The Puppeteer - X-Men

Two

Lily tensed when she woke up, realising she was in the back of the car and her head was resting on someone's jacket. She sat up quickly and immediately regretted it, groaning at the throbbing pain in her side. "Woah, easy. You're alright, you're in a car with me and Erik" Charles said from behind her and she slowly sat in the seat properly.

She saw his jacket folded up on his leg and figured he was her pillow while she was unconscious. "Are you taking me to that CIA place?" she asked softly and Erik looked at her through the mirror. "Yes, we are" Charles replied, keeping his eyes on the girl.

"I'm sorry" she said after a moment, looking at Charles. "For what?" he frowned. "Making you see that memory. I didn't look at it, don't worry" she continued and Charles nodded in understanding. "It's quite alright. I understand why you did it" Charles smiled reassuringly.

"What's your name?" Erik asked. "Lily. Lily Anderson" she replied. "How old are you?" Erik frowned as if just realising she looked fairly young. "Sixteen" she sighed and Erik turned to look at her. "Erik, eyes on the road, please!" Charles protested and Erik turned back around.

"You're sixteen?" Erik asked. "Did I stutter?" she sassed and Charles smiled as Erik bit his tongue, refraining from choking her with the necklace hanging around her neck. "What exactly is Weapon?" Erik asked and Lily tensed, shifting uncomfortably.

"Erik, let's not talk about touchy subjects just yet" Charles suggested, glancing at the girl. "It's a government project. I think, I'm not entirely sure. I just know it's called Weapon X" Lily explained. "And what does this project entail?" Charles asked softly. "You hypocrite" Erik muttered and Lily chuckled softly. "Uh, experimentation on mutants. At least, that's what they did to me" she shrugged.

"They gave me this hair and eye color, experiment gone wrong, or so they called it" Lily said. "What else did they do to you?" Erik asked and it was clear he was angry. "Originally, I was born with the ability to control thoughts, which I demonstrated earlier. But the same experiment that made me look like this, gave me the ability to control blood" she explained and Charles furrowed his brows.

"The experiment gave you another ability?" he questioned and she nodded. "Yeah. So, in case you were wondering why none of my wounds are bleeding, it's because I'm not letting them" she said. "So, when my body felt like it was burning from the inside out, that was you?" Erik asked and she looked down.

"What you felt, that was your blood cells expanding and exploding inside your blood vessels. If I'd let it go on much longer, your vessels would have burst, along with your organs and you'd eventually start haemorrhaging" she admitted. "And that's what happened to that guy who attacked you?" Erik asked slowly.

"Not quite. I can manipulate anything that has blood inside of it. If there was a drop of blood on the ground, I could pick it up and move it around freely. I can force blood to move wherever I want it to inside someone's body. So, for example, I can make someone's spleen explode. For Marcus, I didn't even realise what I'd done but, looking back at it, I'm fairly certain I gave him a brain bleed" she explained and Erik turned to look at her again.

"Erik!" Charles said but he still didn't turn around. "You're joking?" Erik asked and Lily went into his mind and formed a thought to turn back around, which he did. She exited his mind and Erik frowned. "What just happened?" he asked. "I made you turn around" she shrugged. "You can put thought's in people's heads?" Charles asked and Lily nodded.

"It's like...a different form of telepathy, I suppose" she sighed. The car went silent for a few moments.

"Are you alright, Erik?" Charles asked. "I'm fine, Charles" Erik snapped and Lily raised an eyebrow, the corners of her mouth tipped up in a smile. "Are you sure?" Charles pressed. "Yes, I am perfectly fine, Charles!" Erik yelled.

"You're going a hundred and sixty five in a seventy Erik, I don't think that counts as fine" Lily remarked and Erik visibly tensed. "You may want to slow down before we reach the CIA building, I doubt they'll take too kindly to this kind of speed" Charles stated calmly. "You two are adorable" Lily smiled.

"Charles, make her shut up. Please" Erik begged. "I'll be quiet, it's alright" Lily smirked, leaning her head against the window. "Stay out of my head, Charles" Lily warned, feeling the familiar sensation of an unwanted guest. "You're quite aware of any detail, aren't you?" Charles said, a curious twinkle in his eye.

"If you want to know something, ask" Lily said, shifting into a more comfortable position. "I doubt you'll want to answer what I have to ask" Charles admitted. "Surely that means that you shouldn't know" Lily raised her eyebrows, looking at the man. "Fair enough" he nodded, a smile playing on his lips.

"Who's Hank?" Lily asked after a few minutes. "Will you please stay out of my head! God, you're both such hypocrites" Erik all but shouted. "I wasn't in your head...I heard the name Hank when I passed out" Lily mumbled and Erik looked guilty. "I-sorry" he stammered, keeping his eyes fixed on the road.

"Hank is a friend of mine, he has a good deal of medical expertise" Charles said. "I have three, maybe four broken ribs, a sprained ankle and minor whiplash, nothing some good old fashioned whiskey and a cigarette won't fix" Lily shrugged and Charles looked at her with wide eyes.

"You shouldn't be drinking or smoking at your age! And alcohol does not fix literal broken bones" Charles protested. "It doesn't? Worked in the past" Lily said sarcastically. "In the past? So you've drank and smoked?" Erik asked. "Wow, aren't you a smart one?" Lily deadpanned.

Before Charles could explode from the fact Lily had done several illegal things, Erik stopped the car in front of a large building with several agents carrying guns. Lily didn't have to say anything for Charles and Erik to be able to pick up on the girl's unease. "Are you alright?" Charles asked, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Not the biggest fan of guns" she mumbled and Charles smiled at her pitifully. "It's alright. They won't go near you" he reassured her and they got out the car, Lily sticking close to Charles. "Come on, I'll take you to meet the others, Hank will be there" Charles said softly, leading the girl past a guard and down a hallway.

"Here it is" Charles said, stopping in front of a door and going to open it. "Wait" Lily said and Charles turned to look at her. "What if I hurt one of them?" she asked meekly and Charles sighed softly. "You were fine in the car with me and Eric, weren't you?" he said. "I was unconscious, that doesn't count. And I had already nearly killed you two" she looked down and Charles placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Look at me" he said softly and she looked up. "You won't hurt them. And, if it gets to be too much and you get worried, just knock on this door and ask one of these guards to come and get me, alright?" he said, squeezing her shoulder gently. "Okay" she breathed. "You'll be fine, I promise" he smiled and she nodded before he opened the door.

Inside, a nerdy looking brunette guy with glasses and a pretty blonde girl were sitting on a couch, a short Hispanic girl in a short dress and African-American guy were on another couch, a redhead sat in an armchair and a blonde was drinking a beer across from him. "Raven, a moment?" Charles said and the blonde girl stood up, coming over to him. They stepped out of the room and Lily stood there awkwardly, looking at the floor.

"Come have a seat" the blonde guy said, gesturing to the armchair next to him. Lily glanced back at the door, seeing it shut before cautiously walking over to the chair, sitting down in it and bringing her knees up to her chest.

"I'm Sean" the redhead held his hand out to her and she tensed. "Lily" she pulled the sleeves of her jacket down to cover her hands. Sean awkwardly closed his hand and pulled it back to his body. The door soon opened and the girl, Raven, walked back in. Charles shot Lily a reassuring smile before shutting the door again.

"So, what's your name?" Raven asked and Lily looked between everyone. "Uh, Lily. Lily Anderson".