xp_logs | Angelo and Sooraya; Angelo and John

Sooraya checks up on her big brother.

Sooraya let the others discuss things for a bit while she busied herself with making sure there was some food for everyone. She needed a few moments of her own to think and this gave her few moments to think. Quietly she had put the food on the middle of the table, along with some water she found tucked away. Satisfied she looked around to see if everyone had what they needed and suddenly spotted Angelo. He was looking slightly absent and worry blossomed inside her. She quickly headed over to him and gently put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?"

He twitched at the unexpected touch, then looked up at her. "Uh... mostly. I'll live, anyway - you?"

"I am okay. A little scared and worried for everyone. But I didn't spend several days inside that prison." The tales they had told her and the amount of things that the Genoshans knew had scared her. Even she knew that meant trouble.

"More than half the time they just dumped us in cells and left us there", he said tiredly. "Not all that restful, but it could've been worse. But when they took us out to tell us what was gonna happen... anyone that got mouthy got punished."

A wince stole over Sooraya's face and she reached up, almost if to touch that bandage that now securely covered his wound. "Is... Is that how this happened?" She asked.

"They took some of us away", was the quiet response. "Laurie, Sarah, Fred, Callie, Amara, Megan, Yvette... they were going to do something to them, they showed us a girl they'd already done it to and it was like she was nobody. Like a loyal dog that could talk, not a person, and so scared that they might not be pleased with her... I said something about what would happen if they hurt them and I got a rifle stock to the head."

"You mean they changed Yvette... Laurie... the others into... that..." Sooraya didn't quite know how to call it, but her voice broke a little at the image of her friends like that... like some sort of zombies in some of the movies she had seen. She took a deep breath to steady her voice. "We'll get them back. I have to believe that..."

"Last I knew, they were taking them off to start it", he said with a quickly regretted nod. "We will. And now we're out, we'll make them pay for everything they've done."

"We are out." Sooraya confirmed that with a nod of her own. "And if we got out, maybe there are more people who got out... There must be a way to find them and change them back. Didn't someone say it was possible to change them back?" She remembered hearing that when they had been recounting their tales.

"The last time I saw Catseye, Meggan and Molly, they were disappearing into an air duct", he told her with a faint smile. "As for getting them back... I'm pretty sure Moreau said something about it being possible. If the Professor played along."

"I hope they got out." Sooraya said a quick mental prayer for their safety. "And if the Professor played along..." Her voice trailed of for a bit, but then hardened. "Hopefully we can make Moreau play along with us... turn the tables on him somehow... I am not yet trained for this, but there must be ways we can do that..."

Angelo laughed bitterly, voice hard. "Moreau's got no idea what he's dealing with. He's afraid of mutants, or hates us, he's about to find out why."

"He will." Sooraya nodded. "And we will make sure he won't be able to harm anyone again." She quickly looked him over. "Is it a very stupid idea if I look if I can make you place where you can catch a little sleep? I think you need it."

"Not stupid", he said quickly. "Only an hour, though, at most, I got a concussion and the others were talking about moving on."

"I know we have to move on quickly. But you need some rest. And I promise I'll come and wake you up in time." Sooraya removed her hand from his shoulder, but just before she moved off, she bent back down and gave him a very quick hug. "I am very glad you at least got out, big brother." She mutttered to him before hurrying off, a blush coloring her cheeks...

He blinked after her, bemused, then smiled faintly and called after her, "You too, little sister."

Later, possibly at a different safehouse, Angelo gets John alone and breaks the news about Amara.

"Firebug", Angelo said quietly, appearing at his friend's shoulder, "I need to talk to you. Got a minute?"

"Yeah." Normally, John would tell Angelo to quit calling him firebug and that he didn't have a minute let alone a second to spare him, but he wasn't in a joking mood today. He had spent the past hour pacing back and forth, worrying over their situation and the fact that his girlfriend was still out there.

"Okay." He took a breath, studying John's face. "Did anyone talk to you about Amara?"

John hated that Angelo was studying him because he was sure the color had drained from his face at that question alone. His pulsed race, his heart thudded wildly and painfully in his chest, but he somehow managed to just let out a somewhat nonchalant shrug, and then a shake of his head. He wanted to say something, anything, but he couldn't seem to get his mouth to work, and the longer he waited for Angelo to spit the goddamn news out, the more he wanted to just shake it out of him. John leaned heavily on his right foot and gripped the edge of the table instead as he stood watching his friend.

"They took her", was the sober response. "Her and seven others, the second day we were here. To turn her into a mutate."

Mutate. They had fought an unknown number of them at the security bunkers and it was only thanks to Sam that John had managed to escape. He glanced away for a moment, attempting to compose himself and to calm the fuck down. There was no need to set the place on fire because he couldn't control his emotions. It was a minute, maybe two before he could speak. "It can be undone. Right? I mean, someone… Jean… the Professor… they can undo this shit." He wasn't going to entertain the thought of them not getting their friends back. After all, it was only a matter of time, and they would get to fixing them all up and things would get back to normal as they always did.

"I think so", was the best he could offer. "Moreau said something about sending us home if the Professor behaved himself, so that sounds like it's at least possible."

John just shook his head at that. It didn't seem likely that the Professor was going to let Moreau have his way. The man couldn't be trusted and they couldn't just wait for him to let their people go.

"How did you manage to escape?"

"Jean", he said simply. "She was in the team that came to my cell block, helped me and Garrison get out. I don't think the others made it. Except Molly and Meggan, last time I saw them they were running off down an airduct with Catseye."

"Let's hope they made it out," John murmured. He'd really like to kill that son of a bitch for making them all go through hell. He took a good look at Angelo then. "They didn't mess with you, did they? You're not going to suddenly want to stab a knife in my back or something?" Yeah. He was joking. It was an attempt to break the tension. John didn't think he could handle anymore worrying.

Angelo smiled faintly and joked back, "Not any more than usual. And right now, all knives are reserved for somebody else."