Chapter 49: The Origin of Laura Howlett pt. 2
Gavin vs Omega Red: Ten Commandments cypher by None Like Joshua.
It had been a month or so since Laura had joined the Institute, and needless to say she was very slowly starting to get her bearings and adjust to life with the others. However, despite her best efforts to go to weekly sessions with Emma, she was still having night terrors, however they weren't nearly as frequent as they used to be.
As for how she was getting along with everyone else, she was actually getting along great with Kitty, Rogue, Jubilee and Gavin. The former three were close to Logan so they knew vaguely how to handle her. And then there was Chelsea, and her relationship with the girl was simple: The blonde Dragoness very much acted as a mother figure for her.
When it came to Gavin, the pseudo vampire was the brother she didn't know she wanted until she met him. He made sure to spend some time with her whenever he got the chance and was, funnily enough, being given a small education on cars by him. As for Damian… She couldn't stop herself from thinking about how adorable he was.
But right now she was in the middle of having hair being brushed and styled by Kitty and Jean, which she honestly didn't want because she wasn't into that sort of thing, but unfortunately the two girls wouldn't take no for an answer.
"Seriously, I didn't ask for this." Laura said with a frown as they two older girls continued their work.
"Trust me, you'll thank us." Kitty told her as she continued to trim the girl's hair and Jean continued brushing it. "And done." She said as the two pulled back and showed Laura her new haircut.
It was a fairly short pixie/tomboy cut with her right side being short and the rest of her hair being combed over to the left, creating a fringe over her left eye. It honestly made her look much more cleaned up, and looked better on her than all the long hair she had been sporting.
"... Okay, you two win. This actually looks good on me." Laura admitted as she looked at her new hairstyle.
"Glad you approve." Jean smiled. The redhead had actually become kinda like a big sister to Laura while she was still getting used to things, which really helped her.
A little while later, she joined the New Mutants in a new form of education in the Institute's curriculum: The application of physics and general sciences to the usage of one's powers. This class was taught by Scott and Jean, and she actually quite enjoyed the classes, since she found the concept useful for future combat use.
"Do you guys mind not causing such a ruckus? I'm trying to pay attention here!" She growled at the New Mutants as they started raising hell during said lesson. Her irritation went mostly unnoticed due to all the noise, unfortunately.
Though this was all interrupted when Gavin and Chelsea suddenly came barging in. "Scott, Jean, is Laura in here?" Gavin asked.
"Right here. What's up?" The girl questioned.
"It's Logan, we think he may be in trouble." Chelsea explained, which made Laura look at her in concern. She hated it when her father and trouble were in the same sentence, it gave her serious anxiety.
"Oh no… How bad is it?" She asked as she was led out of the room.
"That's just it, we don't know. He was with me while we were going on a quick run for our monthly restock of our liquor stashes when he caught the scent of something and ran off, then he just disappeared." The woman told her.
"We think someone may have kidnapped him." Gavin added seriously, causing Laura's concern to grow.
"We have to find him. Now." She said seriously.
"The professor is already trying to track him with Cerebro, and as of right now, Johan and Katerina are trying to find him with a few SHIELD squads in case HYDRA is responsible." Gavin assured her, hugging her by the shoulders. "Don't worry, we'll find him I promise." He added.
"I hope he's okay." She whispered in worry.
(Elsewhere)
Sure enough, Logan was being pursued by HYDRA after jumping out of a plane and taking a rather bumpy landing. However, it seemed like his healing factor had been slowed for some reason, which he chalked up to being the work of the Mutant he recalled from the Weapon X program Omega Red, and his Carbonadium whips.
Needless to say he was less than happy about the whole situation, especially since it interrupted his monthly booze run with Chelsea.
'Someone is going to die for this!' He thought angrily as he kept moving. He picked up Omega Red's scent again and growled before running off.
Meanwhile Laura, Chelsea and Gavin were finally able to get towards the general areas where Logan most likely was, however they ran into a problem when they got separated. Chelsea was now face to face with Gauntlet, Gavin was face to face with Omega Red, and Laura was face to face with the one person she absolutely did not want to see: Kimura, her old handler.
"Well well well, if it isn't my favorite little girl." Kimura said with malice in her voice.
"I still owe you for trying to put me in that goddamn Sensory Torture tank for five years, Kimura. Putting me in storage like some sort of set of extra supplies? Who do you think you are?!" The green eyed girl snarled, deploying her claws.
"Your superior!" The black haired woman shot back with a snarl. Laura yelled as she lunged forward, starting to swipe at the woman in front of her.
With Chelsea, she was busy keeping Gauntlet back with her tail and fire breath while fighting him while her arms and legs were partially transformed.
"Alright one eye, I'm only giving you one chance so you better answer me right: Where did you take Logan?" She growled at the green skinned man below her as she pinned him to the ground.
"Oh he's probably at the mercy of our forces right now, and that's the way it should be." The man said as she angrily tightened her grip around his neck.
"Say your prayers, asshole." The Dragoness growled as her mouth filled with flames.
Meanwhile with Gavin, he was currently using his guns Devil's Ruin and Devil's Scorn to shoot at Omega Red while the man kept attempting to attack him with his Carbonadium whips.
"You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?!" The boy growled as he kept firing. When he ran out of ammo he then switched to using Bloodfallen, which made the two clash angrily as the boy hissed at him, fangs flashing.
"HYDRA was on the verge of bringing order to the world! Then you and your friends came and ruined it in Dracula's stead!" Red yelled angrily.
"They tortured my kind, they violated my family! I refuse to listen to your lies!" The pseudo vampire growled as he decked the man and then uppercut him so hard that he sent him flying into the distance, where the pale skin man crashed into a ravine right on top of Kimura and then was followed by Gauntlet who was dropped out of the sky by Chelsea as the three X-Men were finally able to regroup. Logan also managed to finally find them as well.
"What are you three doing here?" He said, slowly limping towards the three.
"Looking for you." Gavin replied as Chelsea and Laura ran up to him.
"Dad, you're okay! Oh thank god!" Laura said, leaping into the man's arms and hugging his neck tightly.
"Urk! Yeah, I'm fine." He sighed as he hugged his daughter. Chelsea hugged him too, right before slugging him in the arm.
"Next time you smell something weird, don't follow it, alright Wolverine?" She told him, before she noticed that Kimura was getting up. "What do you think you're doing?" The blonde questioned.
That's when the woman pulled out a vile of green liquid, and upon seeing it, Laura looked terrified. "I'm removing any attachments X-23 has developed, by using this." She said.
"No… NO! Not the Trigger scent! Keep that shit away from me!" The girl screamed in horror, trying to back away as far as she could from the vial's possible range.
"You have no choice!" The sadistic woman yelled as she opened the vial and threw it at her, however, Gavin was quick enough to shoot it out of the air and caused it to shatter elsewhere. For added security, Chelsea sent a blast of fire at what was left to get rid of the scent.
"Nice try." The boy said snidely, twirling his gun.
"That's why we have a plan B." Gauntlet suddenly said before he pressed the red button on some sort of remote and then several sonic detonators started sending deafening sounds all throughout the canyon. The group of four screamed in pain as they held their ears before they all fell unconscious.
(Later)
Laura slowly woke up and she found herself in the same Sensory Deprivation/Torture tank that Kimura had put her in all those years ago. She was completely naked, clamps were keeping her arms and legs in place while tubes and injection pipes were all over her body and she was submerged slightly in a green liquid with her head above it as Kimura looked down at her.
"Now you'll become what you were meant to be: A weapon of HYDRA with no feelings, no senses, no free will. You will live and die for HYDRA." She said cruelly as Laura glared murderously at her. "This will make you lose all sense of time, could be days, weeks, who knows." The woman shrugged as she put an electronic sensory deprivation and reprogramming helmet on her. "Here's something to let your senses get lost in." She told her before shoving her in the liquid and closing the lid. "Goodbye, X-23." She said, walking away.
(Elsewhere)
A HYDRA soldier collapsed on the ground as Gavin snapped his neck before he stormed out of his cell, his gear having been in there with him, oddly enough. He was immensely pissed off right now since HYDRA had not only gotten the drop on him and the others, but also thought that they could hold him. He was going to raise absolute hell for this.
"I'm going to kill them all!" He growled furiously. He then started looking around for the others and killed any soldiers that got in his way.
And luckily for him, one appeared, and it was Omega Red. Currently they were standing in what appeared to be the base's fuel storage and power room, which gave Gavin an idea of how he could kill two birds with one stone.
"Alright you Russian reject, you wanna piece of me? Come and get it!" He taunted as he formed a dark dome of smoke around them. "Secret Technique: Endless Nebula!" He said as the smoke made it to where the red clad Russian couldn't see anything, giving the pseudo vampire an advantage due to his night vision.
Red looked around to try and see what was around him, but got nothing except darkness for his troubles. Before he could continue his fruitless endeavor, he suddenly had the air knocked out of him as Gavin sent a blow to his stomach. The boy then sent a kick to his ribs that sent him to the floor. The carbonadium whip user then got up and glared into the darkness.
"Show yourself, you coward!" He yelled. That's when his arms were suddenly pulled behind him and he felt a foot being pressed to his back.
"Ya know, I just noticed something. You seem very fond of these arms, very attached to them." The boy hissed in his ear before he pulled back and pushed his foot forward and dislocated Omega Red's arms. Dissipating his smoke dome, Gavin then swung the man around a few times and then hurled him into several oil drums, ripping out his whips in the process.
As the oil dripped on Omega Red, Gavin wrapped the dismembered whips around a neck like two scarfs and then the boy started walking away before he lit a match and tossed it over his shoulder towards the oil and the drums.
"Sayonara, dumbass." Gavin said as the oil ignited. Omega Red screamed as the flames consumed his body and slowly killed him before the drums blew up.
(Elsewhere)
Logan watched on in awe as he watched his girlfriend in her dragon form pin down Gauntlet while she proceeded to eat him alive. To him, it was one of the most amazing things he'd ever seen.
"You done?" He asked her as she licked her Dragonic lips with her forked tongue. She then reverted to her human form again.
"Yep. Now let's go find Gavin and Laura so we can trash the place." She replied before the two started tearing the facility apart to find the scraggly mutant's daughter.
Meanwhile with Gavin, he was currently walking down the hallway with his hands in his pockets right before he came across Madame HYDRA. The sight of the green clad woman made him lick his teeth.
"Finally. The woman who's at the top of my kill list." He smiled wickedly.
"Hmph. You won't be so arrogant when the day is over, you little shit. I still haven't forgotten what your Lovecraftian friend made me see through Sidewinder!" She growled angrily, causing the horror lover to snort.
"Crazy, wasn't it? Heh, trust me bitch, when I'm through with you? You'll be begging me to kill you." He grinned as he drew his sword. "Now, EN GARDE!" He yelled as he lunged forward.
(Elsewhere)
Outside the base, the rest of the X-Men, the Sever siblings and SHIELD had just arrived and were getting to work trying to locate their four comrades. And right now, both Johan and Katerina were having hell trying to take down Kimura due to her nigh impregnable skin (which meant she was completely stab, bullet, flame, electricity, and even blunt force trauma proof). A truly annoying situation to be sure. As the fight went on, though, Evan pointed something out.
"Has anyone tried attacking her mind?!" He asked as he nailed a HYDRA soldier to the wall by his clothes.
"Tried that already! Her mental barriers are seriously thick!" Katerina said before she reeled her head back and slammed her skull into Kimura's, causing her to stagger back.
"We'll have to try something else!" Cyclops said as he blasted a soldier away.
"Like what?! Drowning her?" Johan asked as he shot another grunt in the head. This seemed to catch Kimura's attention, clearly she wasn't a fan of drowning, or at least suffocating.
"Ara? Did we strike a nerve, Kimura?" Katerina said, her tentacles finally managing to restrain the woman. "Well then, here's the deal: you tell us where our friends are, or we kill you. Simple as that."
"L-like hell I'd betray HYDRA!" She growled defiantly, thinking she was bluffing… The poor woman had no idea of how wrong she was. "It doesn't matter. Guards! Release X-23! It's time She earned her keep and showed us just how much of a monster she truly is!" She yelled.
The guards did so and suddenly Laura was lead out inside the torture tank, as the liquid drained she was dropped out in nothing but skin tight black shorts and two shock disks covering the caps of her breasts. Vials of trigger scent were dug into and lining her arms, legs and all over her back and lastly she had the same sensory deprivation helmet on. Her claws were deployed and she was foaming at the mouth like a feral animal.
"... You sick demented bastards!" Jean cursed angrily. "How dare you do that to a child!" She added with a growl.
"I couldn't agree more!" Scott nodded with a scowl.
"Sis!" Johan called, drawing the Cthulhu woman's attention to him. "I don't care how tough Kimura thinks she is, STRANGLE HER TO DEATH!" He roared furiously.
"With pleasure." The Cthulhu woman growled as she started to strangle Laura's former handler. Right at that moment, Logan and Chelsea were finally able to arrive, but saw they were too late when they saw Laura attack them in her current state.
The girl started attacking the two like a wild man eating wolverine, and Logan, not wanting to hurt his daughter, just let her kick his ass. Chelsea wanted to at least restrain her, but found herself lacking the will to do so. The same could be said for the rest of the X-Men.
Though their hesitation was interrupted as the base suddenly imploded behind them, as if something was pushing it inside out from the inside, and right off the bat everyone knew what caused it to happen. It was confirmed when a cloud of smoke flew toward them and reformed into Gavin, who had a satisfied look on his face.
He then raised his arm and showed everyone what he held in his hand: it was the disembodied heads of both Madame HYDRA and Baron Zemo.
"HYDRA… Is DEAD!" He yelled with a proud grin as he let the two heads drop to the ground with audible thuds. He then noticed Laura attacking Logan and Chelsea along with Katerina strangling a thrashing Kimura. "... Okay, how long has this been going on?" He asked the others.
"About five minutes give or take an angry outburst." Johan explained. "So any ideas on how we can stop Laura before she kills someone?"
"We get rid of the trigger scent supply and that sensory deprivation helmet of hers along with any other restraints. If there are any mental problems, Cthulhu and Jean can probably flush them out." Gavin replied. "First though." He then turned to Katerina. "Keep her alive, let Laura be the one to kill her." He told the tentacled woman.
"Okay!" She called back as she relented on the pressure, letting the black haired HYDRA member get the oxygen she needed, but kept her restrained.
With that, Gavin had Kitty go under Laura and trap the lower half of her body in the ground while Devin restrained her arms and then Evan shot his spikes at every vial of trigger scent, and then Roxy used her toxic tail stinger to paralyze her so Kitty could get her above ground and Logan could slowly and carefully remove the helmet.
"Alright Jean, Katerina, do your thing." Gavin told them while Chelsea and Logan held Laura still while Roxy's toxin wore off. The two mindbenders then began setting about undoing all the brainwashing and making Laura's mind into what it was before it was done to her.
The green eyed girl slowly started to stop thrashing before she noticed that she was in her father and (kinda) surrogate stepmother's arms, and upon realizing this, immediately turned around and hugged them both, completely oblivious to the fact that she was basically naked. Deciding to spare her the embarrassment, Gavin draped his coat around her shoulders.
"So… That's it? It's finally over? HYDRA's gone?" The girl asked the two hopefully.
"Yeah… They're gone. It's finally over." Logan nodded with a smile, Chelsea nodding along with her own smile.
"Hey, Laura!" Johan called as he dragged a tired Kimura over by her hair. "Wanna have the pleasure of killing her? You're her victim, after all." He offered.
Laura grinned wickedly and discarded the jacket over her shoulders as the two shock discs accidentally fell from her chest when she leapt on top of Kimura, her hands wrapped around the woman's neck tightly.
"I am not your weapon! I'm not a bullet, I'm not a killer! I'm just as human as everyone else, and my name has never been and will never be X-23! I am the daughter of Wolverine, I am my own person, I am Laura Samantha Howlett! And you have no control over me anymore!" The green eyed girl yelled as her grip tightened with every declaration. Kimura tried to break free, but it was futile. In the end, she died by strangulation.
Upon seeing that her former handler was dead, she suddenly became aware of her current state of dress and let out an embarrassed squeak as she dashed for Gavin's coat and put it back on, blushing profusely.
Everyone of course did their best to cover their eyes, however some of the guys from the New Mutants still couldn't help but stare, namely Bobby and Ray. They were snapped out of it when Johan sent them a warning glare that said 'she's a kid, you damn pervs!' in their direction.
"Well, now that this is out of the way, anyone wanna go home and crash? I'm due for a nap after this." Gavin stated, getting a chorus of agreement from everyone else. With that, SHIELD rounded up any and all survivors they could find and left the ruined base behind.
As they went home, Laura laid her head down on Logan's lap while he and Chelsea stroked her head as she slowly drifted off to sleep. It had been a very long and stressful day for the three, but what mattered to them now was that the girl they called their daughter was safe and with them. Nothing else mattered.
Dragon Emperor0: I know Chelsea and Logan aren't married yet and probably won't be for awhile, but you gotta admit, even if Chelsea is still apprehensive about having her own kids, she makes a damn good mother.
ThermalsniperN7: Damn right, she does. Shame about not being able to make Kimura a scratch post for Laura, though, but hey, she would've been happy either way, so it doesn't really matter. Also, HYDRA's dead! HOORAY! *Launches fireworks and opens a bottle of Sparkling Apple Cider*
Dragon Emperor0: Yep. *pops a champagne bottle* And next chapter, our favorite couples are gonna be celebrating together, Laura's gonna meet our good friend Peter Parker, and lastly a massive plot twist with Chelsea is gonna be revealed that's gonna turn her, Logan and Laura's worlds upside down.
ThermalsniperN7: Yep, and it'll be something else. See you guys then!