Seven months ago

Winona quickly twirled the bo staff in her hands. Once she had a firm grip on it, she swung it around and hit it against the back of Edward's legs. He lost his footing and tumbled to the ground. A loud groan escaped his lips and he tried to sit up.

Winona used one end of the staff to push him back down. "All right, I yield," Edward said, holding up his hands. Winona smiled and lifted the staff off of his chest. She stuck out a hand and he took it, allowing her to help him up. "Damn, you've gotten a lot better at this," he muttered.

"That's because I'm awesome," Winona said. "Don't go get all cocky on me, not too long ago I was the one knocking you on your ass," he said. Winona shrugged, "That was the past. Move on and accept that I'm more awesome than you." Edward sent her a playful glare as Winona put her bo staff away.

"I don't like to lie," he retorted. She punched him in the arm and he winced. His hand came up to rub the spot that she had hit. "You hit hard," he noted. The two began exiting the training room. "Sorry, Eddie. It's not my fault I got these bad boys," she said, lifting both of her arms up and flexing.

He laughed, "What am I supposed to be looking at? Your skinny twig arms?" Winona scowled and punched him again. "Ow! Stop hitting me!" He exclaimed. "Stop hitting me!" She mocked. "Immature," he said between a fake cough. "Loser," she said back in a similar manner.

The two entered the kitchen and Winona took a seat at a stool around the island. Edward walked to the fridge and began rummaging through it. He pulled out two water bottles and handed one to Winona before closing the fridge. He leaned against the counter and looked at her.

"So, I've been doing some more digging. No one seems to know where she is," Edward said after a brief moment of silence. Winona looked up at him. "How is that even possible? Somebody has to know something," she said. "I've spoken to quite a few people. The only time that they've heard the name Elaine Martin, was on the news," he said.

"So what does that mean?" Winona asked. "Most likely that they don't have the jurisdiction to know anything. The information is probably classified and if we want to learn more about what happened to Elaine, we need to speak to someone higher up," Edward said. Winona nodded slowly. "Do you know anyone that's higher up?" She asked him.

He sighed, "I know one person. But if I go asking him questions, he'll get suspicious." Winona sighed in defeat. "Do you have any good news for me?" Winona questioned. "Well, based on the information I've told you, Elaine is either in a highly secured location or she's--" Edward cut himself off and looked down.

"Or she's dead," Winona realized. "It's probably the first one," Edward said, trying to reassure her. "I'll keep digging. I'll find something," he said and she nodded. He walked around the counter and gave her shoulder a light squeeze before leaving the kitchen. Winona sighed and laid her head in her hands.

"Where the hell are you Elaine?"

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As soon as they arrived back at headquarters, Winona and Sonya brought Harry to the vault, Clarice following after. They carefully laid him on the couch. Sonya left to go get someone to help and Winona left the room to get a breath of air.

It was then that she noticed the excessive amount of people in the bank. She grew confused and maneuvered her way through the people and to where she knew Sage would be. Sure enough, she found the girl sitting at her computer. "Sage!" Winona called. Sage turned around and Winona made her way over to her.

"What's going on? Why are there so many people here?" Winona asked. "Sentinel Services. After you guys hit the convoy, they hit back. They raided any and every safe haven for mutants that they could find. Everyone here had nowhere else to go," Sage answered. Winona sighed and shook her head. "Dammit," she muttered.

She looked around the bank before looking back at Sage. "They can't all stay here, can they?" She asked. "Theoretically, no. But there's nothing that I can really do right now," Sage answered. "It isn't safe for them to all be here," Winona said, turning to face the hoards of people. Sage shrugged and turned back to her computer, typing away.

Winona sighed before making her way back to the vault where Harry was. She could hear his groans of pain as she walked toward the room. She stopped in her tracks when she almost ran into John. She stared at him with wide eyes before sighing. "You didn't die," she said at the same time he asked, "Are you okay?"

Winona nodded. "I'm fine," she assured. "Are you?" She then asked. "Yeah, I guess. What's going on?" He said. Winona sighed again, "You're gonna have to talk to Sage. She knows more about this than I do," she replied and he nodded. "You sure you're okay?" She asked him. He gave her a fake smile that she easily saw through. "I'm fine," he said.

"I don't believe you," she retorted. "I gotta go find Sage," he said, moving to walk past her. She grabbed his wrist. "Wait!" She said. He stopped and turned to her. She thought about what she was going to say and sighed. "Um, where's uh, Marcos? Did he get Lorna out? Are they safe?" She asked. "Oh uh, yeah they're fine. We got Lorna and Reed out. Marcos and Lorna were leading a Sentinel Services drone away from us. They should be back soon," he said.

She nodded and looked around. "I should get back to Harry," Winona said. "How is he?" John asked. "Not so good. I'm no doctor but it looks pretty bad," she said. He sighed softly. Winona released her hold on his wrist and took a step away from him. "Glad you're okay," she said before walking past him and toward the vault.

John watched her walk away and sighed before going to find Sage. Winona entered the vault just as Harry cried out in pain. "How's it going?" She asked, slipping off her jacket and throwing it to the side. "We're still trying to stop the bleeding," Sonya said. Winona went to stand next to where Harry laid.

"He's already lost a lot of blood. He can't lose any more," she said. "I know. But I don't know how to stop it," Sonya said. "Try to apply more pressure," Winona said. Sonya did as she was told. "Winnie, can you do something." Clarice asked. "I'm already ahead of you," she responded, her eyes turning silver.

Harry cried out in pain again as Winona concentrated on relaxing his mind and trying to make him forget about the pain that he was feeling. Harry gasped before relaxing. A sigh left his lips as he felt relief. Winona's eyes returned to their familiar brown and she sighed. "What are we gonna do?" Clarice asked.

A commotion outside halted Winona's next words. "I'll be back," she said as she exited the vault. She walked over to where a crowd was forming around a fight. She could hear Andy and Lauren crying out for their father as she stepped into view. A man with long hair, Fade, was beating up another man.

Fade then turned invisible as the other man went to punch him. "Reed!" Caitlin called. John stepped in then, grabbing the invisible man's fist before it could come in contact with Reed. "That's enough!" John exclaimed gruffly. The invisible man slowly became visible again. "What are you doing?" John asked him, letting go of his fist.

"How about protecting us?" Fade replied. Winona's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Fade turned to face the crowd. "Just so y'all know, last time I saw this son of a bitch, he was working for Sentinel Services," he said. Winona pursed her lips as the room began filling with chatter.

"Everyone, just calm down," John said to the loud crowd. "Calm down? This dude's job was locking up people like us," Fade said. "Just listen!" Lauren exclaimed. "My dad prosecuted mutants, okay? He did. When he found out about us, he stood up to Sentinel Services," the blonde concluded. "Yeah. By wearing a tracker into my bar," Fade said.

"Hey, back off my dad," Andy spoke up. "Andy," Reed called to his son. "I was doing what I had to do to get back to my family. I realized I was wrong--" Reed is cut off by Fade. "'And I'm sorry.' That-that's it right?" He said. "All right. Hey, just hear him out!" John said.

Harry's shout of pain caused Winona to run back into the vault. Harry grunted again as she entered it. "Shit," she muttered. Clarice was putting pressure on his wound. "Caitlin, I need you in here now," Clarice called out to the blonde. Sonya was nowhere in sight. A minute later, Caitlin entered the vault with Andy and Lauren.

"What happened?" She asked. "He was shot. I don't know, it won't stop bleeding," Clarice said. Caitlin then began speaking to Harry and inspecting his wound. She then looked up at Winona and Clarice. "I need clean gauze. Towels will work, too. And painkillers. Dilaudid, fentanyl, even codeine, anything you can find," Caitlin said. "Okay," the two said before quickly exiting the vault.

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Winona and Clarice were in a storage room where they found Sonya. Winona and Clarice were looking for the medicine that Caitlin said to find whilst Sonya was trying to find clean gauze. A few minutes went by and Shatter entered the room.

"Hey, there you are. Listen, some of us been talking. About that lawyer who just came in," he said to Sonya. "What about him?" Winona asked. He glanced her way before turning back to Sonya. "Might need you to do your thing," Shatter continued. Sonya's eyes quickly looked at Clarice before she looked down.

Clarice's eyes were on Sonya. "Now, if folks decide that he's not welcome, you're gonna have to make him forget this place and everyone in it," Shatter said. "Yeah. I mean, if-if that's what it comes to. If Johnny says it's okay," Sonya replied. Winona watched her through narrowed eyes.

"Well, it might be that we need to do it even if he doesn't," Shatter concluded. "Hmm," Sonya nodded. It was obvious that she just wanted him to leave. Shatter turned away and exited the room. "What was he, uh, talking about? Was he asking you to, what, erase memories?" Clarice asked the redhead.

"Uh, I manipulate people's memories. Kinda like Winona. Sometimes we just use it for security purposes," Sonya answered. "I've never manipulated anyone's memory. Try again," Winona replied. "Yeah, just their minds. Not to mention you kill them," Sonya said. Winona's eyes narrowed to slits as she glared at the girl.

The redhead looked down, ashamed of her words. "I'm sorry," Sonya murmured softly. She sounded as though she meant it so Winona's glare softened. "It's fine," she replied, going back to looking for medicine. Clarice brought the conversation back to the original topic. "I just thought you were able--" Sonya cut her off. "You know, we should really get back," she said. She walked past the two and out of the door. Winona's slightly narrowed eyes followed her retreating form.

"What a bitch," Winona mumbled. Clarice looked to be deep in thought. "What is it?" Winona asked her. "I think I might know how that so called memory got into my head," she answered. Winona looked back out of the door that Sonya just exited.

"I guess that's why they call her Dreamer."

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Ooh, another update! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for the continuous love and support. And thank you for your comments. Have a nice day!