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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Gunpowder and Lead

(A/N: "Killers By Choice" is the sequel to "Killers By Trade", and takes place roughly eight months after the finale. Reading its predecessor isn't necessary for understanding the story, but it will be helpful in better understanding just who exactly Laura Kinney is in this continuity, as well as her relationships with Gabby, Jubilee, and Kitty Pryde, as well as her archnemesis, Kimura. Just like its predecessor and the comics they're inspired by, "Killers By Choice" contains mature themes and content, but while reader discretion is advised, I don't believe it quite warrants a Mature rating. I hope you enjoy, and God bless)

Black water churned in the dead of night as a speedboat raced toward a cargo ship without making even the faintest sound. In the driver's seat, Laura was occasionally glancing up at the massive ship, watching for guns pointed in their direction, while her sister Gabby checked over their weapons, ammunition, and utility belts one final time.

"Remember, no killing until we're sure this is the right ship," Laura said. "And bullets only."

Gabby chuckled. "Won't hear any complaints from me. You're the one that prefers stabbing people and cutting their heads off."

Laura ignored her and brought the stealth craft to the side of the ship and locked it in place with magnetic cables. Leaning out of the boat however, she accidently caught sight of the deep water and quickly looked away.

"Ready?" she asked, trying to keep from sounding nauseous. She didn't get sea sick, nor was she afraid of water, but when it came to swimming, she would've gladly traded her adamantium bones for concrete shoes any day.

"Locked and loaded!" Gabby handed over Laura's utility belt and rifle which she slung over her shoulder, followed by a ski mask that left only her eyes visible, which she further obscured with orange tinted sunglasses.

Gabby quickly did the same, and besides being a couple inches shorter and less filled out, appeared to be an exact copy of her sister except for her sunglasses having pink frames.

"No offense, Laura," she said, her voice slightly muffled, "but while this special forces assassin stuff is fun and all, I'm getting really tired of it. I miss being a superhero."

"Too bad. We're about to piss off a LOT of powerful people from around the world, and the harder it is for them to track us down, the safer Meg, Debbie, and our friends will be."

Gabby sighed and nodded, but after aiming the grappling gun and getting a secure line on the first try, her years of training kicked in and she was once more an experienced soldier doing what she was bred for.

Laura grabbed the line and climbed to the top in seconds with Gabby behind her, weighed down only slightly by her body armor, loaded for bear utility belt, assault rifle, comfort shotgun, and oversized backpack.

Her sister was already providing cover at the top, listening closely while pointing her rifle in the direction of the nearest footsteps. It was a sentry guard by the sound of it, keeping a watch for pirates and the US Navy which were known to patrol these waters.

They didn't bother cutting the line as the sound it'd make hitting the water could alert the guard, and so long as nobody looked too closely over the railing, nobody was likely to notice their stealth boat on a night as dark as this. And if everything went according to plan, the guards wouldn't be alive long enough to notice it anyway.

Laura gave a hand signal for her to follow, and the pair began moving between shipping containers, checking each one's scent and listening closely. They dodged a couple more guards, none of them taking their jobs all that seriously, and Gabby would've been impressed by their gear had they been kids playing airsoft instead of being a billionaire's personal security force.

They finally stopped at an otherwise innocuous-looking shipping container. "Padlock," Gabby said. "Either the boss doesn't trust the guards, or-"

"-or this is the right ship," Laura finished. She shouldered her rifle and extended a single adamantium claw from between her knuckles. She broke the lock without effort or sound, but winced as she pried open one of the doors with rusty hinges.

Inside were several dozen half-starved and filthy children huddled amongst themselves in the dark. Without a word Laura dug into Gabby's backpack and began distributing bottles of water and food, and checked a few for injuries, finding only bruises from what she assumed were regular beatings.

"It's going to be alright," Laura said in English before switching to Cantonese when she saw a handful of confused expressions. "Help is on the way. You're safe now, but we need you to stay quiet."

The children all looked as though they had already shed a lifetime's worth of tears and had none left, but being given the faintest glimmer of hope for the first time since any of them could remember, many began to weep. Laura didn't trust herself not to join them if she stayed too long, so after sending out a distress signal to the US Navy with their current coordinates, she hurried back outside and focused on remembering the exact layout of the ship.

It was hauling far less than a standard cargo ship, and was owned by a private shipping company mostly known for exotic goods, sometimes even animals, but Laura knew them to also ship guns, drugs, and humans as well, and operated extensively in Southeast Asia but also throughout the world.

"Gabby," she whispered when she wandered over, "you're in charge, and you have my permission to shoot and kill anyone you see." Laura didn't bother mentioning that she didn't plan on leaving anyone alive, but it made Gabby happy at least. "I'm going to search for the target. The Navy will be here within the hour. We'll move the kids before we leave, that way they're spotted immediately."

Her sister nodded, and took position just inside the cracked door while Laura got to work. There'd be more kids in containers both above and below deck, and probably adults as well, but as important as rescuing them was, the mission was to stop an entire human trafficking empire, and to find their list of clients. Laura already knew one of their names. Even if Kimura's organization wasn't calling itself Weapon X, its infrastructure was much the same, meaning all Laura needed was a paper trail and she'd be able to track her to hell and back.

The guard never saw her, nor did he feel the three bullets to his chest. He dropped to the ground immediately despite his bullet proof vest, but she put another in his head just to be thorough. It would've been sloppy of her otherwise, and she could hear her former mentor's voice scolding her just thinking about it.

While Gabby preferred bigger guns and bigger bullets just as a soldier might, Laura was first and foremost an assassin, and preferred something more subtle. Her modified MP9 with suppressor and subsonic ammunition was almost completely silent and could pierce most vests, and had been her preferred firearm since she was ten. She also carried a suppressed Beretta M9 as backup, but it rarely saw much use. Gabby made fun of her for both, but she was right. When given the option, Laura preferred cutting and gutting her targets.

She killed another guard on duty as well as a pair that appeared to be on a smoke break together, shooting them all in the head before reloading. She poked around a corner and cursed, a rifle already pointing in her direction, and quickly took cover around a shipping container. Another pair of boots were coming around the other side, and she shot the guard in the head when he foolishly peeked around the corner.

"G," she said, "we've been compromised. Five dead so far. About to be six."

"Roger that, L. Try not to have too much fun without me. I've gone nearly two weeks without shooting anybody, and I'm starting to get the shakes."

Laura took cover as she was nearly shot in the head by a fairly talented guard with what must've been either a night vision or thermal scope across the ship. "Make that soon to be seven." She quickly took care of the first guard before sneaking around the sniper. She assumed somebody must have found one of the bodies and radioed in, or perhaps they had heartbeat monitors on. It was bad luck either way, but it was the only kind Laura ever counted on.

The guard was looking in the direction she'd originally been and Laura took aim when her nose suddenly twitched, and she caught the scent of a little boy on him...

*snikt*

"Bastard!" she growled. The man spun and Laura cut the rifle into multiple pieces, taking with it several of his fingers, and kicked him between the legs.

He screamed into the night sky, and Laura removed her bloodied foot with its exposed adamantium claw which she dragged across his thigh. The guard immediately dropped to the ground, clutching what little was left of his manhood. Laura glowered over him, prepared to watch him bleed to death, wishing it'd take longer and thinking of how to make his suffering even more unbearable when she shook her head and cursed.

She drove a pair of claws through his heart, killing him instantly. "Stupid!" Laura cursed herself again and tossed the remains of his weapon overboard followed by him and his fingers. She mercifully didn't have to drag him far, but she was furious with herself nonetheless.

Not only had she wasted precious time and threatened to compromise the mission, but she'd broken one of her golden rules. She wasn't in the business of making people needlessly suffer anymore. When she killed people, it was as quick and painless as possible, no matter how badly they deserved to suffer. They were still people, and there was someone that had loved them, and probably someone to mourn for them as well. If they were meant to suffer, let them suffer in hell.

Laura pushed Kimura's laughter and praise away before taking a deep breath and hurrying toward the bridge. She estimated there'd be about a dozen men or more working the ship besides the guards. A delicate operation like this meant hiring as few workers as possible for secrecy purposes, which Laura was thankful for as it'd mean finishing the mission quicker and having to kill fewer people.

She raced up a flight of stairs, hearing three men arguing above her in the control room, and more down below in the crew's cabin. If there were seven guards working the night shift, she suspected there'd be at least another seven below, or perhaps twice as many if they worked three shifts instead of two.

Automatic gunfire shot through the glass windows of the bridge, and Laura fired back at stomach level semi-blindly. She took a faceful of glass and two bullets to the shoulder in exchange for two men dropping, wounded rather than dead, and Laura charged inside. Her instincts had been correct. The man who'd hesitated from damaging the ship had been the captain, and she took a couple more bullets for the sake of driving a knee into his sternum and knocking him unconscious with an elbow to the back of the head. If the man she was searching for wasn't on the ship, he'd have to do. Lucky him...

She put a bullet into the other men's heads and paused at the controls of the ship. She'd memorized all of the ship's complicated mechanisms before the mission since she couldn't rely on adamantium to get the job done, and shooting machines tended to be unreliable, and it took her a moment or two to properly turn off the engine. She then plugged in a special flash drive into the main computer. It immediately began downloading the ship's navigation, everywhere it had ever been even if its records had previously been deleted, as well as crew manifests and everything else her team would need to bring the empire down.

She heard voices and boots outside, perhaps half a dozen or more men climbing the stairs, and this time Laura knew she couldn't just blind fire. She'd have to be more careful, which probably meant more bullet holes since her targets wouldn't be nearly so considerate.

A head popped into view above the broken glass with a face she didn't recognize, and he immediately tumbled down the stairs with a bullet between his eyes. She wished more would've rushed her, tried to overwhelm her with numbers so that she could kill them quicker, but now they were cautious and very aware they were dealing with professionals rather than a rag-tag pirate crew.

Laura leaped over the control panel through the broken window, and took careful aim at four guards and two crew members she also didn't recognize. Bullets sped past her, none of them expecting their target to be suicidal, and she saved the crewmembers for last, figuring they'd be worse shots than the guards and less heavily armed. She was half-right, they were armed only with small caliber handguns, but one of them was a decent shot and caught her with a tight grouping to the chest. It barely staggered her however, and the final crewmember went down with an extra bullet to the head just for good measure.

She glanced around, making sure they were all dead before reloading and hurrying downstairs into the cabin. She killed a man in his underwear who'd clearly been rudely awakened, and took it as a sign that those remaining would probably be just as groggy and confused. The next two crewmates were even less prepared and died in their beds without ever waking. Another pair were even sharing a bed which was considerate considering she was on a time crunch.

The final crewmate dropped and she hurried down a long, cramped hallway, the scent of fear and overwhelming despair thick in the air, and finding its source, she kicked the door down only to discover the man she was looking for retrieving a pistol from the nightstand while a young woman laid in bed, looking as though she hadn't slept in ages, and watching the sudden disturbance with only mild interest.

Laura rushed him, covering her face with a forearm in case he got a lucky shot at close range, but he hadn't had time to rack the high-caliber pistol and he crumbled to the ground with a punch to the side of the head. It might've been enough to give him a mild concussion, but he'd probably sleep off the worst of it by the time they made it back to land.

She tied his hands and feet with zip-ties, keeping an ear out for anyone still alive that she had somehow missed, and glanced at the woman in bed, now watching her with a mixture of shame and confusion. Laura knew that look well enough, and did her best to keep her voice level. "Help is on its way," she said in English before switching to Cantonese. "You're going to be alright. You're going home. Just stay here under the covers. Nobody's going to hurt you any more."

The woman nodded, and as if realization finally came seeing the man responsible for her lifetime of hell lying unconscious on the floor, she began to cry for what Laura suspected had been the first time in a very, very long time.

Laura grabbed both the man and his suitcase before leaving. There wasn't anything more she could do for the woman, and she and Gabby needed to hurry. Under no circumstances could they be caught being there by the US Navy, especially now that they had what they came for.

"L to G," she said. "I've got our guy. I'm gonna finish sweeping the cabin before heading back to the bridge. Ten minutes at most. Have the kids waiting somewhere they'll be seen. We're getting the hell out of here."

"Aye, aye, Captain." That reminded Laura that she could kill the captain now that he had outlived his usefulness. If she left him alive, he'd likely squirm his way out of prison, pleading ignorance, or more likely, killed while awaiting trial in order to keep him quiet. It was a loose thread his employers couldn't afford.

Laura silenced the captain forever with a bullet to the head while he was still unconscious after tossing the crew's quarters. She didn't have much left to do on the bridge besides grabbing a few papers and making sure the US Navy was in fact on its way, which she could tell just by listening. She could hear a helicopter in the distance, and she sent another vague message about needing emergency medical assistance before hurrying back onto the deck.

"I'm on my way," she said breathlessly, fireman carrying the man over her shoulder while dragging a suitcase stuffed with papers and anything important-looking behind her. She was in peak human conditioning and her muscles almost never tired due to her regenerative powers, and she could push them far beyond their normal limits with tears healing almost instantly, but he was still twice her size and it had been a very long day.

She didn't allow herself to think too far ahead of the current objective, that being to escape into open ocean unnoticed, but she did wonder in the back of her mind what the US government's response would be. Laura would be sending all the information she gathered tonight to certain government individuals the X-Men trusted in order to make sure something was done legally, but those investigating the ship would have access to most of the very same information, as well as first hand accounts. She couldn't help but wonder who all would try covering it up, and if she'd be paying them a visit anytime soon. She reminded herself however that wasn't her current mission, and that the night was still far from over.

Laura found Gabby and the children gathered above their state of the art speedboat, explaining to them its capabilities in detail despite few if any being able to fully understand English, and Laura couldn't help being the least bit annoyed with her sister. The less the kids knew about them the better. Now they'd know what kind of boat they had taken and what direction they were headed, and that a young woman had single handedly killed a couple dozen armed men, most of whom were well-trained and better armed.

Also, the bullet holes in Laura's clothes were rather conspicuous now that she thought about it. She'd have to have a talk with her sister when this was over, and be even more clear with her instructions next time.

She handed the suitcase to Gabby before telling the kids to not to wander off and wait for the Americans before wrapping a hand around the grappling wire and repelling herself down followed by Gabby, who waved to the kids and cut the line with a bone claw. Thankfully it was too dark for them to notice, and Laura decided against telling the kids not to tell the Navy about who had rescued them and killed their captures. In her experience, kids keeping a secret was next to impossible, and they'd understandably be telling this story for the rest of their lives.

She unceremoniously tossed the middle-aged man into the back of the boat where groaned and began to stir. In response, Gabby covered his mouth with duct tape while Laura detached them from the cargo ship.

"Hi, Mr. Harken!" Gabby said cheerfully. "We've been looking everywhere for you. Human trafficking is really naughty, but you've also been known to sell kids to Weapon X. That's where we come in." She removed her sunglasses and mask, and Adam Harken's eyes widened when he saw her face. "Don't worry, I'm not the one you should be afraid of."

She gestured toward Laura who had since removed her own disguise, and besides the facial scarring on Gabby's face, looked exactly like her sister, just a few years older and without the permanent smile plastered across her face.

"That's Laura," she said. "You probably know her better as X-23. I'm Gabby, X-23-G. You probably don't like us very much, but don't worry, you're really not gonna like us by morning."

"Gabby," Laura sighed, starting the engine, "kidnapping and interrogating him for information is strictly business. Having to listen to you talk nonstop for the next three to four hours is cruel and unusual punishment."

Her sister laughed and pulled a bag over Harkin's head. "Don't worry," she whispered. "Laura's a professional, and she's really good at her job. She won't have to interrogate you for very long..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This story was originally going to be Chapters 11 and beyond of "Killers By Trade", and I was on the fence about it even while writing this chapter, but eventually I came to the realization that it just made more sense to start with a clean slate. This chapter for example while outlining it just seemed like a really good introduction to Laura and Gabby as characters, and I always enjoy getting to see superheroes doing something more "mundane" compared to fighting supervillains and petty crime. Here, the sisters are basically operating as Seal Team 6, except even scarier, which was Weapon X's original purpose for them in a lot of respects. They're soldiers, and it's not the lives they end that matter, but rather the ones they save.

If you enjoyed my portrayal of Laura and Gabby and would like to read more, check out the story's predecessor, "Killers By Trade", as well as my one-shot titled "Skeletons in the Closet", wherein the sisters have a heart-to-heart after a fight, and Laura finally reveals to Gabby their birthday, how their mother died, and why Laura is the way she is.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

Interrogation

Adam Harkin spent the next several hours lying in the back of a speedboat listening to the water chopping and the younger sister's incessant chatter. The sun was still an hour or two from rising when they finally came ashore and dragged him into a building that smelled vaguely of rust and rot and despair.

They untied his hands and feet for a brief period, but only in order to tie him to a heavy chair with armrests. Laura extended a claw and removed all of his clothes except his underwear on account of her sister, who she told to pay close attention.

"Wanna make bets how long he lasts?" Gabby asked. "I give him five minutes."

"This isn't a game, Gabby, and I'm not going to waste any more time than I have to." She took a deep breath and slowly released it. "Alright, let's get this over with."

She removed the hood from over his head, and it took several moments for Harkin to adjust to the bright lights shining in his eyes.

Laura sighed again. "No, you won't talk yet. You're angry, and you wanna prove to yourself that you're a tough guy." She shook her head as if disappointed in him. "Everybody talks, Mr. Harkin. Everybody, including me. You can tell me right now everything you know and where I can learn more, or I can start removing body parts. You can either die in excruciating, unimaginable pain, or with your body still fully intact and without feeling a thing. Either way you will tell me everything I want to know. That's nonnegotiable."

Harkin squirmed in his seat but concentrated on staring straight ahead, ignoring the two young women on either side of him.

"I'm not a sadist," Laura said. "I take no pleasure in making people suffer even when they deserve it. The taped mouth has as much to do with me not wanting to hear you scream as not wanting you to be able to relieve stress if you force me to start cutting you."

"She's technically a masochist, not a sadist," Gabby explained. Laura turned and glared at her. "Sorry, shutting up now..."

Laura shook her head and leaned over to meet Harken's gaze. "People talk quicker if they're not able to scream," she said. "Besides, if I hear you beg for your miserable life knowing that you ignored the pleas of tens of thousands of children, not to mention grown men and women, you'll make me very angry. And trust me, neither of us wants that."

"Laura has issues. Lots of issues..."

"But you won't be my issue much longer, Mr. Harkin. The sooner we're done here, the sooner we can put an end to your human trafficking business, and the sooner I can find Kimura..."

The man's eyes widened, and Laura nodded. "That's right. You've been selling children to Kimura to use as test subjects. That's how we got wind of your operation. One of your men got sloppy and was smart enough not to test my patience. I know you hate Kimura. Everybody does. You're going to help me find her, and then I'm going to put her out of her misery. Understand?"

Without another word she wedged an adamantium claw underneath one of the man's fingernails, slowly prying it off while he silently screamed and thrashed in his chair.

"If it makes you feel any better," Laura said, pausing when it was halfway removed, "I've had the same done to me, and also much worse. Of course I have a healing factor, but Kimura used to make a game out of how much skin she could peel off before I became whole again. It was to teach me how to properly conduct an interrogation, and to give me a good reference point for pain. On a scale from one to ten, this isn't even a one. Kimura was very thorough and good at her job in case you're curious, and she taught me everything she knows. Time's running out, Mr. Harkin."

She finished prying off the fingernail and moved onto another before he could finish screaming. "Kimura usually started with my back, sometimes my breasts, but I prefer fingernails. If you're still not willing to talk, I'll move onto your toes. Trust me, that'll hurt much worse. And once I start removing skin, you'll be begging me to just cut them off instead."

Laura took a step back once she had removed the second fingernail and Harkin finished screaming. Tears filled his eyes and ran down his face, and not just because of the pain. Realization was setting in of what he was in store for, and that very soon he'd be begging for death. If he had any regrets in his life besides being caught however, Laura didn't see it in his eyes.

'Almost there,' she thought to herself, hearing Kimura's voice encouraging her to skip to the end. While she contemplated removing the tape covering his mouth however, she caught Harkin looking directly at her sister, and knowing exactly what that look meant, extended her adamantium claws mere millimeters in front of his face, causing him to flinch and lean as far back as possible.

"Gabby," she said calmly, "if you wouldn't mind, please walk around Mr. Harkin where he can't see you. We went to a lot of trouble bringing him here, and I'd hate to sabotage the entire mission just because I didn't like the way a rapist was looking at my sister."

She shrugged and walked behind him. "Like I said, issues..."

Gabby positioned herself behind him, arms crossed, watching her sister curiously. She had never been taught how to properly interrogate someone, and had always just shot people in the kneecaps when they had information she needed. Laura however hadn't been satisfied with such barbary, and had told her to watch and learn how to break even a hardened criminal with minimal effort.

"I don't know what exactly Weapon X did to Kimura," Laura continued, retracting her claws, "but they made her skin even harder than adamantium. That means if I want to kill her, I'll probably have to at least partially skin her alive. If you don't tell me the name of everyone you've ever sold children to and where I can find proof, I'll practice on you first, Mr. Harkin. Tell me what I want to know, and you won't feel a thing. You're still going to die, but it's entirely up to you if you wanna go to hell looking as you do now, or blind, deaf, dumb, and without your limbs or even your skin. It's your choice, Mr. Harkin, and it's a limited time offer."

When he didn't immediately answer, she slammed her heel between his legs and released a claw, causing him to once again silently scream in terror.

"I wouldn't squirm too much if I were you. If this were personal, I'd probably start here, and I wouldn't ask you any questions until I was already done."

"Don't worry, Mr. Harkin," Gabby said cheerfully, "neither of us have twigs and berries either, and you don't hear us complaining!"

Laura paused and glared at her again. "Sorry. Can't help it..."

Gabby mimed zipping her lips, and Laura leaned over and whispered in Harkin's ear. "People like you have hurt me since I was a little girl," she seethed, barely controlling her voice. "Not only that, but they've also hurt the people I care about, and you are standing in my way of hunting down and killing Kimura. This is already personal, Mr. Harkin, but I'm doing my very best to control myself. Would you like to make this even more personal than it already is?"

Harkin closed his eyes and shrank away from her, and finally shook his head. "Good, because I lied earlier. I already have all the experience I need in making people suffer..."

After a mercifully short interrogation session, Laura spent the next several hours on the phone and her computer while Gabby stood guard and talked nonstop to their captive. She had contacts around the world working to confirm the information given to her by Harkin, either by hacking servers or busting down doors, and so far the operation was running smoothly like a well-oiled machine.

Jubilee was in Hong Kong searching for live prey since she was fluent in Cantonese and knew her way around the city, and was almost as good of a tracker as Laura herself. Kitty Pryde meanwhile was back in New York City, putting her considerable computer skills to good use. There were many more members of their respective strike team, the operation itself being overseen by Jean Grey, but they were the only ones Laura was actively working with. Officially speaking, the X-Men had nothing to do bringing down the human trafficking network, and were relying on Laura, Gabby, and Jubilee to do all of the dirty work.

All of Adam Harkin's information was thus far checking out, and after a few hours of thorough questioning and waiting for further questions from her team, as well as a couple more fingernails, Laura decided she had learned everything she was going to and decided to pay her respects to the ruler of Madripoor. It was her island she was using as headquarters after all, and Adam Harkin was technically one of her citizens.

Jessán Hoan, better known to the world as Tyger Tiger, had no love for Kimura as she had tried overthrowing her government a time or two, and occasionally made use of the island's infamous black market, as well as other less reputable services.

Tyger had cleaned up much of Madripoor's dark reputation since becoming queen about eight years prior. It was still a capitalist's paradise, but there were two rules when it came to trading on her island. No drugs, and no human trafficking, with the latter being punishable by death. Despite that, Madripoor had been a hotbed for trafficking for a century or more, and it was still a thriving industry in the nation's criminal underbelly.

"That's right," Laura said over the phone, speaking in an adjoining office. "He's currently tied up at 616 by the docks. The usual place. I've got all the information I need from him, and you should have everything relating to Madripoor by now. I'll have the X-Men send you a copy of everything else we find later today and keep you in the know. Would you like to interrogate him yourself?"

Laura glanced at Harkin in the other room and nodded as Tyger spoke. "I understand. Good luck to you too. If we do this right, and if we're quick enough, we'll bring down the largest human trafficking ring in the world, imprison or kill most of the buyers and sellers, and hopefully find everyone they've ever sold as well."

She nodded again. "Right, I understand. We'll be careful. You do the same. Thank you for letting us operate in Madripoor. It's home away from home, especially with the weather changing in New York. I'll let you know when I've killed Kimura, or if there are any other developments. Goodbye." She hung up and immediately walked out of the office behind Harkin, and without making a sound, extended two adamantium claws straight through his chest, killing him instantly.

"Hey!" Gabby cried. "We were talking! I was just getting to the part where we saved Jonathan!"

"Consider it a mercy killing then." Laura untied Harkin from the chair and with minimal effort, dragged his body into a back alley where she unceremoniously tossed him into an awaiting dumpster that Tyger would have picked up within the hour.

This was justice as far as Laura was concerned, and Madripoor for that matter. Adam Harkin was too rich and powerful to ever stand trial, and there wasn't a facility in the entire world secure enough to keep him alive long enough to do so. Even now the rats were scattering, going underground for the foreseeable future, and dangerous men from around the world were searching high and low for him, leaving no stone unturned.

"Where to next?" Gabby asked, suppressing a yawn.

Laura paused to think. It was a good question, and one she hadn't given much thought to. Since she was eleven-years-old, she had been going on dangerous missions almost nonstop, which was the only time she was ever allowed outside The Facility. Ever since then, it had been difficult for her to sit idle too long, and she rarely gave much thought to what she would do after a mission was complete. It wasn't in her nature, but perhaps more importantly, it also wasn't in her programming.

"We wait to hear back from Jubilee, Kitty, and Jean," she said finally. "We did the dirty work, now we let them do theirs. Tyger's giving us free reign in Madripoor while we're here, and we'll probably get a lead if we wait here long enough. No point in going back to New York."

Gabby nodded and suppressed another yawn. "So what do we do until then?"

Laura smirked at her. "You're gonna get some sleep. I've got an apartment not far from here. While you're doing that, I'm gonna go over some of the documents I haven't had time to read."

"Shouldn't you get some sleep too?"

"I've only been awake for thirty-six hours. I'll be fine after some coffee. Just try not to grow any more in your sleep. If you end up being taller than me, I'm going to cut your feet off."

Laura was in fact not fine even after three cups of coffee, and she ended up dozing on the couch not long after an extended shower. She had been planning on babysitting her phone and laptop all day, but even though it was technically her operation, now that the dirty work was done, Laura was admittedly low on the totem pole of people who needed to be kept in the know.

The apartment was just the bare essentials and a place to sleep when she was on business. It was located on the bad side of town and not far from the smuggling hotbed of Buccaneer Bay. If there was any work to be done on the island, it would probably be here.

She didn't sleep for long however, and after Gabby had gotten a few hours, they found themselves lounging on the couch together, sitting in the dark, listening to the familiar sounds of the city below and each other's breathing.

"How much of what you said was true?" Gabby asked quietly. "When you were threatening to torture him?"

Laura seemed to pretend not to hear, and brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. "Most of it," she said sometime later. Laura sighed and shook her head. "All of it. When you're interrogating someone, it sometimes helps if they build an emotional connection to you. You want them to feel something other than just anger towards you. Hate and anger give a person strength, but fear, pity, and despair break them. It's one of the reasons why 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' works so well, and it's basically fast and dirty Stockholm Syndrome."

"More like 'Bad Cop, Scary Cop'.

Laura chuckled darkly, but not because of what she said. "I should've been compensated for being Kimura's therapist all those years. And yes, I do see the irony and the similarities between us. It's our differences that matter, not everything we have in common."

'Or so you keep telling yourself,' Kimura whispered.

"You two are nothing alike," Gabby said firmly. "Nothing. Understand?"

Laura quickly looked away when her sister caught her eye, and Gabby scooted closer. "Thank you for showing me how to interrogate someone that doesn't involve putting bullets in their kneecaps. I'm just sorry that you had to learn from experience."

She nodded. "I'm sorry too, Gabby, but it is what it is. Kimura turned me into one of the most dangerous weapons on Earth, and now that weapon is pointed directly at her. Trouble is that's exactly what she wants. In the end, Kimura always gets what she wants. Always..."

Gabby grabbed her hand. "Not always. Not this time. This time we're gonna kill her!"

Laura sighed again. Nobody knew Kimura better than her, and nobody seemed to understand what exactly it was that Kimura wanted most in the world. Rebuilding Weapon X in her own image and attempting to become queen of her own nation were just petty games to her. Something to amuse herself with and pass the time as an immortal. Kimura hated herself, and she couldn't even harm herself like Laura could, and so took all her frustrations out on others.

Her hands began to shake and she immediately stuffed them under her armpits as if she were cold. She had promised them both that she would not cut herself so long as Gabby was under the same as her. So far she had made good on that promise, but while all days were difficult, some were seemingly impossible to get through.

Perhaps sensing this, Gabby leaned over and rested her head on her shoulder. "You're alright, Sis. We'll stop Kimura, and we'll get through this together just like always. Try to get some sleep. Six hours every other day is going to get you killed, and I don't wanna live the next couple centuries without you. You're all I've got left..."

Laura nodded, and shutting her eyes and snuggling with sister, she quickly found herself having an almost pleasant dream. True nightmares were surprisingly rare for her. Most of the time she was so exhausted by the time she finally allowed herself to sleep that Laura didn't even dream, and woke up almost as exhausted as she'd gone to sleep feeling.

Other times she had what she supposed most people would consider nightmares, but they were so familiar after all these years that they didn't bother her much anymore. When she did have nightmares however, she had a habit of screaming and cutting her bed into pieces, and sometimes even herself. In their year and a half together however, she'd never had a single nightmare in the presence of her sister, and occasionally even had pleasant dreams far removed from hell.

It was so pleasant in fact that she didn't appear to wake when mist began filling the room, seeping through the window before suddenly taking the shape of a young Asian woman with red eyes and a long yellow coat. She grinned ear to ear, flashing a pair of fangs at the sisters asleep on the couch, and tiptoed over to them. She licked her lips, staring at the elder's neck, hearing the blood coursing through her veins, and bent down to take a nibble when without warning Laura extended two claws on either side of the vampire's throat, who immediately covered her mouth to keep from laughing. "Come on, dude!" she whispered. "Can't you take a joke?"

"Jubilee," she said calmly, not removing her claws, "what are you doing here?" Gabby stirred in her lap but didn't open her eyes.

"I finished up early and decided to stop by for a snack." She licked the trickle of blood from between Laura's knuckles and swished it around her mouth. "Dude, you have no idea how much that hits the spot after a long day. Emphasis on day."

Laura retracted her claws and wiped away the blood, and more importantly Jubilee's saliva, when Gabby suddenly jumped up with her claws extended, startled by the smell of cold death, before squealing and leaping into Jubilee's awaiting arms.

"Hey, kiddo! Oops, excuse me. Hey, young lady." She shook her head, laughing. "Have you grown another inch since I saw you last week?"

Gabby nodded. "Did you bring me back presents?"

Jubilee held her heart as if it hurt, or in her case, suddenly started beating again. "Of course I remembered, Gabs." She produced a large sack from within her coat and handed it over, which Gabby immediately ripped open and began devouring all manner of Chinese candies, chocolates, and snacks, as well as a few toys Jubilee thought she'd like.

Laura glanced at the miniblinds and the fading sunlight poking through. "Jubilee, it's at least fifteen hundred miles from Hong Kong to Madripoor, and it's still daylight. This isn't a social visit. Why are you here?"

"Also, isn't sunlight like really bad for vampires?" Gabby asked with her mouth full.

Jubilee dug underneath her shirt and from around her neck retrieved a gold amulet with strange writing and a large ruby in the center. "Blade gave me this, remember? Sunlight still hurts like a nasty sunburn, but I won't burst into flames while I have this on. I guess this is probably the first time you've actually seen me out during the day, huh?"

Gabby nodded. She blamed her poor memory on having been shot in the head one too many times, which Laura partially agreed with, but she mostly attributed it to her sister's inability to listen or pay attention. In truth, she shared this in common with Jubilee, and Laura supposed it was a trait common among immortals that forgot they could still die from carelessness and incompetence.

"What's in Madripoor that's so important that you couldn't just tell me over the phone," Laura asked. "It's something dangerous or else you would've just left it to us." Although adrenaline bubbled in her chest at the prospect of another mission, Jubilee believing that her very special talents were required immediately made her cautious, especially for Gabby.

Jubilee met her gaze and nodded, answering many of her questions. "I didn't call ahead because I wanted to let the both of you both get your beauty sleep." She studied the dark circles around Laura's eyes, glad that she had at least gotten little, and as usual couldn't help checking her wrists and forearms despite knowing it was pointless.

"Some guy I had for a drink told me that Weapon X had been running experiments here in Madripoor before Kimura took over. They weren't sure if she was pulling the strings or not, but it's a lead if nothing else, and if they are still here, they need to be stopped."

"What kind of experiments?"

"Well, I'll give you a hint. What has super strength, super speed, super senses, immortality, supernatural powers, hates sunlight, and are sexy as hell?"

Laura sighed but Gabby jumped up and down clapping and squealing. "Oh my God! Are we gonna get to play vampire hunters!?"

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. This chapter was inspired by "Daken/X-23: Collision", specifically the scene where Laura interrogates/tortures a villain for information and discusses being tortured herself. That was shortly removed from her time with X-Force, which I like to think she's somewhat regressed to in this story. Laura's angrier and less composed than she was in "Killers By Trade", and she keeps hearing Kimura's voice in her subconscious. Given her programming and how much time they spent together, I like to think that this is something Laura has always struggled with, but has only gotten that much worse since her last stint as Kimura's prisoner.

I was very happy to be able to introduce Jubilee so early in "Killers By Choice". She was sorta the "breakout character" for me in its predecessor. Her friendship with Laura is one of Marvel's biggest missed opportunities in my opinion, and Laura killing vampires is just a match made in Heaven. Honestly, this plot thread was a bit of a happy accident after learning of a comic where Wolverine goes to Madripoor and fights a vampire. If Weapon X is/was interested in immortality like Laura suggested in the previous story, then running experiments involving vampires make sense. With that said, I just wanted an excuse for  Laura, Gabby, and Jubilee to kill vampires.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Dead and Loving It

Dance music blared all across the decadent metropolis that was Madripoor's red light district, inviting people from all around the island-nation to indulge themselves in one of the many nightclubs, brothels, or other businesses of ill repute. Everything except drugs were legal, but so long as they were kept off the streets and away from the innocent, law enforcement mostly turned a blind eye.

The Love Bite was one such unreputable establishment, and mostly catered to those that wore black lipstick and fingernail polish, and too much eyeshadow. Four women had gone missing shortly after entering just within the past few months, but while there had been thorough investigations, it was admittedly par for the course for Low Town as locals called it.

The small club wasn't yet half-full when the front doors opened on their own and the revelry came to a sudden halt, everyone staring at the young woman in a yellow coat as she entered and moved to the rhythm of the music. She glanced around the room, spying thirty or more staring back at her, and waved a hand toward the speakers, causing the music to cease.

"Who's in charge here?" she asked in Cantonese. When nobody responded she switched to English and smiled to herself. "I take it most of you aren't from around here. Good to know."

"What do you want, Chinglish?" asked a man with an Eastern European accent she couldn't quite place.

Jubilee laughed. "Dude, I'm from Beverly Hills, and you can literally smell death on me. I'm like the second to last person you wanna piss off right now, and the last is my BFF waiting outside."

Several dozen men and women suddenly bared their fangs and claws at her, and seeing this, and apparently sensing death better than the vampires could, all the humans sprinted out of the club.

"The name's Jubilee," she said, the lights flickering as her voice echoed throughout the club, "and as if you couldn't tell, I'm a Lord of Vampires. Sired by Xarus, son of Lord Dracula himself. Your nest has been accused of turning humans against their will. Tell your elder that I wish to speak with him, quickly, and I may be merciful."

A dozen or more vampires laughed, and Jubilee couldn't help joining them. She put a hand on her samurai sword however, a gift from her mentor Blade, and all the laughing ceased except her own.

"The master is busy," said the man with the accent. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, as did most of the vampires in the club, but Jubilee estimated he'd been a vampire for about twenty years or more. Ordinarily that would've made him her superior, but as a Draculina, he should've gotten on one knee or at least bowed his head by now. "I'm in charge while he's away."

Jubilee glanced around the room and saw that she was slowly being surrounded. "What do vampires have to do with Weapon X, and what kind of experiments have they been performing here?"

She saw confusion on several of the faces in the room, both newly turned vampires and those about as old as their second in command, but a few expressions confirmed her suspicions. They didn't know what exactly was going on in the building, but they knew something was, and it scared them.

"Go get your boss," she repeated. "He's broken our laws, and I'm sentencing him to death."

The entire room erupted in laughter despite the hand on her sword, and Jubilee's grin slipped from her face. Whoever their elder was, clearly they thought very highly of him to laugh in the face of a Draculina.

"Alright, I guess that's what I get for trying to be a good girl and playing by the rules. My mistake. Won't happen again." She whistled like she was hailing a cab back in New York City, and two nearly identical-looking young women wearing all black stepped through the front doors.

The crimson eyes throughout the club lit up, and the vampires instinctively licked their lips while Laura and Gabby took their positions on either side of Jubilee, whose own mouth couldn't help watering.

"Trust me," she said to their admirers, "Type E tastes even better than it smells. Problem is that I've already called dibs, and I don't share."

"They don't smell like thralls or ghouls," a young woman said, turned sometime within the past year.

Laura turned and gave her a dirty look. Both terms related to being a vampire's slave, with thralls being completely mindless humans while ghouls were 'lesser vampires' and had freewill only when it suited their master.

She looked around the room and saw that Gabby unsurprisingly held most of everyone's attention, who like her was trying not to shiver from the unnatural chill and overpowering smell of death in the room. Taking a deep breath, she partially extended a single adamantium claw and drew a red line across her forearm. The entire room took a step toward her as if drawn magnetically, all eyes now trained solely on her, and she did her best to suppress a pleasurable sigh from the sudden release due to also feeling Jubilee and Gabby's eyes on her.

The second in command chuckled. "I didn't know Wolverine was a bitch."

Several of the vampires laughed, including Jubilee who shook her head, and Laura turned her full attention to the speaker. "I'm trying to come up with an excuse why I shouldn't kill you. You have less than a minute to convince me otherwise."

He laughed again and took several steps toward her. "If I drink the blood of Chinglish over there, I'll gain some of her powers, but I'd be lying if I said you weren't just as tempting, sweetheart."

"I want the younger," another said, grinning wickedly at Gabby before turning his attention back to Laura. "We can smell it in your blood, you know. You didn't lose your virginity. It was taken from you. Something like that stains the soul. I take it daddy dearest had trouble keeping it in his pants growing up?"

Gabby's claws extended and she tried rushing him but Laura grabbed her by the collar. "They're faster than you, and also a lot stronger," she said calmly. "Control your temper or else it'll control you."

"But-"

"You're a professional. Act like it. Don't get impatient. Dead now or a minute from now doesn't make a difference. All that matters is completing the mission alive."

"Her on the other hand," the other vampire continued, staring straight at Gabby, "she-"

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by Laura suddenly cutting his head off, turning his body to dust before he even hit the ground. She watched his remains scatter onto the shocked second in command with more than a little satisfaction, and when he tried stabbing her in the chest with razor sharp fingernails, she cut his hand off followed by his head with a single flourish before moving on to her next target.

"Party time!" Jubilee announced, turning the music back on. She drew her blade and bisected a vampire who thought he'd be clever and attack Gabby from behind while she drew her Desert Eagles and started firing into those closest to her. They all grinned and held still to make themselves easier targets, only to suddenly cry out in agony as the silver hollow point bullets burned like fire within them. She put them out of their misery by cutting their heads off with her bone claws, but quickly retreated back to Jubilee who was effortlessly slaughtering her kin in rhythm with the music.

The fight, if it could even be called that, was over within a couple of minutes. True to their nature, none of the vampires had tried to escape, and while Laura would've preferred leaving one of them alive for questioning, they didn't have the time for an impromptu interrogation with an undead creature of the night.

Once the final vampire turned to dust, Laura and Jubilee cleaned their blades while Gabby reloaded. She hadn't been expecting to kill vampires on the mission, but Laura thankfully and perhaps unsurprisingly was prepared for almost any contingency, and kept a cache of weapons and equipment in the apartment. Apparently this hadn't been the first time Jubilee had taken her on an impromptu vampire hunt.

"That was awesome!" Gabby said, turning to Jubilee. "Killing vampires is just the coolest! Er, no offense."

"Hah! None taken. We also make for easy clean up so long as you bring a broom and dustpan." Jubilee sheathed her sword and glanced at a door that led to the back. "I couldn't smell it before, but there's definitely a centuries old vampire in the building. About four or five hundred years if I had to guess. Not a Vampire Lord though, thankfully."

Laura nodded, kneeling on the ground, and needing a moment to catch her breath unlike Jubilee. She had a few rips in her shirt from claws but they'd long since healed. "I smell it too, along with chemicals. It's coming from below." She glanced around the club, shaking her head in disgust. "I doubt Kimura has anything to do with this. It's too sloppy, and she'd hate vampires on principle."

"They would make pretty good henchmen though," Gabby said, remembering to clean her own claws. "Also, isn't researching immortality one of the things Weapon X was founded for?"

She shook her head. "Vampires become arrogant because they inherit their strength instead of earning it, and they feel invincible due to already being dead. They're highly intelligent but they get bored easily and prefer pursuing their vices instead of bettering themselves. They also don't take orders very well unless it's from another vampire, and when they're sired, there's a chance they'll go insane. It's the kind of immortality the directors of Weapon X would've investigated, but not the kind they would take part in themselves."

Gabby blinked. "Um, don't you think you're being a little rude?" she whispered, gesturing toward Jubilee. "And maybe even a little racist?"

Jubilee laughed. "No, she's right. Most vampires lose their humanity after turning. I almost did, and it's only because of Logan I didn't. As much as I might look human, Gabs, I'm not. Jubilation Lee died four years ago, and all of her inhibitions, insecurities, and worries died with her. I might love being a vampire, but I was turned against my will, and make no mistake, I hate these blood suckers more than you could possibly ever imagine."

She turned the music off again with a wave of her hand and helped herself to a brightly colored bottle of liquor behind the bar.

"Vampires can theoretically live forever," Laura mused to herself, "and yet they live like there's no tomorrow. A part of me envies that."

Jubilee turned to her and smiled. "What's the point in living forever if you're not gonna enjoy it? Anybody want a drink? I make a mean Bloody Mary."

"I prefer occupying my time with work," Laura said quietly, restraining Gabby from accepting the offer. "As well as furthering my education."

She laughed again. "Dude, you're gonna be a hundred and forty year old cat lady at this rate. It won't be long before Scott of all people starts saying you've got a stick up your ass."

Laura sighed and pointed toward the back. "That's enough. Let's find the vampire and get out of here. Gabby and I are supposed to be keeping a low profile."

Jubilee finished her drink and nodded, and with three expert trackers searching the back, it didn't take long to find a hidden door behind a fake wall. Jubilee led the way down a pitch black staircase with Gabby behind her and Laura securing the rear. Although they could all see in the dark, the sisters' night vision wasn't nearly as sharp as a vampire's, and Gabby retrieved a flashlight from her utility belt. Her hand shook slightly much like it had upstairs, and Laura laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Nothing is going to sneak up on all three of us," she said. "The vampire knows we're here, so there's no point trying to sneak up on him either. He's arrogant like the rest of them and wants us to see what he's been working on down here."

"R-right." Gabby swallowed, her hand starting to steady itself. Every instinct told her that Jubilee was dangerous. An apex predator that lurked in the shadows of nightmares, and both the nest of vampires upstairs and the centuries old vampire down there made every hair stand up. A year ago she hadn't feared death, and she still didn't necessarily, but she wasn't quite a child anymore, and some fears seemed to be written in the very DNA of mankind.

"These kinds of people already don't have much if any humanity left," Laura continued. "Mad scientists, I mean. A vampire doing these sorts of experiments is going to be bad, Gabby. If I tell you not to look or to wait outside, I don't want you arguing."

Gabby looked as though she already wanted to argue, but seeing the pained expression on her sister's face, and thinking back to the horrors they had already encountered at other facilities, she nodded and followed along, wielding her flashlight and Desert Eagle like the experienced operator she was. Compared to Laura and Jubilee's blades, her bone claws felt unnecessary and more than a little inadequate, and truth be told, she preferred guns and being their support. As the youngest of ten sisters, some of whom were even more aggressive than Laura, it was the role she had naturally found herself filling all her life.

"You did good, by the way," Laura said suddenly. "Remember, if I didn't trust you to do the job, or have our backs, I wouldn't have let you come."

Gabby grinned ear to ear, and Jubilee smirked at Laura who quickly looked away. She knew she could be difficult to please and nitpicky, but those nitpicks were what separated the best from everyone else, and what kept them alive. Besides, even Kimura knew the importance of positive reinforcement. It had been exceedingly rare of course, but it had only made Laura that much more desperate to please her mentor even if it sometimes meant being 'rewarded' by her.

"Aren't you gonna tell me that I did a good job?" Jubilee asked.

"You didn't die or get me or my sister killed," Laura said bluntly. "Your swordsmanship is sloppy. You waste too much time showing off, and you don't treat threats seriously enough."

"What threats?"

Laura sighed at the futility and shook her head. "A perfectly placed 9mm bullet to the head can still knock me and Gabby unconscious. At that moment we're at the shooter's mercy, and there are much worse fates than dying. Trust me. Any serious threat is to be taken seriously, understand?" She turned to Gabby, knowing her words would fall on deaf ears with Jubilee. "Understand?"

She quickly nodded. "I'm the one who usually wears body armor, remember? You're the one that runs into bullets half-naked. Is that a masochist thing or a 'I'm trying to be macho like Dad' thing?"

"It's more of a 'I wish I was still an only child' thing. A bullet going through me doesn't slow me down nearly as much as it being stopped by a vest, and only hurts a little more. Also, my healing factor is faster than Logan's. Wait another year or two and yours will probably be even faster than mine due to all of the adamantium in my body."

Both Jubilee and Gabby heard the bitterness in her voice, and knew better than to say anything more. Laura had been fully conscious and only seven-years-old when her claws were coated with adamantium, as well as a few strategic bones in the rest of her body. Dr. Zander Rice, the X-23 project lead, had purposefully left her with certain vulnerabilities out of spite, only to be corrected earlier that year by Kimura.

Despite the extra weight, neither Laura's speed nor her balance had been compromised, and her healing factor had only been marginally affected. It came at the cost however of even more discomfort, as well as the knowledge that a part of Kimura was inside of her at all times.

Jubilee cleared her throat. "Be careful when their boss speaks," she reminded Gabby. "A vampire's looks, voice, and even our scent are all used to supernaturally seduce prey. I hypnotize guys all the time without meaning to. Even straight girls occasionally."

"Which means I have to be more careful around male vampires, right? Wait, I never really thought about this. Laura, are you gay? If so, does that mean I'm gay? I am your clone after all, and-"

Laura sighed loudly and Jubilee halted in front of them, doubled over with laughter. "Just because you're my clone doesn't mean you aren't your own person, Gabby," she said patiently. "It doesn't matter the vampire's gender, and there's much more to seduction than just lust. There's also the seduction of power, intimacy, excitement, freedom, nostalgia, attention, and more. It's harder for vampires to hypnotize us because of Weapon X's conditioning, but they can and will hypnotize you if you let your guard down."

"I'll be careful. Just because I'm fourteen doesn't mean I'm stupid!"

"You're right. Being fourteen means you're irrational, emotional, and unreasonable. However, thank you for having better fashion sense than I did at fourteen."

"That was during your slutty phase, wasn't it?" She glanced at her sister's tight yoga pants and sports bra disapprovingly. "I mean your slutty-slutty phase."

Jubilee's laughter drowned out whatever response Laura might've had. "God, I've missed you two," she said, wiping away a tear. "Longest three weeks of my life. Missed you almost as much as I miss Laura's leather pants. Speaking of, do you still wear a thong, or are you going commando? If I start taking the mission seriously, will you show me?"

Her voice reverberated throughout the hall as well as their bodies, making them both shudder and giving them goosebumps. "Don't do that again," Laura hissed, adamantium claws poking through her skin.

Jubilee continued laughing. She'd never had much of a filter on her mouth, but it had only gotten worse since she had become undead and lost any sense of shame or self-consciousness.

Without needing an answer or to catch her breath from laughing, Jubilee continued leading the way. It was more of a branching tunnel than an actual facility, and both looked and smelled as though it hadn't been maintained in half a century or more. Its architecture led Laura to believe it predated The Cold War, which was peculiar considering when and why Weapon X had been founded. She didn't care for surprises, and a vampire's nest in Madripoor previously belonging to Weapon X was peculiar enough without considering the implications of its construction.

A few minutes later both she and Jubilee came to a sudden halt outside an innocuous-looking door, and nodded to one another. There had been several doors on their journey, almost all of them empty aside from dusty medical equipment written in a variety of languages much like the rest of Madripoor.

"Gabby," Laura said, "I'm borrowing two of your incendiary grenades. Wait here. Don't worry about the vampire. We'll only be gone for a moment, but have your UV light ready just in case." She plucked the grenades from her sister's utility belt before she could argue, and together with Jubilee, entered a pitch black room that reeked of despair, blood, and waste.

"Oh my God..." Jubilee whispered. Becoming a vampire had mostly desensitized her to bloodshed and horror, both of which she'd seen plenty of even before turning, but she still had to concentrate to keep from dry heaving. "What has he done?"

Inside dozens if not hundreds of small cages sat living nightmares. Some had too many arms and legs, others too many eyes or heads, but all had fangs and blood red eyes. Several screeched at the pair, but most appeared to be hiding their faces and quietly weeping to themselves.

"Mutant vampires," Laura said, also trying not to vomit. "These used to be people. Deep down some of them probably still are..."

"They're ghouls," Jubilee spat. "Their creator can control them like puppets, and yet he leaves them to rot in cages!?"

"My own mother kept me in a cage," Laura reminded her, retrieving a third grenade from her belt. "There's often a thin line between apathy and cruelty. Any objections?"

Jubilee let out a sob. "Laura, look at them! Most of them are children!"

"Used to be children. There's nothing we can do for them. If we don't kill them now, the vampire will use them against us, or they'll go mad once he's dead. You know even better than I do that this is a mercy and what has to be done."

She sighed and nodded, not liking how easy it was for her vampiric nature to push her otherwise human emotions aside, but especially not liking Laura being forced to do the same for the sake of her mission. She knew Laura far too well to be fooled by her cold exterior. "Do you want help?"

"No. You're as allergic to fire as they are. Besides, the next time you drink my blood and regain the rest of your humanity, I don't want this suddenly weighing on your conscience. I'll do it. Wait outside with Gabby. This won't take long."

Jubilee nodded and squeezed her arm. "You're a really good person, Laura, and an even better friend. Don't ever forget that."

Laura looked her in the eye, not a single readable emotion on her face before she suddenly looked away. "If you say so." She walked forward among the screeching and wailing, trying not to look inside the cages. "Please wait outside. I'll only be a moment."

She did as bidden and took Gabby a safe distance down the hall, telling her only what she had already guessed given the sounds and scents inside, and after a somber moment, Gabby responded by saying they should probably move even further away.

None of her or Laura's equipment wasn't exactly 'military grade', which is to say made by the lowest bidder. That was especially true for their thermite grenades. Laura was picky about her equipment, but Gabby was damn near obsessive. She also knew Laura well enough to know that she wanted to be absolutely certain that the experiments inside died instantly without feeling a thing, and that it would come at the expense of her own safety.

Her sister exited a few moments later and tossed what appeared to be an empty bottle of lighter fluid back into the room before lighting a match. "I'm sorry..."

Laura tossed the flame before slamming the door shut and sprinting down the hall and tackling Jubilee and Gabby to the floor when they tried peeking around the corner.

The explosion was deafening and heat radiated down the hall and above their heads, but the walls surprisingly held together as did the ceiling, and not a single night creature was heard from again.

After making sure Jubilee hadn't burst into flames herself, Laura stood up and without another word started walking in the direction she smelled the vampire.

"Sis?" Gabby asked, running to keep up. "Y-you alright?"

She shook her head. "What I'm about to do would make Kimura very proud of me..."

Gabby and Jubilee glanced at one another uneasily but followed closely behind. Eventually they arrived outside what appeared to be the main laboratory, and Laura released her claws. Jubilee followed suit by unsheathing her sword, and Gabby her .50 caliber Desert Eagles.

Laura kicked the door open, and across the surgical room with rusted walls and tables freshly stained with blood stood a tall man with long white hair and skin so pale it was practically translucent. He didn't even attempt to look human like Jubilee or other vampires did, with his skin pulled tight around the bones and his entire mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. Perhaps his most striking feature however were his pitch black eyes, a stark contrast to Jubilee's crimson.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure?" he asked in a courtly, if not old-fashioned English accent. Gabby immediately shuddered, and both Laura and Jubilee heard her heart skip several beats just from his voice alone. "It's not every day that I am blessed by the presence of a Draculina, or the spawn of my oldest foe."

"Bloodscream," Laura muttered. "Now it's starting to make sense. You're supposed to be dead."

Jubilee chuckled darkly. "Kitty's gonna love this."

Gabby glanced at them both. "Um, who-"

"Bloodscream, better known as Albert Malik," her sister explained. "Sixteenth century vampire and occult scientist for Hydra back in the thirties and forties, and probably one of Dr. Mengele's biggest inspirations. Logan ran into him a couple times. Apparently he didn't finish the job."

"Wait, Hydra? This guy's a Nazi?" The pair slowly nodded. "Oh my God! We're gonna kill a Nazi vampire! Does this mean we just killed a bunch of Neo Nazi vampires upstairs?"

"It means we killed a bunch of idiots," Laura said, not taking her eyes off Malik.

Jubilee laughed. "Neo Nazis. Idiots. Same difference. All I know is that I call dibs on telling Kitty."

Laura took a cautious step forward, claws fully extended. "Jubilee, watch over Gabby. I'm finishing what Logan started."

Malik chuckled. "You really intend to kill a true vampire like me, child? Not even your father could boast such a feat. The Draculina would at least pose a challenge, but you? I'm going to enjoy drinking you and your sister dry every day for the rest of eternity."

Laura sized him up, her expression grim. He had unknowingly told her everything she needed to know. Malik didn't know that she and Gabby had been created by Weapon X, or that Gabby wasn't even technically her sister, which also meant it wasn't likely that he knew where to find Kimura, or potentially who she even was. Being a vampire, he probably didn't care about anything that didn't concern himself.

"I was put on this Earth to kill monsters like you," she said, taking another step forward. "On behalf of everyone you've made suffer over the course of five centuries, including my friend Kitty's grandfather, when you get to hell, tell them Laura Kinney sent you, and that it's about to get very crowded down there."

"Tell them yourself. You smell as though you've already been there." The vampire tried backhanding her and Laura raised her adamantium claws, but his hand turned to mist before he could be disarmed. The hand reformed and tried grabbing her by the throat but Laura quickly backed away.

Malik cackled watching her retreat. "You're just as arrogant as your father!"

Laura nodded, barely listening, not allowing herself to get distracted or seduced by his melodic voice. Thankfully her sister and friends talked more in a minute than Malik probably did in an hour, and were far, far more annoying to listen to.

She tried decapitating him when he turned to mist and reformed behind her, but Malik caught her wrist in his mouth and bit down. Her entire body convulsed in agony, but it was almost immediately replaced by ecstasy. Pain was only ever temporary for Laura, and little did he know that she was more than accustomed to the euphoria created when a vampire was filling their victim with endorphins to make them less resistant and their blood all the more succulent.

Laura retracted her claws and extended them again, this time through her wrist and through Malik's jaw. He immediately turned to mist again and reappeared across the room, blood pouring from what remained of his mouth but very little of it her own, not having given him time to properly feed on her. She retracted her blades and released them between her knuckles again, wincing slightly. Although she could usually tolerate pain, releasing her claws anywhere but between her knuckles was strictly for emergencies only.

Malik launched at her once more, and this time Laura's retreat wasn't just for show, and she couldn't rely on him biting her again to use as a distraction. He was quickly growing frustrated by his more nimble opponent however, who seemed to slip from his grasp as if able to turn into mist herself.

She had spent half the year training non-stop in the X-Men's infamous Danger Room, and broke her own high score eight more times. Tying it countless more. She had also trained extensively with Jubilee, teaching the vampire to rely less on her vampiric nature and more on skill, while also testing her own against a creature faster than her, far stronger and more durable, and unlike any opponent she had ever faced.

Malik was exactly what she had been expecting. He had all the power in the world but none of the discipline. He fought frantically like a feral animal, clawing at her with every opportunity, but she reacted to the shallow ripping and tearing of her body about as much as he did. If the fight continued without her finding an opening, she would eventually lose, but Laura Kinney's greatest asset wasn't her healing factor or adamantium claws, or even the product of her intense training. It was her intelligence and patience that separated Laura from everyone else.

He growled as once again he failed to get his teeth around her throat despite practically enveloping her in mist, and spying the younger sister watching him with a glazed over look to her eye, dived for her while still in mist form, only to be halted by Jubilee's holy sword.

The vampire cursed and tried reappearing behind them, but Laura finally saw the opportunity she'd been waiting for, and hurled a large silver cross into the mist. Malik immediately reappeared, screaming and writhing in agony on the floor. He tore open his chest trying to rip the cross out, but Laura in a single flourish cut off both his arms above the elbows, followed by his legs above the knees. She then grabbed a canteen from her belt and began pouring holy water down his throat.

Malik's screams intensified, steam rising from his mouth until Laura suddenly taped it shut. With her opponent utterly helpless and thrashing on the ground, unable to even scream, Laura stood up and studied him with the same detached curiosity her mother had while watching her grow up.

"Damn," Jubilee said, grinning ear to ear. "Remind me again to never piss you off. Who would've thought that between a Nazi vampire, a Draculina, and a teenage girl going through puberty, that'd you'd be the scariest person in the room."

"Huh? What happened? Oh! Way to go, Sis!" Gabby slapped her on the back but Laura didn't react, and instead continued watching Malik as if concentrating on something important.

Deciding what needed to be done, she grabbed Malik by the hair and started dragging him into a nearby operating room. "I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, Malik. Japan invaded Madripoor during the Second World War. I'm guessing this was originally either a Unit 731 facility, or Nazi Germany was given permission to have a facility here in Imperial Japan's territory. I want to know which it is, and how it relates to Weapon X, which as far as I'm aware only started experimenting on mutants sometime in the mid-seventies. I'd also like to ask you about any other Nazi vampires you might know of."

"That's not gonna work, Laura," Jubilee said. "No matter how much you torture a vampire like him, he's never gonna talk, and you could never trust what he says anyway."

"Watch me." She dragged him into a room and strapped him onto an operating table which by the looks of it had been recently used. "It's going to feel good to not be the one lying on the table for once..."

"Bye, Mr. Malik!" Gabby said, waving as Laura shut the door. "When you get to hell, tell Hitler that I said hi!"

Jubilee laughed but her smile didn't quite match her eyes, and grabbed Gabby to lead her away. "Yeah, on behalf of the X-Men, and tell him 'Shalom' for us."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Bloodscream is a pre-existing character in the Marvel universe, and while I don't believe he's technically a Nazi, he does work for Hydra, which is close enough in my opinion. Also, the name "Albert Malik" is actually one of Red Skulls' aliases which I decided to repurpose here. Once I learned that Wolverine fought a "Nazi" vampire on Madripoor, and after I'd made the decision to have the girls fight a nest of vampires, I couldn't resist having their leader be Bloodscream, especially since a (former) scientist/doctor like him would fit pretty well within Weapon X's ranks. In fact, Weapon X having some leftover influences from the Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan would actually make a lot of sense given the horrific nature of the experiments they all conducted, as well as the search for immortality. It's just a connection I thought could be interesting for worldbuilding purposes. Also, who doesn't love to see superheroes fighting Nazis? Make them vampires and you've got a match made in Heaven/hell. And given that Stan Lee created the X-Men, and there having been a lot of Jewish creators in Marvel and DC, it just feels right for Laura to be killing Nazis, and for Jubilee and Gabby to be making fun of them.

As for the fight, I originally outlined it to be a 3v1, but I decided to use it as a showcase of why Laura is NOT to be messed with, particularly in this story. Laura wants to kill Kimura, and as incredible as Laura is as a fighter in the Marvel universe, Kimura's better, and it's not even close. Here however, after about six months of nonstop training, she may very well be better, but we'll have to wait and see. I just felt as though a 3v1 would take away from what Laura's become and her eventual rematch with Kimura. Also, not only had Logan failed to kill him in the past, but Bloodscream is also a Nazi, and Kitty's grandfather was canonically in a concentration camp, and she presumably had other family members suffer during the Holocaust as well. This is what happens when you make it personal with Laura.

Also, I enjoy making light of Laura being various artists' go-to when it comes to fanservice. It oddly fits her character, and it coming at her expense from Kitty, Jubilee, and Gabby just humors me, especially since as her sister/clone, Laura not wanting Gabby to follow her example is rather wholesome in my opinion.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Battle Fatigue

Half an hour after entering the operating room with Albert Malik, Laura exited coughing and dusting herself off. A few minutes later, Gabby and Jubilee joined her in the laboratory, the latter carrying a stack of ancient-looking leather bound journals.

"That didn't take long," Jubilee noted. "How was the BDSM session?"

"Enlightening," she growled. "Are those Malik's research papers?"

"If that's what you wanna call them, sure." She frowned at the books as if just touching them made her skin crawl. "I hate to say it, but the guy's a genius. Was a genius, anyway. Evil and definitely burning in hell right now, but I've never seen vampiric research like this before. He was able to perfectly draw the line between science and the supernatural, and was probably THE authority when it comes to vampirism. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what drove him insane, actually."

"Is there anything relevant to Weapon X?"

Jubilee shook her head. "Not that I could find, sorry, but his nest was purchasing children from Adam Harkin, and Gabby recognized some of the equipment laying around as being the same as Alchemax Genetics and other facilities. If there's a connection to Weapon X, it's probably because they shared the same suppliers. I'm sorry this was a wild goose chase, Laura. I really am."

"Your goose chase just saved hundreds of lives, and avenged countless more," she said, cleaning her claws on a nearby lab coat. Malik might not have known anything about Weapon X, but he did inspire some of their research, and he knew the locations of a few other facilities here in the Pacific, leftover from The Second World War. Since this relates to Hydra, we'll leave the investigation to S.H.I.E.L.D. Gabby, you-" she paused, seeing the faraway expression on her sister's face. "Gabby, you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Place just gives me the creeps, you know? I never really realized how lucky I had it growing up until you started taking me to other facilities, or whatever this place used to be."

Laura glanced around the lab and nodded. She could only imagine what other horrors lay hidden in the facility, and hoped that Jubilee had steered her sister far away from them. "In that case, let's burn Malik's research and get out of here."

"Way ahead of you," Jubilee said. "I'm gonna add a few of these journals to my collection back home. Malik might've been evil and insane, but he documented everything he saw over the course of five centuries, and some of his research might be useful. Somebody's gonna figure out a cure to vampirism someday, and maybe this will help."

"So long as you don't forget who paid the price for all that research," Laura said, staring at the books in disgust. "For all the evil that Weapon X has done, even I won't deny the scientific advancements they've made. I just want some of the credit is all." She laid a hand on Gabby's shoulder, letting her know who she really thought deserved the credit. Not necessarily Gabby herself, but rather her nine older sisters, their seventeen other 'sisters' still missing or dead, as well as the countless other victims who had died in the name of scientific progress.

"I won't," Jubilee promised. "In fact, if we can figure out who some of the victims were, I might be able to talk my blood sugar daddy into providing reparations, or at least help hunting down any vampires Malik might've conspired with. Turning people against their will is a serious crime in the vampire community, especially children, and Lord Dracula will not be happy when I tell him about what we found tonight."

"Just don't involve us in your vampire drama," Laura said. "Gabby and I aren't even supposed to be in Madripoor right now. Our business began and ended with Malik."

"Speaking of," Gabby said. "Do you think he's roasting marshmallows right now?"

"There's no way in hell there's marshmallows in hell," Jubilee laughed. "They probably only have cucumbers and broccoli."

Laura shouldered past them, hoping her irritability would shut them up for once instead of encouraging them. She knew deep down she wasn't the direct cause of anyone's eternal suffering. Her enemies had all paved the road to hell themselves, but it gave her no pleasure being the one to actually send them there.

She had already been to hell. Twice as a matter of fact, or as close an approximation a mortal could comprehend anyway. She didn't wish it upon anyone, not even Malik, but it wasn't her decision to make. Five hundred years and he had only gotten worse with time. Would Kimura be the same, or would she be redeemed? What about herself and Gabby, or Jubilee? Had Malik always been evil, or slowly become that way due to his vampiric nature? Did the curse of immortality make it an inevitability? Or was humanity itself the curse?

Had Laura robbed anyone of the redemption she had experienced? A thought for later when she wasn't on the job. First she needed a shower and to figure out her next move. Kimura would be moving as well, and as usual was probably several steps ahead of her.

"You two helped bring down one of the biggest human trafficking networks in the entire world," Jubilee said, draping an arm across both their shoulders. "And in the very same day, you killed a nest of vampires led by a five hundred year old Nazi. You two really know how to show a girl a good time."

"Oh my God!" Gabby cried. "I've got it! Our recruitment line! 'Join the X-Terminators. Meet interesting people and kill them!"

Jubilee howled with laughter. "I love it! Why call X-Force when you've got The X-Terminators around?"

"Getting real sick and tired of the letter X," Laura muttered, shaking the arm off. "And stop calling us The X-Terminators. It's a stupid name."

"Kitty likes it, and so does Dazzler and Boom Boom!"

"My point exactly. Alison and Tabitha can't even use their powers around Jubilee without giving her a sunburn. We've worked together exactly once, and that was once too many."

They both began to protest which as usual Laura ignored, and dialed a number from her phone. "Tyger? Sorry if I woke you, but I thought you should know that we cleared out a vampire's nest at 'The Love Bite' nightclub in the red light district. Underneath the establishment was a laboratory run by a Nazi vampire named Albert Malik, better known as Bloodscream. He was buying children to use for experimentation from the human trafficking network we spoke about earlier, and more than a few of your citizens have probably gone missing there as well."

Laura paused for a moment before speaking again. "You didn't mishear me. 'The Love Bite' was run by vampires, and their leader was a five hundred year old Nazi. They're all dead now, and we'll get rid of all the research so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands. What happens to this house of horrors afterward is up to you, but I'd suggest either some careful demo work or filling it with concrete."

She nodded. "Right, I'll try to keep Gabby out of nightclubs from now on, and if we find any more Nazis on your island, I'll be sure to let you know. Goodbye." She turned back to her sister and Jubilee. "We've got less than fifteen minutes before Tyger's strike team gets here. If you're sure you've got everything valuable, activate the C4 and let's move."

"With pleasure." Gabby pressed a button on her utility belt, and an explosion was heard from several rooms down the hall where black smoke began billowing.

Upstairs, Laura met in private with the leader of Tyger's task force. She had worked with him a number of times over the years, and it didn't take long to explain the situation and leave it in his capable hands before disappearing out the back door. The less people that knew she and Gabby were in Madripoor the better. With any luck, the rumor going around would be that Jubilee had wiped out the nest over convoluted vampire politics, which not even Laura fully understood.

The sisters stuffed their utility belts into a duffle bag awaiting them behind the club, and changed clothes to make themselves less conspicuous. They hadn't bothered wearing masks inside the club since the claws were a dead giveaway, and the vampires would've had their unique scent anyway. Killing all of the witnesses had solved that issue however, and it wasn't likely that a nightclub run by vampires would have hidden security cameras.

They made it back to the apartment without incident, which mercifully had two bathrooms, meaning Laura and Gabby didn't have to take turns showering. Hygiene was a top priority in their line of work, especially with their keen senses of smell, and Laura often took multiple showers a day. Jubilee on the other hand was content to wait. As a vampire she didn't sweat, not often anyway, and she also didn't make it a habit of getting covered in blood and wasting it like the sisters did.

Gabby was already dried and dressed by the time Laura exited from her shower, debating with Jubilee what they should have for dinner despite vampires not needing to eat.

"The best ramen and noodles in Southeast Asia is three blocks north and should still be open," Laura said, brushing her hair. "Just follow the smell of garlic down the shadiest alley in Madripoor."

"You're not coming with us?" Gabby asked.

Laura shook her head. "Besides a short nap, I've been awake for over forty hours. I need sleep, and I also need to check in with kitty and Jean. I'll let them tell S.H.I.E.L.D. about Malik and Hydra, that way they think this was another X-Men operation instead of me going rogue again." She paused for a moment, trying to clear her thoughts before finally giving up. "More importantly, if I have to listen to any more of your incessant chit-chat, I'm going to cut both your heads off."

Jubilee laughed. "Gabs, go put on a hat, and maybe some sunglasses. We're gonna grab a quick bite to eat. Just please go easy on the garlic, alright?"

She nodded and ran off to put on a better disguise. Thankfully she and Laura were a quarter Korean according to their aunt Debbie, meaning she wouldn't quite stick out like a sore thumb among Madripoor's mostly Asian populace.

While she was in the other room getting ready, Jubilee walked over to Laura who had practically collapsed onto the couch. "You might talk a lot about wanting peace and quiet, but we both know you like the background noise. You're exhausted but you're not gonna be able to sleep for at least a couple more hours, and you can talk to Kitty and Jean while ignoring us. What's up?"

Laura took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm not a fun person to be around," she admitted. "Gabby's a teenage girl, and I'm her older sister and closest thing she has to a parental figure. She's self-conscious around me, trying to emulate and impress me even if she doesn't realize it. Nights like this used to not bother her, but they're starting to, and I think the vampires left her a little spooked. Take her out for a good time. Shopping, dancing, whatever you think is best. Just try not to draw too much attention to yourselves."

"Crazy to think she's only about a year and a half younger than you when we first met."

She nodded. "I might have had mental maturity at her age, but I didn't have the emotional maturity like she does. Please help keep it that way. Make sure she has more good memories than bad."

"That's pretty good advice, you know. Maybe you should listen to yourself once in a while."

"It's your advice, and I will, but not tonight. Soon..."

Jubilee looked as though she wanted to argue but Gabby ran back into the room looking like an ordinary teenage girl, especially once she put on sunglasses to hide her scars. Even without them however, walking around at night with Jubilee, it wasn't likely that she'd be given a second glance. A vampire's unearthly beauty naturally drew gazes toward them, but details had a peculiar habit of sticking around in people's minds about as well as they did in mirrors and photographs.

"Have fun you two," Laura said as they were leaving. "Don't do anything I would do."

The island nation of Madripoor slept about as much as New York City, which meant being able to find hole-in-the-wall ramen shops even at two in the morning. The warm day had given way to a cool night, and Gabby and Jubilee sat on uncomfortable wooden seats in a back alley. It was dark but both of them could see perfectly well, and sat far away from the elderly couple that had prepared their meal and the handful of patrons wandering about.

Despite the shady neighborhood and even shadier locals, Laura hadn't been lying about this particular ramen shop being the best in that part of the world. While Gabby wolfed down her extra spicy meal, Jubilee ate slower and more deliberately. She could still taste food, but she no longer craved it, nor did she get any satisfaction from having a full belly. Nowadays she only ate out of habit or to pretend she was still alive. Gabby on the other hand knew when she was full about as well as she knew when she was hungry.

"How come those other vampires couldn't turn into mist?" Gabby asked, slurping up her third cup of noodles. "Just you and Malik?"

"They were too young," she said. "It normally takes a vampire decades to master their telepathic powers, and at least a couple centuries for transformation. Being a Draculina means I got a head start. Kitty says that I came with cheat codes, and calls me her 'Game Genie'."

"How much blood do you drink a day?"

"I need at least three liters or else I start getting the munchies. Five is preferable, especially if I'm awake during the day or have to exert myself like I have the past forty-eight hours. I'll probably drink two or three more before I go to bed."

"Did you bring any blood with you?"

"I did, but Laura keeps some stored in the fridge, so don't drink anything that's red and has my name written on it. I've also got a dealer here in Madripoor. Pretty much every major hospital has a guy working on the inside selling to vampires. Keeps us from causing accidents, especially when we don't have a freshy around."

"Freshy?"

Jubilee flashed her fangs. "Vampire bites can be as painful or pleasurable as we choose. Some humans let vampires drink from them because of the feeling of ecstasy it gives them, and because of the thrill of having their life in the hands of an impossibly hot immortal creature of the night. Think of freshies as vampire fanboys and fangirls, and ask your sister about them sometime. Most of the humans at 'The Love Bite' tonight were probably freshies."

"All I felt when you bit me was super awkward," Gabby said, absently scratching her neck. "Guess vampire bites don't work on me."

"Yeah, I'm still really sorry about that."

"It's alright. I did kinda set you on fire afterward. Sorry if you've told me all this before. I forget things sometimes. I don't mean to. It just...kinda happens, you know?"

Jubilee smiled and shook her head. "Don't you worry about it, Gabs. After you're done eating, I'm gonna take you out on the town for a night you'll never forget. Just don't tell the Fun Police when we get back. I don't wanna lose weekend visitations my first night back."

Gabby's eyes widened and she quickly choked down her meal. "Laura said it's alright if we don't come right back?"

She shrugged. "I might have sweet talked her a little. You know, use my vampiric powers of persuasion and feminine charms, but Laura's also got phone calls to make and could probably use some alone time. You know how she is."

"Yeah, that makes sense..." Gabby bit her lip and pushed her meal aside.

Jubilee winced, realizing she'd made the mistake of treating her like a kid again. "Laura thought it'd be good for you," she said honestly. "You need to have some fun once in a while, Gabs, and who better to make bad decisions with than a vampire whose debauchery knows no bounds?"

Gabby grinned ear to ear, happy that her sister wasn't just trying to get rid of her again. "I wish Laura had come with us," she said, frowning. "She doesn't have fun anymore. Not that she ever smiled much before, but now, well-"

Jubilee laid a hand on her shoulder. "I know, Gabs. Just when she started making progress, Kimura sent her back to square one. Difference is she's got you now. Back when I first met her, Laura didn't feel loved by anyone, and was doing her damnedest to get herself killed. Trust me, she doesn't feel that way anymore, and it's because of you. I know it's been a hard year, but thank you for toughing it out with her. This will be over soon, I promise, and then we're gonna party like there's no tomorrow!"

She nodded absently, lost in the crimson eyes of the vampire and the melodic sound of her voice. Jubilee smiled and Gabby shook her head. "Come on, Gabs. I'm sure we can find you a new gun somewhere around here. Then I'll show you how to work it on the dance floor!"

The sun was just beginning to rise when Jubilee and Gabby finally returned to the apartment, throwing the door open and announcing themselves as having conquered Madripoor's shopping district where anything and everything was for sale, as well as having thoroughly exhausted the best dance floors in the city.

They both carried a dozen or more shopping bags full of clothes, souvenirs, and even a few guns Gabby had trouble importing back in the states. She was sure to show Laura every item for her assessment before disappearing into the spare bedroom to play with her new toys and introduce her new firearms to her old.

Laura sighed once she was gone, and Jubilee walked over to the couch. "Have you been sitting there in the dark the entire time?"

She nodded. "I've just been thinking."

"About what?"

"Nothing. Everything." She shook her head. "I don't remember. After I talked to Jean, I kinda lost track of time. I-I do that sometimes..."

"Laura..." Jubilee took a seat beside her, and Laura brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly.

"Tell me the truth," she whispered, "when you smell my blood, can you tell that I was, well-"

Jubilee shook her head. "I can tell that you're not a virgin, Laura. That's all. I promise you that vampire was just trying to get under your skin. He didn't know, and neither did I until you told me."

She nodded, but Jubilee could tell she didn't believe her. "I'm only telling you this because I know you'll understand, Jubilee. From everything you've told me, being turned into a vampire against your will isn't so different. Maybe even worse, but nonetheless I've lived through a lot." She took a deep breath. "I have memories that I shouldn't. That nobody should. And phantom pains. Everywhere, and I'm scared the same thing is starting to happen to Gabby. Kids deal with trauma better than teenagers and adults. When I was thirteen, I thought everything I went through was normal, or at least not unique. Now I know better, and I'm screwed in the head because of it."

"You're not-" Jubilee paused, knowing that Laura didn't want lies or platitudes. She wanted an ear that would listen and understand, and not judge. "You're a soldier, Laura" she said at last, "and you've been going on missions nonstop for nearly a decade. You've probably seen more combat, more death, and experienced more pain than any other soldier alive. It's called battle fatigue. You need rest and recuperation, starting with a good night's sleep."

Jubilee hoped that by using the terms Laura had been conditioned to think in, that perhaps she might take it to heart better than if she talked to her like a regular civilian. It had taken her many years, but she was starting to get the hang of understanding the machine-like mind of X-23 which often ran contrary to the emotions of Laura Kinney.

"I can't rest so long as Kimura's still breathing," Laura said simply.

"Can't or won't?"

"Can't," she hissed. "My entire life is one big game to her, and if I take too long taking my turn, she'll either kill or torture someone I care about to help motivate me. Or she'll capture me again and break me even worse than before. I can't go through that again, or let anyone else go through it either. I-I can't. I'm not strong enough..."

Laura swallowed, adamantium claws poking out between her knuckles before retracting. "My only saving grace has been that Kimura knows that if she kills Gabby, there's a high probability that I'll kill myself instead of taking revenge. Obviously she doesn't know how close you and I are or she would've killed you by now out of jealousy. She wants me at my absolute best, and she knows me inside and out, and what buttons to press and when. I'm running out of time. I can feel it."

Jubilee didn't say anything, and was reminded of their many late nights in Paris where they'd spend hours sitting in silence together waiting for the sun to rise. By the time the first rays were entering the apartment, she could sense Laura beginning to doze, but fighting it as if afraid to close her eyes.

"Have you ever read 'Dante's Inferno'?" Laura asked suddenly.

She shook her head. "I'm not much of a reader. Kitty told me about the game though. Apparently the devil's got a big, floppy dong. I don't remember much else. I kinda spaced out after that."

"Well, in the book at least, hell is described as a just punishment for sinners. It's fair. It's lawful. Nobody gets anything they don't deserve. The real hell looks nothing like it does in the book, but its purpose remains the same. Killing Kimura isn't about revenge. It's retribution and justice for everything she's done. It's the same with everyone else I've ever willingly killed. That's what I tell myself anyway..."

Jubilee laid a hand on her shoulder, causing her to wince and shrink away much to her chagrin.

"Well, I'm telling you that you've made the world a better place," Jubilee said. "The number of assaults in New York have dropped about thirty percent since you and Gabby started playing rape bait last year. Weapon X is on death's door, and so are most of its allies and competitors. You've helped take down one of the largest human trafficking networks in the world, along with a dozen or so smaller networks. Mister Sinister, Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, Taskmaster, Bastion, Stryker, Trask, Craig, Cortez, and Cassandra Nova are all dead because of you. You can add Malik to that list, and soon enough, Kimura herself."

"Will it help?" she asked. "Maybe I've helped make a better future for the world, but I can't change the past. I don't sleep any better knowing that I killed any of those people, and they were people. I'm glad that Dr. Rice and Ramirez are dead, but that doesn't make up for everything they did to me. It makes me think maybe the rapists and murderers I've killed weren't to give their victims closure, or justice, but some sick, perverted form of personal revenge. What if any one of those people could've been redeemed? What gives me the right to be judge, jury, and executioner? Me, of all people?"

Jubilee didn't have an answer, not one that Laura would accept anyway, and they sat in silence long after the sun had fully risen, when Jubilee suddenly crawled over to Laura's side of the couch, practically sitting in her lap. "Laura," she said, her voice echoing throughout the apartment, "you're going to think only happy thoughts and relive happy memories, and then you're going to fall asleep. If you wake up, you're going to roll over and go back to sleep. That's an order, X."

Laura tried to nod but her head fell limp, and Jubilee scooped her up into her arms and carried her back to the master bedroom, where she pulled the covers back and slipped Laura within.

"Sleep tight. Don't let the vampires bite," she said, wanting nothing more than a small bite after a long day, but resisted the strong urge and closed the door behind her. She avoided the rays of sunshine peeking through the blinds and made a mental note to get blackout curtains next time she went shopping, and perhaps something for the windows to block UV rays.

Gabby had long since fallen asleep in the other bedroom, worn out after an eventful night, and with a satisfied smile, Jubilee raided the fridge which Laura thoughtfully kept stocked with blood just for her. She kept it frozen of course so that it didn't spoil, and although it should've been a crime to drink cold Type E from a blood packet instead of straight from the source, Jubilee enjoyed her wolverine flavored popsicle just the same and took a seat on the couch.

Vampires didn't need sleep like humans, but their powers gradually weakened during the day, and they usually went into a form of hibernation until the sun went down. As a Draculina, Jubilee could fight UV rays better than most of her kind, and her amulet kept the sun from killing her outright, but she'd been awake even longer than Laura, and hypnotizing the sisters always took a lot out of her.

She was daydreaming about her freezer back home and contemplating filling the bathtub with ice when she finally found herself dozing thanks to the frozen blood lowering her body temperature. She wouldn't dream of course. Besides the few times she had overdosed on Type E, Jubilee hadn't dreamed once since becoming a vampire. What she did have however were an abundance of pleasant memories. Many of which she suspected Laura was now reliving in the other room.

A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Although I don't ship Laura and Jubilee, I do really enjoy their friendship, and I like the idea that Jubilee is like a fun older sister to Gabby, and that perhaps their relationship is what Laura and Jubilee could've/should've been. It was fun to see Jubilee get some one-on-one time with them both this chapter, and to see how the nonstop combat over the years has affected Laura. She's a soldier who has seen FAR too much combat, and when she doesn't have a mission, she just sits in the dark and thinks about everything and nothing at the same time. She badly needs time off, but Kimura's still out there, and Laura's probably right. She's running out of time to find her.

Also, I added a few names to the list of villains Laura has killed, but she canonically has a pretty impressive list, and I kinda like the idea that Laura doesn't have a traditional rogues gallery. Even if she doesn't want to kill if she doesn't have to, she's not going to play the "Batman catches The Joker and throws him back in Arkham where he'll escape again in a couple months" game. Lower tier villains probably catch a break, but I like the idea that Laura's not necessarily the hero you call when you want the bad guy captured alive. With that said, 99% of villains would probably surrender if Spider-Man or whoever simply said they had Laura on the phone and she's on her way, and I like to think she's a pretty good deterrent to violent crimes lol.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Warning Shot

Laura didn't crawl out of bed until late that afternoon. It was the longest she'd slept without major brain trauma in months, and had woken to the fullest bladder she'd ever had. Apparently the combination of Jubilee's hypnotism and her direct order to X-23 had made sure that she rolled back to sleep every time she woke up, even when it was to use the restroom.

She spent the remaining daylight hours resting, making phone calls, and preparing for their mission later that night. Gabby meanwhile did her best to stay out of her way while Jubilee slept the day away in the bathroom. Vampires preferred frigid temperatures when they hibernated, and while a bathtub full of ice wasn't necessarily her first choice, undead creatures of the night weren't exactly known to complain about comfort.

It wasn't until an hour after sunset that Jubilee emerged from the bathroom, ignoring Gabby when she told her good morning and asked how she slept, and made her way into the kitchen where she chugged an entire pint of blood. Gabby watched her, fascinated, but Laura was almost as disgusted as the time she caught her sister drinking milk straight from the carton.

"Could you please do that somewhere else?" Laura asked. Although the sight of Jubilee drinking her blood in her kitchen was off-putting to say the least, doing so while dripping wet and wearing only her trademark yellow coat was something she could've lived without.

Jubilee finished a second pint, her crimson eyes dimming and her pale skin regaining some of its faux complexation. "Sorry," she muttered, blood smeared across her lips. "Slept too long. Woke up hungry." She grabbed two more pints of blood and headed back toward the bathroom.

Laura nodded, keeping the vampire in her peripheral until she closed the bathroom door behind her, sighing with relief when she was gone.

"I guess that confirms I'm straight," Gabby chuckled awkwardly. "If a hot naked vampiress doesn't do it for me, I don't know what will."

Her sister ignored her, still unamused by the conversation from the night before.

"She's worse than you before you've had your coffee. Is she always like that after waking up, or-"

"That was a vampire whose only concern was feeding," Laura said, catching Gabby's eye and hoping she caught her meaning. Jubilee's hearing was even better than their own, and Gabby nodded, appearing to understand her unspoken warning. No matter how much they loved Jubilee, no matter how much they trusted her, she was an apex predator, and they were her prey.

She might look human and even act human, most of the time, but she didn't necessarily think like one anymore. If Jubilee had been just a little hungrier, or her blood supply a little further away, chances were she wouldn't have been able to resist sinking her fangs into one of their necks. Thankfully losing half the blood in their bodies would've only been a mild inconvenience to them, but it would've been soul crushing to Jubilee who tried with all her might to resist the primal urges and instincts of her vampiric nature.

The shower started up, and the sisters used the remaining time to finish packing their gear for the mission, as well as anything they wanted to bring back to New York since this could very well be their last night in Madripoor. The mission at face value was tying up loose ends regarding Adam Harkin's human trafficking network, but it was mostly just to keep themselves busy while Jean and Kitty searched for solid leads and people that needed killing.

A little while later Jubilee exited the bathroom, looking human once more. Her eyes were still red and she was still pale of course, but her fangs were now barely visible and she merely resembled someone who didn't see the sun often enough rather than a walking corpse possessed by a demon.

"Alright," she said, flashing her fangs, "it's gonna be hard to top Nazi vampires, but I've got a good feeling about tonight. Where y'all taking me out for drinks this time?"

"Buccaneer Bay," Laura replied. "There's a few ships in port loosely connected to Harkin. It could just be gun or drug smuggling, or something more legitimate, but the cargo could also be people. I don't expect to find anybody onboard after the past forty-eight hours, but we'll know by the smell whether they've been trafficking humans or not. If so, we interrogate the officers, access the ship's computers, confiscate cell phones, and leave the cleanup to Tyger."

Jubilee laughed and clapped her hands together. "Sounds like a plan!"

The trio snuck aboard over a dozen docked ships of various kinds without ever coming close to being spotted. None of the ships had human cargo, but a couple did have the lingering stench of dirty bodies from weeks past. All the others appeared to have been shipping everything just short of nuclear weapons, which were probably just as legal for sale in Madripoor as everything else.

When they found the guilty ship captains and their officers, Laura taught Gabby a few more tricks on how to conduct a proper interrogation, but otherwise relied on Jubilee's siren-like charms to get the answers they desired. Only one woman had the power to resist her, just barely, and her fortitude was rewarded by Jubilee revealing her true nature and sinking her fangs into her neck.

She had been all too willing to cooperate afterward, but it hadn't been necessary since vampires could read minds and get flashes of memories when drinking blood straight from the source. Jubilee had likely gotten to relive the woman's entire childhood before Laura stepped in to keep her from completely draining the woman who Jubilee claimed deserved it and much worse. It was only after a not-so-subtle threat from Laura that the vampire reluctantly obeyed.

As was becoming routine, they left the cleanup to Tyger Tiger, who was appreciative of their efforts, but Laura got the distinct impression that she was starting to grow tired of her island's corruption being rooted out by outsiders. Laura was used to the sentiment of begrudging appreciation, and so didn't take it personally. Her job was to get rid of problems as quickly and quietly as possible, which often meant stepping on toes due to leaders not always wanting to accept someone else solving their problems for them, especially if they didn't know the problem existed in the first place.

"So what's for dinner?" Gabby asked, the trio taking a circuitous route back to the apartment.

"I think she said her name was Mia," Jubilee said, picking something out of her teeth. "Oh, you mean dinner-dinner. What about that place from last night?"

Laura shook her head. "Never eat at the same place two nights in a row, or even the same week if you can help it. You should also never go home the same way twice in a row. Unpredictability keeps you alive."

"Says the most predictably unpredictable person I've ever met," she chuckled. "Or is that unpredictably predictable? Either way, I'm already dead, so I'm good."

"Unpredictability keeps us from accidently creating patterns," Gabby explained, eyeing her sister who might've been the least bit surprised by her answer. "Hey, I might not have had the exact same training as you, but I know how to keep a low profile, and I know how easy it is for us to fall into habits because of our programming."

"Gabby," she sighed, "you couldn't keep a low profile if your life depended on it. Then again you're not the one wearing a bright yellow coat..."

She scowled at Jubilee who proudly twirled as if she were a runway model. "Thanks for the BDSM lesson by the way. Not gonna lie though, you've always struck me more as a chains, whips, and handcuffs kind of girl. Have I ever mentioned that I really miss the leather pants and dominatrix look you had going on a few years back?"

"Duct tape is faster than rope," she said simply, "and doesn't make noise when you move around like metal does. It's also lighter to carry, you can't wiggle out of it, and you can use it as both a gag and blindfold."

"You know better than to tease me with a good time, Laura."

"Is it really necessary to strip people down to their underwear while interrogating them?" Gabby asked. "How does that work?"

"It makes people feel vulnerable and helpless," Laura said. "Trust me, it works. The only reason I didn't strip them naked is because you're too young, and because I didn't want to hear either of you cracking jokes."

"Either way, my compliments to the chef," Jubilee said. "Fear's my second favorite flavor, and scaring bad guys so bad they piss themselves doesn't waste blood. Wanna know what my favorite flavor is?" She licked her lips in a savory fashion, staring at Laura. Although she was full by her usual standards, vampires were always hungry, and walking around with Laura but especially Gabby was like having a portable buffet within fang's reach.

Laura, perhaps sensing Jubilee's mouth watering, quickened her pace and changed their route to shave a couple minutes from their journey. "I can make a rather educated guess, and maybe it's not such a good idea for you to be drinking my blood so regularly," she turned to Jubilee. "I know it makes you stronger, and I don't mind, but I'd rather if you didn't associate my sister with food any more than you already do."

The vampire grinned sheepishly, perhaps already thinking the same, and Laura thought she might've spied a hint of shame. "Don't worry. I've got some AB- buried in the back of the fridge. At least now if I get a craving for Wolverine or Honey Badger, I don't have to ask permission or make a mess."

"Logan was Wolverine," Laura growled. "Wolverine is the name of a superhero. My name is Laura Kinney, and I'm an ex-assassin turned soldier."

Jubilee sighed and nodded to keep from starting another argument. Laura was full of peculiarities and idiosyncrasies, one of which was her disdain for codenames and even aliases. For thirteen years her 'name' had been a letter and a number, and giving Laura her name had been her mother's dying act. Having a name was something deeply personal to her, so much so that she didn't even tell anyone she had a name for her first year living at the X-Mansion.

"I just realized something," Gabby said thoughtfully. "Jubilee, you don't have a superhero name either. Not really anyway."

"Jubilation Lee didn't exactly roll off the tongue," she said, "and I'm not much of a superhero anymore, or a mutant for that matter. Jubilation Lee is dead, but Jubilee is here to stay."

Laura snorted. "Whatever you say, Carmilla..."

"Dude, I've met the real Carmilla, and trust me, she makes Lord Dracula look like a teddy bear in comparison. What was the name of the girl she seduced again? It's on the tip of my tongue..."

She leaned over to try and lick the back of Laura's neck but received an elbow for her trouble. Had she still been human, Jubilee would've had at least two broken ribs and a punctured lung, but the vampire laughed it off just as she did everything else.

"I seem to recall Carmilla eventually getting her head cut off in the book for doing exactly that."

"Yeah, well, the real Carmilla doesn't die so easily, and she took it as her Laura playing hard to get. They make a pretty cute couple actually. If you're into psychotic lesbian vampires that is. Believe it or not, Laura's the scary one, not Carmilla."

Laura gave her a lopsided smirk, a rarity nowadays, almost as rare as her making sarcastic quips. She looked as though she had more to say but was interrupted by Gabby squealing behind them. "Look at the cute puppy!"

Laura and Jubilee followed where she was pointing, but admittingly they could've just followed their senses of smell, heightened or otherwise. Huddled in the back of the alley was a shaggy brown dog with a matted coat, looking as though it hadn't eaten in a day or two. Gabby sprinted toward him before Laura could stop her, but although the dog briefly growled, it almost immediately rolled over and exposed its belly, which Gabby was all too happy to rub.

"One of these days you're going to get mauled and eaten," Laura said, "and I'm going to let it happen so that maybe you'll learn a lesson." She strolled toward them but kept her distance on account of the smell, already dreading the walk back to the apartment with her sister smelling like a wet dog and roadkill.

Jubilee cautiously joined them but took several steps back when the dog growled at her. "I'm not gonna hurt you, Dude," she said, holding up her hands. "Dog blood tastes disgusting. Almost as bad as cat." She gave him a sad smile and turned to Gabby. "Sorry, but animals are naturally afraid of vampires. Can't exactly blame them since we have a bad habit of eating them, but I really do miss scratching their ears and rubbing their tummies."

"Jonathan's not scared of you," Gabby said, referencing their genetically engineered pet wolverine.

"Yeah he is, but he's too polite to say anything, and he doesn't exactly like me being near you."

Gabby rubbed the stray's face with her own before turning to Laura. "Can we keep him? Please?"

Laura shook her head. "You've collected enough strays already, and it's not fair to ask Meg and Debbie to watch another."

"Look at his face! We can't just leave him living on the street! Look how sad he looks!"

The mutt didn't look terribly upset to Laura, especially with his tail wagging and tongue hanging out, but then again he probably didn't know any better either.

"I know some nuns that run an orphanage across town," she said simply. "They'll give him a good home."

"You'll help!?" Laura nodded. "Hear that, Mr. Scruffy? An orphanage! That means lots of mentally distressed and maybe disturbed kids needing a comfort animal!" The dog yipped in agreement.

Laura sighed and Jubilee playfully nudged her. "Don't tell me the cold hearted assassin has a soft spot for furry critters?"

"If it makes Gabby happy, it makes me happy, and nothing makes me happier than shutting her up. Besides, I know how it feels to be homeless and living on the streets."

"Yeah, good times..."

Laura frowned and shook her head. "You ran away from your foster family because they were boring, and lived above an arcade at the mall eating chili dogs from the food court for six months. It's not the same thing."

"Care to enlighten me then? There's about two years of your life I'm still a little fuzzy on. I kinda have trouble believing you of all people were sleeping in back alleys and eating from garbage cans."

"What's there to say?" She turned around and started back the way they came. "For the first time in my life I was on my own without anyone to give me orders. I had just murdered my mother, and I had Weapon X, Hydra, multiple world governments, and several crime syndicates hunting me like a wild animal, which is essentially what I was. I didn't understand anything about the outside world, and sometimes I still don't."

She came to a halt at the end of the alley. "Gabby, I'll call the orphanage when we get back to the apartment. Hurry up or I'm leaving you there!"

"Coming! Just giving Mr. Scruffy some tasty treats!"

Laura turned her nose at Gabby when she joined them, but silently promised the stray that he'd have a good home in the morning. She would've considered dumping him at the orphanage tonight if not for the need for secrecy and it taking them out of their way. The dog had probably lived his entire life on the streets, meaning he'd be able to survive one more night.

It brought back memories of her own final night living on the streets before confronting Logan and him taking her to live in upstate New York at the X-Mansion. She wondered if Mr. Scruffy would have the same struggles adjusting to sleeping in a bed, eating regular meals, and socializing with others, but somehow doubted it.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice that she had led them down the same desolate street she had the day before, and realized her unforgivable sin only a moment before her sister's head exploded behind her.

In the milliseconds it took for Gabby's body to hit the ground, blood and gore spraying Laura, the protective older sister fiercely wrestled with X-23's programming. She instantly knew the distance of the shooter from the time between the bullet hitting Gabby and hearing the gunshot, and knew in the back of her mind that Gabby had a healing factor, but Laura's body seemed to react on its own accord, putting herself in between her only reason for living and her sister's would-be murderer.

Laura cried out a bullet tore through her midsection, spilling blood and internal organs, but although she stumbled, even another tearing through her left shoulder wasn't enough to stop her from dragging Gabby into the safety of a nearby alley.

"Jubilee," she gasped, barely able to speak, "go-"

"Already on it!" A bullet passed through Jubilee's no longer corporeal body as she leaped into the air, wings of darkness appearing behind her as she disappeared into the night.

Laura collapsed behind a dumpster and hovered over her sister, barely able to look at what remained of her head without vomiting, and probably would have if she still had a stomach.

"Come on, come on!" Laura growled. "Heal already!"

It felt as though an eternity passed before she finally saw the tell-tale signs of tissue beginning to regenerate, and only after confirming this did Laura remove her bloodstained jacket and cover what little remained of Gabby's head with it.

"Y-you're gonna be alright, Gabby," she nearly sobbed. "You're gonna be alright..."

She sensed Mr. Scruffy hurrying down the alley to check on his new best friend, but Laura instinctively positioned her body over Gabby's and bared her teeth at the potential threat, sending him running clear across town with his tail between his legs.

A few moments later Jubilee dropped down beside them, carrying a limp body in one arm and a rifle in the other. She unceremoniously tossed them both onto the ground, as well as a pistol from her jacket. "Asshole already killed himself," she snarled.

She kicked a nearby trash can, sending it flying across the alley, and followed it up by slamming her head against a brick wall, coming away with barely a scratch despite breaking several bricks.

"Stupid!" She furiously removed her long coat and placed it atop Gabby like a sheet over a corpse. "Stupid! Stupid!"

"Jubilee," Laura said, her shoulder and chest nearly finished healing, "it's not-"

"Yes it is! I got your sister shot, Laura! I stick out like a sore thumb because of that stupid coat! You just got done telling me so, but like the idiot vampire I am, I just laughed it off because death already lost all meaning to me!" She took an unnecessary deep breath and looked away from the sisters. "I'm sorry, and I will make this up to you. Both of you. I swear it."

Glancing at the body Jubilee had brought with her, Laura got to her feet. "Maybe you attracted the sniper's attention or maybe you didn't, but you weren't the target. Snipers normally aim for center mass, but all three bullets were intended for Gabby's head."

*snikt*

Four adamantium claws released as she stalked toward the body with two sizable holes on either side of its head, but Jubilee moved between them, albeit while keeping her distance.

"Laura," she warned, "I know that look and I know what you're thinking. He's already dead. You're not a butcher, and you have rules. Live by them."

Laura growled but took a series of deep breaths and eventually retracted her claws. Once she could guarantee she wouldn't carve the man to pieces or skin him, she lowered herself beside him and sniffed his body like a dog might when greeting someone for the first time. Jubilee's sense of smell was several times stronger than her own, but she hadn't been trained to use her nose like she had, nor did she know what to look for.

"He landed in Madripoor earlier today," she said, "and probably bought all his clothes and even his rifle here in Madripoor."

She checked his pockets and when she came up with nothing useful, removed his clothes, looking for tattoos and birthmarks but also to confirm that his socks and even underwear were generic brands that could've been bought anywhere.

"He's a professional hitman," Laura concluded. "He was given very specific instructions, and when he failed his mission, or believed he failed, he took his life to keep from being captured and interrogated." She opened his mouth and sniffed the stale air that released, checking for drugs, alcohol, or anything else of note.

"Why would someone hire a hitman to shoot Gabby?" Jubilee asked. "I mean, I get why, but everybody knows you two have healing factors. Blowing her brains out might put her out of commission for a while, but it's gonna take a bigger bullet than that to decapitate her."

Laura stood up and after taking a clear picture of the assassin's face with her phone, and taking a hair sample just in case, threw his naked body and his clothes into the dumpster. "He didn't know, obviously, but you and I weren't the target. I only got shot trying to shield her, and he only shot at you after you posed yourself a threat."

Jubilee nodded, putting the pieces together. "This was Kimura sending a message."

"Which means she knows we're in Madripoor, and she's already one step ahead of us. Shooting Gabby in the head was Kimura expressing her displeasure with me, and warning me that I don't have much time left."

The vampire reached out to grab Laura's hand but she ignored her and turned her attention to the rifle and handgun. The latter was a .40 caliber Glock 22 that could be found anywhere in the world, but the former was far more interesting and enlightening.

"Accuracy International 300 Winchester Magnum," Laura said absently, turning the rifle over and checking the magazine. "Costs about fifteen grand back in the states, probably less than half that here in Madripoor. Definitely overkill for a human target." She snarled when she studied the scope and its mount. "Badger Ordnance. This was definitely Kimura. Nobody else would be that petty, or know that's what Gabby calls herself."

She picked them both up and set them down beside Gabby. "Looks like she gets to add these to her collection," she said humorlessly. While Laura appreciated a finely crafted firearm, Gabby obsessed over them, and had a trophy collection back home of all the guns she'd ever been shot by. Laura had a feeling this was probably going to be the crown jewel of her collection.

Jubilee grabbed her shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "It's gonna be alright, Laura. How long until Gabby heals completely?"

Laura blinked, realizing she was shaking. "At least a couple of hours. She should regain consciousness soon, but she'll be confused and exhausted. She-" Laura swallowed and wiped something from her eyes. "300 Win is a very powerful caliber. It's meant for big game hunting. It nearly decapitated her."

She took several long, deep breaths, doing her best to keep the dark thoughts at bay for the time being. "She already has memory problems, Jubilee. Every time she gets shot in the head, she loses something. God knows what all she lost because of that bastard. Because of Kimura..."

She knelt down and placed Gabby's head in her lap, grimacing when she checked how the regeneration was coming along. Jubilee watched from afar, and it was only now that Laura noticed that the vampire refused to get any closer, and appeared to have difficulty not looking at the pools of blood in the alley. She seemed to realize that Laura had finally noticed her unease, and slowly backed away.

"Gabby's gonna be alright, Laura. I-I'm sorry, b-but I need to get out of here before I do something stupid. I'll grab our bags from the apartment and call in The Blackbird. We'll be out of here in about ten minutes, and back in New York by morning. Just sit tight until I get back. Call me if you smell trouble."

Laura watched as she disappeared into the night sky with a pair of ethereal bat wings behind her, and slowly lowered her gaze back down to Gabby. A few minutes later she started breathing shallowly, with the only issue being that with her heart beating again, blood was pumping out of her body faster than it could regenerate.

She applied pressure, and Gabby babbled for several minutes, spewing nonsense with only the occasional intelligible word, until finally she was able to string a sentence or two together.

"Zelda?" she mumbled, sounding as though she were drowning. "Zelda, is that you?"

Laura suppressed a sob and turned Gabby's mouth to the side in order to drain it of blood. Zelda was the eldest of Gabby's nine sisters, and the closest to Laura in age. "It's me, Gabby," she said, not wanting to lie but not necessarily wanting to tell the truth either.

"Bellona," she sighed with relief. Bellona was the second oldest, and according to Gabby, sounded the most like Laura, and the one she had always felt safest with. "W-what happened?"

"Sniper shot you in the head. Just relax and let your healing factor do its thing."

Gabby nodded. "S-sorry if I screwed up again. We didn't fail the test, did we? You're not all gonna get punished because of me again, are you?"

"No," Laura sniffled, "I'm the one who screwed up and who's sorry, Gabby. If anyone deserves to be punished, it's me..."

She glanced at her wrists, almost entranced when Gabby reached for her hand. Laura squeezed it more for her own reassurance than Gabby's who only felt discomfort, not actual pain.

"I've really missed you, Bellona..."

A shadow flew overhead, cloaked in the night sky, and Laura scooped her baby sister into her arms, awaiting Jubilee to help them aboard.

"I'm never gonna let anybody hurt you, Gabby," Laura promised. "Kimura just crossed the line and signed her own death warrant..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I needed to get the girls out of Madripoor, and what better way of Kimura sending a message than shooting Gabby in the head with a high-caliber bullet? I like the idea that even though she's effectively immortal, seeing her sister get injured still bothers Laura, but especially in a case where the majority of her head/brain is gone. If decapitation can kill all three of them, perhaps a high enough caliber bullet can do the same? Regardless, it'd still freak anybody out, and as we've seen, Gabby has memory issues, and this probably isn't going to help. I also like the idea that Gabby sometimes mistakes Laura for one of her nine older sisters, and that it absolutely breaks Laura's heart every time.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

No Strings Attached

Laura had never felt particularly loved by either her mother or father. Not while they were alive anyway, and it'd taken her eighteen long years before the concept of love finally became a reality to her.

She hadn't felt loved by her friends before then either, not even Jubilee despite her best efforts. It wasn't until Gabby quite literally forced herself into Laura's life that she finally understood the unconditional love a parent felt for a child and vice versa.

Gabby adored her, practically worshipped the ground she walked on, and Laura would've killed the entire world if it meant protecting her from harm. They argued regularly, but while Gabby had years of experience arguing with nine older sisters, it was still a relatively new concept to Laura. You weren't supposed to argue with superiors. Instead, you respectfully argued your logic against theirs, and when that ultimately failed and undermining them proved impossible, you did as you were ordered. Not so with little sisters as she quickly found out.

Nobody made Laura angrier than Gabby when she refused to listen to reason, but there was also nobody she loved more. Which was exactly why Laura left her sleeping back in their in-suite apartment while she wandered the school library trying to clear her head.

The Institute's library was Laura's home away from home, and where she had spent countless hours lost in books and having long, philosophical discussions with Hank McCoy, better known as The Beast. He wasn't there today, which was just as well since she didn't want to be disturbed, but a part of her had hoped he'd be there, grading papers or expanding his already vast knowledge. Even when she wasn't in the mood to talk, he was always good company.

The library was three floors and one of the most comprehensive in North America. Due to the unique nature of The Institute being a private school, university, and home for several hundred wayward mutants, the library housed practically every book ever written, with countless newspapers and other writings digitized for convenience. The first time Laura wandered into a public library, she had nearly wept, and she actually had the first time Logan brought her here.

Laura had been programmed to absorb knowledge and wield it as a weapon. If she could think like her targets, she could outsmart them and predict their moves. She hated thinking that her thirst for knowledge had been programmed into her, probably even written into her very DNA, but reading was one of the few ways she had of escaping the shackles of X-23.

Her wanderings as usual lead her to the children's literature section, and she picked up an illustrated copy of 'The Adventures of Pinocchio'. She had the very same edition in own extensive library, read to her countless times by her mother growing up. One of her most prized possessions rivaled only by her pelican statue.

"Tomorrow I cease to be a puppet-" Laura murmured to herself, "and I become a girl like you and all the other girls..."

Tears filled her eyes and she quickly wiped them away. The book shook in her hands, and she couldn't decide whether she wanted to curse her mother for ever reading it to her, find the nearest bathroom and slit her wrists, or cry like a lost little girl looking for her mother. Instead she stood there, trying to logically think through her volatile emotions rather than feel through them blindly like she had as a teenager.

"Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish, and someday you'll be a real girl..." Her mother always looked at her while reading that specific line, personalizing it just for her, but it had only confused Laura at the time, later infuriating her. Her own mother hadn't viewed her as being real. Not at first anyway, not entirely, and not until the damage had already been done.

"Laura!" cried a familiar voice, breaking the sacred silence of the library.

Of course she had known exactly where her cousin was the moment she stepped into the library, and while she hadn't exactly been avoiding the library assistant, she had gone out of her way to prolong their reunion for as long as possible.

A young woman with a blonde pixie cut dropped a pile of books on a nearby table and sprinted toward her, immediately wrapping her arms around her. Laura surprised even herself by embracing her back and fighting back tears. Having lived a life where abnormal was normal, her cousin Meg and Aunt Debbie were her only lifelines to normalcy, and had taught her more about love than either of her parents ever had.

"When did you get back?" Meg asked.

"Just a little while ago," she lied. "You looked busy, and I was just looking for something to read to Gabby before bedtime."

Laura returned the book to the shelf, and Meg smiled when she saw the title. She knew that her aunt Sarah used to read it to her, and could guess by the subject matter and the fact Laura had almost zero personal attachment to any of her belongings except a select few that the story must mean a great deal to her.

"Where is Gabby?" she asked, glancing around, expecting to see Laura's miniature doppelganger running around the corner any moment with a surprise hug.

"Back in her room sleeping. She'll be out for at least a few more hours."

Meg nodded, finally noticing the dark circles around her eyes. "What's wrong, Laura? And don't lie this time. I've gotten pretty good at telling when you're lying." She smirked suddenly. "Your lips are moving."

Laura sighed and gestured for them to sit down. Being the middle of a school day, there thankfully weren't any prying ears around, but in her line of work, Laura always assumed the worst. "Gabby got shot in the head," she said matter-of-factly. "She's alright, just tired and a little disoriented. It was a large caliber bullet that nearly decapitated her, a-and it's just got me a little shook is all."

"A little shook?" Meg half-laughed, half-sobbed. "Laura, I've seen you cut your own arm off, and Gabby tests new guns by shooting herself in the chest. It never gets any easier for me, and I can't imagine it's any easier for you either."

Laura nodded, and Meg couldn't help noticing she had showered recently. Knowing her cousin, she had probably spent several hours scrubbing her skin raw, and couldn't help glancing at her wrists. Laura had promised to tell her if she started cutting again, but Meg knew she'd only do so if directly asked. She wasn't even sure if she had ever stopped.

"Gabby's my greatest weakness," Laura murmured, "and Kimura knows it. She promised to never use you or your mom as hostages again, but that doesn't mean she won't kill you out of spite. Gabby though..."

Her hands shook worse than before, and Meg grabbed them, squeezing tightly. Since she was eleven, Meg had thought of her younger cousin as a dark avenger, and had spent all those years hiding from Kimura, imagining Laura's life as a superhero, saving children from monsters and killing bad guys just like her father. Since coming to live at The Institute however, she had finally learned and accepted the truth. Laura was human, and despite the adamantium coated bones, she was seemingly held together only out of sheer stubbornness and happy thoughts, most of which belonged to her sister.

"Mom and I are safe," Meg said. "Kitty and Jubilee are practically invincible, and your sister has a healing factor rivaling your own."

"So did Logan. Nobody's invincible, Meg, and nobody is truly immortal either. I've killed Alpha Level mutants because of that very same arrogance."

"And nobody's more arrogant than Kimura." To say Meg hated Kimura would've been an understatement, but Laura could only sigh whenever she saw that sort of blind hatred from her friends and family. Kimura might've been arrogant but she was far from stupid. She might've been insane but she was also frighteningly logical, and was the only person Laura could truly say understood her, and vice versa...

Killing Kimura was the only way to keep her family and friends safe, and the only way to ensure she'd never be anybody's puppet again, but none of them seemed to understand just what exactly killing Kimura would entail, and what exactly it was going to do to Laura.

"Why don't you tell me about the mission," Meg said. "Maybe it'll help get your mind off Gabby and Kimura. Someone I admire once told me that talking helps."

Laura nodded, and started from the beginning with how The X-Men learned about Adam Harkin and his human trafficking network, and how the team had executed a rather sophisticated operation, hitting the entire network all around the world before all the loose ends could be cut.

She told Meg matter-of-factly about all the people she had killed in the past week, thirty-four in total, about the vampires and Albert Malik, and finally Gabby getting shot due to Laura not paying attention where she was leading them. She didn't see any reason to mention Jubilee's yellow coat possibly- if not very likely, being the culprit.

Her cousin as usual was a good listener, rarely interrupting with a question, and only because Laura as usual was light on details. It wasn't in Laura's nature to be a storyteller. What she told instead more resembled a mission debriefing, listing factual information without getting bogged down by erroneous details and emotions.

Meg would've thought her cousin a braggart if she didn't know her better, and would've accused her of lying had she not seen Laura's frightening skills first hand. Even among the superhero community, Laura's exploits were legendary, and apparently killing a four hundred-year-old Nazi vampire was barely worth mentioning.

"She's going to have even more memory loss," Laura said after finishing. "Gabby's never lost anything important, usually just littles things, but those little things are important to me, and it's only a matter of time. She's forgotten conversations we've had. Places we've been. People we've met. She thought I was Bellona most of the flight home. When she realized I wasn't, she..." Laura closed her eyes and bowed her head, her wrists badly itching.

"I'm sorry, Laura," Meg said, awkwardly shifting in her chair. "Um, listen, Hank and I have been talking, and I've been reading a lot of psychology books lately. Do you think it's possible that because Gabby's not able to feel pain, that maybe she creates mental barriers to protect herself from emotional pain? And maybe those barriers take the form of amnesia?"

"Anything's possible, but bullets to the brain would be my guess."

Meg nodded, knowing by the sarcasm that her cousin's patience was wearing thin. "Maybe, but you've never shown any signs of amnesia, and Gabby's healing factor rivals your own. For all intents and purposes, biologically speaking, Gabby's you at fourteen."

Laura bit her lip as if considering it. "Logan suffered from amnesia for decades, so I suppose it's plausible. If Gabby wants to try and get her memories back, I won't stop her, but if what you're saying is true and Gabby's subconscious is trying to protect her, then I'd rather keep it that way. I'd give almost anything not to have the memories I do, and if Gabby's happier without them, then so am I."

"Of course. I think just about everyone at The Institute would happily give their lives to protect your sister, Laura. Myself included."

"That's my job," she said quickly as if afraid someone might be listening, "though I'd much prefer killing as opposed to dying." She gave a weak smile that didn't match her eyes.

"You only kill when you don't have a choice, Laura."

"There's always a choice. The issue is that neither killing or sparing are solutions to problems. They're only tradeoffs." She took a deep breath and sighed again. "When I take a life, I'm taking away someone's loved one. I'm taking away their Gabby. I have to live with that, along with the fact that ending a life means taking away their chance at redemption, something I don't deserve but was given anyway. But if I spare their lives, they'll get that opportunity, but there's no guarantee I won't enable someone else's suffering, including my own or someone I care about."

Meg winced and pretended to suddenly be interested in the wood grain of the table. "I see you've given this a lot of thought..."

Laura nodded. "I've killed innocent people, Meg. I've killed people whose only crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and a lot of the people I kill have sins that pale in comparison to my own." She bowed her head, suddenly interested in the table herself. "How many people do think I've killed over the course of my life?"

"A lot..."

"A lot," she agreed. "I've killed over thirteen-hundred people in less than a decade. Probably more that I just can't remember. At this rate, if I die of old age, I'll have killed over two hundred thousand. Maybe even a million if I find myself part of a war, which I probably will. You don't know how much that weighs on me every day of my life."

"You could always retire," Meg said weakly.

Laura shook her head. "I've tried. God knows I've tried, but this is what I do and what I am. There will always be someone threatening my friends and family, The Institute, The X-Men, mutant-kind, or innocent women and children on the streets of New York. And so long as Kimura's still breathing, none of us will ever truly be safe."

She took a deep breath, and glancing at the stack of books, she almost smiled. "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner," she recited, "but from their regard to their own interests."

"Adam Smith," Meg said absently. "Are you saying you're only a killer out of self-interest?"

Laura nodded. "Weapon X created the perfect killer, and that's what it's taken to bring them down, and what it'll take to kill Kimura. It's in my best interest to kill anyone and everyone who wishes to harm the people I care about."

Meg smiled. "Guess it's a good thing our interests overlap then, huh?"

The two held hands in the oppressive silence of the library, both playing with their respective cross necklaces until finally Laura spoke. "Heaven reigns when hell prevails," she murmured.

"I don't know that one. Who said it?"

Laura cleared her throat, not having meant to say it out loud. "Nobody knows. It's either an optimistic view of a pessimistic world, or nihilism and cynicism at its worst. I haven't quite decided which I believe yet."

Meg smiled. "You're the one that made me an optimist, Laura. When I was-" she glanced around to make absolutely certain they were alone- "when I was taken at eleven, I prayed to God to send an angel to save me, and that angel turned out to be you. My own cousin that I didn't even know existed. When Mom and I were kidnapped earlier this year, I prayed that you'd save us, again, and you did. It's why in spite of everything, I still believe there's good in this world."

"I wish I could share that optimism, Meg. Either I find Kimura soon and kill her, or she starts killing everyone I love, or I allow myself to be her puppet again." She squeezed her eyes shut and slowly opened them. "I'm sorry, but I'll kill myself before I ever allow that to happen again, so there's only two real options."

Meg's lip twitched. "Guess you're just gonna have to kill that bitch then, huh?"

Laura forced a smile that didn't match her eyes. "I suppose I don't have a choice..."

"This is stupid," Laura announced for the third time since leaving The Institute. "Both of you are stupid, and I'm stupid for listening to you."

Gabby and Jubilee chuckled ahead of her, dodging and weaving through New York pedestrians at one in the morning.

"You were just shot by a sniper less than twenty-four hours ago. I've showered three times since then and I can still feel your blood and brain fluid on me."

"Yeah, well, I don't remember it, so it doesn't count," Gabby said, sticking out her tongue. "All I know is that one minute we're talking about The X-Terminators, and the next I'm waking up on The Blackbird, hugging my new favorite sniper rifle."

"That conversation happened the night before you got shot, Gabs," Jubilee said gently, having traded her trademark yellow coat for a black leather jacket instead. "Do you remember fighting vampires? Don't tell me you forgot about the Nazi vampire?"

Gabby shook her head. "I remember, kinda. It's all just a little mixed up. I remember Malek though. He was kinda dreamy, wasn't he? I'm really good about recording all the important stuff. Laura made me start writing in a diary, but I didn't like it so I started a vlog."

"Her visor has a recording function," Laura explained. "It's useful when breaking down what she can improve on for the next mission, or when we need evidence of a crime."

"Or when I get shot in the head and can't remember the mission."

Laura nodded but couldn't help glancing around anxiously. Gabby had been restless since waking from a nightmare, Jubilee was always restless, and Laura admittedly preferred being on the move rather than staying in one place too long. Despite the obvious dangers leaving The Institute presented, her companions had made multiple good points to justify their reckless stupidity.

They didn't have a solid lead where to find Kimura, The X-Men already had enough operatives bringing down Harkin's human trafficking network, and there wasn't anybody high enough on Laura's personal shit list to justify hunting them down and killing them at this very moment. Instead, the only productive action they could take was go into the city and keep the streets safe for average civilians.

While other superheroes called this standard operation 'patrolling', making sure the most dangerous areas of the city were secure, in true X-Terminator fashion, everybody except Laura called it FAFO.

As much as Laura hated to admit it, patrolling was better than sitting around The Institute wasting time, imagining how Kimura would strike next and who the victims would be. The only downside was it being cold, and her bones aching wherever they came into contact with adamantium.

It was a discomfort she was intimately familiar with however, and perhaps the lack of guilt she'd feel for self-harming herself was the reason she had agreed so quickly to Gabby and Jubilee idiotic idea of a night out on the town. That and they weren't entirely wrong.

They didn't have any leads, and it was better for the three semi-immortals to be Kimura's targets rather than their friends, especially since Laura was reasonably certain Kimura wouldn't kill Gabby out of fear of Laura ending their game permanently. It also gave her an excuse to keep a close eye on Jubilee and make sure she didn't do anything especially idiotic to get herself killed.

"Kitty seemed pretty happy about you killing and torturing a Nazi vampire," Gabby said. "Is that because Jews and Nazis don't like each other?"

"You could say that, and when we get back to living at The Institute, you're taking another world history course."

Jubilee laughed. "Thanks again for letting me be the one to tell her. The look on her face was priceless. Hell, the look on your face was almost as good, Gabs."

"Hey! I remember it now, mostly, and that's all that matters. By the way, I know he was a bad guy and all, but am I the only one that really liked Malik's voice? Like really, really liked it? Gives me goosebumps just thinking about it."

"To use a Kitty Pryde analogy, think of it like persuasion and deception in D&D. Vampires automatically get a twenty in every stat when we roll a new character, but especially charisma."

"Every stat except wisdom and intelligence," Laura muttered.

The pair laughed and grinned at Laura who didn't appear to share their humor. "I use those as dump stats," Jubilee explained, her voice echoing and making the pair shiver.

"I told you not to do that," Laura growled, rubbing her arms to try and get some feeling back.

Jubilee and Gabby continued laughing and talking far too loudly for Laura's liking, making her think they weren't taking the potential threat around them seriously. She knew that wasn't entirely the case however since Jubilee could multitask even better than herself, and had better vision and hearing than both she and Gabby combined. While Laura and Gabby focused their attention on the pedestrians around them, Jubilee focused on distant rooftops and windows that looked as though they'd make a convenient sniper's nest.

The vampire was also sure to put herself in between Gabby and any potential danger, betting on her telekinesis and supernatural durability to keep her head mostly intact should there be another sniper with a death wish.

Several hours went by mostly without incident besides a few overeager homeless begging for money, a drug addict asking if they'd seen JFK and Elvis anywhere, a man wanting to sniff Laura's feet, and half a dozen snatch and grabs they'd seen coming a mile away. A typical night in New York City all things considered.

A decade ago, Central Park had been one of the most dangerous areas in all of America, but now thanks to being home to The Institute, was one of the safest, and the rest of the city was slowly following suit, in part thanks to Laura. She didn't necessarily go out of her way to kill rapists and murderers, but if they happened to approach her in a dark alley, it was self-defense as far as she was concerned.

"Hell's Kitchen never disappoints," Jubilee chuckled as Laura led them into one of her favorite hunting grounds. "I was starting to worry all the bad guys were swimming in the Hudson."

"Are we about to get mugged?" Gabby nearly squealed. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Laura growled at them to stay quiet but the two could barely contain themselves when the pair of footsteps that'd been following them for the past five minutes stopped at the end of the alley, blocking their escape.

"2004 Type AB-," Jubilee said, licking her lips. "Lakers won the championship that year. Dad took me to a bunch of games. Good year. The next, not so much."

"Wolverines are more into hockey than baseball," Gabby said. "Canadian thing, I guess. Wait, aren't the Phoenix Lakers a football team? I'm bad with sports. And geography. And-"

"Shut up. Both of you."

Halfway down the alley, a pair of men stepped out of the shadows and leveled handguns at their chests.

"Rape, murder, or robbery?" Laura asked calmly.

Jubilee snorted beside her. "Please say rape or murder," she murmured, barely able to contain her excitement. The trio glanced behind them when the pair outside the alley followed them and pointed handguns at their backs.

"Full-auto Glocks?" Gabby said, pinching her nose in disgust. "You do know it's really hard to control a full-auto Glock, right? You pull the trigger and end up wasting half your ammo. I know a guy down the street that sells Uzis if you want one, but I'd personally go with an MP5. Laura prefers the MP9 'cause she's weird."

"Gabby," she hissed. "Shut up."

One of the men stepped forward. Like the others he wore a skullcap and bandanna covering his face, but given that the four made up three different ethnicities, Laura doubted they were representatives of any local gangs. Probably just drinking buddies given the smell of booze.

"Empty your pockets and nobody gets hurt," he said in a thick Bronx accent.

"Damn it," Gabby muttered. "You sure you don't wanna rape or murder us, Sir?"

Laura sighed and glanced at her sister disapprovingly. "Provoking bad guys into murder and rape is against the rules."

"God, I love New York," Jubilee said. "First night back and we're already getting robbed."

"You bitches hard of hearing or somethin'?"

"You've caught me at a bad time," Laura said, strolling toward the leader before stopping in front of him. "My sister just got shot in the head yesterday, and I never got the chance to pay the gunman my respects. I also haven't slept since then. This is your only warning." Behind her, Jubilee and Gabby stifled giggles.

He laughed and jammed the gun between her breasts. "You can respect me, bitch, by emptying your pockets. Them too. Like I said, nobody has to get hurt."

The man beside him reached for Gabby but his fingers hit the ground before he had time to scream or register what happened. The gun only inches from her heart also dropped onto the ground, sheared in pieces along with his own fingers, followed by their companions courtesy of Laura's adamantium claws and speed that even the vampire struggled to follow.

All four dropped to the ground holding what remained of their hands, but Laura pinned their leader to the ground and drew a thin red line across his cheek. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

"Please don't kill us!" he begged. "We didn't know you were mutties!"

Jubilee laughed, picking one of the fingers off the ground and sucking on it. "Oh, so robbing women at gunpoint is alright, but you draw the line at being racist? I respect the hustle." She stepped on one of the men, pinning him to the ground while Gabby pointed her dual Desert Eagles at the other two.

"Smile and wait for the flash," she said cheerfully.

"W-we're sorry!" their leader pleaded. "We-"

Laura squeezed his arm, immediately silencing him. "You're not sorry. You don't feel even the slightest shred of shame or guilt. Only regret you didn't pull the trigger when you had the chance. None of you were nervous pointing guns at us, meaning this isn't your first time robbing someone. Maybe you've even pulled the trigger before..."

"We haven't! I swear! The guns aren't even loaded!"

"Mine are," Gabby said with a grin. "Want me to prove it?"

'Kill them!' Kimura screamed. 'Kill them all! That's an order!'

'Follow your orders, X,' Sarah said. 'That's what we created you for.'

Laura took several deep breaths and closed her eyes trying to think clearly. Their hearts were racing too fast to tell whether he was actually telling the truth or not, but had to admit they had given them two opportunities to remove their valuables before threatening harm. They had played by her rules, and if she killed them now after revoking the option of a painless death, she'd be the one breaking them.

She stood up and stepped away, and Jubilee did the same. Gabby didn't lower her guns, but she did motion for them to stand with their companions.

"I have your scent," Laura said, "and so does she." She gestured toward Jubilee who smiled and waved with the finger still in her mouth. "If any of you ever do anything like this again, ever, we'll know, and I will personally hunt you down and skin you alive."

"I'll just suck you dry," Jubilee said with a playful wink.

Laura kicked their fingers toward them, seven between the three of them. Eight once she convinced Jubilee to spit the Type AB- out. "Take those to the nearest hospital. They should be able to reattach them in time."

Jubilee chuckled. "Yeah, and look on the bright side! It won't be hard figuring out whose finger belongs to who!"

"Also try getting a job or finishing school if you haven't already," Gabby suggested. "Y'all are really stupid and have really bad luck. You're lucky you caught my sister in a good mood."

The men grabbed their fingers and took off running, presumably in the direction of the nearest hospital, but more likely as far away from the three mutants as possible.

"That was fun," Jubilee said, licking her lips. "I love hanging out with you guys. Wanna ride the subway and see who pisses off Laura next? Fifty bucks says it's another guy with a foot fetish."

Laura shook her head, continuing down the alley as though nothing happened. "Or we could call Kitty and ask her to give us a ride back."

"Dude, I'm already dead, and even I'm scared to get in the same car as Kitty."

Gabby nodded. "I don't feel pain, but I get a little nervous whenever Kitty flies The Blackbird. Flying through solid objects makes me feel weird."

"Kitty's not a bad driver or pilot," Laura said. "She just doesn't respect the laws of physics."

"Wait, you actually got in the car with Kitty Pryde in the driver's seat?" Jubilee said, staring at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Seriously?"

Laura shrugged. "It was during my suicidal phase a few years ago."

"You know, it's really hard to tell when you're being serious and when you're joking."

"Score!" Gabby cried, pocketing the scattered Glock magazines. "They lied about the guns not being loaded by the way. Nine millimeter's nearly up to dollar per round, and being extended mags, this just saved me a hundred bucks. God, I love New York!"

Laura nodded and led them out of the alley. Besides a potential mugger a couple blocks over being smart enough to change his mind at the last moment, the trio went unaccosted for the next couple hours, much to Jubilee and Gabby's chagrin. If Laura was at all disappointed however, it was only because getting shot or stabbed would've given her an excuse to return to The Institute for fresh clothes and a warm shower.

"Temperature's dropping," she said, turning onto Cathedral Parkway toward Central Park and The Institute. "Let's head back."

"If you're cold, Laura," Jubilee said, "all you have to do is say so. I'd keep you warm, but, you know..."

"Alright, I'm cold. You sleep in a freezer and Gabby can't even tell when she's got frostbite. Also, I-I-"

Laura froze mid-sentence, and Jubilee and Gabby glanced back to see Laura staring slack jawed at a large LED screen with a middle aged man's face smiling down at them along with a series of seemingly random numbers.

"What's wrong? You see-" Jubilee's eyes widened and she sprinted beside her. "Shit! Kimura's kill list!" she said, recognizing him from Laura's sketches.

Laura dropped to her knees and Jubilee knelt beside her, shielding her from the LED screen. Gabby meanwhile stood over them, Desert Eagles in hand, scanning for anything she didn't like the look of.

"Laura? Laura! Look into my eyes!"

She nodded, eyes fully dilated with a hint of crimson. "H-help me," she rasped. "P-please..."

"Damn pig's blood!" Jubilee said, pressing their foreheads together. "Go to sleep, Laura. Go-"

*snikt*

Jubilee barely flinched when adamantium claws suddenly thrust through her stomach and out her back, and grabbed Laura's wrists to keep them in place. Her hands shook and tears spilled out, but Jubilee only smiled back at her. "Everything's gonna be alright, Laura. You're not gonna hurt me, and you're not gonna hurt anybody else either. You're going to listen to the sound of my voice and only the sound of my voice."

"Everything in life has strings attached to it!" Laura screamed. "I-I killed her! I killed my conscience! Dr. Kinney! Dr. Kinney! I'm sorry!"

Gabby shook her from behind. "Laura! Snap out of it!"

"I'm sorry, Kimura! I won't disobey again! Please don't hurt me!"

"Laura, go to sleep! That's an order, X!"

Laura's body froze, as did her mind, and she collapsed into Jubilee's arms. She carefully removed Laura's claws and squeezed her wrists so that they'd reflexively retract, a useful trick she'd learned to keep herself from accidently getting decapitated late at night.

She handed Laura to Gabby, dizzy from the mental exertion now that she was back on a low fat, gluten free, Wolverine-free diet of mostly pigs blood.

"Jubilee to X-Men," she said, touching the commlink in her ear. "Apparently Kimura's been buying ads in the city, and activated Laura's programming. Gabby and I are with her. She's safe and unconscious, but we could use an escort back to The Institute. Also-" she frowned, staring up at the LED picture- "I think Kimura might've just given us a lead..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. I really like getting to see the more philosophical side of Laura. What separates her from Logan and many other superheroes in my opinion is that she's highly intelligent, and I like the idea of her being highly self-educated, highly contemplative, and the type of person you could have a deep conversation with over a myriad of topics. I like to think that she somewhat embodies the Scottish Enlightenment belief that being around other people with other ideals causes each other to become less "rough around the edges" and more "polished" so to speak. Laura left alone to her own devices is a disaster waiting to happen, but she's a great caretaker and friend, and her friends and family bring out the best in her. She's an introvert, but she's not quite the "lone wolf" that Logan was. Laura enjoys being around other people, but she also needs her space and alone time.

Laura being inspired by "The Adventures of Pinocchio" is an underrated aspect of her character in my opinion. I believe it was in "All-New Wolverine" that we saw a flashback of Sarah reading it to a young Laura, and Laura viewing herself as Pinocchio is just really inspirational to me. Laura spent about seventeen years of her life believing she wasn't "real" and didn't have a soul, but now views herself as a "real girl" with a soul, which only makes everything done to her all that much more horrifying in her eyes. She has a name, she has a soul, she has a family, and she has a purpose. Only problem is that X-23's programming is still there, and so is Kimura.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

Love Bites

"Dibs on the last cinnamon roll!" Gabby cried, her hand reaching across the table.

*snikt*

She flinched when an adamantium claw released from between her sister's knuckles, but rather than losing the hand like she expected, Laura merely cut the last cinnamon roll in half and skewered the slightly larger of the two like a shish kabob.

Meg and Debbie grinned at the pair, but especially at Laura who had a strong fondness for cinnamon, and would've only shared the last cinnamon roll from her favorite bakery with the people sitting at that table, albeit only reluctantly.

The four as usual found themselves eating their lunch outside The Institute's cafeteria in an enclosed courtyard. Laura, as was her custom, sat with her back facing the brick, allowing her to watch the entire courtyard as well as every entrance without so much as having to turn her head.

Several of the older kids were playing basketball on the court while younger children ran around playing tag, but for the most part, students were content eating their lunch and gossiping in peace. Despite most of the mutants having already faced their fair share of adversity in their short lives, each of them was attempting to make the most of their new lives at The Institute, and Laura couldn't help envying them.

She had tried living the life of a student for a short period, but her classmates had reeked of fear whenever she was around, and were endangered by her very presence. Unfortunately, not much had changed since leaving The Institute and returning three years later.

While Laura didn't necessarily consider herself anti-social, making a rare appearance around The Institute during the day was apparently cause for the entire student body to gossip behind her back, usually within earshot. For the most part it involved her tight jeans and midriff, and arguments whether she and Gabby were actually the daughters of Wolverine, but otherwise they debated who Laura might have killed recently.

Anytime a supervillain was conspicuously absent for an extended period of time, the prevailing theory was that Laura had killed them. She didn't do much to discredit these rumors, but always lied the rare times a student got the nerve to ask. People thinking she was a killer and knowing she was a killer was very different in her eyes.

Gabby on the other hand was on a first name basis with the entire school, if she could remember their names that is, and was a regular sight around The Institute now that the sisters had taken residence there. Their aunt and cousin were their neighbors across the hall and the only non-mutants living on campus, but most students were either unaware of this, or respectful enough not to ask questions or begrudge them, even the mutants with a strong dislike for humans.

"So, what's your next move?" Debbie asked, trying to sound casual and not at all concerned.

Laura turned to her, still amazed to be living with her family again after being separated for so long. While Meg had accepted a lifelong dream of working in the library, her mother had returned to teaching, and claimed to have finally found her true calling there at The Institute.

"We're still trying to figure that out," Gabby said with her mouth full. "We've shown Laura more pictures of that guy from the other night, but her programming isn't activating anymore, and we still don't know who he is, or where he is for that matter."

"Yeah we do," Laura muttered, savoring her dessert. "His name's Malcom Colcord, and he's hiding somewhere in northern Canada." The others raised their brows at her and she shrugged. "Jean Grey and Cerebro can find almost anyone in the world, but I'm a decent tracker myself, especially when I've had a nine month head start and can see the person's face every time I close my eyes.

Gabby blinked. "Have you been plotting behind my back again?"

"Yes," she said matter-of-factly. "Colcord was a researcher that supposedly died sixteen years ago. Obviously he faked his death. I can make a few guesses as to why Kimura wants him dead, but either she doesn't have the means of finding him, or she's too busy playing mad scientist. As for my programming, that's an ongoing issue, and has more to do with the numbers that flashed on screen than the picture itself."

"Which is why we're hiding inside The Institute," Gabby said unenthusiastically. "Everybody wants to keep an eye on Laura."

"Welcome to witness protection," Meg teased. "You'll get used to it. Eventually..."

"You needed to brush up on your classes anyway," Laura muttered, savoring her cinnamon roll, "and spend time with kids your own age. Spending all your time with your clone can't be healthy for you. Too many missions is probably why you've been having so many nightmares lately.""

Gabby made a sour face. "Why can't I at least still go and play rape bait? Jubilee said she'd babysit me."

"Excuse me, but 'rape bait'?" Debbie asked.

Laura narrowed her eyes. "Gabby, you're not leaving the campus. I don't have to worry about Kimura kidnapping Meg or Debbie again, only killing them, but she didn't make any promises about you. As for Jubilee, she's not at full strength since she mostly drinks pig's blood here at The Institute. Keeps her from associating the kids with food," she added for Meg and Debbie who like the rest of the campus, generally only saw the vampire when she wished to be seen, which was increasingly rare.

After letting slip about her and Gabby's nocturnal activities that were otherwise supposed to remain secret, Laura changed the subject to how Debbie was enjoying her first full semester at The Institute. She taught English and Reading to the younger students, which often gave her an excuse to visit the library with her class and work alongside her daughter, and Laura herself had even substituted for her a couple times with somewhat mixed results.

As the two talked over one another with Gabby constantly interrupting, Laura sighed and leaned back in her seat. For years she had dreamed of reuniting with her extended family, and here they were sitting with her and Gabby at The Institute. She didn't even have to worry about snipers or other assassins since Illyana Rasputina, better known as Magik and the younger sister of Colossus, had created safeguards all around The Institute to protect the students, which Laura herself had thoroughly tested.

Despite the magical wards however, Laura couldn't help tensing when a young boy a few years younger than Gabby approached, carrying some sort of glass bottle in his hands.

Sensing her unease, Gabby turned and watched, followed by Meg and Debbie, both of whom seemed to recognize the boy and smiled fondly at him.

"Uh, Mrs. Kinney?" he stuttered, addressing Debbie despite staring wide-eyed at Laura.

"What is it, Timothy?" she asked.

"Um, well, a man in the park gave me something, and told me to give it to you."

He held up an expensive-looking perfume bottle filled with green liquid, and nearly dropped it when Laura jumped to her feet, fumbling with her utility belt.

"Get that away from me!" she screamed, shoving a rebreather over her nose and mouth.

"Wh-what?"

Gabby moved between them while Meg and Debbie grabbed the boy and hauled him away, their eyes locked on Laura.

"Are you alright?" Meg cried.

"If I weren't, you'd already be dead," she said, her voice muffled, staring at the terrified child that was probably moments away from wetting himself.

Gabby took the bottle from his shaking hand and sniffed it. "It's definitely Trigger Scent," she said, "and it's leaking from the top."

"Which means it's already on your hands and clothes," Laura said, stepping further away.

Debbie squeezed the boy's shoulder and smiled as comfortingly as she could manage. "Tim, you're not in trouble, but I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Who gave this bottle to you, and who told you to give it to me?"

"I-I don't know. I was playing on the playground when a m-man asked if I went to school here. He said his name was Desmond and a f-friend of yours. He had brown hair and-"

"Desmond!" Debbie screamed, shaking him. "He said his name was Desmond!?"

"Desmond's dead," Laura said, referring to Debbie's ex-boyfriend and undercover Weapon X agent. "I killed him myself, Debbie. It's just Kimura messing with you."

Gabby leaned over and sniffed the boy's shoulder. "I've got his scent, Sis. Want me to track him?"

Laura shook her head. "Nobody's leaving the campus. That bottle represents Kimura declaring war." She licked her lips and glanced around them, and discovered she had the entire courtyard's undivided attention. "Jean Grey." she said finally. "Jean will find him, and nobody will have to get hurt."

Debbie nodded. "Tim, everything's alright. I need you to go find Professor Grey and tell her exactly what happened. After that, go back to your room and shower immediately. I'll send a housekeeper to wash your clothes. Now go."

"Wh-why?"

"Because you were holding a bomb that could've gotten the entire school killed," Laura said. "Professor Kinney gave you an order, Tim. Now go."

He nodded and hurried inside, presumably toward Headmistress Grey's office where the telepath would get all the information she needed without Tim having to say a word. Laura doubted she'd find anything useful, but even if she did, it'd only be because Kimura wanted her to.

"What do you want me to do with the perfume bottle?" Gabby asked, inspecting the liquid. "Pour it down the kitchen sink?"

Laura shook her head and retrieved an empty vial from her utility belt which she tossed to her. "Pour it into this vial. It's shatter proof and it won't leak out. WAIT!" She lurched forward before she could do it there. "Do it in Hank's lab. Better yet, ask him to do it for you. All it takes is a whiff from a tiny drop to activate my programming, and then all hell breaks loose."

"You still trying to synthesize a cure?" Meg asked, recalling her talking about it as far back as five years ago.

Again Laura shook her head. Due to her programming, creating a counter chemical to neutralize Trigger Scent hadn't been necessary since she followed the orders of her handlers without question. It'd only been after a year free from Weapon X that she'd been able to resist Kimura's orders when she finally tracked her down. Jubilee believed she had developed some resistance to Trigger Scent when she refused to kill her and Gabby earlier that year, but it hadn't stopped her from butchering them both.

"There isn't a cure," she said bitterly. Reed Richards had tried creating one, but first had needed to know how her brain chemistry changed when she was under the influence of Trigger Scent. The experiment had been an unmitigated disaster, but worse, it had forced Laura to finally accept there wasn't a cure. Perhaps even worse still, Reed and Sue had lost their favorite babysitter, and Laura hadn't spoken to either of them since...

"What do you want us to do, Laura?" Meg asked, hand on her shoulder.

She sighed and looked at each of them. "Gabby, once you're done with the vial, shower and wash your clothes. Twice. Debbie, I'm sorry but you're under house arrest. Go back to your room and stay there. Jean will send someone to keep you company. Meg, we're gonna need a pilot tonight, so make sure both you and Gabby are ready by nine."

Laura turned to leave. "Where are you going?"

"I can't stay here, Gabby. I can't wear a rebreather for the rest of my life. There might be sensors all around the school and magical wards, but I'm not taking any chances. Besides, Kimura has other means of getting to me. I'll be waiting for you in The Blackbird hanger at nine o'clock. I'll have a plan. Until then, stay safe..."

Nestled in the bowels of The Institute was a secret corridor leading to a heavily barred iron door. There was no natural light to speak of, but Laura's eyesight and sense of smell were keen enough that she didn't have to worry about finding her way. She could've found it by memory alone if she so wished.

She unlocked the door and let herself in, not bothering to knock since the resident would've heard her heartbeat down the hall, but at this time of day was probably sleeping too deeply to notice much of anything.

Laura immediately shivered upon entering, and took a moment to adjust to the temperature and also her near pitch black surroundings. The apartment was a mirror of her and Gabby's own across campus, and was what one might expect from a young bachelorette. A large television with plenty of seating for company that never visited. A kitchen that saw little to no use, and dirty clothes lying as far as the eye could see.

Everywhere she looked was an explosion of bright yellow and bubblegum pink décor. Along the far wall were several arcade cabinets that the owner kept in immaculate condition despite the thousands of hours of playtime each of them probably had. On the walls were dozens of framed newspaper articles, magazine covers, and enlarged photos of various members of The X-Men, but none more prominent or numerous than the superhero formerly known as The Wolverine.

In stark contrast, there was also a small collection of ancient-looking tomes on the shelves, with one lying open on the coffee table with a wine glass stained red sitting next to it. Glancing around the room again, Laura couldn't help noticing small contradictions, such as a fine layer of dust covering the arcade machines, more dark colors than she remembered, and the otherwise bubbly apartment smelling like death and resentment.

"This isn't a home," Laura muttered, "it's becoming a tomb..."

Taking a deep breath, she entered what would've otherwise been a normal bedroom except for the freezer lying on its side. Behind the glass door was a young Asian woman lying with her arms folded across her chest. She wasn't breathing, and Laura might've thought she was dead if not for the overwhelming stench of un-death radiating from within.

While corpses smelled like rot and decay, vampires smelled like a combination of blood and an alluring sweetness that always made Laura's stomach uneasy. The scent might've been intoxicating if her instincts didn't scream predator, and also scream for her to either kill the creature or run far, far away while she still could.

And yet, she was Laura's first real friend, and in many ways her only friend. The only one she trusted at a time like this.

She knocked three times, and Jubilee's crimson eyes immediately shot open. Laura took a step back, holding her breath, and the freezer door opened on its own, releasing cold air that chilled her to the bone.

The vampire sat up and regarded her with a lopsided smile. "Dude, it's the middle of the day," she yawned. "I'm all for room service and breakfast in bed, but can't it wait a few more hours?"

Laura shook her head, keeping her eyes averted, and motioned toward the dresser. As with most vampires in Laura's experience, Jubilee slept nude except for her trademark yellow trench coat.

Jubilee sighed and levitated out of the freezer, landing beside her, and Laura again motioned toward the dresser. "Alright, fine," Jubilee grumbled. "Prude..."

She quickly slipped into a pair of black jeans and a matching shirt, a stark contrast to the brightly colored shirts and short-shorts she was known for wearing while she was still alive.

"Must be serious if you want me to put clothes on," she said humorlessly, putting her coat back on. "But hold that thought. Let me drink something before I accidently nibble on your neck. Waking up with you or Gabby outside my freezer is probably the closest thing to a vampire booty call."

"That's alright. It won't take long to explain, and that's partially why I'm here," Laura said. "Kimura sent a student into the school with Trigger Scent hidden inside a perfume bottle. It was meant as a gift for Debbie."

Jubilee's eyes widened. "Is everything-"

"Everybody's still alive, but Jean's put The Institute's under lockdown until further notice. I have an idea where we'll find Colcord, but I won't know for sure until tonight."

She nodded uneasily. "You're not here just to tell me about the mission or a close call with Trigger Scent, are you?"

Laura shook her head. "In the past week I've seen my sister's head explode, had my programming activate just from seeing a picture, and nearly killed my entire family and dozens of kids all because of a perfume bottle. If you don't bite my neck in the next five minutes, I'm going to find a dark place and spend the rest of the day cutting my wrists. Understand?"

"Laura..." Jubilee reached out to lay a hand on her shoulder but quickly withdrew it. "You've already beat this on your own before. You can do it again. Please don't tempt me like this. You can't tempt me like this."

Laura took a step forward, rubbing her wrists as though they itched. "Jubilee, I'm barely holding it together right now. I need this, and I need you at your absolute best. I need someone who can protect my family from Kimura, and maybe even from myself. Most of all right now, I need to feel something. Please, if you don't do this, you'll wish you had. It's going to be bad. I can feel it."

Jubilee took a cautious step forward, doing her best not to look at Laura's neck or listen to the rhythmic sound of her heartbeat. They held each other's gaze for several moments before Laura looked away in shame.

She immediately thought of the men and women she had interrogated recently. Fear was her preferred method of making people talk. Not only because she didn't wish to harm anyone if it wasn't necessary, but because she knew all too well how effective stripping someone of all their dignity was. Nine months after being broken and having her innermost secrets laid bare, she still felt like X-23 playing the role of Laura Kinney.

Perhaps Kimura had programmed X-23 to think she was a real girl, or maybe Dr. Kinney had lied to her all those years ago. Was it possible Laura Kinney was dead and X-23 merely thought she was Laura?

"Please," she said again. "Please prove to me that I'm a real person. Make me feel something. Prove to me that I'm not just Kimura's puppet. Please..."

Jubilee nodded, and stood face to face with her, a couple inches taller even while barefoot. She wrapped her arms around her, their bodies pressed tightly together, and slipped her hands into the back-pockets of Laura's jeans, and forced Laura to look her in the eyes.

"Your breath smells like blood," Laura said coolly.

"And yours smells like cinnamon." Jubilee grinned ear to ear, their lips almost touching. She waited, listening to Laura's heartbeat which remained constant. Her cheeks didn't have even the slightest blush despite her closeness. Even with her supernatural beauty and siren-like voice, Laura's body didn't betray even the slightest interest. It never had, and it probably never would.

She sighed and brushed Laura's hair away from her neck, focusing on the pulsing vein filled with her best friend's life energy. She could hear the blood flowing throughout her entire body, smell it even, and it took all her restraint not to sink her fangs into her flesh there and then and drain her dry.

"Okay, Laura," she whispered. "You win. I'd tell you that I'll do it to protect you and your family, but we both know that's a lie. Follow me."

Jubilee led Laura by the hand into the bedroom across the hall. Conspicuously in the middle of the room was a queen sized bed with lacy pillows and pink sheets. Vampires couldn't sleep in beds, not comfortably anyway, but it'd been there long before Jubilee learned how to regain her humanity. Perhaps it had been wishful thinking at the time, but an apartment without a bed just felt wrong. Besides, sex in a freezer sounded kinkier than it actually was.

She led her in front of a full-length mirror, and Laura even after all this time couldn't help being the least bit unsettled by the fact Jubilee didn't cast a reflection.

The vampire wrapped her arms around Laura's waist and nuzzled her neck, stealing her warmth just from skin contact. In the mirror however, Laura was alone, doing her absolute best to keep her body from shaking. Every instinct told her that she was in grave danger, but there was also a sense of anticipation she couldn't deny herself.

"Are you sure about this?" Jubilee asked. "Once I start, I won't be able to stop myself."

Laura nodded. "This is my choice, and I choose not to be in control right now."

"Trouble is I'm about to lose control and I don't have a choice, and when I'm done, neither of us is gonna be the same people we are right now."

"Good..."

She closed her eyes and returned to that dark place she went to whenever Kimura had her arms around her like this. Jubilee didn't know such a place existed, but it was the safest way to keep her immobilized, otherwise if Laura's claws extended instinctively, the vampire might perceive her as a threat and take what it wanted from her by force.

A pair of pinpricks caused Laura to wince, but not as much as Jubilee licking the blood that trickled out. At that moment she knew her best friend was gone and that she was at the complete mercy of a merciless, unholy and undead creature of the night. Even if she changed her mind now and wanted to escape, Laura wasn't sure if she could.

Jubilee was a predator, and Laura her prey. That was the nature of their relationship now, and perhaps deep down it always had been.

Laura held perfectly still awaiting the inevitable bite, and when it finally came, she escaped into a blissful world of ecstasy and lost herself in moans and whimpers.

The vampire meanwhile gorged itself on the dopamine and endorphins its toxic bite released. Not only was Type E the most irresistible blood type of them all, but vampires generally preferred the blood of women and children, with Laura's being purer than a newborn baby's despite having been deflowered in her youth.

It drank greedily, reliving memories of torture and despair, but not particularly concerning itself with them. They only added to the unique flavor.

It was almost as intoxicating for the vampire as it was the young woman having her life essence sucked out. Laura's body went into shock and suffered organ failure multiple times, and she probably even died once or twice, but her heart continued pumping Type E, and her moans only grew that much louder.

The human body stored roughly ten pints of blood, which was more than twice the amount Jubilee normally drank most nights. She drank more than what should've been possible, slowing only when the insatiable hunger became bearable and finally nonexistent, a sensation practically unknown to a vampire.

At last Jubilee opened her eyes and sighed with relief as what could only be described as sanity returned to her, followed by her long lost humanity.

She smiled bloody lips at the young woman staring back at her in the mirror. Her pale complexion was darkening and redness in her cheeks returning. Her eyes only had the slightest tinge of crimson now, but the most peculiar sensation of coming back alive was her heart beating again, and rapidly at that.

She licked Laura's neck clean, tasting her pleasure, fear, and arousal in both her blood and sweat, and slowly spun Laura around who looked straight through her as if she weren't even there.

Laura Kinney was gone, as was X-23. In their place was a young woman who'd had her dopamine receptors fried during childhood, and had just experienced more pleasure than any human could ever possibly imagine in their wildest, most hedonistic dreams. She was now Jubilee's thrall and at her complete mercy. If she so desired, Laura would've thought nothing of cutting off her sister's head and presenting it to her master. All that mattered was pleasing her master.

She leaned forward to kiss the vampire but Jubilee held a finger between their lips.

"Laura, I'm sorry that I can't promise I'd never take advantage of you as a vampire. It's what we do and what I am, but I swear that I'll never do it so long as I have my humanity."

She kissed her cheek and Laura looked at her pleadingly, squirming in her grasp, trying to remove her clothes to no avail. "I want this," she moaned.

"Maybe you do, deep down, and if so, I'll be here when you wake up. Until then, get some sleep."

Laura nodded, obeying her master, and Jubilee carried her to the bed. Instead of tucking her in, she crawled in herself and laid Laura's head down atop her chest, grinning at the way it rose and fell, and her heart beating underneath Laura's pillow. She wasn't fully alive again, but she also wasn't undead either. What she was Jubilee wasn't entirely sure, but she could feel power at her fingertips returning and emotions she had very nearly forgotten about rushing back, threatening to overwhelm her.

She held Laura close, tears stinging and running down her cheeks. Jubilee was a monster and had long since accepted that fact, but it was by returning alive that she realized just how monstrous she truly was. She enjoyed violence. She often daydreamed about killing children and drinking their blood, especially the annoying ones. She tried her best to hold onto her faith, but she couldn't help thinking of humans as little more than cattle, and their blood as belonging to her. She was a Draculina after all, and it was a vampire's right to take what they wanted.

Always hungry. Always angry. Always on the verge of losing control...

Her thoughts drifted back to the other night and Malik's test subjects. Children, horribly mutilated, but children nonetheless, and Laura allowing their deaths to weigh on her conscience just so that they wouldn't weigh Jubilee's when she eventually regained her humanity.

"Thank you, Laura," she wept, burying her face in Laura's hair. "I owe you my life. Literally, and I love you as much as a vampire can love anybody, or a human for that matter. The things I see when I drink your blood. I'm so sorry..."

Jubilee shook her head, more tears streaming down her face onto Laura's, who grabbed her hand and squeezed.

"I thought I told you to get some sleep?" she sniffled.

"Can't. Too happy..." Laura said, snuggling closer.

Jubilee laughed and played with her hair while Laura dozed in and out of consciousness. "No offense, dude, but you smell like sex."

She nodded, grinning ear to ear. "Jubilee, I don't ask this lightly, but when this is all over, would you consider taking my virginity? Someone took it from me a long time ago, and I'd like you to take it properly."

"If that's what you want, but only when you're ready." She smiled to herself and wiped her eyes. Considering what she saw earlier, it'd probably be another century or two before she was ready, or interested for that matter. "When this is finally over, I'm taking you on vacation. I'm thinking somewhere tropical so I can work on my tan. How's that sound?"

Laura's heavy breathing answered for her, and the vampire snuggled closer and kissed her atop the head, feeling drowsy herself.

"Sweet dreams, dude..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Although I don't necessarily ship Laura and Jubilee, I do think they had incredible chemistry in the 2010 "X-23" series, and in my opinion, had better chemistry than Laura and her various romantic partners over the years. A vampire and a masochist is a really unique relationship, especially when you consider both of them are doing their absolute best not to give into their primal urges and/or programming. Although Laura greatly values her independence, there is a part of her that misses following orders. Life used to be simple, and the more complicated it gets, the more confused and overwhelmed she becomes. As for Jubilee, I really like the concept of a "living vampire", and also her gradually losing her humanity the longer she spends as an undead, only to be remedied by drinking Laura's blood. It's a pairing that I really enjoy, but I'm not sure if its intimacy will ever move beyond this stage due to what was done to Laura in the past. Thankfully they're both immortals and have a couple centuries to figure it out.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Phantom Pains

As far as the general public was concerned, The X-Men were only one team of superheroes, but behind the scenes, there were in fact three, each with their own distinct cultures and attitudes. The teams were led by Cyclops, Storm, and Jean Grey, and were referred to as Blue, Gold, and Red Team respectively.

Cyclops and Storm were natural born leaders and had been the faces of The X-Men for nearly two decades, taking the mutant team from reviled by the masses to celebrated superheroes worldwide. It was in part due to a falling out after the death of Charles Xavier that the two had decided to co-lead The X-Men while Jean Grey focused on The Institute, thereby splitting their duties in three equal shares.

It was Jean Grey's Red Team that Laura found herself working with the most, in part because Jean wasn't particular to Laura's methods, and wasn't overly concerned about playing superhero. Her duty was to the children entrusted in her care, and as a mother, there was little love lost for anyone that harmed children and other innocents.

To the public however, Jean was merely the headmistress of The Institute, which gave her the perfect cover for heading The X-Men's black ops, with Laura being her sharpest instrument regardless of her actual status on the team.

Tonight, Red Team consisted of Laura, Jubilee, Gabby, and Meg, the latter of whom were waiting in the underground Blackbird hanger just as Laura instructed them earlier that day. Both girls smiled when they saw her safe and sound, albeit still wearing her rebreather, but couldn't help smirking at the fact she was with Jubilee who was uncharacteristically wearing a bubblegum pink t-shirt and sporting a slight tan. Both had also showered recently, and Gabby's keen nose informed her it'd been down in Jubilee's layer rather than back in their apartment.

"I don't wanna hear it," Laura grumbled, passing Meg and Gabby on her way to Red Team's designated Blackbird.

"Didn't say a word, Sis. I-" Gabby was interrupted by a hug from Jubilee, who held her tightly and spun her around.

"I'm alive again, Gabs" she said tearfully. "I'm me again."

Gabby grinned and hugged back. "You were always you, silly, but I'm glad to see you're wearing pink again."

Meg smiled and waved awkwardly. "Hey, Jubilee. Long time no-" She let out a squeak as Jubilee grabbed her, albeit more carefully, and included her in the embrace.

"Hey, Meg. Sorry I haven't said hi in awhile. I've been busy, and I guess you could say I haven't exactly been myself." She chuckled and hugged the pair as tightly as she dared. "Listen, I'm sorry if I ever made either of you feel uncomfortable. Vampires don't exactly have filters on their mouths, or shame for that matter, and I'm sorry..."

"Nothing to be sorry about!" Gabby cried. "You're normal compared to Laura!"

The girls all giggled except Laura, who kept her distance and looked away whenever anybody caught her eye. "If you're finished, Jean and I have an idea where to search for Malcom Colcord. The Arctic Passage isn't very well-regulated, and ships have been known to smuggle drugs, weapons, and even humans. Colcord believes he's covered his tracks but he won't be taking any chances, and his ship will be heavily armed. We'll take an indirect approach, but if we find out there are captives aboard, we do what we do best."

"Meet interesting people and kill them!" Gabby cheered.

Laura nodded. "Which means The X-Men can't officially get involved. Sorry, Kitty, but you're gonna have to stay aboard The Blackbird with Meg."

"HOW!?" A young woman with long brown hair phased out of the ground, glaring at Laura. "I'm incorporeal when I'm phasing! I don't exist! How come I can sneak up on your mini-me and a freaking vampire but not YOU!?"

"KITTY!" Gabby ran to embrace her, but instead ran straight through her only to be hugged from behind.

"Hey, Gabs!" Kitty said, both of them giggling. "Ready to shoot some bad guys?"

Gabby nodded enthusiastically. "I haven't shot anybody in so long, I hope I haven't forgotten how."

Jubilee chuckled and joined them. "Storm wanting to keep tabs on us or something?"

"Nah. I was just trying to sneak up on Laura." She turned and smiled at her. "Jean caught me up to speed, but I'm not here on behalf of Gold Team or The X-Men. I'm here for my friends. The X-Terminators!"

Laura rolled her eyes but the others all cheered. "Oh!" Gabby cried. "We should give Dazzler and Boom-Boom a call. Get the whole gang together."

"Alison's doing a concert in California and Tabitha's doing a new boyfriend," Laura said. "Practically everyone but Kitty is either hunting human traffickers or playing superhero. Besides, this is a private matter. I'd do it myself if I could, but I can't."

"Hey!" Kitty said defensively. "I've been busy running tech support. Just because I've been locked in my bedroom in my underwear doesn't mean it's an easy job. The last time you had a girls night out, you killed a Nazi vampire. I'm not missing out again."

"Fine, but this is my mission, and I call the shots. We're probably walking into a trap, so stay on your guard."

Jubilee laughed and led the way to The Blackbird. "Alright, ladies. You heard her. Let's get Laura to therapy."

"Pretty sure what you and Laura did early counts as 'therapy'," Gabby giggled.

Meg in truth was just an average pilot. The Blackbird mostly flew itself, and she was still inexperienced compared to everyone aboard except Gabby, who wasn't even allowed in the flight simulators back home. Laura was a fair pilot but had never been designated as such due to her necessity on the ground, and nobody in their right mind would've trusted either Jubilee or Kitty to fly The Blackbird.

Her cousin was Laura's go-to pilot by necessity rather than merit, something Meg was all-too aware of and why she spent so much time practicing. She wanted to be useful for once in her life, and give back to the people that had given her so much. Perhaps most importantly however, she didn't want to be known as the person that crashed a billion dollar, state of the art stealth jet.

They arrived at the Arctic Passage within the hour, but it took several more before they finally found a ship with a manifest that raised red flags for Laura.

"Jean thinks this might be the one," Kitty said, massaging her migraine. "It's pretty safe to assume that Colcord doesn't go by that name anymore, and that he's changed his appearance since that picture was taken, but there's somebody aboard that sorta-kinda-maybe matches his description, and she can't read his mind."

"Weapon X," Laura muttered. Their experiments were the reason Jean couldn't read her own mind or sense her presence. Gabby wasn't much better, but practically everyone related to Weapon X were either resistant or immune to telepaths. The fact Jean with the help of Cerebro was able to find someone aboard that her mind couldn't touch meant this was almost definitely Colcord's ship.

"Good thing you came with us, Kitty," Jubilee said, helping Gabby with her body armor. "Besides Meg, you're the only one here that Jean can talk to telepathically, and she's the pilot."

"She can't talk to you either?" Gabby asked, pulling a balaclava over her face.

Jubilee grinned mischievously. "Well, technically she can, but vampire minds aren't exactly the healthiest places for humans to spend time in. She read my mind once and only once, and now I'm not allowed near her kids for some reason."

Laura grunted in acknowledgement while checking over her and Gabby's utility belts one final time. Jubilee didn't need to cover her face since she still didn't appear on cameras if she didn't wish to, and could effortlessly hypnotize everyone aboard into forgetting her appearance. There was also very little equipment she needed, but she did trade her bright clothing for black, which Laura was grateful for.

The trio walked to the back of the jet and Jubilee hooked her arms around them. When the hatch door opened, a pair of ethereal bat wings carried them across the night sky above black waters to a brightly lit cargo ship.

"Armed guards," Jubilee noted from the clouds. "The Arctic Passage probably isn't known for pirates, is it?"

Laura shook her head, concentrating on the mission instead of the painfully cold air. "Land us atop the bridge. Jubilee, you find Colcord. We'll handle the guards and search the ship for human cargo. No killing unless we find some."

They landed without making a sound and Jubilee held onto them before they could scatter. "I can hear them," she whispered, concentrating. "Six containers. About thirty people per container. Jean must not be able to sense inside them for some reason."

Without a word both Laura and Gabby unshouldered their suppressed MP9 and MP5 submachine guns respectively. "Probably not a good idea to free them ourselves," Laura said. "We'll leave that to the authorities. We need to move fast. M, K, are you reading us?"

"Loud and clear," Kitty said. "I've already contacted the US and Canadian Coast Guards but it'll be at least an hour or two before anybody gets here. Do what you gotta do and let's get out of here."

The trio leaped off the bridge, each with their own destination. Laura was loath to separate from Gabby, but timing was of the essence. While she headed inside the bridge, Gabby broke her ankles landing atop the main deck and Jubilee hurried into the crew quarters.

Three men awaited Laura inside, and all three fell to the ground with bullets between their eyes before they even knew she was there. Afterward she went to work downloading everything from the ship's computer onto Kitty's flash drive for future investigation, and turned off all the security cameras as well as the ship's engine.

"Bridge secure," she said over her commlink. "G, what's your status?"

"Four dead. Oops, make that five. I bet these guys are REALLY regretting only buying level three plates right about now."

"How many still alive?" Laura leaped off the bridge onto the deck below, following the sound of suppressed gunfire.

"I think only three. Okay, two. Do these guys suck or am I just better?"

Laura circled around and finished off the final two, as well as a third Gabby had missed. In truth, her sister was better, and what she lacked in mobility compared to Laura she made up for in tactics and efficiency. She was an even better shot than Laura who was herself an expert marksman, and not only had she received training akin to US Special Forces, but she also equipped herself with nothing but the absolute best.

"Did you see that!" she cried, tapping her body armor. "5.56 directly to the chest and barely even a scratch! Seriously, Sis, you really oughta try it sometime."

"Maybe next time. J, what's your status?"

"Found our guy. Killed a couple dozen baddies getting to him. From the smell of them, they knew what they were guarding. You SURE you're not gonna kill Colcord on sight?"

"No, but the end result will probably be the same. We're on our way."

The two hurried into the crew quarters below deck where several bodies lay scattered across the corridors. Ordinarily, Jubilee as a vampire enjoyed ripping and tearing her enemies to pieces, reveling in violence, but had instead 'humanely' executed them with her sword, meaning they'd been dead before hitting the ground. It was a sentiment Laura shared, not wishing for anyone to needlessly suffer, but she was fairly certain that Jubilation Lee would've found even that abhorrent.

Laura paused outside the room she smelled Jubilee and presumably Colcord in, and took a deep breath to try and steady herself.

"You gonna be alright?" Gabby asked.

She shook her head. "I haven't been alright in a very long time, Gabby. I can't promise that my programming won't activate and force me to kill him. Whatever happens, I want you to stay out of the way. Colcord's life isn't worth protecting."

Gabby nodded and took a step back, allowing Laura to enter the room first. "Just be careful, Sis..."

Inside the cabin, duct taped to an ornate chair, was a balding, fifty-something year old Malcom Colcord. Laura would've recognized him anywhere regardless of how many years passed. It was all in the eyes. They were hard and lacking emotion, and yet strangely inquisitive, just like all scientists she grew up emulating. Even while tied to a chair with three armed women standing over him, he didn't seem the least bit concerned or surprised. He'd known for at least sixteen years this day was coming, and probably had a few guesses what they had in store for him.

"Anybody wanna tell me what this is about?" he asked. "There's a lot of reasons I could be tied to this chair, and I'd like to know which it is."

Laura stepped forward, struggling to keep her body from shaking. "You're Malcom Colcord. Former Weapon X agent."

"Oh. That." He shrugged. "That was a long time ago. If you couldn't tell, I'm into weapon smuggling and human trafficking now. Pays better. Less moral and ethical dilemmas."

"Kimura wants you dead. Why?"

Colcord froze, and for the very first time, fear and doubt filled his eyes. "D-did she send you?"

Laura nodded. "You could say that." She removed her mask and Colcord's eyes widened. "Kimura's my former handler. You probably knew her better as X-16. She made me into what I am, and I'm assuming you made her into what she is. From what all she's told me, I should probably consider myself lucky."

A pair of adamantium claws released between her knuckles, scraping either side of his neck. He winced and closed his eyes, but upon opening them, seemed disappointed to still be alive.

"I can make a few guesses why Kimura wants you dead," she said, barely able to control her voice, "but only because she did the same to me."

She retracted her claws and stepped away, breathing deeply. "Have you ever read 'The Modern Prometheus', Dr. Colcord?" she asked, wiping sweat from her brow. "Better known as 'Frankenstein'? Every mad scientist should. In the book, The Creature is highly intelligent and tracks the good doctor all the way to the Arctic Circle, where we are now. Its goal was to make him suffer more than any other human has ever suffered before because it was created innocent like Adam but fell like Lucifer."

Laura took a series of deep breaths and massaged her wrists. "I have that very same ability, Dr. Colcord, but I'm not your monster. I'm the monster yours created, and you're my only clue to finding her."

Colcord shook his head. "I-I don't know where she is. I've been out of the game since the X-23 project was still in development. I did my job, and I created the finest asset Weapon X has ever seen."

"Yes you did, which is why-"

"Missiles incoming!" Meg yelled over the radio.

"M?" Laura said. "Who's the target?"

"WE ARE!" Kitty cried.

She sprinted out the door with Gabby trailing behind. "Jubilee, stay with Colcord!"

Laura practically flew over the bodies littering the hallways and up the stairs, only to discover The Blackbird soaring overhead, taking desperate evasive measures to try and out maneuver a dozen or more intercontinental ballistic missiles.

"Come on," she prayed. "Come on, Meg. You can do it..."

Her stomach sank. Meg might've been a fair pilot, and The Blackbird one of the most technologically advanced jets in the world, but Weapon X had its tendrils in the worldwide military industrial complex, and Kimura now had her finger on its very pulse.

Flares lit up the night sky along with machine gun fire, but Laura already knew there were too many targets. She dropped to her knees, and could only watch with cold acceptance when one of the missiles exploded and The Blackbird disappeared in a massive fireball that only grew in size as more missiles detonated around it.

"Meg. Kitty..."

"HOLY SHIT!" Meg screamed.

The Blackbird escaped the debris field and climbed higher and higher into the atmosphere until finally disappearing from sight.

"Kitty," Laura breathed, "well-done."

"Thanks," the radio crackled. "Phasing the entire ship WITHOUT screwing up the electronics took a lot out of me though. Don't wanna try doing that again, so we're gonna gain altitude and get off radar. Might have to boost your signal to get ahold of us again, or the emergency frequency if you may lose us entirely."

She nodded. "Roger that, and thank you. M, you alright?"

"Am I alright!?" Meg stuttered. "I was j-just inside an explosion! Of course I'm not alright!"

Laura smiled and chuckled to herself, suddenly giddy and weightless. "Welcome to The X-Terminators. Meet interesting people and kill them."

She returned to the crew cabin and made her way back down to Colcord's room, but paused and looked around upon entering. "Where's Gabby?"

Jubilee blinked. "Isn't she with you? She was right behind you a minute ago."

Laura's eyes widened and she sprinted back down the hall. "G, where are you? Honey Badger, do you copy? Damn it, Gabby, answer me!"

There was nothing except static, but Laura was a tracker by nature, and her sister's blood was fresh in the air...

On the other side of the ship, standing by the railing was her sister with a transparent figure behind her, sinking its fangs into her neck. Gabby's eyes had rolled to the back of her head and she was shaking uncontrollably. Perhaps even more appalling however was the horrified expression frozen on her face as though she were in unspeakable agony.

"How-" Laura bit her tongue and narrowed her eyes. Drawn in blood on Gabby's vest by her own hand was a peculiar symbol that made Laura nauseous just looking at it, and recalled feeling similar sensations during her brief time in hell.

"Bloodscream," she said, releasing her claws. "Now I understand how you survived Logan. You have more in common with demons now than vampires, don't you?"

The ghostly vestige of a vampire grinned crimson lips at her. "All I did was discover the truth of immortality," Malek said, his English accent replaced by something from the depths of hell. "You can destroy my body as many times as you'd like. My soul and spirit will never perish, but with this girl's blood, soon I may have a body that matches."

"Gabby's nightmares," Laura realized, "those were because of you. You tried reviving back at The Institute, but Illyana's magic was too powerful."

"The little witch is talented, I'll give her that, but all it took was your clone hearing my voice and looking me in the eyes to be completely under my spell." He chuckled and licked his lips. "She's very unique, you know. Washed in bloodshed yet untainted by it. There's almost no flavor of fear to speak of, or pain for that matter. Fortunately I have my methods. Losing nine sisters was understandably rather traumatic. Poor girl's mind is barely holding itself together."

Laura stepped forward but froze when Malek grabbed Gabby by the hair and lifted her off the ground. "One more step and I'll rip her head off."

"Bastard..."

Malek chuckled and watched her reaction closely as he licked the blood clean from Gabby's throat. "Consider this repayment for cutting off my head and interrupting my research. It'll take me years to rebuild, and even longer to find a fresh supply of-"

The world suddenly exploded in white phosphorus fire, blinding and deafening Laura, and causing the demonic vampire to scream in agony.

"Grab Gabby and get the hell out of here!" Jubilee cried, shooting plasma from her fingertips that exploded wherever Malek's vestige flew.

Dazed and not entirely sure where she was, Laura dragged her sister away from the railing. "Gabby, you alright?" She bent down and discovered her sister wasn't breathing, and was for all intents and purposes dead. "Your healing factor should've kicked in by now," she said, mind struggling to catch up. "You're still under his spell..."

She glanced up, and saw that although Jubilee's plasmids were able to keep Malek at bay, he had consumed enough of Gabby's blood to at least be resistant to fire and light. Beheading was out of the question, and Laura was carrying precious little silver. She had a feeling that earthly weapons wouldn't do any good anyway, and without hesitation threw herself onto the railing.

"MALEK!" Laura painted a thick crimson line across her forearm. "You wanna live forever! I'm right here!"

"Laura, no!"

Drawn to her like a shark smelling blood in the water, Malek swooped down and grabbed her, carrying Laura over the ledge and into the dark waters below.

She screamed from the shock of hitting the freezing cold water, immediately filling her lungs. She fought for her rebreather but Malek tightened his grip around her and sunk his fangs into her neck, causing her as much torment in her body as Jubilee's bite had caused ecstasy.

They sank quickly on account of Laura's adamantium. Her eardrums burst as did the capillaries in her eyes. Decompression sickness set in and she felt herself dying. Somewhere in the back of her mind however she heard Kurt's voice reminding her what to do. The mutant better known as Nightcrawler was a deeply devout Catholic, and had spent countless hours debating, arguing, and discussing religion with Laura. If God had ever truly spoken to her, Laura suspected He spoke in a German accent.

The vice grip around her relaxed now that her body was no longer thrashing, and Laura's hand reflexively moved to her canteen. Jubilee's cross necklace thumped against her chest, and she took it as a sign she didn't have much time left.

She said a prayer that Kurt had taught her. Not one that she said often, but a precautionary prayer for whenever she was around Jubilee and innocents.

'Almighty God, by Your blood and this water, wash away all my sins for they are many. Bless this water not just for my protection, but for the protection of all Your flock that you've entrusted in me. Amen...'

Malek immediately screamed as the sea water started boiling, peeling away the flesh from his bones. He tried swimming away but Laura sank her teeth into his neck and released her claws into his now corporeal body.

The vampire caught fire from the endless supply of holy water and Laura could feel his very soul screaming long after his bones burned away.

At last there was silence in the depths and Laura smiled, still sinking into the void, but no longer cold.

She expected to see the pits of hell awaiting her again, but instead saw Sarah and Logan patiently waiting for her in a field of flowers, and Laura hurried toward them...

Jubilee emerged from the water carrying Laura in her arms and flew back onto the ship where Gabby sat, white as a sheet but breathing again, which was more than what could be said for her sister.

"Damn Type E," Jubilee grumbled. "One drop and it alerts every single damn predator in the damn ocean. Which is very, VERY deep by the way."

She laid Laura on the deck and looked as though she was about to try CPR but stopped herself. "Vampire breath," she muttered. "Gabby, I don't think anything would happen, but right now Laura's technically dead just like you were. If I fill her lungs with vampire breath, I might end up doing more harm than good."

Gabby nodded tiredly and released a bone claw between her knuckles. "I've got a better idea." She rolled Laura over onto her side and stabbed her multiple times in the chest. Blood and water immediately spilled out, and moments later Laura was coughing and vomiting sea water all over the deck.

"I guess that's one way to get water out of her lungs," Jubilee said, ruffling her hair. "Good thinking, Gabs."

She smiled tiredly and wrapped her arms around Laura who held her tightly, shaking uncontrollably.

"T-thank you," Laura stuttered, looking up at Jubilee. "You saved us both."

"Anytime, dude. Well, maybe not anytime. Please don't do anything that stupid ever again." She grinned and brushed the hair out of Laura's eyes. "Come on, let's get you both inside where it's warm. Meg and Kitty will be here soon. Some of those missiles wound up on radar, and now The Blackbird's having to lie low for a bit. Plus, if there are any more missiles, Kitty can't phase an entire jet and adamantium at the same time."

Laura nodded. Being the densest metal on Earth, adamantium was worse than having concrete shoes for swimming, and Kitty struggled enough phasing through the metal, much less making it incorporeal like herself.

Jubilee grabbed hold of the pair and in a single bound and flutter of her wings brought them inside the ship's bridge, which was a little crowded on account of the three dead bodies lying on the floor, but mercifully warm. The pair dropped to the ground, arms still entangled, and Jubilee regarded them for a moment. "I'm gonna free the captives and see if there's anything I can do for them. Then I'm gonna bring up Colcord and we'll get the hell out of here. Sound good?"

"B-bring a box of m-matches to set me on fire before y-you go," Laura said, pulling her soaking wet shirt over her head before trying to unbuckle her belt with fingers that wouldn't cooperate.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Jubilee said, giving her hand. "I'm a little out of practice, and this might hurt a little, but it'll at least warm you up." She held her hands out and summoned a small firework show around Laura. She gritted her teeth at the annoying sparks biting her flesh but sighed when the pain eventually faded into warmth.

"Thanks."

Jubilee nodded. While her mutant powers were stronger than ever, she didn't quite trust herself to leave a ball of plasma lying on the floor for them to warm themselves beside, or create any more fireworks in an enclosed space. With her long coat having already dried supernaturally, she covered Laura with it and hurried out the door.

Alone, the sisters huddled together without saying much, both shaking, and both with tears rolling down their cheeks.

"He hurt me," Gabby whispered. "He actually hurt me..." She almost laughed but cried instead, and Laura held her tightly. Even if the pain had been illusionary, induced by Malek's hypnotism, for someone who had never felt even the slightest pain in her entire life, Laura knew it must have been beyond Gabby's comprehension.

"I'm sorry, Gabby," she rasped. "I'm sorry for ever dragging you into this. I'm done playing Kimura's game. It nearly got us all killed tonight, and I've seen you die too many times this week. I'm done..."

Gabby eyed her suspiciously. "What do you mean 'done'?"

"I'm not going to cut my head off or surrender to Kimura, if that's what you're worried about. As much as I wish I was still standing in a field of flowers, I'd rather be here with you, Gabby." She smiled and wiped her eyes. "I'm done playing Kimura's game, and I'm ending it tonight."

Jubilee appeared in the doorway at that moment with Colcord gagged and bound. "Alright, dudettes, Meg will be here in less than five minutes, and when she gets here, we're gonna need to haul ass back to New York."

Laura got to her unsteady feet and approached them. "I changed my mind. We don't need Colcord anymore."

Without warning she released an adamantium claw and in a single flourish, removed the man's balding head from his shoulders. The body dropped, and Jubilee stepped away from the crimson mess. "Not gonna lie, dude, that was kinda hot."

She growled and handed back her coat before quickly getting dressed. "Both of you please wait outside for a moment. I need to make a call."

Jubilee glanced at Gabby who quickly looked away, unable to look either of them in the eye. "Why do I get the feeling you're about to do something incredibly stupid again?"

Laura sat down at the ship's main computer and started typing. "I'm telling Kimura that I want to meet, and asking what her demands are."

"Like hell you are!" Jubilee marched over and ripped her away from the desk. "You've had enough suicidal, masochistic ideas for one day, Laura. Let's try again sometime when you're not suffering from brain damage."

"I know what I'm doing." She futilely tried to free herself from the vampire's grasp to no avail. "Gabby's lucky to be alive, and Meg would be dead if it wasn't for Kitty. If Kimura really wanted you all dead, you already would be. This is a game to her, and I'm tired of playing. She won and I lost. For a price, she'll tell me where she is, and we can settle this once and for all tonight."

Jubilee frowned and looked back at Gabby who looked away again but slowly nodded. "This is a stupid idea and I don't know why I even bother. She grabbed Gabby by the shoulder and led her out.

"Wait for me on the other side of the ship," Laura said, sitting back down. "I don't want either of you listening to this, especially you, Gabby. Please..." The unhappy pair nodded, and Jubilee flew them out of sight.

Alone at last, Laura sighed and brought up her old Weapon X contact line, used while she was on missions and needed to report in. She knew Kimura checked it daily, if not hourly, and saw that she had written a few thousand messages since she last checked.

'You win, Kimura,' she typed. 'Malcom Colcord is dead. I cut off his head. Tell me where you are and let's finish this.'

'I want to hear your voice,' came an almost immediate reply.

Laura took a deep breath and turned on the microphone and repeated herself.

'That's better, X,' Kimura wrote. 'It's so good to hear your voice again. It's like music to my ears. I'll give you my coordinates IF you swear win or lose you'll complete your kill list.'

"I swear it..."

'Don't worry. They deserve a fate much worse than death, and when I win, you'll skin them alive. You'll skin their entire families. You'll do that and much worse for me, won't you, X?"

"If you beat me, I won't have a choice..."

'You NEVER have a choice, X. NEVER. One other thing. I want you to tell me that you love me and that you miss me, and I want you to turn on the camera. I've missed you so much, and soon, we'll get to spend the rest of our long lives together.'

Laura did as ordered and looked into the camera. "I love you, Kimura, and I've missed you. I don't want to kill you, but I'll do what I have in order to protect my family."

'I am your family, X. You'll see soon enough. You look beautiful by the way. I've missed you so much. Tell me, do you think about me when you're trying to sleep? Remember, no lies.'

"Yes..."

'What about when your vampire whore touches you. Are you thinking about me then?"

"Y-yes..."

'Good. Now, you've been a very naughty girl since you last abandoned me, and I still have a short list of demands. I'm eager to see you again, so let's start with your jacket. Just like old times...'

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Bloodscream coming back from the dead was an idea I had before I even introduced him in Chapter 3, and he very nearly replaced Kimura as the main villain. I really liked the idea of the girls fighting vampires and going toe-to-toe with a vampire even more powerful than Jubilee, but it was a little too late to make someone other than Kimura the main villain. He instead became the penultimate villain and a subplot for Gabby who was referenced to have been acting a little strangely in several chapters. Malek taking an extended holy water bath seemed like the only sure way of killing his spirit/soul, but I also really enjoyed the scene with Laura drowning. Her hating deep water and cold has been a recurring theme in my fics, and her blood attracting predators actually is canon believe it or not. Also canon is Laura having been to hell (twice), and her having glimpsed Heaven (presumably) on occasion after "dying".  Looking back, I wish I'd had the idea for Bloodscream prior to writing "Killers By Choice", but he served his purpose and I really enjoyed writing the two chapters he appeared in.

Fun fact, but Kitty Pryde was supposed to appear much earlier in this story but her introduction kept getting pushed further back. She was one of my favorite characters from "X-Men: Evolution" back in the day, which was also my introduction to Laura, and is still today my favorite interpretation of The X-Men. I wish I could've introduced her sooner, but better late than never.

As for Kimura, I really like the idea that Laura could've made a deal with her at any point in time, but knew it'd involve having to kill the people on Kimura's list, and also cost Laura what remains of her dignity. I always found it really interesting in the comics where at one point Kimura got especially angry with her for the death of her lover(?), and Laura actually tried to apologize. They have an interesting dynamic in canon that sadly got watered down over time, and I like the idea that Laura doesn't necessarily want to kill Kimura, but doesn't see any other choice. Kimura is evil, but Laura understands her and why she is the way she is, and Laura can't help but feel sorry for her. And in this narrative, a nasty case of Stockholm syndrome.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Gunpowder, Lead, & Fireworks

Laura approached the hovering Blackbird in the back of the cargo ship with her head hung low, not acknowledging the four pairs of eyes watching her closely. Before she could step aboard however, Jubilee walked in front of her.

"What did it cost?" she asked, trying not to raise her voice. "Your dignity? More killing?"

"I don't have any dignity," Laura said matter-of-factly. "Weapon X already took it from me. Kimura got what she wanted, and I got what I wanted. That's all there is to it. We end this tonight."

She walked around her onto The Blackbird and took a seat in the back of the jet, immediately massaging her wrists. Gabby collapsed beside her, some of her color returning, and laid her head on Laura's shoulder. "You alright?" she asked.

Laura shook her head but didn't say anything, and refused to look her or anybody else in the eye. Meg passed them on the aisle, her gaze following Jubilee and Kitty, who must have given her some kind of signal because she nodded. "Where to?" she asked.

"First back to New York," Laura said. "Kitty, we're gonna need you on the ground, which means Meg's going to need a new babysitter."

"I do not need a-" Meg sighed and threw her hands up. "Alright, fine. I guess having some company while you all are risking your lives would be nice."

Jubilee and Kitty took a seat across from Laura and Gabby while Meg returned to the front of the jet and prepared for takeoff.

"What else did you agree to?" Jubilee asked, trying and failing to catch Laura's eye.

"Win or lose, I have to finish her kill list," she said. "They're responsible for turning Kimura into the monster she is today, which means they're also indirectly responsible for turning me into what I am."

"You could always, you know-" Kitty shrugged- "not go through with it."

Laura shook her head. "Kimura has done a lot of things to me, most of them unforgivable, but she's never lied to me, and I made her a promise. If I kill her, I'll also avenge her. It's the least I can do. Everyone on her kill list are former Weapon X agents, and I doubt any of them have gone straight since going into hiding."

"Least you can do for her?" Jubilee hissed. "The least you can do for that bitch is cut her head off!"

With a heavy sigh Laura pulled out her phone and started dialing. It wasn't any use arguing, and she didn't have the energy. "Sue? It's Laura. I'm sorry to call you out of the blue like this, especially this late, but I was hoping to call in a favor."

She nodded while the other woman spoke at length. "You don't owe me for saving your daughter, Sue. It's all the babysitting you owe me for. I was hoping you wouldn't mind looking after my cousin." She glanced up at the frowning pilot, her lip twitching. "She's twenty-one, and she can make her own TV dinners and put herself to sleep. Just check under the bed for monsters..."

"And this is the AAC Honey Badger," Gabby said proudly, holding up her new favorite assault rifle to a tall blonde in a blue and white uniform with the number 4 proudly emblazoned on her chest. "It's modeled after the MP5 but has more in common with an AR-15, and shoots supersonic .300 Blackout, meaning a single bullet can penetrate even level four plates. Best part, it's called a Honey Badger!"

Susan Storm-Richards, better known as The Invisible Woman and charter member of The Fantastic Four, grinned ear to ear at Gabby, barely hearing a word despite listening closely to her voice, and shaking her head in disbelief the more she studied her. Occasionally she'd glance at Laura who had barely changed in the three years since she last saw her, but Gabby despite still needing to grow and fill out some, looked almost exactly like Laura had at sixteen, with the only major differences being facial scars and an infectious smile that lit up the room.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to meet you," Sue said, her face practically radiant. "I've heard so much about you."

Gabby giggled. "Nothing good I hope."

Laura restrained from rolling her eyes but was admittedly always bemused at people's reactions to meeting Gabby for the first time. They couldn't help comparing even their most mundane mannerisms, and every single one of them were taken aback by her sister's smile, something even some of Laura's closest allies weren't entirely sure she was capable of.

"Enough about me!" Gabby cried. "You're the Invisible Woman! One of the very first superheroes!"

"Don't say that," Sue said shyly. "You make me feel older than I already am."

Jubilee snorted. "Dude, trust me, you have aged like fine wine. They don't call you Super-MILF for nothing."

"Yeah," Kitty agreed, "Jubilee's not the only vampire on this jet. Are The Fantastic Four hiding The Fountain of Youth somewhere in the Baxter Building? If so, why haven't you let Reed drink any?"

Sue shook her head but smiled at their praise, and glanced at the pilot who was struggling to keep her eyes on the instruments and not her.

"It's a pleasure meeting you too, Meg," Sue said, walking up the aisle. "Laura's already told me all about you, and I'm glad to hear that you and your mother are doing well at The Institute."

"H-hi!" Meg screamed, her usually concealed Texas accent slipping out. "N-nice to m-meet you, Ma'am!"

Sue chuckled again and patted her shoulder reassuringly, which did nothing to reassure the part-time library assistant, part-time pilot that still struggled not to hyperventilate around The X-Men.

"Meg's shy around new people," Gabby said unhelpfully. "How come it's taken so long for Laura to introduce us? I didn't know she used to babysit your kids."

The room turned to Laura who cast her eyes aside. "It's my fault. Reed wanted to try and cure me of Trigger Scent as a thank you and apology for-" she briefly glanced at Sue before looking away again and swallowing. "Anyway, it went about as well as you expect, except worse. Without a target and without a way out of the cage Reed created to contain me, I attacked myself, and Sue had to restrain me. What was left of me..."

The loving mother that she was, Sue wanted nothing more than to embrace the young woman and apologize profusely but stopped herself just short. "You didn't have to go away, Laura," she whispered. "It wasn't your fault. It was mine for telling Reed we needed to help you. I-I didn't know Trigger Scent was that traumatic for you. I'm sorry..."

Laura nodded, staring out the window. "It's in the past, and even I didn't know to what extent it changes my brain chemistry. But if it wasn't for that incident, I wouldn't have asked you to come tonight."

"It's about time as far as I'm concerned," Jubilee said, eyeing Laura. "The two of you have been through hell together. Literally."

Sue's ears perked up, and it was as though the loving mother was replaced by an inquisitive scientist, though not any kind Laura had ever known growing up.

"Actually," Sue said, "it wasn't hell as we think of it in a religious or metaphysical sense. It was simply another dimension outside the known universe or perhaps this reality. It's possible if not likely even that our minds conjured the scenario we saw, and-"

"-it looked like hell. It smelled like hell. And it hurt like hell," Laura interrupted. "There were demons, they had pitchforks, everything was on fire, and I couldn't die no matter how hard I tried. It was hell enough for me..."

Sue winced and looked close to tears. "Laura, I am so sorry, I-"

Laura held up her hand but still avoided her gaze. "No, I apologize. That was just me being darkly humored, and it wasn't nearly as bad as my first trip to the pit if it's any consolation."

"Laura, I-"

"Sue, I called you tonight so that you could stop feeling guilty about it. I don't like feeling as though I owe people, and I assume others feel the same. I made my choice to save Valeria and I'd do it again, albeit not as enthusiastically as before." She gave her a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "I felt that I deserved to suffer back then. Even for all eternity, and did not think anybody would miss me. I don't feel that way anymore, and it's because of all of you."

She glanced around the cockpit, meeting each of them each in the eyes if only for a brief moment. "All of you have seen me at my absolute worst, and you'll probably see even worse later tonight. Meg, thank you for teaching me what it means to be family, and for giving me purpose when I had none. Without you, I wouldn't be here right now..."

Laura walked to the front of The Blackbird and to the surprise of everyone, embraced her cousin. "Laura-" She looked away and pretended to focus on piloting, but in truth wouldn't have noticed if she was flying straight into a mountain.

"Kitty, thank you for being my friend when Logan first introduced me to The X-Men. I'm sorry I didn't understand what friendship meant back then, but I understand now. You weren't scared of me, and you were the only one that tried talking me out of leaving after my falling out with Scott and later when Logan died. You were the only person that understood how I truly felt both times, probably even better than I did, and-"

Kitty couldn't hear anymore and threw her arms around Laura. She'd always viewed herself as Logan's daughter, and his eldest once Jubilee joined their little family. Deep down she had resented Laura when they first met, wishing she could've called him 'Dad' instead, never realizing just how strained their relationship was. After rescuing Laura from Kimura earlier that year, they'd had a long talk where they got everything off their chests, and Kitty still cried late at night thinking about it.

"I'm sorry I didn't try harder to help you when we first met," she said. "I knew. Deep down I knew what you were going through, and I'm sorry, Laura..."

Laura shook her head. "It's not your fault, Kitty. It's mine for hiding it from you. You helped by treating me like a person, something I didn't consider myself at the time. Thank you." Kitty released her, albeit reluctantly, and Laura turned to Jubilee. She smiled, albeit briefly, and instead of saying anything, simply wrapped her arms around the vampire. They'd already said all that needed to be said.

"Sue," she said, "thank you for treating me like your own. You were the first person that insisted on calling me Laura instead of X. It was supposed to be something private, just between me and Sarah, but because of you, I started liking the sound of my own name. I'm sorry for being stubborn these last few years, but I promise it had nothing to do with you or Reed. As usual I let my demons get the better of me."

Sue shook her head and hugged her tightly. "Sweetie, I saw this same look in your eyes when you took my daughter's place in hell," she said tearfully. "Don't you dare die, Laura. Everyone on this jet loves you. If you won't fight for yourself, fight for us. Please..."

Laura nodded, and finally turned her full attention to Gabby, who she no longer had to stoop down to look her in the eye. "Gabby, I-"

"Don't say goodbye," she whimpered. "Not again. Never again. I can't lose you too. I can't..."

She nodded again and embraced her. "You're the best thing to ever happen to me, Gabby, and I love you. After tonight, Weapon X will be on life support, and we can finally put this nightmare behind us." She glanced up and shared a silent conversation with the others that they all understood. If anything happened to Laura, Gabby was their responsibility, and she didn't want her following her sister's footsteps.

The two finally parted and Laura wiped her eyes and looked around again. "All I ask tonight is that none of you die on my account. I'm facing Kimura alone, and if I lose, I refuse to be taken prisoner again. I can't go through that again. I won't go through that again, and I won't be her puppet either. I'll take my life before that happens, but Kimura will still need to be dealt with."

"We'll kill her, Laura," Jubilee said, "but it'd be easier if we killed that bitch together."

Laura shook her head. "She'd consider that cheating, and Kimura takes that very personally. We cheat, she cheats, and innocent people die. I made a deal with her that I'd face her alone, but if I lose, use whatever force necessary to kill her."

Jubilee nodded and grabbed her by the wrist. "A word in private if you wouldn't mind..."

She dragged Laura to the back of the jet where all the equipment was stored and the engines loudest, and positioned them so they were face to face, their noses practically touching.

"Laura, look me in the eyes and tell me you can beat Kimura, because over the years she's kicked your ass more times than I can count. Tell me to my face this isn't just another glorified suicide mission."

When Laura didn't say anything and tried to look away, Jubilee grabbed her by the chin and barred her fangs at her. "Dude, if you don't get your head in the game, I am going to drink you dry and call The X-Men, The Avengers, the rest of the Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight, X-Factor, S.H.I.E.L.D., and anybody else I can think of and wipe Kimura off the face of the Earth, consequences be damned. Understand?"

She nodded, trying not to lose herself in Jubilee's hypnotic eyes. "I can beat Kimura," she breathed. "Trust me. Please..."

Jubilee sighed, eyes softening. "Laura, I love you, and I trust you with my life, but I don't trust you with your own."

"Neither do I, but this isn't about my life anymore."

"What do you-"

She was interrupted by Laura's lips meeting her own. It wasn't a long kiss, nor was it filled with the kind of lustful passion or wild abandonment a vampire craved, but it was more than Jubilee thought Laura capable of. Had she still been a full-fledged vampire, she doubted anything would've been able to stop her from draining Laura and fulfilling her heart's darkest desires. But she wasn't, and Jubilation Lee didn't necessarily have the same cravings or desires as her vampiric self.

"If that was a goodbye kiss, so help me, I'll-" She stopped herself and wrapped her arms around her. "Don't die, Laura. That's an order. If you do, I swear to God, I'll introduce Gabby to your former wardrobe."

Laura's mouth twitched. "I don't intend to. Believe it or not, I'm mostly over my suicidal phase." She wandered back to the front of the plane with Jubilee following, the others pretending they hadn't just had a semi-private conversation, and discovered Gabby and Kitty coming to the end of a heated debate.

"What if instead we said it like those rolling refrigerators from Doctor Who?" Gabby said, pinching her nose. "X-Terminate! X-Terminate! X-Terminate!"

Kitty bent over laughing and hugged her tightly. "Gabs, you're a genius. Never let Laura tell you anything different."

"Welcome to The X-Terminators by the way," Gabby said to Sue. "Our motto is 'Meet interesting people and kill them'."

Sue gave her a lopsided smile. "That's both the most adorable and terrifying thing I've ever heard."

Jubilee ruffled the girl's hair. "Just like Gabby!"

"We're nearing the base," Meg called, eyes glued to the radar. "We'll be flying over it in about twenty minutes. Miss Storm, er, Mrs. Richards, er-"

"Just Sue, Meg." She joined her in the co-pilot's seat. "Don't worry, my forcefields can protect us even from a nuclear bomb. Laura, do what you do best."

She nodded and all eyes turned to her. "The plan is simple. Kitty phases inside and takes control of the security cameras and computers. Jean's telepathy and our communications will be jammed inside, so prioritize getting them back."

Kitty saluted. "Consider it done. Weapon X hasn't created a system yet I haven't been able to crack."

"I'll enter through the ventilation system and make my way to Kimura. She'll be waiting outside the main lab. Gabby and Jubilee, your job is to subdue as many agents as possible and serve as our distraction. Once you've cleared the base, radio S.H.I.E.L.D. and come find me. Either I'll have killed Kimura, or-" she caught Gabby's eye and sighed. "Or nothing. She'll be dead, and then we can search the main lab together. Don't go in without me."

Jubilee clapped her hands together. "Alright, sounds like a plan! Honey Badger and I will be Team Full Frontal while Fem-verine and Shadowcat are Team Backdoor. Our eyes in the sky will be Team Voyeur. Sound good?"

"Please don't ever say that again..."

Gabby giggled. "You really need a codename, Sis. Even Meg has a codename when she's flying The Blackbird."

"I never agreed to Bookworm," she called from the front. "I get it. I'm a librarian and I like to read. Can't I be Chronicler instead?"

"What about Talon?" Kitty suggested, ignoring her. "Or maybe-"

Laura sighed and glanced around the jet. "Except for Meg and Gabby, I introduced myself to all of you as X. It wasn't until I trusted you that I told you my name, and for three years now I've hated anyone calling me anything different." She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "After tonight the last of my creators will be dead, which means I'll finally own X-23 for myself. If you'd like, you can refer to me as X again, but preferably only on missions."

The girls cheered and Kitty slapped her arm. "Glad to have you back, X! You have no idea how long it took me to get used to calling you Laura."

"Pretty sure I do actually."

Jubilee laughed. "Does this mean you're gonna start wearing tight leather pants and bras again? Personally, that's what I miss most about you."

Laura narrowed her eyes at the pair but they could see the beginnings of a smile.

"You'll always be Laura to me," Gabby said, hugging her tightly, "but I think X is a really cool name, and it's perfect for the leader of The X-Terminators."

She nodded and hugged her back "If you like the name, Gabby, I like the name. Now why don't we go meet some interesting people and kill them?"

Her sister clapped her hands excitedly and led the women to the back of the jet where they finished getting ready. Gabby was a one-woman army by the time she was geared up in yellow and black body armor reminiscent of her father's superhero attire, but all Jubilee did was trade her black coat for her trademark yellow. Kitty meanwhile retrieved a pair of rapiers and a backpack full of electronic equipment, wearing the standard X-Men uniform.

Laura as usual looked as though she were on the way to the gym, wearing a black and silver crop top with matching leggings, and stuck with her modified MP9 and Beretta M9. Stealth was no longer necessary and she'd certainly want something more powerful like Gabby's assault rifle, but she didn't even consider swapping firearms. If the weapons she'd trained with all her life and her adamantium claws weren't enough to complete the mission, then she didn't deserve to succeed. She checked her utility belt one final time and placed a rebreather into her mouth.

"Sue, Meg," she said, her voice muffled, "be careful, and stay safe."

The pair nodded. "Easiest babysitting I've ever done," Sue said, squeezing the pilot's shoulder. "Right, Meg?"

"R-right." Laura wasn't sure whether her cousin's nervousness had more to do with her confronting Kimura, the thought of getting shot at again, or the fact she'd be alone with one of the most famous superheroes in the world, but was leaning more toward the latter.

Laura had more that she would've liked to have said, but after being given the signal, without another word she leaped out of the back of the plane into the night sky followed by Kitty. Jubilee waited a few breaths before grabbing Gabby and following.

Sirens howled hundreds of feet below and searchlights would've blinded the pair if not for Gabby's goggles and Jubilee's visor. Anti-aircraft missiles flew past them targeting The Blackbird, which evaded the majority of the munitions while Sue's forcefields repelled the rest.

Laura slowed her momentum with her claws on the side of a guard tower while Kitty dove straight through the sprawling facility as if it were a swimming pool. Jubilee on the other hand flew her and Gabby toward the western entrance courtesy of her ethereal batwings.

"Hey," Gabby said, "I just realized. Where are we?"

Jubilee shrugged. "Somewhere in the Congo, I think. I wasn't really paying attention when Laura was giving Meg coordinates, and I suck at geography almost as much as math." She flapped her wings, hovering a few hundred feet above the entrance. "Hey, Gabs? The more I use my plasmids, the quicker I revert back to craving plasma. How much C-4 you got?"

Gabby bit her lip, trying to do the math in her head and having to resort to using fingers. "I take it you're not a math Asian either?" Jubilee teased.

"Somewhere between a fuck-ton and a giga-fuck."

"Hah! Sounds like you've got just enough then."

"Running low actually. I had to make most of it from scratch." She reached into her heavy backpack and lightened it considerably by tossing a smaller pack down below. "Um, could you please not mention it being homemade to Laura? Or anybody else for that matter? I'm not supposed to make explosives at school anymore."

"No worries, dude. You're like the Michelangelo of explosive playdough, and I'd never get in the way of a generational artist like you. Speaking of, you ready to paint the walls red?"

The teenager grinned ear to ear, but rather than the usual childlike, mischievous grin she normally had, there was a touch of mania that would've concerned Jubilee if not for being a professional pyromaniac herself.

Gabby held down a button on her belt and waited. "Knock-knock, motherf-"

Without warning it was as though the sun had risen as the sirens, missiles, and gunfire were drowned out by the entire world exploding down below. They floated in the air admiring Gabby's handiwork, both laughing hysterically before remembering they still had a job to do.

"I think we got their attention," Jubilee said, diving into the black smoke while giving the flames a wide berth.

The pair landed in an amalgamation of a military base and hospital, and Jubilee's keen senses told her that Laura had been correct that the western entrance of the facility was mostly deserted this time of night. It'd been bad luck for anybody stationed here, but Jubilee wouldn't lose sleep over it. The agents knew who they were working for, knew what kind of experiments were taking place here, and had long since sold their souls. Didn't mean she relished death like she had earlier in the day however.

With multiple dimly lit hallways to cover, Gabby shouldered her assault rifle and unholstered her Desert Eagles. "You sure you don't want something to shoot back with?" she asked. "I've got plenty of spares."

Jubilee shook her head. "Killing's supposed to be a last resort on this mission. Besides, after drinking your sister's blood, I've lost my appetite."

They hurried down the corridor but Jubilee pointed to their left, and as if on cue, a man wearing a lab coat walked out of a secure room and froze at the sight of them.

"Don't move or we'll-" Jubilee was interrupted by a gunshot beside her, and the scientist fell to the ground screaming. "Shoot..."

She turned to Gabby who shrugged and traded one of her pistols for a dart gun loaded with tranquilizers.

"You do know we've got knockout gas, right?"

Gabby nodded. "I know, but shooting people's more fun." She shot a dart into the man's neck to shut him up and hurried toward the open door. "Besides, it was just a graze."

"Just when I thought I couldn't love you any more than I already do, Gabs." Jubilee paused in the doorway to wrap a tourniquet around the man's thigh. Despite her itchy trigger finger, Gabby had been careful with her aim since contrary to popular belief, shooting someone in their leg was often more fatal than shooting them in the chest.

Gabby opened fire at several expensive-looking machines upon entering the small laboratory, causing half a dozen frightened scientists to stand up with their hands held high. One look at Gabby and their eyes widened, but she wasn't sure if it was because they mistook her for X-23 or because they recognized her as X-23-G.

"That was a warning shot," she said, pointing at the man on the ground. "I want a schematic of this entire facility and I want to know where you're keeping the children you're experimenting on."

When nobody spoke up, Gabby put another warning shot into the furthest man's bicep. "Do I need to say please?" She pointed the gun at another. "Sir, what's your preferred number of testicles? I'm pretty partial to none but that's just me."

Without hesitation he ran to the nearest computer and began opening files.

Jubilee laughed and tossed the bleeding man a tourniquet. "You didn't learn a thing from watching your sister's interrogations, did you?"

"I did, but I'm impatient and I really don't like these people."

"T-the experiments are kept in basement Level 1," the scientist whimpered. "Please, I'm just a geneticist. I-"

Gabby shot him with a dart and watched him fall over, followed by the others in the room. As much as she would've preferred shooting them with .50 AE, Laura had rules, guidelines really, and Gabby did her best to live by them.

She leaned over and studied the building's schematic. Nothing was labeled but she'd been raised in a similar facility and had razed several dozen others. Her mind quickly filled in the blanks, where the guard stations were, where the experiments were likely kept, and where the main lab was located.

"You know," Jubilee said, eyeing the unconscious scientists, "the only downside to hanging out with you and Laura is that I don't ever get to be the scariest person in the room anymore."

She bent down beside Gabby, and while the old Jubilee would've gotten a migraine just looking at the screen, she now memorized the blueprints almost by accident thanks to her vampiric intellect.

"Alright, I think I've got the gist of it," she said. "I can hear soldiers coming down the hall in formation. Let me handle them. Maybe we can leave here without having to kill anybody."

Jubilee walked back toward the entrance but paused when she saw her reflection staring back at her in the metallic door. "Mirror, mirror on the wall," she sang, "who's the most badass and batshit of them all?"

Gabby nudged her aside. "Honey Badger," she said in the deepest, most menacing voice she could manage.

The pair giggled, and stepping out into the hall, Gabby readied her assault rifle while Jubilee grinned ear to ear. Much as she missed sunshine, eating junk food, and not thinking of her best friends as food, there were certain perks to being a creature of the night that made being undead almost worth it.

Her body dissolved into mist before the guards came around the corner. She had intended on knocking them out with her vampire breath when they breathed in the mist, but them wearing gas masks made it impossible. It suited her just fine however since she'd just reappear behind them and knock them all out with blows to the head, but-

The guards opened fire at the fog, and Jubilee's demonic screams filled the entire facility even before her body reformed. Flames appeared everywhere the bullets came into contact, and she would've burned alive in the middle of the hallway if Gabby hadn't grabbed her by the collar and dragged her back around the corner, returning fire and tossing a grenade for good measure.

Ignoring the inhuman screams and flesh turning to ash, Gabby knelt down and emptied a can of CO2 on her. "Are you alright!?" she cried. "Jubilee! Say something!"

The vampire slammed her fist against the wall and cursed, most of her hand immediately crumbling into ash. Gabby stepped away from her own safety, remembering all too well the last time Jubilee lost control of herself, but after tossing another grenade, risked dragging her down the hall and around another corner.

"Thanks, Gabs," Jubilee whispered, her body finally starting to regenerate. "If I were still a full fledged vampire, I'd be dust by now. Who the hell carries incendiaries on them?"

"Obviously they know who and what you are," Gabby said, reloading her rifle with incendiaries of her own. "Kimura must have told them to just to screw with Laura."

She dropped her backpack beside Jubilee and peeked around the corner, but Jubilee grabbed her arm, crimson eyes glowing. "You're still just a kid, Gabs. Let me kill them. Rule one of being a vampire. Blood has to be paid in blood."

Gabby shook her head, and pointed at her smoking armor. "I'm not a kid. I was created in a laboratory to be the perfect soldier, and it's what I am and what I choose to be. Besides, we've got about thirty seconds before we're flanked and become barbecue."

Jubilee released her and looked up at her sadly. "Alright, but at least let me provide a distraction."

She waved her hand and fireworks flew from her fingertips around the corner, brighter and louder than any flashbang Gabby was carrying, and after tossing a fragmentation grenade, threw herself into a hail of fiery bullets.

Gabby stumbled several times as incendiaries struck her body armor and occasionally even penetrated, but she continued moving and firing until at last she dropped the final guard and reached the end of the hall where she flanked the men attempting to do the same to her and Jubilee, and put several out of their misery before they could burn alive. That was another one of Laura's rules/guidelines.

"All clear," she gasped. Although burning alive herself wasn't a terribly unpleasant sensation, she didn't want to ruin her body armor or continue the mission naked, so she emptied another can of CO2 on herself.

Jubilee stumbled toward her, gazing at more than a dozen dead bodies, and did her best not to look too closely at them. A part of her wanted nothing more than to get down on her hands and knees and drink all that she could, but another nearly vomited at the thought. She was human again and yet she wasn't. She was a monster and yet not entirely. She was the best of both worlds, and yet somehow also the worst.

"You alright?" Gabby asked.

She nodded. "I should be asking you the same thing." She pointed at the smoke billowing from her armor. A couple bullets had struck Gabby's face but already she was nearly completely healed. Thankfully they either weren't able to fully penetrate her cowl or nobody had gotten the lucky shot that'd temporarily turn her brain off.

"Barely felt a thing. I am pretty sad about my armor though." She frowned at what remained of it. "Have I been underestimating .308 battle rifles all this time? Do you know how hard it is to go from being a submachine gunner and grenadier all my life to being the primary rifleman? Laura won't be caught dead without her MP9, and-"

"What about-" Jubilee motioned around them at the lifeless bodies.

"Huh? Oh, their armor's really nice and close to what I'm wearing now, but it's too big and probably in even worse shape than mine. I will be taking one of their rifles when we're done here to add to my collection though."

Jubilee shook her head, eyes softening. "No, I mean killing them. Killing people, Gabs."

Gabby shrugged, more interested in reloading and making sure neither of them were still on fire. "They work for Weapon X. They took nine sisters away from me, and did what they did to Laura. Besides, they're enemy combatants and this is war. They shoot at us, I shoot back. Come on, let's keep moving."

"Hold on." Jubilee handed her a canteen of water which after a moment's hesitation, Gabby accepted and greedily drank.

"Thanks," she gasped, handing it back. "Not being able to feel pain is great and all, but not knowing when you're about to pass out from dehydration kinda sucks. Did Laura ever tell you about the time I forgot to eat or drink anything for three days and she thought I was dying from cellular degeneration?"

Jubilee gave her a rueful smile. "Which is why you need a babysitter and why you're not allowed to play video games after midnight, Gabs. Come on, I hear more guards coming."

She shouldered Gabby's heavy pack and took the lead once more, her senses far superior, but she couldn't help glancing back at the fourteen-year-old girl and thinking how she compared and contrasted to her sister. Her clone. So similar and yet so different...

The rage that was second nature to vampires returned in an instant. In a better world Gabby would be at home thinking about boys and new ways of getting into trouble. She shouldn't be a soldier, much less one capable of killing a dozen men without flinching. She shouldn't be here losing even more of her innocence.

"Bastards..." Before the next wave of guards even knew what hit them, Jubilee flicked her wrist and the men exploded, leaving behind only small bits and pieces and a red mist.

"AWESOME!" Gabby cried.

Jubilee dropped to her knees feeling more of her humanity slipping away. She desperately tried clinging to her old self but it was like grasping smoke. Depravity returned, with every intrusive thought guided only by her need to feed and what remained of Jubilation Lee's moral compass. She held on tightly to who she was before, her only life preserver in a sea of chaos.

The cross necklace she wore burned slightly, but the moment thankfully passed. Gabby crouched down, and noticing her pale complexion, rolled up her sleeve and offered a wrist. "You need a quick pick-me-up?"

She shook her head and pushed Gabby away, not wanting to be tempted any more than she already was. It was like waving a gourmet steak in front of a starving pitbull. "I told you before, Gabs. Your blood's too good for me."

"But my sister's isn't."

She nodded, and retrieved a flask from her coat pocket. "And she'd be the first one to tell you."

"Are you two like-" She made a gesture of a pair of scissors trying to cut each other- "together-together?"

Jubilee laughed and licked her crimson stained lips, already feeling better. "Not the time or place, Gabs, but in short, it's complicated. Laura's not interested in romance and she doesn't have a sex drive, and I am depravity incarnate." She stood up and sighed, and laid a hand on her shoulder. "After tonight, Laura's gonna need a friend, probably more than ever, and so long as there's a flicker of the old Jubilee in me, I will do everything in my power to help her."

"I'll be there for her too!"

Jubilee nodded. "And she's gonna need you most of all, Gabs. When this is over, you're coming with us on vacation. You need it as much as anybody."

"Do you really think it'll be over after tonight? Kinda hard to imagine life without Weapon X."

"Have faith in your sister, Gabs. This ends tonight, and life's gonna be better from here on out. You'll see." She kept to herself her prayers that God not to make a liar out of her.

"Hello? Can anybody hear me? Why the hell is everything written in French and Swahili?"

"Kitty!" Gabby cried. "You got the comms working again!"

"Don't sound so surprised, Gabs," she said. "I am a genius after all. By the way, you've got more baddies coming your way. Um, why are the walls red?"

"I hear them," Jubilee said. "Kitty, not sure if you can see me, if you're watching, you're probably gonna wanna look away here in a minute. How's Laura doing?"

"She found Kimura. It's going about as well as you'd expect..."

(A/N: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed. Chapter 9 was my last chance to have some humorous character interactions and I decided to make the most of it. Jubilee and Gabby have great chemistry together, and I love them being a comedic duo while still having an edge to them both. Gabby has been through hell but unlike Laura, that hell doesn't define her and she's able to live a mostly normal life. Killing bad guys doesn't bother her in the slightest, but that could have as much to do with immaturity as her training and bitterness at losing her sisters.  Gabby hates Weapon X just as much as Laura, but she's nowhere near as obsessed or driven as her, or self-reflective.

Although Sue doesn't play a major role in this story, I really liked her interactions with Laura in the 2010 series. Laura saved her daughter from being taken to "hell", and Sue was one of the few characters from that series to refer to Laura as "Laura" instead of X. I like to think of them as having a pseudo mother-daughter relationship, but as with most of Laura's relationships, her own demons got in the way of her getting closer.

In this case, the people she chose for the mission are those that know what Laura has been through and seen her at her absolute worst (and are who she considers family). On that note,  I like the idea of Laura preferring the company of women to men, in part because she seems to get along with female characters better than male in the comics. Although Laura was abused by both men and women growing up, she did at least have Sarah to be a (mostly crappy) mother figure. As for men, I'd say Gambit is/was the only male figure in her life who always treated Laura well and whose relationship with her isn't "complicated", but I don't know if she'd necessarily want him here on a dangerous mission like this, or see her once it's all over.

It was also important to me for Laura to retake the name "X-23" by the end of the story. I don't like her going by the name Wolverine or Talon, and now that Kimura is dead, the name can finally truly belong to her. It's partially out of spite to her creators, using the designation for good, but Laura didn't mind being called X even after people had started calling her Laura. Calling her X while not on the job will probably still annoy her, but X-23 is who she is (and what she's most well-known as), and once Kimura is dead, she'll finally embrace it.

All credit goes to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who has blessed me with this story and all of you wonderful readers. God bless)