" Nnnnnh." Cessily groaned. She was beginning to slowly wake up from her slumber. The fourteen hours she spent inside her capsule being tortured and electrocuted had made the girl lose consciousness quite a few times.
" Wakey, wakey, miss Kincaid." Harkins chuckled.
" Please..." Cessily begged. "Your name is Harkins, right? Why are you doing this to me? What do you want? Just talk to me." Cessily asked the man.
" What do we want? The Facility I work for is a business, Miss Kincaid. We provide our clients with weapons, in fact, your friend X-23 is one of our best creations." Harkins explained to the girl. " Our current client wanted us to create a very specific item to do a very specific job. He left it to us how to proceed. He did, however, offer to supply us with a single crucial ingredient that was necessary to complete the weapon. Unfortunately, you and your friends killed him before he could deliver us the material." Harkins explained.
" Stryker..."
" Indeed. So that is why we came to collect you, Miss Kincaid. You are the final ingredient." Harkins told the girl. He then stepped to the side and showed Cessily a monstrous and grotesque looking creature. It was made entirely on sinew and muscle tendons and had sharp fangs to boast.
" Oh my God. That thing..."
" Impressive, isn't it? I'm calling it Predator X." Harkins explained. " All it needs now is skin. Your skin."
" Nonononono.... Please don't do this." Cessily begged the man.
" Shhh, it's okay... We don't need all of your flesh and it's very likely you're going to survive!" Harkins happily told the girl. " Which is good, because the creature will be hungry when the bonding process is completed. Fire it up." Harkin spoke. With a touch of a button, Harkins powered up his laser and began sheering off pieces of Cessily's body once more.
Cessily began screaming from the pain once again and her body began to melt down into a puddle of liquid metal.
" All right, begin the bonding process." Harkins told his assistants.
The men quickly collected the samples they obtained from Cessily's body and began melding it onto the creature's body. Covering the muscles with her nearly indestructible skin.
" Hnnn.... help me..." Cessily moaned.
Harkins oversaw the completion of his creature with great excitement.
" Contact Risman and tell him that the creature should be ready for delivery withing the week. And tell him that we went ahead and made M-" Harkins was telling his men, when suddenly the entire facility trembled from an explosion above. " What the hell?!" Harkins yelled.
* ALERT! ALERT! PERIMETER BREACHED! ALL SECURITY PERSONNEL REPORT TO BUILDING ONE!!
" What is going on?!" Harkins asked again. " Report! Some one REPORT GOD DAMNIT!" Harkins yelled over the radio. " Where's Kimura?! KIMURA REPORT! WHAT'S GOING ON Down there?!" Harkins asked again.
" Relax, Harkins." Kimura radioed to the man. " It's Nothing we can't handle." Kimura told the man. She and her soldiers had Ian and Laura surrounded on all sides with their weapons drawn.
" Kill them!" One of the facility soldiers yelled.
" BURN!" Ian growled.
He wasted no time in confronting the armed guards. Unlike Vulcan, who always thought single-mindedly, Ian was more complex with the use of his powers. Why send out one singular blast, if he could make it cover a wide area?
With one loud yell, he sent out a large wave of energy that sent the men crashing away from them. He raised his up into the air and two disks of energy formed in his hands. They began spinning faster and faster and then Ian tossed them right at the soldiers. The two disks of energy began slicing through the men like saws, cutting them in half and eviscerating them.
Laura, in her own way, was completely surprised by how violent Ian was. He hadn't shown her any kind of indication that he had such a violent side to him.
" Hggggggh! Who's next?" Ian asked.
A single small device bounced next to Ian and Laura and a screeching sound wave shot out of it.
Ian and Laura both clutched their ears in pain.
" God, I love it when you people get overconfident. Makes it so much fun when I kick you back in the dirt. But I do have to say I'm surprised, X. Look at you, you got yourself a boyfriend. And... XXX Is that you?" Kimura asked. " How this is so much better. Those senses of yours must be in a lot of pain 30. I've missed you. But priorities am I right? Keep watching Handsome. You won't want to miss this. Welcome home X." Kimura spoke. She grabbed Laura by the hair and lifted her up against a wall. She then took her knife out and jammed it right into Laura's throat.
" LAURA!" Ian yelled. " YOU'RE DEAD!" Ian disregarded the sonic device and blasted Kimura with as much energy as he could, without tiring himself. He sent the woman flying out of the building. " Laura!" Once Kimura was gone Ian flew over to the girl and removed the knife from her throat.
Laura landed on her feet, choking, and panting.
" You... You Should have killed her." Laura told the man.
" I did." Ian replied.
" No... You didn't." Laura told the man.
" Laura, her skin is invulnerable. Even if the blast itself wasn't strong enough to kill her the fall will." Ian spoke.
" No, it won't. The only way to kill her is from the inside. External damage doesn't faze her at all." Laura explained.
" Damn... I knew she was durable... But I didn't think she was completely immune to physical damage." Ian stated. He sighed heavily from his mistake. He overreacted and because of that, Kimura might have gotten away to try and kill them again letter. " What's done is done. We need to find Cessily." Ian told Laura. " And this door is in the way." He walked up to the giant blast doors leading further into the building and punched it down with one heavy swing of his fist.
With the door down, Laura and Ian descended further into the facility where they eventually came to a lab.
" Cess!" Ian called out for the girl as he knocked the door to the room down. And sitting in the middle of the room was a tube with a pile of melted mercury in it, trying to mold itself back into formation. " Oh my God, Cess is that you? Cessily! Talk to me!" Ian yelled. He blew a hole into the container and the metal ran out onto the floor. " Come on, Cess. You gotta come back to me."
" Ian, something is wrong. Cessily's scent is everywhere." Laura spoke up.
" Of course, it is! Look at her!" Ian yelled back. " Come on, Cess. Pull yourself together. You can do it." Ian told the girl.
In the mercury a small puddle of Cessily's head began to form, just barely.
" Ian? Make them stop... Make them stop hurting me, please." Cessily begged.
" I promise they won't Cess. I promise." Ian told the girl. He continued scooping the metal together to try and help the girl form her body, but he was suddenly clawed across the back by a giant metal creature.
" AH! FUCK!!!' Ian cursed. He turned around and punched the creature as hard as he could in the face, knocking it to the ground and stunning it momentarily.
" IAN!" Laura yelled to the boy. She ran up to him and grabbed his back, which was leaking blood.
" Gah! Fuck, Laura." Ian cursed.
" Ian... More than one." Cessily told the man.
Ian looked up and sure enough, there were two more of those creatures jumping down at Ian and Laura.
Ian tried blasting the both of them, but their bodies quickly healed back, thanks to Cessily's metal.
" Fuck! Laura take Cessily and Go!" Ian yelled at the girl.
" But."
" No buts! Just do as I said!" Ian yelled at the girl. He grabbed the two of them and tossed them to the side. " Fuck it!" With the coast clear, Ian turned around and grabbed both Laura and Cessily and started running back the way he came.
" Ian, you're hurt. Put me down, I can distract them." Laura told the man.
" And let you get hurt? No way in hell. I'm not letting another one of my girls get hurt tonight. Not if I have anything to say about it." Ian told the woman. " Hold on, Cess." Ian told the girl. He pulled her close to his chest and then jumped up through the ceiling of the lab to get to the next floor.
" Ian... They took... They took a part of me. My flesh. They need my flesh... Please don't let them take me back." Cessily begged.
" They're not. They won't ever lay another hand on you, I promise." Ian told the girl. " Just hang on. You gotta hold on, Cess." Ian told the girl.
" Ian! They're back!" Laura yelled to the boy.
Ian looked back and saw all three of the creatures chasing after them.
" Fuck! Laura take and Cess and go. I've got this." Ian told the girl. He placed Cessily and Laura down and then turned back to face the beasts.
" But how are you going to kill them?" Laura asked.
" I'll find a way." Ian told the girl.
The first creature to reach the group jumped at Ian with its mouth wide open, ready to strike. Ian saw this moment and took a chance. He stuck his fist inside the creature's mouth and blasted it apart from the inside with his energy.
" See, I got this, now Go!" Ian yelled to the girl.
Laura and Cessily watched as Ian struggled to fight off the other two creatures. Laura was debating whether or not she should go or if she should stay and help. While Cessily, still struggled to keep herself together.
" They took part of me..." Cessily groaned. She stuck her hand out and slowly began to pull back the flesh the dead predator had lost and reabsorbed it into her.
" Damn it, why are you still here?!" Ian asked.
" Not leaving without out you." Laura told the man.
" Laura, I'm not gonna die." Ian told the girl. " She needs you more than me right now. So, please. Get her out of here." Ian told the woman.
Laura nodded begrudgingly and picked Cessily up as best she could.
" Gah! MotherFUCKER!" Ian batted one of the predators down and then used it as a bat to smack the next one away.
This gave Cessily and Laura a chance to run away.
" Come on, Cessily." Laura told the girl. " We're almost there."
Laura carried the girl down the hall of the facility. She was still having trouble keeping herself together so, Laura had to carry her the entire way back, or at least until she could handle walking herself.
The girls had made it nearly all the way back to the front entrance, thanks heavily to Ian and Laura's path of destruction through the facility. But the facility was much bigger than what it seemed and soon enough, Laura and Cessily were surrounded by more armed guards.
Laura came to a stop as the men pointed their guns at her.
" Alright.... Just hold on, Cessily." Laura told the girl. She placed her down against a metal wall.
" La...ura."
" Don't worry. I'll be right back." Laura told the whimpering girl.
Laura turned around and walked back to the armed men, ready to fight and kill each and every single one of them. But even Laura wondered if she could kill each and every single one of them herself, while also protecting Cessily, after all she didn't have the same kind of body that Logan did. He was built to take damage and keep on going. She could take damage but even bullets would slow her down quickly.
Laura popped her claws and prepared herself when the building began to shake. Laura looked up and the roof was pried open by the hand of a giant sentinel.
It was the O.N.E. A sentinel tasked with protecting the Xavier Institute and the remaining mutants, along with Cyclops, Emma Frost, Shadowcat, Colossus, and the rest of the New X-Men.
" X-Men! Take them down!" Scott yelled.
" Santo! Sooraya! Get to Cessily!" Noriko told her two teammates.
Laura felt relieved at the sudden, but thankful, arrival of her team.\
Scott and colossus cleared a path to Laura and Cessily together, allowing Santo and Sooraya to get close enough to them, while the others continued dealing with the soldiers.
" We got Cess! But Laura, Where's Sinclair?" Santo asked the girl.
* Crash!
" Gah!" Ian and the two predator X's came crashing into the foyer. They were both clawing and gnawing on Ian's flesh, trying to drag him off his feet and pin him to the ground. " Get this thing off my back!"
" Hold still, kid." The man piloting the sentinel told Ian. The Sentinels hand raised and fired a blast that knocked the predator off of Ian's back. " Target terminated."
" Thanks! Filthy Mutt!" With his hand freed, Ian smacked the last of the predator's down to the ground hard. He raised his hands over his head and slammed them down on the creature hard. He then jammed his hands into the creature's mouth and tore it half right down the middle. " Heal that back." Ian took a moment to cough and clear his throat. " Those bastards know how to make a fucking weapon, don't they?" Ian asked. The two predators had managed to do significant damage as Ian had been bleeding all over his body from multiple deep lashes, cuts, scrapes, bite marks, and the like.
" Ian!"
" Don't worry, Cess. We're good now. You're good." Ian told the girl.
" Oh, crap Scott. We need Elixir over here now. Sinclair's lost a lot of blood." Kitty told the man.
Ian coughed and let loose a small chuckle.
" Come on, Pryde. I'm fine. Worry, about Cess." Ian told the woman. His vision began to blur, and he started stumbling around like a drunk idiot from blood loss. He fell, but thankfully Laura managed to catch him before he hit the ground.
" Rest. Heal." Laura told the man.
" I..." Ian was going to speak, but the sudden death glare he received from the girl made him immediately second guess himself. " On second thought, you're right... I think I'll see the doctor now, Foley." Ian replied.
... Short time later.
" Well, it looks like everything's been settled. Here you go, Cess. You must be cold. Ian told the woman. He leaned down and handed her a blanket to cover her body.
" No... It isn't." Cessily replied. " One of those things got away, Ian."
" Are you sure about that, Cess?" Ian asked.
" I know. I can feel it." Cessily replied.
" Then, I promise it won't hurt you ever again. They won't." Ian told the girl.
Cessily nodded and then looked out over the horizon to the rising sun. It had been two nightmarish days for Cessily. From being captured to being tortured. But now, it was finally over... Or was it?
" Whatever comes next, we'll face it together. But for now, let's get you home." Ian told the girl. He lifted her up into his arms, wincing a little from the pain and then carried her aboard the blackbird.
...
Epilogue.
After a few days of allowing her to rest, Ian wanted to check in on Cessily, see how she was feeling after everything that happened.
He walked up the stairs to the girl's dorms and knocked on her door before entering.
" Cess? Can I come in?" Ian asked the girl.
" It's unlocked." Ian heard Cessily say from behind the door.
Ian opened the door and Cessily was curled up on a ball on the bed and Laura was beside her.
" Hey, Cess. How are you feeling?" Ian asked the girl.
" I'm fine." Cessily replied.
Her mouth might have said one thing, but from the look on her face, Ian knew better. So, instead of saying another word, Ian walked up to Cessily and hugged her.
Cessily was quiet for a moment, but soon she came to tears. The weight of everything then hit her all at once.
" They hurt me so bad, guys! It hurst so much It hurts..." Cessily cried.
" We know." Ian told the girl.
He and Laura, surprisingly, both comforted the girl, hugging her as she cried. However, neither of them was aware of the woman watching from a distance, lining up a shot from her scope, ready to kill Laura.
" You're dead, clone." Kimura hissed. She was so focused on getting revenge on Laura she failed to notice the presence of the White Queen behind her.
" Do you ever wonder why you take such pleasure from abusing a little girl who cannot hurt you, let alone defeat you?" Emma asked the woman.
Hearing the voice Kimura tried to turn around and shoot Emma, but the woman's body suddenly stopped violently.
" No. I thought not. You'll notice that you cannot move. I've shut down your motor control so that you can listen while I enlighten you." Emma told the woman. " You are a bully. Plain and simple. a product of your past. Being kicked around your whole life by an alcoholic father and an uncaring mother at home, only to find the same waiting for you from your peers in the schoolyard, day in and day out. You were born into a life you did not deserve... A life no child deserves. Someone needs to fill the role of the victim and you played that part for so many... Until your grandmother came to your rescue. She called you her sweet child. She did everything she could to undo the damage everyone else had done. But sadly, she came too late. All the hope and good you held onto was beaten out of you long ago. After your grandmother's heart attack, you found your way to the facility, to the men that could give you what you wanted so badly... Revenge." Emma spoke.
" A hollow prize, but one you begged for. And once you'd gotten the best of those who wronged you, you became the person you hated and feared growing up. And X-23 played the role of your victim. Like you, Laura didn't deserve that horrible life. No child does, remember? But you didn't care. Even though you knew all too well the pain she suffered, you enjoyed inflicting it. You still enjoy it. That's why you are a bully." Emma told the woman.
" Why are you telling me this?" Kimura asked.
" Because today you go back to being the victim. It's a shame the people that perfected your body didn't do enough to safeguard your mind. Memories are quite amazing you know. Did you know no two are the same? Some are woven through the mind and buried deep inside a person's psyche. Laura's programming to trigger scent is like this. No matter how hard I try I may never be able to pull that conditioning from her. Other memories are more like stains that taint the moments around them. Pain, loss, death are normally these memories. They poison the thoughts around them. And then there are those that rise above the rest, these thoughts are the ones that come to us first when we think of those we truly hate and love... Like those of your grandmother," Emma explained.
" No... Wait... What are you doing?" Kimura asked the woman.
" You've taken those that X-23 loved from her, now I'm returning the favor." Emma explained. " And just like that she's gone..."
Kimura looked up at Emma in tears and on the verge of having a panic attack.
" What... What happened?" Kimura asked.
" I've taken your grandmother from you... The only person who ever showed you love and kindness... And in her place, I've left a deep void that will cause you pain for a lifetime." Emma told the woman. She looked down at Kimura as she struggled to find the memory and sneered. " Now before I let you go; I have a mission for you. You're X-23's handler? Now, you will handle your masters at the facility. Every last one of them, beginning with Harkins." Emma explained to the woman. " Now, goodbye Kimura." Emma left the woman alone a broken mess of a woman.
She may not always do the right thing. She may not always be the good guy. But she will always look out for her kids. Each and every single one of them. That is the White Queen. Emma Frost.