Thank you all for your reviews! I'm so loving them, which is why I'm doing an update when I'm supposed to be studying for my chemistry, anatomy, and biology exams (pfft, metabolic processes, who needs 'em?). Hope you'll enjoy it! School's almost done and so soon I'll be able to do a couple updates a week
xXx
Eric and I got back to the mansion around one in the morning, which means we broke curfew (oops). But Stretch had texted Eric to say half the team had to be deployed to help fight some forest fires in the north as well as evacuate a few towns in the fire's path, so none of the teachers had noticed our absence. We snuck back into the school and said goodnight. Eric offered me a goodnight kiss (joking, of course) and I offered him a fat lip.
Unfortunately for me, it took me half an hour to find the room I was staying in, and when I did find it, I realised that I didn't have a key. I swore and put my forehead against the door. Ready to go sleep in the garage with the bike, the door opened for me.
"Hey Leah, forget your key?" Taren asked softy. She was lying in bed, reading. Alex on the other hand was out cold and snoring lightly.
"Yeah." I admitted. Just now I realised that if Alex was asleep, Taren couldn't have gotten up to get the door. "Um, how did you-?"
"Open the door? Besides being a two headed freak show act, I'm telekinetic." Taren answered. I realised that she was trying to make a joke, but I heard the bitterness masked beneath it.
"That must be cool. Can you fly?" I asked, sitting down on the bed assigned to me and slipping off my shoes.
"No. Well, I mean, I'm able to, but I don't because Alex is afraid of heights." Taren explained.
I never thought having to share a body with someone would be easy, but now I was beginning to see the extent of how hard it was. Just to break the silence, I said "Really? I haven't know her for long, but Alex doesn't seem to be the type to be afraid of anything."
"She is a really strong character," Taren said, looking at her sleeping sister. "But she has always been afraid of heights. But that's the only thing that scares her. Well, that and dying a virgin."
We both snorted, like the proper young ladies we were.
"Sorry for disturbing you, I didn't mean to be out so late." I apologized.
"Don't be sorry. There's some pajamas that should fit you on the desk." Taren gestured at the clothing before going on. "I was up anyway. The only thing I'm a little peeved about is that I'm jealous."
"Jealous?" I repeated as I changed into the borrowed clothing.
"Well, a little. I just wish I was out on a date with a guy tonight instead of stuck here doing homework." Taren said, blushing.
"Oh, then no need to be jell'n. Eric and I weren't on a date, we were just fooling around on my dad's motorcycle." Realizing what I said, I quickly added. "And by fooling around, I just meant, you know, going for a ride."
Taren nodded, then went back to reading her book. At that moment, there was a tapping at the window. I went to it and saw a speckled hawk sitting on the ledge. I walked over and opened the window. The hawk, Eric, dropped a note on the desk, gave sort of a bird salute then soared back out the window.
I read the note, trying to ignore Taren's intense stare on my neck.
"I had a great time tonight. Meet me for breakfast tomorrow? I'll be the good looking guy that looks like he didn't get any sleep :P"
"Yeah, you two totally weren't on a date." Taren said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
I quickly crumpled the note and tossed it in the wastebasket. "We weren't! Seriously, my parents are being held by some mutant hating creeps and I don't know if I'm ever going to see them again, do you really think I'm in the mood for dating right now?"
It came out harsher than I meant it to. Taren eyes widened and she looked at me with pity.
"I'm sorry it's just-I'm tired, and I'm worried, and I get bitchy when I'm like this." I apologised, hanging my head.
"Don't worry about it Leah, I understand. I shouldn't have teased you like that." Taren said. She turned off the light next to her bed. "Goodnight."
"Yeah, night."
I curled up in the bed and tried to ignore the tight feeling in my chest.
Mom, Dad, where are you?
xXx
The soldiers tossed the bloody and broken man into the tiny cell. They quickly turned on the electric force field and jumped back as the man snarled and swiped at them with his metal claws. They grinned mercilessly as he roared in pain as the electricity ripped through his body.
"Same time tomorrow, mutie?" One of the soldiers joked. They had just spent the last eight hours watching the torture experts' work on the man as they attempted to extract information from him. If they were being honest, it made them queasy watching the experts do everything they could to the mutant and having the mutant repair himself in minutes. But they weren't paid to be honest, they were paid to protect humankind.
The soldiers heard footsteps and quickly stood to attention as the general walked past them to stand in front of the cell.
"Wolverine, what have I been hearing about you not cooperating with my interrogators?" General Hardling asked, his cold voice mocking.
Logan looked up. He had been ignoring the soldiers as he set his broken bones so they would heal properly, but now he was up and standing as close to the electric field as he could get.
"You son of a bitch, where's my wife?" Logan snarled.
"Why, I don't quite remember. Maybe your information could loosen my memory?" General Hardling suggested. He jumped away as Logan hit the field, making sparks fly. "Ah, Logan, you always did want to do things the hard way. If you really want to know, we have her in a nice, cozy small room."
Logan swore. The twisted bastards knew the worst possible thing to do to 'Ro was to trap her in a confined space. She suffered from claustrophobia, and they used it to their advantage. Logan felt his heart squeeze painfully, knowing what his wife must be going through.
"Let her go." His voice was deadly quiet.
"We will, we'll let you both go, but first you have to tell us what we want." The general said.
Logan bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from letting out a long line of swears and walked over to his cot.
"Are you really going to let your wife go mad?"
"When I get out of here, I'm cutting yer head off."
"Just tell us where she is!" The general yelled, losing his composure. When this didn't loose a reaction from Wolverine, he let out a sigh and turned to the soldiers. "When the new interrogators get here, get them to cut out his tongue."
With that the general began to walk away.
"We're going to find your daughter Wolverine, with or without you. And then we won't have to deal with your dirty race ever again."
Logan let out the breath he'd been holding. The relief he felt when he realized that the MRD hadn't captured Leah got him through the torture. He knew that Leah was a smart girl, that she'd go to Hal when she realized that him and her mom was gone. Then she'd be in the X-men's protection and safe. He also knew that she must be going through hell right now with worry, and must hate them a little for not telling her the truth. He wanted to tell her so many times, to just be open, but him and 'Ro had agreed that it was better if she didn't know. They knew she'd find out eventually, but they had been putting off.
He'd make it up to her though, when he could.
He'd be okay until the X-men found them, torture wasn't a new thing for him, but he was worried about his Storm. She was a strong woman, but her phobia ruled her. He hoped that she would be able to hold on until help came.
And he meant what he said. As soon as he was out, he was going to cut off the head of the man that hurt his girls.
xXx
"I can't go on." Alex moaned. "Carry me?"
"Oh, shut up, I'm hurting just as much as you are." Taren countered, as they dragged their body on beside me.
"Poor girls." I said sympathetically.
They had just come back from a Danger Room session, and they were hurting from it. They had been doing laps around the Danger Room for the past hour, and after each lap, apparently the room became more dangerous. They told me the horror story of how they dodged lasers, hurtled over ice water pits, dodge traps and more as well as having to carry packs on their backs that got five pounds heavier with each lap.
"It's not fair that you didn't have to do it." Alex grumbled, glaring at my unsweaty, undamaged, unfatigued self. She was right. While they and the rest of the senior class got ready for their DR session, Dr. McCoy pulled me away to go through the school's clothing supplies to get myself a rough wardrobe. It was a good excuse. The truth was that they couldn't risk putting a weakly human in such a dangerous situation. I obviously couldn't handle the session. I mean, just because I've been training in the martial arts since I was six, mastered about five different weapons and took down a giant robot by myself, didn't mean such a frail human could handle a superhero gym class.
Plus, the X-men are still trying to hide the fact that I'm not a mutant.
"Get real Lex, it's her first day. They're not going to throw her into the pit yet." Taren said. "Besides, with Wolverine as her dad, I bet Leah has had load of DR practices."
I laughed. "Sort of. He taught me how to fight, but we didn't have a room with lasers."
"Its so weird that you haven't come to the school till now." Alex mused, popping a piece of gum into her mouth after offering the package to both me and Taren. "What's up with that?"
I forced myself not to let out my annoyed sigh. Alex liked asking questions too much.
"My mom wanted out of the superhero biz, so we moved to Canada." I gave the vague lie coolly. Thinking about it now, I wonder if Mom minded giving up the X-men because of me? I mean, Dad kept it up, but I guess she gave it all up.
Alex was about to say something when she got a text. After reading it, she said, "Oops! I was supposed to tell you before about this Leah. Eric got taken down during the last few minutes of the session and had to go to the MedBay. He wanted me to ask you if you could go meet him there."
I creased my brow, worried. "Is he okay? What happened? How-"
"Chill, he's fine." Alex said, though her words did not reassure me. "For the last lap of the session, we had to carry an innocent to safety. Eric got his guy to the safe zone quickly, but one of the people on his team got knocked out so he went to go get both the teammate and the innocent to safety so that the team wouldn't lose time. He turned into a horse, which was pretty cool and ripped all clothes and stuff-"
"Alex, you're giving Leah a heart attack, just get to the part where he got hurt so she can stop worrying." Taren chided.
"Uh, its called 'leading up to it', it adds some suspense?" Alex replied, sticking out her tongue. "Anyway, a kid on another team accidently set off a trap, and exploded it to get out, which made a bunch of shrapnel, and a piece hit Eric's shoulder."
"Really, Leah, he's fine. He just went to go get some stitches." Taren assured me. "He was able to carry both people, and the only reason he went to the MedBay was because Mr. Summers ordered him to go."
"Eric was always such a baby about hospitals. He forced me to go with him and his mom every time he had to go to the doctor to get a shot." I smiled. "I'd better go see him."
"To get to the Bay, just go to the elevator, go to the basement, and turn left. You can't miss it." Taren told me, pointing out the elevator.
"Thanks, I'll see you guys later." I said with a wave as I went to the elevator.
"Ugh, only if I live till then." I heard Alex groan behind me.
I found the MedBay easily. I walked in to see Eric sitting up on one of the beds, shirtless. I could see him wince as Dr. McCoy placed a white pad over his stitched up shoulder and hold it down with medical tape.
"Leah!" Eric called, spotting me. He attempted to sit up, but McCoy held him down.
"Eric, please sit still."
"Oh, right, sorry, Doc. So," Eric said turning his attention back to me and gesturing at his muscled chest. "Enjoying the view?"
I rolled my eyes. "Can you make him put his shirt back on Dr. McCoy? His paleness is blinding me."
Dr. McCoy chuckled. "Well Eric, that should be good. Take one of these if the pain gets bad, and try not to move it too much. As well, the pills can make you a little dopey, so try not to operate any large vehicles."
" Alright, thanks Dr. McCoy."
I came over to sit on the bed and help Eric put his unzipped hoodie on (his t-shirt involved too much movement). "So you're alright then?"
"I'm just great. Not like a little shrapnel's going to stop me." Eric said in a manly voice, making me laugh.
"So you didn't cry then?"
"No way!"
"Oh good, because here I was feeling guilty for not being here to hold your hand through this." I said, teasing.
Eric grinned and took my hand. "You can hold it now, you know, if it'll make you feel better."
I took back my hand. "Maybe next time you hurt yourself. Now let's go, Dopey, before those pills really kick in."
We began to walk out when I heard this pitiful sound. It sounded almost like a kitten, crying for its mother. But I could tell it was human. It was followed by a sound like someone was trying to choke back tears, this one male. I looked back but couldn't see anyone else in the beds around the room.
Suddenly, Eric seemed to sober up a little. His face turned sad as he said "Oh."
I gave him a questioning look, in which he replied to. "That's-that's Carissa, one of the grade tens. For the past three months, her mutation has been eating away with her, killing her slowly. No one's been able to help her, because her mutation just keeps doing more damage everytime they fix one thing. It didn't even help when they sent her to Muri Island. They sent her back at the beginning of this week so she could…say goodbye."
"That's horrible." I whispered. The idea of someone's own body turning on them like that. And dying at such a young age…just because of a mutation.
A thought crawled into my mind.
"Uh, you go ahead Eric, I'll catch up with you." I said. When Eric raised his eyebrows, I went on to say. "I just want to go back and talk to Dr. McCoy about volunteering."
"Uh, okay, see you at dinner." Eric replied.
Once he was gone, I crept through the hall to where there were closed off rooms. I listen for the soft crying and it lead me into one of the rooms. In it there was a girl laying in bed, crying gently. She had acid green hair and lips, and even her skin had a green tinge. She didn't good at all. She looked frail and unhealthily pale. As well, there were angry looking lesions all over her face and body. It looked like her skin had been corroded away. At her side was a blue skinned boy with golden speckles on his face that glowed softly. He was holding the girls hand and crying with her.
"Don, I need the pain to stop." Carissa said in a barely audible voice.
"I-I know." The boy said in a shaky voice. He hands glowed gold light as he touched her, and for a moment the gory lesions had begun to heal, only to reopen and start to seep. "I'm sorry Carissa, I'm so sorry."
"I know." Carissa whimpered.
I must have made a sound because Don turned to look at me.
"Who are you, what are you doing in here?" He asked.
I could tell how tired and upset he was. I stepped into the room and shut the door quietly behind me.
"Hi, I'm Leah. I came to try to help." I answered softly.
"Help? How can you help? No one has been able to do anything for her." Don said angrily. "Are you a healer? Because I am and it does her no good. Her acid eats away at her too fast for me to stop this."
"No, I'm not a healer. I'm just-so the problem is her mutation?" I interrupted myself to ask, needing to know if there was even the slightest chance I could do anything.
"Yes." Carissa answered in a hoarse voice. "My body creates a highly acidic substance that…"
Her voice failed, so Don filled in for her.
"It started a couple months ago. It just started being created too fast and too powerful. Its been burning away at her internal organs, her skin, everything." Don said, brushing her hair back. "Its blinded her and caused her organs to begin to fail. She's in pain all the time and no one can help her."
I nodded, thinking over what he said. I went to kneel beside Carissa. She turned and looked at me with white, pained eyes.
"Carissa, I might be able to help you." I told her softly. "But it would mean that you wouldn't be a mutant anymore. I'd deactivate your X-gene, and then Don could heal you. But there would be any going back. You'd be human."
Don went very pale. I knew what he was thinking. I could see they were a couple. As much as Don wanted Carissa to be better, he couldn't help but be scared that if she became human, they wouldn't be together anymore.
"Do it. Please." Carissa whispered.
I went to the cabinet on the one side of the room and rummaged through it to find the tools I needed. Thankfully, they were there and I knew what to do. I sat in a chair and started the procedure to drain 500 mL of my blood to fill the IV bag. I had taken a bunch of medical courses at our local college over the summer because my mom was teaching them. She was a licenced doctor as well as a teacher, so I learned a lot. But legally, I shouldn't be doing this.
"We don't have much time, and to be honest I'm not sure if this will work. What type of blood are you, Carissa?" I asked. Don answered for her. "Great, I'm B negative too. That's once less worry. And I don't have any diseases that are carried in body fluids, so don't worry about that."
Within twenty minutes, I had drained 250 mL. I unhooked myself, feeling woozy. "Oh dear, I feel bad." I muttered to myself before getting more tools out to start an IV for Carissa.
I hooked her up, and prayed that it would work. I saw that she didn't have much time left, and so did she.
Hardly 20 mL had flown into her when the change began. Her lips slowly became red instead of green and her skin became pinkish, losing its green tinge. Her hair remained green, but I suppose that made sense. I guessed that soon she would have brown or blond roots coming in soon if she survived. I nodded to Don who took her hand and began to glow again.
Her gashes began to close again, this time not reopening. Her vitals improved and when she opened her eyes they no longer showed signs of blindness. She sat up, not looking frail, and smiled.
"I don't feel the pain anymore!" She grinned, and she began to cry as Don held her close. When she looked over his shoulder to me, I had already cleaned up the room, leaving no evidence and was at the door. "Thank you for this, really, you saved my life."
Will she be so grateful when she really understands that she's no longer a mutant? I wondered.
"Just don't tell anyone about this okay? When they ask, just say Don put his full power into healing you." I said, hoping but doubting the teachers and scientists would believe it. Carissa opened her mouth, but I interrupted. "Please, its really important that you don't tell anyone about what I did. Please."
Carissa looked confused, but nodded her head. Don pulled her closer to him as I hurried away.
Hopefully, Carissa will be thankful enough that she won't say anything.