innocence lost

Carol quirked an eyebrow at the claws. Seems humanity had developed more than she thought since her absence. The blonde smirked at the mutant before she slowly allowed the photonic energy engulf her. Her form shifting to binary. “Are you sure you want to attempt that?”

Bred and raised in a secret organization hoarding mutants, Laura grew accustomed to every sort of all shapes and sizes. Their abilities varied and when one came around she hadn’t seen before, it struck as no surprise. “I don’t pick fights unless ordered to.” The shimmering bright glow the blonde emanated caused Laura to squint, “Besides, you’re the one who chose to punch me.”

Oh– okay, seeing how the only thing that’s different about me is my hair than others, and you’re not staring at that– you can go stare at someone else.

I’m not breaking any laws and staring is the one freedom I’m allowed to have.

Being burdened with feelings like guilt, sadness, happiness– having connections with those around you doesn’t make you weak. It makes you alive.

You know what makes me feel alive? Orders, commands, knowing I can walk down a corridor and people are smart enough not to look me in the eye. Emotions are useless.

What– never seen someone with green hair?

It isn’t your hair I’m staring at.

No. But you’ll wish I was.

The punch sent her head snapping to the side, a small stun Laura gave herself a mere second to identify the blonde wasn’t a human. It was rare anyone held the strength to make a small dent with her. “I’d be doing this world a favor.” Laura instinctively extended her claws, “Just as it did with Fury.”

It’s easy to be told how to feel– safer sometimes; everyone looks to be told what to do with their life, where to go. However, hating someone because it was told to you? You don’t find that strange?

Making my own emotional decisions is considered a roadblock, so they’ve taught me. I’m not burdened by things like a guilty conscience or personal connections, I’m not weak. I find it a gratuitous favor.

“You’re a fucking traitor to your own kind. What I don’t get is of someone whose prowess is boasted as much as yours, what’s fucking holding you to the Brotherhood when you can easily destroy them and save hundreds,” Scott spat out. Yes, he knew this could potentially backfire on him– but if he was hurt by X-23 or by the Brotherhood or Jack, himself, it didn’t matter. His end regardless was coming and he wouldn’t be drug back to that hell alive. Scott rose up from his seat, smacking his hands on the surface as he came face to face with the girl. “You haven’t seen lost sanity and it’s the only thing that’s keeping me from making even more a scene right now,” Scott’s voice came out even despite the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He never learned how to be much of a fighter from Jack, it was beat out of him any time he tried– this… this was new. This was survival. “Be it you, or Jack, or anyone else from the Brotherhood coming after me next time, it won’t end well for you. I will take you down, or I will die trying before I ever go back.”

“Marking me as the traitor implies we’re the same and that couldn’t be any further from the truth. The Brotherhood is the reason why I’m here or do you not get that serving them is a birthright I’m meant to carry out for the rest of my days? There is no free will or wasting moments on emotional weaknesses. I can’t save them.” The consequences the Brotherhood would rain down on her would be astronomical. Just as they held the power to create a weapon as indestructible as her, they were capable of wiping her from existence without batting an eyelash. The mutant was their property, their strength, their tool and she had no say in it. Laura took to staring down Scott with a nonchalant cocked brow, “Then go ahead, Summers. Take off that little lifeline keeping your abilities in check and watch as the people around us die getting caught in the crossfire. I may not be allowed to care about them, but I know you don’t want their blood on your conscience.”  Needing to survive. She had to admit it’s what the two had in common and that was rare relating to anyone for Laura. “Scott, you’re smarter than this. You know he’ll just find a mutant with the right abilities to resurrect you anyway.”

I wasn’t asking if you would hesitate, I was asking if you really wanted to do that. You.

It’s what they would want me to do. They tell me I should hate the avengers, feel the desire to kill them, and so it shall be.

What did you just say?

Dead. Good. Riddance. Are you deaf?

Is that what you really think, though? That you would ‘skewer’ them?

Does it sound like I’m hesitating making a promise like that? No. I don’t do empty threats.

Where’s Fury?

Dead. Good riddance.

“Just other mutants that you’ll eventually throw back to the wolves and make slaves again. Don’t you see how backwards that is?” He never understood the Brotherhood. Mutants had a tough time getting along with regular humans in the first place– so much so that mutants shouldn’t have been turning on each other, but they were. He saw that first hand. “Then let me enlighten you– this, out here in the real world? I’d rather be miserable out here than be controlled by the neck into doing every single command I’ve done in the Brotherhood. Freedom is an option, and I will damn well fight for it. Either you or Jack– I don’t care anymore. This tiny shred of sanity I have left depends on this.”

“What happens to them in the Brotherhood isn’t my concern. No matter how I may think I feel about it.” There were days Laura thought she couldn’t feel much of anything, having emotions wasn’t meant to be a part of her genetic makeup and it isn’t what she was made for. The organization created the perfect weapon with X-23. “My mission isn’t dragging you back, but I will if I must should they command it of me. I think you need to face it to yourself, Scott, you lost your sanity a long time ago.” Laura stepped closer before placing her hands on the table’s surface, “He took that from you and now, living here with your brother pretending everything’s fine, will not end well for you.”