Chapter 6

No Strings Attached

Laura had never felt particularly loved by either her mother or father. Not while they were alive anyway, and it'd taken her eighteen long years before the concept of love finally became a reality to her.

She hadn't felt loved by her friends before then either, not even Jubilee despite her best efforts. It wasn't until Gabby quite literally forced herself into Laura's life that she finally understood the unconditional love a parent felt for a child and vice versa.

Gabby adored her, practically worshipped the ground she walked on, and Laura would've killed the entire world if it meant protecting her from harm. They argued regularly, but while Gabby had years of experience arguing with nine older sisters, it was still a relatively new concept to Laura. You weren't supposed to argue with superiors. Instead, you respectfully argued your logic against theirs, and when that ultimately failed and undermining them proved impossible, you did as you were ordered. Not so with little sisters as she quickly found out.

Nobody made Laura angrier than Gabby when she refused to listen to reason, but there was also nobody she loved more. Which was exactly why Laura left her sleeping back in their in-suite apartment while she wandered the school library trying to clear her head.

The Institute's library was Laura's home away from home, and where she had spent countless hours lost in books and having long, philosophical discussions with Hank McCoy, better known as The Beast. He wasn't there today, which was just as well since she didn't want to be disturbed, but a part of her had hoped he'd be there, grading papers or expanding his already vast knowledge. Even when she wasn't in the mood to talk, he was always good company.

The library was three floors and one of the most comprehensive in North America. Due to the unique nature of The Institute being a private school, university, and home for several hundred wayward mutants, the library housed practically every book ever written, with countless newspapers and other writings digitized for convenience. The first time Laura wandered into a public library, she had nearly wept, and she actually had the first time Logan brought her here.

Laura had been programmed to absorb knowledge and wield it as a weapon. If she could think like her targets, she could outsmart them and predict their moves. She hated thinking that her thirst for knowledge had been programmed into her, probably even written into her very DNA, but reading was one of the few ways she had of escaping the shackles of X-23.

Her wanderings as usual lead her to the children's literature section, and she picked up an illustrated copy of 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'. She had the very same edition in own extensive library, read to her countless times by her mother growing up. One of her most prized possessions rivaled only by her pelican statue.

"Tomorrow I cease to be a puppet-" Laura murmured to herself, "and I become a girl like you and all the other girls..."

Tears filled her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. The book shook in her hands, and she couldn't decide whether she wanted to curse her mother for ever reading it to her, find the nearest bathroom and slit her wrists, or cry like a lost little girl looking for her mother. Instead she stood there, trying to logically think through her volatile emotions rather than feel through them blindly like she had as a teenager.

"Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish, and someday you'll be a real girl..." Her mother always looked at her while reading that specific line, personalizing it just for her, but it had only confused Laura at the time, later infuriating her. Her own mother hadn't viewed her as being real. Not at first anyway, not entirely, and not until the damage had already been done.

"Laura!" cried a familiar voice, breaking the sacred silence of the library.

Of course she had known exactly where her cousin was the moment she stepped into the library, and while she hadn't exactly been avoiding the library assistant, she had gone out of her way to prolong their reunion for as long as possible.

A young woman with a blonde pixie cut dropped a pile of books on a nearby table and sprinted toward her, immediately wrapping her arms around her. Laura surprised even herself by embracing her back and fighting back tears. Having lived a life where abnormal was normal, her cousin Meg and Aunt Debbie were her only lifelines to normalcy, and had taught her more about love than either of her parents ever had.

"When did you get back?" Meg asked.

"Just a little while ago," she lied. "You looked busy, and I was just looking for something to read to Gabby before bedtime."

Laura returned the book to the shelf, and Meg smiled when she saw the title. She knew that her aunt Sarah used to read it to her, and could guess by the subject matter and the fact Laura had almost zero personal attachment to any of her belongings except a select few that the story must mean a great deal to her.

"Where is Gabby?" she asked, glancing around, expecting to see Laura's miniature doppelganger running around the corner any moment with a surprise hug.

"Back in her room sleeping. She'll be out for at least a few more hours."

Meg nodded, finally noticing the dark circles around her eyes. "What's wrong, Laura? And don't lie this time. I've gotten pretty good at telling when you're lying." She smirked suddenly. "Your lips are moving."

Laura sighed and gestured for them to sit down. Being the middle of a school day, there thankfully weren't any prying ears around, but in her line of work, Laura always assumed the worst. "Gabby got shot in the head," she said matter-of-factly. "She's alright, just tired and a little disoriented. It was a large caliber bullet that nearly decapitated her, a-and it's just got me a little shook is all."

"A little shook?" Meg half-laughed, half-sobbed. "Laura, I've seen you cut your own arm off, and Gabby tests new guns by shooting herself in the chest. It never gets any easier for me, and I can't imagine it's any easier for you either."

Laura nodded, and Meg couldn't help noticing she had showered recently. Knowing her cousin, she had probably spent several hours scrubbing her skin raw, and couldn't help glancing at her wrists. Laura had promised to tell her if she started cutting again, but Meg knew she'd only do so if directly asked. She wasn't even sure if she had ever stopped.

"Gabby's my greatest weakness," Laura murmured, "and Kimura knows it. She promised to never use you or your mom as hostages again, but that doesn't mean she won't kill you out of spite. Gabby though..."

Her hands shook worse than before, and Meg grabbed them, squeezing tightly. Since she was eleven, Meg had thought of her younger cousin as a dark avenger, and had spent all those years hiding from Kimura, imagining Laura's life as a superhero, saving children from monsters and killing bad guys just like her father. Since coming to live at The Institute however, she had finally learned and accepted the truth. Laura was human, and despite the adamantium coated bones, she was seemingly held together only out of sheer stubbornness and happy thoughts, most of which belonged to her sister.

"Mom and I are safe," Meg said. "Kitty and Jubilee are practically invincible, and your sister has a healing factor rivaling your own."

"So did Logan. Nobody's invincible, Meg, and nobody is truly immortal either. I've killed Alpha Level mutants because of that very same arrogance."

"And nobody's more arrogant than Kimura." To say Meg hated Kimura would've been an understatement, but Laura could only sigh whenever she saw that sort of blind hatred from her friends and family. Kimura might've been arrogant but she was far from stupid. She might've been insane but she was also frighteningly logical, and was the only person Laura could truly say understood her, and vice versa...

Killing Kimura was the only way to keep her family and friends safe, and the only way to ensure she'd never be anybody's puppet again, but none of them seemed to understand just what exactly killing Kimura would entail, and what exactly it was going to do to Laura.

"Why don't you tell me about the mission," Meg said. "Maybe it'll help get your mind off Gabby and Kimura. Someone I admire once told me that talking helps."

Laura nodded, and started from the beginning with how The X-Men learned about Adam Harkin and his human trafficking network, and how the team had executed a rather sophisticated operation, hitting the entire network all around the world before all the loose ends could be cut.

She told Meg matter-of-factly about all the people she had killed in the past week, thirty-four in total, about the vampires and Albert Malik, and finally Gabby getting shot due to Laura not paying attention where she was leading them. She didn't see any reason to mention Jubilee's yellow coat possibly- if not very likely, being the culprit.

Her cousin as usual was a good listener, rarely interrupting with a question, and only because Laura as usual was light on details. It wasn't in Laura's nature to be a storyteller. What she told instead more resembled a mission debriefing, listing factual information without getting bogged down by erroneous details and emotions.

Meg would've thought her cousin a braggart if she didn't know her better, and would've accused her of lying had she not seen Laura's frightening skills first hand. Even among the superhero community, Laura's exploits were legendary, and apparently killing a four hundred-year-old Nazi vampire was barely worth mentioning.

"She's going to have even more memory loss," Laura said after finishing. "Gabby's never lost anything important, usually just littles things, but those little things are important to me, and it's only a matter of time. She's forgotten conversations we've had. Places we've been. People we've met. She thought I was Bellona most of the flight home. When she realized I wasn't, she..." Laura closed her eyes and bowed her head, her wrists badly itching.

"I'm sorry, Laura," Meg said, awkwardly shifting in her chair. "Um, listen, Hank and I have been talking, and I've been reading a lot of psychology books lately. Do you think it's possible that because Gabby's not able to feel pain, that maybe she creates mental barriers to protect herself from emotional pain? And maybe those barriers take the form of amnesia?"

"Anything's possible, but bullets to the brain would be my guess."

Meg nodded, knowing by the sarcasm that her cousin's patience was wearing thin. "Maybe, but you've never shown any signs of amnesia, and Gabby's healing factor rivals your own. For all intents and purposes, biologically speaking, Gabby's you at fourteen."

Laura bit her lip as if considering it. "Logan suffered from amnesia for decades, so I suppose it's plausible. If Gabby wants to try and get her memories back, I won't stop her, but if what you're saying is true and Gabby's subconscious is trying to protect her, then I'd rather keep it that way. I'd give almost anything not to have the memories I do, and if Gabby's happier without them, then so am I."

"Of course. I think just about everyone at The Institute would happily give their lives to protect your sister, Laura. Myself included."

"That's my job," she said quickly as if afraid someone might be listening, "though I'd much prefer killing as opposed to dying." She gave a weak smile that didn't match her eyes.

"You only kill when you don't have a choice, Laura."

"There's always a choice. The issue is that neither killing or sparing are solutions to problems. They're only tradeoffs." She took a deep breath and sighed again. "When I take a life, I'm taking away someone's loved one. I'm taking away their Gabby. I have to live with that, along with the fact that ending a life means taking away their chance at redemption, something I don't deserve but was given anyway. But if I spare their lives, they'll get that opportunity, but there's no guarantee I won't enable someone else's suffering, including my own or someone I care about."

Meg winced and pretended to suddenly be interested in the wood grain of the table. "I see you've given this a lot of thought..."

Laura nodded. "I've killed innocent people, Meg. I've killed people whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a lot of the people I kill have sins that pale in comparison to my own." She bowed her head, suddenly interested in the table herself. "How many people do think I've killed over the course of my life?"

"A lot..."

"A lot," she agreed. "I've killed over thirteen-hundred people in less than a decade. Probably more that I just can't remember. At this rate, if I die of old age, I'll have killed over two hundred thousand. Maybe even a million if I find myself part of a war, which I probably will. You don't know how much that weighs on me every day of my life."

"You could always retire," Meg said weakly.

Laura shook her head. "I've tried. God knows I've tried, but this is what I do and what I am. There will always be someone threatening my friends and family, The Institute, The X-Men, mutant-kind, or innocent women and children on the streets of New York. And so long as Kimura's still breathing, none of us will ever truly be safe."

She took a deep breath, and glancing at the stack of books, she almost smiled. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner," she recited, "but from their regard to their own interests."

"Adam Smith," Meg said absently. "Are you saying you're only a killer out of self-interest?"

Laura nodded. "Weapon X created the perfect killer, and that's what it's taken to bring them down, and what it'll take to kill Kimura. It's in my best interest to kill anyone and everyone who wishes to harm the people I care about."

Meg smiled. "Guess it's a good thing our interests overlap then, huh?"

The two held hands in the oppressive silence of the library, both playing with their respective cross necklaces until finally Laura spoke. "Heaven reigns when hell prevails," she murmured.

"I don't know that one. Who said it?"

Laura cleared her throat, not having meant to say it out loud. "Nobody knows. It's either an optimistic view of a pessimistic world, or nihilism and cynicism at its worst. I haven't quite decided which I believe yet."

Meg smiled. "You're the one that made me an optimist, Laura. When I was-" she glanced around to make absolutely certain they were alone- "when I was taken at eleven, I prayed to God to send an angel to save me, and that angel turned out to be you. My own cousin that I didn't even know existed. When Mom and I were kidnapped earlier this year, I prayed that you'd save us, again, and you did. It's why in spite of everything, I still believe there's good in this world."

"I wish I could share that optimism, Meg. Either I find Kimura soon and kill her, or she starts killing everyone I love, or I allow myself to be her puppet again." She squeezed her eyes shut and slowly opened them. "I'm sorry, but I'll kill myself before I ever allow that to happen again, so there's only two real options."

Meg's lip twitched. "Guess you're just gonna have to kill that bitch then, huh?"

Laura forced a smile that didn't match her eyes. "I suppose I don't have a choice..."

"This is stupid," Laura announced for the third time since leaving The Institute. "Both of you are stupid, and I'm stupid for listening to you."

Gabby and Jubilee chuckled ahead of her, dodging and weaving through New York pedestrians at one in the morning.

"You were just shot by a sniper less than twenty-four hours ago. I've showered three times since then and I can still feel your blood and brain fluid on me."

"Yeah, well, I don't remember it, so it doesn't count," Gabby said, sticking out her tongue. "All I know is that one minute we're talking about The X-Terminators, and the next I'm waking up on The Blackbird, hugging my new favorite sniper rifle."

"That conversation happened the night before you got shot, Gabs," Jubilee said gently, having traded her trademark yellow coat for a black leather jacket instead. "Do you remember fighting vampires? Don't tell me you forgot about the Nazi vampire?"

Gabby shook her head. "I remember, kinda. It's all just a little mixed up is all. I'm really good about recording all the important stuff. Laura made me start writing in a diary, but I didn't like it so I started a vlog."

"Her visor has a recording function," Laura explained. "It's useful when breaking down what she can improve on for the next mission, or when we need evidence of a crime."

"Or when I get shot in the head and can't remember the mission."

Laura nodded but couldn't help glancing around anxiously. Gabby had been restless since waking, Jubilee was always restless, and Laura admittedly preferred being on the move rather than staying in one place too long. Despite the obvious dangers leaving The Institute presented, her companions had made multiple good points to justify their reckless stupidity.

They didn't have a solid lead where to find Kimura, The X-Men already had enough operatives bringing down Harkin's human trafficking network, and there wasn't anybody high enough on Laura's personal shit list to justify hunting them down and killing them at this very moment. Instead, the only productive action they could take was go into the city and keep the streets safe for average civilians.

While other superheroes called this standard operation 'patrolling', making sure the most dangerous areas of the city were secure, in true X-Terminator fashion, everybody except Laura called it FAFO.

As much as Laura hated to admit it, patrolling was better than sitting around The Institute wasting time, imagining how Kimura would strike next and who the victims would be. The only downside was it being cold, and her bones aching wherever they came into contact with adamantium.

It was a discomfort she was intimately familiar with however, and perhaps the lack of guilt she'd feel for self-harming herself was the reason she had agreed so quickly to Gabby and Jubilee idiotic idea of a night out on the town. That and they weren't entirely wrong.

They didn't have any leads, and it was better for the three semi-immortals to be Kimura's targets rather than their friends, especially since Laura was reasonably certain Kimura wouldn't kill Gabby out of fear of Laura ending their game permanently. It also gave her an excuse to keep a close eye on Jubilee and make sure she didn't do anything especially idiotic to get herself killed.

"Kitty seemed pretty happy about you killing and torturing a Nazi vampire," Gabby said. "Is that because Jews and Nazis don't like each other?"

"You could say that, and when we get back to living at The Institute, you're taking another world history course."

Jubilee laughed. "Thanks again for letting me be the one to tell her. The look on her face was priceless. Hell, the look on your face was almost as good, Gabs."

"Hey! I remember it now, mostly, and that's all that matters. By the way, I know he was a bad guy and all, but am I the only one that really liked Malik's voice? Like really, really liked it? Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it."

"To use a Kitty Pryde analogy, think of it like persuasion and deception in D&D. Vampires automatically get a twenty in every stat when we roll a new character, but especially charisma."

"Every stat except wisdom and intelligence," Laura muttered.

The pair laughed and grinned at Laura who didn't appear to share their humor. "I use those as dump stats," Jubilee explained, her voice echoing and making the pair shiver.

"I told you not to do that," Laura growled, rubbing her arms to try and get some feeling back.

Jubilee and Gabby continued laughing and talking far too loudly for Laura's liking, making her think they weren't taking the potential threat around them seriously. She knew that wasn't entirely the case however since Jubilee could multitask even better than herself, and had better vision and hearing than both she and Gabby combined. While Laura and Gabby focused their attention on the pedestrians around them, Jubilee focused on distant rooftops and windows that looked as though they'd make a convenient sniper's nest.

The vampire was also sure to put herself in between Gabby and any potential danger, betting on her telekinesis and supernatural durability to keep her head mostly intact should there be another sniper with a death wish.

Several hours went by mostly without incident besides a few overeager homeless begging for money, a drug addict asking if they'd seen JFK and Elvis anywhere, a man wanting to sniff Laura's feet, and half a dozen snatch and grabs they'd seen coming a mile away. A typical night in New York City all things considered.

A decade ago, Central Park had been one of the most dangerous areas in all of America, but now thanks to being home to The Institute, was one of the safest, and the rest of the city was slowly following suit, in part thanks to Laura. She didn't necessarily go out of her way to kill rapists and murderers, but if they happened to approach her in a dark alley, it was self-defense as far as she was concerned.

"Hell's Kitchen never disappoints," Jubilee chuckled as Laura led them into one of her favorite hunting grounds. "I was starting to worry all the bad guys were swimming in the Hudson."

"Are we about to get mugged?" Gabby nearly squealed. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Laura growled at them to stay quiet but the two could barely contain themselves when the pair of footsteps that'd been following them for the past five minutes stopped at the end of the alley, blocking their escape.

"2004 Type AB-," Jubilee said, licking her lips. "Lakers won the championship that year. Dad took me to a bunch of games. Good year. The next, not so much."

"Wolverines are more into hockey than baseball," Gabby said. "Canadian thing, I guess. Wait, aren't the Phoenix Lakers a football team? I'm bad with sports. And geography. And-"

"Shut up. Both of you."

Halfway down the alley, a pair of men stepped out of the shadows and leveled handguns at their chests.

"Rape, murder, or robbery?" Laura asked calmly.

Jubilee snorted beside her. "Please say rape or murder," she murmured, barely able to contain her excitement. The trio glanced behind them when the pair outside the alley followed them and pointed handguns at their backs.

"Full-auto Glocks?" Gabby said, pinching her nose in disgust. "You do know it's really hard to control a full-auto Glock, right? You pull the trigger and end up wasting half your ammo. I know a guy down the street that sells Uzis if you want one, but I'd personally go with an MP5. Laura prefers the MP9 'cause she's weird."

"Gabby," she hissed. "Shut up."

One of the men stepped forward. Like the others he wore a skullcap and bandanna covering his face, but given that the four made up three different ethnicities, Laura doubted they were representatives of any local gangs. Probably just drinking buddies given the smell of booze.

"Empty your pockets and nobody gets hurt," he said in a thick Bronx accent.

"Damn it," Gabby muttered. "You sure you don't wanna rape or murder us, Sir?"

Laura sighed and glanced at her sister disapprovingly. "Provoking bad guys into murder and rape is against the rules."

"God, I love New York," Jubilee said. "First night back and we're already getting robbed."

"You bitches hard of hearing or somethin'?"

"You've caught me at a bad time," Laura said, strolling toward the leader before stopping in front of him. "My sister just got shot in the head yesterday, and I never got the chance to pay the gunman my respects. I also haven't slept since then. This is your only warning." Behind her, Jubilee and Gabby stifled giggles.

He laughed and jammed the gun between her breasts. "You can respect me, bitch, by emptying your pockets. Them too. Like I said, nobody has to get hurt."

The man beside him reached for Gabby but his fingers hit the ground before he had time to scream or register what happened. The gun only inches from her heart also dropped onto the ground, sheared in pieces along with his own fingers, followed by their companions courtesy of Laura's adamantium claws and speed that even the vampire struggled to follow.

All four dropped to the ground holding what remained of their hands, but Laura pinned their leader to the ground and drew a thin red line across his cheek. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Please don't kill us!" he begged. "We didn't know you were mutties!"

Jubilee laughed, picking one of the fingers off the ground and sucking on it. "Oh, so robbing women at gunpoint is alright, but you draw the line at being racist? I respect the hustle." She stepped on one of the men, pinning him to the ground while Gabby pointed her dual Desert Eagles at the other two.

"Smile and wait for the flash," she said cheerfully.

"W-we're sorry!" their leader pleaded. "We-"

Laura squeezed his arm, immediately silencing him. "You're not sorry. You don't feel even the slightest shred of shame or guilt. Only regret you didn't pull the trigger when you had the chance. None of you were nervous pointing guns at us, meaning this isn't your first time robbing someone. Maybe you've even pulled the trigger before..."

"We haven't! I swear! The guns aren't even loaded!"

"Mine are," Gabby said with a grin. "Want me to prove it?"

'Kill them!' Kimura screamed. 'Kill them all! That's an order!'

'Follow your orders, X,' Sarah said. 'That's what we created you for.'

Laura took several deep breaths and closed her eyes trying to think clearly. Their hearts were racing too fast to tell whether he was actually telling the truth or not, but had to admit they had given them two opportunities to remove their valuables before threatening harm. They had played by her rules, and if she killed them now after revoking the option of a painless death, she'd be the one breaking them.

She stood up and stepped away, and Jubilee did the same. Gabby didn't lower her guns, but she did motion for them to stand with their companions.

"I have your scent," Laura said, "and so does she." She gestured toward Jubilee who smiled and waved with the finger still in her mouth. "If any of you ever do anything like this again, ever, we'll know, and I will personally hunt you down and skin you alive."

"I'll just suck you dry," Jubilee said with a playful wink.

Laura kicked their fingers toward them, seven between the three of them. Eight once she convinced Jubilee to spit the Type AB- out. "Take those to the nearest hospital. They should be able to reattach them in time."

Jubilee chuckled. "Yeah, and look on the bright side! It won't be hard figuring out whose finger belongs to who!"

"Also try getting a job or finishing school if you haven't already," Gabby suggested. "Y'all are really stupid and have really bad luck. You're lucky you caught my sister in a good mood."

The men grabbed their fingers and took off running, presumably in the direction of the nearest hospital, but more likely as far away from the three mutants as possible.

"That was fun," Jubilee said, licking her lips. "I love hanging out with you guys. Wanna ride the subway and see who pisses off Laura next? Fifty bucks says it's another guy with a foot fetish."

Laura shook her head, continuing down the alley as though nothing happened. "Or we could call Kitty and ask her to give us a ride back."

"Dude, I'm already dead, and even I'm scared to get in the same car as Kitty."

Gabby nodded. "I don't feel pain, but I get a little nervous whenever Kitty flies The Blackbird. Flying through solid objects makes me feel weird."

"Kitty's not a bad driver or pilot," Laura said. "She just doesn't respect the laws of physics."

"Wait, you actually got in the car with Kitty Pryde in the driver's seat?" Jubilee said, staring at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Seriously?"

Laura shrugged. "It was during my suicidal phase a few years ago."

"You know, it's really hard to tell when you're being serious and when you're joking."

"Score!" Gabby cried, pocketing the scattered Glock magazines. "They lied about the guns not being loaded by the way. Nine millimeter's nearly up to dollar per round, and being extended mags, this just saved me a hundred bucks. God, I love New York!"

Laura nodded and led them out of the alley. Besides a potential mugger a couple blocks over being smart enough to change his mind at the last moment, the trio went unaccosted for the next couple hours, much to Jubilee and Gabby's chagrin. If Laura was at all disappointed however, it was only because getting shot or stabbed would've given her an excuse to return to The Institute for fresh clothes and a warm shower.

"Temperature's dropping," she said, turning onto Cathedral Parkway toward Central Park and The Institute. "Let's head back."

"If you're cold, Laura," Jubilee said, "all you have to do is say so. I'd keep you warm, but, you know..."

"Alright, I'm cold. You sleep in a freezer and Gabby can't even tell when she's got frostbite. Also, I-I-"

Laura froze mid-sentence, and Jubilee and Gabby glanced back to see Laura staring slack jawed at a large LED screen with a middle aged man's face smiling down at them along with a series of seemingly random numbers.

"What's wrong? You see-" Jubilee's eyes widened and she sprinted beside her. "Shit! Kimura's kill list!" she said, recognizing him from Laura's sketches.

Laura dropped to her knees and Jubilee knelt beside her, shielding her from the LED screen. Gabby meanwhile stood over them, Desert Eagles in hand, scanning for anything she didn't like the look of.

"Laura? Laura! Look into my eyes!"

She nodded, eyes fully dilated with a hint of crimson. "H-help me," she rasped. "P-please..."

"Damn pig's blood!" Jubilee said, pressing their foreheads together. "Go to sleep, Laura. Go-"

*snikt*

Jubilee barely flinched when adamantium claws suddenly thrust through her stomach and out her back, and grabbed Laura's wrists to keep them in place. Her hands shook and tears spilled out, but Jubilee only smiled back at her. "Everything's gonna be alright, Laura. You're not gonna hurt me, and you're not gonna hurt anybody else either. You're going to listen to the sound of my voice and only the sound of my voice."

"Everything in life has strings attached to it!" Laura screamed. "I-I killed her! I killed my conscience! Dr. Kinney! Dr. Kinney! I'm sorry!"

Gabby shook her from behind. "Laura! Snap out of it!"

"I'm sorry, Kimura! I won't disobey again! Please don't hurt me!"

"Laura, go to sleep! That's an order, X!"

Laura's body froze, as did her mind, and she collapsed into Jubilee's arms. She carefully removed Laura's claws and squeezed her wrists so that they'd reflexively retract, a useful trick she'd learned to keep herself from accidently getting decapitated late at night.

She handed Laura to Gabby, dizzy from the mental exertion now that she was back on a low fat, gluten free, Wolverine-free diet of mostly pigs blood.

"Jubilee to X-Men," she said, touching the commlink in her ear. "Apparently Kimura's been buying ads in the city, and activated Laura's programming. Gabby and I are with her. She's safe and unconscious, but we could use an escort back to The Institute. Also-" she frowned, staring up at the LED picture- "I think Kimura might've just given us a lead..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I really like getting to see the more philosophical side of Laura. What separates her from Logan and many other superheroes in my opinion is that she's highly intelligent, and I like the idea of her being highly self-educated, highly contemplative, and the type of person you could have a deep conversation with over a myriad of topics. I like to think that she somewhat embodies the Scottish Enlightenment belief that being around other people with other ideals causes each other to become less "rough around the edges" and more "polished" so to speak. Laura left alone to her own devices is a disaster waiting to happen, but she's a great caretaker and friend, and her friends and family bring out the best in her. She's an introvert, but she's not quite the "lone wolf" that Logan was. Laura enjoys being around other people, but she also needs her space and alone time.

Laura being inspired by "The Adventures of Pinocchio" is an underrated aspect of her character in my opinion. I believe it was in "All-New Wolverine" that we saw a flashback of Sarah reading it to a young Laura, and Laura viewing herself as Pinocchio is just really inspirational to me. Laura spent about seventeen years of her life believing she wasn't "real" and didn't have a soul, but now views herself as a "real girl" with a soul, which only makes everything done to her all that much more horrifying in her eyes. She has a name, she has a soul, she has a family, and she has a purpose. Only problem is that X-23's programming is still there, and so is Kimura.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)