Series Title: X-23: No Way Back
. Story & Chapter Title: Playing Hero – Chapter One: An Eye For An Eye
. Author: ChickRockGuitar
. Date Written: February 2009 - (words written: 2691)
. Fiction Group: X-Men Comics
. Story Rating: T (some mild language)
. Summary Of Story: Part One of "Playing Hero". Three weeks have passed since Laura agreed to stay in New York. Making a fresh start is what Logan wanted for her, but will her seemingly selfless actions land her in trouble yet again?
. Auther's Notes: This is the first chapter to the second story arc of a fanfictional serial of stories written by chickrockguitar. These stories are set in a slightly alternate Marvel universe - set with a new spin on the character of X-23.
. Disclaimer: Marvel/X-Men characters, established concepts and previous storylines full credit goes to Marvel, Stan Lee, Craig Kyle, Chris Yost, and Co. Original storylines credit goes to me.

Chapter One: An Eye For An Eye

Dressed all in black, sixteen year old Laura Kinney stood in the semi darkness, letting the late nights wind blow though her hair. From her position on the roof of a six story building, she looked down, watching late nights traffic passing by. Closing her eyes, she listened to the sounds of the city: motor vehicles and their horns, the foot steps of pedestrians wondering the streets, their voices as they talked to their companions, factory machines working though the night, emergency sirens sounding in the distance, trains roaring under the streets within the subway - and then, a scream.

Laura's eyes snapped open, she instinctively whipped her head in the direction of the scream, and sniffed the air. Listening once again, she could hear four pairs of running footsteps, three male and one female. Catching their scent she could tell they were heading south-east, towards her. Another scream rang in her ears, this time it was louder. Laura sprinted across the rooftop to the opposite side of the building and looked down. Below was a dirty, darkened narrow side street. Suddenly the woman came running into view, with her three male pursuers not far behind her.

Deciding that the woman needed help, Laura sprang into action. Without a second thought, she leapt from the edge of the roof top. The wind flew though her and office floors fell behind as she headed downwards. Seconds later she hit the ground with perfect landing: at a crouch, but firmly on her feet, then sprinted down the street, in the direction of the woman and her three pursuers.

Susan Jefferson was in her mid thirties, although her blonde hair and slim yet pretty features made her look almost ten years younger. By day she was a single mother to her young son, and by night she was working dead-end jobs in order to put herself though business school. She thought of her son at home with the babysitter, would he be asleep already? She hoped so, as she was tired and wanted to get to bed herself. She wondered if she could find enough money in her apartment to pay the babysitter. It was when she rounded the first block that she noticed them: three guys seemed to be following her. Panicking a little, she quickened her pace - home was six blocks away.

Then, she heard someone call out to her, "Hey, sweetheart, where are you goin' in such a hurry?". Now panicking even more, Susan picked up her pace, so she was almost at a run. Growing up in New York City, she knew walking the streets alone at night was asking for trouble, but paying for a Cab just wasn't an option, she didn't have the money. Susan heard running footsteps behind her, and knew who they belonged to, the young woman let out a scream and ran for it.

"Please! please, don't hurt me..." begged Susan. Moments ago, the terrified woman had headed down what she thought was another side street, but in fact it had turned out to be an alleyway. A dead end. The three men had continued to follow her, and now had her trapped. Susan continued to back away from the three men, until her back brushed up against the brick wall, she gasped. Her three pursuers continued to stalk towards her, each of them wearing dark and beastly expressions.

The tallest of the three, Jack, a dark skinned, well muscled man, with an almost completely shaven hair style, stepped forwards a little, the other two, Eddie, a white, average height, well built blond, and Tyke, a white, tall, skinny dark haired, seemingly flanking him. Susan tried again, "Please, let me go...". Jack, obviously the leader of the group, shook his head, "Don't think so, honey" he grinned. His buddies remained still, as he stalked towards her again, as he moved forwards he produced knife from his jacket pocket, Susan gasped. "Please!" she begged once again, now crying, "I-I have a little boy... please... let me go!". Jack laughed, and his buddies followed in suit.

Now just inches from her, Jack spoke, "Does it look like I care, sweetheart?", he said evilly, as he moved the knife closer to her face. Terrified, Susan didn't know what to do next. Suddenly another female's voice rang though the almost silent alley, "Excuse me", she said. Susan and the three men jumped a little, and turned to face the voice. Standing in the ray of a dying streetlamp, was Laura.

"It seems that you are holding this woman against her will" said Laura, in a calm tone. "Yeah? And how do you know that?" spat Jack, "What if she wants to be here?" he continued. "She does not. She is terrified" answered Laura. "Let her go", she demanded. At those words, the three men began to laugh, finding it amusing that a young girl was giving them orders. The laughter came to a stop and Jack gave Laura a deadly stare. "Boys," he instructed, without taking his eyes off Laura, "Looks like we got ourselves some more fun". He paused for a moment, before adding, "Grab her". As Eddie and Tyke stalked towards Laura, the teen stood her ground, unafraid of the situation. "You're about to have a bad night, little girl" Eddie told her. "Yeah, a very bad night", added Tyke.

Eddie was the first to approach Laura, as he was about to reach out and grab her, Laura launched a hard kick to his stomach with her right foot. As the winded man hunched over, she grabbed a hold of the back of his black leather jacket and flung him into the nearest wall, he hit it with a smack and dropped to the ground. Laura turned to Tyke, she looked him straight in eye. Worried, he took a step back, but not fast enough. What seemed quicker than the eye to Tyke, Laura moved for him, her right hand fist connecting with his jaw. On impact his head flew backwards, giving Laura the opportunity to grab a hold of the front of his shirt. Seconds later, just like Eddie, she sent Tyke sailing into the opposite wall, which he hit with a hard thud and a shout of pain.

Upon hearing Tyke shout out, Jack turned his attention from a terrified Susan, to the scene before him, but in mid turning motion, he was met by Laura's fist. He staggered back a little, confused, "What the hell?" he asked, holding his nose. "I told you to let her go", said Laura calmly, "You did not", she carried on, "So we fight" she told him. "Fight a little girl? You gotta be kidding me!" he spat. "Perhaps you will fare better than your friends" answered Laura. Jack looked at Eddie and Tyke, both slumped on the ground moaning in pain. "Freakin' idiot's!" he growled at them.

Laura moved into a fight stance position. Jack laughed for a moment, then said,, "Okay, okay, if you wanna to do this - then bring it!". Jack made the first move, he lunged at Laura, who just casually side-stepped him. Jack turned back to face her, a little confused as to why he missed. With his knife raised, he charged at her again. As he came within inches of her, Laura reached out and grabbed him by his wrists, the man came to a stop. And like his friends, Laura sent him flying into the wall, hitting the back of his head against the bricks as he collided with it, just inches from Susan. He slumped to the ground in pain. Laura turned to the woman, "Run" she told her. Knowing she was lucky to be alive, Susan didn't have to be told twice. At a run, she exited the alley.

Laura turned her attention back to the three men. Eddie and Tyke had now recovered and were on their feet, ready for round two. Extremely pissed off, they were both staring the young girl down, Eddie about three meters from the left and Tyke about three meters from the right, "You've had it, you little bitch!" snarled Eddie. Seconds later, trying to out smart her, they both simultaneously charged. However, Laura was ready, and quicker than them. Popping her claws on both hands, she flung her arms up and outwards. Eddie and Tyke didn't have time to stop themselves, their eyes went wide with shock and pain as Laura's metal claws penetrated their chests. Moments later, Laura retracted her blood soaked claws, and both men fell to the ground, very much dead.

Just then, Jack's shocked voice rang though the alley, "Holy shit! What are you?!" Laura turned to face the man, his face was deadly pale. Now he was the one who was terrified. He looked from the bodies of his friends to Laura's claws. Realising, he pointed at her, "Wait... I know what you are! You're a mutant! A filthy mutant freak!". That was enough for Laura, her claws at the ready, she moved for him, ready to strike. However, she had not anticipated his quick movements - Jack thrust his knife upwards, and it connected with Laura's left hand claws, momentarily bringing them to a stop. But seconds later, her claw's cut straight though the knife's blade, thanks to their Adamantium coating. "What that...?!" breathed Jack, totally confused at seeing his strong knife cut in two.

Before Jack had time to react to anything else, Laura buried her right hand claws into his gut. Jack cried out in pain. "I've watched you. You pray on the weak. You torment and murder innocent people. For pleasure" said Laura, in a calm voice. She ripped her claws from his gut, he cried out. "Now it's your turn to die" she told him. And with those words, she plunged her left hand claws deep into his chest. As Laura reacted her claws, she watched the man painfully fall to the ground.

Jack looked up at her, he tried speak, but couldn't. Laura said nothing, her face expressionless as she watched him take his last breath. After a few moments, she spoke, "Animal..." she growled, before turning on her heal, and calmly walking out of the alley, back into the busy New York night.

Twelve Hours Later:
Logan sat comfortably on the large Sofa in the Television room of the Xavier Mansion, bottle of beer in hand. As he had the room all to himself, he decided to take the rare opportunity to watch a football game. He was roughly twenty five minutes into the game when Hank walked in, "Ah, Logan, good, I've been looking for you", he said in a somewhat urgent tone. Not taking his eyes off the large Television screen, but hearing the urgency in Hanks voice, Logan answered, "Yeah? What crises we got now, Hank?". "I think you had better switch to CNBC Local" Hank answered.

With a huff of annoyance, Logan did so. A brunette woman in her mid to late forties was reporting live from the downtown New York, "- where the bodies of these three men where found. Moments ago, New York police conformed a knife wound direct to the heart was the cause of death to each of these men. A thirty year old woman is currently helping police with their investigations into this triple homicide, however, she is not she believed to be a suspect. A news conference was held in the last hour". The screen switched to a typical conference room full of police and reporters. NYC's Chief of police, spoke to the media, "New York City Authorities are currently looking for the suspect, anyone with any information or who may have been in the area when the indecent occurred is asked to get in touch with law enforcements. Thank You". The picture then moved back to the studio, twin newscasters sat behind a desk. One of them spoke, "In others news this morning-".

News report now over, Logan switched off the television, and turned back to Hank, "Yeah, so?". "Logan, I've just had word from a contact working on the case. What police aren't saying, is the wounds on the victims were caused by a set of twin-like metal blades - or claws. And a trace of an unknown metal has been found. Now, my guess, Adamantium". Closing his eyes momentarily, Logan sighed. Crap... he thought. Logan got it, he knew where Hank was going with this. Laura.

Over two thousand miles away, in the middle of the Canadian Rockies, set against the snowy white landscape, stood a large black brick and metal building. Almost completely covered in snow itself, the building was conveniently camouflaged by the mountains and trees surrounding it. Agent Stan Davidson keyed in his ID security code and made his way though the building. It had been almost three weeks since he had completed his last assignment of planting the substance known as "Trigger Scent" in the water system of the Xavier Institute, to draw out the mutant known as X-23.

He had been given leave for those three weeks after, something his company often did, in case an Agent was tracked down, or caught. They didn't want to risk exposure to the company. Stan had been called in to speak to the Boss. He'd never met him before, not many agents had. But he had been told the boss was particularly interested in his assignment, and wanted the details first hand.

Stan reached his Boss's office, knocked on the door, and waited. Moments later from inside the room, a male voice said, "enter". Stan did so. The room was very dark, the only source of light was that of a small lamp in the corner of the room, and a laptop on the desk. "Please close the door, Agent Davidson" said the man sitting behind a desk, "And take a seat", he gestured to the chair the opposite side of the desk to himself. Stan sat and waited as the other man shuffled a few papers. Through the darkness, Stan could just about make out the features of his "Boss", he was thin man, looking to be in his early forties, with short dark blond hair, and he wore a white lab coat.

Over the next hour or so, Stan was asked to recall exactly how he played out his "mission". As he told the tale, his boss seemed more and more pleased with his work. "Excellent work, Agent. I have been informed that X-23 has now left the sanctuary of the mutant school, and was last sighted in New York City. Weather she is still there, remains to be seen. But we have our people looking".

Just then, there was a knock at the door, "Enter" Stan's boss instructed. Stan noticed he looked a little annoyed at the interruption. A tall dark haired man, with a short beard entered the room. "Sir," he began, "We may have a possible sighting of the subject, X-23". After a moment, Stan's boss stood up, then looked at Stan, "Thank you for coming in today, Agent Davidson. We'll be in touch". Taking this as his cue to leave, Stan stood up, "Yes, sir" he answered, and left the room. As he was closing the door, he heard his Boss say, "This had better be good, Kirkman".

Once the door was fully closed, Kirkman continued, "It seems X-23 may still be in New York. Last night a triple Homicide took place in the city". Kirkman watched his boss sit back down comfortably in his chair. "And how do we know this relates to X-23?". "We're still receiving information, but the murder weapon seems to be a set of two metal blades. The wounds are directly over the hearts of the victims. And the suspect seems to be teenage female. It reads X-23's MO". "Yes. Yes, it does" agreed his Boss, with a an evil-like smile. "Get me everything you have on this, and I want to know the moment you have any new information". "Yes sir, Dr. Rice", said Kirkman, as he left the room.

I am currently working on the second Chapter to this arc, please stay tuned.