A New Age, A New Team
Chapter 26: Once You Leave Home It's Never The Same

The soft rev of a motorcycle engine died down slowly as it came to a hault outside of a large brick warehouse-looking building. Sam's nimble fingers slowly slid her black helmet off of her head, which made some of her auburn hair tumble out from inside of it. She held the helmet against the side of her hip as she examined the warehouse with her hazel-green eyes as she felt a wash of comfort wash over her. She watched as a couple of people walked up to the door, whispered something to the door, and then were let inside.

It was home.

She hooked her helmet to the back of her motorcycle before quietly riding it over to the large steel door.

BANG BANG BANG

A small opening slid open as a pair of brown eyes stared at her through the opening. "It can't be..." A male voice gasped from behind the door. "It just can't be..."

"Believe it Max," Sam smirked at the pair of eyes.

The small opening quickly slid shut and while clammering echoed against the steel door, Sam got off of her motorcycle to stand in front of the door. Once the door was opening, a large, muscular black man stood in front of her with eyes that match those behind the opening. "Feral?" The man named Max gasped as he looked Sam over.

"In the flesh," Sam shrugged before the Max scoped her up into his arms and swung her around. Sam laughed as she wrapped her arms around Max's neck while her auburn hair swung around in the air.

"Come in, come in," Max said as he moved out of the way so that Sam could walk her bike inside the warehouse. "Does James know you're here?"

Sam chuckled, "Of course not."

"Will he be surprised." Max laughed as he took her bike from her in order to place it in the storage area.

Sam stood there on the entrance platform as she looked around at all of the different people and levels of the building in amazement. This was once the place that she had learned to call her home, but everything was different. Everything seemed to be more hightech since she left it. There were more people than ever before.

People started rushing to the railing from the raftor where the rooms were to stare at Sam as she stood there alone below everyone like a monkey on display at the zoo. Word sure travels fast. Sam thought as she heard people whispering as they stared down at her.

It had been awhile since Sam had returned to her gang house - two years to be exact - and so much had changed. She had drifted into a legend told throughout the gang and with her brother being in one of the top ranking positions in the gang she was like royality. So her return had spread faster than wildfire and everyone wanted to see James' sister who was a mutant.

"Kit?" A man's voice asked from behind her.

A smile formed across her lips as she quickly turned around and jumped into James' arms. "James!" She shouted as she wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his strong arms wrap around her waist..

"I can't believe you're here," James whispered and then slowly set her down before looking down at his baby sister, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought it was about time that I paid you a visit and checked up on how things were going," she laughed as she looked around with her hands on her hips, "and it looks like you're doing quite nicely for yourselves." She chuckled.

"We'd like to think so," James chuckled as he looked around at the hundreds of faces stared over the railings at them. "We've done a few changes since you've been home."

"I can tell," Sam teased.

"Come on, I'll show you around." James said as he turned on his heel and slowly started to walk up the wobbling stairs.

Sam followed behind James and phased out everything he was saying as she looked around at everything. Nothing was the same anymore to her. It was as though everything was playing before her in slow motion like an old film. They passed by the area where her old room was and Sam stopped to find a young mother in there with her newborn infant.

James walked ahead, while Sam stood there in the doorway staring at the mother as she lovely rocked her daughter back and forth. Sam felt emptiness take over her as she watched the mother and daughter interact. James stopped mid-sentence and turned around to find Sam far behind him. He slowly walked back to Sam and placed his hand on her shoulder as he looked into the room. Sam looked up at James quietly, "Where's my room?"

James sighed, "We thought that you weren't ever coming back…" He said as his voice softly trailed off. Sam slowly nodded her head and turned away from the room and began to walk away. James ran after her, "Kit I'm sorry."

Sam shrugged, "It's alright. I understand."

"The guest areas are in the lobby downstairs when you first came," James said hesitating, "and that's the only area open."

Sam stopped and closed her eyes for a second before turning around to James, "It's late. I should probably go to bed." James opened his mouth to protest, but Sam quickly spoke, "Besides it looked as though everyone was asleep when I came in."

James sighed and nodded. "Goodnight Kit," He kissed her softly on the forehead and then continued up the stairs towards his room.

Sam stood there for a few seconds until James disappeared into the darkness before she turned around to walk back towards the lobby. She stopped momentarily in front of her old room once again at the mother that was now laying her baby down to bed. She was softly humming a lullaby to the child, which made Sam feel a weight on her heart before she turned to continue down the stairs towards the lobby.

Sam slowly walked over to the guest area where cots where setup for visitors. As she sat down on the stiff mattress she felt awkward and uncomfortable.

She wasn't a visitor in this place; this place was her home.

Sam slowly got comfortable against the itchy cot and lay there with her hazel-green eyes open staring at the steel metal door in the darkness of the warehouse. It was as though the door mocked her while she was staring it.

This place was no longer her home…

The next morning the soft sunlight washed over the lobby onto Sam as the morning began to break. Her eyes fluttered open as she didn't hear a soul moving throughout the warehouse. She quietly sat on her cot as she waited to hear movement from anyone. When she heard nothing she began to move throughout the warehouse to explore everything that had changed on her own.

When the first person woke inside of the warehouse, Sam was already dressed and standing by her bike. She wore a dark green sundress with half of her auburn hair pulled back. She revved her engine as quiet as possible before driving her bike up to the garage door, which automatically began to rise. She slid her black helmet carefully over her head and then quickly sped out of the garage.

She flew through the streets as she felt the cool morning air whip over her body and the ends of her sundress dance in the wind by her side. Her mind was somewhere else as she turned corner after corner, but it didn't really matter where her mind was. She knew where she was going. She couldn't ever forget this place, even if she wanted to… And most of the time she wanted to.

Sam quietly pulled her motorcycle up to the curb and killed the engine. She stared at the tombstones that seemed to stretch out for miles in silence. She wanted to forget, but every time she came back to this place all her memories followed.

Blood splattered against the door that she and James were hiding behind and against her face. It was still warm against her forehead, but it was cold without life. She watched the gun hit the ground as if nothing had happened, and she watched the man behind the gun act the same way as he walked away.

She quietly slid her helmet off of her head and left it on her black leather seat. Her hands were folded in front of her as a cool breeze swayed her auburn hair from side to side.

She couldn't feel any emotion as she felt James pull the door open and run towards their fallen brother. Her eyes watched in a slow motion trance as James picked up the fallen gun to avenge his older brother.

One shot... Two shot… Three shot and then a thud.

Her eyes stared emotionlessly at the back of James as he stood there holding the smoke gun. She watched as teardrops hit the floor near the bloody mess that was left on the floor.

Sam stood in front of the tombstone in silence as she felt the cold air wash over her. She didn't want to remember any of it, but it kept playing over and over in her head like an old black and white film without sound.

Sam was only twelve. She stood there over the blood mess of her older brother staring into the gaping hole in the back of his head. It was a clean shot. She could see the floor straight through, even though it was covered in blood.

She heard the cold metal of the gun hit the ground once again as James slowly walked over to her and stared down at their fallen brother.

Her superman wasn't coming back from this one…

She stood in silence as she stared at the tombstone in front, which read "Adam Joseph Wilder". She lowered her head and softly spoke as she smoothed her sundress out, "You always said that I looked my best in green." She looked up at the tombstone as if hoping it would respond… But it never did.