DISCLAIMER: I don't own X-Men: Evolution. OCs however, are owned by their respective owners.
***Vote for your favorite X-Men in a poll. A link to it is on my profile***
Thank you for all who reviewed! We've made it to 200! I didn't think I could even make that many reviews on my works since X-Spector is done for right now…hooray! Go check it out. I highlighted a lot of characters and it has a lot to do with why people in the following chapter (Shiloh's chap) do what they do. Since a lot of you were concerned with being in the dark. I really enjoyed writing that.
We are closing in on the end but do not fret. A sequel is COMING! It will be written in third person and have a lighter, fun quality that I have skipped out on a lot. Sorry, but it a serious theme to play on.
Vote on a title (sorry…you have to do this again) X-Men: Retaliation, X-Men: Project Omega, X-Men: Revelation, or come up with an awesome title of your own. If I receive a lot of alternative titles then I'll have you guys vote again in the next chapter. Or put up a poll.
Also I am taking suggestions for what will happen next. This is just not an OC story but a story where you have a say. So send me your suggestions for the sequel that is. (Funny scenes and quips or action sequences. Pairings, teammates, enemies, etc…)
We have nine characters left…the last will be an awesome grand slam that none of you will see coming! Here is the list of characters left to write about: Zane Anderson, Noah Beech, Sarah Goldman, Natalie Foster, April Stone, Lyra Bell, Lila Hawk, Zenith Franklin and a surprise character chapter! :D
X-Men: Restoration
Chapter Twenty Five: Laura Francess
Laura watched enviously, sitting in the background. She watched the X-Men run towards their old friends and forget about her and the Morlocks. Did they even really need them? They had all this help. She pursed her lips as she felt her grasp on her new friends slip away. She would always be trash; she would always be in the background. Who could possible love a mutant who was blue and had such a dangerous mutation?
"Laura, they are your friends. They have not abandoned you." Professor X said, rolling in his wheelchair beside her. She started but pressed her lips together tightly to avoid saying something that would offend the Professor.
"I know Professor but I feel like I am being rejected." Laura sighed, looking at the Professor with concerned eyes. She diverted her gaze to Kitty who was jumping up and down ecstatically in front of a girl with long black hair.
"Amara! We missed you! OMG! Rayne you came too!" She squealed as she hugged Amara and a girl with shaggy blond hair. "You guys look so awesome!" They laughed.
"Kitty, you grew taller! We always thought you were short for your age. By the way…has your cooking gotten any better?" Amara joked, Kurt shook his head behind Kitty. Laura remembered the scene in the kitchen a few weeks ago where Rainier and Kurt were tossing around muffins. Laura gave them a weird look as she grabbed an apple on the way out. Next thing she knew was she heard a huge 'bang'. She walked back into the kitchen to see that Rainier or Kurt were nowhere in sight but Vince was standing there looking at the wall with his mouth open. Laura craned her neck and saw that there was a muffin lodged in the wall. Vince tried to say something but she walked out sampling whispering the word 'boys' underneath her breath. So that was who made the muffins.
Kitty gave them both a stern look as they tried to hold in their chuckles. "I've been working with Rayne to help migrate animals out of the path of destruction land developers. We've had success so far. So I see the Prof has been working on building up a new team while we were gone." Amara pointed to the group of mutants staring at them blankly. Laura changed her focus and started to listen to a more interesting conversation. She saw a big beastlike man standing next to a guy dressed up like he was from the seventies.
"Charles, we have discovered so much from being in Japan. Forge has made multiple advances in technology that could be used to disable Sentinels. I have been researching ways to reverse the process of amplifying powers that The Institution had put on young mutants. Their particular form now is unstable and could be detrimental to everyone around them." The man said.
"That is great news, Hank. We have also picked up a technopath at The Institution who could help both of you. Zane, please meet Professor Hank McCoy and Forge." Zane, the kid with shaggy bleach blond hair shook hands with both of them then all of them began to talk about their projects.
Hank went over and talked to Sakura about her parents. Laura causally walked over to Shiloh who seemed to be clinging to Spyke's leg. He was talking to a blond guy and a brown haired kid.
"So Sam, where were you sent?" Spyke said after he summarized his activities with the Morlocks. Sam laughed a little.
"I was sent with Jamie and Berserker to check out suspicious activities in the mountains. The Prof thought there was a connection to The Institution. We found an old laboratory and sent the samples to Professor McCoy. So are the Morlocks adjusting well to the X-Mansion?" Sam said, sighing at Jamie who was multiplying among them snooping around.
Lyra came beside Laura. "What's up, Laura? This isn't like you, you aren't shy at all. " Lyra was a nice shimmery green color and her hair was silver.
"Nothing, I just feel out of place…" Laura said gazing at the joy going around outside the mansion. It seemed like nothing had happened; the subway accident, the massacre, The Institution. Laura knew it would be over soon. She knew they would train even harder to retrieve the mutants that were in harm's way.
"We all do. Look at The Institution mutants. They are all buggy eyed. They just got here a few days ago…let's go talk to them to get your mind off of this alienation." Lyra said. Laura smiled and leaped in front of Lyra, leading her over the scared mutants. She wasn't going to alienate herself. She couldn't.
"Hi guys, I dunno if we met but I'm Laura and this is Lyra. If you can't keep our names straight then just call her Bell. It's her last name, she won't mind." Laura laughed, glancing at Lyra. Lyra gave her a smug nod.
A girl with brown hair stepped up. "I'm Allie. Nice to meet you. This is April." An older girl with long red hair stepped out in front of Allie who clearly rolled her eyes, mumbling something beneath her breath. She flipped her hair back. She looked like a popular mutant Laura had seen before.
"JEAN!" Someone squealed. April's eyes suddenly flared up with a fire.
"Who said that? I'm April, April Stone so don't you ever mistake it!" April snapped. She mumbled, sticking out her hand, Laura shook it reluctantly. The person who had called her Jean did not come forward or even fess up.
"Maybe you could dye your hair. I could see a nice blond or hazelnut color." Laura said. April stared at her as if she were an idiot.
"You really should stop jabbering so much. Don't you ever think of what comes out of your mouth?" April snorted. "My mutation is my hair; I can't dye it or cut it." She flipped her hair back proudly. Laura gave her a glare.
"April! Play nice." Allie said as she smiled through her teeth. Laura turned to see that Lyra had run off with Shiloh to go paint something (probably). April put her hand on her hip and shrugged. Laura concentrated her attention on the Professor.
"Alright, everyone let's congregate inside to work out our plans. Ororo you can talk over from there." Professor X said as all the children started to go in. Inside, Professor Monroe addressed the entire crowd of people.
"I know that everyone is excited to see that some old students are here to help but this is not the time for fun and games just yet. We have to become a solid team, a family. Numerous numbers of you have grown in maturity in these past several weeks from the turn of events in Bayville. There…" There was a knock on the mansion doors. Everyone turned around to see the doors fly open and a guy carrying in a limp body. Ororo flew down from the staircase and helped the guy. The guy was big and muscular like Rainier but he was much more casually dressed. The girl he was carrying had blond hair with blue streaks through it. She had a nasty black mark on her neck that seemed to radiate energy. Laura's eyes widened at the sight. Laura squeezed her hands. There was so much chaos and no control. She gripped her palms tightly and bit her lip.
"We had nowhere else to go. Please, please help us." He pleaded as he set the girl down on the marble floor. She breathed out a flustered sigh.
"What happened?" Ororo said, examining the girl's body.
"Dr. Bamback has sent out a virus among the people. He distracted the people with illusions of The Brotherhood massacring people so he could steal medicine that could cure the virus. He then told them all mutants caused this virus. Anyone who looks like a mutant has been taken to the Mutant Response Division. Bamback wants the mutants wiped out and he goes to great lengths to do it. Hope has been affected with the virus." He said quickly, stumbling over his words.
"Calm yourself." Storm said in a controlled voice. Rainier ran towards him.
"Levi, what are you doing here?" Rainier said, diverting his eyes to Hope who was suffering. Rainier pursed his lips together as he saw the once confident, know-it-all Hope crumbled in a heap. She was suffering.
"Get her to the infirmary. Grace get all the herbal remedies you have. Sakura and Laura come with me." Storm said as she marched up the stairs with a strained look. Levi collapsed to the floor, looking ragged and exhausted. Rainier picked up Hope's body. She followed Rainier and Sakura to the infirmary wing with Professor X behind them.
Once in the infirmary wing, they laid her down on a cot. It was quiet. Storm and Grace came in with Marina behind them carrying plants in a purple bubble of energy. Laura wasn't sure what she was doing there because she couldn't help her. She could kill her. She had a power that was too great for anyone to imagine. She could dehydrate anything. She couldn't grow plants, let alone look at one yet she was called in here to help someone survive a crazy virus. No control.
Professor X consulted with Ororo and then left. "Okay girls, we need full cooperation. Professor Xavier has put me in charge of the finding a cure for this type of virus that we have named the X virus. He is forming teams to go investigate the whereabouts of The Institution. We are putting a stop to this all. It ends now." She said. "Laura, you are in charge of keeping her body dry and sweat free. Just breathe in and out as we talked about." Laura stared at her terrified; her hands shook at her sides. Storm and she had talked about why she was afraid of using her powers. It didn't go well since she forced herself to forget about the orphanage and that horrid woman she had almost killed. The woman had provoked her many times by prodding her with a rod saying she was ugly and useless. She then thought about the darkest thoughts about making the woman suffer. Suddenly she writhed and screamed on the ground. Laura noticed that she felt soaked in water and that was when she noticed that she had dehydrated the woman. The memories had resurfaced and so the shy, coward of a girl. She ran away when she found the Morlocks who accepted her, her blue skin and all. Laura had always been brash but over the last few weeks she took more time to think her actions over but still had a swell of emotions to go with them. Laura breathed. She raised her hands above the girl and all the voices in the infirmary faded to the background as she concentrated.
She felt the water being drawn into her. She felt the life force of Hope. She steadied the intake of water as the sweat particles dissipated. She sighed a sigh of relief.
"Good Laura. Just keep doing that while we make a remedy." Storm said. Grace handed her several herbal plants.
"The…the…reaper…" Hope coughed. "Look at stolen g…" she continued until she fell into unconsciousness. Levi burst into the infirmary. Hope breathed heavily.
"Is she okay?" Levi said. Storm feed her a concoction of herbs. Hope's heavy breathing ceased.
"She's stabilized but not cured. I'll stay here with her. If her condition worsens then I'll be sure to notify you all. Laura…" Ororo trailed off. Laura raised her hands above Hope and breathed in and out calmly. The sweat poured off of her like bullets. Laura now knew that her mutation wasn't a burden anymore. She was helping someone. Laura looked down at the calm Hope and she knew the X-Men would do all they could to save the other mutants. They would find the cure and heal all the people affected with the virus. There was nothing to be afraid of anymore. There was nothing too big for the X-Men to conquer.
Laura is awesomeness. She shows her soft and fearful side through this chapter. Later you will get to see how she reacts around chaotic situations. She likes control but usually doesn't think her actions through. So excited to get to the finale of this thing. It is going to AMAZINGGG!
Sincerely. Excited. Anonymous