Innocence Lost II: The Forgotten One

By Didi

Disclaimer: All the characters within this story is owned by Marvel.  I take no credit but with the imaginative story line.  This is story will hopefully lead to another so stay tuned. 

Warning: Were this a movie, it would be rated at least PG-13.  I will not be responsible for outraged parents.

Note:  This is an alternative timeline so don't go jumping down my throat about stuff that's going on in the comic.  It's well before Everett Thomas's death and that's all I'm going to say on the subject of timelines.  Any new characters written by me would will noticeable by the complete lack of inventiveness. 

Oh, and this is a sequel so please go read the first part, it's not that long.  This will make much more sense to afterwards.  Thanks. 

Summery: Sequel to Innocence Lost.  Jubilee takes back her life and repays a debt owed.  AU.  New character introduced. 

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            First thing was the pain, barely manageable pain that streaked up and down her back and her arms.  The arms was new, usually it was just the back and sometimes her neck, but never the arms.  There were restraints this time too, never before had she been in restraints after on of those… those what?  What was it that he…he who? 

            Lexi almost groaned in frustration as again and again her mind came up with holes in her memory.  After a few more minutes of straggle with herself, she gave up reluctantly and opened her eyes.

            The brightness of the room almost blinded her.  "Oh…" her eyes ached.

            "Someone dim lights please," a voice called softly as the brightness was sudden diminished.  The voice was familiar, where from she wasn't sure but she was sure that it was familiar.  "You all right?"

            Throat dry and still in pain, she blinked up at the unfamiliar face.  "Define all right," she managed to croak out.

            A small smile lifted her lips.  "Want some water?"

            "Please," she begged without much energy.

            Holding the straw to her dry lips, Jubilee made a note to herself to get some chapstick for the girl.  "How are you feeling?"

            "It would be better if you didn't ask," Lexi replied best she could.  "Where am I?"

            "Infirmary," Jubilee replied, glancing over her shoulder at the adults and students that were watching cautiously.  "Do you remember me?"

            Green eyes focus for a moment on the smooth skin face with it's bright blue eyes and tilted nose.  "No.  Should I?"

            "Yes," she nodded slowly, putting the straw back to her lips.  "I'm Jubilee.  We met some time ago."    

            Swallowing painfully, she suppressed another groan of pain as the ache shot up her back and along her neck.  "If we did, you're the only one that remembers."  She shifted and moaned as the restraints bit into her raw wounds. 

            Jubilee winced as blood sudden appeared on the gauze around her wrist.  Turning to Scott, "Could we take the restraints off, please?"

            Slowly shaking his head, Scott looked regretfully at her.  "We can't, we have to cautious here."

            "I'll vouch for her," Jubilee said insistently.  "Please Scott, it's hurting her."

            For a moment, Scott Summer looked torn.  "I'm sorry."

            "Forget it," Lexi managed to mutter loud enough for Jubilee to hear.  "I'm use to it." 

            "You shouldn't have to be."

            "It's all right," she closed her eyes and held herself still to alleviate the pain.  "Thank you for trying."

            Logan watched the girl carefully, smell the acceptance in her and her sincerity when she thanked Jubilee.  Dangerous as the others perceive her, she had a good soul.  Walking over, he stood by the bed, next to Jubilee simply watching the girl.  They have yet to figure out what to do with her but one thing is for sure, Jubilee isn't going to let them hurt her. 

            Lexi opened her eyes slowly and looked at the big burly man by the girl.  He had the face and eyes of an old soul.  He wore a worn flannel shirt and blue jeans.  A silver bucket the size of the girl's hand sat gleaming dully at his waist.  A old cowboy hat was pushed back on his head.  Her eyes traveled to the hands.  There was something about the hand…  A faint memory appeared.

            "Tell me more about your Logan," Lexi asked insistently, feeling the girl's spirit sink as she lay there withering in pain.  "Come on Jubilee, talk to me."

            Whimpering pitifully, Jubilee tried to catch her breath as the pain intensified across her back.  The metal bars Sinister tied to the small of her back had been rigged with electric stimulators.  "Logan… Logan is like some throw back of the cowboy days.  He wears cowboy hats, shirts, pains, belt buckles that you can use as a reflection dish."  She laughed gently.  "I use to tease him about the buckets, how they would blind me when he walkes in the sun."  She coughed, each cough sending bullets of pain throughout her body.  She began to cry in earnest.  "Where is he?"\

Lexi tried to each out to her but she was still too fair away.  As much pain as she herself was in, for the last sessions had been painfully longer than usual, she wanted to help the poor kid.  "He's coming, Jubilee.  I'm sure of it. He's coming for you."  He prayed that she was right.  The girl was beginning to lose hope.  "Tell me about him.  What is his power like?"

Jubilee sniffed and tried to push back the ever-rising fear that her friends aren't coming for her.  "Logan…Wolverine… was part of the Weapon X Project.  They bonded his bones with metal that cannot be broken."

            "Did it hurt?" Lexi asked, trying to keep the girl's mind from the pain that was no doubt paralyzing her body. 

            "Yeah," she gasped out as she tried to shift toward the vents.  "Wolvie won't talk about it but you know it hurt him something bad.  And every time he uses his claws…"

            "Claws?  He has claws?"

            "Yeah," she gave a soft chuckle that ended with a wince.  "Thee metal claws from each knuckle of the same metal.  Very deadly, very dangerous.  That's why they call him Wolverine."

            The hands.  "Wolverine," came the soft whisper.  She turned her eyes toward the sudden tense man.  "She called you Wolvie."

            Jubliee's face lit up light Christmas.  "That's right!  You remember."

            "Not much," she replied.  "Just bits and pieces of conversations.  You were in the next cell, we talked through the vents."

            "Yeah," Lee picked up a cloth and wiped her forehead with it.  "You were right, my friends did come for me.  Thank you."

            "I'm glad you got away," Lexi closed her eyes as pinpricks began on her left side.  "It gave me hope."  She took deep breathed to keep the pain down.  She knew what was coming, how she knew she wasn't sure but she knew.  The mind forgets but the body doesn't. 

            "I didn't forget," Jubilee was puzzled but the sudden tension in Lexi's body.  "I didn't forget about you.  We were preparing to come for you."

            "Thanks for the thought, but it wouldn't have made a difference," she clinched her teeth as the pinpricks became needle jabs. 

            "You okay kid?" Logan asked suddenly as he smell the pain radiating from her. 

            "Peachy," she managed to gasped out as the needle jabs became chopping axes than simply poured-on acid.  She held on for a few more seconds before the scream erupted from her throat.  It was like being blinded again, only this time not with light.

            "LEXI!" Jubilee head Lexi's head as the girl's eyes rolled back.  Bringing frightened eyes up to Jean, who had rushed to the bedside, "What's wrong with her?"

            "She's in pain," Logan replied as he reached over and held down the girl's legs that were twisting and pulling from the restraints. 

            "Scott, get her arms.  She's tearing her wrists up," Jean instructed as she tried to reach the girl's mind to block the pain respecters.  "Emma…."

            "I'm not getting in either," Emma said in frustration.  She was not willing to help but the fear in Jubilee's eyes… it was too much to face again. 

            [Let me.]  Jono stood by the girl's side and pushed his way into her mind.  [Let me in, girl.]  For a moment, Jono stood in a vast space with a solid wall before him.  [Hello?]

            "You shouldn't be here," the girl in the black robes said as she stepped out from the wall.  "Go away."

            [But I just wanted to…]  Jono stumbled back and he fell back into his own body.  [No can do, won't let me in.]

            The scream stopped almost as suddenly as it began.  And she lay there still. 

            Jubilee's heart felt like it would jump out of her throat any second.  "Lexi?"

            Her eyes opened slowly, blank and devoid of anything emotions.  "He wants the girl."

            "What girl?" Logan asked, sensing the Lexi they had been talking to was no longer there.

            "The blonde with the elemental morphing powers," again, devoid of any feelings.

            "Paige?" Emma asked slowly, turning to watch the blonde and her brother saying six feet away, listening to the whole exchange. 

            "Gutherie," Lexi replied, her face now blank and unseeing.  "Must bring her back.  72 hours."

            "72 hours to what?" Scott asked quietly, his eyes on the hands he had been restraining.  They were a bloody mess now and he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret for the girl. 

            "I have 72 hours to bring her back," she answered, turning her head to him.  "Scott Summers.  He wants your son."

            Scott looked at her carefully.  She was not joking.  "Why?"

            She smiled suddenly.  "Good DNA."

            Neither Jean nor Scott knew how to reply.

            Lexi turned to Jubilee.  "Want to do me a favor?"

            Jubilee nodded her head without hesitation, she owed her.  "Name it."

            "Darlin'," Logan growled the warning but he could already sense the shift in the girl.  It was strange, one moment she was cold and different, then she was the same girl they had spoken with before.  The pain put her in almost a trance like state for a bit.  Strange.

            Lexi watched those blue eyes carefully, noting the conviction in them.  "Kill me."

            That was not what she had been expecting.  "What?"

"If you want to keep your friend, you have kill me."

"Not a chance in hell," Jubilee replied seriously.

"You're going to have to," Lexi replied calmly as she turned her eyes toward Paige.  The blonde girl had stepped forward, toward Lexi.  "You want to live?  Want to keep out of the blue face man's hands?  Take my life now and maybe that'll be possible."

Paige's cornflower blue eyes were big on her face.  "We don't kill."  She turned to Jean and Scott.  "We don't."

"Don't kid yourself," Lexi said quietly as she tuned to look at the brother, for only a brother would have that look on his face.  "We all kill when we have to in order to survive.  You want to keep your baby sister safe?" she asked the blond young man, almost taunting him.  Turning toward the guy with half a face, "Want to keep you lover alive?  I've seen what you can do.  It wouldn't take from you to eliminate me."

"We don't kill," Scott replied softly, holding the girl's hand.  He felt bad for the girl; she's obviously suffered.  But for all her pains, she was still a good soul.  "Tell me why?"

            She turned toward him, "Cause I can't kill myself.  Not in the programming."

            "Programming?" Emma asked.  If it was mental suggestion, a little tweak was all that was needed.

            "A micro chip, base of my skull," she looked at them.  She wasn't sure why she knew these things, only that she did.  It was strange, she couldn't remember her full name but little things like these…  Those damn holes in her memory.  "It reminds me of things I have to do and things I cannot do."

            "Like commit suicide," Jubilee nodded to herself.  "I must not have been long enough."

            Lexi shook her head.  "You never lost hope."

            Scott nodded slowly, watching the girls with eyes that were hidden forever form the world behind a shield of red.  Lexi could not be more than seventeen, maybe even younger, but her eyes were old and worn.  Next to the vibrant Jubilee, it was easy to see the damage Sinister had caused.  "Jean, get McCoy on the line and see if you can locate Dr. Reyes as well.  We're going to need them."  He squeeze the girl's hand for a moment.  "How much longer until your 72 hours are up?"

            She looked him at him emotionlessly.  "What time is it?"

            "Just after 2 in the morning."

            "I've got 48 maybe 49 hours left."

            "Then we better get working."

TBC…