stories.htm
Ties That Bind
"Chapter Five:
Blood To Blood"
Title:
Ties That Bind:
Blood To Blood (Chapter
Five)
Rating: T (what
does this mean?)
Date Written: November
2008
Word Count: 2884
Summary: Part Five of
"Ties That Bind". With Hank on the case, Logan assures
Laura everything will be okay. But When she suffers
yet another blow, the situation begins to look even
more dire.
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
Five: Blood To Blood
Laura had remained sitting on the porch-swing
ever since Logan had left. To her calculations that
had been approximately one hundred and three minutes
ago. She let out another few coughs. This had become
more regular in the last half an hour. As their echoes
rocketed though her, she winced. Her breathing had
become much more shallow and her pulse was slowly
getting weaker.
This worried Laura, but "scared" was not something she
had ever been permitted to be. As a young child, she
was punished if she ever displayed that kind of
emotion. "Weapons are scared of nothing! If you
show another sign of this emotion, X-23, you shall be
punished! Understand?!", she remembered his warning,
as if it was only yesterday. His viscously cruel smile
haunted her to this day. She had been just four years
old at the time, and four year olds in extreme
training situations such as she had been in, of course,
did get sacred, and as warned, she had been punished
for it.
Slightly shaking her head, Laura pushed the memories
of her childhood to the back of her mind. She couldn't
help it, she was scared. She was experiencing things
she had never done before. Her healing factor had
always kicked in long before now. As part of her
training, she had been taught about the human anatomy,
and the effects of what happened if a person was with
sickness, had been shot, poisoned or otherwise injured
and near death. So she wasn't bind to understanding
what was happening to her. Thus, feeling scared. She
had guessed, and Logan had confirmed that her healing
factor was more than likely no longer working - or
"had gone to hell" as he had put it. Feeling an
emotion she was not permitted to have worried her
somehow. She knew he could not punish her now,
but that didn't stop her from popping a right hand
claw, and cutting into her skin.
Laura shivered. She was getting colder by the moment,
and Logan's jacket no longer seemed to be giving her
much warmth. She decided that she'd better move back
inside the apartment. Slowly rising to her feet, Laura
edged forwards and turned to enter the though the
baloney glass door. Swaying uneasily, Laura steadied
herself by leaning against the wall. In that moment,
she realised that standing up had been the wrong move.
Once again her vision began to fade and the dizziness
came thundering back. Laura knew she had to get
inside... if she could just make it to the sofa. She
tried again - steadying herself as best she could, she
showy made her way though the glass door.
Moments after entering the apartment, an extremely
sharp pain began to continuously rocket though her
body. Laura cried out. Whilst trying to steady
herself, she shut her eyes tight, trying to block
out the intense pain. Then, as sudden as it had come,
it was gone. Laura stood ready for a second burst, but
seconds later, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed
to the floor.
Laura woke to find Logan kneeling over her, complete
with a worried expression. "Kid, are yer alright?".
Laura could feel her entire body shivering,
"C-cold..." came her reply. Logan helped Laura to her
feet and lead her over to the sofa. As she sat, he
reached for the blanket then wrapped it around her.
"What... happened?" she asked, in a shivering tone.
Logan sat next to her, "Was gonna ask yer the same
thing" he replied. Laura didn't respond. "Yer're
burnin' up", Logan observed. "Fever. Common symptom of
Poison" stated Laura. Logan nodded in agreement. "Yer
gonna be okay, kid" he assured her, "Hank's workin' on
it". That shocked Laura. She hadn't expected Logan to
be able to convince Doctor McCoy to help her - and she felt she didn't deserve that help. "No!
No, after what I...", she shook her head, "Why?". "Cause I asked
him to" came Logan's simple reply.
As the next few hours passed, Laura had slowly gone
from bad to worse. The fever had held it's grip over
her and she'd drifted in and out of consciousness
several times. Logan had sat with her, hoping Hank
would call. He had yet to do so. Logan was beginning
to feel beyond desperate now, he wasn't even sure that
she'd make it though the night. He was even
considering taking her to the nearest hospital. Just
as he was weighing up the pros and cons of it, Laura
regained consciousness.
"How yer doin', kid?" asked Logan, in a caring,
but worried tone. Laura, still extremely drowsy didn't
answer, she just looked at him. After a moment, she
spoke, her voice was weak, "I... my hands and feet...
they...", Laura lifted her hands from the blanket, and
both she and Logan were shocked by what they saw: her
hands, wrists and fore-arms were tinged with a red-yellow
type rash with patches of purple-blue showing
though. "Oh no" breathed Logan unable to
keep his shock hidden. He knew exactly
what this was, and his expression was grave. Laura
noticed. "Logan... what's..." she began weakly, but couldn't
mange anymore. Seconds later she drifted
back into her previous state. Logan immediately
reached for his cell and punched in
the required digits. Moments later, with a glance at
Laura as he spoke, sounding desperate, he said,
"Hank, we got a new problem".
I should have known! Thought Logan angrily. He
knew her healing factor wasn't working correctly, so
he should have known this would happen. He'd been
though it himself. And it wasn't pleasant. Well, at
least she's out of it, that's a plus. Logan paced
up and down the room as thoughts ran though his mind.
As he paced, every so often he glanced over at Laura -
who was still laying on the sofa in an unconscious
state. Logan sighed. He wished he could help her. Not
only was she going though the painful sickness of A.I.M's poison, but
since the effect of the poison
had shut down her healing factor, she was now
suffering from metal poisoning also, thanks to her
Adamantium claws.
As she she began to stir, Logan moved back towards her.
He crouched
down in front of the sofa, and waited for a few
seconds before speaking. "You want somthin', kid?
Water?". Laura shock her head. She swallowed before
turning to him. After a few moments she she spoke -
her tone was low and breathless. Logan knew she was
mustering all of strength just to form the words, "I can feel my body rotting,
Logan... I can feel my heart slowing, my... thing's
are slowing down...". Logan didn't know what to say.
He knew she was right. She swallowed again, "That’s what
happens when a person dies. The body just stops".
Before she could say anymore, Logan jumped in, "Hey,
no. Yer're not gonna die, alright? Nobody's dyin'
here". Logan looked into her green eyes, "I won't let yer die". Laura coughed a few times before answering,
"I don't think you have a choice...".
Logan ignored that answer. "Listen to me", he told
her, in a not unkind, but serious-like tone, "Yer
gotta hold on. Yer gotta fight it, Laura. I
know yer can do that. Hank's gonna come up
with somthin', alright?". He could see the teen didn't
look convinced. "He always comes through on this
kinda thing" he told her. "Yer just gotta hold
on, kid" he carried on, almost in a pleading tone.
Laura gave him a slight nod, then moments later slowly
drifted back into unconsciousness. "Yer gotta hold
on..." whispered Logan, desperately, as he watched her
sleep, "I ain't gonna loose yer" he told her.
Another two hours passed. Logan could hear Laura's
heart slowing down more and more as the time ticked
by. Within those two hours Laura had drifted in and
out of consciousness a few times. Logan had done his
best to assure her that she was going to be okay. But
he really didn't know who he was trying to convince
more, Laura or himself. He hated this. He hated
sickness. You couldn't kick the crap out of sickness,
and kicking the crap out of things was his speciality.
It was his way of fixing the problem. Three or four
times he'd nearly put his claws though the wall, out
of anger at the situation. But for Laura's sake, he'd
restrained himself - just. He sighed. "Come on, Hank.
What the hell's keepin' yer?" he muttered to himself.
Just then, as if on cue, at last, his cell rang.
Not wasting time with the pleasantries, Logan jumped
straight to the point, "Hank, tell me yer got a cure?"
he said, as soon the phone line had connected. There
was a silence on Hank's end of the line. After a few
moments, Logan broke it, "Hank?" he asked. "Well, I'm
a afraid, it's more of a theory right now,
Logan"
came his reply. Logan glanced over at Laura, "Whatever
it is, I'll
take it".
Logan watched the dark red liquid flow through the
long thin drip-feed tube, which he had set up between
himself and Laura. An hour ago, Hank had explained to
Logan his theory. He'd came to the conclusion that
A.I.M's poison was manmade, and had been specifically
targeted at Laura's genetic make up. So, in theory,
anyone else coming into contact with the poison would
not be effected. He'd carried on to explain, that in
order for Laura to stand any chance in fighting the
poison, they needed to get her healing factor working.
And the best way they could achieve that was for Logan
to donate his blood. Laura being his genetic clone,
they'd not have to worry about blood type.
"Hold on a second", Logan had said, "Yer just told me
the poison was targeted at Laura's genetics. They made
her outta me. We got the same genetics". Hank sighed.
He really disliked explaining science to those not in
the field, he found it very tiresome and repetitive.
"Logan, Laura may have your DNA, but not your exact
genetic make up, otherwise she would be an exact
copy". That made sense. Logan felt stupid. "Okay, so
what've I gotta do?" he asked. Hank had gone on to
explain that hopefully when Logan donated his blood,
once it was flowing though Laura's body, his healing
factor would start fighting the poison and also, with
any luck, jump start Laura's own healing factor.
Hank had told Logan that his blood alone would not be
enough, as there was a strong possibility that once
his donated blood was mixing with Laura's own, the
poison would still override his heeling factor. He'd
given Logan a list of medical chemicals that when
injected into Laura's blood stream, would suppress the
poison for a few moments, allowing his heeling factor
to take effect, thus beating the poison. He'd given
Logan a few scientific instances to back this up, but
Logan had not been interested. Science really wasn't
his thing. As long as this worked, that's all he cared
about.
So, armed with Hank's list of the chemicals and
equipment he needed, he had stealthily broken into the
nearest hospital's medical lab and storage rooms to
"borrow" (with no intent of returning) the items he
needed. He'd spent longer than he'd wanted to on
locating a couple of the chemicals, but he'd found
them in the end. Then as fast as he could, he'd made
his way back to his apartment, back to Laura. He had
not wanted to leave her alone at all, but he knew he
had no other choice.
So, as Hank had instructed him, Logan injected the
correct measurements of the Medical Chemicals that
he'd taken from the hospital, into Laura. Then set up
the equipment needed to donate his blood. After what
seemed an age, Logan finally disconnected drip-feed
from them both, and placed the equipment on the now
cluttered coffee table. There was nothing more he
could do, but wait. Keeping an eye on Laura, he moved
into the chair adjacent to the sofa and lit up a
cigar. Waiting.
Thirty minutes later, Laura began to stir. Logan
stubbed out his cigar and moved towards her. "Hey,
Kid. How yer feelin'?" he asked, gently. Laura took a
moment to fully awaken herself, then spoke, "Better. I
feel better... I think". She sat up, "What happened?".
"Hank came through, as always" said Logan with a nod
towards the cluttered table. Laura stood up. She was
still uneasy on her feet, but she felt stronger than
she had done since Logan had brought her to his
apartment.
Suddenly a wave of sickness washed over her. She eyed
the kitchen, and as quickly as she could, she made
towards the sink. "Laura?" asked Logan as he followed
her. She reached the sink, and threw up. "Yeah. Sorry,
Kid. Hank said the Chemicals might make yer do that"
said Logan in a sort of apologetic tone. Laura looked
over her shoulder at him, a little shaken and not very
impressed.
A couple of hours later, still feeling uneasy, but on
the whole feeling a little better, Laura had managed
to have a shower and change from her blood-soaked,
bullet-ridden clothes. As she was just walking out of
the bathroom, Logan entered the apartment though the
balcony door. "Hey. Yer look better" he observed.
"Yes. It worked" said Laura. "I'm getting stronger
every moment. I can feel it". Logan nodded. Laura
moved over to her backpack, picked it up, and swung it
over her shoulder. She looked back at Logan, "Please
tell Dr McCoy I am grateful to him for his help.
And... I'm grateful for your help too, Logan". Logan
tensed, he knew what this was, and he didn't like it.
He walked towards her, "So, that's it, huh?" he
sounded a little pissed. "This is goodbye?". "Yes"
answered Laura, "I have to go. I'm better now, and I
have to go". There was now a few feet between them.
"You mean, yer have to run", he said, in that
same pissed off tone. Laura's expression confirmed
that was indeed what she meant. Logan took another
step towards her, and spoke in softly, but seriously,
"Kid, yer run now, and yer’ll be runnin' for the rest
of yer life. Yer want that?". "I don't have a choice!"
Laura told him, almost shouting. "Yer do. Laura, I'm
givin' you a choice. Right here, right now". He
could see she was trying hard not to show her
emotions.
She shook her head, "If I stay in one place, they will
find me! Like they did in San Francisco, like they did
at the school. What makes you think it will be
different if I stay here?". "The difference is", he
told her, "They gotta go though me first".
Laura looked away, she wasn't convinced. "Look, I
messed up, alright? I said I’d protect yer, and I
didn’t". She looked back at him, "I’m not gonna
let that happen again", he promised. "It's not just
The Facility that are after me. It's S.H.I.E.L.D,
A.I.M. Because of what they-- what he,
made me do, I'm wanted throughout the country, and the
world".
After a few moments he Logan said, "Yer think I don't know that? I can handle
S.H.I.E.L.D. As for the rest… we come across a
problem, we handle it". He took
another step towards her, "We all gotta stop runnin'
at some point, kid. I did. And so do you". He let his
words sink in. He wasn't going to force her to stay, but he'd do everything he could to persuade her
to. After what seemed too long, Laura came to a
decision, "I want to stop running" she told him. "So
stop", he answered.
Her dark hair blew in the wind, as she stood on the
rooftop's edge of Logan's eight story apartment block,
looking over at the city. Bright lights shown in every
direction, and late night city life sounds roared in her ears.
With a deep sigh, Laura thought about what the last few days had
brought. Yet again, her creators had turned her life
upside down, yet again they'd caused her to murder
those she had come to care about, And yet again, she'd
had to start over. She wondered if it would always be
this way, if she'd ever be able to stay safely in once
place. She really, really wanted that.
Laura's thoughts turned to Logan. How he'd tracked her
down, gone out of his way to help her, and, well,
saved her life. And how he didn't blame her for what
happened. That, she wasn't sure if she was thankful
for or angry about. But she knew she had a lot to
thank him for. She thought about what living here
would mean. Yes, she'd been bitterly angry with him
for leaving her at the school, when he'd promised so
many things on her arrival, but that anger was now
fading. Here with Logan, she felt just a little bit
safer. She didn't constantly have to be on full alert,
she could catch her breath, she could sleep. But would
it last? It seemed too good to be true. It always was. |
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