The Collector: Chapter 4

Laura couldn't quite find the energy to open her eyes when she heard sound for the first time in ages. She heard the door open and close. She heard footsteps, and then she heard the portal in the side of the capsule open.

Then she smelled it: Food. Her eyelids fluttered and finally slid open. Two platters were placed inside. One was heaping with fresh fruit and breads, and the other was filled with roast beef, potatoes, and steamed vegetables. With strength she couldn't have summoned for any other reason, she dragged herself and then fell on the plate of beef and ate ravenously with her hands. Unfortunately, the food was far too rich for her to handle, and it wasn't long before it came back up. Still, she felt strengthened. After her body calmed from being sick, she pushed herself into a sitting position against the glass. She looked down at the food, wanting to eat all of it again, but she settled for a piece of plain bread and ate it very slowly. She sipped at the large glass of water that had been on the tray as well. She paced herself, giving herself long periods of time between bites and between different types of food. She finished all of the fruit and bread first, watching with fascination as her skeletal hands, arms, and legs fleshed back out. Her body healed quickly, rebuilding the muscle that had withered away while she starved. It was painful, but at least it was fast, even if watching it made her feel as if she were starring in some sort of Sci-Fi movie.

When she flexed her fingers, she was just grateful that the intense, aching pain was gone with each movement. She'd finished off the pitcher of water, and went below to refill it as well as to get towels to clean up the mess she had made. She had to come back up into the capsule a few times during the process to keep the timed flooding mechanism from triggering, but she also took the time to wash herself and change into the spare body suit that she'd kept below. When she finally settled back into a sitting position, she eyed the other plate of rich food, only a small portion of it eaten. She'd wait a while longer for her stomach to adjust and to digest what she'd already eaten. She closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of being not-hungry and not-in-pain. It was bliss, and gradually, her mind began to clear and to function again.

She noticed that a flurry of activity had been going on while she'd eaten. The room was being cleaned by Christoph's staff, dust flying everywhere. The broken chair had been removed, and she was sad to see an empty space where they had rested. Now she'd have no verification that Remy (was it Remy?) had ever been there. She closed her eyes and sighed before drifting off to sleep.

When she woke again, she was hungry, and she was alone. What awoke her was possibly one of the most annoying sounds in the world: a fly buzzing. She turned her head slowly until her cheek pressed against the glass of the capsule and came eye-to-eye with the annoying insect. Somehow, it'd become trapped between the two panes of glass. She frowned her annoyance as it began buzzing around again. She glanced around her to distract herself. At least when they had cleaned, they'd left the plate of beef and vegetables. She tried her best to ignore the incessant buzzing as she lifted the platter of food, now cold, and ate it methodically, not taking pleasure in it, but grateful for the sustenance. Her gaze followed the fly as it buzzed around the perimeter of the glass, bouncing between the two panes. She cursed her super-sensory abilities, knowing with the thick glass that if she'd had normal hearing, she'd never hear the blasted thing.

She stacked the empty plates near the slot used by the serving staff and frowned as her brain began to work. How was the fly even alive? Hadn't Christoph said the outer pane of glass was electrified?

She was quickly distracted, however, when the doors open again, and Christoph waddled in. Almost as if realizing danger, the fly rested against one pane of glass, remaining still when the man stopped in front of the capsule.

"Hello, my lovely treasure," The Collector said jovially, as if he hadn't just starved her for who knew how many days, "You are looking quite fetching today, I must tell you." With a gesture toward the plates, he continued, "It looks as though you've enjoyed your dinner. You can expect to have more of that as long as you behave yourself. You see," he lowered his voice conspiratorially, "It's all finally paid off! I've done it!" He was grinning widely and even clapped his hands. As usual, Laura said nothing, only stared at him.

"Well," he continued, unperturbed. "I just wanted to make sure that you'd eaten and recovered. It's truly amazing how wonderful you look. You were basically a skeleton just yesterday. It was so uninteresting and unattractive, you know. We must work on keeping you from becoming that ghastly again. In the very near future, I'll be having several more guests, so we want you to be as radiant as possible!" He smiled widely, showing the golden teeth as well as the chipped and rotting ones. "Yes. Yes. Yes. It's all working out finally."

Still mumbling to himself about his success and luck without explaining more, he turned and left the room. Laura stared at the door for a long time after he left, trying to ignore the fly when it began to buzz again. It would almost be worth starving again just to foil his plan of showing her off. Then, still not having the energy to worry about it, she lay down on the floor and slept again.

When Laura woke again, she was in complete darkness. She leaped to her feet, the adamantium blades sliding out of her hands and feet. In all the time she had been there, the lights had never even flickered, but now she was surrounded by complete darkness. The only sound she could hear was the fly buzzing between the two panes of glass. She stood motionless, all of her senses on high alert. There was a large thump, and the lights came back on, causing her to blink against the unexpected brightness. She looked around her. Nothing had changed. She waited, still in a defensive stance and slowly began to count in her head.

1…2…3….she continued…597…598…599…600. After ten minutes of nothing, she lowered her guard and sat back down on the floor of the capsule. She turned her head to the side a bit and watched the fly crawl-buzz along the capsule wall to her right. She lifted one hand to press her finger to the glass directly where it was. The fly stilled and she remained motionless as she waited for it to react.

When the door behind her burst open, Laura was caught completely by surprise and quickly rolled to her feet to face the door. When she saw who it was, she fell to her knees because her legs simply refused to hold her any more. It was Remy. Of that she was certain. His hair was still blonde and he still had the ridiculous beard, but she could see his black eyes with the red pupil, and he wore his signature tan trench coat. She could say nothing as he moved toward her quickly with the step-hop stride that favored his right leg. He was moving quickly. He had come for her. She fell forward onto her hands, not able to support her body but also unable to tear her gaze away from him. He was talking to her. She could see his mouth moving, but her brain wasn't processing anything he was saying to her. What could he be saying? She wondered to herself as she watched him come closer to the capsule and press his hands to the outside pane of glass.

He fisted his hand and beat against it, and then motioned to her to move away. Wait, what was he saying. She shook her head hard to try to bring her brain back into focus.

"…blast it. I need you to cover your head at least, and get back! Put your head down, Laura." Dumbly, she did as she was told, still peeking out from under her arm, afraid to even blink. If she stopped looking at him, he'd surely disappear. Maybe she was still starving. Maybe the food had been a dream, too. Maybe she was going to wake up still lying still, starving, and unable to move.

She was brought back to focus when her ears rang with the sound of broken glass. The outer pane had shattered, the pieces of flying glass embedding and causing cracks to spiral out from spots in the inner pane, but it stood firm, undamaged besides the few cracks. Remy was gone.

She rose to her feet again, her mouth opening to emit a cracking, strangled sound. It was the first sounds she'd made since she'd been taken, and it hurt her throat, but she repeated the sound in desperation. She pounded her hands against the glass, keening. No. No. No. Where was he? She was relieved when she heard him. He had been behind something. Yes, that made sense. He wouldn't have wanted to get hit by the glass either. He was talking to her again. She should be paying attention.

"…hurt you. If it shatters like that again, one of the larger pieces could take off your head. I want to keep trying, but it's not worth it. I can go back to the control room to see if there's a switch. I will come back, do you understand?"

She shook her head frantically. No. He couldn't leave. When he placed his hand on the cracked glass and then turned to walk away, She began hitting and kicking the glass as hard as she could until he turned back. Then, she opened the compartment door and dropped back down, pulling it closed above her.

Something was wrong. She landed in water that was knee-deep. There was a leak somewhere, perhaps from the earlier explosion? She waited, and when she began to get anxious, she counted again while she chewed on a piece of hair that was long enough to brush the tops of her breasts.

1…2…3….378…379…380…381…382…383…38—

Light flooded down on her, and she was lifted by a pair of strong arms out of the hole. She reached her hands up to cradle his face, to touch the bristly beard that covered the lower half. She made another strangled sound that was lost in his neck when he pulled her tight against him in a crushing hug. She took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of tobacco and the expensive French soap he always used. Remy. She was safe.

Two months later

Laura lay on a padded lounge chair, enjoying the feeling of the sun warming her skin and the breeze flirting with the hem of the sundress she wore. A large floppy hat shaded her face from the brightness, and she had her eyes closed as she enjoyed the sensations. She would never take them for granted again.

She heard Remy open the sliding glass door and pause before closing it. From what she could hear, he was carrying something, and he'd had to set it down to close the door with both hands. His balance would never be what it was. She heard him set a tray down on the small table beside her, and she smiled to let him know she was awake, though she didn't open her eyes yet.

He settled in the chair next to her, carefully stretching his legs out in front of him and letting out a sigh of contentment once he was settled. They sat in companionable silence for a while, and the smile remained very naturally on Laura's lips.

They were at Remy's cabin in the mountains of France. He'd purchased it several years ago, and they had often come to it to get away or recover from their more strenuous jobs. Laura appreciated the beauty and privacy it provided, though she cherished every moment Remy spent with her. He seemed to realize on some level that she didn't want to be alone, so he stuck around, rarely leaving her side.

She had been a mess when they'd first arrived. Laura had been terrified to have him out of her sight for even a moment, and she'd been terrified of going to sleep. She had been sure that if she did, she'd wake back up in the capsule. Things were better now, months later, and she knew she would continue to improve and get back to being at least somewhat close to who she had been before.

The peace, if she was honest with herself, would be short-lived. While Remy didn't talk to her about it, she had heard him talking on the phone with someone else. She'd heard that the Collector was on the rampage and was looking for her. She couldn't hide here in the mountains forever. The thought made her feel cold, so she turned to Remy, who seemed to have fallen into a light sleep. She turned her gaze to the tray he'd brought. There were two glasses of lemonade as well as a letter addressed to her. She recognized the messy scrawl as Logan's hand writing. Maybe he had missed her after all. Her lips curving slightly, she picked up the envelope and opened it.

The smile left her face once she hit the second paragraph. Yes, he started the letter with pleasantries and commented on the fact that he hadn't heard from her for several months. At least he'd made some attempt at connecting with her. She sighed after reading the first sentence of the second paragraph: "Jubilee showed up a few weeks ago." She rested the letter in her lap and stared out at the sparkling water of the pool, unable to find the will to keep reading.

Jubilee was certainly his kryptonite. She figured she had two options: she could read the rest of the letter or she could crumble it into a ball and toss it away. She stared moodily at the pool for a while as she balled the paper up in her fist. Finally, she sighed and flattened it out again and began to read.

It turned out Logan was looking for a Light Bender, one of the talismans that could allow a vampire to walk around in the sun without being harmed. She knew where one was. In fact, she'd stared at it for almost a year from her glass cage. Laura pressed her lips together and lay her head back against the lounger, her brain working fast. She was startled when a match flared beside her. She glanced at Remy, who was lighting a cigarette as he was watched her. She stared back at him for a long moment, noting the deep lines in his face and how tired his eyes looked to her. He was aging, even if she wasn't. She glanced back down at the paper. If the Collector came knocking, she wasn't sure if they could handle it on their own. On one hand, she would love the opportunity to torture the little toad, but on the other, just picturing his face made her muscles freeze up and her mind shut down. She could easily handle him if she wasn't terrified at the thought of ever facing him again, but she didn't want to put Remy's life on the line when she felt so unsure of herself.

She looked down at the paper again. So Logan wanted a light bender for Jubilee, did he? She set her lips in a grim smile. She just so happened to know where one was, so she could point him in the right direction if he did just a little tiny favor for her. She handed the paper to Remy so that he could read it. When he looked back up at her in question, she said, "I think Logan just might be the answer to our current situation."

Remy raised an eyebrow, and took another drag off of his cigarette as he waited for her to continue. Laura looked away from him out over the pool and at the trees in the distance. Finally, she explained, "I'll tell him where to find a light bender as long as he takes out the man who owns it."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! The rest of the story will merge with "Evading Darkness" which has to this point focused more on Jubilee and Logan's relationship, but will now include all four characters.