Chapter Text
Lauren and Andy moved towards the cell, watching the woman carefully and trying to plan the best way to hold her still. The woman moved close to the cell wall and Lauren instantly created a shield and began pushing her back against the bars, “I got her!” Lauren exclaimed, ordering Caitlin to inject the sedative. As soon as the woman began to fall, Lorna and Marcos gently pulled Lauren away from the bars, subtly protecting their new friend.
The group quickly moved the woman from the cell and onto a table where Marcos welded some bars over her before Lorna tightened them in order to pin the woman in place.
“She looks so small…” Lauren looked at the woman with swelling pity, she couldn’t bring herself to look away.
“She hasn’t got a Taylor to break their control.” Lorna muttered, watching the woman in case she was to wake up.
“Is she gonna be ok?” Andy asked, motioning to the drug in his mom’s hand.
Caitlin nodded slightly, “she’s used to massive doses of this drug that they’re giving her. This’ll help, but I don’t know for how long. I think she’s dying.” Marcos and Lorna shared a look at Caitlin’s words.
Lauren finally tore her gaze away as she tried to comprehend what was happening to some mutants. Her eyes landed on a small girl that she was growing close to, “Rosie?” She called, grabbing the girl’s attention, and causing the others in the room to look over.
“Ro? What’re you doing down here kiddo?” Marcos signed, heading over to the child.
“Want see.” She stated simply, nodding over to the woman on the table.
“Not this time, Ro, she might be dangerous, and your mom scares me so we can’t have you getting hurt.” Marcos said and signed causing Rose to grin before nodding and ducking out of the room.
The group turned their attention back to the woman on the table. “If she is dying,” Lorna began, “she’s got no reason to help us.”
“You’d be surprised,” Caitlin muttered, looking between Marcos and Lorna, “I once treated a gang member with a fatal gunshot wound. as he was dying, he told the cops everything he'd done, just to get it off his chest.”
Marcos turned to Lorna, a grim expression covering his face, “We have to hope she's in there, somewhere.” Lorna didn’t react, keeping her expression blank as she tried not to think of the fact that it could’ve been Gus.
*****
Arguably, there were fewer places that John and Gus were more out of place than in an antiques shop, the pair stood awkwardly in the shop waiting for Reed and Taylor to come downstairs.
“What’s eating you, Beacon?” Gus asked, not looking over as he looked inside some antique vase.
John sighed, “Evie had a vision.”
“Tell me something new.” Gus muttered, not harshly, but he, like the rest of the group, were very used to Evie’s premonitions.
“She saw Taylor, cold, lying in a pool of blood. She saw us crying… she was scared.” John sighed, shaking his head, “she’s never had a clairvoyant dream that’s not come true to some degree.”
Gus’ eyes darkened, “you think Taylor’s in danger?”
“I don’t know.”
*****
Otto placed a wooden box on the table in front of the couch before he sat down between his son and granddaughter. “There is something you need to see.” He stated, “it’s better that you know everything.” Otto lifted an old picture from the box, holding it out for Taylor and Reed to see, “this is my father: Andreas von Strucker.” Taylor tensed, recognizing the name but not knowing why, “my father and his sister, Andrea, did unspeakable things.”
“Andreas and Andrea?” Taylor muttered exasperatedly. Otto didn’t comment, but Reed sent her a warning glare.
“They were terrorists.” Otto told Reed before turning to Taylor, “they were also mutants.” He pulled several newspaper clippings from the box, handing them to Reed and Taylor.
“This was all them?” Reed asked.
Taylor, on the other hand, became absorbed in looking over the attack, “I can do this.” She whispered, barely audibly, it wasn’t heard by either man. Taylor let her eyes scan over each article, reading the death counts, the number of injured, the amount of property damage… she couldn’t comprehend anyone willingly causing that amount of devastation. Her mind swam with memories of her and John hiding out in Europe for weeks after the explosion, both consumed with guilt for the innocent deaths. The eight targets were planned, neither of them felt remorse for those deaths, but the 27 others…
“What could they do?” Taylor asked, not looking up from the articles.
“Apart, they had the same powers as your brother and sister. Together, though…” Otto’s voice faded off, “they were known as the Fenris – the Wolf. They were more powerful than you can imagine.”
“I seriously doubt that.” Taylor muttered, Otto looked at her in concern; he didn’t know what his older granddaughter’s powers were, nor the devastation she had caused.
Reed ignored the interaction between Otto and Taylor, trying instead to understand what Otto was telling him. “Wait, if they were mutants...” Reed couldn’t bring himself to finish his question.
“Yes, Reed. Your children's mutations were inherited.” Taylor raised an eyebrow but didn’t speak as Otto continued, “I am a mutant.”
“Wha...? It's not possible.”
“Please, just let me finish. They tried to raise me to be like them, but I ran away.” Otto lifted another picture; this one was of a young ball holding a ball of energy.
“That’s similar to Imogen’s!” Taylor exclaimed, Otto looked at her for further explanation, “when she first showed her powers, she was two. It was just a ball of different colored energy held slightly above her hands. She was so proud. I was so proud.” Otto reached to take Taylor’s hand only for her to violently flinch away before he could touch her.
Otto watched Taylor’s actions for a moment but eventually lowered his hand back to his lap. “I hid my powers from everyone,” Otto explained, turning to Reed, “even your mother. You have to understand, our family's abilities set us apart, even from other mutants. It was too much. I had to stop it.”
Taylor’s eyes widened, “there’s nothing in our powers to be ashamed of.” She’d spent too long being ashamed of what she could do. For years, her shame had consumed her, she could list on one hand the number of people who had taught her to be proud of who she was. At the top of that list was Erik.
“We are wrong, Mackenzie! Even on terms of other mutants!”
Taylor shook her head, but Reed didn’t seem deterred, “How could you possibly stop it?”
“That was what brought me to Trask... A research project to eliminate the X-Gene. I never found what they wanted... A serum that worked on all mutants... But I made a version that worked on one mutant and gave it to you.”
Taylor jumped up from the couch, not able to take anymore. Her mind raced as she tried to keep her emotions and mind in check.
“Tay? Talk to me.”
Taylor focused on John’s voice, the familiar calmness drawing her mind close, “he hates our kind. Believes that the X-Gene is a flaw. That we are wrong.” She felt John’s own anger begin to rise slightly. For some reason, John’s anger helped Taylor to settle. Taylor returned her attention to Otto and Reed as soon as she was calm enough. She didn’t hear most of the conversation, but she began to focus back in.
“You were in such pain. I hated myself. I could never look you in the eye after that. And all of it... for nothing.”
Taylor couldn’t stop herself scoffing, “’For nothing’? You think we’re wrong?! It’s the ones like you that are wrong, the ones that try to ignore the fact that this is going to happen. Mutants are evolving and nothing you can do will stop it. We are the future.” Otto and Reed both looked at Taylor in shock as she moved towards the window, trying to settle her rising anger, trying to silence the call of her powers.
*****
Several members of the Underground had noticed the group holding the woman on the table, many of them were more than a little unsettled by the fact that the woman who’d been intending to expose them wasn’t contained.
“Hey!” Yelled the large mutant from the Perry station, “are you people crazy?!” Lauren headed over to face the growing group, “Taking her out of the cage?” The man snapped again.
Lauren held her hands up non-threateningly, “I get it, you're upset. But just stay back, okay?” She said, trying to get the group to settle.
The man wasn’t deterred, “I don't understand why that thing is even here. She gets loose, she can kill everyone.”
“They need to figure out who she is and where she came from.” Lauren explained, “we need to keep everyone safe.”
“We'll be safe when she's back in a cage where she belongs.”
Lauren’s eyes began to darken at the man’s words, her mind focusing on her spinning shields. She knew that with John and Taylor gone, people were less likely to listen to her, but that didn’t mean she’d let these people walk all over her.
“Hey. Back off.” Andy snapped.
Objects began to shake while Lauren calmed down, “it's okay, Andy.”
“No, this guy has something to say, he'll say it to me. Right?” Lauren resisted the urge to roll her eyes, the objects began to shake more violently as Andy stood defensively in front of Lauren.
“Okay, cool off.” The large man said, backing off slightly, “just... tell them to be careful down there.”
“We will.”
“All right, let's cool it, man.”
Lauren and Andy watched the group disperse, staying silent for a few more minutes. Lauren eventually turned to Andy, “Thanks.”
“No problem. You're my sister. Nobody talks to you like that but me.” Lauren just smiled before heading back into the room with the others.