stories.htm
Ties That Bind
"Chapter Two: Bad, Bad Memories"
Title:
Ties That Bind: Bad, Bad Memories (Chapter
Two)
Rating: T (what
does this mean?)
Date Written: August 2008
Word Count: 3305
Summary: Part Two of
"Ties That Bind". When tragedy strikes at the the
Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, Laura is forced
to leave behind the one place that she's called
"home".
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
Two: Bad, Bad Memories
Thirty Six hours ago - 8am:
Stan Marlow, a dirty blond, short-haired man, with stubble around his chin - almost resembling a beard,
and looking to be in his late twenties, pulled into the
tall, black, but not unfriendly looking Iron gates of
the Xavier Institute. He drove the van a few yards
along the stony driveway and brought it to a stop just
feet from the large double oak front doors, then cut
the engine. Clipping his personnel badge to the chest
pocket of his dark blue overalls, he checked himself
in the minor, then taking a depth breath, he opened
the door and stepped out onto the rough stony
driveway.
Unlocking, and sliding back the vans side door, Stan
reached in and a few moments later emerged again with
a heavy looking steel type toolbox. Just then the
large oak doors to the school opened and a tall, brown
haired man, roughly in his early to mid thirties
stepped out onto the stone porch. The first thing Stan
noticed about this man, was that he wore Ruby tinted
shades. This was one of the Mutants he had been
briefed on. They called him Cyclops, although Stan
wasn't sure why.
Stan slid the door to his van closed and locked it,
then shoved his keys into his pocket. With a friendly
smile towards 'Cyclops', who was now walking down
the stone steps towards him, Stan thought about the
task as to why he was here. The two men met, and
'Cyclops' offered his hand, "Welcome to the Xavier
Institute, I'm Scott Summers, co-headmaster of the
school". Stan shook his hand and replied, "Stan
Marlow, Winchester Water Repair". "Right then, Mr.
Marlow, if you'd like to follow me, I'll show you to
our, er... problem" said Scott in a friendly tone. He
lead the way across the drive way, up the stone steps
and into the school, with Stan following closely behind.
Sixteen year old Laura Kinney sat on the end of her
bed, slipped her right boot onto her foot, and began
to tie the laces. Moments later, her roommate,
seventeen year old Sooraya Qadir, emerged from their
bathroom. "Good morning, Laura. I shall be going to
breakfast soon, would you like to join me?". "No,
thank you, Sooraya". "Oh, alright. Perhaps tomorrow,
then?" asked the Muslim, as she lifted her niqab from
her shoulders and applied it to her face.
"Maybe..." answered Laura, standing up. "Are you going
out?" questioned Sooraya. "Yes" replied Laura. "By
yourself? Again?" asked Sooraya, in a concerned like
tone. "Yes" came Laura's usual non-committal short
reply.
The Afghanistan teen paused for a few moments, then
gently said, "Laura, please do not take offence, as I
do not mean to pry, but, why do you, as they say here
in America "hang" by yourself so often? I thought
Mister Logan wanted to you make friends with the
students?". "Logan isn't here. He left" said Laura,
not bothering to hide her bitterness. Sooraya
acknowledged
Laura's tone. She studied the teens green eyes: there
may be bitterness there, she thought, but at the same
time she could clearly see sadness as well. "He will
be back soon, I am sure" reassured Sooraya. Laura
didn't answer for a moment, but then muttered, "I'm
beginning to really not care". That was a lie. In
truth, Laura really missed him. She was angry that
he'd left the school without telling her, but it just
didn't feel like home without him. She was still
adjusting to her new life, and she need him.
"Laura... I do not believe that is true..." said
Sooraya. Laura sighed, she tucked a stray wisp of her
shoulder length black hair behind her left ear. As she
thought of Logan, and his abrupt leaving, anger
rose inside again. She shook her head slightly and looked
into the Muslim's dark brown eyes, "Believe what you like, Sooraya..." she responded angrily. "I'll see you
later"
she continued in a more friendly tone. She crossed
the room, opened the door, walked out, closing it
behind her.
"You see," begin Scott, as he lead Stan into the
school grounds, "we usually fix these little problems
ourselves, but as we needed our water supply yearly
review - I thought that
Winchester Water could take care of both matters".
"Yes, sir, certainly" replied Stan. Scott came to a
stop at the side of the main building, where the main
water supply pipes were housed. "As you can see, the
leakage in quite severe" said Scott. The pipes had
been broken in several places, and bound with thick
towelling. "Gosh, what on earth did this?" questioned
Stan. "Er... We're not quite sure, I'm afraid"
lied Scott. He wasn't about to tell the man that one
of his Mutant students was responsible. "I trust you
have everything that you need?" continued Scott,
changing the subject. "Yes, I think so" replied Stan.
"Fantastic. I'll leave you to it then". Stan gave a
nod, then Scott turned and walked back the way they
had came. Once Scott as out of sight, Stan opened his
toolbox and got to work.
Thirty Four hours ago - 10am:
Laura had been perched high up on a tall Oak Tree,
situated near the school's lake, for almost two hours
now. She liked it here. It was quiet, peaceful, and
far away from everyone else. About fifty yards away
she watched a group of teens playing on the basketball
court. Josh Foley, Julian Keller, Victor Borkowski and
Santo Vaccarro, the other four, three girls and
another guy, she didn't know. She knew Logan wanted
her to interact more with the other students, to make
friends, and she had done. But since Logan's leaving, she just didn't feel very comfortable
around them anymore, and if asked, she honestly
couldn't give an answer as to why. She often felt fear coming from
most students when she walked into the room, this had
increased ever since Logan had left the school. She hated that she was feared by them, but
she understood why they felt that way. She knew that
some of the students knew about her past and she knew
that they knew if something did go wrong, out of
everyone in the school, it was perhaps only Logan who
might be be able to subdue her.
There were a couple of students, however, who seemed
to generally want to be friends with her. Cessily
Kincaid and her roommate Sooraya. A part of her wanted
to be friends with them too, and again, like with the
other students, she had tried, but since Logan had
gone, she just
wanted to be left alone. "People need people, Laura"
Logan had told her, not long after she'd arrived at
the school almost ten months ago. Well, Logan's gone
now,
thought Laura, so why should I act on anything he
had to say? "It's easier on your own", Laura muttered
to herself.
When you're on your own, it's just you. Nobody to make
you promises, and nobody to take off on you.
Suddenly, she heard someone calling her name. "Laura!
Hey, Laura!". She looked down towards the ground,
standing below was Julian Keller, basketball in hand.
Moments later, using his mutant ability, telekinesis,
he levitated up to her level. "You wanna come join us
for a game? We're one player short". "No thank you,
Julian" replied Laura. "Aw, come on!" he tried to
convince. "Being up here by yourself", he shook his
head, "not healthy". He gave her a kind smile. "No
thank you, Julian" she repeated. He sighed. "Okay,
okay. Don't say I didn't offer...". And with that, he
was gone.
Julian Keller. There was something about him, Laura
thought. Lately, he had been... nice to her. He was
different from most of them. Although, she could smell
his fear when he approached her, for some reason, he
seemed to try and hide it. And Laura wasn't sure if
that was a good thing or not. As she watched him
tossing the ball to the other teens, emotions began to
run through her. The kind of emotions that she wasn't
used to. Emotions she was never permitted to have as a
child. Emotions she didn't understand. She felt as if
she could watch him for hours, she felt as if the
fifty yards between them wasn't close enough. Moments
later, she smelt the familiar scent of blood. Her
blood. Looking down at her left arm, she noticed that
using one of right claws, she'd cut two "X" like
shapes into her skin. Retracting her claw, she watched
the two inch wounds bleed, knowing they would heal
within minutes, leaving no trace of a scar, thanks to
her enhanced healing abilities.
Thirty Two hours ago - 12pm:
It had taken
Stan just over two hours to fix and replace the broken
pipes. He now had one task left to complete. The real
task as to why he was here. He wasn't Stan Marlow
working for Winchester Water Repair, that was his everyday
guise. He in fact was
Agent Stan Davidson, and he worked for a company only
known as The Facility. Carefully, he removed a test
tube, filled with a green clear-like liquid, from a
hidden compartment in his toolbox. This liquid was
known as "Trigger Scent".
Stan had never met the mutant he had been sent to
Target. He had been briefed on her and on the Trigger
Scent. He'd been told she was known as X-23. He had
been given her basic history and was told she was
extremely dangerous and not to engage. He had also
been briefed on the Trigger scent itself. He'd been
told it was a chemical compound,
created by Dr. Zander Rice, former Genetics Head
of the Facility.
Designed to control X-23, the effects of scent would
send her into an involuntary berserker rage, when
smelling its presence, violently killing those it was
planted upon.
Carefully undoing the stop on the top of the test
tube, Stan poured the liquid into one of the main
water pips, effectively contaminating the whole water
supply of the Institute. The liquid itself would not
do any harm to those who drank from or showered in it. However, it was hoped when X-23 smelt the scent
upon those in the school, they'd soon become her
victims. Stan had asked why this needed to be done.
The answer he received was simple. They wanted to draw
X-23 out. They wanted to take those she cared about
from her. They wanted her away from the school and
alone, so they could put the next step of the
re-capture plan into action, and then strike.
Stan had just reached his van as the oak doors to the
front
the school opened. Scott once again came down the
stone steps. For a few moments Stan was tense. Had
something gone wrong? Had be been found out? "Ah,
Mister Marlow" said Scott, has he approached him.
"Everything went smoothly, I trust"? carried on
the Headmaster.
"Yes, Sir. Everything's fixed and seems to be in
working order" smiled Stan, as he opened his van door.
"Wonderful. If you could have your company send us the
invoice, that would be great" replied Scott. "Will do.
Mister Summers" said Stan. Scott gave a nod and headed
back up the stone steps and into the school. Stan
breathed a silent sigh of relief, then got into his
van, closed the door and moments later started the
engine.
Once he had driven a good few miles from the School,
Stan brought the van to a stop at the side of the
road, then reached for his cell phone. He quickly
punched in the required digits and held the cell to
his ear. "Ah, Agent Davidson," Came a voice from from
the other end of the line, "I trust you are calling to
confirm everything went according to plan?". "Yes,
Sir. The Trigger Scent is in now place" Stan replied.
"Excellent!" exclaimed his boss, "Good work. Now we wait.
We will discuss this further when you
return". "Yes Sir" said Stan. Then the line went
dead. With his task now fully complete, Stan replaced
his cell phone on it's cradle and continued on down the
highway.
Thirty hours ago - 2pm:
For the last half an hour, Laura could small scents of different types of food coming from the main
building, more
specifically the Cafeteria. She'd decided to
remain sitting high up in the oak tree and wait for
the for most of the students to finish their lunch,
before entering the Cafeteria herself.
Laura pushed open the main Cafeteria doors, there were
perhaps twenty or so students and members of the X-Men
(who doubled up to teach the kids in the
school), eating their lunch.
Good. The room isn't crowded, thought Laura. She
made her way further into the large room, then suddenly came
to a dead stop. She stiffened and sniffed the air.
Then, everything went black.
Seven minutes later - 2:07pm:
Suddenly the world around her came rushing back.
Laura found herself standing in the middle of the
Cafeteria. She surveyed the room. It was totally
trashed. Amongst the overturned tables and chairs, at
least two dozen people, lay covered in blood. Most
of them dead, the rest lay dying. Laura looked down at
her hands, her claws were popped and it was then she
realised, she was covered in blood. Then it clicked.
She had done this. It had been Trigger Scent which set
her off.
"No. No..." muttered Laura, shaking her head, not
wanting to believe what had just happened. She looked
around the room, recognising some of the dead. Nick Gleason, David Alleyne, Ruth Aldine
and Shan Coy-Manh. The others she
did not know. Suddenly the main Cafeteria doors burst
open. Laura swung round to see standing before her were
the X-Men: Scott Summers, Emma Frost, Hank
McCoy, Kitty Pryde, Piotr Rasputin, Warren Worthington
and Sam Guthrie. Behind them
stood many of the other Students: Noriko Ashida, Josh
Foley, Julian Keller, Victor Borkowski and Santo
Vaccarro, but to name a few. Laura watched them as they
all looked on in horror at scene before them. Then, Laura did the only thing she could think of.
Something she rarely ever did. She ran.
It had been ten minutes since Laura had crashed
through one of the Cafeteria windows, sprinted across
the School grounds and into the woods beyond. For the
first time in her life, Laura didn't know what to do
next. Should she go back, try to explain? Her tactics
training took over. No, they'd attack her. After all,
she'd just murdered over two dozen people the X-Men had
sworn to protect.
She thought of Logan... She wondered if he'd been
here, would he have been able to stop her? Flashes
shot though her mind. She saw her claws striking those
she'd killed. She saw their terrified faces, and the
sounds of their screams rang in her ears. She covered
her head with her hands "Stop! Just stop!" she pleaded
to herself. She tried to compose herself. What would
she do now? There was nothing for it, she decided,
I have to run. - But first, she needed her
personal items, which included the locket that her
cousin Megan had given her almost two years ago: it
contained a photo her mother and a photo of Megan
herself. There was no way she was leaving without
that.
Silently Laura crept across the grounds and headed for
her dorm window. There was no way she would risk
trying to get back inside the main building. They'd
almost certainly be looking for her. Sense told her
that this was stupid. Going back for the locket was a
fools plan. It was an enormous risk to take, she could
easily be caught. But it was her locket. Megan's
locket. It was worth it.
Her dorm was on the second floor of the
south wing - third window from the left. Laura reached
the bottom of the building and looked up at her
target. Good, the window was slightly ajar, she would
not have to brake it, which could attract unwanted attention.
Laura popped her claws, both on her hands and feet,
then digging them into the brickwork, she began to
climb.
Laura had just made it though the window and into the
dorm, when a transmission came over the schools radio
network. "All students and staff report to the
auditorium, immediately! We have a situation!" came
Scott Summer's somewhat desperate voice. For a moment
the sound of Scott's voice had brought her to a stop,
but she soon snapped out of it. She grabbed her black
backpack from under her bed and quickly began to open
draws and shove everything into it. Moments later, she
was zipping up the bag when the bathroom door opened.
Sooraya stepped out. Laura gasped. Too focused on what
she was doing, she'd hadn't noticed her roommate had
been in the bathroom.
Fully dressed, but with her hair soaking wet, Sooraya
eyed Laura with her now loaded bag. "Laura, are you
going somewhere?" she asked. Laura was totally
confused. Sooraya was acting normal, as if nothing had
happened. The Muslim studied Laura's expression,
"Has... has something happened?" continued Sooraya.
Could it be that she didn't know, thought Laura. "I...
the Cafeteria... I--I didn't mean to--" began Laura,
before coming to a sudden stop. She paused, and
sniffed the air. Popping her claws, her glance fell
back on the Afghanistan teen. Then, again, the world
went black.
Once again, the world came rushing back to her, and
the first thing Laura smelt was blood. Her claws were
popped and her hands were covered in the red liquid - a mixture
of her own and someone else's. Laura's gaze soon fell
on someone laying at her feet - Sooraya. She unlike
the other students, the Afghanistan teen wasn't
covered with blood. She had just one wound in the
middle of her chest, over her heart. Realising what
had happened, horror struck, Laura retracted her
claws, and dropped to her knees. "No... No! Not
you..." gasped Laura, her eyes met Sooraya's. The
girl
coughed, and as she did so, a trickle of
blood escaped her lips and ran down the side of her
mouth. "Sooraya, I--I didn't mean-- I--it was
Trigger Scent" Laura desperately tried to explain. She
pressed her hand over the Muslim's chest wound, trying
to stop the bleeding, but in reality she knew this
would do no good, her claws had penetrated the girl's
heart - which was now slowing.
A single tear ran down Laura cheek, "Sooraya, why
didn't you stop me?! Why didn't you use your power?!"
she cried. "Was not expecting... Too-too fast..."
croaked Afghanistan teen. She coughed again. Then just
moments later, Laura felt the last beat of the dying
girl's heart. A deafening silence filled the room. No
beating of Sooraya's heart or the sound of her breath.
"Sooraya...?" asked Laura, almost in an echo-like
tone. Silence... Sooraya did not answer her. She was
dead.
Laura swallowed. "I'm sorry..." she whispered. She
forced herself to stand up, never taking her eyes off
Sooraya. She looked down at her dead friend for a few
more moments. Tears welled in her eyes, then ran down
her cheeks. She thought about why this had happened.
The answer, she knew, was simple. The Facility had
found her once again. They'd done this, they'd forced
her murder yet again. Someday I'll face them.
Someday I'll make them pay for this, Sooraya,
promised Laura. Suddenly she heard footsteps. Not
stopping to find out who was about to enter the room,
Laura grabbed her backpack, and at a fast run, she
dived head first out of the window. |
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