GBOW: In The Navy

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

Lex and Monet take a more direct approach to dealing with the two aircraft carriers.



Lex had to concentrate as he tried to remember the plan, he didn't
like the idea of flying without technology to help him. He wanted to
be able to take control if necessary and relying on another mutant
stopped him from being able to do that. The Plan, he reminded
himself, trying to focus on how he was going to disable the carrier's
launch capabilities. They'd have to get close enough for him to
overload the systems, he thought the catapult launch system should be
his primary target. "Monet, how we looking?" he called to his partner.

~We're sweet~ she sent back, telepathically, as they came in
hard, Monet pulling them up at the last moment before they hit the
deck and she rolled them, sliding on her back along the deck, using
that to bleed off the last of the momentum whilst keeping Lex away
from the rough surface of the deck. They came to rest in the shadow of
the catapault launch and she pulled herself into a crouch. It was a
simple plan, really: Lex could do his things whilst Monet provided
cover and absorbed the damage. If there was time, she'd also have a
chance at smashing control panels and so on. And then they'd run like
hell. Hopefully without getting shot at much.

Shaking himself off, Lex took stock of where they were. "Yeah, this'll
work well," he moved towards the catapult and began searching for an
access panel. In the distance he could hear men shouting and knew they
wouldn't have long before they were surrounded. "Just keep them off my
back for two minutes and we'll be good to go."

"Will do", she said, moving away from him, hands held carefully in the
air. I are harmless civilian girl, her manner suggested, as she
watched the team of special forces guys crouched in the lee of some
machinery. They were setting out their angle of attack and while two
of them had guns trained on her and Lex, they didn't seem likely to
shoot yet. They split into two groups, one circling around
armed with tasers and the other pointing guns while yet more sailors
gathered behind them, also pointing guns. This would, she knew, turn
into a shooting match the moment she stopped harmless or the moment
they got a good look at what Lex was doing. And then they'd both die.
"Hi, guys! We're a little lost, you know? We were trying to go to Goa
for a holiday, because, like, they have this amaazing beach. Have you
been there? There's this little place that sells these cocktails and
oh my god, they're good," Monet called and the solders blinked at her
for a moment.Please don't shoot us.

Lex almost laughed as he heard her speak. He knew that they'd both end
up dead if he did, so he continued working. The panel was open and he
was feeling with his powers for a good source of energy to draw upon.
Ah, that'll do nicely. He reached out and took as much energy
as he could safely wield and drove it through the catapult's control
systems. There was a crackling and a burst as something at the far end
of the deck exploded. "Well, that was unexpected," he shouted, glad to
see the special forces soldiers were having similar thoughts.

You could see the conflight in their eyes as half whirled to face the
new threat, two or three of them shooting at it, purely by reflex and
two more shooting Monet. "OW. You fuckers." She didn't turn her head
or move her hands but called, quietly, "Get down or find some cover?
Even get off this boat if you can. 's gonna get hairy." The whole
thing had only taken a couple of minutes so far and it was only now
that three men dressed as MP's appeared on deck, one shouting
something unintelligible but most likely in heavily accented English
through a megaphone. And that was when Monet took off, hurtling toward
the second catapault and curling into a ball as she collided with it,
a rattle of machine gun fire chasing her and the odd bullet hitting
her.

With the first rounds Lex felt perfectly at home. More than anywhere
else on earth this was where he belonged. Two men were charging
from the left as he located another system and sent a jolt of
electricity through it. Somewhere in the hanger below the
corresponding system exploded in a shower of sparks. Moving swiftly
Lex rolled to the side and sent a jolt arcing across the surface to
stun them. "That'll teach you for shooting at me." As he spoke
something ricocheted off the mass he was taking cover behind. In the
dark he couldn't see what it was.

Monet hadn't managed to knock the catapault over but she had bent it.
Looping around, she came at Lex and landed beside him, giving him a
chance to grab on. "Come on!"

Lex was just getting started, but he didn't like the thought of
getting left behind. He grabbed onto her and then, just because the
adrenaline was pumping through him so thoroughly, he shouted, "Up, up,
and away!"

Monet's own adrenaline rush was tempered by the aches in her side and
legs, where she'd been shot and the suspicion that, any minute now,
some genius would break out a rocket launcher. So she ran like hell,
Lex clinging to her shoulders.

***

They came in just a little low and Lex knew it had to be the extra
weight, his extra weight. As they skid across the top he couldn't help
feeling bad for Monet, he couldn't imagine how much it must hurt.
"Leave me here. I'll try to disable the ship's engines and if there's
trouble I'll just go for a swim. These suits are insulated, right?"

"Don't be a fucktard." Lights were already flickering on and, again,
soldiers were running for the deck. They wouldn't play nicely this
time. Monet's uniform was half-shredded but the skin underneath was
still undamaged and she rolled into a crouch. "You go for the controls
and I'll get the elevator, okay?" With that, she was in the air,
climbing to make up speed on the way back down.

Without a word Lex ran towards the control tower. He didn't need to
make it all the way there to disable it, he just needed to find
something connected directly into its systems. He could hear the faint
whiz of bullets zipping around him as the soldiers fired wildly in his
direction. He thought about sending a pulse across the surface of the
ship but didn't want to waste the energy. He might need it for a
moment of desperation. Instead of attacking he decided to use his suit
to help camouflage him, ducking low to stay out of the light.

Monet reached the peak of her upward flight and simply... stopped,
curling into a ball and then falling before beginning to fly down as
quickly as she could, once she'd built up her speed and crashing down
through the elevator. She flew back out again, groggy and bloody-nosed
and ran toward Lex.

The destruction caused by Monet's comet-like descent was staggering.
She hit the surface of the ship and it rocked with the force of the
impact. Lex stumbled, falling into the open as he tried to dodge the
now-blind firing of the special forces crew who still had their wits
about them. "Holy shit," Lex shouted, "that was awesome." He saw Monet
running towards him, and covered her with an immense arc of lightning.
The last thing he wanted was for his ride to be taken out and him to
be stranded with a ton of pissed off Indians.

She ducked under his cover and stumbled, falling to her knees and
scrambled to her feet again. Monet caught him around the waist and
took off. "Fuck, we're out of here!" she screamed.

Lex let her wrap her arm around him and then clung on for dear life.
As they took off from the deck he could hear the bullets passing by
randomly around him. They were practically invisible now that they
were away from the lights, but he was still hoping that Monet didn't
get caught by a stray round because he didn't want to go tumbling in
to the frigid waters below. "You know, I've decided," he shouted, "I
really don't think this is my way to fly." He hoped she could tell the
humor in his voice, but even if she couldn't he would be fine with it.


"Not my favourite way, either," Monet muttered, dragging them through
an evasive pattern as they flew. "I think someone shot me in the back
a while ago and it huuurts," she whined, as they reached the Blackbird
and tumbled inside. "I'm going to have a bruise. And maybe a black
eye."

As soon as he was clear of her Lex checked Monet's statement, there was definitely a rip in the back of her suit. "Well, look at it this way, they're going to be in for a world of pain when their superiors find out they failed to bring you down." He gave a hearty chuckle as he helped her into her seat. Turning to one of the crew he said, "Well, the easy part's done... now for hell."