Wait, I get Visiting Hours?

[Flux]

Flux, the mutant terrorist, laid on his plastic bed with a copy of The Once and Future King spread open on his chest. If he looked down past his knees he'd see the enormous, heavy plastic door of his moderately-sized plastic cell that was meant to keep anyone from abusing him--or freeing him. To his left, on the opposite wall in the far corner, was the plastic shower that he used to clean himself, and the plastic toilet he used to eliminate his body's waste. The room was otherwise barren, and he found himself sighing at his reflection on the wall mere inches from his face.

He'd been knocked out for a haircut and a shave; no matter how they tried, apparently nobody could come up with a plastic razor or scissors that would let him shave his own face or be awake to hassle the prison's barber. His orange prison uniform stood out harshly on the surface; the only color he'd seen in a long time, aside from the gunmetal gray of the guards' plastic rifles and the sterile whiteness of their Jozua Clinic uniforms. There was the red he'd seen down Below, where he'd been forced to kill Rosanna Hughes, a mutant with uncontrollable powers in a gambit set up by the Clinic's director, Klaus Heidegger. It'd been meant to break his spirit, he supposed, but it'd only hardened his resolve against the man and his goals. He sat up restlessly, allowing the book to fall and shut itself in his lap, and pulled his shirt off partway, letting it stay on his arms as he stared hard at the black stenciled serial number on the back.

JFMP0001T5, it read. Jericho Federal Mutant Prison, Inmate 0001, Threat Level 5, was what it stood for. He was proud of it, in a strange way, but it also made him angry and bitter. He should be outside, furthering the Brotherhood's dream of mutant supremacy, but instead, he was here. They'd finally quit harrassing him about the Brotherhood and their movements. It'd been so long since his incarceration that any knowledge he had was long outdated. So now he was useless, and received no visitors aside from the people sent to do his routine medical check-ups and the psychiatrist who tried in vain to reform him. He heard the sound of approaching people faintly through his reverie and ignored it. It was time to change the guard again, and he already knew all their faces and names and shifts. No sense in looking up to see Terrence Oliver tromping up the walkway with Mack Reed. He didn't move an inch.

[Banner Laverick]

It had taken a lot to get here - not just the cross country flight, the moving her entire life to the opposite coast to be closer to him. Would he even remember her? Were they even still dating? It had been over a year since they'd last had contact...She had written letters, but never received a reply.

Banner Laverick, the mutant formerly known as American Girl, had been stripped of anything metal, patted down and read the procedures for entering the Jericho Federal Mutant Prison. Luckily a test for the X-gene was considered an invasion of privacy for visitors...even though she was pretty sure she was the only one who'd ever came here as one.

Now the red haired nineteen year old was walking quietly behind two armed guards, down sterile white walled hallways towards Felixs' cell. She ran over what she wanted to say to him in her head, going over a million different scenarios, each one more worrisome than the last. The guards stopped, the taller of the pair unlocking the cell via a complex series of key strokes on the panel outside it. He pushed the door open.

"You got a visitor, JFMP0001T5."

This was it. Banner stepped inside, hands folded in front of her. She brushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and straightened her outfit. "Hello Felix."

[Flux]

Flux blinked at his shirt. They never called him by his serial number, even though they were supposed to. It was always an insult, or a slur, with "mutie" being the most common. Flux shut his eyes with a belabored sigh as he prepared some snark for the visiting official.

"Hello, Felix."

His head turned slowly to reveal a pained, confused expression. He'd hardly given Banner a thought in recent history. He'd come to the depressing conclusion that she no longer cared for him; that his criminal record had driven a wedge between them too deeply for them to ever see each other again.

He stared at her for a long moment, watching her fidget. "Keep it in your pants," Terry sneered at Flux. To Banner, he gave a more polite, even worried, "If you need us, just yell." Then he left, shut the door without locking it, and the two were alone. She stood there looking more beautiful and far away than he'd ever imagined her since he'd been left to rot here. He felt haggard and low by comparison to her, though he was much more fit now than when they'd dated. Of course, when your only entertainment options were books, exercise, and daydreaming...

He'd imagined this so many times. What was he supposed to say? What could he say? Hi? How are you? I'm sorry? I love you? Get me out of here? He didn't say any of that. What he did say constricted his throat and filled him with shame, and some remnant of the anger he'd felt on the bridge, in the courthouse, and in the mundane prison.

"You weren't at the trial."

[Banner Laverick]

He looked horrible. He was bigger somehow, looked older than his years in his prison jumpsuit. Then he spoke, his words cutting through her. This was stupid, he didn't want to see her - what did she think this would accomplish? Did she think things would just magically return to normal if they saw each other, if they talked things through...

"I wasn't allowed to go. I watched it every day... I tried to contact you, but you never replied."

She didn't know what to do, except babble on. Part of her hated what he had done, he had thrown their relationship, their happy future away. She still wasn't sure WHY he had done it - she'd always felt he'd had good reason, but had reserved final judgement for when Felix himself told her why. Her Felix wouldn't have hurt anyone without a reason.

"I'm sorry. I've missed you so much, but maybe this was a mistake."

[Flux]

"No."

The word was fast and panicked, flung out into the air in desperation. Usually he said it deliberately and steadily, throwing it in the face of Heidegger or his flunkies.

"No, I...I didn't get any phone calls or letters, and they wouldn't let me near a computer for anything." He looked up at her. There was a swell of intermingled emotion that stopped up his voice as he tried to speak again. He was angry with her still for not being there. He hated her a little for it, too. But he...still loved her? He definitely lusted after her. His mind flashed through a few fantasies he'd had of her, all of them lewd, and he tried to set that aside as he pulled his shirt back on over his head. It didn't work.

"I missed you, too," he parroted back as he tried to gather his thoughts. "I just...I knew why my Brothers couldn't be there. I could at least understand that, but...I expected you'd be there, somehow. Even if it was just to slap my face and tell me you hated me. Even that would've been better than this silence."

[Banner Laverick]

"I don't really know how I feel...I couldn't pass judgement on you without even talking to you. I wrote you so many letters, but when I didn't get anything back..."

She inhaled, holding back a sniffle as her eyes started to well up with tears. She wiped at her eyes with a thumb, determined to remain strong in spite of feeling so weak right now. The mention of his "brothers" angered her slightly - were they the cause of the bridge incident? A bad influence on him? He had been spouting more and more pro-mutant rhetoric when they had last been together, but she chalked it up to him being proud of his growing mastery over his powers.

"I know you had to have a reason for what you did. A good one. I wanted to be there with you through all of this, but...I couldn't. I've thought about you every day, I've changed so much of my life to be here, to be in California. I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop this. Or change it. I don't know. Things shouldn't have turned out this way..."

[Flux]

Flux shrugged. He couldn't speak to the way events had occurred and concluded. He could, however, tell her what he did and why. He looked down and fidgeted, thumbing rapidly through the pages of the book in his lap as he took a deep breath and began.

"I was doing vigilante work. Stopped a grocery store robbery, fled the scene to preserve my identity. That guy Michael Stern used his light powers to catch up to me, and when I tried to evade him, he called me a terrorist. It...really pissed me off." It was understatement of the highest magnitude. "And with all the anti-mutant sentiment on the rise, the constant accusations of all mutants to be unnatural abominations, I decided to become the monster they wanted me to be. I turned that bridge into a coil gun and tried to kill Stern with it along with all those fucking mundanes he wanted to protect. I actually was proud, when they called out the death toll of the mundanes in the court room. I felt like I'd accomplished something. I'd shown the world what I could do, given cause, and I swear to God, Banner, I'd do it again. They keep proving they're not worth protecting. I'm weary of being poked and prodded and kept at a distance. I hate this place, and when I'm free, I'm going to destroy it for what they've done to me and our Brothers and Sisters."

He looked up at her, his face set in hard lines, unapologetic and fiercely proud. "I'm going to do it so they can't oppress us any longer. Then I'm going to find the Brotherhood again and we're going to stop everyone from oppressing mutantkind. Then, we'll be safe." His voice and face softened at "we". It couldn't be clearer that in that word, the only people who it described were Banner and himself.

[Banner Laverick]

Her arms folded tightly across her chest as he spoke. Banner hadn't expected this - he was proud of doing something so horrible...She didn't know what to say, she didn't have the words to describe the knot growing in her stomach. It hurt, more than anything else, it hurt to have your idea of someone be utterly destroyed. Worse was the idea that he would do it so they would be safe...

"I..I don't even know what to say to that. Those were innocent people, they didn't do anything." Her voice trailed off, her face betraying her feelings of anger and disappointment at his side of the story.

[Flux]

"They did everything," he insisted. His hands shook in spite of his tight grip on his book, and his voice lowered and quivered as he explained. "Their money funds this organization. Their votes allow legislation that oppresses and marginalizes us to pass. Their willing ignorance lets these people unethically imprison and experiment on us. Did you know that a mutant girl, younger than us, was imprisoned below this facility to be observed and experimented on? When they couldn't suppress the power she manifested--which she could not control--they locked her away and allowed her to live in fear of her own body, her own powers. They beat her down mentally and emotionally to the point where she wanted to die, and then manipulated me into killing her when they decided she was no longer useful. That fate awaits us all, unless mutants like me, like our Brotherhood, act against these fearmongers. If she'd received proper help, been taught to use and control her power properly, she'd be alive now. She'd be healthy and happy. But they wouldn't let her." The memory of Rosanna Hughes was one he would never forget. He had constant nightmares of that day, of what he'd been made to do, and they all felt so real and vivid that he often awoke nauseated and hyperventilating. He'd never forget it, not for the rest of his life.

[Banner Laverick]

Felix suddenly felt arms wrap around his shoulders, squeezing him tightly as Banner knelt on the floor in front of him. He felt her damp cheek against his neck, her body shaking as she took a deep breath. What he said was true, and horrifying. She couldn't imagine what the people running the prison had put him through, his feelings about it were evident in his tone and body language. Banners voice was small, muffled against his shoulder when she finally spoke.

"...Killing anyone is wrong, Felix. It doesn't matter what they are, human or mutant. What the people here are doing is wrong, but not everyone is like that. Would you want a mutant to murder your family? Your old friends? What if I wasn't a mutant - would you want me dead too? There has to be another way to accomplish what you want, without hurting others."

[Flux]

"God, I don't care about my old life anymore," he responded bitterly, realizing the statement was true. "My family has disowned me. I had essentially cut my friends off after meeting you and the Brotherhood. There's nothing left for me there. And no, I wouldn't want you killed, but I also can't imagine you not being a mutant, either."

He hugged her back, his hands running up into her hair, and he relished the sensation of her. "You're too perfect to ever be mundane. I want you to be my ally in all this. I do. I want you to help, and I want to help you."

[Banner Laverick]

A sniffle into his shoulder, another tight squeeze. He didn't feel like Felix, he didn't sound like Felix. She held him in silence, her mind reeling. Banner wanted to be with him, she loved him in spite of everything. She felt she had given up her own family and friends, moving her entire life across the country just to be with him. But the things he had done - they frightened her. He was asking her to do things she couldn't, wouldn't do. Even for him. What would happen if she disagreed with his actions down the road? Would he turn on her too? Deep down, she felt - she knew - he would never harm her. Not intentionally.

When she finally pulled back from their embrace, she placed her hands on his shoulder and looked him in the eye with a slight smile.

"What do you want me to do Felix? Or do I have to call you Flux now?"

[Flux]

He faltered. None of his Brothers called him Felix. In his mind, Felix was a scrawny kid who didn't know what he was doing with himself, his powers, or his life. He was at the mercy of mundane fear. However, he also was happy with her.

By contrast, Flux was strong. Flux was hardened to the world. He could withstand the world's hate for him and his kind. He could weather their brutality and return it in kind. Flux could keep his Brothers and Sisters safe. Banner didn't need protecting though. She also didn't have a functioning relationship with him. Could Flux have all these things? He didn't know.

He didn't know who he wanted to be with her. "I..." he false-started, looking down to the side with the barest shrug.

[Banner Laverick]

Banners' smile brightened, she reached up to brush the last few tears that lingered on her lashes away then moved to sit beside him on the bed. It wasn't very comfortable - it made her feel bad again, as she glanced around the sterile white room made entirely out of...plastic? It seemed like an odd material to make a prison cell from, but it made sense considering who it housed. Her arm entwined with his, taking his hand in hers.

"Maybe in private we can use our regular names? It would just be for us, and we could try to keep things normal? Maybe..."

Her voice trailed off a bit. She just wanted to touch him, to hold him and show him that she hadn't forgotten him or changed her mind about them. She wasn't sure how, and after the guards comment, she didn't want to risk him being punished by being more intimate. Banner felt like an awkward teen on a first date, not someone reuniting with their lost love.

"I wouldn't want to embarrass you or make you feel bad. I'm sorry if things are weird...If this isn't what you want, I understand. I mean, romantic stuff, not you know. Mutant stuff."

[Flux]

"You don't, and things aren't really that weird." The reassurance sounded hollow to his own ears; hopefully it was more uplifting for her. His arm moved cautiously up around her shoulders, but he didn't try to squeeze her or pull her closer. He had something else on his mind, and he didn't want to ruin their moment. He cast about for a new topic and seized on her mention of their names. He didn't like the compromise. "And...I don't think I want to be called Felix by you. That's what they call me here, no matter how many times I correct them. I really hate it. It's like getting slapped in the face. So just...call me Flux. Please."

[Banner Laverick]

"Oh. Okay."

She leaned against him as he put his arm around her. Even though he said things weren't weird, she didn't feel that reassured. He was holding her but still seemed to keep her at a distance. She didn't know what else to say or do.

"So now what?"

[Flux]

He sighed and rubbed his eyes. What he wanted to do would need to wait for a day when they could have privacy. What they needed to do--talk more about their relationship and the Brotherhood--would need to wait for when they would have more time.

"Unless you've got something else you wanna talk about, you can go home, I guess," he said, feeling drained. "Don't worry about trying to get me out. My Brothers will take care of it. I don't want you to be a target." It was probably too late for that, but at least this way they wouldn't actively hunt for her. Maybe. "It was good to see you, really," he said, offering a thin smile. "I'll come find you the second I'm out, okay?"

[Banner Laverick]

"Yeah, okay."

Disappointment flashed across her face. Again with this "Brothers" crap - if they really cared, he wouldn't be in here. Banner held her tongue. This visit hadn't gone how she imagined it. She wasn't really sure HOW else it could have gone. At least they were back in contact, they had sort of a plan...It felt like Felix (Flux rather) was dismissing her, but maybe that was for her own good. She wasn't sure.

Hesitantly she got up from the bed, taking a step towards the door. "I guess I'll see you later."

[Flux]

The guards noticed her moving to leave and opened the door. Flux sat looking at her, trying frantically to think of something to say. He thought for sure she'd have more for him; apparently not, though. The guards moved to flank Banner and escort her out. Flux, sensing his chance slipping, and still at a loss for words, jumped up and spun her around, drawing her into a kiss as she had on their first night.

[Banner Laverick]

Banner melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressing her body into his. She pulled away, planting a few last soft kisses on his lips before the guards move to part them.

"I love you, Flux. I'll wait for you."

[Flux]

Flux pressed his hips back, eager for her, only to have Terry plant a hand on his chest and shove him back. The mutant inmate's face became instantly a hard mask of defiance.

"I know," he reassured Banner, his voice echoing Han Solo's defiance at the carbonite freeze. "We won't be apart long. They can't keep me here for much longer." He tried a smile to comfort her; it came out as his anti-mundane smirk. Terry hustled Banner along as Mack squeezed his plastic tranq rifle's trigger, burying a three-dart cluster in Flux's chest, just under his right clavicle. Mack shut and locked the door, the sound of it booming in the empty hall.

"Jesus!" Mack swore. "More escape threats. Thought he was done spittin' those."

"Guess he's back on it, now he's earned his visitor's rights. Shame, they'll revoke 'em when they hear about this." Terry's tone suggested he was not at all sympathetic. "C'mon, Ms. Laverick. Let's get you outta here."

Flux lay sprawled on the floor of his cell, breathing hard, and mouthed one word to Banner, "Go", before he was lost to unconciousness.