Chapter 45: Back-Up

Chapter 45: Back-Up

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Thaddeus and Laura figure out what they're doing.

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“You can’t possibly think I’m going to let you go off on your own, Laura.”

The no-nonsense young woman tenses up at that, her eyes narrowing as she glares at him.

“Are you going to try and stop me?”

Thaddeus clenches his jaw harder than before in response. He would be lying if he said the thought hadn’t crossed his mind. Pinning her down, calling for Kitty to come and talk her out of this. But... he can tell this means a lot to Laura. And besides, if there’s actually illegal scientific experiments going on in this city, he kind of wants to put a stop to it too. Even if there’s probably a bunch of junk happening that he doesn’t know about, anything he does know about... well, he wouldn’t want it to continue.

“No, but I am coming with you. I may not be a hero, but I’m not just going to leave you to tackle this on your own. I would think we’re closer than that.”

Laura frowns and looks away, clearly not sure how to respond at first to such an open overture. She rallies after a few seconds though, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow at him.

“Don’t think SHE would be too happy about that.”

That gets a grimace from Thaddeus, because Laura is right... Emma wouldn’t be happy. But... thinking about it for even a second, he realizes she would be even LESS happy if he didn’t tell her. It’s a crapshoot no matter what. But in the end, it doesn’t take him long at all to figure out that the best of all his options is to let Emma know ahead of time.

“I’ll call her. Maybe she’ll have some information for us.”

Laura blinks, clearly not having expected him to suggest such a thing. Grinning slightly, Thaddeus teases the female mutant as he pulls out his phone.

“Unless you already know exactly where we’re going...”

The leading query causes Laura to scowl a bit and huff.

“I have... some leads to chase down. But you have to know she’ll say you can’t. She’s going to shut you down, Thad.”

Thaddeus scoffs, even as he dials Emma’s number. Laura was misunderstanding a fundamental part of his and Emma’s constantly evolving relationship. These days, they were partners in all but name. Equals with different strengths. Emma might try to shut him down, but Thaddeus wasn’t going to take that from her... nor anyone else.

The call takes only a beat to pick up, with Emma’s voice coming through the other end.

“Thaddeus, I’ve been waiting for your call all day. I trust last night went well if it’s taken you this long to check in with me.”

The mild note of reproach in Emma’s voice causes Thaddeus to wince as he remembers that yeah, on top of all of this Laura and the Facility stuff, he’s still not touched based regarding Domino... or everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours.

“... Yeah, it went well. Better than well. A second Domino from another universe fell out of a portal before I showed up through a... fortuitous chain of events, resulting in a threesome that lasted all night long. In the morning, another portal opened and the second Domino went back to her universe, while the first went on her way.”

There’s a beat of silence in which Thaddeus can tell Emma is processing his words. He can also feel Laura’s eyes boring into the side of his head as he talks about some downright outlandish things, even for their crazy lives. For that brief moment, he considers letting Emma muster up a response before getting to what else happened today, or just leaving it off entirely for the time being... but in the end, he just shakes his head and chooses to rip off the band-aid wholesale.

“Then, before I could leave the hotel, I was called over to a table in the bar area by the civilian identities of the Wasp, the Invisible Woman, and She-Hulk. After some chatting, the four of us retired to another hotel room, and proceeded to spend all day wrecking that one through... carnal pursuits.”

Laura’s gaze intensifies from his side, while he hears Emma audibly choke on her own spit on the other end of the phone. He’d probably be a bit more pleased at having gotten such a reaction if the current situation wasn’t so dire.

“Anyways, none of that is actually why I called, Emma. I’m here with Laura at the moment... the one who helped me with my potential psychic problem. She and I are going to be hunting down rumors about an organization known only as ‘The Facility’ setting up shop somewhere in New York and I was wondering if you could provide any information on your end.”

Silence blankets the alley. Laura’s intense gaze has become downright incredulous as she stares at him off to the side, while Emma doesn’t say anything for so long that Thaddeus begins counting the seconds in his head and considering whether the powerful blonde telepath might have had a stroke or something.

In the end however, its Emma who breaks the silence, speaking in a calm and measured tone of voice.

“That is certainly a somewhat improbable string of events, Thaddeus. That said, can I assume so far everything has... been going your way?”

Thaddeus tilts his head to the side for a moment, thinking about it before letting out a chuckle.

“Yeah, I’d say so.”

“And when you finally left the hotel, did you... just happen to run into Ms. Kinney on your way back to campus? Perhaps she caught your eye, despite trying to be sneaky?”

Ah... man, it was great having a competent partner. Emma was so quick on the uptake it would be scary if Thaddeus didn’t know for sure that she was on his side. Grinning now, he hums as he gives an increasingly disgruntled Laura a look.

Thaddeus nods.

“Okay then, let’s see what we can find.”

Unfortunately, Thaddeus can’t just use telepathy to locate everyone in the laboratory and direct them from there. It would be nice, but there’s some kind of psychic dampener on the entire illegal underground facility, probably to account for the numerous mutants and other types of telepaths who call New York their home.

Regardless, the halls are fairly empty as they make their way further inside, looking for anything that might help them figure this place out. Eventually, they come across their first signs of life, though it doesn’t exactly come in a form that Thaddeus is expecting. And from the shock in Laura’s voice, she’s not anticipating this either.

“Wha- Cessily!”

Stepping into a bonafide lab, Thaddeus looks around at the equipment for a moment, while Laura rushes forward. Her destination is the center of the room, where a large tube of some form of glass-like material rests. The only reason Thaddeus doesn’t think it’s actually just normal glass is that inside of the tube there’s a silvery living mass that’s clearly doing all it can to break the tube.

Thaddeus can only watch on in amazement as that silvery mass slowly coalesces inside of the tube, shifting and shrinking down into the approximation of a human woman with red hair. The skin is still silver though... or rather, not silver. Mercury. That’s what he’s looking at, Thaddeus suddenly realizes. This woman is made of mercury. A mutant, had to be.

“Hey Laura... fancy seeing you here.”

“Cessily, when did they catch you? What have they done?!”

Before Cessily can respond, another voice pipes up, causing Laura to whip around FAST.

“Well, well, well... what do we have here?”

She comes through the wall, leaving Thaddeus wondering if Kitty had somehow followed them down here, or was going to turn out to be a mad scientist experimenting on her own kind or something. But only for a second. Then, he registers the woman beyond just her apparently ability to turn intangible and knows they’re not dealing with Kitty Pryde at all.

“Hey there, 23. Miss me?”

Dark skin, black hair, green eyes... and a whole lot of weapons. Those are the things Thaddeus notices first about this new arrival. Well, that and the way her armored bodysuit hugs her figure, but he’s self-aware enough to know that this is far from the time. Especially given the way Laura reacts to her. The young female mutant’s claws immediately unsheathe as she turns to the newcomer, and a snarl of pure, primal ferocity spreads across Laura’s normally bland and emotionless face.

“Kimura.”

“Ah good, so you do remember. I’d have been disappointed if you didn’t.”

Laura bristles, before gnashing her teeth.

“... My name is Laura.”

The now named ‘Kimura’ scoffs at that.

“Experiments don’t get names, X-23. Least of all failed experiments who ran away. Still, who would have thought you’d come crawling back like this. Saves me the trouble if nothing else, I suppose.”

Kimura’s eyes slide away from Laura, over to his masked, hulking form.

“Mm, even found yourself a big, beefy lover boy while you were out. How cute. Got a name, stranger? No? Well, we’ll see how long that dark and brooding act of yours lasts once we get you on the rack.”

Thaddeus stays quiet, knowing full well that this isn’t a conversation he needs to be part of. Indeed, Laura doesn’t hesitate to point her claws at Kimura.

“Your fight is with me, Kimura.”

The older woman scoffs at that, arms crossed over her chest.

“Fight? There’s not going to be a fight, X-23. You’re in desperate need of some serious correction. Meanwhile, everyone you’ve ever come into contact with is slated for execution, their days numbered. They just don’t know it yet.”

With a scream, Laura launches herself forward in Kimura’s direction, causing the other woman to smirk in response and unwind her arms, clearly prepared to meet her charge.

Thaddeus, meanwhile, hesitates for a moment. Does he back Laura up... or does he see about freeing her friend Cessily? On the one hand, Laura might need the assist, depending on how tough this Kimura chick truly was. On the other hand, if they got Cessily out of the tube, it would become three on one...

-x-X-x- The Vote: [ ] Back Laura up against Kimura - 27%

[X] Prioritize freeing Cessily - 73%

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