Ask for Answers
Chapter 3
by
Aquila
Dedications and thanx: Tess, my x-cellent best mate, who has co-edited this with my beta, Winona. My english teacher who doesn't lose her head too much when I hand in ridiculously long essays discussing the triangle between Logan, Rogue and Jean, when it should be about D'arcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Predujice. All dreamers. They have true vision. Punk and rock bands. You can never have too much hair dye.
NB. The 4th chapter is still being worked on, so bear with me. Hope you like it!
Saffron took his directions and found the med bay in record time, mainly because she had run, so much was the pain. She knocked on the door, and it opened automatically, giving her a view of the steel and white room. She recognised the woman in the doctor's coat as the woman who had cradled her last night in her tears. Saffron gave her a small wave and a shy smile.
"Hi. I've come to check my hands out. Is that O.K..?" she asked tentatively.
"Yeah, sure. I'm Jean by the way. I think your names Saffy isn't it?"
Saffy was taken aback for a moment, until it dawned on her that Jean was probably a telepath as well.
"Yeah. That's right."
"Are your hands no better?" Jean asked.
Saffy looked down at them critically for a moment.
"Nah. . . been bothering me all day since breakfast. Could hardly drink my cup of tea, so I wasn't best pleased"
Jean smiled at her and then guided her towards the x-ray machine.
"If you put your hands under the ray, it shouldn't take long." Before going over to the x-ray controls and looking at the monitor. "O.K.., I'm starting the x-ray now"
What appeared before Jean's eyes amazed her. Saffron's bones were metal, and by the looks of things she also had 6' of claws imbedded in her forearms, just like Logan. She stopped the x-ray."
Saffron. . . what do you know of your skeleton?"
Saffy looked at her for a moment puzzled. "That it's bone and I have eight fingers and two thumbs. Why?" She was starting to get worried.
'She doesn't know' Jean thought.
"I want you to have a look at your x-ray for a minute. Tell me if you think anything is wrong with it.
"Saffron took one look at it and then at Jean. "Is this some kind of joke?" she bit out.
"No Saffron, it's not."
Panic welled up inside Saffron. The images of the nightmare danced in front of her for a moment. She clenched her fists to steady her growing anger and panic and heard a sickening sound of ripped flesh between her knuckles and a searing pain. She cried out and looked down at her hands. There in front of her were three metal claws on both hands.
"Jesus" she whispered before blacking out.
The voices swam around her head in a constant stream. She recognised some of them, but decided to let them wash over her while she languished in darkness.
"She's starting to come round. Just give her time O.K.., she's had a nasty shock" A female voice. The doctor perhaps
"How could they do this to a kid" Logan. She recognised it instantly. Always sounding like he was growling
"We'll have to do tests to confirm it" A different voice. One she didn't recognise. It sounded English. . . of course! The man she was talking to last night in the woods inside her head.
Suddenly she saw bright lights in front of her, and slowly Saffron's eyes opened, and she blinked several times. Logan was standing over her on one side, but there was no other person in the room. 'That's strange, I swear there was another person in the room.' Saffy thought to herself, but pushed it to the back of her mind. Both Logan and Jean were looking very worried.
"What happened?" Saffron asked in a hoarse voice. She sat up and crossed her legs on the examining table in one fluid movement.
"You momentarily blacked out when your claws came through." Jean replied.
"So what does that mean?" Saffron asked.
"It means you can stay here." Jean said.
Saffron took a deep breath and let it out slowly, and then studied her hands. She didn't feel any different to how she was before, and her hands didn't feel any different, so how come it did make so much difference?
She flexed her hands, and could just feel the points of her claws through the skin. "They're sharp" she said contemplatively. She shook herself out her thoughts.
Jean looked from Logan to Saffy. There was an uneasy tension between Logan and Jean. "Saffy, I want you to meet Logan. He has the same mutation as you."
"How did we get them?" Saffy's voice was small, and scared.
Jean sighed. This time Logan spoke.
"I was in a government funded experiment about fifteen years ago that got me these." He said, popping his claws.
"And I might be part of the same experiment?" Saffy asked incredulously.
"Possibly. We don't know. You're government may be involved, maybe not" Jean replied.
"Wouldn't put it past them." Saffy retorted back.
"Saffy, I gotta tell ya, I haven't remembered a single thing from my past after the experiment. Fifteen years of my life gone."
Saffy looked down at her lap. She didn't move for the next minute, and caused concerned glances from Logan and Jean.
"Kid, are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I'm thinking.
"Finally, she raised her head. Her gaze was calm.
"I can't stay here." She stated.
"I think it would be wise if you did stay hereat least until we know that you're feeling alright." Jean replied.
Saffy looked at her for a moment, and then set her jaw. They didn't understand. They just couldn't grasp the concept of living her life, going to her school, her parents, and her peers. They thought everything was simple. It wasn't. Not now. Not ever. Certainly not now.
"Fine." She muttered. "Just don't stick any needles or sharp painful things in me.
"She suddenly jumped off the table and turned to Logan. "Come on, you can show me round. And what's this bike of yours? Suzuki? Harley? Honda? Triumph? So, come on, you gonna show me this place or what?" She said before heading out in front of a stunned Wolverine.
"How come ya know so much about bikes, kid?" He said when he finally caught up with her.
"Uncle's got a bike. What's it called? Oh, dammit! Forgot. Anyways, basically, it's ace, and he's customised it too. Added new suspension to it, souped up the engine so it runs twice as fast, put loads of chrome to the bodywork, and front lights as well. He nicked them off an old Harley his friend had and added them as well."
Saffy said this so fast he barely had time to register what she was saying before she was firing even more questions about where they were in the school.
Suddenly she stopped dead and turned to look at him. She amazed Logan. He felt like he knew her from somewhere, but couldn't place it, but right now he was happy just to look at her. Her black spiked hair complemented her hazel eyes, and high cheekbones accented her slim oval face.
Suddenly he was brought out of his thoughts by Saffron starting to speak.
"Was there anyone else in the med bay?"
"Nope. Just me an' Jeannie."
"'Cos I heard another voice. An English bloke. Same as the one who asked if I would like to stay here for a while."
"Oh. Yeah That was the guy who runs this place. He's telepathic"
"Yeah, I know that already. I'm not dumb." Saffy was starting to get annoyed. "But I could hear what he was saying. Something about a test to confirm something or other"
"You heard what he was sayin'?"
"Yeah. . . what? So you're telling me that I either shouldn't have been able to hear that little snippet, or I wasn't allowed to?" Saffy was now starting to raise her voice.
Logan let out a low growl and glared at her. Saffy jumped and then shook herself. She never imagined he would get cagey about that, let alone growl.
"Look, I'm sorry Logan, I didn't mean to snap. It's just a lot to take in all at once. I mean, five minutes ago, I was a fairly normal fifteen year-old girl, and now I find I've got six inch claws, a healing factor, and that I was in a government experiment of some sort."
"How'd you find out about the healin'?"
"Cut my right hand earlier in the week. Now it's all gone." She held up her hand as proof. "Plus the fact that I had no big, gaping holes where the claws had been was a big clue as well."
Saffy then turned on her heel and began walking toward the elevator, Logan walking behind her shaking his head. She was so mercurial. One minute fine, next angry or like in the Med Bay, just switched off and introverted. Life was definitely going to be different.
All references to characters belonging to the X-Men Universe are (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities. All rights reserved. Any reproduction, duplication or distribution of these materials in any form is expressly prohibited. No money is being made from this archive. All images are also (c) and TM the Marvel Comics Group, 20th Century Fox and all related entities; they are not mine. This website, its operators and any content used on this site relating to the X-Men are not authorized by Marvel, Fox, etc. I am not, nor do I claim to be affiliated with any of these entities in any way.