Disappear, Open

[LAURA KINNEY]

A light tank top and pair of three quarter cargo pants covering her agile form, the weapon directed another kick at the heavily padded target, making contacting within a matter of seconds with one single swift movement as apparent by the sound echoing around the otherwise empty room. Her foot returning instinctively to the ground, the brunette exhaled deeply. Although not challenging, the activity ensured the female that she wouldn’t be required to find another task to fill her time with and after the training session with a particular phasing mutant, there was a certain mixture of emotions concerning socialising with the other students as she had been encouraged. In truth, Laura simply didn’t want to know them and it was clear that if her opponent’s attitude wasn’t reflected the majority of the students, it would be soon. If wasn’t for the presence of Logan though, she would have left the institute long ago and avoided the scenario entirely. I still could she reminded herself with a determined, but thoughtful expression upon her pale feature. So far, the short mutant had helped her little. She knew how to fight. She knew how to survive. What she didn’t know was how to be normal. To be a teenager. A person rather then a weapon. Could she ever be?

Even his own clone recognized that she was beyond help. Why couldn’t he? She was born and raised to be a monster. To kill. She had been under their influence for her entire life; he had been recruited. With this fresh in mind, she focused on the target with a growing hatred in her dark green eyes, pondering the reasons behind her inevitable future departure. Clearly, she wasn’t welcome at the mansion regardless of Logan’s say-so, but it was the idea of revenge that caught her immediate attention and not for the first time. She had to correct the mistakes that had been made. Her birth. Her creation. The death of her mother. In spite of the fact she might have destroyed the embryos; the weapon knew that necessarily wouldn’t stop the project being continued once again. Perhaps in a different location and with different scientists, but the goal still would remain unchanged. It had already happened once and X-23 was the result. Although there was the slim chance it wouldn’t occur anytime soon – the funding required reason enough, there was still that chance more clones and lethal weapons were already in the making. Laura knew this was a chance she had to prevent, no matter the cost.

Her clenched fists beginning to pummel the target in sequence, the centre was hit with unmistakable accuracy as the speed of her already rapid movements increased. A noticeable strain was placed on the brunette’s muscles within the exposed toned upper and lower arms, but if there was any pain present, it wasn’t apparent in her otherwise emotionless features. In fact, any signs of exhaustion for her over two hour session evaded her as the prior assassin continued her assault restlessly, unaware and uncaring of the passage of time. Her mind was in turmoil over the past and present; the possible decisions that could be made for the future. Another fist made contact, this time brilliant silver penetrating and causing a line of blood to cascade from her knuckles and flow down to her wrist. She didn’t even wince, momentarily pausing in her actions. Despite of the justifications she often made, Laura had yet to take her leave for reasons she didn’t quite understand. Hope, maybe? Suddenly, she twisted her hand.

[Calvin Rankin]

Calvin spent most of his day training all of the abilities that he had pick up from the other mutants at the Institute. Xavier had gotten him used to training in the Danger Room for at least a good four hours a day ever since his ability came more under his control. The blond of course bitched about it the first few weeks but over time he got used to it and actually enjoyed being in the Danger Room a lot more than most people well, probably not Logan but that guy was a different story altogether. Calvin trained all his abilities while in there but he didn't think that the steel and strength that he had mimicked from Piotr was getting much of a work out since he didn't count using it to deflect bullets and throwing trucks as much of a workout for it. He was told by Piotr that his strength seemed to increase as his normal strength rose which made it easier for him to understand why the older mutant was so strong in his steel form, the guy was a beast in strength as a normal human as well. Calvin had gotten lucky, he naturally was strong but not Piotr level but after mimicking Logan his found many of his psychical attributes were also higher than before which was why he was now up to his partner's level but if anything just a little behind something he would by the way never admit.

With nothing but a white tank top, gray cargo shorts, socks and his white tennis shoes on the power mimicker draped a towel over his large shoulder and made his way to the gym down in the sub basement. If there was one thing that Calvin was it was a bit of an over achiever but because he wanted to be the best but because he wanted to show that he wasn't just the second rate copy. It was the burden of what he could do. Calvin mimicked the powers of others but he didn't exactly get them at the level that the original person had them out they were at his own level Colossus being the prime example of this. Piotr was able to turn into a being of pure organic steel, almost completely invulnerable and strong enough to arm wrestle people like Juggernaut or Hulk to a stand still. When Calvin first mimicked him he was probably just a little over half as strong as the Russian and steadily got stronger as the years went by with mimicking Logan jumping that up a bit more allowing him to become almost as strong as him. He liked to say he was as strong as the guy but he knew that wasn't completely true but no one needed to know that.

Working out his body in human form was all fine and dandy but Calvin wanted to try and do it the way he sometimes saw Piotr doing it, using the equipment stored in that gym. Finally reaching it he toke a breath and opened one of the double doors wide enough to slip himself through and shut it behind himself. It was then that the sounds of someone hitting something filled his ears and lifting his head up more he finally saw Laura down there beating up some poor defenseless machine. He watched her go at it for a bit until the claws popped out and she used them. "Don't you think thats a little much for something like that? Besides..." Walking more into the gym Calvin found the large press like machine that he was looking for and made his way over it while talking to her. "I always find that its more fun to use those babies on something that can recover from them." Throwing the towel onto the floor next to the rest Calvin played with the small computer attached to it trying to find how to set it. He didn't know much on the machine other than it was something lot looked like an upside down and round pyramid sticking out of the roof with each layer made of an incredibly strong metal and weight controls.

His eyes turned to Laura every now and as he fiddled with the controls until he finally decided to speak to her. "I heard about what happened with Kitty, seems like a messy situation. I wouldn't worry too much about it though she'll be fine and its not like you're the first person to lose control in the Danger Room BELIEVE me." Finally finding the weight control Calvin set the machine to start off at 75 tons then to increase after every 15 reps until it reached 110 then to pause for half a minute before restarting from the beginning going for four sets before stopping. He wanted to go over that weight but that was an area that so far only Piotr has gone into and Calvin knew anymore would push it a little too much.

Slipping a leg on each side of the bench Calvin's body converted itself from flesh and bone into pure organic steel as he preformed some stretches and still talked to Laura. "I remember a time when Logan and I engaged in a combat situation against each other, lets just say it ended short of literally costing someone an arm and a leg. Then there was that time between some of the lower class men that thought it would be fun to test themselves against a holographic Colossus. Laying back on the bench and sticking his arms up and gripping the bar attached to the bottom of the press Calvin gave it a light push and it started up. The machine worked basically like a normal bench press but with a couple of differences. Instead of bring the weight down and then lifting it up yourself it press itself down onto you and you were meant to let it get to a certain point then push it back up and hold until wanting to preform the next rep. The current setting was 'light weight' for him, a way of warming himself up for the more heavy weight five tons at a time. As he pressed though he decided to finished what he was saying. "If anything just give the girl time to heal both psychically and mentally from it. Some of the people might be a little cautious around you but don't worry about that, They'll still cautious around me but everything still seems fine.

[LAURA KINNEY]

The weapon hadn’t heard him approach, being too involved in her task as she released
the stand from her penetrating claws and sheathed them once again beneath her skin,
wiping the blood on her shirt causing it to stain the material and smear the pale flesh of
her hand. However, she didn’t turn her attention immediately to her new present
company, instantly recognizing his scent and then shortly his voice as he addressed her.
Instead, the dark haired girl studied the punctured target with the fresh adrenaline rush
within her system, remaining acutely still in her position as she listened. Laura hadn’t
known what to expect, but curtly, she said in a matter of fact tone in reference to the
usage of her claws, “That is not their purpose.”

Circling slowly in a sober disinterested manner, there was silence on the female’s part.
Calvin, however, wouldn’t stop speaking, reminding her of their previous encounter
and then the loosely worded ‘fight’ with a mutant known as Kitty Pryde in the Danger
Room. Unlike herself, these individuals either enjoyed or found comfort in filling the
silence with words. Unnecessary words, but even if the brunette found this trait
irritating, she did not openly express it. While she heard everything that he said, the girl
remained passive, showing no form of physical or emotional response to his course of
conversation regarding the fight in question. To anyone watching the exchange, the
experiment would appear to be ignoring him completely, but this wasn’t necessarily
true. He just didn’t require her full attention.

“I do not worry. Or loose control.”

It was another closed statement, but the fact was, Laura had let her temper control her
in that moment. She had lost control; she had not been the cold calculated killer she was
created and raised to be, but the primal animal that would be their secret weapon. That
very weapon that would not only slaughter countless lives, but also claim the one
belonging to her mother. Nearly claim the ones belonging to her aunt and cousin. While
she refused to linger over her actions and provided logical explanations for her clearly
increased use of force upon the teenager that day, the remark concerning her mother
had stung more deeply beneath her emotionless exterior then she could imagine. That
wasn’t something the experiment understood and consequently, denial was the only
option. She only knew anger and physical pain.

When the male began referring to stories, incidents and other events, she didn’t speak
and closing her hands to form tight fists, the weapon began her assault upon the target
once again. It distracted her; it was something she knew. There was comfort in the
repetitive action; the sensation of her muscles tightening and pain briefly flickering
through her knuckles, down her wrists and arms before disappearing. Laura healed; she
hadn’t always – the scars marking her forearms proved this to be true, but she did now.
Even if she heard the words he was saying – the teenager herself had severed her own
hand and thus did not see the incident in the same light, they were in truth still
irrelevant, worthless to the experiment. She did not care.

Abruptly, she stopped in mid-action with her fist mere inches from the target’s battered
surface and for the first time, muted green eyes glanced in his direction. A pause passed
and just as abruptly as she had deceased, the experiment completed the action. Within a
matter of seconds, the stand was severed completely in half with silver claws as easily
as had it been melted butter. Or human flesh.

“It is logical to be cautious."

[Calvin Rankin]

There were times that Calvin that he understood Laura better than most people at the Institute could have but like now there were also times that he couldn't at all understand her. Laura seemed like an all right girl and Calvin would have to admit, if he wasn't already with someone he'd probably be trying to get with her. The problem however was that sometimes she was just impossible to get through to. He knew a bit about her past and he knew some the 'traits' that he had to possess being Logan's clone as he himself had 'mimicked' those traits from him as well. In fact, it was that knowledge that lead him to believe that next to Logan he probably understood what had happened with Kitty better than anyone. This girl however completely lacked social skills and if he was anyone else he'd probably find her lack of caring that he was even in the room as offensive. Fortunately Calvin was the type to tell anyone exactly what he was thinking regardless of who they were and the fact that he was now a steel that even those adamantium claws weren't able to scratch only further kept the feeling of cautiousness at bay.

Letting the massive press come down and lifting it back up a few times Calvin was able to speak without much of a distortion to his voice of the weight of seventy five tons wasn't much of anything to him. "Look Laura, I know you don't like it when people say more than a few words but really, get over it. The majority of us like to make friends and so we talk, only a few of us only do it obsessively for no apparent reason. Acting like we're annoying just because of that isn't going to earn you any friends and make you the outcast you seem to think you are, at least pretend to listen it makes people shut up faster. lifting the press for the fifteenth time caused the computer monitor to bleep a couple of times with along with the sudden increase of weight told him it had gain up the additional five tons already. The added weight only added a slight bit of effort on his part but still wasn't enough to huff and puff about, that came around ninety tons.

Truth be told when it came to Laura Calvin was not only attracted to the girl but also couldn't be around her when she started in on her 'woes me' crapifest of thoughts. It wasn't like he was reading her thoughts on his own he just wasn't skilled enough with that ability to have it not randomly read people as they neared him or he thought about and he seemed to always tone into Laura when she started the self made pity party. Granted, Calvin wasn't made just to kill and had a pretty decent childhood but the young mutant knew enough to realize that a person didn't have to swim in self pity to realize who they were. The machine increasing to eighty five tons may have made it heavier but still manageable for him to press as he wanted to see if Laura was still going to remain her quiet self to attack something else with those claws she had out again.

[LAURA KINNEY]

Impassively, Laura stopped and turned to look at him. There was no angry, hate or any other
emotion whatsoever upon her features. Just complete blankness. Not for the first time, she was
getting a lecture. However, the person delivering it this time caused slight surprise within the girl,
which she did not show except through the act of actually discontinuing her activity to observe him.
Although the majority of the student body were avoiding her like a plague, everyone seemed to be
making her presence at the mansion their business indirectly through either Logan or the Professor,
as if they were her handlers. After her infiltrate that had left a handful of students in poor shape, the
incident with Kitty Pryde had only magnified her stay as irresponsible and dangerous. Thus, so far, it
had not occurred to the teenager another student might actually directly speak to her, but knowing
to a certain extent of his abilities, the prior assassin knew it wasn’t from foolishness that he was
speaking to her now. There was a good reason he did not clearly fear her.

Not for the first time, the brunette didn’t know what to say once the mutant had completed his
speech, going virtually immediately back to his training afterwards. What could she say though?
There were numerous errors within his statement along with many emotions she purely could not
comprehend. For starts, ‘annoying’ and ‘unessential’ were not synonyms of one another, which she
failed to mention for the reason it held a little to close to the truth. There were occasions where
constant chatty became irritating, especially when it was none of her concern. Plus, what use were
friends? They were liabilities and in many cases, redundant. She didn’t know how to be a friend. It
had never been important as with all missions, she had always worked alone. Nevertheless, Laura did
simultaneously recognize she was free from The Facility’s hold, at least physically. Mentally and
emotionally however, was a completely different matter and still, the teenager could not bring herself
to understand the fact that Calvin wasn’t the first to express the sentiment that she required them.

Remaining silent for the time being, one of the many things Calvin had noted for her not to do, the
experiment noticeably did not move from her current position. With her clenched fists remaining still
by her sides though, the silver of her claws were still evident through the knuckles of her white skin
stained with bloodspots. The broken stand situated behind her sparked bright electricity from the
now exposed circuits and cut wiring present inside, which went ignored by Laura in spite of the
obvious danger. As privately as one could with a person capable of telepathy within the room, she
pondered. What exactly did he want from her? A conversation? To be friends? Her grip became
unconsciously tighter; the pressure causing her hands become paler then usual. Finally, she spoke.

“I do listen. What is it that you want from me Calvin?”

With that statement and request, she casually moved a couple of paces forward so that she was
beside him; or as near as possible owing to the obstruction of the machine that he was currently
working on. As with all the other students as well as the teachers, Laura had both analysed and
gathered any data on him that could possibly demonstrate to be useful in the near future. It went
without saying that his large range of abilities would prove to be a challenge to overcome if the pair
were indeed to ever engage in battle though and the weapon in truth had yet to learn all of them,
but fortunately, the prior assassin had no desire to fight him at this current moment in time and as if
to reflect this sentiment, her threatening claws withdrew back into her skin. For the first time, rather
then observing him as usual of her distance behaviour, the brunette now instead found she was
interacting with the mutant, even if she was aptly bad with the unfamiliar interaction.

Framed by the dark coloured tresses of her hair that flow free, her pale face looked down upon him
and remained unchanged – the expression unreadable, but at least now he couldn't dispute that he
didn’t have her full attention since she was indeed listening. One unnerving fact about the teenager
was her lack of distinct mannerisms; something that made her seem less human and more unreal,
rather like a lethal porcelain doll to those that viewed her as only her dark lashes fluttered in a blink.
Surprisingly however, Laura had positioned her hands upon her hips in a typically womanly gesture
and lifting her green gaze to the screen monitoring his training, she noted the heavy weight he was
currently lifting without any obvious strain, even if she could detect from experience the combination
of muscles working intensely beneath his shining metal skin. Whether disinterested or impressed by
the measurement, the clone simply made a soft ‘m’ noise beneath her breath and retrieved an
unopened bottle of water on a bench nearby, walking away from him as a result.

“What is your limit?”

While to many individuals it would have been unusual for Laura to ask a question, training and
strength were both things that she knew extensively about and consequently from her upbringing,
found discerningly more important then her favourite colour or flowers. Thus, waiting for his answer
in a somewhat patient silence, she stood a mere handful of paces away as she easily unscrewed the
cap with a single hand. Watching him with her scrutinising gaze however, the brunette failed to bring
the bottle to her lips and instead, for the time being, simply held it at chest height.

[Calvin Rankin]

The silence that filled the room wasn't something that Calvin liked all to well at least not at the present moment. Don't get him wrong, he his the nonstop chatter box that someone like Kitty was but at the same time he wasn't the ever so silent Colossus either. Now that the thought had crossed his mind the young mimicker didn't really know what type of person he was. Before his powers were given to him by his father Calvin knew the kind of kid he was, the kind that even for his age had the metaphoric 'balls' that people joked about. As he grew older and his powers came out more the original personality type he had seemed to be more adjustable than he once believed it to have been. He wasn't sure if it was because of his ability or if it was kind like a side effect or a completely subconscious thing but he seemed to also mimic personality traits of people as well as their abilities. Spending time with Logan made Calvin more rebellious, daring, and less concerned about himself of course he couldn't forget that he also had a drive to fight or some kind of combat drive as well as that blood lust Logan had when he was in a good battle for too long. It was probably the same for Laura or maybe not after all one's personalities traits are encoded in their genetics or at least he hoped not.

Keeping his eyes trained on the machine proved to be a bit more boring than Calvin had originally hoped but at the same time the weight had increased to a level where it required moderate concentration from him and letting himself get to distract may not have been the smartest thing. If he had to guess the machine was probably in its ninety five ton range at the moment so if he didn't pay attention now then the machine would pound right into his chest which at this point was roughly the equivalent of getting punched square in the chest by The Thing using a moderate amount of his strength. This was probably the part of Calvin's ability that he liked the most dispute the fact that the one he was using right now was someone elses that he simply copied that is. When he copied an other's powers they were his own level not the originals but Calvin had the potential to become more proficient in them as well as make them stronger by training or 'working them out' so to speak. However, the funny thing was that regard of if his mimicked abilities were half as strong, just below, or at the same level as those he mimicked them from it it didn't really matter, he still wouldn't really be as good as the original person though maybe a bit more creative.

Training endlessly in the Danger Room not only taught Calvin how to better use the abilities he had but also taught him that he just wouldn't be exactly even with someone in any one ability. Scott for instance had tried his optic blasts for years and he was pretty damn good with them. Calvin didn't know anyone else that could bounce a beam off of thirty different surfaces and hit is target on the exact spot he originally meant to. Scott however needed to use his visor to control the blasts width and even strength wise even though he had some of that control without it most of it did come from that visor of his. As for the blond kid, well he would be lucky if an optic blast even bounced off anything without destroying it. Calvin didn't have Scott's skill with them but he was able to control the blasts to a point a bit better than Scott since he never used a visor with them but even that was subjective. After all, Scott could hone the beam so thin with the visor that he could punch a doorknob's lock out without other wise damaging the knob, Calvin's probably would have token out the knob itself with how 'fine toned' he could get the beams.

Calvin's thoughts were continually interrupted by the beeping of the machine as it went up in weight. The young twenty year old was smart to measure all his thoughts between the beeps it was an uncanny skill he had developed since being with the X-Men. He was able to be seemingly absorbed in thought but still aware and functional in the 'real world' at least until his thoughts were filled with women like the one that had sudden crept right up to him without him knowing. Feeling the machine pull itself up he knew that it had reached the limit he had put into it and as it set itself Calvin reverted back into his flesh form and used his telekinesis to pause it as he lay on the bench. His body ached and was beginning to swore now but his healing would no doubt heal it as he listened with surprise as Laura spoke.

It wasn't the fact that she as speaking that was surprising to him but the fact she wasn't just speaking a few lines while huddled in her corner but was actually right next to him now standing. It quickly donned on him however that she was probably just responding to what he had been saying to her before that she had to at least pretend to be interested in the presence of someone else in the room. A quick flash of a terminator from one of those movies came to mind, she was acting a lot like one of them trying to do what she was being informed of to 'fit in'. Laying on the bench Calvin just started up at her as she kept herself trained on him. His eyes not only watching her face but also keeping track of those claws that were still out, the steel protected him from even that metal but his flesh wasn't anywhere near able to stand up to it. It wasn't that he was afraid of them it was simply that he wasn't stupid, indestructible metal claws that could cut through him like butter hovers inches from his body...you'd be cautious to even with a healing factor.

Seeing Laura pull them back into her arms however made Calvin a bit more relaxed but at the same time release a muffled laugh. "Showing me you're not going to throw down eh?" Moving his head a bit to look at her better Calvin smirked a little. "Oh don't worry, I'm not reading your mind or anything I just know THAT signal. Logan does it, I do it, and apparently even you do it." Pointing his arm straight at the ceiling Calvin let the three claws rip their way out of his flesh, a small thin streak of blood traveled down part of his forearm before his wounds healed around the claws and the trail stopped. Rotating his arm slowly he stared at the blades of bone for a few seconds. He had maintained them well making them smooth and sharp very much how Logan's and Laura's metal ones always were but unlike theirs his were bone still however his ability seemed to fix that. Since the metal wasn't a natural part of Logan's mutation he didn't get it but after mimicking Colossus it seemed his body knew he hasn't mimicked Logan completely or something and he was able to coat either all of him or just his bones in the organic steel of Colossus soon afterwards. Triggering the mental command Calvin watched as the three bone claws quickly became metal and reflected the light off of themselves. "Parts of him make up who I am now as well."

Retracting the blades and sitting up Calvin ran a hand through his dirty blond hair before addressing Laura's questions from before. "What do I want from you eh? Well.... to be a person comes to mind. I mean I get it, you were created to as a weapon to take order and kill not to make friends but still look at you, do you look like a gun or a knife? no you look and you are human and you have the same emotions as the rest of us. Trust me, its better to make friends with people instead of being scared of what you might do to them or thinking you don't need them because of what you can do BELIEVE me I know. I started out life like everyone else here a normal kid but then my father ran his experiments on me and turned me into something other than a normal person. I'm a normal baseline human not a mutant or at least I was before those experiments gave me the ability to copy the powers of those around me. At first I thought it was pretty cool I could copy whose ever power I want so every was 'beneath me' and I was a complete dick to everyone around me. Then, a little accident happened one too many times when 'my' powers went out of control and I hurt people thats when I turned stand offish like you come off as being. Now, I got friends, I'm in a relationship, and I know I got people that have my back and would actually give a damn if I disappeared one day, I know I'm not alone now. What I want from you is to try and have it as well."

Pushing himself off of the bench Calvin stood as his full height before answering her second question with a small smirk. "As for my limits...well don't be fooled into thinking that just because I have all these abilities that I'm 'too powerful' to fight or something. The simple truth is I not only have the weaknesses that are inherit to each and every ability I got but my own personal ones with each ability as well as my 'true' ability as well. Though why do you ask, plan to take me on sometime soon?" Calvin couldn't help but give a cocky but innocent look to the female. He wasn't an idiot, he knew an all out combat type of fight Laura would kick his ass even though he'd was trained well enough to put up a decent but still losing fight. Even if he went and used all his abilities she probably would still have a chance of winning but that type was really the only kind he felt he could win against the girl after all, she was capable of disabling most of the school that one time. Though truth be told, he'd probably like training with her in a way that made him glad she wasn't an empathy and would probably make the person he was with rather mad.

[LAURA KINNEY]

Aware of Calvin stopping mid-action, the teenager was unfazed when the steel laced together to form
skin reverted back to flesh and the heavy weights he had once been physically lifting were now
supported by a completely different strength. She just regarded him steadily; somewhat knowingly even
though her eyebrows automatically rose with perhaps both confusion and scepticism when he laughed.
However, she didn’t speak or question him upon the matter in spite of the fact she failed to see the
humour, even when he voluntarily explained moments later. Instead the brunette quietly listened with
patience reserved for such occasions and her thoughtful gaze following the length of his muscled arms,
she watched him reveal the scarlet stained bone that was hidden within his very own forearms before
shortly turning them metal. Regardless of the blonde, the freshly torn skin healed.

Vaguely and yet aptly direct of her usual manner, she answered with a peculiar expression of her own
to match his smirk as she examined the claws from a distance, apparently simultaneously interested and
disinterested at once. “It lowered your guard.”

Hidden, there was a threat to disagree.

While considered his clone, this was not technically true as the brunette evaluated his assessment. It
was correct that Calvin had mimicked Logan’s bone structure and healing factor, but as far as the many
similarities go, she was unwilling to dismiss personality traits. Was it nature versus nurture? Honestly,
Laura didn’t know, but what she did understand was that because she was undoubtedly female with
some of her genetics belonging to her now long deceased mother; she couldn’t technically be a clone.
Nevertheless, she did not believe she possessed a soul either and consequently, the weapon merely saw
herself as an extension of an original. A copy. Not real. By default, if one was to consider these thoughts
and statements to be true, parts of her made up Calvin.

Briefly, she wondered without an inch of sentiment how he would feel about this. She didn’t ask, but
merely commented, “I am made from him.”

To be a person? To have friends, a relationship? To be not scared of hurting others? Admittedly, this
came as no surprise even if she did obligingly listen without interrupting. While these were few of the
many goals set for her, not only for her sake but also for the reason of her creation, Laura did truthfully
find them difficult to obtain. Her mindset was still untouched with the mental walls of her chaotic past
still acting as an almost unbreakable barrier, even if she was no longer kept within an actual box. A
physical cage. The teenager was still learning and in comparison to other students with more reasonable
upbringings, her education in these particular areas was failing at her inevitable expense.

“While that is true, a person is required to wield a gun or use a knife. As you have said, I am a person. I
also believe the popular phase ‘guns don’t kill, people do’ applies in this certain situation?” she began at
a fair length, a fairly hinted question present within her otherwise deadpan tone as she spoke. The
phase that she spoke of was once spoken by her cousin Megan during their brief time together. Out of
her three relatives left within this world, she would the one most undeniably missed, never to be seen
again even with her lack of understanding of the emotion. Now there was only Logan.

Inwardly, Laura didn’t know why she was arguing though; this wasn’t a debate and that didn’t make her
actions anymore excusable. His argument might have been old and something she had heard before,
though he was probably the first student to both address it to her personally as well as phase it in some
many different words. As always, the experiment listened earnestly even if she stayed moderately still,
her expression fairly mute with her only taking action in the form of moving several steps forward in
what appeared to be an unconscious reaction to close the fairly large space between them. She had
been the one to make the request after all, and realising she had spoken perhaps an undesired remark
in all seriousness; the weapon carelessly lifted the bottle to lips and drank a gulp of water.

“I am here by Logan’s wishes to make an attempt. No change is instantaneous.”

She wasn’t about to argue that she was in fact trying, although Laura was unaware whether it was pride
or guilt preventing her from doing so. How does one exactly change a lifetime of habits overnight? Parts
of her questioned even if she wanted to change; death was everything she knew.

Upon his response to her second query, the brunette visibly hesitated mid-step with the half-drained
bottle returned to approximately chest height in level. For a minute, she pondered how to react as her
facial expression surprisingly featured amusement, despite it might have not been evidently clear to
those unaware of her personally. Finally, she commented momentarily, “I was in fact enquiring to the
limit of weight you are able to lift.” A pause as she brought herself level with him once more, easily
making eye-contact now he was sat up on the bench. “However, that information you volunteered is
useful. Especially if I do plan to take you on sometime soon.”

With her tone alone, it was questionable whether the teenager was attempting a joke or was in fact
serious in her assessment. However, even if she was close to his physical form, the claws stayed
sheathed and she made no attempt to attack him. In fact, the weapon seemed at ease with merely
waiting for his response. Whatever that maybe.