InsaneJournal

Thread: The Cost of Secrets
Characters: Elektra and Gambit
NPCs: Other Students
Location: Stark School, then the Baxter Building
Timeline: Saturday, 9/6/14
Description: Elektra overhears a rumor that cuts it a bit too close to the truth, and seeks an outlet for her rage.
Rating: R for tone and violence.

Elektra might have actually been smiling a little as she came in from her swim, having timed her fastest laps yet, building up the core muscles that would allow her to operate in water better. She pushed into the locker room, moving to the aisle where a change of clothes waited, and started to apply the towel to her face and neck when she heard footsteps. Her conditioned response kicked in, slowing the breathing, silencing already-quiet motions.

The two girls prattled on in tones that made Elektra strain to hear, the pitch that gossip took, high yet hushed and never so quiet that she couldn't make it out. While she was above engaging in it, she always found what had to be said useful. It connected her to more of the teenagers in this strange community. On some days she could forget what she was, pretend the life behind her didn't exist, live in a house of cards built up around the pretense of a life untouched by the tragedy and terror that marred her memories.

Those, like other secrets, she held close to heart. Things no one had a right to know, or suspect, although she'd been reckless once or twice already. Trying to fit in.

They were talking about a new mutant girl with strange features. And then Elektra's name came into it, and her eyes hardened. She grew still and listened carefully. The things they were saying. Lies! Things she never did. She had never outright shown that there were some girls for which her pulse quickened. It was a wrongness, something her dead father would be ashamed to hear.

How had anyone come so close to that truth?

The spell was broken. Furiously, she wiped herself down and changed, as silent as the dead. In a moment of pure red, her hand slammed the locker door shut. When the two girls rushed over, they saw no trace but the standing water on the floor.

Elektra was already gone, her pace growing quicker as rage that had long been buried boiled to the surface, carrying with it all of those things she wished to hide. She left the school, not wanting to go to her own gym, surrounded by these students. There was another one she'd used before, less frequented, that some graduates had talked about. Elektra took to the alleys, swift and focused, and soon moved within view of the Baxter Building. Like Stark's, it had more than the typical security one would expect in housing, especially for students. But most of the people that lived here were not normal. There were heightened risks.

She kept to the shadows. Only those with the most well-trained eyes would spot the young assassin's movements. Quickly, through a narrow open window, she climbed into the building, breaking her way into the Baxter Building's gym.

A training dummy stood waiting. She swept up to it, and not even bothering to put bandages around her arms, focused her rage against it in strikes that, while loud to her, would barely be heard outside. Wetness threatened the edges of her eyes, but she fought it down with steel nerves.