xp_logs | Masque | The abduction

After a sudden inspiration thanks to Kyle, Ororo and Kurt decide to tip the odds in their favor.

Three days. Three days of searching and still nothing. Normally Ororo was a patient person, able to put up with most any nerve-wracking test with a serene and unruffled countenance. But even she was beginning to feel the stress that came with knowing that somewhere out there was a madman hurting people, and they had no more luck finding him than a needle in a haystack.

She glanced up at her XO, smiling tightly across the table at him. Once again they found themselves in a coffee shop, going over their tactics. "Let's try this once more, shall we?" she murmured. She looked back down at the small map between them, tracing a finger over the streets as she spoke. "We have been here... here.. on this street twice. And no trace of suspicious activity."

"Perhaps it is time we tried somewhere else", he suggested, though with no clear idea yet of where that somewhere else might be.

"The attacks are random, though a few more seem to be centered around here," 'Ro said, tapping the paper. "We have limited ourselves to places with fewer people, but that has not drawn them out... I feel as if there is something important, something we are missing..." She sat back, pursing her lips as she tried to recall all the data they had gathered on the attacks and the victims. Something was bothering her, something she had heard, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it...

"It may be time to start broadening the search. We cannot be everywhere at once, but perhaps if we move out from here...?"

"Yes... I almost wish we could have more teams working on this, but I would not want to put anyone else at risk." 'Ro shook her head, picking up her cup of tea and taking a sip. Replacing it on the saucer, she then lifted the blueberry scone she had ordered, sniffing at it before taking a bite. In the middle of chewing she paused, then hurriedly swallowed.

"Kurt, if I were to say to you that the attackers smelled of gas... what would you think?"

He blinked. "What kind of gas would you mean?"

"Well... I spoke with Kyle several days ago, to see if there was anything he could remember about the men who attacked him. He said they smelled of gas... poo gas, he said," 'Ro said with an unreadable expression.

Kurt kept a straight face, with some effort. "I see. Well, if that suggests anything... the sewers?"

"Yes!" 'Ro's eyes lit up, and she nodded. "That is exactly what I could not place. But you are right. Perhaps these men are from the sewers... or at least near them. We have not focused on that area yet."

"Perhaps we should locate places where they could come out onto the street?"

She nodded again, hurriedly picking up her cup and drinking the rest. "Yes, exactly. Let us contact the mansion to find the most likely places, and then we will go from there."

Unfortunately, it works just a little too well.

An hour later Kurt was trailing Ororo as she walked through the streets towards a sewer access point that had shown up on the city map Haller had pulled up back at the Mansion. It was perhaps not the stealthiest of plans, but they needed to up the stakes if they were to find what they were looking for.

Ororo walked along easily enough, though she was alert to every sound around her. It was late enough that the shadows were deep and the streets quiet, and she could smell the slightly putrid smell of methane gas as they neared the sewer entrance. #Do you see anything?#

#Nothing#, he said with a frown, peering into the darkness. #Not yet.#

All of a sudden, three figures melted out of the shadows besides Ororo, converging on her without a word. #Kurt!# An icy gust of wind caused them to stagger a bit, but it died down almost immediately as she felt a stinging in her neck, and then everything went black.

Kurt's head snapped up, and he raced towards where she was, hastily calling for help over the switchboard.

Faster than he could’ve predicted the figures retreated into the sewer entrance, their dark cloaks blending into the shadows and muffling their footsteps as they carried Ororo away. Kurt was left alone on the street, facing the choice to stay and wait for the team or to follow the hooded figures into the sewers.