Julian whistled a tune as he made coffee for Laura and himself. He looked at Laura and saw her swiveling her head to look around his apartment. "It's not that big, but its home."
"Oh no, it's very nice. My apartment isn't even close to this size," she said as she smiled up at him and took the coffee that he offered her.
"Yeah, I moved to District X because it was important to me that I stayed around mutants. You know these days we need to stick together. Plus its easier to be myself and you know how I like to show off." He said these last words with a smirk and winked at her. It had been true, what he said; he had always liked using his telekinesis to impress others. Being such a powerful mutant made him proud.
"However, in a world where mutants are hunted this is a dangerous place to live. If the government decided to round up a ton of mutant, this is the first place they would come. You have allowed your need for acceptance to cloud you judgment Julian."
Julian was dumbfounded by her response and almost couldn't find words to respond. "Will you stop psychoanalyzing me!"
Realizing that she upset him, Laura got up to leave. However, Julian grabbed her hand preventing her from leaving. Julian stared straight at her making Laura feel transparent, that pleading look back in his eyes."Look, Im sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper. Can we just talk?" Caving in, Laura sat back down unsure of what to say. An awkward five minutes passed by where nothing was said. She looked at her hand in Julian's, noticing that he had not let go. Following her gaze he realized what she was looking at and released her hand. Trying to break the awkwardness he got up and began picking up the empty coffee cups.
"How have you been," he asked her as he washed out the cups.
She didn't know how to describe how she had been in the last four years. She found herself think of how to reply. "I have been ok. I have been…surviving."
Julian let out a small chuckle. "I think we've all been trying to survive. Some better than others. It helps to have people to look out for you."
"I do not have people. I do not want to endanger anyone."
"Yet you're here with me." Julian was back at the table and Laura felt like he was staring into her soul.
"Yes I am."
"So you make an exception for me?" Julian asked, smiling.
Laura nodded and smiled back realizing that she had just boosted his remembered doing this many times back at the Institute. For some reason she always felt the need to make him happy.
"Yeah well now that I found you I don't plan on losing you anytime soon." Laura took in his words with a bit of uneasiness. For a long time she had hoped for this moment, but now that it was here she didn't know if she wanted to accept it. She had been alone for so long and having someone back in her life that she once cared for for would only cause confusion. However, Laura hid her uneasiness not wanting to ruin the mood and wanting to continue the easy going conversation with Julian.
As the night progressed Julian and Laura found themselves talking for what seemed to be hours. At one point they migrated to his couch where the couple fell asleep.
Startled out of her sleep, Laura jumped off of the couch. A loud sound resembling a siren could be heard and a red glow could be seen from the window. "JULIAN! JULIAN, WAKE UP! she yelled.
"Huh, what going on?" Blinking, Julian groggily sat up. Coming to his senses, Julian jumped off the couch "Crap! We gotta go, Laura."
"Wait. What's going on?"
"It's the sentinels. They're searching for someone, we have to get down to the underground bunker."
Leaving his apartment, Julian and Laura were bombarded by panicking mutants rushing around. "Everyone get to the bunker and avoid the main streets," yelled Julian.
"Julliaaann!" a little girl cried out.
Julian rushed over to the little girl and picked her up. "Hey Evie, where's your mom?"
"She went out and didn't come back home yet."
"Well you're coming with me, okay?"
"Um... Julian I think it's time we go." Laura interrupted.
Julian looked over at Laura. "Yeah, follow me."
Before long, the group were out of the building and were winding through streets. Julian led them into an empty bar and they headed down the stairs of what appeared to be a basement. However, once they reached the bottom of the stairway Laura saw that they were in a large underground tunnel.
"Where are we?" She asked.
"These tunnels are for mutants to convene without the watchful eyes of the government, and it also allows us to be protected in situations like these. Only the people in this community know about it. Come on; we still have a little way to go."
After walking for another five minutes they reached a large area full of people. Julian set Evie down and turned to Laura "Hey, can you watch Evie for a second?"
"Uhh, I don't know Julian."
"It'll just be a quick second." Not waiting for a reply, Julian headed across the room the talk to someone. A few minutes later he came back looking angry. "I hate when things like this happen. I mean I think these tunnels are a great idea, but come on we're mutants! We should be out there taking down the sentinel, not hiding."
Before Laura could reply Evie interrupted. "Did you find my mommy?"
Julian stooped down to Evie's level. "No sweetheart. Do you know exactly where she went?"
The little girl shook her head.
"Well she wouldn't have gone far and left you home alone, so I'm sure she's close."
Julian smiled at the at her and stood back up, scanning the room for Evie's mom. "Look Laura, I'm gonna go look for Evie's mom."
"Are you leaving the tunnels?" She asked him.
"Yeah, she's not here and I don't know who else is up there. I'm not gonna just sit around when I could be doing something to help."
"If you go up there, I am going with you."
"Then let's go."
Julian carried Evie over to someone he knew and afterwards he and Laura left the vicinity.
Julian and Laura could hear a robotic voice around the corner.
"PRIMARY OBJECTIVE: FIND WOMAN. DARK HAIR, BROWN EYES, MEDIUM BUILD."
The couple ran around the corner to see a tall purple sentinel. Several mutants were attacking it. However, they were taking a lot more damage then they were causing. Laura and Julian joined the group and began attacking. Laura quickly hopped on to a fire escape, jumped off it onto the sentinel's arm and began to slash away.
"INITIATE SELF-REPAIR SEQUENCE"
"Julian this isn't working, it just keeps repairing itself." Laura yelled out to him.
"Yeah I keep destroying the wires within him but somehow they keep…." Before Julian could finish his sentence, the sentinel had shaken Laura off and released a shot in Julian's direction. FZWAM!Julian was able to avoid it just in time and it hit a car behind him.
BOOOM!
"Laura get over here; I have a plan!"
Before Laura could even ask what Julian's plan was, he was using his telekinesis to pick her up and swing her in a circular motion. He let go of her, sending her flying in the direction of the sentinel.
Landing, she withdrew her fist, pulled it back and slammed it right in the middle of the circle on its chest. She could hear a set of pops within the robot. "Julian, get everyone off of this street. It's going to explode!" Retracting her claws, Laura jumped from the sentinel, landed on her feet and began to take off. Turning the corner Laura saw Julian and all the others who were fighting alongside them. Seconds later a loud noise could be heard and the ground began to rumble a bit. After it ended Julian and Laura walked back around the corner to see pieces of the sentinel laying everywhere.
"Somebody is gonna be very mad about this." Julian chuckled.
"Hmm yes, I should probably get back home."
"It going on two in the morning and your place is far away; just come with me to go get Evie and we can head back to my place."
Laura looked down at the ground and considered it for a second. "Okay I'll go."
"Okay.'' He said smiling.
Taking Laura's hand, Julian headed back into the tunnels. On the way to the main area within the tunnels, Julian was stopped several times by other mutants. Many gave him and Laura compliments on how they had taken down the sentinel. Eventually, they reached the area and saw a woman kneeling down talking to Evie. She looked about their age and had tan skin and long brown hair. Laura slowed down a bit as they headed over. The woman had stood up and began talking to Julian. When Laura reached them Julian turned around to introduce the woman.
"Laura, you remember Sofia, right?"
Review! Review! Review! Tell me what you though of the chapter especially the sentinel scene cause I usually don't write things like that.