Knights of Xavier's (Part Two)

Our journey dragged us up to upstate California, to a state forest not too far from the coast. It was just after six in the evening when we landed and headed in farther on foot.

There were so many gigantic trees. I wasn't a wilderness man, and neither was anyone else for that matter. Still, Wolf's beacon told us to go there, so we went in deep. And I mean deep. Way past any beaten paths, out of the way of any scenic views, away from places where it looked like humans were even advised to go. Fortunately, we weren't humans. We were mutants.

The more rambunctious members of the Hellions were not pleased. They had come for a fight, not a long, scenic hike through the woods. To be fair, I wasn't much for nature either. There was a long list of things I would rather do than hike or camp.

Julian stomped around in the dirt as we passed tree after tree in the thick part of the forest, "Jeez, this is the absolute pits. Should stopped off and bought some flannel or something," He joked, getting some chuckles from the others.

"What's wrong with flannel?" I asked legitimately. I owned a few different colored flannel shirts. Never had a problem with them, "That's some comfortable stuff."

Brian let out a laugh as he followed in the middle of our traveling pack with Kevin. Given that they were the most vulnerable out of the lot of us, we kept them surrounded, "Other than the fact that it makes you look like a lumberjack? Nothing. I don't see you walking around in it."

I turned and gave him a deadpan stare, "Because it's goddamn summer. Besides, it's not what you wear, it's how you wear it."

"And you can pull off flannel?"

"Why not? The man makes the clothes. Why do you think I wear this stupid hat?" I said, flicking the rim of my bucket hat. Before things could get too frivolous, we stopped. All of us could hear that we weren't alone out in the woods, "Shh. Get behind something."

About fifty yards away, we could see armed guards patrolling the area. They didn't have those stupid spaceman suits on, and had conventional rifles and gear. Probably standard staff for the Facility. I didn't rule out the U-Men lurking around though. They had served as Kimura's muscle for some reason.

From where we all chose to hide ourselves, we just let them pass. Fortunately, we were in a forest full of redwood trees, so even Santo could fit his rocky mass behind one and stay out of sight. But holding back wasn't easy, seeing as there were more than a few of us chomping at the bit to get a piece of them – myself included.

I just closed my eyes and counted to ten... then twenty. I had to let it go for now. But soon enough, I wouldn't have to be so nice anymore. People thought I could be a crabby fucker. They had no idea.

A whisper from Santo broke me from my attempts to stay Zen, "Hey, Marcher, how close are we?"

I looked down at my phone to check our position compared to the tracker's beacon, "A mile away from Wolf. But this place might be huge, so the entrance could be anywhere around here."

"How do you know?"

Because I had been held captive in one of those kinds of places before, damn it, "Reasons. But if Wolf is inside, he should be able to open an entrance somewhere," I told them.

It sounded good to everyone else, "We just have to make sure we get to it before it gets choked up with bad guys," Julian said, punching into his palm, "He'll fight to keep it open, right?"

"He'll do what he thinks he should," I answered diplomatically, not leaning one way or the other, "He's a machine, but his brain works just like a human's. Just... you know, better."

Truth be told, I didn't want Wolf to fight at all. Not after he told me back in Mexico that he'd gotten damaged. In a perfect world, he'd open the door, we'd find it quickly, and he'd fall back to somewhere less dangerous than out in front of all of the gunfire. He'd done more than enough.

I brought up my contacts and hesitated for a moment before calling. What if he had been discovered and taken out? What if he was in a situation where he couldn't talk? I tried texting him instead. He could receive and send those. I just hoped he had a chance to answer back.

When my phone vibrated in my hand, I breathed a sigh of relief, "He says there are two main doors. One for stuff like helicopters and one for ground vehicles and people on foot. Which one are we at?"

Cessily looked around as though she would find the answer somewhere in the wilderness around us, "Neither. We don't even know where any doors are."

I nodded, my eyes focused down on tapping out a message on my touchscreen, "I'm telling him that. Sit tight," It took a moment to get a response. Wolf was quick on the reply, "He says he didn't go far from the gunship, and that's by the aircraft door. Just follow the beacon the rest of the way and we should find it. Come on."

We all started to move out, keeping an eye out for anyone with a gun in their hands. For being a straight-up shock-and-awe squad, the Hellions knew how to move and get themselves into position without being loud. I knew they were good, but working with them instead of competing against them gave me a lot more respect for what they could do.

Eventually, we found a concrete slope that looked like a barrier at first, until we got right next to it. Five feet high, it was the length of plus-sized landing pad. Easily big enough to fit the gunship that had come at us back in Los Angeles, and then some.

"This is a legit underground bunker," Julian marveled at the fact he was getting into some legitimate action, "Me and Santo both pulling at this thing couldn't pry it open."

"That's why we have Saberwolf on the inside," I pulled out my phone and sent the message that would make sure there was no turning back, "Everybody get ready. I have no idea what's in there."

No wisecracks or bragging. Even from the mouthier members of the Hellions. Good. Everyone was aware of how serious this was. None of them seemed scared though.

We all stood clear of the doors in complete silence. The only sound between any of us was birds chirping in the forest around us. It was time to see what they could really do. I just hoped I'd made the right choice by bringing them on, and that no one got hurt.

...I hoped that none of us got hurt, meaning the Hellions, Wolf, and Laura. Everyone else involved could make mouth love to a shotgun for all I cared.

The loud sound of machinery beginning to open the doors put an unnatural smile on my face. It was a mixture of nerves and something else.

I wanted to fight, and it wasn't out of a sense of righteousness or heroism. I wanted to harm the people responsible for hurting my friend and threatening my other ones. Because I don't care what anyone says about it being right or wrong, or whatever. There's no emotional substitute for revenge.

I couldn't ask the Hellions to take part in something this dangerous without leading the way, so the moment the doors opened wide enough to fit me, I dropped down inside first.

From a cursory glance as I fell to the ground, the hangar I dove down into was sparsely guarded. A few suckers were caught looking up when I fired blasts from my hands to slow myself down.

Others, like Santo and Cessily, had no need to slow themselves down. They hit the ground even before I did and went straight to work cleaning house. Julian lowered himself down along with Brian and Kevin, and Sooraya... holy shit.

Reinforcements came our way quickly after shots started going off and the first few guys went down. They didn't make it into the hangar before a large plume of dust swept into the corridor leading in. There was lots of automatic gunfire, but you couldn't exactly shoot a cloud of particles blowing all over you.

For someone so nice, Sooraya was perhaps the meanest fighter on the Hellions. The force of a sand blast from her was devastating, she could overwhelm multiple people at once, and unless you had the proper powers or countermeasures to deal with her, you couldn't really fight her.

"Yeah sweep the hall, Dust!" Julian cheered/ordered as he touched down and looked around, "Where's your Wolf, Solaris?" A fine question.

"Saberwolf!" I shouted into the open air of the hangar, "Where you at?"

"Right behind you."

I didn't even jump upon hearing the emotionlessly programmed voice of my very dangerous A.I. friend. When I turned around, I could see a faint distortion in the air in the shape of Wolf before he dropped his stealth camouflage, revealing himself.

I grabbed his head and checked him over for any new injuries, but didn't find any. Good, "Are you alright?"

"I am unharmed. I was fortunate to go undiscovered as the crew disembarked from the gunship. They were lacking in their attention to certain details," Wolf explained, before interrupting my amateur checkup by backing away from me, "What are you doing?"

Fine. See if I ever show any concern over your well-being again, "Making sure your ass didn't get shot since the last time your ass got shot. What about Laura?"

I didn't know how much information he could have possibly gathered while staying out of sight, but lo and behold, he didn't let me down, "The U-Men were hired as manpower to get her back for the people who are in charge of this facility. Their payment comes in the form of technology and transplants."

Julian overheard and shot a glare at nothing in particular, "Of course. Bunch of freaks. Why am I not surprised?" He muttered before talking to Wolf, "You didn't happen to catch what they're getting transplanted, did you?"

It didn't matter, as all of it would be bad from whoever it was taken from, but I had a morbid curiosity as well, "The enemy has retrieved Laura. They plan to clone her and use some of the successful versions to harvest major organs that the U-Men will use."

Kevin looked like he was going to be sick, "That's so messed up."

It was, and I would be damned if it happened on my watch. But again, they had a head start on us. There was a chance we'd gotten there too late to do anything to help. The only thing we could do however was to move forward.

"Let's do this already," Enough fumble-fucking around. I was ready to get down to business for real, "Wolf, hang back. You've done enough," Stepping into this den of assholes all by himself with no way out and no backup? Yeah, he didn't have to do anything else as far as I was concerned.

I expected him to mouth off again, but to my surprise he actually did as I asked and let everyone else go first. Julian gestured forward, "Rockslide, Mercury. You two are the vanguard. Give 'em hell."

Santo's rocky fists smacked together as he charged ahead to lead the way. Cessily moved behind him as we all advanced through the bunker.

It was a complete crap shoot. Yes, we were kids, but we were trained well. The rank-and-file of the Facility weren't equipped to deal with us. They could try and pump all of the lead into us they wanted. Three of us couldn't be hurt that way, and one guy could shield the rest of us who were vulnerable with his mind.

As we barreled ahead, Brian lingered right behind the safe frame of Santo. Every time we came across a good group of enemies, he would touch Santo, tagging him with a psionic marker that attracted whoever he chose to run toward him. Brian literally had the most durable, dangerous one of us getting his pick of who he got to squash up close.

Stragglers were picked off by the rest of us. The strategy was outstanding. It was simple, but it was like a freight train. Just because you knew what was coming, if you were standing on the tracks, could you stop it?

The answer was no.

From the back, Wolf guided our progress, telling us which way to turn to get us closer to our target of reaching Laura. His still being able to sense her was a good sign. If she was dead, she wouldn't have showed up to him at all.

Santo was a bulldozer, and with Wolf's directions, he plowed straight through a pair of big metal doors. The first thing we saw was a group of U-Men standing by a table with a specimen opened up and held that way with clamps.

It was Laura. For the love of God, I could still see her body moving, showing she was breathing.

When they saw us, they went for their weapons. One was stupid enough to use the scalpel they were dicing my friend up with to then try and hold her hostage.

"Stay ba-."

A light blade flew across the room and cut that particular U-Man to the bone, splattering the walls and floor with blood. He screamed in agony on the floor, but it was lost with the other sounds of battle as the Hellions neutralized everyone else in short order.

Why the hell would his threatening to hurt her have stopped me? They already had. They still would have done worse even if I had stopped. Besides, if Laura could take a bullet to the head and survive, a fucking scalpel wound to the neck wouldn't have done anything, not that it so much as touched her again.

I couldn't run over to her fast enough, even with bullets and U-Men flying all over the place. For those of you that have dissected frogs in biology, looking at an opened up person is not the same thing. Not only because it's gross, but because it looks so much like what you imagine you look like, it puts you in touch with your own mortality.

I would never forget that sight for as long as I lived. The first time you see something like that, it sticks with you, no matter how many times you see it afterwards. And when the first time you see it involves someone you care about? Forget it. You need a telepath to whitewash that kind of stuff out of your head.

Laura was bolted to the table, so I worked on lasering those open. I liked to pretend that the cracking noises I heard were her bonds breaking, and not her rib cage snapping itself into place to cover her organs back up. Every time I glanced over at her, I winced and looked away. The poor thing made the most desperate whining, gurgling noises I had ever heard as her healing factor tried to put her back together.

Next to the table, there was a list with detailed specs of what they were going to remove from her, how they were going to do it, and how they were going to put them into themselves.

There was an IV feeding a big bag of something directly into her, probably to keep her from fighting back in any way, even while she was damn near bolted down, "They pumped her full of this shit and she's still barely sedated," I muttered as I went to pick her up, "Come on, Laura. We're getting you out of here."

Julian watched the tail end of Laura putting herself back together. He cringed at the sight of her top layer of flesh weaving itself in place, "Ugh. Man, where are the New Mutants when you need 'em? That gold loser Elixer would be really useful right now."

"She'll be okay," I said as she finished healing. Physically she would be fine, at least. I hoped she was doped up enough to not be aware of what had happened, "We need a way out of here," I said, taking off my t-shirt to try and do something to cover Laura's modesty.

"Back to the chopper?" Julian suggested, getting a shake of the head from me, "No?"

Other than the fact that it would be a hell of a ways on foot to get back to that thing, it wouldn't work out anyway, "Fuck the chopper. That thing can't carry all of us."

We needed an escape plan, and I was open for suggestions. Brian overheard us and offered one, "Can you fly the gunship?"

That was a good question. I had no idea what the inside of that thing looked like, "I... don't know. You sure you want to bank our escape on me winging it with a complex aircraft?"

"Why not?" Brian asked rhetorically, "We should be due for some good luck by now, right?"

It wasn't like I had a better plan. Our preparations ended with getting the hangar doors open. From there we were flying by the seat of our pants. We had to go with what we could, "Fine. To the hangar. Make sure it's clear."

"Everybody, we're moving out!" Julian yelled out to the Hellions, "Clean house back to the hangar! Anything not us, hit it fast, hit it hard!"

Wolf walked over and offered himself up to carry Laura on his back as we fell back. Perhaps the most dangerous girl I knew just looked so helpless, draped over Wolf's body. It seemed like her eyelids fluttered for a moment, maybe her trying to wake up. All she needed was some time, and she wouldn't necessarily be fighting fit, but good enough.

The hope was though, that she wouldn't be needed. If we could get away before her body worked off all of the drugs that had been pumped into her, all the better. It meant everything had gone right.

"You're so much goddamn trouble, Laura," I muttered, frowning down at her, "It's good to see you're still alive though."

I didn't know if she could hear me or not, but it didn't hurt to say out loud. If not for her sake, for my own. She was my teammate, and I wouldn't tolerate losing a single one of them.

The trek back to the hangar was peaceful. Too peaceful. As in, we didn't have to deal with any resistance on our way out. That was our first clue that something was wrong. Our second clue came in the form of the gunship being active by the time we got there.

Instead of fighting us on foot, they went for abandoning the base. For the second part of a wicked one-two punch, it was also the biggest, baddest thing they had to fight us with.

"No-no-no-no!" Brian shouted, recognizing just how bad things were. He grabbed Sooraya and pulled her out of the way. The rest of us did something similar.

Through the windows of the bridge, there was a small crew manning the craft, with Kimura in the cockpit. I fired a blast at the window, but I might as well have thrown a rock. They retaliated by opening up the cannon and peppering us with bullets. Santo and Julian covered us as we ran for cover and ducked inside of doorways in the hall.

We were pinned down and were being sent back. If things kept up, they were going to escape, if they didn't use the weapons onboard to kill us first. There were missiles on that thing, I was sure of it.

"What are we going to do now?" Cessily shouted over the sound of jets and gunfire. It was deafening, even from where we were, "We can't go forward or back!"

I was already on it, "What we're gonna do is, you're gonna stay down and let me finish this thing this time," I said, getting everyone to notice the Lux Bomb I was charging between my hands.

Julian had another PTSD moment and nearly backed out into the storm of lead to keep away from the high explosive in my possession, "You're gonna blow up our way out?"

No, that avenue to escape was closed. We had to find something else, and while we were doing that, we might as well take away what they had as well, "As long as she's on that thing, it's not our way out. It's an obstacle. And what do we do with obstacles, children?"

Santo answered me from across the hall, "Fuck 'em up!"

"I was going more for overcome 'em, but that works too!" I stepped from halfway around the corner and took quick aim, "Make a wish, you sour cunt!"

The light ball of doom rocketed forward and impacted off of the front of the gunship with a flash. Then a terrible explosion rocked the hangar and the hallway we were stuck in. The shockwave hit the half of my body that was in the open and spun me around like a flying top into the wall behind me.

I was dizzy and breathless from how hard I was hit, by my own doing of course, but still. Santo grabbed me and yanked me back onto my feet. I wasn't ready to stand yet and stumbled about until I found my footing.

The air was hot, but it didn't bother Santo any, "Ho-ly shit, Solaris! Is that what that does?" The big, rocky boy asked, looking at the flaming wreck that used to be a gunship burning in the hangar, "Why don't you do that all the time?"

"Because it takes time to charge. Because it uses an assload of energy. Because it's stupid-dangerous," I listed as the room stopped spinning around me, "There are parameters for me using it."

"Like what?"

"Like 'fuck everything in that general direction'."

Julian let out a snort of laughter, but we were still in a pickle, "Well we need a new way out now. Ideas?"

Sooraya was the one who actually chimed in with an idea. One none of us had thought of until that point, "We are not that far from the coast. Do you think there's a dock that we can use?"

A dock with boats and stuff. Not a bad idea. That could probably carry all of us, depending on what they had. And boats aren't that hard to drive. If that sort of thing was in-house, we could definitely make use of it.

We had little idea where we were going, but we couldn't just stay in one piece. We had to keep moving. Luckily, we didn't run into much opposition. We had more or less fought our way through the cream of the crop that they had on foot on our way in, and anyone else left had probably been inside of the gunship... which was bad for them.

It was like running through a maze. We had to split up just to make sure we went down a corridor that didn't lead us to a dead end. Just tedious.

However long it took, it was long enough to Laura to fully stir. Pushing herself up on Wolf's back, he stopped and let her try to stand on wobbly legs. Much like I had, she stumbled and hit the wall just to stay up.

"Hey," I barked in her direction slapping Wolf on his back where she had been before, "Get your ass back on Saberwolf. You aren't walking anywhere right now."

"I am... not dead," Laura observed, touching at her body where she had been sliced open, guts available for the world to see not too long ago, "You rescued me."

Barely. I didn't exactly want to be reminded of seeing her opened up on a slab like a science experiment, "Yeah, I have no clue why they didn't kill you before trying to harvest your organs, but we're not complaining."

She had an answer to the question I didn't want or need answered, and not a very surprising one, "Probably because Kimura would have wanted me to survive to experience it..." She took a look around and sniffed at the air, "We are still here?"

I can imagine how I would have felt blacking out in hell and waking up in the exact same place. At least she was free to move now, "Yeah, don't worry about that. Just enjoy the ride on Wolf, and watch the sharp edges. You've dealt with enough shit today."

She didn't like it, but she plopped herself back on Wolf and let him carry her as we kept searching in vain. We had no idea where we were going. Eventually we came to a stop at a junction with multiple paths.

"Oh no," Cessily exclaimed. It didn't feel like we were making any progress, "Guys, we're so lost. We're never gonna find any docks. There might not be any."

Kevin started down one corridor before stopping and looking down another, "Well they don't really have a whole lot of ways to get stuff in here without every hiker in California seeing it," He said, "What now?"

From Wolf's back, Laura pointed down a particular hallway, "That way," She said with full confidence, getting skeptical looks from the others, "...I can smell the water."

Julian slapped his forehead as though it were obvious... and to be fair, it was, "Fuck. Right. Wolverine's clone. Alright, Claws. If you know where we're supposed to be going, call it out. Now's not the time to be quiet."

And speaking of quiet, until then the only sound around us had been the ones that we had made – voices, footfalls, etc. But as we convalesced, I started to hear something else. Laura already had, if her looking off down one particular corridor meant anything.

I held up a hand, getting everyone's attention, "Do you all hear that?" I asked, pointing the way Laura was looking.

Everyone had to strain to hear it, until it started getting louder. By then, there was no mistake, "Is that an engine?" Santo asked.

I didn't want to find out, "Run! Laura, start calling shit out!" I yelled as we all took off down the path she had originally told us to use.

And she did. Every time there was a direction we needed to take, she gave us just the way we needed to go, in detail, even giving us the distance until the next turn.

"In 20 meters, turn left!"

"Meters?" Santo didn't like Laura's use of the metric system, "We ain't Canadian! Speak English!"

"65 feet!"

"Thank you!"

This was how it went, until the thing chasing us got close enough for us to see it. An armored vehicle rolling through the halls, just about to nip at our heels. Wolf picked up his pace, no longer content with lingering at the back. I couldn't blame him. But then, that left me at the back. I could feel the truck rolling up on me closer and turned on the afterburners, so to speak.

Other than Wolf and Julian when he flew, I was the fastest person there. I didn't have to be though. I just had to be faster than the slowest person... which was the guy made out of solid rock.

"Whoa!" The truck bumped into Santo from behind again and again, pushing him forward, "Oh shit!" He finally tripped and fell, getting run over like a mutated speed bump.

"Santo!" I yelled out, watching a friend of mine get turned to roadkill, "...Wait. He can survive that, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that didn't even hurt him," Julian said, flying ahead of all of us. Eventually turning to fly backwards so he could focus on the truck, "Enough of this crap. I'm pulling a Marcher."

"I don't even want to know what that is," I told him, "Just kill it already!"

Julian's hands glowed green as he went to deal with the assault vehicle after us. But he was thwarted by some god awful ear-splitting sound that felt like it was boring into our skulls. He couldn't focus on the truck, and couldn't even fly.

Laura hugged onto Wolf's back, grinding her teeth in pain. Whatever we were hearing was magnified for her dozens of times over.

Brian had been right earlier. We were due a lucky break, and it came in the form of the hallway opening up into the indoor dock we had been after. Once we burst through the doors, we dove out of the way and let the truck behind us skid past.

Kimura stepped out of the driver's seat, crossbow in hand. Eyeing her first targets, she fired a bolt at Saberwolf, and then one at Cessily. When both were hit, electricity rolled through them. Even Laura felt it and was shocked off of Wolf's back.

She grinned at her own handiwork, "These were meant for the clone, but they'll work just perfectly on you two. Stay down for a little while."

Sooraya transformed into her dust form and did her best to tear Kimura apart. I appreciated her lack of hesitation. Remorse was a luxury we could afford later. Well, they could. I didn't have any and I doubted I would.

Unfortunately; the invulnerable skin came into play again. It just made it harder for Kimura to march through. It was all I needed though. Seeing as how she couldn't see me, I got behind her and wrapped my arms around her throat.

The immediate gagging sound she made at getting snatched from behind by the throat was music to my ears. Couldn't have happened to a nicer person, "Fuck. Off. Already," She tried to reach back and grab my balls, so I jumped up and wrapped my legs around her waist to deny her the opportunity and make her carry my weight, "Uh-un. Not that easy."

It was beautiful. Because she tried to rip my nuts off, when I wrapped my legs around her, it trapped her arms at her side, so she couldn't even try to peel me off.

She flailed around and did what she could to fight it, but I held on as tight as I could, and I was super strong. I wasn't choking her as quickly as I wanted to because of her powers, so I got nastier about it. The hand I had wrapped around her the back of her head, pushing her into the choke, I started heating it up to the point where I would set her head on fire. After all, her skin might have been ultra-tough, but her hair wasn't. Last time I checked, hair was flammable.

I didn't get the chance to finish the job then and there though.

"I'm coming, guys!"

Santo barreled into the scene, running straight through Sooraya's dust storm that she had lightened up on so I wouldn't die in it. He couldn't see, and plowed right into Kimura, with me on her back.

The impact knocked me loose and sent me flying over the guardrail that elevated our position over the docks and I fell right into the water, which hurt less than it would have if I'd hit the dock or a boat.

As far as I was aware, that was the first team fuck up of the day. Couldn't have come at a more important time.

I was harder to kill than that. I mean, I could swim just fine. I didn't see Kimura fall in with me, so I surfaced and tried to claw my way out onto a dock. I could still hear fighting up above, so I scrambled to get back up there. When I did, I saw Kimura hoisting Kevin by his neck. His covered neck.

Oh, she was so lucky. If she hadn't been wearing gloves, and if he dressed like a normal person, she would have been dead and wouldn't even have known it. Speaking of which-.

"Wither, just touch her already!" I yelled at him. He was clutching at her arm, trying to get her to let go. Literally all he had to do was take off a glove and touch her bare arm.

Kevin looked over at me and choked out a reply, "I can't! I'll kill her!"

My jaw fell open, "Does it look like I give a shit about that? You are literally about to die!"

Kimura spared me a glance and scoffed before pulling out a handgun. I didn't know who it was intended for, me or Kevin, probably both, but we never got to find out.

The ear-piercing sound from before shut off with a resounding 'smash'. After that, a green glow covered Kimura's hand, disarming her. That same glow then covered her whole body, releasing Kevin and pinning her arms to her sides before it slammed her into the wall again and again. It might have been funny if I didn't know that it hadn't hurt her.

"No, he isn't," Julian said, wincing and holding his head with one hand, punishing Kimura with the other, "Crazy bitch."

Sooraya and Brian helped to try and pull Cessily back together, as she had been thrown all out of whack by Kimura's electrified arrow. Meanwhile, Saberwolf had recovered enough from his shock treatment to shred the armored vehicle open with his claws and destroy the sonic device Kimura had used to neutralize Julian and Laura.

Good boy. If I ever said that to him, he would rip me limb from limb, and I would deserve it.

With things settling down, I walked over to our captive. She smirked dead in my face, staring right into my eyes, so I gave her a little laser pointer action, "Ow, you little fuck!"

I'd tried to permanently blind her and do it fast before anyone realized I did it. I guess I couldn't muster that much force to my eyes that quickly.

"Well-well-well! Caught the head bitch in charge!" Julian gloated as everyone started to recover from the quick fight, "Hey, Sol. Think this is X-Men worthy?"

Kimura wasn't impressed, and proved as much. Feeling vengeful at having me poke her in the eyes with light, with her hands by her side, she pulled a little vial from her side pocket and chucked its contents at me. It splashed on my undershirt and I jumped back, entirely unharmed.

Julian recoiled as though he expected me to melt. It was even more confusing when nothing happened, "What was that supposed to be, acid?"

No. And it took a moment before I realized just what had happened. It was only when I heard panicky breathing and a sound that was constantly growing in familiarity that I figured it out.

*SNIKT*

Laura stood, claws bared, teeth gritted, eyes bloodshot, staring me down like an animal set to pounce. And at any second, she would.

Kimura taunted us, "So what are you gonna do now, hero? Your rescue is gonna rip your bleeding heart out of your chest."

Laura charged me, murder in her eyes. With no fanfare, I reached my hand up in her direction and shot her in the face with a concussive blast. She was tough, and really hard to kill, but she got head injuries like everyone else. Hit anyone hard enough in the head, they would go out.

Well, Laura was anyone, and she dropped like a stone. Dropped like a stone and didn't get up. You couldn't try to kill something if you weren't awake to do it.

Julian stared at me in shock. Yes, I had gone kind of hard with that shot. I don't think he had ever actually seen me shoot anyone else in the head seriously before, Concussive or explosive. Even with concussive blasts, it's a lot more violent-looking than people think, "Damn, Solaris! Aren't we here to save her?"

KOing the poor girl was the best thing to do at the moment, especially after the talk she'd given me on the trigger scent. From what I'd heard, it was not to be messed around with. She could not fight it with sheer willpower. Once she got a whiff of it… that was that. It was a wrap.

"I am. Does this scent thing wash off?" I asked our enemy. Kimura didn't answer me, instead glaring death my way. It was good enough for a yes for me, so I dropped myself back into the water again and swam my way to the nearest boat to use, "Let's go."

We were done. I wanted to be anywhere other than that hellhole. But that still left a loose end that Julian felt necessary to harp on.

"Wait, what do we do with her?" I sat down on the edge of the boat and gestured with my hands to hold Kimura underwater and drown her ass, "No! Solaris, we're not doing that! It's cold-blooded murder."

Murder seemed like it was too good for that skeezer. But I didn't have a way to articulate it and really justify it. I just sat there, flailing my arms uselessly, speaking in half-sentences, "Yeah, but-. I mean, she-. After what they did to-," Eventually, I just gave up, "Fuck."

Was I really trying to justify killing somebody to the rest of my classmates? How could I do that and try to play it cool? Was there really something wrong with me?

Killing in a fight where someone was trying to kill you was one thing. If I could have strangled Kimura to death or something else when I had the chance? That would have been justifiable. I could at least reconcile it with myself and others. We had clearly won at this point, so killing her there was nothing short of an execution.

It didn't matter what you did for a living. You could be a soldier on the front. If the wrong people caught wind of that, the shit would get you locked up. I was angry, but to murder? Not that angry.

In my opinion, Kimura totally needed to take a dirt nap. But to volunteer the lot of us as the hangmen? I might have actually needed my head checked.