AUTHOR'S NOTE: Here's the next chapter! This story is interesting to write. It has a fun premise but a serious undertone.

CHAPTER 2

Making Logan Proud

Laura turned her head as the door opened. "Oh come on!" she mumbled under her breath, her fingers tightening on her glass.

She had just come for a few beers tonight, to relax after a grueling day filled with losses, but also victories. She had managed to locate an early pregnancy record for the baby from the hospital before the Acolytes had caught wind of it, even though they now had Irene Adler to tell them what was going to happen next. But then they had shown up, and a relatively simple intelligence mission had turned into a full-fledged power fight. The goddamn telekinetic had managed to best her again, snatching the folder out of her hand with his annoying mind, then sending her through a wall. And bringing the roof down on her. But what he didn't know was she had photographic memory. And she had looked through the files right before he got there.

So, she was in a fairly good mood. Although it hadn't been a win, it hadn't been a complete loss, either. They still stood a fighting chance at finding the baby before the Acolytes did. And now, they knew that the baby already did exist. Salvation might be close at hand.

"Hey!" he called. He had the nerve to wave, and walk over, like they hadn't just been duking it out only three hours ago.

Laura closed her eyes and sipped her beer.

He reached her. "How's it going?"

Silence. She kept her eyes closed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I kind of tossed you around today." He paused. "But…I know you heal. I'd never do that if I thought you might actually get hurt."

"Please tell me that was a bad joke." Her tone was icy.

"I meant—"

"I was picking nails out of my stomach. I don't feel like talking to you ever."

He paused again. "Well, I didn't think—"

"For a guy with brain powers, you do very little thinking." Laura looked down at her beer. "I don't want to talk because I don't want to waste my time on you. You're clearly an idiot. I mean, who names themselves Hell Boy?" She had heard Unuscione shout his name at one point.

"Whoa. Tell me how you really feel." He leaned on the back of his stool-chair. "Name's Hellion, not Hell Boy." He paused. "Well, actually, it's—"

"Stop." Laura glared at him. "I don't want to be your friend. We're at war."

"No we're not."

"Excuse me?"

Hellion grinned. "We're just competing for the same prize." Pause. "I kind of like you."

Laura shot him a look. "I did not just hear you say that."

"Oh come on." He leaned on his elbow now. "You're interesting. I am, too. I don't give a fuck if we're playing for different teams."

"I do." She took another sip. "If you're here to drink…drink. I don't want to talk to you."

"Fine."

He was silent for a long, long while afterward, broken only when he flagged down the bartender for a Corona, which he drank quietly.

Laura almost forgot he was there, her thoughts wandering away. Back to the baby, like they always did. Was it possible she could undo all this? The fear? The concentration camps? The sadness? The losses? Would Logan come back? How would the baby do it? Why—

"So, what's your name again?"

"Laura." She paused. "Shit."

He grinned. "Laura Shit?"

She gave him a flat look. "I told you. I don't want to be friends."

"Don't think you have a choice."

"Uhh. Yes I do." She curled her lip. "You're an Acolyte. That's all I need to know."

"Sure, we don't agree on politics." He paused. "But I'm sure we have some stuff in common—"

"Politics?!" Laura stared at him. "You think this is politics?"

Hellion paused. "Maybe it's a bit more than that. Not enough to keep me from wanting to get to know you better."

"No." Laura gritted her teeth. "You're willing to take a symbol for peace and twist it to your purposes. Which are absolutely disgusting. You think you're part of a master race? I don't want your friendship."

"I don't buy into all of it." Hellion gave her a serious look. "I don't think humans are worthless. I'm just tired of being treated like I'm worthless." He raised his metal hand and forearm, made a fist. "You want to know where these came from?"

"Nope."

"Come on. Ask me." He paused, gave her a challenging look. "Everyone does."

Laura raised an eyebrow. "You know how many times I've had things cut off? Or been set on fire? Or thrown through a wall, by both humans and mutants?"

"Yeah, but you heal."

"Still hurts every damn time." Laura wrinkled her nose. "The more you talk, the less I want you to. You're just…insufferable."

"Don't you mean irresistible?"

"Hah!" Laura grinned, leaned forward. "I really hope you're not trying to get into my pants."

"Nope." He grinned back at her. "If I were trying, I'd already be in them."

She rolled her eyes. "Please."

"Hey, look who learned some manners."

Laura didn't answer. She finished her beer, reached in her pocket and pulled out some crumpled bills, then dropped them on the counter beside her empty glass and slid off her stool, shaking her head as she headed for the door.

She was getting on her bike when he suddenly appeared beside her.

"But the night's just getting started." He leaned forward, gripping her handle bars. "Maybe I'll get drunk with you this time."

She gunned the motor.

He didn't flinch. "On me." He paused. "As much as you want. I'm buying."

Laura paused, too, raising her eyebrow. "Stubborn."

He grinned. "Wolverine's calling me stubborn. Is that a compliment?"

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not actually Wolverine. I'm fighting in his honor."

"I know." He paused. "But people are calling you that…so you're doing something right."

She gazed at him for a moment, for the first time actually seeing him. He did look appealing, with a youthful look about him, dark hair, and his eyes, bright blue now that they weren't glowing. If he had been a complete stranger, she knew he'd end up being a notch on her bedpost. But she couldn't forget that, just a couple of hours ago, he had run into her fight with Mercury. A fight that was on the verge of winning, having ripped a wire out of the dilapidated wall behind her to use as a kind of taser, keeping her from snatching the file. And then, the file shot to his fingertips. Followed by his causing her a massive amount of pain.

Her lip curled. "Give up already."

"Aw." He sighed. "Thought I really had you that time."

"Never." She nodded her head to the side. "Shoo fly."

"See you at the next fight, I guess."

"Whatever." She drove off.

Several days passed, and Laura filled her time with training exercises.

They all went the same as now. She gritted her teeth and charged at the redheaded woman for the millionth time, only to be swept backwards as her opponent raised her hand. Goddamn telekinetics! How the hell would the real Wolverine have handled this? She tried jamming her claws into the ground, but that barely slowed her motion, since they just sliced through everything like a hot knife through butter. She finally gave up and allowed herself to be slammed into the metal wall again. She closed her eyes. A hot shower would feel good right about now. "Computer, end Marvel Girl scenario."

Jean Grey flickered, then disappeared. She slumped back against the wall, exhausted. There had to be something, something she was overlooking. Some weakness he had. Maybe gadgets? A sound device? Laura gritted her teeth. That felt like cheating. She was proud of always relying only on her own powers and skills. Which meant there was no chance of being caught without them, as could happen with equipment.

She finally got to her feet and straightened her uniform. Yellow and blue weren't the most flattering colors for her, but that came with the mantle, and she wasn't about to change that. At least, not until she had really made it hers. And she was a far cry from that yet.

Laura headed upstairs, only to encounter Nori on her way down.

"Oh good. Situation room." Nori grinned. "Another lead on the baby. Second trimester ultrasound."

Laura followed her in, her eyebrows drawn together. Looked like she wasn't going to get the shower she had been looking forward to.

…

"God, abandoned hospitals are creepy." Josh murmured this, as they walked up the hallway.

"Especially when they're all burned." Nori angled her flashlight higher, revealing scorch marks on the ceiling. "Wonder if this is related somehow."

"How? We're here for a prenatal ultrasound, not birth." Laura eyed the record room door. The knob was still intact. Snkkt! SHLUNK! As she jammed her claw in through the lock, then kicked the door open and walked in.

Inside were rows and rows of filing cabinets. Laura raised her eyebrows, and headed for the "S" section. Louise Spalding. That was the name of the mother. She felt a momentary thrill, at the idea that she might finally see the goal of all her efforts. It would make everything feel concrete, real. She reached the cabinet and opened the drawer, then began to run her fingers over the tabs, until reaching "Sp." Opening it, she was confronted by the cover sheet. Her eyes skimmed over it greedily, searching for anything they could use. A practitioner's name, an address, anything. Especially a date. But just as it had been for the last record, this was all bare, except for the name, and some descriptions about the baby's development. The "complications" field was blank, indicating that the baby should have been born healthy. Assuming it had been born already.

"Flip it over." Nori's voice was terse.

Laura did so, and they all gazed on the messiah baby: a vaguely human-shaped white blob in a dark space.

"Woah." Josh was gaping. "Surreal."

"Yeah." Nori sighed. "I guess this is a bit more than we knew, at least it's healthy…"

Laura flicked back to the record page, then pointed. "Look." Under the "sample(s)" field was listed "Medtech Laboratories."

"I guess I know where we're going next."

Laura crept down the laboratory corridor, all of her senses on high alert. Ruth had confirmed that a test tube full of amniotic fluid was here, taken from the mother in the second trimester in routine tests for genetic abnormalities. She had been in her late thirties, an older pregnancy. It could be the key to what they were looking for, to locating the child. Maybe. If there was some hint in her DNA…or maybe Ruth could even use it to find her. Somehow.

Either way, here Laura was, trying to steal it. Alone, so that the Acolytes wouldn't notice the whole team heading off to a particular location. In fact, they had headed across town, in the other direction, as a decoy.

It seemed to have worked. So far. She slipped into the storage room labelled HISTOLOGY, not turning on the lights, her night vision picking up all the details of the stainless steel freezers just fine. Rows and rows of appliances, filled with test tubes full of various tissues and fluids, all cryogenically preserved, just in case samples would be needed later for historical purposes. Was this a historical purpose? She headed to fridge P-51, her brows drawn together, opening the clasps of the clamshell case she was carrying. Crreeak, as she opened the door. She leaned in and began to comb through the rows of vials with her fingers. Spalding, Anne…Spalding, Francine…Spalding, Louise. Her fingers paused on the lid of this vial, but something made her move back to Spalding, Francine. Slowly, carefully, she pulled it out of the slot, pressed it into the foam case, then closed it and redid the clasps.

She tensed, hearing footsteps in the hall. Then—Vrrrm!

"No!" Laura held onto the case with all her might, skidding across the floor and into Hellion's hands.

He grinned at her. "Package deal, huh?"

She glared at him. "Let go."

His grin faded. "Can't do that."

"…" Her eyebrows drew together. Then she headbutted him, hard.

"OOOOPH—" he stumbled backward into the wall, and Laura began to run as fast as she could, hugging the case against her front, toward the rendezvous point, where the team should be arriving about now.

Vrrrm!

"NO!" She skidded backwards again, her boots making squeaking sounds as she tried to fight the pull of his thoughts. But it wasn't working.

"That…that really fucking hurt!" he snapped, spinning him around to face him. His lip was bleeding, as was his nose.

"It was supposed to." She paused. "I should have gutted you."

"Give me the case." He gritted his teeth. "Or I'll hurt you, too."

"Come and get it."

He made a fist, and she rose into the air. Then she was soaring up, up, up, through floors, ceilings, and finally out a window. The case was gone. She shrieked as she began to fall, backward, into nothingness. She managed to turn around and saw she was about fifteen stories up, dropping like a stone. The ground was rushing toward her. She could see her bike, she was about to—WHAM!

"Don't piss me off." Hellion had grabbed her around the waist and was setting her down on a rooftop across from the laboratory. His expression was stern. "I didn't want to hurt you…and I wasn't going to…then you made me see fucking stars." He paused. "So. You just sit here and think about what you did."

Laura glared at him. "No, you think about what you did."

He grinned. "See you later, sour grapes." And then he was gone, a green dot in the night sky.

She waited a while, then climbed down the building, stabbing her claws deeply into the brick for leverage. Then she headed back into the laboratory, pleased with herself for her quick thinking. A few minutes later, she was rejoining Nori and the others.

"We saw Hellion approaching." Sooraya's eyebrows were drawn together. "Did he—" she noticed the lack of the clamshell case. "Oh no."

Nori gritted her teeth. "God damn him. We've got to stop being so soft. Take him out permanently."

"Maybe." Laura fished in her pocket and pulled out the vial. "Or we could just count on him being all brawn and no actual brain."

"Thatta girl!" Josh was grinning, as was Sooraya.

Laura wrinkled her nose. "Let's not test our luck and get out of here before anyone figures it out."

Laura did her best to look irritated as she sat at the bar, her fingers wrapped around a glass. But she was actually feeling pretty good about herself, for once. She wondered when they would figure out that they had the wrong vial. The curiosity may or may not have been involved with her decision to come here tonight.

The door opened in the background, and she could sense him walking toward her. She steeled herself for the usual teasing. But he sat down without so much as a word to her, even after he'd flagged down the bartender and received his drink.

Finally, Laura glanced at him. "Shitty night?"

He raised his eyebrows. "Kind of." He had two dark rings around his eyes, and his lip was still split. Probably from the headbutt.

She refrained from grinning. That would make Logan proud, if he were still here. "See, I told you—"

"You're the one who took it to the next level." He closed his eyes. "No one was there. No one would've seen if we shared the vial. No reason to be a dick."

She blinked. "Uh, why would I share?"

He shrugged and drained the rest of his glass.

Laura arched her eyebrows. "How long did it take you to figure it out?"

"As soon as I realized that was too easy." Hellion sat back in his chair, drummed his metal fingers on the counter top. "You're really something, you know that?"

"So you keep saying." Unable to help herself, she finally grinned, then held up her fingers to the bartender. "Absinthe and…whatever the hell this loser wants."

Hellion glared at her, then closed his eyes. "Same."

"Brave little mortal." She paused. "Sure you can handle it?"

"I'm not the one who got so drunk she couldn't stand straight." His tone was still stiff. As if he was offended.

Laura rolled her eyes. Good. Maybe now he would get it, the fact that there was no way they could be friends and enemies at the same time.

"Look…don't feel bad just coz…coz I kicked your ass. With my…outwits." Laura was saying, her arm slung around Hellion's shoulder as she leaned into him. The bar counter was littered with empty glasses.

His glassy eyes focused on hers as he listened, his eyebrows drawn together, but he was making no move to get away.

"It…it happens." Laura paused. "I'm…lever…haha! No. Clever. I knew there was something missing there."

"Yeah." He frowned. "I got yelled at…by three…three…uh, people."

"That SUCKS." Laura patted his other shoulder. "Dude…you want…I could kick some asses for you…I know a guy…er…girl…"

Hellion grinned slightly. "Thanks. But I think…think I got it."

"Fine." Laura glanced at him out of the side of her eye. "Thought you were all…all about us being friends or someshit."

"I am." He glanced at her, too. "Don't need you to…to do shit for me…for that."

"Thas' what…what I do best." She paused. "Kick ass…for my friends."

"Me too." He paused. "Wonder what else…we…we…common something."

Laura gave him a long look, then leaned forward and kissed him, hard. He offered no resistance, his hand burying itself in her hair. A few moments later and she was on his lap, pinning him into the counter, sending glasses tumbling off and to the floor where they shattered. Neither noticed.

"Hey!" the bartender snapped, poking them apart with the handle of his broom. "Time you guys settle up and get the hell outta here."

Laura glared at the man. Hellion blinked, his hands still on her waist. After a moment, he dug something out of his pocket, and dropped it on the bar. "Come on." He lowered her carefully to the ground, then took her hand and led her out of the bar, both weaving heavily.