OK, I am so sorry for not updating a long time sooner! I've been busy w/ the original story I'm writing and school and everything else! But I'm back! I don't own anything but the characters you do not recognize... and I don't own Marvel, X-men or its affiliates and I don't own Fermilab... I don't want it. And to my knowledge, the only thing Fermilab is doing in their basement is smashing atoms. Ok on w/ the story!
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"Ok, Just Evander," I replied in disbelief, still sitting on the floor. I finished wrapping my hand and actually started to relax. I don't know if I was so exhausted or if it was because of Evander, but I really started to relax. "How'd you get in here?"
"Ah," He replied, a smile played at the corner of his lips. "You don't really want to know that. It's not that important, and besides, it's a really long story." The hole in the wall was big enough and the bars were far enough apart to allow him to drape his arms through the rods. He laced his fingers together and I could see his pale skin practically glow in the dimness. He had been here a long time, I could tell just by the pigment of his skin.
I looked up at him from the floor and caught his eyes. They were a deep blue, although I could see that they were starting to fade a bit. His hair was messy and dark ebony, and had started to stretch towards his chin.
"Well, by the looks of it, I think I've got some time." I replied coolly. I caught a spark of humor in Evander's eyes.
"Maybe another time." I could judge that he was playing with the idea of telling me. Something was giving him doubt, however.
"You know, I'm a very good listener. You can trust me." His eyes didn't seem to give away any answer, however.
"Oh, I do not doubt my trust in you at all. I just don't feel like sharing my life story at the moment." Evander replied, that look of comedy never leaving his face. He had good humor even with the setting he was in, like he had grown accustomed to being in these stone cells, surrounded by cold rock.
Something from that sentence had clicked and sent bells ringing in my brain, though... "...my life story..."
"Wait, you said your life story. I only asked how you got in here, not your life story." I became suddenly suspicious. Yet, under that suspicion lurked a feeling of fright. I was praying he wasn't going to answer the way I thought he would.
"Did I say that? Well, you know it's a figure of speech." He seemed tense about my observation for some reason. His whole body had frozen and panic flitted behind the mask of humor in his eyes.
"Oh, alright." I let it drop. He didn't want to talk about it to a total stranger, and I didn't want to pursue it, but I was still curious.
"So where am I exactly?" I wanted to change the uncomfortable feeling that had generated between us.
"From what I remember, Fermilab." "Fermilab?!?" I suddenly sat up straighter. Fermilab was a scientific research facility out near the middle of nowhere in Illinois. The biggest thing they had been working on had been smashing atoms underground, not keeping people prisoner, and I voiced that exact fact to Evander.
"Well, they keep secrets from the public. Especially lately." He didn't seem bothered by it, but I was. I remember visiting Fermilab when I was in the seventh grade. We caught bugs and looked at them under microscopes. I wondered if the docents that guided little kids around on the surface knew about what was going on under the fields of butterflies and flowers.
I shivered, and I didn't know if it was because of the facts Evander was sharing with me, or if it was that I was sitting on concrete with my uncomfortable work clothes on. My stomach growled as I rubbed my arms, trying to keep warm. If they were going to keep me captive, they could at least give me decent clothing and feed me. I stood up and saw Evander's gaze follow me to the door. I balanced on the balls of my feet and looked out the barred window in the steel door. Resting my face against the bars, I searched the long, dim hallway for any signs of life. There was no one there, however.
"Hey!" I yelled. "Can I get some food and some decent clothing in here?!?" They took me captive, and I think they deserved as much obnoxious actions as I could give them. I rested back on my feet and glanced back at Evander. He raised an eyebrow and a smile flitted across his lips. I grinned slyly and looked back out the window. I searched up and down the hallway, shouting occasionally, until I saw a man dressed in a drab off-white security suit, carrying a package in his hands. I left the window and sat back down on the wicker mat, smiling slightly to Evander.
I heard the guard's footsteps stop at the door of my cell and the beeping of the barcode reader beside the passage. The steel door slid open by itself and before I could even look up, the guard threw the package at me and the door slammed closed.
I untied the string and opened the paper to a pile of neatly folded clothes. I unfolded a large, beige work shirt and matching pants that seemed my size. There was no food hidden underneath the clothes, however. I sighed in exasperation, but was glad for the clothes. I looked up at Evander and he rolled his eyes while turning away so I could change. I quickly stripped off the dirt and blood covered clothes I was wearing and replaced them with the uniform the guard supplied. The shirt and pants fit relatively well, and I was glad to have at least some comfort. I threw my old clothes in a far corner, and told Evander he could turn around again, while I sat down on the mat.
I leaned against the wall facing Evander and looked at him. He didn't seem the least bit tired, but exhaustion seemed to overcome me. Apparently he could see it, too.
"Go to sleep, Vala. We'll have plenty of time to talk later." He seemed to genuinely care for my companionship. He probably hadn't had anyone to talk to in a long time. I closed my eyes to his smiling face and had just started to drift to sleep when the steel door pulled open to the silhouettes of two large men. They marched in and grabbed my upper arms in an iron grip. I looked at the hole between Evander's cell and mine, but he was gone. I guess I wasn't going to get sleep anytime soon.
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To be continued. R&R -Pendragon4
