In the Blink of an eye

Chapter 7: Argument

John's POV:
I'm rushing back to headquarters. I just left the warehouse Clarice was at, but when I got there Erg said Clarice left with me 2 days ago. I denied this and their telepath confirmed it, and we both knew what that meant, Reeva has Clarice. I ran back to my car and now I'm 2 minutes away from headquarters.
Mutant Underground Headquarters
I arrive and see Marcos waiting outside, "Where's Clarice?" He asks confused, "Reeva has her." I rush past him and go up to our police scanners and police radios. I keep tuning them, "They have her don't they?" I hear a young feminine voice, "Yes, they do, Lauren." I hear a sigh from behind me, "I did learn something new I can do at least." I turn around and watch as she made a shield and made it spin very quickly and jerks her arm in the direction of a table sending the shield and it cut clean through a table in the hallway. "That can be useful." I hear Marcos say in the hallway. "John, we'll get her back you need to rest. You just drove 3 hours to get back while avoiding Police, Purifiers, and Sentinel Services." Sonya says behind me while grabbing my arm to turn me around. "How's the gunshot healing?" I ask her, Sonya lifts her shirt to show bandages and medical tape covering stitches and holding gauze in place, "Better, Caitlin has been checking on it daily and gave me pain medicine if I need it." I nod. Sonya and I go to our room.
Inner Circle
Lorna's POV:
Esme comes in and tells me what happened in Clarice's room. "I can't believe her! Reeva wants to manipulate this 16 year old girl into doing her bidding! We need to get her out of here!" I whisper- yell and Esme nods in agreement and we agree to go visit Clarice in her room. On our way there we run into Max, "What are you two ladies doing up this late?" I respond immediately, "Reeva wants us to check on Clarice." Max looks skeptical, "Oh elf girl, yeah go ahead." Max walks away and Esme became a bit angry but calms herself. I raise an eyebrow and have a smirk. Esme rolls her eyes and speaks, "Here." Esme shows me what her and her sisters saw. I'm mortified and disgusted by the actions of these people. Esme and I make it to her room and open it. Clarice is thrashing in her sleep, almost falling out of the bed. I go over and sit on the bed Clarice was on, and I put my back against the wall. I adjust Clarice noting how light she is, towards me and I hold her up in my arms having her head resting on my chest, my hand on the side of her head. After a while, Clarice settles and I gently lay her back down and put a blanket over her, "I can't believe, Reeva. Reeva wants to manipulate a 16 year old girl?! Clarice was living her life and out of this war then Reeva came and pulled her back in!" I whisper/ yell, "Lorna, I hate it as much as you do, but Reeva can shut us down in a split second, not giving us a chance to escape. We need to help her escape during this heist we're doing. That gives her the chance to open a portal and run." I nod in agreement, as I look over at Clarice, "We need to leave before we're caught." I state. Esme and I leave the room closing the door behind us. I get back to my room, Dawn is asleep in her crib as I climb in my bed and fall asleep after pondering an escape plan.
The next morning
Clarice's POV:
I wake up at 6:30am after being plagued with nightmares all night. The training session wasn't for another 2 hours. I get up and go to the main area as quietly as I can, I lift up the blinds and look around outside. I memorize the locations and especially the area nearest to the elevator, "What you doing elf." I turn around to see Max, "Looking around...." Max comes closer to me and put his hands on the wall behind me and has his face very close to mine. I try to move but he keeps me in place, "Where do you think your going?" I hear footsteps and watch as Lorna comes around the corner, "MAX!" Lorna opens her hand and Max's bracelet and necklace, drags him away from me while choking him. I take the opportunity and run by him and behind Lorna, "You stay away from her you got it?" Lorna says very menacingly. Reeva come around the corner and used her powers to make Lorna lose concentration. Max drops to the floor as Lorna groans. I grab my head as well, Reeva stops, "If you want us to win the war you have to get along!" Lorna furrows her brow, "Win this war? You will do anything to win this war won't you? Including kidnapping innocent mutants," Lorna gestures to me, "pushing people to their limits to where they almost die?! Who knows how many innocent humans you killed, just so you can win this war!" Lorna was yelling at this point. I duck behind her, "Who are you going to sacrifice next?! Esme? Phoebe? Sophie? Me? Rebecca? Andy? Clarice? Dawn? Who else are you going to dispose of to WIN THIS WAR!?" Reeva looks astonished that Lorna snapped at her. I feel Max eyeing me, Rebecca was looking at me menacingly, and Andy was looking at me with concern, "Lorna, I would like to speak to you alone." Lorna glares, "Well, you can wait." Lorna grabs one of my hands and leads me away from the situation. We arrive at Lorna's room where Dawn was in a play pen, "I'll be back stay in here. Lock the door once I leave." With that Lorna leaves, I lock the door and sit down in a chair. I watch Dawn for a while play with her toys. I wish that everyone can be as happy, Dawn looks up at me and grabs the side of the baby play pen walls and pulls herself up. Dawn throws a toy over the wall and looks at it. I get up and pick it up, and offer it to Dawn. Dawn looks up at me and back at the toy she grabs the toy and then looks at me again. I went to sit down next to the pen causing my face to get closer to the side, Dawn reaches over and touches my marking, I pause and look at her. I sit down next to the play pen as Dawn reaches for me. I open the gate to the play pen, and Dawn makes her way over to me. Dawn crawls into my lap and touches my marking, and started playing with my hair. Lorna unlocks the door using her powers and walks in, "I see you've made a new friend." I look up at her and push some hair behind my ear, "You usually hide your ears." I shrug and let Dawn continue playing with my hair. I hear the door open and saw Max standing there Lorna stood in front of him and argues with him in a whisper. I look back down at Dawn and she lays her head on my chest. I hesitate but adjust her and stand up. I turn my head towards Lorna and I move my hair out of the way. Dawn has now laid her head on my shoulder. I hold Dawn and look out the window until I hear my name, "Clarice, it's time to train." I nod and put Dawn down in her play pen. I go to my room and changed. I start to head down to the training area.