Bellwether

>
>
> Bellwether Chapter Twenty Nine
>
> Disclaimers Apply
>
> A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… *random glomp * InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting. J ProPhile: working on it… Morgan: *stalkhug * Readers/Reviewers: Thank you for reading and reviewing as you can, those of you who are still doing it lol.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Wanda vented a harsh breath through tightly clenched teeth. Lucas was wailing to beat the band and Tabby looked to be on the verge of that herself. Marrow did not move, in fact she did not show any sign of being aware of Tabby and Lucas at all. “Marrow…”
>
> “You are failing to understand the gravity of the situation,” the Morlock woman said sternly, for all the world like a teacher scolding a student. “People will die. MY people will die. They’ve already started!” Swiftly, Marrow rose to her feet and began pacing, driving Tabby further back into the room, the blonde teenager clutching her son like a life line, the toddler’s cries punctuating the predawn hours with an ear splitting shrillness that would, no doubt, earn them some nasty looks and notes from their neighbors the next day. “Essex…”
>
> “Essex?” Tabby spoke for the first time in over an hour, shifting Lucas to her other hip. He was really getting too heavy to carry all of the time, she thought with a twinge of guilt. But he was starting to cause her back aches when she lugged him from place to place and he was already outgrowing his stroller. She shoved those thoughts aside and focused on Marrow’s angular features, more than a bit of anger and apprehension forcing her to be on the offensive around the Morlock. Years of ingrained training made it impossible for her to be polite to the other woman. “What the Hell do you know about Essex? Wanda might be soft hearted enough to let you in our home but I’m not. Get the fuck out before I throw you out!” Her words were punctuated by the sudden, dull thud of something impacting the wall by her head. Marrow had shifted position but only barely, her expression shifting to something akin to grim satisfaction. A bone knife protruded from the wall, reverberating. “Bitch.”
>
> Marrow shrugged and returned her attention to Wanda, who immediately snapped. “I don’t give a fuck what your problem is! Don’t fucking threaten my family!” She brought up her hand in a threat, ready.
>
> “My apologies,” Marrow gritted out. “Essex is working to destroy the Morlocks. We do not fit his idea of what should exist. We are beneath human for him…” she trailed off, her eyes lighting on Lucas. “We lack perfection.”
>
> Tabby forced herself not to tighten her grip on her son. He was finally calming down an she dreaded another explosion of sorrow from the small child. “I know Essex,” she said sharply. “He started coming around the Boardinghouse a few years ago, when Magneto gave a damn about us. The two of ‘em would show up and hole away with Pietro for a while and sometimes talk to Lance. Pretty much ignored me…” She jostled her son, making him hiccough and coo intermittently.
>
> Marrow tilted her chin in assent. “Two dozen adolescents, a dozen or more adults are dead. Poisoned by their own bodies…” her eyes closed unwillingly, grief and anger spasming in her belly. She had found them, she had climbed down the old metal ladder to the area used for the medical ward in the tunnels. She had found them all, laying in the cots, smelling of chemicals and blood. The alarm was raised by Thornn, her shriek ringing through the tunnel itself, her eyes fixed only on the bodies, not realizing that Marrow stood, still as death itself, beside the row of child-sized cots lining the back wall. “He’s purging the stock,” she snarled.
>
> Wanda moved towards her, drawing her attention away from Tabby. “What do you want me to do?”
>
> “Wanda!”
>
> “No, Tabby. Tell me, Marrow. What do you want me to do?”
>
> Marrow stayed silent for a long moment, staring intently at Tabby. “Bring her with you. Leave the kid with someone else. You can both help me stop this.”
>
> “No.” Tabby and Wanda answered as one, both moving to block Lucas from Marrow’s view. “I’m not bringing them into this,” Wanda added. “Me alone. I’ll help you in any way I can.”
>
> The Morlock tapped her foot idly on the carpeted floor, then sighed and shook her head. “Both of you will help. You know Essex, you know Magneto. You will help me bring him down.”