xp_logs | GSIH: The Jury-Rigged Ambulance

Jean-Paul, Kevin and Yvette apply some elbow grease to try and refit the train cars to carry as many sick and wounded as possible.

It was like a collection of toy train sets from a garage sale. The only thing that was common in all of the cars they saw were the fact that they all were meant to be pulled by rail. An elegant, if old fashioned, sleeper car was on the track coupled to a standard heavy hauler boxcar, and behind it was an open bed sideloader. They could all fit people, but with wounded and children being the priority, it was going to take substantial work to get them to the point that they could carry the most people in a safe fashion.

Jean-Paul hated his Alpha Flight suit, but there was no telling what they were going to come up against here, which meant he was wearing it despite the heat and the situation in general. Flying sentry would only do them good if there was an imminent threat, which there wasn't at the moment - that meant he found himself ferrying pieces of metal and wood over to the people he was meant to be working with to get the train cars operational. The modifications were coming along, but slowly, and he was ranging farther to get usable materials now.

"Here," he said, laying several two-by-fours and random slats of wood that he'd found near Kevin. "There is a great deal of metal near where I found these, but I cannot fly it here." Jean-Paul kept careful watch over both Kevin and Yvette as he stepped back - just because there was no threat now didn't meant wouldn't arrive at an inconvenient moment.

"Thanks." Kevin didn't really look at the pile of new wood, trying hard to concentrate on getting the decay to go straight down through the piece of wood his hand laid against. He had to be careful to watch where it went and make sure he didn't decay a hole straight through the bench beneath it. The last thing they needed was to repair workable stuff they already had because he couldn't concentrate. Eventually concentration would become an issue and then he'd focus on hammers and nails. He'd already decayed most of the way through many seat backs so Yvette could cut them off with greater ease.

The end of the wood piece fell off the bench and to the ground. A moment later Kevin was snatching his bare hand away from the wood as if it burned. It hadn't, but he wasn't going to risk damage to the bench. He finally looked up at the speedster and at the pile of wood. "That's more use'n the metal'll be. Ah don't have the tools or the time to put metal together so it doesn't matter that you can't get it here anyway." With the thought complete Kevin immediately craned his neck in search of Yvette.

There was the sound of metal screeching and then Yvette's head appeared through the window of the sleeper. "I have cut out the beds to be making space," she reported, sounding a little breathless - she'd been working hard, to the point her powers were in overdrive, her face expressionless and her hair in long spikes. "But I need the help to get the pieces out. Mr. Beaubier, can you be helping, please?"

"Oui," Jean-Paul said, moving to the door of the car Yvette was working in and began to move the pieces closest to the doors outside, into the light. It was slow work, but he had it easier than either of the people he was working with, considering his powers were fairly useless for anything more than moving debris or making sure no one was sneaking up on them with nefarious intent.

Pausing for a moment, he wiped his face with his hands and then asked Yvette and Kevin, "Do either of you need water?" His own metabolism was going to need to be dealt with in the next hour or so, according to his stomach, but for now Jean-Paul would settle for making sure neither of them passed out from dehydration.

Yvette nodded immediately - with her skin she didn't sweat, so overheating was a real problem for her. "Please," she replied, polite as always.

"Just worry 'bout 'Vette and you," Kevin said. He hadn't actually answered the question. He could use the water, but Yvette and Jean-Paul both ranked much higher on the priority list to Kevin than himself. Yvette could overheat easily but Kevin didn't. He'd be starving later on, but he wasn't going to keel over any time soon from a lack of water. Or so he thought anyway.

Eying the beds that had been removed from the sleeper car, Kevin really wished they had tools so he could attach the beds to the sides of the cars like bunk beds. There would be people who'd need to lay down and stacking people like that would've been a lot more effective than any option they had. "Guess we can use 'em for lumber and parts and stuff at least, right?"

"Oui," Jean-Paul said, making sure the wood was within Kevin's reach. He looked toward Yvette, then, and said, "I will be back shortly with water for you both. Rest for a bit, please." And then he was off, hitting two birds with one stone as he made sure they were safe from possible attackers whilst going to find water.

Yvette climbed out of the sleeper car, only to join Kevin and begin working on the bench backs he had partially weakened for her - there was too much to do and not a lot of time. She'd rest later. "I left some of the beds at one end," she explained, hacking away industriously. "So there is the place for the wounded to lie down." Her face revealed nothing, but her voice quavered a little. "I hope we can be getting them out. Not like before."

"Good, Ah'm glad there's some left. And we'll get 'em out." Kevin wasn't really sure they'd manage to get people out but he wasn't going to put that uncertainty in front of Yvette. She was worried which meant he had to be the rock. It was his natural reaction, Kevin never worried about a show of strength unless someone he cared about needed that sort of presence.

Shaking his head to clear it of the vaguely fuzzy feeling creeping in, Kevin set himself to the pile of lumber Jean-Paul had delivered. Some of it was useful but it was the wrong size or shape for stuff that needed to be repaired. There was a box of nails and a hammer somewhere. He couldn't remember where. Maybe he should set Jean-Paul on that once he had the wood he needed laid out.

Kevin looked back up at Yvette working away industriously and he frowned a bit. "'Vette, we'll get 'em out," he told her again, this time in a more soothing tone. "Don't hurt yourself 'cause if you overwork yourself you'll be taken out and we'll be down on person to help. Ah need you, y'know." His point may have been slightly diminished with him working as he said it and trying his hardest to concentrate his powers where he needed them to go.

"I will rest when you rest," she replied, pointedly. "I can work as long as you can." She sounded almost stubborn and there was a certain glint in her odd eyes.

"We should all rest now," Jean-Paul said, landing a little ways away from both of them with bottles of water in his arms. "Otherwise, I will beat you both in this race to see who can fall over first from exhaustion or... what is it? Heat stroke? Oui, heat stroke."

Kevin's eyes slid from Jean-Paul to Yvette. He knew the girl wouldn't stop and there was no way he was letting her overwork herself. "Some of us are young 'n' spry," he told the older man, an obvious note of playfulness in his voice. It was hot out here, though, and he had a point about the heat stroke. The Southerner inched further away from both Jean-Paul and Yvette before stripping off the long-sleeved shirt he was wearing. He used it to mop up some sweat from his brow and then strung it through his belt carefully. The belt was leather, that would decompose right off him if his bare hands came in contact with it.

He got back to work but not before looking pointedly in Yvette's direction and then nodding toward Jean-Paul. "'Vette, take a water break at least. You ain't makin' it long as me if you fall over unconscious or whatever happens."

"Oh, very well." Yvette sounded pouty, more because she didn't want to be sitting while Kevin worked, but the lack of shirt was, she had to admit, something of a compensation. She found a shady spot and dropped into her habitual crouch, panting slightly in the heat. "Thank you, for fetching the water, Mr. Beaubier," she said to the older man, snapping her attention away from Kevin's bare back.

"Bienvenus," Jean-Paul said, eyes lingering for a moment on Kevin's back before he turned to Yvette and offered her a bottle. "It was nothing, petit ami." He'd already opened one of the waters for himself and he drank it quickly, already jumpy about their current position now that he was on the ground again. "Kevin," he said. "Where are your gloves? You need one, at least, to drink, oui?"

"Um..." He trailed off, twisting to look around with a hand shielding his eyes from the sun as if he would spot his gloves somewhere. "Ah dunno where Ah put 'em? In one of the cars, probably." He was using his powers so much that he hadn't really needed to put them back on since they'd been removed. When he didn't see them anywhere Kevin just shrugged. "Ah'm not really thirsty so it don't matter none."

Yvette huffed and stood again, setting her water bottle aside as she pulled her own gloves out of the pocket she had stashed them in. "Here, use one of mine," she half-scolded. "The material is not natural and it will change to be fitting you better." Since her fingers were three times longer than normal human fingers. "Because you need to be drinking when it is hot also, or you will be sick and then you will not be useful either, yes?"

Kevin's expression was one of wanting to say something but knowing he'd lose whatever argument he attempted to put forth. Shoulders dropping a little in defeat, Kevin just held a hand out palm up for the glove to be laid into. "Yeah, Ah'd get sick, too." It was clear from his tone that Kevin didn't think he was near the point of getting sick from overworking, but he was pretty sure saying that would only get him a firm thwapping anyway.

Yvette handed over the glove with just a hint of a triumphant grin - as much as she could do with her powers as active as they were. "Very good," she replied. "And after we all have the break, we can be going back to the work, yes?"

The glove was pulled on and Kevin couldn't help smiling a little bit at Yvette's look of utter victory. With her glove on, conforming to his hand and for once making it safe for him to touch her, Kevin reached out with just a finger under Yvette's chin. He tilted her face upward a little and had quite the wry smirk on his lips when he did. "Yeah, yeah, you win. Live it up." The smirk widened to a smile and Kevin released his hold on Yvette with a small brush of his thumb along her jaw.

With her face the way it was, it was impossible for her to show the utter thrill at that contact, even as she only barely felt it, but her eyes flared neon bright for a moment. To cover, she poked her tongue out at him. "You are, how does Kyle say it? Owned, yes?"

Jean-Paul looked up at Yvette's words, tossing his already empty bottle toward the pile of scraps and trash that they'd made thus far. "I have never understood this expression," he said, shifting his shoulders beneath the fabric of his rather annoying suit. "But we should be working, non? The people, we must finish the cars for them. It is good work you two have been doing." The only problem, really, was that they had so much left to do.