2013-01-31 When You Think of Laura?

[Westchester]- X-Men Base - War Room

This room is a silver dome, the main floor of which has a diameter of perhaps thirty feet, divided into two concentric circles. The outer ring has various computer terminals and activity stations, where one with the proper access keys may access whatever information or program they need to. The center ring of the room surrounds a round, raised platform, about ten feet in diameter. This dais is surrounded by a railing and wraparound control panel, breaking at the rear to admit a broad access ramp. There is ample standing room around the platform, and a panoramic view screen wraps around the outer wall. At the rear of the room, behind the dais, a round gray conference table offers a place for group briefings and a holographic emitter can three dimensionally display various information.

Beyond the table is a doorway opening to the southeast, which is a large circle of silver metal embossed with a giant symbol resembling a letter X enclosed by a circle.

A flash went out across the X-Men network a short while ago. Shift has called a meeting to discuss their latest visitor: Laura Kinney. Weapon X-23. Domino had received a message on her phone to make for the mansion. As for Logan, he'd been invited personally, after one of the older man's classes.

Inside the War Room, Shift has set up a pitcher of water along with a few glasses, both the tall variety and the short stuff. He has also provided a bottle of Gentleman Jack from his own personal collection, in case any of those who join share his penchant for whiskey.

As good a time as any. Kurt would have MUCH preferred pulling Logan aside, sat down with the man and had a couple of beers while discussing his personal impressions of the young Laura Kinney. As it is, he may yet share his impressions quietly and privately.. but he's interested in hearing what others have to say.

The fuzzy blue elf does appear downstairs (have *bamf* will travel), and he saunters into the room.. minus the beer. After all, it's more of an informal meeting. "Guten Abend."

It isn't long before Domino makes her appearance as well, pawing at her face with a slight grimace as she almost blindly strolls into the room. "Couldn't wait a couple more flippin' hours, could it," she grumbles toward Shift. The toe of a boot hooks around a free chair and draws it out, spinning about just right so that she can drop herself into it with all of the grace of a derailed freight train.

Shift should have a good idea of what that's like.

Alcohol. Fingers still splayed across her face, she blearily looks beyond the half-gloved digits to the whiskey waiting just beyond. Luck? Nope, good planning on Shift's part. Without another word she reaches for the bottle. May as well make the trip worth her while.

EARLIER

"And now," Logan flatly says as he gently nudges a flowering branch so that it juts out from its near-identical cousin at a sharp angle, "havin' learned the basics: it's /your/ turns." Those two branches - one perfectly vertical, the other wildly angular - contrast a green shoot with nothing more than a pair of tiny green leaves sprouting from the base of a tiny, barely opened blossom.

Most of the bewildered students are stuck either squinting at Logan's arrangement or making uncertain gestures towards their own selections of flowers and vases; one boy begins to raise his fin to ask a question, but a stern look puts a stop to that.

Samurai training, for better or worse, is not all killing people with swords--at least, Logan's wasn't.

NOW

Logan's greeting consists of nods and a few low, vaguely warm grunts as the man drags himself into the War Room to take a seat. Only after he snags the bottle - /just/ as Domino's fingers get within a few inches of it - and swigs from it does he actually mutter, "Friggin' kids, I swear," and even that's followed by another drink.

Once he's done, he sets the bottle on the table, slides it Dom-wards, and drags the back of his hand across his mouth. "Alright," he exhales, slightly muffled. When his hand drops, the weariness of putting up with teenagers fades from his features, and he looks to each of his teammates in turn.

"Hit me."

The sound of Kurt's arrival draws Kwabena's head upward, just as he finishes pouring himself a small glass of whiskey. He couldn't have been sure who might come, and seeing Kurt is a at least a mild surprise. Two eyebrows shoot upward, and he quickly gives the blue, furry mutant a smile. "Hello, Kurt," he offers. "Thanks for coming."

Domino is next, and to her, his smile turns a bit more crooked. "Not really," he offers. "If dat girl runs off, it could be bad news and you know it."

Logan's entrance draws a similar cockeyed smirk, for he had only a few experiences in what we might call 'teaching', and he could barely imagine the stress it puts on a man. Toasting with his glass, he downs the whiskey with one gulp, then settles back into his own seat at the table.

"Well, obviously, we have a situation here. I undahstand we've all had at least some few encounters with de girl in question, so, why don't we share whats on our minds."

His eyes shift from one to the other, eventually landing on Domino. Her offering would be... well, the most difficult to deliver, so he elects to give her a few moments to choose exactly how to talk about -their- first encounter with Laura. Instead, his mismatched eyes dart over toward their furry companion. "Kurt?"

Busted. Someone gets to go first.

Kurt settles into his chair, perching moreso than sitting, looking completely natural in the pose. Yellow eyes watch each in turn as they arrive, a smirk playing on his face as the three of them go for the whiskey. He's content, at the moment, not to drink.. even the water.

"I'm interested in hearing others first, if I may," Kurt begins. "I will take, this one time, priviledge und wait until others have spoken. Perhaps it will give me insight where I had none before, or perhaps it will only add to my particular feeling upon the matter." Pointing to the whiskey with his tail with a flourish, the smirk remains, "Und I will not drink that, as it appears you all have more need of it than I."

There comes confirmation, however, to Logan. "I came across your Laura Kinney last night. It did not take me long to identify her."

Domino's hand stops the instant the bottle disappears from sight, her expression not that far off from a cat's after realizing it let the pigeon get away at the last possible second. Sigh.

"Take the bottle from me again, hitting's just gonna be the start of it."

It's cool though, she's got it -this- time. Between these two, they may need another bottle. Things could end up getting somewhat ..awkward. The look which is returned to Kwabena says every bit as much. 'Why not ask me to stand before a firing squad while we're at it?' Whatever. Her arms fold together upon the table, slouching forward so much that her chin's very nearly propped upon those forearms. Exhausted merc is exhausted. But, it's Kurt's time to talk. And he passes the baton to someone else. Lucky her.

Dom's forehead falls upon those arms for a moment as she pulls her thoughts together. "She's wanted by some project calling itself Weapon X. They made her, born from a test tube. Claws in her forearms, two blades each. Bad fuggin' attitude," she says with a slow glance up and over to Logan. Eye contact isn't kept for long. "Laura's got a price on her head. The job's starting to get sub-contracted to mercs."

"I would have had her first if Gambit didn't step in at the last second."

"Try me," Logan rattles off without even thinking about it The aggressive response was not exactly expected, but he's still not one to shy away from a challenge.

He doesn't try to hold her gaze for very long, though; he's reasonably fine with turning his attention to Shift... until Shift passes the proverbial conch to Kurt.

Who then sends it /right/ back to Domino.

Folding his arms, he settles his gaze on the albino and listens intently. None of the first bits - the claws, the test tube, the attitude - is news to him, now that he's met the girl, but a trained eye might notice how much more tension each additional descriptor leands to his frame and features.

And then, just as he's about to let her know that he already knows what she has to tell him, she goes and drops that last bombshell, and it doesn't take a very well trained eye at all to catch his reaction to /that/...


 * THUD!* *SNIKT!* *K-THNK!*

... because in the blink of an eye, two claws just like the girl Domino almost brought in are stuck into the table on either side of her neck. Logan's chair is on its back, halfway across the room; Logan himself is hunched over Domino, his free hand planted against the table right next to her head.

"How close," Logan lowly growls, "is 'the last second'?" As he finishes the question, another sound - the soft, faintly mechanical scraping of his middle claw slowly sliding free - underlies it. It won't go far - not far enough to make even grazing contact, even - but this close, he doubts that Domino won't at least /notice/.

It's a fair enough response, and Kwabena provides Kurt with a slow nod of his head. "Dere is more where dat came from," he asides to the German, while gesturing with his eyes toward the bottle of bourbon. Not in a daring way, but in a permissive way. One thing Shift has plenty of is good bourbon.

In turn, his eyes shift toward Domino. However, the daring remark she makes to Logan draws a dark cloud over his expression. Tension lines form on his neck and jaw while he meets Domino's glaring look with one of his own. She should be glad he didn't spill the beans in full detail about exactly -why- they came across Weapon X-23.

Logan's abrupt movement, however, that startles him. So much that each arm swipes backward from where they'd come clasped together on the table, knocking his empty glass back and onto the floor where it shatters. That's the extent of his knee-jerk reaction, however. His movement is almost as slow and steady as the Wolverine's middle claw as he rises to his feet, and the sliding of metal claw against adamantium bone is joined by a very silent crackling sound.

"Easy," he offers in a voice both quiet and bold. "Let's all take it easy." The dark skin of his arms and hands seems to be reforming, each tiny bump where flesh becomes more solid than skin creating those little pops and crackles.

"Logan... it was a job. We were set up. It didn't go -anywhere-." He watches carefully, though he doesn't make any additional movements toward or away from them. "Howevah, de job happened, and it's going to create problems. Dat's what we need to discuss."

A soft, steady breath is drawn in and out of his nose, following which he provides a very brief glance Kurt's way. Worry flashes in his mismatched eyes for that brief moment.

Domino's assessment of the girl.. Kurt learns a few things about Laura that he didn't know before, but was in the process of guessing. Weapon X. Smelling .. people. Shades of his friend right--

"Mein Gott.." Logan is quick, certainly, but so is Kurt. The moment his friend moves, Kurt is up in his seat and over, ready to take a hold of him and teleport him across the room; that sort of separating works, but only in a pinch. "Logan!" is called out. "Do not--" Beat. "Is it not good enough that the attempt was stopped und that she is now here with us?" She.. could be one, the other, or both!

"Stand down.." comes soon after, yellow eyes following the sound of crackling, lifting towards Shift. There, his gaze lingers before he returns to Logan and he reaches to place a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Logan.. it is something new we have learned, then. Take it for what it is. That means she needs our aid more than ever, und we have the potential," and here, his gaze moves back towards Shift, flickering towards Domino, "to hear of movement in that regard." Not that the hired really gets much more, potentially, than how many may be hired to 'clean', when.. and the like. "Any information is better than none."

To Domino's credit, she manages to keep herself very still through all of this. It's easier to do when she knows it's coming. It also gives her time to, nice and subtle-like, secure one of her hands around the grip of a pistol that's holstered beneath her shoulder. Right now it's aimed somewhere in Logan's direction, but it's not meant to be used. Survival instinct, nothing more.

Instead, she nervously swallows once. "That went well."

Eye contact is slightly out of the question at this point. Instead she stares, quite intently, at the drink, which is once again -just outside of her reach.- Very funny, Fate. "Close enough that no one got hurt," she soldiers on with a slow but steady voice, belying the adrenaline that's now searing through her veins. "Never got a shot off, she came leaping straight at me with claws extended. Plenty of time to make a judgement call. One, she was a goddamn -kid.- Two, I know these claws," she states while ever so carefully reaching around to tap the side of a blade with the tip of a finger.

Ting, ting, ting.

"Kwa's right. I was set up. The bastard wanted one of two things to happen. Either I'd kill her and he'd get paid for no effort, or she'd kill me and he'd cash in on that. Gambit's already picking up that trail."

Logan doesn't say a word more as his teammates prepare for the worst; thankfully, he also keeps that last, would-be fatal claw at bay.

The way he studies the crackling Ghanian when he briefly looks after the source of that sound /is/ rather reminiscent of a predator seeking out the best piece of meat on his prey to be, but still--no imminent violence.

It takes Nightcrawler's calm, reasoned request in conjunction with Domino and Shift's information to finally convince him to pull those claws - all three of them - back. A moment later, he actually draws away to give the albino some room to breathe/sit up straight.

"Who set you up?" he lowly asks as he stalks away to retrieve his fallen chair.

Relief floods the African's eyes. Releasing a pent up breath through his nose, he sits back down, and this time, is the first to swipe the bottle of whiskey. Up to his lips it goes, and a good pull is taken down before he sets the bottle onto the table again.

Tiny hairs across his skin relax as the skin holding them loses its tension, the crackling muted. He waits until Domino provides what information she wishes, before his attention moves toward Logan again. He hadn't backed down when the predator studied him, which is worth noting. "I ran across her while doing de lights out rounds yestahday. She was not happy to see me, and I think she came close to leaving altogedah."

His attention moves toward Kurt next, and he offers a quiet observation. "If dat happens, we won't just be trying to find out who wants her. We'd be trying to -stop- dem." His eyes go back around to Logan and finally Domino. "Dat would get damned ugly."

Kurt's holding his breath, though he's more than used to this by now. That doesn't mean that he's always sure of his ability to calm his friend. There is such a thing as divine intervention, and it appears that it has happened once again. Lifting his hand, he lays it upon his friend's shoulder once again in a gentle pat, and steps back as Logan begins to pull himself away.

"Ja, of course you would," Kurt first speaks to Shift, his gaze falling upon the Ghanian and holding it there. "I would believe you would no nothing less."

Slowly, the blue elf takes his own seat, perching as if nothing untoward had happened. Of course, the chair will have to be repaired.. later. The thought of listening to others does help a great deal, and is playing out exactly how he'd hoped, after a fashion. He's learning a great deal.

Dom waits for a few extra seconds before she risks that whole movement thing, looking back to Logan first before she rolls her head from one side to the next. A few tiny pops result. As though it's business as usual, she goes right back to how things had been before she nearly had her spine clipped from behind by honed subdermal adamantium spike, once more reaching for that bottle--

Only to miss her chance once again.

"You guys -suck,- you know that?"

As soon as the bottle is back within her reach she swipes it in one sudden motion that borders on the violent and slams a generous shot before another word escapes her ebony-stained lips. Or before someone else can beat her to the drink. If Kurt knows what's good for him he won't teleport it out of her hand.

"The hell do I care if half the people in the damned country have his info," she mutters while pulling out -another- scrap of paper and jotting down the guy's known info a -second- time. It's then slid across the table in Logan's direction. "Here, set your claws in this. Best avoid the trains if you're going to plan a trip out his way."

"Better work on those reflexes," Logan absently mutters in reply to Dom's frustration as he tosses his chair through the War Room's door.

Upon returning, he scoops the paper up, spends a couple seconds committing it to memory, then slides it into the pocket of his jeans. "Thanks," he gruffly murmurs. Kurt gets a lingering look after the word is said; he's as grateful to the elf as he is the merc. After slowly letting out a breath, he looks between Shift and Kurt, then looks away from either to study the claw marks on the table.

"Other'n that, then: how'd she seem? Place like this... 's gotta be overwhelmin' for a girl like her."

While there's no smile on his lips, Kwabena does manage to smile with his eyes. Kurt at least knew of his connections with the criminal world, and he knew that he wasn't afraid to run neck deep in his ugly past if it might produce some good. No verbal response is given, for none is needed.

Domino however, she earns a smirk. "Just keeping you in check." The words 'Lady Luck' are bitten back with much effort. The poor girl had dealt with enough already, there would be time for his chiding nickname another day.

But it takes -great effort-. His tongue may have even been forming an 'L' syllable when he cut it short.

Settling back forward, Shift folds his hands together while leaning on the table with his forearms. "Seemed to be getting along fine with Rogue and one of de students," he offers. A curious glance is sent Kurt's way then, for the Nightcrawler had yet to really deliver his opinion. Perhaps he'd be able to shed more light on that particular question?

Kurt watches as the information is written and set down. When Logan picks it up and shoves it into his pocket, he's about ready to wiggle his fingers in the 'give it here' gesture, but.. he'll meet later. Privately. Quietly. There are few better than him in infiltration, and should they ever move against the person in question? He wants to be on the front lines, as it were.

There.. now it's Kurt's turn. His friend knows the elf better than almost anyone, and certainly better than anyone in this room at the moment. He exhales softly, and leans across the table to take.. the glass of water. "She is afraid. She is on her guard.. but, she is willing, I think, to reach out. Given the correct approaches, that is." He smiles thoughtfully, his gaze landing upon Logan, "She reminds me, in some things, of another I know. Und believe it or not, that fills me with hope und not dread."

Shift's glance in his direction is given a nod, simply, and he answers to his impression of Rogue's.. interaction. Pyro's, not so much. "I asked Rogue if she would take Laura to the Girls' Dormitory," for obvious reasons. "Once I reminded Rogue that we all have our moments when understanding is necessary, she seemed much more accomodating. I do not know what happened after I left, but I do believe Laura did not leave the grounds last night." Which, to him, means she felt safe enough to stay the night.

"Been a long week," Dom quietly replies to Logan before helping herself to another drink. If she tops out now then she won't be disappointed when it's occupied or empty later. Also, fortunately, he isn't insisting on her tagging along to 'clean up her mess,' or some other similar excuse. Point to him, there.

Finally releasing the whiskey back into the wild, she flops back into her chair with a heavy yet weary motion. Another glance is passed over to Shift. So far, so good. Except..for that slip of the tongue that he very nearly makes. If looks could kill she'd be adding another tick mark to her scorecard today.

"Yeah, last time I saw her was in Vegas. Pretty sure she was threatening to hurt me." This is Domino's concerned face. "Kid gets around, anyone know how she got from there to here?"

Without much warning, the door to the room opens. And there's a slight sound. Almost like someone sniffing the air. That is before...

X-23 wanders in.

Yes, that's right, X-23 is here. Down here. In the secure area. And she's in something akin to a uniform. Or at least a one piece sleeveless body suit with an X on one breast.

All though as a certain question is asked, she answers.

"I flew back to New York City. Then I walked here."

Logan nods along with each of Shift and Kurt's accounts, his eyes never lifting from the table. In fact, by the time it's Kurt's turn, they're pretty much closed as he takes his old friend's impressions in.

They rather remind /him/ of someone, too, after all.

"You did good, Elf," he says once Domino says her piece; his eyes open and even lift, but he doesn't quite look at any of them. "Ain't got high hopes about her fittin' in just yet, but if she hasn't run yet... it's a good sign." After exhaling, he glances in Dom's direction and begins to remark, "Reckon she's well-trained. Resource--"

The hairs on his arms and neck stand up as a familiar, and wholly out of place scent tickles his nostrils; a moment before the door opens, he's turning towards it and standing a little straighter than he was before.

"Might'a walked a little /too/--" he instinctively begins before stopping himself and carefully looking her up and down.

"Smart girl," he instead says, returning his eyes to the table as a smile flits over his features.

An expression of relief is granted when Kurt details Laura's encounter with Rogue. If anyone might have been able to convince Laura to stay, it was the Southern Belle. He'd hoped that Rogue would have gotten through to X-23, and it seems at least in part that his hopes were well placed.

If looks could kill, Kwabena would prove true that only energy weapons can truly damage him. He meets that look of terror with an unflinching smirk, and reaches out with his hand again for that damn near crushed bottle of bourbon.

The gesture, however, is abruptly halted. Fingers curl back on themselves when Laura walks right into the War Room, and his mismatched eyes dart toward her with apparent surprise. Such surprise is, however, short-lived, for Logan's offhand remark brings a similar grin to his face. "Fascinating," he remarks quietly to himself, then resumes his former procedure.

Reaching for that bottle of bourbon, before Domino can get her hands on it.

Good thing he leaves her a pinch. Just a pinch. Enough to tickle one's taste buds, if lucky.

Any further remark is left silent, for it wasn't his place to welcome her there. He'll leave that one to the seasoned X-Veterans.

Kurt looks at all in the room, and when Laura makes her appearance in the doorway, he rises to his feet quickly. There's nothing aggressive about the action, certainly not. But, he's got the water in hand, still full, and setting it back upon the table, turns his yellow-eyes towards the girl. There's something of an amused tone that underlies his words.  comes in German, finishing Logan's sentence, even if the Canadian hadn't really meant to say it- and he makes a gesture of the room.. downstairs. "Resourceful, ja.."

Now on his feet, Kurt twists back around to those in the room with him. "I think that everything that needed to be said has been, ja? I suggest that perhaps it will be best to adjourn upstairs."

The door's opening. Their meeting is no longer secure. Sometimes, especially in being new to this institute and still being unfamiliar with its occupants, Domino forgets where she is. That she's in the company of allies. Possibly even friends.

She's out of her chair and looking at the door in an instant, hands on weapons, those reflexes suddenly appearing to be much closer to on par than they had a moment ago.

Cripes... It's the creepy kid.

Her breath is released in a quick exhale, the tension ebbing away from her muscles. "Glad that mystery's solved."

It goes without saying that this girl, Laura, has some specialized training to her name. She was hatched in a lab, created from the ground up and made into what is very obviously a weapon. Dom knows more about things than she's letting in on. Frankly, the whole matter is hitting way, -way- too close to home for her comfort. Where her history is concerned? No one else needs to know a thing about it. It's all fine and good that they have someone else to put their focus toward, but the subject matter, by proxy, only puts her further on edge.

This is dangerous territory they're all heading into. Laura may be here, but her safety is a completely different story. Hers, and everyone else nearby. Normally this sort of liability would get cast off at the first opportunity, but she's a -kid.- A mutant. She needs their help. -All- of their help.

Frig.

Kurt's suggestion gets a distant "Yeah" from Dom in agreement. She's played her hand, here.

There's a glance at Kurt as he politely tries to tell Laura that she shouldn't be here. But there's no other real reaction.

Domino on the other hand... She gets a /GLARE/. If looks could kill, Dom might not be dead, but she definitely would be in a lot worse shape right now.

Kwa... He gets a glance. A look that's nowhere near as bad as what Domino gets.

But Logan...?

He gets more than a look at Laura just stands there.

"Needed to say this. Before I go. X-1 through X-22 were failures. They were never born. X-24 and higher would not have been failures. They would of been like me. But I.... Killed them before they could be implanted, like I was in my.... Mother. I did it when I escaped. I did it... At my mothers request... When she was dying... After I killed her..."

She shakes her head, and then turns to leave.

"I figured you should be told. Before I leave."

Laura's news means that Logan's smile is well and truly gone. He'd already been wondering whether Laura's classification meant 22 /additional/ children to hunt down, or just more dead victims to account for, and now he knows.

"Stay," he murmurs after staring at the girl in silence for a while. After swallowing, he gives her a curt nod, then heads for the door she came from. "Tonight, tomorrow, the next day--just stay. 's safe here; good place to recharge your batteriess. /I'll/ go. These three - and everyone else - they'll take care'a you, whatever you need."

Before he makes it out the door, he glances back to look between his three teammates, trying his best to communicate gratefulness - for the information they've shared - and apologies despite a tense, conflicted expression. As he passes through the doorway, he gives the frame a sound smack, then turns his eyes forward and quietly finishes: "Business. Shouldn't be more than a couple'a days; we'll catch up then."

It certainly is a good thing Kwabena took that (almost) last shot of bourbon, for Laura's revelation might have otherwise put him on the floor. Instead, he remains right where he is, with his cheeks in the seat and unable to move. His eyebrows shoot upward, and the replies from Kurt and Domino are otherwise ignored. His mis-matched eyes shift toward Logan.

He'd come close to offering his assistance in Logan's attempt to hunt down Domino's contact. However, that idea gets shut right down. His mouth had even parted to speak some words, but they are bittin down like the bitter liquor he'd nearly finished. Instead, his eyes turn toward Laura.

Too young to have been dealt the bitter hand she carried, but that was a feeling he could relate with. She couldn't possibly know of his own personal struggles as a young, shunned mutant, but perhaps if she stayed, he'd have a chance to share his own dark past with her.

As such, he sinks back into his chair for a moment, reaching up to pinch his nose with eyes closed. It's a short-lived gesture, but before long, he's also sharing a look with his teammates. "I agree," he echoes Logan's advice, briefly looking toward Laura again. "With Logan, and with Kurt. Time to go upstairs." He rises from his seat, briefly eyeing the shattered remains of his glass upon the floor.

Forget that.

"I'll... be in my bunk," he murmurs, before making for the doorway and taking a different route from Logan.

Laura's news? If Kurt began to think about it, it wouldn't surprise him.. not in the least. Knowing the measure of a man that he calls 'friend'. Wouldn't that be exactly what Logan would do? While information is new, the.. feeling of it seems so very familiar.

"Logan.." Kurt begins, and looks out towards his departing friend. He hates it when he does this, he really, really does. But, once again, the elf is put into the position of staying behind to help take care of.. someone important. And how could he shirk that responsibility? But, when 'everyone else' is included in that 'taking care of', it frees him to follow. "You are not leaving without me." So, he too, is leaving the room to head upstairs .. or where ever his feet may take him.

"Ja.. stay. You will be well taken care of, Laura."

Yeah, yeah, glare right back atcha, kiddo. There's unsorted business between Domino and Laura, obviously enough. They can hack that unpleasantness out later, on their own time. Preferrably without an audience. They'd both prefer it that way, more likely than not.

Then things get even more complicated. Dom's more than ready to leave. Something that Laura says makes her stop -cold.-

Failures. Killed. By her hands. Like her mother.

She killed her mother.

Oh, God.

If there's any sense of luck left within the albino today, it will make sure that everyone is very intently watching something other than the mercenary in this moment so that they might miss the tensing that passes back into her body. It would give her a chance to leave the room. And the institute's grounds. Quickly. Quietly. Business as usual, don't pay her any mind.

-Damnit.- This isn't about her, but the way things are heading? Fate is gearing up to take its pound of flesh for all of that good luck of hers. Could this have anything to do with the timing, her joining up with this crew? The trip out west, finding Laura on that train? It's just too much. Too ..perfect. This moment is seconds away from becoming a complete disaster.