Chapter 18: Working As Intended

The men followed a trail of slowly closing doors. They charged across the hall overseeing the foyer and through to the east wing. Harry seized the vertical bar handle as the door to the guest rooms almost shut and flung it open. James ducked past him to be the first at the bend, and the author staggered after him. They studied the blackened hall, Harry catching his breath and the resident unmoved by the dash.

The combined power of the flashlights weren’t enough. In Silent Hill the dark worked differently, but in this particular instance it felt denser, and controlled. It devoured the cones meant to improve the field of vision and compacted them into tight circles. They crept guardedly down the stretch. Step by step the morphed spotlights cast menacing shadows across the back of a girl facing the solitary window.

One of the beams shuddered over her. The little girl wore her thick blonde hair in a high ponytail gathered by a hot pink scrunchie. The tail hung to her shoulders, brushing the snug blue plaid dress pulled over a pale pink knit sweater. She stood unevenly on a pair of feet that were missing a mate to a pink Mary Jane shoe, ending the mystery of her odd stride, and so exposed the dirty sole of the white socks that reached her calves.

James heard Harry’s breath hitch and hollow. The sight of the girl affected them both. James maintained his composure, and subconsciously, noticed his ward’s restraint had gotten better. Good. He depended on Harry’s will to keep it together.

Neither wanted to get too close. They stopped a collective four rooms away; close enough to engage, and edging the best distance for an escape. As though sensing the tension over her shoulder the girl rotated, revealing features that both men did, and didn’t, recognize. She smiled. “You’re really bad at hide and seek,” she cheerfully reprimanded as she swiveled side to side. “ I thought I was gonna have to make it easier. Next time you get stuck like that just call ‘olly-olly-oxen-free,’ okay? It gets really boring if you can’t use your brains.”

She proved to be a sassy little punk and her voice came sweeter than candy. For each man she gave a unique, cruel gift: the individual experience of hearing her words and tone in the perfect imitation of the little girls they once knew. It kept them shocked and silent. The child stopped her fidgeting, and her smile quickly vanished, then brightly returned. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she chirped, striking jolts of fear into her pursuer’s hearts. “I’m having a really great time with you.” Her voice welded the two distinct renditions of two different girls. Her ensuing call shifted the corridor into a reverberation chamber, converting tangled noise into a thunderous growl.

From James’s damp hair ushered the first beads of water, and knotted anguish forced a full-body, lasting shiver in Harry.

They heard their names. They heard them simultaneously clear as day and as an impure mash. The radio in James’s pocket earnestly gasped to life, and its too-belated warning did nothing to move them. Narrowed beams from their flashlights wildly strobed across the scourged child and witnessed a faithless transfiguration.

From head to toe her appearance rapidly cycled through no one and everyone. The father and murderer confronted their merged lifetimes of women whose lives had somehow impacted their own, and were projected as the little girls they formerly were. It didn’t matter if their childhood had been foreign to them or not. She was all of them instantaneously, and in her dizzying carousel of strangers and familiars, James and Harry independently recognized every single one they knew.

commissioned work by @heather-garland

Hey. Finally a day off and getting things done at home. Going to get real busy real soon. How are you doing?

@lohrrier

for @twistxdtales continued from here

Julian gasped, probably a little more dramatic than it was needed, before letting his body fall backwards into the chair. There was still a hint of amusement on his features but for once it was her who broke eye contact after dropping that kind of bomb at him. Because something was indeed different now, yet for all of his skills the man failed to put the right set of words able to truly describe it. After another moment Julian realized that maybe Laura herself wasn’t sure about what was happening, what had changed - he knew that she realized it now, she was perceptive enough to not fool herself anymore - and that only made him reach for the glass of whiskey again, downing it in one go before jumping on his legs and chasing after her. “Whoa, hey, where are you going?”, his fingers had already wrapped around Laura’s shoulder. It was better that way, otherwise there was a big chance he was about to reach out for her and do something to surprise both of them. “Don’t run away now, I know you are not that kind of a woman. Come and sit down again. Let’s talk this through, dear, what do you say?”

Desperate for a job, Laura didn’t expect to find one so... intriguing as this one. While she usually worked as a nanny or glorified babysitter for some of the children of the top names in S.H.I.E.L.D. (those of them that actually had children), she was finding herself short of work and had been asking around if anyone had some extra work. It turned out, there was one job someone thought she was suited for. And seeing photos of Steve Rogers.... yes, Laura was definitely willing to put herself up to the task.

She found him training in the basement, and approached within his eye’s view, not wanting to startle him, knowing enough about soldiers to know most of them didn’t like being snuck up on. Besides, she wanted him to see her -- barely clothed, wearing little more than a sheer shirt and a strappy lingerie number underneath. Difficult to put on -- but from what she was told, she didn’t think she’d be using it again.

“Hey, Mr. Rogers, my name’s Laura, I heard you’ve been having some trouble,” she said, unable to stop the burning on her cheeks. “I was asked to, well, help. If you want.” // @patrickoharaandco​

Hey. I realized we haven’t spoken before. Or at least I don’t think we have. One of my teammates was watching a movie with you in the other day on the plane. I am not sure what one but I noticed your name pop up. How are you doing?

@lohrrier​

@xkinney​

When word - or rather thought - had reached her to inform her that Logan had found Laura and brought her back to the Mousehole, Jean hadn't quite known how to react. They weren't exactly close and it wasn't the easiest thing in the world to look the girl in the eyes and know exactly the fraught relationship she had with Laura's father. However, it had felt important that she greet the girl. So, she made her way down to the communal spaces of the Mousehole, leaning quietly in the doorway.

Laura would sense her, as Logan always did.

"Well. Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

final boss: names

+ bonus Marisha’s Brennan impression:

Have you ever noticed that Laura Kinney from the MARVEL UNIVERSE looks a lot like SUZU HIROSE? But SHE also goes by X-23. Having the ability of HEALING FACTOR and ADAMANTIUM CLAWS sure makes them a force to be reckoned with. They’re known to be CARING but also ISOLATED and they’re 24 years old. 

@assembleintro​

but tonight he is alive and in the north field

Does Vlad cause problems in the manor, or is he more of a good kid (unlike his adult counterpart)?

He can be a bit of trouble from time to time ngl

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