Disclaimer: I do not own Logan or The X-Men

The Lab Underground

"Cry baby cry
Make your mother sigh
She's old enough to know better.
So cry baby cry..."

Laura was only 13 months old when I arrived to Transigen. I got hired because one of their nurses had quit without notice and they needed a replacement -or so they said. It took me a week to realize that joining Transigen was like joining a drug cartel or a cult like Scientology: once you're in, you can't get out. Not in the literal sense (at least not for the medical staff) but the constant threats and blackmail prevented any worker from telling the world of the horrors they witnessed inside the grey building located in the southern part of Mexico City.

On the outside, Transigen looked like any of the other hospitals and labs in the area: a big concrete block surrounded by a security fence. The entrance doors were made of crystal; the lobby had shiny floors, white walls, and a smiley secretary; the rest of it was a bunch of long hallways, elevators and doors which looked all the same. But this was not the real Transigen, this was a just façade -the tip of the iceberg. The real hell lied underneath.

One only needed to get into the elevator on the right to go dozens of feet underground. Down here, there was a huge laboratory with children living in cage-like rooms, with doctors and scientists experimenting on them, and kind nurses working hard to restore their bodies and hearts.

To me, this job felt like that scene from The Green Mile where a pedophile tells one of his young victims that he'll kill her sister if she makes a noise. What was that quote? Oh, yes "He used the girls' love for each other".

When you worked for Transigen, there were three things you eventually came to discover: they were not trying to find a cure for cancer, they were using the DNA of male mutants to create children, and that the mothers of these children had been abducted and forced to carry them.

I learnt most of this from a nurse called Valeria, almost two years after my arrival. By that time, I had become an expert at getting the four children in my charge ready for the day. Little Laura -a slim, dark-haired toddler with expressive brown eyes- was the youngest of the group. When a baby was born in this place, they received a number instead of a name; but since it's much too cruel to deny a child an identity, the nurses here gave them names.

"You better start potty-training this girl before she starts the training, amiga.", Valeria warned me as I was changing Laura's diaper.

"I know, Vale. I'm working on it, but the girl's too stressed out to do it yet." I answered. "They've begun the process to boost the mutation, and the side effects are taking their toll on her. I hope they won't send her to the training rooms any time soon, I've seen the coach who trains some of the other kids and he pushes them too hard. I mean, she's only three" It must have been the tone of my voice, or the way I kissed Laura's chubby cheeks after putting her shoes on that made Valeria's face drop. She was now looking at me with a mixture of pity and concern.

"No es tu bebé, Gabriela." She pointed out, looking down at the little girl "I know it's hard, but try not to fall in love with her -or any of these children- for your own sake…and maybe for their own too. Be kind, give them all the affection they need, but don't get involved." she said "Did I ever tell you what really happened to the other nurse? The one you replaced?"

"No"

"Well, she made friends with Laura's biological mother while the poor girl was being held captive here. I mean, not friends, but she got to talk to her a few times during the pregnancy. She was sixteen years old and one of the biggest mistakes Transigen ever made." She explained as she filled a sippy cup with apple juice, the girl in my arms reaching out for it.

"You see, everyone here thinks that Pierce's Reavers just go out in the streets and kidnap random girls for the experiments; that they're all poor and even some volunteer as surrogates. That's not true at all. This is a multimillion-dollar business, they wouldn't leave to chance certain things: the mothers are just as carefully chosen as the fathers. These people stalk girls on social media, pick a few that fulfill their standards, and then follow them around for weeks, even months! They have hackers who can access their medical records and personal information, these girls are brought from all over the country. It's like…like a casting for a film."

She was now whispering and looking behind her back -I was getting a bit nervous. At least we were in the waiting room -a space with happy, colorful monsters painted on the walls where the nurses could bring the children and entertain them while waiting for the staff to come pick them up. Dr. Rice rarely entered here, but still, there was this part of me that was begging me to stop her, telling me that I didn't need to know any of this.

But she was right, I had fallen in love with these children, especially with little Laura. She was like the daughter I always prayed for, but never came… I needed to know more about her background because I knew she'd ask questions in the future, and I didn't want anyone to hurt her with cruel answers like "you're an experiment, and experiments don't have mommies and daddies". If somebody was to tell her about her parents, it was going to be me and only me.

"Ok, I get that part. But why was Laura's mother a mistake?" I asked her.

"Because Laura's mother was an upper middle-class girl. High IQ, good at sports, well-educated, but most importantly, with an exceptional medical record and DNA background. In short, Transigen's wildest dream. These people would usually pick girls from smaller towns or districts -preferably with poor backgrounds- because let's face it: we live in a society where the poorer you are, the less attention -and justice- you get. The risk was enormous, but this girl was just too tempting to let go. After all, her genes would be mixed with the DNA of the mutant that mattered the most to them."

"The Wolverine"

"Exactly. So, Paulina Ontiveros- that was her name- was abducted while walking home from high school and brought to the lab. How do I know her name? Because her family and friends made such a fuss over her disappearance that she became national news"

"¡Qué! Paulina Ontiveros!" I exclaimed "I remember that case. They never found her."

The picture of that poor teenage girl came to my mind: the straight dark hair, the curious brown eyes, the tanned skin, the eyebrows… I looked down at Laura, who was now sitting on the floor with Bobby, playing with some Legos. She was definitely that teenager's baby.

"Of course they never found her" she said, "Transigen pays insane amounts of money -among other useful things- for organized crime groups to orchestrate the kidnappings and, later on, get rid of the girls (when their purpose's been fulfilled, obviously). They make it seem like a random case of femicide: girl gets kidnaped by a pervert who rapes her, kills her and destroys the body." She whispered. "Nobody ever gets to Transigen. Tlaxcala's sex traffickers and assasins -they're the ones- are among the strongest gangs in the world -and they've got Transigen's back. This company is already doing enough illegal stuff to risk drawing unwanted attention by doing the dirty jobs themselves. Even Pierce's Reavers have been trained and advised by these criminal groups in exchange for juicy information about the US's black markets. Part of the deal, I guess"

"How do you know all this?" I asked.

"I've dated a couple guys from the Department of Epigenetics. They know everything there is to know about this place -they are the brain and heart of this business- and the young assistants are always keen to impress a girl" she said, giving me a wink.

"Ok. Pero no me has dicho qué pasó con la enfermera"

"¡Ah, sí! The nurse! Her name was Mónica and, like I told you, she got to speak to Laura's mom a few times while she was here. Unlike the rest of the girls who cried and begged, and even tried to get abortions by uselessly punching their bellies -I mean, some of them were teenagers who had never even had sex before and now they were pregnant- Paulina was quiet, calm and calculating…but above all, she loved her baby."

"¿Pero ella sabía que este era un bebé mutante?"

"Sí, sí. She knew that she was carrying a mutant baby girl. She even knew the kind of mutation her baby was going to develop -and the donor, so to speak. The staff never worries about speaking out loud in front of them since most of these girls don't speak English, and the ones who do -like Paulina- don't live long enough to tell the world what they've heard and seen."

"Ok, go on"

"Like all the other girls, she tried to escape within the first months, but when her belly was very swollen, she stopped that for fear of hurting the fetus. She realized there was no way out, and employed her last days to try and give her child someone who would ensure her survival." she said. "Mónica came crying to me once because Paulina had made her promise that she would give the baby a name, even if they insisted on giving her a number. Clever girl, she read Mónica like a pro and planted a seed of guilt, pity and responsibility in her."

"Laura…"

"Yes. That was the name she chose. It means strength or something like that -exactly what that baby would need. So, Mónica was there during the birth, a high-risk one because of the mother's age. Baby Laura came out but didn't cry, so they took her to another room in order to reanimate her. Paulina got very scared and started to ask why her baby wasn't crying; one of the bystanders ruthlessly said to her "Because it's dead". Mónica stayed with Paulina, trying to calm the poor girl, but she was screaming like crazy "¡Mi bebé! ¡Laura! ¡Por favor denme a mi bebé! ¡Déjenme verla! ¡Yo soy su mamá! ¡Yo soy su mamá!"

"Mónica was traumatized by the whole experience, including the fact that she never got to tell Paulina that her baby had survived. Guilt wouldn't let her be, so the same day they took Paulina away from Transigen, she anonymously called the police to give them information, in the hope that the girl could still be rescued. All the staff was aware that the whole country was looking for Paulina -they'd seen her on the news- but nobody dared to alert the authorities. Pierce caught Mónica in the act and... that was it. We never saw her again"

"And then I arrived" I said.

"Así es"

The door opened and Donald Pierce -a cruel young man with a robotic hand, who acted as if he owned the place- walked in with two of his hitmen. It was time for training… and it was going to be intense. That's why he was joining the children today: the bastard liked to watch the trainings as if he was a spectator at a dogfight.

"X23-16, X23-19, X23-20…" he said, reading from a list.

"Please, don't name Laura, don't name Laura, don't let him name Laura…" I began to pray.

"…and X23-23 come with me"

"No!" The scream came out without my permission. Everyone went silent and Pierce gave me a confused stare. I could feel Valeria's shock next to me as if it was a solid entity.

"Excuse me?" he said

"I mean… Señor Pierce, please, she's only three."

El pendejo looked down at the tiny girl, who was very still, holding her breath, her lips pressed tightly together -she did that sometimes when she was scared. Maybe she thought that nobody would be able to see her if she didn't move or made a sound. Bless her.

"So?" he asked me, smiling mockingly.

"She could get hurt, please"

"That's exactly what we're gonna find out, Gabriela, how much she can get hurt." He said those words as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We need to know if that fucking expensive treatment is doing its job." He held out his hand towards Laura "C'mon, honey. Today you're gonna become a big girl."

Before Laura could jump into my arms, he grabbed her by the waist and picked her up. She started to cry, scream and kick but didn't utter a word.

She'd just recently begun to speak -in Spanish, that was my fault-, she could name colors, ask for water, food and even explain something she wanted to show me or the other kids. But every time she was in the presence of Pierce, Dr. Rice, or any of the American staff, her levels of stress became so high that she got quite literally struck dumb.

The other children whose numbers were on the list followed Pierce without putting up a fight while he carried a very angry Laura down the hallway, when, suddenly, he gave a sharp cry "Fucking brat!" and shoved the girl into the arms of a Reaver, gripping his shoulder in pain. It was then that I noticed something weird: there was blood dripping from Laura's little knuckles... and feet?

What had just happened?

Three hours later, I found Laura inside her white cell, sitting in her metal crib. As soon as she saw me, she held out her arms and I picked her up. She was beyond exhausted; her eyes were red and swollen as if she'd been crying for hours; her clothes were covered in dried blood and her diaper was heavy.

They could have called me as soon as they brought her in so I could change her. Desgraciados.

Her hands were covered in dried blood too. I took off one of her socks, only to discover that her feet were in the same state. What was going on?

"Laura, what happened?"

I always called her by her name. Always, every single time. She needed to learn that she was a person, worthy of love and everything this world had to offer.

"Laura, tell me." I begged.

Silence.

"Mi amor, dime qué pasó"

She lifted her head off my shoulder and put her little finger on her forehead, showing me a tiny scar which hadn't been there before. Had they cut her?

"¿Y en tus manitas?" I asked her, pointing at her hands.

"Garras" was all she said…claws.

It must have been a thrilling moment for them. The treatment was working.