This is the Spider-Man/Shadowcat/Laura 'bonding' chapter, so you know it's gonna be grim and angsty. Still, it'll probably lead to less projectile vomiting compared to the carnival date, so we'll see where it goes.
Anyway, a friend from my course read the story and she actually pointed out some of the character's quirks. She tagged Gwen as having a pretty bad case of messiah/guilt complex, which is fine since her behavior is pretty indicative of that, but then she notes that Noir either has a deathwish or death seeker tendencies.
She also made a point that it was only 65-Noir that exhibits this and that the original doesn't, stating that his apathy from the constant risks to his life and daring Murdock to pull the trigger during the date chapter indicates that a part of him wants to die despite the bonds he's made with the other characters, most notably Gwen.
I have...mixed views on that, but I'll deal with that in the later AN.
As for Volume 2, I'm definitely nudging towards fixing up the Hobgoblin arc and the things with Donald Roxxon and Lana's dad fit there more. Granted Volume 2 isn't a full set thing, but it's looking better so far. And at least an overarching big bad adds more chance for drama than my original slice of life plan.
On a side note, I found the preview for Spider-Gwen #32 and apparently Gwen's going to out her identity. I have...mixed views on this. While it definitely shakes up the status quo and makes her unique, I have a bad feeling that it'll end with her having to make a deal with Mephisto to revive her comatose dad.
Unless Captain America and SHIELD Deus ex machina a solution this is gonna end badly, especially given the rumors that she's going to start going by Ghost Spider. I'm just really hoping she doesn't jump to 616, since that would kill off the series, at least in my opinion.
Chapter 102: Spiders, Cats and Wolverines
This was getting out of hand.
Spider-Man leaned forward on the chair and groaned, injured hands covering his bloodstained face. When he'd gotten that tip from Felicia about Octavius being back he thought it'd be quick and clean. No more second chances, no more giving him up to a government that didn't give a single toss about the right of its citizens because of the color of their skin. He'd bury Octavius under that asylum and that'd be the end of it.
Now? Well, now he was keeping watch on a little girl with knives sticking out of her hands that they'd chained to the bed.
Sucking in another deep breath, he set his hands down and looked across towards one of the single beds taking up the breadth of the room. The little girl - X-23, though he sure as hell wasn't going to call her that - looked up at the ceiling blankly without so much as a hint of a struggle. She'd fought before, snarled in broken German and tried to claw though the chains wrapped around her like a vice, but eventually she calmed.
Now she said nothing, and it made him wish she'd curse at him again.
They were staying at some motel close to the edge of town. The receptionist did a double take when she saw him and Kat stumbling in covered in blood and carrying an equally bloody kid in their arms. It took a lot of explaining (and a lot of money changing hands) to convince her that they were just unlucky stranger that had gotten into an accident and not at all kidnappers who'd taken and handcuffed a kid against her will.
She actually believed them once enough money was flashed, proving once again that money trumped common decency.
"God damn it..." Spider-Man let out a frustrated breath. Why hadn't he shot Octavius when he had the chance? If he hadn't been so damned theatrical that worthless sack of shit would be dead, he wouldn't have lost five years of his life and he wouldn't be stuck in another world looking after killer little girls while his psychopath(?) of a partner used the shower to try and wash off all the blood she was drenched in.
The sound of running water from the bathroom was close to driving him insane. Gritting his teeth, he grabbed for the remote on the nearby table and turned on the television. He didn't care what was on as long as he had something to drown out the noise.
His wish was granted when he saw the Spider-Dame - Gwen Stacy, he reminded himself - and the Slant's 'sister' sitting on a couch across from a guy with too much gel in his hair. He was tempted to change the channel, but the fact that the little girl actually tilted her head to look at the screen made him abstain. That was the biggest reaction he'd seen from her ever since she stopped growling at them.
"Thank you, thank you!" The host said, mouth parted to show off his pearly whites, "Once again we'd like to take the time to thank these two for taking time from their busy schedules to come visit us. Give these two ladies a hand!"
A roar of applause came and went. Stacy seemed to find no problem in it, though Moon fidgeted in her seat like a deer in the headlights, "Well you know it's our pleasure, Josh." Stacy said, her voice carrying clear through despite the mask, "Me and Spinerette thought it'd be a good chance to clear the air and all. We know people have a lot of questions about the Avengers."
"Yeah, but don't try asking us about the membership benefits and stuff. That's still being worked out," Moon said.
Canned laughter came after the joke(?) and Spider-Man found himself glazing over as the Q and A dragged along. The little girl continued to watch the screen intently, her gaze laser focused on the moving puppets taking up the inside of the telly. Honestly he didn't care about what was going on, just that it was better than being stuck with nothing but his own thoughts.
"So here's a doozy for ya," The host said, "One viewer asks if you think that your presence is provoking the Supervillains. He said, and I quote, 'the amount of costume related crime increased in frequency over the last 10 years, which coincides with the time of Captain America coming back and your debut'. Looks like this guy's been keeping a close eye, huh?"
"Yeah, I guess so." Stacy's tone was clipped, but if the others noticed then they didn't say anything, "Look, I don't wanna sound like I'm denying fault, but think of it like this: is Jodie Foster responsible for her crazy fan shooting Raegan? I don't think so. I mean we're just trying to do good with what we have, you know? If White Rabbit is crazy enough to think she's my arch-enemy then I'll stop her, but it's not my fault that she decided to put on a costume and started robbing banks. I didn't tell her to do that and I've stopped her every time she tried."
"I'm with her," Moon added, "I'll admit I'm new to this thing so maybe I don't have any room to talk, but crime's always existed. These people chose to do bad things and we're just stopping them. Maybe they wouldn't have put on a costume if they didn't see everyone else doing it, but putting on a mask doesn't make you a good or bad person. If seeing people do good things makes them put on a mask to commit crimes then that's on them."
"I mean it's not like I told em 'Here I am, come and get me!' or anything," Stacy said, "Honestly I look forward to the day that I don't have to put on a mask and go patrolling anymore because it means there's no more crime to stop."
"Uh-huh." Spider-Man didn't miss the annoyed furrow of the host's brow. Was he searching for something, "Alright, well, here's another question from a new viewer: 'just what the heck is the deal with you and the Dark Spider? The dude's a Supervillain, isn't that against your code or something?'" He smiled like a damn shark, "You know, that is a good question. What exactly is going on with you two? A little Romeo and Juliet or Beauty and the Beast?"
"My relationship with Spider-Man is-"
Whatever she was about to say was cut off when the telly abruptly turned off. Spider-Man sighed while the little girl growled when he caught sight of Shadowcat's smarmy smile, "That stuff rots your brain." She kicked away the plug and continued toweling her hair dry. At least the blood was gone, though the tanktop and shorts didn't leave much for him to look at without feeling at least a little guilty.
"Mach
es wieder an!" The little girl snarled in German, struggling against her chains again. Kat assured him she couldn't break out.
If I can't do it then she sure as shit can't, were her exact words. He could only hope she was right about that - it took them nearly half an hour of scouring that damn butcher shop to find the damn things, along with whatever files they could dig up on that sinkhole.
Kat raised an eyebrow and smirked, "
Mach mich, kleines Mädchen," she shot back, showing off her teeth.
"Alright, enough." Spider-Man pinched the bridge of his nose. His German wasn't that great, but he got the gist of it well enough, "Look, just let her watch the damn thing. We already beat her face in and tied her up, doing this is just pointless."
"Beat her face in? You forgetting her little skewer job?" Kat gestured to her completely healed mid-section, "Trust me, she's a little hellion. The Facility doesn't raise bunny rabbits."
"As you prove every day," he muttered, "Just plug it back in, alright? I gotta wash this blood off me."
"Yeah, yeah." She rolled her eyes exaggeratedly as he made his way to the bathroom, taking a change of clothes as he went. The wave of hot water was a relief and he let out a fatigued breath, pressing his forehead against the cool wall.
This was insane, there was no other way he could describe it. He watched the blood wash off his body into the drain below. He was no stranger to violence, but even Octavius' experiments were petty compared to this. It only took a quick glance at the girl's files to show just how badly the depravities science was capable of, though after the atomic bomb and the various chemical weapons he probably shouldn't have been surprised.
Human weapons...well, he saw the announcement for those Avengers clowns and he definitely couldn't deny the idea that even the government back home would've been interested in what made his 'gifts' tick.
Minuted passed, and when the hot water finally began to lose its luster he stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off quickly. Getting out of town was going to be a nightmare now that the police were searching all over - paranoia after the last forest fire, or so Kat claimed. Their best bet was getting a car and driving back, but that was easier said than done considering they had a little girl in chains with them.
Kat was gone by the time he stepped out, which only came as half of a surprise. The little girl continued to stare at the screen, which was now playing some kind of cartoon where a mouse tormented a cat for one reason or another,
'Couldn't stay to keep watch, huh?' He shook his head and threw the towel into the hamper. Kat must've been really convinced those chains could hold.
He really didn't want to know exactly why she was so sure.
Closing his eyes briefly, he finally let himself get a good look at her. The girl was young - 11 years old according to her files, but she looked years younger than that. Her skin was pale, showing little similarity to the tan Kat and her 'father' shared, and her eyes were a striking shade of green. Those eyes stuck out to him more than anything. Her gaze was distant and clouded, putting some of the veterans from back home to shame.
It didn't belong to a child.
Underneath the chains she wore a bloodstained patient gown, which only exacerbated how
wrong the entire situation was. Spider-Man let loose another frustrated sigh and walked towards her, the little girl's attention immediately snapping from the telly to him. Her expression was cold and passive as always, but at least she made no attempt to snarl or tackle him. He'd take it.
"Look..." He sat at the side of the bed, close enough that he risked getting stabbed in the back, "I don't know if you can understand me or I'm just rambling, so just listen. I won't pretend to understand everything they did to you, but I know enough about right and wrong that I know how sick it is. They can make some spiel about the greater good or how it'll all work out in the end, but what they did was abhorrent. The things they forced you to do...it's not something anyone deserves, especially not a child."
She didn't say anything and just continued to look up at him blankly.
"So here's what we're going to do." He fished the key out of his pocket and raised it up. Immediately her attention shifted from him to the small metal object, "I need you to give me a sign that you won't attack me and I'll let you out of those chains. Okay?"
Not a word was said, but her head titled down ever so slightly in a nod. He waited for the blare of his spider-sense to tell him that she was lying.
Nothing.
"Alright..." He scooted closer and inserted the key into the tiny padlock at the center of the mass of metal. She didn't so much as blink, and he thanked small fortunes that she seemed to inherit Kat's fast healing. It would've been a bit too difficult if her nose was still broken on top of it all.
The padlock opened with a muted click and the chains fell away. Spider-Man watched as she wriggled out of the interlocked bindings, her expression going from blank to suspicious. That was the look of someone who was expecting the other shoe to drop any second now, which he'd been on the giving end more times than he cared to admit.
She backed away to the head of the bed and raised her right hand threateningly. The two metal claws burst from her knuckles soon after, coating her hand in another fresh smattering of blood.
'She's scared...' Or cautious. Or angry. Maybe all three. Spider-Man raised both hands in a surrendering gesture, "Easy, I ain't going to hurt you." Her eyes narrowed at that and she moved her nose, "...Well, not anymore. Least if you don't gimme a reason." He cringed. He sucked at these kinds of talks, "Look, you're just a kid. I don't want to hurt you, alright? So just put your meat hooks down and we can talk."
Seconds of tense silence passed before she eventually gave another half nod and concealed her claws. Spider-Man let out a soft breath of relief and lowered his hands, "Okay, okay..." He hadn't been stabbed yet, so he'd take that as a good sign, "Look, Kat has more of a clue on what's going on here than I do, but even I know that this entire thing's been a trip for biscuits."
She tilted her head, "
Was bedeutet das?" she asked softly.
"It means...ah, nevermind." He glanced at the telly briefly before turning back to her, "Look, we gotta get you cleaned up, alright? You can't run around in a damn patient gown covered in blood." He offered her a hand, which she looked at with a narrow glare, "...If I wanted to hurt you I wouldn't have let you out of your chains. I'm not asking you to hug me, but I do hope you're not going to stab me with those claws of yours."
She sniffed at the air briefly before eventually taking his hand in a reluctant grip, and again he was reminded of how absurd it all was. Children had no place getting involved in death dealing.
He pointedly ignored the fact that he killed his first man when he was barely 17.
He lead her to the bathroom and and turned on the sink, "...Sit over there." He gestured to the closed toilet and began wetting a towelette with some warm water. He saw her clamber on top of the porcelain from the bathroom mirror and he smiled slightly. For a precious few seconds he almost forgot she nearly gutted them.
Seconds passed as the basin was filled with water and soon enough he found himself kneeling in front of her, one hand holding onto hers while the other scrubbed away the blood that covered her like a second skin. He was no stranger to cleaning off blood after a night through town, but usually he only had to worry about making sure Aunt May and Mary Jane didn't see him.
Not...this.
"...You need to take a bath." He set down the (more or less) cleaned left hand and got to work on her right, "We don't have a proper change of clothes, so I'll just leave one of my shirts." It wasn't ideal, but at least it'd cover her up and look a hell of a let less suspicious, "Afterwards we can buy you some clothes, but for now it'll have to do. Is that alright?"
"
Ist das eine Befehl?" She looked up at him unblinkingly.
Spider-Man's brows furrowed in worry. An order? "I'm not your owner." He looked down at the wet floor with a frown and continued to wipe away the last flecks of blood on her wrist, "...Would you please just take a bath? And I'd appreciate it if you didn't climb out of the window in your birthday suit or something. This donnybrook's bad enough, we don't need a streaking kid on top of it. Thanks."
Another muted nod was his only response.
Spider-Man left a shirt for her before he closed the door, the sound of running water coming soon after. He stood with his back against the wall for a brief moment, just trying to make sense of the insanity, before he pushed himself off and practically collapsed on the closest chair. He was always told kids were a handful, but he had a feeling this wasn't what Aunt May meant by that.
He didn't have stay alone long. Seconds later Kat stepped through the door, two buckets of chicken and mashed potatoes balanced on her arms, "Honey, I'm home!" He looked up and threw her a withering stare, which she responded to with a cocky smile, "Aww, you miss me, Petey?"
"Yeah, I was lost without you." He scoffed. At this point he'd given up on chiding her for the nickname, "Thanks for looking out for her, by the way. Really appreciate that."
Kat shrugged, "Like I said those chains can hold. Speaking of..." She nudged her head to said chains lying on a crumpled heap on the bed, "Any particular reason you let her out?"
"I dunno, maybe the idea of keeping a bloodstained little girl chained on the bed just didn't appeal to me," he snapped back, "She's just a little girl...she doesn't deserve that."
"Aww, and you said you weren't a hero. You're just a big ol' softy, aren't you?"
"Piss off." He gave her the middle finger. She just laughed and set the food down on the small table nearby, "...What's the plan here, Kat?"
"Hm?"
"You know what I mean." He brought a hand through his hair and sneered, "What are we going to do with her?"
"Hell if I know." She shrugged again, "You were the one who wanted to take her with us. Far as I'm concerned that's more of a 'you' problem."
"Don't give me that." He glared up at her, "We've got a little girl with knives coming out of her hands who can't speak a lick of English. Something tells me people aren't gonna buy that you two are sisters."
"That's cause she ain't. Files say Kinney's her mom, and Kimura's enough of a bitch on her own. I don't need that Frankenstein wannabe as an aunt."
"Would you just..." He sighed and shook his head, "Look, we need a plan for this. Unless you just want to leave her here."
"Well sor-
ry, bub, I wasn't exactly expecting another one of the old man's kids when we raided that shithole!" she replied, "Look, I ain't got a fucking clue what you expect me to do about this. I thought this was gonna be a milk run, in and out with a few files, maybe gutting a few scientists. After what happened six years ago I thought no one would be stupid enough to try and make more of us."
"Don't suppose we could just take her to an orphanage, can we?"
"Yeah, and then before the week's finished she kills everyone inside because one of the little bastards pushes her on the sandbox." She rolled her eyes, "You've read her files, bub. She's never been outside of the Facility and she's got more trigger phases than the old man has bastards. One wrong word and she's gonna be slitting throats and chewing on their corpses."
"Alright, I get it." He closed his eyes and muttered a brief prayer before speaking up again, "You mentioned something before about taking out those code phrases?"
"Yeah, but it ain't easy." She frowned and sat across from him, "From what we managed to dig up she went through the same shit that I did, so the power of love ain't gonna cut it. Killing people's second instinct to her now."
"How did you get rid of the programming?"
"Who said I did?" She smiled wryly, "They built the codes to last. I managed to block them off, but even then there are things like the trigger scent that just make me lose it. We're really damn lucky Kinney didn't have any in the facility since I do actually kinda like you."
"Yeah, but
how did you block them off?"
Her smile remained in place even as she willed her see-through claws into existence, "With these." She raised her right hand to the side of her head, the tips of the claws nearly grazing the temple, "I usually use these for the usual throat slitting, but these things are capable of much more. I'm not gonna pretend that I know exactly how they work, but apparently they can affect the brain more than just stabbing through it. I used these to rewire some parts of my noggin so that the worst code phrases don't do jack."
"You...lobotomized yourself." His grip on the chair's hands tightened and he was reminded of Robbie's blank gaze despite his best efforts. That was one thing he wasn't looking forward to when he got back.
That was assuming he hadn't been put down yet, at least...
"If you wanna call it that," she replied casually, willing her claws away "I don't think we wanna do it to the kid, though. Only reason it worked for me is cause I know how my brain works, and even then I nearly turned into a vegetable, but her? Well...let's just say turning her into a drooling retard's one of the better outcomes."
"Fuck me..."
"Right now? I don't think that's a good idea." He glared at her through half-lidded eyes, "Hey, we'll be fine for a couple of days. We'll wait for the heat to die down and then we can pawn her off to S.H.I.E.L.D. Peggy can fix her."
"Yeah, right before she starts using her as a killer for hire."
"Probably." Kat's voice was more solemn than he expected, "And hey, why do you give a shit? You're gonna be going back to your dimension in a couple of months. It really isn't your problem, Petey."
"Yeah..." She was definitely right about that. When he got home he'd be too busy killing his way through the top echelons of the Nazi regime to worry about little girls with claws in their hands,
'Don't get distracted like your 'brother', Parker...' That clown spent months playing hero in this madhouse, and for what? A crowd stoning him while madmen ran amok? To hell with that.
He didn't get much more time to think about it before the door to the bathroom suddenly opened and the little girl stepped out. Her hair was still soaking wet and the shirt hung down to her knees, but at least she wasn't covered in blood anymore. She stopped and glared at Kat for a brief moment before she suddenly sniffed the air and focused all her attention on the buckets of chicken on the table.
"Well, looks like someone's hungry," Kat laughed, "Come on, I'm starving, too."
A minute later they were all huddled around the table digging into chicken filled with far too many preservatives to be considered healthy. Spider-Man watched as the little girl dug into the meat hungrily, her gaze focused on the next mindless cartoon the telly was showing.
It made her look...normal.
"...Do you have a name?" he asked suddenly. Both the little girl and Kat gave him a questioning look, "We need something to call you."
"
...Code Bezeichnung: X-23," she recited, mouth still full of chicken and gravy.
"Okay, we're not calling you that." A letter and a number. It was too clinical. Inhuman, "Did none of them call you by another name?"
"You think those assholes would've given her one? Please..." Kat scoffed, "They learned their lesson from me. No names, no attachments, nothing. You start giving your toys an idea that they're human and they get uppity."
"She's not a toy."
"Didn't say she was, Petey. No need to go mama bear on me," she replied, "Look, let's just call her Laura for now, at least when we're outside and we get asked questions. I'll just say she's a cousin or something. Better than saying she's your kid, huh?"
"Laura? Where the hell did that come from?"
"It was that bitch's kid's name. Last I heard she got killed in a traffic accident, which probably explains why Kinney was such a cunt." Spider-Man almost felt an urge to block the girl's ears before he quickly chided himself. She'd already killed people, what were a few bad words going to do to her?
"You don't think that's a bit grim?" he asked flatly.
"You got a better idea?" He didn't say anything back, "Didn't think so." She turned to the little girl, "When we're outside it's going to be Laura, at least for now. Who knows, maybe Peggy'll give you a fake name when we pawn you off."
"
Peggy...neuer Koordinator?"
"Heh...we'll see."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everything was odd.
X-23 looked up at the blue sky, her lips set on a confused frown. She'd been outside before, rarely, when her creator deemed it necessary. Training exercises, practice for actual missions that would require combat and evasion. The machine men she fought in the testing chambers were sufficient, but it wasn't enough to kill in a controlled environment.
The training exercises were difficult. She was released to the forest and told to incapacitate all the machine men who came after her. They were allowed to kill her and she could do so in turn. It was a test, her creator said, to see if either of them were worth the investment. The machine men didn't hesitate and so neither did she.
Her creator was pleased, and that meant no treatments. That was good.
She'd seen the town only rarely and always from a distance. Full of people - strangers - that didn't know what she was. People that didn't have metal limbs or claws in their hands. They were the kind of people she was trained to kill, but only if someone paid for it.
You are an assassin, not a madman. Kill one or a hundred, but only when it is needed.
She didn't need to kill anyone right now.
The scents here were odd. The facility was scrubbed clean and always smelled of sterile disinfectant while the machine men smelled of oil, blood and sweat. Here there were too many smells, too many things mixing together. One person that passed smelled of coffee and cheap food while another wore a perfume that irritated her nose. The creator always made sure that she smelled like nothing.
"Hey, kid, come on."
X-23 turned to the source of the voice and found the human spider gesturing her ahead. He called himself Spider-Man, but he wasn't a spider. She'd seen spiders before; he didn't have enough legs. She nodded and walked towards him, hands stuffed into the pockets of her new jean jacket. Her hands itched, the claws begging to be let out, but she held it in. She was told drawing attention here was bad.
"You okay?"
She looked up at him blankly and blinked. They stared at one another for a few seconds before she nodded.
"...We really need to do something about that silent treatment of yours," he muttered, "Come on."
He walked towards a nearby building and she followed along. The human spider attacked her before, but she barely remembered. It was always hard to remember when the creator used her programming.
The other one who took her she definitely knew. The creator hated her for destroying the project before.
Katerine Pryde, she'd said,
is a bloodthirsty monster that only knows how to kill.
X-23 didn't understand why that was a bad thing after all she was taught, but she also didn't question. The creator wasn't meant to be questioned.
She was also dead now.
The living weapon almost paused mid-step before she quickly shook the thought off. She followed the creator because that was what she was taught and she never questioned it before. Now that she was gone it was confusing. The creator never established a chain of command - her orders were always meant to be absolute and the thought of her death never occurred to any of them.
X-23 found that she didn't care all that much about her death, just that she needed someone else to fill her place. She stared at the large man's back silently. He said he wasn't her owner or warden, but if so she had no idea why he insisted on keeping an eye on her or taking her our 'for fresh air'.
They walked in complete quiet to the parking lot before she stopped and looked at the metal and wood machine at the side of the door. It looked like something she knew as a horse, but smaller. The colors were pink and white, which didn't make sense. All the horses she'd seen were brown.
"You wanna go on a ride?" the human spider suddenly asked. She looked up at him in confusion, "It's a...you know what, just let me show you."
He picked her up as soon as they were near enough (it took all she had not to stab him on instinct) and deposited her on the miniature saddle. She barely grabbed hold of the dull yellow reins before he inserted a coin into a nearby box.
The first thing she noticed was the music. The soft tune reached her ears before the horse quickly began rocking in place. Not hard enough to shake her off, but enough that she felt herself moving along. X-23 raised the reins higher and mimicked the horse riders she'd seen on the briefing files. Assassinations in the countryside meant that horses were a risk to be killed off first just in case.
The human spider stepped away to talk on his phone with Katherine. X-23 looked down at the chipping paint and furrowed her brows. What was the point of this? The training was meant to hone her skills, make her a better killer, but she couldn't understand this. The motion wasn't strong enough to test her grip and the music wasn't loud enough to test her capacity for sound torture.
And then it stopped.
X-23 looked down at the machinery and growled. Just because it was pointless didn't mean she wanted it to stop. She grabbed the horse's head and rocked it, but it refused to move. Growling again, she grabbed for the box and shook it roughly, the coins moving inside. The human spider called inserted a coin before, so if she got a coin from inside then she could go again.
The claws were barely out of her hands before he was at her side again, "No." She glared up at him until he brought out another coin, "Christ, kid, all you had to do was ask." He wiped away the blood on her knuckles, "...I'm going to the bathroom, so just stay here, please? Thanks."
He inserted the coin and the music started up again. She watched him leave towards the side of the building and focused down at the horse again. Please. Thank you. Why did he always say that? If he wanted to give her orders then she would follow, but he made it clear they weren't that. She didn't understand why he hesitated so much when there were things she did that he didn't approve of.
A soft growl from her stomach reminded her of how hungry she was. X-23 waited until the ride finished again before she stepped off the horse and inside the air-conditioned building - if they weren't orders then she didn't have to follow.
There was a woman with blue hair on a nearby counter, but she didn't pay attention to her entrance at all, "Wait, so you got a couple of grand because you helped out a couple who got into an accident?" she said to her phone, "Holy shit, Rachel! We could leave town with that!"
X-23 ignored her and walked towards a nearby shelf. She grabbed a small wrapper with 'Popchips' written in front of it and immediately dug in, making her way towards the refrigeration units as she did. The food was salty, but she'd eaten worse. It was better than going days with only water after underperforming.
The fizzy drink she got was also odd. Katherine gave her a taste of it last night, but she was still getting used to drinking other fluids besides water.
She made to leave until she saw the shelf covered in eyewear. The creator wore glasses sometimes when she read, but the machine men wore something else. Shades, they called them. Used for either intimidation or an attempt to appear better than one was. She was almost tempted to ignore it till she saw the large ones covered in horses like the one outside.
She put them on and turned only to find herself looking up at the blue haired girl on the counter, "Yeah...you know you gotta pay for those, little dude." The woman with the dyed hair looked down at her suspiciously. X-23 tried to run past her before the older woman quickly moved to block her path, "Right, okay, no shoplifting. Come on, we gotta call your mommy and daddy."
She grabbed her arm and X-23 moved on instinct. Before the older woman could react she flipped her onto the ground and unsheathed her claws with a growl.
X-23 saw her look of fear for only a brief moment before someone grabbed her arm in a vice grip. She looked back with a growl and found the human spider staring down at her disapprovingly, "What did I say?" He pulled her back roughly and muttered under his breath, "Shit, so much for keeping a low profile..." He looked down at the gaping woman, "...Don't suppose we can convince you to keep quiet?"
"S-She has fucking claws on her hands!" she sputtered back, "Holy shit, I thought you guys stayed in New York!"
"Yeah, didn't think so." He tossed her a crumpled bill, "For the stuff she got. Come on, let's go."
The human spider didn't say anything the entire time he dragged her back to the motel. He was angry, she could practically smell the rage exuding from him. Every time the creator was angry there were always more treatment and exercises, but she had no idea what he would do.
"We gotta leave," he said as soon as they were through the door to their room.
Katherine looked up from the bed and raised a brow, "Uh...why?"
"Laura nearly stabbed someone at the corner store. I give us a couple of hours before the entire town knows there are three freaks camping out here." Freaks. He always called them that, but not in the same way the creator called her a weapon. There was no hate or disgust in it.
"Ah, shit." Katherine sat up and brought a hand through her hair, "Well, I already got a car, so at least we're set there. Just didn't think we'd have to leave before the day's done."
"Plans change, Kat. Come on."
The entire trip out of town was spent in silence. X-23 was used to quiet - her creator always talked at her rather than with her and to the machine men she was simply just another target to shoot.
...So why did it feel so uncomfortable now?
She watched the town fade out of sight from her place in the back. When she'd first woken up in the room she thought that it was another training exercise, that the creator was testing her adaptability, but after the first night those thoughts faded. Katherine told her that she'd killed everyone in the facility apart from her and X-23 couldn't sense any lies. The facility was gone now and she was still here.
Hours passed in the quiet and soon enough the sun lowered and night came. Katherine yawned and tapped the human spider's shoulder, "There's a motel not far from here, we can crash there."
"Sure that's a good idea?"
"Better than staying in this car all night," she said, "Come on, I'm starving and I need an actual bed. We could even share if you want."
"Not interested."
X-23 watched the two of them bicker back and forth about something mindless. She didn't understand their relationship. The creator had no idea who the human spider was and none of Katherine's files ever mentioned a partner besides the one they'd dubbed Logan, or X-1 as she knew him.
They argued a lot, but there was no malice in it. Sometimes, when the human spider wasn't looking, she found Katherine smiling fondly at him. He was the same, giving her looks of worry when her back was turned. She didn't understand it. She'd only ever seen attraction when some machine men made crude remarks about her creator, but the end result of that was always them being placed into the group fighting her for the next training exercise. From scent alone she could sense there was attraction between the two as well.
She hoped she didn't have to kill either of them, too.
"We're here."
X-23 looked around the room they'd rented for the night and sniffed the air. The traces of cigarette smoke and sexual fluids in the air made her wrinkle her nose in annoyance. She didn't know if Katherine smelled it too, but if she did then she showed no signs of noticing or caring.
"Two beds." The human spider gestured to the messy cushions, "You two take those and I'll take the chair. We gotta wake up early tomorrow if we wanna make it back to New York without delays."
"What a gentlemen." Katherine's smile was sincere for a moment before it became cocky once again. Always changing, "Alright, I'll wash up first. I didn't get a chance to take a bath before we split."
"Huh, so that's what that smell was."
"Just for that you're going on the couch when we get back."
"...That supposed to be a punishment or a reward?" he said back, a slight smile on his face.
Katherine laughed under her breath and gave him the middle finger. It was a gesture she'd been on the receiving end of, mostly after she killed enough of the machine men, but this time she sensed no malice.
Soon enough the lights were off and they all settled into their places. X-23 tossed and turned on her bed, alert and ready despite her attempts at sleep. Her hands and feet itched, claws begging to be released, and any sense of fatigue was overshadowed by the noises coming from outside. Her containment cell in the facility was always soundproof.
Eventually the urge became too much and she sat up, unsheathing her claws from both her hands and feet as she did. The sound of tearing skin was mercifully brief and she let out a soft breath of relief when they were finally freed from their confines. The creator never told her if the urge was intentional or not and she never asked. It wasn't deemed important at the time.
"Getting the itch too, huh?" X-23 looked back and found Katherine sitting up on the bed, "Yeah, I had em when I was your age. Though in your case it's probably worse considering you got actual metal in your hands. They left eventually when I got older, but I'm not sure if it'll be the same for you."
X-23 didn't say anything.
"Sure, gimme the silent treatment, that's not gonna get old or anything." She scoffed, "Look, you may not like me or anything, but trust me when I say I'm a hell of a lot better than Kinney."
"
...Woher kennst du sie?" she asked eventually.
"Hah, now
that's a long story. The things Kinney got up to..." Katherine shook her head, "Well, let's just say it's not exactly bedtime story material. Speaking of, when the itch leaves you might wanna get to sleep. We got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
Katherine went back to bed and faced away from her. X-23 looked down at the claws before the urge eventually left and she eventually sheathed them once more. The already drying blood on her skin stopped feeling weird long ago.
She was tempted to go back to sleep before the human spider stirred slightly on the chair. Before she could stop herself she hopped off the bed and made her way towards him. As soon as she was close enough his head immediately raised and he looked at her through fatigued eyes, "...Kid? What's wrong?" He rubbed his eyes and sat up with a yawn, "You should go to sleep-"
"
Es tut mir Leid."
He regarded her blankly for a second before responding, "Sorry? For what, having to leave town?" She nodded slightly, "That's...look, it was irritating, but it's that big a deal. What you need to do is control yourself better. Just because something irritates you doesn't mean you can start stabbing, alright? If I wasn't there you would've stabbed that cashier in the face."
She didn't say anything. How could she explain that the creator and the others never taught her that? That killing perceived threats was always taught to be right?
"...I know it's not your fault, but you need to do better. I won't always be there to make sure you don't slip," He reached a hand out and ruffled her hair. It felt nice, "Now come on, get some sleep; New York's still a long ways off." He lowered himself back on the chair, "Goodnight, Laura."
She made her way back to her bed and covered herself with the cheap blankets, the fatigue finally catching up to her.
"Goodnight, Peter."
Laura closed her eyes and drifted off into a mercifully dreamless sleep.
So...anyone remember when this was meant to be a Spider-Gwen and Noir fic, and not, you know, a poor man's Logan? I won't deny this chapter was made relatively fast for me, but damn it feels so disjointed from the rest of the story; and it doesn't even have the sheer epicness factor that Frog-Man has to make up for it.
Laura wasn't as violent in this chapter as one might expect, but that's because I'm basing her characterization on both her appearance at Logan and her early comic appearances where she was a pretty apathetic doormat due to her programming. So while she'll attack people she perceives as threats her sense of free will is absolutely shot.
Anyway, the next chapter is either the Gwen and Noir date or a Cindy focus chapter regarding her acclimation to Earth-65, along with some development for Harry. The former has the carnival cringe outing while the latter has the talkshow and some actual attempt at redemption for the Green Goblin. Since I'm (relatively) certain people don't mind either way I'll probably just flip a coin. You can give an opinion if you want.
Questions:
1. Following on the above AN, do people think Noir has exhibited traits of having a deathwish? I admit I based a decent chunk of his behavior on characters like Rorschach, Kaine and Red Hood, who exhibit deathwish-esque behaviors throughout their careers, but I didn't intentionally write him as someone who (unconsciously or not) wants to die.
I dunno, what do you guys think? It might be an interesting thing to tackle even if it wasn't intentional at the start. I'll also do my best to not make him suicidal or angsty, since the three characters mentioned above don't try to kill themselves despite their issues.
2. Given the comments in the last chapter I'm biting the bullet: do you guys want at least hints of romance between Shadowcat and Spider-Man? These two were only ever meant to have a relationship that could be described as 'closest thing the other has to a friend', but even then the fact that he's leaving crimps that. I dunno, is this a thing you guys want? Even if Spider-Man isn't going to change his mind about leaving like Noir did (at least partly) due to Gwen?
Incidentally, this does make me wonder how the relationship would go if I actually partnered him up with Cindy as per my original plan. At the very least the Weapon X thing wouldn't be a factor, but Harry would be a near non-entity due to the lack of a partnership with him. That and the relationship between her and Spider-Man would be a less fucked up version between Gwen and Noir, which was the main reason I cut it out. Shadowcat is at least unique relationship-wise.
