Acid & Base
Chapter Twelve: Annulled and Valid
Author: Icy Flame
~~~
Void stirred in her sleep. Fighting to stay unconscious, she almost won; in fact, she would have but for a heavy figure on her stomach. Blinking her eyes owlishly, she gazed at the bundle. It was Neutral. Stroking the younger girls multi-colored hair she smiled, it had been such a long wait. But now, now, they were actually free in all senses of the word. Free! It was such a concept. Able to pick and choose what they were to do, when they wanted to. Ooh what a fastidious notion.
Taking her hands out of the girl's silken stands and sighing deeply, Void stared at the ceiling. Awaiting Neutral to awaken, she began going over possibilities for her future. The sky was the limit. A faint grin tugged at her lips as she pondered her potential.
~
Wanda stretched and yawned, holding back from her morning exercises as something hit her. This wasn't her room at the asylum. In fact, it wasn't even her room at her father's mansion or the Brotherhood residence. Upon closer examination she determined that she wasn't even located at the 'hood house anymore, no this place was much too clean. Taking a small sniff at the air confirmed that this was indeed not the Brotherhood.
Glancing around at the décor she noted the upper class snooty vibes that radiated off the walls. Her face scrunched up in disgust as she pushed the blankets off herself. This defiantly wasn't the C.A.I.N. headquarters. They only provided the barest of necessities, not to mention were all dirt-cheap.
It couldn't have been the last place C.A.I.N. had sent her to; she'd left it in shambles. Or any location she might have been sent to before.
…So where was she?
As her sight landed on to females together on one bed she felt relived, it couldn't be too bad if they were here. C.A.I.N. never sent Neutral out into the world if there was danger, hadn't completed her training they said. Wanda had to snort at that, 'completed training', yea that meant that she wasn't their puppet…yet.
She felt a chill run down her spine as she remembered her own harsh 'guidance'. After all, it was 'for her benefit'; they were only doing it to help her. She held a snort back this time, if she didn't stop soon she'd down in her own puddle of sarcasm. It had been intense, not as bad as Rogue's but close.
'All those hours
…all the punishments
…NO! nonononono'
Now was not the time to take a trip down memory lane she reminded herself gruffly. Clenching her fists she took deep breathes; the lamp near the bedside kept flickering.
She was at the Xavier Institute. They had defeated the agency. The agents were together and most importantly together. She groaned as a headache pounded on her skull. She'd over used her powers again.
This had happened in the past. The effects were similar to that of an athlete with a sport. You had to continue conditioning all the time, using her talents and pushing them to the limits. On a normal occasion, it wouldn't be a big deal; the agency would simply send her out on a mission to release some of 'talents' on an enemy of theirs. She'd come back, exhausted but still fit, they'd have one less enemy; everyone was happy. That was until the missions had started to get more detailed, requiring more effort to concentrate, more precision. It was getting to be too strenuous. That's when the agency had let her 'rest', which really meant they sent her back. While she recuperated, she'd spend time at the asylum, when she attacked a guard they knew it was time to bring her back. Since obviously if she had enough energy to make the bars turn into a snake creature and chase the interns around, she had enough energy to come back to the headquarters and continue training. Either way it left her drained, having pushed herself too far the night before. Like a sore muscle after working out, or taking a test that you'd stayed up burning the midnight oil for; now came her favorite part. She'd end up with a major headache for hours. The first time she'd overtaxed her mutant abilities she'd been out for days.
*flash back*
Nine-year old Wanda turned in her sleep. She attempted to remain passed out, no such luck. Groggily pushing herself up in bed, she gazed around. The girl with white striped hair was standing above her, staring.
"What the hell you staring at bitch?"
"You've been out for five days."
"What's it to you?"
Rogue just shrugged at the rude remarks and simply turned to the 'door'. Narrowing her eyes at the dismissal, Wanda also turned towards the door. One of the scientists was there, questioning a girl about her age. She had long blonde hair and green eyes. She looked nervous, but determined not to show it. Wanda shook her head at the ninny, then regretted it as her first migraine took over.
Rogue had mistaken the grimace of pain for a look of disapproval.
"She's new, Aylaa I think she said her name was."
"Does it look like I give a shit?"
"Jesus, Ah was jus' tryin' ta be nache!"
"Real 'nache' accent you got there sweetie."
"Stuff it up your-"
*end flash back*
Oh yes she remembered that, her and Rogue had gotten into a big fight. As punishment not only did they have several missions together after that but were also assigned to the same room. After three more fights they finally called it quits, and simply joined forces. Over time, they became the best of friends, their bond causing all of their missions to coincide when two agents were needed. They rose to the top of their class. Within months, Rogue and Wanda had become some of the best agents they'd created. There was one flaw though, as any plan no matter how well put together always has. Agents had one fatal flaw, unnoticeable by the untrained eye, but closer inspection would reveal them to be blaringly obvious.
Halting her thoughts at the grumble from her stomach, Wanda opened her eyes as wide as she could. Rolling out of bed, she marched out of the room. Careful to close the door quietly, after all it wouldn't due to wake the others up yet. Wanda walked down the stairs, trying to recall the directions they had moved in last night. Regretting now that she hadn't paid proper attention to most of what was said.
She arrived outside the kitchen; glad to see some of the training had paid off. Pushing the door aside, she waltzed in and glanced around at the sheer size. It had been a while since she had been into a decently stocked kitchen. The Brotherhood house never had any food. The play was desolate in that light. In the form of entertainment, on the other hand it was often over flowing. She recalled distinctly the nights the boys ratted Lance out to Mystique with his porn stash. Then there was the time that Pietro had taken Fred's underwear and dared Todd to wear it for a day. Or when Lance crashed his ride into a bus of nuns who cursed his and swore it was a sign that God wanted them to pummel him with scriptures. When someone shook her shoulder, she snapped out of her daze and grabbed their hand. Looking up the arm to the shoulder and then the face, she realized it was one of the X-men. Letting go of his hand, she simply grabbed a juice drink from the fridge. Taking a sip she frowned, it was luke-warm.
The X-man across from her smiled; reaching out to her hand, he grasped it. She tried to jerk away, only to realize he was aiming for her drink. A glow filled his hand as he gave it back to her. Wanda gave him a suspicious look before she realized something about the drink. It was ice cold! She gave him an inquiring look.
"I'm Bobby"
"Scarlet Witch"
"Yea, I uh know." There was a lull in the conversation. "You can drink it you know, I just chilled it."
"…"
"It's my power."
"To freeze drink? Must come in quite handy in the field I'd imagine." Bobby flushed.
"I manipulate water molecules."
At her disbelieving look, he put his hands over her head. Covering what he was doing from her view. Figuring he couldn't actually do any damage she couldn't repay ten-fold, she allowed him to continue, the glow appeared a minute later. As he slowly removed his hands Wanda realized two things, her head now felt freezing when a second ago it was the warmest part of her body and two she was now wearing what appeared to be an ice shaped witch hat. Tilting her head to the side, she gave Bobby a questioning look.
"I'm Iceman, Scarlet Witch."
Having said that he turned and walked out of the kitchen, a muffin in hand, humming some tune. Wanda plainly stared. What was that about? Did he? Was he just… naw. Spinning around she chugged her drink and threw it in the trash. Walking out of the kitchen, she saw a familiar figure walking down the stairs.
"Nice hat, I guess that means Bobby was up and flirting." Scarlet Witch flushed again.
"We weren't-"
"Uhuh, come on, I was going to grab a bite to eat but we head upstairs to check on Neutral and Void."
"Nalini and Shiori."
Rogue paused in her step for a sec, jerking to a stop, As Wanda continued back towards the stairs. That's right, they didn't really need to have their code names anymore. She felt strange, using their original names. Of course, she knew them but Acid, Base, Neutral and Void would always be who they were too. It'd be strange going back to Rogue, Wanda, Nalini and Shiori. Very strange. Rogue was shattered from her thoughts be a blood curdling scream.
~~~
Oooh whose in trouble? What's wrong? Bobby spying on someone? Evan flushed the toilet on someone on the shower? Amara cut her leg shaving? Someone abducting a fellow X-Men? Atlas I fear you'll have to see the next update to find out. Whoever guesses what it is correctly gets a free Pietro plushie!
Thank you everyone who reviewed the last chapter! *hugs ppls*
Rogue Dragon, Show stopper, Blue Rose, Unknown Source, Moi, and Black Phoenix!
Danke Moi for Neutral's name and Showstopper for Void's name! And thankie everyone else that submitted a name! *grins* *hands out lil chibi Kurt plushies*
I'm sorry it took so long to get this out! But I am trying to get at least one story of mine updated weekly! *waves*
Later yo,
Icy