Amanda Sefton (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xp_logs2007-06-02 07:56 pm
xp_daytripper) wrote in xp_logs2007-06-02 07:56 pm
Voodoo Child: The Road To Kalfu - Captivity
Scenes from a cell.
Interlude 1 - Crystal notes Laurie's state of mind - and therefore her powers - are effecting everyone, and talks to her about the situation.
***
Laurie huddled in one corner of the cell, knees clutched tightly to herself and a glare sent the way of any of her cellmates that tried to get close to her. She couldn't move very far from them, the cell was too small for that. At least she wasn't right in their laps though, at least they weren't touching her, at least she could have that much control over what her powers did, if nothing else.
She reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes, the tears that hadn't stopped much since Belladonna had left them here. She didn't know how long they were going to be held for, or what they were being held for. She didn't even know if Sooraya was still alive, although Belladonna had said that Angelo and Amanda would be okay as long as they cooperated. All they had to do was stay here, and stay quiet, that's all they had to do.
"Laurie." Crystal's voice was low and quiet. She still had control over her thoughts and emotions, even if her body wasn't listening to her. Moving carefully, Crystal inched closer to Laurie. "There is no need to cry, we are go..." She frowned, wiping away tears that should not have been there. "Please do not cry."
Laurie looked up, sniffling slightly and after a second, sitting up slightly straighter. She should be doing better then this, she wasn't helping anyone by falling apart, she was sure. "I'm sorry. I just, I don't know what to do. What...what if no one knows we're here?"
"If no one knows that we are here, no one knows that we are here." Crystal shrugged lightly. "Our absence will be noted, of course, but I doubt that the people who took us left a map for the staff members to follow. Unless, of course, our captors wished for people at the school to come after us, in which case they know where we are and are either coming up with a plan to get us or they are already on their way right now."
It sounded right, that eventually their presence would be missed. And hadn't the X-Men found Marius, Jennie and Kyle just recently? They hadn't had a lot to go on then either, but they'd still managed it. She should have more faith, even if things looked bad. Laurie let out a breath, shoulders relaxing slightly. It was enough to hold onto for now, even through the worry about Amanda, Angelo and Sooraya.
"They wouldn't let anyone keep us for long." Laurie agreed, reaching up to wipe her eyes. "I guess we could make some joke about no more kidnappings after this. Only I don't think it would make me feel any better right now."
"We can make these jokes after we return to the mansion," Crystal said, forcing herself to offer Laurie a reassuring smile, wondering how long it had actually been since they had been on the bus. How recent was that video of Angelo's beating? Had it been taken minutes or hours before they had seen it, and what had happened after that? "Making jokes about being kidnapped is the Xavier's way."
"I think they call it black humor." Laurie said, relaxing a bit more. Talking seemed to help, gave her something else to focus on rather then everything going on right now. "Sort of, how dealing with something head on sometimes can be so difficult that you really can't, so people try to cope with it by making it something to laugh at."
Crystal nodded, noting that the heaviness she had been feeling was starting to lessen and she was not crying at all any more. Good. Talking to Laurie was helping. "We are going to be fine, Laurie. We just need to stay together and figure out what to do." Her gaze flickered over to the guards posted outside the pen.
"We stay here and wait for the X-men to think of something." Laurie replied, gaze following Crystal's to the guards. "You heard what that woman said, we do anything and they'll hurt Amanda and Angelo, and we didn't even see Sooraya, I just hope she's okay."
"No." Crystal shook her head. "No, I do not believe that this is a wise decision. Who knows how long it will take them to discover our location and come to find us? Our usefulness may cease by then; we do not know what our captors want from us." Crystal looked straight at Laurie. "Do you really believe that they will hesitate to hurt Amanda and Angelo no matter what we do? Perhaps they were told the same thing that we were; do not attempt to escape or we will hurt the others. We can get out of here Laurie, I know we can. Not at this moment, but when the time is right we must make our move. We cannot just sit by helplessly and expect to be rescued."
"And what if they were?" Laurie asked, eyes still fixed on the guards, watching them. "Why would they threaten us at all if they didn't intend to do something with us later. Kidnappers, they give back hostages sometimes, if they get what they want. What reason would they have to kill us unless we gave them one?"
"Sometimes is not always, Laurie," Crystal said softly, trying to sound firm and gentle at the same time. "Right now, our captors are the ones in control. They are using fear against us. They assume that each of us will not do anything to jeopardize the others. If we do end up attempting to escape, we must be very careful. We would have to stay together and work as a team; we must catch the guards by surprise and make our move quickly."
"How do we do that? We don't even know how many there are. We don't know anything about our surroundings, or where they've got guard posts or even what time of day it is. How can we possibly attempt an escape without knowing these things?" Laurie whispered, but no less heatedly for being quiet.
They'd be jeopardising the others, possibly even signing their death warrent. She...she just couldn't do that. Not without a very good reason, and a very good plan of action on top of that.
"I am not yet certain the details of our necessary course of action," Crystal answered. "I will need to talk to Ms. Moonstar and come up with a plan. We will need to see if Angel is capable and willing to take part in this. You too, Laurie. We must use every ability currently available to us. I cannot do this without you."
And that was that, they couldn't do it without her. As much as she might be inclined to sit here and wait, if they attempted something without her help and failed, and were killed or worse, what kind of person would that make her? What kind of person did it make her that she'd agree to something that could get two, perhaps three people killed though?
Maybe...if the plan was certain, if it was sound. Then she could help, and she would deal with whatever happened because of it later.
"I'll help, if you can show me a plan that won't get us all killed, I'll help." Laurie replied, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself. "Can...can you help me meditate? I'm not used to doing it without a tape, there's words and I'm not sure it works if you just say them to yourself. I think it'll help me keep control. Maybe we could get Angel to do it too? It might help her as well."
Crystal nodded. "Of course. We all need to be calm, relaxed, and in control before we attempt any sort of a plan." Trying to escape would be dangerous enough; trying to escape before they were ready would just get them all killed.
***
Dani and Crystal discuss a course of action.
***
Crystal was normally fairly quiet, but she'd been even quieter than usual since Belladonna had left, they all had really, but that was a bit disconcerting since she was angry like this. Crystal was many things, but she was loyal to her friends and a fighter. Quietly, Dani headed over to where she was sitting and sat back down on the hard floor. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked. Asking how she was doing would be foolish, none of them were doing well, it was merely different degrees of bad.
"We need to leave," Crystal said quietly, her eyes meeting Dani's. "We cannot just stay here and wait for that woman to harm us. She kidnapped Xavier's students and staff. It is not a monetary ransom that she desires." The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes were those of determination, sharply contrasting with her body language, the latter seeming to be that of someone who had been defeated.
Dani nodded, she'd come to that conclusion herself, but had no idea how they could realistically get out, "I've been hoping the team would arrive," she confided, "but that's seeming less and less likely now." Too much time had passed for them to be coming now. "I'm assuming you have an idea?"
"We use our powers," Crystal said. "You and Laurie and Angel, that is. I know that they have not had their abilities for very long, but they have taken powers classes and worked on control outside of class, too. That woman is foolish to think that we are helpless."
"None of us have obviously offensive powers." Which was why Crystal had the inhibitor and no one else, "We could take care of the guards fairly easily, if we could get through the door. That's what's been stumping me." Immaterial visions, pheromones and fire would not work on unlocking a solid door, at least without potentially killing themselves and or alerting their guards.
"We wait for the right moment," Crystal said. "Unless they intend to fill this room with gas to cause us to become unconscious again, they will have to open that door again at some point. They are very careful when they bring us food and water, and I very much doubt that they will fall for the "she is sick" trick. The main problem that I see is that we do not have any sort of idea what lies beyond that door. We could be in a very small building, or there could be a maze of hallways." Crystal sighed softly. "Still, if it seems as though they are going to hurt one of us or take one of us away we must act, and quickly."
"And we don't know anything about Sooraya," Dani assumed the room was bugged, but since Belladonna hadn't mentioned the Afghani girl then chances were she'd managed to get away, but was she still in New York City or somewhere else? "I am not going to have anyone else hurt just because we don't know anything."
"True, we do not know where she is," Crystal agreed with a small nod, "but we cannot allow our lack of knowledge to prevent us from doing what is necessary. What will you do if a guard walks in here to remove one of us? Once that person is out of our sight, anything could happen to her."
"I'm as big as some of guards," Dani pointed out, although even she was realistic enough to realize that no matter how tall she was, it wouldn't matter against a trained professional, "We need to know more about what's on the other side before we risk anything." And if they can figure out how to get the door open.
Crystal eyed Dani quizzically. "The only way we can know about what is on the other side is if someone tells us, and I very much doubt that the guards or that woman will simply tell us about our immediate surroundings. Do you want to risk one of us going out there with a guard to take a look at what is outside the door?"
Dani shook her head, "No. I think we'll have to just chance it," she hated it, but it was the only way to get them all out in the long run, "If we lure the guards closer....maybe."
Crystal nodded. "For now, we wait, but when the right moment presents itself, we will take out the guards and leave this place."
***
Laurie dreams.
***
~You are my sunshine, my only sunshine~
The music drifted over the deserted beach, waves lapping gently at her feet as she watched the tide come in. There was a full moon overhead and it lit up the sand to an almost brilliant white, shimmering gently. It was hyper-reality, the colours all so much more real then could be found in life. It's what told her that something was different, not-real. She couldn't ever remember having had a dream like this before.
~You make me happy, when skies are grey~
There was a small black cat in the distance, why was there a cat on a beach? It was all so weird...it had to be a dream, didn't it? She walked toward it, wondering why it didn't startle or try to run away, it seemed to be waiting for her.
She reached the cat, and it twined around her legs for a second before moving off a small way and then looking back at her. It wanted her to follow it. Dare she?
It was looking at her, seemingly impatiently and she was almost positive that if she didn't come with it now, it would leave her here. Having made up her mind, more because there was nothing else to be done then any real confidence, she followed.
~You'll never know dear, how much I love you~
She was in a cell, the cat walking toward a woman who seemed familiar. How she'd gotten here when only moments before she'd been on a beach, she had no idea. The woman appeared to be sleeping, hair hanging limply, apparently having gone without a wash for at least a day or two. She walked forward, reaching her hand out to touch the woman's shoulder.
~Please don't take my sunshine away~
Amanda looked up, and Laurie gasped as everything went dark.
*
She blinked, looking around her at the sleeping figures of her fellow captives. Dani sat to the side, her silhouette picked out against the light coming from outside the door. She felt Angel stir a little ways from her, murmuring uneasily in sleep and Laurie lay back silently, staring up at the roof till the guard changed.
Interlude 1 - Crystal notes Laurie's state of mind - and therefore her powers - are effecting everyone, and talks to her about the situation.
***
Laurie huddled in one corner of the cell, knees clutched tightly to herself and a glare sent the way of any of her cellmates that tried to get close to her. She couldn't move very far from them, the cell was too small for that. At least she wasn't right in their laps though, at least they weren't touching her, at least she could have that much control over what her powers did, if nothing else.
She reached up and wiped the tears from her eyes, the tears that hadn't stopped much since Belladonna had left them here. She didn't know how long they were going to be held for, or what they were being held for. She didn't even know if Sooraya was still alive, although Belladonna had said that Angelo and Amanda would be okay as long as they cooperated. All they had to do was stay here, and stay quiet, that's all they had to do.
"Laurie." Crystal's voice was low and quiet. She still had control over her thoughts and emotions, even if her body wasn't listening to her. Moving carefully, Crystal inched closer to Laurie. "There is no need to cry, we are go..." She frowned, wiping away tears that should not have been there. "Please do not cry."
Laurie looked up, sniffling slightly and after a second, sitting up slightly straighter. She should be doing better then this, she wasn't helping anyone by falling apart, she was sure. "I'm sorry. I just, I don't know what to do. What...what if no one knows we're here?"
"If no one knows that we are here, no one knows that we are here." Crystal shrugged lightly. "Our absence will be noted, of course, but I doubt that the people who took us left a map for the staff members to follow. Unless, of course, our captors wished for people at the school to come after us, in which case they know where we are and are either coming up with a plan to get us or they are already on their way right now."
It sounded right, that eventually their presence would be missed. And hadn't the X-Men found Marius, Jennie and Kyle just recently? They hadn't had a lot to go on then either, but they'd still managed it. She should have more faith, even if things looked bad. Laurie let out a breath, shoulders relaxing slightly. It was enough to hold onto for now, even through the worry about Amanda, Angelo and Sooraya.
"They wouldn't let anyone keep us for long." Laurie agreed, reaching up to wipe her eyes. "I guess we could make some joke about no more kidnappings after this. Only I don't think it would make me feel any better right now."
"We can make these jokes after we return to the mansion," Crystal said, forcing herself to offer Laurie a reassuring smile, wondering how long it had actually been since they had been on the bus. How recent was that video of Angelo's beating? Had it been taken minutes or hours before they had seen it, and what had happened after that? "Making jokes about being kidnapped is the Xavier's way."
"I think they call it black humor." Laurie said, relaxing a bit more. Talking seemed to help, gave her something else to focus on rather then everything going on right now. "Sort of, how dealing with something head on sometimes can be so difficult that you really can't, so people try to cope with it by making it something to laugh at."
Crystal nodded, noting that the heaviness she had been feeling was starting to lessen and she was not crying at all any more. Good. Talking to Laurie was helping. "We are going to be fine, Laurie. We just need to stay together and figure out what to do." Her gaze flickered over to the guards posted outside the pen.
"We stay here and wait for the X-men to think of something." Laurie replied, gaze following Crystal's to the guards. "You heard what that woman said, we do anything and they'll hurt Amanda and Angelo, and we didn't even see Sooraya, I just hope she's okay."
"No." Crystal shook her head. "No, I do not believe that this is a wise decision. Who knows how long it will take them to discover our location and come to find us? Our usefulness may cease by then; we do not know what our captors want from us." Crystal looked straight at Laurie. "Do you really believe that they will hesitate to hurt Amanda and Angelo no matter what we do? Perhaps they were told the same thing that we were; do not attempt to escape or we will hurt the others. We can get out of here Laurie, I know we can. Not at this moment, but when the time is right we must make our move. We cannot just sit by helplessly and expect to be rescued."
"And what if they were?" Laurie asked, eyes still fixed on the guards, watching them. "Why would they threaten us at all if they didn't intend to do something with us later. Kidnappers, they give back hostages sometimes, if they get what they want. What reason would they have to kill us unless we gave them one?"
"Sometimes is not always, Laurie," Crystal said softly, trying to sound firm and gentle at the same time. "Right now, our captors are the ones in control. They are using fear against us. They assume that each of us will not do anything to jeopardize the others. If we do end up attempting to escape, we must be very careful. We would have to stay together and work as a team; we must catch the guards by surprise and make our move quickly."
"How do we do that? We don't even know how many there are. We don't know anything about our surroundings, or where they've got guard posts or even what time of day it is. How can we possibly attempt an escape without knowing these things?" Laurie whispered, but no less heatedly for being quiet.
They'd be jeopardising the others, possibly even signing their death warrent. She...she just couldn't do that. Not without a very good reason, and a very good plan of action on top of that.
"I am not yet certain the details of our necessary course of action," Crystal answered. "I will need to talk to Ms. Moonstar and come up with a plan. We will need to see if Angel is capable and willing to take part in this. You too, Laurie. We must use every ability currently available to us. I cannot do this without you."
And that was that, they couldn't do it without her. As much as she might be inclined to sit here and wait, if they attempted something without her help and failed, and were killed or worse, what kind of person would that make her? What kind of person did it make her that she'd agree to something that could get two, perhaps three people killed though?
Maybe...if the plan was certain, if it was sound. Then she could help, and she would deal with whatever happened because of it later.
"I'll help, if you can show me a plan that won't get us all killed, I'll help." Laurie replied, taking a deep breath to try and calm herself. "Can...can you help me meditate? I'm not used to doing it without a tape, there's words and I'm not sure it works if you just say them to yourself. I think it'll help me keep control. Maybe we could get Angel to do it too? It might help her as well."
Crystal nodded. "Of course. We all need to be calm, relaxed, and in control before we attempt any sort of a plan." Trying to escape would be dangerous enough; trying to escape before they were ready would just get them all killed.
***
Dani and Crystal discuss a course of action.
***
Crystal was normally fairly quiet, but she'd been even quieter than usual since Belladonna had left, they all had really, but that was a bit disconcerting since she was angry like this. Crystal was many things, but she was loyal to her friends and a fighter. Quietly, Dani headed over to where she was sitting and sat back down on the hard floor. "Penny for your thoughts?" she asked. Asking how she was doing would be foolish, none of them were doing well, it was merely different degrees of bad.
"We need to leave," Crystal said quietly, her eyes meeting Dani's. "We cannot just stay here and wait for that woman to harm us. She kidnapped Xavier's students and staff. It is not a monetary ransom that she desires." The tone of her voice and the look in her eyes were those of determination, sharply contrasting with her body language, the latter seeming to be that of someone who had been defeated.
Dani nodded, she'd come to that conclusion herself, but had no idea how they could realistically get out, "I've been hoping the team would arrive," she confided, "but that's seeming less and less likely now." Too much time had passed for them to be coming now. "I'm assuming you have an idea?"
"We use our powers," Crystal said. "You and Laurie and Angel, that is. I know that they have not had their abilities for very long, but they have taken powers classes and worked on control outside of class, too. That woman is foolish to think that we are helpless."
"None of us have obviously offensive powers." Which was why Crystal had the inhibitor and no one else, "We could take care of the guards fairly easily, if we could get through the door. That's what's been stumping me." Immaterial visions, pheromones and fire would not work on unlocking a solid door, at least without potentially killing themselves and or alerting their guards.
"We wait for the right moment," Crystal said. "Unless they intend to fill this room with gas to cause us to become unconscious again, they will have to open that door again at some point. They are very careful when they bring us food and water, and I very much doubt that they will fall for the "she is sick" trick. The main problem that I see is that we do not have any sort of idea what lies beyond that door. We could be in a very small building, or there could be a maze of hallways." Crystal sighed softly. "Still, if it seems as though they are going to hurt one of us or take one of us away we must act, and quickly."
"And we don't know anything about Sooraya," Dani assumed the room was bugged, but since Belladonna hadn't mentioned the Afghani girl then chances were she'd managed to get away, but was she still in New York City or somewhere else? "I am not going to have anyone else hurt just because we don't know anything."
"True, we do not know where she is," Crystal agreed with a small nod, "but we cannot allow our lack of knowledge to prevent us from doing what is necessary. What will you do if a guard walks in here to remove one of us? Once that person is out of our sight, anything could happen to her."
"I'm as big as some of guards," Dani pointed out, although even she was realistic enough to realize that no matter how tall she was, it wouldn't matter against a trained professional, "We need to know more about what's on the other side before we risk anything." And if they can figure out how to get the door open.
Crystal eyed Dani quizzically. "The only way we can know about what is on the other side is if someone tells us, and I very much doubt that the guards or that woman will simply tell us about our immediate surroundings. Do you want to risk one of us going out there with a guard to take a look at what is outside the door?"
Dani shook her head, "No. I think we'll have to just chance it," she hated it, but it was the only way to get them all out in the long run, "If we lure the guards closer....maybe."
Crystal nodded. "For now, we wait, but when the right moment presents itself, we will take out the guards and leave this place."
***
Laurie dreams.
***
~You are my sunshine, my only sunshine~
The music drifted over the deserted beach, waves lapping gently at her feet as she watched the tide come in. There was a full moon overhead and it lit up the sand to an almost brilliant white, shimmering gently. It was hyper-reality, the colours all so much more real then could be found in life. It's what told her that something was different, not-real. She couldn't ever remember having had a dream like this before.
~You make me happy, when skies are grey~
There was a small black cat in the distance, why was there a cat on a beach? It was all so weird...it had to be a dream, didn't it? She walked toward it, wondering why it didn't startle or try to run away, it seemed to be waiting for her.
She reached the cat, and it twined around her legs for a second before moving off a small way and then looking back at her. It wanted her to follow it. Dare she?
It was looking at her, seemingly impatiently and she was almost positive that if she didn't come with it now, it would leave her here. Having made up her mind, more because there was nothing else to be done then any real confidence, she followed.
~You'll never know dear, how much I love you~
She was in a cell, the cat walking toward a woman who seemed familiar. How she'd gotten here when only moments before she'd been on a beach, she had no idea. The woman appeared to be sleeping, hair hanging limply, apparently having gone without a wash for at least a day or two. She walked forward, reaching her hand out to touch the woman's shoulder.
~Please don't take my sunshine away~
Amanda looked up, and Laurie gasped as everything went dark.
*
She blinked, looking around her at the sleeping figures of her fellow captives. Dani sat to the side, her silhouette picked out against the light coming from outside the door. She felt Angel stir a little ways from her, murmuring uneasily in sleep and Laurie lay back silently, staring up at the roof till the guard changed.