'A Mirror, Darkly', 1/2 - Chad, Saturday
Jul. 16th, 2005 09:58 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsFor now we see through a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
~*~
Nathan and Alison hook up with Domino in the marketplace in N'Djamena. She has more intel for them, including some rather unexpected news about foreign involvement in the training camp.
"Ah, African coffee," Nathan said dryly, taking a sip of his. "How I've missed it." He glanced across at his companion. "You watch," he said, as the ebb and flow of pedestrian traffic moved past them and through the ramshackle market here on the outskirts of N'Djamena. "She will be precisely on time. It's a funny thing she does."
Alison, having opted for the tea with something akin to relish and to the approval of the thin, energetic man who had served them, just shrugged. "Makes sense. She can luck her way through any delay - kind like hitting all the green lights when you're going to be late for a meeting in town?" The tea was good, the fresh mint adding a tang to it that was perfect - though she would still insist Haroun's tea was better, should he ask.
"Helpful person to have around in a crisis situation," Nathan pointed out, taking another sip of his coffee. "I think she was making one more try at sweet-talking that contact of GW's in the Interior Ministry before she met us. A little more intel would be nice, even last-minute."
"Her luck might not be good for someone else's, though." The comment was matter of fact, Alison remembering very clearly the day Domino had explained that part of things to her. "Unless she's wrong or has that more under control than she thinks, by now. And any intel would be nice, really, even for a supposed to be simple extraction." She smiled a bit at that, then reached out to pick up the steaming tea.
Nathan started to answer that - and then paused, looking up from the table as he sensed elusive, yet familiar thoughts. A smile tugged at his lips at the slender figure that unobstrusively crowd-surfed her way towards their table. "Hey, tiger," he said quietly as Domino flopped down in the third chair, but his smile wavered a little at the sight of her. She was sunburned and far, far too thin, and the dark circles under her eyes were a little alarming. The fact that she tossed off a too-bright smile and proceeded to not quite meet his gaze wasn't reassuring, either.
"Hey, old man. Hi, Blaire." She laid a thick manilla envelope on the table. "Photos," she said. "Someone wanted to document the camp. Much more completely than I did. They're dated a couple of weeks ago."
"Old man, mmm?" Alison gifted Nathan with a grin akin to that a shark might offer prey, then turned her head enough to take in Domino's appearance. "You look horrible." She left the comment at that though - a simple statement that the obvious had been noticed by all, but she wasn't about to pry further, at least. Reaching out for the envelope, Alison undid the flap idly.
Domino gave a rattled laugh. "Someone ordered a complete file built on the camp and its occupants. Full documentation. This is just the start of it, these pictures and some papers I didn't... quite manage to get my hands on. You don't want to know what I had to do to get those." Nathan frowned, reaching out a hand to cover hers where it was resting on the table, but she jerked it back sharply. "Order from higher up in the Ministry, apparently. They want it for some American consultant group they had in helping them set the place up."
Looking up from the pictures of the camp, enough to give them an pretty good idea of the actual layout, Alison blinked. "American consultant group?" A quick peek through the folder showed that there wasn't anything about that held within, so she gave Domino the classic "ok,so tell me more now thank you" face.
Domino waved a hand. "Some company from the States. Provided planning help and training protocols, even gave them info on a few of the kids they nabbed, I gather - the ones they got from urban areas, not those out of the refugee camps."
Nathan picked up one of the pictures, this one of a long, prefab hut that was probably a barracks of some sort. "Lovely. Any details on them?"
"Next to nothing. They're called Heiress or something like that, my contact said..."
Nathan dropped the picture, staring at her. "Eris?"
Well, crap. Alison held her breath for a moment, the shock in her eyes mirroring Nathan's. And then reached out to retrieve the dropped picture, shuffling the entire lot back into the enveloppe methodically. "Nathan. No earthquakes, please. An earthquake here would be a bad thing."
"Oh, we know them, do we?" There were something ever so slightly brittle about the forced good humor in Domino's voice. "I don't suppose we'd be interested in knowing that a number of them are apparently staying in one of the luxury hotels by the river? The Le Meridien - that was one of the few other pieces of information my friendly low-level bureacrat gave me as part of our deal."
Nathan's eyes narrowed. "Names?" Earthquakes were indeed bad. Very bad. But keeping a hold on his telekinesis was very very difficult at the moment, and he didn't quite manage not to snarl out the question. Domino didn't bat an eye.
"None. Just that there are half a dozen of them there, apparently. A few just flew in this week for meetings with the Minister. Hence the sudden need for proper documentation."
Alison hated what she was about to say, but at the same time, they were here for a reason. And had a trainee with them, and the situation did not need to grow more complex, regardless of that fact even... though it was still one Alison had to bear in mind. "Unless they're directly tied to this, we don't have a call to look into this right now, Nathan." There was an undertone of apology to her voice, but she needed a valid reason to push things further off track of what was already planned.
Nathan opened his mouth, but closed it again, visibly seething. Domino was watching him with a raised eyebrow, and then turned to Alison. "This is apparently not the only place in Africa they're doing this," she said. "According to my source, I mean. They have a proven track record with this sort of thing. That's why the Interior Ministry is so eager to keep them happy, because they want to expand their operations, set up more camps, and they want continuing help with that."
After a moment, Alison nodded, a hint of relief mingled with worry in her eyes. "Okay. This gives us a reason to investigate. The basics only," she added, giving Nathan a quiet look. "See who they are, get some visuals, enough for us to run them through the computers for more information when we get back home." It meant Shiro was doubly so confined to the jet, with all alarms running hot, though.
Nathan tossed back the rest of his coffee. "Let's get moving, then," he said curtly, his mask barely intact. "We can't go into that camp until after nightfall anyway."
~*~
Shiro gets the news that there's been a small change in plans, and instructions to let the mansion know - and stay with the Blackbird.
Normally, Shiro wouldn't be very happy to be left alone at the kid's table. But he had new Harry Potter to read. Between that and actually being allowed to go on a real X-Men mission so soon after his first training scenario, he was content.
Just as he was about to turn the page, the comm light started blinking. Shiro marked his page and jumped out of his seat to answer it. "Kamikaze here."
Ducking between two shopkeepers intent on selling their wares to anyone unlucky enough to even slow down a second for them, Alison subvocalized through the comm while trying to make sure not to lose herself in the busy streets. "Dazzler. There's a slight change of plans and we'll be staying here a bit longer than originally anticipated."
"Wonderful," replied Shiro sarcastically. "I will contact Cyclops and inform him. What is the reason for our extended stay and what would you have me do?"
"Stay in the blackbird. Alert us if the proximity sensors are triggered. Don't go outside the plane." The words were a touch flat, mostly because Alison was thinking at the same time, processing what they'd learned and how they should go about investigating things a bit more in depth.
"I was not planning on moving without explicit orders," Shiro responded, a little too sharply. Would people stop riding him for a mistake he's already atoned for? "I will inform you if anyone approaches. But what should I tell Cyclops about your change of plans?"
"Orders are repeated as a matter of form and clarity, Kamikaze. Get used to it." Pausing to re-orient herself, Alison scanned the crowd, trying to spot Lorna. As partners in crime went, they'd do just fine for their part of the information hunt, as it were. "Hrm. Tell him we're simply going to see if we can find any interesting data, but we're not looking to engage or even be seen. It's more a matter of being here and able to do so than anything else. Further in depth research will be passed on to the appropriate people when we get back." A flash of green, and Alison grinned to herself, diving into the crowd once more, calls ringing out in various languages echoing about her.
Evil Glares of Death couldn't travel over the X-Men's comm devices, right? Good. "Understood," Shiro replied, voice tight. "You are staying behind for further investigations. I will ensure that Cyclops is notified immediately," he said as he took a seat and began establishing a connection to comm central back in Westchester.
Alison couldn't help a faint grin to herself as the communication was cut. She figured Scott would be repeating that order himself just as a matter of procedure, and briefly wished she was there to see Shiro's reaction.
But either way, it was fine. He'd get used to it.
She reached Lorna at that point, and did her best to try to see if she could get killed by spooking the green haired magnekinetic.
~*~
At the hotel, Alison and Lorna engage in a little preliminary information-gathering. Sometimes the best way to blend in is to stand out. They are, however, spotted.
They were still bickering about it when they got out of the rental car. "It's just a simple tag team situation. Good cop, ditzy cop. We go in, we flutter our eyelashes and we get the info. I don't see why you're fighting with me about this!"
"It's my turn."
"But I'm the Valley girl!"
"But I'm the blonde, thank you very much."
"Oh sure, discriminate against the green hair! I see what this is!"
"It's still my turn."
"I vote we flip a coin."
"What, so you can control it? I don't think so!"
"As if I would! I'm wounded by the very insinuation!"
"I remember what happened when we were down to a single mug of coffee and you suggested we flip a coin for it. Nuhuh."
"That was a life or death situation and I had those papers to grade! And it's so not your turn."
"It was a life or death situation after I didn't get any coffee because you cheated. So is my turn."
"Come on, it's not fair! You always get to be the spunky, ditzy one! No one likes the serious one."
"Hey! You were the airhead last time! The salesclerk must have drooled for half his body percentage of water, too."
"Getting a deal on shoes is hardly the same! The last time we did this for real, it was your turn and that guy made you write your number on his tie."
"Shaddap! And it was a nice tie too, silk. Was it bad that I gave him the local astrology reading number? And fine. You can be the ditz. Prey - I mean concierge, right there by the potted plant!"
Taking a deep sigh and giving Lorna an aggrieved Look, Alison paused, as though the argument had gone on long enough and proof of fact was now very much required. Putting her hands on her fists, she shook her head at her admonishingly.
Lorna rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder, making an abrupt about face and marching over to the noted prey. She tapped the man tentatively on the shoulder and gave him a slightly shamefaced smile. "Hi, um...can you help me? My friend and I are totally in the worst fight ever and she's so wrong that it's not even funny and you just have to straighten her out. She says that this is the right hotel and you just have to tell her that it's not!" She gave him a giggle and grabbed his suddenly clammy hand. "Come on, you can tell her right now."
Heaving the deep sigh of the much put-upon, which had no other effect at all on her other than to make certain body parts a tad bit more noticeable (nothing much at all - really) Alison stalked over. Then afforded the man a very pained smile. "Hello. Might this be, by any chance, Le Meridien?" Alison asked this in the tones of the brain cell unchallenged, who felt rather certin they could read the hotel name on the concierge's nametag.
"Go ahead! Tell her!" Lorna put in, eyes wide then shook her head at Alison, "They aren't here!"
The concierge looked like he'd been smacked with a board his eyes darting back and forth between Lorna and Alison though at eye level with neither. "Um...I'm sorry, miss but your friend is correct. You are at the right hotel. Who is the party you are looking for?"
"I told you so." Alison had no intention of being gracious in victory - and it would only make Lorna that much more sympathetic to the concierge, too. "Missy here got us a job." Warning away the pretty woman from evil men in hotels had to be something any heroic concierge would love to do. "And she forgot to take down… names." Swiveling her head slowly, Alison gave Lorna one of those 'I strangle you not for I love you, though I oft forget why' smiles. "But the flight tickets were good and secretarial work abroad…" She trailed off shrugging a bit, then gave the man a more friendly look. "Some company or other, working as consultants? She was told-"
"I told you, it was one of those fancy foreign names." Lorna pouted up at the concierge, "She thinks I'm stupid. But the guy said he'd meet us or have someone waiting or something so how was I to know I should write it down?"
"Ooh." The concierge immediately looked sympathetic at that, reaching out to pat Lorna's hand reassuringly. "Well, I might be able to help." Alison earned a reassuring nod, the fact that he might be their saviour clearly expressed in the look she shot him from behind Lorna. "I do hope you didn't have anything to do with - well. We won't mention that lot and hopefully that means you'll be here for some of our more well regarded regulars."
Obviously, some less savory characters frequented the place, it seemed. Alison raised a suitably understanding look at that.
But Lorna looked panicked, "With who? Oh, I'm sure it's not the man who gave me the job details. He was so nice. He bought me dinner and asked me to dance." She smiled dreamily then seemed to remember that she was worried, "So they can't be the same people."
Leaning forward just a bit while Lorna fluttered on, Alison smiled tightly at the poor fellow. "That would be why I insisted on coming along."
Nodding and somehow keeping his eyes fixed on her face, the man nonetheless gave Lorna a infatuated smile. "Well-"
The rest of his words were lost on Alison however as she spotted motion at the corner of her eyes. It was, she realized as she was given a small nod, once she located the man, something that had been done on purpose to attract her attention. So even as the concierge continued to reassude Lorna, she subvocalised a message to Nathan and Haroun, the man disappearing through the doorway before she was done.
~*~
Haroun and Nathan, sizing up the situation outside, are a little startled when someone familiar walks up to their table and joins them. Things get violent rather quickly at that point.
"You'd never know that this country has civil war in the north and a refugee crisis in the east," Nathan murmured, his eyes roaming over the hotel grounds. He and Haroun were sitting at a table by the pool under an enormous white umbrella, and the whole atmosphere was one of calm and luxury. Waiters moved smoothly from table to table, dispensing drinks. Guest swam lazily, or sunned themselves, and over to their left, the Chari River glimmered placidly in the sun.
"Welcome to Africa," Haroun said with a sour grumble. His first time back to his home continent in months, and the proximity to Morocco was really starting to grate on him. So close, but so far away. "The inequalities in this country make Dickens's London look like a kibbutz."
Nathan thinned out his shields, extending his mind carefully over the vicinity, looking for... what? He didn't know what Gideon Faraday's mind felt like, not when the only time he'd met the man, it had been like looking in the mirror. And what was the likelihood that he was here himself, after all? #Do you believe in coincidence?# he sent a bit bleakly.
#No, but I do believe in enemy action. Sitrep?# he thought back while leaning back in his disgustingly-comfortable poolside chair and examining the crowd. Lots of Africans, but a goodly number of whites as well. That was a little odd.
#Nothing yet.# He brushed Lorna and Alison's minds, just to reassure himself. #The others are inside, making nice with the concierge. Hopefully they'll turn up some information. I'm still scanning.# His eyes flickered back to Haroun, knowing that he knew more or less everything about what had happened in Philadelphia. There was a report as complete as he could make it in the database, after all. #Nothing like coming halfway across the world to find out how small it is.#
#You up for a four-way mindnet, or should we not risk it?# he thought to Nathan. #Three o'clock. Suspicious couple, overdressed for the climate.# he pointed out while sipping at his really very good coffee.
Nathan glanced over their thoughts. #Arms dealers. Here on vacation,# he sent back humorlessly. #I'm not reading any connection to Eris. They're pretty open.# He shifted in the chair, thinning out his shields a little farther, the dull babbling roar almost deafening now. Just a stray thought. All he needed was a stray thought, something to tip him off...
#Arms dealers, eh?# Haroun thought back with amusement. #Selling or buying? Never mind, stay focused.# he thought. #I'm going to go take a circuit around the pool. Let me know who reacts like a pro, won't you?#
As Haroun rose, they heard Alison over the coms, her voice soft but urgent. 'He's here' was the gist of it, and Nathan ignored the rest of the details. "Sit back down," he murmured to Haroun.
"Yes, do sit back down," another voice echoed Nathan's, amiably so. "We'd hate to cause a scene in such a... well frequented place, wouldn't we?"
Standing a few feet away, dressed in a linen suit perfectly suited to the local temperature, Gideon offered both men a small, polite nod of the head as they turned to look at him.
Nathan was suddenly, painfully aware of just how many people were around them. Innocent people. Well, except possibly for the arms dealers. "The extra chair," he said slowly, "is taken. I think you'll have to find another seat." He let his perceptions slide downwards, and saw power taking shape around Gideon, in familiar patterns. There was an echoing vacancy in the back of his mind, again. No Askani. What, had they decamped?
Gideon's eyes practically glowed at that. "Well, I supposed I could... fetch one for myself?" The pause was almost imperceptible, an underlying hint of cool amusement piercing through. With deilberation, Gideon walked to a nearby chair and brought it nearby, settling down on it with easy, fluid movements. "Fancy meeting you here. Again."
Nathan stiffened, but gave Haroun a look that he hoped translated as 'Stay out of this'. "It's a small world," he said, an edge to the words. "Or so I keep discovering. But it's a long way from Philadelphia."
"Why, Nathan." The name was said as though the man had known him forever, easily and smoothly. "As if distance were an obstacle worth serious consideration in this day and age." Leaning back in the chair, Gideon actually smiled, really smiled, for the first time. It was a blade's edge sort of smile, sharp and sudden, dissapearing as quickly as it had been born. "Surely you of all people know better than that." Energy patterns flickered outwards, slight and focused - power extending outwards, testing its limits.
Nathan's jaw clenched as he countered, matching Gideon's subtle probes. "So are you a mirror," he said, "or just a leech?" Askani was there suddenly, stirring, hissing, and he was seeing everything through a red-gold haze, suddenly. Glad you woke up, he thought at her.
Gideon's attention snapped upon Nathan at that, eyes narrowing a bit - and suddenly, it was very clear that Gideon wasn't only mirroring Nathan's telekenesis, and that he had in fact not been mirroring only that for a while, now. "What have we here?" he murmured with an intense gleam in his eyes. "Company?"
"Company who doesn't like you," Nathan growled under his breath, the haze over his vision increasing. And maybe the anger was blocking his precog partially, because while he could still see that aura around the other man that he'd seen in Philadelphia, it wasn't terrifying him.
No, as a matter of fact, the sight of Gideon was just pissing him off.
"You still need to work on your control," was the mild reply, and perhaps Gideon looked a bit smug as he said that, gaining some sort of point or satisfaction at those words. "Then again, it's not entirely unsurprising, all things considered."
He really, really disliked people who got their kicks from being enigmatic. Especially strangers who yet so clearly knew him, and were so clearly evil that their slimy hands were all over centuries worth of history. Yeah. He was so done with this conversation. Nathan gritted his teeth and lashed out at Gideon, only to find himself smoothly and expertly countered, the clashing telekinetic wavefronts spilling over. Haroun's chair went over with him in it, as did the others at the next, empty table. The table itself went flying.
Haroun chose this moment to exercise the better part of valor. He scrambled to his feet and started to gesture to the other guests, to get them to start thinking about exits and approaching them before the balloon went up and people started dying.
Nathan's attack actually drew another, seemingly genuine response from Gideon, who rose to his feet slowly, a slight tendril of power reaching out to almost fussily correct the trajectory of the table in mid-flight. "Temper, temper," he said, shaking his head at Nathan ever so slightly. "With such abilities, you must always remain in control."
Even setting everything else aside, the bare fact that this man was apparently involved in training mutant kids to be soldiers would have been enough. More than enough. Nathan lashed out again, straining against the opposing lines of force. The guests in and around the pool had already begun to react, after the first piece of flying furniture, and were doing their best to clear the area.
Waves of energy rippled merrily about - diverting rather than stopping, rerouting rather than trying to take control. "I would think you'd know about ripples by now," Gideon stated almost cheerfully, even as chairs were suddenly flung aside where they should not have been affected before, and people not quick enough to leave the premises were lifted off their feet for a brief moment, with shouts of surprise and fear.
Nathan's jaw clenched and he sliced through the lines of force. The levitating people dropped back down to the ground. #Run!# he projected at them, and aimed not at Gideon himself this time, but the concrete under his feet. If he could shake him just enough to mess up his ability to brace himself...
Gideon actually tumbled back slightly, taken off balance - for all of a second, as a brief glimmer of energy surrounded him, telekenesis holding him aloft from the ground. "Still going for minimal damage, aren't you? But everything you can do, I can now. You need to adapt faster, Nathan. Think faster." And with that, Gideon's eyes slid to the side briefly, acknowledging the approach of two more.
"Well now. That's much better. But let's see what you can really do."
And the world went mad around them.
~*~
Nathan learns a lesson in control and focus. It would probably be less galling if it wasn't delivered with his own powers.
Nathan hoped to hell that the hotel would still be standing when they were done. But he couldn't divert enough of his attention to check; it was wholly and completely taken up by the glowing figure levitating above the pool. He ought to get out of range. But if that was his telekinesis, he was not letting Gideon use it to kill innocent people...
Water blasted up out of the pool and at him with the force of a riot-control cannon. Nathan flung up a shield, and cursed as he saw more vehicles levitating in the parking lot. He caught four... no, five, and he yanked the fifth closer, using it to smash at Gideon's shields.
The shield sloped instantly, Gideon smiling faintly at him even as more water rose between them and swirled about them like a living thing, obscuring the man from view partially, though not the car as it careened off course. Whether that was by accident or by design was not something Nathan had the leisure to think about, however, as chunks of cement rose upwards as well, spraying a fine mist of dust that served to diminish visibility even more as they slammed against Nathan's shield before the car quite hit the people in its path.
...the FUCK? Nathan thought incredulously. Where the hell was this level of control coming from? He wasn't a telekinetic, he was just mimicking the ability... stealing it...
He diverted the car to the river; a weapon out of his control was just one more danger to the innocent people still in the area. It was nearly impossible to see, at least with normal vision, and Nathan's jaw set as he kicked his perceptions downwards. Just a few levels, and Gideon was perfectly visible, loops and spirals of power emanating outwards from his glowing form.
I wish I had my damned psimitar...
#You don't NEED it!# Askani was hissing at the back of his mind. #Hold to the patterns! Sever the supports!#
#I'm trying..#
#BURN THE AIR AROUND HIM IF YOU HAVE TO!#
#Rather loud, isn't she?#
The thought was clear and concise, not a single emotion bleeding through to color it. The maelstrom of dirt and water whirling about them parted only briefly, just enough for Gideon to give Nathan a piercing look.
#And it's an interesting idea, at that.#
The words hadn't even finished winding their way to Nathan's mind that the air around him erupted in fire, heat and crackling elemental rage battering his shields mercilessly.
From the inside.
Only Nathan's reaction time saved him. Even as he held his breath - a lungful of superheated air was a bad thing - he simultaneously dropped his shields and forced his perceptions down farther, down past the fractured latticework underlying the over-agitated air molecules, until he could distinguish the individual gases.
The oxygen needed to be somewhere else. Nathan pushed, and the fire swept back away from him like a withdrawing tide. Only he couldn't breathe, suddenly. His head was spinning, spots swimming in his vision. The shock of his knees hitting the concrete wasn't enough to snap him out of it.
The air was staying away, disturbingly so - until sound reached his ears, despite the ability to breathe still being denied to him. "Being unable to breathe tends to wreak havoc with one's concentration, did you know that?" Gideon came to a landing on the uneven, broken ground next to him smoothly. "And my dear boy.You were meant to use the water."
Without further ceremony, Gideon then leaned down to clap a hand on Nathan's shoulder, smiling that short-lived, razor bladed smile of his once more.
Choking, Nathan tried to push him away - but couldn't. Everything was heavy suddenly, impossibly heavy, and he didn't think it was the lack of air. His whole body ached, throbbing in time with his pulse, and he started to slump, his depth perception going all at once so that the impact with the ground came as a surprise - but a moment's surprise was all he had time for. His head hit the concrete, and everything went black.
~*~
Lorna and Alison make it outside just in time to see Nathan go down, and try to get their teammate to safety.
The scene of utter devastation surrounding them was chilling to see - no less so because of the few stragglers finally managing to make good their escape from the immediate area, leaving both Lorna and Alison only two people to concentrate upon. The man lying on the ground, unmoving, and the one kneeling beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder almost gently.
"So not good." The words were spoken quickly and lowly, Gideon recognizable to both from the composite drawing which had been added to the database since Nathan's encouter with the man. Alison stopped short, the skin at the back of her neck prickling, and then backed away slowly - Lorna's hand on her arm making it clear the motion was echoed and approved of.
"Christ," Lorna breathed, mind working quickly. "Wish I had my uniform." Certain she had Alison's EM signature, she took her hand away and gave the other woman a small nod. Smoothly they separated and Lorna called up a shield around Alison, tying it to theuniquely active EM field Dazzler generated. For her part, she stopped well out of range and looped herself into the earth, kneeling to make it easier. She'd try to get Nate out of there as soon as Alison got Gideon away from him.
Alison moved slowly, feeling something warping around her, echoing the prickle at the back of her neck from but moments before. She didn't need to look back to know Lorna was making sure to stay out of reach, would be ready to move back further at the slightest hint of Gideon trying to reach out for her magnetic ability. That he might decide to use her power was a thought that lent an undercurrent of gibbering panic to Alison's mind, though she stashed it far away for now. Something to panic about later - but not now. Now, they had other priorities.
Once she'd moved clear enough from Lorna that the man's attention would not be upon the magnetokinetic directly, Alison raised both hands and aimed - a focused blast of pure light, meant to distract and dazzle and most certainly draw the man's attention. It was followed by focused lasers bursts, not at full power - slamming into the ground right between the man's knee and Nathan's body, with pinpoint precision.
"Whatever you're doing... I don't think so."
Lowering his arm from where it had been, protecting his eyes from the bright flash of light just in time to save him from being temporarily blinded, Gideon moved - not far away from Nathan, not nearly as much as Alison would have liked, but he moved. His eyes narrowed as he pushed back and then upwards, smoothly, and then Gideon raised one eyebrow at her.
"Really? Well then. This should entertaining."
Not far enough, damn it. But if that was the best Alison could do, Lorna would work with it. The deck chair lying on its side next to Nathan dismantled itself slowly and metal wrapped around Nathan's wrist, pulling him away.
~*~
Meanwhile, Haroun and Domino try to get the civilians out of the line of fire.
All Hell had broken loose. That had become very apparent very quickly, and Haroun didn't dare get involved lest he just get in the way. That left him with crowd control. Spotting a lurking Domino, he motioned for her to join him impatiently. Dislike be damned, they were in serious danger of the entire hotel being turned into a giant abbatoir if they weren't careful.
Domino swallowed, ignoring the way that 'sixth sense' of hers was twisting and tugging, and dashed across to join Haroun. Her violet eyes roved rapidly across their surroundings, sizing up what she could feel were the most dangerous spots, most of which were occupied, damn it all to hell... "They need to be out of the parking lot, now," she said to Haroun, spotting a tour group hiding on their bus.
"You have a better chance than I do of survivng that unaltered." he said. "I can take them out by air, but that makes me a rather fat target. #Cable! Can you provide me with cover so I can airlift out the civvies?# he thought loudly.
The only answer came in the form of one of the lawn chairs flung in their general direction, presumably not by Nathan. Domino swore, ducked aside, and then shook her head doggedly. "West wing, third floor," she snapped over her shoulder at Haroun as she ran. "If there's anyone up there, get them out. I'm not sure why."
Haroun shimmied out of his shirt so that he could let the jetpack out, and then roared into the air. He didn't have the benefit of being able to luck his way out of any hostile incoming, and he couldn't actually see the magnetic lines of force or the telekinetic ones. He was risking his life, he knew that, but he made the decision to trust in his team-mates to keep him safe and alive.
There were a pair of teenagers gawking from their window on the floor Domino had indicated. One even waved at Haroun as he flew towards them.
Haroun didn't bother to wave back, but he was glad that they didn't panic. He saw the people Domino had been referring to - a man, a woman, and a baby. Swearing under his breath, he touched down and extended out his hand to them. In Arabic, he said "Don't be startled. We have to get you to safety right now. This hotel is no longer safe."
The woman, astoundingly, didn't question or hesitate for a moment. While her husband was still sputtering, shooting incredulous looks at the fight going on by the pool, she rearranged her baby securely in one arm, hushing it anxiously as she reached out for Haroun's hand.
Haroun took her hand in his - very soft, really - and then looked to the man. "We do not have much time. Let me save your family!"
The man seemed to shake himself. "Take them first," he said, or started to say - and then gaped in horror as cars went flying in the parking lot.
In the parking lot, Domino missed being flattened by a Humvee by inches. Cursing, she leapt back to her feet and headed doggedly for the tour bus. "Get off!" she shouted in English, repeating it in Arabic. "Now! You're not safe!"
"No time!" Haroun said, grabbing the man and then jetting into the air. He had to get them down quickly before his power burned them, but he also had to make sure they got well-clear. He touched down with them in the hotel parking lot. "Do you have an automobile? Take it and get out of town. Forget your things - come back tomorrow, and if the hotel is still standing you can recover them then. Take this..." he said, digging his wallet from his back pocket and giving the man the last of his spending money. "Go!" he said, then roared back into the air to rescue the next set of people he could.
The folks on the bus had apparently got the idea and started to push and jostle to get out the sole exit. A few yanked open the windows and managed to squeeze through, and Domino herded them in the opposite direction from the hotel. "Just run," she shouted over the shrieks and cries. "Get as far away as you can..." The driver was the last off - admirable, in a way - but he tumbled down almost on top of her as the bus began to move. Not in the normal sort of way, either. It started to levitate, and Domino swore, her eyes going back to the wing of the hotel Haroun had just started back towards.
Haroun was just about to touch down and start a room-by-room sweep of this wing of the hotel when he saw the bus. Headed straight for him. He instantly headed for the sky, to get some altitude and to see if he could draw the bus-thrower to hurl it at him and not the survivors in the hotel.
For a moment, it looked like it would. But then the bus froze in mid-air - and changed course, flung away on a high arc towards the river.
Haroun flew back into the hotel to search for survivors. "Everybody out! NOW! I will lead you to safety, but you MUST leave NOW!"
~*~
Alison calls in the cavalry, and Cain's secret turns out to be what's needed to tip the scales.
The bus had been set down, after something of a tug of war and Nathan had been hauled out of reach. Lorna had set up a nicely satisfying sound of grinding metal which she'd probably hate herself for once this was all said and done, but it was powering up Alison nicely enough, combined with the suit's embedded sonic generators, that she could at least... make sure to call for back up while Lorna tried to get Nathan entirely out of synching distance.
The flash of annoyance which crossed Gideon's features at Nathan being almost nudged out of what she guesstimated was his range wasn't good. Nor was the way Nathan had stopped moving, or the swearing she was hearing coming from Lorna.
But she had an ace up her sleeve.
~Dazzler to Juggernaut. He synchs to mutant powers only. Polaris almost has Nathan our of his range and he's not looking happy about it. Pool area, up front and center – he's all yours.~
Cain paused in the middle of the intersection, traffic stopping around him as the seven-foot-tall man in the bulky jacket paused, placing his hand to his ear. "Pool's around back, right? Gimme thirty seconds. Describe the guy to me."
As he spoke, Cain shrugged off his loose-fitting jacket, dropping it to the street. He flexed his hands into fists, glancing up to see the hotel rising above the buildings, sixteen blocks away. He lowered his shoulder, and the Juggernaut began to move, the ground shaking with each step that increased in speed, until Cain was at a full run straight for the hotel.
~You have ten seconds.~
A hail of concrete blocks rained down upon them, the walls of the hotel shredded as throwaway ammunition. The shielding Lorna was holding crackled in sudden intensity as her swearing suddenly stopped, Nathan's body slipping away from them by two precious feet.
~Cable is out. He's dragging him back towards him. Just aim for the guy floating in the middle of the pool area. Using Nathan's powers.~
She took aim, letting loose with a barrage of intense light with a sick feeling to her gut. She couldn't hold back, but she couldn't go full out. If he diverted even one of her lasers, there was no telling where it might hit. And he was moving closer to them, closer to Nathan. Steadily getting them all into his synching range, with that dammably amused smirk she could sometimes see through the cement battering at them. And the water suddenly whipped around and crashing into the ground nearby like a living thing.
"In the middle of the... fuck it. Incoming." Cain lowered his shoulder and aimed directly at the wrought-iron fence, knowing it would collapse like a wall of pipe cleaners before his charge.
As the fence gave way before him, Cain immediately took in the surroundings. Utter chaos was his first evaluation, then he saw the man in the linen suit smirking, the water smashing down around him as he moved his left hand fluidly, chunks of concrete spinning in a tornado as he gestured with his right.
Two steps backwards, and Gideon was on solid ground. And looking the other way. Curling one hand into a fist, Cain Marko rushed forward...
Gideon snapped his head around, one hand upraised, the fist stopping a few mere inches from his head. From the corner of his eye, Cain could see Lorna suddenly go flying back as the tug of war ceased, Nathan in tow. Alison backed away as well rapidly, both women and the unconscious man rapidly falling out of sight. Gideon noted their departure, but shrugged it off, curling one lip slightly as he glared at Cain.
"You were hard to spot, there. Interesting." Twisting his hand, he pushed away from himself, catching Cain in a telekinetic wave that sent him flying.
All of twenty feet away, drawing a disgusted huff from the man.
"They know to get distance quickly, I'll give them that," Gideon commented idly, before eyeing Cain contemplatively. "Well then, I'll just make do, I suppose." Smugness tinted the smile as he turned to face Cain fully, a look of concentration soon taking over.
And then slow, dawning surprise and realization followed.
"You're not a mutant."
"Ain't that a bitch?" Cain said with a smile, moving forward. Gideon raised a hand again, but Cain felt the wave of telekinetic power wash past him like a stiff breeze. "By the way," he remarked, taking one long step and drawing his fist back, "I can't be stopped, if you haven't heard."
One straight jab from the shoulder struck Gideon in the chest, and only by telekinetically throwing himself backwards did he keep his ribcage from collapsing like a barrel. Landing lightly on his feet across the pool, he thrust both hands forward, firing basketball-sized chunks of concrete and steel at Cain like artillery shells.
Every attempt was met with less than a blink, as the barrage of debris shattered harmlessly against Cain's invulnerable mass. With a small jump, Cain landed in a crouch in the empty pool, then launched himself forward, slamming his fists into the side and collapsing it in a landslide of concrete and dirt.
Gideon solidified the collapsing dirt under his feet, gaining enough balance to float over Cain, yanking cables out of the ground and the air to shower him with high voltage electricity, but to no effect. "What ARE you?" he breathed, stricken with wonder.
Cain Marko turned around, a smirk turning into a feral grin. "I'm the Juggernaut, asshole. And you're in my way."
A slow grin answered him, etched tightly on Gideon's face while he tilted his head to the side. Towards the street.
"As are they."
And while Cain was too heavy to be moved by Gideon now, and impervious to anything the man might throw at him – the old rickety tourist bus which had been driving down the street sedately, only to gather speed in an attempt to get away from the chaos unfolding at the nearby...
...was not.
The bus suddenly dipped forward as the cement cracked underneath it, the back pushed forward oh so helpfully, sending it into a full flip towards the pool area.
"Shit," Cain breathed, keying the communicator. "Juggernaut disengaging, gotta keep the civilians out of oh the hell with it."
Cain sprinted into the path of the careening bus, lashing out and slamming his hands into the grill, bending the metal under his fingers like clay. He ran forward, knowing that if he just stopped the bus, everyone inside would be squashed into jelly.
Lifting the vehicle over his head, Cain backpedaled, turning with the momentum, trying to keep his eye on Gideon. But the older man was nowhere to be found. "Lost sight of him!" he hollered over the communicator. "Anyone got eyes on?"
There was mingled relief and annoyance in Lorna's voice as she spoke through the comm, still breathing heavily.
~Tracking him – fancy lighter. But he's fading fast into the rest of the metal noise. Moving away from us. Heading back to the plane now, keeping Cable away from him. Polaris out.~
Silence reigned for a few moments, accompanied only by the occasional sound of rubble skittering to the floor.
Finally, a window from the now upside down bus cracked open, cautiously, and a voice wavered out politely.
"Um. I think you can set us down now, sir."
~*~
Nathan and Alison hook up with Domino in the marketplace in N'Djamena. She has more intel for them, including some rather unexpected news about foreign involvement in the training camp.
"Ah, African coffee," Nathan said dryly, taking a sip of his. "How I've missed it." He glanced across at his companion. "You watch," he said, as the ebb and flow of pedestrian traffic moved past them and through the ramshackle market here on the outskirts of N'Djamena. "She will be precisely on time. It's a funny thing she does."
Alison, having opted for the tea with something akin to relish and to the approval of the thin, energetic man who had served them, just shrugged. "Makes sense. She can luck her way through any delay - kind like hitting all the green lights when you're going to be late for a meeting in town?" The tea was good, the fresh mint adding a tang to it that was perfect - though she would still insist Haroun's tea was better, should he ask.
"Helpful person to have around in a crisis situation," Nathan pointed out, taking another sip of his coffee. "I think she was making one more try at sweet-talking that contact of GW's in the Interior Ministry before she met us. A little more intel would be nice, even last-minute."
"Her luck might not be good for someone else's, though." The comment was matter of fact, Alison remembering very clearly the day Domino had explained that part of things to her. "Unless she's wrong or has that more under control than she thinks, by now. And any intel would be nice, really, even for a supposed to be simple extraction." She smiled a bit at that, then reached out to pick up the steaming tea.
Nathan started to answer that - and then paused, looking up from the table as he sensed elusive, yet familiar thoughts. A smile tugged at his lips at the slender figure that unobstrusively crowd-surfed her way towards their table. "Hey, tiger," he said quietly as Domino flopped down in the third chair, but his smile wavered a little at the sight of her. She was sunburned and far, far too thin, and the dark circles under her eyes were a little alarming. The fact that she tossed off a too-bright smile and proceeded to not quite meet his gaze wasn't reassuring, either.
"Hey, old man. Hi, Blaire." She laid a thick manilla envelope on the table. "Photos," she said. "Someone wanted to document the camp. Much more completely than I did. They're dated a couple of weeks ago."
"Old man, mmm?" Alison gifted Nathan with a grin akin to that a shark might offer prey, then turned her head enough to take in Domino's appearance. "You look horrible." She left the comment at that though - a simple statement that the obvious had been noticed by all, but she wasn't about to pry further, at least. Reaching out for the envelope, Alison undid the flap idly.
Domino gave a rattled laugh. "Someone ordered a complete file built on the camp and its occupants. Full documentation. This is just the start of it, these pictures and some papers I didn't... quite manage to get my hands on. You don't want to know what I had to do to get those." Nathan frowned, reaching out a hand to cover hers where it was resting on the table, but she jerked it back sharply. "Order from higher up in the Ministry, apparently. They want it for some American consultant group they had in helping them set the place up."
Looking up from the pictures of the camp, enough to give them an pretty good idea of the actual layout, Alison blinked. "American consultant group?" A quick peek through the folder showed that there wasn't anything about that held within, so she gave Domino the classic "ok,so tell me more now thank you" face.
Domino waved a hand. "Some company from the States. Provided planning help and training protocols, even gave them info on a few of the kids they nabbed, I gather - the ones they got from urban areas, not those out of the refugee camps."
Nathan picked up one of the pictures, this one of a long, prefab hut that was probably a barracks of some sort. "Lovely. Any details on them?"
"Next to nothing. They're called Heiress or something like that, my contact said..."
Nathan dropped the picture, staring at her. "Eris?"
Well, crap. Alison held her breath for a moment, the shock in her eyes mirroring Nathan's. And then reached out to retrieve the dropped picture, shuffling the entire lot back into the enveloppe methodically. "Nathan. No earthquakes, please. An earthquake here would be a bad thing."
"Oh, we know them, do we?" There were something ever so slightly brittle about the forced good humor in Domino's voice. "I don't suppose we'd be interested in knowing that a number of them are apparently staying in one of the luxury hotels by the river? The Le Meridien - that was one of the few other pieces of information my friendly low-level bureacrat gave me as part of our deal."
Nathan's eyes narrowed. "Names?" Earthquakes were indeed bad. Very bad. But keeping a hold on his telekinesis was very very difficult at the moment, and he didn't quite manage not to snarl out the question. Domino didn't bat an eye.
"None. Just that there are half a dozen of them there, apparently. A few just flew in this week for meetings with the Minister. Hence the sudden need for proper documentation."
Alison hated what she was about to say, but at the same time, they were here for a reason. And had a trainee with them, and the situation did not need to grow more complex, regardless of that fact even... though it was still one Alison had to bear in mind. "Unless they're directly tied to this, we don't have a call to look into this right now, Nathan." There was an undertone of apology to her voice, but she needed a valid reason to push things further off track of what was already planned.
Nathan opened his mouth, but closed it again, visibly seething. Domino was watching him with a raised eyebrow, and then turned to Alison. "This is apparently not the only place in Africa they're doing this," she said. "According to my source, I mean. They have a proven track record with this sort of thing. That's why the Interior Ministry is so eager to keep them happy, because they want to expand their operations, set up more camps, and they want continuing help with that."
After a moment, Alison nodded, a hint of relief mingled with worry in her eyes. "Okay. This gives us a reason to investigate. The basics only," she added, giving Nathan a quiet look. "See who they are, get some visuals, enough for us to run them through the computers for more information when we get back home." It meant Shiro was doubly so confined to the jet, with all alarms running hot, though.
Nathan tossed back the rest of his coffee. "Let's get moving, then," he said curtly, his mask barely intact. "We can't go into that camp until after nightfall anyway."
~*~
Shiro gets the news that there's been a small change in plans, and instructions to let the mansion know - and stay with the Blackbird.
Normally, Shiro wouldn't be very happy to be left alone at the kid's table. But he had new Harry Potter to read. Between that and actually being allowed to go on a real X-Men mission so soon after his first training scenario, he was content.
Just as he was about to turn the page, the comm light started blinking. Shiro marked his page and jumped out of his seat to answer it. "Kamikaze here."
Ducking between two shopkeepers intent on selling their wares to anyone unlucky enough to even slow down a second for them, Alison subvocalized through the comm while trying to make sure not to lose herself in the busy streets. "Dazzler. There's a slight change of plans and we'll be staying here a bit longer than originally anticipated."
"Wonderful," replied Shiro sarcastically. "I will contact Cyclops and inform him. What is the reason for our extended stay and what would you have me do?"
"Stay in the blackbird. Alert us if the proximity sensors are triggered. Don't go outside the plane." The words were a touch flat, mostly because Alison was thinking at the same time, processing what they'd learned and how they should go about investigating things a bit more in depth.
"I was not planning on moving without explicit orders," Shiro responded, a little too sharply. Would people stop riding him for a mistake he's already atoned for? "I will inform you if anyone approaches. But what should I tell Cyclops about your change of plans?"
"Orders are repeated as a matter of form and clarity, Kamikaze. Get used to it." Pausing to re-orient herself, Alison scanned the crowd, trying to spot Lorna. As partners in crime went, they'd do just fine for their part of the information hunt, as it were. "Hrm. Tell him we're simply going to see if we can find any interesting data, but we're not looking to engage or even be seen. It's more a matter of being here and able to do so than anything else. Further in depth research will be passed on to the appropriate people when we get back." A flash of green, and Alison grinned to herself, diving into the crowd once more, calls ringing out in various languages echoing about her.
Evil Glares of Death couldn't travel over the X-Men's comm devices, right? Good. "Understood," Shiro replied, voice tight. "You are staying behind for further investigations. I will ensure that Cyclops is notified immediately," he said as he took a seat and began establishing a connection to comm central back in Westchester.
Alison couldn't help a faint grin to herself as the communication was cut. She figured Scott would be repeating that order himself just as a matter of procedure, and briefly wished she was there to see Shiro's reaction.
But either way, it was fine. He'd get used to it.
She reached Lorna at that point, and did her best to try to see if she could get killed by spooking the green haired magnekinetic.
~*~
At the hotel, Alison and Lorna engage in a little preliminary information-gathering. Sometimes the best way to blend in is to stand out. They are, however, spotted.
They were still bickering about it when they got out of the rental car. "It's just a simple tag team situation. Good cop, ditzy cop. We go in, we flutter our eyelashes and we get the info. I don't see why you're fighting with me about this!"
"It's my turn."
"But I'm the Valley girl!"
"But I'm the blonde, thank you very much."
"Oh sure, discriminate against the green hair! I see what this is!"
"It's still my turn."
"I vote we flip a coin."
"What, so you can control it? I don't think so!"
"As if I would! I'm wounded by the very insinuation!"
"I remember what happened when we were down to a single mug of coffee and you suggested we flip a coin for it. Nuhuh."
"That was a life or death situation and I had those papers to grade! And it's so not your turn."
"It was a life or death situation after I didn't get any coffee because you cheated. So is my turn."
"Come on, it's not fair! You always get to be the spunky, ditzy one! No one likes the serious one."
"Hey! You were the airhead last time! The salesclerk must have drooled for half his body percentage of water, too."
"Getting a deal on shoes is hardly the same! The last time we did this for real, it was your turn and that guy made you write your number on his tie."
"Shaddap! And it was a nice tie too, silk. Was it bad that I gave him the local astrology reading number? And fine. You can be the ditz. Prey - I mean concierge, right there by the potted plant!"
Taking a deep sigh and giving Lorna an aggrieved Look, Alison paused, as though the argument had gone on long enough and proof of fact was now very much required. Putting her hands on her fists, she shook her head at her admonishingly.
Lorna rolled her eyes and tossed her hair over her shoulder, making an abrupt about face and marching over to the noted prey. She tapped the man tentatively on the shoulder and gave him a slightly shamefaced smile. "Hi, um...can you help me? My friend and I are totally in the worst fight ever and she's so wrong that it's not even funny and you just have to straighten her out. She says that this is the right hotel and you just have to tell her that it's not!" She gave him a giggle and grabbed his suddenly clammy hand. "Come on, you can tell her right now."
Heaving the deep sigh of the much put-upon, which had no other effect at all on her other than to make certain body parts a tad bit more noticeable (nothing much at all - really) Alison stalked over. Then afforded the man a very pained smile. "Hello. Might this be, by any chance, Le Meridien?" Alison asked this in the tones of the brain cell unchallenged, who felt rather certin they could read the hotel name on the concierge's nametag.
"Go ahead! Tell her!" Lorna put in, eyes wide then shook her head at Alison, "They aren't here!"
The concierge looked like he'd been smacked with a board his eyes darting back and forth between Lorna and Alison though at eye level with neither. "Um...I'm sorry, miss but your friend is correct. You are at the right hotel. Who is the party you are looking for?"
"I told you so." Alison had no intention of being gracious in victory - and it would only make Lorna that much more sympathetic to the concierge, too. "Missy here got us a job." Warning away the pretty woman from evil men in hotels had to be something any heroic concierge would love to do. "And she forgot to take down… names." Swiveling her head slowly, Alison gave Lorna one of those 'I strangle you not for I love you, though I oft forget why' smiles. "But the flight tickets were good and secretarial work abroad…" She trailed off shrugging a bit, then gave the man a more friendly look. "Some company or other, working as consultants? She was told-"
"I told you, it was one of those fancy foreign names." Lorna pouted up at the concierge, "She thinks I'm stupid. But the guy said he'd meet us or have someone waiting or something so how was I to know I should write it down?"
"Ooh." The concierge immediately looked sympathetic at that, reaching out to pat Lorna's hand reassuringly. "Well, I might be able to help." Alison earned a reassuring nod, the fact that he might be their saviour clearly expressed in the look she shot him from behind Lorna. "I do hope you didn't have anything to do with - well. We won't mention that lot and hopefully that means you'll be here for some of our more well regarded regulars."
Obviously, some less savory characters frequented the place, it seemed. Alison raised a suitably understanding look at that.
But Lorna looked panicked, "With who? Oh, I'm sure it's not the man who gave me the job details. He was so nice. He bought me dinner and asked me to dance." She smiled dreamily then seemed to remember that she was worried, "So they can't be the same people."
Leaning forward just a bit while Lorna fluttered on, Alison smiled tightly at the poor fellow. "That would be why I insisted on coming along."
Nodding and somehow keeping his eyes fixed on her face, the man nonetheless gave Lorna a infatuated smile. "Well-"
The rest of his words were lost on Alison however as she spotted motion at the corner of her eyes. It was, she realized as she was given a small nod, once she located the man, something that had been done on purpose to attract her attention. So even as the concierge continued to reassude Lorna, she subvocalised a message to Nathan and Haroun, the man disappearing through the doorway before she was done.
~*~
Haroun and Nathan, sizing up the situation outside, are a little startled when someone familiar walks up to their table and joins them. Things get violent rather quickly at that point.
"You'd never know that this country has civil war in the north and a refugee crisis in the east," Nathan murmured, his eyes roaming over the hotel grounds. He and Haroun were sitting at a table by the pool under an enormous white umbrella, and the whole atmosphere was one of calm and luxury. Waiters moved smoothly from table to table, dispensing drinks. Guest swam lazily, or sunned themselves, and over to their left, the Chari River glimmered placidly in the sun.
"Welcome to Africa," Haroun said with a sour grumble. His first time back to his home continent in months, and the proximity to Morocco was really starting to grate on him. So close, but so far away. "The inequalities in this country make Dickens's London look like a kibbutz."
Nathan thinned out his shields, extending his mind carefully over the vicinity, looking for... what? He didn't know what Gideon Faraday's mind felt like, not when the only time he'd met the man, it had been like looking in the mirror. And what was the likelihood that he was here himself, after all? #Do you believe in coincidence?# he sent a bit bleakly.
#No, but I do believe in enemy action. Sitrep?# he thought back while leaning back in his disgustingly-comfortable poolside chair and examining the crowd. Lots of Africans, but a goodly number of whites as well. That was a little odd.
#Nothing yet.# He brushed Lorna and Alison's minds, just to reassure himself. #The others are inside, making nice with the concierge. Hopefully they'll turn up some information. I'm still scanning.# His eyes flickered back to Haroun, knowing that he knew more or less everything about what had happened in Philadelphia. There was a report as complete as he could make it in the database, after all. #Nothing like coming halfway across the world to find out how small it is.#
#You up for a four-way mindnet, or should we not risk it?# he thought to Nathan. #Three o'clock. Suspicious couple, overdressed for the climate.# he pointed out while sipping at his really very good coffee.
Nathan glanced over their thoughts. #Arms dealers. Here on vacation,# he sent back humorlessly. #I'm not reading any connection to Eris. They're pretty open.# He shifted in the chair, thinning out his shields a little farther, the dull babbling roar almost deafening now. Just a stray thought. All he needed was a stray thought, something to tip him off...
#Arms dealers, eh?# Haroun thought back with amusement. #Selling or buying? Never mind, stay focused.# he thought. #I'm going to go take a circuit around the pool. Let me know who reacts like a pro, won't you?#
As Haroun rose, they heard Alison over the coms, her voice soft but urgent. 'He's here' was the gist of it, and Nathan ignored the rest of the details. "Sit back down," he murmured to Haroun.
"Yes, do sit back down," another voice echoed Nathan's, amiably so. "We'd hate to cause a scene in such a... well frequented place, wouldn't we?"
Standing a few feet away, dressed in a linen suit perfectly suited to the local temperature, Gideon offered both men a small, polite nod of the head as they turned to look at him.
Nathan was suddenly, painfully aware of just how many people were around them. Innocent people. Well, except possibly for the arms dealers. "The extra chair," he said slowly, "is taken. I think you'll have to find another seat." He let his perceptions slide downwards, and saw power taking shape around Gideon, in familiar patterns. There was an echoing vacancy in the back of his mind, again. No Askani. What, had they decamped?
Gideon's eyes practically glowed at that. "Well, I supposed I could... fetch one for myself?" The pause was almost imperceptible, an underlying hint of cool amusement piercing through. With deilberation, Gideon walked to a nearby chair and brought it nearby, settling down on it with easy, fluid movements. "Fancy meeting you here. Again."
Nathan stiffened, but gave Haroun a look that he hoped translated as 'Stay out of this'. "It's a small world," he said, an edge to the words. "Or so I keep discovering. But it's a long way from Philadelphia."
"Why, Nathan." The name was said as though the man had known him forever, easily and smoothly. "As if distance were an obstacle worth serious consideration in this day and age." Leaning back in the chair, Gideon actually smiled, really smiled, for the first time. It was a blade's edge sort of smile, sharp and sudden, dissapearing as quickly as it had been born. "Surely you of all people know better than that." Energy patterns flickered outwards, slight and focused - power extending outwards, testing its limits.
Nathan's jaw clenched as he countered, matching Gideon's subtle probes. "So are you a mirror," he said, "or just a leech?" Askani was there suddenly, stirring, hissing, and he was seeing everything through a red-gold haze, suddenly. Glad you woke up, he thought at her.
Gideon's attention snapped upon Nathan at that, eyes narrowing a bit - and suddenly, it was very clear that Gideon wasn't only mirroring Nathan's telekenesis, and that he had in fact not been mirroring only that for a while, now. "What have we here?" he murmured with an intense gleam in his eyes. "Company?"
"Company who doesn't like you," Nathan growled under his breath, the haze over his vision increasing. And maybe the anger was blocking his precog partially, because while he could still see that aura around the other man that he'd seen in Philadelphia, it wasn't terrifying him.
No, as a matter of fact, the sight of Gideon was just pissing him off.
"You still need to work on your control," was the mild reply, and perhaps Gideon looked a bit smug as he said that, gaining some sort of point or satisfaction at those words. "Then again, it's not entirely unsurprising, all things considered."
He really, really disliked people who got their kicks from being enigmatic. Especially strangers who yet so clearly knew him, and were so clearly evil that their slimy hands were all over centuries worth of history. Yeah. He was so done with this conversation. Nathan gritted his teeth and lashed out at Gideon, only to find himself smoothly and expertly countered, the clashing telekinetic wavefronts spilling over. Haroun's chair went over with him in it, as did the others at the next, empty table. The table itself went flying.
Haroun chose this moment to exercise the better part of valor. He scrambled to his feet and started to gesture to the other guests, to get them to start thinking about exits and approaching them before the balloon went up and people started dying.
Nathan's attack actually drew another, seemingly genuine response from Gideon, who rose to his feet slowly, a slight tendril of power reaching out to almost fussily correct the trajectory of the table in mid-flight. "Temper, temper," he said, shaking his head at Nathan ever so slightly. "With such abilities, you must always remain in control."
Even setting everything else aside, the bare fact that this man was apparently involved in training mutant kids to be soldiers would have been enough. More than enough. Nathan lashed out again, straining against the opposing lines of force. The guests in and around the pool had already begun to react, after the first piece of flying furniture, and were doing their best to clear the area.
Waves of energy rippled merrily about - diverting rather than stopping, rerouting rather than trying to take control. "I would think you'd know about ripples by now," Gideon stated almost cheerfully, even as chairs were suddenly flung aside where they should not have been affected before, and people not quick enough to leave the premises were lifted off their feet for a brief moment, with shouts of surprise and fear.
Nathan's jaw clenched and he sliced through the lines of force. The levitating people dropped back down to the ground. #Run!# he projected at them, and aimed not at Gideon himself this time, but the concrete under his feet. If he could shake him just enough to mess up his ability to brace himself...
Gideon actually tumbled back slightly, taken off balance - for all of a second, as a brief glimmer of energy surrounded him, telekenesis holding him aloft from the ground. "Still going for minimal damage, aren't you? But everything you can do, I can now. You need to adapt faster, Nathan. Think faster." And with that, Gideon's eyes slid to the side briefly, acknowledging the approach of two more.
"Well now. That's much better. But let's see what you can really do."
And the world went mad around them.
~*~
Nathan learns a lesson in control and focus. It would probably be less galling if it wasn't delivered with his own powers.
Nathan hoped to hell that the hotel would still be standing when they were done. But he couldn't divert enough of his attention to check; it was wholly and completely taken up by the glowing figure levitating above the pool. He ought to get out of range. But if that was his telekinesis, he was not letting Gideon use it to kill innocent people...
Water blasted up out of the pool and at him with the force of a riot-control cannon. Nathan flung up a shield, and cursed as he saw more vehicles levitating in the parking lot. He caught four... no, five, and he yanked the fifth closer, using it to smash at Gideon's shields.
The shield sloped instantly, Gideon smiling faintly at him even as more water rose between them and swirled about them like a living thing, obscuring the man from view partially, though not the car as it careened off course. Whether that was by accident or by design was not something Nathan had the leisure to think about, however, as chunks of cement rose upwards as well, spraying a fine mist of dust that served to diminish visibility even more as they slammed against Nathan's shield before the car quite hit the people in its path.
...the FUCK? Nathan thought incredulously. Where the hell was this level of control coming from? He wasn't a telekinetic, he was just mimicking the ability... stealing it...
He diverted the car to the river; a weapon out of his control was just one more danger to the innocent people still in the area. It was nearly impossible to see, at least with normal vision, and Nathan's jaw set as he kicked his perceptions downwards. Just a few levels, and Gideon was perfectly visible, loops and spirals of power emanating outwards from his glowing form.
I wish I had my damned psimitar...
#You don't NEED it!# Askani was hissing at the back of his mind. #Hold to the patterns! Sever the supports!#
#I'm trying..#
#BURN THE AIR AROUND HIM IF YOU HAVE TO!#
#Rather loud, isn't she?#
The thought was clear and concise, not a single emotion bleeding through to color it. The maelstrom of dirt and water whirling about them parted only briefly, just enough for Gideon to give Nathan a piercing look.
#And it's an interesting idea, at that.#
The words hadn't even finished winding their way to Nathan's mind that the air around him erupted in fire, heat and crackling elemental rage battering his shields mercilessly.
From the inside.
Only Nathan's reaction time saved him. Even as he held his breath - a lungful of superheated air was a bad thing - he simultaneously dropped his shields and forced his perceptions down farther, down past the fractured latticework underlying the over-agitated air molecules, until he could distinguish the individual gases.
The oxygen needed to be somewhere else. Nathan pushed, and the fire swept back away from him like a withdrawing tide. Only he couldn't breathe, suddenly. His head was spinning, spots swimming in his vision. The shock of his knees hitting the concrete wasn't enough to snap him out of it.
The air was staying away, disturbingly so - until sound reached his ears, despite the ability to breathe still being denied to him. "Being unable to breathe tends to wreak havoc with one's concentration, did you know that?" Gideon came to a landing on the uneven, broken ground next to him smoothly. "And my dear boy.You were meant to use the water."
Without further ceremony, Gideon then leaned down to clap a hand on Nathan's shoulder, smiling that short-lived, razor bladed smile of his once more.
Choking, Nathan tried to push him away - but couldn't. Everything was heavy suddenly, impossibly heavy, and he didn't think it was the lack of air. His whole body ached, throbbing in time with his pulse, and he started to slump, his depth perception going all at once so that the impact with the ground came as a surprise - but a moment's surprise was all he had time for. His head hit the concrete, and everything went black.
~*~
Lorna and Alison make it outside just in time to see Nathan go down, and try to get their teammate to safety.
The scene of utter devastation surrounding them was chilling to see - no less so because of the few stragglers finally managing to make good their escape from the immediate area, leaving both Lorna and Alison only two people to concentrate upon. The man lying on the ground, unmoving, and the one kneeling beside him, placing his hand on his shoulder almost gently.
"So not good." The words were spoken quickly and lowly, Gideon recognizable to both from the composite drawing which had been added to the database since Nathan's encouter with the man. Alison stopped short, the skin at the back of her neck prickling, and then backed away slowly - Lorna's hand on her arm making it clear the motion was echoed and approved of.
"Christ," Lorna breathed, mind working quickly. "Wish I had my uniform." Certain she had Alison's EM signature, she took her hand away and gave the other woman a small nod. Smoothly they separated and Lorna called up a shield around Alison, tying it to theuniquely active EM field Dazzler generated. For her part, she stopped well out of range and looped herself into the earth, kneeling to make it easier. She'd try to get Nate out of there as soon as Alison got Gideon away from him.
Alison moved slowly, feeling something warping around her, echoing the prickle at the back of her neck from but moments before. She didn't need to look back to know Lorna was making sure to stay out of reach, would be ready to move back further at the slightest hint of Gideon trying to reach out for her magnetic ability. That he might decide to use her power was a thought that lent an undercurrent of gibbering panic to Alison's mind, though she stashed it far away for now. Something to panic about later - but not now. Now, they had other priorities.
Once she'd moved clear enough from Lorna that the man's attention would not be upon the magnetokinetic directly, Alison raised both hands and aimed - a focused blast of pure light, meant to distract and dazzle and most certainly draw the man's attention. It was followed by focused lasers bursts, not at full power - slamming into the ground right between the man's knee and Nathan's body, with pinpoint precision.
"Whatever you're doing... I don't think so."
Lowering his arm from where it had been, protecting his eyes from the bright flash of light just in time to save him from being temporarily blinded, Gideon moved - not far away from Nathan, not nearly as much as Alison would have liked, but he moved. His eyes narrowed as he pushed back and then upwards, smoothly, and then Gideon raised one eyebrow at her.
"Really? Well then. This should entertaining."
Not far enough, damn it. But if that was the best Alison could do, Lorna would work with it. The deck chair lying on its side next to Nathan dismantled itself slowly and metal wrapped around Nathan's wrist, pulling him away.
~*~
Meanwhile, Haroun and Domino try to get the civilians out of the line of fire.
All Hell had broken loose. That had become very apparent very quickly, and Haroun didn't dare get involved lest he just get in the way. That left him with crowd control. Spotting a lurking Domino, he motioned for her to join him impatiently. Dislike be damned, they were in serious danger of the entire hotel being turned into a giant abbatoir if they weren't careful.
Domino swallowed, ignoring the way that 'sixth sense' of hers was twisting and tugging, and dashed across to join Haroun. Her violet eyes roved rapidly across their surroundings, sizing up what she could feel were the most dangerous spots, most of which were occupied, damn it all to hell... "They need to be out of the parking lot, now," she said to Haroun, spotting a tour group hiding on their bus.
"You have a better chance than I do of survivng that unaltered." he said. "I can take them out by air, but that makes me a rather fat target. #Cable! Can you provide me with cover so I can airlift out the civvies?# he thought loudly.
The only answer came in the form of one of the lawn chairs flung in their general direction, presumably not by Nathan. Domino swore, ducked aside, and then shook her head doggedly. "West wing, third floor," she snapped over her shoulder at Haroun as she ran. "If there's anyone up there, get them out. I'm not sure why."
Haroun shimmied out of his shirt so that he could let the jetpack out, and then roared into the air. He didn't have the benefit of being able to luck his way out of any hostile incoming, and he couldn't actually see the magnetic lines of force or the telekinetic ones. He was risking his life, he knew that, but he made the decision to trust in his team-mates to keep him safe and alive.
There were a pair of teenagers gawking from their window on the floor Domino had indicated. One even waved at Haroun as he flew towards them.
Haroun didn't bother to wave back, but he was glad that they didn't panic. He saw the people Domino had been referring to - a man, a woman, and a baby. Swearing under his breath, he touched down and extended out his hand to them. In Arabic, he said "Don't be startled. We have to get you to safety right now. This hotel is no longer safe."
The woman, astoundingly, didn't question or hesitate for a moment. While her husband was still sputtering, shooting incredulous looks at the fight going on by the pool, she rearranged her baby securely in one arm, hushing it anxiously as she reached out for Haroun's hand.
Haroun took her hand in his - very soft, really - and then looked to the man. "We do not have much time. Let me save your family!"
The man seemed to shake himself. "Take them first," he said, or started to say - and then gaped in horror as cars went flying in the parking lot.
In the parking lot, Domino missed being flattened by a Humvee by inches. Cursing, she leapt back to her feet and headed doggedly for the tour bus. "Get off!" she shouted in English, repeating it in Arabic. "Now! You're not safe!"
"No time!" Haroun said, grabbing the man and then jetting into the air. He had to get them down quickly before his power burned them, but he also had to make sure they got well-clear. He touched down with them in the hotel parking lot. "Do you have an automobile? Take it and get out of town. Forget your things - come back tomorrow, and if the hotel is still standing you can recover them then. Take this..." he said, digging his wallet from his back pocket and giving the man the last of his spending money. "Go!" he said, then roared back into the air to rescue the next set of people he could.
The folks on the bus had apparently got the idea and started to push and jostle to get out the sole exit. A few yanked open the windows and managed to squeeze through, and Domino herded them in the opposite direction from the hotel. "Just run," she shouted over the shrieks and cries. "Get as far away as you can..." The driver was the last off - admirable, in a way - but he tumbled down almost on top of her as the bus began to move. Not in the normal sort of way, either. It started to levitate, and Domino swore, her eyes going back to the wing of the hotel Haroun had just started back towards.
Haroun was just about to touch down and start a room-by-room sweep of this wing of the hotel when he saw the bus. Headed straight for him. He instantly headed for the sky, to get some altitude and to see if he could draw the bus-thrower to hurl it at him and not the survivors in the hotel.
For a moment, it looked like it would. But then the bus froze in mid-air - and changed course, flung away on a high arc towards the river.
Haroun flew back into the hotel to search for survivors. "Everybody out! NOW! I will lead you to safety, but you MUST leave NOW!"
~*~
Alison calls in the cavalry, and Cain's secret turns out to be what's needed to tip the scales.
The bus had been set down, after something of a tug of war and Nathan had been hauled out of reach. Lorna had set up a nicely satisfying sound of grinding metal which she'd probably hate herself for once this was all said and done, but it was powering up Alison nicely enough, combined with the suit's embedded sonic generators, that she could at least... make sure to call for back up while Lorna tried to get Nathan entirely out of synching distance.
The flash of annoyance which crossed Gideon's features at Nathan being almost nudged out of what she guesstimated was his range wasn't good. Nor was the way Nathan had stopped moving, or the swearing she was hearing coming from Lorna.
But she had an ace up her sleeve.
~Dazzler to Juggernaut. He synchs to mutant powers only. Polaris almost has Nathan our of his range and he's not looking happy about it. Pool area, up front and center – he's all yours.~
Cain paused in the middle of the intersection, traffic stopping around him as the seven-foot-tall man in the bulky jacket paused, placing his hand to his ear. "Pool's around back, right? Gimme thirty seconds. Describe the guy to me."
As he spoke, Cain shrugged off his loose-fitting jacket, dropping it to the street. He flexed his hands into fists, glancing up to see the hotel rising above the buildings, sixteen blocks away. He lowered his shoulder, and the Juggernaut began to move, the ground shaking with each step that increased in speed, until Cain was at a full run straight for the hotel.
~You have ten seconds.~
A hail of concrete blocks rained down upon them, the walls of the hotel shredded as throwaway ammunition. The shielding Lorna was holding crackled in sudden intensity as her swearing suddenly stopped, Nathan's body slipping away from them by two precious feet.
~Cable is out. He's dragging him back towards him. Just aim for the guy floating in the middle of the pool area. Using Nathan's powers.~
She took aim, letting loose with a barrage of intense light with a sick feeling to her gut. She couldn't hold back, but she couldn't go full out. If he diverted even one of her lasers, there was no telling where it might hit. And he was moving closer to them, closer to Nathan. Steadily getting them all into his synching range, with that dammably amused smirk she could sometimes see through the cement battering at them. And the water suddenly whipped around and crashing into the ground nearby like a living thing.
"In the middle of the... fuck it. Incoming." Cain lowered his shoulder and aimed directly at the wrought-iron fence, knowing it would collapse like a wall of pipe cleaners before his charge.
As the fence gave way before him, Cain immediately took in the surroundings. Utter chaos was his first evaluation, then he saw the man in the linen suit smirking, the water smashing down around him as he moved his left hand fluidly, chunks of concrete spinning in a tornado as he gestured with his right.
Two steps backwards, and Gideon was on solid ground. And looking the other way. Curling one hand into a fist, Cain Marko rushed forward...
Gideon snapped his head around, one hand upraised, the fist stopping a few mere inches from his head. From the corner of his eye, Cain could see Lorna suddenly go flying back as the tug of war ceased, Nathan in tow. Alison backed away as well rapidly, both women and the unconscious man rapidly falling out of sight. Gideon noted their departure, but shrugged it off, curling one lip slightly as he glared at Cain.
"You were hard to spot, there. Interesting." Twisting his hand, he pushed away from himself, catching Cain in a telekinetic wave that sent him flying.
All of twenty feet away, drawing a disgusted huff from the man.
"They know to get distance quickly, I'll give them that," Gideon commented idly, before eyeing Cain contemplatively. "Well then, I'll just make do, I suppose." Smugness tinted the smile as he turned to face Cain fully, a look of concentration soon taking over.
And then slow, dawning surprise and realization followed.
"You're not a mutant."
"Ain't that a bitch?" Cain said with a smile, moving forward. Gideon raised a hand again, but Cain felt the wave of telekinetic power wash past him like a stiff breeze. "By the way," he remarked, taking one long step and drawing his fist back, "I can't be stopped, if you haven't heard."
One straight jab from the shoulder struck Gideon in the chest, and only by telekinetically throwing himself backwards did he keep his ribcage from collapsing like a barrel. Landing lightly on his feet across the pool, he thrust both hands forward, firing basketball-sized chunks of concrete and steel at Cain like artillery shells.
Every attempt was met with less than a blink, as the barrage of debris shattered harmlessly against Cain's invulnerable mass. With a small jump, Cain landed in a crouch in the empty pool, then launched himself forward, slamming his fists into the side and collapsing it in a landslide of concrete and dirt.
Gideon solidified the collapsing dirt under his feet, gaining enough balance to float over Cain, yanking cables out of the ground and the air to shower him with high voltage electricity, but to no effect. "What ARE you?" he breathed, stricken with wonder.
Cain Marko turned around, a smirk turning into a feral grin. "I'm the Juggernaut, asshole. And you're in my way."
A slow grin answered him, etched tightly on Gideon's face while he tilted his head to the side. Towards the street.
"As are they."
And while Cain was too heavy to be moved by Gideon now, and impervious to anything the man might throw at him – the old rickety tourist bus which had been driving down the street sedately, only to gather speed in an attempt to get away from the chaos unfolding at the nearby...
...was not.
The bus suddenly dipped forward as the cement cracked underneath it, the back pushed forward oh so helpfully, sending it into a full flip towards the pool area.
"Shit," Cain breathed, keying the communicator. "Juggernaut disengaging, gotta keep the civilians out of oh the hell with it."
Cain sprinted into the path of the careening bus, lashing out and slamming his hands into the grill, bending the metal under his fingers like clay. He ran forward, knowing that if he just stopped the bus, everyone inside would be squashed into jelly.
Lifting the vehicle over his head, Cain backpedaled, turning with the momentum, trying to keep his eye on Gideon. But the older man was nowhere to be found. "Lost sight of him!" he hollered over the communicator. "Anyone got eyes on?"
There was mingled relief and annoyance in Lorna's voice as she spoke through the comm, still breathing heavily.
~Tracking him – fancy lighter. But he's fading fast into the rest of the metal noise. Moving away from us. Heading back to the plane now, keeping Cable away from him. Polaris out.~
Silence reigned for a few moments, accompanied only by the occasional sound of rubble skittering to the floor.
Finally, a window from the now upside down bus cracked open, cautiously, and a voice wavered out politely.
"Um. I think you can set us down now, sir."
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