Daddy!?

You are out for who knows how long, though you have some vague sense that it had been a while.

You are first aware of the ...beep...beep...beep... of a heart monitor. You are still in darkness and you could feel something heavy laying over your body. Like a big wet heavy blanket or something. You go to move only to discover you had been bound to the table.

Your memories were...hazy. More than hazy actually. Almost nonexistent. You had some sense of things...yet not really. Where the hell were you? WHO the hell were you? What the hell was happening right now?

You could tell there was someone close by as you could hear them moving around and checking on things. Just then you hear the approaching sound of two voices.

"I fuckin swear to god Peg, if you fucking messed him up...if you hurt him..." It was a stern woman's voice. You hear as they enter the room. "What the fuck!?"

A stressed voice replies, this one also female. "I told you Fiona, there was an accident. It was touch and go for a bit there but he's safe now."

"Safe? Safe!?" Fiona exclaims. "We have to get him out of this freak factory. What's that all over him?"

This Peg tries to settle the angry woman. "Fiona, calm down. I called you down here so you take him out of here when we're done. You'll take him to my place. I...I don't want Helen seeing him now before we've had a chance to warn her."

"Doctor." It was another woman, the person who had been there before these two arrived. "He's taken in all of the nutrients we've given him. I even had to bring in more."

"Very good Lucy. Hmm. Fascinating." Peg says in a whispered voice.

"Fascinating?" Fiona says. "Fuck fascinating...what the fuck did you do to him! That doesn't even look like him under there."

Your aunt sighs. "The formula did not react well in a male mutant."

"A male mutant? That's fuckin family lying there!" Fiona shouts. "Not some god damned lab rat!"

"I know, I know. Calm down Fiona. I'm just telling you what happened. The formula attacked the mutant genes...aggressively." She then adds somberly. "We almost lost him. I don't know all of the effects yet, we are still hoping we can fix this."

"Jesus Christ." Fiona says softly. You feel a hand rest atop yours, even through whatever the hell was covering you.

Lucy then says. "The formula worked...sort of. There isn't a trace of mutation in him anymore. The Bailey half of him is simply...gone. Completely eradicated."

"Gone?" Fiona asks.

Peg explains. "It was the only way we could save him. It's complicated but...using the samples we had from you and Elsie, combined with what he already had, we were were able to get a complete DNA map of your father's..."

Suddenly a loud beeping is heard from outside the room. Peg says. "That will some new data, I have to check it out. Lucy, Fiona, stay with him. He should be waking up soon." With that you hear hurried footsteps heading out of the room.

"Jesus Christ. This is fucked." Fiona sighs. "He...he looks bigger. He's taller. What the hell?"

"Shhh. I'm working." Lucy replies.

Fiona is quiet a moment, you feel her hand press harder into yours. "You there? Can you hear me?"

"Mmmm." You moan weakly.

"He's awake!"

"Calm down."

"He's awake! Get him out of there!"

"Fiona, settle yourself girl! Back up and let me do my job." Lucy snaps. You could hear her working on something beside you.

"Mmmm." You say again.

"At least uncover his face. Let him see us." Fiona demands in a voice that told Lucy that she would not be denied.

Lucy sighs in annoyance. "Fine, just back off and calm down."

There is some more rummaging around then a humming sound. The top part of the bed slowly rises to bring you to a partially seated position. There is some more movement and then you feel the part of the heavy wet covering that was covering your head get slowly lifted from you. You are immediately blinded by the lights of what seemed to be some sort of laboratory. This definitely wasn't a hospital.

Looking you in the face was a cherubic looking black woman in a lab coat. She looks you over carefully. You could see you were covered from the neck down some some sort strange spongy pads. You could also see a variety of intravenous tubes hooked up to you.

The nurse, or whatever she was, is suddenly pushed to the side. In her place was a beautiful young blonde woman. She was tall and had striking features. She looked to be in her early twenties with a lean but powerful physique. There was a powerful intensity about her that seemed to radiate off of her like heat from the sun.

When she sees your face she freezes in place. Her eyes widen in...shock? Horror? Disbelief? You must look horrible or something.

Hazel brown eyes as wide as they could go, mouth hanging open, she gasps. "Daddy!?"

Daddy? This was your daughter? Yes...yes...she was family. Fiona...Fiona was family. That sounded right.

"Fi...ona." You croak in your deep voice. "Daugh...ter."

She is quiet for a time as she takes you in. You weren't sure what was happening in that mind of hers, but something definitely was. Her face goes totally blank for a few tense seconds...then abruptly lights up with a huge happy smile. "DADDY! It's you! It's really you!"

"Fi...ona...my girl." You say in a faltering voice.

Lucy shoves your daughter back away from you. "Damn it kid, back off!" The stout black woman turns back your way blocking your view of the room and shakes here head with exasperation. "Daddy? Jesus, this crazy family is too much." She mutters under her breath, then she says back over her shoulder. "We're going to fix him. We'll try anyways."

Lucy continues to look you over, checking your eyes and mouth and ears. You just barely make out the sound of metal briefly scraping across metal.

"You...won't...take my Daddy away." You hear Fiona say in soft high voice. "I...won't let you."

"Fiona, quiet! Let me work." Lucy gripes without looking away from you.

"Who...are you?" You ask the woman. "Where...where am I?"

"I'm Lucy. I am your Aun..."

SCHUCK!

Her wide round eyes suddenly bulge and she straightens up and spasms in place. Staring straight ahead she lets out a wet gurgling sound and a dribble of blood seeps from her lips! You watch in horror as a hand comes up from behind her to grab the woman's hair. Another hand reaches around and swift and easy as anything a glinting scalpel is pulled across Lucy's throat giving her an unnatural crimson grin. You are hit with the initial spray of blood. Her body drops to the ground. Your daughter's wild eyed face replaces that of the surely dead black woman.

Blood on her hands and a smile on her face your daughter beams. "Daddy!"

She drops the scalpel and it tings onto the floor at her feet.

"Fi...ona!?" You gasp with your dry voice.

"Don't worry Daddy. I'll get you out of here. Don't you worry about anything. Baby girl's got you now." She steps over the woman she'd just murdered and strokes your face. She takes in a sharp breath as her fingers make contact with your flesh. She adored you, she treasured you, you could see that in her expression. She kisses you tenderly then whispers. "I'll be right back."

She giggles with delight then turns and rushes from the room, in the direction you had heard the woman named Peg go.

You sit there, still strapped to your bed, trying to make sense of what was happening.