Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own Marvel.

A/N: Hello everybody and welcome back, apologies for the long wait. The last few months have been... frantic. First it was A-Levels, then waiting for A-Levels, then Uni prep... but enough of that, here I am sitting in my accommodation, finally finishing this chapter! Hopefully, things will start to come out more often once more, so that both you can enjoy my writing and I can improve with your feedback. Anyway, enjoy a little Laura-centric interlude!

Chapter 16: Anger and Fear

Laura paced back and forth in the stone room, impatiently awaiting the opening of the door. Sitting beside her, though no less full of energy, were Kitty, Bobby and Warren, all ready for what was about to come. They were all dressed in the standard uniform for trainees, a leather suit padded with body armour, each with their own colour scheme. Kitty's was a black suit, with a yellow chest piece, while Laura's was similar, a yellow suit with black markings, reminiscent of her father's traditional suit. Bobby had decided upon a suit, blue with white highlights, while Warren's was a solid white.

"Calm down," Warren chided the pacing girl. "Wasting your energy will not help."

"I just wish father would open the fucking door already," she growled. "We've been waiting ages."

Ironically, it was at that moment that the door slid open, and the quartet burst into the room of polished metal, known to the residents of Xavier's Institute as the Danger Room.

"So, you want to be X-Men?" Logan growled over the speaker. "Then prove it. Designate your team leader, and we shall begin." There was a pause. "And for fuck's sake, use your codenames."

"I shall be the leader," Warren, codename Angel, said. "I am the eldest, after all."

"Yeah, but your power is best suited for support," Bobby, codenamed Iceman, argued. "The leader should be someone capable of fighting at the front lines."

"I think it should be Talon," Kitty, codenamed Shadowcat, suggested. "I mean, you can take whatever comes your way."

Laura, codenamed Talon, shrugged. "If you say so."

"I disagree," Warren glared. "With my mutation, I can get an aerial view, and better prepare a battle plan."

"That is a good idea," Bobby accepted.

"Time's up," Logan growled. "Time to fight."

The room shifted around them, forming a street scene, in the centre of which were a set of robots, modelled after the infamous Sentinels.

"MUTANTS LOCATED," the lead robot intoned. "OBJECTIVE: DESTROY."

"Fuck," Laura swore, bracing herself as she was blasted with a stream of purple energy, flash frying her flesh as she staggered backwards, already healing.

Warren took to the sky, scanning the fight below. "Shadowcat! Distract them! Iceman, do what you can to slow their movement. Laura, help me take them out."

Laura let out a growl as she rushed forward, claws extended as her bare feet padded against the ground.

Kitty took the time to rush around the group, phasing through them and drawing their attention, while Bobby knelt down, covering the ground in a slippery frost.

With their movements slightly impaired, Warren dived down, pulling hit and run strikes at the neck joints, while Laura hacked at the legs.

She flew into a rage of frustration, her strikes superficial at best, as she pressed on, her irritation mounting. It was at that point it began to go wrong.

"LAND BASED TRAVERSAL IMPAIRED," the lead Sentinel droned. "INITIATE FLIGHT PROTOCOLS."

There was a roar of fire as the robots took off, the flames lapping at her flesh as she darted back, skin smoking and blistered, slipping in the melting ice that coated the floor.

They watched as the robots quickly swatted Warren out of the sky, who was then swiftly swallowed by an explosion, concealing his extraction from the room by Nightcrawler.

The robots then turned their attention on Bobby, who frantically tried to shield himself with a repairing shield of ice, but eventually succumbed to the same fate, with Kitty following shortly after.

Laura let out a growl of frustration as she dodged the rain of lasers sent down by the Sentinels as she scaled the side of the building, kicking off its peak, her fingers finding grip on the side of the nearest Sentinel, just below the neck joint.

Just as she raised her claws to strike, a beam struck her in the shoulder, launching her off with a cry. She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, and she disappeared, reappearing in a separate room, tumbling to the floor.

"Fuck!" she screamed. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Each scream was punctuated with a slice on the arm, the momentary pain the result of her sheer anger and frustration.

"Laura!" Logan barked, grabbing her arm. "That's enough." He tossed her over to the couch where her teammates were waiting, all of them sullen.

Logan glared at them all. "You are not ready to be X-Men. Can any of you tell me why?" He didn't wait for their responses. "No? I'll tell you why, one by one. Warren - you're an arrogant shit. Your plan was weak, and relied too much on your mutation for a purpose it wasn't intended for. You would have been much better served as a distraction."

"Yes sir," Warren fumed through gritted teeth.

"Bobby!" Logan barked. "You are the opposite. You have no self confidence. You stuck with the plan, and couldn't think of anything to defend yourself under direct fire. Even your attempt to destabilise the Sentinels was lacking. You have an Omega Class power - act like it."

Bobby nodded. "I'll try, sir."

"Kitty," Logan continued. "You are very creative. I know you had a better plan than that. Don't follow a leader blindly if you disagree with them. Bring it up, play Devil's Advocate."

Kitty hung her head. "Sorry sir."

"Laura," Logan sighed. "Look, Laura, you're a fighter, there's no doubt about that. In fact, you're a better fighter than most X-Men. We even reinforced the Sentinels to resist your claws. But this?" He gestured at the drying blood on her arm. "You can't do this, Laura. It's not right, Laura. We can't have you on the field when you're not all there in the head."

Laura just snarled at her father, refusing to entertain him with an answer. How could he say that with a straight face?

Just as Logan was about to dismiss them, he paused, his ear going up to his earpiece. "Right. Got it. I'll call him. Yes. I'll bring em. Got it." He looked up. "Something's come up." He turned to Nightcrawler. "Kurt, go tell Scott to prep the Blackbird. Tell Rogue to join him."

Kurt nodded, vanishing in a burst of brimstone smoke.

"Logan?" Kitty asked. "What is it?"

"There's a mutant in Scotland," Logan said slowly. "Chuck has requested me, Scott and Rogue to accompany him." He hesitated. "He's also requested I bring you four."

Laura narrowed her eyes. Students were rarely brought on excursions to retrieve mutants, and only if they knew the mutant in question. "What aren't you telling us?"

Logan hesitated again. "It's Harry. Chuck's found Harry, Laura."

X

Harry staggered through the halls of the Castle, a glass bottle in hand, heading towards the Great Hall as requested by the Professor. He was followed closely by Daken, the man only armed with his blade, the Muramasa.

He kicked open the doors as he took another swig, snorting as the room fell silent at his entry. He supposed he did look a lot less composed than he did the day before - his hair was loose and knotted, for one, and he had dropped his armour off back at the hideout, instead wearing his civies, composed of a pair of threadbare jeans and a tattered shirt, his only weaponry being his pair of wands, his dagger, and of course, his handguns. He reeked, of course, of the distinct smell of alcohol, an unavoidable result of having drunk for six hours straight.

He snarled at the students. "The fuck you looking at?"

"Mr P- Tom," Dumbledore simpered. "I must ask you not to use such language in front of the student body and- are you drunk?"

Harry snorted. "A bit. And I'm Harry - Tom refused to deal with your inferior intellects."

Dumbledore blinked. "Well… it's nice to meet you Mr Potter, but I must ask you not to drink inside the school."

"You'll be glad I am, bub," Harry growled. "It's the only thing that'll last me through this meeting."

Dumbledore sighed. "Is it at least something weak?"

"Weak?" Harry barked a laugh. "This shit is ethanol."

"That's impossible," a bushy haired student from the red table denied. "Ethanol contains too much for the human body. It must be vodka of some sort."

Harry took another swig of the transparent liquid, the only drink that could bypass his supercharged healing factor to get him buzzed. "Listen, bub, I know what I've been drinking."

Harry turned back to Dumbledore. "So, the fuck you want me for? I'm here for the Tournament, not your school."

"I'm afraid we must insist that you attend full time education," Dumbledore sighed.

"And if I refuse?" Harry growled.

"The Tournament Contract will kill you," Dumbledore sighed. "Here is your timetable."

Harry snatched it from his hands, looking it over. "It's only got half a week of shit."

"That's because you will be attending another school for the remainder of the week," Dumbledore said calmly, much to the shock of the student body. "One to help you with your more… unique abilities."

"You can say it, you know," Harry snarled. "I'm a mutant, bub. Yes, your precious saviour ain't normal, what a fucking shock." He froze. "Fuck. It's Xavier, isn't it? You fucking called Xavier?"

"You know of him?" Dumbledore asked, unsurprised.

"I am not going to that pacifist's school," Harry growled. "I will not bow down like a dog."

"There is nothing wrong with pacifism," Dumbledore protested.

Harry snorted. "Says the war hero to the hired gun."

"Mr Potter!" Dumbledore exclaimed, overriding the ripple of shock that ran through the room. "I must ask that you don't refer to your… profession in this room."

"What?" Harry snarled. "That I'm a killer? A thief? An insurgent? A seducer? Fuck you. I do what I do, and I'm fucking good." He shook his head. "As I said, I'm not going to the fucking pacifist academy."

"I must insist that you at least meet with them," Dumbledore sighed. "They are on their way from New York as we speak."

Harry groaned, throwing his head back. "I suppose I had to confront them eventually," he grumbled under his breath. He had to find her… had to find Laura. Xavier was his only lead. He looked back at the professor. "Fine. I'll meet with them. What else?"

"Well, this evening we will be sorting you into a house, to decide your dorms and the specific classes on your schedule."

"Pass," Harry growled. "I've got my own place."

"This is non-negotiable, Mr Potter," Dumbledore said sternly. "I am giving a lot of leeway, but you have to make some concessions."

"I'm here against my will," Harry spat. "That's a pretty big concession."

Dumbledore sighed. "If you agree, I will… permit you to carry your arsenal where you wish."

"Done," Harry snapped. "Now, where can I get some food? I'm fucking starving."

X

Laura sat in her seat in the Blackbird, foot tapping nervously. She was going to see Harry. Harry. Her Harry. Harry, the boy who she had not left her thoughts once since they had parted ways. The boy that she had daily begged the Professor to search for with Cerebro, and was daily met with disappointment. She thought she would be excited, but all she felt was fear.

Who would it be? Harry, or Tom? Or perhaps someone else? That didn't really matter. They were all him, all held traces of the same man. No, what truly worried her were the thoughts dancing across her thoughts. Would he remember her? Would he hate her for leaving without him? Would he even want to see her? And the worst - what if he left again.

"Laura?" Kitty asked quietly from beside her. "Are you alright?"

Laura looked at the eighteen year old with large eyes. "No."

Kitty had quickly become her best friend after arriving at the Institute, the bubbly girl balancing out her feral nature, a calming force to guide her confusion. As she learnt more about what she liked and disliked, Kitty was there. As she studied under the professors, she was there. Even with Laura ageing at a slower rate, Kitty stuck by her, now actually physically older than her, if not mentally, and definitely when compared to her date of birth - she had actually had a birth certificate for that data to be recorded on, that was, which she didn't, but that was beside the point. The point was that Kitty stuck with her through thick and thin, and had practically become her emotional crutch and personal life coach, all rolled into one.

"I mean, I keep thinking about how this could all go wrong," Laura fretted. "What if he gets spooked? What if he doesn't even want to know me, now that we aren't in the facility?"

"Laura, Laura," Kitty sighed. "If this boy is anything like what you've described, he's more likely to fight us than run away. And if he doesn't want to know you? That's his loss."

"I know, I know," Laura said. "I should be excited, but all I feel is this fear, weighing me down."

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again - you got it bad, girl," Kitty teased.

Laura flushed. "That's not what it's like. I haven't even seen him in four years."

"Whatever you say," Kitty grinned.

"I don't even know why I'm here," Bobby complained. "I get Laura, that's an obvious choice. And I suppose Warren was kidnapped by Harry."

"And I'd rather never see him again," Warren grunted.

"So why would I be here?" Kitty challenged.

"Easy," Warren smirked. "You never let Laura out of your sight."

Kitty flushed. "I'm not that protective."

"You are," Logan grunted. "And that's saying something coming from me. Oh, and Bobby?"

"Yeah?"

"Your here to balance out Warren's ego,"

"Hey!" Warren complained.

"Don't react," Scott Summers, the mutant known as Cyclops, drawled from the front, flashing his ruby quartz sunglasses in their direction. "It just encourages the brute."

"Ah think yah just jealous, sugah," Rogue said in her southern drawl. "Wha' with Miss Grey's early attrah'tion towards Mistah Logan."

Scott flushed. "That's not what it's like. We aren't- She isn't-"

"Am I the only one getting deja vu?" Bobby complained.

"You are not, Robert," Xavier smiled. "As they say, the young tend to mirror the old."

"Watch who yah calling old, baldy," Rogue snarked. "Yah not exactly swimmin' in thah fountain of youth, are yah?"

"I never claimed to be," Xavier smiled softly. "But perhaps my choice of words could have been better."

"We're coming up to the coordinates," Scott said. "But I cannot see anything."

"Of course!" Xavier cried. "The wards. You would be denied entry, without someone already permitted to enter. Allow me to take the helm."

"Wards?" Bobby frowned. "Like magic?"

Xavier smiled. "Yes, Bobby. Exactly like magic."

A/N: Once again, I apologise for the long wait and the not so long chapter that was here to greet you. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter, we will finally have the two worlds properly collide! Who's looking forward to that?

If you did like it and haven't already, please favourite and follow, I am aiming to get this fic to 1k follows, fingers crossed. Also, please review! I read every one of them, and enjoy the feedback! It helps me grow and evolve as an author, and helps tailor this fic to the collective taste of my audience.

Anyway, until next time, this is JaguarAJG, signing off.