Thanks obiwanfan and sethoz for reviewing . . . this story's gonna end soon
after this little series of trouble . . . probably 3 or 4 chapters or so
left? Anyways . . . review!
* * *
Ling twisted and turned in her sleep. She and Rogue had roomed together while the two boys were roommates. Ling couldn't go to sleep. She kept on having this weird feeling in her gut that something bad would happen tomorrow. She stared up at the darkness of her ceiling, wondering what could it be that was bugging her so much. Ling had gone through a lot . . . and had come a long way and even made friends like her . . .
She dismissed as just nervous feelings. This was Stryker's contraption, she was probably just worried about bad memories it might bring.
Ling cleared her mind and slowly she began to drift into sleep . . .
* * *
The next morning Ling and Rogue dressed in silence. They both knew how important this mission was, and how dangerous.
They met up with the boys at breakfast and made strained conversation. It was hard to believe that yesterday they had been riding rides and having fun.
The Professor had rented a car for them to take them there. Their alias was a class trip for the top four winners of the Science Fair (John made a gagging noise when he heard this) and that this was their prize.
They entered the building's large opened doors and entered a room full of gizmos and inventions. This place was vaugly familiar to Ling . . . although she couldn't figure out why. When Stryker had been here, she had not come, and she couldn't remember ever coming here before in her past.
A rush of cold air flung her silky black hair back.
Air conditioning, she thought.
They split up into two groups: the adults and the teens. They both went into opposite directions as to cover more ground. The problem is: they don't know what the machine looks like. But after more digging in Ling's mind, they discovered that the machine would start beeping to signal a mutant sighting. So, they basically had to walk near machines and see if it would beep as they passed.
While the adults, being far more experienced and mature, did their search seriously, the teens were having trouble with Pyro.
"Pleeeaase, you guys?" John begged.
"It's tempting, but you know the Professor would kill us, AND our cover would be blown." Bobby said dryly.
"Rogue?"
"I'm with Bobby," Rogue said defiantly, determined not to look at John.
"Ling?" John turned to his girlfriend.
Ling shrugged. "I'd like to be there with you, but we would get kicked out and maybe get the police called on us. So even though that girl was making fun of mutants, doesn't mean you have to set her hair on fire."
John crossed his arms to his chest and pouted. "Fine! Ruin my fun!"
Rogue grabbed John's ear and yanked him.
"Ow!"
Ling and Bobby glanced at each other with raised eyebrows.
"Shouldn't that be you?" Bobby wondered.
"Nope, Rogue's powers will calm him down." Ling replied.
Sure enough, John had calmed down a lot due to the aftereffects of Rogue's power.
So they walked along, their ears peeled for a beeping sound. After maybe five minutes of walking, Bobby stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" Rogue whispered.
"People are looking at us weird . . . just with us walking around people are starting to get suspicious." Bobby hissed.
"Since when was it a law that walking was a bad thing?" John asked sarcastically.
"I think they're security guards who are supposed to spot mutants," Ling hissed, "I've seen this type of things before. We're definitely in the right place for the machine."
"So what do we do?" Rogue asked.
"How about we actually do something . . . like that fake DNA tester thing over there?" John suggested.
The remaining three looked over to where he was pointing at. They nodded their head in agreement.
So the three of them put their finger on the plate. Ling thought it was an innocent learning tool . . . until she felt the familiar feeling of a needle poking into her skin. On the T.V. it said that the needle feeling was just something to make it seem more real . . . but the bad feeling Ling had was coming back . . .
Ling immediately withdrew her hand from the hole. She glanced at the television set above her head and saw it "explaining" the DNA with supposedly none of her DNA. But as she glanced over at another person's T.V., his DNA looked different. Hers had a lot more strings and shapes around it.
Danger warnings flashed in her mind.
She ran and called each of her friends by turn. They came over, looking confused.
"Did you find anything?" John asked.
"Maybe, but we have to keep on looking for that thing!" Ling insisted. So they split up into two groups and walked past each invention quickly.
After scanning machine after machine, Ling stopped abruptly. Her heart was pounding, and her mind told her it could not be. But her heart said it was.
"What is it?" John asked.
"It's . . . it's the invention my father was working on . . ." Ling said softly.
"Really? What's it do?"
Ling racked her mind, but at first it came out as a blank. "I . . . I can't remember . . ." But then, a shot of pain rushed to her head as she strained to remember. Colored flashes ran through her head . . .
"Hand me that, will you, honey?" A man in his mid-thirties asked. A little Asian girl with big brown eyes handed him a wrench from a red tool box . . .
. . . She had found a ventilator and was curious by it. She crawled inside the huge shaft and explored it. Suddenly, she heard the familiar warm voice below her. She peered through the slits in the shaft, listening to her father's phone conversation.
". . . yes, it's almost ready . . . I cannot guarantee you that it will detect mutants, though . . . how? By their DNA . . . sorry sir, I know you don't need a science lesson on this . . . I advise you to try it out first . . ."
Suddenly, the pain was gone. Ling could think clearly now. She could see the worried eyes of her boyfriend, the one with the power opposite hers.
Ling walked around her father's invention, looking for that one specific detail that only the one her father had been making had . . .
She found the spot, not daring to run a long finger across its cold steel surface. Her eyes widened as she did not see her father's insignia on the machine. Ling herself had seen him put it on, yet it was not there. That could only mean . . . this one on display is a fake, and the one with the DNA on the T.V. screens . . . contained her father's REAL machine. Which means . . . their secret is found out!
Ling grabbed John's hand and practically dragged him over to find Bobby and Rogue.
"Where's the fire? Did you find it?" Rouge asked.
"Where are the Professor and the others? We have to get out of here!" Ling panted.
"Why?" Bobby asked, confused.
"That DNA tester! It's actually my dad's invention for using DNA for finding out who's a mutant or not! We were all tested! We have to get out!" She informed them impatiently.
"Crap." John muttered.
"Okay, let's gooooooo!" Rogue screamed as the ground opened up beneath her.
Ling also felt the unpleasant feeling of having no ground to support her. Before she went completely under, she noticed John and Bobby falling out of the corner of her eye. How can the regular people not notice four teenagers disappearing into the ground?
Terror gripped her heart as she slid down to who-knows-where. She landed with a hard bump onto cold concrete ground.
"Ow . . . my butt hurts . . ." She muttered to herself.
Ling heard a distant deep screaming as a hole opened up above her and Iceman came crashing down onto her.
"Bobby?" Her muffled voice was barely audible.
"Yeah?"
"Get off me."
Bobby scrambled off her and apologized.
"Don't apologize to me; apologize to the body parts you broke." Ling muttered angrily, rubbing her aching shoulder.
"Did I mention I was sorry? Plus the fact I didn't get to choose where I would fall." Bobby added in mock meekness.
"Where's Rogue and John?" Ling asked, looking around for any more last second hole openings.
"Probably somewhere else together . . . or apart." Bobby said with a shrug.
But there was no time for any more discussion on that because their blood literally froze at the sound of the clicking of guns behind them.
* * *
Ling twisted and turned in her sleep. She and Rogue had roomed together while the two boys were roommates. Ling couldn't go to sleep. She kept on having this weird feeling in her gut that something bad would happen tomorrow. She stared up at the darkness of her ceiling, wondering what could it be that was bugging her so much. Ling had gone through a lot . . . and had come a long way and even made friends like her . . .
She dismissed as just nervous feelings. This was Stryker's contraption, she was probably just worried about bad memories it might bring.
Ling cleared her mind and slowly she began to drift into sleep . . .
* * *
The next morning Ling and Rogue dressed in silence. They both knew how important this mission was, and how dangerous.
They met up with the boys at breakfast and made strained conversation. It was hard to believe that yesterday they had been riding rides and having fun.
The Professor had rented a car for them to take them there. Their alias was a class trip for the top four winners of the Science Fair (John made a gagging noise when he heard this) and that this was their prize.
They entered the building's large opened doors and entered a room full of gizmos and inventions. This place was vaugly familiar to Ling . . . although she couldn't figure out why. When Stryker had been here, she had not come, and she couldn't remember ever coming here before in her past.
A rush of cold air flung her silky black hair back.
Air conditioning, she thought.
They split up into two groups: the adults and the teens. They both went into opposite directions as to cover more ground. The problem is: they don't know what the machine looks like. But after more digging in Ling's mind, they discovered that the machine would start beeping to signal a mutant sighting. So, they basically had to walk near machines and see if it would beep as they passed.
While the adults, being far more experienced and mature, did their search seriously, the teens were having trouble with Pyro.
"Pleeeaase, you guys?" John begged.
"It's tempting, but you know the Professor would kill us, AND our cover would be blown." Bobby said dryly.
"Rogue?"
"I'm with Bobby," Rogue said defiantly, determined not to look at John.
"Ling?" John turned to his girlfriend.
Ling shrugged. "I'd like to be there with you, but we would get kicked out and maybe get the police called on us. So even though that girl was making fun of mutants, doesn't mean you have to set her hair on fire."
John crossed his arms to his chest and pouted. "Fine! Ruin my fun!"
Rogue grabbed John's ear and yanked him.
"Ow!"
Ling and Bobby glanced at each other with raised eyebrows.
"Shouldn't that be you?" Bobby wondered.
"Nope, Rogue's powers will calm him down." Ling replied.
Sure enough, John had calmed down a lot due to the aftereffects of Rogue's power.
So they walked along, their ears peeled for a beeping sound. After maybe five minutes of walking, Bobby stopped abruptly.
"What is it?" Rogue whispered.
"People are looking at us weird . . . just with us walking around people are starting to get suspicious." Bobby hissed.
"Since when was it a law that walking was a bad thing?" John asked sarcastically.
"I think they're security guards who are supposed to spot mutants," Ling hissed, "I've seen this type of things before. We're definitely in the right place for the machine."
"So what do we do?" Rogue asked.
"How about we actually do something . . . like that fake DNA tester thing over there?" John suggested.
The remaining three looked over to where he was pointing at. They nodded their head in agreement.
So the three of them put their finger on the plate. Ling thought it was an innocent learning tool . . . until she felt the familiar feeling of a needle poking into her skin. On the T.V. it said that the needle feeling was just something to make it seem more real . . . but the bad feeling Ling had was coming back . . .
Ling immediately withdrew her hand from the hole. She glanced at the television set above her head and saw it "explaining" the DNA with supposedly none of her DNA. But as she glanced over at another person's T.V., his DNA looked different. Hers had a lot more strings and shapes around it.
Danger warnings flashed in her mind.
She ran and called each of her friends by turn. They came over, looking confused.
"Did you find anything?" John asked.
"Maybe, but we have to keep on looking for that thing!" Ling insisted. So they split up into two groups and walked past each invention quickly.
After scanning machine after machine, Ling stopped abruptly. Her heart was pounding, and her mind told her it could not be. But her heart said it was.
"What is it?" John asked.
"It's . . . it's the invention my father was working on . . ." Ling said softly.
"Really? What's it do?"
Ling racked her mind, but at first it came out as a blank. "I . . . I can't remember . . ." But then, a shot of pain rushed to her head as she strained to remember. Colored flashes ran through her head . . .
"Hand me that, will you, honey?" A man in his mid-thirties asked. A little Asian girl with big brown eyes handed him a wrench from a red tool box . . .
. . . She had found a ventilator and was curious by it. She crawled inside the huge shaft and explored it. Suddenly, she heard the familiar warm voice below her. She peered through the slits in the shaft, listening to her father's phone conversation.
". . . yes, it's almost ready . . . I cannot guarantee you that it will detect mutants, though . . . how? By their DNA . . . sorry sir, I know you don't need a science lesson on this . . . I advise you to try it out first . . ."
Suddenly, the pain was gone. Ling could think clearly now. She could see the worried eyes of her boyfriend, the one with the power opposite hers.
Ling walked around her father's invention, looking for that one specific detail that only the one her father had been making had . . .
She found the spot, not daring to run a long finger across its cold steel surface. Her eyes widened as she did not see her father's insignia on the machine. Ling herself had seen him put it on, yet it was not there. That could only mean . . . this one on display is a fake, and the one with the DNA on the T.V. screens . . . contained her father's REAL machine. Which means . . . their secret is found out!
Ling grabbed John's hand and practically dragged him over to find Bobby and Rogue.
"Where's the fire? Did you find it?" Rouge asked.
"Where are the Professor and the others? We have to get out of here!" Ling panted.
"Why?" Bobby asked, confused.
"That DNA tester! It's actually my dad's invention for using DNA for finding out who's a mutant or not! We were all tested! We have to get out!" She informed them impatiently.
"Crap." John muttered.
"Okay, let's gooooooo!" Rogue screamed as the ground opened up beneath her.
Ling also felt the unpleasant feeling of having no ground to support her. Before she went completely under, she noticed John and Bobby falling out of the corner of her eye. How can the regular people not notice four teenagers disappearing into the ground?
Terror gripped her heart as she slid down to who-knows-where. She landed with a hard bump onto cold concrete ground.
"Ow . . . my butt hurts . . ." She muttered to herself.
Ling heard a distant deep screaming as a hole opened up above her and Iceman came crashing down onto her.
"Bobby?" Her muffled voice was barely audible.
"Yeah?"
"Get off me."
Bobby scrambled off her and apologized.
"Don't apologize to me; apologize to the body parts you broke." Ling muttered angrily, rubbing her aching shoulder.
"Did I mention I was sorry? Plus the fact I didn't get to choose where I would fall." Bobby added in mock meekness.
"Where's Rogue and John?" Ling asked, looking around for any more last second hole openings.
"Probably somewhere else together . . . or apart." Bobby said with a shrug.
But there was no time for any more discussion on that because their blood literally froze at the sound of the clicking of guns behind them.