Liquid Metal: An X-men & QuickSilver Novel

Chapter Thirty One: Familiarity

                   

^Piotr/ sorta what Josie sees^

Sound Track: Its the End of the World as We Know It (and I feel Fine) - R.E.M

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"Josephine" I heard some one say sharply.

Like a fish being dragged from the water, I was raised from my sleep to the sound of Wanda's voice the feeling of her hands shaking my shoulder.

The room was dark and I glanced out the window to be greeted by a still shining moon.

"Wanda, what happened?" I asked groggily.

"They're here" she said in a scared voice, like a child whose afraid of being caught in an act they know they are guilty of.

"Who?" I sighed rubbing my eyes from the sleep that still lingered. I heard a crash from somewhere next door or down the hall and I instantly became alert.

I threw my blankets off me and stood to look Wanda in the eye. "Are they in the building?" I asked in a serious tone, placing my hand on her shoulder to steady her. I still didn't know who "they" were, but it really didn't really matter right now. What mattered was that if "they" were of ill-intent, I probably had to do something about it.

Wanda nodded, her lip quivering slightly. I took her wrist and pulled her behind me, flying down the hall whilst still in relatively new navy blue pajama pants and a white tank top, only to be stopped about halfway to the staircase. Two woman of different statures and ethnicities were wearing some sort of dark green Kevlar vest and a matching baseball cap passed by me, not even looking my way. They both had some kind of weapon slung around their necks.

I watched them go all the way down to the end off my hall and start banging on doors and dragging drowsy occupants into the hall. The hum of emotions and the clamor of people talking made it hard to decipher what the women were shouting to the crowd at the opposite end of the hall. It must have been some order to move because I had to pull Wanda and myself forward so we wouldn't be completely flattened by the oncoming group of people.

It all felt frighteningly familiar; people shuffled around like cattle, little to no violence to enforce the movement, and far too much confusion to be comfortable with. I pulled off to the side in a little enclave and looked at Wanda with urgency.

"How long have they been here?" I asked in a harsh whisper.

"Twenty minutes" she mumbled.

"And you didn't come find me sooner? Who are they?" I sighed.

Wanda only shrugged "isn't that your thing?" She mumbled.

I looked at her contemplatively for a moment. "-fair enough."

"Let's go you two" a man said coming out of nowhere and shoving my shoulder.

"Why?" I asked, instantly going into a defensive mode and staring straight into his eye.

He seemed taken aback, as if not expecting any opposition. In the few seconds he paused I managed to read about him just to get a brief knowledge of who they were. They were not government, they were a privatized research group. It made no sense though because these people had guns and were using force. scientists usually aren't grunts.

"Just move" he said gripping my upper arm. In a split second I made a decision that was up for debate on whether or not it was okay.

My fist collided with his jaw and he immediately let go of me, falling back slightly. His lip was busted and blood ran down his chin. While he was down I took the opportunity to go get lost in the crowd.