xp_logs | Team Foxtrot: Lifting the Siege

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Garrison and Sofia help make a path through the mob to re-open the gates to the Pershing Armory

"So, after we free New York, you up to taking that uniform down to the
House of Lancaster's Amateur Night? I bet you could make some serious
money. No? Not really? High heel in the throat kind of no?" Kane said
distractedly, his mouth running on automatic as he looked at the mobs
swarming the front gates of the Armory.

The Pershing National Guard Armory was a collection of stoat red brick
buildings that dated back to the First World War, and as a result, was
well served by a thick brick wall that surrounded the building and
only through huge gates was access possible. They had used weapon fire
from the roof to stop people coming over the walls, but the hold at
the gates were crumbling. Bishop, Wanda, and Morgan had been tasked
with cutting directly to the leadership of the mob, breaking the
ringleaders. Kane and Sofia had the more restrained task of breaking
the numbers directly in front of the gates, so Duncan's cops could
shatter the crowd into managable fragments and open a path to link up
with the Guardsmen inside.

A breeze ruffled Kane's hair, coinciding perfectly with a low chuffing
noise that was Sofia trying to stifle her chuckle. "There's too much
tailoring to do. What would I do with all the fabric left over from
making my very practical trousers into hotpants? Do you need throw
pillows?" she bantered back at him, following up the playful gesture
with a more secure, reassuring squeeze on the shoulder.

"You can do this. And with me, you'll even do it with some elegance."

"Only you can make that sound vaguely terrifying." Kane said, and
rocked back on his heels for a second. "I think what we need to do is
play the old shock and awe card. Bust through the centre to the gate,
and back again? Send them reeling and let the other cops roll them
up?"

Garrison stopped, and peered at the gate. "Two mutants in charge of a
bunch of those... things that you seem to know so much about. Break
them, and that should fragment the crowd. I think. You?"

Rubbing her hands together for some warmth, Sofia regarded the crowd
with blind eyes; they'd become a blurred, moving sea of skin. "It
will help. They are providing something like a, how do you say, hive
mind. One doing the thinking for many." She grinned at him and a
piece of her hair fell from it's braid, falling against her cheek.
"Although, I'd have gone with anything in a supportive, Zen manner
that involved, ah, kicking a lot of mule. Ass. You know."

Sofia squinted, hard, and pretended that the stench of Ralph Lauren
was the same as the white of their eyes.

"I guess that's my cue. If I don't make it back, I demand wailing and
the rendering of garments in grief." Kane loped out from their vantage
point. He needed a way to buy him some space so he didn't get swamped.
The Canadian's eyes alit on a sidewalk bench and he smiled. "Wow,
Eugene was right. Gordie Howe is the solution to everything."

He ripped the bench out of the concrete footings and held it in front
of him. Uttering the fearsome Canadian warcry of 'Go Leafs!', Garrison
started accelerating towards the crowd, the bench held in front of him
like a sideways hockey stick. He crashed into the crowd and sent
people flying using a combination of his super strength and speed to
keep his momenteum going all the way to the gates. He could only hope
that Sofia was creative backing him up.

She was calm following him, her practical boots making a disappointing
lack of noise as she burned her trail. A long arm idly swept away the
creature making for her neck, the pack surging towards. "I am Moses
and you are my Red Sea, darlings. Do part," Sofia purred, assisting
in the pin ball that was spores versus, well, them. A shattered
sliver of Kane's bench went directly into the eye of one of the
Controllers by direct encouragement and she faltered in her step.

Kane hit the edge of the gate and pivoted, swinging the bench like a
baseball bat in a wide arc to force people back, It shattered against
one of the meat spores, pulping the featureless creature into an
unrecognizible smear against the wall. Kane dropped the remains of the
bench and dove sideways as a blast of plasma scorched the pavement
around him. The mutant was tracking, aiming for another shot at the
Canadian.

Before he split in half, one side of the meat sliding one way, the
other staying still. Sparks flew in a halo around Sofia's eyes,
burning up halfway to the ground; her hands made a claw to tear the
spore further apart. Another spark flew off, followed by another, as
an oxymoronic dance of winds circled around her. "Don't think this
means I like you," she said. "Pick up some slack before I kill us
all."

"Right then." Kane launched himself at the mutant, breaking the man's
wrist with a practiced motion before slamming his elbow into his
forehead and knocking the man senseless, A meat spore shuffled
forward, and Kane wrench it off it's feet, using it to beat the other
spores nearby. Kane's strength was pushing the creatures back,
ripping off limbs and tearing away sections with Sofia's winds forcing
the rest of the mob back.

One of the mob, a vacant looking man who was holding a shotgun and
using others as coverage. He shoved through to take aim at Sofia and
Garrison, both of whom suddenly facing the business end of the weapon.
Before any of them could react, the man suddenly lurched sideways,
blood fountaining from a suddenly appearing wound. They caught sight
of Fred Duncan, lowering his pistol and waving forward units of SWAT
and FBI agents, using a mix of riot gear to smash into the crowd from
behind and start to scatter them.

Garrison grinned, seeing the tide start to turn, and bullrushed his
way to the remaining knot of meat spores, pulling them apart
barehanded and smashing bystanders with the parts. The crowd was
slowly retreating from the gates, leaving them in a slowly widening
space, caught between police on one end and the fury of the mutants on
the other.

"I think I love that man," Sofia observed, shoving another blob of
flesh into Kane's waiting fist. "It's too bad I'd have to tailor my
entire wardrobe to flats. Well, and purchase flats."

"I don't know if I can handle that image." Garrison grabbed the last
meat spore, and neatly tossed it a block away in a tight arc. The
press around them had melted away, and the first police units had made
it to their position, pushing the remains of the crowd away, towards
the area the other mutants had dominated. There was a ragged cheer
from the National Guardsmen, as the battered gates creaked open and an
older man in a battle dress uniform gave Duncan a weary handshake.

"Never thought the FBI would need to protect us."

"That makes two of us, Colonel." Duncan grinned and waved his men
forward. "You can thank some friends of mine."

"Damn right."

Garrison nodded to the man as the police streamed around him and Sofia
to break the remainants of the mob, He nudged her with his elbow. "I
guess we're now honourary soldiers. Got an outfit in mind for that?"

"Just for you. It involves a lack of shirt and very tiny whatever else."

"Oh my, eh."