CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN:
JUST HOLD ON
"WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?" JOHN asked, looking at Aphrodite who had been laid down on the bed. He reached forwards, brushing the hair from her face. She looked so tired. John was angry. Angry that he hadn't gotten there before they could hurt her. "What did they do to her?"
"I don't know." Clarice admitted. "What I do know is that she watched her sister get murdered. She somehow managed to use her powers even though she had the collar on her neck and wrists. She was so angry for what they did, and they punished her for it." Clarice placed a hand on John's shoulder. "She's strong. Maybe even stronger than the Strucker kids. That's why I know she's going to be okay."
"She needs to rest." John sighed.
"And she will." Artemis' voice made the two turn and look at her. Tears covered her blue eyes, a black dress on her body. "But she will be angry with us if we let her sleep through Sonya's funeral."
And so, they woke her up. Artemis helped her get changed into a black dress. She watched her mother with a small frown. Her eyes were opened, she was awake, but she wasn't really there. It made Artemis want to cry. Seeing her mother so utterly broken like this. The only other time Artemis had seen her like this was when her father had "died". She pushed the red hair from her mother's face before grabbing her hand and walking out to where everyone was waiting. And where Sonya's casket was supposed to be placed.
Lorna spoke first. "Everything Dreamer did, she did for everyone here, up until the very end. She could've disguised herself as human forever, but she chose to live her with us. With her sister. With her true family." And then Lorna was placing her flowers down on the place that was supposed to be Sonya's casket. They hadn't given them her body, and this was the best they could do.
"It's days like to day that remind us we're up against people that don't think of us as human." Marcos started. "And they will point to our differences. But the simple fact is this: We love like they do. We die like they do. We grieve like they do. We share that today. Sonya will not be forgotten. And I promise. . . we will find justice for her." He looked directly at Aphrodite as he said this, giving her a small nod. One by one everyone placed down their flowers, walking away until it was just Aphrodite and John.
The redhead carefully stalked towards it, a tear falling down her cheek as she whispered six words that made John's heart shatter. "I'm sorry I didn't save you." She placed her flowers down with the others. "Goodbye, Sunny." Just as she was about to walk away, she saw John placing his own flowers down. He turned to look at her and before she could fall apart he was grabbing onto her, pulling her tight and allowing her to sob into his shoulder until she grew so tired that she was passing out.
Artemis looked at her mother before walking out and making her way down the hall, stopping when she saw Lauren. She hadn't had the chance to talk to her since she'd come back, she'd been too worried about her mother to think about anything else. She carefully made her way towards the blonde, stopping when she was only a few inches in front of her. Neither said anything―︎hell, they didn't know what to say. So instead they just pulled each other into a tight embrace.
"I'm sorry about your aunt." Lauren whispered.
Artemis shook her head. "It's not your fault."
"But it is." They pulled back, just as a tear escape Lauren's eye. "If only we had done what they asked they wouldn't have―︎they wouldn't have―︎"
"Hey, hey, Lauren, look at me." Artemis placed her hands on either side of Lauren's face, trying so hard to swallow her tears. "Sonya would've kept fighting for you through and through. She died because of that, and that is not your fault. Alright?" She wiped a tear from Lauren's face, offering her a small smile before hugging her once again.
They broke apart when they heard Shatter's voice. "Everybody! Everybody, listen up! We got incoming." The two exchanged looks before quickly making their way down to the bottom floor. Shatter made his way to Marcos. "Marcos, they're coming. They got past the perimeter guards."
"Who did?"
And then the sound of footsteps made everyone look up towards the door. Esme―︎and her two twin sisters―︎made their way into the building, coming to a stop at the top of the stairs.
"What are they doing here?" Caitlin asked.
"What the hell do you want?" Marcos asked, his voice filled with anger.
"Calm down. There's no need to get excited." Two of the sisters said, exchanging sentences. And then Esme, the one they had known, said, "We're just here to talk."
"Talk about what?" John asked.
"We need your help."
Artemis scrunched up her nose. "Okay, the whole synchronizing bullshit is unnecessary. One of you be the spokesperson, the other two shut the hell up."
They made their way down the steps, stopping at the balcony. "We'll get right to the point," Esme said. "We're here about the hound program. It's still going on. It's looking to expand, in fact. We want your help to stop it."
Marcos raised his eyebrows in disbelief, "What? No, you came in here and lied to us. What, now you want our help?"
"You used us so you could slaughter those agents at the lab." Reed snapped.
Esme sighed before making her way down the last set of steps, leaving her two siblings on the balcony. "We did what we had to do. Did I mislead you? Yes, so you would do what had to be done. And as for your plan to ask Sentinel Services to give up nicely, that would have ended with as many corpses. But they would've been yours."
"Why do you need us?" Lorna sighed.
"Yeah, I saw you three controlling people's minds." Clarice spoke up. "You can handle this on your own."
"They know what we look like." Esme told her. "And we can't take on Sentinel Services by ourselves. But we have to act now. Make no mistake, the humans will come for us all. We have information about Campbell's plans, resources to share."
"Meanwhile, you have. . ." Another sister spoke.
"Muscle." The third sister finished.
"Hang on." Caitlin quickly said. "Are we seriously considering this?"
"No, we're not." Marcos denied. "We're not gonna listen to this anymore."
"Enough." John silenced them. "We're not debating this, not here, not now. We heard what you had to say. Now you need to leave."
"Think it over."
"Don't take too long. We'll be back." Then, they left.
"Well, aren't they delightful?" Artemis sighed.
━︎━︎━︎━︎━︎
"You're leaving?" Artemis frowned. Lauren stood there, a bag of her things held in her hands.
"We think that's best." Lauren nodded.
"My only friend is leaving me." Artemis chuckled. She bit the inside of her cheek before hugging Lauren. "I'll see you around, hopefully." She stepped back before turning and walking away, not wanting Lauren to witness the actual amount of pain that she was in. She made her way to her and her mother's room, sitting on the edge of the bed and patiently waiting for her mother to wake up. Slowly, day turned to night and Artemis fell asleep beside Aphrodite who had yet to wake up.
The next morning, Artemis arose, making her way to the kitchen and fixing herself something to eat. She hadn't noticed anyone making their way towards her until Clarice sat down, offering her a small smile. The two sat in silence for a moment before Clarice asked, "How's your mother?"
"Still asleep." Artemis answered. "Whatever they did, they did a number on her. She hasn't been awake since Sonya's funeral. She needs the rest."
"Let her. John needs us."
"Us? As in me?"
"Well, Winter. But, I think John will understand if you come instead. You and your mother are exactly alike, you'd probably say the same thing she would anyways." She stood up and Artemis followed her, making their way to the room where John was waiting along with Lorna and Marcos.
"Dove still out?" Marcos questioned and Artemis nodded.
"The Frost Sisters will be here soon." John told them. "We need to decide what to do."
"Far as I'm concerned, the psychics are a nonstarter." Marcos answered him.
"Because their tactics make you uncomfortable?" Lorna questioned as she sat up in her seat.
"Uncomfortable? They murdered dozens of people without even blinking. We don't know the first thing about them."
"We do know one thing about them." Artemis turned to look at Clarice. "They saved our assess."
"They saved themselves, and pulled us right into an all-out war with Sentinel Services."
"Congress could declare martial law." John nodded.
"So?" Clarice asked. "They didn't need martial law when they killed my foster parents."
"Exactly." Lorna stood up. "Why should we fight with one hand tied behind our backs? We need all the allies we can get. Do you want to cling to your ideals or do you want to survive? Let's be honest, with Winter knocked out from whatever the hell they did to her, we're vulnerable."
"We can't just chuck our principles because it's convenient." Marcos argued. "No, the X-Men chose us for a reason, and it's not 'cause we can kill. If we wanted to kill people, we would've done it a thousand times already, but we didn't. We have to be better than that. Now, we need to take out the Hound program and we will, Lorna. But we have to do it our own way."
The sound of heels clicking and Sage's voice filled their ears. "Hey, listen up. I just got word over the police radio. Something big is about to go down."
"Where?" Artemis asked and all Sage did was meet her eyes and immediately she understood. "Damn."
The group all quickly got into the car, Artemis asking Sage to keep an eye on her mom and make sure she was okay. They sped down the road, John on the phone with Reed. "Reed. We're on our way, less than five minutes out, what's going on?"
"We're hiding out at the south end of the building, but we can't get to the exit."
"How many people are with you?"
"Uh, just us and Wes. Uh, most of the refugees have already surrendered. Andy's hurt."
"How bad?"
"He's unconscious, but Cait is afraid to move him. Wes has put up a mirage to hide us. I don't think he can hold on forever. Tell me you have Winter with you?"
"She's still knocked out. We're almost there. Just hold on. We'll portal in and get you out of there."
They pulled up behind the building, quickly getting out and walking forwards, stopping only when John did in order to listen in. He looked towards the building before saying, "Sentinel Services is setting up around the building." He turned to look at Clarice. "Can you get us in?"
"Yeah, I think so." Clarice nodded. The sound of a loud crashing made them all snap their head towards the building.
"What the hell was that?" Lorna asked.
"Trouble." Artemis answered.
"I'm pretty sure we're going to find out." Marcos added. They all walked over to Clarice as she created a portal before they all entered the building. Explosions were happening all around them as they ran through the building, people and objects were flying every which way. They ran through the building until they finally found the others.
Artemis was quick to slide in beside Lauren, grabbing her wrist and feeling Lauren's powers be transported to her own hands, forcing herself to help hold up the bubble shield that was keeping them from getting shot. "Go!" Artemis shouted. "I'll cover you." Lauren looked at her and Artemis gave her a firm nod before the others helped Lauren and a passed out Wes up from the ground, quickly running.
When she could, she stood up and quickly ran after them, just in time to watch John catching Lorna who had went flying through the air. John was quick to tell Clarice to get them out. The group all managed to get out of the building, making their way through the woods surrounding the building, and sliding to a stop when a radio could be heard close by and then Agents could be seen passing close by.
"We need to get out of here." Lorna whispered.
"Yeah. And we can't take on those hounds. We'll never make it if they see us."
John crept forwards, kneeling down and placing his hand on the ground. After a moment he sighed. "Ugh, they're all through the woods. The car's blown. They'll be on us soon." That's when Andy's hand suddenly snapped up as he started looking around.
"Andy, what is it?" Caitlin frowned, looking at her son.
"We go that way." He pointed towards the woods.
"The woods are full of agents." Reed said, confused.
"No, they said it was safe."
This made Artemis frown. "Who said it was safe?"
He stood up. "I know how to get out of here, okay? Just follow me." And then he was running through the woods and the group were quick to chase after him. When they came out of the woods, they found the Frost sisters on the other side, leaning against one of the two vehicles that they had managed to acquire.
"Let's go."
Reed looked down to the agents that were thrashing in pain on the ground. "What are you doing to them?"
One of them shrugged. "We're just giving them something to think about. I know you're squeamish about killing."
"More agents coming this way." John called. "Too many for us to handle."
"Well, then. I guess you better get in."
Artemis watched them open the doors and a scowl fell on her lips as she reluctantly got into the car. "God, I hate it when you do that."
When they made it back to the Mutant Underground, Artemis watched as John, Lorna, and Marcos talked with the three Frost sisters and agreeing to help them. A sigh fell from her lips as her eyes made their way over to where Lauren stood, watching over Wes. She pushed herself from the railing before making her way towards her room, she smiled at Sage, giving her a small nod as a thanks before waiting for the woman to walk away in order to lay down beside her mother.
She looked at her for a moment, pushing back the hair that had fallen in her mother's face. She smiled a sad smile. "When you wake up, boy do I have a story for you." And then she closed her eyes and fell asleep with the comforting thought of her mother sleeping beside her, ignoring the thoughts that were screaming at her that her mother was never going to wake up.