Part XI

Groaning, she sits up slowly. Her body aches almost as much as her spirit does.

Still dark out...good...gotta clean wounds...

A hand wanders up to run through her hair. She grimaces when her fingers encounter the braids.

...and get these damn braids out...

She stands and reels. With a massive force of will, she regains balance.

Ok, body...I promise to take better care of you when this is over.

She strips down and heads into the bathroom, fumbling to get the braids out. She turns on the shower and steps under the warm water. A wince crosses her face when the water contacts with the wounds. She examines her injuries, biting her lip at the torn stitches in her side, the infection quickly setting in again in the bear trap wound and the gash in her leg oozing blood. Other than those problems, the rest of her wounds seem to be healing well.

Fuckin' a...

She steps out of the shower and begins treating the injuries.

Oh man...I gotta hold out a lil' longer...

She slides back into her black X-Men uniform before slipping street clothing on over it and heading out to her car. The powerful engine purrs silently as she takes back roads to TechaTools after she checks out of her room and returns the laptop, files safe on a floppy.

"Klork...?? Klork...you there...?"

Nothing, just like the first time she tried.

Fuck. Well...at least I know where he is...sorta...

She hides the car and slides out of her civilian clothing. The perimeter is then breached, and she's disappearing into the ventilation system of ProtoSci. Watching darkened room after darkened room as she goes by, she slowly shakes her head.

Lotsa fridges 'n shelves...let's hear it for samples...

Going with her gut, she drops into one of the rooms after disabling the surveillance camera. She spelunks around the rooms, blinking when she comes across the name "Curric, Klork". Brows furrowed, she lifts the vials and reads the labels.

...sperm samples?? Oh HELL no...!

Looking around the lab briefly, she finds what she needs to make what looks like sperm samples and transfers the labels from the real things to the replicas. She pockets the samples for later disposal after putting the fakes in their place. Her head snaps up at the sound of the door being unlocked.

Shit...

She leaps back into the vents, silently replacing the cover just before the lights flip on and a scientist comes in.

He sits down and starts in on some work.

Gah...damn those early risers...looks like he's gonna be there for a while...

She moves on, biting her lip slightly.

Man...hope there aren't any more samples...I got at least most of them in that fridge...

For a few more hours, she explores the building. She destroys what samples she can replace with fakes and searches for clues on Klork's possible whereabouts.

When she finishes with that building, she moves on to the records building. She can't help smirking at the name.

"Testamur"...sheesh...idiots trying to sound smart...too damn funny...

Unfortunately, she couldn't get to that many files, but she was able to determine which building the subjects are kept in and was able to take over a computer long enough to implant a nasty little command to reformat, with no cancel option, the main database when the system reboots the next day, well disguised as a file necessary for computer function.

Hacker, baby...you are so getting an awesome mourning shrine for teaching me that one...

The next building where the tests are run and subjects kept is a little harder to get into. She catches her breath when she's finally in.

Man...gotta work out more...damn hot in these vents...

Her interest fastens on one doctor in particular. The man just oozes contempt, but he also looks as if he knows something. Despite the revulsion she feels for him, she follows him. Someone brushes her mind, making her blink a little.

"Lisette...?" she hazards, eyes not leaving the sleazebag doctor.

"...HLM...you...have you foun--OW...found him...? I can't reach him!"

Her brows furrow lightly. "I know...kinda where he is...a LAB has him...what happened? What was the 'Ow' for?"

Lisette's voice takes on a pleading note. "Do you know -- fu -- know what's going on...??" There's a pause. "Unwanted visitor. I'll be fine... Where's the lab? How can I help...??"

"I'm trying to find out where exactly he is...how to get him out...uhm...the lab's south of San Fran...I dunno, Lisette...uhm...do you know anything about TechaTools...?"

Agh...damn heat's making it hard to think...

"TechaTools...?? I...no...hold on. C--sh...concentrate on where you are for me...please...?" She pauses. "I'm coming to help..."

HLM watches the doctor file through tubes and write things once in a while. She nods, it not occurring to her that Lisette can't see that. "Ok...be quiet when you get here, though..." With a silent intake of breath, she forces her increasingly fogged mind to concentrate.

Within a few moments, Lisette appears by her, clad in black, hair held up away from her face, her jaw clenched with pain. "...What...is the situation...?"

Looks like your unwanted visitor needs a good ass whippin'...

With a thin grin, she nods to the other woman. "We're trying to find information about this place...they were doing something to him when I talked to him..." She points through the vent. "That guy down there looks like he might know something..."

Lisette nods, biting her lip.

Man...she's in a ton of pain...

"You sure you're ok...?" HLM asks.

"You...go find Klork...I'll distract?? I...can vanish at will, as you have seen...if...I can...get information, promise me you'll get him out...?"

She nods. "I'll do my damndest."

Lightly resting her fingertips on her collarbone, Lisette nodded. "It's broken...I'll have it looked at later."

Just then, the doctor puts the paperwork in a small file cabinet and locks that in a safe. Both women watch him.

"Keys," the ex-vampire telepaths. "High personnel, you think?"

"There's a ton of security...so...yeah...lots of personnel...big place..."

HLM furrows her brow as Lisette blinks; both women move to listen to the doctor speak to someone maddeningly just out of view.

"Well, you just need some patience," his voice floats up to them, "you'll see him soon enough yet. But I've still some things to do with him..."

Lisette furrows her brow as she listens. "...Can you get him out if I distract them...? Or at least...find him...?"

"I'll try finding him, Lisette...need more clues...you be careful..."

The chestnut haired woman sighs and nods. "Where to start...ah well, I suppose the best approach, in this case, is the direct one..."

HLM nods and closes her eyes, reaching for Klork as Lisette fades from the vent and reappears behind the doctor. When she doesn't reach him, she continues along the vents, looking for clues to Klork's whereabouts. As she looks from room to room, she keeps track of Lisette and the doctor. She settles on the room she and her partner saw the doctor put the files in. She disarms the cameras and goes about picking the lock to the safe after finding the right code.

"Now WHERE IS HE?!" Lisette's scream cuts through the air as HLM works on the safe, before ringing in her mind. "Any luck?!"

"Not yet...I'm keeping dibs on you..." She finally gets the safe open. Thumbing through the files, she finds her gem. Klork's paperwork. She closes and relocks the safe so it looks the way it did before leaping back into the vent with her prize. As she reads through it, she telepaths her partner in crime. "Found something..."

She can dimly hear the doctor telling Lisette they rotate the rooms nightly before hearing her telepath into her mind, "Have they rotated, or is he lying through his teeth?"

She scans through, squinting in the dim light, until at last she finds her answer. "The bastard's lying through his teeth."

HLM then lurks through the vents, trying to find Klork's room, carrying his folder with her.

"Does it say a room?! Can I keep him away from him?!"

"Yes it does, but..." She finally finds the room matching the number. "DAMN...he's not HERE!" She surveys the room from her spot as best she can, intent on not being discovered.

"He said he had an appointment for the lab..."

She blinks a little and looks through the paper work again. "...well shit...we know where his room is now anyway...which lab?"

"Hold on..."

"K..."

"Damn...he will be of no help to us now. I knocked him out..." There's a pause. "Anything else.?"

She creeps to the vents over the hallway. Between looking at the papers, jaw clenched against the pain and heat within, eyes narrowed against the dull light, she watches the area. When a nurse, entirely too perky for her own good, goes into Klork's room and casually starts taking notes on what she reads in his journal, HLM blinks and growls. "Perky Nurse in Klork's cell...reading his journal. Want me to handle this one?"

"...if you wish...I want to see if I can find a map...or something..."

The nurse flips her hair over her shoulder, chewing gum before setting the journal to the side and starting to leave the room. She doesn't hear HLM drop from the vent, aware of her presence only when she finds one arm around her neck and a hand pressed firmly to her mouth, yanking her back into the shadows of the cell. A voice whispers in her ear. "Hi." She grabs HLM's arm and bends her leg as she tries throwing her assailant over her shoulder.

HLM twists with her and reverses the grip, falling at an angle to bring the nurse with her. She ignores the stitches tearing in her side and her leg re-opening as she twists the nurse's wrist to a painful angle to pin her. A demonic grin spreads over her face as she whispers. "Lovely."

Lisette's voice sounds in her weary mind. "He said he was at the labs...but that was more than likely a lie, you believe?"

The nurse grimaces as she pinches her eyes closed. "Who are you?"

"Definitely," HLM answers the telepathic question as she lets a little of the fever sparkle in her eyes before answering the nurse in a harsh whisper. "Oh, just some random passer by, looking for a friend of mine. I think you know him. Klork?"

She ignores Lisette's mental cries for Klork as the nurse grits her teeth, her voice gone panicky. "I don't know, I just take notes from his journal...!"

HLM arches a brow coolly, the grin not leaving, her voice never rising above a whisper. "Somehow, I doubt that... Tell me something...what do you really do here? Hmm...?"

The woman whimpers, trying to get the blue-eyed demon to let go. "I'm a nurse, damnit! Please don't hurt me?!"

"Ask her what she's doing with his journal?? What it is she needs??" Lisette helps her exhausted mind along.

HLM furrows her brows and does so.

"Oh god...he's...they're operating -- they cut his hair!" Her partner fills her in. "They...I can't see! I can't get in...!"

Something inside HLM cringes.

The nurse grimaces. "It's my job to observe, I was told to take notes on his activity! All he does is write in this thing!"

"Oh...I'll get them for THAT one...damnit...I'll be there after I'm done with her..." She responds before leaning close to the nurse and nodding, her lips nearly touching the frightened woman's ear as her voice hisses, "If you're lying, you know I will hunt you down..."

The nurse nods with a whimper.

HLM nods, her smile turning angelic as her whispered voice turns gentle. "Sweet dreams then, miss...you know not to tell anyone of this, hm?" She sends the nurse into slumber with an expert strike to a nerve cluster in the back of her neck.

"I...we can't get him out! We'll kill him!"

What?!?

"The guard...says his appendix ruptured this morning, but now something else has gone wrong. If they stop, he could die...!"

"Ohshit...goddamnit...ok...we come back later then..."

She brings the unconscious nurse into a room to stay until she wakes up or is found, hopefully after they get Klork out of there. She leaps back into the vents, creeping to where Lisette and the guard are.

"...He went into a seizure because of the meds...watch for the woman with the jar.../ I...she left out of here...I don't know what she had..."

"Ok...oh man..." HLM searches for the nurse, to no avail.

A few minutes later, Lisette informs her that they've finished.

HLM sends her acknowledgement and watches from above, looking for an opening. 

Lisette goes into the room to talk to the doctor. "I'm in! ...now...how to get him out..."

HLM grins a little when she faintly hears the doctor tell Lisette to take Klork to his room. "There's the opening we need..."

"Yes...I hope we succeed...what do you see?" Before she can answer, Lisette goes on, after looking at his chart. "SPERM...samples?! They took -- Where would they store sperm samples??"

HLM narrows her eyes as she surveys the area. "Another building. I took care of most of them..." She starts working with the camera wiring.

"...Problem...he's waking...if he recognizes me..."

The Moron cringes. "Give him the pain meds...they'll knock him out..."

She can barely hear the doctor as he tells Lisette that he's helping Klork rest when he puts the meds in.

"Hate sayin' that, but...yeah..."

Damn wires...co-operate with me 'fore I open a can of woop-ass on ya...so hot up here...

She wipes her brow. "Heh...I'm right with you...unseen, but...there should be a route outside..." When HLM glances back through the vent cover, she sees Lisette looking around for an exit and another nurse wheeling a patient who looks a great deal like Klork past.

"Which way?"

HLM blinks and finishes with the wires. "Watch the cameras...the ones that blink off show the way...split second after they do, the others will..."

"Shit...did you see that man...??"

She furrows her brows, forcing her fuzzy thoughts back into clarity. "I...oh damn...get Klork outside...? I'll try to see if I can take care of the other guy...?" She takes off tracking the other man as Lisette wheels Klork off.

"Alright...he looked...do you think -- You'll find out, I'm sure. Be careful..."

"Always..." She sends the other woman the best mental grin she can. The fevered young woman in the vents stops above the cell the nurse wheels the other man into.

"Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Curric?"

Whoa! "Mr. Curric"?? Klork's being wheeled outside as we speak...could this be his...?

She senses trouble from Lisette and focuses more of her mind there. Her rival had apparently taken a wrong turn and had run into a guard.

"Oh god...we HAVE to get him out...Fuck." Her panicked voice sounds in HLM's head.

"Oh damn..." She feels Lisette's distress and closes her eyes, willing the man, with a touch of weak elven magic, to believe Lisette was in fact going the right way. She feels the man get hit with the spells each woman cast and opens her eyes again to look down into the cell.

The nurse is helping the man, who looks could probably be an older version Klork, except with grey streaks in his hair, which is slightly shorter than the other man's.

"Birman? You took a nasty fall; are you sure you're alright?"

The man nods, still silent, however.

Agh...shoo, nurse, shoo!

The said nurse sighs, gives Birman his blanket and stands. "I'll leave you be then...you're scheduled to see your son tomorrow." She then leaves.

Wow...who'da thunk it woulda worked? Erk...Lisette...gotta tell 'er where the car is...

"My car is parked a few buildings down...in the alley." She gives the her the code to the keypad. "Get him in and stay there with him..."

Meanwhile, Birman runs a hand through his hair before he pulls his blanket around himself and lies down.

"Are you sure you are alright? I can make us invisible in the car, but I cannot leave him once I've done so."

She shifts the cover off the vent and drops into the room after making sure the camera wouldn't pick them up. "I'm fine, Lisette..."

Never mind the blood soaking through my uniform or the damn heat...

"I just don't want anything to happen to you, and I mean that."

Birman blinks and sits up, his voice a whisper. "Who the hell...??"

"I know...really...I'll be ok..."

She moves silently to him, resting one  hand on his shoulder, pressing a finger to her lips with the other. Her voice is soft, kind. "Hi...I'm a friend of Klork's. Gonna get you out of here...another friend of his has him out of here..."

He blinks, brows furrowing. "So he is alive...??"

HLM nods. "Yeah...just out of surgery...his other friend has him out at my car...how're you...? Think you can make it through the vents?"

He nods as he stands and pulls his belongings with him. "My ankle's screwed, but my knees are fine."

Again, she nods. "Ok...follow me, ok?" The thin sheen of sweat over her brow goes ignored as she leaps back into the vents and helps Birman up behind her. "Gotta stop by his cell first...wanna pick up his stuff for him."

He nods, grimacing slightly as they begin crawling. "So how do you know my son?"

"I know him from New York...met him through a few other friends...so long ago, I don't remember exactly..."

Though if you asked me my name at this moment, I doubt I'd be able to tell you that, either..

They pause at Klork's cell. "Wait one sec...getting his stuff..."

"How fair you, HLM?"

"At Klork's cell...we'll be right out..."

Birman nods as he listens. "If the alarm goes off, you'll hear it..."

She nods before dropping into the room long enough to get Klork's things before pulling herself back into the vent. After leading him out of the building, she turns to help him down.

He hops down, landing with surprising balance on one foot. "You're bleeding...I can smell it..."

Eesh...cats...

"I know...I'll be ok...been a rough few weeks..." With a clenched jaw, she limpingly leads the way to her car.

He follows, brows furrowing as he watches her. "I can help, you realize, I've taught myself medical over my years..."

"You made it! Hurry," Lisette's mental voice urges, "We can't afford to lose either...I will help your wounds when we return...I cannot stop concentrating on us right now..."

HLM tries to send a mental acknowledgement, but isn't sure it got through. Nonetheless, she gives Birman a small grin. "I...would actually really appreciate it...when we're someplace safe." She opens the passenger-side door for him before getting in the driver's seat.

He hops in, brows furrowing when he sees Lisette and his son in the back once she lets the invisibility spell fade. "Son of a bitch...what happened to him?"

HLM starts up the car, just as the alarm in the building goes off.

Fuckin' a...

"Their tests...they ruptured his appendix and then that had ill affects -- GO!"

She peels out of the alley and onto the main road, picking up speed, then downright floors it at her passengers' urgings. Her jaw clenches as she navigates the streets. 

"I suggest a hotel somewhere," Birman speaks up. "He needs to be lying down flat..."

"Holy--" Lisette starts.

Guess she doesn't like my driving.

"I've got a..." HLM starts.

"I can get us back to New York...immediately," the woman holding Klork continues. "Just give me ten minutes."

"New York is even better, Lisette...just give me fair warning...."

Yeah...it'd suck if I killed us all by ramming the car into a wall when she teleports us and I wasn't expecting it...

She ignores the sweat running down her pale face and neck, concentrating solely on the road and tuning out what little conversation there is.

 "I am ready," Lisette finally says.

"Ok." HLM clenches the steering wheel when the other woman tells them to hold onto something. As soon as the transport is complete she tears into the garage of the mansion as soon as the door's up far enough to allow the sleek little car in, setting her exhausted concentration on getting them all in there alive, thus missing the words between Lisette and Birman. As soon as she turns the engine off, she stumbles from the car. "HANK GET OUT HERE!!"

Hank and Logan come running to unload Klork as HLM gives Birman a sheepish grin. "Woo...ok..." She grips her torn side, blinking slightly when she notices the unconscious Lisette in his arms.

Ack...man...I hope she's ok...

"C'mon...we're going to the med lab..."

Birman carries Lisette in, speaking to Hank and Logan as they go. "She's got some injuries as well...so's HLM...they all three need medical attention..." He then goes to pick HLM up with his free arm.

Hank blinks and nods. "Ok..."

OW! Fuck...the guy's strong...I'll give 'im that...agh...

"Erk!" HLM cringes as Birman inadvertently tears the injury in her side more, sending agony coursing along her hyper-sensitive nerves. "OW...! No...sliced open..."

He sets her down and instead helps her walk with an arm around her back. Once he sets Lisette gently on a med-table, he goes about helping HLM get on one, looking at Hank. "Where can I help you? I've been a field doctor for years."

She lies back, clinging to consciousness as Logan removes her bloodied uniform and bandages to get at her wounds.

Hank blinks. "Err...look at Klork...Logan will care for HLM until one of us can get to her."

At last, Birman's surprised voice floats over. "He seems to be fine...just needs rest..."

Oh...thank gods...

Unwillingly, she spirals into unconsciousness.

Something stings her wounds only moments later, and she struggles lightly in protest. A low moan sounds from her throat. There are voices all around. She opens her eyes, brows furrowing when she finds Logan pinning her against the bed.

Wha'...why...what's going on?

Her eyes widen as she feels someone doing something excruciatingly painful to her injuries. Her body jerks in reaction, breath fleeing her lungs. As she gasps for breath, she looks around for the source of pain. Her eyes settle on Birman.

...Klork...? I...no...older...who...?

"Easy..." He smoothes her hair back. "We need something to bring this fever down."

Her father sighs softly, bushy brows furrowing as he looks at the blue-furred doctor. "Y' got any o' that stuff from when she was in that coma...?"

Coma...?!

Confused tears fill her eyes as her hearing jumbles anything being spoken. She spots Klork lying on a table not far from where she is. Her eyes snap back to Birman when he places a cool cloth on her brow, then to Logan as he strokes her cheek, asking Birman something.

Why can't I understand anything??

She looks over at the sudden pain in her arm. Hank's starting an IV. She squints at the bag he's attaching to her, brows wrinkling at the darkness filling her vision.

About an hour later, she feels herself floating back into consciousness to the sound of soft voices.

"...has been shortened..."

Uhm...who's been shortened...? Sounds like Klork talking...he's tall enough...wonder what's been shortened...

"True...'least 'till after y'all get better..."

Huh...Logan says it'll grow back when we get better, so...waitasec...man...so confused...no fair...they cheat...

A moan pulls itself from her lips as she turns her head towards the voices, feeling something fall from her brow.

"Yeah." There's a pause. "Um...you have any clue why I'm stitched up?"

"No clue...erk..."

She tries to focus on Logan as he comes over to replace the cloth on her brow. Instinctively, she pushes his hand away.

"Mo'...?"

"Hn..." She looks over at the whisper. "K...Klork?"

"Mo'...I...you ok??"

"Uhnn..."

Gah...everything's fuzzy...hot...

She struggles to sit up before just giving up to the pain and lying back, looking over at him. "...dunno...be ok...you...?"

He nods with a grimace. "yeah...any clue why I'm stitched...?"

Oh...I know this one...now what was it...

"Hnn...somethin' 'bout...your appendix..."

Unbidden, the scene from UHF where the game-show host is screaming "Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Stupid!! YOU SO STUPID!" comes into her mind.

Well damn...looks like I don't win anything...

She snaps back to reality at Klork's voice.

"How'd you get me out...?" He stares, then blinks. "...woahwoah..." He runs a hand through his now shoulder-length hair and mutters, leaning back. "Sonofa..."

She groans softly as she forces herself to sit up, then blinks. "...you ok??? Lisette 'n I got you out...w...we found ya..." She tries resisting Logan's fierce glare before giving in and laying back again. The fevered young woman looks over at Klork.

He nods bewilderedly. "Yeah...they cut my hair, the freaks..."

Is that what was shortened...?

Suddenly she thinks of the "Castrations: Half Off!" sign from Men in Tights.

That's it...no more movies for me for a while...gah...

A shaky sigh comes from his lips as he looks over at her. "I owe you both my life more than likely..."

It's her turn to nod slightly. "I...yeah...you can always grow it back..."

Fuckers were probably jealous anyway...

"'N hey," she continues in her whispered voice. "It's our job, right?"

A small smile curves his lips as he nods. "We seem to be there for each other quite a bit..." A grimace glances over his face. "What happened to you...?"

She smirks slightly. "Battle to the death day 'fore I drove to San Fran...kinda...didn't have the chance ta...take good care o' m'self..."

Hn...things're getting swirly again...

"Wha?! Why'd you -- Ow...ow..."

She fights for focus as she hears Logan tell Klork to lie back. Her brow furrows. "...wha'...?"

"Ow...don't have much other choice...ow..."

"Give it a few days, bub..."

Klork sighs with a grimace. "Don't want to wait a few days..."

She blinks, not able to hide the smirk that spreads itself on her lips. "Shoe's on the other foot, huh...? Kinda..."

He sighs, chuckles and nods with a grimace. "Seems to be that way..."

"Man," she watches him as she speaks. "I was so worried about ya..."

His pained eyes soften a little. "I was worried I wouldn't see you again..."

HLM grins a little, unable to keep the heart-ache spawned tear from falling. She hopes he didn't see it. "Aw...well...we're safe now..."

Klork smiles a little. "Yeah, for now at least...that'll hafta do..."

She swallows and nods. "Yeah...I...yeah..." A sudden shiver violently wracks her body, making her clench the blankets close.

Wha'?!? How'd it go from boiling to freezing in nothing flat??

"You ok??"

She looks over at Klork, her voice forced into a shaking whisper. "C...cold...w...was so hot 'fore..."

Logan furrows his brow as he drapes a blanket over her.

She closes her eyes as she shivers, listening to Klork talk to Logan.

"Any way you can wheel our beds next to each other...? Body heat might help."

"Gotta be a way somehow..." She hears him fiddling with the beds. "...hah..."

Suddenly, Klork's carefully wrapping an arm around her shivering body and pulling her close. "Easy, Mo'...just relax..."

She does her best despite the shaking, curling up to him.

Warm...feels good...

He sighs shakily as he holds her. "Rest...the fever will break so help me..."

She nods a little, curled close, but still trembling. "Thank the gods you're ok..."

He smiles, a soft purr starting. "I owe you two my life...thank you..."

A weak grin crosses her face. "Hey...no problem..."

Klork smiles as he rests his chin on her brow. "Try to rest..."

She nods slightly and curls a little more into him. Fevered blue eyes close as his gentle purr sooths her, and his embrace gives her enough security to slowly drift off.

...so long as he's alright...that's all that counts...

Part X
Part XII
Otherworldly Comforts Index