xp_logs | Genosha - In The Balance: Broken

The escape attempt is going as planned, but what of the injured, and the broken? They fall behind.

The screams echoed as Clarice moved through the halls with Doug and Korvus. Despite her overalls, and Doug's, the younger man's orange jumpsuit clearly marked him as a prisoner. She tried not to let it get to her, but it was impossible. She couldn't stand by while another was in pain, though she knew she had to. It went against everything she believed as an X-Man. There was nothing she could do right now to help anyone.

The ring in Korvus' ears drown out most of the noise from the entire exchange. The back of his hand against the wall helped him keep his balance but the concussion had still slowed his pace. He was relentlessly dizzy and nauseated.

The screams didn't bother Doug in the least, because he knew it was the sound of his team doing their work. He just hoped someone found that mousy little brown-haired man from his first interrogation, and that it ended messily for the guy. Not that it would even begin to make this entire mess close to all right, but it would at least be something. He kept an eye on Clarice and Korvus as they moved along, also on the watch for anyone that the hit team might have missed.

Terry couldn't hear the screams, and maybe that was why she was less bothered by the front team's methods. As long as she didn't have to see them, that was. She inched back along their path, pausing to note when Scott and other teammates peeled off onto their own. One hand pressed against the grit on the walls, and she held the edge of the her jumpsuit up over her nose and mouth with the other. It didn't do much, but she was having enough difficulty breathing without the smoke that every little bit helped. She almost ran into Doug, Korvus, and Clarice, and grabbed onto the first arm she could find to get their attention.

Turning when Terry grabbed her arm, Clarice felt a little sick. It wasn't that she disagreed with what was happening it was just...it was all too much. Offering Terry a small smile that she didn't feel, Clarice didn't want to go on. She wanted to...she had no idea. She SHOULD go on, she knew that. But she was afraid. Afraid of what she would find, of what she would need to do. She talked a good game, but ultimately, she was still just a grad student who wanted to help people, not hurt them.

Doug made an abortive reach towards Terry, then pulled his hand back skittishly. He'd barely seen her at all since she'd been brought into his interrogation, and he had no idea how she was holding up. Yet another whip for his brain to beat him with. Are you okay? he signed to her, the movements both exaggerated and tentative.

Terry looked blankly at the signing, though the impulse behind it came through just fine. It was a question they had all been asking each other, and it was likely to continue to be repeated for a long time to come. She shook her head slightly to avoid upsetting her vertigo and closed her eyes for a second, then tightened her grip on Clarice’s arm in an attempt to offer reassurance (to the both of them, truth be told). She looked at the group and pointed ahead, swallowed hard, then whispered a strained, “Remy. Sarah.” That should have been enough to explain, right? She swung back in, huddled closer, and pinched a bit of Doug’s sleeve before jerking her head back down the hall in the direction she came from, indicating they should move.

Not releasing Terry, Clarice moved that way with her, an arm around her waist. She sniffed a little, feeling bad about spilling everything in her interrogation. She'd done it intentionally, but...she still felt bad. And as bad as this place was, outside was most likely worse, especially without her powers. She had come to rely on them so much. "I don't..." she stopped, standing there and releasing Terry. "I don't know..." if she could go on. She didn't want to say that. She didn't want to be the one who was the weakest link, but she was.

Doug had grabbed at Terry's hand when she pulled at his sleeve, and neither of them had let go. But with Clarice glued to Terry's other side, the inertia of trying to get them both moving was that much more difficult. And with Clarice looking like she was going to fall apart any second... Doug glanced beseechingly at Korvus, but he looked in about the same shape as the rest of them. Things were taking a bad turn.

The young man returned Doug's look hopelessly before putting both hands on the wall. "I need only a moment. I have not stood so much since my most recent interrogation... please excuse me." Korvus asked politely, falling to the back of the group before leaning his head down low to vomit in a door frame. He attempted to keep it out of the sight of his companions.

Terry had been moving and reacting almost as an automoton - get done what needed to be done, and don't think too hard. But Clarice's reluctance stopped her in her tracks and Doug felt tremors start through the tightened grip she had on him. Terry reached out to recapture Clarice's hand, and tears sprung to her eyes as she looked at her friend mutely.

"I can't," Clarice whispered, ashamed. She needed, something. A break. A hug. A reason that she wasn't a horrible person. Yes, people did worse, had worse done to them, but she had....she couldn't do it. "I'm sorry. I can't."

Doug grimaced. This was the worst-case scenario. The reality that, sometimes, people are pushed so far that they simply can't go any further. And even as he opened his mouth to try and give her the verbal push to keep going, he could see the domino effect it was having on Terry, the tears in her eyes. And emotional inertia was the same as physical - much harder to get two people moving than one. He stopped, unsure of what to do.

"Is everything all right back here?" Jim appeared from around the corner, his face creased with concern. It hadn't been long since Terry had gone to check on them, but some of the rear group were injured, like Korvus, or, like Doug, simply emotionally exhausted. Their lack of progress had worried him more than it would have otherwise, and the creases on his face deepened when he saw the four of them and the expression on their faces.

Terry slumped in place and closed her eyes. Deafened and with her back to the hall she had just come down herself, she did not notice his arrival, but their postures said enough.

Korvus pushed himself back out of the door frame, hand still against the wall. "We may be too slow to participate in this escape successfully. This will be my second failure. It will be important to me that Meggan knows of my effort." He told Haller in an even tone, considering.

Doug looked at his cellmate and shook his head. "Go," he said, making a pushing motion with his hand. "I'll..." He made a vague waving gesture. He couldn't just leave...anyone behind. He squeezed Terry's hand.

Jim frowned. Terry said nothing, but her body language spoke for her. "I . . . understand," he said after a long moment. He turned to his remaining teammate. "Blink . . ?"

"I'll stay," she said, trying to convince herself it was to protect the others. She wasn't fooling anyone though.

Korvus looked to Doug and smiled. "If we are staying here but not under guard, perhaps it would be best we find a way to inspire some anarchy."

Doug smiled back at Korvus thinly, but the expression never reached his eyes. Nobody was fooling anyone. With the four of them left behind, there was only one way this was going to end. It was just a question of how much punishment they took on their way back into their cells.