The New Mutants

Another Day in the Cage

The next morning was very much like yesterdays, but I didn't see Illyana until breakfast. 

She didn't want to speak about her night during solitary, so I didn't push her. We hung out and did stuff we normally did, like practicing or just hanging around like normal teenagers. 

The day itself seemed to go by fast and it wasn't until dinner time that it seemed like Illyana was back to her playful self. 

"Come on." Illyana said as Roberto, Sam, and I followed behind her. 

"Where are you guys going?" Dani asked us as we passed Rahne's room. All four of us turned our heads to look at them both. 

"Reyes is asleep, so we're going up to the-" Robert was answering before Illyana jumped in and gave Dani a pointed look, "To the 'never mind, you're not invited."

"Come on, Illy." Sam said and nudged her shoulder. She turned to look at Sam furious and the faced me, looking at me to back her up. "Come on, we'll show you." Sam invited Dani and Rahne to come up to the attic with us.

"Illy, be nice." I said. She crossed her arms and pouted. "Whatever." She mumbled and walked with us up to the attic. 

 Illyana went in first and turned on the first light and then went farther in, to grab the lie detector device that was still up here. 

Roberto went in after her and turned on the other lamps in the room for us to have a bit of light, so we wouldn't trip or bump into anything that would make a noise and Reyes to catch us. 

"So, you guys hang out in an attic?" Dani asked, looking around.  "Yeah." Sam answered, "It's one the only places Reyes can't watch us." He took a seat in a chair. 

Which was true, there were no camera's up here. 

"It's full of cool shit from back before this was even a place for mutants." Roberto chimed in and sat on the couch.

I sat down next to him and watched Illyana carry a silver briefcase, setting it down on the table next to a big chair. "Let's play a little game." 

Roberto didn't stay in his seat long since Illyana practically forced him into the hot seat and hooked him up to the lie detector. 

With Rahne manning the machine, Illyana came over to my side, and I thought she was going to take a seat next to me, but I guess she wanted it to be like an actual interrogation since she turned the lamp that was closest onto Roberto's face, making him flinch from the light that was now in his eyes. 

Roberto smirked, "Dare."

Illyana sat back in the seat next to me, with an annoyed look on her face, "You can't say dare." 

"Fine. Jesus." Roberto rolled his eyes. "Truth." 

Sam was the first one to ask him, "How many girls have you been with?" Roberto smirked, "Like I can even remember." 

The machine made some noises. "Rahne?" Illyana asked the short haired girl. She shook her head with a grin. 

"He's lying." Illyana said, playfully. Roberto looked over to her, like how'd she know that. "It's a lie detector. We know." She deadpanned. 

"Fine." Roberto said, getting caught. "Three." 

"That's not bad." Sam said, trying to stick up for his friend and the only other guy here. 

The machine whirred again. 

"No, look." Illyana said, when she heard the machine. "I told you." 

"What?" Sam asked. "Why not?" Dani asked after. Roberto looked defeated and knew that he couldn't hid it now, "I get too hot." 

Sam laughed a bit, but stopped when he noticed the solemn expressions in the room. 

"Yea, you think it's funny? Your turn, asshole." Roberto said and started taking off the equipment on this arm. Sam nodded his head, accepting his punishment. 

He sat in the chair, holding onto the piece of coal that he always carried with in. 

"What's the coal for?" Rahne asked. 

Sam tossed it in his hands, "My dad gave it to me. Right before... he passed." he shifted in the seat, feeling uncomfortable. 

"I'm sorry." Dani said. "Don't be." Sam reassured. "I belong here, so." "I'm not sure any of us belong here." Dani said. "I think I do." Sam insisted. 

"Why?" Dani asked, confused. "New girl, he already has his question." Illyana interrupted. I felt relief and shared a grateful look over to Illyana, which she grinned and winked at me. 

"It's your turn." Illyana said and shifted in her seat, crossing her legs the other way. 

She made no move to get up from her chair, which promted Dani to ask, "Aren't you going to hook me up?" 

"I don't need a polygraph to know if you're lying." Illyana said confidently, which only made Dani scowl. 

 "What's your power?" Illyana asked. Dani shrugged and said in a quiet voice, "I don't know." 

Illyana only smirked, "I thought you were going to say that. How about another question? What's with the stupid bear?" She asked gesturing to Dani's necklace. 

"Same as Sam." Dani said, gesturing to Sam who was still in the hot seat and hooked up and touched the necklace. "My dad made it for me." 

Illyana scoffed and rolled her eyes. Rahne was the one who asked why. 

"When I was little, I was... I was really afraid of the dark. Like, so afraid, it was impossible to get me to go to bed. So my dad, he told me a legend of a bear." 

Dani looked around the room as she held her necklace. "A demon bear...that lives inside of us and feeds off of our fear." 

Roberto scoffed, "That'll help a kid sleep." "Yeah, no kidding." I agreed. 

"Shut up, Berto. You too, Olivia." Rahne said, for interrupting Dani. I held up my hands in mock surrender and turned back to Dani so she could continue. 

"So, when you're born the bear is tiny and weak. The older you get.. the more afraid we become the bigger and the stronger the bear gets." Dani explains. 

She holds onto the necklace this time, with tears in her eyes continues, "My dad, he made this for me so that I would always remember how small it was when I was born. So that I would remember to never be afraid." 

It was quiet for a moment, just letting the story sink in, but Illyana decided she wanted her turn in the chair and promptly kicked Sam off of it, and had Rahne hook her up. 

Once she was settled in and hooked up, she said truth. 

"Why are you here?" Dani asked, with a bit of a vendetta in her voice. Illyana smirked, "Because I killed 18 men. One by one." She took a look around the room, "with my sword and Lockheed." 

Rahne looked a little shook up since the machine wasn't making any noise to indicating that she was lying. 

"You're lying." Dani accused. "No, she's not." Sam said, looking at the machine. 

"You don't believe me?" Illyana asked, hated being called a liar. "I'm the most powerful mutant here." She said and stormed out of the attic. 

"Well that was something else." I muttered. 

We eventually left the attic and went into our rooms to go to bed.