A/N: Sorry for the delay. Been one of those couple weeks. :(
Only 1 chapter left after this! Thanks to anyone who's gotten this far. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Chapter Twelve

Carly stepped onto the tarmac of the local Richmond airport. As soon as they touched ground, the plane fired its engines and roared back into the sky. Carly looked down at her suit, a spare X-Men uniform. It's all that fit her, and she'd gotten a lecture about how she really wasn't an X-Man but needed to try to behave like one. To her right was Wolverine, ready for battle. To her left, Mystique, ready to turn into whoever she needed to be. They would approach the Level 1-C and ascertain what the villain really wanted—probably Carly's hide for her apparent betrayal. Hydra took care of their own.

They hopped into a waiting Humvee and headed to where smoke rose along the horizon. Even from here the crackle of gunfire sounded like distance fireworks as troops battled the giant flying fauna.

As they rode down a street, evading bounding cars fleeing in the other direction, a gargantuan animal loped down the street, blotting out the sun.

Carly leaned forward from the back seat and touched Raven's shoulder. "It's a doggie! Stop the car."

Mystique pulled over. "'Doggie?'"

"Holy hounds," said Wolverine. "That's one big bitc—"

"Come on, let's check it out." Carly hopped out of the car. The dog stopped to sniff parked cars. Its tongue lolled out, and its eyes looked wild, frightened. Its leg bled where it had taken some shrapnel.

Carly ran toward it, Wolverine in pursuit.

"What the heck are you doing, kid?"

"Here, doggie! Here!" Carly jumped and waved. The dog sniffed the air and wandered closer, each step shaking the street. Pedestrians screamed and ran. Carly reached out her hands to it, sensed the dog's thumping heart, felt the power that had created this monster. "Hold on. The power at work here—it's not what I do. Poor doggie's just…scaled. Like blowing up a balloon." Could she use her healing power on it? Yes, she could feel the wrongness in the dog, the power that amplified her size. Doggie hadn't grown, she had been inflated. Carly sent out her own power, beating back whatever infected the beast, healing the dog, bringing her back down to size. Hopefully Carly's power wouldn't kill her.

In a minute they stood in front of a lonely normal-sized dog who shivered with her tail between her legs. "Aww, the poor thing." Carly approached carefully. The dog wagged tentatively. Carly used her power to heal the dog's injuries, but no more, not one scrap more than what was necessary. The dog sniffed her fingers, let Carly rub her head. "Oh you poor widdle doggy woggy. Did that mean girl make you super big?" The dog licked Carly's face. "Aww you a cutie. Yes you are, yes you are."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," said Wolverine, arms crossed against his chest.

"Come on, let's get her back to the truck."

Logan held out a palm. "No way. We ain't no animal shelter."

"You are today. Come on, girl, let's get you some water."

Carly led the dog back to the truck, opened the rear gate, and let her in. She poured some bottled water into an empty helmet. As soon as she stepped away, the dog whined pitifully. "Fine, I'll ride in the back with you." She climbed in and signaled to Mystique, and soon the truck moved away.

Carly fed the dog bits of jerky that Wolverine reluctantly parted with while petting the dog's head. Her body shook with rage that her imposter was doing this to people's loyal pets.

After a while, Mystique pulled over. Helicopters swarmed right overhead, jets soared far above, and tanks pointed down the streets. "You're up," said the changeling.

Carly hugged Doggie. "Now you be good, and no more terrorizing neighborhoods." She lay down some mats and papers so Doggie wouldn't have to sleep on bare metal, and then exited the truck.

The world looked like some movie set with lines of Humvees and tanks and rifle-toting soldiers running around in camo. Except explosions hit close by, and a rampaging mega-sparrow flit overhead before the gunfire drove it away. Carly put her hands to her ears to evade the thunder of the weapons, her heart thumping wildly. They scooted over to a line of soldiers manning a barricade. Wolverine went to talk to their leader. While Carly was waiting, a voice spoke behind her.

"Don't turn around. It's me."

Carly glanced behind anyways. The long hair was gone, but it was Larry, her Hydra contact, dressed in military fatigues. "Larry? What the hell is going on here? Who is she?"

"One of ours, gone rogue. She got into a stash of something, we don't know what yet."

"It's some kind of expansion device, makes things bigger. But why is she calling for me, using my name?"

"Who knows? Apparently she's obsessed with you. But you need to put her down. It's not the kind of attention we need right now. Can you do it?"

Carly looked over at Wolverine and Mystique. "Termination?"

"Acquisition if possible. Don't let her fall into the wrong hands. Do what you have to."

Carly swallowed. "So how's Annapolis? They treating you okay?"

"Yeah. Beat up a few guys my first week. They don't like it but I don't give them any reason to hate."

Carly didn't really get why Larry wanted to be an openly gay Marine officer when he could just lie about it, but she guessed that it was to distract them from realizing he was also a Hydra agent.

"Getting in with the X-Men, nice move," he said. "What's your cover?"

"I don't have one. They know everything."

"Interesting angle. So they want to recruit you?"

"Yeah. Not likely. But Larry, Lance Conrad is dead. I could be made to pay." More than she already was.

"Well, you know what do to if you need an exfil."

Mystique was eyeing them. She walked over, poked Larry in the chest. "Hit on girls on your own time, soldier."

"Yes, ma'am." Larry returned to his post.

"Same goes for you," she said to Carly. "Come on. That bitch is right up ahead."

Carly returned to the truck, this time with an escort of Marines. They loaded up and slowly wheeled down the street. As they closed in, all kinds of freaky giant animals appeared, lizards and robins and ants and butterflies. The ones she could reach, she restored back to normal. The ones who attacked, like a bird who pecked at troops like they were worms, Carly reached out and blew out their hearts or brains, a sick mixture of sadness and pleasure as she unleashed her evil power on innocent animals. Curse that rogue agent up there.

They stopped near a building in deserted downtown Richmond. "She's up top," said Mystique. "Let's go."

Creatures swarmed all around them, bugs and flies and snakes. Wolverine cut a path through them with his talons and the Marines fired like crazy until they were safe in the lobby of the building. Carly's ears rang and she gasped for breath from all the running and ducking.

"What's the plan?" she managed to gasp out.

Logan pointed up. "We go up there and fight."

Mystique shook her head. "Let's find out what this is all about."

Carly huffed. She looked at the two. "Fine. There is no plan. Just cover me in case she has any buddies waiting in the wings."

"Well look at you, giving the orders," said Wolverine.

Mystique socked him in the arm. "It's her life they want."

Carly didn't wait. She found the staircase, climbed up the ten floors, and emerged into the harsh sunlight of the roof after regaining her breath.

A girl was up there, sitting in a chair, consulting a laptop, like she was doing homework and not destroying a major city. She faced away from them.

"I'll take her out," said Wolverine, talons extended and ready.

Carly had half a mind to let him, but after Lance, she didn't know if she could use her power to help him if the girl attacked. "Wait, please. Let me talk to her, first. Just cover me."

"Fine," said Wolverine. "It's your hide."

Carly stepped out into the harsh sun. "Hey," she said to the girl, and held her hands out.

The girl whipped around and drew a gun. Typical. All these so-called powers and she draws a simple weapon.

"Well, look what the raggedy X-Men dragged in. Carly frickin' Richards."

Carly tried to place the voice, the mannerisms. She knew she'd just seen her somewhere.

"It's 'Wild Flower' to you. Now who the hell are you?" Good. Bitch couldn't then claim her super name.

"You don't remember? Figures. You with your perfect boyfriend and perfect powers and being the darling of Hydra."

"Doesn't matter what your name is. Now turn off whatever you're using to make everything big and give it up. It's over."

The girl laughed, a damn evil laugh that was ten times more evil than Carly's. "Now why would I want to do that? I've only just begun."

"What do you want from me?"

"Oh, Carly. It's not what I want. It's what your father wants. You see, he has a present for you. Me? I'm just a pawn in the scheme of those greater than me. Someone else pulls my string, honey."

Carly froze at the mention of her father. "What the hell are you talking about?" She'd known her father was involved, somehow, but to actually hear it—this was wrong. Everything about this was wrong.

Evil Wild Flower raised the gun. "It's time for your true powers to be unleashed. Hail The Hydra." She pulled the trigger. A dart struck Carly in the chest, penetrating her uniform, injecting her with something fiery, sending her veins aflame.

Carly screamed and fell.

Wolverine rushed to the girl and raised his arm to decapitate her, but Mystique intervened, capturing the girl.

Carly tried to fight the infection, but it wasn't organic and her power couldn't touch it. "Nanites," she gasped. Not alive, but not dead either. Her weakness.

"Wait for it," cried the girl. "You'd all better stand back. She's going to explode."