the_lioness | (no subject)

(no subject)

Things have been quiet at home.

Too quiet.

More and more, Alanna drifts into Milliways to deal with her uneasy restlessness away from the people who all too easily recognize the mounting symptoms.

Today she's offered to pick up an extra shift, starting in a few hours. Until then she's decided to stay outside, visiting the stables and then doing sword drills in the fresh air, but she's clearly distracted.

Sometimes she really misses the way Liam used to bark at her during their training sessions.

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"Alanna," X says, paused several feet away from the other woman. She's coming in from the firing range.

Practice is useful.

And her hair is rather unexpectedly short.

"You are okay?"

Without pausing, Alanna shifts easily into her next move, slicing the air with her sword. Her eyes stay on a tree in the middle distance.

X's voice is all the identification she needs.

"Yes," she says at last, finishing even as she finally looks over. And blinks. "I like it."

X looks startled.

And perplexed.

"I do not understand."

She does not think much about her hair.

Alanna tilts her head and points at X with her sword.

"Your hair. It's short."

Like hers would be, if she'd bothered to have it trimmed recently.

Well.

Maybe a bit shorter.

"Oh. Yes."

Beat.

"I got burned."

"By what?"

It's sharp and concerned. Something or someone must have done this. X isn't the sort to hold a candle improperly.

Or even need a candle, really.

Alanna's eyes snap back to X, as she reins in her thoughts.

"Are you okay?" she asks, though she already knows the answer.

"Elixir dropped me. There was a vat of molten metal. I burned when I hit the rim."

Beat.

"I am okay now."

And her hair will grow back! Quickly.

There's a wince when X says 'molten metal.' No matter how fast she heals, a burn like that still had to hurt.

"Did this Elixir person drop you on purpose?" Alanna growls.

"No. He passed out."

X pauses.

"I contracted the Legacy virus. He was helping me heal."

Alanna nods, stiffly.

"I understand how that might happen then," she admits. Especially if Elixir is even half as stubborn as she is. "What's the Legacy virus?"

"It is a virus designed to kill mutants. At home."

Beat.

"It is why Elixir's help was required."

But it won't be again. Just like with the extradimensional spider venom.

It's a good thing she didn't say that aloud. One mention of 'extradimensional spider venom' and Alanna's brain might decide to shut down for the rest of their conversation.

"Okay," she says, frowning. "Well, I'm glad the virus didn't succeed. I'd miss you."

"I do not want to die," X agrees.

Which may be her way of saying 'I would miss you, too'.

"But I am okay now. And it will not be a problem again."

"Good."

A bird calls out, somewhere nearby. Alanna blinks.

"Do you think he did it?"

Meaning Sylar.

"The -- "

Oh.

"No," X says, very simply.

"He takes people's powers. In his world. And I do not think he can do it after they are dead."

Beat.

"It is why I asked if he could fly. West did that."

Alanna sighs.

"I thought as much." Beat. "Would you think less of me if I said I'm beginning to find this crime highly irritating?"

"No," X says.

She also sounds very, very irritated.

"I have narrowed down the list of suspects. To four."

If that helps.

"Oh?"

It's hopeful.

"Which four?"

Maybe they should just arrest all of them.

"Cameron, Ramon, Puss in Boots, and the short, angry man."

Beat.

"I do not think the last two are very likely. And Ramon likes knives better. And guns."

"You think it's Cameron," Alanna concludes. "Why?"

Why couldn't it have been Ramon? Arresting him would be entertaining.

"She returned to the scene of the crime. At night."

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"And her footprints were present the day of the murder."

Along with Harth's, the Loompas, the unicorns, Cerberus', and Sylar's.

Among others.

"And she does not understand metaphor."

Alanna nods along, finding each response reasonable, until she mentally trips over the last.

"Metaphor?"

Beat.

"Is that another mutant?"

Her eye twitches slightly, as if she quickly realizes she would rather not have asked that aloud.

"No," X says.

It is a stupid superhero name. Er.

"It is what West said before he died. Or thought. That it was a metaphor."

She does an uncanny imitation of West's speech patterns at that last -- X did meet him more than once, after all.

Guesswork will take a girl a long way, under appropriate circumstances.

"That was his last thought? Truly?"

What an ass.

Wait...

"How do you know?"

"I found his head. In the lost and found."

Few people who are not X could deliver that with a straight face, let alone such a straightforward tone.

"And Ned reanimated him so Tom could read his mind."

"...just his head?"

That's unnerving.

"Who's Ned?"

This is insane, even for Milliways.

"Yes," X says. "It was missing before. I put it in the infirmary with the body."

X pauses for a moment, considering.

Then --

"I have not met Ned before. You can ask Tom about him."

It is probably easier than making X explain by proxy. She is not very good at it.

"I will," Alanna promises; bringing people back to life is something she doesn't like to think about, but there are usually consequences. For instance: what did they do after they got the information they needed?

Several moments later, she holds up a finger. "Indulge me here -- If reading West's mind revealed that to be what he said or thought before he died, how does knowing that Cameron doesn't understand metaphor lead you to conclude she's the killer?"

Not that she doubts X's instincts. Alanna is simply looking for some thread of sense in this mess.

"Did they ask West to think about who killed him?" she has to wonder.

"They had a minute to ask questions and read the answers. That is what Tom said."

X shrugs, one-shouldered and quick.

"No one else would have been confused. And I do not think any of them had a reason to kill him."

He was just annoying.

Alanna sniffs and runs her fingers through her hair, pushing it back from her forehead.

"Okay. We know the killer was confused," she says, letting that missing piece slide into place. "Then I agree. Cameron."

"Okay."

Beat.

"I will look for her. But I do not know what the sentence should be."

"Nor do I," admits Alanna, ruefully. "This is a new situation. I'm interested to hear what she has to say for herself and her actions."

Her lip curls in an annoyed snarl.

"We can bring it to the rest of Security."

"Okay," X repeats, nodding once.

"I will tell you when I find her. And Belar."

And --

She is not sure who else needs to know immediately.

At that, Alanna smiles at X with some relief.

"Maybe this will be the end of it and things can get back to normal." Beat. "As normal as possible, anyway."

And maybe her head won't be spinning quite as much as she finishes her sword practice.

Maybe.

But given that this is Milliways --

Probably neither of them should count on it.

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