Author's Note: Thanks to all who read the third chapter and my little interlude. This part was originally published as "Wings of Despair" but is now part of "Concrete Angel." In the next chapter, you'll see the new stuff.
Oh and I set up a GreatestJournal X-23 RPG for all those who are interested. We only have two characters and still need a lot of players. I remember from the last time I tried to post links that is evil, so here's where you need to go:
vvv.greatestjournal.can/community/hydra-command/ (v - w and can - com) All the dashes in the URL are underscors
and
vvv.greatestjournal.can/community/hydracommand-oc/ (v - w and can - com) All the dashes in the URL are underscors
Now those two are communities where you can find all the info. An example of a character journal is this: This is "weaponx23" writen and played by me:
vvv.greatestjournal.can/users/weapon-x23/ (v - w and can - com) All the dashes in the URL are underscors
Look around and if you have questions, ask in the reviews.
Jinxeh: LOL! Your french is pardoned. Mine's not much better! But yeah, from what I read about Emma, I really don't like her. I know Scott's not the brightest fish in the sea, but seriously how does he go from Jean to her? Blagh. And poor Rachel! Her mother is dead and her father is… with Emma! Ouch! Anyway, I'm glad you liked the links. Thanks for the review, and I hope you'll look into the RPG.
X00001: Yep, she may have made up with Logan, but now the rest of the school comes into play. Stay tuned, and thanks for the reviews.
Windvuur: More on the students in this chapter. Most ofthem will be okay with her (eventualy) but there's one that might give her trouble. X-23 doesn't do well in social environments. We'll see what happens.
Chapter 4The intense look on the elderly woman's face was a bit intimidating for the young girl who stood in front of her, separated only by a thick wooden desk. The woman had a pair of thin rectangular glasses pulled up on her nose as her eyes scanned over the paper in her right hand. The left one held a red pen, every now and then it went up to mark something on the paper. Finally, the woman placed the stapled sheets face down on the table and pulled the glasses off her nose. The girl held her breath in anticipation.
"Well, Ms. Logan," the woman leaned back in her chair. "Your spelling and comma placements leave room for improvement. Other than that," the teacher's feature's softened and her lips curved in a smile, "it is an excellent piece of writing. I can tell you really put a lot of heart into it. Your father sounds like a very caring man."
Laurie Logan beamed as she received her paper back with a bright red A- on the first page. "He is," she replied.
"Now as I understand, the events of this essay are fairly recent," Mrs. Carter continued. "What exactly happened?"
Laurie chewed on her lower lip for a moment, trying to decide what to say. "I was… going through a difficult transition in my life," she finally answered. "When Lo… Father showed me the birth certificate, it helped remind me that he would always be there for me no matter how bad things got."She neglected to mention that in her case, 'bad' could mean anything from bad grades to scientists-who-cut-you-open-and-see-what-makes-you-tick.
"That was sweet of him," the woman smiled. "Oh I'm sorry to keep you so late," she glanced at her watch and a second later the bell rang signaling the beginning of the next class period. "Here, why don't I write you a note?"
Towards the end of the school day, Laurie was in a rare good mood. It was pretty typical for her to come home from school with a temper, periodically even growling at the other students of the Xavier institute. It would take an hour trashing the Danger Room and another hour of meditation with Logan for her to calm down enough to act like a fourteen-year-old that wasn't the subject of a cruel inhumane experiment and then used as a living weapon.
After about a little over a month of living in the institute, she was starting to get a feel for the people who surrounded her each day. If asked about her preference of company, she would have said that she was still more comfortable with Logan and Ororo than any one else. Laurie did realize that the professor and Dr. McCoy didn't mean her any harm, but she still preferred to avoid any major interactions.
The students were an entirely different matter. Scott and Jean were generally nice, but they kept trying to fix her, as if she was an old favorite bicycle that just refused to run properly. Whenever the pair was around her, they always wore fake smiles on their faces and spoke to her as one would speak to a three-year-old, in a sweet hushed baby-toned voice. Kurt, Kitty, Sam, Amara, Ray, and Roberto started by being very wary of her, mostly avoiding running into her weather at school or at home. However over the last week, the six seemed to come to terms with the fact that whatever else she was, Laurie was now a kid first and foremost. With this realization came the shaky foundation for a possible friendship. Kurt and Kitty were the only students that could make her laugh, and Amara proved to be a sister of solitude, often being a good friend simply by being there without saying anything at all.
The last three students were the ones that managed to confuse her the most. Rouge had a passive aggressive attitude towards her that annoyed Laurie more than Scott and Jean combined. She didn't know why Rouge simply refused to give her a chance, but it didn't look like it was out of fear. So Laurie simply stayed out of her way, the same way she avoided Scott and Jean. Bobby was the complete opposite of Rouge. He acted friendly enough, too friendly if she were to take a guess. A few days after he'd started talking to her, Bobby discovered that most of his jokes and crude humor went right over her head. However that didn't stop him from trying. By the smell and nervousness in his voice, Laurie could tell that he was still afraid of her, but he was clearly trying to fight it, so she'd given him a chance. The youngest member of the team and the only student who was actually younger than herself was Jamie, and at first his attitude had greatly confused her. Overtime she walked by, his cheeks would stain bright red which turned to pink as several doubles popped up, each with a goofy grin. Laurie was confused until Ororo had kindly explained to her that young Jamie probably had a crush on her. Ever since than Laurie had made a point to be nicer to him and it seemed that Jamie was overjoyed. It was good for her too; since Jamie was the youngest of the group, spending time with him gave Laurie a chance to see what childhood was really like.
Bayville High was a difficult setting for her. She was a freshman and if that wasn't bad enough, it seemed as if the entire school was whispering behind her back about something. At first she thought it was just paranoia until Kitty told her in a sad voice that it was because she lived in the Xavier Institute. The student body of Bayville High automatically assumed she was a mutant, which was of coarse true, but Laurie never thought of her mutation as a major problem. Growing up within Hydra, she had bigger worries than being a mutant, which showed just how big her problems really were. The human teens avoided her, which suited her just fine.
She stepped out the doors as soon as the last bell rang, backpack over one shoulder and precious essay tightly clutched in her right hand. Scott was supposed to be picking them up from school today, and Kurt, Kitty, and Rouge were already waiting on the front steps of the school. Kurt and Kitty were talking amongst themselves while Rouge just sent a glare in her direction.
"Hey," Kitty greeted her with a smile. "What do you have there?"
"Essay," Laurie answered shortly, "from Mrs. Carter's class."
"The one you stressed over last veek?" Kurt came around and looked over her shoulder. "And you got an A on it too. See? You vorry about nothing."
"A-," Laurie corrected. "Yes, I suppose it was foolish of me."
"Wow that's still, like, really good," Kitty pointed out. "I remember Mrs. Carter freshman year." She shuttered.
At the bottom of the steps Rouge gave a humorless snort. "Maybe Logan'll put it of the fridge for ya."
Laurie didn't know what that meant, but judging by the twin glares Rouge received from Kurt and Kitty, it wasn't anything good. She didn't know why the older girl didn't like her, but at that point she refused to let it ruin her good mood. A few minutes later, Scott pulled up in his red sports car. Everyone threw their backpacks in the trunk and Rouge got in the front seat while Kurt, Kitty, and Laurie sat in the back.
"Storm asked me to tell you that we have a training scion in the Danger Room a half hour after school," he said as he pulled out. Rouge continued to sulk, while Kurt and Kitty groaned. "Come on people, it's not that bad. Logan thought that he's been spending too much time training with the new mutants…"
"They ain't the only ones he's been spending too much time on," Rouge muttered under her breath. Laurie's brow drew together at this, but she held her temper in check.
"….so he's prepared this one especially for us," Scott ignored Rouge and the additional groans, instead turning his attention to Laurie. "I know you and Logan have your own program, but if you want, you can join us today," he told the girl. "Some teamwork might be good for you, and I think you'd be board training with the new mutants. Besides we're all dying to see what you can do."
"On something other than us," Kurt put in. Laurie actually smiled at this. She learned not to take the German boy's jokes personally.
"Alright," she agreed. "I will join you in the Danger Room."
"Great," Scott pulled up next to the mansion. "Actually we needed another person anyway. We're always paired off for these training scions. You know, to watch each other's back."
"I don't know," Laurie shook her head honestly. When she trained within Hydra, she always trained alone. The organization's theory was that if she couldn't survive the training scions, she was no good to them. The only person to ever watch her back had been Logan, but he was her father, her family. These were other students.
"Three guesses whose back -and front- Mr. Combat-Leader watches," Kitty whispered to her with a giggle. "And the first two don't count."
Laurie rolled her eyes. She didn't understand Scott, Jean, or their relationship. At one point they seemed like siblings, and Laurie did understand family bonds to a certain point. But in other cases they seemed like something entirely different. Kitty had said it was something called 'romance,' a concept that was as of yet completely beyond the fourteen-year-old. She didn't understand Jamie's 'crush' either, but still made a point to be nicer to the youngest child on the team. Perhaps it was something she would learn in time.
"Since Spyke left," Scott continued as he went into the mansion. "You'll be paired up with Rouge."
Laurie's good mood ended with that sentence. She'd entered her room, dropped the backpack and essay on the bed, and proceeded to change into her training cloths in silence. Considering that Rouge seemed to have something against her, Laurie didn't expect to count on her help during the training scion. Not that she needed it, but still…
A few minutes later, she met the rest of the team near the massive steal doors of the Danger Room. All six entered together, and she took note of the fact that the room was in fact completely barren. The program hadn't started yet. Over thirty feet above them, Charles, Ororo, and Logan watched from the control and observation room. As soon as everyone was in, Logan grabbed the speaker.
"Albright, boys an' girls," his tone was gruff, as it usually was during combat training. "This is the big leagues, no more simulated danger. These ain't toys for your amusement. They're real weapons that can really kill ya. So watch each other's backs, capice?" Everyone nodded, giggling to themselves. Logan growled and they immediately sobered. "Today you're gonna be runnin' through the Sentinel training program. You've seen what these things can do, so your ability to take 'em on could mean the difference between breathin' one more day and havin' us carry ya to the hospital in pieces." He waited for that to sink in. "Ready? Begin!"
As soon as he said that, three panels slid open reveling three massive humanoid robots. Laurie swallowed hard and drew back for a split second. Her mind flashed back to two years ago. The day after her claws were laced with adamantium… the first test… giant robots. She swallowed again and shook her head to get rid of the images. A few feet ahead of them, Laurie could hear Scott immediately taking command.
"Kurt, Kitty, you two are in charge of the one on the left. Jean and I will take on the middle one. Rogue and Laurie, the last one's all yours," before he even finished speaking, Cyclopes fired a blast at the middle robot who immediately stumbled back.
Laurie didn't waist any time either. Shifting into full combat mode, she somersaulted over the Sentinel's shoulder onto a small platform perturbing from the wall. In such situations, she knew to always go for the head, which was usually the control center for such machines. The Sentinel had now focused its attention on Rogue, lunging for her with massive arms. She dodged the blow and reaching into her pocket, pulled out a small explosive. Ignoring the fact that Laurie was right behind the robot, Rogue hurled the bomb right at the Sentinel's chest. It exploded, causing little real damage, but the robot stumbled back into the wall, knocking its shoulder against the platform where Laurie crouched.
The younger girl didn't get a chance to react. She fell to the ground from the platform, landing heavily on her side. There was a cracking sound and Laurie bit down on her lip against the pain. She had learned long ago not to cry out. Instead she winced and with her right hand, carefully touched her left arm. The pain came again. She realized that since she had fallen on her left side, her arm was most likely fractured at the very least. The only reason it didn't snap in two was due to the two adamantium claws imbedded deep within the arm. They had acted like an internal cast.
Still a bit disoriented, Laurie pulled herself up, but unfortunately for her the robot regained its bearings faster. It retracted one of its hands back into its arm and instead of a metal hand, a six by six hollowed box shoot out of the wrist area and collapsed on Laurie closing her off from the rest of the team. At first she had stumbled and fell backwards, not understanding what just happened to her. There was no light at all within the metal square, and even with her advanced eye site, Laurie couldn't see anything. Her hands ran along the walls until they reached one corner, than another, and another… Was it just her imagination or was the distance between the corners getting smaller?
Laurie's heartbeat doubled. In her mind she didn't see darkness. She saw another box, only it was bigger and white. She huddled in a corner as a once invisible door in the wall slid open, and several people in white lab coats entered. There were other people there too. People with guns. Then she screamed.
