Noelle - Day 310 (And All My Readers Die of Boredom)

HELLO!!
How are all my readers doing today?  Amazhang?  (I've gotten into the habit of typing amazhang and fantabulous instead of...you know...actual english words)

Anyway, I know that this is like incredibly boring, but I'm posting Survivors parts.  Again.  Deal with it.

The Survivors (Parts 43 & 44)

“KATY?!”

Red’s mid-tone skin was pale, Blue’s hands flat against the wall.  Even Sam, who had seem Jess transform and change into a half-dragon, was surprised.

Jess looked nearly unchanged from a mug shot Sam had seen of her over a year ago.  The whole team had seen it.  Five scars, horrible, deep-set cuts, played across her cheek, unidentifiable and very painful looking.  Sam couldn’t pin it down, but there was something different about her face, something dark and angry and very non-Jess-ish.

Red was reaching for her gun.  Sam started to move, but Jess got there first.  Before Red knew what was happening, she was disarmed and on the ground.  “Don’t.  Even.  Try,” Jess growled.

“Elise!”  Blue shouted, panicked.  Both Katy/Jess and Red swiveled around.

“Blue, I swear,” Red said, exasperated, but still pale.  “Explain, Katy. ...  To clarify, you are Katy, right?  Katy Madorn?”

Jess nodded, mute.

“So explain!”  Red backed away from Jess a little, trying to get closer to Blue.

Blue stepped up to meet her.  “Stand down, Elise,” she whispered, putting a hand on Red/Elise’s back.  Red scowled.

“Sorry,” She said, bringing back the sticky-sweet party girl from an hour before.  “What I meant to say is, whenever you feel like explaining WHY you’re not DEAD Katy, knock yourself out.”

“Um.”  Jess’s lips were pressed together.  Sam was standing, silent, in the corner, not certain what to do.  Who was this Katy?  Why was she dead (or not dead, rather)?  Jess continued, saying, “I think I’m not dead because I didn’t die.”

“Let me at her, Echo,” Elise/Red hissed.

“Calm down,” Blue/Echo responded, keeping her hand on her sister’s shoulder and her eyes glued on Jess.

“Well hm,” Jess pretended to think about it.  “I honestly surprised that you, mercenaries of all people, hadn’t figured it out yet.”

“Um....”  Now Elise was the one thinking.  Jess seemed to be enjoying every bit of this.

“It was an attempt on my life,” Jess said with a laugh, which sounded very strange considering the situation.

“An attempt on your life that resulted in our family dead and surprisingly not you!”

“What?!”  This info was apparently new to Jess.

“Why do you think we became mercs?  For the fun times?  The money?  Because otherwise the would have shipped us off and we would have ended up separated and alone and -”

“You think I don’t know how the fostering system works?”  Jess snapped, her voice deadly serious.  Sam started moving towards her, knowing what came next when Jess got that sort of look about her.

Red fell into silence.  She looked like she had just tasted something sour, or said something embarrassing.

“You think I don’t wonder everyday if my siblings could have come with me to Jennie and Raymond’s house?”  Jess said, building up steam.  “You think I’m not reminded of that everyday?!  Are you really that stupid Elise?”

She turned to the other girl.  “And you!  A merc job?  Our Echo, working as a merc in this market?  I’m surprised that the two of you aren’t dead already!  I don’t want more blood on my hands!!”  Jess stopped.  She had gotten her anger out.  Nova unclenched his fists without realizing that he had clenched them in the first place.

“The only people in the whole neighborhood that died were Ms. Jennie and Mr. Raymond and our family,” Blue said quietly, looking like she was about to cry.

“You’re not supposed to be alive,” Elise growled, and she did not look like she was on the verge of tears.  Rather, her eyes were blazing with anger.  “We went to your funeral, Katy.  We went to our parents funeral.  We looked for your body in the wreckage.  The fire killed my parents, your parents, and should have killed you off while it had the chance.  If they can’t live then why can you?!”

Jess wasn’t looking at Red’s face.  She was tracing her finger around a white patch on her skin.  A burn mark, like fire had latched onto her very skin.

“Look at me!!”  Red screamed.  Jess did, and tears were sliding down her cheeks.  “You should have died...you should be dead.”

“Elise-”

“It’s Red and has been ever since the fire.”

“Red, I know that you’re mad,” Jess whispered, using her classic calming voice.  Sam was glancing at Blue for clues but nothing helpful.

“Know?  You know?!  Really Katy-”

“-Jess-”

“-Whatever, you know nothing about anything Jessica!”  Red shoved Jess a little.  The blonde girl made no move to stop her attacker.  “You as good as killed my parents!  I didn’t ask for this!  Angry, ha, I’m plain furious and that’s something you can never know.  Never!  You should have died!”

Jess’s eyes widened.  Red’s words were echoing in her ears, pulling her back in time.  She had screamed the same thing at Danny, shouted them into his face.  Her jaw clenched.  “Don’t push me, Elise -”

“It’s Red!!!”

“-whatever.  Don’t push me, or I will have to beat you up via Mariokart.”

“You’re seriously still keeping that up?  After all these years?  It’s not MY fault that I’m a horrible driver!!”  Red seemed a little calmed, although not much.

“Years?  It’s only been, like two, since the fire, hasn’t it?”

“Feels longer,” Blue shoved in.

“Meh.”  Jess was grinning.

Sam stared at the three girls, utterly confused.  “What in the world just happened?!”

*******

Jess laughed.  “Sam, these are some old friends of mine, and apparently now mercs-” she glanced at her ‘old friends’ before continuing “-Elise and Echo.  They’re from New Jersey.”

“You hate New Jersey,” Sam said, suspicious.

“Well, I hate it because that’s where S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to ship me off with no protection.  Ms. Jennie and Mr. Raymond were my foster parents.  They um...they...they died in a fire that was meant for me.”

“I got that part.  S.H.I.E.L.D. tried to get rid of you?”

“No, they tried to get rid of the very memory of me.  They thought ‘if I were to live in a suburb community out of hometown New York I might readjust and become less prone to violent, villainous actions’,” Jess recited robotically.

Red made a face.  “They sure have you programmed well.”

“Not anymore.  That’s why I ran.  I’m absolutely fed up with these stupid regulations.”

“What if those regulations are for your own good?”  Blue demanded, rather aggressively.

Jess scowled.  “They’re not.”

“You left somebody behind, didn’t you?”  Red said, half-grinning, half-solemn.

For the first time in the two years that Sam had known her, Jess blushed.  Straight out, cheeks-red, blushed.  “How did you know?”  She giggled.

“It’s all over your body language,” Red supplied.

“We learned a few tricks in the past two years,” Blue added.

“It’s kinda necessary, with your kind of work,” Jess admonished.

“Well yeah but -”

“-It wasn’t easy-”

“-I’m sure it wasn’t-”

“-omigosh remember that one time-”

“-ugh I hated that!-”

“-would you two stop it-”

“-ugh no way Red -”

“-QUIT IT!!!”  Sam thundered, wondering how he was going to survive with these three being so...so...so girly.

“Fine by me,” Red said, tugging on her dress.  “You guys are weird.”

Blue rolled her eyes at her sister, then said, “Is there somewhere we can change, Katy-”

“-Jess-”

“-Because I’m not going to freeze my butt off in this dress.”

“Seconded!”  Red said.  Now that Sam thought about it, a dress didn’t really suit her.  Elise shook her scarlet hair out and brushed her fingers over her eye-scar before turning to glare at Jess.  “Well?”

“Blue is the one lighting this place.  You’re on the right.  I’ll unpack.”

§§§

That's all for today everybody! Sorry for the boringness (I'm frantically trying to come up with something interesting, I swear, but I've been so busy trying to catch up on Steve that I have been a very bad blogger) Here's your daily internet find and have a great day!

This is how I feel on a lot like seriously guys do you not know that I wear mascara and concealer on a regular basis??  Did you actually not know that?

Although I do have naturally flawless skin (not bragging or anything, I just do) so I don't look TERRIBLE I suppose...)

Anyway, bye!