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xCharlie and Christian followed Kerrigan back into the mall without much thought. And luckily it didn’t take long to find their missing teammates. They seemed to be handling themselves okay, but a little backup couldn’t hurt.

When Narcissa joined the group and took charge, they all fell in line. Charlie and Daylia were made buddies until they got to the portal. The redhead had just barfed so the probability adept thought she might need some help back but she wouldn’t take him up on it.

A keen eye and quick reflexes caught the Chameleon as she was knocked into him and he offered a piggyback if she wasn’t steady on her feet. Again she turned it down and admitted that her stomach wasn’t settled enough to be jostled around like that.

He offered a friendly grin. “Well that’s fair. But if you start falling behind I’m throwing you over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes.” Obviously he was joking. Or was he? If s**t hit the fan, they’d have to get out of there…

Through the portal, Daylia and Gracie parted ways with Charlie and Christian. And the boys - after Christian transformed back into his human form - celebrated making it through their first mission. They met back up with Kerrigan to see how they’d done and talked about the sparring match.

The redhead’s comment that not everyone liked an underdog and that he wasn’t Rocky wasn’t enough to convince the Arizona native. And when Christian told him he had to train to Eye of the Tiger, he laughed. ”Yes! You can’t not be pumped when that song’s on.”

”This underdog’s gonna give you a fight, Kerrigan.”

When Christian started to feel the effects of the tranq he’d been hit with, Charlie turn into his crutch without missing a beat but negotiated terms before agreeing to help his friend to the infirmary. Charlie invited the redhead to tag along, and didn’t blame her when she chose not to. They parted ways and he started walking Christian to the infirmary.

On the way Christian started making an escape plan for if things went south. “I think the doctors know what’s best for you.” he teased, doubtful that it would come to that.

When they got to the infirmary, the Californian made a comment about a corpse that Charlie was sure had to do with the blood on the ground. ”Uh…”

”I dunno, dude.”

With both teams returned from their missions the infirmary was pretty busy, but he dumped his friend into the first empty bed he found and waved down one of the staff for him.



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Charlie slept in the day after the mission, but as soon as he woke up he headed down to the gym to get some training in. Otherwise, the downtime had been pretty boring.

But by some crazy chance he and Christian and stumbled across a boogie board.

Obviously they had to find a use for it, and there was a swimming pool on the lowest level. They had tried jumping from two floors up into it but hadn’t been able to get passed the force fields and barriers...

So this morning, the duo hit the gym early enough to sneak out with a couple of mats without being noticed. It would be no mystery where they went to anyone who took a trip down to the pool. With a tarp, and all of the soap they could find, they’d put together a makeshift slip ‘n’ slide. It was a little rough, but the mats helped. And they hadn’t realized that using so much soap would fill the pool with bubbles.

But it was too late to go back now. And they were having a blast.

Sliding into the pool in every which way, trying to surf down the runway without eating it before they got to the pool, seeing if they could get a good spin or how fast they could go. And there had to be some friendly competition.

Charlie sprinted up to the tarp and landed on the boogie board, sliding as fast as he could down the makeshift slip ‘n’ slide. ”Wooo!” his hands lifted into the air as he made it all the way down the tarp on his feet. He tried to jump into the pool when he reached it, but the slippery board flew out from under him and he toppled into the water.

When he popped back out, face lit up with a laugh, he heard someone talking. His smile turned to the brunette at the side of the pool as she commented on their slip ‘n’ slide, hanging off of the edge of the pool.

A hand wiped the excess water from his face before he lifted himself out of the pool. Hearing her ask if she could join them, he gave a nod. “Hell yeah,” he answered, still pumped from his last run. “Our slip ‘n’ slide, is your- Uh,”

He stumbled over his words when she stripped down into her underwear, and exchanged a glance with his friend before giving a shrug. No suit, no problem.




xxx

✦ At this Location: Base (Infirmary)✦ Thinking About: Maybe I should have a candy striper uniform? ✦ While on Team: Omega ✦



She had stayed in the Infirmary with Alice, Blake and the others while waiting for news of the Alphas, glad for the company so she didn't dwell on the fact that it was taking her sister so long to get back from their mission. Elixir appeared before too long to look at their injured new teammate, the buxom redhead doing her best to get out of the way in the crowded room. Darien, another newbie, asked for assistance in learning how to work his communicator, Roland stepping forward and giving him a quick rundown before excusing himself from the room to meet his lady. She gave him a pleasant wave, her attentions turning back to the room before noticing that some of the Alphas were starting to trail their way into the Infirmary, indicating they were back.

'It's about time,' she thought to herself, her palms suddenly becoming slightly sweaty as she did a quick scan of the room to see if her sister was anywhere amongst the injured. When she didn't see her twin, she breathed a soft sigh of relief, excusing herself from the group and heading towards her room to see if her sister was there. If their mission had been anything like the Omegas, she could imagine they would have quite a bit to catch up on.


===== Time Skip =====


Forty-eight hours had passed since they had returned from their missions, Charlotte spending the days getting back into her normal routine. Morning were spend with a hearty breakfast and time with her sister, while she attended classes and training exercises, then challenged herself with target practice before calling it a night. It was hard work being both a student and a member of the junior X-Men, leaving them with what felt like virtually no time to relax. Still, she managed to find time to spend with her sister and her friends around the base, and since several of them had ended up in the Infirmary after their last mission, it made visiting relatively easy.

After spending the morning lecturing her sister about the importance of school while they trained her, she left the girl to her own devices so that the older twin could head to the kitchen and get something to eat. As she expected, others were already there, a smile spreading across her glossed lips as she entered and took each of them in. Gabriel seemed to be looking for something, Alex offered to help him, concerned that he might be overdoing it considering he had just been shot a few days before, and Collin, a new addition to the base in the last few days, looking terrified of the gun in their resident tinkerer's hand. Something orange and sticky oozed from the girl's hands, snapping into a perfect pyramid as she waved at them.

"That looks...sticky," she said simply, giving the girl a small smile as she made her way towards the table and turning her gaze to Gabriel. "Put that thing away before you give someone a heart attack. Some of the new recruits don't know you as well as the rest of us. Might make some of them nervous," she drawled, glancing at the nervous nelly with a sweet smile as she settled in to her seat.

"So. How is everyone doing this morning?" Her tone was sweet, as if there was nothing out of the ordinary. Really, there wasn't. Normal was relative, right?

It hadn't taken long for Roland to show up at her door, the redhead smiling as he came in, looking him over to make sure that he wasn't hurt. Everything seemed to be where it was supposed to be, no immediately visible cuts or bruises that she didn't expect after a sentinel attack of that magnitude. He offered her a gentle hug, the redhead shaking her head slightly before crossing the room to him, wrapping her arms around his chest, and pulling herself close to him.

"I know your message said you were just in the Infirmary visiting, but I wasn't sure that meant you were actually fine," she said, her voice muffled as she pressed her cheek into him. The whole thing hadn't gone as planned, that was for sure, but they had at least accomplished their mission and that was the most important thing. If anything, it meant that now, more than ever, they deserved some time to recuperate. He asked her how her time in the city was, and the new recruits, the redhead pulling back slightly as she offered a simple shrug.

"Everything was good - nothing really to report. The new guys aren't bad. Young. They like to make jokes, so I don't know how seriously they took the danger, but I was impressed in the end. They know how to follow orders. One of them was decent at hand to hand, and the other can turn into a giant wolf, completely with claws and jaws, so I can't think of a scenario in which that won't be helpful," she responded, an amused tone overtaking her words as she quickly recounted their mission.

Almost as an afterthought, she perked up, smiling up at him, "Oh, and Charlie, the non-wolf one, thinks he can take me in a spar. I promised his buddy I'd win him a bet." She knew that he would find that as amusing as she did, as well as probably want to be there once the spar was scheduled. For now, though, they were alone, they had just completed a tough mission, and she was eager to catch up on some of the time they'd been missing.

---------- Time Skip ----------

Kerrigan grunted as she threw a right jab and left back kick simultaneously, aiming to hit both targets swirling around her as they illuminated. Nine holographic circles spun around her at varying paces, certain circles flashing to indicate that she should target them while they moved. It had started as a relatively simple exercise, though almost thirty minutes had passed and the combinations and pacing were starting to pick up.

Three targets, two above her head and one at her navel, the redhead throwing a left hook, immediately pulling back to connect with the spinning target with her elbow, and whipping a kick around to hit the third target causing a tone to sound through the area, the targets disappearing and leaving her standing alone in the simulation room. Sweat glistened across her body, her neck rotating in a wide arc as she rolled her shoulders to alleviate some of the muscle soreness from use.

It had been two days since their missions, and it felt like an eternity. There had been even more drama when they got back, but those were Alpha matters, so she decided to let them handle it on their own. Between her friends, boyfriend, new recruits and other teammates, she had enough on her plate. Plus, Cissa always cautioned her team not to get too involved with Alpha affairs. They were beneath them.

With a tactical exercise under her belt, the redhead headed towards the gym, wanting to get in some calisthenics and weight training before calling it a day with training and focusing on the paper she had due. They were pushing for things to go back to "normal" which meant that classwork was resuming - she felt like her duties on the Omegas were her full-time job sometimes, but that didn't change the fact that she was going for her engineering degree. The more she would learn about the body, the better she could understand her own body and apply it to her power. She'd already been talking to her uncle about some modifications she felt they should make to her next level of suit.

Throwing a towel over her shoulder as she approached the gym, she could hear the sound of someone already in there before she even entered. It didn't surprise her to see Dimitri working out with some weights, punching and kicking his way towards an invisible foe. "Nice form," she said simply, giving him a small smile as she made her way over to a mat on the other side, starting with some simple stretches.

"How you holding up?" Through her mission debriefing, and talking with Cissa, she'd heard about his role in getting the Alphas out of their jam at the MRD base. It sounded like quite a feat - no doubt it had taken a lot out of him. Stepping back, she stretched her hands over her head before swinging forward into a perfect handstand. Slowly, she lowered herself down in a pushup, exhaling as she returned upright.

"This one's a fighter."

Gabriel Byrne
Location: The Kitchen
Thoughts: Frightening my new team mates, great first impression!

He fumbled about in the cabinets within the kitchen, muttering and swearing up a storm as he searched for some cleaning fluid. Normally he kept a pretty good stock of it, but he’d recently run out. And while he was waiting on getting his next batch, along with a few other goodies from home, he was going to have to make due with the kitchen supply for now. Fortunately it was only needed for this one time so he didn’t have much concern, of course he actually had to find the damned thing of course. Of course having difficulty moving about with this cane didn’t make matters any easier.

The voice of Alex off to the side asking if she could help was a pleasant surprise. He was startled for a moment, smacking his head on the top of a cabinet that he was hunched into. The sharp pain in the back of his head dulled the savage aching in his leg, if it was even a temporary reprieve. He even momentarily reached for his gun, almost reflexive given the circumstances. Easing his hand, he called out calmly, almost jovial “No, no! Thank you!” he raised his head out, grabbing the cane to get himself up and off the ground, “I’ve always been one to find things on my own, I apparently come from a stubborn stock, least that’s what my mother used to say. She used to joke about not expecting that when they adopted me.”

“I’ll find it, I… just gotta…” he stammered as he reached into a higher cabinet, finally grabbing his prize “Got it! he called out, his triumph clear in the tone of his voice. He turned to see two more people there, Charlotte from the Omegas, and a new person who had some substance stuck in her hands. The Omega called for him to get rid of his gun, to which it sort of clicked in his head.

Not everyone is comfortable around guns…. it was palpable in the young woman’s face that she was unnerved by the sight of the nickel-plated weapon slapped across his thigh.

s**t…

She tried to play it off like it wasn’t his fault, but he knew the situation. Imagine how you’d feel if you went into the kitchen to see a guy rummaging through the kitchen with a freaking handcannon on his leg. He knew what he was carrying, but the truth is someone sees that kind of weapon and the first thing that pops to mind is “big”. Weapon focus, it was a point of psychology that he’d been taught about. In times of stress, often a robbery or some kind of assault, the victim often isn’t able to describe the attacker, only the weapon. And surprisingly, can be detailed, they can tell you the color, size, etc. But when they ask for the assailant’s description? Zilch.

So he understood that look. She saw the weapon and reacted.

“It’s not your fault.” he said to her, his voice calm and collected, “Charlotte’s right, I shouldn’t have brought it out with me. Force of habit I am afraid…” he quickly un-holstered the weapon from his leg, and quickly opened the cylinder of the firearm. With a flick of his fingers he very quickly removed the .357 rounds from the chamber. He stacked each on the counter top in rapid order. Each exactly one inch away from each other, all in a careful line. It was a skill he’d picked up from his father, the precision to load and unload a revolver like that. Like magic he even went ahead and removed the cylinder to the weapon, gently placing them both on the counter top as well. He’d made some modifications in order to do a rapid assembly and disassembly, along with some other purposes. He placed each of the things next to the faceplate and cleaning fluid. He could put that on hold for the time being.

He took note that she was making gestures with her hands… was that sign language? Clearly she could hear them, so he figured that she wasn’t deaf. Perhaps mute? Interesting to say the least, quickly cleared away when she put her phone out towards them. He quickly raised a hand to tell her to stop, “You have nothing to apologize for. Colin right? Gabriel Byrne, or Siege when out with the Alphas.” he offered a hand to her in greeting.

“What kind of juice are you looking for? I saw that there’s a few different types, I think even fresh squeezed orange juice if you can believe it.” He motioned for her to follow as he made his way to the fridge, hobbling with the cane and all.

OOC: Let me know if I missed anything or not!

Holding Cell - Sub Levels

Katerina heard the security door open to their quaint little prison and basically ignored it. The brunette instead stared at the ceiling with odious disinterest. Gunmetal blue eyes lazily counted the imperfections in the metal, idly wishing that she wasn’t wearing a power nullification band. It would have been easy enough to escape through the ventilation system if she could shift. As much as she didn’t regret what she’d done; she hated being caged. It made her think of the horror show that was the Leviathan.

There was only one person she cared to speak to in that moment—and this random visitor wasn’t her. She knew Aurelie’s footsteps like the back of her hand. She had a classical way of walking. It was light and airy, as if the wind whispered where she went. She was a little ballerina spinning on crystalline glass dais.

If this person was a dancer, he had two broken legs.

It wasn’t Christian either. She bitterly noted that probably hadn’t even realized something had happened until she failed to show up for training. She demanded to know what the intruder wanted, not particularly caring who he was. He chose to introduce himself and she rolled her eyes heavenward. Politeness was a farce when she knew ninety percent of the Academy wanted her head on a pike for attacking their precious blue princess.

Katerina remained still on the cot, fingers laced over her slim stomach as he made his demands. Lachlan. She couldn’t recall meeting him before he’d pried Rossi’s arm from around her neck, but he seemed nebulously familiar. To be honest, she really didn’t pay much attention to anyone outside of Aurelie on the Alphas. Otherwise, all the black and blue tended to bleed together. As to what this farm boy wanted insight on…That was easy.

The Siren. Isabella Stone. It was always, always about her.

Sensing that Lachlan wasn’t about to leave anytime soon, she slowly sat up with a long suffering sigh. She ran a hand through tousled locks as he got to the heart of the problem, resting her forearms on her knees. Clasped hands covered her lips as she waited. It was odd. So many had passed through to ask her ‘why’ she’d tried to choke the Siren to death. No one had come to check on Rossi.

That was a question for another day.

Lachlan met her eyes and she returned his gaze unflinchingly. She would have never taken it as a challenge. There was only a challenge if there was a worthy opponent, which, there wasn't. At most, she'd be destroying a pretty face. Generally speaking, with Rossi imitating a vegetable, she was definitely the scariest thing in the room. With a force field between herself and her newest interrogator…He was definitely the lucky one. “My sweet ragazzo*…” *{Boy}

Katerina dropped her hands and smiled, the sight entirely disarming, were it not for the steel that laced her tone.

“She deserved it.”

No doubt that answer wouldn’t satisfy his curiosity. Not from the way he waxed and waned about Stone’s greatness. Few would see it the way she did, simply because they couldn’t. Katerina had been raised with instincts and judgement calls that were created by HYDRA. The organization was full of monsters; but there was a reason S.H.I.E.L.D. couldn’t wipe them out.

They were smart. Pragmatic, and dangerous.

“Your friend is a liability, Lachlan.”, she trailed off after a moment, slowly rising to a standing position. Katerina stretched, rolling to the balls of her toes for a moment. It was almost feline in nature, amusing, considering her favored animal. “She refuses to do what needs to be done. She sees only what she wants to—and turns the most skilled of soldiers into mewling kittens.”

“I won’t let her use someone I love as a shield because she can’t recognize when she’s in over her head. Not again.”

That was when she removed her gaze from his. Aurelie was all she had, truly. She was the only person who had ever stuck out in a crowd as more than just a meat suit. The only person who had ever listened to her stories about HYDRA and what being their enforcer had entailed. She was the only person who had ever tried to understand her without judgement. Katerina would do anything to protect her, including killing the naïve Isabella in cold blood.

“I was just reminding Rossi before you interrupted…I won’t be in here forever. Eventually, I’ll be cleared. Spats happen all the time between mutants trapped in close quarters. Tell me mia caro*…Do you regret saving my life?” {*My dear}

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪【 Super Breath 】▪【 In the ******** Snow 】▪【 Blowing Off Steam 】 ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

The dorms had been absolutely quiet and peaceful after the Omegas had returned from New York. If she’d had the energy, Peyton would have rolled her eyes at the fact that her entire team was probably in the infirmary getting their boo-boos kissed. Her ability was great for keeping anyone and anything at a distance, and she had been left virtually untouched. Though Felix’s hands had been far too friendly with her. The only reason she’d tolerated it at all was for the sake of the mission, and because if he hadn’t caught her from her fall, she wouldn’t have walked away unscathed - she might not have walked away at all.

And during evac she had lingered in New York, keeping the area around the portal clear for the stranglers. Really it had less to do with helping them, and more to do with the blood rushing through her veins. She hadn’t quite been ready to simmer down. But almost as soon as she stepped through the portal she could feel her energy quickly draining, and before she knew it she was so exhausted she wasn’t sure she would even make it back to her bed. After Narcissa addressed the team she hit the showers, then headed straight back to her room and as soon as her head hit the pillow she was out. She hadn’t even been awake long enough to see if Julian had made it back in one piece.

She woke up still tired the next day, despite sleeping in later than she ever did. However, once she got up and did her morning workout she felt more like herself - irritable and stir crazy. Their little field trip had done little to keep her from feeling cooped up the second she was back in the underground base. Maybe Julian had realized that she needed some way to vent her frustration - or maybe he was just bored - because he’d offered to teach her how to fight.

The blond had never given much thought to learning any sort of hand-to-hand combat. She’d made due without thus far, and her ability didn’t lend well to close quarters. But she did need some way to blow off some steam. The danger room sims that Kerrigan had assigned her to had been a good outlet, but they were on hold to give them both some time to recuperate after the mission. At least, that was the redhead’s excuse. The gymnast wasn’t so sure she wasn’t just making time to bang Roland. Kerrigan must’ve had an iron stomach. Or brain damage. It was a shame because otherwise Peyton might have respected her.

Regardless, without her Danger Room sims, Julian’s offer to teach her to fight was all the more tempting. She needed to stay busy, and punching the teleporter seemed like a good outlet for her frustrations.

She had been expecting to train in the gym, but they found it overrun with halfwit Alphas on arrival. The hurricane blond wouldn’t take a step passed the doorway when she saw the blues, and there would be no convincing her to spend any amount of time there. That wasn’t to say she would stick around if the gym had been packed with Omegas either. It also looked like some of the mats were missing... If they were going to be barred up underground, the least the imbeciles running this place could do was give them a nice, fully functioning - and fully stocked - gym.

She huffed and puffed as she turned to leave. The next thing she knew she was standing in the ******** snow…

It took her a second to realize why they were there and then leveled an annoyed stare on Julian. "Really?” Hands would have been resting obstinately on her hips under different circumstances. Instead she crossed them over her chest as the frigid air consumed her.

At first she had complained, but it didn’t take long for the hot-headed blond to warm up. And at least she knew no one would bother them. She would only have to put up with the teleporter.

Julian was a good fighter, even without his ability. Even Peyton couldn’t deny it. He showed her some basic moves and let her try them out on him. She wasn’t out of shape by any means, but it wasn’t exactly gymnastics. She hadn’t expected to pick it up and master it immediately but there was still a part of her that hated that she wasn’t good at something. Not being perfect bothered her more than she would let on.

However, the fire inside her urged her to persevere. Maybe she was terrible now, but she would train, and learn. If nothing else she had drive and determination, and she wouldn’t give up on learning something just because her competitive side felt like she was losing. It didn’t matter that they weren’t competing, she could still tell that he was winning...

Normally she wouldn’t like someone to see her like this - inexperienced, sloppy, generally no good at something. But she wasn’t as guarded with Julian as she was with… everyone else on base. He was the closest thing she had to a friend, somehow he’d managed to slip past her defenses. It was nice to have someone she could relax around, if only a little bit. Still, she wasn’t sure she should trust a ninja…

Huge clouds erupted from her with every hot breath as it hit the chilled air. She flicked a few stray strands of blonde hair out of her eyes. "Can you show me how to knock a teleporter’s teeth out next?” It would be difficult to tell whether she was really irritated or simply teasing. Maybe it was a little bit of both. Even the blond wasn’t sure sometimes.



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Darien gave Roland, Charlotte, and Blake a thumbs-up for their replies. He would have to go see this Isabella sometime, but that would have to wait who knows how long due to events unknown to him, though there had been some rumors floating around.

[[TIME SKIP]]

Probably one of the only ones that actually enjoyed Scott's training regimen, Darien was seriously thinking about asking him to push them harder next time. His classes where going pretty well so far, never really a dull moment in any of Logan's classes. Striding into the Gym, he saw a pretty cute woman chatting it up with a dude fighting with weights in his hands. He decided to wait for a pause in the conversation before going around into their view. He didn't really want to butt into their conversation, he assumed from the short snippets that it was about a pretty touchy subject he had heard around campus. "Hey, want a partner to focus that on? Maybe a good fight to get some real practice in?"

[edit: May 20 8:25PM EST]

Name: Isabella Stone
Location: X-Men Facility - Medical Bay
Team: Alpha

Isabella registered the surprise in Blake’s voice with concern. It almost sounded as if he hadn’t expected her to wake up. His unshaven face meant that worry had overridden everything… Even the ability to keep to a daily routine. Jade eyes swept over his form carefully, mentally assuring herself that he was who he appeared to be. If she focused she could hear Katerina taunting someone. The hum of a force field nearby assured her that the former HYDRA agent was indeed in holding. Not being able to trust the people she loved made her feel sick and guilt-ridden…

She should have been able to tell the difference between Katerina and Leo. She should have shown restraint and measured him the same way she evaluated Blake. She’d just been so relieved to be home—so thankful to see him safe and sound.

It never occurred to her, not once, that the arms that held her weren’t his. Not until it was too late.

When Blake reached for her hand she unintentionally tensed. Emerald eyes betrayed her in the darkness, showing fear against her will. Katerina couldn’t be in two places at the same time, but she still felt the need to be on guard. The medical staff didn’t concern her. The shape shifter wanted to hurt her; Slice her open in the deepest of ways. She wouldn’t come to her in the form of a stranger. Katerina would come to her in the form of someone she loved.

The fact that she was certain the Italian spy wanted her dead was negligible. It was how she’d chosen to get the job done that had wounded Isabella. It was unforgivable.

Blake’s joke about crazy cats and kitty litter made her feel more at ease. Slowly, she returned the grip he had on her hand, wanting to reassure him as much as she could. Isabella hated worrying her friends. “I’m so sorry Blake...”, she apologized sincerely, broken tones seeming to bounce incorrectly off of invisible acoustics.

“I should have known.”

It was a phrase he wouldn’t completely understand. It encompassed the entire failure of a mission and beyond. Her free hand slammed down suddenly on the mattress, the only outward expression of her rage. It boiled just beneath the surface in a way she had never known. She wondered if this was how Narcissa felt all the time. Filled with such ire and resentment that it took her breath away.

Gradually, ever so carefully, she forced herself to get up. His admission that she was the only one still in the med-day made her feel a little bit better. Gabriel had been losing a decent amount of blood last she saw him being tended to. Still, she couldn’t stay in bed anymore. Blake, ever reasonable, followed her steps. Probably half to make sure she didn’t fall, and half to convince her to lay back down. “I am worrying about myself. I can’t stay here in the dark or I’ll be the one losing my mind… I’ve been asleep for two days…”

“I’ve rested long enough.”, Isabella intoned kindly, though her expression was firm. Though she claimed to have had enough sleep, the dark circles under her eyes made her look like death warmed over.

Scott was taking care of the Alpha’s…Did that mean he was also dealing with Leonardo and Katerina? She couldn’t imagine that the animal mimic was receptive to anyone. The man that she’d seen choking the life out of Katerina was not the same one who lulled her back to some sense of normalcy. Who tried to teach her there was a better way than death. His promise lingered in her ears. How easily it had been broken…

As Blake mentioned giving a report to the Senior X-Men she sighed, swaying a little on her feet. Isabella didn’t even know where to begin.

“I… I don’t know what happened. Katerina and I had a small disagreement before we left. She was challenging Leo…Threatening me, to get under his skin. I don’t know why.”, she murmured, trying to put the pieces together herself. Isabella had expected Katerina to start something with her eventually…But she’d never expected this. “I asked her about it before we left.”

“You know I can’t help but overhear things…”, she owned up with a helpless shrug, mouth opening and closing a few times. She felt as if everything were in a fog. No part of her wanted to do anything but lay back down and sleep for another two days. “What she said to Leo…I couldn’t ignore it. I couldn’t take her on a mission if she was planning on being a wild card. She wasn’t happy when we were through…But I thought it was buried.”

At least, enough for the purposes of the mission. The songstress didn’t remember everything in perfect detail, but she did remember the way the shape shifter watched her. It wasn’t right.

Isabella was quiet for a long time after that, simply staring at nothing as she tried to put her thoughts together. It was harder than she wanted to admit. Her body was sore and stiff—But she didn’t exactly want to keel over it pain. It was just damn uncomfortable everytime she breathed. Eventually she seemed to figure something out, and she choked back a laugh. It was dry and mocking, entirely unlike her.

“She’s playing a game… She used me. It wasn’t a fit of rage. She knew what she was doing. She knew that win or lose… Leo would respond.”, she stopped then, feeling her heart start to crawl into her throat. She knew the long, lengthy history both Alphas shared. She knew all of the gory details that had happened everytime the HYDRA and SHIELD agents crossed paths. He’d warned her away from Katerina from day one. Tears started pricking her eyes again, though she tried to hold them back. This wasn’t the time to cry. She couldn’t fall apart yet…Not yet. “She got what she wanted.”

Katerina made Isabella question the one place she felt safe. It would have been pretty to think that Leo lashed out solely because he cared about her; but no one knew him like she did. He’d reached the end of a very long rope. Where Katerina was calculating and in control—He was broken.

“Perra.”

The word was spoken so softly, Blake would strain to hear it. If he knew what it meant, he would be shocked that it had left her lips. It was just one sign of many that she might have been pushed just a little too far.