xp_logs | Genosha: The End of the Beginning: No Escape

More fragments of teams join up to escape.

Sirens wailed in the streets of Hammer Bay. The bulk of the Magistrate response was centred on the Citadel, but it would not be long before they began the search for escapees, something a lone figure trying to look as innocuous as one could in a black leather uniform had at the top of his priorities.

The black leather uniform was indeed one of the biggest barriers to being less noticeable. Thankfully, Jean-Phillipe wasn't the sort to go shirtless under his jacket, so he shucked that almost immediately upon his scrambling escape, and dumped it in an alleyway dumpster as he made his way down the streets. A sweat-stained undershirt and leather pants weren't exactly completely unobtrusive, but it at least looked less paramilitary without the jacket. As he walked, he tried to keep himself at a leisurely pace, fighting the instinctive urge to put as much distance between himself and the Citadel as possible.

Leaning against the crumbling brick of a wall in an alley several blocks away from the safe house, Wade braced his shoulder and tried another inhale. His rib cage expanded but wasn't happy about it, several points of pain making themselves sharply known on his left side. It was better than it'd been an hour ago, though. Shaking his head, Wade went back to shallow breathing and pulled the hem of the shirt he'd stolen off a clothesline down again. It didn't actually fit, but that was alright. At least it wasn't ripped and spattered with blood.

The mercenary looked up and peered around the corner next to him. No sounds of pursuit from behind him, but there were still official type people and various military personnel in the streets and he hadn't made it as far as he would have liked from the safe house. Blinking, he did a double take and realized he actually knew the guy coming toward him. Or well. Walking down the street. The leather pants really gave him away.

Reaching out, the mercenary grabbed Jean-Phillipe's arm and yanked him into the alley. "Don't electrocute me. Safe house's compromised."

"Merde. What isn't?" Jean-Phillipe asked as he lowered a hand that was crackling with electricity. "It is like they knew exactly where we were going, and then sprang a trap. Hell, for all I know, you and I are the only ones to have escaped." He sized Wade up, noticing the injuries. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"They got Doug just before I went out the window," Wade said, keeping his voice low. "I don't know about anybody else, but I'm pretty sure the whole operation's blown." Which meant they'd lost more people but he couldn't think about that. Priorities were what they were and right now they needed to retreat and regroup. "Evac point's the next logical step. Need to make sure it's not compromised, too, though. You know how to use a gun?"

"I...do, but my powers do not get along particularly well with firearms," Jean-Phillipe said. Electricity on a device mostly made of metal, even the barest of charges, could conceivably set off rounds in the chamber or clip. His control was good, but even so, he tended to carry a bit more charge than the average person even at the least stressful of times, and this was hardly that. "Without communications..." He grunted. "Too many small teams, and no way of knowing if we are the only ones, or if others managed to escape."

"Yeah," Wade said, reaching around to the middle of his back and pulling out one of the blades he'd secured there, complete with sheath. "Take this. They expect powers use. Might have neutralizers." He refused to think about how they'd lost pretty much all their communications capabilities when they lost Doug. For now he had to assume the worst for everything. "C'mon. We need to move. This humidity's only gonna get worse."

The hanger hummed with activity. The flight crew were on full alert, refueling returning aircraft or directing those damaged beyond a quick redeployment from the helipad. Pilots and crew were directed to refueled helicopters, while the odd wounded taken to one side for triage. They worked with speed, but focus. A smattering of guards and magistrates were in attendance, though periodically forced them to reposition themselves thanks to the needs of the crew. Nonetheless, they held their weapons with a grip that bespoke a collection of people who currently possessed zero sense of humour. Over the sound of fuel pumps and turbines the crack of aerial gunfire was still audible. Someone out there was still fighting.

"We are sure about this, right?" Marius asked from their position behind the storage containers. "I'd hate to get shot an' find Genoshans helicopters have some fundamental operating difference."

"Find me another way out of here and then I will say that I am not sure about this," Wanda replied sourly. With everything having gone south so quickly, the only bright spot had been that they'd been able to find Emma and Marius amongst the chaos of running the hell away before they were grabbed as well. It didn't make her feel any better but it was better than nothing. It had to be.

"Besides, how different can their helicopters be? A helicopter is a helicopter." Marius tried to grin, though it looked decidedly sickly. His stomach was squirming like the inside of a bait bucket. It had briefly subsided when he'd been flushed from the stairwell and nearly on top of Wanda and their companion, apparently rejoined due to the latter's telepathy after the decimation of their own respective groups, but now it felt like someone was kicking at his guts like a bored child at the back of an airline seat.

"Like a duck's a duck? I have heard tales of your track record with such vehicles. If we encounter any sort of ballistic waterfowl, be aware it is you to whom I shall automatically allot the blame." Her eyes narrowed just a tad at the mention of waterfowl and her track record.

"I see someone's been talking about my illustrious entrance into the world of Xavier and his ilk," she grumbled, though she clasped Marius' shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze of reassurance. Gallows humor or no, she understood the need to put up barriers between oneself and what was going on.

~I can keep the guards from noticing us.~ Emma’s voice chimed through the heads of the small group. ~But it is a lot easier when there’s no extraneous chatter.~ Emma understood the tendency to release tension verbally, but it was making her life more difficult than she thought strictly necessary. ~Think it, people, don’t say it,~ she added.

~I think it will be more sensible to go for the middle helicopter, not the nearest. All indications from the flight crews is that it’s the one closest to be ready for take-off. If we time it right, we should be able to get to it and take down the crew just as it’s ready to fly, which reduces some complications considerably. Now if anyone has any ideas on how to take out the flight crew and – what? Eight, nine guards and magistrates, then I’m willing to hear them.~

~We will only have one shot at this,~ Wanda responded grimly. ~They are incredibly organized and trained but we do have surprise to our advantage.~ After all, who was crazy enough to try and steal what had to be a military grade helicopter that was surrounded by guards?

~I believe the correct term for that is 'guns blazing'. Unless Marius is carting around something very flashy inside him, I am probably the best bet to go out in front. Me, followed by Marius, then Emma. Whoever I cannot take out, Emma can. If we hit hard enough, fast enough, we should be able to make it in one piece.~

~Ask the guards how hard I hit,~ Marius responded, retreating to the shelter of injured manhood rather than acknowledge the discomfort of sudden psychic contact. He stole a quick glance around the storage containers as he continued, ~But no. Strong and fast, but no distance capabilities and no invulnerability. Whilst the former could be changed, it occurs that chaos powers are best experimented with somewhere other than in the presence of flammable materials. However, I can confirm ourselves as the only mutants present, so the odds are only borderline suicidal.~

Dropping back down, Marius turned yellow eyes on the two women and let his mouth twist in a wolfish grin. ~Don't know as to anyone else, but I've never turned down anything for being borderline suicidal.~

~I seem to remember somebody mentioning that suicide was painless,~ said Emma, failing to add that she could confirm both the truth and falsity of that statement. ~Perhaps we could test that out? I will need to go diamond, so back to our out-loud voices once we start. Wanda?~ Emma made an gesture, curiously courteous, for the Scarlet Witch to go ahead.

~Well, if it is not painful, then at least let us make sure they fill the sting as well,~ came Wanda's reply before the connection could be lost. She was grateful, actually, not to have to worry - the activation of her powers would have automatically tossed Emma out of her mind and while the other woman was used to that particular quirk, sometimes it wasn't exactly pleasant. And no one could afford a distraction now.

She glanced over her shoulder at Marius and took a deep breath. He was an X-Man now but the desire to protect him stemmed from memories of when he was so much younger, so much more vulnerable. "Stay close," she said quietly, as around her hands red rings flickered into life. Normally, her hex blasts were tossed off at a moments thought but she took the time to gather the energy and to build up the power. The rings looked angry and destructive as she edged forward and, without looking back, launched herself around the corner. From the left there was an explosion as a hex bolt had a catastrophic collision with something electrical, and from the right a chorus of gurgling screams as the other struck a group of guards.

Marius, hard on her heels, didn't know what the bolt had done to the men and didn't care. He didn't have distance powers, but they passed a rack and then he did have a wrench and a throwing arm, and it was only because the man turned his head at the last moment that the magistrate bellowing for the civillians to get clear that it took him across the ear and helmet instead of the eyes.

Emma stalked along behind the other two, torn between appreciating her secondary mutation and regretting the cessation of her ability to pinpoint the next likely attacker based on their thought patterns. As a bullet spanged off from the centre of her chest, the force nearly dropping her to her knees due to the close proximity of the guard who'd suddenly emerged from behind the closest helicopter, she decided appreciation definitely won. That appreciation increased as the flat blade of her diamond hand sliced forward and upwards, opening the guard's throat before he even recovered from the surprise of her not being dead after being shot at point-blank range.

Surprise had gotten them almost to the helicopter in question and now it was a matter of bullying their way through the rest of the distance. Wanda clothed lined a guard that stepped out to attack at the wrong moment and slammed him into the hard concrete flooring. She left him alive, if unconscious, as she sprinted towards the opened door. Someone yelled from the sidelines and she dove to the floor to escape a hail of bullets, something her power didn't protect her from or at least most of the time.

Marius skidded to the ground behind her, noting that Emma did not. He noted, too, a damaged metal panel had been set aside within arm's reach, and that when thrown at the right angle corners were not necessarily a major detriment to aerodynamics. He rolled onto his knees, scooped up the panel, and proved its worth as an improvised discus on the hapless gunman.

"Running now," gasped the X-Man, grabbing Wanda by the arm and heaving her to her feet. He half-shoved the woman the rest of the way to the helicopter, and only then cast a wild glance back at the telepath.

Emma had been considering dropping her diamond form for a moment and trying a telepathic mind-fuck on the remaining guards to try to take them out all at once, but the decision of the guards to start laying down serious covering fire changed her mind on that idea. Instead, she reached down and scooped the machine gun out of the hands of the guard now dying at her feet. It took only a few seconds for practiced hands to familiarise themselves with it and then Emma looked up and began to stalk towards the most obvious group of attackers. The sheer advantage of being able to walk into a storm of bullets without injury while returning fire at vulnerable human flesh was enough to scatter the remaining guard away from the helicopter and her two companions in escape.

“Get in,” Emma shouted at Wanda and Marius as the guards fled towards cover.

Marius stared at the woman just long enough to conclude he wanted to remain on her good side, then turned to vault into the helicopter -- only to discover it was already occupied. He guessed one was the pilot, but had little time to contemplate it because the one who'd had his back pressed against the edge of the door swung a gun directly at his head. Borrowed reflexes saved him, and the barrel was in Marius' hand and the butt cracking into the guard's cheekbone before he even realised he'd been disarmed. Without so much as pausing for breath, Marius spun and put his foot against the staggered man's side, viciously evicting him from the aircraft.

While Marius had been dealing with the first man, the pilot had decided to make good her escape. Unfortunately for her, she exited out of the side that Wanda now occupied; the pilot gave a little shriek and dropped her gun as Wanda grabbed her by the front of her jumpsuit and heaved her the rest of the way out. With a twist of her hips, Wanda threw the other woman as hard as she could in the opposite direction of the helicopter but didn't bother watching to know she'd taken her out of the game.

Hopping in, she stuck her head briefly out of the open door and shouted for Emma. "Cover us from in here while we get this thing airborne!"

Emma nodded at Wanda but didn't reply, concentrating instead on picking out heads as they cautiously poked around the edges of things and firing the minimum number of bullets required to make the heads disappear again. She wasn't sure how much ammunition she had and had no plans to run out before they got airborne. Without looking, she reached out with her right hand and managed to find the latch to the rear door in the chopper and wrench it open. One diamond punch took out the window and Emma tucked her body in behind the door, onefoot on the seat, one on the helicopter's skid, using the bottom ledge of what had been the window to prop the gun on. Several more judicious rounds of firing gave her the free seconds she needed. Diamond form dropped from her and Emma sent her mind out, finding - there, there, there, there - minds around them. There was no time for instructions or anything subtle: instead, Emma reached deep into pain centres and pulled, hard. The sudden screams and the sound of firearms falling satisfied her. Holding the strings tight with her mind, Emma kept them yanked tight, emotionlessly watching the writhing bodies that began to emerge into the open, pain destroying all control.

"Now please," she said to Wanda.

Thanks to Emma, they had come on-board the helicopter that was actually already prepared for take-off. While Wanda was ... fairly certain she could get the thing off the ground, she would have been stymied if she'd actually had to turn it on. As it was, strapping herself into the pilot's chair was the easy part.

It was only thanks to Emma not being shy with the machine gun that kept the enemy forces from swarming the helicopter before Wanda eased it up from the ground. They clipped more than they should have on their way out with her cursing, Emma shooting and Marius just hanging on for dear life. It didn't get any easier, either, as she aimed for open sky because while they'd been racing for the helicopter and battling the Magistrates inside, reinforcements on the outside had been called and were waiting for the escaping mutants.

As soon as the nose of the chopper appeared, automatic weapons on either side opened up. Wanda didn't bother with cursing as they took fire, faintly noting that they were sustaining damage and it was becoming harder to work the controls. Not safe enough by half but she punched it, going with speed more than safety as bullets punched through the metal hull.

"Come on," she whispered, "give me this much, damn you."