stories.htm
Ties That Bind
"Chapter One: The Hunted"
Title:
Ties That Bind: The Hunted (Chapter
One)
Rating: T (what
does this mean?)
Date Written: August 2008
Word Count: 2146
Summary: Part One of
"Ties That Bind". Alone and on the run, hunted by
A.I.M soldiers, Mutant Laura Kinney, also known as
X-23, is once again forced in into a battle of life
and death.
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. |
Chapter
One: The Hunted
It was almost dusk, the deep orange-red glow from the
dying sun could be seen from in-between buildings of
different sizes. Sixteen year old Laura Kinney, also
known as X-23, emerged running as fast as she could,
from a backstreet alley. Dressed all in black, the
teenage mutant glanced quickly over her shoulder as
she rounded corner of yet another small, deserted New
York side street.
Using her enhanced hearing, she counted the running
pairs of heavy-like boots in pursuit of her. Fifteen,
no, sixteen, and by the sounds of it, they were
roughly fifty yards behind - and catching up fast.
They wouldn’t give up either. She’d dealt with A.I.M
before. When they set their sights on a target, their
soldiers will stop at nothing until it’s been taken
down. Their methods were a painful reminder of how she
used to "work", back when she was sent on "missions"
by her creators.
Entering yet another dark alley, her black boots
splashed though a shallow puddle as she ran down its
long narrow path. The teen came to a stop at a six
foot high metal chain-link fence. Catching her breath
she turned to face the mouth of the alley, and
listened. The soldiers were now closing in, their
footsteps getting closer with every second. Turning
back to the fence, Laura balled her right fist.
Suddenly two, six inch metal claws, one situated
between her first and second knuckle and the other
between her third and fourth, burst from her skin. A
small amount of blood surrounded the base of each
claw, where the skin had broke as they popped out.
Laura then ran her claws down the fence, easily
cutting though the chain-links as if they were nothing
but very fine paper.
Seconds later, a bright white-hot light flooded the
scene. Soldiers armed with guns burst into the alley.
The soldier at the front of the group shone his torch
upon the chain-link fence, but the only thing that the
light revealed was the fence itself, with a person
sized hole cut out of the middle. "Damnit!", said the
lead solider, in frustration. Just then, another soldier
pushed his way though his colleagues towards his
commanding officer. "Sir! B team's on the radio.
They've spotted her two blocks away, heading towards
the docks". "Right. Let them know we're on our way",
he answered. "And tell them, to not even think
about loosing her!" he added sharply. He turned back
to the group, "Okay men, lets move!". With that, the
soldiers, in an orderly-like fashion, exited the
alley.
The Docks were unusually quiet tonight, Laura thought.
Alert and keeping to the shadows, the teen crept along
in between the freighters, carefully avoiding the
security spotlights that wavered back and forth
overhead. All she had to do now was get inside a
freighter bound for overseas, wait until it was loaded
onto a boat and she'd be on her way out on the
country. Once out of the country, she'd be just that
little bit safer. And she could forget about
everything that had happened in the last thirty six
hours... or try to forget. That was the general plan,
at least...
Suddenly Laura caught the scent of her pursuers.
Quietly, but as quickly as she could, she moved though
the dock area. Boarding a freighter would now have to
wait, first she needed to loose the A.I.M soldiers.
Sniffing the air, Laura suddenly noticed there now
appeared to be more solders on her tail, one group
coming at her from the west, and the other from the
east. A rough estimate told her that there were
perhaps thirty-five or more men altogether. There'd be
no way to get past A.I.M now. There was only one way
this could play out - she'd have to fight her way past
them.
Her claw's popped on both hands, Laura stood behind a
freighter, her back lent up against its side, alert
and at the ready to attack. The words "draw them in",
were going though her mind. Draw them in, let them get
close, and then strike. Moments ticked by as Laura
stood in silence, waiting for the soldiers to
approach. They were now closing in fast. In fact,
Laura's senses told her that she was now surrounded.
Somehow, they knew her exact location. The time for a
surprise attack had long gone. Laura took a slow, deep
breath, then sprang out from behind the freighter, to
face the array of AIM soldiers waiting for her on its
opposite side.
With a determined expression, Laura stood in a
fighting stance position, staring down her pursuers.
Almost forty or more soldiers stood about ten foot
away, their guns trained on her. The commanding
officer shuffled a couple of steps forward, showing
his leadership, "Don't move X-23!", he raised
his gun slightly, so the little red dot, was now
trained on Laura's heart. "Or, I swear to god,
I'll shoot!", he carried on. His voice was a little
shaky, however, the guy was doing his best to sound
confident. But his actions didn't matter, he didn't
fool Laura for a second, she could smell his fear.
"Now, we can do this the easy way, and no one gets
hurt - or the hard way. Either way, X-23, you're
coming with us", he finished. I don't think so,
thought Laura. "The hard way is fine by me" she
answered. And with those words she charged at the
surprised solider.
However, the solider was more ready for her surprise
movements than Laura had anticipated. As she got
roughly six feet closer, the sound of gun shot rang in
her ears and though the docks. As white hot pain
ripped though her left shoulder, Laura gasped, and
came to a sudden stop. Bullets hurt like hell, but not
usually like this. Laura's right hand flew up to her
left shoulder, covering the wound, as the pain
rocketed though her upper body. She looked up at the
soldier, moments later, her pain turned to anger. In
the seconds that followed, with accelerated speed, she
charged. Now inches from his body, her right hand
claws penetrated the middle of his upper chest.
Laura ripped her now bloody claws from the soldiers
torso, and the man fell to the ground, dead. The teen
looked down at his body for a few seconds, then turned
to look at his colleagues, who's eyes were on their
dead leader, they all seemed to wear shocked
expressions, even though they knew who and what they
where facing. Seconds later rapid gunfire could be
heard throughout the docks, bullet after bullet tore
through Laura's flesh. There was now nothing she could
do except fight back. It was a kill or be killed.
Ignoring the pain that was now searing through her
body, claws raised, the teenage mutant leapt violently
into the fray...
Nightfall was now upon New York. The darkened skies
were heavy and black, but the city itself was lit up
brightly by lights from offices, apartment blocks,
street lamps and headlights. Placing a blooded hand on
the side of an alley wall for support, Laura slowly
walked into the light of a dying streetlamp, located
on the inside wall of the alley. Beaten, bloody, and
exhausted, she leant up against the wall itself for a
moments rest. She was covered with blood, a mixture of
her own and the soldiers’, and her clothes where
riddled with bullet holes. Droplets of crimson liquid
dripped from her wounds. Leaning her head back against
the wall, Laura gritted her teeth, wincing in pain.
Lifting her shirt slightly, she looked down at her
belly and placed her right hand fingertips over a
small bullet wound, about a inch to the right of her
bellybutton, within seconds blood stained her
fingertips. Laura winced in pain again. Braising
herself, she suddenly dug the tips of her thumb and
forefinger into the wound itself, and after a moment
or two, with a sharp gasp of pain and a grunt, she
pulled the bullet out. Panting slightly, she held the
small blood stained, golden object in her fingers tips
and looked at it. Her mind travelled back to half an
hour ago:
Screams of dying men rang in her ears, as Laura
delivered the fatal blow to each and everyone of them
in her path. Her claws, now deeply blood strained, cut
down another A.I.M solder, just as another bullet hit
her in the back. Laura winced. Pulling her claws from
his chest, she spun round to face the solder holding
the gun. She lunged at him, knocking the semiautomatic
from his hands, he stumbled back. Then, looking into his terrified eyes, as
Laura jabbed
her right hand claws into his chest, and her left hand
claws into his gut. The look of intense pain stayed on
his face as Laura ripped away her claws and watched
him fall to the ground. After a brief moment, she
turned away, and once again, began to cut though the
men coming at her with their guns.
Laura threw the bullet to the ground, and again leant
her head back on the wall. One bullet out, she
thought, tons more to go. At that moment, she could
hardly find the strength to move, let alone fish out
any more bullets. She knew she was getting weaker, she
needed to find some place to rest, and fast, before
anyone else tracked her down. She let out a sharp
wince. The bullets lodged in her body where now
causing her a great deal of pain, which seemed to be
intensifying with every moment that passed. Laura
remembered the last time she came face to face with A.I.M. She'd been sent on a search and destroy mission
to one of their bases. Riddled with bullets, she
nearly died that day. Back then, she remembered the
bullets hurting like hell, but this time, they seemed
to hurt a hell of a lot more. And this time, the pain
was different.
Suddenly she heard foot steps approaching, just one
pair. Whoever it was, it was unlikely they where
tracking her, but all the same she had to keep moving.
Even if they weren't after her, she didn't want to
deal with anyone right now. Using both hands to push
herself off the wall, she regained her balance as best
she could and continued to move painfully forward,
struggling with each small step. She knew she wouldn't
be able to get very far, but if she managed to hide in
the shadows within the alley, there was a good chance
that the person approaching would walk past the alley,
leaving her undetected. A Good chance. She hoped...
Crouched behind a couple of trash cans, Laura kept
both eyes on the mouth of the alley, waiting. Laura
felt stupid. She didn't hide. Ever. But she knew,
she'd never be able to take anyone in a fight right
now. The foot steps were getting closer and closer.
She now began to feel very dizzy. She sniffed the air,
nothing. She couldn't catch a scent. What's wrong
with me?, she wondered. At that moment, a dark figure
stopped at the mouth of the alley, then walked a few
steps into it.
It was now obvious to Laura that she'd been wrong,
this person was tracking her. She squinted
though the darkness. Normally, even in the dark, she
would have been able to make out the person in full
detail, but her vision seemed to be fading. She
sniffed the air again, still no scent. But something
about this person rang very familiar. No... it
couldn't be, could it? She wasn't that lucky,
was she? The figure stepped into the light of the
dying street lamp. The light lit up his face straight
away. With difficulty, she stood up and staggered a
few steps towards him. This wasn't real, was it? For a
moment Laura was sure she was hallucinating. There,
standing just a couple of feet away, dressed in blue
jeans and a slightly scuffed black leather jacket, was
Logan.
Laura felt enormous relief wash
over her. "Logan...", she breathed, as she moved
towards him, stumbling with every step. "Hey, kid", he
answered. As she moved into the light of the street
lamp, Logan saw just how beaten up she was. "What the
hell?" he gasped. "Geez, Kid,", he muttered,
quickly moving towards her, "What happened to yer?".
Suddenly Laura's vision began to blur and fade more
rapidly, and the alley and Logan seemed to spin. She
raised her hands to the sides of her head, "I...uh--",
she shut her eyes tightly for a moment, trying to
block out the intense pain that seemed to now cover
every inch of her small frame. "A.I.M... Attacked...", she just about
managed to answer, before swaying, then falling unconsciously
into Logan's arms. |
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