Crimson Strength - The Gifted [DISCONTINUED]

Chapter 4

"God I missed you," I say to John.

"I missed you too." His thumb runs over the top of my hand that is intertwined with his. "Where did they take you? I couldn't find you anywhere."

"They moved me to an all-woman facility,"

"But they only do that when an inmate is pregnant..."

I stay silent, scared to say anything in such a heat of the moment. 

Caitlin finally pulls over by a worn-down warehouse. All of us jump out of the sentinel service vehicle and quickly take shelter under the overhang. 

"I'm sorry, I don't have a change of clothes for you. We didn't expect to rescue you as well." Marcos apologizes while handing a bag of clothes to Lorna.

"It's okay, Marcos. I'm heading back to headquarters anyway." I say. "By the way, why did we lose our powers back there? The only person I know who can do that is dead."

"Well, then your thinking of the right person. It was Pulse. He was working for Sentinel Services." John confirms. 

"Okay, did you not hear me? He's dead." I repeat.

"Dana! I saw him and he's alive." 

"No! He hated Sentinel Services. He protected all of those people in Macon." Marcos replies. 

"They raided that station..." I mumble as I wrack my brain for possible answers. Meanwhile, Marcos rambles on beside me, annoying me in a matter of seconds. My eyes quickly turn red as I glare at Marcos, but John steps up beside me and lays his hand on the small of my back, reminding me to stay calm.

Suddenly, John raises his other hand in a fist, signalling us to keep quiet. After a few seconds, he turns back towards us, a panicked look on his face.

"Sentinel Service drone moving in. We need to move, now." John orders before quickly walking towards our car. After Lorna and Marcos bicker for a few seconds, both of them decide to draw away the drone, giving us a clean escape.

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We made it back to headquarters without being tracked and I took it as a blessing. Once we were inside, Caitlin and her husband split off from John and me. 

He then leads me towards his room, closing the door behind us. Dozens of amazing memories with John come from this room and being in here brings them all back. But with them come some of the bad, making me cross my arms in discomfort. John walks past me and opens his drawers, pulling out an outfit and grabs a pair of boots to go with it. 

"I kept these after you were captured. Thought you would need them if you ever escaped." John says.

"Thanks," Once I had it in my grasp, I noticed my old necklaces were piled on top of the clothes. 

"The day after you were taken by Sentinel Services, I went back to that alleyway to try and track you down. When I couldn't, I found these and... I just couldn't get rid of them." John explains.

I only nod in response. My plan for a smooth escape is foiled when John slips his hands under my chin and forces me to look up at him. Before he could try anything, I walk backwards while shaking my head.

"Look, I know you're mad. But I want to fix things between us." John says, an anxious look in his eyes.

"I was in prison for a year, John! A year of being tortured by guards just because I wore a collar on my neck! I'm not the Dana you knew a year ago!" 

"Dana, I unde-" John begins before I interrupt.

"No, John, you don't understand. My stay wasn't like most mutants stay in prison. There was another... thing factoring in." 

"Was that thing why you were in that facility?" John grumbles, clearly frustrated. 

"Yes, I-" I begin before beginning to choke up in fear. "I was pregnant."

I didn't even get a chance to see how he reacted, since he quickly stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

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After a few minutes, I had stripped out of my dirty prison clothes and back into my clothes. Quickly putting on my necklaces, I throw my clothes deep into the forest using my powers. I'll go and burn them later.

Walking out of John's room, I see the bustle of new refugees mixed with old ones as they all try and work together. Before I had a chance to help, I heard yelling coming from downstairs and it didn't sound good. I rush downstairs to see Strucker fighting with something invisible. I  hold my hands out in front of me, the familiar red appearing around my hands. Grabbing onto Strucker, I shield him from the invisible blows. John finally appears and grabs the invisible person's fist.

"That's enough!" John yells and the person soon becomes visible.

"What are you doing?" I hiss.

"How about protecting us?" The man questions. "Just so y'all know the last time I saw this son of a bitch, he was working for Sentinel Services." 

I turn to the Strucker with a surprised look on my face and so does John. But he recovers quicker than I did and turns back to the crowd.

"Everyone just calm down." John reassures.

"Calm down? This dude's job was locking up people like us." The man retorts, a quiver in his voice. 

The Strucker family and the man begin to argue back and forth, John continuously trying to keep the situation from becoming worse. It was soon revealed that the man was right, leaving both us and his family in disarray. I finally get fed up and put myself right in the middle of the fight.

"You guys need to go somewhere private and work this out with John. Your wife and I are going to go take care of Harry." I order while looking towards his wife. I then walk off, gently dragging the wife beside me.

"I'm Caitlin," she says. 

"Dana." I quickly reply while pulling my hair back into a ponytail before walking into the safe room.

Caitlin quickly orders Clarice to grab supplies before turning to me. 

"Can you thread an iv?" she asks and I nod. "Can you get one started?"

I nod again before quickly walking into the side room and grabbing what I needed. Then, I return by Harry's side and sit in a nearby chair. Grabbing a tourniquet, I wrap the piece of plastic around his upper arm tightly and begin to tap his hand, looking for veins. Once I had found one, I gingerly inserted the needle into his hand. Sighing in relief, I quickly stand up and attach the saline solution bag to the iv. Flicking the connection between the bag an iv, I turn to Caitlin once again.

"It's done." I tell her and she nods in response. 

"Dana!" I hear Dreamer yell. 

"What is it?" I ask worriedly, getting up and walking towards her.

"Marcos and Lorna need our help. He specifically said he needed you," she explains. I turn around to ask Caitlin if she needed any help but she answered it for me.

"Go, Dana. I've got this," she says. Turning back to Dreamer, I nod my head in confirmation.

"Let's get moving."