Liquid Metal: An X-men & QuickSilver Novel

Chapter Twenty one: Security Breach

A pic of Sage^ 😊

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"You're sure there's nothing wrong?" I asked for the zillionth time as I followed behind Sage like the most annoying and repetitive shadow anyone could have.

"God Josie, do you want me to just say you're dying so you'd shut up?" She said not bothering to turn and look at me. She stopped doing that twenty minuets ago.

I was in her room while she was attempting to clean up the heaps of papers and laundry that were strewn about everywhere.

"But you're definitely sure that nothing's changed right?"

"No! Nothing has changed and that's the last time I'm saying it" she snapped, snatching up a sweater.

"So you're sure she's not dying?" Peter asked from her bed, struggling to hide a grin and use a very concerned/serious face.

Sage chucked the sweater at him "quiet you" she warned shooting him a glare.

"You're not helping--- Who even are you? You've been here for what, forty five minutes now and I don't even remember letting you in."

"Im moral support" he said with a lopsided smile. "Oh and I let myself in."

She watched him with narrowed eyes for a few moments then deciding to just ignore him, she turned to me. I straightened up, intent on what she was about to say.

"Look Josephine, nothing's changed okay? You're still a freak like everyone else at this place. Maybe you're just distracted or psyching yourself out" I heaved a sigh, but she raised a finger to silence me. "Tell me what you see about me right now when you look at me."

"Are you sure? I mean I know everybody's secrets and I tend to live by this oath of confide-"

"Just do it" she cut me off.

I shrugged, "I don't know, I see what I always see: a rapid list of information right next to your head" I said gesturing to the left.

"Alright, now pick a memory."

The rapid fire of tiny facts about this girl paused briefly and it switched to a new onslaught of words mixed with emotions that were blurrier, but still legible. I caught one, stoping it like I had placed a tack on it so it wouldn't move.

"Now what?" I said

"Watch it" she said obviously struggling to keep her sarcasm at bay.

"I can't."

"Yes you can" she snapped hitting me upside the head "try harder."

I took a deep breath and focused on the memory I had picked. I closed my eyes and felt the world rock like a boat on the ocean beneath my feet. The next thing I knew, I found myself in a sudden wave of heat and sand. I squinted through the sudden blast of hot scorching light. I saw a girl walking I front of me, her black hair was long, unlike how it was now and she still went by the name of Tessa. Her hair was pulled back and she wore what seemed to be a lighter version of a army uniform, only wearing the slightly baggy camouflage pants and an olive short sleeved shirt that was tucked in at the waist.

She had been in Afghanistan for awhile now, but she felt herself compelled to enter a cave in the Hindu Kush mountain range for the past few weeks now and only just found a way there. The cave walls were lit with from the blazing sun and splattered with shadows from the rocks and crevices. She ran her hands along the warm and smooth walls as she travelled further and further into the tunnels as I followed close behind, invisible to her in every way.

A massive pile of rocks stuck out oddly inside the smooth walled chamber and I heard her gasp. Taking a few quick steps over I got to see what had surprised her. A body lay in the pile of stone, not an old and decayed body, but one that was still alive. The body of Charles Xavier.

"Oh my god" I breathed in a quiet whisper. I had never bothered to look into how Sage had met the professor, she always looked so normal to me. So "innocent".

I could tell she was initially wary of him, the way she kept glancing over her shoulder straight through me. Eventually Tessa got to pulling the critically injure professor from the debris and the memory faded into black.

I was back standing in front of a now short-haired Tessa (which I honesty preferred). I was too shocked to be excited that I was not losing my "touch". I knew this girl had a murky past and that it wasn't the easiest, but I never imagined that it'd be like that.

"Ta-da, you're cured. Can you get off my back now?" She asked picking up my sweatshirt that she had borrowed a long time ago and thrusted it into my arms. "Now get out or I'll have to start charging" she added shoving both myself and Peter out of her room with surprising strength and slammed the door.

"Well she's a lovely character" Peter said after a few beats of silence.

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Later on in the day I sat with a group of people in one of the rec. rooms. It was dark outside and the only light in the room was coming from the television and a small lamp next to Jean who was reading. I had taken over a burgundy love-seat that was in the corner. No one else really wanted it because it parallel to the t.v. so you couldn't watch what was on. They were watching Caddyshack, a movie that was definitely in my top ten comedies of all time, but I was just not up for it right then.

My eyes had drifted close for only a few minuets when I felt someone moving the chair. I didn't bother to open my eyes because I knew who it was. I lifted both of my legs up and out of the way and promptly returned them to their original position after Peter had sat down.

"What, you don't like Bill Murray?" he asked, resting his hand casually over my calf.

"No, I like Bill Murray, I just like sleep a little bit more" I replied matter-of-factly.

I heard him chuckle and fall into an easy quietness until I heard Jean's voice right next to my ear. It cut over the movie that was already beginning to be muffled by my slow descent into sleep.

"Josephine, can I talk with you for a second?" She asked in a low and quiet voice that tickled my ear.

"Yeah what's up?" I replied opening my eyes with a yawn.

"Not here if that's okay" she added. I nodded and lightly bumped Peter's arm so he'd lift them up to release me.

The hallway light was blinding compared to the quiet illuminating glow of the television screen. I turned to see Jean smiling at me.

"You two are seriously the cutest. I assume you picked him up along the way, what was his name again?"

"Peter" I half spoke half yawned. If she brought me out here just to say that, I was not gonna be not the happiest person "we're not a thing" I added throwing her a look. "we've been friends since we were little... Is that all you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No, sorry I just had to say that-- anyway! I wanted to tell you over dinner, but you seemed to be rather enjoying yourself and I haven't seen you smile much recently... anyway" she hesitated for a moment, biting her lip. "I wanted to tell you that there was a major security breach at the place where they've got your sister" she said in a timid voice, "a lot of people got out."

I stood there in silence for a long time as I tried to process what she had just told me.

"Where did you hear about this?" I whispered.

"It was in the newspaper. They put warnings out saying that they were mentally unstable and highly dangerous. I just thought that you might want to know that seeing as though you were just there."

"Thank you for telling me" I said giving her a small smile before deciding to head back to my dorm rather than go back to Peter.

I felt helpless. Lorna could be anywhere if she was one of the people that got out. Who was I kidding, she was only ten. There is no way she got out without any help.

That night I prayed to just about every god I could imagine asking to keep my sister safe.

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A/N: I'm really sorry for the delay but I hope you liked the chapter!

Question of the day: who is your favorite x-men villain besides magneto, he's already an obvious choice