Memories
Leave Me
Disclaimer: What do you think?
If you want to use Tora, or any of my other characters, PM me.
She just stood there, staring at Cable.
"Tora?"
"Seek me out Nate. I've sent the call out. They will all help you."
"Thank you."
"And for the girl…"
A thin stream of silvery water slid out of Tora's mouth, wrapping around her fingers before following them down to the baby's mouth. A second with a little silver blanket draped over mouth and nose and then it was sucked up into her body.
"A little extra something, just for emergencies. Stay safe Cable. She's our future."
The big man nodded at the slight woman who was dwarfed by him.
"Find other yous?"
"Yes. Except for 87619, 872081, 65, 423, 76193, 451155, 1592324, 48548, 458733 and 45763119. Those ones are all a bit fruity-loops. If you get my meaning."
"You mean homicidal maniacs who have either taken over the world or like killing for fun?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"So, stay out of Earths 87619, 872081, 65, 423, 76193, 451155, 1592324, 48548, 458733 and 45763119?"
"Yep."
"Fine."
"Oh, and Nathan? Try not to kill too many people. It makes the filing hellish."
"I hate filing."
The two women on either side of the speaker both burst out laughing.
"Oh, we know you do."
"You mentioned it-"
"Every single day-"
"Every single year-"
"Every single century-"
"For every single millennium-"
"Until the universe ended."
"I really hate filing."
Tora was just looking round the ruined room, a mobile hanging over the broken cot. Curt stood behind her, looking worried.
"Did I do anything wrong?"
She turned and hugged him.
"No darling. You saved your brother and sister. That was amazing. It's just…I should have been there. I should have been able to stop this and I left you and them alone."
She stooped down and picked up Jamie's bamf doll, a piece of glass impaling its heart. Then she let her head drop, pulled the little blue toy up to her face and cried. Cried for the children who she couldn't protect, not while she was Dragon, or an X-Man or any of those things. And suddenly the silver headdress flew across the room, out of the shattered window as Tora stood up, angry and wild-eyed.
"No more."
"Maman?"
"No more Dragon. I'm just Tora now."
"How long did that last?"
"About ten minutes."
"Tora, we need you. You can't just leave us now! We're falling apart at the seams!"
"Listen Scott, I will not allow my children to be threatened any longer. I'm leaving, going somewhere, anywhere other than here, somewhere they're safe."
"Tora, your children are two mutants out of the two hundred or so left! What's to stop people going after them?"
"They won't find us Scott. And if you push it, neither will you."
"Tora, I know your skills as a spy are second only to the Black Widow-"
"I am ten times better than Natasha, Scott. We've had this argument before."
"Fine, but you can't isolate your children forever."
She spun round, eyes wild and gold, not a trace of silver in them at all.
"I WILL NOT LET THEM DIE! CURT WAS THE ONLY REASON MY CHILDREN AREN'T DEAD RIGHT NOW! DO YOU CARE ABOUT THAT SCOTT, OR ARE THEY JUST TWO MORE OF OUR DYING RACE?"
Emma's diamond hand caught the fist sent towards Scott's face.
"Tora, can we talk?"
She nodded then padded out after Emma, who was still diamond. Scott looked at Logan who shrugged.
"Don't ask me. I only heard about this when she dropped the bombshell at the meeting."
"How are Eva and Jamie?"
"Eva's fine but Jamie's a bit shaken. I think he's clinging to Hank. He loves the fur."
"Yeah. I think I saw Hank walking around with Jamie clinging to him. Eva?"
"Curt and Charles are with her. Seeing if the empathic link can be rebuilt."
"Why?"
"Curt can look after himself. Eva can't. Eva's sane. Curt isn't. Hopefully, it'll help Curt stabilise and keep Eva safe."
"You're using your son as a GPS for your daughter?"
"Listen, Curt needs some stability. Tora found him talking to Deadpool! Of all people, my son has to talk to Deadpool and try and be his sidekick!"
"Er… Why didn't you tell us this?"
"It's personal. This is about us as a family. In other words, me, Tora, Curt, Jamie and Eva. Just us."
Suddenly Tora walked out of the room, just looked at Logan then walked out.
"We're staying."
"What?"
Emma appeared and smiled.
"Tora's staying darling."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing. She just talked and then decided to stay."
"Duty over heart, over and over again."
"Well, everything did turn out fine. After a fashion."
"You call that fine?"
"Well, it could have been worse. She could have killed them all."
"Ahem, I do believe at one point, she did kill them all, even if it was only for a moment."
She glared at them.
"Will the person singing 'San Francisco' please shut up!"
"Er… Tora, no one's singing anything."
She frowned. Then laughed.
"Sorry. Etana's idea of a joke. Send a message that keeps playing a song and won't shut up."
"Why isn't Etana singing along?"
Tora's mouth hung open for a second then she turned.
"I'm not at liberty to discuss why Etana is in hiding, particularly with the current climate."
Jamie and Eva seemed more interested in the scenery than anything else, as all the important belongings were shifted to the opposite side of the country. Jamie turned round to Hank, looking disappointed.
"Where are the bang-boom-ships?"
"Bang-boom-ships?"
Tora answered the question absent-mindedly, as she started cleaning peanut butter from around Eva's mouth.
"Hydraulic walkers. Bangers or Boomers. That's what they're called, because of the noise they make."
"How do they work?"
"Four legs, walk across the country. Slow, noisy but cheap, so preferred method of transport for those who can't afford teleportation."
"Teleportation?"
"Etana's fault. She owns the multi-national Shadow Corporation that's sort of taken over the world through complete scientific, medical and economic superiority. She bought out Stark Industries last week. Logan spends a lot of time in a suit, trying to explain to people that Miss Etana really doesn't do interviews."
"Why not? The mutant thing?"
"No, she just doesn't want them to know she's the leader of the Shadow Guard. Tony, Warren and Simon are all members. They protect the people and the interests of the Shadow Corporation."
"And Etana gets away with that?"
"She's Etana. She gets away with anything."
"She really needed to notice what she was saying more often. Half the time she was multi-tasking."
"With kids, you need to be able to have a conversation whilst cleaning up faces or bandaging knees."
A.N. I'm planning another Memories story called 1000 Firsts, following twenty Toras and Logans through the fifty major firsts in their relationships. At the moment I have nineteen realities. Any requests for a favourite reality?