Part X

She drifts through a world of exhausted confusion. Her brows furrow when she feels something hard and round pressing into her cheek and chest.

Ugh...cold...hard...ow...hurts t'  breath...

From a distance, she hears a pained, drugged voice in her head. "Mo'...?"

She jerks upright, grimacing and owing at the muscles pulling in her neck. "Klork...??? Hey...!" Rubbing the back of her neck, she looks around the interior of her car, grimacing at the pain from her other wounds. The memories come back and she starts the car, peeling out of the garage. "Where are you...??"

"Hn...y...you're  there??" His voice is only half there. "I  got out...I...d'no...OW...stupid needle..."

Oh, gods...I really don't like the sound of that...

"I'm  here...I'm on my way...where are you...??"

"D'no..."

Never an easy way out...

She bites her lip as she navigates traffic, having switched on every device in the car to avoid being pulled over or chased by police. "Ok...uhm...can you describe your surroundings...?"

"S'a room...concrete...just huh? Some guy dressed as a diver is walking over to me..."

Her brow furrows as she watches the road and concentrates on streangthening their link. She floors it and switches into hyper-drive. "Can you...uhm...show me...? What happened...?"

His voice wavers. "I'm strapped...some weird table...s...standing upright...putting a mask on me...I...d'no, can't remember...too much drugs..."

She swallows, skillfully surpassing toll booths undetected. "Ok...just...stay with me...ok? I'm here for you...I'm trying to find you...what does the guy look like...?"

"S...wearing diving gear...think his eyes'r blue?"

"Ok...that's good..." She furrows her brows again. "What else?"

"Wa...water...M...Mo...???" His voice fills with panic. "Filling...th' room up with water...I can't move...can't get..."

OH damn...can't let him panic...

"Klork! Just...just concentrate on me...close your eyes and feel that I'm with you...? They put a mask on you, right...? What kind of mask??"

"Mask...OH th'...air...air mask...m'here...I'm here...s' waist deep now...s' cold...."

She shoves her own panic and anger down, turning her voice gentle and soothing. "Ok...goood...just keep concentrating on my voice...you're not alone, ok...? Imagine being in front of the fire at the mansion...nice and warm..."

She can hear the panic in his voice, almost feel the cold water. "F...fire...? Y...yeah...warm..."

More fear of her own gets swallowed down as her hands clench on the steering wheel.

C'mon car...go faster...I know you're going faster than any other out there...but still...! I need to get to him...!

"It's ok...warm...tell me what's happening...? Everything you know...? I'll be there as soon as I can..."

She senses his shiver as he answers. "I...I don't know, they did something t...to me earlier...I don't know why....oh god..." The fear roars through their connection. "I hate this....oh god, I know I'm gonna die..."

No...oh geeze...DON'T say that...

She sends her mental feelers out even farther, getting a sense of him being south of San Fran, near the freeway. She pushes her car to its limits, speeding in that direction.  "Don't give up...! Please...use my strength if you need to....I'm coming for you..."

He whimpers. "I...I'll try...diver left....I don't know what's going on but I want out..."

"I'll get you out...I'll find a way...I promise, ok...? You just hold on...tell me anything you think will help....tell me what's happening..."

"Oh God...I don't know if...they're testing my powers, Mo'...I can't use them under water...!"

He's so close she wants to cry. As she madly weaves in and out of traffic, she chews her lip and takes a shakey breath. "Ok...uhm...concentrate on something else...concentraite on my voice..."

"I...I'm trying..." She can almost feel the electricity moving through the water at him as he absorbs the first few bolts.

She sends him what strength she can, taking a shuddering breath.

"I...awSHIT!"

The connection is broken.

"Klork?! KLORK!!"

"NO...!" She pounds the steering weel with the heal of her hand.  Tears etch their way down  her cheeks as she takes the car out of hyper-drive and slows down to a more legal speed.

DamnitdamnitDAMNIT! I couldn't pinpoint him...DAMN them!!!

She breaths deeply, calming herself again, extremely thankful for her heavily tinted windows. As she drives past, she eyes the massive complex of what look like generic grey office buildings. Men and women dressed in suits are stationed among them, and the sign at the entrance reads "TechaTool Labs".

Hn...looks promising...and with all that security, I'd say it's a sure bet...

She eyes one of the men.

Gads...they look very FBIish...what the hell are these idiots up to?

She pulls into an ally and opens one of the many secret compartments. She pulls out the stealth version of her X-Men uniform; black with deep red lining.

Only one way to find out...

She lurks along the perimeter of the complex, all the time keeping her mind open for Klork's presence. The building that seems under the least guard is labled "ProtoSci".

Hn...I wonder what they do here...

Her teeth clench as she presses her back to one of the walls, under the rotating camera, waiting for the right time to dash for her next checkpoint.

Scratch that...I already have an idea of what...

She dashes silently through the shadows, ignoring her protesting injuries and pounding head.

Now the questions are why, who they are, and, most importantly: How the hell do I get Klork out of there?

She narrows her eyes as she surveys the back wall of the ProtoSci building, sinking deeply into the sterile shadows of the ally as a few suited people walk by.

Friggin'...nasty...government types...

She circles the building, pinpointing variouse potential points of entry and memorizing the cycles of guard changes, as well as routs. Her brows furrow slightly as she feels something liquid and warm creep down her side.

Shit...

HLM presses a hand to the re-opened wound, still eyeing the building.

Damn you, Edana...

Her gloved hand is slick with blood when she draws it back to look at it briefly.

Damnit...I have to come back later....this needs taking care of...

She slips back through the shadows to her car. In the ally, unnoticed by their owner, there are three droplets of blood staining the pavement.

A few hours later, HLM sits crosslegged on the bed in her cheap motel  room, tapping away on the rented laptop, researching anything she can find on TechaTool  Labs and what they do. She's clad in the same jeans she wore on her cross-country drive and a short sleeved shirt with the collar ripped out, her hair held back from her face with an elastic band.

The constant pain of her bandaged wounds and exhaustion from the long day gnaws at her. Her tired mind keeps wandering back to her conversation with Klork and away from the task at hand.

Damnit, Moron, focus! You can't help him if your mind keeps wandering like that.

She rubs her eyes, saving the files she found to disk and looking at the time.

Ok...it's really late...midnight...and you're going to collaps again if you don't get some rest...

She shakes her head and turns the laptop off before falling back into the flat pillows.

Yeah...sleep is a good thing...I'm treating myself like a child...

A broken sigh rises from her lips.

Just a few hours' sleep...that's all I need...

Unconsiousness begins to overtake her.

Klork...don't give up...

The world begins to sipral away.

...please...trust in me...I'll get you...out of there...

She knows no more.

Part IX
Part XI
Otherworldly Comforts Index