Laura Kinney/X-23 Part 2
Love Interest: Laura Kinney/X-23
From: X-Men: Evolution
.oOo.
Rogue is just sitting on her bed, reading her book when the door quickly slams open and then closed. Kitty is giddy for tonight's the night. The southern girl can only roll his eyes at this. Kitty is excited for the school dance. The weather will be nice as she asked if Storm could ensure that. The senior mutant denied of course. She has one of the most wonderful dresses, curtesy of her parents. The only thing that can make the night better is if Lance could come.
There is suddenly rapid knocking at her room's door. "Now who could that be?" Kitty says as she walks back to the door. Opening the door, she finds Laura standing there, looking unusually fidgety. "Hey, Little Wolverine. Are you alright? You look, Like, green."
"I don't feel so good," Laura admits. "Yet I feel wonderful. Scared and carefree at the same time. What is this?"
"Aw!" Kitty gently pulls the former Hydra Weapon into her and Rogue's room.
As Rogue turns the page she speaks, "That's just love, sugar."
"Well, I hate it!" Laura stomps her foot. "But I also kanda… like it. Why is it so confusing?" and growls.
"Don't worry," Kitty insists as she leads the younger girl to her bed and sit. "I'm sure you'll be sorted out after you and Duncan party a little."
"Or you'll be so traumatized that you'll never want to socialize ever again," Rogue tells them and receives a glare from Kitty. "Course that was different for me," she suddenly found the page she is on intriguing.
"But I don't even know what to do at a dance," Laura confesses.
"That's easy," Kitty stands up and pulls the X-23 up with her. "You just move with the rhythm and mingle somewhere in between," and starts dancing to the non-existing music.
"You do know that the closest thing to mingling I've ever done is training and the only rhythm I'm familiar with involves the targets heartrates on black ops missions, right?" deadpans the younger X-Men in training, causing the older to stop dancing.
Rogue chuckles a bit. "Yeah. Up until a couple months ago, she was the least sociable person in town. And that's coming from me."
"Okay," Kitty sits herself and Laura back down. "Perhaps we should start small. How about style? So, what do you plan on wearing?"
Laura shrugs. "What's wrong with what I have on know?"
Both Kitty and Rogue look up and down at the younger girl. Taking notes on the old boots, torn jeans, and wornout jacket.
Rogue closes her book and points it at X-23. "You're gonna wear that?"
"I don't have much else."
Rogue and Kitty look at each other before Kitty walks over to her closet to pull out a garment bag. "Rogue, we're going to need the girl squad."
"I'm on it!" she replies as the southern girl is already messaging the others.
.oOo.
Duncan stands in front of a mirror straightening the tie to the suit. "Are you sure this is alright?" he looks over to Scott.
"Don't worry about it, Duncan," Scott tells him. "Just be glad that Jean always insisted on me having a spare around. And that it fits," he smiles at the hybrid. "So, are you nervous?"
"Nervous? Why wouldn't I be nervous? I'm on a date with one of the coolest and prettiest girls I've ever known who so happens to be Wolverine's daughter. What is there to be nervous about?"
"Hey, man. Don't worry about it. I'm sure that everything will be fine," Cyclops insists.
A knock came at the door. Scott goes to answer and as soon as the door opens, he sees standing there is a glaring Logan. Turning back to the hybrid, Scott tells him, "You're on your own," and walks out.
Duncan gulps as the Wolverine walks up to him. The Kaiju kid holds his hands up. "Look, Logan. I know that you're worried."
"Darn right I'm worried, Flame Breath," he growls. "Not only for her sake but yours. Most kids round your age are often confused about what they're feeling. Even more so for her. That kid has no idea what she's feeling or what any of it means. If one thing goes wrong and you break her heart, it's not me you'll have to worry about. Cause the first thing she'll want to do is listen to her instincts and I'm afraid of what they'll tell her to do."
"If your so worried about it. Then, why are you willing to let her go?"
Wolverine leans down into Duncan's face. "Cause I figure it'll be a good lesson on breaking a girl's heart. Also, she doesn't have very many happy memories and deserves every chance to make some," he then lifts his hand up to reveal that he is holding a box containing a rose.
"What's this?"
"What's it look like!? It's a corsage," he sets it in the kaiju kid's hands. "You're supposed to give it to the girl," and walks out the room.
.oOo.
Duncan as well as the rest of the boys are awaiting in the main room.
"Man," Kurt sighs. "I know that they're girls, but what's taking them so long? I'm supposed to pick up Amanda soon."
"Not sure?" Scott shrugs. "Jean said something about a last-minute project." Giggling can be heard coming from the stairs. "Here they are now."
Duncan feels Kurt tapping his arm. He looks over at the Nightcrawler who gestures up at the stairs. The hybrid looks up and is stunned at what he sees. The girls are leading blushing Laura down the stairs. His date is wearing an aqua dress, a hairband holding her hair back, and heels. She also has some eyeshadow and lipstick.
He has no idea when she was standing in front of him and only registers that his mouth was hanging open when Kitty closes it for him.
"Told ya he'd be speechless," she tells Laura, and her blush reddens as the other girls giggle.
Rogue faux whispers. "Hey, Dragon boy. Say something."
The hybrid manages a "Hot!" causing the giggle to increase. "I, uh, mean your hot! I-I mean hi! I mean," he then just holds out the corsage. "This is for you!" Laura just looks at the boxed rose unsure what to do. Duncan opens the box, removes the corsage, and hands over the now empty box to Kurt. "Here," he reaches for her arm which she hesitantly holds out for him, and he puts it around her wrist.
Kitty whispers into Laura's ear. "Tell him thank you and that it's nice."
"Um, thank you and that it's nice," she tries taking step closer, only to find that the torture devices known as high heels troubling her balance. Luckily, Duncan caught her.
Then, Beast jumps down from the top of the stairs startling most of the students and announces, "Found the camera!" and holds up the aforementioned device.
The few students there that are going together each got pictures taken. When it came to Duncan and Laura's turn, the hybrid went to move, only to find that his date had planted her feet.
"Young miss," Beast calls out. "Don't you want to remember this day in the future."
Laura never did like getting her picture taken. Jubilee found that out the hard way. She then feels Duncan squeezing her hand. "We don't have to if you don't want to," he tells her.
The former Weapon takes a deep breath and walks up to Beast with Duncan. "Now, Smile," he tells the couple and as soon as the flash reached her eyes, her muscles tensed and her claws pop out, narrowly missing Duncan's hand.
Laura pushes herself away. "Sorry!"
"Don't worry about it," the hybrid tells her and shows his hand. "See? Not even a scratch."
As everyone leaves, Rogue says goodbye as she decided to forgo this social gathering. Then, Scott comes back in carrying a box.
"Hey, Rogue. This was left for you on your porch," he says while handing the box over to her.
"Thanks," Rogue tells him as he leaves with the others. Once the door closes, the southern girl opens the box to find a large bouquet of roses.
"Oh, what lovely flowers," Beast walks up to her with Prof. Charles Xavier by his side.
"It seems Rogue has a secret admirer," the Professor tells his companion.
Rogue does not seem that happy as she notices something else in the box. "He's an admirer alright, but he ain't keeping it secret," she pulls out a playing card of the Ace of Hearts. "That Cajun thinks he can play me, he has another thing coming?" a note attached to the card has fallen off. The goth picks it up and reads it.
Ma Cherie,
Remy hears that you would not be attending the dance. Remy is sorry to hear that and was hoping to catch you there. Perhaps if you are willing to meet up, we can have our own party. Hands free of course.
Unless you insist otherwise.
Love,
Remy.
For the first time in a long time, Rogue can feel her face burning. "I gotta go!" she quickly tells her teachers as she hurries up the stairs.
.oOo.
After an excruciating long limo ride. At least according to Laura, they finally reached the school. Many of the school kids are busy partying. Except for most of the female students of Xavier's School for Gifted Youths. Their attention was on Duncan and Laura awkwardly standing to the side.
Kitty sighs, seeing that her friend is not having fun like she should be. She is soon startled by a familiar voice.
"Shouldn't you be having fun?" standing behind her is Lance. "It is a party after all."
"Lance!?" Kitty hugs him. "What are you doing here? You were banned, remember?"
"Don't worry about it. I was an expert on sneaking out of school. Sneaking in is far easier," the Brotherhood member boasts as he puts an arm around Kitty.
"You used Toad to distract school security, didn't you?" she deadpans.
Lance shrugs. "The slimeball has to have use for something," he then looks over to where the X-Woman was staring. "So, who's the spotlight on?"
"Little Wolverine," Kitty sighs. "This is her first dance and we're hoping that it would be memorable. We even made sure she had the almost perfect outfit."
"Almost?"
Shadowcat sighs. "Yeah. Turns out she's slightly smaller than me, so we had to make some adjustments in certain areas, and I rather not say where."
"That's your dress?"
"It was."
"It would have been much better on you," he smirks at him.
"Oh you," Kitty lightly slaps him. They watch as Laura reaches her hand out for Duncan's "Here it comes," only for her to back away. "Oh, come on! One of them has to make the first move."
Lance disagrees with that. "Nah! From what you told me about mini-Logan, she has no social skills and will not know whether or not to act."
"What about Duncan?" Kitty smiles as Duncan goes to say something only to back down. "Really?" and lets out an almost Wolverine like growl.
"When I guy likes a girl as much as that. They are often too afraid to do something believing they'll mess up," Lance looks at Kitty. "I have some experience with that." This causes the girl to blush a little. "If you want fast results, they'll need a little push," he looks back at the couple and holds a hand towards them.
"Lance!" Kitty grabs his hand only for it to be too late. A small tremor goes through the whole room, startling just about everyone. Laura nearly falls back, only for Duncan to grab her hand and pull her up into his arms.
Lance can practically feel Scott glaring at him. Knowing exactly what he has done. After a few moments, the students start laughing. Feeling safe that whatever happened is over now.
Duncan looks down at his date. "You okay?"
Laura blushes now that she is even closer to Duncan than what she has been all night. "Yeah."
"You want to retract those claws?"
At some point, she brought her claws out. One hand has them just sitting by her side, the other had dug itself into the punch table. "Yeah," and with a shink, she puts them away. "Sorry."
The hybrid smiles at her and at that moment slow music starts playing. Looking back at the DJ stand, both Kitty and Lance are seen up there as the DJ counts a wad of cash. Kitty waves at them while Lance gives a thumbs up.
Laura growls before hearing Duncan asking, "You wanna dance?"
"I don't know," she admits. "I only had about five minutes of practice."
"Hey, all you have to do is what everyone else is doing."
Looking around, she sees that everyone is just swaying.
"That's not even dancing,"
"It can be," the hybrid gently grabs her hands and brings them up to his shoulders. Then he places his hands on her waist.
Laura can feel her heart racing. She tries remembering what Logan told her about not giving into her instincts. But she can hear them screaming at her to either flee or kill. "I can't do this!" she shouts as she pushes Duncan away and storms for the nearest exit.
A teacher stands in her way. "Where do you think you're going?" Instead of answering, Laura just reveals her claws. "Carry on," he says while stepping out of the way.
Duncan races after her and says "Sorry, she's not used to large crowds," when he passes the teacher.
.oOo.
Laura was not sure where she was going. She just wanted to be as far away as possible. She soon falls into the sidewalk. Looking down at her feet she finds that one of the accursed heels had broken. The former hydra agent growls as she jerks the heels off both feet and throws them as far away as possible.
.oOo.
Toad leap frogs over a charging school security guard and uses his tongue to latch onto a tree branch to swing himself up on it. He turns to security and throws his hands up in the 'Rock On' motion while shouting. "You can't catch me, copper! Freedom!" At that moment something hits his head and then another. Toad then falls out of the tree and is now out cold.
The Security guard walks up to him and sees two high heeled shoes laying next to the mutant.
.oOo.
Laura gets up to continue to go to wherever she was heading but stops when hearing Duncan calling for her.
"Laura, Wait up!" he catches up to her.
At that, Laura turns around and shouts, "Why should I!?"
"I'm just worried about you."
"Why?"
"What?"
"Why would you possibly worry about me!?" she screams as her claws pop out and she slices a nearby lamp post. "I'm nothing like any of those girls. Yet you agreed to go to this stupid dance with me. Someone who was not born but created to be a weapon," The girl can feel the tears building up. "I'm nothing but a broken little girl," with that, the flood gates open as she retracts her claws.
"You're right," Duncan tells her. "You're not like any of those girls. But you are not broken. You had perhaps the worst upbringing. That's what's broken. And you are trying to fix that. A lesser person would concede with what they are told they are. I can't tell you how many times I nearly gave up because I tend to look like…" the hybrid flexes his muscles, reverting to his kaiju state and shredding through the suit, "…this. But coming to the mansion has helped me a lot," the hybrid pulls Laura into a hug. "You being there has helped me even more. Because, if you can't make it then what chance does a guy like me have?" Duncan then moves Laura back and wipes away her tears.
Looking into the hybrid's sincere eyes, Laura can feel her instincts kicking in. She knows what Logan says about learning to when to listen to them, but this feels right. Laura grabs Duncan's shoulders and pulls him into a kiss. At that moment, it was like all her instincts and emotions that were tangled up with each other has finally straighten out and for the first time since the sparring match, she was able to think clearly. She is no longer a weapon, a clone, nor is she an animal. She is in love and there are no words to describe the feeling.
The two finally break apart and smile at each other. Duncan then wraps an arm around Laura as they turn towards some nearby bushes and Duncan hollers, "You guys can come out now!" and from behind the bushes, just about every one of their classmates from the X-Mansion is there. Including the seniors and Kurt's date, Amanda.
Sam walks up to them and asks, "How'd you know we were here, D Man?"
Laura was the one to answer, "Your scents." At this, Jamie sniffs himself, all nine of him.
At first everyone remained quiet but then several of the girls squeal and pulls Laura towards them.
Kitty hugs her. "I knew you could do it, Little Wolverine." Laura blushes and suddenly finds it hard to say anything. And for the first time, it is not because she was crowded. In truth, she is embarrassed at their comments.
Then, Amara asks, "Where are my shoes?"
At that, Laura could only answer with an "Uh?"
.oOo.
A police officer puts an unconscious Toad in the back of the cab. "Let me get this straight," he turns to the school security guard holding a pair of heels. "He was up in the tree and those shoes just fall out of the sky and on his head?"
"Yeah. You think it was one of those good mutants?"
"A superhero whose power is to throw sensible shoes. What kind of crackpot idea is that?"
.oOo.
A couple of the guys high five Duncan and Scott tells him, "I told you everything would be fine, Didn't I?" as he pats him on the back.
"And you were right?" Duncan admits. "Hey, sorry about the suit. I'll pay you back."
"You can make up for it by taking my turn at washing the X-Jet."
Lance comes up to the hybrid. "Dating the daughter of Wolverine. You're either the dumbest guy here, or the bravest."
Duncan glares at him. "Aren't you the earthquake guy?"
"Names Avalanche," Lance boasts.
"Guess you had something to do with that little tremor back there?" Duncan accuses and Lance's eyes widening was all the answer he needed. The hybrid clenches his fist and makes a quick motion causing Avalanche to flinch. When his eyes open, Lance sees that Duncan is just holding his arm out. "I guess I owe you for that."
"No problem dude," he accepts the fist-bump.
Jean's phone goes off and she checks it. "Huh? Hey, Lance! Is that gambler guy part of your club?"
"Gambit? He sometimes crashes at our place. Why?"
"It seems that he was found passed out in Rogue's room."
"What would he be doing there?"
"Considering that Rogue is now afraid to touch anything at the moment, I can guess."
"That dude tried to pick a fight with Rogue," he laughs. "I knew he was insane."
Jean just stared at him before saying. "Fight. Yes. We'll go with that."
.oOo.
Standing a good distance away from the group is none other than Wolverine. "Amateurs," he lights a cigar. "Shoulda stayed downwind."
He then hears the voice of Ororo. "I thought you quit?" she lands right next do him.
"Storm? Nah, I just stopped doing it on school grounds. Especially after the Prof threatened to turn me into a little girl. What're you doing out here?"
"Kitty asked me if I could help make the night perfect by keeping the skies clear."
"And you agreed to that?" questions with a raised brow.
"At first? No. Then, I heard that this would be Laura's first dance and I couldn't say no," Storm smirks at him. "I don't have to guess why you're here."
Wolverine clears his throat. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm just making sure that none of the runts cause any trouble."
"Logan," Storm wraps her arms around his arm. "It may not have been through conventional means, but you still became a father. It's okay to be worried about her," then she leans on his shoulder.
"Yeah, well, she has no mother either. So, someone has to put extra effort into it?" he admits.
The two stood, smiling at the group of teens. Then, Storm sighs and says, "I'd love to be that girl's mother."
The shock of hearing that caused Logan to swallow as he inhales on his cigar, and he starts coughing.
.oOo.
Professor X removes Cerebro, places it back on its stand, and turns to Beast. "It seems our family is about to get a bit more interesting, Hank."
.oOo.
Within a fancy apartment, the phone rings far too early in the morning in Mystique's opinion. With a low growl, she reaches for it and answers, "There better be a good reason for this?"
From the other end comes the voice of a familiar annoyance. "Mystique? Hey!"
"What is it this time, Toad?" she groans.
On the other end, Toad looks back at the police officer. "Funny story. I need a favor!" he chuckles awkwardly.
End
NOTE: Can anyone get the little reference I placed here?