Jailbreak - Search Party 1 - Sunday evening

[x-penance.livejournal.com]

Search party one makes contact with the Young Preservers.




Marie kept scanning, looking for any sign of their quarry, the rain making it difficult to see anything. Part of her still couldn't believe just how many people were being chased by teams similar to the one she was leading. She'd been involved in large X-Men missions before, but something about this one felt surreal. "Still nothing," she said into her comm, almost snarling in frustration. They'd been looking for what felt like forever with no sign. She was wet, she was cold, but most of all she was frustrated. "Wildchild, are we still heading the right way?"

"Pretty sure, yeah." Kyle shook water out of his hair and bent low to the ground to try to get a stronger trail. "Rust-guy is pretty iron-tastic smelling and I'm pretty sure we don't have anything like a steel mill around anywhere. I'd have caught that way before if we did. Rest of 'em are a little washed out from the rain and stuff, but we're still on the trail." He hadn't -heard- anything, but all that meant was that the people they were trailing were far enough ahead to be drowned out by the sound of the rain.

Of all of them in the group, Angel was probably the least miserable. She was opposite Marie in the air and just using her powers meant she was completely dry. It didn't make her job any easier though or her less nervous - this wasn't like any of the other times she'd been out in the field. Even in Japan when she'd had to flee back to the Blackbird because no one had expected that kind of trouble. Here, though...

"Bright side, I guess, is that if we're having this kind of trouble seeing, then they are too, right?" she asked, dipping towards the ground once to try and get a better view before bobbing back to where she'd been keeping level at.

"Chances are pretty good", Angelo agreed, walking just behind Kyle. "They've got a telekinetic, but I'm sure Rowan's got better things to do than move the rain."

"And if she doesn't, she will soon," Rogue replied as a building came into view. It took Marie a moment to place the objects that appeared strewn around the ground outside as hydrants and even what looked like an old car. "Looks like a gas station. Since the price listed on that sign says a buck fifty, Ah'm guessing it's abandoned, but be sure to make sure there's no civilians before you engage. Pants, you and Ah will do an aerial sweep before entering. Skin, Wildchild, get ready to enter at our all clear."

"Yes, ma'am," Angel replied, easily shifting to the side to be closer to Rogue but far enough away so that they could both cover enough ground. And she had another trick up her sleeve that would help, especially in what she figured had to be cold for people who weren't her. It took a few minutes of concentration that made her wobble a bit in the area but when she blinked, she grinned, as her vision changed slightly to check for 'hot spots'.

"Roger." Kyle sprinted ahead to catch up, moving silently over the ground. "Scent trail's stronger here..." he said quietly into the comm. "Pretty sure 'least some of 'em are here." He took up position in the tall grass across from the abandoned building, dropping to all fours to keep low to the ground and out of sight. "Oh yeah, we got at least two. I smell metal and I smell smoke."

"Rust and Ash", Angelo said grimly. "Which means chances're good the other two are there as well. We should focus on Seabourn an' Rowan first, for distance powers."

"Not seeing anyone out here, but that doesn't mean they haven't found a particularly good hiding spot. Pants and Ah will do another sweep to be sure, but go ahead and see what we'e got inside," Rogue said, flying a little lower to have a better view.

There was a groan of metal as she approached and the gas station's sign suddenly shuddered and tipped over, aiming at Rogue as she flew past. Almost immediately it was followed by an ear-splitting wailing keen that seemed to bypass the ears and drill straight into people's brains.

Marie quickly caught the sign, ripping it from the ground and tossing it away from the group. "Wildchild, find Seabourn and take him out. None of us are gonna be able to think straight with that racket. Skin, you and Ah'll provide cover and engage the others. Pants, keep us in the loop on what you see going on and take any distance shots you can." Diving down, she caught sight of a figure running from where the sign had previously stood and began pursuit.






There was an abandoned junkyard next to the gas station, and Marie's target ran that way, seeking out cover and ammunition for his powers. The orange prison-issue jumpsuit stood out, even in the rain. Rust cursed under his breath - he had to pick up a damn flyer, didn't he? - and ran his hand along the bottom car of a pile, weakening the structure in the hopes it would topple on his pursuer.

Little did he know that Marie was hoping for the same thing, as she caught the crumbling pieces and began lobbing them at her opponent. "Just give it up Rust," she called out. "It'll be easier if you come willingly." She knew there was a fat chance that he would, but extending the offer seemed the appropriate thing to do.

Rust ducked for cover behind a pile of old refrigerators, flinching every time a piece of metal hit. He was waaaay outclassed and he knew it. "Come and get me, race traitor!" he called back regardless. He was damned if he was going to go back to jail.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me...well, actually they won't break my bones, but you know what Ah mean," Rogue replied as she circled nearer her target. Throwing a barrage of debris at Rush, she landed a few feet behind him, holding a piece of what looked like an old axle up and ready. "Last chance," she drawled.

The sound of rain falling around them covered the faint rumbling sound for a moment, maybe more, before the ground started to quake under Rogue’s feet and the sound became too loud to hide anymore. A moment later and the earth erupted under her in an upward spray of dirt and debris as the quakes focused all in that particular spot. From around a corner, a shorter, bulky man sporting the same kind of jumpsuit as Rust stepped into sight.

“Not quite the X-bitch I was hoping to run into,” he said casually, a light accent coloring his words, “eh, she’ll do.”

Marie rocked with the earth as she was caught off guard by Avalanche's arrival. As she was thrown into the air, she took control of her direction, twisting to the right so she ended up hovering with both mutants in view. "You know, orange doesn't really suit either of you," she said. "Ah promise to talk to the prison officials when Ah return you to their custody and we'll work on getting y'all something in a nice, fluorescent green." As she spoke she moved in the air much like a pitcher on a mound preparing to throw a pitch. In the next second, a piece of debris was headed straight at Rust's head.

Rust ducked behind a wall of earth that rose to block the chunk and nodded his thanks to the newcomer. "Thanks, pal. Good to see mutants looking out for each other." He glared at Marie. "Looks like we've got a stand off, bitch. You can't do anything to us up there and we'll take you down if you come down here. And sooner or later Rowan or Seabourn or Ash will come here and take you down."

Marie fanned her face with her hand. "Why, Ah do declare, whatever could Ah do against two strong gents such as yourself? However will Ah manage?" Without another word, she began spiraling down towards Rust, agily avoiding the parts of the earth that rose up to meet her until she was two inches from him. "How about like this?" she said, reaching out to grab him by his jumpsuit and shooting back up to the safety of the air.

The young man squawked and flailed in her grip, going limp when he realised just how high up they were. The metal parts of Marie's uniform rusted and crumbled, but there was little else he could do. "Lemme go!" he almost wailed, the tone revealing just how young he still was.

Dominic Petros, more commonly known as Avalanche, scratched the side of his face as he studied the two figures floating in the air above his head. He could attempt a bit of a rescue but he’d diverted from his escape not to help the struggling younger mutant but for a chance to tussle with an X-Man. He wasn’t the smartest person in the world but when an opportunity presented itself, he took it.

He flipped Rogue off before he bolted out of the area, already reaching up to rip off the obvious orange jumpsuit.

"Seriously? How was that supposed to help?" Rogue said, as bits of her belt and studs on her collar crumbled and fell away. Extending one arm to dangle Rust farther away, she glared at him. "Any more tricks like that and we'll start playing a fun game of catch, if you get my drift." Using her other hand to activate her comm, she continued talking, but not to Rust. "Ended up having a bit of a harder time with Rust due to a surprise bonus of help from Avalance. Ah've got Rust under control, am going to continue in pursuit of Avalanche. Give me an update on your statuses."





Angel swallowed hard as she gained a few more feet of precious air space between her and anyone on the ground that wasn’t a teammate. Taking a moment to pinpoint exactly where her folks were at, Angel passed on the information from what she could see. “With the exception of the one M – Rogue is going after,” she said, glaring through the rain at the rippling heat signatures, “everyone’s either standing their ground or heading toward you guys so be careful, okay?”

"The screamer, right? Oh, fuck ME." At least the noise made it easy to track the young Preserver. And hopefully the noise would drown out anything else, like the sounds of Kyle running full-tilt towards the back of the gas station, moving more like a giant Great Dane than a human man.

The young man who stepped out of the shadows to face Kyle was leaner, harder than he had been two years previously. All trace of humour had vanished from his expression, replaced with a barely-healed scar across one cheek, a jagged pink line that had been inflicted weeks before by a fellow inmate with a shiv made out of a stolen spoon. Kyle's approach made ripples in the sound waves he was generating, and he turned to focu the full force of his scream at the charging feral.

The cone of sound did more than just ring the inside of Kyle's head like a bell, it actually pushed him back a few yards and took divots out of the ground where it echoed off Kyle's hands and feet. He'd expected the pop of his eardrums bursting and the sudden loss of all sound - at least in that Kyle knew what Terry could do. It still hurt, and Kyle stumbled a few steps before leaping to the top of the building and then diving down at Seabourn.

The other mutant had time for another burst of sound at the diving feral, before being knocked to the ground by Kyle's not-insubstantial weight. He raised his forearms to protect his face and throat, and jabbed a quick punch into Kyle's face.

The lack of sound wasn't as bad as Kyle had expected. But the burst eardrums came with waves of dizziness, and while he managed to dodge the punch, he also nearly fell backwards in an effort to keep upright. He caught himself, and swung out a leg into what he hoped was a sweep, fighting the urge to shake his head free of the disorientation from the vertigo.

Seabourn scrambled back away from the flailing leg and directed another burst, smaller this time on account of him still catching his breath back, at the X-Man. His sensitive hearing had already caught Marie's voice on the comms and he knew Rust was a lost cause - time to fend for himself. He just needed to keep this guy down enough to get away and then he could disappear, maybe even start a new life.

It was really all Kyle could do to keep from falling over, and yet he still leapt at the other man, the pounce falling short. He caught himself before he stumbled, and dove to tackle at Seabourn. The tackle was more like a shove, something from the basketball court, weak and with only the weight of Kyle's body behind it.

Seabourn lashed out, flailing at Kyle as the other man dove at him. He managed to redirect the shove slightly and aided it with another soundburst, this one calculated to rattle the X-Man's brains enough for him to get loose. Ash and Rowan were busy with 'Miguel' or 'Dienekes' or whatever the guy's actual name was, and Frost was going after the flying fire-girl. Time to book before the X-Men's leader came back.

The wave of sound was like being inside a bass speaker and Kyle dropped, clutching at his head. He couldn't hear much of it, but it resonated his jaw and skull and it felt like his eyes and heart and lungs and brain were pulsing in time with the noise. It hurt, and it made the dizziness he'd been fighting all the worse, and it was all he could do to keep from throwing up.

Seabourn paused just a moment, a flash of regret appearing on his scarred face. Then he was off, running for the line of trees that backed onto the gas station and out into the open fields beyond.

It was almost on auto-pilot that Kyle managed to hit his comm, broadcasting a raspy and too-loud "Seabourn's running. Busted my eardrums." and then tried to get to his feet. He fell twice, and even when he stood, it was unsteady and hunched over and he had to resort to going to all fours to keep from falling back down once he started trying to walk. "Can't hear -shit- so I hope you guys don't need my help."






While Kyle was busy with Seabourn, Angelo had gone for the two young women in the enemy group. "Hey, kids", he drawled. "Time to go home."

"Miguel, you race traitor, or, I forgot...Angelo." Ash replied, hand reaching out to rest on Rowan's shoulder as she moved backward toward the gas station. "Funny seeing you here, I thought we'd never see you again after you got us thrown in that hellhole."

"What, you thought I wouldn't come after you busted out?" he demanded. "Personal responsibility, Ash, it's a funny thing. Better for everyone if you come quietly."

"Everyone? How exactly is being in there good for us?" Ash replied, keeping an eye on Angelo as she continued to move backward. "Well, you can forget it, we're not going back and you aren't going to do anything. You owe us, Espinosa."

"Owe you?" He actually laughed at that, keeping pace with her. "You know Devlin was screwin' with your minds, right? If there's any debt here, it's yours for me gettin' you away from him."

Rowan rolled her eyes, and a group of spare tires lifted off the ground in time with the movement. "Yeah, right. You know what it's like for women in jail? Fuck no, you don't. Lemee clue you in, "Miguel". Men ain't the only ones who hafta cut somebody on the first day or be someone's bitch."

"You'd be proud of us 'Miguel', we learnt a lot in prison. We were star pupils, you might say. So you'll forgive us if we don't stick around to talk," Ash said decisively, launching a series of small fireballs at the tires hanging in the air, setting them ablaze. "Rowan, you know what to do."

One by one, the tires went flying off, some towards the building and some directly towards Angelo. As they flew, Rowan pushed them to spin, so they as they burned, they spat bits of burning rubber in their wakes.

Angelo dodged the tires as best he could, but doing so meant he couldn't give chase very well, and the flecks of burning rubber were too small to dodge. "You can't run forever", he called to the women. "They'll catch you in the end, an' you know fugitives get more time added. You didn't kill anyone, is it worth it?"

"Have you not been listening to anything we've said?" Ash asked, several meters distant now and backing up faster as she continued to provide Rowan with flaming projectiles. "Go spend a few nights in jail, then talk to us. We're not going back, not now, not ever. I'd rather be dead then go back there."

He snorted humourlessly at that, making a quick run in her direction. "You think I've never been to jail? Man, you have no idea. I may not know about women's prison, but I know what it's like to be the shortest, skinniest kid in juvie. I'd still rather be alive."

"Juvie? Try general population with some of the most dangerous mutants in the country, Miguel," Ash replied with a snort of derision. She ducked aside and set down a line of fire between the two of them, raising it up over their heads to give herself and Rowan time to retreat further.

"If you'd really wanted to help, you'dve done something instead of just letting us sit our asses in a jail cell." Rowan's words were punctuated by the sound of the gas pumps shearing out of the ground.

"Light me up, Ash!" She yelled as she hurled them towards Angelo. "Light me up -good-."

"You'll want to run now," Ash noted, voice as cold as an artic wind as she twisted and glanced back at the gas pumps, setting them ablaze.

He did want to, indeed... but wanting to and being able to when there was a wall of fire penning him in on all sides. He didn't react quite as badly as he might once have, not descending into blind fear, but he did freeze on the spot, desperately looking for a clear path.

Finally, and with an edge of panic to his voice as he saw the fire was closing in, he spoke into his communicator. "Rogue, Ash and Rowan are gone. I could use an airlift."







Above Kyle, Angel had startled to angle in closer, turning in tighter circles as she tried to figure out a way to give him a hand. The problem, she thought frantically, with her powers was that she couldn't command the flames once she released it and it could just as easily turn on anyone. And since she was distracted, she didn't see a large chunk of metal that had been completely iced over thrown at her from the roof until it was almost too late.

It was coming too fast to do much of anything besides suck in a mouthful of air in shock as she tucked and rolled to the right in an attempt to get out of the way. She managed it, barely, but it still clipped her on the side and though the fire shield absorbed most of the impact it still sent her spinning as she fought to keep her balance. Most of the ice had melted upon impact but the unexpected aspect of it had really been what had thrown her.


The chunk of roof hadn't gotten all the way to Angel by itself. It had been propelled by what appeared to be a slender column of ice that had grown out of the gas station. After a moment, it teetered and fell into many, many tiny pieces of ice, leaving a hollow broken-off stump, and a man standing inside it, arms and shoulders coated in what looked to be fresh snow. He didn't move, but under him the ice grew again, rising towards the hole in the roof.

Angel had managed to regain her balance when she saw him rising up so she went a bit higher, unsure of how fast or how high that guy – ‘Frost?’ she thought, remembering what they’d been told about some of the escapee’s – could actually go. The roof bit that she’d been hit with had done more to disorient her than hurt her but now she was cautious, focusing all her attention on the guy below her. “Shouting surrender sounds totally lame so I won’t but you totally should,” she called down to him.

Frost's answer with a pair of raised middle fingers, and a wave of sleet that came up from the hole in the station's roof. The power was off, but the freon in the walk-in freezer had still been good and he had a source to work from. The waves were unsteady, but well-aimed and they slapped up against Angel's legs, coating her bottom-half in wet mush.


The mush was melting as soon as it pushed up against her but with it coming as fast as she could melt it, it was also heavy. Angel dropped several feet from the shock of it before blasting out of it to get more height, dodging to the right when the wave chased after her. The problem she was facing was two-fold - she didn't want to seriously hurt him and he was obviously way better at being offensive than she was. And he wasn't worried about not hurting her. But she thought she might have an idea...

Angel stuck her tongue out at him and dodged to the left, keeping him occupied as he stepped fully onto the roof.

The stream of profanity was as hot as the waves of slush were cold as Frost realized that his attempt to drop the girl from the sky were failing. Between one word and another, the slush went hard, turning to sheets of ice that at least lingered longer than the slush had. "Come down here and fight me, you bitch!"

"I'm a minor! You owe me a dollar for cursing!" she yelled back down, reinforcing her fire shield even as she split her focus. Remembering Forge's lectures on the fact that fire wasn't her actual mutant power but simply a by-product and that the microwave energy project was, Angel was trying a different trick. She swooped closer, concentrating on sending out waves of them to the roof - in essence, superheating the roof without fire was harder than advertised but she could see it grow hotspots thanks to her efforts.

Frost was confused. Not just by the girl's response, because who said stuff like that, but also at whatever she was doing. Which didn't seem to be anything except melting all his ice and snow. She had to be one of those damn fire throwers, like Ash. Except there wasn't much in the way of fire, just melted ice and snow and some kind of awful smell. Not smoke, he was familiar with that.

He ignored it, and just kept aiming balls of ice at the girl. They kept turning to slushy water long before they even hit her, and steaming off even the few times they did connect.

This guy was proving, pretty quickly, that fire powers had an edge over ice. Angel grinned and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey, frost princess!" she taunted, realizing that she had the upper hand. "Might want to check out your shoes!"

They weren't really shoes. They were the slip on plastic 'shoes' that the prison had provided over a worn and threadbare pair of socks. They were also, as Frost realized, stuck quite fast to the tar of the roof.

The words he yelled back at Angel started at 'fucking bitch race traitor' and only got worse from there as he struggled in vain to try to pull away from the roof, and only ended up falling to his knees and getting even more stuck in the sticky partially melted tar.

Sagging in the air in relief, Angel touched the ear piece. "Pants here," she said, gripping her free hand so it wouldn't start to shake now that everything was over with. "Frost is stuck pretty fast to the roof top, so, um, someone who's not me is welcome to come up here and tag him."





Hearing the latest update on her comm, Marie sighed. "Everyone who's not Wildchild, Ah'm ceasing pursuit of Avalanche. Bastard seems to have vanished into thin air. Ah'm gonna take Rust to Wildchild since even deaf he can handle this deadweight. Anyone need a hand?"

There was a crackle and then Angelo's voice, skirting the edge of panic:

"Rogue, Ash and Rowan are gone. I could use an airlift."

The note of panic was all that was needed to spur Marie to a new level of speed, causing some discomfort for her passenger, especially when she realized that a wall of fire had jumped up at the same moment as Angelo's crackled communication. "Pants, stay put for now and keep an eye on Frost, Ah gotta get Skin." Almost throwing Rust at Kyle, with a quick sign she hoped he realized meant to keep him under watch, she patched into the larger communication network to update Storm on their overall mission status as she rushed towards the fire.

"Skin, Ah'm here, where are you?" she called out, trying to spot him in the smoke.

"In the middle of the fire", he came back hastily. "An' it's gettin' closer. Hurry?"

Abruptly piroutting in the air as she heard his voice without her comm, she dove headlong into the fire where the sound seemed to be generating. "Grab on!" Rogue yelled out, reaching out to grab Angelo's hand.

He reached out with his powers to latch on to her hand, only too glad to be getting out of there fast. The next moment, he was hanging on securely as they headed for Angel's location.

In the distance, the blue outlined figure of Angel spotted the two of them and waved, flaring even more so they could find her position in the gloom of the rain. "Our friend down there is stuck pretty good to the roof," she informed them through the comms as they headed her way. "And he keeps cursing at me. He's up to owing me $30."

"Alright gang, Ah think we're done here. Pants, when we get to your location, do one last final aerial sweep of the area, make sure we're not just missing these folks hiding nearby. Then we'll take those we got back to central, regroup, and see if they need us to do anything else," Marie replied.



All in the name of liberty/All in the name of liberty/Got to be free