She hears his voice, down the hall a ways as she's heading outside to walk for a while and clear her head. She'd slept for some hours and it's late now, past time for the students to be in bed, so the mansion is quiet. She sniffs him out, tracking him to the rec room. He's talking to someone, his voice hushed, tone gentle. Who would he be...?
Oh. Of course. Jamie steps back a bit behind a wall before she's seen, meaning to just continue on with her original quest for some fresh air. She's not usually one to go listening on other peoples conversations but...
It's the Barbie Doll that Jake is with.
In a sudden fit of jealous suspicion, she decides to stay and listen a minute.
"You should go back to bed." The Redhead tells him.
"I couldn't sleep either." Jake answers. "And anyway, I mean...I hadn't gotten a chance to ask yet. If you're ok, I mean."
"I'm..." Sarah trails off, hesitating.
"You don't have to lie to me."
"I will be fine. I just wish I knew what that telepath did to my head. I mean, I worked so hard on it, learning how to switch it off, now I just don't..."
"Hey. C'mere."
Jamie's heart skips a beat. She knows that tone he just took. Peering back around the corner, her stomach drops. Sure enough, Jake's got his arms around Sarah, holding her gently.
Jamie forces her legs to carry her outside. It doesn't have to mean anything. Sarah's upset and they had grown up together, it makes perfect sense for him to offer a bit of comfort. That's all. So why is Wildthing pacing around so restless in her mental cage now? Jamie doesn't understand the reaction but can't seem to control it. Her blood boils, her fists clench, it's all she can do not to stalk back inside and...
And what? What does she want?
To break her face. Wildthing answers the question. How dare she get so close to him, he's mine.
I haven't marked him. She argues with herself as she stalks off into the night, pacing the grounds. He's not my mate yet.
So go and do it. Do it now.
He'd never agree, he doesn't really understand yet.
Of course he will, he feels it too.
We're too young still.
Old enough to fight in battle, old enough to mate as well. The Wild Thing in her argues.
No, that logic is flawed. Jamie huffs a growl at herself. She'd killed a man at fourteen because that's just the hand she'd been dealt. Childhood ended long before it should have for her, but Jake is different, she can't push this too quickly. He needs time to discover things on his own. And besides, his mother's still missing, so what Wildthing is proposing will be the last on his mind right now. All this will just have to wait and as for Barbie...
Jamie likes to think she'd be above the sort of mentality that would send a man or woman off to picking a fight the minute their lover even gets half a step too close to the opposite sex. She likes to think she's got some class and just isn't that petty. She likes to think she can hold Wildthing off, that she's in better control.
Carol James Logan likes to think a lot of things to help herself sleep at night, but she really knows all of them to be just not true.
...
She slips inside the Danger Room and stands with her back to the wall, just watching him. A small hoard of simulated baddies throw themselves at him in waves, but his anger over powers them all with ease. He beats them to a pulp. She wonders what level the simulation is set to. Might not be very high; he seems to have wanted punching bags more than an actual challenge. She's been there before and thinks better of interrupting him. He'll tire himself out eventually.
"End simulation!"
"You're quite a sight when you get goin', hot stuff." She calls out as soon as things are quiet.
He jumps a bit, turning to her. "Shit." He spits out, breathless. "Where did you...?"
"Never never land." She answers sarcastically, and offers him a smile, holding out a bottle of Powerade for him to take. "Can we talk?"
He stalks over, a bit irritable, scowling at the sports drink. "Any chance yah got somethin' stronger?"
You've had enough of that the past month, we both have, she thinks, but knows he won't like that answer. "I could maybe swing that sometime soon. But, ah, I'd need a little incentive first." She says instead, hoping the distraction will be enough.
There's a slight pause. He blows out a breath, shaking his head as he takes the Powerade. "Thanks."
"Yep."
"I should shower."
She raises a suggestive eyebrow. "Yah know, it's late. No one cares we're down here. Or...what we're doing, probably."
He stares her down, hovering over her a bit. Playing tough. "Thought you just wanted to talk?"
She smirks up at him. "Always time for that later, right?"
Without warning he reaches down to snatch her up, throwing her over his shoulder and lumbering off towards the showers down the hall a ways as she bursts into hysterical giggles.
.
"I know I wasn't thinking clear." He says after, watching her as she finishes dressing.
Jamie shrugs. "I'm sorry if you felt like I didn't have your back. I always do, I was just worried you'd get hurt."
"That's fair enough." Jake huffs, pacing the room a bit. "It's just...I mean my mom was probably still in that place somewhere. Now how will we find her? They could've taken her anywhere." He pauses, lost in thought for a moment. "Unless it's possible you could..."
"No." Jamie snaps, harsher than she means to. "No, I couldn't. I'm in deep enough with Ouroboros as it is. Not that you care much what happens to me, apparently."
"Hey, that's not true and you know it." There's anger behind his eyes again. "I worry about you like crazy but your friends have my mother."
"I don't have any control over that, every favor I ask comes with a price!" Her blood begins to boil. Wildthing thrashes against her mental cage, wrought with jealousy over what she'd seen earlier in the night. "Would you be so quick to ask so much of Sarah? Or am I just that expendable?"
"Sarah?" Confusions registers. He scowls. "No. I wouldn't. But then again, she'd never pull the shit you've been pulling, so that is not a fair comparison. I mean, for all we know this is half your fault!"
"Excuse me?"
There's a slight pause. He hadn't meant to say what he did, but it's out there now. "Well it's just...you knew how to get us into the compound."
"I had to beg for that information!"
"Yeah, but you have to admit it is kinda funny how bad things seem to happen and it's always related to you somehow."
"This had nothin' to do with me, we were gone when the X-Men left on the scouting mission!"
"Yeah, and where exactly were we? All the way on the other side of the continent gettin' our asses beat by a couple of suits with guns that somehow knew who you were!" He lets loose a frustrated growl.
"Yeah I was the one takin' those bullets back at the Warehouse, I beat one of those suits to a bloody pulp in case yah forgot, and that's not to mention the mess I made at the facility when I was tryin' to make sure you guys had time to get to the jet." Jamie's fists clench as she comes to stand toe to toe with him. She's less than half his size but the look in her eyes is hard and angry enough that he flinches away a bit. "Why don't we just skip to the part where you explain what exactly you're implyin', bud." It's not a question.
"I just don't understand why you're playin' their games, that's all. What could they possibly have on you that justifies it? That's the only part you haven't explained."
Silence. There are many answers to that question, and she isn't interested in explaining any of them.
He shakes his head. His shoulders slump, the fire leaves his eyes; he suddenly seems utterly defeated. "I see, now, I think. My Mom even gave me fair warning. She said you'd be a hard case, that there may be no winnin' with you. Guess she really does know best. You're not capable of just trusting, are you?"
"I trust that everyones got an agenda." Jamie answers, gruff, arms crossing. "And I trust that when shit really hits the fan I can't count on anybody else lookin' out for me, 'cause most times they won't."
Jake studies her for a minute, gaze peircing. A moment passes in silence, until his jaw clenches as he seems to come to a decision. Turning his back to her, he stalks quickly out of the locker room, his strides determined. Bewildered though she now is, Jamie trails after him.
She's actually quite startled to see Logan leaning against the wall not far from the locker room door; he's clearly been there a minute if his expression is anything to go by. He'd been eavesdropping, and Jake had heard him approach. How had Jamie missed that?
Jake faces the older feral, anger in his eyes. "You manage to come flyin' to her rescue one measly time and somehow that earns you the right to eavesdrop on a private conversation?"
"Jake. Don't." Jamie lays a hand on his arm.
Logan holds his hands up in surrender. "Sounded like you two were fussin' at eachother, I just wanted to make sure everythin' was... you know what, you're right, kid. S'not my business. I'll keep walkin' next time."
"Yeah, you do that, old man." Jake snarls back. "Cause I'm kinda thinkin' the last thing she needs is -"
"Jake." It comes out half a growl this time; her grip on his arms tightens. "Don't. It's ok. You should go to bed. Now."
Jake huffs a growl, but turns to Jamie. The anger in his eyes is replaced with a mischievous light, rather abruptly too. "Fine. Just let me say goodnight." He leans down, quite deliberate, and plants a kiss on her lips. A very deep kiss. A rather passionate...his hand slips down low, caressing her hip, pulling her body flush against his, and she feels a certain, pleasurable sort of shiver run down her spine.
Wildthing howls in satisfaction inside Jamie's head. Bet that redheaded Barbie doll never got one like this! Ha!
"Yeah, very funny, kid. That's enough." Logan's voice becomes a growly command all at once. "Alright, hands off my daughter, it ain't a suggestion. Jesus. You got a death wish or what, bub?"
With a satisfied smirk, Jake lets her go and struts off down the hallway, clearly quite proud of himself and not at all intimidated.
Jamie rakes a hand through her hair, blowing out a breath. She feels as though she needs another shower now, a very cold one this time. Logan clears his throat expectantly, and she forces herself to face him, hands on her hips, head held high. "Right. Ahem. Uh. You need somethin', old man, or...?"
Scowling now, her father stalks past her, following Jake's path back upstairs. "Pull yourself together and meet me outside. We need to talk."
"Uh-huh. Yes, sir." She answers, her voice cracking a bit as she wobbles back into the locker room.
...
"You two been drinkin'?" Logan questions as she slips outside some few minutes later. "I won't ask where yah got it from if yah have, it's just if yah haven't then the talk I have with the boys father is gonna be a very different one."
"We haven't but take it easy on him, Pops." Pops? Where the hell did that come from? He raises an eyebrow, and she stutters a bit, pulling out a cheap cigar to light as she plows on. "It's kinda really my fault. I took him up to hang out at the Warehouse with me, that's where we were for the last month. You know well as I do how easy it is to lose yourself, hangin' out with that crowd. It was fun but we were just gone a little too long, is all. He just needs someone to talk a little easy sense back into him." She lights up her smoke. "Probably anybody that isn't me, at this point."
"The Warehouse?" Logan questions, sounding oddly alarmed as his eyes narrow at the cigar she brings to her lips.
"Yeah." Her brows furrow. "I know, it probably wasn't the best way to introduce a good-goody like him to the rest of the world but I -"
"Were you workin' the cages again?"
"Oh. Yeah. Hell, I don't think they'd let me get away with showin' my face up there and not fightin' a match or two, an' who can pass up on that kinda easy money?"
Logan starts to just look sad. "Drinkin' again, too, I'd sup'ose." Quieter now.
"Totally legal up there, in my defense." She answers, careless.
Logan shakes his head; his brows are furrowed. "You know, I been singin' your praises to yahr Ma."
She stares at him owlishly now, caught off guard. "You..have?"
"Mmhmm. Tellin' her all about how well yah been doin' down here still. Trainin' with the team 'n helpin' out around here 'n takin' better care of yourself." Jamie starts a bit at this, glancing down at the cigar. He plows on. "She gushes everytime I mention you, talkin' all about how proud she is that the new babies are gonna grow up with you for a sister."
Guilt settles like a bomb in her belly. She looks away, taking a long drag from her cigar and letting it out slow. She can think of nothing to say.
He heaves a tired sigh. "But then I guess I always knew yah'd be right back at it the first chance yah found. Hard not to when that's all yah know."
"Sorry, Pops." There it is again. That's what Jack calls Logan and it always seemed fitting but Jamie had never felt any urge to use it before. But the tone of Logan's voice just now, the way his brows are furrowed in worry and not anger, the way he so clearly wants to try and care for her now, it's wearing on her. She feels sick to her stomach with the guilt that wracks her and decides he's earned the right. He is her father after all. "Jake wanted an adventure and I just thought I'd give him one. The way he was talkin', I was afraid he'd get bored of me. Then we got up there and..I guess I didn't realize how much I had missed it."
"Slope is a slippery one if yahr not payin' attention." Logan says. "I understand, kid. An' yahr right, Jake'll sort himself back out, he's just got a lot on his mind right now. It's you I'm worried about. You make one decision on impulse to hop in the car and head up to visit some old friends and within what, days I'm guessin'? Yah were already fallin' back on all the old habits."
Jamie stamps her cigar out. "I slipped for a while. I'll clean it back up, now, ok?"
"Can you?"
"I promise." She offers, with a confidence she doesn't feel. She's in it even deeper with Ouroboros now and Jake's becoming a complicated thing again and she suddenly isn't sure of anything anymore.
His jaw clenches. "I'm holdin' you to that. You guys aren't students anymore and the younger kids will start lookin' up to you, 'specially now that yah've been on yahr first mission as X-Men. Try to keep that in mind."
"Yes, sir."
He sends her back off to bed.
...
Trixie LaBelle contacts her the next evening. "Our target is back in town, preparing to throw a banquet. He'll expect for you to be his date."
No rest for the wicked, then. Jamie sighs. "I'll leave tonight."
It's after midnight by the time she drags herself downstairs with a duffle bag, packed and ready to go. Things have settled some after the excitement of the last few days, and she's not actually expecting anyone else to be awake.
"Leaving again so soon?" The voice startles Jamie. It's just Sarah, though. "And without Jake? Where are you going?"
Jamie huffs a disgruntled growl at the redhead. "I must've missed the part where that became your business."
Sarah shows only mild signs of actual hostility, though it's difficult to decipher her full demeanor with her eyes hidden behind a pair of rose-tinted glasses, the only thing keeping her power at bay now. "Have you stopped to think maybe we could use your help here?"
"Logan's back. I'm not needed, and you don't want me here anyway."
"Does Jake know you're leaving?" The firebrand counters quickly. "I mean..I know that's not my business either, really, but I just hope you're not -"
A spike of jealous anger sends Wildthing to breaking free of her mental cage without Jamie's permission. She stalks toward Sarah, fists clenched. "Just what? Tryin' to ghost him? Oh, but I bet that's exactly what you're hopin' for. Isn't it, Malibu Barbie?"
Sarah backs up, hand raised to her visor, poised to attack if need be now. "Look, I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish he'd realized the mistake he's making in you but he won't so that's not the point." She says quickly, trying to explain. "I can't let you just run off and leave him without explaination, I'm not sure what he'd do but I don't want to find out!"
"You oughta be more concerned with yourself, Princess!" Wildthing shoves the redhead back against the wall with brute force, holding her there while a set of claws slips out to hover just inches from her neck. "I catch you within' reachin' distance of my mate again and I'll gut yah like a fish, you smug, scrawny little -"
That's what Jamie imagines doing. That's what she'd really like to do and say. But she doesn't. She blows out a breath, and beats Wildthing back with the usual mental cattle prod before responding, for real this time. "Jake knows. I wouldn't go anywhere without tellin' him." She relaxes her stance some. "Jesus. You sure like givin' lectures, don't yah? You never know half as much as you think you do, either." Trying for the more usual tone of 'snarky' now.
Sarah drops her hand slowly, though she's clearly still tense. "I wasn't sure how to go about this. I'm not even sure what I intended to do if you were sneaking off in lieu of breaking up with him. I'm just worried about him."
"You're not the only one, but he can take care of himself." Jamie points out. "And even if he couldn't, I'd have him instead. You'd better get it through your head -"
"Or what?" The redhead challenges readily.
Jamie weighs her options, and just shakes her head. "Or I won't have to lift a finger. He's gonna learn to hate you for bein' so pushy, and it's gonna be your own fault, Princess. That's the beauty of it."
Sarah seems almost startled. She doesn't respond.
The feral rakes a hand through her hair and spins on her heel, snatching up her bag from where she'd dropped it earlier and heading for the door again.
"Hey. You better watch yourself, Cavewoman." Sarah calls after her with a renewed burst of fire. "Come at me with a look like that again and I might be tempted to fry you without bothering to ask questions first."
Jamie doesn't look back, just snorts. "Sure yah will, Barbie. Sure yah will."
...
The man Ouroboros has had her spying on is a politician. A state senator, in fact, as smooth as they come but sweet as could be, too. Gathering information from him is easy as he's so strangely trusting of her. Most of what she overhears of his converstaions when he's working has to do with mutant related legislation - or at least, that's the bits that Ouroboros is concerned with.
The trouble is, he's quite blatantly fighting in favor of mutants, and seems particularly against the controversial registration act. She doesn't quite understand - why would Ouroboros care about any of that? More importantly, why would they be spying on the man working in favor of mutant rights? Are they against such policies? Why would they be so determined to recruit Jamie to their ranks if they were somehow anti-mutant?
She tries to question Ms. LaBelle on this, but gets no real answers. Which isn't shocking in the least.
.
Her targets smiles at the sight of her, his happiness genuine. "I missed you, my angel."
A velvet box appears before her. There's diamonds and rubies inside it, delicately encased in gold. He comes from old money, is almost as rich as her grandmother. He probably paid for the jewels outright without much trouble, but even still, it's doubtful he wouldn've spent so much on just anybody. She can't imagine how she's sold herself so well. Maybe she hasn't and he actually appreciates the quirks she displays; the thought only adds to the guilt she feels for it all.
He probably doesn't deserve this.
Later that night, after they've danced the night away and she'd impressed him with her skills and random knowledge of the arts. After designer heels have been kicked off and the necklace carefully removed and the little black dress shimmied out of and she's left in nothing but the scant slips of lace that'll send her target's heart to beating a mile a minute once he's out of the bath, she sneaks out to the balcony off the parlor room down the hall. She needs to hear Jake's voice, if only just for a minute.
The phone rings, just the once. The call is rejected. She scowls down at the thing and heaves a tired sigh.
He doesn't want to talk to her, after all.
...
"So - so what? One little prick of the needle and what? What does it do?"
Trixie holds up the small syringe filled with a strange blue liquid. "When used on any other subject we've tested it on the effects have, to put it simply, turned them into what you are naturally. Strong and fast with senses as acutely attuned as any apex predator on record, perhaps a bit moreso even."
Jamie's brows furrow. "So then why don't you have a dozen other guys on the stuff? Why do you even need me?"
"Because it kills them." Trixie replies, blasé. "None of our other tests subjects could withstand continued use. They grew weak, frail, eventually died of natural causes as though they were ninety years old."
This elicits a raised eyebrow from Jamie. "Hm. So what exactly are we thinkin' it's gonna do to me?"
"Oh, I haven't the faintest, really. But you would almost certainly be resistant to the rapid deterioration we saw in our other subjects, enough so that I've been fully approved to test it on you. You are well within your rights to decline to continue using it at any time if you feel any ill effects. We'll start slow."
"Fantastic." Jamie grumbles.
"I could find another way for you to be useful." Trixe offers, casual. "We could always use the muscle."
Muscle. Jamie scowls. She doesn't like the idea of being a lab rat, but given the choice between that and the job of common attack dog she thinks she'd probably prefer the former. "Alright, fine. So how do we do this?"
Trixie leads her along through the winding corridors inside the complex that serves as Ouroboros' headquarters. An elevator awaits them; they take it down until they are well below ground, and Jamie's unease grows.
She really is a lab rat.
The testing facility is a cavernous room, probably the length and width of a football feild. The ceiling sweeps up high above; halfway up along one wall running lengthwise there's a panel of thick glass that she can't see through. Probably an observation room.
"Ahkay, what the hell is that?" Jamie blurts, startled by the sight before her. Set in about the middle of the room there's a large sort of - robot? It must be. It's must be a dozen feet tall and appears to be made out of some sort of plastic if she isn't mistaken.
Trixie smirks. "That. Is what you're about to be up against."
"Excuse me?"
"Forgive me, perhaps I should've warned you. It's a security sentinel, something newer that a private company has been working on. We've been using it on all our test subjects. So far none can fully get past it, though some have come close. You see that panel on it's chest? Get that off and pull the wires inside, the thing will shut down in an instant."
"Uh-huh. And, ah, just what exactly is this thing armed with?"
"Oh, you'll see. Are you ready to begin?"
"I'm..sorry, I thought you were supposed to give me a hit of your go-juice there first?"
"Well first we must see how well you fair without it. We can't know the serums full effects on you unless we see what you managed without it first."
"Jesus, I didn't sign up for this." Jamie rakes a hand through her hair.
"Last chance. If you wish to back out -"
"Lets jus' get this over with."
"As you wish." Trixie exits the room.
Jamie stalks up to the thing cautiously. It really is massive. She takes a stroll around it, feeling along the strange material armoring it. She's not sure what it's made of. It doesn't look or feel like any sort of plastic she's seen before.
She hears it as whatevers powering the thing whirs to life from within it. Backing away smartly, she watches as it comes to life. Glowing green eyes lock on to her slight frame as the rest of it lights up the same color. She almost gets the impression it's scanning her; a moment passes and it lifts it's hand.
Eyes widening, she dodges just in time.
A sort of net flies out and across the room, landing not far from where Jamie had been standing. Well. That was..tamer than expected.
"Alright." Jamie mutters. "Lets see..." She sprints forward and ducks beneath the arm it extends, slipping in close to jump up and latch onto it's torso.
the robot doesn't seem to like that. It's color changes to yellow. Movements eerily smooth, it reaches up and tries to get ahold of her arm. She was expecting this, at least sort of, and half dodges. It gets hold of her shirt; she pops her claws and reaches over, using them to help to tear the sleeve away. She drops, hitting the ground but rolls, bouncing back up to her feet and sweeping a leg out reflexively. It hits home, knocking one of the robots legs out from under it. It's other knee hits the ground. The the thing doesn't miss a beat; an attachment pops up on it's shoulder. Some sort of dart shoots from it, hitting Jamie in the shoulder. She comes at the thing again, careless, spinning into a kick that lands right on the panel at it's chest.
The panel falls off.
Mission halfway accomplished? Seems too easy.
Whatever was in the dart works it's way through her blood stream. A hint of dizziness reaches her; she plucks out the dart and scowls down at it, waiting the few seconds it'll take for her ridiculous metabolism to take care of it.
The robot gets back to it's feet. The breifest of moments passes, as though it's inspecting itself. And then it turns red.
Uh oh. Is red bad? Red is probably bad. She braces herself, expecting more firepower to be displayed. Instead, it crouches down, seeming to scan her again, and then charges. Literally. She's never seen any kind of robot or anamatronic that can move quite like this. It sprints forward, right at her, so fast she hardly has time to react at all. It catches her up and uses it's own momentum to spin around and send her flying, like a damned ragdoll. She sails across the room and hits the wall all the way on the far end; thankfully, the walls are padded. Unfortunately, she still feels something snap on impact. Maybe a few things, actually. Ok. So red was very bad.
She seriously did not sign up for this shit.
The robot powers down, either because the folks watching had turned it off themselves, or because Jamie had clearly ceased to be a threat for the moment. She can't tell which.
Several moments pass wherein she can't quite muster the energy to pull herself up from being nothing more than a crumpled heap on the floor. Everything kind hurts. She's almost afraid to move at all.
The silence in the room is shattered by the sound of Trixie LaBelle's stillleto heels click-clacking their way across the floor. "My, my. How does it feel to be the one beaten for a change?"
Jamie mutters at her incoherently, something gruff and mean. She manages to move some, climbing up so she's on her hands and - spots dance before her eyes as she puts pressure on her arm. A gasps escapes her lips, totally involuntary, but she can't even breathe in fully. The pain doubles and reaches an incredible sort of crescendo that might actually be beyond anything she's felt before. Just as she's not sure she can handle much more, Trixie LaBelle's voice reaches her ears again, muttering something to someone else, sounding urgent. And then she knows no more.
...
She dreams, disjointed images of past events interspersed with washes of color and plain nonesense -
Jake, his lips pressed to hers as she runs her hands through the soft blue fluff covering his head -
Logan - no, Wolverine - claws out and sailing forward to slice straight through the gut of a big man wearing body armor - "...anytime, kid, I've got yah now..."
Her grandmother, with that long barreled pistol in hand - "...you insolent little brat of a bastard..."
Jake again, cheering her on from within a crowd of others, viewed through the wall of a cage - "Wildthing, Wildthing!"
Anna, standing with hands on her hips as if scolding a child - "Yah're not an animal, Jamie Logan, don't let them turn yah into one!"
Her mother for some reason, looking a vision, glowing almost, offering up a wan smile - "...wake up, my Munchkin, yah can't sleep in forever now, can you?"
.
She hears the new voices just distantly, as though she's still dreaming.
"Incredible. Six seperate bones broken and total regeneration seems to have fully progressed in but a matter of days. I see no signs of bruising."
"The healing is total? You're certain?"
"Her breathing has returned to normal, that would seem to suggest the punctured lung has fixed itself. The damage was quite extensive, I believe that to be the only reason the process took even what time it did."
"Did you sedate her? She's been out for so long."
"No, no. I doubt I could keep her out that way for any sustained period of time, not with anything I have on hand here, she'd burn it off far too fast. I believe the long rest is subconsciously wilfull on her part. Healing so many broken bones would of course be taxing on even her system. Perhaps her body decided this would be the easiest way to fix itself. Such a mechanism might also serve as a defense, not unlike the way certain animals will 'play dead', so to speak. Her breathing has been considerably slowed, and I could scarce have detected her heart beating at all if not for the use of a machine."
"Indeed? That's quite fascinating. She is a remarkable one, is she not?"
A pause.
"...Ms. LaBelle..."
"What is it, Dr. Larson?"
"You did know she would heal like this? From such extreme wounds?"
"Not to worry, Dr. Larson, I had every reason to believe she would, and she submitted to the test quite voluntarily besides."
A tired sigh. "Quite right, of course she did. They always do, don't they? Oh. What lovely timing you have. I think she's coming around. Ms. Logan? Jamie? Can you hear me?"
Someone taps at her shoulder.
Awareness returns to her, startlingly all at once. None of the smells she's surrounded by are terribly familiar and her last memory is of being in incredible pain. Running all on instinct, she shoots to a sitting position as a hand reaches up to snatch the doctors wrist in an iron grip. "What - where -," she stutters while half barking, glancing around, "who the hell are you?"
"Easy now, dear," the old man murmurs back, quiet, soothing, "I'm Dr. Larson. You've been under my care, there was an..incident, in the testing facility. Please, let me go. My old bones can't take much abuse before breaking."
It takes another half minute but she remembers herself, letting go his arm. "Shit. Sorry. I didn't mean -"
"I'm sure you didn't." He responds with compassion, shaking out his wrist. "Try to take a deep breath. Do you remember what happened?"
Jamie rolls her shoulder out, groaning as the muscles pull a bit and something pops. Broken bones don't heal through as fast, not when there's multiple of them at once. It could be a day or two before she's at full strength again. She glares at Trixie LaBelle. "Yeah. I remember."
Trixie crosses her arms neatly, standing tall. "Forgive me. Our other tests subjects were a good deal, uhm..that is to say, they had a little more weight to them. I'm afraid I forgot to account for the difference in, erm, stature when having the sentinel calibrated."
"I get it." Jamie snaps, half snarling, and groans. Any movement too sharp or sudden leads to pain radiating out from somewhere.
Dr. Larson reaches for his stethoscope. "Are you breathing alright? Your lung was -"
Wildthing snaps to attention, snatching up the doctor's wrist as he reaches out to press the stethoscope against her chest. "Don't touch me." She snarls, voice half a growl.
The poor old doctor freezes, eyes widening a touch. "I'm only attempting to do my job."
Jamie forces herself to calm down. Taking a breath, she lets him go. "It's alright." She says slowly, trying to think of how to explain. "I'd guess you haven't dealt with too many ferals before. I wouldn't make a habit of gettin' that close to a wounded one without clear consent first. There could be others who don't have the restraint that I do."
"Duly noted." He shakes out his wrist.
"How long was I out?" Jamie asks Trixie.
"Four days." Dr. Larson interjects quickly, his voice a touch gentler. "The normal rate of healing for such extensive injuries should've equaled out to months, and much of that spent in a hospital bed. You, my dear, are gifted indeed."
"Four days." Jamie mutters, raking a hand through her hair. "Right. Ok. Can...can I be dismissed?"
"Of course." Trixie replies without hesitation. "I've suspended any further testing, ideally until Dr. Larson approves, though I should think now would actually be the optimal time for your first dose of the serum. It will likely aid in your recuperation."
Jamie hops down off the table, and groans as her left leg nearly gives out upon impact. "I'll make you a deal."
"I'm listening."
"Get me some whiskey and a room with a tub to soak in, and you can do whatever yah want with me tomorrow."
Trixie thinks on that for a breif moment and nods.
...
After allowing the good doctor to look her over - at his insistance, though she attempts in turn to insist that it isn't needed - she makes her way through the halls of the facility. The trek to the cafeteria is a slow one, as she's limping heavily, but sustenance brings with it the promise of further healing, so it is worth it in the end.
She comes across others, bustling about the halls. Agents and office workers going about their usual tasks in the middle of a busy work day, a strange reminder that it's only maybe three in the afternoon. Some give her a mile-wide berth, eyeing her with equal measures of curiosity and fear behind their eyes. Always fear. There was a time, not so long ago at all, that she would've been proud of that. Proud to feel as though her presence demanded respect in any form to spite her size and pretty face. But she remembers - Logan looking almost distraught in a way at the thought of her stepping into a cage again, and Joan Fletcher once admitting to being afraid of her.
Every move she makes now is wrong. She's pushing them away, a little bit at a time, and the thought occurs to her that the grace she's been given will have to run out eventually.
The food this place serves is surprisingly decent. She stuffs herself quite full and then sits back a moment, taking a breath (though she can't take a terribly deep one yet) as she pulls out her cellphone to check the thing for a thousandth time. It had displayed multiple new messages when she'd first gotten it back. One was from Logan, wondering where she'd run off too; he'd sounded disappointed by her sudden absence, and she'd been unable to bring herself to return the call just yet. The other two were from her mother. Jamie had called the older woman back already.
She still hasn't heard a word from Jake.
"No. Hell no. Please tell me I'm just sleep deprived, I want to be hallucinatin'."
Jamie blinks, shaken out of her reverie. She knows that voice.
A half moment more passes and he appears before, eyes wide and eyebrows raised. His hair has grown out from the mohawk he'd had when she last saw him, and he looks oddly wilder for it; other than that her brother looks about the same as ever.
Too sore and mentally exhausted to be very surprised, she just stares up at him from where she's slouched back in her chair, eyebrow raised. "Jack?"
"What the hell are you doin' here, sister?"
"Uhm. I could ask you the same thing, for the record," she answers, blasé, "I mean, where've you been hiding anyway?"
He sits himself across from her. "They had me on assignment - uh - well, I was out of the country." He grumbles, evasive. "Sorry, I know it's been awhile since we talked, but come on now, I'm not kiddin'. What're you doin' here?"
"That's...a long story."
"Try me."
She scrubs a hand over her face. "Well, the short answer is that I'm an idiot and my punishment for that was a giant, angry robot."
He blinks at her.
"...just, don't ask, 'kay?"
"Kay."
"So wait, you work for these guys too? How...?"
"Judging by the way they got ahold of me in the first place, I'm highly doubting this is coincidental." He answers darkly.
"They were watching you, too." Jamie answers, quieter now. "I see."
"They've got an eye on a lot of us, in case yah hadn't already figured that out."
She sighs. "The though might've crossed my mind."
"Aww, Jesus, I wish I'd known, kid, I'd've told yah to just tell 'em no. You can sorta do that, at first."
"Points moot now. And for fucks sake, I ain't a kid. Next person to call me that's gettin' a boot up there backside."
Something crosses his face - some combination of worry or confusion or pity or something else entirely, she can't quite tell, he schools his expression too quick for her to identify it fully. "Right, sorry, sorry. So...you agreed to fight the robot?"
"Yep."
"...so I suppose they're plannin' to test the serum out on you."
Her brows furrow. She sits straight now, studying him. The tone of his voice... "You know about all that?"
He's got a hard look in his eyes now. "Trixie had me up as a test subject, just a bit before you appeared probably, but I was..needed elsewhere. They haven't tested the serum on me yet."
A thought wiggles its way into Jamie's mind. All those months ago, before she'd ever left Alberta for the Mansion, Jack knew Victor had found her before Logan knew anything at all. It had never occured to her; how had Jack known? In fact, a lot of things suddenly don't add up. His abrupt departure from the Mansion, for one. Where had they had him for the past several months? And she'd just love to know how he managed to get on Ouroboros' radar in the first place. And why had Trixie failed to mention their being another viable test subject for the serum?
"Somethin' tells me she and I are gonna have a lot to talk about here soon, come to think of it." Jamie gets to her feet. "S'good to see you though, Jack."
He softens. "Good to see you too, sister. Just wish it wasn't here, of all places."
"Yeah, well. Funny ol' world, isn't it? I'll see yah 'round." With that, she leaves him.
His eyes bore into her back as she goes. She ignores him.
