stories.htm
Playing Hero
"Chapter One: An Eye For An Eye"
Title:
Playing Hero: An Eye For An Eye
(Chapter One)
Rating: T (what
does this mean?)
Date Written: February
2009
Word Count: 2694
Summary: Part One of
"Playing Hero". It's been three weeks since Laura agreed to stay in
NYC. Making a fresh start is what Logan wanted
for her, but will her actions land
her in trouble again?
Disclaimer: Marvel/X-Men
characters, established concepts and previous
storylines full credit goes to Marvel, Stan Lee, Craig
Kyle, Chris Yost, and Co. Original storylines credit
goes to me.
Author's Notes:
Please read the first arc to the series titled "Ties
that Bind" before reading this. |
Chapter
One: An Eye For An Eye
Dressed all in black, sixteen year old Laura
Kinney stood in the semi darkness, letting
the late nights wind blow though her hair. From her
position on the roof of a six story building, she
looked down, watching late nights traffic passing by.
Closing her eyes, she listened to the sounds of the
city: motor vehicles and their horns, the foot steps
of pedestrians wondering the streets, their voices as
they talked to their companions, factory machines
working though the night, emergency sirens sounding in
the distance, trains roaring under the streets within
the subway - and then, a scream.
Laura's eyes snapped open, she instinctively whipped
her head in the direction of the scream, and sniffed
the air. Listening once again, she could hear four
pairs of running footsteps, three male and one female.
Catching their scent she could tell they were heading
south-east, towards her. Another scream rang in her
ears, this time it was louder. Laura sprinted across
the rooftop to the opposite side of the building and
looked down. Below was a dirty, darkened narrow side street. Suddenly
the woman came running into view, with her three male
pursuers not far behind her.
Deciding that the woman needed help, Laura sprang into
action. Without a second thought, she leapt from the
edge of the roof top. The wind flew though her and
office floors fell behind as she headed downwards.
Seconds later she hit the ground with perfect landing:
at a crouch, but firmly on her feet, then sprinted
down the street, in the direction of the woman and her
three pursuers.
Susan Jefferson was in her mid thirties, although her
blonde hair and slim yet pretty features made her look
almost ten years younger. By day she was a single
mother to her young son, and by night she was working
dead-end jobs in order to put herself though business
school. She thought of her son at home with the
babysitter, would he be asleep already? She hoped so,
as she was tired and wanted to get to bed herself. She
wondered if she could find enough money in her
apartment to pay the babysitter. It was when she
rounded the first block that she noticed them: three
guys seemed to be following her. Panicking a little,
she quickened her pace - home was six blocks away.
Then, she heard someone call out to her, "Hey,
sweetheart, where are you goin' in such a hurry?". Now
panicking even more, Susan picked up her pace, so she
was almost at a run. Growing up in New York City, she
knew walking the streets alone at night was asking for
trouble, but paying for a Cab just wasn't an option,
she didn't have the money. Susan heard running
footsteps behind her, and knew who they belonged to,
the young woman let out a scream and ran for it.
"Please! Please, don't hurt me..." begged Susan. Moments
ago, the terrified woman had headed down what she
thought was another side street, but in fact it had
turned out to be an alleyway. A dead end. The three
men had continued to follow her, and now had her
trapped. Susan continued to back away from the three
men, until her back brushed up against the brick wall,
she gasped. Her three pursuers continued to stalk
towards her, each of them wearing dark and beastly
expressions.
The tallest of the three, Jack, a dark skinned, well
muscled man, with an almost completely shaven hair
style, stepped forwards a little, the other two,
Eddie, a white, average height, well built blond, and
Tyke, a white, tall, skinny dark haired man, seemingly
flanking him. Susan tried again, "Please, let me
go...". Jack, obviously the leader of the group, shook
his head, "Don't think so, honey" he grinned. His
buddies remained still, as he stalked towards her
again. As he moved forwards he produced knife
from his jacket pocket, Susan gasped. "Please!" she
begged once again, now crying, "I--I have a little
boy... please... let me go!". Jack laughed, and his buddies
followed in suit.
Now just inches from her, Jack spoke, "Does it look
like I care, sweetheart?", he said evilly, as he moved
the knife closer to her face. Terrified, Susan didn't
know what to do next. Suddenly another female's voice
rang though the almost silent alley, "Excuse me", she
said. Susan and the three men jumped a little, and
turned to face the voice. Standing in the ray of a
dying streetlamp, was Laura.
"It seems that you are holding this woman against her
will" said Laura, in a calm tone. "Yeah? And how do
you know that?" spat Jack, "What if she wants to be
here?" he continued. "She does not. She is terrified"
answered Laura. "Let her go", she demanded. At those
words, the three men began to laugh, finding it
amusing that a young girl was giving them orders. The
laughter came to a stop and Jack gave Laura a deadly
stare. "Boys," he instructed, without taking his eyes
off Laura, "Looks like we got ourselves some more
fun". He paused for a moment, before adding, "Grab
her". As Eddie and Tyke stalked towards Laura, the
teen stood her ground, unafraid of the situation.
"You're about to have a bad night, little girl" Eddie
told her. "Yeah, a very bad night", added Tyke.
Eddie was the first to approach Laura, as he was about
to reach out and grab her, Laura launched a hard kick
to his stomach with her right foot. As the winded man
hunched over, she grabbed a hold of the back of his
black leather jacket and flung him into the nearest
wall, he hit it with a smack and dropped to the
ground. Laura turned to Tyke, she looked him straight
in eye. Worried, he took a step back, but not fast
enough. What seemed quicker than the eye to Tyke,
Laura moved for him, her right hand fist connecting
with his jaw. On impact his head flew backwards,
giving Laura the opportunity to grab a hold of the
front of his shirt. Seconds later, just like Eddie,
she sent Tyke sailing into the opposite wall, which he
hit with a hard thud and a shout of pain.
Upon hearing Tyke shout out, Jack turned his
attention from a terrified Susan, to the scene before
him, but in mid turning motion, he was met by Laura's
fist. He staggered back a little, confused, "What the
hell?" he asked, holding his nose. "I told you to let
her go", said Laura calmly, "You did not", she carried
on, "So we fight" she told him. "Fight a little girl?
You gotta be kidding me!" he spat. "Perhaps you will
fare better than your friends" answered Laura. Jack
looked at Eddie and Tyke, both slumped on the ground
moaning in pain. "Freakin' idiot's!" he growled at
them.
Laura moved into a fight stance position. Jack laughed
for a moment, then said,, "Okay, okay, if you wanna to
do this - then bring it!". Jack made the first move,
he lunged at Laura, who just casually side-stepped
him. Jack turned back to face her, a little confused
as to why he missed. With his knife
raised, he charged at her again. As he came within
inches of her, Laura reached out and grabbed him by
his wrists, the man came to a stop. And like his
friends, Laura sent him flying into the wall, hitting
the back of his head against the bricks as he collided
with it, just inches from Susan. He slumped to the
ground in pain. Laura turned to the woman, "Run" she
told her. Knowing she was lucky to be alive, Susan
didn't have to be told twice. At a run, she exited the
alley.
Laura turned her attention back to the three men.
Eddie and Tyke had now recovered and were on their
feet, ready for round two. Extremely pissed off, they
were both staring the young girl down, Eddie about
three meters from the left and Tyke about three meters
from the right, "You've had it, you little bitch!"
snarled Eddie. Seconds later, trying to out smart her,
they both simultaneously charged. However,
Laura was ready, and quicker than them. Popping her
claws on both hands, she flung her arms up and
outwards. Eddie and Tyke didn't have time to stop
themselves, their eyes went wide with shock and pain
as Laura's metal claws penetrated their chests.
Moments later, Laura retracted her blood soaked claws,
and both men fell to the ground, very, very much dead.
Just then, Jack's shocked voice rang though the alley,
"Holy shit! What are you?!" Laura turned to face the
man, his face was deadly pale. Now he was the one who
was terrified. He looked from the bodies of his
friends to Laura's claws. Realising, he pointed at
her, "Wait... I know what you are! You're a mutant! A
filthy mutant freak!". That was enough for Laura, her
claws at the ready, she moved for him, ready to
strike. However, she had not anticipated his quick
movements - Jack thrust his knife upwards, and it
connected with Laura's left hand claws, momentarily
bringing them to a stop. But seconds later, her claw's
cut straight though the knife's blade, thanks to their
Adamantium coating.
"What the hell...?!" breathed Jack, totally confused at
seeing his strong knife cut in two.
Before Jack had time to react to anything else, Laura
buried her right hand claws into his gut. Jack cried
out in pain. "I've watched you. You pray on the weak.
You torment and murder innocent people. For pleasure"
said Laura, in a calm voice. She ripped her claws from
his gut, he cried out. "Now it's your turn to die" she
told him. And with those words, she plunged her left
hand claws deep into his chest. As Laura retracted her
claws, she watched the man painfully fall to the
ground.
Jack looked up at her, he tried speak, but couldn't.
Laura said nothing, her face expressionless as she
watched him take his last breath. After a few moments,
she spoke, "Animal..." she growled, before turning on
her heal, and calmly walking out of the alley, back
into the busy New York night.
Twelve Hours Later:
Logan sat comfortably on the large Sofa in the
Television room of the Xavier Mansion, bottle of beer
in hand. As he had the room all to himself, he decided
to take the rare opportunity to watch a football game.
He was roughly twenty five minutes into the game when
Hank walked in, "Ah, Logan, good, I've been looking
for you", he said in a somewhat urgent tone. Not
taking his eyes off the large Television screen, but
hearing the urgency in Hanks voice, Logan answered,
"Yeah? What crises we got now, Hank?". "I think you
had better
switch to CNBC Local" Hank
answered.
With a huff of annoyance, Logan did so. A brunette
woman in her mid to late forties was reporting live
from the downtown New York, "-- where the bodies of
these three men where found. Moments ago, New York
police conformed a knife wound direct to the heart was
the cause of death to each of these men. A thirty year
old woman is currently helping police with their
investigations into this triple homicide, however, she
is not she believed to be a suspect. A news conference
was held in the last hour". The screen switched
to a typical
conference room full of police and reporters. NYC's
Chief of police, spoke to the media, "New York
City Authorities are currently looking for the
suspect, anyone with any information or who may have
been in the area when the indecent occurred is asked
to get in touch with law enforcements. Thank You". The
picture then moved back to the studio, twin
newscasters sat behind a desk. One of them spoke, "In
others news this morning--".
News report now over, Logan switched off the
television, and turned back to Hank, "Yeah, so?".
"Logan, I've just had word from a contact working on
the case. What police aren't saying, is the wounds on
the victims were caused by a set of twin-like metal
blades - or claws. And a trace of an unknown metal has
been found. Now, my guess,
Adamantium". Closing
his eyes momentarily, Logan sighed. Crap... he
thought. Logan got it, he knew
where Hank was going with this. Laura.
Over two thousand miles away, in the middle of the
Canadian Rockies, set against the snowy white
landscape, stood a large black brick and metal
building. Almost completely covered in snow itself,
the building was conveniently camouflaged by the
mountains and trees surrounding it. Agent Stan
Davidson keyed in his ID security code and made his
way though the building. It had been almost three
weeks since he had completed his last assignment of
planting the substance known as "Trigger Scent" in the
water system of the Xavier Institute, to draw out the
mutant known as X-23.
He had been given leave for those three weeks after,
something his company often did, in case an Agent was
tracked down, or caught. They didn't want to risk
exposure to the company. Stan had been called in to
speak to the Boss. He'd never met him before, not many
agents had. But he had been told the boss was
particularly interested in his assignment, and wanted
the details first hand.
Stan reached his Boss's office, knocked on the door,
and waited. Moments later from inside the room, a male
voice said, "enter". Stan did so. The room was very
dark, the only source of light was that of a small
lamp in the corner of the room, and a laptop on the
desk. "Please close the door, Agent Davidson" said the
man sitting behind a desk, "And take a seat", he
gestured to the chair the opposite side of the desk to
himself. Stan sat and waited as the other man shuffled
a few papers. Through the darkness, Stan could just
about make out the features of his "Boss", he was thin
man, looking to be in his early forties, with short
dark blond hair, and he wore a white lab coat.
Over the next hour or so, Stan was asked to recall
exactly how he played out his "mission". As he told
the tale, his boss seemed more and more pleased with
his work. "Excellent work, Agent. I have been informed
that X-23 has now left the sanctuary of the mutant
school, and was last sighted in New York City. Weather
she is still there, remains to be seen. But we have
our people looking".
Just then, there was a knock at the door, "Enter"
Stan's boss instructed. Stan noticed he looked a
little annoyed at the interruption. A tall dark haired
man, with a short beard entered the room. "Sir," he
began, "We may have a possible sighting of the
subject, X-23". After a moment, Stan's boss stood up,
then looked at Stan, "Thank you for coming in today,
Agent Davidson. We'll be in touch". Taking this as his
cue to leave, Stan stood up, "Yes, sir" he answered,
and left the room. As he was closing the door, he
heard his Boss say, "This had better be good, Kirkman".
Once the door was fully closed, Kirkman continued, "It
seems X-23 may still be in New York. Last night a
triple Homicide took place in the city". Kirkman
watched his boss sit back down comfortably in his
chair. "And how do we know this relates to X-23?".
"We're still receiving information, but the murder
weapon seems to be a set of two metal blades. The
wounds are directly over the hearts of the victims.
And the suspect seems to be teenage female. It reads
X-23's MO". "Yes. Yes, it does" agreed his Boss, with
a an evil-like smile. "Get me everything you
have on this, and I want to know the moment you
have any new information". "Yes sir, Dr. Rice", said
Kirkman, as he left the room. |
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