Day Zero: Drive Like Mad

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North of Central Park, Team Echo commandeers a vehicle to take the fight to Apocalypse's supporters.



Maybe riding shotgun in a car through a deserted and destroyed Manhattan was a little too much like I Am Legend, though instead of hordes of sun-fearing vampire creatures, there were Apocalypse-following mutants gone wild. Either way, definitely too much like Hollywood for Clarice's tastes. All she needed was a tattoo and a bazooka and she could be GI Jane meets Tank Girl, with her semi-bald head uncovered by her bandanna that had been lost at some indeterminate point in the past few days. Yup, she was loosing it.

"See anything, Jay?" she asked into her headset, sticking her head out the window and looking up in the sky. In this crazy life, who needed sanity?

His damn hoodie was interfering with his headset and Jay fumbled with it while he hoovered on the spot, glancing over his shoulder down at the car. "Yeah," he replied. "You got big uglies straight ahead. Group of five, or three? Hang on, Ah can't tell from here." He swooped down, pushing his sleeves to his elbows and circled above before landing on a window ledge of a nearby building. "Okay, it's five Ah see. North and west o' you, you got... six or eight three lights up from that. Ah reckon they're--" a blast hit the window next to Jay, shattering the glass and Jay startled with a yell, jumping off the ledge and clumsily regained his balance, climbing higher before he shit himself.

"Watch yourself, Jay!" Jean snapped into the com, already turning to track where the blast had come from in time to see a head duck down over the edge of an apartment building roof. "Two more up there..." she muttered, scanning out for them. "And not psi-shielded. I've got them." Her eyes unfocused as she set to work implanting the telepathic commands which would put them to sleep and keep them that way for as long as they needed them quiet.

"All right", Angelo muttered to himself, putting his foot down to shoot straight ahead. "Jay, can you bring down the two up there? Phoenix's stopped them givin' you trouble."

"You mean you can't get 'em yourself?" he joked, already turned around, heading for the roof. He landed down and surveyed his attackers before turning around and leaning over the edge to make sure there were no other attacks. No one would be directly in his flight path to the ground and he could see that the blast had gotten the attention of the smaller group nearby. He retreated back and bent down, scooping up the first guy and stumbling backwards, catching his balance while he muttered, "They shoot at me and Ah gotta play Romeo," he snorted, taking off and soared down to the ground.

"You're so good at it too," Clarice said, climbing out the car window until she was half in and half out of the car, holding on securely to the oh-shit handle, "On my mark, Jay," she instructed, opening a portal in mid-air. "Three, two....one," the two goons fell into it and out off the island. "Sometimes, I love Newton," she commented, sliding back in the car. "Objects in motion, tend to stay in motion. Oops!"

The last time Ororo had ridden in a car like this in New York City there had been giant dinosaurs roaming the roads alongside. She thought she preferred this scenario, if only slightly more. Less chance of being swallowed whole. She kept her eyes focused on the buildings on either side of them, scanning for visual threats while Jean covered a wider range.

"Try not t'hurt them, Pixie", Angelo said dryly, focusing on the road. "They're either gettin' arrested or they got whammied into this. Maybe both."

"Just get them away so they stay there," Jean muttered. "I think we've got incoming. That first group Jay spotted are headed this way, and they're definitely not happy."

Jay flew around a building and reemgered from the other side, lingering behind the group. They didn't notice him right away, their focus on the car moving towards them. Swooping down on the group, Jay snatched one from the air, picking the least problematic looking one and carrying the flailing mutant towards the car. He was struggling so hard that he made it difficult for Jay to keep airborne and the guy slipped out of his jacket, landing on the ground in a stumble. He dodged inbetween two buildings just as something or somethings nailed up Jay's calf, a gift from the group.

"Son of a--" he bit back his curse, landing and crouching down inspecting his leg.

"Angelo, stop the car and get Jay inside. Clarice, take a look at him. I'll track down our escapee," Ororo said, already levering open the back door. "And make sure he doesn't get too far."

Trading places with Jean, Clarice moved to the back seat so she could better took at Jay's leg. Jean was a doctor and Clarice yielded to her judgement, but Clarice was an EMT and more familiar with emergency medicine as opposed to having an entire lab around her. She'd carried her backpack of supplies into Manhattan and had managed to keep the bag with her despite everything. Pulling out antiseptic and industrial strength scissors, she waited for Jay to be brought back.

Angelo was already out of the car and halfway to Jay, and he wasted no time helping the younger man up and half-hauling him back to the car... and then he heard a sound behind him and snapped round, only to see a familiar yet unexpected face.

"...Miguel? What the fuck're you still doin' here?"

Miguel didn't look at all well, bloodied, bruised and grey-faced, but he managed a crooked shrug. "They came to the house. Made Alejandra run an' I... hid." His face twisted in shame. "But there was the bridges. Nowhere to go. I don't know where she is."

Angelo had been handing Jay off to Clarice as he listened to the speech, but he turned back to his friend now. "Get the hell in the car before you drop. We'll find her, man."

Jay climbed into the car and looked down at his leg, half listening to the exchange Angelo was having. Porcupine-like hooks stuck out from his jeans and they were well into his skin, in the cafe muscle. He grabbed one, tugging and testing it, only to let go abruptly, gripping the sides of his calf in pain. "Damnit these -- Mmm!" he gritted his teeth. "-- hurt!" He couldn't pull up his jeans, they were sticking right through to his leg and he gestured for Clarice to maybe pull them out all at once. "It'll heal--" He bit his lip, having no doubts that it would heal. It was the removal part he didn't particularly like.

Jean spared a moment to be glad Clarice's presence cleared her attention for dealing with the incoming threats. "Not going to be able to just knock out those five," she told Ororo, frowning as she reached out mentally towards the group heading towards the now stopped car. "They've got a psi of their own... I can keep him busy if you all can deal with the other four."

"Hold still," Clarice instructed, taking a pair of tweezers and pulling the first barb out. "Someone hold him!" she said as Jay jerked unconsciously. Slowly, she began to pull the spines out until she could begin cutting his pant leg away. Such was the sacrifice sometimes. Thankfully the leg underneath did not look too bad. Bathing his leg with some antibiotic she pronounced him good enough for now. Thank goodness for the healing factor.

"AHOUCH!" Jay howled and found he really wasn't helping out. Everytime she pulled a barb, he yelled until the last one was out.

Patched up enough, despite the leg throbbing, "Let me out, Ah can still fly," he demanded. Jay limped out and spread his wings, taking off in flight before he got nailed again as the car finally started moving again. Circling around the group that targeted him yet again, he dodged another set of barbs that were thrown in his direction and he swooped down, grabbing two of the guys and heading towards the car. "Hurry Clarice! This one bites!"

Teleporting the guys away, Clarice looked at Jay askance, "You need to work on your defense!" she said, pulling her head back in to the car. "If we gotta stop every time you get hurt..." she was already planning a rabies shot for him, just in case. Healing factor or not.

Jean's eyes were closed as she focused on the other telepath, a young man with significant potential, but not nearly as much training as Jean. A thing which became obvious as a massive explosion suddenly echoed across the island, breaking his focus and giving Jean the chance to lock him inside his own mind, at least temporarily. As he slumped to the ground unconscious his two remaining friends stared in the direction the explosion had come from, where those in the car could see the citadel was... apparently not doing so well. "That..." Jean said, staring herself. "Am I crazy or was that a part of the roof which just fell off the citadel?" But she didn't give anyone a chance to answer as suddenly Farouk was reaching out to her. "We've got to get there," she said, looking over at Ororo. "Time to drive like mad."