Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own any of Marvel, not even the X-Men.

A/N: Phew... been a long time. But I'm back! And I bring excuses (some of which are reasonable!):

1. Now, I'm a uni student, and December through to January? That's exam prep. And boy, are the exams tough - I've still got another one to go!

2. My writer's block was acting up, and was only able to focus on my own novel - now, I'm personally not complaining, but it did delay this chapter.

3. I got distracted by Netflix (I only said some of them were reasonable, but hey, Lucifer was really good!)

Anyway, that shouldn't be a problem again for a while - I have first drafts of the next six chapters all written up and ready to go! It was just this chapter giving me trouble!

So, this chapter focuses once more on the evolving relationship of Harry and Laura, with their next confrontation after their pseudo-therapy last chapter! Hope it was worth the wait!

Chapter 20: Escalation

The soft wail of violins swirled around his body, the accompanying soft touches of a lone piano echoing within the otherwise empty dormitory. Tom stood there silently, eyes closed as he listened to the music, his tapered fingers running along the locks of his case, a soft click signalling its opening. His fingers slipped inside the groove, gracefully opening the case, his hands running softly over the silk attire, laying it out over the duvet, preparing for the day, while the absence of each article revealed another piece of gear, another blade, glinting in the early morning sunlight, trickling through the window.

He stripped his night clothes from his flesh as his hand reached for a hairband, retreating behind his head, before he paused, a curious smirk contorting his lips. He let the hairband fall to the ground, instead replacing it with a knife, gracefully holding it between his two fingers, flipping it between them as he turned to the source of the music, a battered old CD player, laying innocuously on the bedside table further down. A flash later, and the player was silent bar from a few pops and fizzes, the knife embedded within the cold plastic.

Tom's lips quirked into a smile at the scene, pulling on the torn jacket and jeans of his counterpart, holstering his pistols at his waist. Looking in the mirror, he was the image of Harry, bar from the cold smirk gracing his lips and the cruel gleam in his eyes.

"How hard could this possibly be?" he scoffed to himself. "Time to be a beast."

X

"Daken!"

Daken huffed audibly as he stalked through the halls of Hogwarts, ignoring the voice that had been following him for the past fifteen minutes.

"Mister Daken, I just need to ask you a question!"

Daken whirled round to face the girl, a snarl escaping his lips. "What?"

Laura stared at him defiantly, her arms crossed. "I need to find Harry. Figured you'd know where he was."

Daken snorted. "Good luck with that. The brat doesn't wanna talk to you. You pissed him off, y'know?"

Laura stuck her nose in the air. "He'll talk to me."

"Ha!" Daken barked. "What makes you so sure of that missy?"

"I know him!" Laura insisted. "He'll listen."

"You knew him," Daken growled. "He's a big bad wolf now. He ain't got no time for a runt like you. 'Sides, it's Tom in control today."

"He can't have changed that much," Laura spat, her claws bursting from her knuckles. "I knew him."

Daken sighed. "Look, will you leave me alone if I tell you?"

Laura bobbed her head in confirmation.

"He was moping around in his room - locked me out, the right bastard. He ain't coming out anytime soon. Definitely ain't comin' out to see you."

"We'll see," Laura scowled, her claws retreating back beneath the flesh, the cuts they erupted from healing immediately.

With her prey located, Laura's journey changed direction, yet remained nonetheless single-minded. Her training fell by the wayside as she stalked her way through the halls of the castle, paying little attention to anything other than the turns she was taking, up until she reached it; a towering spruce door, thick, with twisted brass hinges and an exquisite doorknob.

Her fist came down upon the door hard, a furious hammering echoing throughout the corridor. "Open up Tom! I know you're in there!"

Her fury was stoked by the lack of response, and with an enhanced kick, the masonry gave way under the hinges, and the door collapsed to the ground with an almighty thud.

She paused at the sight before her. Where she expected cold, collected Tom in his suit, everything in its right place, she instead found Harry - rough and haphazard, just the way she liked him. "Harry-"

"Laura," he growled. "Get. Out."

"No, Harry," Laura said softly. "We need to talk."

"What?" Harry snarled. "So you can lie to me? Again? So you can blubber while you hold a stab out my eye? Finish the job you started?" He spat out a vile laugh. "Fuck that."

"No, Harry," Laura whispered, soft but stern. "I won't allow you to push me away this time. Not again."

"You pushed me away, Laura!" Harry bellowed, watching her as she flinched backwards. "You were the one who got all sappy because she finally met her sperm donor!"

"My father," Laura corrected sharply.

"Your father," Harry hissed. "Who didn't care about you until you were sixteen."

"It was ten years," Laura retorted. "And he didn't know I existed."

"Well I did," Harry spat. "Who was it who was with you, huh? In the facility? Not Papa Logan - me! You've only known him for four fucking years."

"I knew you for four years!" Laura spat. "Not even regularly at that - only for training."

"We had a bond, Laura!" Harry bellowed. "A bond of fellowship. Surely that meant something to you!"

"Yes! Yes it did!" Laura cried out. "It does, it really does. I would do anything to have you back - but he's my father!"

"I see how it is," Harry's face hardened. "Leave."

Laura blinked. "What?"

"Leave!" he yelled, his claws popping from his knuckles, gleaming in the early morning light.

"Fine," she scoffed. "I was right - you haven't changed a bit. You're just the same, selfish child."

She turned away from him, silently walking away from him, leaving Harry alone in deafening silence.

Tom let out a scornful mutter, before pulling out his case, reaching for his suit.

"Just as I told you."

X

"Sooooo…" Kitty began, twisting around the doorway to glance at Laura. "How'd it go? You and dark and handsome back on smooching terms?"

"You were wrong, Kitty," Laura spat, glaring at her friend.

Kitty blinked. "Excuse me."

"No," Laura hissed. "We are not back on, how did you put it? Smooching terms? And we never will be."

"That bad, huh?"

"Yeah," Laura drawled. "That bad."

"Laura, I told you, you need to keep trying," Kitty pleaded.

"No, no I don't," Laura snapped. "'Cos I don't want him back! He's a selfish git, a bastard who cannot accept that he can't have it his own way!"

"Laura…" Kitty sighed. "This is Harry we're talking about. I know how much he means to you."

"Meant," Laura scoffed. "And that's only because he was the only person there. Who else was I going to bond with - Windsor?"

"Laura…" Kitty said. "You know it wasn't like that."

"I should have known," Laura laughed. "I stabbed him in the fucking eye - how could he ever accept me as I am?"

"Hello?" Kitty scoffed. "He's been wanting you to come with him!"

"Nah," Laura spat. "He's been wanting his old sparring partner. Somewhere along the line, he separated the two of us." She gave a dry chuckle. "I sat fuck 'im. I'm done.

"Laura, you'll regret this," Kitty warned. "I don't know when, but you will."

"No, Kitty," Laura said. "I don't think I will."

X

"Kitty."

The girl in question's head flicked up, her eyes focused on the figure of her teacher. "Miss Rogue. Hi."

Rogue looked down at Kitty, glancing at the concern that was clearly etched onto her face as she sat on the floor, back against the wall. "What's happened, Sugah."

"Harry happened," Kitty sighed.

Rogue sighed, sitting down. "Tell me about it."

"I don't know what to do," Kitty complained. "I'm just trying to help Laura, but it's like neither of them want it to work!"

"Did they have another clash, huh?" Rogue asked, shaking her head. "Ah should have known. They're too much like mah old boyfriend."

Kitty blinked, frowning. "I don't quite understand."

"Well, mah boyfriend was a bit of a rebel, ah'll tell yah that," Rogue said with a chuckle. "He had the same fight in him that yah two friends have. Cahn't quite remember why, but it was there."

She sighed, pulling her knees inward. "See, for him, everything was a fight. Even being with me was a struggle. He saw danger, everywhere, yah understand, and when he first met me? Yeah, he tried to push me away. Quite viciously too, ah might add. It took a lot of work for him to let me in."

"But that's not the same," Kitty protested. "They know each other!"

"Do they?" Rogue asked. "Ah don't think they do. Not anymore. Been too long. They've changed too much."

Kitty slumped backwards. "So it's a lost cause, then? No matter how much they need it, it'll never work?"

Rogue grinned. "Now, ah never said that, now did ah?"

Kitty groaned. "Quit the riddles, please?"

Rogue chuckled. "Those two are too stubborn. Yah can't force them together. Yah've just gotta wait - they'll make it in the end. Yah've just gotta stop playing matchmaker sugah. Understand?"

Kitty gave a tentative nod. Things would be fine. She knew it.

X

"Just as I told you."

Harry sighed, pacing within the mental replica of the facility. "Yeah, you were right."

Tom grinned, his teeth flashing in the sterile white light. "Thank you. I'll be here all week."

Harry glared at his counterpart. "What do we do now?"

"What we were always planning to do," Tom replied, as if it were obvious. "Finish the year, then bugger off to Alaska."

Harry shook his head. "Fuck that. I only wanted to do that because of… because of Laura."

"Oh, shut up about her!" Tom spat. "You heard her - we mean nothing to her!"

"She was angry," Harry defended half-heartedly.

"No, nope nope nope, just no!" Tom said. "Even now, you're trying to defend her! What did she call us?"

"A selfish child," Harry growled.

"And are we?" Tom asked expectantly.

"No," he hissed. "We only ever wanted her. Only her."

"Precisely," Tom laughed. "Well, no more!"

Harry nodded. "No more."

"No more," Tom repeated. "I'd say it's time for us to look out for numbers one and two. Do stuff we want."

"Who's one and who's two," Harry asked with a chuckle.

"Well, you are number one of course," Tom's silky voice answered, not a drop of sincerity found in his tone.

"What are you suggesting then, number two?" Harry said, mirth coating his tongue.

"Why, let's be hedonists!" Tom said. "Let's indulge!"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Do you even have a plan?"

"Of course I do!" Tom retorted, feigning offence. "Let's face it, we are beings of battle, fury, passion."

"Right…" Harry nodded slowly. "What are you getting at, Tom?"

"Well, we're no longer posturing to X23, are we?" Tom said. "So why deny who we are? Why should we retire at all?"

"So we can finally have peace," Harry said.

"Fuck peace," Tom spat. "Peace is boring. But the life of a mercenary? That's fun."

Harry nodded slowly. "And we're good at it."

"So why quit?" Tom asked.

Harry nodded. "I don't know."

Tom nodded. "And why stop there! There's so much more fun to be had!"

"Fun?" Harry asked.

"Yeah!" Tom laughed. "Drinking, gambling, sex!"

"Sex?" Harry scoffed. "Not exactly my idea of fun mate. You remember what happened with Storm."

"That's because you were so fucking caught over X23," Tom said. "Well, fuck her! Get with some other birds. Give in to your cravings! Trust me, that feeling of power…" he shuddered.

Harry frowned, but nodded. "I suppose so."

"And why stop there?" Tom asked. "This entire time, we've just been waiting for X23. Let's break those bonds! We've got money - let's spend it!"

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "On what?"

"I don't know," Tom laughed. "A boat, a car, drugs - whatever we want!"

"Whatever we want…" Harry echoed.

"Trust me, Harry, it will feel so good," Tom murmured in his ear. "And we could have done it so much earlier if it wasn't for her."

"Yeah," Harry laughed. "Fuck Laura!"

A/N: Tom you bastard, what is your game. Oh wait, it's my game, because I'm the author :3

So, it was a bit longer than last time! To be fair, it was filled with important stuff! Like Tom being a manipulative bastard! And a horndog to boot (eh, hedonist, horndog, tomayto, tomahto).

So, how was it? Well written? Good characterisations? Good conflict? Like the direction the story is going so far? Let me know! We have a long way to go, and quite a nebulous plan for it! So please, review!

Also, please favourite and follow! I am so close to 1k follows, it's killing me! It actually helped break my writer's block - my sheer determination to reach 1k follows! So please, if you liked this and want to read on, favourite and follow!

Next chapter (hopefully sooner than this chapter): the sorting!

Until next time, this is JaguarAJG, signing off.