Razor's Edge - Part 3

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

The cavalry arrives, and finds the situation is not so simple. John and Monet find themselves teaming up.



There hadn't been any point in tying either girl up, but with two men standing over them with sub-machine guns, it wasn't really necessary. In the center of the warehouse, surrounded by shipping crates, a hasty debate was going on. Yvette was listening as closely as she could to the choppy Albanian, growing more and more afraid by the second. The men knew they'd followed 'George' to this place, but they were debating whether it was a police trap or not, two obviously mutant girls sent into a child mutant smuggling ring. And debating what to do with said bait.

The entire time they'd been surrounded, Angel hadn't dropped the fire shield - in fact, in her state of agitation, it would at times almost flare to the full thing. An arm would disappear under the sheath of flame or part of her middle section. After a while, the men around them ignored it, content that she wouldn't do anything stupid.

'Well,' she thought, clutching her arms around her middle, 'stupider than what we've already done, anyway.' She had no idea what they were saying but she figured that it really couldn't be good.

"They are trying to decide what to be doing with us," Yvette whispered at last, her skin hardened to the point she had no facial expressions whatsoever. "I am so very sorry, Angel. You should not be here."

"I can't say I'm, like, happy we're here," Angel replied, peering down at Yvette through the lightly flickering flames, "but I'm glad I'm here with you. Better with two, yeah...even if we are staring down a bunch of machine guns...man, we are so in trouble. Did I mention that?"

"Yeah, Angel, you are", came a grim voice from behind the armed men. "An' will be even when you're out of here. Guys? Go to it." The men barely had time to spin and level their machine guns before they were whipped out of their hands.

Instantly, Angel was up in the air, staying low enough to keep Yvette in her view but high enough that no person would have an easy time of grabbing her. She managed not to whoop aloud but mentally cheered when she spotted people who could kick butt and not her butt. Well, not yet, anyway.

Between two of 'his' girls being in trouble, plus the continual stream of dirty looks from Laurie, to say that Kyle was looking for a fight to work out some of his anger was the understatement of the century. He had climbed up on top of a stack of crates, and when Angelo said go, the only thought on his mind was getting between the girls and the very large men with their very large guns. It didn't entirely even register that the guns had been knocked away. The leap down was simple, even by Kyle's standards, hitting the ground in a crouch and baring his teeth at the men.

Laurie moved slower then Kyle, heading unerringly toward where Yvette was crouched. There were better people here to do the fighting, she'd be much more useful getting the girls away to safety.

There was a shout from one of the other man and a rapid barking of orders in Albanian. Immediately, the gang began to scatter, some of them taking up defensive positions behind shipping containers and others fleeing into the maze. At the sight of the man she'd so painstakingly tracked down fleeing, Yvette snarled out something in her native language and bolted after him before anyone could move.

Monet had been floating, hidden, in the shadows in the ceiling. She dove as Laurie made her move, drawing attention away from the girls. "Oy!" Landing hard, she whirled and punched one guy and then another. Seeing something small and red bolting after a man out of the corner of her eye, Monet spun and chased after Yvette.

Gunfire sounded as two of the men - it was hard to tell how many there were, in the dimly-lit warehouse - began shooting at the flying Australian. More gunfire erupted, scattering the group of mutants as they were forced to duck for cover. And in the confusion, the sounds of children shouting for help and small fists banging on the inside of a shipping container - or perhaps more than one - could be heard.

Having no idea how resistant Yvette was to bullets, Monet turned and went back toward the shooters, drawing the fire with her. Oooh, this was going to bruise."John! Make a big bright flamey, firey diversion thing to distract those guys, so I can jump in and disarm them."

John whirled the fire around, aiming it for the men with the guns. He'd built a shield of fire in front of him, close enough that it was in his line of sight that he could still focus on controlling it even as he threw fireball after fireball toward the shooters, and far enough that there was the possibility that he could maybe protect himself from getting shot. Of course, he hadn't tested his little theory out just yet but he figured the bullets would most likely melt before it reached him. If not, well, tough.

Monet grinned fiercely as she saw what John was doing. With any luck, they wouldn't be able to concentrate so much on shooting her while they tried to avoid death by John. She fell on the four they'd targeted like death from above, noting absently as she did that one of John's fireballs had set her shirt on fire. Oh well. Speed mattered here and Monet moved quickly, pulling rifles from hands and making careful, controlled strikes, making use of every bit of Cain's hard-taught lessons.

Fortunately for Monet, it didn't take John too long to notice that her shirt was on fire. But by the time he was able to get rid of the flames, her top was completely ruined. John let out a bit of a snicker. "I'm hoping you're not gonna make me replace that!"

All of a sudden, two large men wielding submachine guns appeared out of goddamn nowhere and John had to duck and hide as they started to shoot at him. To hell with testing his frigging theory out at close range. He did not have a death wish. "Jesus fuck! I did not fucking sign up for this shit!"

Monet shot back across to John, her opponents already down. "Take the blonde!" she screamed, tackling the other. Something cracked and he fell motionless, even as John took down his opponent. She tugged her hair back from her face, breathless from the fight and took a look around. Now what?



Kyle and Jane help Angel.



"Kyle!" Angel shrieked as several guys started to crowd in. They were eying the fire around her warily but some of them had weapons. And those that didn't were giving her friend some looks as well, trying to weigh if they were going to be able to take the feral down. She bobbed and weaved in the air, trying to stay behind her friend - she might be on fire and have a harder time of getting hurt, but this was his kind of gig, not hers. She was going to do her best to stay out of the way.

-His- girls. Both of them. Kyle's steady growling grew louder and he flexed his fingers, claws extending out as far as they would go. These didn't look like the kinds of guys to be intimidated by claws and fangs, but it never -hurt-, and they were staring at him anyway. Taking a second to think instead of just going in for blood kept him from bleeding quite as much. He'd accepted that these sorts of fights inevitably resulted in him bleeding - the goal was to make the other guy bleed, or hurt, more. "Stay high, make like baseball." He said, obviously to Angel, before making a inhumanly fast leap at one of the men.

High. High she could do. Angel swooped up towards the ceiling - not fast as she might normally go because the last thing she wanted was to spook one of the bad guys with the weapons. There was a cat walk of some kind but, so far, no one was on it.

Assured that Kyle and Angel were safely out of the way, Jane dissolved into a thick fog and enveloped the men closest to her. How could they even think to threaten two teenage girls? How dare they scare her friends? Tightly controlling her anger, Jane began to swirl her form in a circular pattern, rapidly building up speed so that the fog began to take on the appearance of a slow funnel cloud. A panicked shout went from the men as the the air was stolen from their lungs, and she could feel them start to struggle to escape the enclosure.

The thuggish looking man that Kyle had leapt at had recovered from the surprise of two hundred pounds of clawed person going after his face much faster than Kyle had expected. The man's arms went up to protect his face, and he swung out one leg, catching Kyle behind the knees. Kyle had just enough reaction time to grab the man's coat before he fell, pulling his heavier opponent down with him, nearly on top of him. "Ang... fuck... " Was this a codename situation? Kyle didn't know. Yvette didn't have one, neither did Jane, or Angel. But there was a reason that they used them. "Quesadilla! Light him up!" Angel would know who he meant, and that was the only thing that mattered.

"...YOU DID NOT JUST CALL ME THAT!" was the answering shriek of indignation from above. At the same time, though, the man on top of Kyle grunted in surprise as a ball of flame him in in the small of the back - and promptly set his jacket and pants on fire. He started to scream as he let go of Kyle, rolling on his back as Angel fed the flames just a little more. Up top, the fire around her was snapping with grumpiness towards the whole situation.

And Kyle.

Jane didn't catch the words, but the shrillness of Angel's cry alarmed her. A small puff of white broke away from the main funnel cloud and flew up beside the girl. #Are you okay? What happened?# Jane 1 couldn't see anything wrong with the girl other than her scrunched up face. Was she in pain?

Below, Jane 2 was having trouble maintaining concentration to maintain two different activities, and the funnel of swirling mist began to falter.

Angel stared for a moment at the floating cloud of Jane. "Sorry," she said, sheepishly, coughing. "That's my normal reaction to Kyle. Speaking of..." She waited until some of the rest of Jane had floated away from the men in the swirling vortex of her friend and then sent a line of fire towards them. It hit the ground and sparked, causing them to stagger away from it. And them. Angel wasn't entirely comfortable with the hurty part of her powers but these people would hurt them...it was an odd line to walk.

In the back of his head, Kyle realized he was in trouble when they got home. This would take a lot of apology donuts. But the important part was that the man he'd been grappling with was writhing around trying to put out the fire on his shirt and pants. He got back up, going from prone to standing in a single move, and kicked at the man's head several times until he stopped rolling around. Another push of the foot and Kyle's opponent was on his back, knocked out - and no longer on fire.

However, around him several crates -were- on fire, as Angel (as far as Kyle could tell) was seemingly determined to set as much of the warehouse on fire as she could. He turned to scramble up one of the few nearby stacks that wasn't aflame and heard the crack-pop a moment too late to get out of the way.

He'd been shot before - a graze on the arm, and that had only made Kyle angry. This made him even more angry, and it hurt more, and his leg wasn't doing what he told it to, namely holding him up. He fell off one crate, hitting the next one below hard and slid to the ground, grabbing at his thigh. The throbbing wouldn't stop, his jeans leg was already soaking through with blood and Kyle growled out a steady stream of 'fuck fuck shit FUCK." as he tried and failed to get up several times.

The gunshots had drawn both Janes' attention and she cursed, spying Kyle struggling on the floor, his leg drawing red streaks across it. #Oh holy freaking crap. Crap, crap, crap.# Jane 2 hurried over to him, having flashbacks to a bandage covered Julio the week before. #Are you okay?#

"They fucking SHOT me." He almost sounded indignant, and Kyle was most definitely not okay, although the pain in his leg was decreasing, and he struggled to his feet, looking around warily. Kyle had to lean heavily on one of the crates to get to his feet, and his leg wouldn't entirely hold his weight, whenever he tried, there was a stabbing pain, but neither of the girls were going to be strong enough to hold him up. Pain was ignorable, he could deal with the wound later. "Run 'em off. I'll be fine..." They weren't going to get anyone arrested today - at least, not -this- group of men. As much as it pissed him off, it was safer.

Up top, Angel gritted her teeth and spread her hands. "Running off? That I can do." The fact that they had shot Kyle made her seethe with anger and she added that emotion to the fire. Blue flames shot out around her hands and into the floor of the warehouse. Concrete but she kept it up, driving the men back towards the wall.

"No BBQ tonight," she muttered, tapering off. There was a small wall of fire but she ignored it in favor of swooping down to land near Kyle. Now that the danger was almost over, she could stay closer to him on the ground.



Laurie and Angelo manage to get to Yvette, but reason isn't working.



Laurie had seen Yvette take off, but unfortunately for the both of them, she wasn't much of a sprinter. Long distances, quite good, fast in a short space of time? Not so much. Even so, she managed to get a hand into the back of Yvette's shirt and pulled back sharply against it. "Yvette, what do you think you're doing?" she snapped, planting her feet now that she had a hand on her friend.

Yvette didn't even reply, just yanked forward. Her powers meant she weighed considerably more than would appear, and she was able to pull herself free and continue after the man, ducking around the corner of a shipping container. They didn't understand and if they weren't going to help, then Yvette would take care of this. Six months of her life, untold fear and anguish and her ability to control her mutation - that was what this monster had cost her.

"Yvette Petrovic!" Angelo bellowed, proceeding to haul himself up the side of a shipping container to the top and keep the chase going up there. "You have no idea what you're doin' here, so stop right the hell now an' get back here."

Again, she ignored him, intent only on her prey. She'd stripped off the gloves and socks back at the hotel and now she was crouched over, running on all fours and digging into the concrete floor for purchase. Her eyes glowed like small blue headlights, enabling her to see the shape ahead of her. He was panicking, she could tell from the way he kept glancing over his shoulder at his pursuer, and there was a flare of satisfaction. Let him be the afraid one, not knowing what was going to happen...

Laurie stared after her friend in disbelief, it was not like Yvette to disobey a direct order from an elder. Whatever was happening here, it was something more then what it seemed. Even so, Laurie couldn't let Yvette chase down and do whatever it was she intended to do to the guy. There were laws, and just because they had the ability to ignore those, didn't mean they should.

She wasn't a sprinter but she'd have to be this time, and so she took off after her friend, a dull purple glow starting to spread over her fingers as she moved. If Yvette wouldn't stop willingly, then Laurie would have to stop her unwillingly. She just hoped she understood afterwards, and Laurie almost stopped when she realised that this was what Crystal must have felt like, when she'd had to do much the same. It wasn't a pleasant experience, and Laurie vowed she'd talk to the other girl when she got back, let her know she understood.

Another few twists and turns and then she had him cornered, his panic leading him to make a wrong turn into a dead end. Her talons scraped along the concrete as she slowed, approaching him like a predator stalking its prey. "~Do you remember me?~" she almost snarled, and the man flinched, then nodded.

"~Y-yes,~" he managed. "~You are the one they called Pendim. W-what are you going t-to do to me?~"

"~Are you afraid?~" She was almost within leaping distance now, and she crouched lower on the floor, poised to spring. "~You should be.~"

And then Laurie was there, placing herself between Yvette and the man, her hands clamping down on her friend's shoulders as she loosed the controls she usually held on her power, filling the space around her with calming pheromones. "You will stop this now, Yvette. This isn't the way, and you know that."

There was a visible effect, on both Yvette and her target - the small girl's hair lost some of its stiffness, the spikes drooping, her skin softening to the point she could actually frown. The man stopped shaking, a small half-smile appearing on his face as he straightened from his cringe. For a moment it seemed Laurie's intervention would actually work. Then...

"~You don't understand!~" she cried, not even realising she wasn't speaking English. "~This man, he stole everything from me!~" And with that, she shoved Laurie aside, paying no attention to the fact she wasn't wearing her gloves.

Laurie cried out in pain, hand automatically going up to grip Yvette's wrist, only to jerk away as she felt her hand scraped raw. She could feel her arm bleeding now, although pain beyond the first bright shock of injury had yet to hit her. She didn't dare look at the extent of the injury yet, in case it sent her into shock. "Angelo! Stop her!"

The cry barely registered, only the fact Laurie was no longer using her powers mattered. Yvette lunged at the man, not sure what she was going to do, injure him, scare him, kill him... All she knew was that finally she could do something, instead of hiding and cowering.

Everything had happened too fast for him to stop it, and there was only one thing he could do now. Angelo leapt off the top of the container, half-gliding down to control his fall, and landing directly between Yvette and her target. "Yvette. Look at Laurie. Now."

She was already moving forward, long-taloned hand raised, but the appearance of Angelo forced her to pause. The note of command she obeyed almost automatically and a soft gasp escaped her as she saw the blood. Bleeding, Laurie was bleeding and it was because of her... Yvette looked down at her hands, those knife-like fingers, and shuddered.

As the man made to get up, Angelo kicked him in the ribs almost absently, his attention all on Yvette. "Okay. You ready to listen to me now?"

"I..." She looked at the man, then at Laurie again. "I didn't mean..." Then the sound of sirens registered and she looked at Angelo in panic. "What do we do?"

"He stays to wait for the police", he said calmly, since someone had to be. One quick thump of the man's head against the floor and he was going to stay whether he liked it or not, and then Angelo stepped over the prone body, skin already stretching to put pressure on Laurie's arm. "We get out of here. Come on."

Laurie had gone pale as Angelo's skin had settled on her arm, sealing the deep cuts on her arm but she moved easily enough as she followed him out of the alleyway, not looking at Yvette, or at the man they were leaving behind.