Boulevard of broken dream
Three day, that is how long it took for Laura newly acquired life to be flipped around.
Laura and Megan were outside near the pier, Megan was phoning Desmond while Laura was waiting and watching the news fed on the TV of an electronic store about the disparition of New York superhero Spider-Man who had not been seen in at least two months since his battle with a Green Goblin wich had resulted in a crime recrudescence but what Laura was wondering was if the man was a mutant or if he had done something to be hated so much by the moustached man on the news.
"Come on, Laura" said Megan and Laura just shook her head as if trying to physically clear her head. Megan was about to continue when she heard Desmond voice answer Megan previous question about Deborah sickness "A little better, I'm making her some tea now, before you come home, I need you to drop by the drugstore and pick up some medicine for your mom"
"Sure, we'll be home in like twenty." Ending the call, Megan turned to inform Laura of their trip toward the pharmacy but Laura told her that she heard the whole discussion wich caused Megan to grumble about her damn super hearing "Hey do you have any money" she asked once her rant about how unfair her mutation was was finished.
"Yes" said Laura "I am in possession of exactly one hundred forty-seven thousand dollars"
Megan's eyes bugged out of her head in shock at her cousin bank account.
"Seriously" she asked unsure if Laura was joking or not, she rarely did and it was always ambiguous but she was learning.
"Yes, my mother had it prepared" and Laura got this faraway look she got each time she thought about Sarah's death.
"Can I borrow twenty bucks" Megan pressed on so Laura wouldn't get too deep into her head.
"Yes, but we'll have to go to your house first, it's in my backpack in the guestroom" answered Laura and the two walked back to the Kinney's house.
Once they reached the house Laura paused as she saw a white van parked near the opposite side walk, it would make a perfect stakeout vehicle if you wanted to spy on Deborah's house, she was about to go check when she heard a commotion inside of the house Megan had rushed through the front door, accidently knocking into Desmond who was about to walk up the stairs, causing him to spill a pot of tea all over himself, Laura was walking back toward the house and suddenly stopped as some fragrance hitted her nose.
"Oh god, oh god" Desmond panicked as he tried to get up, Laura was standing still on the front lawn, Laura mind was quickly leaving place for X-23 as she resumed her walk toward the door.
"Desmond, I'm so sorry, here, let me help you up" said Megan extending her hand but Desmond batted it away "where's X-23, where's X-23"
Too late, X-23 stood behind the two her hands claws out, coated with the slight trickle of blood that always followed their release, her emerald green eyes were now blood red and glowing and trained on Desmond while Megan meekly called her name.
Hell broke in a flash, Desmond pushed Megan out of the way and took off yelling in his earpiece "Kimura, abort mission, abort..." he never finished as X surged and slashed at him, the claws cutted through his throat and blood sprayed everywhere.
Megan remembered what Laura had said about trigger scent the second Desmond moved and so used Laura distraction with the man to climb the stairs three by three toward her mother who was seating on the bed about to take a sip of the tea, that was where it was hidden, the tea, she batted the cup away and she heard the creak of the stair as Laura walked them up, she needed to act fast, she rushed her mother toward the bathroom and locked the door before rushing the two of them under the shower and turned it on, the water sprayed them as they hugged while X-23 turned the door to splinter in a matter of seconds before walking to the mother/daughter duo her claw reared back and ready to shred her own familly appart, only for Laura to freeze once the water had finished washing the scent away.
Once her mind was perfectly clear, Laura immediately picked up on a familiar scent, adding that to the fact that the enemy had access to the trigger scent was enough to make it clear on who was the threat.
"She's here" she said under her breath while all possible scenarios run through her mind, sneak attack had failed, next came assault, the probability of the use of smoke grenade being high meant that the enemy would use heat vision mask to locate them, she needed to hid Megan and Deborah "They're coming for me, you need to hide"
Laura rushed Megan, and Deborah downstairs, where they found Desmond's shredded body wich made Deborah panic.
"Mom, I'm sorry you've got to calm down" said Megan, Laura knew from the woman smell that she wouldn't be able to calm down and so took a more direct approach, a knockout punch to the jaw.
"What did you do that for" exclaimed a shocked Megan but Lsura had mo time to give a complete briefing, they had 30s top before the assault began "They're coming to kill you, Megan, now help me get Debbie to the basement" it had the desired effect to bring back Megan to reality.
Megan helped Laura carrt her unconscious mother down to the basement and the windows shattered as smoke bombs crashed through them and rolled onto the floor releasing the sleeping agent in the house.
"There's no way out" said Megan, not undrstanding her cousin's plan, 20s before assault, Laura didn't took time to explain and pushed Megan and Deborah against the wall before jumping up and sliced through the cold water pipe with her claws dousing everyone in freezing water.
"Stay down here, no matter what until i come back and don't make a sound" said Laura as she exited the basement.
On a normal setting enhanced hearing on the level of Laura's was a pain to live with, when you can hear the heartbeat of everyone in the room even simple things like talking was like getting shout at but in the case you are hidden in a cloud smoke and fighting fully armed and trained soldier it is a blessing as it made Laura the only one who didn't need to see to pinpoint her opponent and dhe didn't need to hack anything to hear what they said.
If the Facility wanted her they would need to do better than that because now she was beyond angry, Laura was livid, they attacked her familly to get to her and now the Facility was about to pay the price of angering her.
"Infrared is picking up heat signatures in the basement" she heard one of the agent's radioed "Body temp's too low to be human, subjects are not…" he never finished as twin metal claws pierced through his cranium and like a ghost Laura was gone before the body hitted the floor.
"Kimura, we are engaging X-23" the agents radioed as one of them saw her as the smoke cleared, she moved like a viper and cut the arteries on his leg before using him as a shield to block the shot made by his colleague before she jumped over the stool and into the kitchen a bullet pierced through one of her leg but Laura paid it no mind it would heal soon.
"Target hit, I repeat target..." a kitchen knife pierced his google and stabbed through his head surprising all of the soldiers, Laura used the confusion to launch herself at the nearest opponent and sliced his throat in a swipe of her foot claw before landing between four soldier who's automatic riffle were pointed at her, they were shredded without any mercy.
One nearly managed to get to Megan and Deborah but she stabbed him in the back and he fell in the living room, leaving Laura as the only living being upstair, she was panting a bit due to the exertion and smelled something in the air and then...
Snap
Her vision suddenly was upside-down as her neck was snapped "Hello X, missed me" said the sweet sadistic voice of Kimura as she bent over Laura's body before the woman delivered her a kick hard enough to crack her ribs but no sounds got past Laura lips, she wouldn't do Kimura the pleasure of screaming.
"When are you going to learn X" said Kimura her tone feining the one of a disappointed teacher "First Tanaka, next was Sarah, how many people do we have to kill before you understand that you're a weapon not a person" she delivered another kick before taking handcuffs from her belt and looping one end on Laura's left wrist and the other on her own wrist and used it to dragg Laura's body toward the basement were Megan watched her cousin broken neck snapping back in place in muted horror.
"Hello, Megan" Kimura grinned like the dangerous sadistic psychopath she was before pulling a crossbow out of her belt and pointing it at Megan head "Bye, Megan" but Laura limb had regained just enough strength for her to kick Kimura in the back of her knee wich sent her arrow off course into the wall before she freed her hand claw into the crossbow, severing it.
"Not bad X" commented Kimura condescendingly as she watched Laura struggle yo cut down the cuff chain "This is a steel/adamantium alloy, you could cut through it if you had three hours but you ain't got time" mocked Kimura as she slammed Laura nose against her indestructible knee.
But it only fueled Laura's anger who pulled on the chain and retaliated, Kimura may be undamageable but she was not as skilled as Laura and she could still get drowned on the growing pool of water that filled the basement, Laura just needed to restrain her long enough.
But while Kimura was not as skilled as Laura, she still was more than well trained and her skin was still indestructible, she managed to catch Laura's fist grinning cruelly "Striking your handler is against the rules, time for your punishment" Kimura head-butted Laura in the nose breaking it instantly causing the girl to stumble backward, no one knew how fast Laura's healing was better than Kimura, hundreds thousands hour of beating had taught her how fast she would heal from what kind of beating, the woman broke a piece of the railing to beat Laura over the head with it while punctuating each blow with a word "You. Cant. Beat. Me."
"Stop it" Megan cried as her voice had came back "You're killing her"
"Oh Megan" said Kimura, in her fake sympathetic tone "I'm not killing her, I'm killing you, X just has to watch" like with sensei or Sarah, the Facility always aimed at her closest people.
"How do you want me to kill her, X" she asked, a wide grin on her face "Should I put my finger through her brain, or through her heart"
"Kimura, please" Laura begged "I will come back to the Facility, I will do anything you say just please do not kill her, she has nothing to fo with all this"
"Of course you are, but your little friend is still going to die, now the only choice you have is brain or heart, but if you won't choose how Megan dies…" Kimura starts to press her pointer finger against Megan's chest, drawing a scream from the girl as her bones were slowly getting crushed "I will, of course you could stop her suffering, you could kill her X, it'd be merciful compared to this" and now Megan understood why Laura said she was created by monsters, the woman in front of her was a sadistic fuck that revelled in other's pain.
But Laura had another plan she released the claws on her right hand while Kimura was busy enjoying her torture of her cousin and severe her left, then quick as lightning she enacted her plan.
"Clever girl" Kimura grinned as she noticed that Laura was not attached to her anymore, she stood over Laura waiting to see what the girl would do next, that was Kimura most glaring weakness, overconfidence, it was mainly due to her invulnerability, if you never get hurt you don't see yourself loosing but you could still get trapped.
Kimura tired of waiting threw a punch but to her shock she couldn't move her left arm, looking down at her wrist, she understood what had happened, while she was distracted with torturing Megan, Laura had handcuffed her to a gas pipe.
"You little bitch"
"You ok" Megan asked as she rushed to Laura's side who nodded once"Wake your mother" said Laura while using her healing factor to reattach her hand "We're leaving, now"
"This isn't over" Kimura raged trying uselessly to free herself from the cuff while Megan helped Deborah up the stairs after Laura gave them instruction on what to do, take everything you need and my bag under the bed, we have 30s.
"There's nowhere you can run, I'll kill everyone you love, I'll kill Megan! I kill Deborah, Do you hear me" roared Kimura to Laura's face.
"Yes" Laura replied her voice devoid of any form of emotion as the claws of her reattached hand snikted out and stabbed the gas pipe and Kimura watched in muted horror the girl as she created a single spark once Megan and Deborah scents were outside of the house.
Three seconds later the entire house was blowtorched by a massive gas explosion that rocked the whole block.
An hour later the three Kinney's were getting driven by Laura toward the Canadian border with the fake paper Laura had created for them, Megan was sleeping in the back seat while Deborah sat at the front with Laura, Laura drove everyone to the Canadian border of Washington
Once everyone was out of the car Laura tossed a bag to Deborah who caught it "Inside you'll find money and passports, keep moving for the first month and alternate your cover story as you move, you have everything you need to get you the rest of the way" ordered Laura and Deborah nodded.
Megan had another type of answer "What do you mean you, you mean us right" asked Megan "Laura"
"I can't go with you" said Laura
"What why"
"We love you, Laura" Deborah said tearfully as she understood the logic behind Laura's action "We'll miss you every day"
"What're you doing" Megan demanded "You have to come with us, forget the those Facility psychos, we can just go and…" argued Megan but deep down she knew that Laura couldn't come with them, not now at least.
"I can't" Laura screamed "The Facility will never let me go, Kimura will never let me go, without me and you will have a chance to live peacefully" and Megan saw on her cousin face how much the mere thought of them getting kill by the Facility haunted her.
"But how, how will you find us" Laura didn't respond, she didn't planned to until nothing remained of the Facility and WeaponX "I said how will you find us" said Megan marching toward her cousin.
"Goodbye, Megan" Laura said while turning away, only for Megan to catch her arm.
"I was going to give you this when we got settled" Megan placed a locket in Laura's hand. "It has a picture of your mom, I put my picture in it t…" Laura interupted her by engulfing her in a hugh, the first Laura ever initiated "Thank you" she whispered truly touched.
Then they parted way, Laura simply watched her familly walk away while her heart broke once more but sudenly she was perked out of her thoughts as the X-phone in Logan's old jacket rang and she picked up after three ring "It's me kid, I know what happened and I think we both agree that it's time you get to the institute" said Logan gruff voice.