Times They Are A-Changin': A Road Rapidly Aging

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And finally the tide begins to turn.



Dust and breathing are not easily compatible partners, so by the time Terry had located the last of the bystanders and directed them to clearer ground, her throat was starting to become scratchy and raw. It sounded in her answer to Scott. "Aye. Where are you?" she asked as she already turned and started heading in the last general direction she had of him.

"North side" Scott managed as the mist caught up to him. "Hurry," he choked out.

Terry bolted around a corner and scampered around and over debris, setting off mini rubble slides here and there where it was unstable. "On my way," she replied, only to skid to halt as she hit the north side of the building and saw the cloud.

The mist had finally caught up with Scott. He clambered up ontop of a car to try and avoid inhaling a massive concentration of the fumes. Even from his position however he was coughing he caught Terry's eye and motioned for her to unleash a sonic blast his way.

Terry grimaced and gave her head a shake, trying to dislodge the very persistent ringing in her ears that had only grown louder as she closed. She waved a hand frantically at Scott, indicating that he should take cover, then inhaled and screamed, sending her voice into the super sonic ranges. At first, the gravel on the ground shook and rattled, but as Terry focused and refined the waves, an almost physical force built and raced toward the cloud.

Scott saw the gravel on the ground whipping up as the sonic wave rushed towards him. Holding his breath he flattened himself against the hood of the car wedging his fingers into the crack where the hood met the windscreen. He struggled to hold on as the sonic wave smashed into him, knocking his head against the car and pushed the mist away.


_____


Molly shook herself off. There was stuff on her like...rocks and stuff or something. The last thing she remembered was trying to help a guy but then she flew and hit something and then there was a blank and she took a nap. Or something. Opening her eyes, she looked up, seeing a rainbow colored window in front of her. A church! How'd she get in there?

"That was soooo weeeeird," she said to herself as she sat up, finding a couple of little old women staring at her with bingo cards in their hands. When she sat up all the way and looked around she found there was a lots of little old ladies there and men too and a guy with a wire ball with balls in it that he spun. The ladies looked scared or surprised or confused or all of 'em.

"Hon' you need a doctor?" one of them said with a thick accent.

Glancing down, Molly patted herself then shook her head.

"Nope! But thanks!" she said, hopping off the bingo table she'd landed on. Nothing hurt or anything.

The room started shaking and Molly glanced up.

"Oooh! We need to run okay? Cause...um..." she said, pointing to the bits of debris that shook off the ceiling rafters.

The older people just looked at her before another shake made the massive light fixture that was swinging violently over head suddenly snap and come barreling toward their heads.

A couple of minutes later the doors swung open to the church as older people hobbled and wheeled out. Molly trailed behind them, holding the massive light fixture above her like a trophy.

"Hi Wademan!" she said.

Wade looked over at Molly as she escorted a group of geriatric people out of the church which was still threatening imminent collapse and then back at Mister Muscles McBulgerson. "Hey, half-pint - think you can do me a favor and toss your light fixture at the guy who's yelling over there?" He was sore, but he was moving and he needed to figure out how to immobilize the man before he did himself or anyone else any real harm.

It must've been pretty bad if Wademan wanted her to throw stuff at people! When she glanced over to what dude he was talking about her eyes widened.

"Oh! He punched me in the church," she said, making a face at the memory before she blinked after a moment.

"Dude, what happened to him?"

Another moment passed and she shook her head. Right! He'd told her to throw things! Lifting the light fixture a bit higher, Molly's eyes flared up to a brighter purple before she suddenly spun around and flung it at the guy as hard as she could. Her eyes immediately started to droop a little.

"Does anybody have a coke?"

Soda was not forthcoming, but the thrown fixture did achieve one thing: absolute panic. For Nick, that it shattered harmlessly against his back did not process: the present was gone, and he was back in Manhattan. Things were falling around him, on him. He flailed, trying to bat away imagined debris, and his fist connected with the home abutting the narrow driveway. Mortar flew; brick rained.

Diana! Diana!


_____


The redhead followed Sarah back into the throng, elbowing people out of their way. The closer they got to the church, the fewer people there were; most were smart and had run in the opposite direction. But from back here, Maddie could see just how big the mob was.

"Shit. It looks even worse from here."

She was right, there were a lot of people in their way. "Dammit... Maddie, can you do what you did before? Only on... on all of them?" It might have been asking a lot but it would be way too hard to get through the crowd otherwise and time was precious. The longer it took her to get to the water supply and find those sprinklers, the longer the fire would burn and damage the area, and possibly people. "You have to try, you can do it!"

Sarah's cheer put a smile on the telepath's face. She was totally feeling good. She could so do this. Maddie closed her eyes, concentrating once more at radiating calm from deep within. Focusing on it spreading like a rolling fog passing over everything. Maybe this would work.

"Ow. Fuck." Maddie doubled over in pain, clutching her head. A high-pitched ringing pierced through her skull and seemed to resonate in her bones. She stumbled, reaching out her hand to catch her as she fell. This was nothing like her manifestation; it felt like she was about to split into a million pieces.

It was working - the people that were blocking their path grew to a near stand still, calming down and not running around in a panic any more. "You did it, awesome!" Sarah turned around and saw that Maddie was doubled over, holding onto her head. "Maddie! Ohmygosh, are you ok?" She went over to her friend's side, hoping that she hadn't pushed the younger girl too far.

"Dammit, Sarah. Go stop the fucking fire."

"Right, dammit." She could worry about Maddie after - if she was alright to yell at her to go and do something then she was alright enough to leave alone while she sought out the sprinklers. Sarah turned and sprinted for the building, able to get around the people who were now calm thanks to Maddie. There was an entrance to the church on the same side as the hydrant so she burst in through the doors and, thankfully, the sprinkler system was mounted on the wall just inside the doors. Running up to the control box, she slammed her hand against it and yelled out loud. "SPRINKLERS ON!" There was no time to adjust to the system or coax it into working, she had to force it to do what she wanted, stat.

And with that she felt a few drops on her shoulders, which quickly turned into a downpour of water from the overhead sprinklers. "Yes, yes, yes, it worked. Come on, put out that fire!" She couldn't see the rest of the building but hopefully the system had fully kicked in and was doing its job now. Leaving to sprint back to Maddie now that she'd gotten the sprinklers working, Sarah saw that the ones in the lawn all around the property had activated as well, blasting their water all over the church's yards and spilling out on the streets.


_____


Angelo was muttering uncomplimentary things under his breath in Spanish, Askani and several other obscure languages about people who couldn't see when someone was shedding napalm right in front of them. This was because he'd just had to drag another confused and disoriented civilian clear of walking through Fire Man's mess.

"I really have to do somethin' with this guy."

The outraged and still clearly terrified gurgling from the direction of Artie's illusionary fountain was a clear indicator that the fire-napalm-man had realized the water was a) not putting out the fire and b) furthermore, not real in the first place. It had not helped a bit that he'd been struck by a flying piece of plywood, which was now burning bits of wood and ash half stuck to his body.

Angelo swallowed, still healthily nervous around fire even if he'd got over the freezing-to-the-spot phobia, and stepped cautiously closer, speaking slowly and calmly just in case he could get the man to understand. "Sorry about the trick. We just didn't want you to hurt anyone. Stay put and I'll find real water."

The outraged noises didn't cease. The burning man stumbled back a few steps, arms raised, and more fire licked around his feet and legs as the sticky burning goo he was shedding ignited the grass he was standing in. He grabbed at his face, and a noise like screaming came out of the goo-covered mouth, as a small burst of fire came out of his entire body, charring the grass and earth around him in a ring several feet wide.

At that point, Angelo did the only thing he could. He turned on his heels and fled in a direction that had no people but - he hoped -would have some kind of water, counting on the burning man chasing him.

And chase he did, lunging forward and yelling mostly unintelligible horrible noises punctuated with something that sounded a lot like profanity. It seemed that the man-made-of-fire had finally given up on help, and was now going for maximum revenge against the people who'd tricked him.

There was a lawn. A lawn meant grass that needed caring for and that - very visibly right now - meant automatic sprinklers. Angelo pivoted and ran full tilt in that direction.

As Angelo's pursuer followed him, the grass ignited under his feet, and circles of grass quickly ignited and just as quickly went out. The grass was too short and sparse to burn for very long, leaving charred circles in a meandering path.

And just at precisely the right moment, the sprinklers activated -Angelo assumed in reaction to the sudden heat, though he was wrong. He stopped and turned to watch how the man responded.

The flames went out painfully slowly, literally so if the screams were any indication. The water that struck his skin became hissing steam instantly, but the fires went out, and the next wave of water from the sprinklers became stream, and the next, but slowly the fires died. The flesh underneath was pink and new and perfect, glistening with a goo that threatened to re-ignite as it dripped off the man's legs, but the water seemed to be holding it at bay. It hissed and crackled with heat, but the fire never ignited again. From his knees down.

From the knees up, the man was still aflame, with patches here and there that went out as water struck and then re-ignited as the burning goo flowed down off him. He screamed again but this time, the burst of flame that came off his body was weak and spluttered out only a few inches away.

"Hold still!" Angelo yelled at him, already moving to make sure he would. A flying tackle took the man out at the knees, landing him directly in the path of the sprinklers. "See, the water's working. You just need to keep it on you."

Even as he fell, the man kept reaching forward to try to claw at Angelo, but the sprinklers had clearly been installed by someone who knew what they were doing. The lawn would've gotten a nice even coverage of water in ordinary times. Now, it was just that everything was wet, and the burning goo covering the man went out in splutters and patches until all that was left was a nearly naked man whose skin smoked and spattered like burning oil.

Angelo sighed with relief, sitting on the man's back and holding him down with everything he could spare as a single strand of skin went for his radio. "I'm gonna need an EMT on the church lawn. And maybe a fire truck."


_____


The newcomer crouched beside Megan and Artie. "When the rubble shifts, try to pull out the girl," he said, speaking to Megan but looking at the boy. The next sentence held the ghost of a question. "We'll push."

Artie nodded. He'd noticed the pin but, hell, it wasn't like he and Megan could shift the damn thing - he was, to put it bluntly, short and freaking weedy and Megan was, well, Megan. He moved into position and began the countdown.

Megan nodded in time to the countdown, and at the signal she pulled on the girl - gripping her under her armpits - while Artie and the FOHer hoisted the beam. There was a massive scrape of gravel and they tugged the girl free.

The FOHer gasped from the effort and Artie was stunned that one of them had deigned to help a couple of muties.

The girl coughed weakly. She bled from multiple cuts, and her face was pale; she seemed to be having trouble keeping her eyes open. Before anyone could question her another thunderous impact sounded from the rear of the church. Though unseen, it shook the building. A light sprinkling of brick and mortar pattered around them. People screamed, many diving for cover.

"What's going on back there?" the FOHer cried, his arms automatically thrown over his head. "The place is going to come down!"

Megan shrieked, startled. "We have to go!" she urged, her voice raspy.

"Can you -- isn't there anything you can do?"

The man was looking askance between the two teens. He'd seen Artie's projections, and Megan's wings marked her a mutant as well. Like so many, perhaps he assumed that all mutant powers were equal. Still, the hope in his eyes was sincere.

Like what? Artie wondered. Illusion away the debris? Stupid flatscan. "go get help" he said to Megan, keeping the projection relatively small. "ive had a few more years first aid classes in the NM than you have."

Megan nodded wordlessly and took off. "I'll see what I can do. " She'd done all she could here. She wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye, smearing the dirt on her face, and ascended into the air. "Hang on..."

She now clearly saw the cause of their immediate threat - a huge guy behind the church was tearing the building apart, hurling large pieces of it into the air. She sped towards the giant while carefully avoiding the flying debris. She managed to avoid his attention, for he appeared to be engaged with the two others who were trying to contain him.


_____


So asking him to take deep breaths and wait hadn’t worked. That didn’t mean they were just giving up. Meggan winced when his body smacked into the ground—she had taken off after him when he bolted, but now she came to a stop near him. He may not feel it for the bolts of electricity circling and shooting, but it still looked bad. She crouched down beside him once she reached him. “I can drink it in,” she said softly. “I should’ve said when I grabbed you.” They needed to get him something to draw the excess away, and soon, before a bolt splashed out of anything else, and actually did him permanent damage. He was in so much pain. There weren't going to be any metallic poles or mailboxes in an alley for him to grab. She looked back for Korvus.

As Meggan looked back, a gigantic sword dropped from the sky pretty quickly before coming to an abrupt halt in Korvus' outstretched hand. "I believe a lightning rod is called for." He said with a big smile as he began to jog toward the pair. His jog was impressively quick, of course.

The panicking man was too busy trying to escape the teenager trying to uselessly help him to notice the boy moving toward them. They wouldn't leave him alone. They kept advancing and advancing so he kept running. The expression on Jean's face just before he dropped to the ground unconscious kept replaying in Rich's mind. He didn't need a couple of fifteen year olds to end up the same. He was gonna be another mutant menace. God, how did this even happen? Every time he tried to open his mouth to explain they couldn't help, that the man who was like him who tried couldn't either words were swallowed by guttural screams as electricity continually poured off of his skin. He was so overloaded with whatever had happened when the other guy had touched him that it was like everything was on fire. His skin, his muscles, his bone...

Meggan nodded with a quick smile of appreciation as Korvus brought their makeshift lightning rod, as she motioned for him to stab it somewhere next to them. She didn’t know if the guy would be able to focus enough, given the agony, but they had to get him to listen, even if it was just for a moment. She motioned for Korvus to plant the sword. “Here,” she said as she gently inched his hand nearer to the spot it would be, between the man's shrieks. He wouldn’t have to do more than clench at that point. “Just…go with focusing on pushing out all the energy that’s building up inside you out through the sword, into the ground.” She didn’t know what else to tell him, or if he could even hear her anymore.

Korvus turned the sword over, wrapped his hands around the long grip tightly, and drove it through the concrete and several inches into the ground. Just the nearness of the blade was enough for it to begin absorbing and shunting some of the stray energy. Once it was in place he stepped back. Without his sword he wouldn't be very resistant to electricity.

Rich had snapped his hand away from the girl the moment she'd gone near it. What about get away had she not understood? He couldn't really hear her past the crackle and buzz of electricity around his head, but he understood the point of the sword well enough. The boy, he was smart enough to get away, but the girl just kept trying to stay near him no matter the fact he kept trying to get away from her. He finally looked at her and made an unmistakable gesture for her to go away. He wasn't touching anything with her nearby. Look what had happened to the last person who had tried to help him. Another fierce bolt of electricity shot out, this time from his throat, and came perilously close to nailing the boy in the chest.

The crackling was beginning to sound like the world’s biggest bug zapper was frequently delighting in its job. At least to her. So while Meggan couldn’t hear everything he said over that din, the gestures were unmistakable. If backing off meant he would do it and the two of them wouldn’t be forced into playing charades to explain while Jean-Phillipe was laying over there, then that was fine. She quickly nodded her understanding, before she walked backwards several feet. She hoped it was enough for him.

Korvus jumped aside as the bolt nearly clipped him. He was becoming more nervous and, as Meggan began to walk backwards, he leaned forward and grabbed the back of her pants to pull her back several more feet into safety. He was sure she wasn't being reckless and that her mutation would keep her somewhat safe but he was still worried about her.

A look of relief crossed onto the man's face for a brief instant before it disappeared as a fresh wave of agony overcame him. Rich went scrambling on hands and knees to get close enough to the sword. He wasn't sure if he had to grab the blade or if the handle was metal as well or somehow conductive for electricity. If he had to shed some blood then so be it, but he tried the handle first, hands wrapping around it desperately as more electricity came tearing out of his body.

Nandaki's blade began to glow a bright, radiant blue as the energy was applied to it directly. The electricity arced across the grip and hilt randomly for a time as it absorbed the energy at first. After a long moment, and as the sword began to shine intensely, a more steady flow of electricity developed down the broad blade and into the ground as it began to shunt, instead of draw in, the current.

“I’m okay, I promise,” Meggan tried to gently reassure Korvus as he finished tugging her away. She might be dealing with some excess static electricity for several hours, but otherwise she felt fine. She could explain the energy eating when things were quieter. She shielded her eyes at the glare when she turned back. There wasn't any way to know just how long it would take to work for him, or if he was just building it all up again—but at least it was something. And Jean-Phillipe needed to checked on, tended to. Whenever it didn't seem like something else might slap him with something he didn't need.

Korvus rested his hand low on her back for a moment, just glad she was safe and near him. His protectiveness wasn't exactly rational but not everything had to be. "I trust that is the case if you say so." He confirmed while watching the electrokinetic with Nandaki.

The hands wrapped around the sword's handle felt like they were on fire, but it was hard to miss the fact that all the electricity pouring out of him was focused on going into the metal in his hands. As unbearably hot as his hands were, Rich refused to let go of the thing. Every muscle up his arms and across his shoulders was tensed with the effort to keep holding on. It was sort of like a really long work out, though, the way energy seemed to leech from him and be replaced more and more with exhaustion. He looked from the kids to the unconscious man. "I, uh...thanks. For the...really big sword." His voice was strained, mouth dry from the electric current running through him. "Can you get him someone? I think...I think I...drained Jean. I....I dunno how." Words were slow coming, some having to be spoken through clenched teeth. In a way the pain wasn't as bad because it was all focusing on running out his hands, but that just made the pain there so much worse.

"I will carry Jean-Phillipe to the aid station. My sword should be impossible for most people to lift but perhaps you should stay here just in case? To keep an eye on Nandaki and this man. I will attempt to bring someone capable of assisting more completely." Korvus moved to the unconscious man and scooped him up, careful to support his head. Moving him might not be the best but he thought leaving him near the electricity may be even more dangerous.


_____


Raising a hand to keep dust and particles of dirt from getting in his eyes, Wade tried to figure out the logistics of taking this guy down - of literally getting him on the ground. He was pretty sure, though, even if they knocked him over, they wouldn't be able to keep him there. Still, it was better than nothing - and maybe he'd be overbalanced enough or something by the ridiculous muscles he'd grown that he wouldn't be able to get himself up quickly.

"Go go enhanced agility," he muttered as he started forward, increasing his speed until he was running. Climbing the larger pieces of debris near the man, Wade managed to get high enough that, when he jumped at the guy this time, he could brace his hands on the man's shoulders. He hoped gravity decided to be on his side.

Unfortunately, gravity did not even look up from its newspaper.

Molly turned her head from side to side like someone watching a ping pong match as Wademan bobbed up and down while hanging from the guy's neck and the guy twisted around like he had ants in his pants running back and forth. Her eyebrows rose.

Wade grunted, the sound a combination of irritation, frustration, and exertion as he attempted, still unsuccessfully, to get his target to fall over. And yet, all his efforts continued to make not the slightest difference. Dropping to the ground again, the mercenary decided a strategic retreat was in order.

Once Wademan had let go of the man Molly blew some hair out of her face and adjusted her hat, along with her sleeves as she clenched her fists. Sleepy or not the bad guy needed to be stopped.

Rearing back, the violet glow once more spread across her eyes and she punched the guy in the chest. She tried to make sure if he fell back there wouldn't be nobody behind him or anything.

It felt to Nick like someone had struck him in the sternum with a blackjack. He staggered back and nearly caught his heel against something solid, throwing out a hand behind him and feeling his fingers scrape something that crumbled beneath them like dirt. The alley echoed with his bellow of confusion.

Wade scooped Molly up after her eyes stopped glowing and put his plan of strategic retreat in motion because, while she packed quite the punch, it looked like she'd only put a slight bump in their man's path and that was definitely a wall he was bringing down now. "Sorry, half-pint. Away we go."

Molly was super seriously sleepy by then and she frowned, but still... "Wait--wait...I can try again I can..."

Megan appeared behind the duo, her four wings beating in a frenzy. "Watch out! I'll dust him."

The man roared. Unbelievably the pain was still mounting. It was as if the exertion had replaced the lactic acid pumping through his muscles with fire. There was no longer an attempt at words, no conscious thought of any kind -- just the red-hot wires of pain his nerves had become. Delirious now, Nick tried to strike at the source of his pain directly. With one giant hand, he gripped a massive bicep and began to pull at the muscle itself.

As Wade and Molly scrambled out of the way, Megan let the dust rise to the surface of her skin and cloud the air - while also realizing that she may already be too late. As the man began to mutilate his own flesh, she leaped into the air and began wafting the spore-like dust toward him with frantic wing-beats. He was thick of skin and half-mad with pain - if only the dust could slow him down enough to where he'd stop tearing himself apart! But he wasn't slowing down yet.

Moments crawled by and still the dust didn't seem to be affecting him. Was he immune? Maybe the active chemical in her dust wasn't strong enough. She heard one of her comrades shout "Go for the mouth!". Of course! It would absorb a lot faster through his mouth. Megan summoned another cloud of dust, her skin burning with the exertion. When the man let out another scream she propelled it right to his face with a well-directed fluttering of her wings. A lucky break! Her self-generated breeze sped the dust toward the giant man, saturating the side of his face with the stuff. At least some of it appeared to coat his mouth and one nostril. Any minute, he should be bewildered enough by the hallucinations to lose focus...

Slowly, Nick's grip began to loosen. At first it was simple confusion. He heard . . . a sort of buzz. Ringing in his ears? No, more like the wings of a fly, but louder, deeper. A fly if it were the size of a helicopter.

His right cheek felt cold. In patches, as if snow had blown across it. Coldness in his mouth and nose, too. His lips began to go numb. Behind swollen eyelids, the coolness flowed from his mouth and nose and became light. It crept upwards like frost, illuminating the darkness behind his lids in a soft blue glow.

The man looked surprised, but not distressed. Megan saw his bulging muscles relax. He actually seemed calm, but clear. Had her dust actually relieved his pain?

There was a moment of utter stillness as the giant simply crouched there, the only sound the rasp of his breath. Labored but slowing, the pull of air in and the push of air out.

Then, with inexorable slowness, his legs gave out and the FOHer struck the pavement like a felled tree.

Molly stared at the guy through half-lids, waiting to see if he'd move but he didn't. When it was clear he wasn't getting back up she beamed, giving a double thumbs up.

"Good job Team Punch-o-Sparkle! We won!"

The Justice League couldn't have done it better.


_____


What the woman lacked in skill she made up in stamina. While most of the objects were flung in his general direction, there were too many wild throws to simply shield himself and be done with it. Jack had already failed in an early attempt to contain her and anything she threw with a shield when a slab of concrete nearly half a block away uprooted itself and slammed into a police officer's arm while another woman narrowly avoided decapitation by a flying gutter.

Now each missile had to be countered individually. Interception was not particularly difficult for Jack's motion-attuned telekinesis, but it was an attention-sink. He could strike at the woman or reduce the damage she did, not both. And though his mounting frustration urged him otherwise, he kept remembering the screams of those caught beneath the church roofing as it fell.

Half of a gargoyle crashed into the street beside Kane, and he took up position behind a low wall, watching the confrontation. By and large, psionic battles were not the stuff of legend. Two people thought hard at each other until one was suddenly crushed under a car or turned into a turnip mentally. It was hardly Ali-Foreman to watch. Until you factored in the chunks of rubble the size of a person being tossed around like nerf balls; caught, pushed, or locked in a deadly tug-of-war. Her emphatic gestures contrasted Haller's more limited, controlled movements as they used telekinesis to battle back and forth.

"Haller, you're taking an awfully long time with her. You need a hand?"

Jack's instinctive retort was preemptively skewered by the part of Haller that had been watching the fires, but bored because she couldn't start any. Who needs help from the trained professional? We flew into a roof today!

"If you can," the telekinetic grated instead. He redirected a chunk of frozen earth so its trajectory no longer targeted the back of an elderly man. "Finding my own kind of full."

"I'll see what I can do." Kane slowly back up, and disappeared out of Haller's line of sight.

By then it was hard to control Stephanie's anger and fear. Everything in her line of vision and even behind her was being pummeled, but she seemed to be able to focus her efforts on the other mutant (as best she could). The anger gave her some direction.

"You said you didn't want to hurt me...I knew you were LYING! That's all you mutants want to do is hurt. It's all you're capable of. Weapons. That's what you are. Dangerous weapons!"

The surge of anger sent a park bench flying Haller's direction.

"I didn't want to," Jack snapped, keeping his eyes on her. As long as he didn't know where Garrison had gone, he couldn't tip off the woman. He redirected the bench into the ground with an angry slash of his hand. "But you're making me reconsider."

Stephanie narrowed her eyes. A motorcycle, once parked nearby, started to shudder, then lifted off the ground.

"You're all the same."

The lights went out suddenly as the six foot plastic waste container slammed over the woman, knocking her cold and burying her in wet garbage and food scraps.

"That's completely untrue. I'm a hell of a lot prettier than Haller." Kane said, putting a hand on the top of the container and holding it down with his great strength.

Jack cautiously lowered his arms, breathing harder than he cared to admit. The woman under the barrel was stirring weakly; the debris around them did not. With a shaky exhalation, Jack stepped back and allowed his muscles to unknot.

"True," remarked the psi, "but we're still taller."


_____


Sucking in a deep breath Scott turned to Terry, "Thank you" he said as sucked in another breath. Gesturing at the mist he asked, "What do you think?"

Terry circled around to Scott warily, herding the cloud away from the both of them. "You hurt?" she asked, taking a short break to catch her breath again. She shook her head at the question and looked back at the cloud. "You said that was a FoHer? How does that even happen?"

Scott sat up, raising a hand to his head to try and stop his ears from ringing. "Fine thanks" he smiled. Looking over at the mist he shook his head, "I honestly don't know, but it's probably a question to let Hank and Jean figure out later. We've got to restrain him." He paused as he realized what he had said. "Well, contain him at the least."

"Have any sealed boxes handy?" Terry quipped, sarcasm light in her voice. She gave Scott a slightly apologetic look, then scrunched her face up into thought and looked around. Around the Church, alarms warble weakly and damaged lawn sprinklers spit water out through areas not damaged by the collapse.

Scott looked speculatively at the mist and the sprinklers. "Most gases dissolve in water right?" he asked. He gestured towards the puddles forming in the church yard, "We could make a trap for him. It should hold him till Shield gets here."

Terry looked at him again, a smile twitching at the corner of her lip. "You're the one living in a school," she pointed out, turning her attention to the cloud. "We will be needing a bucket or something to hold the water," she said, clearing her throat.

Scott laughed. "I can handle that," he assured her as he fired a high powered optical blast at the ground near one of the sprinklers. The result was a trench furrowed into the earth near them that slowly started to collect water. He slumped to the ground and took a deep breath. "All yours" he said motioning to the mist.

Terry circled wide, moving to put the cloud mutant in between her and the watery trench. Hopefully Scott took up a better position because she didn't even bother to warn him before she opened her mouth to send a sonic shock wave against the gas and force it back.

Scott dove behind Terry as she unleashed the sonic wave, watching as she drove the mutant back towards the hole. As it reached the trough is started to sink into the water slowly disappearing as it was absorbed. He let out a sigh and levered himself up of the ground nodding at Terry, "Nice one."

Terry grinned briefly at Scott, then looked over to the trench. "Maybe I had better wait with him until SHIELD shows," she said, her voice slightly strained sounding. Her nose wrinkled at the mess. "I am hoping he is able to revert after that, because the thought of trying to cuff that..."