Genosha - Step by Step: Heading to the Safe House from the Sewers

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Jean, Garrison, and Angelo make their way to the city safe house from the sewers.



It was still night when the group of former prisoners and their rescuer emerged from the wastewater tube to the south of the Citadel. But daylight was fast approaching. The tube had opened up into a culvert near the coast on the outskirts of the city. Boat patrols of Magistrate forces were beginning to search for the escapees, so searchlights from the vessels were scanning to and fro and voices were shouting directions and observations at one another.

"Can you do the illusion thing again, Phoenix?" Angelo asked quietly with a wary eye on the bay. "Make us fade in the shadows or something?"

"I'll do what I can, but I have to be able to sense people are coming and it'll take a lot of focus. I'll try to warn you. Right now I'm feeling the city dwellers at large," Jean said, casting a look out over the water.

"If I do I'll have to center my concentration on maintaining the illusion and it may cause me to slip up on shielding us telekinetically should they fire something. So the quicker we can get to the city...the better."

"If any one needs to stop just tell me. My main two priorities are finding shelter and getting the two of you medical attention."

If there were any opportunities for the two of them to be able to rest she wanted to give them that chance. She glanced down at the outer layer of muck that covered her outfit, curling her nose. A shower would also not go unappreciated.

"The uniforms should distract from our faces for a bit. Even if we do smell like the ass end of the island. I say we push through." Kane was tired, which was a deeply unsettling feeling for a man used to having preternatural endurance. Right now, all he wanted was access to a safe phone. It was clear that the X-Men assault had been compromised somehow, and since it wouldn't be internal, it had to have been Genoshan security. The safehouse was a gamble, but hopefully, the chaos would buy them time to regroup and think out their next move instead of running. Man, he was tired of running.

"Option two is lose the weapons and gear, tear off the patches, and we look like normal maintenance workers coming home from a shitty job, no pun intended."

"They're gonna have roadblocks, ID checks", Angelo noted. "Unless we can get through before they can set it up. I'm for pushing through."

"There is way too much activity going on to gamble on being able to hit them before they do that," Jean said, taking off her cap to flick off some of the muck. Her X-Man uniform, which she had somehow managed to keep with her, was also covered in sludge.

"They know there are intruders. They know there was an escape attempt and an assault. They've likely already started making precautions the moment they heard there was an attack. Option two may be the only chance we have."

"Follow me." Kane said, and took off at a brisk trot along the coast. Hammer Bay was a prosperous and growing city, full of new construction. The Canadian led them through a tangle of plastic fencing and scaffolding into a construction site. He paused at a skip, and began to pull apart the Magistrates uniform, tearing off patches and dumping the web harness. With a certain amount of regret, the submachinegun followed, but he tucked the pistol into the khaki jumpsuit. Poking around, he found a couple of slightly cracked hardhats that would pass inspection in the dumpster, along with the normal construction detritus.

Angelo smiled slightly and followed suit, de-identifying the uniform and ditching his own submachine gun. Taking the hard hat Garrison held out to him, he slung the straps securely on his shoulder - workers on their way home probably wouldn't still be wearing all the safety gear, after all.

The straps appeared to be more for men so the additions to Jean's uniform were a little loose and bulky but they would do in a pinch as Jean ripped off remaining patches off the uniform. There were only two hard hats so Jean just took the Magistrate's cap off. Her hair was frizzy enough by now, having started to dry, to make it look like she'd been at work. Her attention lingered toward the city up ahead, standing gleaming, almost innocuous-looking, and she felt a swell of venomous resentment.

Kane took one of the undershirts and carefully tore it into a square before passing it over to Jean. "Make a bandana for your hair. If you're coming off-shift, you'd still have your hair tied up." He shrugged as an apology. "I worked construction for a couple of summers. Drywalling. Nasty job."

Angelo nodded agreement, running his fingers through his hair in a vain attempt to lessen the matting of blood. "An' the one we're supposed to've been doing is nastier."

Jean fashioned the scrap of fabric around her head . "I can imagine. I will defer to the experts," she said with a nod. She felt a bit like Rosie the Riveter.

"Shall we?"

"Unless you feel like doing a shift bracing joists." They walked through the construction site, with Kane leading them purposefully through some muddier patches to cake up the military boots to look closer to workman's boots. He'd grabbed a clipboard off of a temporary shift box, and found an empty bag that we filled with scrap for Jean to carry, helping the illusion. The trio slipped out of the construction site, and started down the street. It was late, and while the streets were still occupied, there were no crowds to contend with. Twice Magistrate patrols passed them, but never gave them a second look.

Using a random route, switching between main roads and side streets, they reached the exterior of the building where the backup safehouse was located. Kane motioned them to a nearby alley to wait. "I don't see any signs of surveillance."

"Nothing obvious", Angelo muttered. "Not that they would be, if they wanted to actually catch anyone... but you'd know what to look for, you must have done surveillance yourself."

"I'll check," Jean said. Her eyes went unfocused as she stared toward the safehouse. After a few moments she let out a breath of relief.

"Jean-Paul, Bishop, Artie, and Sooraya are already here. Seems to be okay. But I'd feel safer if we stealth our way in. We've run into too many psi-interfering traps for comfort lately. I'll let them know we're coming so we don't get shot." That would certainly ruin the day.

"I suppose we could try and go up the back." Kane moved down the alley, looking contemplatively at the fire escape. "Angelo, you think you can make it up four floors?"

"I can do whatever I have to do if there's a bed at the end of it", he said with determination. "Or even a chair."

Jean smiled softly. Part of her shared his sentiment.

The other part wanted to get back out there and fight, to march back to the Citadel, get her people back and bring the damn thing down. She knew it couldn't be that easy, knew she couldn't do it alone, knew how well that went last time, but her heart refused to listen to her head. Still, at the end of the day her head won out.

"I think that could probably be arranged. I'll help out if the two of you get tired. "

"I'm not the one whose head they used as a hockey puck, Doc." Kane said, taking the lead up the fire escape. Even with his powers gone, Kane was in excellent shape, and he quickly scaled the four flights of stairs. He paused at the window, knowing it was the moment of truth. If it was a trap, now was when they would spring it. He opened the window sash, and pushed it all the way up before sliding in. His hand found the lightswitch and flicked it on.

Nothing.

Kane let out a breath he didn't even realize he was holding. "It's all clear."

~Phoenix, Dominion, Skin here. We're entering top floor window of safehouse. Will be meeting up shortly. Everyone okay? ~ Jean thought to the others in the safehouse.

Angelo was a floor below him but moving steadily if slowly upwards. He let out a breath of relief on hearing Kane's words and it seemed to give him a shot of extra strength, as he picked up speed and headed for the window.

Lingering between the two of them, Jean eyed the both of them carefully. Even if Angelo had his head used as a hockey puck Garrison had also been used as a punching bag. His body was beaten, and adrenaline wore off eventually. It was not much of an excuse.

At that moment, however, the safehouse was a welcome sight. But until everyone was rescued she would not feel safe.