April 25, 2018:
Nate helps to go through Lorna's memories to find out what Malice was up to.
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
It was evening, after the chaos of the previous few hours, the Brotherhood attack, and Malice's actions… the mansion was finally, blessedly, silent of all alarms or attacks. People had been treated, and debris swept away to be handled another day. Lorna was in the medbay, again, but this time as herself. She'd been cared for, her leg casted, and Aurora returned to her side. Marcos has gone off to get food, and as the first round of painkillers were running their course, the green haired mutant finally dared to eat something.
Still, she looked horrid. Green hair a tangled mess around her figure, a hospital gown, and long white cast propped up by pillows. Bruises covered her skin in different places, and shadows clung to her eyes.
Still, she kept a rapt focus on the little contraption that Aurora was in, her hand pressed against the glass where it sparked with a combination of her powers and Aurora's own. That tie had never been broken, though Malice had tried to ignore it. There was still that connection between mother and daughter.
*
*
You guys can be left alone a minute…
It was a bit longer than a minute, but not by much. Nate wanted to talk with Illyana, so they went off the grid and look at this? Brotherhood attack, then Lorna gets possessed, and now Nate needs to clean a lot of debris. His telekinesis being very well suited for moving large pieces of shattered metal and reinforced concrete, and also to perform small but important repairs.
So it has been a few hours when he finally manages to reach the medlab to see how Lorna and the other injured are going. He has a headache and a huge mug of coffee. The young man knows a techno-virus attack is coming soon, so he wants to see folks before finding a hideholey to ride it out in quiet misery.
Stepping into the room he checks for awakened people and spots Lorna. So he manages a smile and walks to her seat. "Lorna, how are you feeling?" He greets.
*
Lorna glanced up as the door opened, and she tensed only briefly before relaxing as she registered it was Nate. She sighed, smiled weakly and leaned back against the mountain of pillows behind her. "Like I need more painkillers?" She teased weakly, and kept her hand outstretched against the glass where Aurora was housed. She fought another urge to sigh as she shifted on the bed, the springs creaking beneath her.
"I mean, seriously.. what kind of a response are you expecting?" She muttered, her nose wrinkling up and her lips twisting into a faint frown.
*
"Eh? Not really meant the broken leg," explains Nate, grabbing a stool and settling close to the bed. "I don't know the whole story, just a few bits and pieces I heard from the kids. Most of it being about the Hulk being here, not why you did all… that," he points a thumb over his shoulder to the destruction on the upper floors. "So, what was it?"
*
Soon after Nate arrived, Marcos comes limping (slightly) into the room. Why is he limping? Well…it's what happens when a posed chick who can manipulate metal make a ceiling fall on you. Anyway.
He comes in with enough food for six people, but two of those bags are for Marcos and Lorna. He pauses to -make sure- it's Lorna before he moves to be right next to her, lying down at her side as he hands her a tray with her food already nearly prepared for her. " hey."
*
Lorna bit her lower lip, and looked down and shrugged weakly, as she reached up with a hand to tug a tangle of green hair back behind her ear. "I.. don't really exactly know. Last I really remember was saying my vows on Genosha.. and then I wake up here. And my leg is broken.. and I'm not pregnant. And Marcos is telling me to fight something.. that's in my head." She grimaced and exhaled a breath.
"If I try.. maybe? I mean… Marcos told me a little bit. How I was here.. and I wasn't… me.. Something was in my head. Using me. Sometimes, when I try really hard—" She broke off as Marcos returned with food and she smiled weakly up at him. No necklace. It hadn't appeared again after Marcos had removed it. In fact.. it had vanished entirely.
"Hey.." She reached for his hand, holding it with one of her own, while the other remained on glass chamber of Aurora's ..thing.
*
Nate grunts. He -did- notice Lorna was acting oddly, and thought it was just stress. For once he wasn't paranoid enough, and he has learned not to peer into the heads of people. At least not in Xavier's School. He obviously needs to unlearn those bad habits.
Lately he has been too distracted by the memories of the House of M. It rattled him bad.
"Okay…" he mutters. Then Marcos arrives and he nods to the young man. "Okay. Maybe I can dig into your head and find out what happened. If you are willing, and feel ready."
*
Marcos hands Lorna her food, and he watches her mannerisms.
Yep, that's the Lorna he fell in love with. He squeezes her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers. "We really should have eloped…you were right." He then laughs in attempted humor, staying close to her.
Then he sits up. "Preferably I'd like it if people left he head alone." He already dealt with devil-Lorna…nuff said.
*
Lorna leaned her head against Marcos' shoulder, her eyes slipping shut as she seemed to draw comfort from just having her family around her. Marcos, and Aurora. kept close and held as tightly as she could given her circumstances. And she'd nearly lost them and never known it. She swallowed a hard lump in her throat and nodded to Nate.
"Do it. If there's something you can figure out from what that thing was up to.. it's worth it." Her gaze shifted toward Marcos and she grimaced faintly. "We don't know what it was after, or why… anything. It could come back Marcos, or be in someone else already. We have to try, I trust Nate to at least keep me under control if I have a melt down over it."
*
Nate hmms… glancing to Aurora's incubator. "If you have a meltdown now and damage the medlab we might have casualties, so I guess we better wait till tomorrow and then do a memory scan upstairs. It doesn't seem too critical now."
Assuming the possessing entity is going. Maybe it is critical.
But Nate is not sure, but he assumes there has been a throughout telepathic sweep of the grounds already.
*
Marcos keeps an arm around Lorna, resting his head on hers as he watches Aurora and Lorna like a hawk.
It's Lorna who calms him down fast, taking in the comfort of the woman he was so close to losing. "Okay…okay." He nods then, looking at his ladies before he looks at Nate at his decision.
"Sounds good. But if it's not too much trouble, I'd like Dr. Banner or Cable to keep an eye on Aurora."
*
Lorna exhaled a huff of a breath, "Move me now? I can still fly. If that's the issue, Nate. I'm dead serious. This needs to be taken care of, if you think you can find something in my head. Do it. Before I decide that sitting here is a shit idea and decide to be a coward about this and bolt." She shifted on the bed, creaking the mattress beneath her.
"Someone or something wore me like a pair of shoes and hurt people I care about." Her gaze shifted back to Marcos and she arched a brow.
"Cable is…? Who?" Only Malice had met Cable, and as such, that whole time was a blank spot in her memory.
*
"Alright," Nate stands up and invites Lorna to float along. "Let do this in the other side of the basement, nothing left to be wrecked in that corner anyway." Malice took care of that already.
"Cable is… short of my older brother, I guess," comments Nate. "It is complicated, like most of my family. We go around moving between worlds and different times."
*
Marcos looks to Lorna "I'll tell you in a bit." But he doesn't have to! Because Nate takes it away with remarkable ease.
At Lorna getting serious about solving the mystery, Marcos sighs and nods. "Alright…" and he will stand up, walking with Lorna hand in hand as she floats and he walks.
"Look through my mind too so Lorna can have gaps filled, if need be."
*
Lorna shifted, and glanced at the container Aurora was in, and with a careful curve of her hands, floated it up to pass to Marcos. "Someone should carry her." She murmured, no way in hell or on Earth, or Limbo? Many, many, different planes of existence, would she be okay with leaving her daughter alone. Even though she could float the container, Lorna was exhausted, and floating with a broken leg was enough of an exercise in dealing with pain killers.
Still, as they left the medbay behind, the green haired mutant pursed her lips, and shook her head. "Your family tree isn't a tree.. it's a snarl of fishing line." She offered weakly, even as they made it to the otherside of the basement. She winced at the sight of all the destruction.
*
"Oh yeah, it is," agrees Nate with a smirk. "We have Rachel, she is awesome - and then Cable that is pretty much me from another timeline and about 80, and there is a guy called Stryfe that is Cable's clone and an asshole. And my granddad is a space pirate."
The space pirate bit never gets old.
He does not even bother mentioning Gabriel.
The room where he leads Lorna and Marcos has so much damage there is not even emergency lights, so he grabs a flashlight along the way. Then shoves a clean chair in Lorna's direction. "Sit down and try to relax. Think about the wedding."
*
Marcos was about to take Aurora, but Lorna made it easy. "Of course." He was -definitely- not going to leave his kid alone. His hand is in Lorna's, and when they pause to finally act upon the recently made plans?
He sits down next to her, Aurora's pod in his hands as he watched. There to support her.
"don't strain. Just try to remember what you can."
*
Lorna eased down into the chair that Nate shoved into her path, sinking down into it with a sigh. It was cooler in this part of the basement and goosebumps crawled over the exposed skin of her arms and legs. She wore a hospital gown more or less, and that meant being a little chilly. She crossed her arms, exhaling a breath as Nate instructed her to try to relax.
Easier said than done.
Still, she closed her eyes, attempting to remember the wedding. The feel of her dress against her skin. The sweet scented air of the roses tossed about her. The rest was a blur of colors and happy moments. She'd been so nervous walking down the aisle. She'd clutched at her father's arm for support and for once in her entire life, had found him there to actually be there. It had been heady. Even more so when she'd seen Marcos at the end of the aisle in his tux.
Then things started getting.. shaky.. blurred around the edges. She remembered saying her vows.. and..
*
Nate is in her head.
It was not the vows, it was before. It was the when she found the choker. The vows were, after all, the moment Madelyne and Mastermind, boosted by Sinister machines, hit Hammer Bay with the illusion.
What happened in the House of Magnus to Lorna. Nate vaguely remembers she was part of the royal family. But those memories are made of smoke, he never talked to her.
Still, everything started there. While Lorna dreamed, Malice was wide awake.
*
Marcos knew Lorna was probably freezing down here. Nonetheless, he wraps an arm around her so as to provide a warmth. He takes a breath, ready to have his mind searched through. He remembered everything from the grand illusion…from his perspective anyway. But as for the wedding? The last thing he remembered was when he saw Lorna walking towards him, and they said their vows.
*
As Nate trails the halls of Lorna's mind he sees where Malice entered, sliding in through a choker. A box among wedding gifts, jewelery and wedding prep. A hand written note with the classic rhyme. '…Something borrowed, something new…' And she'd felt the unrelenting urge to wear it for her wedding. The psionic mutant had held back, watching and waiting to strike and knock Lorna into her dream world.
Lorna had been happy, how could she not? She'd had.. nearly.. everything she could possibly have ever wanted. She'd never fought against the illusionary world that was House of M. She'd been content to be Princess and Daddy's little girl. He'd loved her. He'd never abandoned her and she'd never killed her mother.
Malice hadn't needed to suppress Lorna all that much then. Those dreams had been sweet.
Of course, that was when Malice had ripped off her wedding dress then and there in favor for armor, marching through fallen forms to those that had raided the wedding party for genetic samples. She'd boldly gone along, even commanded a few here and there. All the way to Sinister's and oh how Malice adored one Nathaniel Essex..
Back in the real world, Lorna's figure curled against Marcos, her brows furrowed as she went along for the mental ride Nate dug through. The memories were there. Just buried. And without Malice to suppress Lorna's mind, Nate wasn't going to have too hard a time digging them up.
*
And that must have been why Sinister never showed up to stop them fleeing in person.
(Although Nate likes to think maybe the old mad geneticist was a bit afraid of what Nate would have done if he gets within his reach)
The Marauders did a serious attempt to stop them. Nate knows Prism was giving his best. But Arclight and Scalphunter gave up too soon.
Ah… Aurora getting freed was never in Sinister's plans. That was something unexpected. How did the Cuckoos find her? Something to find out about later. But letting Lorna/Malice go, perhaps with a few others, was always his plan. "I think I am threading on Malice's memories, besides Lorna's. She was in telepathic contact with Essex," he explains Marcos.
*
In the real world, Marcos was curled up with Lorna too, and he was seeing what she was. "Looks like it." He replies to Nate, keeping Lorna close so she knows he's there if she suddenly starts to panic.
A deep breath is taken as the journey continues. He's half a mind to tell her she's never wearing a choker again.
*
Malice always was intended to join the X-men, to infiltrate and to keep one Marcos Diaz away from Lorna's body. She'd been given orders to not kill anyone. To gather samples. Her flirting with almost any male that glanced her way was just bonus chaos and misery. Oh how Malice had wanted nothing more than to hurt each and every one of the X-men.
Her hatred, her malice, was extreme and fed on Lorna's already natural volatile temper.
Her orders had changed to include the return of Aurora. And… well, it was clear that Sinister had further plans though what those were? Malice hadn't particularly cared other than to return to her master's side.
*
"Alright, I think we got everything," decides Nate, leaving Lorna's mind alone. Now they both have a headache. If Lorna wanted a smooth telepathic experience she should have asked Jean.
"And you know what happened," and so does Nate. Alas, poor Marcos. He is lucky to have escaped from this with just a few bruises. "I am pretty sure Sinister will make another attempt to get Aurora. We should talk with Illy and Cable and see if they can figure out how to find him. Some people just need to die. Xavier rules or whatever."
*
Marcos nods softly to Nate as it appears their adventure in the mental realm is over. Lorna likely saw everything. Every cruel thing she said to Marcos…every cruel thing she did around him to try and drive him away. It's only to her good fortune that Marcos -truly- loves her, elsewise it's likely he would have been lost forever.
With that in mind, He looks to Lorna, as if to gauge her reaction. He will comfort her.
As for Nate's words regarding his daughter's safety, Marcos eyes Nathaniel. "No harm will come to her…for I have every intention of burning this Sinister alive." he tells them then. Before he sighs. "I'll talk with both of them and see what we can come up with." he nods a few times then.
*
Lorna sagged heavily in the chair, breathing shallowly, exhaustion pulling at her shoulders as Nate left her mind. She winced, her head pounding and she grimaced as she reached up a free hand to rub against her temple. "Maybe.. maybe we should leave. If he knows where we are? Wouldn't it better to get.. to get somewhere far away to protect Aurora?" She cleared her throat, sitting up.
"Also, lets move back to the medbay.. there's food and I'm starving."
*
"You do that, I'll join you later," replies Nate, heading out. "I am going to take a nap, it has been a rough couple days." Well, that is his excuse. Sleep is not something it is going to happen while the technovirus is trying to eat his brain. But maybe he will sleep later. In which case 'later' is going to be tomorrow. Or whenever.
*
And with that, Marcos nods softly to Lorna. "You best float." he grins at her softly as he'll walk by her side to the medbay, where food awaits them.
*
SOME TIME LATER
In the medbay once more, Lorna reclined in the hospital bed, blanket thrown over her casted leg, and pillows fluffing up behind her. She sighed, settled and started to pick at the food that Marcos had brought her. She was hungry, but exhaustion, pain killers and guilt made it hard to want to eat all that much. She grimaced, and leaned against Marcos careful not to upset her leg or anything further.
"What do you think we should do? Should we stay here? Go to Genosha? Leave, try to start over somewhere else?" Her voice was small, worried, even.
*
Marcos lies down on the medical bed with Lorna, curling up with her as she leaned against him while she tried to eat. He ate lightly too, troubled by the fact that Sinister and an enemy he can't even see is after them. A light breath.
"Well….it's a hard call. They'd know we'd be back in Genosha. It's where they found us, after all." a small sigh then "If we leave, they'll probably find us…though maybe we can make them hunt for a few years. Worst case scenario, we can try and live in Limbo." he's teasing…honestly.
"I have no idea. It's like he knows how to find us no matter where we are. It's safe to assume he has contacts in places. I want to take the fight to him…but I won't leave Aurora behind. Maybe our best chance is to leave and start over.." a small sigh then.
"But first…we're gonna get married."
*
Lorna sighed, her eyes slipping shut for a minute, before she leaned forward to pick off bits of bread to nibble. She glanced back to Marcos, smiled weakly and settled back against his shoulder more firmly. "They'd know.. they must've known when we were there regardless. They waited until the wedding to get into Genosha to attack. Magneto shut down the entire island. I don't think they'd get a second shot at her again that way." She bit her lower lip, she didn't particularly want to go back to Genosha.. but there was that magnetic comfort her father offered.
It was easier to push that off onto someone else. To leave security to the false sense of comfort that Magneto and the Acolytes offered.
Of course, if they went somewhere else, she'd be recognized with her green hair. People had been gunning after them to use against Magneto before, outside of the mansion? There'd be more of Magneto's enemies out there.
She made a face. But it eased at Marcos' words, she smiled, her brows furrowing. "We are? Really? After what happened last time?"
*
Marcos nodded a few times then, looking at Lorna. "With everything that's happened? Genosha might be our best shot…at least we have the Acolytes…I'm just worried they might get possessed like you were..or even worse, Magneto." he leans against her, all for the snuggling affection.
When Lorna makes a face at him about getting married and the like, he offers her the biggest smile. "Well of course. You're still the best thing that ever happened to me, and I was lucky enough to put a ring on it." he offers her a small smile.
"and you're the most amazing person I've ever known. Of course I still want to get married to you. Though this time I think we might elope." he chuckles then.
"Maybe I should've listened to you."
*
Lorna reached up for his hand, holding it close as she sighed. "We.. we can at least visit. I want to be there, to help the Mutates.. but you're right about her jumping bodies." A pause and she considered, and shook her head. "She wouldn't take over Magneto. I remember she was scared of him. She was.. actually really scared of being in Genosha, I think. Though yeah the Acolytes.. she could do some damage with them." She pursed her lips together.
"Maybe you're right, we shouldn't put everyone there at risk." She wove her fingers through with his hand even more closely, and closed her eyes briefly as he continued onwards on why he would still marry her.
Metal surrounded them for a brief moment, twirling particles that swirled around her finger and collected in a recreation of her engagement ring.
"It was my idea to get married in Genosha in the first place. I wasn't that right."
*
Marcos smiles to her softly, holding her hand in his. "….I don't mind it if we visit." He nods then, looking at Lorna as she pushes the fact that this entity can body swap…though it seems to bond to objects to solidify and complete her takeover. He does nod softly with a little chuckle as he sees her remake the wedding band he gave her.
"heh…but you also suggested we elope without the hassle.." He winks at her softly then.
"….also, stop wearing chokers." He tresses her, referencing how she was controlled. Was he being serious? Who knows.
*
Lorna smiled, and glanced to the incubator where Aurora slept peacefully. "I think my father would appreciate it. When Aurora.. is uhm.. born fully, I guess? When she doesn't need.." Technology to survive outside the womb. There was little chance that a five or six month old premature baby could survive out in a world filled with people after her otherwise.
Still, she smiled up at him, pressing a kiss to his jawline as he teased about her not wearing chokers again.
"We can elope. Sure.. whenever we have time, you know? And figure out what.. what to do."
*
Marcos smiles softly to Lorna as he saw a real smile from the -real- Lorna. Either way, he looks to Aurora, holding Lorna close. "Yeah. Ain't nothing happening to our baby." He smiles warmly to her. Regardless, he blushes at the kiss to his jawline, and he was putty in her hands.
*
Marcos smiles softly to Lorna as he saw a real smile from the -real- Lorna. Either way, he looks to Aurora, holding Lorna close. "Yeah. Ain't nothing happening to our baby." He smiles warmly to her. Regardless, he blushes at the kiss to his jawline, and he was putty in her hands.
"Alright…then that is what we will do."