xp_logs | Early Sunday Morning, and things have gone a little bit to crap

You'd better run. You'd better hide.

Artie and Nico, Crystal.

Artie was crouched against the wall of the tunnel, covering himself and Nico in a layer of darkness that might make them a little less visible. If, you know, you didn't have ears or anything. He didn't know the layout in this area any more - it had changed too much when Apocalypse arrived. He had to hope that he was near to a cross tunnel he knew that had once gone up two levels and into a maze of smaller tunnels.

Silently, Crystal floated down a tunnel, searching for the missing students. Clearly the kids weren't too thrilled about the idea of being "rescued," something that hadn't quite been in the plans of those who had come looking for them. Her image inducer was still on, showing the face she used as Zephyr. She doubted that anyone down here would care if they saw Princess Crystal wandering around sewer tunnels, but she had grown used to the idea of being in disguise any time she was out in a situation connected with the X-Men, even if in this instance it could be said that mansion residents rather than X-Men were looking for the kids.

Using his speech synthesizer was out due to his concerns about sound and it was too dark to sign. If Nico even could sign fluently. Artie ignored the water he was crouching in and flashed up a quick "I think we're safe here," hoping that it wouldn't be seen outside the shadows surrounding them. There was nothing to be heard but the steady dripping of water and the rumbling of subway trains in the distance.

Nico was, to put it simply, out of it. Still fully taken over Annalee's power, she was a silent human sized doll that acted based on what was better suited. Right now, hiding was better suited, so she was calmly (at least externally) crouching next to Artie. She could feel Crystal's energy signature drawing close, but apparently the woman didn't know for sure where they were, as she was making more of a beeline than anything. Eyes pitch black, she just stayed there quietly and in silence.

Crystal hovered in the air, then began to concentrate. It was possible that the students were not even in the tunnels anymore, managing to get out through a passageway, someone's powers, or perhaps Nico's magic. But if they were still here, somehow invisible or camouflaged, it was quite doubtful that whatever it was that was hiding them was also preventing them for being able to breathe. Mutants with sensitive hearing could pick up slight sounds, and while Crystal might not actually hear the sound of breathing from a distance, she could discern if and where breathing was taking place.

Not very far away, there were two working sets of lungs. The young woman floated closer, noting the dark shadows that didn't belong there. "Who is there? I am not here to hurt you," Crystal said, using her own voice rather than the one meant to go with this particular image inducer look. "Please come out so we can talk."

Artie didn't bother to reply. He dropped the shadows just long enough to see where Crystal's head was and wrapped it in a ball of pure blackness. Upworlder couldn't see, then she couldn't get him. He scrambled to his feet and ran, trusting Nico to follow him.

If Artie was running, then so was she. It was probable she would hear their rushed steps, but at this time there was no better strategy than trying to lose her.

It was one thing to know that people were hidden somewhere and other thing entirely to be unable to see them. But as Artie ran from her, his projection faded, and when she floated higher up, the darkness did not follow her. Crystal could understand Artie wanting to stay with Annalee, the woman who had once been a mother to him, but there was no reason for Nico and the other students to want to stay. Something had been done to the students, and they needed to be safe while the adults from the mansion figured out what was going on.

Crystal wasn't about to fight the retreating figures. They were her students, and as such needed to be protected. Traveling through the air as she was, she could have caught up to them with just a thought, but instead she only moved forward enough to keep the distance between them from growing larger. The young woman then took control of the air around them and under them, keeping their feet above the ground as each foot lifted with a step. Lifting them higher in the air, Crystal moved closer. "It is time to rejoin the others."

Dori and Molly, Callisto and Garrison

Molly looked over her shoulder, biting her lip as she raced down the tunnels, as quietly as she could make herself (like Meggan had taught her).

"I don't wanna go!" Molly whispered to Dori. Why were they coming to take them?

It was safer down in the tunnels, away from everybody that was mean. Annalee was a nice mom. Even better than her real mom. She thought the exmen were good but they were mean. Annalee was right.

If they could fight them, then that'd make them not wanna come back cause they knew they'd kick their butts!

"Don't worry," Doreen said, her tail fluffing out, "They're not going to take us, I promise. I mean, you're like totally super strong and I kick butt, so how can they beat us, you know?"

Molly thought about that for a moment before the light bulb of realization of the truth of her statement clicked on and she grinned.

"Dude, totally right!" she said, holding out her hand for a high five.

"So we can like...maybe try to surprise them or something? Like...a an ambush!"

"Yeah, we can do that," Doreen said, walking to the wall and testing it with her claws, she could maybe climb up the side of this but it'd be a close call, "Hrm. Maybe you can be all secret agent-y and I'll meet them head on. How's that sound?"

Molly nodded. "I'm short! I can hide!" she said. It'd be cool. They could stop the exmen and then go back to Annalee and then they could play boardgames or something.

"Should we hide now? They might be coming soon."

"You hide. I don't think there's anywhere in here I really can. The walls arent' exactly the best for climbing and they don't go up very far. So you hide and I'll tell you when to come out, okay?" Doreen said, putting on a smile for Molly's sake.

Molly nodded. "Okay! I need to like...make sure I don't do a lotta punching, though. But I can stay awake longer now," she said as she peered around for the best hiding spot.

"I get to be the boot later!"

"Yep, you do. Now go on, I'll wait right here," Dori said, standing her ground the best a small, tailed girl could do.

Meanwhile, Callisto and Garrison had just fought their way out of a small tunnel, half flooded with fetid water, leaving the Canadian dripping and annoyed at the edge of a long neglected reservior. "Just don't tell me what I'm stepping in any more and we'll be fine." He said, looking around the dimly lit room. Unlike the others, he didn't have years of familiarity or enhanced senses to navigate the tunnels.

Callisto narrowed her eyes, staring around herself. "There should be an access shaft down that way," she said, nodding her head.

"Oh fun. I can't wait to see what's floating in this one." Garrison said, resigned. He dropped back into the shallow water and started to trudge down the tunnel. He had wanted to use his flashlight, but they didn't want to potentially warn the Morlocks they were coming. Instead, he'd have to rely on Callisto's intimate knowledge of the tunnel system. "Where do you think she is?"

Holding up a hand to still Garrison, she stood stock still in place for a long moment, not even breathing. Eventually, she shook her head. "I don't know. There's resonance from the surface down the piping system in the next shaft. I make out anything useful. But..." She tutted, then pulled her lower lip between her teeth for a moment. "My guess would be off down that way," she said, tipping her head in the direction in question, "'cause there's some wider bits of tunnel and a couple of maintenance chambers."

"Well, let's find out." They started trudging down the tunnel, trying not to raise too much noise splashing through the knee high water. Or at least what they were calling water.

There were several twists and turns until finally the tunnel opened up at the one end and light shone through. Backlit by the light was a young girl - Dori - waiting for them at the end of the tunnel.

"That was easier than I thought, eh?" Kane said quietly before raising his voice. "Dori, it's us. Are you alright?"

Doreen didn't say anything for a moment. She had decided it was her job to protect Molly so she was taking that very seriously. At some point it was about growing up and taking things seriously, despite the vocal complaints of Monkey Joe.

"Go away," she said.

"And it's nice to see you too, young lady." Well, that didn't sound promising and he exchanged a look with Callisto. "Have you been hurt at all?"

Callisto cast a sidelong glance at Garrison, but said nothing, moving a little to the side to place her hand on the wall of the tunnel.

Molly watched Dori and the two exmen from her hiding place. She knew they were just pretending to be nice, like the lady in the Gingerbread house. So if she knocked 'em out, then they could run really fast and get back to Annalee. AND she got to kick butt against a bad guy too! But she waited for the signal first from Dori. They were on a team, after all. Like the Justice League.

"We're totally fine. Better than ever, and you guys aren't going to ruin it," Doreen said. It was nice to have a place that really totally felt like a home and not school again. It hadn't been like that with her family since before she started growing her tail and her teeth. When things had gone really bad. But at the same time, she really didn't want to fight if she didn't have to.

"Yeah, we should have brought a telepath for this. Dori, this isn't your home. Your mother sent you to Xavier's, not to these tunnels. You remember your mother? In California?"

She flinched, but not for what would normally have been the obvious reason, "Yeah and I remember what it was like before she sent me away, too," Doreen said. When everything was falling apart around them and their lives were getting worse and worse, just because she was different.

"Last chance," Doreen said, getting ready to jump after judging the distance between them, "Go away."

Garrison turned to Callisto. "Well, I'm out of ideas. Unless you're holding out hope we can just bribe them with candy or something."

"Fuck..." Callisto muttered under her breath, then raised her voice. "Look, Dori... I've been here, okay? Like, literally right here. I thought there was no place for people like us, that all we could do was just hide ourselves away, make our own world down here. I've done this before and trust me, it doesn't work. They just smoke you out like roaches and you're back worse than before. Took me a ribcage full of bullets to figure out that no matter how bad it gets up there the answer isn't down here." She cleared her throat, the sound echoing off down the tunnel toward the girls. "Take it from someone who knows. Come on home."

"You're lying! Annalee'll protect us!" Molly said as she stepped out from her hiding spot, clenching her fists. She knew Dori told her to stay put, but the lady didn't sound nice and she just wanted them all to be able live in peace. She didn't like people who lied either. Not one bit.

"Go away! Or you'll be sorry!"

"Oh, I'm going to hate myself for this in the morning." Kane said, and lunged. There was obviously some kind of mind control involved, and regardless of the method, they weren't going to talk their way out. Worse, with Molly's strength, she might bring the place down on all of them trying to protect their 'home'. As Uncle Pete used to tell him, sometimes being a bastard is the right thing to do. His preternatural speed let him close with Molly in a blink and he grabbed her by the wrists, looking to use leverage and joint locks to counter her strength without hurting her. Or, of course, letting her knock his head clean off.

Crap! Dori didn't have much time to react after Mr. Garrison lunged, but when she jumped, she went from him, "Let go of her!" she exclaimed, trying to insert herself between the two.

But Callisto had already sprung into action, running headlong down the corridor toward them and barrelling into Dori - knowing that there was no way she was going to knock the girl off her feet, she instead used the fact in her favour, changing track at the last moment and catching her on the arm, using Dori herself as a pivot point to swing around and grab both arms from behind.

Megan, Klara and Sarah Morlock

Sarah turned a corner, following the two girls deeper into the tunnels. If they expected they were going to outrun her in these tunnels, they were seriously wrong. "Come on guys," she called out as kindly as she could manage, "I lived in these tunnels. I know all the good hiding spots, and you're not going to run me around until I get lost."

"She's... right," Pixie said between breaths, trying to conserve as much energy as possible, running at a good pace but not panicked flat-out fleeing. Yet. "We're going to to have... to fight." She looked to Klara. Klara frowned. Running like this was tiring, and she knew they weren't going to be given a choice. She had never liked fighting - preferring to avoid even verbal confrontations when she could. Furthermore, neither her powers nor Pixie's were ideal for combat. Still, the school taught them self-defense. Though most applications of Klara's powers were either non-combative or defensive, she had managed to learn one trick for attacking. It had been inspired by one of Dori's shows. A rose whip. It was a pity her control wasn't as good as Callie's, although the rapid growth she was capable of was also important for this attack. "I know," she said softly, trying to conserve her breath. "We should...we should try to fight on our terms."

She already had a rose seed in between her finger tips. Even after all the time she had spent developing this trick, she still didn't feel ready to fight...but they were out of options. Perhaps this could at least keep their Morlock pursuer away.

Pixie had only used her dust deliberately against an enemy once, when they were in Kashmir. The enemy had turned out to be immune, but maybe the Morlock wasn't. There wasn't a lot of air movement here in the tunnel, so the other problem was that she risked dusting herself and Klara if they didn't keep running. "Dust," she warned simply, summoning it to the surface of her skin. It wasn't hard when her adrenaline was already going crazy. And it seemed to go faster if she was flying, so she launched seamlessly into the air, wings buzzing furiously. If Klara was able to slow Sarah down with the attack she was preparing, the dust might befuddle the Morlock further while the girls slipped away. Sarah always felt crazy. But when the dust hit her skin, there was entirely new sense of crazy. "Stupid girl," she shouted, "You probably shouldn't have dosed the crazy monster girl who's just this side of batshit." The walls of the tunnels closed in on her like a hug, and she pulled a bone from her back to run along the tunnel to keep from getting turned around.

Klara did her best to run ahead to avoid Pixie's dust. They needed to avoid getting dosed themselves while ensuring that Sarah was hit with it. Once Klara was cerain that she was out of range of the dust she let the rose seed grow, focusing its growth in Sarah Morlock's direction.

"Grow," was her only command.

One of the things that made this more challenging was forcing the growth to happen in a single thick thorny vine instead of a normal rose bush shape. Her best defense wouldn't work here in the tunnels - a giant maze of thorns that only she could coax through easily. It lashed out and she did her best to aim it at the bone in Sarah's grasp rather than at Sarah herself. Klara didn't want to seriously harm her, but she had no intention of being taken away or letting it happen to Pixie.

Pixie couldn't tell if the dust was working. She saw Klara's vine lash out at their pursuer. It just wouldn't be fair if they were caught! She flew on furiously, glancing every so often to make sure Klara was still there and hearing the angry noises of the enemy behind them. Was the Morlock getting closer? Oh gods...

Despite the darkness of the tunnels, the vine knocked the bone out Sarah's hand and it clattered noisily to the floor. "Pretty girls," she called in a low almost-growl, sending it echoing down the tunnels, "You don't belong here. This is my home."

Pixie let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding. The sounds of the enemy were getting a bit more faint. They were winning! They were going to escape! The realization was heady. "We're going to make it..." Pixie said giddily, out-of-breath, "...make it here in the tunnels, too."

A bitter laugh rang through the tunnels behind them after the girls words echoed back to Sarah. The sound was far enough away to keep the girls from bolting, but close enough so they would hear every word.

"You wouldn't make it though the first missed shower. The first time you had to bring a boy "home" to the sewers, the first time you had to eat rat because there's no food, the first time you were told you couldn't go enjoy the sunshine because it's dangerous out there, you'll be crying to come back to your prettypretty world."

The Morlock's words sent chills up Pixie's spine. It didn't feel like a baseless threat. She looked to Klara and, through the darkness, saw her own doubts reflected in the other girl's eyes.

The sound of a bony hand running slowly against the concrete wall was followed by Sarah moving into the lonely beam of light shining down from above them. "It's not too late to go home. Both of you."