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xp_logsThe moment arrives and the captives act. It’s almost a clean break.
Almost.
The day wore on, long and tedious and slightly clammy, down here in the concrete basement. The guards, alert and watchful at the start of their watch, began to slump a little, looking almost bored, although there was a coiled spring element to their postures that indicated they hadn't let down their guard entirely. But it was the end of a long shift, and they seemed satisfied their collection of young girls were suitably cowed after Belladonna's performance earlier.
It was time.
Dani nodded at the other girls and tapped the watch on her wrist to indicate it was time to try their plan. Staring blankly into space, she riffled quietly through the guard's fears. Finding them wasn't easy, they were trained assassins that did not scare easily and intangible fears were difficult to work with. Why they couldn't be afraid of mice or dead people like everyone else was going to be Dani's headache. Grinning as she found something she could work with, she began.
A guard's radio seemed to crackle to life, gunshots and incoherant yells coming from it, jerking the guards away and to the ready. The sounds came closer, until they were right outside the door leading to the pens. The doors burst open, forcing the guards back as two men came in, guns drawn and sweeping the hallway oblivious to the other two guards in it, their steps forcing the guards closer and closer to the pen the girls were in, "Hallway 2 has our dead," the first man said into his radio, "Pull out!"
"What's going on?" a guard asked nervously, but there was no answer. The two others had already left without even acknowledging that they were there.
In the corner, where she could get a good view of everything, Angel took a deep breath. Carefully, she called up her powers, willing up the microwave energy without combusting anything. They didn't need the fire right now, they needed something a lot more subtle. And subtle didn't come easily to her. Eyes half closed, she pushed outwards, forcing the energy towards the guards.
They'd started to reach for their radios to call for backup but instead of getting a clear signal, it crackled and popped loudly. Angel grinned briefly before giving it one last, lingering push. Chapter twelve in the book that Forge had given her. Like going for one note and hitting multiple keys at the same time he had said and that's exactly what happened. It was hard trying to force it since it was a natural byproduct of her power but it seemed to be working. She could hear the interference from where she was, it was a good sign.
There was no other sound for a moment but the crackle of the radios; the two guards glanced at one another, obviously near panic. Suddenly a sound like a low whisper could be heard from the hallway, and a moment later a mass of swirling, stinging sand burst into the room. The men began to yell, throwing their hands up to their faces to try to keep the particles from obscuring their vision. The sand seemed to have a mind of its own, however, and both guards were soon blinded, rubbing at their eyes as they stumbled about in confusion.
Sooraya gathered herself together, reforming next to the door of the cell and crouching low. A hand passed a jacket through the bars to her and she grabbed it, pulling it on as her cheeks blushed scarlet. Unable to let her embarrassment get the best of her, though, she soon got to work shouldering the latch open, listening to the creaking sound of the door as it finally swung open.
Laurie walked through the door first, moving toward the guards as quickly as she could and placed a hand over each of their necks as she reached them. It took a moment and she had to avoid being grabbed as their instincts had them fighting, and they must have taken some form of stimulant in order to keep alert. Unfortunately for them, Laurie's power was the stronger and if she had to knock them into comas in order to take them out, she didn't much care anymore.
She felt for a pulse in each of them after they'd gone down, they were still alive for now. It was more then Belladonna had done for her friends, and if she got a small satisfaction from seeing their guards thus laid low, she wouldn't mention it.
"Everyone alright? They alive?" Dani asked, making sure everyone else was out before her. It had been difficult to pry herself out of their minds, but she had done it without anyone having to get her attention. She didn't much want to kill people, but they were not trained X-Men. They were an RA and a few high school students. Very deliberately, she smashed their radios. Just in case. "Let's get moving."
As the only one who had been through the hallways before, Sooraya was the de facto leader, and so she quickly hurried to the head of the group, leading them out of the holding area and down one of the long, ill-lit hallways. Her legs were bare and her hair uncovered and it made her very uncomfortable, but she put all that out of her mind as she concentrated on following the path that would lead them to the outdoors.
Not far behind her roommate, Angel tried to keep a lookout. She didn't know anything beyond where they'd been kept but watch out for more guards, that she could do. With them undetected so far, she decided not to do any power bursts--if someone that didn't know what was going on suddenly have communication problems that could be bad. Instead, she clenched her hands together and concentrated on keeping calm and collected.
Laurie had gone back to the cell in order to help Crystal out, without crutches she assumed the other girl would find it hard to keep up with a quick pace without help. "You okay with using me as a crutch?" she asked her, her usual smile completely absent. It had been hard to shut down, and it was only because she'd switched to what she used her power for by default that she felt it safe enough for her to be close to anyone who wasn't a guard. Adrenalin would help all of them keep going right now, so she wasn't too worried about it.
Now was not the time to discuss the indignities of being unable to travel around this place without being pretty much carried. She was slowing them down. Laurie was offering to help. There was not much of a choice. Crystal nodded, offering Laurie a small smile. "Yes. Thank you. You all did very well. I knew it could be done."
Gesturing to the other girls, Sooraya kept low, walking as quickly as she could without leaving them behind. She had a vague idea of how long they would have until someone realized they were gone; it wasn't long.
Laurie wasn't used to helping someone along like this, but then this entire scenario was not something she could ever have imagined getting training for. She kept a weather eye toward the various passageways they were passing by, moving just fast enough to keep up with the others but not so fast that Crystal would have trouble.
"If you need help, Laurie, I can probably carry Crystal," she was too tall to be used as a crutch, but a piggy back would not be impossible. Dani would gladly deal with an irate Crystal or an embarassedly uncovered Sooraya once they were free if she needed to. Until then, she was more concerned with getting them all out alive and to safety.
"It's alright, I can cope for now." Laurie replied, moving closer to Crystal so she could get a better grip on her shoulder. "Unless Crystal, would you prefer being carried?"
“I will do whatever is best for everyone else,” Crystal replied. “We need to move as quickly as possible and I do not wish to slow us down any more than is necessary.” Her gaze flickered briefly to the hated device on her arm. She wanted it off. Now.
"I'd say we stick with what we've got then, we can change it later if it becomes an issue." Laurie responded, starting to move again as the simpliest way to end the conversation. They didn't have time to stand around discussing who would help who and how and what would be faster, she'd apologise for the rudeness some other time.
Hopefully it wasn't much further, Angel thought, because she was flinching at every little sound that they made or heard in the distance. These weren't people she wanted to meet in a dark alley or an open field and the faster they got to their destination, the better it was for all of them.
Luckily, it seemed someone was listening to Angel's thoughts, as a minute later Sooraya halted abruptly next to a large, half-open door. "This way is the outside," she whispered, once the other girls had gotten close enough to hear her. "There is a guard that goes by, but it is the most quick way to leave."
Dani nodded, peeking through the opening in the door, she didn't see the guard, "Do you know where Amanda and Angelo are?" she asked. They weren't really equipped to break them out as well, but she didn't feel right about leaving them either, even if it was just to get help.
"No," came the quiet reply from the Afghan girl. She had assumed at first they were being held with the others; when they weren't there, she had been surprised. Her explorations of the area had yielded nothing... either they were being held elsewhere, or in a part of the compound Sooraya couldn't access.
"We have to look for them, we can't leave without them." Laurie said, shifting under Crystal slightly to get a better balance now that they'd stopped. "That woman will kill them the moment she knows we're gone."
“I do not believe that she will do such a thing. She will already be down four hostages,” Crystal pointed out. “What would she gain from harming them when we would not know what she has done? If anything, Amanda and Angelo should become even more valuable to her. Time is of the essence; we actually risk more harm to them by staying to look for them than we do if we leave now."
"Amanda and Angelo are also trained for this sort of thing." Well, more than they were anyways. Dani spoke quickly and resolutely, she hated the decision, but it had to be made. Crystal was right, they became more valuable now, "We don't have time to look for them and get out. We leave, now."
Angel swallowed hard but nodded in agreement. "I really, really hate saying this," she said, voice soft, "but I totally agree. We don't know if they're looking for us or what and--if we run into the guards again, we're totally getting owned. If Amanda and Angelo get out, they'll stand a better chance. And there'll be an even better chance if we can get out without alerting anyone and call in reinforcements, yeah?"
Sooraya barely heard the discussion; she was intently watching the door for the guard to pass by. Seeing a shadow fall across the doorway, she gestured to the others, putting a finger to her lips in the universal sign for 'quiet!'. Eyes wide, she listened to the footsteps pass by, only letting out the breath she had been holding after several seconds of silence had passed again. "We will need to go soon," she whispered, glancing from her roommate to her other suitemates to the RA. "I know many places to hide when we are gone from the building."
Laurie looked back the way they'd come, torn between finding Amanda and Angelo, and making sure the others got out okay. She could refuse to go, leave them here and go back by herself, but what would that accomplish? Nothing but get herself foolishly killed. But what if Belladonna killed them? What if, so many what ifs. If she was going to kill them, she would do so whether Laurie was here or not, she had to take care of who was here now and worry about the rest later.
"Okay, but the moment we get to a phone, we get someone to come back here for them., okay?" she said.
Dani nodded, that had been the plan all along. This was not defeat, this was a tactical retreat, "If it's clear, then let's go!" she instructed. There was no time to waste.
The sooner they were out of there the better, and the sooner Amanda and Angelo could be rescued if they hadn't already escaped on their own. Crystal knew she was slowing the group down, and she moved as fast as she could.
The little group crept out of the door, finding themselves climbing a short ramp that led upwards into the open air, beside a large dilapidated barn. No guards at the entrance, but undoubtably in the barn itself, and following Sooraya's gestures, they made their way away from the buildings as quietly and quickly as possible. Only when they reached a series of fields (after climbing over several fences to do so), did they begin to feel safe enough to talk again.
Sooraya had stuck close to the barn during her time there, and now that they were in unfamiliar territory she began to hang back more, looking to the others to see where to go. Of course, they were equally lost, and so they all stuck close together as they hurried through the waving grasses.
All of a sudden the girl's bare foot sunk into something soft and warm, and she stopped, looking comically surprised. "There is something alive near," she said, sidling away and wiping her foot on a clean patch of grass.
"How alive?" Angel asked, staring around wildly, fingers twitching slightly. There was a long, strained pause before a sound drifted across to them on the air. The pyrokinetic blinked and then stiffled a mad giggle, hands going over her mouth. "Cows. They're are cows near by, I think. Unless there are some strange dogs out there. I'll take cows over weird ninja people, you know?" Another soft moo and she grinned so widely it hurt.
"Look! Baby cow! Well, bit late for baby cows, I guess. Teenage cow?" Laurie replied, watching as a cow moved slowly towards them.
Dani grinned, despite the situation. Cows were always funny, "That makes sense. Just ignore the cows, they don't care about you," she instructed, trying to hurry the girls along a little. She felt very exposed and still too close to the farm that they had been kept at for comfort.
Cows? Crystal was aghast. They had just escaped from vicious crazy kidnappers and they were stopping to look at cows? Horses could be helpful now, but unless someone wanted to stop for a steak, these cows were of no use to them. They could laugh about cows later, even go to a farm to look at cows another time, but this was not the time to discuss cows!
Laurie looked to their left suddenly, trying to listen, she wasn't sure but she could have sworn she heard voices from not far off. "Um, I think we need to go. In a 'yesterday' style fashion even."
"Leaving now good," Angel replied as the group starting moving again. "I want a cow, can I take one home?" It was said with grabby hands as the younger girl moved quickly towards one of the fences. It was something to zero in on that wasn't kidnapping, beatings and missing home. She could totally keep the cow in the suite or something and feed it hay and maybe even ride it once it got bigger. Riding cows, now that would be awesome.
Her roommate, however, was not quite so keen on the idea of bringing a barnyard creature home with them. "No!" she said, surprisingly emphatically, shaking her head back and forth. Horses were one thing - she had grown up with them and was comfortable in their presence - but cows were definitely another. They didn't have the intelligent air about them horses did and Sooraya could only imagine the mayhem that would ensue if they were to get loose. "I do not want a cow in the room, Angel. Please."
Further discussion about the wisdom (or not) in bringing cows home was interrupted by the appearance of two men, seemingly out of the shadows in that same startling manner Remy had. "No-one's bringing anyt'inghome, petite," said one, gun trained on the small group and other hand reaching for his radio. "You not supposed to be out. Come wit' us quiet-like and no-one will get hurt."
"Crystal, hold still!" Radios in hands of bad guys were one thing, trying to do zap something that was on the wrist of a friend was totally another. As was possibly blowing off her hand, but they didn't have a lot of options, not when Crystal's power was the most offensive. The biggest problem with her power was that even with the subtle stuff, if she slipped something was going to catch on fire. Angel gathered the swirling microwaves around her and pushed them out, first at the power blocking thing and then further out, towards the guards. In the distance, she could hear the crackle of radios and cursing; turning back, she grinned at Crystal. "Did it work?"
Yes, it had worked. This much was obvious to all by the sudden appearance of slightly more than human-sized tornados around the two men. The students and Dani also found themselves surrounded by a shield, but the sight of the two men being flung in opposite directions gave away the fact that Crystal’s powers were back. Much easier than throwing dinosaurs, Crystal thought as she watched the men thud to the ground, their guns too far away to reach even if they were conscious, their radios now nothing more than smashed bits across the field.
Well, that had worked out well but you could almost bet on it that there would be other guards and patrols before they got far enough away to not have to worry about it. Laurie could have wished for more training in escape techniciques but they had to use what they had.
Without a good, solid distraction, they weren't getting away. They all knew that. And once again, if they went toe-to-toe with these guys the girls would be back in the cell, or worse, before they could blink. The cows cries drew Angel's attention and she glanced over, eyes going wide.
"I have an idea!" she said, flapping her arms to shoo everyone back a few feet. Standing by the fence, she concentrated--it was wire and wood and in the end it would burn--hands wrapped around one of the wooden fence posts. Flames suddenly licked down her hands and up the wood, eating away at it. Soon enough there was ash and remains on the ground and Angel wiped her hands off on her pants, an eye on the large animals near them. They were spooked as it was by the fire but a small fireball flying behind them sent them into a clear panic. "Stampede!"
If it had been any other situation, Laurie might have laughed at the shocked look on the cows faces as they stampeded out the gate. As it was, she was more concentrated on the fact that they needed to use this to get as far away as they possibly could. "Come on guys, let's hoof it."
Almost.
The day wore on, long and tedious and slightly clammy, down here in the concrete basement. The guards, alert and watchful at the start of their watch, began to slump a little, looking almost bored, although there was a coiled spring element to their postures that indicated they hadn't let down their guard entirely. But it was the end of a long shift, and they seemed satisfied their collection of young girls were suitably cowed after Belladonna's performance earlier.
It was time.
Dani nodded at the other girls and tapped the watch on her wrist to indicate it was time to try their plan. Staring blankly into space, she riffled quietly through the guard's fears. Finding them wasn't easy, they were trained assassins that did not scare easily and intangible fears were difficult to work with. Why they couldn't be afraid of mice or dead people like everyone else was going to be Dani's headache. Grinning as she found something she could work with, she began.
A guard's radio seemed to crackle to life, gunshots and incoherant yells coming from it, jerking the guards away and to the ready. The sounds came closer, until they were right outside the door leading to the pens. The doors burst open, forcing the guards back as two men came in, guns drawn and sweeping the hallway oblivious to the other two guards in it, their steps forcing the guards closer and closer to the pen the girls were in, "Hallway 2 has our dead," the first man said into his radio, "Pull out!"
"What's going on?" a guard asked nervously, but there was no answer. The two others had already left without even acknowledging that they were there.
In the corner, where she could get a good view of everything, Angel took a deep breath. Carefully, she called up her powers, willing up the microwave energy without combusting anything. They didn't need the fire right now, they needed something a lot more subtle. And subtle didn't come easily to her. Eyes half closed, she pushed outwards, forcing the energy towards the guards.
They'd started to reach for their radios to call for backup but instead of getting a clear signal, it crackled and popped loudly. Angel grinned briefly before giving it one last, lingering push. Chapter twelve in the book that Forge had given her. Like going for one note and hitting multiple keys at the same time he had said and that's exactly what happened. It was hard trying to force it since it was a natural byproduct of her power but it seemed to be working. She could hear the interference from where she was, it was a good sign.
There was no other sound for a moment but the crackle of the radios; the two guards glanced at one another, obviously near panic. Suddenly a sound like a low whisper could be heard from the hallway, and a moment later a mass of swirling, stinging sand burst into the room. The men began to yell, throwing their hands up to their faces to try to keep the particles from obscuring their vision. The sand seemed to have a mind of its own, however, and both guards were soon blinded, rubbing at their eyes as they stumbled about in confusion.
Sooraya gathered herself together, reforming next to the door of the cell and crouching low. A hand passed a jacket through the bars to her and she grabbed it, pulling it on as her cheeks blushed scarlet. Unable to let her embarrassment get the best of her, though, she soon got to work shouldering the latch open, listening to the creaking sound of the door as it finally swung open.
Laurie walked through the door first, moving toward the guards as quickly as she could and placed a hand over each of their necks as she reached them. It took a moment and she had to avoid being grabbed as their instincts had them fighting, and they must have taken some form of stimulant in order to keep alert. Unfortunately for them, Laurie's power was the stronger and if she had to knock them into comas in order to take them out, she didn't much care anymore.
She felt for a pulse in each of them after they'd gone down, they were still alive for now. It was more then Belladonna had done for her friends, and if she got a small satisfaction from seeing their guards thus laid low, she wouldn't mention it.
"Everyone alright? They alive?" Dani asked, making sure everyone else was out before her. It had been difficult to pry herself out of their minds, but she had done it without anyone having to get her attention. She didn't much want to kill people, but they were not trained X-Men. They were an RA and a few high school students. Very deliberately, she smashed their radios. Just in case. "Let's get moving."
As the only one who had been through the hallways before, Sooraya was the de facto leader, and so she quickly hurried to the head of the group, leading them out of the holding area and down one of the long, ill-lit hallways. Her legs were bare and her hair uncovered and it made her very uncomfortable, but she put all that out of her mind as she concentrated on following the path that would lead them to the outdoors.
Not far behind her roommate, Angel tried to keep a lookout. She didn't know anything beyond where they'd been kept but watch out for more guards, that she could do. With them undetected so far, she decided not to do any power bursts--if someone that didn't know what was going on suddenly have communication problems that could be bad. Instead, she clenched her hands together and concentrated on keeping calm and collected.
Laurie had gone back to the cell in order to help Crystal out, without crutches she assumed the other girl would find it hard to keep up with a quick pace without help. "You okay with using me as a crutch?" she asked her, her usual smile completely absent. It had been hard to shut down, and it was only because she'd switched to what she used her power for by default that she felt it safe enough for her to be close to anyone who wasn't a guard. Adrenalin would help all of them keep going right now, so she wasn't too worried about it.
Now was not the time to discuss the indignities of being unable to travel around this place without being pretty much carried. She was slowing them down. Laurie was offering to help. There was not much of a choice. Crystal nodded, offering Laurie a small smile. "Yes. Thank you. You all did very well. I knew it could be done."
Gesturing to the other girls, Sooraya kept low, walking as quickly as she could without leaving them behind. She had a vague idea of how long they would have until someone realized they were gone; it wasn't long.
Laurie wasn't used to helping someone along like this, but then this entire scenario was not something she could ever have imagined getting training for. She kept a weather eye toward the various passageways they were passing by, moving just fast enough to keep up with the others but not so fast that Crystal would have trouble.
"If you need help, Laurie, I can probably carry Crystal," she was too tall to be used as a crutch, but a piggy back would not be impossible. Dani would gladly deal with an irate Crystal or an embarassedly uncovered Sooraya once they were free if she needed to. Until then, she was more concerned with getting them all out alive and to safety.
"It's alright, I can cope for now." Laurie replied, moving closer to Crystal so she could get a better grip on her shoulder. "Unless Crystal, would you prefer being carried?"
“I will do whatever is best for everyone else,” Crystal replied. “We need to move as quickly as possible and I do not wish to slow us down any more than is necessary.” Her gaze flickered briefly to the hated device on her arm. She wanted it off. Now.
"I'd say we stick with what we've got then, we can change it later if it becomes an issue." Laurie responded, starting to move again as the simpliest way to end the conversation. They didn't have time to stand around discussing who would help who and how and what would be faster, she'd apologise for the rudeness some other time.
Hopefully it wasn't much further, Angel thought, because she was flinching at every little sound that they made or heard in the distance. These weren't people she wanted to meet in a dark alley or an open field and the faster they got to their destination, the better it was for all of them.
Luckily, it seemed someone was listening to Angel's thoughts, as a minute later Sooraya halted abruptly next to a large, half-open door. "This way is the outside," she whispered, once the other girls had gotten close enough to hear her. "There is a guard that goes by, but it is the most quick way to leave."
Dani nodded, peeking through the opening in the door, she didn't see the guard, "Do you know where Amanda and Angelo are?" she asked. They weren't really equipped to break them out as well, but she didn't feel right about leaving them either, even if it was just to get help.
"No," came the quiet reply from the Afghan girl. She had assumed at first they were being held with the others; when they weren't there, she had been surprised. Her explorations of the area had yielded nothing... either they were being held elsewhere, or in a part of the compound Sooraya couldn't access.
"We have to look for them, we can't leave without them." Laurie said, shifting under Crystal slightly to get a better balance now that they'd stopped. "That woman will kill them the moment she knows we're gone."
“I do not believe that she will do such a thing. She will already be down four hostages,” Crystal pointed out. “What would she gain from harming them when we would not know what she has done? If anything, Amanda and Angelo should become even more valuable to her. Time is of the essence; we actually risk more harm to them by staying to look for them than we do if we leave now."
"Amanda and Angelo are also trained for this sort of thing." Well, more than they were anyways. Dani spoke quickly and resolutely, she hated the decision, but it had to be made. Crystal was right, they became more valuable now, "We don't have time to look for them and get out. We leave, now."
Angel swallowed hard but nodded in agreement. "I really, really hate saying this," she said, voice soft, "but I totally agree. We don't know if they're looking for us or what and--if we run into the guards again, we're totally getting owned. If Amanda and Angelo get out, they'll stand a better chance. And there'll be an even better chance if we can get out without alerting anyone and call in reinforcements, yeah?"
Sooraya barely heard the discussion; she was intently watching the door for the guard to pass by. Seeing a shadow fall across the doorway, she gestured to the others, putting a finger to her lips in the universal sign for 'quiet!'. Eyes wide, she listened to the footsteps pass by, only letting out the breath she had been holding after several seconds of silence had passed again. "We will need to go soon," she whispered, glancing from her roommate to her other suitemates to the RA. "I know many places to hide when we are gone from the building."
Laurie looked back the way they'd come, torn between finding Amanda and Angelo, and making sure the others got out okay. She could refuse to go, leave them here and go back by herself, but what would that accomplish? Nothing but get herself foolishly killed. But what if Belladonna killed them? What if, so many what ifs. If she was going to kill them, she would do so whether Laurie was here or not, she had to take care of who was here now and worry about the rest later.
"Okay, but the moment we get to a phone, we get someone to come back here for them., okay?" she said.
Dani nodded, that had been the plan all along. This was not defeat, this was a tactical retreat, "If it's clear, then let's go!" she instructed. There was no time to waste.
The sooner they were out of there the better, and the sooner Amanda and Angelo could be rescued if they hadn't already escaped on their own. Crystal knew she was slowing the group down, and she moved as fast as she could.
The little group crept out of the door, finding themselves climbing a short ramp that led upwards into the open air, beside a large dilapidated barn. No guards at the entrance, but undoubtably in the barn itself, and following Sooraya's gestures, they made their way away from the buildings as quietly and quickly as possible. Only when they reached a series of fields (after climbing over several fences to do so), did they begin to feel safe enough to talk again.
Sooraya had stuck close to the barn during her time there, and now that they were in unfamiliar territory she began to hang back more, looking to the others to see where to go. Of course, they were equally lost, and so they all stuck close together as they hurried through the waving grasses.
All of a sudden the girl's bare foot sunk into something soft and warm, and she stopped, looking comically surprised. "There is something alive near," she said, sidling away and wiping her foot on a clean patch of grass.
"How alive?" Angel asked, staring around wildly, fingers twitching slightly. There was a long, strained pause before a sound drifted across to them on the air. The pyrokinetic blinked and then stiffled a mad giggle, hands going over her mouth. "Cows. They're are cows near by, I think. Unless there are some strange dogs out there. I'll take cows over weird ninja people, you know?" Another soft moo and she grinned so widely it hurt.
"Look! Baby cow! Well, bit late for baby cows, I guess. Teenage cow?" Laurie replied, watching as a cow moved slowly towards them.
Dani grinned, despite the situation. Cows were always funny, "That makes sense. Just ignore the cows, they don't care about you," she instructed, trying to hurry the girls along a little. She felt very exposed and still too close to the farm that they had been kept at for comfort.
Cows? Crystal was aghast. They had just escaped from vicious crazy kidnappers and they were stopping to look at cows? Horses could be helpful now, but unless someone wanted to stop for a steak, these cows were of no use to them. They could laugh about cows later, even go to a farm to look at cows another time, but this was not the time to discuss cows!
Laurie looked to their left suddenly, trying to listen, she wasn't sure but she could have sworn she heard voices from not far off. "Um, I think we need to go. In a 'yesterday' style fashion even."
"Leaving now good," Angel replied as the group starting moving again. "I want a cow, can I take one home?" It was said with grabby hands as the younger girl moved quickly towards one of the fences. It was something to zero in on that wasn't kidnapping, beatings and missing home. She could totally keep the cow in the suite or something and feed it hay and maybe even ride it once it got bigger. Riding cows, now that would be awesome.
Her roommate, however, was not quite so keen on the idea of bringing a barnyard creature home with them. "No!" she said, surprisingly emphatically, shaking her head back and forth. Horses were one thing - she had grown up with them and was comfortable in their presence - but cows were definitely another. They didn't have the intelligent air about them horses did and Sooraya could only imagine the mayhem that would ensue if they were to get loose. "I do not want a cow in the room, Angel. Please."
Further discussion about the wisdom (or not) in bringing cows home was interrupted by the appearance of two men, seemingly out of the shadows in that same startling manner Remy had. "No-one's bringing anyt'inghome, petite," said one, gun trained on the small group and other hand reaching for his radio. "You not supposed to be out. Come wit' us quiet-like and no-one will get hurt."
"Crystal, hold still!" Radios in hands of bad guys were one thing, trying to do zap something that was on the wrist of a friend was totally another. As was possibly blowing off her hand, but they didn't have a lot of options, not when Crystal's power was the most offensive. The biggest problem with her power was that even with the subtle stuff, if she slipped something was going to catch on fire. Angel gathered the swirling microwaves around her and pushed them out, first at the power blocking thing and then further out, towards the guards. In the distance, she could hear the crackle of radios and cursing; turning back, she grinned at Crystal. "Did it work?"
Yes, it had worked. This much was obvious to all by the sudden appearance of slightly more than human-sized tornados around the two men. The students and Dani also found themselves surrounded by a shield, but the sight of the two men being flung in opposite directions gave away the fact that Crystal’s powers were back. Much easier than throwing dinosaurs, Crystal thought as she watched the men thud to the ground, their guns too far away to reach even if they were conscious, their radios now nothing more than smashed bits across the field.
Well, that had worked out well but you could almost bet on it that there would be other guards and patrols before they got far enough away to not have to worry about it. Laurie could have wished for more training in escape techniciques but they had to use what they had.
Without a good, solid distraction, they weren't getting away. They all knew that. And once again, if they went toe-to-toe with these guys the girls would be back in the cell, or worse, before they could blink. The cows cries drew Angel's attention and she glanced over, eyes going wide.
"I have an idea!" she said, flapping her arms to shoo everyone back a few feet. Standing by the fence, she concentrated--it was wire and wood and in the end it would burn--hands wrapped around one of the wooden fence posts. Flames suddenly licked down her hands and up the wood, eating away at it. Soon enough there was ash and remains on the ground and Angel wiped her hands off on her pants, an eye on the large animals near them. They were spooked as it was by the fire but a small fireball flying behind them sent them into a clear panic. "Stampede!"
If it had been any other situation, Laurie might have laughed at the shocked look on the cows faces as they stampeded out the gate. As it was, she was more concentrated on the fact that they needed to use this to get as far away as they possibly could. "Come on guys, let's hoof it."
