Garrison and Adrienne - European Escapades 4 (Backdated)

[x-adrienne.livejournal.com]

In their final European adventure, Adrienne and Garrison spend an afternoon in Paris and manage to come to the aid of a woman involved in an auto crash.

"So, this is Paris." Kane paused and turned to lean on the ramparts over the river. "This is the founded by Charlemagne. This is where the revolution started. This is where five centuries of European diplomacy was conducted." He paused and took a long sniff. "I expected it to smell less like urine."

Adrienne chuckled, taking in the sight of the statues on the Pont Alexandre III bridge. "At least it doesn't smell like shit, unlike the Thames," she pointed out. "But yeah. For a city of people who walk around with their snooty noses in the air, you'd think they'd figure out a way to make that air smell better. You want a crepe? Or a panini?"

"I don't know. What's good in this area for lunch? Something, you know... frenchy."

"So... snooty? Like, snails and frog's legs?" Adrienne began walking off the bridge, ambling at a leisurely pace eastward, back towards the direction of the Musée de Orsay, the Louvre, and the Notre Dame Cathedral since they'd come from the north and had already seen the Grand Palais and walked down the Champs Elysées. Adrienne's idea of Paris was street crepes and paninis, but she wasn't going to hold Kane back from having a stereotypically French experience.

"I don't know. Something that I can't buy off of a truck in Manhattan." Kane said as he fell into step beside her. "Or we can always find a semi-private spot and scandalize the locals."

"After. I need fuel first. Especially since it'll take some serious stuff to scandalize Parisians. So I guess snails and frog's legs it is," she answered with a smirk. "Unless you want Belgian waffles. For some reason they seem to be crazy about Belgian waffles in Paris. I wonder why that is?"

"Maybe they secretly want to be Belgian? Or waffles?" Kane joked as they walked along the street.

"Yeah, maybe it's a syrup and whipped cream fetish," Adrienne agreed, glancing into the Seine occasionally as they walked east along the Port de la Concorde and onto the Quai des Tuileries. She gazed at the gardens along the way, wondering if she should take the chance of picking any plants and smuggling them home to plant in her own garden. Spotting the Musée de Orsay across the river, she paused to point it out to Garrison. They were almost at the Passerelle, one of the many bridges over the Seine. "Wanna go find a place to eat around there? Or did you want to keep going down this street to the Louvre?"

"Milady's pleasure. I will eat whatever you present." He said with his faux-gallantry. One of the nice things about being in Paris was that his French fluency made him feel far less out of place than he had in Italy.

"You're just saying that cuz you're sick of me giving you so many options, aren't you?" she muttered in an accusatory tone, giving him a playful shove.

***

Rick Chalker muttered to himself angrily as he worked. The last of what had been a team of four brilliant brothers, all viciously killed by a pair of American mutants. Now, it was up to him to avenge the ghosts of his brothers. He'd taken the jewel of their combined researched and prepared it for use.

The Chalker Exo-Battlesuit was the most advanced power armored exosuit ever made. Rick knew that comparing it to Iron Man was like comparing a jet fighter to the Kitty Hawk. It had rotary cannons, mini-missile bays, point to point lasers, shock cannons, rail guns and flame projectors. When unleashed, it could eliminate mutants by the dozens and its maiden test would be against the two that had killed his brothers.

The suit was in the back of a box truck that he'd parked outside of the hotel the mutants were staying at. He had parked over a manhole and had run a heavy bundle of wires down through a hole in the bottom of the truck to connect directly with the city's power grid in order to fully power up the suit. It would take hours, but once it was powered up, he'd have all the power he needed for his revenge.

***

"I'm kind of freaked out by how fast you ate all that gross stuff," Adrienne admitted as they meandered back towards their hotel, the Duo just off the Rue de Rivoli. Adrienne loved it- just three blocks from the river and the Cathedral. They'd been to a little café near the Musée de Orsay so Garrison could have his 'frenchy' meal and had spent the rest of the afternoon at the museum. Adrienne liked the Orsay much better than the Louvre, but she promised Garrison they could go there tomorrow, as long as they also went to the opera house. They'd also, at Garrison's request, done their best to scandalize the locals. Now, it was back to the hotel to rest for an hour or two, change and then head out on the metro to spend the evening cruising the Boulevard de Clichy before the Moulin Rouge show.

"I mean, it's always kind of freaky how fast you eat, but you weren't even fazed by the snails. Snails, man! Like, the things I kill in my garden because they're pests. They aren't food!"

"I've had escargot before. It helps to think of them as delicious garlic butter soaked nuggets of meat. The raw oysters were pretty spectacular too." Kane said as they walked along the street. "You know, the hotel is right there. Rather than a public display, we could work out some of the positions from 10 to Ace of Clubs in that deck."

Adrienne was doing a melodramatic fake dry heave at the 'nuggets of meat' comment, doubling over in the street. "I think I'm too weak from disgust to undergo that much exercise," she teased. "In fact, I don't think I can even walk. I think you need to carry me, Mister Canadian King Kong." She'd liked his comment in the Alps so much she'd pulled it out on occasion since then. "And maybe if you ply me with that bottle of Napoleon cognac we picked up I might survive."

"I can do that, although I find brandy is a lot more fun when you have to drink it out of other things than a glass. Like... places." They had just turned the corner to their hotel when a small older model Citroën made a left and suddenly went into a skid as it went through a wide puddle. The driver had no time to try and correct as the car smashed into the rear steel landing of a parked truck. The small car crumpled as it hit with a screech of twisted metal but the truck was only momentarily jarred. Inside, Rick lost his footing with the impact and sharply struck his forehead on the suit rendering him unconscious. Kane and Adrienne rushed over to the scene of accident.

"Ooo, yeah. Let's do tha-" Adrienne's comment was cut off by the crack-up, green eyes widening. She hesitated when Kane shot forward to help, but quickly followed behind him. Kane was surveying the damage to the little car, checking on the driver, so Adrienne looked in the windows of the box truck. There was no driver, and it had no back windows. "I think this one's empty," she reported to Kane. "Can I do anything here?"

"Car is wedged under the landing and it's warped the doorframe." Kane looked through. The woman in the front looked dazed and had blood running from her nose, but didn't look badly injured. He looked around for a moment, seeing that the street was mostly empty and ran to the front.

"Here, keep an eye out for people." He grabbed the front of the truck and with a grunt, began to pull it forward. There was a screech of metal as he shifted the truck forward several feet. It freed the car and without them knowing, disconnected the power cable running from the bottom.

"Are you sure you should be doing that?" Adrienne asked, nervous. "What if she has a neck injury or something?"

"She can't get treated until she's freed from the vehicle." Kane came back around to the now freed car. He braced on the other warped door and popped it easily. The woman was shaken but lucid and they kept her talking until the EMTs arrived

"Yeah, you're right. I think I like the four of hearts best too," Adrienne agreed with the woman in French, putting away the Greek Lovers card deck when the ambulance finally arrived and two burly paramedics jumped out. "Oh. Cavalry's here. It was nice to meet you. Glad you're okay," she told the woman with a smile, stepping aside so the paramedics could take charge of the woman and begin checking her out. She wandered down the street to a sidewalk crepe vendor while Garrison talked to the police who pulled up behind the ambulance. After flirting with the crepe vendor she was allowed to try making crepes herself as long as she promised to buy what she made.

Juggling four crepes of various flavours in her hands she returned to Kane and the officers, taking a bite out of the mushroom and cheese crepe. "Gonna be done here soon?" she inquired around the mouthful of food.

"I think we can go. They've got control of the scene." He slipped an arm around her and steered her towards the hotel.

Adrienne handed him the three other crepes, figuring he might be hungry after moving the car. "They didn't ask you how the car dislodged itself from the truck?" she inquired casually, cut off by her phone ringing. "Rogue. Again. Damn. Guess she wasn't able to have the ladies covering the the DiMico representation figure out how to placate the Vogue people after the incident." She frowned at the phone before picking it up, reminding herself that Rogue wasn't the one souring their vacation- she was just the messenger.

She talked all the way up the stairs at the hotel and was outside the door to their room before finally disconnecting. "I think I've got it sorted out now," she told Garrison when she hung up, eating the rest of her crepe. "But I think this might keep happening the longer I'm away." She glanced over at him and gave him a sad smile. "I think I should probably head back in the next couple days. Sorry, babe."

"Well, let's book some tickets when we get to the room and enjoy our last days in Paris."

***

Rick shook his head, trying to get his brain to focus. Last thing he remembered was the impact against the suit. He looked around and checked his watch. It had been four hours, more than enough to charge his suit. Whatever had happened didn't matter. He was ready to go. Rick clamboured into the suit, starting the warm-up functions for the weapon systems. He had located the mutants hotel room and had made a simple plan; fly up to the level and pour fire into the room until everyone in it was dead.

He activated the foot thrusters and burst through the flimsy top of the truck, climbing into the air over the river as he oriented himself. His targeting systems came online and he made a turn, lining up the weapon systems. Suddenly, his screens started to blink. His power levels were failing. It had been hooked in for hours, more than enough to charge the batteries. Instead, his thrusters cut out from under him and he began to tumble towards the river as his screens went dark. The impact on the water was enough to make his teeth ache as he sank under the Seine. He sighed. An opportunity lost because of a power glitch. But he was far from done. He'd fix the issue, repair the suit and then follow those mutants to the ends of the earth for revenge for his brothers.

He clicked the release button on the suit to free himself and nothing happened. He clicked it several more times before remembering that the release system wasn't a manual one but part of the operating system. Which was now dead. Terror led to hammering on the button; the rapid clicks the only noise at the bottom of the murky river until it to finally stopped.