"The quick fox jumped over the lazy dog!" Kenna read excitedly from the chalkboard. It was late, and the area of the library they were holding class in only had enough light to illuminate the learning material being presented.
"Very good Kenna!" said an almost equally excited teacher with long red hair and an abnormally cheery disposition, "And as much as I am glad you've decided to join our class today, perhaps you can let one of your fellow classmates try the next one." Kenna looked around at the menagerie of Morlocks barely paying attention around her. Except for Franny, who was giving her the angry eyes.
"What?" whispered Kenna, as the teacher wrote a new phrase on the board.
"Why are you here? This is our class," Franny whispered.
"Yeah why does this class take place so late?"
"Take a wild guess."
"You're all secretly vampires."
"I hate how wild of a guess that was and yet not so far from the truth."
"Really?"
"I mean, we're more active at night. And I always thought that one back there might just be a vampire hiding out within our tribe."
"Oh is he cute?" asked Kenna, trying to peer into the dark behind her.
"Not a 'he'."
"It never is."
"And not so cute," A Morlock from the back screeched in protest. Franny turned around and screeched back at her.
"Franny," said the teacher calmly.
"Yes Jean?" Franny quickly turned back around.
"Would you please be so kind as to not distract your fellow classmates?"
"My bad, won't happen again."
"And if you would, as I've asked before. I'm happy to go by Jean while we're working together, but while I'm teaching please call me Ms. Grey."
"Will do, Ms. Grey." Kenna followed suit.
"What was that?" she whispered.
"She's on blue team," whispered Franny.
"So?"
"It's complicated."
"Like she's your dead mother from the future complicated?"
"No? Nothing like that," Franny tilted her head, "How, how would that even work? How could she be my mom from the future? And, she's also dead at the same time?"
"No, she was dead before she came back from the future."
"How?"
"I don't know, it's complicated."
"Time travel ruins everything."
"It does, doesn't it."
"It's a good thing that's not really a thing."
"Yup just the aliens, magic, and mutants."
"And nothing else." They both looked at each other nervously.
"Can anybody read this sentence to me?" asked Ms. Grey pointing at the freshly chalked board.
"Oh! I know this! There once was a woman who lived in a shoe!" yelled Kenna excitedly.
"That's very good! You have a very impressive grasp on reading the English language."
"Thank you!"
"But perhaps we can let the others have a chance to match your skill level?"
"Sure!"
"Kenna, this is embarrassing," whispered Franny.
"What? I love this class. I actually know the answers. I've never been more engaged."
"Okay, can anybody else read this sentence for m-"
"Kenna do not read this aloud!" Blurted Kenna proudly. Some in the class snickered. Kenna was embarrassed, but refused to relinquish her prideful posture. Until she was raised slowly into the air seemingly without reason. "Ah! What's going on!?"
"Oh my goodness. What precocious scamp is slowly, but safely, raising Kenna to the ceiling where she can't see the board?" said Ms. Grey with open hands pressed against her cheeks.
"Ah! That's oddly specific. Ah!"
"Seriously you guys. This is very immature. Stop it right now."
"Ah! This is as cool as it is terrifying! Ah!" Her ascension finally stopped. With her back pressed against the ceiling she could do nothing but stare down helplessly at the class below her.
"I'm sorry Kenna. We'll get this straightened out after class. Until then just hang in there."
"It's okay! I can still kind of see the board from up here!" She was immediately flipped over.
"Can you see it now?"
"No, not anymore, no."
"Can you still breathe?"
"Yes."
"Ms. Grey," said Franny.
"Yes, Franny," said Jean.
"My shift is about to start. Can I go ahead and get ready for it?"
"Will you take Kenna with you?"
"Uh, I guess."
"Then you may, after you read this next sentence on the board," she said, crafting a new phrase.
"Stay…away…from…Ms. Grey I'm having trouble pronouncing that last word."
"Sound it out."
"I wouldn't know where to begin."
"Think, it starts with an 'S'."
"I'll work on it next time."
"That would be great. Please hold out your arms." Franny caught Kenna as she fell from the ceiling. At least in the same way that the Earth catches meteorites from time to time. After much groaning and gathering of things they left their place of learning. Automated lights awakened throughout the hallways until Franny stopped at an elevator.
"What are you doing?" asked Franny.
"I'm going with you?" said Kenna sheepishly.
"You should probably get some sleep."
"You say that but you'd be surprised how much you can get done when you don't."
"You're not allowed where I'm going."
"Where are you going?"
"To start my shift, doing night surveillance."
"Sounds boring, need a surveillance buddy?"
"Already have one."
"Well, with three this could be a surveillance party?"
"No, goodnight Kenna. I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow." she said entering the elevator. Kenna placed her hand between the closing doors forcing them back open.
"Please."
"Kenna this is sad."
"I know, I know it is. But I really don't want to be alone right now."
"Does this have anything to do with Danielle?"
"No?" Franny squinted her eyes, "Yeah."
"Uh, get in."
"Really!? I thought I wasn't allowed where you're going?"
"There's a whole escort system. I'm not sure if it applies to the green team, but I guess we'll find out."
"Yay!" she said, getting in the elevator. With all the obstacles removed the doors closed behind them.
They both had been under the school before for one reason or another. Their reflections twisted and danced across the walls of the somehow both futuristic and yet retro décor. The more time that passed the less Kenna recognized. The chrome on this side of this facility even appeared darker somehow then it was near the beginning of their journey. It was hard to tell whether it was from the dim lights or neglect.
"What is this place?" asked Kenna as they crossed the threshold into a monitor heavy room.
"A surveillance room."
"So you're going to be looking at cameras all night?"
"What did you think I meant when I said surveillance duty?"
"I imagined you flying around peeking into people's windows."
"And what part did you think you were going to play in that?"
"I was secretly hoping you'd be flying me around letting me peek inside the windows for you?"
"That would be exhausting and inefficient."
"Well, this sounds boring and less whimsical."
"It usually is. Hey can you turn around real quick I got to change into my uniform."
"Here?" Is there not a bathroom anywhere down here?"
"I need to keep an eye on the cameras. Just turn around."
"Fine."
"Oh, and can you unpack my duffle while I'm changing. Since you're here."
"Sure?" The contents of the bag proved to be as unusual as the request, for the bag only contained several items but one stood out in particular. She found Laura, daughter of Logan, curled up in a ball staring at the warm glow of a smartphone. Kenna jerked backwards.
"Why is lil stabby in your bag!?"
"Don't turn around you freak! I'm still changing over here!" Kenna whipped back around.
"My question still stands!"
"Did she stab you?"
"No!? Not yet."
"You're welcome."
"What did you do to her?"
"I gave her a phone."
"Why does that mean anything?"
"Kids love phones."
"I mean, I guess."
"Also she was grown in a lab as a living weapon where she probably didn't get much stimulation."
"That's so sad."
"Not as sad as when they tortured her to get her mutant genes to activate early so they could give her the adamantium treatments."
"What's adamantium?"
"Metal, she's filled with metal. Very strong, very sharp metal."
"Oh! You poor baby!" Kenna went in for a hug without thinking. Laura let it happen.
"That's new."
"Franny look! She's not stabbing me!"
"I see that."
"I got through to her!"
"Or she is so distracted by whatever she's doing on the phone she doesn't even register what's going on around her."
"I'm great with kids!"
"When you're done lying to yourself you can place her anywhere."
"I'll never let her go!"
"Well, that's going to make doing my paperwork very difficult."
"Why would I be doing your paperwork?"
"Cause if you don't I'm going to kick you out." Kenna snaked a free hand back into the duffle bag.
"How am I supposed to fill this out?"
"With a pen? Or pencil I guess. They're not picky. Crayon is probably out though."
"Do you even have a social security number?"
"I've thought about it for a while and I think I'm going to go with three."
"Three what?"
"That's my social security number, three."
"You need a few more numbers."
"Ugh, okay give me a minute."
"You don't get to pick them!"
"Well where do I get these numbers!?"
"The government gives them to you!"
"Okay! Well, get to it then!"
"What?"
"Call them, and get my social security number."
"I don't think that's how it works Franny."
"Do you have one?"
"Yes?"
"Then put yours down."
"No!"
"Why not!?"
"It's mine!"
"So!?"
"And I don't know it off the top of my head."
"Why are you so useless?"
"Is there anything else I can do?"
"No, just sit there and be quiet. I'll think of something."
"There's a coffee pot over there. Can I make some?"
"Will it make you more useful?"
"It will keep me awake. Which is useful."
"Go ahead."
With the go ahead from Franny Kenna went about her craft. She wasn't well practiced in many things, but care and preparation for the caffeinated beverage was something she was quite familiar with. Even with the abused equipment and substandard ingredients she managed to create a passable pot. It wasn't until she was about to take her first sip did notice she had left the water on. The sound of it kept her from committing to the warmth of her cup. She tried to ignore it, to think of anything else, but nothing would come to her until it was addressed. The intention was to turn it off, but she couldn't help herself. She wanted to see. To watch the skin drink again. To make sure she was still there.
Water washed over the palm of her hand. The sensations she had now felt less like an alarm and more like a cozy blanket wrapping around her body. It was almost euphoric until the bracelet went to work. She pulled her hand back, as if an animal had bit her. She rubbed the area until the mixture of pain and hot steam dissipated. There was no reaction from the others. Franny was still figuring out the camera system and Laura had stayed glued to her device. She could have left it at that, and nobody would have said anything. However, knowing exactly what was in store for her, she plunged her hand in again.
The pain was excruciating. It became so intolerable that she had to force her hand into the stream. A humid cloud was now overtaking the room. It poured not only from her wrist but from her clenching teeth. She has never asked anything from her mutation. She had never needed to. It was always generous with what it gave, but now. She wanted more. Franny threw a chair at her knocking her to the ground.
"Ow!" Yelled Kenna. She looked around for her assailant but the fog was so thick it obscured everything.
"What the fuck are you doing!?" Yelled Franny from across the room.
"I was just washing my hands!"
"Try again fuckface!"
"How!? Just how!? You can't even see me! Is it my voice!? Is there a stutter I'm not hearing!? How do you and everybody else know when I'm lying?"
"You told on yourself idiot!"
"When!?"
"Just now!"
"Fuck!" Franny popped her wings fluttering them enough to clear the fog. When it was sufficiently cleared she grabbed Kenna by the arm and shoved her in a seat.
"Talk."
"Can I grab the coffee first?"
"No."
"But it's going to get cold." Franny grabbed the coffee cup, poured it back into the pot, and drank the whole thing in front of her. "No! You don't even like coffee!"
"Talk!"
"How was it?" Franny popped her claws. "Fuck! Fine! I was trying to break it!"
"Your inhibitor? Why? I thought you liked it. I thought you wanted it!"
"I did! I did! It was a nice gift. I'm sure Forge worked really hard on it. But now I hate it and would like it taken off please."
"You fickle bitch!"
"Don't you fickle bitch me! Why would they shackle my mutation like this if they want me to learn how to use it!? Wasn't that the whole reason they let me come here!? It doesn't make any sense!"
"It's not a shackle! It's a training device."
"Explain."
"Your inhibitor can be adjusted to allow for a certain amount of slack. This way we can set the ceiling without worrying about you losing control."
"Oh, cool, how do I get it adjusted?"
"We need to talk to Scott about it. He knows where the key is."
"Good to know. Where's his room?"
"What if it broke Kenna?"
"Hm? Beg pardon?"
"What if you had broken your inhibitor? What was the plan after that?"
"I would have stopped before anything happened."
"I just don't think you realize how many red flags have been planted in you right now."
"Can't be that bad? I mean, I'm still here right?"
"Some are tossing around the idea of making you 'not here' anymore."
"But, I'm trying."
"Trying to scare everyone?" Kenna let out a slow lengthy breath, "Just be extra careful about everything. As in, lay lower than you've ever had in your life. Let them forget you're here."
"Or! Or, we double down."
"No."
"Do something so on the radar I go full circle back into their good graces."
"Don't do this to me."
"Let's be honest I've left a literal impression here, there's no going back now."
"You're killing me."
"Go big or go home."
"Yeah, I'm going to need you to take all of whatever is going on with you, bottle it all back up, and deal with it later."
"I don't get it, not too long ago you would have been totally into this, what happened?"
"Don't get me wrong. Part of me is happy that you're coming out of your mutant shell, but the other more X-Men part, that actually has to keep people alive now, is less thrilled. I mean do you have any idea what we're dealing with right now?"
"An intergalactic race of aliens that are addicted to game shows?"
"Nah, that was a few months ago."
"What?"
"Yeah, it happened while you were gone. Crazy right?"
"Stuff can't happen while I'm gone. That's what I'm here for, so stuff can happen."
"It would make everyone's job easier. We'd just seal you away whenever we didn't want anything to happen."
"You'd get bored."
"It would be a nice change of pace. No, uh, we're still dealing with the bugs."
"Like a bed bug infestation?"
"More like the one that killed me," Franny sighed.
"Those things are still around?"
"Yeah, apparently they come from a place called the negative zone."
"Sketchy Narnia."
"No, the negative zone."
"I've been there you know."
"I think you thought you were there while you were on drugs."
"Where would I even get drugs?"
"It's a surprisingly big problem here too."
"News to me."
"Well here is some more news. Xavier's school is built on a distortion zone. So these bugs can just slip in here whenever they feel like it."
"And vice versa."
"Sure."
"Are you, like, going to be?
"Ready?"
"I think I was looking for 'okay'."
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"They did kill you."
"So?"
"Usually that takes a toll on somebody."
"Tolls can be paid."
"Explain."
"I shouldn't have to, you've already met Danielle." Franny flipped through the camera feeds.
"What's that flashing area on the map?" asked Kenna.
"I…don't recall." Franny pulled out a notepad with all manner of scribblings. Some were half hearted depictions of the computer's layout, some were attempts of taking notes in english. "What does this say?" she asked, showing Kenna a poorly written word.
"Inpruder."
"Intruder."
"So that flashing light would be an?"
"Intruder alert."
"Why is it so close? Don't we have a thousand sensors everywhere outside?"
"It's probably a bug." Franny sighed and got up.
"Do you need any help?"
"Nah, I got 'Skunk Bear' over there I should be fine."
"Skunk Bear?"
"Laura."
"Oh is that her X-men name?"
"No it's X-23 but they got that from where she was manufactured so I've been trying to get it changed."
"To 'Skunk Bear'?"
"It's another name for a wolverine, it works." She looked over to Laura. "Come Skunk Bear, it's game time." Laura didn't move, didn't even bother to retreat her eyes from the screen. "X-23 it's time to go." Laura continued to ignore her. "Laura." Franny walked around the table and grabbed her phone. Laura popped a claw and poked Franny in the stomach. She went back to her phone like nothing happened. Franny did not have that luxury or a lot of time. "Kenna."
"Wha- Oh shit!" Kenna ran over to her unsure of what to do, but intent on doing something.
"Listen to me very carefully."
"You're bleeding! Do you know you're bleeding!? Shit that's a lot of blood! You need that!"
"I'm aware, just remain calm and-"
"Can you heal yourself!? I know you've never done that before in front of me but I'm sure there's lots of things you can do that you don't want me to know about! Is this one of those times!? Please tell me it's one of those times! Does it need things like mine does!? What do you need!? I'll get it for you!"
"Kenna I know you're scared but can you not-,"
"Is it blood!? Of course it's blood! Everybody needs blood! I have blood! And blood is what you're losing! Very fast! Do you want my blood!? I'll give you as much of it as you need! I'm sorry I'm so bad at this! I should have been a Doctor! If you live through this I promise to change my major to something doctor-y! Please don't die again! I don't think I could handl-," Franny grabbed her mouth. Kenna stopped talking but not because she couldn't, but because she could feel the trembling of her hand.
"Lab one, now." She limped down the hall as quickly as she could, reading off door labels as they went. "Blood cooler, look for type 'Angel'." She followed her instructions with a flustered swiftness. "Stick it into a vein." Kenna looked at the transparent bag of red nervously. "Wait, clear the line first," Franny said, struggling to stay awake.
"What does that even mean!?"
"Run it down the tube before you-." Franny went limp, sinking to the floor.
"Hey! Hey! Stay with me! I've never done this before!" Franny said nothing else, didn't even close her eyes. With a symphony of fucks Kenna ran the blood down the tube before holding the needle to her arm. She couldn't find the vein. The dark blues of her skin hid an already hard to find target. With more and more blood seeping out onto the floor panic began to set in.
She had to insert the IV somewhere soon, but if she stuck it in the wrong spot Franny would likely die anyway. The weight of the choice paralyzed her. She stared at the open wound silently pleading for it to stop. As the hopelessness of the situation started to set in, something about where the stab was felt familiar.
She wiped her eyes. This wasn't the first time she stared at this spot. It was a while back but Franny wanted her to look at something in her. She jumped up tearing through every cabinet in the lab until she found a flashlight. "In certain angles in certain lights. In certain angles in certain lights," she chanted, bathing the arm in artificial light.
She found it. It was just a faint outline but compared to her other options it might as well have been highlighted. After carefully inserting the needle she applied whatever she could find over the gaping laceration before slumping against the wall, physically and emotionally exhausted.
It only took a moment slumping for her to realize she may have slumped too soon. Yes, there was blood going back in. Was it enough blood though? Was it even the right blood? Not to mention there was still that intruder issue nobody has addressed yet. She needed help. All of this was beyond her and she was not ashamed to admit it. She dug out Franny's earpiece hoping that she could find that in some kind soul over the radio.
"Hello?" Kenna sheepishly asked the device.
"Good evening Kenna, would you kindly return Glowsticks's communication device back to her. You're not authorized to be on this channel," said Tessa.
"Tessa?"
"It would benefit you to refer to me as Sage while you continue to use the channel without authority."
"But this is Tessa right?"
"I will neither confirm nor deny that designation while we communicate in this manner."
"Sure, whatever, so there was a break in."
"I'm aware, Glowlight and the rest of the green team should be responding to it. However, the fact that we're having this conversation leads me to believe that's not happening."
"Yeah the response is kind of in a…we're trying to…it's getting there."
"I'll contact the gold team, please return the communication device to the nearest-."
"Wait! Is this going to get Franny in trouble?"
"Glow-stick, will have to answer for this event after it has concluded yes."
"Okay…but what about Franny?" Tessa didn't say anything for a long minute "Hello? Are you still there Tessa?"
"Yes! The person who's communication device you have, will receive negative consequences!"
"Oh," Kenna leaned over Franny's face. There was a shallow but consistent breath. She tried tapping her awake, but at this point it was too much to ask. She flailed her hands around in a silent frustration before placing her finger back to her ear. "Disregard."
"Disregard?" Asked Tessa surprised.
"Yes, everything is fine. Call off gold team. We're looking into it."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
"Then why are we having this conversation?"
"To let you know what was going on."
"Why are you the one updating me?"
"She likes to delegate. She's a good leader." There was another long pause. Kenna almost thought she hung up until she reminded herself this wasn't a phone call. "Hello?"
"She has potential. And if you're going to be giving situation reports across this channel you'll need an official designation."
"A what now?"
"From here on out your call sign on this channel will be, Cloud-cover."
"Oh, oh! Like uh Storm and Wolverine and stuff.
"And Sage."
"Sure."
"Keep me updated Cloud-cover."
"Will do." Kenna, drunk on her only successful façade ever, slowly became aware of the mess she just inherited. "Well, shit."