Disclaimer: I own all the characters in this chapter. Yes, even the nurse.
Three days later...
I had no idea where I was. I had kept driving for a few hours, stopping only to steal some new clothes and another Beretta to replace the one Laura had destroyed. I had finally given up on carrying a duffel bag around. They seemed to have a high mortality rate around me. Then again, everything does. It was sometime late at night or early morning. I liked the night better. Less humans to tempt me to kill. I had ditched the car again and was walking. I was passing a wrehouse and I heard crying. Half the people in this city spend their time crying. Pathetic. I was almost out of earshot when I heard, "Look at the mutie cower." And now I need to get involved. I turned and ran back to entrance. This is going to hurt.
I put my claw sideways along the warehouse, braced myself, and slid it across. SKREEEEEEECH!My head felt like it was splitting open. "What the fuck was that? You two, check it out." I ran to the opposite side of the warehouse and entered quietly through an open door. I climbed on top of a huge metal container and looked to where I could hear the voices. Two girls were lying on the ground. One looked like she had been beaten horribly. There were bruises all over her face and arms and her wrist appeared to be broken. Her brown hair seemed to be unkempt and there was a lump on her skull. She seemed to be about my age. The other also had brown hair and she seemed to be about 12. She was lying on the older girl and crying. At least I get to kill. The men came back from investigating my noise. There were four. Two with baseball bats and two barehanded. "So mutie, a raccoon brought you a short break. But now we go right back to it." He swung the baseball bat and it smacked the twelve year old in the head with a loud crack. His mouth fell open. The bat had shattered upon contact and the girl had only been knocked back a step. Optimal time to attack. I leapt from my hiding place and popped my claws. I crept behind the farthest guy and sliced through the arm holding the baseball bat. Not in an attempt to let him live, but to prolong his death. "OH FUCK!" His friends jumped at his shriek. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, FUCKER!" I ignored them and sliced the next guy from shoulder to hip. The third swung at me with a bat. This is irritating. I ducked and cut his legs off at the knee. The last pulled a knife and began advancing towards me. I gave a short laugh. He looked scared. He lunged and brought the knife down on my head. Which wasn't there anymore. I'd sidestepped the blow and was in the perfect position to take advantage of his missed attack. I grabbed his extended arm and pushed against the joint. It snapped like a twig. "FUCK!" He tried to kick me. I stabbed my claws through the side of his leg. He gave a short, strangled scream before I stabbed him through the skull. I turned to the others lying on the ground. They looked horrified. Everyone seems to feel that way about me. I think I'm being very lenient towards them. This is nothing compared to what I think they deserve. I sliced them each across the throat once.
I turned and assessed the two possible mutants. The little girl was crying and staring at me. Seeing this I felt... I didn't know what I felt. I felt like I needed to protect her. I felt sorry her life was so bad. I retracted my claws. "You need to get off her now so I can see how bad she is hurt." She shook her head. "If you do not she will die." That worked. I looked over her. Bruised everywhere. I felt her ribs. Bruised, not broken. I then felt her wrist. Definitely broken. Then I noticed a red stain on her shirt. I lifted it enough to see a long cut across her abdomen. She's going to bleed out. "Little girl- My name is Alyssa." Her voice was suprisingly strong for someone who had just watched their friend be beaten half to death. "I need to get your friend to the emergency room. She's going to die if she does not get there soon." Apparently this was not the right thing to say because she burst into tears. "You can't cry. Crying slows us down, and if we slow down she dies." She didn't stop crying but she seemed to focus through her tears and nodded at me. "I will carry her. You need to keep up." I picked her up and held her on my shoulders. She wasn't heavy. I carried her out of the building and put her down. I ran to the nearest pay phone and called 911. "I need an ambulance as soon as possible. My friend was mugged." I listed the street we were on and hung up. I ran back to the two girls. The older one was coming around. "What happened? Those thugs beat the hell out of you. I killed them." This woke her up quickly. She tried to look fierce and failed miserably. "Go away. We don't need your help." I just sat there. She can't force me to leave. She doesn't have enough strength. Sure enough when she tried to punch me it was so weak she didn't even hurt herself on my skeleton. "Shut up and save your strength. You're half dead. An ambulance is coming now." She looked scared. "I can't go in an ambulance. They'll find me. Please don't let them take me." And she lapsed back into unconsciousness. Sorry girl, but if they don't take you you're gonna die. The ambulance finally came within hearing range. I picked up the older girl and carried her closer to the road. The it drove up and two EMT's hopped out. They took her from me and put her in the back of the ambulance. The little girl went with them and they motioned me in. Why the hell not? Not like I had anything planned. So I got in and we drove off.
Eight hours later...
I woke up in the hospital with a feeling of wonder. Not a single nightmare? Wow. Sleeping is actually enjoyable. I turned my head and noticed the little girl in the chair next to me. She was asleep and her head was resting on my shoulder. Why didn't I attack her? Not that I want to, but if people touch me in my sleep I attack. This must be some aspect of her power. I raised my head as a nurse walked in. She gestured to the girl on the bed who was hooked up to an IV. "Your friend had a mild concussion, bruises on her arms, legs, head, and ribs, a broken wrist, and a serious cut along her lower abdomen." Her tone was professional. "We understand if you're a little distraught but we need to know what happened. We have to make a report to the police." I started speaking, being sure to sound hesitant and scared. "I heard shouting and I walked into an alley. A man was attacking these two. He panicked when he saw me and ran. I noticed her injuries and called an ambulance. I carried her to the street. You'll need to give a more in-depth explanation to a police officer later." Her tone turned gentle. "Your friend will be fine. We realigned her broken wrist and stitched up her cut. She'll just need to take it easy for a few days due to the concussion and bruises." I nodded and she left. The little girl suddenly woke up and looked around. "Where's Amy? What did they do with her?" She began crying again. She's basically a walking, talking, headache. "Your friend was nearly dead. I called an ambulance and the people here fixed her up." She stopped crying. Thank God. She looked at me. "Who are you anyway? Someone who hates humans. You say humans like you aren't one..." She cringed away from me. "You are a mutant right? Those men were calling you one." If she wasn't a mutant I was probably going to walk away right now. But she relaxed when she heard my words. "What do you mean silly? Mutants are humans too. My sister says it all the time." Oh. Yeah. She's young. "Where was your sister when all this was happening? She was protecting me from those thugs..." She began crying again. At least she's crying quietly this time. And that girl being her sister would certainly explain the resemblance. They have the same hair and eyes. Bright green eyes. Unusual color. Now how do I get her to shut up? "How old are you?" She sniffled and looked at me. "Twelve. I made my first human kill at six. You shouldn't be crying this much." At my words she had started laughing. I said something funny? "You're funny. What's your name? X-29. Or X." She laughed at that too. "X isn't a name, silly. What's your real name?" Not Matthew. That was someone else's name. "I don't have one. You don't have a name? I'll just have to get you one. You seem like... a Phil." I stared at her. Phil? Amanda suits me better than Phil. She noticed my reaction and quickly added, "But you're more of a Victor." If it will shut her up. "I guess Victor's a good name. Yay! Then your name is Victor, X." My eye twitched.
Before I could ask her why she named me if she was going to call me X anyway, the girl on the bed suddenly groaned, and looked up. She saw me sitting there and her expression turned furious. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY SISTER? Letting her name me." Her anger faltered at my cynical answer and she turned to Alyssa. Alyssa hopped up and hugged her. "Amy! This guy saved us." Amy shot me a questioning look, but her sister wasn't done. "and he didn't have a name! Isn't that weird? So I named him Victor, but he likes being called X." The corners of Amy's mouth were twitching but she turned to me and looked serious. "Why did you help us?" Good question. I wonder that myself. "I was bored." She stared at me blankly. "We can't pay you... I don't want anything from you." She looked doubtful. Then she froze. "We need to get out of here now. If we stay, they'll find me." She looked at me desperately. "Can you help us again? You're the only one who can." I suddenly felt the same thing I had felt in the warehouse only much stronger. I really should. They need me. They're so helpless... Then I recognized what she was doing. "Stop that or I leave right now." She paled and the emotion suddenly disappeared. She can manipulate emotions. Useful ability. "You try to manipulate me and I leave without a second thought." She nodded quickly. "Now why should I help you? We don't have time-" I cut her off. "I'm not helping you unless I know exactly what it is I'm getting myself into." She looked irritated but quickly began explaining. "Our parents are billionares. They hate mutants. They kicked us out when they found out and sent people after us." Short and sweet. That's good. It saves time. "I'll help for now. Why do you want to leave now?" She appeared to be going over something in her head. "The people they hired are very good. They find us if we stay in one place too long. The staff won't let us leave and if we wait we'll be turned over to our parents. So we need to get out of here without being seen." Easy. I walked over to the window and looked down. The parking lot was right below us. We were only a floor up. I crouched and extended my claws. "What the hell are those? One of my powers. One of your powers? I heal. Quickly." I quickly cut a person sized hole in the wall. "You can run right? I can't run far with my ribs like this. How about jumping?" She looked from the hole to me and realized what I was planning. I cut off her protests. " It's only one floor. Can you jump from here? I don't think so. Then I'll carry you. Alyssa, can you jump from here if I catch you?" She nodded brightly. I stood next to the door and waited. "Come on Amy. We don't have all day." Her heart rate picked up and she blushed but she came and stood next to me. I picked her up bridal style and warned them. "If you scream, they will find us." She nodded. Then I jumped. I felt that exhilarating feeling of being in free fall. Then we of my legs buckled due to the force put on it. Damn that burns. The pain in my legs passed quickly and I put Amy down and stood below the hole. This is unnecessary. Her ability is incredible resistance to damage. Which was convienent. She jumped and landed right in my arms. She was giggling as I put her down. "We need to leave her now. They will discover that we've left." Amy nodded, took her sisters hand and we began walking away.
We reached a mostly empty parking lot after about a half hour. Amy sat down, presumably because of the pain in her chest. She looked up at me. "Look, we're really thankful for all your help, but I think it would be best for all of us if you left now." I nodded. I had taken two steps when something heavy had slammed into the back of my legs. "NOOOOO! YOU CAN'T MAKE X LEAVE! HE'S MY FRIEND!" I turned around, shocked to see Alyssa holding onto my legs. Amy looked just as shocked as I did. Alyssa continued yelling. "YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS CUZ YOU DON'T HAVE ANY FRIENDS!" She began crying. Please make it stop. Amy still looked shocked. Then she appeared to recover. "Alyssa, get off him and we'll talk about this." Alyssa obeyed reluctantly. Amy sighed exhaustedly. "I guess he can stay. But only if he wants to." Alyssa grabbed my hand and stared up into my face. It's not like I have anything else to do. "I'll stay."
Alyssa shrieked with glee and began swinging our arms back and forth. "There are some conditions. You listen to what I say, not the other way around, and if you become a liability you leave if we ask you to." I nodded. "Ok then, we know your powers so it's only fair if you know ours. I can detect and control emotions, as you probably guessed. I can also emit sonic blasts. My sister can control emotions and her skin is really tough. She hasn't been hurt since she mutated." I wonder how resistant it would be to my claws. Of course I didn't say that. They probably wouldn't like the question. "Where are we doing?" I asked. "...We don't know. We were trying to find a home before. It was hopeless. So now we just try to survive." And then it hit me. I had to resist the urge to laugh. Oh, the irony. "I know a place you two can stay. It's a school for mutants. To learn to control their powers. You don't even need to pay." She brightened at this and Alyssa gasped. "How many mutants are there, X? Around twenty. Wow! More people like us!" Amy turned to Alyssa. "I need to speak to Victor about something serious. Wait here?" Alyssa pouted as Amy grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to an alley. She turned to me and looked serious. "If you're lying to us, I will kill you. Healing or no healing." Yawn. "Everything I said is true. Then why aren't you there now?" She's not stupid. Too bad. "They don't like me. Why? Something I did." She looked suspicious but then turned and walked back to her sister. It's funny, in a way, that after all I did I would be walking right back to them. But these two are more important than me. They still have innocence. And hope. I lost both a long time ago.
A/N: Took forever to redo this. The first version was crap. I'm still not entirely satisfied with this one but I assume you all would rather I uploaded a fairly good version than take another week to make it perfect. How will 29 fare at his return to the mansion? Will he wake up the next morning tied to a chair and notice Amy sharpening an axe? Will I upload the next chapter in a reasonable amount of time? Find out this and more when my sadist of a math teacher decides that attempting to exhaust us to death with math homework will take too long and gives up.