Hello in the New Year! here's the next one with two more chapters to go!
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Chapter 17 3X1
Flashback two years ago (Clarice)
Athens, Georgia...
Clarice comes out of the town's movie theatre with Nate her boyfriend? She doesn't know he's rather clingy and that's not her thing.
"So, basically, I'm gonna buy a horse." Nate says with his arm loosely hanging on Clarice's shoulder.
"I think you'd look great on a horse." Clarice says.
"You think so?" Nate asks.
"Yeah." She says as they continue to walk to her car.
"So, admit it, coming into town wasn't all that bad." Nate says.
"It wasn't so bad coming into town." Clarice says.
"Mm." Nate says nodding his head.
"But next time, I'm gonna pick the movie. Okay, one with less brooding and whining about one's feelings." Clarice says as she takes her keys out of her purse.
"I do have Die Hard on Blu-ray back at my place." Nate says.
"Oh." Clarice says as she unlocks her car, they are about ten paces away.
"You could come over." Nate says giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"I have to work tomorrow morning. Those dishes aren't gonna bus themselves." Clarice said shaking her head.
"So, bring a toothbrush and some clothes." Nate says with a shrug.
"And turn it into a regular thing? No. I know exactly what you're doing." Clarice says six paces away from her car.
"What?" Nate asks.
"You're trying to make me pay half your ridiculous rent." Clarice says two paces away.
"That's not true." Nate says though not very convincing
"I'm not gonna fall for it." Clarice says then stops when she notices men in black jackets with white crosses on them.
"Oh, my God. Are those?" Nate asks.
"Purifiers." Clarice says her jade eyes scan the man near her car.
"We should go." Nate says quietly. One of the Purifiers starts spelling Mutant on her car in spray paint.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing to my car!?" Clarice asks as she takes a step forward.
"Stop it." Nate says pulling her back.
"One of us saw you walk into the movies a couple hours ago. You got no business being out among innocent humans." One of the Purifiers said.
"Screw you!" Clarice says.
"Let's go, now." Nate whispers.
"Are you one, too? Speak up, boy!" The same Purifier asks.
"No. No, I'm-I'm human." Nate says.
"You're not gonna do anything? How can you be okay with this? How can any of you be okay with this?!" Clarice ask the small crowd that has gathered. No one budges, they just watch.
"Just go, okay? Please. Run." Nate says. The Purifier opens the backseat of her car and tosses a bottle with a lit cloth around it inside.
"No." Clarice says shaking her head. She turns around in the direction they had just come. And starts to run.
"Your kind isn't welcome here. Hey, girl, better run!" Another Purifier says from way far behind her.
With tears in her eyes she makes a portal and jumps through, she stands in her crappy apartment and starts packing.
"I can't believe him! That coward!" She says as she continues throwing clothes in her bags. "I knew I should have just headed straight to Atlanta." Once her bags are packed, she grabs all the fruit, snacks and water and places them in another bag. "Time to find me a ride."
End of Flashback...
Mutant Underground the next morning after the incident at Trask. News had spread throughout about what had happened at Trask. And about what happened to Sonia. They decided to have a service for her even though they didn't have her body. Everyone gathered together in the meadow 10 minutes away from the station. Everyone had flowers and somber expressions as Marcos and Lorna took their place in front of the table. John was closer to the tree with a sad face. Clarice was a close but far away from the Struckers. Lorna had silent tears coming down her face.
"It's days like today that remind us we're up against people that don't think of us as human. And they will point to our differences. But the simple fact is this: We love like they do. We die like they do. We grieve like they do." Marcos says then pauses. Making brief eye contact with John before he continues. "We share that today. Sonya will not be forgotten. And I promise we will find justice for her." Lorna puts their set of flowers down while Marcos says a silent prayer then hugs Lorna. Everyone else follows suit. Soon it is just John placing his one flower on top of the pile slowly making his way back to HQ.
He walks up a few steps and then stops he turns his head away from the entrance and just lets is out. He cries softly into his hand for a few minutes before Clarice comes down the steps. He sniffles and wipes his face before she can see.
"Are you okay?" She asks. "I'm-I'm alright." John says. "I know she meant a lot to you. She really loved you." Clarice says her voice cracks and she looks at the ground. John shakes his head. Sonia did love me, and I loved her like a sister. She didn't have my heart; not like you do. John thought.
"If there's anything you need, I, uh Just say the word. I want to help." Clarice says looking at him. "Things are so confused in there. This whole business with Esme and her sisters, nobody can agree whether what they did was a disaster or a miracle." John says shaking his head. "So, what do we do?" Clarice asks. "Stay focused. We take down the Hound program." John says. "Do we have a game plan?" Clarice asks already knowing somehow the Hound program had to be stopped. "Not yet. All I know is I can't lose any more friends." John says as starts heading up. Clarice nods to herself and gets in step with him heading inside.
Once inside Clarice heads towards her room, but she's stopped by John's hand on her arm. "Come with me." He says then releases her arm heading to his room. Clarice hesitates for a moment before she follows him. John is waiting in his room and she stands idle in his doorway, not sure what's going on.
"John? Why am I here?" Clarice asks. He doesn't respond. "Well, until you figure it out, I'm gonna go." She turns only to be spun back around and her lips meet John's. Her jade eyes widen. John somehow closes his door and brings her even closer. Clarice shakes her head. "J-john wait-" She tries, but he kisses her again softly this time as his left hand pushes her purple locks behind her pointed ear. Clarice shivers then pulls him closer by his leather jacket. His lips leave her mouth and he places butterfly kisses down the side of her neck. Clarice's eyes pop open and she pushes him back just a bit.
"John, stop your grieving. You need time." Clarice says as she turns towards the door. John spind her around again. "No, I don't. Not when it comes to us. I waited four years to have once again have you by my side. I get that you still need time, but I'm ready. I want this." John says and kisses her again she pulls back, "I do too, John." She says placing a hand on his cheek. He leans in again. She places her other hand on his chest to stop him.
"But you need to grieve." She kisses him on the cheek and turns around, John makes no move to stop her. She opens his door looking over her shoulder to give him one last smile then leaves. She heads down to her space lets out a sigh. Not long after she hears frantic footsteps. She runs out of her space and to the stairwell.
"Everybody! Everybody, listen up! We got incoming. Marcos, they're coming. They got past the perimeter guards." Shatter says as he comes all the way downstairs. Marcos, Lorna, John and the Stuckers all come out.
"Who did?" Marcos asks once Shatter is at his side. Then three pairs of heeled black boots clack against the tile. The trio smile down at them all dressed the same.
"What are they doing here?" Caitlin asks from her spot next to Reed.
"What the hell do you want?" Marcos says to the smirking triplets.
"Come down." The one on the left says.
"There's not need to get excited." Says the one on the right.
"We're just here to talk." Esme says.
"Talk about what?" John asks really not in the mood to deal with this.
"We need your help." The triplets say in unison. They then walk down the steps and lean on the rail.
"Well get right to the point." Esme says.
"We're here." They say in unison.
"About the Hound program. It's still going on." The one on the left says.
"It's looking to expand, in fact." The one on the right says.
"We want your help to stop it." Esme says.
"What? No, you came in here and lied to us. What, now you want our help?" Marcos ask scoffing.
"You used us so you could slaughter those agents at the lab." Reed says as Esme joins them so their level with each other.
"We did what we had to do. I saved your children. Did I mislead you? Yes, so you would do what had to be done. And as for your plan to ask the Sentinel Services to give up nicely, that would have ended with as many corpses. But they would've been yours." Esme says.
"Why do you need us?" Lorna asked armed crossed over her chest.
"Yeah, I saw you three controlling people's minds. You can handle this on your own." Clarice says from the other side of Marcos.
"They know what we look like. And we can't take on Sentinel Services by ourselves. But we have to act now. Make no mistake, the humans will come for us all." Esme says looking at Reed and Caitlin before she continues. "We have information about Campbell's plans, resources to share."
"Meanwhile you have..." The one on the right says.
"Muscle." The one on the left says with a smile.
"Hang on. Are we seriously considering this?" Caitlin asks looking at Marcos and John for support.
"No, we're not. We're not gonna listen to this anymore." Marcos says.
John comes forward. "Enough. We're not debating this, not here, not now. We heard what you had to say. Now you need to leave." John says his voice calm, though he really wants to break something.
"Think it over." The one on the right says.
"Don't take too long." The one on the left says.
"We'll be back." Esme says then walks back up the stairs and the trio head out leaving utter silence in their wake.
A few hours later John and Clarice both come out of their spaces in changed clothes and go straight to the monitors to talk to Sage. Mutants all over the building were arguing.
"I did some digging. Couldn't find much out there, but there are three of them, that we know of: Esme, Sophie and Phoebe." Sage says.
"Spunky." Clarice says.
"Do they have a last name?" John asks.
"Frost. But they use new aliases every week. When Sophie and Phoebe were arrested, they gave their last name as "Cuckoo." Probably just to piss off the cops." Sage says.
John with his arms folded turns to Clarice and asks. "When you were in the lab, they talk about themselves?
"It's not like we had a chat. We were in a military transport. And then they got real busy turning the place into a shooting gallery." Clarice says shaking her head.
"Their police file says they're some kind of hive mind. They're capable of limited psychic control if they're close and the target doesn't see it coming. They're politically connected, wealthy. One of them even infiltrated Senator Montez's campaign last year." Sage says as she types away.
"Montez? That jackass is a straight-up Purifier. They've got the right enemies, that's for damn sure." Clarice says pissed off.
"Doesn't mean we can trust them. If we actually form an alliance with these people, it's gonna tear this place apart." John says trying to be the voice of reason.
"This place is already coming about." Clarice says then gestures to the two mutants closest to them.
"There's no other option. We have to fight." The man says to the woman.
"Those guys have been arguing since this morning." Sage says. John moves in their direction. Sage gets up. "I'll deal with it." She says then heads over to the pair who continue to argue.
"Half these people hate the Frosts. And the other half think they're the only ones that can save us." Clarice says. "How about you?" John asks. "Honestly? I don't know. What I do know is that I'm not gonna run and hide anymore. We know where we stand with our feelings, but that doesn't really matter now does it?" She asks not looking at him. "No." Clarice looks at him. "Not now." He says.
"Hey John. Could you come over here?" Sage asks. With one last look at Clarice he walks over to Sage and after a while the pair calms down a bit. Sage thanks him and goes back to the monitors. John decides that it's time to turn in. Instead of going to his room he heads to Clarice's.
He finds her sitting on her bed petting Zingo. She looks up when he knocks. Zingo moves off her bed and to John. He gives her a gentle pat on the head then he joins Clarice.
"Mind if I join you?" John asks. "Nope." Clarice says shaking her head and taking her shoes off. John flows suit and the lays on her bed with her. "Goodnight Clarice." John says and kisses the top of her head. "Night John." They fall asleep in each other's arms.
The next morning John gets up early taking Zingo out so Clarice wouldn't have to then heading up to his space and grabbing some fresh clothes and takes a shower. He goes to the mess and eats a light breakfast. Then he spends most of the morning with an axe chopping down some trees.
Clarice wakes and goes about her usual routine aside from taking Zingo out she sees Lauren with a backpack heading up the stairs to the doors.
"Lauren. Hey. I hear your family's leaving." Clarice says when she catches up with her. "Yeah. We're going down to Fairburn, then I don't know, Mexico. My parents are freaked out because Esme and her sisters came back." Lauren says then slowly turns around. "We're gonna have a real problem here with or without them. Just leaving isn't gonna solve anything." Clarice says. "It wasn't my idea. They didn't give me much of a choice." Lauren says. "Listen, I get that you need to go with your family. But take it from someone who did lots of running. It's not gonna solve anything. At some point, you're gonna have to take a stand." Clarice says. "I tried that. You saw what happened. It got Sonia killed." Lauren says tears starting to form. "That was not your fault. Okay? Look, I've learned the hard way that hate feeds on fear. And if you run, hate wins." Clarice says. "I gotta go." Lauren says turning and heading up the last of the steps and out the door. Clarice sighed and went up to John's office.
She placed her palms on his wooden desk and shook her head. Lorna finds her in that same position about twenty minutes later.
"Hey, whatever your feeling right now, table it. Marcos and John are waiting down in the vault." Lorna says then walks out the way she came. Clarice sighs and follows her downstairs to the vault. Like she said John and Marcos were waiting for them. Lorna sits down a chair kicking her boots up on the desk.
"What's up?" Clarice asks.
"The Frost sisters will be here soon. We need to decide what to do." John says.
"Far as I'm concerned, the psychics are a nonstarter." Marcos says as he leans against the file cabinets.
"Because their tactics make you uncomfortable?" Lorna asks as she raises to her feet.
"Uncomfortable? They murdered a dozen people without even blinking. We don't know the first thing about them." Maros says.
"We do know one thing about them. They saved our asses." Clarice says.
"They saved themselves, and pulled us right into an all-out war with Sentinel Services." Marcos says.
Congress could declare martial law." John says.
"So? They didn't need martial law when they killed my foster parents." Clarice says her jade glaring.
"Exactly. Why should we fight with one hand tied behind our backs? We need all the allies we can get. Do you want to cling to your ideals or do you want to survive?" Lorna asks looking at Marcos.
Marcos shakes his head. "We can't just chuck our principles because it's convenient. No, the X-Men chose us for a reason, and it's not 'cause we can kill. If we wanted to kill people, we would've done it a thousand times already, but we didn't." Marcos says addressing all three of them. "We have to be better than that. Now, we need to take out the Hound program, and we will, Lorna. But we have to do it our way." Marcos says and they stand in silence for a moment before Sage rushes in.
"Listen up. I just got word over the police radio. Something big is about to go down." Sage says.
"Where?" John asks.
"Fairburn." Sage says.
"Let's go." John says. Clarice, Marcos, and Lorna follow him out and to the cars. They all pile in one and head out. Fairburn is 2 hours away, but with Lorna at the wheel they'll make there in 45. When they are six minutes away John calls Reed.
"Reed. We're on our way, less than five minutes out. What's going on?" John puts the burner on speaker. "We're hiding out at the south end of the building, but we can't get to an exit." Reed says. "How many people are with you?" John asks. "Uh, just us and Wes. Uh, most of the refugees have already surrendered. Uh, Andy's hurt." Reed says. "How bad?" John asks. "He's unconscious, but Cait is afraid to move him. Wes has put up a mirage to hide us. I don't think he can hold on forever." "All right, we're almost there. Just hold on. We'll portal in, get you out of there." John says then closes the burner. He tells Lorna to park on the other side of the building which is surrounded by trees.
They all pile out and John tracks the Sentinel Service agents. "Sentinel Services is setting up around the building."
"Can you get us in?" Marcos asks.
"Yeah." Clarice says.
-boom boom-
"What the hell was that?" Lorna asks.
"I'm pretty sure were gonna find out." Marcos says.
Then they all file behind Clarice, she sees an open window she spreads her arms out and a big purple portal forms Marcos goes in then Lorna then John and finally Clarice the portal closes behind her.
-howling boom-
"John, where are they?" Lorna asks. As they cover their eyes as debry fly at them.
"Go, down the hall!" He yells as they run parts of the building continue to break. They take a flight of stairs. "This way come on!" John says they follow while the other mutants go in a different direction. They see Reed and Caitlin with Andy and Lauren holding Wes as she shields them from incoming fire.
"Hey, come on, we got to go." John says as he helps Andy to his feet while Lorna and Marcos help Lauren with Wes.
"Come on." Reed says.
-howling boom-
"We'll cover you!" Marcos says. They head back the way they had come the howling getting worse by the second. Clarice helped the Stuckers downstairs.
The next boom sends Lorna flying high over John's head and Marcos falls to the ground. John act quickly and catches Lorna breaking her fall.
"Lorna!" Marcos says quickly rising to his feet, shiny blood on his cheek.
"I'm okay." She says and hugs him.
Clarice comes back up and looks at them.
"They're too powerful! Get us out of here now!" John yells as he and the others follow her downstairs. Clarice opens another portal getting them out of the building and into the forest.
Sentinel Service agents head in the opposite direction a few feet away.
"We have to get out of here." Lorna says.
"Yeah. We can't take on those Hounds. We'll never make it if they see us." Marcos says.
Andy grunts behind them.
John takes the lead he tracks the agent's movements.
"Found a vehicle, sir."
"Engine's still warm."
"We'll search the area."
"Ugh, they're all through the woods. The car's blown. They'll be on us soon." John says turning back to them.
"Andy, what is it?" Caitlin asks.
"We go that way." Andy says.
"The woods are full of agents." Reed says.
"They said it was safe." Andy says.
"Who said it was safe?" Lauren asks.
"I know how to get out of here, okay? Just follow me." Andy somehow rises to his feet and heads in the direction he was told.
"Andy, wait!" Caitlin says.
"Andy!" Lauren says. They follow him as he stubbles on his way and soon they see a road with two black Jeeps and the Frosts causing some pain to two agents.
"Let's go." Esme says.
"What are you doing to them?" Reed asks.
"We're just giving them something to think about." Esme says simply.
"I know you're squeamish about killing." The Frosts say in unison.
"More agents coming this way. Too many for us to handle." John says.
"Well, then, I guess you better get in." The Frosts say as they turn to the cars.
"Come on!" Reed says and they all pile in the black jeeps. The Frosts hit the gas and they speed away before they are noticed. They ride back to HQ in complete silence. Once inside Caitlin, Reed and Lauren get Wes and Andy over to the sick bay Clarice follows.
"Is he going to be okay?" Lauren asks.
"He was using his powers for a long time. His body's exhausted. Once he rehydrates, he'll recover." Caitlin says.
"Wes is a tough kid." Clarice says as she places a blanket over him. "So are you, by the way. Holding out like that? I don't know how you lasted as long as you did." Clarice says looking at Lauren with a smile.
"I had to. Like you said, hatred feeds on fear." Lauren says.
"Well, I'm glad you're here." Clarice says giving her a pat on the shoulder. "We need all the help we can get." Clarice says then leaves them. She heads downstairs to her space. She was not about to deal with the Frost right now.
"We might've not made it out of there without you guys." Lorna says.
"Your welcome." Sophie says.
"Don't mention it." Phobe says.
"How did you even find us?" Marcos asks.
"We told you. We have sources." Esme says.
"So, the mutants that were attacking us, that's what you were warning us about? That's what Campbell's been working on at Trask?" John asks.
"That was just the start." Phobe says.
"It's going to get worse." Sophie says.
"Much worse. That's why we need your help." Esme says.
"Okay. And you can get us to Campbell? We can end this?" Lorna asks.
"We wouldn't be here if we couldn't." The triplets say in unison shrugging. "So, what's it going to be?" They ask.
John looks at Lorna who smiles. Then at Marcos who is reluctant, but gives a small nod.
"Alright, were in." John says.
"You made the right choice." The triplets say with a smirk then the three leave, but not before telling them they would be back in the morning.
Hey so as always let me know what you think about this chapter!
You know I love hearing from you! And also I have a direction in which I want to go for Season 2, but not a title...if any on you can come up with one I'm open to suggestions.
Though I would suggest you wait till the last chapter to PM me your title just so you have some idea of what it's going to focus on.
I just started the next chapter I don't know when it will be done there is so much going on and so much to fill in for.
So as always, until next time...