-Meanwhile at the Brotherhood Boarding House, Laura's senses-
Laura breathed in and out, in a rhythmic pace. She lay on Pietro's bed staring at the ceiling. Her healing factor was working at a snails pace. Normally she would have healed within seconds but something, or possibly someone was hindering it. She tried to sit up but a wave of pain pushed her back into a laying position.
"Pain," She scoffed, but after a moment her face softened, "Owe."
Few people realized that although you may posses the greatest healing ability in the world, it does very little to dull the pain of say, a bullet ripping through your flesh and shattering your bones.
She realized early on that her senses and healing ability far surpassed her 'father's.' She smiled; she knew the exact reason her powers were stronger and more efficient. His adamantium skeleton, although it provided him with an unparalleled defense, it also hindered his healing factor, as too much of the indestructible metal was poisonous to a normal man, thus forcing his healing factor to work overtime.
Luckily, if you could call it that, she escaped before they could coat her own skeleton. The Adamantium she had in her own body wouldn't even poison an infant. She unsheathed her claws, and then sheathed them, in an attempt to gauge her progress. The wounds her claws caused when they sliced through the flesh between her knuckles healed at a normal rate, so why won't the rest of her body heal?
"Iron Man is not a push over," she said, wincing as even talking was becoming taxing to her damaged body.
She continued to lie on the bed, trying to deduce why she was taking so long to heal. When all of a sudden she heard a faint whisper came from the darkness.
She closed her eyes, almost immediately heightening her hearing.
"Laura," the voice called out.
"Get to the point," she said with a scowl, "I know you're the one that was talking to Amara."
"But how could you know? I was in her mind," the voice sounded more intrigued than surprised.
"True, but you were also in the mansion," she said with disinterest, "Just like you're in the room now."
A tall intimidating figure stepped forward, still immersed in the shadows, "Clever girl," the figure's eyes began glowing red, "Join me and I can give you back your stability."
"I can do it on my own," she said in anger, her eyes remaining closed.
"You don't know what… who is causing it do you?" the figure questioned with a slight smirk. Laura paused, "Quicksilver, your infatuation with that boy is hindering your abilities. You've never felt these feelings before, and the inner turmoil you're going through is impacting your body," he paused, "Making you weak."
Laura's eyes shot open. No one called X-23 weak and lived to tell the tale. She unsheathed her claws and leapt to her feet slashing wildly at the shadow, until her injuries caught up to her. Blood began trickling from her mouth, "Is he… really causing this?" she asked, small spurts of a blood coming from her mouth as she spoke.
A knock came at the door, "Laura, are you awake?"
"Come in Pietro," she called out.
-Meanwhile downstairs-
Pietro sat on the couch next to his sister, while Todd sat on the other couch that was pushed against the far wall.
Wanda fingered the comm. link in her hand, "Regan said that they're doing fine," she paused, "We really need to check on Freddy," she said looking at her brother.
"Okay," Pietro said getting to his feet, "Just let me check on the girls first," he then sped to his room.
"Lance is the only one that doesn't know?" Todd asked as he leapt to his feet.
Wanda nodded, "He'll know soon enough," she paused for a moment, "Wish I knew where Raven got all of her information from."
"Yeah," Todd said making his way to the door, "She just always seems to know, doesn't she?"
-Back in the Surveillance Room-
Julio smirked at the blue shape-shifter, eyeing her in a way she never liked to be looked at. It wasn't a look of hatred or even lust; it was almost murderous, not quite feral as in the case of Sabretooth but more perverse, more like he would enjoy nothing more than ripping out her throat and licking the steady flow of blood.
She returned the smirk, she knew whoever he was, he could never harm or violate her in any way that Sabretooth has. Her cheeks flushed pink, not to say she didn't enjoy it, but such thoughts should remain out of her current situation.
"Of course I'm Julio Esteban Richter," he said, without blinking, "Who else would I be?"
Raven's smirk grew, she caught, "I never questioned who you were," Julio flinched, "But I know who you really are as well."
Julio released a small tremor, "How?"
Raven steadied herself, and fixed a glare of her own on him, "I swallowed some pride and asked an old acquaintance to borrow his telepath," she said never taking an eye off of him, "Calvin Montgomery Rankin, also known as the Mimic, who else did you kill?"
"Well at least now I can drop the phony Mexican accent. I'm sure now you want an explanation," he said crossing his arms in the process.
"You just used him!" she exclaimed, "There is no need to explain anything! You harm one of my boys and I will personally break you in half!"
Calvin smirked, as his body began to expand and grow. Muscles sprouted all over his body, "John Proudstar, Thunderbird; Kevin Sydney, The Changeling; Julio Esteban Richter, Rictor," he said each name as someone would name an entrée, "All made fantastic meals."
Raven almost flinched. Those men were just meals to him. She sighed, "Lance deserved a father and all he got was you," armor plating began growing on her body, "I usually hate getting my hands dirty,
but I'll make an exception for you," she leapt forward, but was easily flung back by Calvin's superior strength.
"Thunderbird," he sent out a small tremor knocking Raven off balance, "Rictor," as he spoke their names his facial features would shift to match the stolen powers, "Changeling, you have no chance!" he sent a tidal wave of Earth at the blue woman slamming her into the wall.
She slowly rose to her feet, "Four years, his personality was so strong it compelled you to stay with them for four years," she said as her hands shifted into talons and spikes grew out of her back and shoulders. She leapt at him again.
"This attack again?" he asked with a smirk.
She shifted in mid-air to avoid being flung back again, "With a twist," she said, then swiped at his face. Her claws scraped against his face drawing a steady amount of blood. Raven's arms fell to her side as she witnessed the gashes across his face heal over.
"Did I neglect to mention I've mastered every aspect of my powers?" he said with a smirk, growing sharp claws of his own. He slashed at her thigh and midsection, and then with a powerful kick sent her flying into the wall, "I already have one shape shifter in my arsenal," he stepped towards her with a lust filled gaze, "I guess I'll just have to take something else from you."
Raven smirked, "I don't think Lance would like that," she said looking past him.
"That's the beauty of it; he'll never find out," he took a step toward her and threw out his arms in classic Avalanche fashion, "Congratulations, you're going to be a martyr to your people."
Suddenly a tremor ripped through the building sending chunks of ceiling and wall to the ground. Calvin took a step back. This was far beyond anything he could ever hope to create. As realization hit him he spun around, and came face to face with Lance Dominic Alvers, the Walking Landslide, now known as Avalanche.
Calvin shuddered as he saw the murderous glare coming from the teen's eyes, "Should've known," with a sneer on his face Lance did something with his powers Raven never thought he could be capable of. He stepped forward with a stomp to the ground with his right foot sending a tidal wave of jagged rocks forward, while clapping his hands together and then throwing both of them to his left effectively moving Raven out of harms way.
Raven limped to her son's side, "I'm impressed," she said clutching her thigh in pain.
Lance continued to look forward. He wasn't doing this to impress Raven, he wasn't doing it to protect the Brotherhood, and he wasn't doing it to please his wife, no, this was for every little boy who ever felt neglected, who never had a father, who was ever hurt by someone who was supposed to protect them. This was for them, and probably most of all, himself.
He glared at the man across the room, the man pinned to a wall by an unmoving wall of solid rock, the man responsible for ruining Lance's life. Lance's muscles tensed. He held the rock in place by sheer force of will, with no signs of fatigue in sight, "You're just not worth it," he said thoroughly shocking everyone in the room. He slammed his foot into the ground, sending another wave of rock at the imprisoned man, taking away any hope of freedom.
Lance pulled Raven's arm around him, allowing her to place most of her weight on him, "A shape shifter's healing ability is nothing compared to a real healing factor," she smirked, "You'll learn that soon enough."
As the two mutants were leaving the room, Regan ran up to them, "I got the book and the sword," she said, as Lance scooped Raven into his arms and they began running down the corridors.
"What about Creed?" Lance asked.
"Something…" Regan paused for a moment, "Got to him first, ripped him in half. It was… disgusting."
Raven sighed, "Sabretooth," she said with a hint of remorse in her voice.
"So it's true?" Lance asked.
Raven couldn't discern any emotions from the boy, so she settled on telling him the truth, "Yes, he was my first born son."
After Raven's statement, the ran out of the building in silence, only pausing so Lance could crumble the foundation and cause the building to implode on itself. They watched it all from an alley.
"Lance," Raven said, "I'm very proud of you."
"You said you knew a telepath who got you the information," Lance stated.
Raven nodded, "Yes, Exodus. He works for Magneto."
"Can you tell me about my dad?" he asked.