TRIGGER WARNING: BODY HORROR, MEDICAL HORROR
Anxiety gnawed at Fern's stomach.
The horrible sick feeling had plagued her all morning, but the sight of the lab door, the top hinge ripped off, wide open for anyone to enter.
Hank would never be that sloppy with his work.
The young woman peered over Alex's shoulder, but didn't dare broach the arch of the lab. She could see the destruction just fine.
Papers scattered over the floor. Pages and pages of work, semantics, dossiers, probably years of it, ripped and dirty.
Trashed. The sight made her throat tight. Hank had always been so proud of his scientific achievements...
Their friends' feet crunched with every step from the glass; broken windows, shattered beakers. The others chatted amongst themselves, peering into a large, metal military grade case.
Luminous blue eyes flickered to the young man in front of her. Alex and her had gotten along like oil and vinegar, and he wasn't exactly the most...sentimental, of the crew, but she hoped he would appreciate what she had in mind.
With a swallow, Fern steeled her nerves.
Alex blinked at the tap on his shoulder. He shot her a curious glance and arched a brow at her offering. Absent fingers reached for the slip of plastic.
Alex froze as a familiar face stared up at him through the lamentation. Darwin. His taxi license.
The blond's throat seemed to swell closed, choking him, as he thumbed his dead companion's face.
"For luck," Fern explained. "We're gonna need all we can get."
For a beat, Alex struggled. His eyes stung, his hands shook, but he managed to nod. He swallowed and met her gaze.
Her blue eyes were earnest, her skin twisty and dark.
"Thank you."
She smiled. "I got your back, Havok."
Alex rolled his shoulder back to knock into hers. "Ditto, Cane."
The two shared a brief, strangled smile as Charles approached them. Heaviness weighed on his face, around his eyes and mouth. He nodded his greetings, and answered the obvious question. "Hank left a note, he'll be meeting us at the airbase."
"So, what happened?"
Charles sighed. Smoothing a hand over his tie, he kept his tone light, "There must have been an accident."
Alex's frown deepened. "What kind of accident?"
"Hard to say." He looked back into the lab with pursed lips. The sight of it made his jaw tighten. "Hopefully we'll find him in better straits."
They did not find him in better straits.
In fact, they didn't find him at all. The hanger was large, spacious, despite the massive plane inside. Fern gaped at it (the sheer size of it, so much bigger than the little private jet that had whisked her to the airbase where she would meet Blake Sullivan) but didn't linger when Charles sent them to change.
Raven handed her the suit. The two were quiet as they broke away from the men to change, and Fern wanted to be mad. She wanted to be indignant, righteous and spitting like a feral barn cat, but mostly she was just embarrassed.
The thought of the blue skinned mutant's hand on her made bile heat the back of her throat. It made her feel cheap. She had been so excited to see Sean, to lose her virginity to him maybe, and Raven had ruined it for them.
They changed back to back.
After a beat, Raven tried to break the ice. "Fern-"
"Save it."
"You really want those to be your last words to me?" She asked, turning to watch her unzip the panels along her thigh.
Fern arched a brow. "Oppose to what?"
"I was...upset-"
"I know, that's why I'm cutting you some slack." Fern tossed the excess fabric over her shoulder. "We're teammates."
Raven smiled.
"But we are not friends."
The redhead blinked, her smile falling into a tense line. The nod she offered was brisk, and Raven excused herself quietly.
Fern's heart pounded in her chest. Blood rushed through her ears as she sighed, frustrated and sad. She straightened the shoulders of her suit along with her spine.
The young woman closed her eyes. She took a deep breath. As her hammering heart eased, as the roar dulled, the doubts crept back in.
Maybe she had made a mistake.
What if Raven held a grudge? What of she wouldn't have her back? Or Sean's? What if Raven got distracted by the fight and got herself hurt?
The grey skinned girl licked her lips. She wasn't Raven's keeper. The woman's actions would be her own, Fern reasoned. Smoothing her short hair back, she sighed as Sean and Moira came around the corner.
"-tight, but- Fe!" The redhead brightened. "What's cookin', good-lookin'?"
"Wow." She swallowed. "You look…"
Terrified, they both thought, but Sean forced a smile when she couldn't manage to.
Moira rolled her eyes. "Should I give you two a moment?"
"Would you?"
The brunette blinked at the sincerity in Fern's request. With a mute nod, Moira trotted off.
Smoothing his hands down his chest, over his hips, Sean cocked a leg and purred at her.
Fern snorted.
"Damn, babe, don't bruise my ego, now."
"You stupid fucking boy." The words were barely a whisper before her arms were around him.
The claws that ran through his hair were careful and the grip tight as she held him, kissing everywhere she could reach.
Sean melted into her embrace. Holding her close, so close he could feel her heartbeat against his chest, hear the catch in her throat as she sniffled and cupped his cheeks.
"This has to be it, okay?" The membrane flicked over her bright eyes as she pressed her forehead to his, desperate to be close to the man she loved one last time. "I have to forget you're gonna be there or I won't be able to focus."
She could feel the strength behind his reedy muscles as he gripped her waist.
Sean nodded into her neck. "Okay."
"I'm sorry," her voice cracked.
It wasn't fair, she was wasting time, being selfish. This whole fucking thing was so goddamn stupid, she never should have let her heart open in the first place-
Her mouth met his and Fern found herself whispering when she wanted to scream, "I just can't be worrying about you the whole time, Sean, babe, I can't-!"
The leather of his gloves felt queer and foreign and she wanted his hands as he smiled, strained but fond. "Fe, I get it." He tugged at a piece of her short black hair. "This isn't easy for me either."
"Don't die."
"I'll try my best."
"Sean, I mean it."
The young man flinched at the crack in her voice. He wasn't used to her being vulnerable with him, not voluntarily. With a wet blink, he managed to swallow before he nodded.
"I know you can handle yourself, but you have to come back, okay?" Fern's hands shook as she tugged at the collar of his flight suit. "I can handle losing anyone but you." She knew that was selfish and childish and maybe even cruel, but it was the truth. "I can't go home without you, Sean."
He kissed her hand. Let his lips linger against her scales, before he rested his cheek there. After a beat, he straightened. Took a deep breath, and pulled her close.
"I can't promise we're gonna make it through this."
Her chin fell.
He tipped it back up. He hated the morose swirl over her chest. A soft kiss pressed against her temple, he squeezed her tight. "But you're fuckin' crazy if you think I'm lettin' you go that easy, Fe."
Fern laughed. "Good."
The two of them stood together until they were called, and even then, Sean held her a moment longer, unable to let himself let go. "Promise me you'll take care of yourself?"
The husk in his voice made her chest ache. "I will."
"I love you."
"I told you to save that sentimental crap." The regret was instantaneous. His disappointed smirk made her heart shatter and she kissed him fiercely. "I love you, too. I love you so much- However this goes, I'm your girl, ok?!"
Sean beamed. Unable to keep the tears from his eyes, he nodded. "I know you are."
She kissed him one last time before breaking away from him. Her mutation reacted to fear, but the problem was she wasn't afraid. Not at all. Not how she should be. Fear had been a long time friend of hers. She had been afraid of people, of humans, her whole life. It had helped her survive.
Now all she could think of was other people. Sean. Charles. Hank and Alex, who had only just started to get along. She was afraid for fragile human Moira and sweet misguided Raven.
She didn't give a damn about Erik, Erik could rot for all she cared, but she didn't want to have to watch him or anyone else die.
The young woman all but ran from Sean, each step clearing her head more and more. She needed to focus. No more distractions.
Fern brushed by her peers, not bothering to greet them as she went straight for the jet's steel ramp. Despite her quick movements her feet were near soundless on the metal, only the softest clink from her claws breaking her concentration.
The sight before her stopped her dead. A man, a large man, a mutant, blue furred, yellow eyed, stood before her. A scream bubbled in her throat, her scales going a shock of ghastly white as her glands began to pulse.
"Wait!"
Her head cocked. No. Eyes narrow, jaw so tight she could barely curl her lip, "Hank?"
"I must have miscalculated." The taller man scowled, raising a monsterous hand to rub his brow. He recoiled at the sight of his new claws, deep lines creasing his fur as his snarl died into a sigh, "Now I'm…"
"Blue?"
"Yes," he said sourly. His gaze raked up and down her suit. "How does it fit?"
"Fine." She couldn't help gawking at his new form.
He looked bigger, wider, and she sort of wanted to prod at his new biceps, tug at his fur to see if it was permanent, but didn't dare. The sorrow was evident on his cat-like features and while she may have been a bit uncomfortable with his research, Fern had never wished ill on him.
But there was no time for pity now.
She squared her shoulders. "Does yours still fit?"
"Yes?"
"Then its time to go, Hank."
The nod he gave was somber and she couldn't resist returning it. It felt strange, like she was playing dress up, playing solider. Spine straight, Fern took a seat.
Her throat felt tight, her glands dwindling down to a faint tickle, the slightest itch. She leaned back against the cold metal and closed her eyes tight. Fern knew this day would come eventually.
It was time to use her stupid gifts.
The task was daunting, but she could do it. Fern was a bright, capable young woman, she just...needed to tune into that. With a deep breath, Fern cracked her neck and settled her shoulders.
She thought of the orphanage. The barebone bedrooms, children's whispers and laughter. Scowling caretakers who were afraid to touch her, the kids who beat her up, and the worst part, the man who had haunted her for dreams for years.
Fern didn't know his name. Didn't even know what he looked like, the soft spoken doctor who had picked her apart. Fern settled into the memory as if tucking in for a long nap. The faint clinking of metal skirted around the edges of her mind, her vision blurry; not from sedatives, but from the lights reflected off the doctor's mirrored headband, blinding her.
She could still feel it. The rustle of paper under her bottom itchy and noisy and embarrassing, this whole thing was embarrassing, sitting in her undies in front of a stranger.
The membrane flickered over her eyes and he had his assistant make note of it. He had prodded at her cheeks and throat with cold white hands- gloves, she would eventually realize.
"-subject is prepubescent, records suggesting approximately five years in age-"
He pried her mouth open like a dog's and ignored her frightened squeal-
The plane jerked into flight. Her stomach rolled and she squeezed her eyes shut tighter when she heard her friends groan and gasp.
It wasn't working yet.
Go deeper, a soft voice, Charles' voice, commanded, and Fern flinched before she nodded.
The metallic tongs glint under the bright lights, and make a delicate tinkling sound as they push around her insides. Her breathing is slow, deceptively even, almost like she's asleep and she can't move much, her limbs are heavy and prickly with sleep, but she can see, she can talk-
"-bad anymore, please, I won't bite or yell or scratch no more, Doctor, I pro-"
"Quiet, please." His latex gloves smell weird as he puts a hand on her brow. "This is a very delicate procedure."
She remembers how she nodded, so eager to be a good girl, they had promised. If she was good enough he wouldn't come back, she wouldn't have to ever see him again as long as she was good enough-
His hand fell from her brow. The slight sympathy dropped from his tone as he looked to his nurse. "Scalpel."
The stranger didn't spare Fern a glance as she put it in his palm.
"We're going to start with the kidney. Get the suction ready, she's a bleeder."
Fern's eyes snapped open. Bile rose and her throat and she snapped forward-
Charles grabbed her face, directing her to the trash can in his hands. Hand on her neck, he leaned forward. Lips against her ear, he whispered something too low for the others to hear.
She nodded and focused on catching her breath. It felt like a boot on her chest, like she was drowning all over again, water flooding into her throat, her chest tight and her glands pulsing. She closed her eyes again as they began to drip.
Charles stood.
For a while, the girl lingered on the edge. Adrenaline made her legs jitter and shake. She felt like a key toy; the further they went, the tighter she wound. The faster she would go.
Voices around her were anxious; Hank and Moira were at the helm, Erik and Charles debating Shaw's whereabouts. A confident voice broke her from her meditation.
"Yes, we do."
She wasn't even sure how she heard it, but Sean's voice cut through the haze like a knife.
Fern's eyes squeezed shut even tighter. She couldn't do it. Couldn't watch Sean jump, she refused to-
No.
He needed to see her, to see her pride in him, her belief in him, and Fern opened her eyes to meet his gaze head on. She offered him a firm nod as he stood.
Sean returned it with a wink, but didn't touch her as he made his way down the aisle with Charles and Erik. They swung and tripped their way down as the plane swerved.
It was then Fern noticed the explosions.
And the altitude.
But mostly she just saw Sean. His shaggy orange hair whipped around his pale features, but there was no fear on his face. Licking her lips, she wanted to call after him, to say something, anything, but her throat felt too tight.
He pointed at Erik and said something she was too far to catch.
The older mutant held his hands up.
"He's gonna be fine!"
The shout in her ear made her flinch, but she appreciated Alex's sentiment. She smiled at him, and nodded feverently. She couldn't muster a shout, but she managed to be just loud enough, "I know he can! I'm just worried about the suit!"
Alex laughed, but they both sobered at their friend's call.
"On my call!"
"Three-"
Sean settled his feet, planting them at the edge of the platform. Orange hair whipped around his face, a vein in his forehead throbbing as he swallowed.
It was the only hint of nerves Fern saw.
"Two-"
Sean began to nod, psyching himself up-
"One-"
Banshee let out a whoop and dropped along with Fern's stomach.