Hotel Saragarhi: Enemy Of My Enemy

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

BACKDATED

The X-Men are successful at getting Shahraj out of the hotel, but are picked up by the Imperial Guard attempting to escape, leading to a stand off.



"Move! Move!" Greycrow hissed as they headed for the helicopter. The Indian forces had already moved on the hotel, and they could hear shots in the background. The stampede of supposedly trapped hostages had accelerated the timeline, and now flares and spotlights began to strip away the darkness that had concealed them. In the back of the helicopter sat a very stunned looking Shahraj. The big Sikh was sitting ramrod straight in his chair, eyes very wide as he watched them clamber into the helicopter. "Chatter on the radio says that they are locking down the airspace as well, sending in some kind of special reinforcements."

"Shit." Kane spat, as he got in, the last off the ground. O'Shea had pulled back on his stick even before the Canadian had finished climbing up, and he pulled himself into the passenger space with twenty feet already between his boots and the dirt. "Imperial Guard, I bet. Do they know it's us?"

"I doubt it!" Greycrow howled over the sound of the helicopter. "But they know something fishy is going on. Maybe mercs, maybe private security; either way, they'll be shutting this place tighter than a virgin's asshole."

"Imperial Guard? Is that something I missed in the briefing?" Lex yelled. His back and sides felt terrible but he knew he'd be able to keep up if there were another fight ahead, as long as he knew what they were up against.

"India's version of us, only they're assholes." Kyle yelled back. He had both hands clapped over his ears to try to muffle the sound of the helicopter, and it wasn't helping at all and his head was ringing like the inside of a bell. "Like if the Navy Seals had mutants or something."

"And they're probably DELIGHTED to have us horning in on their territory." Tabitha raised an eyebrow. "How we handling this? Fighting or smooth talking?"

"Running. Hopefully they don't notice one helicopter going in the opposite direction from the trouble." Garrison strapped himself into the seat as O'Shea brought the helicopter down dangerously close to the tree line, making for the mountains that surrounded the area and trying to lose them in the midst of their valleys long enough to make the border and UN air space.

"Well, at least we got what we came here for, right?" Jan asked from her perch atop one of the chairs. "Even if he does seem to be a big scaredy-cat. You'd think he'd never seen a group of mutants saving people before or something."

"Right," Clarice agreed, eying their target and making sure he was strapped in properly. They had developed a love-hate relationship in the past few minutes, he had not appreciated being teleported without warning, even if it had been to save his life.

The helicopter suddenly shuddered, and almost seemed to hitch sideways in the air for a moment. Everyone scrambled to keep their feet or seat, and only O'Shea's voice could be heard over the shaking noise of the rotors, half in dread and half in stunned admiration.

"I'll be dipped in shit." He said slowly, as the helicopter was forced to slow and then stop at the figures hanging in the air in its path. Greycrow looked from the windscreen to the pilot and then back.

"Singh, tell these gentlemen that we'll be landing immediately." Greycrow said, softly. He turned to Kane. "This is a troop carrier, not a gunship. All they need to do is damage the rotor and we'll all end up pasted on the side of a mountain or killed as this thing tears itself apart on the way to the ground."

"Agreed, Major." Garrison sighed. "Maybe we can talk our way out. X-Men, be ready on the ground. If they try and take us immediately, focus on getting the Shahraj and Greycrow's men out of here. Anyone not clearing them off, do whatever it takes to delay the Imperial Guard. If we can hurt them enough, it might give Greycrow enough time to get them into the mountains and hidden." Kane's unspoken statement was that winning wasn't possible, not against what the X-Men knew of the Guard, but they might buy some time before getting killed.

"Understood," Lex growled. He understood what Dominion asked of him, and was prepared to lay his life down for any of his teammates. Moving in his seat, bracing himself so he could jump out the moment their transport touched down, he started building up a reserve of electricity. After dealing with the city's power grid he wasn't operating at one-hundred percent, but he wasn't about to let that make him fail in his duty to his comrades.

Kyle muttered a few "fuck fuck FUCKs" and zipped his armored jacket back up. Just when he'd actually thought he could take the damn thing off too. "I remember that glowing bitch. Blinded me and Lil. Makes it a real pain in the -ass- to try to fight someone when you can't see 'em."

"Comm security, Wildchilde." Garrison said lightly, a reminder that despite what they were facing, they needed to stay focused and thinking about things rationally. The X-Men had trained in all kinds of no-win situations, both as individuals and as squads. In fact, the theory was that designed them was Summers' form of tension release, killing his teammates in fake scenarios replacing traditional pranks. But what it had taught them was to stick to a plan, and in doing so, it was often possible to salvage something out of even the worst situations.

Greycrow merely grunted and switched clips on his MP5. "O'Shea, Singh, grab your field kits. Singh, tell Mister Shahraj that we're going to try and get him to a safe place, but when we move, he's got to move with us immediately. No screwin' around. X-Men, you make the call."

Garrison nodded as the helicopter settled on the clearing, and motioned to his troops. "Spread out, two on two. Wasp, I want you full size to start. If they go hostile, you and Blink are going to disappear, and hit them from behind. Meltdown, Hamster, Wildchilde, you're with me. Two on two, and don't go after the big guy first. If we can knock a couple of them out of action right away, we might be able to stop him without going toe to toe."

Before Garrison had finished speaking, the previously one-inch tall X-Man was standing in the helicopter at her full height of 5'4" tall. "Disappearing's not a problem with us." She stretched her wings out a bit before folding them against her back.

Tabitha pulled her gloves back on silently. She rolled the stiffness from her neck and nodded her assent to Garrison. "I'll take Hammy with me?"

"Only if you listen to me when I tell you to get the fuck away," his tone was joking, but the look he gave her was one of perfect seriousness. "I'm not going to let you carry me all the way back to base." He moved in to formation with her, staying one step behind her so he could cover an attack on them from any direction.

Tabs held up her hands. "I'll remember the lightning this time! Let's go kick some ass."

"Yeah, this is going to go well." Kane said under his breath, as they stepped out on to the clearing. The Guard had already settled down across from the helicopter. Garrison recognized Dacoit right off the bat, having run into him several times already. There was the blue woman that Marie had taken out, a man who's hands crackled with flaming energy, a woman with luminous skin, and another, shrouded in darkness, around whom the shadows seemed to bend and twist.

"Crossing the border without authorization is an act of war, Americans." Dacoit said, his English accented, but perfect.

"Humanitarian mission." Kane replied, ignoring being called an American.

"You have kidnapped an Indian politician. You have--"

"He's free to leave if he wants." Garrison said, and nodded to Shahraj, who was edging around the helicopter. Dacoit made a gesture, and two of the guards stepped towards him. The Sikh ducked behind Greycrow with a spate of his own language. Kane didn't need a translation. "Doesn't look like he trusts you."

Dacoit’s flinty gaze returned to Kane. "What have you told him?"

"Not a thing. You're not stupid. Stop acting like it. '" Kane took a step forward knowing that the Guard could easily wipe him out of existence in a heart beat. "An isolated terrorist action this far in. No real demands being issued. And Shahraj being held in a different part of the hotel, and not mentioned in the terrorist's demands. You're going to tell me you can't work out what's happening."

Dacoit looked over to the blue woman, who put a hand to her temples, and turned back to him with a nod.

"Oracle says you're telling the truth. Why are you here then?"

"If not us, who?" Kane shrugged. "You're soldiers; men and women who have taken oaths to serve the Indian people. Shahraj is one of their representatives, even if he doesn't agree with your Prime Minister. Does Neramani matter more? If he does, take Shahraj back to military custody, and try not to think too much when the 'unfortunate accident' happens. Or let us drop him off somewhere that he can publicly talk about a miraculous escape. But if we're going to have this fight, let's not waste time. I've got the Leafs game PVRed at home."

There was a long silence, and Dacoit nodded to his men. "Our orders are to assist at the Wallflower. We should follow them." There was a moment of protest, before Dacoit’s glare stopped it cold, and one by one, the Guard took back to the skies.

Kane let out a breath he'd been holding.

Jan stared up at the sky. "O... k... Well, that was different. Um, are we sure it's not a trick of some sort; they're not going to double back and attack us once we think we're safe?"

"Possible," Clarice commented. She had been mostly quiet through out all this, "but unlikely. Otherwise, the egg will be all over their faces, not ours."

“Agreed. They had us if they wanted us. Looks like diplomacy worked. Who knew?” Kane said, his eyes on the rapidly departing figures while his mind clicked over on the potential implications. The Guard wasn’t simply a group of thugs, or the private army of Neramani. Now that was interesting.

“Alright, X-Men. We got what we came for. Let’s go home.”