No Fate

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Chapter 6



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Jubilee was stunned. She hadn't gotten far into her questioning when the girl had gotten up, walked out to the van, and come back with a binder that she subsequently dropped in her lap. It was simultaneously more information than she could readily process and a source of more questions than answers. The binder labeled her "HYDRA Bio-weapons Project X-23", and it had orders in it for some sort of "field trial" and lots of medical and technical specifications on the girl, including some pretty revealing full-body x-rays and schematic drawings. It was nothing short of incredible... the girl was not just a cyborg, but a clone of another mutant and thus a mutant herself. With a skeleton made of some sort of super-alloy and those blades for weapons, not just in her hands, but a set in her feet as well. Jubilee hadn't seen those yet, but the specs said they were there. And that they could cut through solid steel. That combined with the way they described her ability to take punishment and heal from almost any injury, and she really was the perfect assassin the girl said she was. But who in the hell were they? It was pretty obvious she must have escaped during that "field trial", but the question was, were they still after her or did they think she was dead? Was she unique and thus valuable enough for them to recover, or would they just make more and write her off as a loss? And what kind of forces did they have to send after her if they did try to get her back, and did they have a way to find them? Suddenly, a bunch of inept wannabe mutant hunters seemed like low priority on their list of potential problems.



The girl didn't seem to know much about them that was useful, though, as she only knew them from the inside and didn't have much of a basis for comparison. Mostly she just shrugged and pointed at the book in response to Jubilee's questioning. The girl... yeah, "the girl", that was all she had to call her. Apparently, beyond the project designation number they'd never bothered to give her a name. So instead of annoying the girl and frustrating herself with a line of questioning that was going nowhere fast, she decided to change the subject to something that could be a little more productive.



"What do you think of the name Sarah?"



The girl just looked at her with a skeptical, questioning gaze as if wondering what the hell that had to do with anything. So she explained.



"You're not with those Hydra idiots anymore, you're out in the world. People out here have names, and you're not gonna be able to pass for normal unless you have one too. So, how about Sarah? It kinda fits you."



The girl looked at her skeptically. "You can do that? Just pick a name and it's yours?"



Jubilee shrugged. "You can do anything you want to."



The girl frowned. "Doesn't make it true."



Jubilee shook her head. "It does too. Didn't you see the movie? There is no fate but what we make, remember? You are who you decide you are. If you decide you're 'Sarah Johnson' instead of 'Bio-weapons Project X-23', who the hell has any business arguing with you?"



The girl simply blinked, absorbing this, and then spoke up again. "I can pick anything I want?"



Jubilee nodded and shrugged. "Pretty much, yeah."



The girl considered a moment, and then looked determined as if she'd come to a decision. "I don't want to be Sarah, then."



Jubilee was both surprised and curious, though a little disappointed her suggestion had been rejected. "Oh? Is that so?"



Neither her voice nor her eyes wavered, sure of her reply. "Yes." she paused, then clarified. "I want to be Reese."





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