Living Pele: Red X Day 2
Dec. 17th, 2006 09:10 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsLaurie uses her powers to sooth a drunk from a wedding party as she helps load people onto the boats.
Laurie took the arm of a rather frail looking woman from one of the local retirement villages and helped her across the brief walk to one of the waiting boats. Crowds had been gathering since word of the evacuation had gone out, and now, a day afterwards, it was almost a sea of people.
Various volunteers had been drafted to help shepherd the growing crowd, and Laurie had stayed to help after dropping off the pensioners from a local retirement community. She'd been working steadily since mid morning but wasn't yet tired. There would be time for exhaustion later. She handed off Charlotte, a retired nurse, to one of the many men waiting at the entrance of the ship and headed back to the line of people.
The next group was a big one, mostly young men and women. As their details were taken, Laurie overheard one woman explaining they were a wedding party, travelling to Hawaii for the ceremony. For the most part they were cooperative, but even as Laurie approached, one of the guests, a big blonde frat boy type, began complaining in the loud and obnoxious tones of someone who had had a bit too much to drink. The flask clutched in one hand being waved around added weight to the theory.
"How long do we have to stand around here, huh? We, we were at a party! Biiiig wedding party for my bud... um..." He paused, obviously trying to remember the name, and one of the other guests rolled his eyes and took his arm, only to be shrugged off. "Let go of me, man! I wanna... I wanna lodge a complaint! That's it! I wanna complain 'bout these bastards, making us leave a perfectly good party, ruining my bud's wedding..." Then he caught sight of Laurie, and peered down at her. "Hey, it's a cute little high school girl. You like a candy striper or something? Hey, do you wanna drink?"
Laurie looked up, and then up some more at the tall man. She really hoped he wasn't the type to get physically violent because she had no idea how she'd stop the guy. Well, she supposed she could call out for one of the National guard but she really didn't want to disturb them for what was essentially a drunken lout. "Sir, considering I'm only sixteen years old, it would be illegal for me to be drinking. And I think it's about time you stopped as well. Now, please, can you get back in line. I assure you, you'll be on the ship in no time."
There, that had sounded professional and calm, not nervous at all. You just had to be firm with them, that's what her Mom always said. Drunken guys were like puppies...big, drunken puppies, that peed all over your rug.
He grimaced, shaking the flask in her face one more time. "Sure you don't wanna? I won't tell... No?" When Laurie refused to take the offered drink, he brought the flask up to his own lips and had a healthy swig. "Ah, that's the stuff. How long are we gonna have to wait around for? I mean, this is supposed to be a wedding. You don't stand around in a line at a wedding."
"Unfortunately, sir, volcano's don't pay much attention to weddings and when you're evacuating from an island due to imminent eruption, then you do have to stand in a line." Laurie replied, trying to get the idea that the party was over through the guy's head.
"Screw that!" he declared loudly, and heads turned in their direction. Another of the evacuation personnel started making his way towards them, to help out the young girl. "Hey, I didn't even get to dance. At my bud's wedding. How unfair is that?" The frat boy type looked down at Laurie and grinned. "You'll dance with me, won't you sweetheart? Here, c'mon, let's dance right now, while we're waiting." And with that he made a clumsy grab for Laurie's hands.
Laurie felt herself grabbed and swung around in a circle, her eyes widening slightly as she realised if she didn't calm herself down than this guy was going to get way more then he bargained for. Heck, if she could think of some way to get the guy to behave himself at the same time, that would be nice as well.
She'd been training with her powers for awhile now, and while she still wasn't great at the area effect abilities, she'd managed to get the touch ones fairly under control when she was concentrating. Like now, she really needed to concentrate...the being swung around in a circle wasn't helping much.
"Sir, please. Would you just...Oh for God's sake, would you just damn well sober up already." Laurie shouted finally, frustrated and intensely wishing that this guy wasn't drunk and behaving like a complete ass.
It was like he'd been hit with a hammer. Possibly the Clue Hammer - his eyes crossed momentarily and he stumbled back, letting go of Laurie and raising his hands to his head. "What...?" he began, and then blinked. "God damn," he said, as the last vestiges of drunkenness evaporated like mist. Looking at Laurie, he asked, or tried to: "What did you... I'm not...?"
Not good. Not good to use your mutant powers in the middle of a bunch of people who didn't know you were a mutant, and thus couldn't be trusted not to react with panic. This just got better and better, she'd have to try and salvage this somehow.
"Sir, please. Could you just get back into line. I promise you, you'll be on the next ship out of here but you need to stop making such a fuss." Laurie replied calmly, not letting any of the panic show in her eyes or voice.
She had no idea what had happened, she'd wanted the guy sober, and suddenly, he was. Something to do with her power, obviously but she hadn't known she could do that. She'd need to talk to the teachers when she got back, figure this out, but she had to get this fixed first.
"Um, sure, yeah, whatever you say..." The man was very much subdued, stepping back into his place in line meekly. "Look, miss, I'm sorry if I was being an asshole. I get like that when I'm drunk," he said, still confused about how suddenly he wasn't, but very much away of the fed-up expressions of his friends. "I'll just... Hey, Rob? Hold this for me until we get where we're going..." He handed his flask to his friend. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked Laurie.
"No, it's alright. A little dancing never hurt anyone." Laurie replied, grinning in relief.
It didn't cost her anything to reassure the guy and she was just so happy that things hadn't gotten out of hand, and he didn't seem to realise she'd done anything at all, or at least he wasn't linking it to her anyway, so that was a good thing.
He laughed a little, still bemused. "Yeah, well, you're just trying to do your job. Sorry to make it harder, kid."
"Well, not so much now, and, I think this is your queue to board the ship. Just, don't fall overboard or anything, okay?" Laurie replied, grinning brightly at him as she waved the wedding party toward the ship.
-----
Clarice is sent to bring some people who are resistant to the evac down whether they like it or not. In the end, she's not sure who succeeded.
Clarice looked at the topographical map of the island and up the side of the volcano. "So let me get this straight," she said, gesturing with a pencil, "There are people up there in a timeshare refusing to leave?" what morons. "And I gotta go up there and force them down via any means necessarry."
The Red-X coordinator just nodded and stabbed the map with the eraser end of a pencil before moving on to the next volunteer to give her her instructions.
"Bloody hell," Clarice muttered, sticking the pencil behind her ear and takingg her Red X baseball hat out of her back pocket, "Stupid tourists," she continued muttering as she adjusted her waterbottle holder and began hiking up the mountain. She was not going to teleport there until she could see it, with the dense trees who knew where she'd land.
After nearly an hour of climbing she was beginning to get glimpses of the house so she could teleport short distances to help things go faster. Finally she reached the driveway. "House," she said dubiously looking at it above her, "Mansion. Too bad I'm not very impressed," after living at Xavier's for nearly three years it look more than just some floor to ceiling windows and stucco to impress her.
Nobody came out to greet the teleporting purple girl, but the place still had power - the lights were on and the dim hum of the air-conditioning unit could be heard. There was no car in the driveway, but the garage door was closed. The place was fairly well-maintained - neat rows of plants around the walks with an eye towards feng shui.
Nodding to herself, Clarice rang the doorbell. And waited. And rang it again, multiple times. Annoying was a good start. Pausing for a moment, she debated pounding on the door versus just teleporting inside. Banging with her fist won out. She was attempting something resembling politeness.
Eventually, the door cracked open to reveal a kindly white-haired man in a tropical suit and a Panama hat. "Sorry, but we're not leaving." the man said in a nearly-sterotypical New Jersey accent before closing the door in Clarice's face.
"Uhuh," Clarice shoved her foot in the door, "Not an option, sir. You gotta go."
The man looked at her foot then back at her. "We're fully-aware of the dangers, but I'm sorry. My mind's made up. We're staying. Please respect our decision." the man said. "We have food, water, electricity, and medical supplies."
No wonder the coordinator sent her up here to take them by force if needed. "I can't do that," she said, taking her hat off and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, "See, you stay and it won't matter what supplies you have. You'll be a crispy fritter. And me? I don't like my humans burned to crisp."
"I don't think we'll have any troubles." the man said kindly. "This is our home now, and we won't abandon it. Besides, on the radio they said that it was Pele reborn that was causing the volcanos. Pele won't hurt us." he said confidently.
Right of course. Pele might not intend to, "The road to hell and all that," she said, "is your wife around?"
She can't come to the door right now, but she's here." he said with a smile. "You know, you seem like a nice young lady to me. Would you like a glass of water?" he asked her.
This was so many shade of wrong. If she had a spider sense, it would be tingling. "No, I'd like to see your wife."
The man shrugged and backed away from the door - leaving it latched but open. A few moments later he wheeled his wife in so that Clarice could see her. "Say hello, Ethel!" the man said, and the woman in the chair waved feebly. "This is our home and our dream. I worked for a lot of years to be able to bring Ethel and I to Hawaii for our retirement."
Drastic times called for less than polite measures, "Good to meet you ma'am," Clarice took her hand gentle, "I'm Clarice. And I promise, you're going to stay in Hawaii." Opening a teleporation disk she deposited the three of them in the area of the Red X control tent set aside for her. "Unfortunantly, it's not going to be at your house."
"HEY!" the man said angrily, blinking at the sudden change of location. "You can't do this to us!"
"You know what orders are, Mr. Manning? They are orderz," the pronounced the last word in a bad french accent like Target versus Tar-jay, It was a rip from a movie and she didn't care, "But feel free to walk back up to your house. I won't stop you."
The man straightened his suit, grabbed his wife's wheelchair, and began to do precisely that - wheel her back up to their home on the volcano-side.
Oh shit. Not cool. Not cool at all! "Look, Mr. Manning, you can't go back until after the evacuation is over! I mean, you don't want to die do you? And be responsible for your wifes death?" She lied. She was going to stop them. "What's more imporant? A house that can be rebuilt or your wife?"
"That house is all we have." he said around gritted teeth. "Pele would never hurt us. I used to be a minister, and my theological degree was focused on Polynesian goddesses. I know Pele. I know how to placate her. She'd never hurt her faithful." he said with the smile of a True Believer. "Isn't that right, Ethel?" he asked his wife, who just smiled in response.
Closing her eyes Clarice counted to ten in English and then in Arabic, then in Spanish. "You remember San Diego? Mutant? This is not really Pele. This is a mutant. And she doesn't care that you're faithful or if you make your sacrifices."
"Don't be foolish." Mr Manning said with a smile. "We'll be fine. Why don't you run along and take care of the people who want and need your help?"
"Because I like fighting uphill battles with suicidal theologians and running into walls!" Clarice was getting annoyed now, "Go if you want! But leave Ethel with me and I'll bring her back safe and sound when everything is okay."
"Ethel? Do you want to stay with the nice mutant girl with the others or would you rather be with me in the home we bought together?" he asked his wife kindly. Much to Mr Manning's surprise, she indicated that she'd just as soon stay. "Are you sure?" he asked her, and then sighed. "If you wish. Please, miss, take care of my wife. She's the best thing I've got in my life." he said urgently. "Bring her back to me."
Clarice was trying not to cry. This was terrible, "I want to," she said, voice breaking, "But I'm afraid you won't be there to bring her back to, and then where will she go? Please, stay with your wife," she was begging and she didn't care. She wiped her eyes with the back of a dirty fist.
Mr Manning didn't respond, but kept walking back up the road that would lead to his house.
-----
Crystal reflects on her second assignment with Red X after helping a particularly testy woman
"Miss? Miss? Excuse me," a slightly nasal voice called out. The woman in front of Crystal tapped one foot impatiently as the young girl took a moment to turn around. "How much longer are they going to keep us in here?"
"I am sorry, I do not know the answer to your question. If you will wait a moment, I will find the answer for you," Crystal said apologetically. She was in a waiting area, functioning as a mutant air conditioning unit, not that the woman speaking to her was aware that Crystal's power was keeping the area cooler than it should have been.
The woman crossed her arms, raising her nose up high in the air. "There are too many people," she said with a gesture around at the small group of people in the room. "I need more privacy. I demand to be taken to a less crowded location."
Crystal had to hide a laugh, wondering if that was how certain people at the mansion viewed her and Medusa, even though neither of them had ever done that while at Xavier's. Oh, they knew how to pull it off, and there had definitely been times that Crystal had been tempted to act like the snooty brat people assumed she was, but that would have gotten her nowhere fast.
"I understand what it is like to feel the need for privacy," Crystal told the woman. "Unfortunately, the situation we are in does not allow for that right now. There are many people who need to be evacuated and all of them need a place to wait until it is their turn to leave."
The exasparated sigh that the woman let out was a clear indication that she was not pleased with the answer, but since Crystal had responded so politely, there was nothing she could use to continue complaining. Walking off, she began inspecting the room, obviously looking for something else to criticize.
"You know, most of the student volunteers we get aren't able to remain that calm when faced with someone like that," a young native woman said, smiling at Crystal. "Have you been volunteering for Red-X for a long time?" Kalikala asked.
Once again, another point for being polite. "No, only for five months," Crystal replied. "I went with Red X to San Diego in July." It was funny how things worked out sometimes; only six months ago she had been here, in Hawaii. Less than a week later, she'd been at Xavier's, and a few short weeks after that she'd found herself volunteering for Red X in San Diego. Now here she was, back in Hawaii, but for entirely different reasons this time around.
"And I know you are performing double duty in here," Kalikala replied with a raised eyebrow. "When," she said, stressing the word, "you need a rest, we have a couple rooms that aren't being used as waiting areas." The woman turned from Crystal for a moment to talk quietly with a sandy haired boy who had just entered the room.
Crystal nodded at Kalikala. Yes, this time she would take a break even before she felt the need for one. After all, she'd promised Medusa that she would be careful. There was no need to overwork herself, even if her feet were not going to move more than half an inch above the ground. Crystal wished she could help out in other ways, but she knew that this was helping, too.
-----
Shiro is helping to evacuate the dorms at the University of Hawaii as he gets frustrated not being able to get ahold of Alex. Jared comes to find him to tell him that Alex hasn't come back from helping Dr. Rocca and now he's worried.
The few times that Shiro had tapped into the full extent of his powers, he'd been too drained to notice the effect on the environment around him. The air in Hawaii gave him an idea of what it must be like, though. It felt as if he were walking through fire, and the stench of the volcanic gases, even this far away from the volcano itself, burned his nostrils. He'd found himself praying to the kami the moment he stepped off the plane to ask them to help him keep the victims safe. And though he'd already done an excellent job with that, there was still someone he had yet to rescue.
"Pick up the damn phone, Alex," he growled into his cell phone as residents from one of the U of H dorms (near Alex's apartment, in fact) fled to the dozen trucks waiting to pick them up.
Jared had heard that part of Red X was evacuating the dorms and thus that's where he was headed. He hoped that's where Shiro was, as he knew Alex's friend was on the island because he'd come by the apartment a few times. Dodging some students, Jared couldn't help biting his lip. Alex had been at the Kilauea lab when all this had started and while it wasn't surprising the blond had been delayed, he should be back by now and Jared was getting worried. He'd had no contact whatsoever from Alex and it was time to go looking for him.
"I really am going to fucking kill you when this is over," Shiro promised Alex's voice mail before slamming his phone shut and turning his attention back to the evacuation. The dorm was nearly empty, only the stragglers finally leaving with what he hoped were just the bare necessities. Unlike that one girl who'd come out with two full suitcases and had been ready to go back for more before she was promptly told that she was an idiot.
Shiro was under a lot of stress.
With the all clear sign given, Shiro was about to head to the next community of dorms when he saw Alex's roommate heading towards him, looking even more nervous than everyone else. "Jared, what are you doing here? I thought that you were safe here." Or safeish, really.
"I am. But Alex isn't and he hasn't come back from the lab." Jared responded sternly, an odd look on the normally happy and laid back Hawaiian. "He should be back by now, the experiment was only supposed to go on for two days. Even if he waited until they finished, he should have been back. Something's wrong."
"And he is at Kilauea, right?" asked Shiro. He gazed at the dim image of the volcano in the distance. He felt something nagging at him in the back of his head, like he was forgetting something important. A pull of sorts. And the fact that he couldn't pinpoint the feeling just made him even more frustrated.
Jared nodded, moving past Shiro for a moment to help a girl pick up a pillow she'd dropped, giving her a bright smile, before turning back to Shiro. "Exactly. I thought maybe since he was with Dr. Rocca, who's native, he'd be okay. And maybe he is, maybe he's staying at the lab under her protection." Jared followed Shiro's glance to the volcano. "I can't get through to him and I can't get close enough to do any good. But you could." Jared knew all about Shiro's mutation from talking with Alex. If anybody could find him, his best friend could.
Which would probably be blatantly against the rules of the evacuation, and definitely bad without notifying the X-Men. But this was for Alex's sake, so ultimately rules be damned. Shiro nodded and shifted his gaze back from the volcano to Jared. "I will do what I can. And Jared? Stay safe. This thing might be offering you sanctuary now, but even in my limited experience, I can tell you that this guarantee is . . . flexible." Namely, say one wrong word and you're shark bait.
"My younger siblings are already with relatives in the states. I was supposed to go but I wasn't going to leave Alex." He nodded with his reply, knowing full well what Shiro was saying. The Hawaiian reached out and put a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Find him. Please Shiro." Then Jared dropped his hand, looking around.
Shiro reached into his pocket again to retrieve his cell phone and selected number 4 on his speed dial. "Mister Summers? This is Shiro. We have a . . . situation."
Laurie took the arm of a rather frail looking woman from one of the local retirement villages and helped her across the brief walk to one of the waiting boats. Crowds had been gathering since word of the evacuation had gone out, and now, a day afterwards, it was almost a sea of people.
Various volunteers had been drafted to help shepherd the growing crowd, and Laurie had stayed to help after dropping off the pensioners from a local retirement community. She'd been working steadily since mid morning but wasn't yet tired. There would be time for exhaustion later. She handed off Charlotte, a retired nurse, to one of the many men waiting at the entrance of the ship and headed back to the line of people.
The next group was a big one, mostly young men and women. As their details were taken, Laurie overheard one woman explaining they were a wedding party, travelling to Hawaii for the ceremony. For the most part they were cooperative, but even as Laurie approached, one of the guests, a big blonde frat boy type, began complaining in the loud and obnoxious tones of someone who had had a bit too much to drink. The flask clutched in one hand being waved around added weight to the theory.
"How long do we have to stand around here, huh? We, we were at a party! Biiiig wedding party for my bud... um..." He paused, obviously trying to remember the name, and one of the other guests rolled his eyes and took his arm, only to be shrugged off. "Let go of me, man! I wanna... I wanna lodge a complaint! That's it! I wanna complain 'bout these bastards, making us leave a perfectly good party, ruining my bud's wedding..." Then he caught sight of Laurie, and peered down at her. "Hey, it's a cute little high school girl. You like a candy striper or something? Hey, do you wanna drink?"
Laurie looked up, and then up some more at the tall man. She really hoped he wasn't the type to get physically violent because she had no idea how she'd stop the guy. Well, she supposed she could call out for one of the National guard but she really didn't want to disturb them for what was essentially a drunken lout. "Sir, considering I'm only sixteen years old, it would be illegal for me to be drinking. And I think it's about time you stopped as well. Now, please, can you get back in line. I assure you, you'll be on the ship in no time."
There, that had sounded professional and calm, not nervous at all. You just had to be firm with them, that's what her Mom always said. Drunken guys were like puppies...big, drunken puppies, that peed all over your rug.
He grimaced, shaking the flask in her face one more time. "Sure you don't wanna? I won't tell... No?" When Laurie refused to take the offered drink, he brought the flask up to his own lips and had a healthy swig. "Ah, that's the stuff. How long are we gonna have to wait around for? I mean, this is supposed to be a wedding. You don't stand around in a line at a wedding."
"Unfortunately, sir, volcano's don't pay much attention to weddings and when you're evacuating from an island due to imminent eruption, then you do have to stand in a line." Laurie replied, trying to get the idea that the party was over through the guy's head.
"Screw that!" he declared loudly, and heads turned in their direction. Another of the evacuation personnel started making his way towards them, to help out the young girl. "Hey, I didn't even get to dance. At my bud's wedding. How unfair is that?" The frat boy type looked down at Laurie and grinned. "You'll dance with me, won't you sweetheart? Here, c'mon, let's dance right now, while we're waiting." And with that he made a clumsy grab for Laurie's hands.
Laurie felt herself grabbed and swung around in a circle, her eyes widening slightly as she realised if she didn't calm herself down than this guy was going to get way more then he bargained for. Heck, if she could think of some way to get the guy to behave himself at the same time, that would be nice as well.
She'd been training with her powers for awhile now, and while she still wasn't great at the area effect abilities, she'd managed to get the touch ones fairly under control when she was concentrating. Like now, she really needed to concentrate...the being swung around in a circle wasn't helping much.
"Sir, please. Would you just...Oh for God's sake, would you just damn well sober up already." Laurie shouted finally, frustrated and intensely wishing that this guy wasn't drunk and behaving like a complete ass.
It was like he'd been hit with a hammer. Possibly the Clue Hammer - his eyes crossed momentarily and he stumbled back, letting go of Laurie and raising his hands to his head. "What...?" he began, and then blinked. "God damn," he said, as the last vestiges of drunkenness evaporated like mist. Looking at Laurie, he asked, or tried to: "What did you... I'm not...?"
Not good. Not good to use your mutant powers in the middle of a bunch of people who didn't know you were a mutant, and thus couldn't be trusted not to react with panic. This just got better and better, she'd have to try and salvage this somehow.
"Sir, please. Could you just get back into line. I promise you, you'll be on the next ship out of here but you need to stop making such a fuss." Laurie replied calmly, not letting any of the panic show in her eyes or voice.
She had no idea what had happened, she'd wanted the guy sober, and suddenly, he was. Something to do with her power, obviously but she hadn't known she could do that. She'd need to talk to the teachers when she got back, figure this out, but she had to get this fixed first.
"Um, sure, yeah, whatever you say..." The man was very much subdued, stepping back into his place in line meekly. "Look, miss, I'm sorry if I was being an asshole. I get like that when I'm drunk," he said, still confused about how suddenly he wasn't, but very much away of the fed-up expressions of his friends. "I'll just... Hey, Rob? Hold this for me until we get where we're going..." He handed his flask to his friend. "I didn't hurt you, did I?" he asked Laurie.
"No, it's alright. A little dancing never hurt anyone." Laurie replied, grinning in relief.
It didn't cost her anything to reassure the guy and she was just so happy that things hadn't gotten out of hand, and he didn't seem to realise she'd done anything at all, or at least he wasn't linking it to her anyway, so that was a good thing.
He laughed a little, still bemused. "Yeah, well, you're just trying to do your job. Sorry to make it harder, kid."
"Well, not so much now, and, I think this is your queue to board the ship. Just, don't fall overboard or anything, okay?" Laurie replied, grinning brightly at him as she waved the wedding party toward the ship.
-----
Clarice is sent to bring some people who are resistant to the evac down whether they like it or not. In the end, she's not sure who succeeded.
Clarice looked at the topographical map of the island and up the side of the volcano. "So let me get this straight," she said, gesturing with a pencil, "There are people up there in a timeshare refusing to leave?" what morons. "And I gotta go up there and force them down via any means necessarry."
The Red-X coordinator just nodded and stabbed the map with the eraser end of a pencil before moving on to the next volunteer to give her her instructions.
"Bloody hell," Clarice muttered, sticking the pencil behind her ear and takingg her Red X baseball hat out of her back pocket, "Stupid tourists," she continued muttering as she adjusted her waterbottle holder and began hiking up the mountain. She was not going to teleport there until she could see it, with the dense trees who knew where she'd land.
After nearly an hour of climbing she was beginning to get glimpses of the house so she could teleport short distances to help things go faster. Finally she reached the driveway. "House," she said dubiously looking at it above her, "Mansion. Too bad I'm not very impressed," after living at Xavier's for nearly three years it look more than just some floor to ceiling windows and stucco to impress her.
Nobody came out to greet the teleporting purple girl, but the place still had power - the lights were on and the dim hum of the air-conditioning unit could be heard. There was no car in the driveway, but the garage door was closed. The place was fairly well-maintained - neat rows of plants around the walks with an eye towards feng shui.
Nodding to herself, Clarice rang the doorbell. And waited. And rang it again, multiple times. Annoying was a good start. Pausing for a moment, she debated pounding on the door versus just teleporting inside. Banging with her fist won out. She was attempting something resembling politeness.
Eventually, the door cracked open to reveal a kindly white-haired man in a tropical suit and a Panama hat. "Sorry, but we're not leaving." the man said in a nearly-sterotypical New Jersey accent before closing the door in Clarice's face.
"Uhuh," Clarice shoved her foot in the door, "Not an option, sir. You gotta go."
The man looked at her foot then back at her. "We're fully-aware of the dangers, but I'm sorry. My mind's made up. We're staying. Please respect our decision." the man said. "We have food, water, electricity, and medical supplies."
No wonder the coordinator sent her up here to take them by force if needed. "I can't do that," she said, taking her hat off and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, "See, you stay and it won't matter what supplies you have. You'll be a crispy fritter. And me? I don't like my humans burned to crisp."
"I don't think we'll have any troubles." the man said kindly. "This is our home now, and we won't abandon it. Besides, on the radio they said that it was Pele reborn that was causing the volcanos. Pele won't hurt us." he said confidently.
Right of course. Pele might not intend to, "The road to hell and all that," she said, "is your wife around?"
She can't come to the door right now, but she's here." he said with a smile. "You know, you seem like a nice young lady to me. Would you like a glass of water?" he asked her.
This was so many shade of wrong. If she had a spider sense, it would be tingling. "No, I'd like to see your wife."
The man shrugged and backed away from the door - leaving it latched but open. A few moments later he wheeled his wife in so that Clarice could see her. "Say hello, Ethel!" the man said, and the woman in the chair waved feebly. "This is our home and our dream. I worked for a lot of years to be able to bring Ethel and I to Hawaii for our retirement."
Drastic times called for less than polite measures, "Good to meet you ma'am," Clarice took her hand gentle, "I'm Clarice. And I promise, you're going to stay in Hawaii." Opening a teleporation disk she deposited the three of them in the area of the Red X control tent set aside for her. "Unfortunantly, it's not going to be at your house."
"HEY!" the man said angrily, blinking at the sudden change of location. "You can't do this to us!"
"You know what orders are, Mr. Manning? They are orderz," the pronounced the last word in a bad french accent like Target versus Tar-jay, It was a rip from a movie and she didn't care, "But feel free to walk back up to your house. I won't stop you."
The man straightened his suit, grabbed his wife's wheelchair, and began to do precisely that - wheel her back up to their home on the volcano-side.
Oh shit. Not cool. Not cool at all! "Look, Mr. Manning, you can't go back until after the evacuation is over! I mean, you don't want to die do you? And be responsible for your wifes death?" She lied. She was going to stop them. "What's more imporant? A house that can be rebuilt or your wife?"
"That house is all we have." he said around gritted teeth. "Pele would never hurt us. I used to be a minister, and my theological degree was focused on Polynesian goddesses. I know Pele. I know how to placate her. She'd never hurt her faithful." he said with the smile of a True Believer. "Isn't that right, Ethel?" he asked his wife, who just smiled in response.
Closing her eyes Clarice counted to ten in English and then in Arabic, then in Spanish. "You remember San Diego? Mutant? This is not really Pele. This is a mutant. And she doesn't care that you're faithful or if you make your sacrifices."
"Don't be foolish." Mr Manning said with a smile. "We'll be fine. Why don't you run along and take care of the people who want and need your help?"
"Because I like fighting uphill battles with suicidal theologians and running into walls!" Clarice was getting annoyed now, "Go if you want! But leave Ethel with me and I'll bring her back safe and sound when everything is okay."
"Ethel? Do you want to stay with the nice mutant girl with the others or would you rather be with me in the home we bought together?" he asked his wife kindly. Much to Mr Manning's surprise, she indicated that she'd just as soon stay. "Are you sure?" he asked her, and then sighed. "If you wish. Please, miss, take care of my wife. She's the best thing I've got in my life." he said urgently. "Bring her back to me."
Clarice was trying not to cry. This was terrible, "I want to," she said, voice breaking, "But I'm afraid you won't be there to bring her back to, and then where will she go? Please, stay with your wife," she was begging and she didn't care. She wiped her eyes with the back of a dirty fist.
Mr Manning didn't respond, but kept walking back up the road that would lead to his house.
-----
Crystal reflects on her second assignment with Red X after helping a particularly testy woman
"Miss? Miss? Excuse me," a slightly nasal voice called out. The woman in front of Crystal tapped one foot impatiently as the young girl took a moment to turn around. "How much longer are they going to keep us in here?"
"I am sorry, I do not know the answer to your question. If you will wait a moment, I will find the answer for you," Crystal said apologetically. She was in a waiting area, functioning as a mutant air conditioning unit, not that the woman speaking to her was aware that Crystal's power was keeping the area cooler than it should have been.
The woman crossed her arms, raising her nose up high in the air. "There are too many people," she said with a gesture around at the small group of people in the room. "I need more privacy. I demand to be taken to a less crowded location."
Crystal had to hide a laugh, wondering if that was how certain people at the mansion viewed her and Medusa, even though neither of them had ever done that while at Xavier's. Oh, they knew how to pull it off, and there had definitely been times that Crystal had been tempted to act like the snooty brat people assumed she was, but that would have gotten her nowhere fast.
"I understand what it is like to feel the need for privacy," Crystal told the woman. "Unfortunately, the situation we are in does not allow for that right now. There are many people who need to be evacuated and all of them need a place to wait until it is their turn to leave."
The exasparated sigh that the woman let out was a clear indication that she was not pleased with the answer, but since Crystal had responded so politely, there was nothing she could use to continue complaining. Walking off, she began inspecting the room, obviously looking for something else to criticize.
"You know, most of the student volunteers we get aren't able to remain that calm when faced with someone like that," a young native woman said, smiling at Crystal. "Have you been volunteering for Red-X for a long time?" Kalikala asked.
Once again, another point for being polite. "No, only for five months," Crystal replied. "I went with Red X to San Diego in July." It was funny how things worked out sometimes; only six months ago she had been here, in Hawaii. Less than a week later, she'd been at Xavier's, and a few short weeks after that she'd found herself volunteering for Red X in San Diego. Now here she was, back in Hawaii, but for entirely different reasons this time around.
"And I know you are performing double duty in here," Kalikala replied with a raised eyebrow. "When," she said, stressing the word, "you need a rest, we have a couple rooms that aren't being used as waiting areas." The woman turned from Crystal for a moment to talk quietly with a sandy haired boy who had just entered the room.
Crystal nodded at Kalikala. Yes, this time she would take a break even before she felt the need for one. After all, she'd promised Medusa that she would be careful. There was no need to overwork herself, even if her feet were not going to move more than half an inch above the ground. Crystal wished she could help out in other ways, but she knew that this was helping, too.
-----
Shiro is helping to evacuate the dorms at the University of Hawaii as he gets frustrated not being able to get ahold of Alex. Jared comes to find him to tell him that Alex hasn't come back from helping Dr. Rocca and now he's worried.
The few times that Shiro had tapped into the full extent of his powers, he'd been too drained to notice the effect on the environment around him. The air in Hawaii gave him an idea of what it must be like, though. It felt as if he were walking through fire, and the stench of the volcanic gases, even this far away from the volcano itself, burned his nostrils. He'd found himself praying to the kami the moment he stepped off the plane to ask them to help him keep the victims safe. And though he'd already done an excellent job with that, there was still someone he had yet to rescue.
"Pick up the damn phone, Alex," he growled into his cell phone as residents from one of the U of H dorms (near Alex's apartment, in fact) fled to the dozen trucks waiting to pick them up.
Jared had heard that part of Red X was evacuating the dorms and thus that's where he was headed. He hoped that's where Shiro was, as he knew Alex's friend was on the island because he'd come by the apartment a few times. Dodging some students, Jared couldn't help biting his lip. Alex had been at the Kilauea lab when all this had started and while it wasn't surprising the blond had been delayed, he should be back by now and Jared was getting worried. He'd had no contact whatsoever from Alex and it was time to go looking for him.
"I really am going to fucking kill you when this is over," Shiro promised Alex's voice mail before slamming his phone shut and turning his attention back to the evacuation. The dorm was nearly empty, only the stragglers finally leaving with what he hoped were just the bare necessities. Unlike that one girl who'd come out with two full suitcases and had been ready to go back for more before she was promptly told that she was an idiot.
Shiro was under a lot of stress.
With the all clear sign given, Shiro was about to head to the next community of dorms when he saw Alex's roommate heading towards him, looking even more nervous than everyone else. "Jared, what are you doing here? I thought that you were safe here." Or safeish, really.
"I am. But Alex isn't and he hasn't come back from the lab." Jared responded sternly, an odd look on the normally happy and laid back Hawaiian. "He should be back by now, the experiment was only supposed to go on for two days. Even if he waited until they finished, he should have been back. Something's wrong."
"And he is at Kilauea, right?" asked Shiro. He gazed at the dim image of the volcano in the distance. He felt something nagging at him in the back of his head, like he was forgetting something important. A pull of sorts. And the fact that he couldn't pinpoint the feeling just made him even more frustrated.
Jared nodded, moving past Shiro for a moment to help a girl pick up a pillow she'd dropped, giving her a bright smile, before turning back to Shiro. "Exactly. I thought maybe since he was with Dr. Rocca, who's native, he'd be okay. And maybe he is, maybe he's staying at the lab under her protection." Jared followed Shiro's glance to the volcano. "I can't get through to him and I can't get close enough to do any good. But you could." Jared knew all about Shiro's mutation from talking with Alex. If anybody could find him, his best friend could.
Which would probably be blatantly against the rules of the evacuation, and definitely bad without notifying the X-Men. But this was for Alex's sake, so ultimately rules be damned. Shiro nodded and shifted his gaze back from the volcano to Jared. "I will do what I can. And Jared? Stay safe. This thing might be offering you sanctuary now, but even in my limited experience, I can tell you that this guarantee is . . . flexible." Namely, say one wrong word and you're shark bait.
"My younger siblings are already with relatives in the states. I was supposed to go but I wasn't going to leave Alex." He nodded with his reply, knowing full well what Shiro was saying. The Hawaiian reached out and put a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Find him. Please Shiro." Then Jared dropped his hand, looking around.
Shiro reached into his pocket again to retrieve his cell phone and selected number 4 on his speed dial. "Mister Summers? This is Shiro. We have a . . . situation."
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