September 3, 1974
Lorna woke up and pushed herself up on her elbows. The back of her head felt like it was splitting open. Lorna reached back and touched it. She could feel a little blood there, but the gash wasn't deep, only surface level. At least there was that.
Her back ached, but she pushed herself into a seated position. She groaned and began digging in her coat for her flashlight. Lorna switched it on and looked around. She'd fallen several feet below the floor of the conference center. The cavern stretched out in several directions, but the walls were smooth and concrete. No chance of climbing up them, but they didn't appear to be booby trapped.
She looked around a little further. There weren't any weapons or forcefields. The cavern was quite simplistic. It appeared that the foundations had been dug into to make room for the pit. There were a few cables running alongside the ceiling, ferrying power to and from an unknown source. Lorna tried to find metal in them, but there wasn't any. She could faintly feel metal above her, but the lower side of the panels had been coated in plastic. She made a face, but Sinister certainly had a good plan B.
She pointed the flashlight further down. It looked like the cavern continued on. She would have to figure out where it led, but that could wait. She knew that she hadn't fallen down alone and, now that she'd done the primary check to make sure she wasn't about to die in the next few seconds, she could afford to do the secondary one.
"Scholastic?" she called.
There was no answer. She felt a brief flurry of panic, but she reminded herself that Alex was virtually unkillable. She had seen that herself after the motorcycle accident, and she'd certainly heard stories. She began picking her way across the cavern, moving her flashlight in wide sweeps.
"Scholastic?" she called.
She heard a groan. Lorna moved over to Alex and shook her head.
"Scholastic, we have got to stop running into each other like this," she said.
He didn't answer. Lorna knelt beside him and saw a deep gash in his shoulder. She frowned, looking around. What had he injured himself on? She looked up and saw that the area around the ceiling was jagged. Knowing Alex's luck he'd scraped it on the way down.
Lorna sighed. She tried to get a better look at the injury, but his jacket was in the way. She pulled him up and took the jacket off.
"Might want to lose some weight," Lorna said.
He groaned again, still out. She wondered why she was so much better at coming to than he was. It wasn't the first time that this had happened after all. Lorna supposed that she had the better constitution. She wished he would wake up so they could argue about it.
She tried to examine the wound once the jacket was off, frustrated that the strange weave that the X-men wore was in the way. Lorna took a deep breath before unzipping the top of the jumpsuit and looking at his shoulder.
"Nothing personal," she said.
The gash was deep, and he was losing blood from it. Lorna sighed and popped her flare, lighting the room. She put her flashlight down and started fishing around in her pocket for her medical equipment. It wasn't much, just a needle, some thread, and a small bottle of disinfectant. Bandages could always be torn from something, but luckily for her coat bandages weren't what was needed. She poured some of the disinfectant over the wound and heard Alex hiss. He didn't wake up though.
"Jeez, do I need to turn on a siren?" she asked.
Lorna felt a little insane, talking to Alex although he was unconcious. However, it had been a long time since she had last seen him. Lorna knew that it would have been better if she hadn't run into him during the latest debacle, but it was too late to worry about things like that.
She began stitching, making the stitches as even as she could. Angel had been the one to show her how to patch up a wound. Medical work wasn't Azazel or her father's speciality. Angel had told her that it had made her feel useful in the early days of the Brotherhood. She knew that her powers were only useful in certain types of combat.
As Lorna continued stitching she saw that the skin on Alex's shoulder wasn't even. She needed more light if she wanted to keep the stitches even. Frustrated she turned on her flashlight and held it in her mouth.
The skin was rough and clumpy, as if from a severe burn. For a moment she froze, remembering another fire. Then Lorna frowned, nudging the uniform shirt a little further down even as she continued to stitch. The clumpy healing continued all the way down his back.
She wanted to say something, but the flashlight in her mouth made it difficult to comment. She kept her counsel to herself, although she wondered if the burn continued onto his chest. Lorna knew that Alex was considered the battering ram of the X-men, the one who always charged in headfirst. She wondered if the burn had been a result of that stupid, stubborn bravery.
The burns didn't continue to his chest. However, she did see scars that she assumed were a result of him charging in headfirst as though he had something to prove. Lorna could see bullet wounds, as well as small scars where she knew that stitches had once been put in. He'd have another scar on his shoulder to match now.
However, Lorna couldn't help but notice other scars. They were thin and white. Lorna supposed that they came from some sort of knife, but they weren't big enough to suggest a stab wound. Lorna finished with Alex's shoulder and took the flashlight out of her mouth. She used it to examine the scars, curious.
She could see that they travelled along nerve paths. Lorna remembered when Azazel had taught her about them, where to punch or kick or stab and cause the most damage. Once again, the scars weren't big enough to suggest that someone had been trying to cut the nerves. Instead, they were shallow, almost like someone was nicking them. They had only been surface wounds, not deep enough to cause permanent damage, but deep enough to hurt like hell.
Cocking her head Lorna leaned in and traced one of the scars that ran across his collarbone. His hand shot out, grabbing Lorna's wrist. She dropped the flashlight under the pressure, feeling her bones scrap up against his fingers. As the pain flared she kicked him instinctively, scrambling away and getting to her feet.
"What the hell was that for Scholastic?" she asked.
She turned and saw that Alex had already zipped up his uniform, despite the fact that he was winding from her kick. He began to shrug his jacket back on. She shook her wrist. It wasn't sprained. Good.
"I don't like people touching me," he said.
"Neither do I, but I don't try to break their wrists for it," Lorna said.
"Stop exaggerating," he snapped.
"Fine tone to take to the woman who just stitched up your shoulder," she said.
Alex paused and shook his head.
"Sorry," he said, "I wasn't thinking."
"Damn right you weren't," she said.
Alex shrugged and got to his feet. He looked up at the ceiling.
"Any chance you learned to fly in the past few months?" he asked.
Lorna sighed. While she had most of her father's powers, the ability to manipulate magnetic fields to allow her to float still eluded her.
"No," she said.
"Then it looks like we're walking," he said.
He scooped up the flare and headed towards the other end of the cavern. Lorna picked up her flashlight and trudged after him. He stopped before going into the side tunnel, looking at her over his shoulder.
"Thanks," he said, "For stitching me up."
"No problem," Lorna said, feeling pleasure flare up inside her.
He tilted his head and they began walking.
"Looks like you make a habit of getting banged up," Lorna said.
"Not so much anymore," Alex said, "You should have seen me in my first few years."
"I've heard stories," Lorna said.
She hesitated, unsure about continuing.
"I uh, saw the burns on your back," she said.
Alex stiffened.
"Accident," he said, his voice short.
Lorna winced. She wished she could stop, but her words were running ahead of her head.
"And those smaller scars? The ones all across your chest?" she asked.
"Like you said, I get banged up," he said.
His voice was getting sharp. Lorna shoved her hands in her pockets.
"Okay," she said, "Okay."
She was still curious, but she knew that she wasn't going to get any answers from him. Not with the way that his body was tensing. She got the feeling that she hadn't been supposed to see any of his scars, but she hadn't been able to help it. He had a right not to tell her.
The fact that she'd wanted him to tell her, that she'd wanted to know more about him, was disturbing though.
"Plane crash."
She blinked.
"Come again?" she asked.
"I got the burns from a plane crash," he said, his words reluctant, "It's not like it's a secret. My father was a pilot, used to take us flying on the weekends sometimes. He got an old plane, and something was wrong with the engine. Started to burn. There were only two parachutes, and he couldn't land."
Lorna took a deep breath and looked down.
"So me and my brother got them," Alex said, "When the plane went up my chute caught on fire. Got me to the ground, but burned up my back pretty bad. That's all."
She stared at his back, remembering the patchy, warped skin that was there. The burn would have had to have been worse than 'pretty bad' for it to have been in that condition after several years.
Lorna could see that Alex's shoulders were still tense. She realized that he was waiting for her to say something.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"Like I said, it's not like it's a secret or anything," he said.
Swallowing she dug her hands deeper into her pockets.
"I know what it's like to lose someone because they decided that you were more precious than they were," she said.
Alex looked at her over his shoulder, his expression curious. Lorna wished that she could take her words back, but once again it was too late. Besides, he had shared the death of his parents with her. He deserved something.
"What," Lorna said, trying to keep her voice light, "don't tell me that you've never wondered about where I came from?"
"We have," Alex said.
He continued walking, still glancing back towards her every now and then.
"I have the feeling you're not going to tell me much though," he said.
"No," Lorna said.
She cleared her throat.
"And those other scars?" she asked.
Alex tensed up again, his grip on the flare making it dent slightly. She could tell that his breathing was becoming labored, almost as though he were trying to make a decision.
"You're not the only one who can keep secrets Trixie," he said.
"Thought you might say that," Lorna said.
Alex managed a laugh.
"Yeah well, you know how it is," he said.
"I do," Lorna said.
She smiled.
"You and your solid X-man ways," she said, "They teach you how to stand to attention when you sleep yet?"
"Have they taught you how to stay silent on patrol?" he asked.
"Nope," Lorna said.
Alex glanced back at her.
"You know," he said, "I'm probably going to regret saying this in about ten seconds, but I kind of missed you."
Despite herself, Lorna knew that her smile widened.
"Me too," she said.