Genosha - The End of the Beginning
May. 27th, 2012 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsCatseye, Meggan and Molly escape via the air ducts. It's not as fun as Bruce Willis makes it out to be.
The air shafts were hot and cramped and uncomfortable. The sounds of battle echoed up from behind them, hurrying them along even as they half-waited to be discovered.
Heart pounding, Meggan restrained herself from looking back over her shoulder only one more time as they made their way through the ventilation system, to make absolutely certain Molly was still with them, and hadn’t somehow been silently whisked away. It was an irrational fear, since she could hear her. She bit her lip, holding back any questions she wanted to ask, that Catseye might not even know the answer to. Questions that could lead to an echo giving away their position. Could they be over an evil office, or were they over a deserted area yet?
Molly didn't say anything. If she spoke the bad guys could find them. They almost found them earlier and there was guns and bullets and Doctor Jean said to run and now they were climbing through the vents like in the movies but it wasn't as fun as it looked in the movies. She tried to be fast and stay by Meggan and Catseye but it was hard. She found herself slowing down cause she was really sleepy and hungry.
Catseye had been listening to the sounds of hands and knees as Meggan and Molly crawled along behind her, so when Molly started to lag she picked up on it. She had been following her nose, trying to follow the faintest whiff of motor oil, gas, and the rubber of tires, because those smells meant that they were getting closer to the garages, and she knew the garages were attached to the Outside. Which was where she wanted to be right now, very badly.
But they wouldn't get there if Molly stopped moving, so Catseye signalled to Meggan with her tail to keep moving forward and then hang a left. When the message was relayed she slipped past Meggan and headbutted Molly in the arm with her fuzzy head, rubbing up against her and then licking her face in an attempt to reassure her.
Molly jumped in surprise, and her eyes opened really wide, but luckily she only made a little sound, just a squeak. And she saw purple. She frowned. "Sorry," she whispered, mostly just mouthing it as she lowered her head and bit her lip.
Catseye put a paw on top of Molly's hand and then licked her face again, headbutting her arm once more as well. The prehensile tail wrapped around Molly's other arm, tugging gently. I know you're scared, but we have to keep moving, she tried to convey through her body language.
There weren’t any sharp downward slopes ahead that needed warning about, Meggan noted, having nodded at the tail signal and edged ahead to the left turn. If nobody went toppling to another injury, that would be great. She had guessed the issue of Molly lagging slightly behind, too, after a quick look back at both her and Catseye before she had rounded the corner, and had slowed a bit to help. Not enough to cause a major problem with their escape she judged, but maybe enough for Molly’s aid.
Oh crap, now Meggan was stopping too?! Catseye really, really did not want to die here. She lifted a paw up, pointing it towards the direction they needed to keep moving in, trying to entice Meggan to keep heading out towards the garages.
It was a little strange, having a kitty show them the way, Molly decided. Catseye was Catseye and she knew that and she liked kitties but it was still very strange. Like Narnia. With bad things.
Molly started to crawl again, trying to be very careful not to run into Catseye as she went to rejoin Meggan. She didn't know where they were going but she hoped there was no more air vents. It was very hot.
The space was vaguely cramped before opening up again, as Meggan immediately obeyed and continued moving forward. Going slow was a bad idea, she understood that. Even if she was trying to help. Was there a small sound up ahead? She thought she had heard something, and hoped it was just old duct work doing what it was meant to do after years in use…or them being that much closer to an exit.
They had reached the junction between floors, which she hoped meant they were getting closer to getting the hell out of here. But they weren't out yet, and the upwards climb ahead of them to take them to the ground floor of the complex made the catgirl anxious, as the surface of the ductwork was pretty slick, with only a couple handholds from where the sections had been riveted together. She held the convoy up again and signalled for Meggan to head up, hoping the older girl could help the younger from above while Catseye remained back to try and help push Molly if needed.
It was almost too slick in spots, and one early handholds was dotted with rust. On the second try, Meggan managed one of the final of the shallow handholds better. She dragged herself up the rest of the way, and swung her leg over the side, before turning around and looking back down from her perch. She offered her arms to the younger girl, silently indicating for Molly to either shimmy up her like a monkey as fast as she could once she got partway, or let her pull.
Molly peered up at Meggan. She was up high. Swallowing, Molly closed her eyes.
I'm Batgirl. I'm Batgirl.
She drew in a breath, then clenched her fists as her eyes opened and she reached out for Meggan, climbing up the other girl like she were a tree, except squishier. As Molly reached the edge she fumbled a little and almost slipped when part of the rusty metal started to cave in where her hand held it but caught herself with a grunt and pulled herself up all the way.
Making a mental note to give Molly a big hug later (and one for Meggan for letting herself be climbed like a tree), Catseye scrambled up the shaft easily thanks to her claws and proceeded through the newest tunnel and a quick trot. The smell of vehicles was getting stronger now; they had to be getting close! A left, a right, two more lefts and Catseye was sure they'd reached the vent cover overtop of the motor pool. She unscrewed it with her claws while holding it with her tail so it wouldn't clatter to the floor, then jumped down to take stock of the space she'd just fallen into.
Finally, fresh air—air that wasn’t dusty, anyway, Meggan was pleased to note as her head carefully poked out into daylight. Just before she came out behind Catseye, she spied a man coming up behind the other girl. Security! She fervently hoped he didn’t happen to be connected to something that could sound the alarm. She didn’t want to risk shouting a loud warning, ruin everything, and get them captured again. As she leapt out of the vent, thinking levitation would have been wonderful right about now, she aimed a kick at his head.
The baton in the guard's hand fell to the concrete floor as Meggan's kick dropped him. Startled, Catseye whipped around, using the vent cover to deliver a second blow to his head to make sure he stayed down. "Thanks!" she said to Meggan with a nod. "You wanna check this side of the room between the vehicles while I check that side?" she asked, dividing the area up in half with a gesture. "Here, take this." She picked up the guard's baton and handed it to her friend, keeping the vent cover for herself.
"Hey Kitten, you wanna come down?" she called out to Molly as she moved away from the vent on her quick patrol, checking between two ambulances for more guards and leaving Meggan with the fire truck and police paddy wagon. The vent, luckily, was in a corner of the room so Catseye figured that if she and Meggan moved away from it together in a sweep there was no chance for a guard to get the jump on Molly as she came out of the vent. Catseye just hoped Molly realized that and actually came out instead of letting her fear get to her again.
It was hard to see all the fighting and stuff from where she was but Molly did hear a clang and a grunt and a thud so she stayed in the vent. Maybe they wouldn't be able to tell she was there. She could live in the vents like a spy. But Catseye didn't sound scared when she spoke next so Molly finally peered out, her hair spilling down ahead of her like a broom.
Molly eyed the floor, then the guard on the floor way far away. She bit her lip, then scooted herself out a bit and jumped down. The landing was a tangle of flailing limbs since she was used to leaves to catch her. Nothing got broke, though, and she pulled herself up, trying to act like she meant to fall like that.
She brushed her hair back behind her ears, leaving a bit of red in her light brown hair when she pulled her hand away, then glanced around. When she saw nobody was around she scampered over to where Catseye and Meggan were, tip toeing around the guard but picking up the pace as she went past him.
Meggan gently offered her equally rusty hand for the younger girl to hold, if she should happen to need it. So they wouldn’t get separated, and to provide a small measure of support. While there still wasn’t a sign of anybody else (and she'd shaken her head in the negative to let Catseye know that) rushing to the first guard’s aid, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t come waltzing the corner at any minute—so she wasn’t letting go of the baton Catseye had handed her, even if she truly didn’t want to ever use it.
Catseye took a moment to set her vent cover down and cuff an arm around the necks of both girls, holding on to them in half-hugs. After a beat, however, she pulled away and shoved a claw into the door lock of one of the ambulances. "We've gotta get out of here. There's a meeting place we're supposed to go. We'll have to find it. And it'll be easier to do that if we have wheels." The door lock popped and Catseye pulled it open, gesturing to the girls to climb up inside. "Megs, did Wade teach you how to hotwire a car?" If he had, Catseye would leave that task to Meggan while she found a way to get the garage door open. She didn't want to leave that task to Meggan, though, in case there were hostile forces on the other side of it.
“Yes, he did,” she confirmed with a quick nod as they climbed inside. Meggan hadn’t expected to ever be in a situation where she’d need to do it, but she’d still listened when Wade had shown her what to do, step-by-step on several cars. Just in case some sort of apocalyptic scenario ruined her car, and someone else had abandoned theirs nearby or there was a major emergency. An ambulance shouldn’t be all that different from the cars she’d learned to do it on. She placed the baton onto a seat, her hand reaching for the panel they had to remove to get started, and get to those wires.
Molly squeezed Meggan's hand tight, but had to let go while she worked cause it was better to have two hands to work. She hovered next to the ambulance, glancing at Catseye every once and awhile, then the guard on the ground before looking away as she quietly tapped her toes on the ground. She was afraid to make a sound. Cause if you make a sound then they catch you. And they hurt you. And they take you away. Besides, Batman didn't make noises.
Catseye was checking out the door in BigCat form, sniffing rapidly, ears craning for any sign that there were people on the other side of the motor pool waiting to ambush them like before. She didn't hear or smell anything besides normal Outside smells. And the door appeared to open electronically, she assumed by an device inside each of the vehicles. So she wouldn't have to open it manually. It made sense that emergency response vehicles wouldn't be dependent on people to open the doors to the garage on their way to a call, after all.
Shifting back into human form, she picked up her vent cover and strode to the ambulance, putting her elbows on Meggan's knees and cocking her head to get a look at the steering column Meggan had cracked. "Kitten, get in the ambulance, okay?" she told Molly gently, "we're gonna go soon. How about if you check in the back and see if there's any food in there for me, okay? How's it coming?" she asked Meggan, struggling to keep the urgency out of her voice.
Meggan knew how important this was to get right, she didn’t need to get shaky hands from nerves. She dreaded some other guard rounding a corner and grabbing them. When Catseye asked, she was honestly inches away from touching the correct starter wire to the yellow ignition wire now that it was ready. “Very close, almost got it,” she murmured. The roar of the engine coming to life punctuated her statement. “There, it lives! It’s ready for all your driving needs.” Now wasn’t the time to be anything other than quietly pleased that Wade’s teaching had paid off, and hopeful they could get away quickly.
"Brilliant!" Catseye slapped Meggan's knees proudly and slid up into the driver's seat next to Meggan. "You okay Kitten?" she asked Molly, knowing they only had a moment before the noise of the engine was likely to raise questions.
Molly was in the back, opening up doors and hatches and stuff. She jumped when the ambulance started up, making the entire truck rattle at first before it steadied itself. Closing the door, she sat down on one of the gurneys in the back and shrugged.
"It's just medical stuff," she said. Unless they wanted to eat antibiotics.
After a quick glance as she seated herself, it looked to Meggan as though the gurney was strapped to the floor, and wouldn’t send Molly careening through the vehicle at every turn. She didn’t need to be flung around. ”That’s okay. Maybe we can find granola bars hidden somewhere? Or something at the place for meeting up,” she guessed. They couldn’t just go shopping in this place while they were on the run, looking as they did and without money.
"Alright, strap yourselves in and hold on to something," Catseye muttered as she hit the garage door opener on the ambulance's visor and gunned the engine towards the exit. "I looked at city maps while we were preparing for the strike so I think I know where we're going, but just the general direction, so this may be a wild ride."
The air shafts were hot and cramped and uncomfortable. The sounds of battle echoed up from behind them, hurrying them along even as they half-waited to be discovered.
Heart pounding, Meggan restrained herself from looking back over her shoulder only one more time as they made their way through the ventilation system, to make absolutely certain Molly was still with them, and hadn’t somehow been silently whisked away. It was an irrational fear, since she could hear her. She bit her lip, holding back any questions she wanted to ask, that Catseye might not even know the answer to. Questions that could lead to an echo giving away their position. Could they be over an evil office, or were they over a deserted area yet?
Molly didn't say anything. If she spoke the bad guys could find them. They almost found them earlier and there was guns and bullets and Doctor Jean said to run and now they were climbing through the vents like in the movies but it wasn't as fun as it looked in the movies. She tried to be fast and stay by Meggan and Catseye but it was hard. She found herself slowing down cause she was really sleepy and hungry.
Catseye had been listening to the sounds of hands and knees as Meggan and Molly crawled along behind her, so when Molly started to lag she picked up on it. She had been following her nose, trying to follow the faintest whiff of motor oil, gas, and the rubber of tires, because those smells meant that they were getting closer to the garages, and she knew the garages were attached to the Outside. Which was where she wanted to be right now, very badly.
But they wouldn't get there if Molly stopped moving, so Catseye signalled to Meggan with her tail to keep moving forward and then hang a left. When the message was relayed she slipped past Meggan and headbutted Molly in the arm with her fuzzy head, rubbing up against her and then licking her face in an attempt to reassure her.
Molly jumped in surprise, and her eyes opened really wide, but luckily she only made a little sound, just a squeak. And she saw purple. She frowned. "Sorry," she whispered, mostly just mouthing it as she lowered her head and bit her lip.
Catseye put a paw on top of Molly's hand and then licked her face again, headbutting her arm once more as well. The prehensile tail wrapped around Molly's other arm, tugging gently. I know you're scared, but we have to keep moving, she tried to convey through her body language.
There weren’t any sharp downward slopes ahead that needed warning about, Meggan noted, having nodded at the tail signal and edged ahead to the left turn. If nobody went toppling to another injury, that would be great. She had guessed the issue of Molly lagging slightly behind, too, after a quick look back at both her and Catseye before she had rounded the corner, and had slowed a bit to help. Not enough to cause a major problem with their escape she judged, but maybe enough for Molly’s aid.
Oh crap, now Meggan was stopping too?! Catseye really, really did not want to die here. She lifted a paw up, pointing it towards the direction they needed to keep moving in, trying to entice Meggan to keep heading out towards the garages.
It was a little strange, having a kitty show them the way, Molly decided. Catseye was Catseye and she knew that and she liked kitties but it was still very strange. Like Narnia. With bad things.
Molly started to crawl again, trying to be very careful not to run into Catseye as she went to rejoin Meggan. She didn't know where they were going but she hoped there was no more air vents. It was very hot.
The space was vaguely cramped before opening up again, as Meggan immediately obeyed and continued moving forward. Going slow was a bad idea, she understood that. Even if she was trying to help. Was there a small sound up ahead? She thought she had heard something, and hoped it was just old duct work doing what it was meant to do after years in use…or them being that much closer to an exit.
They had reached the junction between floors, which she hoped meant they were getting closer to getting the hell out of here. But they weren't out yet, and the upwards climb ahead of them to take them to the ground floor of the complex made the catgirl anxious, as the surface of the ductwork was pretty slick, with only a couple handholds from where the sections had been riveted together. She held the convoy up again and signalled for Meggan to head up, hoping the older girl could help the younger from above while Catseye remained back to try and help push Molly if needed.
It was almost too slick in spots, and one early handholds was dotted with rust. On the second try, Meggan managed one of the final of the shallow handholds better. She dragged herself up the rest of the way, and swung her leg over the side, before turning around and looking back down from her perch. She offered her arms to the younger girl, silently indicating for Molly to either shimmy up her like a monkey as fast as she could once she got partway, or let her pull.
Molly peered up at Meggan. She was up high. Swallowing, Molly closed her eyes.
I'm Batgirl. I'm Batgirl.
She drew in a breath, then clenched her fists as her eyes opened and she reached out for Meggan, climbing up the other girl like she were a tree, except squishier. As Molly reached the edge she fumbled a little and almost slipped when part of the rusty metal started to cave in where her hand held it but caught herself with a grunt and pulled herself up all the way.
Making a mental note to give Molly a big hug later (and one for Meggan for letting herself be climbed like a tree), Catseye scrambled up the shaft easily thanks to her claws and proceeded through the newest tunnel and a quick trot. The smell of vehicles was getting stronger now; they had to be getting close! A left, a right, two more lefts and Catseye was sure they'd reached the vent cover overtop of the motor pool. She unscrewed it with her claws while holding it with her tail so it wouldn't clatter to the floor, then jumped down to take stock of the space she'd just fallen into.
Finally, fresh air—air that wasn’t dusty, anyway, Meggan was pleased to note as her head carefully poked out into daylight. Just before she came out behind Catseye, she spied a man coming up behind the other girl. Security! She fervently hoped he didn’t happen to be connected to something that could sound the alarm. She didn’t want to risk shouting a loud warning, ruin everything, and get them captured again. As she leapt out of the vent, thinking levitation would have been wonderful right about now, she aimed a kick at his head.
The baton in the guard's hand fell to the concrete floor as Meggan's kick dropped him. Startled, Catseye whipped around, using the vent cover to deliver a second blow to his head to make sure he stayed down. "Thanks!" she said to Meggan with a nod. "You wanna check this side of the room between the vehicles while I check that side?" she asked, dividing the area up in half with a gesture. "Here, take this." She picked up the guard's baton and handed it to her friend, keeping the vent cover for herself.
"Hey Kitten, you wanna come down?" she called out to Molly as she moved away from the vent on her quick patrol, checking between two ambulances for more guards and leaving Meggan with the fire truck and police paddy wagon. The vent, luckily, was in a corner of the room so Catseye figured that if she and Meggan moved away from it together in a sweep there was no chance for a guard to get the jump on Molly as she came out of the vent. Catseye just hoped Molly realized that and actually came out instead of letting her fear get to her again.
It was hard to see all the fighting and stuff from where she was but Molly did hear a clang and a grunt and a thud so she stayed in the vent. Maybe they wouldn't be able to tell she was there. She could live in the vents like a spy. But Catseye didn't sound scared when she spoke next so Molly finally peered out, her hair spilling down ahead of her like a broom.
Molly eyed the floor, then the guard on the floor way far away. She bit her lip, then scooted herself out a bit and jumped down. The landing was a tangle of flailing limbs since she was used to leaves to catch her. Nothing got broke, though, and she pulled herself up, trying to act like she meant to fall like that.
She brushed her hair back behind her ears, leaving a bit of red in her light brown hair when she pulled her hand away, then glanced around. When she saw nobody was around she scampered over to where Catseye and Meggan were, tip toeing around the guard but picking up the pace as she went past him.
Meggan gently offered her equally rusty hand for the younger girl to hold, if she should happen to need it. So they wouldn’t get separated, and to provide a small measure of support. While there still wasn’t a sign of anybody else (and she'd shaken her head in the negative to let Catseye know that) rushing to the first guard’s aid, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t come waltzing the corner at any minute—so she wasn’t letting go of the baton Catseye had handed her, even if she truly didn’t want to ever use it.
Catseye took a moment to set her vent cover down and cuff an arm around the necks of both girls, holding on to them in half-hugs. After a beat, however, she pulled away and shoved a claw into the door lock of one of the ambulances. "We've gotta get out of here. There's a meeting place we're supposed to go. We'll have to find it. And it'll be easier to do that if we have wheels." The door lock popped and Catseye pulled it open, gesturing to the girls to climb up inside. "Megs, did Wade teach you how to hotwire a car?" If he had, Catseye would leave that task to Meggan while she found a way to get the garage door open. She didn't want to leave that task to Meggan, though, in case there were hostile forces on the other side of it.
“Yes, he did,” she confirmed with a quick nod as they climbed inside. Meggan hadn’t expected to ever be in a situation where she’d need to do it, but she’d still listened when Wade had shown her what to do, step-by-step on several cars. Just in case some sort of apocalyptic scenario ruined her car, and someone else had abandoned theirs nearby or there was a major emergency. An ambulance shouldn’t be all that different from the cars she’d learned to do it on. She placed the baton onto a seat, her hand reaching for the panel they had to remove to get started, and get to those wires.
Molly squeezed Meggan's hand tight, but had to let go while she worked cause it was better to have two hands to work. She hovered next to the ambulance, glancing at Catseye every once and awhile, then the guard on the ground before looking away as she quietly tapped her toes on the ground. She was afraid to make a sound. Cause if you make a sound then they catch you. And they hurt you. And they take you away. Besides, Batman didn't make noises.
Catseye was checking out the door in BigCat form, sniffing rapidly, ears craning for any sign that there were people on the other side of the motor pool waiting to ambush them like before. She didn't hear or smell anything besides normal Outside smells. And the door appeared to open electronically, she assumed by an device inside each of the vehicles. So she wouldn't have to open it manually. It made sense that emergency response vehicles wouldn't be dependent on people to open the doors to the garage on their way to a call, after all.
Shifting back into human form, she picked up her vent cover and strode to the ambulance, putting her elbows on Meggan's knees and cocking her head to get a look at the steering column Meggan had cracked. "Kitten, get in the ambulance, okay?" she told Molly gently, "we're gonna go soon. How about if you check in the back and see if there's any food in there for me, okay? How's it coming?" she asked Meggan, struggling to keep the urgency out of her voice.
Meggan knew how important this was to get right, she didn’t need to get shaky hands from nerves. She dreaded some other guard rounding a corner and grabbing them. When Catseye asked, she was honestly inches away from touching the correct starter wire to the yellow ignition wire now that it was ready. “Very close, almost got it,” she murmured. The roar of the engine coming to life punctuated her statement. “There, it lives! It’s ready for all your driving needs.” Now wasn’t the time to be anything other than quietly pleased that Wade’s teaching had paid off, and hopeful they could get away quickly.
"Brilliant!" Catseye slapped Meggan's knees proudly and slid up into the driver's seat next to Meggan. "You okay Kitten?" she asked Molly, knowing they only had a moment before the noise of the engine was likely to raise questions.
Molly was in the back, opening up doors and hatches and stuff. She jumped when the ambulance started up, making the entire truck rattle at first before it steadied itself. Closing the door, she sat down on one of the gurneys in the back and shrugged.
"It's just medical stuff," she said. Unless they wanted to eat antibiotics.
After a quick glance as she seated herself, it looked to Meggan as though the gurney was strapped to the floor, and wouldn’t send Molly careening through the vehicle at every turn. She didn’t need to be flung around. ”That’s okay. Maybe we can find granola bars hidden somewhere? Or something at the place for meeting up,” she guessed. They couldn’t just go shopping in this place while they were on the run, looking as they did and without money.
"Alright, strap yourselves in and hold on to something," Catseye muttered as she hit the garage door opener on the ambulance's visor and gunned the engine towards the exit. "I looked at city maps while we were preparing for the strike so I think I know where we're going, but just the general direction, so this may be a wild ride."
