Lorna Dane

It seemed that everyday mutants were in the conversations of everyone. The news, the press and even those at Vought. It was in the supes best interests that mutants were kept as the enemy. The danger against humanity rather than being the next form of evolution. Homelander was ready to be on the side against them since it would benefit him and the Seven. An easy choice. He found that the more rallies he went to, the more support he got for himself and more points. As much as he hated signings, he was willing to do them on rare occasions. The question from the girl, he looked up and smiled. “I do. I protect people and I see the danger the cause around the world to their own kind and to humanity. Don’t worry too much. The Seven have it covered and we’ll protect everyone.”

Lorna could feel her nails digging into her palms she was clenching her fists so tight. This man had so much metal on and around him. She could just wrap it around his neck and....no that wouldn’t show the right message. “And do you think it’s fair?” She asked stiffly. “That people who were born different are carted off in prison in trucks while you get to throw a press conference? What about your son?” She asked quietly. “What happens when they come after him?” Who “they” were she wasn’t sure but it was probably a way to make him sit up and pay attention. 

It had been a long night. Seeing people swoon over the supes while her own kind were carted off or killed made her sick and angry. The Brotherhood were needed more than anything if her people would get justice or retribution. “I see no kid around here. Couldn’t find her?” Magneto wanted the kid back in Genosha with Lorna and himself, Emma agreed with it. “I can check the school that Scott runs if you want but knowing the Summers brothers, they’re probably fighting.”

She was so very tired on so many levels. Lorna let her eyes close for a minute before turning away from the window. “He didn’t have her.” She said flatly. Now she truly had no idea where Katie was and that was a black hole kind of terrifying. “No.” She waved the suggestion away. “Don’t need to give anyone any more leverage.” 

    One of her hands went up to her chain as she gently tried to tug it but nothing was helping. It wasn’t bad but she was starting to not like the feeling of it tightening around her. “Look, I knew him a few years ago when I worked at Vought but that was it.” She would deny to anyone about her true link to him if it meant protecting the one person that mattered to her. “I can try and deliver your message,” she said after the necklace loosened itself. Flustered, she took it off and left it on the table but nervously fiddled with the ring attached to the chain. “I have a way of doing it but I can’t promise any certainty so what is it?”

She wasn't going to make the woman choke but that would certainly leave a mark, hopefully a bruise. "I think you and I both know it's more than that." One of the mutants on Genosha, wiry teenager with an extra set of arms, was in information junkie and knew this woman was closer to Vought than she pretended to be. There was also the fact that she always seemed to be in the background when Homelander's son was mentioned. "You're going to tell him to back off mutants." She said quietly but deadly serious. "Otherwise..." A spoon floated up of it's own accord to hover over Lorna's outstretched palm. "We will bring him and Vought to it's knees." She made a fist and the spoon crumpled to a ball dropping to the table with a soft clang. "Understand?"

Katie loved to draw and every day Alex got a new picture in the post and it was one of the things he most looked forward to. Katie thought her dad was a soldier, which wasn’t wrong, and her mother was a princess and she loved that idea. When he got to see her, Alex had told her how wonderful her mother was and how beautiful she was. One of the pictures she had sent featured Lorna, she had a crown and a princess dress and the green hair Alex had told her about. “She is yours Lorna, she is ours and she was made from something extraordinary.” He truly believed that even now after everything he had done. Alex had convinced himself he had done the right thing but his decision still kept him up some nights. “Lorna you know I don’t, you know I love you but Katie is going to be powerful. Do you believe your dad won’t use that in some way?” He knew that Lorna probably wanted the relationship with her father that she never had with her mother’s husband and having a family and a powerful one like Magneto had its pull.  “Nothing is wrong with her being with her own people but when almost all of Genosha hates humans? Lorna half of her family are human, her great-grandparents are human and she loves them. She wouldn’t have any of that if she had Magneto’s influence.”  Katie needed to know her mutant heritage, he knew that but right now she wasn’t aware of the pain or fear that came with being a mutant. Alex wanted his daughter to be proud of how she was but there was being proud and then there was feeling as if you were superior to the human race.   

Sure that was what he said. He said he believed that she wasn't blindly following her father, that she possessed her own mind but then he went and did things like this! Did he not know how many nights she had lain awake worrying? How much she had cried over her daughter? How everyone looked at her now? Broken, damaged goods. And it was all his fault. “Stop it stop it STOP IT!” Reaching out with her powers she flung the drink he had placed on the table against the wall, shattering it. Anything to get him to stop talking. Stop lying. He didn’t love her. If he did he wouldn’t have kidnapped their daughter! 

Lorna gripped her arms tightly. “You never gave it a chance!” She said feeling like something was cracking and crumbling inside of her. “You never gave us a chance. And now,” the tears were coming again. “she doesn’t even know me. Do you even mention me?”

If it had been up to Erik he would remain in Genosha and continuing to build up the only safe place for mutants and one where homosapiens could not interfere but Lorna had other ideas. She wanted her daughter back and of course Erik could understand it all but he could tell there was something more than that bringing her to New York and he only hoped it wasn’t the second Summers. “Lorna,” He came in and kissed his daughter on the head as his eyes went to her screen. Little Katie Summers, why she chose to give her Alex’s name was beyond him but from the pictures she had, the little girl was all Lorna. “She has your eyes, beautifully bright green.” Erik hopped his granddaughter was nothing like her coward of a father but it had been years and he could guess what the idiot had been saying. “I hope the time for crying is over. We’re in the same city as that fool, allow me to bring him in and let the Frost Sisters have their fun. Alex will soon return Katie to you.”

She had been so sure that Katie would be here. Alex had been such a hovering overprotective Dad in the beginning that she'd assumed he'd want to keep his daughter in his sight at all times. Lorna'd been gravely wrong about Alex before, why should now be any different. She felt the reassuring presence of her father behind her and smiled as she saw the latest picture at the end of the photo stream. Her hair kept getting subtly darker, she'd been nearly white blonde as a baby. Did it tangle easily like her's had? Was brushing it a pain? And her smile was nearly blinding. She'd grown out of the smile that looked like she was trying to show all of her teeth at once into something more natural. The fact that she had Alex's nose and chin did hurt but not as much. Couldn't be helped. She blushed when Erik complimented her eyes. They looked better on Katie than they ever had on her.

"You know that's not the best way to do it." She said not up for rehashing the same old argument. Alex had to want to bring Katie to her, to want to join them. So, and admittedly this was a long shot, they could all be together on Genosha. "And I'll find her." Alex could never keep secrets for long. And to bring him and Katie back she had to make a statement. "I've found someone....close to Homelander." She'd actually spoken to the man himself but it gave her a headache just thinking about it. "Time to show the world we aren't just going to roll over and take it."

Lorna was really starting to hate New York. It was loud and dirty and just slightly menacing. She used to love New York, it was where all her big firsts had happened. She’d gone to school here, her first solo apartment, where she’d met Alex. Alex who had take their baby and ran and now she only got to see her daughter in photos. It felt like each year there was a hand around her neck and the grip just kept getting tighter and tighter. Lorna was starting to choke. Looking obsessively at the pictures he deigned to send her and imagining the person Katie was turning into. It made her even more desperate to turn the world into a place where her daughter would be safe. By any means necessary.

She was swiping through the photos again when she heard the familiar metal click of Magneto’s shoes on the ground. It always gave her an irrational little giggle when she was confronted with the reality of how her father flew. And against her will her back straightened and tears disappeared. She was so tired of crying.

“Hello Father.”

There was never any such thing as a simple day in New York for her any more, Lorna mused. Probably no such thing as a simple day in New York for anyone, period. Since Charles’s little incident the air had been nearly electric. Protest both pro and anti mutant were everywhere and they were getting some major media attention. Lorna pushed her way through the crowd until she got to the one she wanted. The one Homelander was speaking at. Unfortunately this one happened to be anti mutant and celebrities made it so much worse. Hair always covered she pushed her way to the front and just listened for a little while.  The rhetoric coming from this preening child made her stomach feel queasy. Did he even understand what he was saying? Probably not. Lorna considered taking a nice sharp piece of metal and just running it through his neck, solving everyone’s problems right now. Lorna clenched her fist but ultimately decided against it. So she waited until the speech was over and walked up to the man as he was signing autographs. 

“You really believe mutants are dangerous?” It was probably good to ask. 

Lorna didn’t want to be in New York anymore. It was loud and dirty and seeing people rounded up just for their genetic makeup, Lorna wanted to go home. It was clear Katie wasn’t here and the only bright spot when she had come had been the tiniest possibility of seeing her baby girl. Now that was gone and she felt cold. They were staying in a hotel for the time being and the room was smaller than the rooms she had on Genosha. But they were stuck here for the time being. Lorna was staring out the window when clicking, expensive heels, announced the presence of her roommate.  “Hello Emma.”

The elevator ride up to his apartment was deathly silent and the tension was so high it was almost hard for him to catch his breath. He let the comment about Scott slide knowing there was a little bit of truth to her words. Scott still had a lot of influence over Alex, not that he liked to admit it but his big brother had a lot of sway with mutants. The home they shared in Nevada was the polar opposite to what he had now. It wasn’t spacious like their home and the lack of natural light was a constant frustration for Alex. The only personal things he had in his apartment were his books and of course drawings that Katie had done sticking up on his fridge. “Our daughter,” Alex corrected her without missing a beat. “She is our daughter, not yours, not mine.” That was part of the problem, Katie would never be just theirs, she would always be at the mercy of Magento and any parent couldn’t sit back and watch that happen. “He would use her as a weapon and you know it,” He said with a defeated sigh. “She wouldn’t just be our daughter or his granddaughter, she would always be something he could use and I want more for her.” He got out Lorna’s favorite drink without any prompt and placed it by her side, wondering if she would throw it at him rather than drinking it.

Lorna didn’t even care to hear him. She was too busy looking at the bright colorful drawings on the fridge. Katie had done those, she just knew. The bright happy flowers and houses and something that was either a horse or a dog. It almost hurt her eyes with how beautiful it was. She was putting out a hand to touch one of them when the words “not yours” cut through the mental fog. “Not mine. Yes you’ve certainly made that clear.” She snipped as the hurt came flooding back. Walking into the room and finding Katie gone, tearing the house apart before she’d sunk down to the floor screaming....no she wasn’t going back there. Not again. She turned her back on the drawings. 

“Wow. You must really have a low opinion of me.” She scoffed. Like she would let her baby be used as a weapon. Like her father would have done that to a baby! When they’d spoken, he’d been excited to be a grandfather. “No opinion of my own. No free will. Just Magneto’s daughter.” She looked in disgust as he placed a drink in front of her. No he would not sway her that easily. “And what is wrong with her being among her own people, learning about her heritage. Learning that she is powerful! Hell even learning how to defend herself!” She finished with a shout. He couldn’t deny that Katie was in danger now with the new anti mutant climate. 

     There wasn’t many people Becca knew so she was pretty confused at first but before she could say anything she felt a strange tightening around her neck. Only subtle but she tried to pull the necklace down to relieve but it didn’t work. “What makes you think I’m close with Homelander?” Feigning innocence.

Lorna rolled her eyes as she inched closer to the woman tightening her grip on the necklace. It wouldn’t start choking her yet but that would leave a mark. “I don’t take you for a stupid woman so please do me the same courtesy.” Well that made her sound like her father. Appropriate for the circumstances but weird for the long term. She wasn’t going to bring up the woman’s son. Not yet. If someone had brought up Katie it would probably shake her down to her very core, and she didn’t think playing that card would be very helpful. “Homelander. I have a message for him. Can I trust you to deliver it?” Well even if her intel was wrong it would be hard to ignore her request after leaving this impression. Speaking of impression, she tightened her metallic grip on the necklace even further to show she meant business. Then she loosened it to allow Becca to speak. 

      Becca studied the womans face for a quick second when she heard her name come from her mouth but was certain they hadn’t met when she looked at her. “Yeah, Becca. Do I know you?” her smile was polite if a little confused but she was on her guard a little.

Lorna rolled her lips together before deciding to go with it. “No but you are close to someone I would like to get to know very well.” She reached out to all that lovely metal on the woman’s body. Not much but enough to work with. She started with the necklace, subtly tightening it around the woman’s neck. “Homelander. You two are close?”

       Taking work out to a café wasn’t the best of ideas but she needed a little break from the office. The work was intense so she put away the folder and secured it in her bag but noticed that her stuff had invaded the table next to her. “I am so sorry!” she said as she cleared away her things. “I didn’t mean to get in your way.” She hadn’t looked at the person yet, instead clearing up after herself.

Lorna hated covering up her hair. She didn’t usually need to do it often, this being New York but not only was her face recognizable, anything different was immediately noticed. She only wanted one person’s attention right now.

“No you didn’t.” Lorna said putting on a fake smile. “You’re Becca right?”

How much his life had changed was more painful than Alex could describe. He had the girl and the baby on the way, he had the family he thought he had lost and a job he would have killed for. Now he lost the girl, his daughter was hidden away from the mutant world just to be on the safe side and his job meant he witnessed first hand what losing members of the team was like and while he lay in bed alone, his thoughts went back to the hazy mornings in Nevada, looking out into the view with Lorna in his arms. “Your father had no right to make her into his brotherhood royalty.” Alex said quietly, sceptical that Sentinel Services were around. “You can come upstairs and we can talk about it there okay?” He held the door open for her, not knowing if she’d prefer to slam it in his face or to simply join him.

Lorna missed her daughter so much it felt like an actual ache in her ribs. Of course it also came with some feelings of missing Alex and the life they’d had together but he forfeited the right to that when he’d taken their daughter to God knew where! Walking past him she spat. “Wouldn’t want big brother to lock up all the bad bad mutants now would we.” Under her breath because truthfully she didn’t want to deal with Sentinel Services either. 

His apartment looked almost nothing like the home they had shared, made, in Nevada. Less light and color for one thing. But given the lack of child things and the general neatness, Katie wasn’t here. “Alright. Lets hear it.” She said at a normal volume. “Lets here how my father is so horrible you had to take my daughter away from me.”