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Off in the wooded areas of Central Park, past the sheep lawn, there's a little fire burning, the faint bit of smoke rising up past the bare trees. Spring is hinting at its arrival, so there are patches of exposed brown grass amid thicker drifts of snow. At this point, not only is there the smell of smoke, but the scent of something cooked - chicken maybe? No, definitely pigeon.
Sitting near the fire on an old wool army blanket and coat is a young woman of Hispanic origin, and nearby, Logan. Between the two of them is an iron plate and flatware with at least one untouched but dressed and cooked pigeon.
"See, you're already my kind of man! I may not look it, but I could make a bartender cry. I should bring you some 'guaro, then you can drink something -good-."
*
Logan nods, "I look forward to it," he grins. "Usually I just stick to the standard beer an' whiskey, but I ain't afraid to try somethin' new," he says.
His nostrils flare as he catches a familiar scent on the air, although not one he's smelled in some time. SHe's not exactly his kid, but she's close enough, he guesses. Truth be told, he never really got a chance to find out exactly what she is - she wasn't exactly prone to being social, other than that one time she tried to rip his throat out.
*
Laura has been sensing a scent as well, it is largely what brought about her approach to this specific location. At least she managed to get herself proper, if somewhat beatniky clothes, so she doesn't stick out as much with that white smock she favored since being freed from Weapon X. She approaches slowly, and directly, not meaning to hide and sneak about. She knows there's no point sneaking up on Weapon X. Her entire existance was centered on emulating if not improving on his registered results. She can smell Mariah as well as the cooked meal, but her entire focus is set on Logan as she approaches. A keener eye might not this girl's manner of movement is akin to a predator ready to leap at its prey. Old habits die hard.
*
It's not long before Mariah can feel something coming, simply because of the amount of metal /moving/ in her direction, and the fact that it feels a lot like the same kind of metal she's sitting right next to. She reaches into her pack and gets out a clean cloth, wrapping up the remaining bird, and tossing the bones of the other into the fire. "I'm gonna tidy up. I think we have a guest coming," she replies casually to Logan.
*
Logan nods, 'Yeah, we do," he says. He rolls his neck, just in case the girl's feeling frisky. "Laura, that you, kid? If you're comin' for me, girl, know that I ain't alone. This girl ain't got no beef with any o' this, she's just here. So if you came for blood, you just focus in on me, y'hear?" he says, wary as he stands up and waits to find out her intentions."
*
Laura maintains her gaze on Logan, whether due to his words or not, she does seem most willingly to focus in on him alone. "Who are you…?" She eventually asks when she draws nearer, at least he would note that claws are retracted, so maybe it won't be just for blood after all. Though no doubt their first meeting left little room to consider it a possibility.
*
Mariah is smart enough to keep silent and let Logan and Laura have their conversation. She picks up the plate and flatware, watching Laura out of the corner of her eye but making no direct eye contact.
*
Logan stares at her for a long moment, "My name's Logan. As for who I am to you…I ain't exactly sure,' he says. "I know where you came from - a bad place. Same place that gave me these," he says. He pops his claws with his trademark *SNIKT* holding them up to gleam in the firelight as he faces down against his female doppelganger. He retracts them again, though, quickly.
"I ain't lookin' t'fight, though. Whatever's goin' on, we can figure it out." he says"
*
The moment Logan's claws are drawn, there's an echo of a similar *snikt* with Laura drawing her own, but before she can even lunge at him he retracts them, and again, she mimics him. Quite fitting for a clone. "Why are you?" She follows up with an unlikely question, a charged one, judging by the flickering tone of voice. She still appears emotionless, as she usually is, only this time its by force of will trying to hide the turmoil she's feeling inside.
*
For once, Mariah is actually startled by the appearance of claws, in either of them. Her eyes widen. Well, that certain explains the cage Logan mentioned in the prior conversation. Her curiosity is piqued; she keeps the metal close, for some reason, and studies Laura's movements and body language carefully.
*
Logan slowly draws out his pack of cigarettes, popping one into his mouth and offering the pack in case she wants one. A peace offering, so to speak. "Ain't a question any of us got an answer to, I'm afraid. But I ain't your enemy. The folks that made us, that did these things to us…they ain't our friends," he says.
*
"Weapons are kept in the armory," she recites a line Logan may have heard before, "but you took me out…" she hisses restlessly, coming ever closer to Logan. She doesn't reach for a cigarette, but unless he backs off, she'll stop a couple of paces from him, well within personal space. "You are out," she tightens her hands into fists, "why must I be a better weapon than a defective Weapon X? And why is Weapon X not being a weapon?" Laura stammers, eyes squinting, she seems to be suffering a mixture of pain and anger as she tries to hold off from attacking Logan. "You are why I am!"
*
Welp, this went boobs up in no time. Mariah can tell this is beyond her paygrade. She wishes she could do something, say something of any value, but it would be intruding on a situation that good manners says she should keep her nose out of. Nevertheless, she's taking it all in, and contemplating it, rolling it over in her head. She glances at Logan, wishing that she could somehow develop telepathy. She tries to tell him in look alone that if he needs any help, she's game.
*
Logan doesn't flinch away from the closeness, just lighting his cigarette with a match he strikes against his own wrist, the scrape it leaves behind healing up in a second.
"Yeah, prob'ly," he says. "Cause I ain't a weapon. I'm a man. And, no matter how you came to be, you're a girl. A person. Not just some…tool they can point and use to kill whoever they like," he says. "I ain't defective - I never belonged to them in the first place. They abused me and tortured me and tried to make me a slave. But I don't belong to them and neither do you," he says.
*
Laura lets out a stifled growl as Logan remains adamant with his take, it doesn't translate very well for her. She doesn't really know of any other existence. It makes her angry to hear him say it's what he deserves for being a man. "I was made to outperform you, to not break, why are you making it difficult?" Because no matter what her programming says, ever since she's been taken out of her prison and the hands of her handlers, Laura found she rather likes not being tortured. But having free roam, free hand in decisions, it was all too much. She was always told what to do, when and how long to do it in. Now the silence was deafening and debilitating. She figured Logan might have some better answers for her, but for now, his answers don't make sense. "If you weren't defective, I wouldn't be. Don't lie to me."
*
"How are you defective?" Mariah decides to brave it. Laura's actions come across to the other woman as that of a well-trained hound turned loose and left to its own devices. The plate is held even tighter, as her handprints turn the metal touched a golden hue.
*
Logan answers Mariah first, frowning. "I'm defective cause I don't follow orders. Because I escaped,' he says. "They want her to just be obedient, to be a slave to their orders. Cause they made us to be weapons, see," he says. "I'm not sure how to make you see that it's not the way it should be. They lied to you. They used you. They aren't on your side, kiddo," he says. "I ain't lyin' to you. You can hear my heartbeat. If someone lies, it beats faster. They'd have taught you that. Well…pretty sure mine's steady as a rock," he says."
*
Laura nods along with Logan's reply to Mariah, at least the part on why he's defective. She agrees on that much. But then he persists with his point of view, and even makes himself all the more annoying by pointing out he knows she can tell he isn't lying despite her claiming otherwise. "Yaaar!" She growls and throws a fist at him, albeit one without extended claws. She starts shaking her head over and over, "no…X-23 is a perfect weapon, doesn't break down, always comes back, always achieves mission objectives, fulfills all parameters…" but even as she speaks the words. She knows she didn't come back this time. She isn't even sure she wants to, but then, how can what she want matter? "Who told you that?" Laura snaps at Logan, "who told you they lied?"
*
Mariah moves back quickly, tucking and rolling out of the way as Laura makes a strike at Logan. Some might call this cowardice - why isn't she helping fight back? Mariah would prefer it to be trusting Logan to know what he's doing, as he seems to have the situation in hand. Nevertheless, as she comes back up onto hands and knees, there's a flowing band of liquid gold lazily orbiting her torso.
*
Logan just takes the blow, not even thinking of fighting back. Once it breaks out into a full fight, between the two of them, things get bloody as all hell and they'll both end up cut to ribbons, probably over and over again. Better that he takes a lesser blow like a man. Still, it hurt, a bruise blossoming over him for a moment before it shrinks away with his healing.
"You got a nice hook there, kid," he says. "I told me. I lived a long life before I ever got drawn into the program," he says. "Kid, you got brainwashed. Ain't nothin' to be ashamed of, nothin' you could help. But you gotta snap out of it, somehow," he sighs. "Maybe Jeannie can help."
*
"I learned it from you…" Laura says in such a straight forward manner, that if he was unaware of it before, Logan would surely be aware of it now that the program has all sorts of recording and data gathered with which they've been trying to create a new weapon. Laura likely being their latest or most successful attempt to date. So no doubt, the X-Men spiriting her out of the Facility is certainly a blow to their efforts.
When Mariah forms some sort of liquid metal, Laura steals a glance her way for the first time since arriving on scene, but then Logan says something that has her focusing on him right back. "Before?" Suddenly all of the anger, the tempest of emotional build up seems to dissipate. "How?"
*
The Colombian stands up, letting the gold continue to orbit her for now. She can focus on it and what's going on at the same time. Her heart rate has picked up from an adrenaline spike. "You got yourself a mess of trouble, Logan," she murmurs. "Hey! Hija! You got trained like I did. Maybe I didn't learn how to do all the knife in your hands thing, but you an' me? We are both child soldiers." She points to Logan. "So you listen to him, si? Where I come from, we listen to papi and we do what he says, because he keeps us safe, and he helps us find our way in the world. You do the same, or Si no paras te voy a cascar!"
*
Logan shakes his head, "I ain't her papi, exactly, I don't think, but it's as close as anything, I suppose,' he says. "You got a tough row to hoe, girl, no doubt. But you can figure it out. I can help," he says. "There are people - friends - who can help you make sense of what you been through. And help you figure out a way forward. That goes for you, too, hija," he says, flicking his eyes over to the Colombian."
*
When Mariah gets loud and threatening, Laura for the first time turns to face her squarely. "I am no soldier, we are not alike," she hisses, clearly upset by yet another person claiming she's not what she is. "I am a weapon." She starts advancing towards Mariah now, until the papi remark stops her in her tracks, and again she turns to Logan suspiciously, she was about to ask whether his real name was Papi and Logan was a cover, when he himself affirms he is no 'Pappi', which brings Laura to glower at Mariah. "Don't. Lie."
*
Mariah looks Laura squarely in the eye. "I am not lying. Maybe my English isn't so good, but I have no reason to lie to you. We are both soldiers. They call you a weapon so they can use you, because a soldier, a revolutionista, he has a mind of his own yes? They want you without a mind. By the time I was able to stand I was taught to fight, and as soon as I could hold a gun I was taught to kill." She points a finger at Laura. "Tell me you are not taught to kill, and I will call -you- a liar. You stand and growl like la perra and you whine like you have no leash!" The gold circling Mariah flickers and starts shifting into thousands of tiny, thin, needle-like arrow points. "How can you say we are not alike if you have not lived outside of your pen?"
*
"No." Laura seems adamant, "I am a weapon, not a soldier." Just talking about what she is seems to calm her down, as she points out in retort, "a soldier has loyalties, serves a cause. A weapon is aimed at a target and kills it. Soldiers use weapons. But weapons are not soldiers." Laura doesn't seem too impressed by Mariah's shaping thousands of tiny projectiles. That, or she's just keeping that same emotionless facade she was wearing before the emotional weight made her blank expression crack at the seams. "How can you say we are alike when you are not a weapon?"
*
"You think what I'm doing right now doesn't make me a weapon?" Mariah asks. "I could shred the meat off your bones. I can -feel- the metal in your body," she states firmly. "I say we are alike, because you are a thinking person, you have a mind and a will like me, and we have both been trained to do harm. But I wish to ask you, hija: Do you WANT to be a weapon?"
*
"You are choosing a target. A weapon does not." Laura holds steadfast to her assessment, seeing no proof to the contrary by Mariah threatening her. On the other hand, having that distinction made, is also what keeps her from striking Mariah like she was about to do moments earlier. She was not a mission. She was not a target. Her mind set, Laura decides now is not the time to continue her conversation with Weapon X. She'll need to do it in privacy, and so she twirls in a ballerina like motion, kicking up sand into the air as a distraction, before showing shocking speed for a girl her age as she sprints away, and leaps up into the trees.
*
Mariah is taken aback as Laura just sort of backflips out; the dirt and debris kicked up is easily dealt with as the gold forms a sudden sheet in front of her face. She pants softly, exerting herself with her abilities, and as the makeshift shield drops, Laura is gone.
A partial iron crowbar falls to the ground out of the air. "MADRE DE DIOS!" Mariah snarls in frustration, the gold reverting to its previous state. "… that is one stubborn perra." She smirks faintly. Yep, even if they weren't both weapons proper… they were both stubborn. Well Logan, you talked about having a purpose and point to your actions before, about fighting for the kids with powers. This incident may have made your words seem reasonable after all.
*