"Are you okay?" John asked as Taylor was typing away on the laptop, her eyes moving across the screen. "Taylor." He said as he was walking over to her, before he moved his arms around her and she briefly stiffened up at the surprise contact, before she remembered that she was safe.
"Yeah Johnny, I'm all right." She murmured and he was pulling up another chair and she glanced at him. "All of those mutant files and the Underground stations? I have still got all of it, I uploaded digital copies of it all, some weeks ago now." She said softly and he reached out and rested his hand on her face, before he gently ran his thumb across the scar now, that was sitting below her eye.
"Have I told you how much I love you recently?" John wondered and she was shaking her head, before he leaned down and kissed her.
Taylor hummed quietly, before she was letting out a surprised yelp when he picked her up out of her chair and tugged her into his lap. "A little warning would've been nice." She muttered and then, he was gently brushing her hair out of her eyes. "I love you too." Taylor said and John gently tugged her closer and she allowed herself to let go of her worries for a few minutes.
Until a pounding knock came on the door and Taylor groaned, glaring at the door with a growl. "Go away!" She shouted irritably as John laughed quietly at their terrible luck as they were constantly being interrupted. The knock came again. "No! Go away!" Taylor shouted again, a hint of a roar growing in her voice.
"Who is it?" John asked loudly over Taylor's irritated growl before she was jumping back to her seat reluctantly and she was quickly shutting off her laptop.
"We've got a couple of somebodies out here that you two are both going to want to see. They will be up on the roof with the rest of us, get your asses up. Now!" It was Pyro speaking through the door.
Taylor growled irritably and she was looking at John, who shrugged as they were both getting up and John grabbed his jacket quickly.
They walked up the stairs to the roof and Taylor stopped, her nostrils flaring at the immediately familiar scents and John stared for a moment, before he was shaking his head at the sight.
"Okay, someone hit me..." John's head snapped back at the hard swing from Pyro, who only succeeded in hurting his own hand and he was shaking it out. "Well, I guess it isn't a hallucination of my mind's own making."
"I think that this mutant's picture on my phone, might give you a reason to get why I'm suddenly back." Gus held out his phone and Taylor was silently staring at him, still in disbelief that he was alive and breathing. "Taylor, what is it going to take for you to stop staring at me? Ow!" Gus was backing up, after she had punched him square in the face and Gus was holding his face in indignation.
"You're really alive. Holy shit." Taylor said and hugged him, as Gus was shaking his head before he returned the hug. "We've got our power suppressing, electricity suppressing mutant back." She said and then, John was looking down at the picture.
"Necro pulled through." John said and Taylor let go of Gus, before John hugged his old friend. "It's good to see you, brother."
"Well if you're surprised to see me..."
"James?" Taylor asked as she stepped around Gus, who turned around to look at where she was staring. John's head snapped up at the familiar name and James looked at them. "I thought that all of you X-Men were in hiding." She said and he scoffed.
"Technically I was a member of the X-Force, not..." James Proudstar grunted quickly as Taylor and John both hugged him tightly. "Okay, okay! You two... You, you can let me go now." He said and silently now, they were letting him go.
"I told you that you didn't want to miss them... Ow!" Liliana had kicked Pyro in the shin and he was looking at her.
"Don't push your luck." Liliana muttered quietly under her breath and he shrugged quickly, before they were all going back downstairs.
"Gus." John tossed a bunch of clothes to him and Gus went into the bathroom quickly, as Taylor was shaking her head.
"He's alive and your brother is staying across the hallway with Liliana Strucker and Pyro... What the hell is happening?" She asked and then silently, John glanced at her, before he was shrugging. "I kind of did want an answer to that."
"The mutant uprising has officially begun, I would imagine that both the X-Men and the Brotherhood have taken notice, even if they don't send everybody at once." John suggested with a shrug. "At this very moment, I am just glad to have my younger brother and my best friend back." He said as she nodded.
"This mutant uprising... It is going to make things worse, John. It is going to make things better and worse in different ways." Taylor noted and she glanced over at the doorway.
"You're not wrong." Gus noted as he looked down at his wrist, where the Trask Industries Hound Program mark was tattooed onto his skin. "Did you guys get everybody out of Trask?" He asked as he was going through the cupboards, trying to find something to eat quickly.
"Yeah. We got everybody out and Julianna blew the building sky-high." Taylor noted as she pointed above his head. "Glasses and bowls are up there." She said and then, Gus was looking at her with a question in his eyes.
Before Taylor was jumping up onto the counter and knocking them down into his hands. "You don't have to keep dancing around the subject, I know that Julianna is dead." John and Taylor looked at each other, just before they were glancing at him as he was pouring milk into a bowl of cereal and eating it quickly. "James couldn't sense her, and I put together the pieces from there." Gus noted as he watched them.
"The kids are safe though with Liliana's mom, all four of them." Taylor said and he nodded. "Darren has your tags." She stated and Gus sighed.
"Well, yeah. That is what we agreed to do." Gus was emotionally silent, stunted even and Taylor narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously. "I'm exhausted. Can I take the couch?" He asked and Taylor glanced over at John, who nodded and they walked out of the apartment.
As soon as the door was closed, Taylor scoffed. "It has to be the Trask programming in his head, right?" She asked and John sighed.
"It is either that, or he isn't letting himself feel the emotions. Out of penance for what he did, working under Trask Industries and Sentinel Services." John said and she nodded. "Also, he did just come back to life and start breathing again. He is probably a little disoriented." John noted.
"True." Taylor muttered quietly and she looked down at her phone, which beeped with a message. "Hey, it's Bernie." She said and she was holding up her phone. "He said that mutants everywhere are coming to him and asking now, if the Mutant Underground is still a thing." She said and she turned her phone around, so that John could see the screen.
"Well, well. I guess that we will just need to make a new one." John said and she nodded her head, before she was typing quickly and sending it. "Tell him that now, he is going to be in charge of finding leaders for all of the Canadian stations. We will send him more information about the rest of the stations and the plans for them, as soon as we have them."
"Done." Taylor said and John nodded. "We have a job to do."
YOU ARE READING
¹ Roar || The Gifted: John Proudstar
Fanfiction"I never thought that I'd see the day, when we would ever hear you roar again." ~~~~~ It had been years since they had seen each other. One enlisted in the military, the other became a licensed therapist. When one fell into a dark hole that seemed t...
