Chapter 48: The Origin of Laura Howlett pt. 1

-SHIELD HQ, Washington DC-

Exactly a day after The Gathering had occurred, SHIELD was suddenly broken into by an unknown person. As of right now, said person was running away from the HQ building to get away with a disc they had stolen, but was cut off by none other than Johan Sever, aka Omni.

Johan looked at the figure in front of him. The leather suit they were wearing made it difficult to make out their gender, and the helmet they were wearing covered their entire face, the red eye visors zooming in and out depending on the person's apparent visual needs.

"Alright, I'm only gonna ask this once: Who are you, and what are you doing here?" He questioned the figure, holding his AK-47 up, only to get a reply in the form of the figure deploying two adamantium claws on each hand. Johan's eyes widened in recognition immediately upon seeing them. He knew only one person that had those particular claws.

"Please… Let me go." A pained female voice came from inside the helmet.

"... Where will you go?" The man asked, lowering his gun.

"To see… To see my father." The voice replied, practically forcing out the last word.

Johan could only sigh. "I know who you're talking about... I know how angry you must be, but try to avoid killing him." He told her.

"I-I'll try." The girl replied, before she sliced a hole into the ground and disappeared into the sewers.

(Elsewhere)

-Xavier Institute, a couple days later-

Gavin was currently in the middle of feeding Damian while the two were watching some kid shows meant for developing little minds. Though their Father/Son quality time was interrupted when the pseudo vampire got a call from Johan.

"What is it, Johan? I'm spending time with my son." He asked in slight irritation.

"I just had a run-in with Laura at SHIELD HQ." He replied, getting straight to the point. Gavin was in business mode in an instant.

"Where is she now?" He asked.

"She's on her way to the Institute. Be ready, she seems really unstable." The man on the other end warned.

"I thought she'd be better after Katerina fixed her mind." He said with a frown.

"Trust me, even my sis has limits to her powers. She likely couldn't get rid of the anger the poor girl felt towards Logan." Johan explained.

"Well luckily for the both of them, anger is something I'm well versed in." The boy said as the two hung up, and as if on cue, SHIELD arrived several minutes later. He then picked up Damien and went out to greet the arrivals.

Logan, having been outside at the time doing training with some of the others, also went to see what was up.

"Fury? What're you doing here?" The scraggly man asked. The African man seemed to look at him and Gavin as the two approached with slight apprehension, the latter seemingly getting less of that since he was currently holding an infant in his arms.

"Someone's broken into HQ." Fury explained as Xavier arrived on the scene before turning to Gavin. "Someone who I believe Gavin's already run into before."

"Got it in one." The boy nodded before turning to Logan. "To summarize it, the person in question is essentially your daughter, Logan." He told him, getting a shocked look in return.

"What?!" He nearly shouted before catching himself to avoid making Damian upset.

"Come on, I'll explain inside." Gavin said as he beckoned them to follow him into the Institute. When they were in, they proceeded to take seats before Logan addressed Gavin.

"Mind telling me how this little girl is my daughter?" He questioned.

"Well, apparently HYDRA managed to get some of your chromosomes and clone you from them. Not an exact clone because she had a mother who she inherited several traits from. Her name is also Laura." The boy explained.

"That's where I come in. Go ahead and bring the doc in!" Fury called as some of his men lead a blonde woman with tan skin and green eyes into the Institute. "This is Dr. Debera Riseman, she used to work with our mystery girl's mother."

"Is that so?" Gavin inquired with a frown before turning to the woman. "Did you know what HYDRA was doing to her?" He asked curtly.

"Fully. Believe me, both my partner Sarah and I both regretted what we did to Laura. Especially Sarah, having to watch the life she created from nothing be used like she did, it caused her immense guilt." The woman nodded.

"Wow, a scientist of HYDRA actually having guilt for turning kids into weapons? That's new." Chelsea commented sarcastically.

"I know what I helped do, and I want to at least try to undo some of the damage." Debara sighed.

"Well luckily for you, we've got just the thing to handle it." Gavin said as he got up. "I'll be trying to get Damian here to go to sleep, you guys… Keep an eye out for any crazy green eyed girls with metal claws."

This remark caused everyone to look at him incredulously, but he had already left the room. Logan sighed as he clenched his fists.

'Dammit! Not again! I can't believe this happened again!' He thought angrily as Chelsea sat next to him.

(Elsewhere)

Outside in the Institute courtyards, Beast was taking over Logan's training session while he was busy. But up in the trees, Laura was crawling along the branches above them all and just kept watching them, envy filling her green eyes.

She watched as Beast and Jamie swung over a pit before they went into the woodwork. And it caused her to think of the times HYDRA had her fight until she collapsed from exhaustion. Shaking her head, she leapt to the next tree. That's when she saw Sam crash into a tree near her, causing it to fall over.

Deploying her claws, she watched as the boy wobbled away, before retracting them after determining that he wasn't a threat. She then leapt towards the Institute building after everyone had turned in and watched Xavier play chess with Roberto through a window, the sight again making her feel depressed.

But when she entered the building, she almost jumped out of her skin as a tiny purple portal made of dark energy appeared in front of her feet… and little Damian came crawling out of it in a sky blue onesie before he sat up in front of her and looked at her, yawning whilst he rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands.

Laura could only gape at him silently in shock. A baby had already activated his powers? That was not something she expected. Her thoughts were then brought to the tyke as he started crawling towards her and suddenly hugged her leg, nuzzling it like he did with Logan and Chelsea since she reminded him of them. The girl found herself smiling before she picked him up and held him close, albeit a bit awkwardly before the baby rested his head on her chest.

Deciding to continue looking for Logan, Laura continued forward, until she suddenly bumped into someone, and that someone happened to be Rogue.

"What the-? Who are you?" She asked before noticing Damian in her grasp, causing her to narrow her eyes in suspicion. "And why do you have Damian in your arms?" She asked sternly.

Laura seemed to become defensive, quickly holding Damian tighter to her chest, almost like a little girl would possessively hold a doll or stuffed animal.

'Professor! Jean! Someone's inside and she has Damian, get the others, quick!' Rogue called out mentally as she got ready Incase this turned into a fight. Laura deployed her claws in her free hand, getting ready to fight if she had to, though she looked like she wanted to avoid that for Damian's sake.

The two stood off for a moment before Gavin, Chelsea, Xavier, and Logan arrived first, and the first of the four was quick to go into 'protective father' mode.

"Laura, I'm saying this because I want to be reasonable. Please give me my son, and we can have a civilized talk about why you're here." He told her calmly, though everyone could tell that it was more of a demand.

"... How do I know this isn't a trap, and you sent this baby to distract me?" She growled, causing Damian to look at her in worry.

"What are you talking about?" Xavier questioned.

"When I entered the building, he came out of some kind of portal at my feet." She explained, causing them to blink.

"Uh, no one here has the ability to make portals, right?" Chelsea asked in confusion.

"Right." Logan nodded, feeling just as confused before a thought came to him. "Okay, this may sound weird, but tell me something: Was that Damian who opened the portal?" He asked Laura, causing Chelsea, Gavin and Xavier to look at him oddly.

"You think his powers are somehow already active?" The aged telepath asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It's possible… Well shit." Gavin said before they all saw his son wiggle his way out of Laura's grip and fall into a shadow before falling back through the shadow of the ceiling and into Rogue's arms.

"... Huh?!" Was Rogue's only available surprised response.

Laura then deployed her second set of claws and stood ready to fight as she glared at Logan. "It's all your fault! You're the reason I'm like this, you're the reason why I was created, and you're the reason my mom is dead!" She yelled before she lunged at him, claws forward.

Logan was quick to grab her arms as everyone else got out of the way, and then swung her around before pinning her to the ground with one arm behind her back and the other pinned to the floor by his free hand.

"You need to calm down. How am I even the reason your mom is dead?" He questioned as the girl thrashed around, trying to get free.

"If you hadn't existed, I wouldn't have been made, she wouldn't have been made my mother and HYDRA wouldn't have made me kill her to try and break me!" The green eyed girl screamed, tears running down her face as she screamed like a wild animal.

Xavier looked at the girl in pity, as did the others, and Chelsea couldn't help but feel the suppressed maternal instincts inside slowly start to surface. Gavin and Rogue, meanwhile, were making sure to cover Damian's ears and eyes so he wouldn't become upset.

"Logan, If I may, I'd like to try and calm her mind." The telepath suggested as the man continued to hold his 'daughter' down.

"By all means. I don't think I can calm her down on my own." Logan replied as he held her down. The aged master of telepathy gingerly took the girl's head into his hands as Logan had her lay it on his lap while he started sending calming psychic waves into Laura's mind, slowly causing her brain to stop producing the rage hormones and slowly but surely calm down.

However, this did little to stop the girl from going into a fit of sobbing again as Logan took her into his arms and, awkwardly, tried to hold her as protectively as possible. The others watched the sight sadly before Chelsea came over and hugged Laura along with Logan.

(Later)

It was later that night and poor Laura had finally managed to go to sleep after bawling her eyes out, for over three hours. Logan of course never left her side, at least until she fell asleep, then he let Chelsea stay with her and keep her company while she slept. The dragoness actually did a good job at that, constantly watching the girl as she stroked her head and wrapped her tail around the girl's curled up body.

Right now though, both Fury and Logan were raising hell about what to do with her, while Gavin and Johan played the mediators.

"I'm telling you, Wolverine, she's too dangerous! She can't stay here!" Fury exclaimed angrily as he glared at the man.

"She. Is. A. Child, Fury." Logan growled, jabbing his finger on the man's chest with every word. "She's also my child, in case you've forgotten, so as far as I'm concerned, she stays here with me!" He then snarled again. "I've had enough! As of right now, I am done with not being there for my family, and I'll be damned if I ever leave another one of my flesh and blood or a person I love behind for the world to spit on. You hear me?!" The man growled protectively.

"Fury, you know full well how Logan can be when it comes to family, so you might wanna just let her stay." Gavin inputted, causing Fury to look at him.

"You're taking his side?" The man asked.

"I'm not taking anyone's side, I'm just stating the facts." The pseudo vampire shrugged. "And besides, what harm would it do, at least here she'd be out of sight and out of mind for SHIELD anyway."

"He's not exactly wrong, sir. What harm will it do in letting her stay here where she can actually have a family?" Johan inquired.

"Yeah, and besides, we more than owe her that." Katerina added, having also decided to join in the conversation.

Fury pinched the bridge of his nose in aggravation, seeing that he was clearly out voted here. "Fine. But if things go south, I'm holding all of you personally responsible." He told them all.

"Fair enough." The Sever siblings shrugged in unison. After Fury left, Laura was finally able to wake up, and she was quickly brought to the kitchen to get some food so she could meet everyone.

"... Hello." She said sheepishly to them all. Ever since Xavier cleared her mind, her emotions were finally able to slowly start to show themselves. "I'm Laura… It's nice to meet all of you." She added.

Everyone else kind of seemed nervous, before she was cornered by the others she had managed to scare the bejesus out of pretty much all the new mutants. Even Pele was startled when the clawed girl nearly gave her a lobotomy.

"Hey there, Laura." They all said to her.

After an awkward greeting to everyone along with a just as awkward breakfast, Jean was giving her a tour of the Institute. Laura couldn't stop herself from asking questions every now and then, but the redhead took it in stride.

".., You think I'm a monster, don't you?" The green eyed mutant asked her as Jean led her to the room she'd be staying in.

"... Honestly, a small part of me does. But the larger part knows that you never really had a choice in becoming what you are now." Jean replied honestly.

"You mean, you don't hate me?" She questioned. Jean shook her head in reply.

"It'd be wrong of me to hate someone who's very much a victim of circumstance." The redhead explained, opening the door. "And don't worry about the others, they'll come around. Besides, you managed to get Damian to like you, and he tends to be a pretty good judge of character. For a baby, that is."

"Oh." Laura said as she looked around her new room... Her new room. Oh she loved how that sounded. Ever since she was born, she never had anything that was definitely hers, but now that she did? ... Yeah, she'd be milking that cow until the rest of the herd came home. "... I love it." She said as Jean asked her what she thought of her room.

She was gonna love it here. She knew that was a fact, for sure.

(Later that night)

Laura tossed and turned as she suddenly was plagued by nightmares. The days she was locked away in isolation, forced to face life and death situations, even when she was left alone as a baby to not experience love. It all caused her to start crying again.

Luckily for her though, her room wasn't too far from Logan and Chelsea's rooms. And upon hearing her crying thanks to their above average hearing, they were quick to rush to her room to comfort her.

The second they were in her room, they wasted no time and immediately had her in a hug to calm her down.

"It's okay Laura, we got you." Chelsea told her, still a bit reluctant to show her maternal side.

"You should have never gone through that. No one deserves to go through what you went through, especially not a child." Logan added. "I'm here, we all are. And we'll be sure to be the family you needed." He told her, stroking her hair softly as she started to calm.

".,, *sniff* Daddy…" She whispered through a few sobs as the two continued to hold her, burying her face into the man's chest and breathing in both their scents. This seemed to calm her enough to where they were able to leave her be, so they left the room.

"I'm going to go check on Pele and Kai to make sure they're doing okay." Chelsea told her boyfriend. "All this is kinda making me worry about those two a bit since they're around Laura's age."

"Probably a good idea." Logan nodded as he turned to go back to his room, and Chelsea to the room of the Hawaiian twins.

(Elsewhere)

A woman in green was sitting at the shattered round table of HYDRA across from none other than Baron Zemo. Both seemed tired, disheveled, and immensely wary. One could say they both looked run down.

"We have to get her-" Madame HYDRA tried to say.

"No." Zemo dismissed tiredly.

"What? Why?" She asked, feeling shocked.

"Look around you, Viper." He told her, gesturing to their ruined headquarters. "Our forces are scattered, our resources spread thin, and whatever holds we had have all been wiped away by this war with Dracula and his forces. I refuse to risk HYDRA's survival on some pet project that was abandoned when our Mutant weapons branch fell!"

"But… There has to be something we can do!" Viper protested.

"There is nothing we can do, nothing! Heir Schmitt, Strucker and Zola are gone. We are all that's left." Zemo stated. "And I refuse to let HYDRA die until I do!"

Viper glared at him before she sighed and got up. "Very well." She then snapped her fingers and a man with a single monocle visor suddenly shot a taser round at Zemo's back before the woman kicked him in the face and knocked him unconscious. "Then I will do it for you." She said with a mad gleam in her eyes. "Gauntlet." She said, addressing the man in front of her who just shot Zemo.

"Yes ma'am?" He responded, waiting for orders.

"Gather Omega Red and Kimura. It's time to prepare for a hunt. The hunt for our elusive little runaway, X-23." She told him.

"Yes, ma'am." Gauntlet nodded before leaving to prepare for the hunt. It looked like HYDRA was going to make one last play to regain their mutant weapon subjects, whether it would work or not was up in the air for now.

ThermalsniperN7: Okay, so Laura has made a return and has already become a new favorite for Damian and actually got to stay with the gang. On top of that, Gavin's plan to have HYDRA implode seems to be working out pretty well.

Dragon Emperor0: Unfortunately though, poor Laura's trauma won't be as easily fixed like with the others so Emma is gonna have to use all her traditional psychology training to help fix her. With a bit of telepathic help, of course. Especially when it comes to Kimura, Laura's old handler from the comics. That bitch was horrible to her.

ThermalsniperN7: Well, if I know Katerina (and I do), she's likely gonna jump at the first chance she sees and make Kimura a vegetable for Laura to cut to pieces. That should be fun.

Dragon Emperor0: And since she has impervious skin it'll basically make her Laura's scratching post. Yep, I like that punishment

ThermalsniperN7: Alright! That's gonna be fun to make happen. Anyway, see you guys in the next chapter!