had put his hands on him and had assaulted his mind, but he figured that he wouldn't be able to wash that feeling off himself any time soon, and it wasn't as if he hadn't felt like this before.

He managed to stop himself tripping down the road of self-depreciation and otherwise occupied himself with exploring his new surroundings. He got out of the bunk and looked around, seeing the other occupants on the bunk above him. He was careful to be silent so that he didn't wake the others up. He walked around the small area of floor, inspected the door for any obvious signs of escape and also studied the roof. Nothing. There was a small panel next to the door on this side, which, he supposed, was some kind of sensor pad that would allow the FOH soldiers in and out of their cells. He punched at the door for a while paced a bit more and then slid down the wall to sit at the bottom. He gnawed on his thumb, sucked on his tongue piercing for a few minutes and then began to hum to himself. Gradually, the humming tapered off and Maveryk began beating the back of his head into the wall.

            *I am DYING of BOREDOM! *

He hoped and prayed that something happened before he got bored enough to start playing round with his mutant powers.

Meddie awoke to the sound of a repetitive dull thud. She carefully slipped away from Minerva and rolled over to jump down from the bunk. As she did she saw the kid who had been thrown into their cell last night pounding his head against the wall opposite the bunk. She sat up and gently slid to the floor, he glanced up at her, said 'hi' and then carried on banging his head and humming. Meddie had never met anyone like this. She dropped to her knees in front of him so that they were eye-to-eye.

"Are you okay?" She asked him. She was more than slightly confused by this boy.

He stopped again and looked right back at her. "Yeah, m'fine. M'just DYING of boredom here an' then I was waiting fer you to wake up but then I gotta rhythm goin' so…"

She could think of no reasonable response to that so she settled for introducing herself.

"I'm Medusa, but most people call me Meddie. How come you're here anyway? Are you a mutant?"

He grinned at her and replied cheekily.

"I'm Maveryk Neemick and no, I'm not a mutant, I just like being accosted, beaten up and dumped in small, BORING little rooms wiv nuffing to do. I'm a glutton fer punishment. And just on the side, I can also do stuff to mirrors, but I wouldn't say that I'm a mutant. I mean, come on, you see eye's like mine everyday right?"

Meddie looked at him for a second, a smile pulling at her mouth. "Well I don't know. They've got a couple of non-mutants in here too. Mutant Sympathisers, you know?" She could tell by his face that he wasn't trying to be rude or offensive, so she wasn't going to take it that way. "Also, I'm not going to really make a big deal out of…" she glanced at his eye's for a second to check their colour "… amber eyes when I have bright blood red hair am I?"

Maveryk looked slightly disappointed.

"Aw, is that natural then? That sucks. I was gonna ask you where you got that dye from, I was getting' a bit bored wiv the green." He said, running a hand through his hair as he did so.

"Even if it wasn't natural it wouldn't have helped you anyway. I was shipped over from the UK a few weeks ago." Meddie told him. "So you would have to go to England to get it. Anyway I think the green suits you, keep it." She moved slightly so that she was no longer kneeling but had her legs curled up under her. "So how did you end up here anyway?"

"I was bein' beat up by some idiot mutie haters outside this bar and then these other guys from 'ere came along. Their leader guy is really bad news you know? Have ya met him? Ya'd know if ya had, he's…" Maveryk shuddered. "Anyways, they caught me and roughed me up a bit an' 'ere I am."

Meddie was surprised at how effected Maveryk seemed to be by this man. 'He must be a real piece of work' she figured. The boy seemed quite shook up about it. Without thought she reacted to him the way she would have if it had been her brother. She moved round so that she was next to him and wrapped her arms round his shoulder.

Maveryk flinched away from the red head, unsure of what she was trying to do. When he realised that she was just trying to give him a cuddle, he stiffly accepted it, slowly relaxing and snuggling down as she wrapped her arms around him. He hadn't felt safe forever and decided to enjoy the rare feeling for as long as possible.

Meddie smiled at the kid as he settled down in her arms. He seemed a cute kid. Meddie heard a murmur and looked up. Minerva had woken up and was peering over the edge of the bed. She slowly climbed down falling slightly and landing harshly on the cold hard floor. Not bothering to get up, she crawled over to Meddie and cuddled up to her other side. Meddie glanced down at the smaller mutant, who was still somewhat sleepy, as she inspected Maveryk. Meddie looked back at the boy, only to find that he had fallen asleep.

Yang: Short chapter, I know. And isn't Maveryk neurotic : ) And Meddie is just one big mother hen, she's so sweet. Anyway, enough yak for now. Next chapter up immediately, just coz I love you. And I want to post them now, coz I want reviews. Does this make me a bad person?