Genosha - Step by Step: Heading to the Safe House from the Citadel Wall

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

Callisto, Nico, and Maddie make their way to the city safe house through a gap in the Citadel's perimeter fence.



The perimeter fence of the Citadel was a twelve-footer, concrete, with barbed wire along the top. On the other side of the Citadel, the crashing of waves against the coast could be heard. But on this side, sounds of the city permeated through, beyond the fence. Inside the perimeter, spotlights swung to and fro attempting to locate the escaping prisoners and their rescuers.

Things could have been worse, Nico told herself as she and the other two looked around. Of course, they could only get worse if they were captured and opened like lab frogs, but hey, they were still alive. And they had gone so far that not making it until the end was inadmissible. "Everyone still sane?", asked as she turned to her two companions. "Now comes the hard part of the plan."

Maddie bent over, hands on her knees, as she attempted to ride out the bout of dizziness. She was running on empty; food, sleep, and energy were all in short supply, and she felt completely drained. The fence was so far away, and she had ran so far already. But if she didn't get moving soon, one of those search lights would definitely catch sight of her orange jumpsuit.

"Shit. If that was the easy part, I don't think I can make it through the hard one."

Callisto barely hesitated, leaning and scooping Maddie up into her arms in a 'Prince Charming' carry as though she weighed nothing at all.

"Sure you can", was the only thing Nico would reply to Maddie. Checking that Callisto was ready to proceed, Nico took a last look around. "Long story short; I can either cause a distraction somewhere else or make us invisible, but I can't really do both with the energy I have left. So what's gonna be?"

Maddie's head flopped backwards so she could back at the citadel and the chaos surrounding it. "Invisible," she declared decisively. "They have a big supply of soldiers. A distraction would just mean they spread out more, but they'd still be able to come after us. If they don't see us, and we trod carefully, we will probably be able to sneak out."

"Oh G-d, too much blood to the brain. Ow ow ow." She closed her eyes and lifted her head quickly up. She settled it against Callisto and looked up at the woman who was acting as her own personal White Night and said, "Hi."

Callisto smiled tightly down at her, the concern evident in her tense expression. "Hey yourself," she replied quietly. "Stay with me, okay? Eyes open." She glanced toward Nico. "I could take out a whole heap of 'em, but not protect the two of you at the same time. Invisible works."

"Okay, let's see what I can do." Nico didn't trust her energy reserves to properly handle the Staff of One without it messing with her spells, so it was on her. Extending one hand to hold Maddie's hand -or wrist, or arm, or whatever she could get a grip on- Nico's eyes went completely black, cracks spreading at the sides of her head. "neesnU." There, short and simple. Perhaps it was dude to the extensive television she had watched, but the effects of the invisibility were most curious. Suddenly, a liquid that looked a lot like quicksilver started to sprout from the point where Nico's and Maddie's skin touched, expanding all over them and going over their clothes, wrapping the three of them in a matter of seconds, before going completely invisible themselves. It didn't even feel as if they were covered by anything. Just invisible.

"Okay." Nico sounded strained now. "Don't lose contact. Let's get out of here."

As the trio made their way forward, careful not to lose each other in their state of invisibility, Maddie scanned the fence before them. Perhaps there was a hole, carved out by animals or people, or even a fallen tree. There had to be something, there was no way that Maddie would even entertain the idea that there wasn't after they had come this far. So, with the sounds of the battle still booming behind them, the teenager ignored her headache and squinted, searching desperately for sign of a broken link.

"Over there," she pointed, forgetting that neither of her two companions could see her. With a sigh, Maddie reached over to where Nico's hand lay and guided it in the direction she was looking. "Up ahead. To the left. It looks like there's a hole in the fence."

"I can see it alright", muttered Nico as she lead the other two towards it. It looked big enough for them to pass, by they needed to be careful. "Okay, easy now. I'll lead. Nice and slow..."