xp_logs | Genosha - Stemming The Tide: Rendez-Vous

Finally all together at the cache, the older members of the group gather to determine what happens next.

The meeting of the two groups was, after all the drama involved in getting there, surprisingly low key, almost as if they had been expecting each other. Jayresh excused himself and melted back into the bush, saying he was going to scout out whether the Genoshans' reaction had gotten as far as the mountains yet, leaving the battered and exhausted mutants to themselves for now. While the others were going through the caches and sorting out what supplies and weapons they had, the five eldest members gathered to discuss the situation.

Going through the supplies, Lorna found a small medi pack. Walking over to Wanda. "Sit. I am going to take a look at that." She said. Looking around at the others that have gathered. "How is everyone? Anyone else hurt?" Lorna was a mess, her green hair was falling out of her ponytail, she was dirty and looked over all tired. "I am going to clean it up and stitch you back together." Turning her focus on Wanda's wound.

Wanda didn't argue at all, just quietly sat down. She knew better than to argue with people who wielded chef knives as well as Lorna did; besides, her head was killing her and the chance that this was their only quiet time was high. "If this leaves a scar, I am punching the first person to call me the Chosen One," she said, wincing as she started to take off the make-shift bandage that they'd slapped on earlier.

Unable and unwilling to sit completely still, Wade stood slightly apart, arms loose and back to a conveniently located tree. His bullet wound had healed up for the most part, so he didn't volunteer to have it checked out. His side was doing better as well, though he'd need to stay stationary for an hour or so to really make sure the bones had knit together before moving on this next bit of intense physical labor. The exhaustion he could feel tugging at the back of his eyeballs was just going to have to wait - so to keep himself focused, he shifted his eyes from the perimeter of the meeting point toward Wanda and deadpanned, "Seriously? Cause I was really hoping you'd be able stop Voldemort. If you did that, I might get to chop off a basilisk's head with a sword I pulled out of a hat."

"I don't know, then she'd be faced with some creepy fetus-like thing in a ghostly train station talking to a dead mentor, and I'm not sure Wanda's life is quite that weird." Warren had a ghost of his charming smile on his face, fingers combing through his wings to smooth them down.

"So what happened with you guys? We got the strength of the Genoshan airforce thrown at us. Angel and Terry took hits, and Sam went in after them. We had to take off before we could confirm they were okay."

"Well, you can thank us for taking one helicopter unit out of the fight," replied Emma, easing her aching back by taking a seat on a nearby stump and making a vague gesture meant to encompass Wanda and Marius, wherever he was. She sighed. "I lost the rest of my team at the power plant. We took it down, but it came straight back up again. They had someone ready to damp psionics and at least one platoon of soldiers waiting for us. We walked straight into a trap." She flashed diamond suddenly and then waved a hand as everyone around her startled almost into movement. "Fuck mosquitos," she said vehemently. "I've lost enough today to this country. I'm not losing blood."

Wade cracked a small smile at Warren's comment, eyes trailing over the adults around him before skating back toward the kids. They were going through the supplies that they'd managed to bring as well as everything that'd been at the backup site and things seemed quiet enough - for now. He wasn't letting his guard down, though. "We lost the first safe house to a group of well-prepared Magistrates. They knew exactly where we were, so our more traditional comms are down - Doug made himself into a distraction, bought me some time. I went out the window and managed to catch Jean-Philippe before he walked into a trap. I don't know what happened to anybody else. The streets are crawling with them, though. Getting out of the city was more of a challenge that I would have liked. Seems like a multi-pronged trap - they'll anticipate our next moves, whatever they might be."

"I promise if it does leave a scar I will not call you Chosen One, unless I somehow stitch into a lighting shape...." Lorna said, trying to lighten the mood a bit. She finished cleaning up the wound and started to thread the needle that came in the pack. "Okay this is going to sting a bit." She whispered as she got to work on stitching the wound together. "We'll need to plan our next move and soon." Looking around the groups around them. "Food, rest and attending to those who are wounded is properly the first priority. But we should be prepared for an attack regardless." Looking down at Wanda. "Almost done." She said to her.

"And everything," Wanda hissed slightly but didn't flinch, simply let Lorna continue doing what she was doing, "must be done carefully, quietly. I grew up being taught how to survive in the wilderness, so I can help with setting up a camp that will avoid detection." When Lorna pulled back, she raised a hand and gingerly touched her sore forehead. It was going to be tender but she had worse - she was more concerned about a concussion but that was low on her worry list. "Are there any more wounded? How are the children?"

"Honestly?" Wade shook his head, then flexed his fingers. "I have no idea. Matt's too quiet. Molly's freaking me out with how spacey she's being. I don't know Megan all that well, but one of her wings is broken. Fred's pissed off about everything unless I'm reading him wrong and yanking trees up out of the ground all over the place is his norm. I don't know Catseye well enough to have a read on her. And Meggan... well. I'm pretty sure she's got no idea what's going on with her family or her boyfriend, but she's been quiet as well. So probably not as great as we'd like, but as well as can be expected. Probably those last few shouldn't be considered children, but at my age, everybody looks twelve."

"All of them are twelve," replied Emma. "Or six. Wanting someone to hug them in the dark and assure them the monsters aren't real." She smiled tiredly. "We can't lie to them about the monsters, but any hand-holding or hugging that is required we have to take steps to provide." She looked out across the camp, towards where small knots of the younger people were making themselves useful as best they could. "They are our weak point in terms of keeping this place out of sight. We are dancing on a knife edge of not being found here, and anything that stops them running off into the bush crying would be good." She sketched a dome shape above her head. "We know they have knowledge of psionics and I wouldn't discount having some decent telepaths in their ranks. In general terms, our shielding is good and I can stop most things going out or coming in, but if I don't have to deal with traumatised mental screaming, I'd be very grateful."

Warren did his best to hide an amused smile at Emma's words.

"So for the moment, or at least tonight, is for us to make sure the kids are alright and that the camp here is secure. Once we have some more information in regards to what the hell happened today, we can start trying to figure out where to go from here. We should see if we can check in with Charles as well, see if he has any information for us."

"Done." Lorna said and put a bandage over the stitches before wiping her hands clean with a wipe that was inside the pack. "I agree with Warren and we should think about setting up watches during the night." Looking at the group of kids. "In the meantime we should keep them busy..."

Wanda looked at the assembled adults and then the group of 'children'. "I think between all of us, we should be able to keep them occupied." She grimaced and scrubbed at the side of her face. "Once I wash this blood off. It itches and nothing says 'comforting adult' like dried blood all over one’s face."

While the adults talk, Matt and Molly try and process the last 24 hours.

The sun was getting low. It was bright and orange and made the sky orange like a dreamcicle. But Molly didn't wanna think about dreamcicles cause she'd want one.

She stared at the outline of the trees. They almost looked like teeth. A bird flew out of the bush up into the sky, making her jump before she settled back down, making a face, lowering her head, staring down at the dead grass on the ground.

Leaning over, Matt nudged Molly with his shoulder. He had been sitting there too, trying to stay out of the way. He didn't say anything though, other than sliding over just a little so they were sitting there together, shoulder to shoulder. Well, almost. Matt was significantly taller than the younger girl by virtue of his age and gender, not to mention her just being short. She smelled dirty. So did he. Matt tried not to let it bother him.

Molly looked up, glancing over to Matt. The setting sun made the suit much more colorful than before. The purple was really purple and the yellow made her squint a lot. She caught herself staring, and looked down again.

"Does it itch?"

"Huh?" the question caught Matt by surprise, interrupting his thoughts, though that was probably a good thing, "Does what itch?" he asked, confused.

"Your suit," Molly said, reaching out to gently poke it with her finger. It felt funny. Like rubber.

It reminded her of a wetsuit. They wore them scuba diving sometimes. But this one felt wrong. Something about it.

"Oh," Matt replied dully, reaching up to feel it, "No. It's...weird, but not uncomfortable," it bothered him that he couldn't get it off though. And that it apparently handled his bathroom needs. That was gross. He hated it and wanted the entire thing off. "Don't...don't do that," he added, pushing her hand away gently. He didn't want her poking him now.

Molly flinched, her eyes fluttering rapidly as she dropped her hand and scooted away.

"Sorry," she said quietly, letting the words hang.

She listened to the adults talking in the background. She couldn't make anything out. She then picked up a stick, jabbing it in the ground. A rock was nearby so she swung and hit the rock, sending it skipping across the ground.

"You don't...you don't have to go," Matt said quietly, not moving. "It's just...weird. I don't like it. The suit. And I don't know how to get it off. They don't seem to come off..." he trailed off, not wanting to say more in case he couldn't stop. The last thing that would help anyone would be losing control with Molly. On Molly. His control was pretty shot right now too. He reached out with his hand for her to rejoin him, he wanted to touch someone, something. To have a connection with someone.

Molly didn't say anything, and just stared at him for a couple of months before she shuffled back over.

"I'm gonna hug you now," she said. Then she did.

"I'm sorry," she said, frowning. She didn't understand but Matt looked sad and frustrated and angry, more than usual. It made her sad.

"It's not your fault so don't apologize," Matt murmured, leading into her hug and wrapping an arm around the smaller girl. "When we get home, I'm going to sleep for so long," if they got home.

"The bad guys won't," Molly said. He was getting tall. Her head met at his shoulder. "Somebody's gotta."

There had to be nice things. Right? She felt like Matt needed to hear it. Cause he looked so sad.

Molly then nodded a little. "I'm gonna sleep too. And have ice cream."

"Ice cream sounds like a good idea," Matt agreed, getting into the idea of what to do when he got home, "And a shower. A really long shower. Maybe so long it'll use up all the hot water," that was nigh impossible and the idea sounded amazing.

Molly giggled softly. "Yeah, we smell really bad." She didn't like to be stinky.

"And I would get my hats back."

They really did. Matt didn't like it, but there was no sense in complaining about the impossible right now. "You do like your hats," Matt agreed. He reached up and ran his fingers through her tangled hair. "Now I know why!" he added, laughing a little. It felt...good.

"Ouch!" Molly said, wincing a little. She didn't expect her hair to hurt. She had almost forgotten.

She made a face. "Yeah, I miss my hats."

"Sorry," he retracted his hand from her hair, not wanting to hurt her. "They hide your tangles?" he asked, teasing a little.

"It's okay...it doesn't hurt anymore," Molly said as she reached up to try to work out some of the tangles herself with her fingers.

"Ouch!"

She frowned.

"This sucks."

'Yeah, it does," Matt agreed not asking for specifics. It all sucked. Everything. And he was hungry.

Marius gets first aid treatment in the form of a donation from Catseye and then they have the difficult task of telling Meggan what happened to her boyfriend and family back at the Citadel. Luckily, Lorna interrupts.

Marius winced as he rubbed the blood into what had been a freshly scabbed-over cut on his forearm. He could have given himself a fresh nick, he supposed, but he had so many existing ones at this point adding another seemed gratuitous. Plus there were enough bizarre croaks and chirps issuing from the subtropical flora that he suspected it prudent to keep the number of open wounds to a minimum.

Once satisfied the substance had entered his bloodstream, Marius turned back to his benefactor. "Thanks for the lend, Cats," he said, his breath hitching a little. He didn't think any ribs were cracked, but the crash had left him with such severe bruising it was uncomfortable to breathe.

"Anytime," Catseye grinned, shrugging good-naturedly at her friend. "Except if you shift they're gonna make you cover yourself in mud or something so you're not purple anymore, so I don't know if you really want to be thanking me."

Marius returned the grin. "Oh, you believe so? No borrowed transformation, alteration, or other cosmetic adjustment has ever before overcome my natural colouration. Care to make a wager of it?"

"Lobster dinner?" Catseye suggested, smirking.

"If you think you can afford--er." Marius' train of thought derailed as he noticed someone approaching them. Then, when he saw who it was, it burst into flames.

"Ah. Meg, hi . . ."

“Hi,” Meggan returned with a small wave. “I’m sorry for interrupting, but I have some questions. Questions that I hope you’ll be able to answer?” If it turned out to be serious and vital planning she was intruding on, then she could wait a few minutes more. But there hadn’t been a good opportunity to ask until right now, with everything, and she assumed Marius would know something.

Marius only barely stopped himself from looking to Catseye. It was entirely possible she would interpret the gesture for what it was: a plea for a way out. And though she might have given it, it would only be postponing the inevitable.

"No worries," Marius managed, forcing his voice light and eyes squarely on Meggan. "I was just getting patched up. In my own way, that is." He dreaded that he already knew the answer, but made himself ask anyway. "What's on your mind?"

Meggan knew that Marius and Korvus had started out in the same cell block, but maybe they’d been shuffled around. Even if there was a slim chance he would know something, she was still going to ask. “Korvus. He…he started out with you, right? You were cellmates? Did he make it out, too?” She needed to know. If he did get out with him, she hoped he was just lost—somehow—and not something far, far worse that she didn’t want to dwell on too much. Not now.

"Ororo and some of the others got us out. We got a ways, but -- he gave me a loan of his power but he couldn't use it himself, you know? He couldn't keep up. He said . . ." Marius' face twisted bitterly. "He said it'd be selfish to risk me being captured because of him. Because I still had powers, and he didn't. So when the magistrates closed on us, he locked me in the stairwell. Held them off so I could get away." He forced himself to meet the girl's soft brown eyes. "After that . . . after that, I don't know what happened. I ran."

It hurt. It hurt to admit Korvus had done the math the X-Man had refused to do. It hurt more that the younger man had realized Marius wouldn't accept the most logical path and so, without hesitation, taken the decision upon himself. And now he had to stand here, free and reunited with the others, and explain to Meggan why it was him rather than the one who really deserved it. Then again, maybe this was what he deserved.

“That…it sounds like what he’d do, yeah. With the mountains of logic,” Meggan said softly, after looking away for an instant. Calculating the odds, giving a boost, and then making sure somebody else could have a chance. The realization that Korvus wouldn’t have fit in the ventilation system very well flitted through her head. So he couldn’t have made it out that way in a tight squeeze either, even if he hadn’t been cornered after locking Marius out. Would they have just thrown him back into another cell, or taken their time hurting him for a while for trying to escape? Her worry was obvious.

"I'm sorry," Marius said, helplessly. He was acutely aware of Catseye's presence. It was bad enough admitting it to Meggan -- his teammate was hearing it, too. He balled his fists at his sides, unable now to look at either of them. "I wanted . . . I'm sorry."

"You did everything you could," Catseye said immediately. She took Marius's fisted hand, entwined her fingers with his and squeezed it tightly. "Sometimes you have to make reallyreallyreally crappy decisions in times like these. Like how I didn't want to leave my team, but Mister Sefton told me to. So I went to find Jean so she could bring her team to help mine except then they couldn't help either so Jean told me to get the girls out. I did not want to leave Mister Sefton and Kyle and Clarice and Dori. But I had to. I did everything I could do. Just like you did. And besides, we're going back for them. We're gonna get everyone out."

“It wasn’t your fault, you don’t have a reason to be sorry. Running was all that was left,” Meggan pointed out. He probably assumed she was blaming him, and hating him, and accusing him, when she was just caught on finding out what had happened. Trying to deal with it all. Then, what Catseye said really sunk in. “Wait, Kurt’s locked away in that place, too?” Had he been injured? She hadn’t thought of her brother coming to help, in the frantic escaping. Oh, of course he would. “Sorry. I should have guessed, he’d be looking into breaking everybody out with the rest of the X-Men, too." Almost hesitantly, she asked, "Was he okay…the last time you saw him, I mean, when he said to leave?” She wasn’t blaming Marius, she wasn’t blaming Catseye, she just wanted everyone out of their cells without others taking their place because of sudden ambushes.

"They took his powers," Catseye answered, making a face. "So he couldn't teleport away. And they were surrounding everyone. But he was... okay, yeah. I mean, he was on his feet. He wasn't really bleeding."

“Oh. I think that’s what they do to everybody they can catch, soon as they can, if they can--taking powers," Meggan clarified. "So--he was still standing, at least right then..." She wasn't sure how to finish that thought. While she wasn’t remotely happy about the news, it was just helpful knowing this small amount. So Kurt was on his feet, the very last time he had been seen, before who knew what things started happening.

"They won't kill them," Marius said, mustering a certain amount of assurance. "They could've used lethal force and they didn't, right? Even when we were escaping. So they're alive."

"'Course they are," Catseye nodded. She let go of Marius's hand and went to hug Meggan. "They're gonna be okay. We're gonna get them out."

”Hope so,” Meggan whispered with a tiny sniffle as she held on tight. She hoped they would be okay, before the rescuing. As the hug ended, trying to keep tears at bay, she suddenly asked, “Did you—did either of you—see Amanda with everybody else? Was she…anywhere?” Would Amanda have tried to come to the rescue? She would, Meggan had realized. She really, really would, and she would have tried kicking serious butt if she could, if spells as well as powers didn’t somehow manage to get entirely stripped. If those people could do that. Genosha would have eaten the bad guys in one gulp by now if she was around, she thought frantically. Right?

Marius was relieved Meggan's back was to him, because this time he couldn't stop the desperate glance at Catseye. In a flash, he realized he had seen Amanda . . . lying in a heap not far from his cell, a dark, sticky patch spreading in her blonde hair. How it had happened or what had become of her, he didn't know -- only that, after the fragile reassurances he'd just tried to supply, he very much didn't want to admit it.

"Marius, Sharon." Lorna said as she approached, unsure what the topic had been. "Can you guys patrol the area? And if you happen to catch anything...I can cook it for the rest of the group." Looking at everyone, maybe if she gave them something to do it would help.

"I didn't see Amanda," Catseye told Meggan, breaking the hug as Lorna spoke. "But she's one of the toughest people I know. I'm sure she's fine." She squeezed Meggan's hand. "Are you gonna be okay?" She didn't particularly want to leave Meggan right now when her friend was so sad, but it patrolling was going to help keep everyone safe it was hard to say no to Lorna.

Meggan knew she was likely right on target, but she just couldn’t help the wondering. “Yeah, I think so,” Meggan replied softly as she squeezed her hand again in response. She’d only let go long enough to wipe an eye before. “Sorry, you go and help with catching all of the things.” Food or unwanted people. She didn’t want Catseye to miss out on spotting something potentially dangerous to everyone, or just edible, all because she was being teary and fretful about Kurt, Amanda, and Korvus. Asking questions helped some, her brain wasn't racing from possibilities nearly as badly. While it had taken a sliver of the edge off, she still knew there was rescuing ahead.

"I'll go with," Marius said with a discomfort he hoped wasn't too obvious. He ratcheted his tone back into something lighter. "Cats, care to join me in sorting out your power so we can prowl as a duo? First-time attempts are occasionally entertaining." He paused. "Although in this case likely to require brief nudity, so perhaps best observed from a slight distance."

"I like nudity," Catseye answered, waggling her eyebrows at him in an attempt to lighten the mood. She shifted into her BigCat form and took a moment to headbutt Meggan's leg with her furry head, entwining herself around Meggan and licking her hand, then Lorna's before she bounded off, letting out a playful roar for Marius to follow.

Lorna chuckled at Sharon and gave her a good pet on the head before they took off. Turning towards Meggan "Want to help me with the food? I could use an extra set of hands." She said. "Give you first tastes and everything."

Warren checks on Megan, who is doing okay but needs an ear.

Megan glanced over at Matt and Molly. She felt like she needed to talk to someone, but they didn't seem like likely candidates to be chattered at right now. She sighed and tucked her knees in tighter to her chest. She felt safe at last, but still uneasy. Glancing over the camp to where some of the adults were gathered, she wondered how they managed to stay so controlled and organized - and have the presence of mind to look out for the kids, too. Then she wondered how she was going to get out of this horrible pod-suit-thing, and couldn't decide if it was worse than having no clothes at all.

The adults had scattered from their meeting, and now it was time to start getting everything sorted out. In particular, checking in with the kids and making sure they were doing okay. Which meant Warren was making his way over to Megan, a reassuring smile on his face.

"Hey there Pixie," he said, injecting a note of cheerful concern into his voice. "How're you holding up?"

Megan perked up at the words of her flying teacher.

"Okay I guess. I mean, pretty well considering I totally wasn't sure if I was going to live through that place. Or if I did, what were they going to turn me into? Would I still be me or would I be some weird half-me, half-somethingelse--" She paused, not wanting to think about it too hard about the what-if's, and also not sure what experiences some of the others had had. "Anyway, so now I'm like, wow, mutants have powers but we're still so not-indestructible," she finished. She felt a little shaky after revealing her thoughts like that, but there it was.

"Sadly, we're not," he agreed with a rueful smile, taking a seat next to her. "But we are resilient, and there's not much you can throw at us that we can't rally to handle. We'll get through this."

"Have you been through something this tough before?" Megan asked. "This is so much scarier than Pakistan. Wow, that was two years ago already."

"Not me personally, but the team has faced some pretty tough situations before. Not on this scale, but we've always made it through. It is scary, I know, but I have faith in the team. In everyone." He glanced over at her, mostly focusing on the injured wing.

"How's your wing doing?"

Megan extended it out away from her body to see it better, and flinched. "Wade fixed it up with gauze and, um, popsicle sticks," she described. "It must be working because I forgot that it was hurt until I just did that just now." It glittered in the mixed pre-dusk light - it even looked like new scales were developing in other places that had gotten roughed up in the prison. "Where did he get popsicles? Oh I bet they're those things they stick on your tongue to say aaahhh."

"It's probably best not to ask where Wade gets things," Warren said with a slight smile. "But it looks as if he's done a good job, and the wing is starting to repair itself. You'll be flying again in no time."

Megan smiled. "That's good. If I could, I would fly right out of here..."

"Might be a bit far to fly home, but I know what you mean." He carefully draped an arm of her shoulder, hugging her carefully. "We'll be okay."

"Thanks," said Megan. She felt as if the hug siphoned off a thousand pounds of weight off her chest. "I believe you. I feel it now, too." She exhaled slowly, thinking that they might not be indestructible but they shared an uncrushable spirit of survival.

Wade makes a point of talking to Matt and manages not to go and kill every Magistrate he can find.

Everything seemed to be happening so fast, Matt barely understood what was going on. They were in Genosha, they had been captured, he had been put into a mutate suit, but somehow wasn't a mutant and he, Fred and Megan had escaped and met up with Wade and the others, he knew WHAT had happened, but he didn't understand the whys and the hows and all that. Instead, he was mostly quiet, trying to get his brain working instead of feeling overwhelmed. It was like when his father died and everything was completely chaotic. All he wanted to do was curl up and pretend like nothing existed, including himself. Like when his father died, that wasn't an option.

Sitting with his stick leaning between his legs and against his shoulder made him feel better, the stick was a weapon, it was his guide if he needed it, it was his everything. He had learned early on in his blindness to be dependent on his cane and despite his powers and his control of them, he depended on it still. Staring blindly at nothing, he tapped his knee with his fingers, lips murmuring the Lords Prayer.

Wade sat down next to Matt and just stayed still for a few moments. His bruises were just starting to show up and, generally, he kind of hurt everywhere, but it wasn't like he could say that. Everyone was dealing with personal injury and personal loss. He could suck it up - and he was kind of worried, if he was being honest with himself. Though really, in these sorts of situations, he preferred lying to himself. It made compartmentalizing a whole hell of a lot easier.

"So this," he finally said once Matt's prayer had ended. "This is kinda like shell shock, in case you were wondering."

"Feels a lot like when my dad died," Matt replied. "All numb and things happening to fast," he wanted a hug, but felt he was too old to ask for one. Just like when his dad had died. He wanted someone to make it all okay.

Wade just nodded. "Makes sense." He stayed quiet for a few moments more, then let out a slow breath. "What's going on with that suit thing of yours?"

"Dunno," Matt shrugged. "It's not uncomfortable really or anything. Just doesn't come off..." he paused, "They did...you know. Stuff. Down there," he paused, realizing how that sounded. "Doctor stuff. I dunno. Make sense?" he didn't want to say it, but it had just been unpleasant, not outright bad touching. "I guess since the suit doesn't come off...I want it off."

Breath having frozen in his chest, it took Wade a moment to convince his rib cage it felt like expanding, then another to make sure he wasn't going to do something stupid - like stand up and march right back into that Godforsaken city to wipe out every Magistrate and governmental official he could find. Because whatever they'd done had been 'doctor stuff' and not 'other stuff' but that didn't really matter. Not in Wade's good. It'd been 'stuff' and he was not okay with that. Not okay with it at all.

"So it doesn't come off," he said, controlling his voice by sheer force of will. "Don't worry - I'm sure somebody knows how to get that off. It'll happen eventually - just be patient with it. You hungry or anything? I can take a look at that stick of yours, if you'd like. See about whittling down some of the places where smaller branches were coming out."

"I'm okay," Matt replied dully. He was hungry, yeah, but he didn't want to eat with the suit on. Part of him said he should because he needed the energy, but he just didn't care all that much. His fingers tensed around the stick, not letting it go. "It's fine," he added. He could hear Wade's heartbeat, it was all over the place right now and he smelled a little off, even for Wade being in the jungles of Genosha. If he kept repeating those words, they might start to be true. "I'm trying not to be more of a burden on anyone."

Wade didn't say anything for a long moment - what could he say? "You're not a burden," he said finally, voice low. "You didn't ask to be taken here. You didn't ask for any of this. It is not your fault." Standing up, he unhooked a knife almost big enough to be considered a machete from his belt and tugged at thin trees until he found one that he thought might work. Hacking at its base, he gave it a solid twist and pull, then headed back over to sit next to Matt. As he started cleaning it of smaller branches, he carefully controlled his breathing. "You gotta be hungry."

He shrugged, "I don't want to eat. Not..." not with the suit on. "I'm okay," except his stomach chose that moment to betray him and growl loudly. "Do we have anything to eat?" Matt asked with a resigned sigh.

"We've got a Lorna," Wade said. He sat the stick down and put his knife back in its sheath on his belt. "You hang here, I'll get us some food, and then you can tell me what kinds of stuff you might like to have on this new stick I'm gonna make you." Standing up, he paused. "I gotta have something to do with my hands, kid."

The two members of the group with actual connection to Magneto talk about choices.

It was ironic, Jean-Phillipe decided, that they had all been accused of working with the Brotherhood, and that the phrase 'mutant terrorists' had been bandied about so very much. "If they want mutant terrorism, they have not seen anything yet," he muttered darkly as he trudged through the brush. Coming around a wide tree trunk, he nearly ran facefirst into the back of Wanda Maximoff. "Ah...bonjour," he greeted her, wondering if she had overheard what he had thought was a very private observation.

But if she had, at least it had not been one of the young ones. He was supposed to be presenting a good example, and such.

"You make as much noise as an elephant trudging through the woods," she said, though her tone was light as Wanda straightened from her crouch. She'd been wandering the perimeter in part to keep herself awake in case she did have a concussion but also to make sure that their perimeter was still as secured as it was when they'd set them earlier. She'd been aware that Jean-Phillipe had been approaching and had paused her wandering to wait for him to appear. After everything, after leaving the Citadel, company was certainly welcome. "Venting your frustrations?"

"I have not yet begun to vent my frustration," Jean-Phillipe said ominously, ozone crackling around a fist. He may never have participated in any of the Brotherhood's more violent demonstrations, but that didn't mean that he had not learned any of their methods, and he certainly wasn't uncomfortable with the violent use of his power.

Carefully, gently, Wanda reached for his other hand and enclosed it with hers. Not as a deterrent or to hold him, just - her hand, holding his. "Out of everyone here," she said, voice soft, "I believe I would be the closest to understanding and, even then, not close enough. Talk to me, Jean-Phillipe, with words but not powers. In the dark and far away from camp, they could present a target when words would not."

"It has been some time since I wholeheartedly thought your father was right," Jean-Phillipe muttered, looking away with an obscure sort of shame in his expression. He'd had to abandon Scott. And now he felt like he was abandoning the things that Scott stood for. "He predicted something like this, you know. Fear of the Other is written throughout the whole of human history," he said, clearly recalling one of many conversations with Magneto. "And when you fear something, you attack it, in order to make yourself feel safe."

"People are always afraid but it does not make them always attack. For every group of terrified villagers stoning someone who was different you had the individual lying to hide the "witch" in their barn who only wanted a safe night's rest. My father twisted and used fear as much as you claimed the others did - it was a tool. And these Genoshians are doing the same thing."

Wanda was right. And it was the reason Jean-Phillipe had ultimately abandoned Magneto and his methods. But his passions were high, and the Genoshans had made it very personal. "Is it so wrong to want to answer terror with terror, when it is what they have accused us of already?"

"I'm fairly positive the answer is yes." She gave his hand a squeeze before letting it go so she could scope out a potential place to sit down and quickly spotted a large rock. Wanda sighed in exhaustion as she lowered herself down - so tired and the end was not even close in sight. "Because the more that you go 'You say I am terrible, so I will be terrible' the more you actually are terrible. My father's actions caused my mother, the woman he once loved, to die; I swore never to become him."

"An eye for an eye never solved anything, yes, yes." Jean-Phillipe grumbled. He knew she was probably right, he just didn't have to like it. "And yet you are quite comfortable with violence." Not that it invalidated her position, but still. He was curious what she would say.

"Because sometimes it is unavoidable and it gets the job done," she said almost immediately, knowing that the question would have come about eventually. "But I balance it, or god knows I try, with the knowledge that when I can, violence or at least violent death is not necessary. When I was making my escape, before I met up with Emma and Marius, I had the choice of killing a guard who was in my way or knocking him out; he was unaware of my presence but he was looking for me. I didn't kill him, though I could have. Though a part of me wanted to, very badly."

She leaned back and stared up at what she could see of the sky; with the quiet of the forest, it was almost as if she were somewhere else. Somewhere peaceful and good for the soul. "I am comfortable with the violence that I do because I know that I am not my father. Somewhere along the way, my father forgot that he had a choice, I have never and will never forget that."

Wade and Lorna calm down a very angry Fred.

Fred grunted a little as he drove his fists against another broken log. He knew full well that the log was already stable; the rest of the construction project called mainly for tying off tarps, and that wasn't nearly as fun and stress-releasing.

It'd been a hot minute since the last time he'd slept, or eaten, or worn actual clothes. Hell, since the last time he could fit into normal clothes. Pounding the enormous stakes up for the lean-to helped. Getting his hands on the Genoshans would be better. A lot better.

Fred smiled, completely humorlessly to himself. It wouldn't, couldn't, be long til he did get back to that forsaken facility....

Wade wasn't necessarily all that great at reading people in a generalized sense, but he was an expert at recognizing and frustration - especially when there were very few outlets for them. Picking up the stick he'd been working on for Matt, he slid his knife into its sheath and stood up. Walking over to Fred, he looked up and said, "One more hit and you'll have the whole thing coming down again. Which would mean more work for you, but probably a sleepless night full of mosquitoes for everyone else."

Fred turned, having not heard Wade approach. He looked back at the thick log, and then nodded to the older mutant, "Yeah...sorry. Was just...Ah, uh, was just kinda miles away." He looked back towards the thicker part of the camp, where the majority of the others milled around. "How're the kids?" he said, jerking his head towards Molly and Matt and Megan.

Glancing over his shoulder, Wade took in the younger kids and shrugged. "As well as they can be. Matt's shell shocked - and rightfully so. Molly's... I don't know. She wants to go home. And Pinkie..." He shrugged again. "As well as can be expected." Tipping his head to the side in the universal sign for 'follow me,' Wade waited until he was sure the younger man was actually with him, then said, "I'm a little more concerned about you. What's with the impotent rage?" He could guess, but sometimes verbalization was key.

Fred blinked a few times at Wade, his face one shade short of a total blank, "There's nuthin up with it, Mr. Wade. Ah'm just makin a plan for the next few days. Ah'm gonna find mah friends, Ah'm gonna get em home...and anyone tween me and that plan is gonna get pulled in half like a got'dam wishbone..." Fred did his best to control the volume of his voice, but each word came out with a thicker, deeper rumble than the last one.

Wade quirked an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure - nothing's up with that at all." He paused for a moment and considered all the things he could say. He didn't particularly feel like bonding with anyone at the moment. Bonding with people meant that when someone else took them away from you, little bits and pieces of your insides atrophied and he'd pretty much had it with his insides dying the last couple days. He couldn't even bring himself to ask anyone for confirmation about Marie-Ange's last known status because God only knew what he'd do if she was actually dead and knowing she was alive would only distract him even more.

Still, that didn't mean he didn't get it. "So which of your friends did they take?"

"A wishbone huh?" The sound of Lorna's voice appeared as she approached from behind. "Water?" Holding up bottles that came in the supplies. She knew she was coming in a middle of a conversation but Fred's voice was getting pretty loud and she didn't want the kids to hear him.

"Uh, thanks, Ms. Dane..." Fred calmed a little, recognizing Lorna immediately by her hair color. He held his hand up, "Ah don't really need it; someone else might, though..."

"Are you sure? Cause I brought these over just for you two. You'll need to stay hydrated and don't try to talk your way out. I am the nutritionist as well."

"Oh Lorna, my Lorna," Wade said, casting a smile in the chef's direction. "I'll take one of those. Hydration is important given our subtropical location."

Lorna tossed one to Wade. "Missed me Wade?"

Catching the bottle, Wade uncapped it and, eyes still on Fred, drank half of the water in one go. After recapping the bottle, he frowned a little. Without answering Lorna's teasing question, he addressed Fred. "I'm not saying you can't be angry and I'm not saying you can't have a plan. God knows I've got one or two. What I'm saying, Fred, is you gotta channel it somewhere useful. Pulling up trees for shelters is awesome, but when we're moving again, you can't get bogged down with the anger. You gotta keep a lookout and... ah, fuck it." Raising his free hand, the mercenary rubbed his eyes. "They took my girlfriend, my best friends, and all my kids from the mansion. I'm pretty sure there's no way you could want to kill any of them more than I do. The point is, for the moment, we can't kill anybody and we can't go off half-cocked."

As Lorna listened to them she got why Fred was getting so loud. "You aren't the only ones that want to kick Genoshan butt." Lorna said. "Why don't you use that pent up anger and protect the kids here. And keep our hopes up that we can find others that have escaped." Looking down thinking of Angel falling from the sky and Terry being knocked to who knows where. Looking up at the guys, "Hungry?"

Fred finally guzzled down the offered water, crushing the empty container into a very tiny ball, "Ah don't really wanna kick anyone's butt, Ms. Dane. Ah want mah friends back. Hell, Ah want Mr. Wade's friends back. Really, Ah'm trying not to be pissed about the fact that these...people kidnapped us. Ah'm tryin not to get upset about the fact that they're using us, using people like us, as nuthin better'n got'dam cattle..." Fred grew a few inches as he spoke, his body making noises like a house settling...

Lorna walked over to Fred and put a hand on his arm to help calm him down. "I do. I want to get even. I was up in the sky with Angel, Sam, Terry, and Warren. Warren and I were the only ones that made it out." Her voice faltered as she relived that memory once more."It is okay to be angry , just don't let it cloud your judgement."

"What she said," Wade said, nodding. If he could have, he would have flopped back onto something. Since he was still hurting, though, and there was nothing to flop onto. "Definitely what she said. Feel free to ignore me and my own particular brand of impotent rage."

Fred poked Wade in the chest, not taking his eyes of Lorna. His accent got thicker as he spoke and waved his hands, "Ah like the 'rage' option better, tah be honest. This...sittin round, talkin an' thinkin'...when are we gonna do somethin, what are we gonna do? This shouldn't be a damn discussion...!"

"What we are going to do?" Lorna repeated and tilted her head. "We are going to finish setting up camp for the night, eat and then rest." Walking over to Fred and pointed at the younger ones. "Look kids right there. They have been through a lot for one day and the best we can do for them is keeping our cool. They don't need to see anymore fighting today."

Lorna gave Fred a small smile. "Tomorrow is a new day and once we have the proper rest we will come up something to save everyone else." Looking over at Wade. "Everyone." Lorna probably didn't believe it in herself about saving everyone, given the fact she didn't know their current state, but at least she could give some hope.

Wade would have laughed if he thought it wouldn't come out hollow and twisted. Since he was pretty sure that was all he had in him at the moment, he just rubbed at his chest with the palm of his hand, counted bruise number three hundred and fifty-eight, and took another breath. He could use some meditation, but there wasn't really enough space for it right now. "Stay angry," he said. "Stay angry but don't let it rule you. It needs to be a cold anger if you're going to use it. Utilize it. Anything else is a danger to everyone here - including those kids you did such a great job with in the city, alright?"

Fred looked between Wade and Lorna, and lit a cigarette. He glanced at the kids before looking back to the X-Men. He finally spoke, "...Kids are okay. We find Angelo, and Yvette, and Callie and the others...We shut this crap down. Then Ah'll be nice an’ not angry. Ah'll, uh...keep it down an such...." Fred winced and exhaled a plume of smoke.

Lorna smiled, "That is the a excellent idea." Looking at the kids for a moment. "We will find the others, that's why we came here."

Emma comforts Molly and is rather motherly. Don’t tell anyone.

The moon was big. Like a giant silver dollar. It was pretty. Molly stared up at it as she used a stick to draw things in the dirt while the adults talked in the background. It was like camping. Her parents took her camping once. There were mosquitoes and a bear. They didn't go camping anymore.

She almost had a hat, a gauze hat, but it reminded her of people getting hurt so she didn't wear it anymore and decided on drawing pictures of hats instead. And Ron Weasley. If Ron Weasley were around he'd help them fight the bad guys.

Emma hadn’t had much to do with the newer students at the school, although she knew all their names and Yvette had filled her in on many of the small details of their lives at the Mansion. A shortage of time, and a rather severe case of not-being-fit-company-for-children-or-indeed-adults since January, meant that she knew little about the girl sitting in the dirt, other than her name being Molly and some information about her powers. Nonetheless, Emma knew enough about children to make the detour from her path from the laughingly described latrine that had been constructed beyond the main clearing. She didn’t make the mistake of touching Molly before she’d caught her attention, dropping instead to one knee beside her, following her gaze towards the moon.

“It’s nice to have that,” Emma said softly. “Light in the darkness.”

Molly saw something move out of the corner of her eye. She got very still, closing her hand tighter around the stick, biting her lip as she glanced over, just as the lady spoke. She remembered her from before with the others so she loosened her grip on the stick and went back to drawing. She nodded a little.

"Wademan says no fire," she said quietly. But that was okay. She wasn't cold, mostly hot.

"It's not a good idea to have fire." Emma was happy to agree with Wade. "Or too much noise. We need to be very careful right now. You're doing a very good job at being quiet." The last was said carefully, enough of an upward intonation to make it almost a question. Molly, Emma was fairly certain, was being too quiet. It seemed important to try and pinpoint whether it was still the initial shock, had moved into trauma or was something as terrifyingly simple, and infinitely more difficult to deal with right now, as undiagnosed injury.

The lady (Molly thought that she should be called a lady cause she reminded her a lot of her mom and her mom was a lady a not Miss) sounded kind of worried. Molly glanced up at her, studying her for a moment or two before looking back down.

"I have to be quiet," she said as she drew a fist in the dirt. She shrugged.

"If they hear me they will take me away and I can't punch them." She rubbed her hand. It had a purple and yellow bruise across the knuckles. She hadn't showed Wademan when he asked.

"I'm not Supergirl." She drew a deep jagged 'X' across the fist in the dirt, a frown forming across her face. "I'm not even Batgirl. I'm Molly and I'm squishable and I have to hide and I can't fight cause I'm little and I can't help the X-People...and...and..." She trailed off as she ran out of things to say and sniffled, rubbing her nose.

"I have to be quiet."

Emma quietly rearranged herself as Molly spoke, grimacing slightly as she sat on the ground, thankful they weren't her clothes that she was doing this to. "You're doing a very good job of being quiet," she informed Molly. "And all of us are squishable sometimes. Would you like to know what I had to do today?"

Letting go of the stick, Molly rested her hands in her lap and stared at the drawing in the dirt with a deep frown before rubbing it away with her hand. She didn't wanna be squishable. She wanted to be Princess Powerful.

"Thank you," she said, then nodded to her question. 'Good job' meant compliment and you were supposed to be polite.

"I had to run away and leave people behind," said Emma. "People I am very fond of. And," she switched to diamond and held it out to where Molly could see her hand glitter in the moonlight, "I'm not squishable at all. Sometimes a lot of people will all believe in a very bad idea all at the same time, and it's very hard to fight back against a lot of people. But we can. We just have to be very clever about it. And today I also learned that it's not enough to rescue our friends; we need to make sure people stop believing in the bad idea. That means we need some time to think about how to do that better." She turned back to flesh again. "What did you have to do today?" she asked. There was still something not quite right about Molly's reactions and Emma wanted some more information before she made a decision.

Molly stared at a leaf that had fallen on the ground. It didn't look like the leaves back home. Reaching down, she picked it up and twirled the stem around in her fingers.

"I had to run away too," she said.

"They took Callie away, then I was in a room...with clothes... then Doctor Jean showed up with Mr. Haller and some others. Then there was loud noises and guards and a purple haired lady...they tried to shoot us... People were on the ground..." Molly tilted her head, frowning.

"I got in the vents with Meggan and Catseye and then we had a...ambulance...then Wademan."

A breeze came and she let the leaf go. It caught the wind and blew away.

"I'm not clever. Clever is smart right?" Molly looked up at her.

Emma nodded. “Yes, clever is smart. It sounds like you were clever. You got away from them and that was not an easy thing to do. Lots of people didn’t get away from them.” Emma’s hands spasmed shut into fists for a moment and then re-opened as she regained control of her emotions. “ Did you fight with anyone when you were getting away?” Emma smiled. “I’ve been told that you pack quite the punch.”

Molly blinked at her with confusion, then shook her head.

"I...lost my powers," she said quietly.

"I'm not strong no more either."

She stared at at the lady's hands. She reminded her so much of her mom. She missed her mom.

“Oh,” said Emma quietly, and closed her eyes for just a moment. Adrienne, she thought helplessly, oh Adrienne. “That must be very scary for you.” Emma shook her head at herself, suddenly aware that she had forgotten something. “My name is Emma, Molly. My sister is Adrienne Frost, one of your teachers. I think maybe she didn’t get away.”

Molly glanced up when she said Adrienne's name. She nodded a little. "She...she was with us when the bad guys got us. I dunno where she went after that," she said with a frown. She hugged her stomach and found herself rocking back and forth a little. Like with Callie.

"They took people away. Everyone was mad. There was yelling. People got...got..." She looked down. She remembered the red.

Swallowing, Molly shook her head. She didn't want to remember the red.

"N...nice to meet you...Miss Frost? Are you a Frost too?" She didn't know if they had the same last name.

"Yes," Emma replied. "I'm definitely a Frost." She paused for a moment, carefully shutting away the emotions that were being drawn out by the images that Molly was seeing inside her own head. Molly's shielding was good for her age and Emma didn't want to pry, but Molly's obvious trauma was making her leak and Emma couldn't help but pick up some of the more vivid images. "Adrienne is my little sister," she said. "When we were little, sometimes we'd get scared. Our parents fought sometimes," Emma said, with a serious case of understatement. "Really badly. It would be scare both of us, but Adrienne was only very little then, and she was so scared. And sometimes she'd come to my room and she'd crawl into bed with me and we'd hug each other very hard. We knew it wasn't going to change anything, but hugging someone helped." Emma held a tentative hand out towards Molly. "Would you like a hug, Molly? Because I would like that very much."

Molly glanced up, staring at the lady (Ms. Frost the 2nd) for a moment before she nodded, then scooted over towards her.

"It sounds nice to have a sister," she said. She sometimes wanted to have sisters or brothers. Living with the X-People was kinda like having those, though. Meggan and Matt and Maddie. There were really a lot of Ms.

She swallowed. "Do you think..." she said, then let out a soft breath. "Do you think they're dead?"

All the people on the floor. And then gone. She didn't want them to be dead.

Emma reached out her arm and drew Molly close to her, pulling her into the curve of her arm. "No," she said firmly. "I have a lot of reasons for thinking that Molly. I don't think they are dead. I think they're waiting for us to come and find them. I think that we can save them. I think we are strong enough and brave enough that the fact that some of us don't have powers doesn't matter. I'm not going to let the Genoshans take my sister away from me, Molly. I'm not to going to let them take any of our people away from us. Not for long. No matter what it takes."

Molly rested her head against Emma, staring at the forest behind them. It sounded good to her. She wanted to believe it so much. Cause the lady sounded like she believed it. She could tell when people were just saying stuff to try to make her feel better but they weren't really sure themselves. But the lady sounded like she meant it.

"Promise?" she said, closing her eyes. She felt a little safer somehow.

Emma didn't feel the need to tell Molly the tactical reasons why she was so certain the others were still alive: that they had more value alive to the Genoshans both for their capacity to be turned into mutates and as hostages. Nor the reasons behind her long-ago vow to never let people take those she loved away from her again. Those things didn't matter; all that mattered was that the others were going to be saved and no power, no matter how safe it felt in its base, was going to stop that happening. Emma leaned down and planted a soft kiss on the top of Molly's head. "Yes, Molly. I promise."