Chapter 9

-Damian- 

Waking up in his room, he didn't get out of bed. He just stayed there, his thoughts going through his mind at steady pace trying to comprehend what had happened to his life. 

'Bitching and whining aren't going to do anything.' 

His thoughts went to his parents, even throughout all the bad things they did to him he still loved them despite their faults. He wanted them to save him, but there was that nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach.

The feeling that they were dead. 

-Laura-

In the months that passed since Damian's 'arrival' and his first mission, Laura had grown fond of him and their time together, being the only one that could relate to her in a way even her mother could not. 

"Laura, did you hear me?" Damian's voice brought her out of her thoughts. Looking to her right, she took in Damian's form, he had changed in the time he was here. 

Sharp facial features that gave him a rough look for his age, his growth spurt to 5'9 from his previous 5'6, his wild and curly hair had gained some semblance of being tamed, lean body with a focus on agility and dexterity more than strength compacted in his muscles.

She was shorter than him now compared to before when they were the same height. 

She knew though he could bring power when he needed it though. Looking into his shadow-green eyes she spoke, "No." Damian rolled his eyes and groaned. 

"Come on, you serious?" Laura just stared at him blankly, suppressing the slight smirk that wanted to make its way on her face. She would never admit out loud, but she enjoyed annoying him.

"Well, I'm thinking its time." He whispered and let his words hang in the air. 

She knew what he was talking about, he had been talking about it for a while now. Their escape. "I can get us out of here and we can go far away." The thought was more tempting and enchanting than ever, but...

"I can't leave her here alone." She replied softly, almost afraid that she would be torn between who to choose. Damian exhaled slowly and cracked his neck and fingers to relieve tension. 

"Your mom would want you to... Never mind." He held his tongue from making a good point that would only serve to conflict Laura even more than she already was. 

"Tell me Damian, if... your mother was here, if our positions were swapped what would you do?" She questioned, not wanting to touch on that particular subject but needed to know his answer.

His eyes harden as he frowned, after a long moment of silence and contemplation, he answered her, "I would... leave her. I would leave her here and never think twice about it." Laura frowned in confusion at his answer.

"Why?" She knew him and his mother had a... complicated relationship by the way he talked about her. She saw the love in his eyes for her and she wondered if she looked at her mother the same way. But she also saw the hurt, the grief. The hate he had for her as well. 

"Because I want to live. And I wouldn't be able to if stayed here for her, and deep down I would hate her with all my heart for that." He walked away from her. 

-Damian- 

Breaking off from Laura after giving her an excuse, he found himself in front of her mother. "She's going to be angry at us for going behind her back, you do know that right?"

"Yes. I do."

"Then, tell me why again we're doing this." After a few weeks into their friendship, Sarah approached Damian with the intention of getting him to help her in her plan for their escape. 

"So that you two can be free from this place. Free from all of it." She told him once more. 'Freedom huh, I gave up on true freedom the day I saw the horrors of the world.' But being able to live, to truly live? That belief burnt brighter than any sun in Damian's soul.

He sighed. 

"Fine. When are we getting out of here then?" 

"In a few days if all goes according to plan, can you take care of your part?" She spoke with a more notable edge in her tone. His part was to be the distraction by any means necessary. 

"Yeah, I got it."

"Now when you two are out of here, go to Xaiver's School for Gifted Youngsters, you'll be okay there. It's a place where mutants can be safe." She informed him. 

'So close now.' He thought, his heart pulsing and his powers thrumming in anticipation for what was to come. 

"Alright, I'm going to the training grounds. I need to get some practice with my other powers." Ever since he acquired [Conduit] from Locke, he was slowly able to use his energy manipulation. His efficacy in his second set of powers was quite a few steps behind his gravity powers. 

Sure, he still needed to use [Conduit] to channel his energy properly without it fritzing out on more than one occasion, he was making progress with his ability. 

Entering the training grounds, he saw a familiar face and anger bubbled up within his heart, he moved to the person in front of him and struck with a vengeance. 'Sorry Doc, guess you're going to have to start the plan quicker than you expected.' He lamented. 

Dodging the strike aimed for her, the revealed form of Kimura lurched her left leg towards Damian's head.

Raising his right forearm just in time he blocked the kick, wincing slightly at the impact behind the attack. Snaking his legs and other arm into her stance as his eyes glowed amethyst, he flipped her body onto the ground hard enough to crack the ground in a spider-web like fashion. 

Spittle flew from her mouth as Damian followed his throw through and dug his left fist into her stomach, the density and impact behind his punch intensified in weight. 

Wrapping her legs around his body she pulled herself up and struck him with an elbow to the face. Not making it in time, his dodge was cut short as she clipped his chin and became disorientated. 

She then launched a flurry of attacks at him, he dodged some but took the brunt force of the rest of the hits as he was thrown across the training room. She didn't follow up on the attack and instead took out a mask and inhaled into it. 

Arriving in front of him with a newfound speed and arrogance in her posture she spoke, "What's wrong boy, where's that fire you showed me just then?" She hummed. Damian locked eyes with her and a wave of energy bellowed from him, knocking her back. 

Getting up with some difficulty he stood straight and spoke, "Shut up and fight, cunt." She smirked but saw the look in his eyes, something was different about him. Something malevolent swam behind his eyes. Ready to devour her. 

Not wasting anytime, the markings of [Conduit] fizzled to life and took on the form of complex rune-like markings. The atmosphere got unbearably heavier as Damian took on a more ethereal form as amethyst energy covered him in an aura-like fashion. 

He either didn't know or care that his ability to call on both his powers simultaneously was causing an immense strain on both his mind and body. The only thing seemingly holding him together seemed to be [Conduit]. 

'My turn!' He grinned. He did say he would make her suffer and he planned to honor his word. 

-Sarah-

"Alright, get moving, we only have one chance!" She yelled, urgency dominating her tone. Within the past thirty minutes, she had put her plan into full swing because of Damian. "Come, we don't have time." She urged her daughter. 

She knew as soon as the Facility started to shake, Damian had sped up the timeline of her plan and instead of preparing for his impulsiveness she now had to use him as a distraction to escape with Laura, and that left a more than bitter taste in her mouth. 

Casting those thoughts aside, she ran with her daughter hand-in-hand through the maze that was the Facility. Debris made its way to where she assumed Damian was in a convergent manner. 

Seeing the exit in front of them being blocked by three guards, she stopped running. Laura on the other hand had other plans, leaping at them with her claws, she tore through them with a quick efficiency. 

Not having a moment to think about what her daughter did and just glad that they had an unimpeded path, they rushed out of the Facility in its entirety. Freedom was within their grasp at last. 

In the distance, the mother-daughter duo caught the sight of a black plane landing some distance away. A runway opened up, and seven people came out dressed in black skin-tight suits with belts holding an 'X' buckle. 

One had a visor with gold accents and a red line going across horizontally until it stopped at his ears that were covered by small circles with the same gold accents. 

"Are the two of you, ok?" An aged voice caught her ears, looking behind the group of seven, she saw an elderly aged man in a wheelchair roll up to her and Laura. 

"Charles Xaiver..." She muttered.

-Kimura-

How did it turn out like this?

That singular thought occupied her mind more than anything else could have. 

'How?'

'How?'

'How?!?!?-'

Her face taking a hit from Damian interrupted her thoughts, her eyes shook at the sight of Damian. He looked more like a god than a 12-year-old boy. Blacklight markings lined his body, snaking upwards to his neck in intrinsic lines where they stopped. 

Her punch was caught by him, his hand encapsulating her fist as he pulled her towards him with an attraction of his powers. Just before she was pulled to him, she picked up a pipe lying on the floor of the now destroyed training grounds. 

Swinging, she hit his head with the pipe, but it did nothing to deter him from his assault as he tanked the hit. Swiping his hand to the side, Kimura's body was flung out of the Facility and crashed into a military vehicle. 

Getting up as quick as she could, she spat out a mouthful of blood and teeth. Hearing a crashing sound, she looked up to see Damian hovering in the air looking down at her like an ant. 

Rage and indignation filled her as she screamed and, using the vehicle as a launch point, jumped up to Damian aiming a kick at him. The derisive sneer was nearly painfully obvious on his face as he caught her leg and in a show of strength tore it off.

She crashed to the ground with a thud, Damian still hovering whilst still holding her leg. He touched down and slowly walked toward her.

"AHHHHHHH!!!" She screamed at the top of her lungs; the pain taken to an even more extreme as she felt a weight on the rest of her body intensify to an unbearable level.

Puddles of blood gushed from her missing leg as bone stuck out as she tried to crawl away from Damian. Hearing the patter of his barefeet getting closer with each step, she quite literally dug her nails out by pushing her fingers in the ground trying to get away from the 'devil'. "W-Why... are y-you doing this." She croaked out.

He raised an eyebrow, "What was it you said," Damian stopped walking and crouched down, locking eyes with her.

"'Because you are tool' was it? 'To be used in whatever way we desire,' well you see... I'm doing this because I can. Because I have the power to do this," The energy around his body coalesced to his right and left hands, "Just as you once had power over me." 

He slowly moved to her and grabbed her head. "I'm doing this because you stole from me." He seethed with rage and hate. "I had a spark you know, and you snuffed that out." He slowly closed his hands together, "And for that I demand compensation. Penance." 

She screamed her lungs out, but no sound was heard, nothing except the creaking of her skull until it was crushed. 

-Damian- 

Staring at his hands bloodied and stained with Kimura's brain matter, he felt nothing but hate. No joy, no sadness or disgust. Just more hate that wouldn't leave him. 

"...amian." He didn't want to answer. 

He just wanted to shut it all ou- "Damian, look at me." Laura's soft voice cut through his thoughts, bringing him to the present. Looking up, he saw eight people past Laura, staring at him with concern and well-hidden weariness. 

"Who are th-" 

She slapped him softly, "Why didn't you tell me?" He stayed quiet, he knew what she was talking about. "I could have helped you and Mama." He knew that she could have. 

"Sorry Laura." He smiled weakly, the intrinsic blacklight markings of [Conduit] shimmering out of existence as a blinding cluster of headaches wracked his mind, his muscles convulsed as he fell to the ground on his back. 

"I... I think I'm going to have a little... nap." Worry came into her eyes, "Don't leave me?" He asked, vulnerability seeping through the rough exterior he had kept up all this time. 

She nodded as he fell unconscious.