The XXX-Gene (Marvel)(Mutant OC)

A/N: Here's the new Chapter! Which also means the next four chapters are up on my Patreon for early access as well as the chance to vote on the direction of the story!

Thaddeus goes to help Cessily. Which is good, because Laura has a plan.

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As Laura and this Kimura chick begin duking it out, Thaddeus makes his decision based on three reasons. Number One, he trusts Laura to be able to handle herself, at least for a little while. She wouldn’t have initiated the conflict against Kimura if she didn’t think she had a chance. Number Two, if he managed to free Cessily, there would be three of them to Kimura’s one, and those were very good odds.

And most importantly of all, Number Three… Thaddeus had never been in a fight before, not really. For all his power, for all his strength, he had never actually fought anyone, least of all a highly trained killer like Kimura seemed to be. It wasn’t that he was afraid of getting into a proper fight, he’d come down here with Laura after all, but he was at least smart enough to know that having him interfere might be more of a hindrance to his friend-with-benefits than it would be a help.

That all said, Thaddeus does keep one eye on Laura and Kimura’s battle as he steadily makes his way over to Cessily’s tube. Is it just him, or is Laura moving a bit… slow? No matter. Putting it out of his mind, he looks to Cessily and gives her a reassuring smile.

“I’m gonna get you out of there, okay?”

The all-mercury woman huffs a bit at that and crosses her arms over her chest.

“Yeah? Not just a pretty face that Laura managed to pick up somewhere?”

Heh, a bit caustic… but then, if he understood her circumstances correctly, Thaddeus could maybe understand why. She didn’t have a human form, did she? She was all mercury, all the time. That would be… rough, to say the least.

… Maybe he could help her. Maybe he could- ah, but he was getting distracted, wasn’t he? Letting his reassuring smile morph into a wide grin, Thaddeus nods.

“Not JUST a pretty face, no.”

With that, he curls his hands into fists and does something he hasn’t ever done before. He uses his full, unrestrained strength. With a snarl, he brings his fists down on the surface of the tube as hard as he fucking can.

Slam!

C-Crack!

“H-Holy shit!”

If Cessily’s reaction is anything to go off of, she’s impressed… and maybe a little wary as she quickly pulls back to the other side of the tube. Thaddeus though, is honestly a bit disappointed. He’d figured he would shatter the tube in one blow… but instead he’s left looking at a single crack in its surface.

That wouldn’t do. Fortunately, he had a back up plan… punch it harder. Sure, that first blow might have been his strongest ever… but he still had another recently gained trick up his sleeve. The power he’d gotten from Jennifer Walters, aka She-Hulk, had been upgraded a few times from their raw, somewhat furious ‘makeup sex’ after the truth on all fronts had come out.

Calling upon it now, Thaddeus feels his strength, speed, and stamina surge to new, untold heights. He’s never been stronger, but he also knows the boost won’t last forever… even after how much he and Jennifer fucked, it’s probably only got a minute or so before he runs out of juice, and the young mutant hasn’t exactly had time to test how long it takes to recharge yet.

Still, a minute should be all he needs. Thaddeus raises his fists again and this time roars out as he brings the hammer down on the tube, specifically right over where the first crack was.

SLAM!

C-CRACK!

And again for good measure.

SLAM!

C-CRACK! CREEEEEEAK!

And one final time.

SLAM!

The glass, or rather, whatever fucking insane translucent material the tube was made out of, finally shatters into a million pieces. Thaddeus closes his eyes at the last second as shards of the stuff pepper his body, slicing into him in a few places. But he’ll heal fast enough, and most importantly of all… when he’s finally able to open his eyes again, Cessily is free.

The all-mercury mutant hadn’t hesitated either. Even before the shards finished falling, while his eyes were still closed, Cessily surged out of the destroyed tube and into the far more open area of the lab. As he turns to her, she looks him up and down more appraisingly, before finally nodding her head in admiration.

“… Thanks for the assist, big guy. Now let’s back up Laura.”

Right. Both Thaddeus and Cessily turn to Laura and Kimura on the other side of the laboratory, to see the fight between the two is still in full swing. Thaddeus frowns as Laura’s claws fail to extract a single drop of blood from the other woman, and not because Kimura is phasing in and out either. No, the slashes from Laura’s claws are landing, they’re just not actually doing any damage, somehow.

That’s not to say Kimura isn’t using her ability to go intangible though. In fact, just as Thaddeus and Cessily are finally getting ready to leap into the fray and back Laura up, Kimura suddenly gets the upper hand… by shoving her hand right into Laura’s chest and then holding it there.

The cry that Laura lets out is gut-wrenching as Kimura goes solid again, just to cause the younger woman pain.

“I can’t believe it, 23. You got worse in our time apart. Were you having so much fun thinking you could live a normal life that you let yourself go soft? Stupid girl. You’ve lost your edge. We’ll have to beat it back into you, I suppose.”

Thaddeus clenches his jaw and curls his hands into fists, but he’s hesitant to rush in while Kimura has Laura in such a disadvantageous position. Cessily apparently feels the same way, because she’s still at his side, clearly looking for an opportunity to act as well.

However, neither of them gets the chance. What happens next happens too fast for either of them to react until after the fact.

Leaning in, Kimura sneers down at Laura.

“I don’t know why the hell you thought you could beat me when you’re this damn sl-urk!”

Faster than the blink of an eye, Laura lashes out. Her arm goes ramrod straight… as her claws slide right into Kimura’s open mouth, up through the bottom of her wagging tongue, pinning it to the roof of her mouth and then through that into her brain. Whatever had been keeping Laura’s claws from penetrating Kimura’s skin clearly doesn’t translate to the rest of her body as the sadistic woman chokes and gurgles.

Laura, meanwhile, pushes herself to her feet, and in doing so, drives Kimura’s twitching body down to her knees, reversing their position as she reaches up with her other hand, grabs the woman’s wrist, and yanks Kimura’s hand out of her chest with a sickening squelch.

Apparently, having two metal claws buried in your brain makes it a little hard to focus on utilizing your intangibility to save yourself, because while Kimura isn’t quite dead yet, she also makes no move to do anything to prevent what follows as Laura leans in and whispers to her.

“You always did talk too much.”

Then, with a vicious twist of her wrist, she thoroughly destroys the other woman’s brain and yanks her claws back out, leaving the corpse to drop to the floor, dead.

Silence falls for a moment as Thaddeus realizes why Laura had seemed so slow earlier. She’d been holding back… she’d been holding back a lot, lulling Kimura into a false sense of security where she could use all of the boosts she’d gotten from fucking him to take out the other woman in one fell swoop.

Flicking her claws to the side to relieve them of the blood, viscera, and brain matter coating them, Laura stands over Kimura’s body for a moment… and then, with a snarl, reaches down and grabs her by the hair, yanking the body up. Thaddeus blinks as she shoves her hand past the corpse’s slack jaw and down her throat. He watches as she seems to rummage around for a moment inside of Kimura’s chest cavity, before… pulling out the woman’s heart.

For a moment, Thaddeus fears Laura might actually go so far as to eat it as he watches her hold it aloft for a moment. But no, she’s not that far gone. Instead, she squeezes… and the heart is destroyed along with the brain. As good of a double tap as they were going to get, Thaddeus supposed.

That said… he’s not sure how to approach Laura right now. And before he can figure it out, Cessily interjects.

“Holy shit Laura. What the fuck was that?”

Flinching as if finally remembering that she has an audience, Laura flushes and drops the crushed remains of Kimura’s heart to the laboratory floor, where they impact with a wet slap. Then, she drops Kimura’s body as well.

“Just… making sure she couldn’t be healed or recovered or… or something. Didn’t want her coming back, that’s all.”

Laura looks anywhere but him, Thaddeus notices, even as she directs her next words at him.

“I did warn you… this wouldn’t be a place for heroes…”

But before Thaddeus can reassure her, Cessily interjects again, waving her shining mercury arms around wildly.

“Not that! Make sure the bitch stays dead, good for you! No, what the fuck was that speed?! When have you ever been that fast or strong?! She had her hand in your chest and it didn’t even faze you!”

Laura blinks, and so does Thaddeus. She looks at him, clearly not sure what to tell Cessily. Before either of them can say a thing however…

“I find my own curiosity piqued in that regard, X-23. You have never shown such capabilities before. I almost feel betrayed… have you been seeing other scientists behind our back?”

Thaddeus doesn’t recognize the voice but judging by the way both Laura and Cessily tense up, they do. Laura looks particularly aggrieved as she glares up at the ceiling from where the speakers that the voice is emanating from must be located.

“Harkins.”

“That’s Director Harkins to you, X-23. Though I suppose expecting respect after witnessing what you just did to Kimura would be somewhat ridiculous on my part.”

Well now Thaddeus was glad that he hadn’t said anything to Cessily about how Laura had gotten so strong and fast. Apparently, they were being spied on the entire time. Laura just growls and points her claws at the ceiling.

“Sit tight, Harkins. I’m coming for you next.”

“I’m sure you will, X-23. Ah but unfortunately, I’ll have to take a rain check. See, I’ve already extracted what I need from Ms. Kincaid. As such, the laboratory has been evacuated, and the self-destruct activated. If you wish to escape, I suggest you start running… now.”

Right on cue, alarms begin to sound and the entire room is awash in red as a countdown starts. Thaddeus isn’t sure how real it is, but Laura definitely reacts like it’s real, and so he finds himself following her lead as all three of them race out of the destroyed room and back down the hall the way they came.

As they do so, Director Harkins continues to speak… and this time his words are directed at Thaddeus.

“X-23 and Ms. Kincaid are known quantities to us, though it’s clear that 23’s file will be undergoing some revisions. Still, you are an unknown. Who are you? Where did you come by such strength? Ah, if only we could have found out.”

Chilling, to say the least. Thaddeus has never been more grateful for Emma’s advice. He doesn’t say a word of course and can only rely upon his layered disguise to hopefully keep this mad scientist off his scent. Between not only being completely covered up, but also his altered body, it would hopefully be enough…

The Facility’s Director doesn’t say anything else, leaving it at that ominous sendoff as the three of them escape through the sewers with time to spare. There’s the sound of a heavy explosion muffled by concrete behind them, making it clear that the self-destruct was very real. But Laura doesn’t seem to care about any of that. Instead, she whirls on Cessily, gritting her teeth.

“… What did they want with you, Cessily?”

The other mutant frowns at that, crossing silvery arms over her chest as she shakes her head.

“I don’t know. They took samples of my body, kept me locked up in that tube, and that was about it. But if they were willing to destroy that laboratory… whatever they used the samples for must be somewhere else.”

Laura nods, processing that for a moment. But before she can say anything else, Cessily huffs.

“And what about you, Laura? When the hell did you get that fast?”

Thaddeus watches as Laura hesitates again, before shrugging a shoulder up and down.

“… I had some help. Might even be able to help you too.”

Wait, what? Thaddeus blinks, even as Cessily pauses.

“Help me? And what’s that supposed to mean?”

Much to Thaddeus’ surprise, Laura actually quirks up one corner of her mouth at that, very nearly smiling.

“What was it that you like to say, Cessily? About us meat people, with our beautiful senses? Maybe you don’t have to stay like this. Maybe you could learn to control it.”

Ah, so that’s how it was. Ya know, Thaddeus should probably be more upset that Laura is practically trying to whore him out at the moment. But he’s not for a few reasons. First, Laura hasn’t mentioned him yet in all of this, so she’s not dragged him into things just yet. Second, he’d had this exact same thought earlier. He’d tabled it for the time being, but now that the danger has passed, at least temporarily… well, there’s no harm in thinking about it, right.

And third, anything Thaddeus did to help Cessily with her mutation would help him too just as much at the end of the day. As such, Thaddeus stays quiet, curious to see how Cessily will react. At the moment, the all-mercury woman is completely still, frozen in place as she stares at Laura unblinking. Finally though…

“You fucking with me, Laura? And what would this cost me, exactly?”

Laura hesitates, her eyes sliding over to him for a moment. Thaddeus gives her a surreptitious nod in response, signaling his approval for her to continue. And yet, even though he’s given his approval, she still remains somewhat obtuse.

“Not fucking with you, no. As for what it would cost you… not much. But I can’t tell you more unless you’re actually interested. Involves secrets that aren’t mine to tell.”

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