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xp_logsIn the aftermath of the hunt, Phoenix and Dust tend to Liam and Sharon. The worst injuries aren't physical.
Rescued ferals milled around the Blackbird. Away from the maze's illusion their true forms were far less fearsome: a rabbit-eared girl just out of middle school, a furred man in an ancient Metallica shirt, an Amazon driver with tattered moth wings. Whatever had been done to trick the naked eye had simply exaggerated whatever prominent mutation they displayed. The team had arrived quickly enough that most of the rescuees hadn't had the opportunity to suffer any major injuries; the more serious of those, like Maya's boyfriend, Shane, had already been stabilized. Now the less urgent injuries could be assessed.
The physical ones, at least.
"It is bad? Surgical intervention is necessary?" No matter how many times Sharon was gently directed away she kept gravitating to Liam, unwilling to miss even the slightest detail of Jean's ministrations. One side of her face was swollen, and blood clumped in her purple hair.
"Alright, you are gonna be okay... And we are gonna see what we can do about reaching your parents as soon as possible, okay?" Sooraya gave the rabbit-eared girl a reassuring smile as the girl nodded tearfully and Sooraya rose from her crouch, glancing around to see where she was needed next.
Catching the tail end of Sharon's words, she quickly changed directions, heading towards where Jean was working on Liam and Sharon kept hovering. "Hey Sharon..." She gently called out to draw her attention. "... I'm so glad to see you're safe. Jean is taking good care of Liam, so why don't we find a place close by where you can sit down?" And take a quick look to see if she couldn't at least get something on that bleeding till Jean could take a look she added silently to herself.
"No. I stay with Liam." Sharon refused to shift her gaze from the younger boy as she hugged her tail to her chest. Blood streaked its fur.
"Sharon," Liam groaned, hissing through the pain in his knee, "Go get taken care of before you get sepsis or whatever," he sucked air through his teeth at a particularly tender spot, "You can purrito her, if she gives you problems," he offered Sooraya.
"I am fine," insisted Sharon, in flagrant defiance of the eye currently swelling shut.
Sooraya gently held out her hand: "You can stay as close as possible, I promise. We'll find you a spot where you can see Liam at least." She coaxed, considering for a moment before adding: "And I bet Liam would feel a little better if you got looked at as well. He is worried for you."
Whether it was from anxiety, adrenaline, or the remnants of the drug in her system, Sharon snapped. Finally, finally, the jolt of anger jogged loose it -- the indescribable trigger that allowed her to shift at will, and she pushed her body to change even as a demand not to be touched rose in her throat-
The words turned into a scream as the normally painless twist of bone and pull of skin tore at her wounds. The girl fell to all fours, whimpering and writhing, barely aware that she'd finally succeeded in reclaiming her hybrid form.
If the sound of a dying cat was the worst noise ever then Sharon just invented a new worst noise. The sound of a shape-shifting cat in pain. "Sharon!" Liam cried, unable to run towards her, but lurching forward all the same, practically landing on his chin in his haste to get to her. "Sharon," he whimpered, stroking her head.
"Dr. Grey, help her now!" he demanded.
"Back up, please," Jean said. A blanket that had been laying on a nearby bench floated up, wrapping tightly around Sharon's body. The goal was to keep her from flailing and hurting herself further.
~It's okay. You're okay.~ Jean said, cutting in through all the agony by speaking directly into Sharon's mind as she tried to get her to meet her eyes and match her breathing, in and out.
Sharon thrashed, automatically seeking something to bite in her pain, but her struggles became less as Jean enveloped her with gentle physical and psychic pressure. With a noise somewhere between a mew and a sob, the cat finally went still.
Jean held Sharon in place until she felt the girl's mind and body still. Well, as still as one could be in such a situation. Eventually she let go, unwrapping the blanket to set her down in a nearby chair.
"Is it okay if I treat your injuries?" she said.
Sharon shook her head, but the gesture had the dazed immediacy of instinct. The cat's lips were parted in a slight but noticeable pant. What bleeding had stopped had started again with the shapeshift.
"Hey Sharon...." Sooraya moved closer, making sure was at the same eye height as Sharon before slowly reaching out and gently scratching behind Sharon's ear where it wasn't bleeding. A soft look crossed her face when she noticed Sharon leaning her head into her hand. "That's it. You're safe now. Just let us take care of you, okay?" She murmured. The words probably weren't even that important.
"Can I get a blanket like that?" Liam asked vaguely. "My knee still hurts and I wanna go home," he wanted his mom but it was the next best thing. Everyone was being taken care of, he could stop now, right?
"Of course," Jean said, grabbing a blanket from a nearby storage bin to give to him. She crouched down. "Can I look at your knee?"
Liam didn't need to purrito, he just wanted a blanket. He nodded at Jean, hissing in pain at even the lightest touch. "I think it's broken," he said miserably.
"We'll see," Jean said. "I'll have to roll up your pant leg and push on your leg slightly, so it might hurt a little. But I promise I won't take long, okay? I'll give you something for the pain too."
Nodding, Liam yowled pathetically as Jean looked him over. "I want the good pain meds," he agreed pathetically.
Jean smiled sympathetically. "I'll try my best," she said. A few minutes of looking things over and she met Liam's eyes.
"Doesn't seem to be broken. But we can do an x-ray when we get back just to make sure." Rising to her feet, she reached into her med kit and pulled out a bottle of medication, dispensing 2 pills in his hand and a bottle of water.
"Here you go. It should kick in in a few minutes."
Glancing back to Sharon and Sooraya, she crouched back down in front of them.
"Now, back to our next patient," she said, gently putting a hand on Sharon's shoulder. "I can see you're in pain. I might be able to help make it better. Is it okay if I try?"
Sharon didn't reply, but nor did she protest. The cat accepted Jean's examinations without comment, although her yellow eyes kept slipping back to Liam.
"He'll be okay," Jean said. "Physically. I know it'll take awhile to cope with what just happened. But we're all here if both of you need it."
"Yes." The word was faint, as if given because the younger woman realized a response was expected of her, but nothing more.
Sooraya gently shifted Sharon's head a little on her shoulder, one arm wrapped firmly around the girl, the other gently scratching behind her ears. "Hey, you've got to stay awake, Sharon. Okay?" Frowning at Jean, she added: "How is she so far?"
"She'll live," Jean said, giving a smile to Sharon. "It's okay, she can sleep. She deserves to rest." She glanced back to the plane full of people they had rescued.
"They all do."
It was a long road ahead getting over something like that, but if there were any other people more qualified to help...it was the X-Men.
Human trafficking should have consequences. Bevatron and Cyclops have a few ideas.
It was generally a given that Scott would be the last person to board the Blackbird. Something about seeing everyone return safe, especially in cases like these where people were being brought back with injuries needing triage and the like. So if Scott was the last to board, Jean-Phillipe would be the penultimate, because someone needed to make sure that -Scott- returned safely while he was busy making sure everyone else did. As the ramp pulled up behind them and Scott took his pilot's seat, Jean-Phillipe allowed himself to relax slightly. "What, no staying behind to watch everyone be taken into custody?" Semi-reformed mutant terrorist he might be, but he couldn't deny that seeing evil people led away in restraints had its satisfaction.
The older man slid his phone carefully into his pocket, the fingers of his other hand idly tapping on the plane's yoke as he considered it for a moment before he shook his head. "As tempting as it is, you see one SHIELD take down, you see them all. Besides, I don't think we'd be doing them any favour by making them see Ulysses and his ilk again. Or doing myself any favours either." A hand rubbed at his still sore chest as Scott considered how easy it would be for a force beam which blasted out of a moving aircraft to make the man's life even more painful as a message to anyone else who might consider kidnapping their wards. Just for a moment...ok a minute.
"I know that look, mon capitaine." Jean-Phillipe knew because it was a look he'd seen in the mirror plenty of times over the years - when he worked at the docks, when he had been a member of the Brotherhood, and even now as an X-Man. That blend of frustration at the vagaries of 'the system', a desire to see malefactors actually punished for their actions, all tied together with a tinge of knowing that one should be above petty revenges. He considered as the engines spooled up. SHIELD would be on site...and he had already seen several of the blue jackets with FBI in yellow as well... "What if...someone...were to make an anonymous call to les flics? The locals, I mean." A mischievous twinkle came to the Frenchman's eye as he looked across at Scott.
The corner of the X-Man's mouth curled up into a small smile, hands dropping to settle on the Blackbird's controls as the plane came to life beneath his hands. "You know, I think if someone decided to do that they might find that the Blackbird comes with a voice distorter and untraceable comms...just showing off my jet, you understand."
"It is like the policeman's version of the golden apple," Jean-Phillipe said with a snicker as he picked up the handset. "'To the one with the largest zizi." He glanced backward at the seating area, much more crowded than it had been on the outbound flight. "And we have all of the other kidnapped mutants, so no chance of them getting caught up in the...jurisdiction measuring." He finished dialing and waited for the call to connect.
"Time to have some fun."
Rescued ferals milled around the Blackbird. Away from the maze's illusion their true forms were far less fearsome: a rabbit-eared girl just out of middle school, a furred man in an ancient Metallica shirt, an Amazon driver with tattered moth wings. Whatever had been done to trick the naked eye had simply exaggerated whatever prominent mutation they displayed. The team had arrived quickly enough that most of the rescuees hadn't had the opportunity to suffer any major injuries; the more serious of those, like Maya's boyfriend, Shane, had already been stabilized. Now the less urgent injuries could be assessed.
The physical ones, at least.
"It is bad? Surgical intervention is necessary?" No matter how many times Sharon was gently directed away she kept gravitating to Liam, unwilling to miss even the slightest detail of Jean's ministrations. One side of her face was swollen, and blood clumped in her purple hair.
"Alright, you are gonna be okay... And we are gonna see what we can do about reaching your parents as soon as possible, okay?" Sooraya gave the rabbit-eared girl a reassuring smile as the girl nodded tearfully and Sooraya rose from her crouch, glancing around to see where she was needed next.
Catching the tail end of Sharon's words, she quickly changed directions, heading towards where Jean was working on Liam and Sharon kept hovering. "Hey Sharon..." She gently called out to draw her attention. "... I'm so glad to see you're safe. Jean is taking good care of Liam, so why don't we find a place close by where you can sit down?" And take a quick look to see if she couldn't at least get something on that bleeding till Jean could take a look she added silently to herself.
"No. I stay with Liam." Sharon refused to shift her gaze from the younger boy as she hugged her tail to her chest. Blood streaked its fur.
"Sharon," Liam groaned, hissing through the pain in his knee, "Go get taken care of before you get sepsis or whatever," he sucked air through his teeth at a particularly tender spot, "You can purrito her, if she gives you problems," he offered Sooraya.
"I am fine," insisted Sharon, in flagrant defiance of the eye currently swelling shut.
Sooraya gently held out her hand: "You can stay as close as possible, I promise. We'll find you a spot where you can see Liam at least." She coaxed, considering for a moment before adding: "And I bet Liam would feel a little better if you got looked at as well. He is worried for you."
Whether it was from anxiety, adrenaline, or the remnants of the drug in her system, Sharon snapped. Finally, finally, the jolt of anger jogged loose it -- the indescribable trigger that allowed her to shift at will, and she pushed her body to change even as a demand not to be touched rose in her throat-
The words turned into a scream as the normally painless twist of bone and pull of skin tore at her wounds. The girl fell to all fours, whimpering and writhing, barely aware that she'd finally succeeded in reclaiming her hybrid form.
If the sound of a dying cat was the worst noise ever then Sharon just invented a new worst noise. The sound of a shape-shifting cat in pain. "Sharon!" Liam cried, unable to run towards her, but lurching forward all the same, practically landing on his chin in his haste to get to her. "Sharon," he whimpered, stroking her head.
"Dr. Grey, help her now!" he demanded.
"Back up, please," Jean said. A blanket that had been laying on a nearby bench floated up, wrapping tightly around Sharon's body. The goal was to keep her from flailing and hurting herself further.
~It's okay. You're okay.~ Jean said, cutting in through all the agony by speaking directly into Sharon's mind as she tried to get her to meet her eyes and match her breathing, in and out.
Sharon thrashed, automatically seeking something to bite in her pain, but her struggles became less as Jean enveloped her with gentle physical and psychic pressure. With a noise somewhere between a mew and a sob, the cat finally went still.
Jean held Sharon in place until she felt the girl's mind and body still. Well, as still as one could be in such a situation. Eventually she let go, unwrapping the blanket to set her down in a nearby chair.
"Is it okay if I treat your injuries?" she said.
Sharon shook her head, but the gesture had the dazed immediacy of instinct. The cat's lips were parted in a slight but noticeable pant. What bleeding had stopped had started again with the shapeshift.
"Hey Sharon...." Sooraya moved closer, making sure was at the same eye height as Sharon before slowly reaching out and gently scratching behind Sharon's ear where it wasn't bleeding. A soft look crossed her face when she noticed Sharon leaning her head into her hand. "That's it. You're safe now. Just let us take care of you, okay?" She murmured. The words probably weren't even that important.
"Can I get a blanket like that?" Liam asked vaguely. "My knee still hurts and I wanna go home," he wanted his mom but it was the next best thing. Everyone was being taken care of, he could stop now, right?
"Of course," Jean said, grabbing a blanket from a nearby storage bin to give to him. She crouched down. "Can I look at your knee?"
Liam didn't need to purrito, he just wanted a blanket. He nodded at Jean, hissing in pain at even the lightest touch. "I think it's broken," he said miserably.
"We'll see," Jean said. "I'll have to roll up your pant leg and push on your leg slightly, so it might hurt a little. But I promise I won't take long, okay? I'll give you something for the pain too."
Nodding, Liam yowled pathetically as Jean looked him over. "I want the good pain meds," he agreed pathetically.
Jean smiled sympathetically. "I'll try my best," she said. A few minutes of looking things over and she met Liam's eyes.
"Doesn't seem to be broken. But we can do an x-ray when we get back just to make sure." Rising to her feet, she reached into her med kit and pulled out a bottle of medication, dispensing 2 pills in his hand and a bottle of water.
"Here you go. It should kick in in a few minutes."
Glancing back to Sharon and Sooraya, she crouched back down in front of them.
"Now, back to our next patient," she said, gently putting a hand on Sharon's shoulder. "I can see you're in pain. I might be able to help make it better. Is it okay if I try?"
Sharon didn't reply, but nor did she protest. The cat accepted Jean's examinations without comment, although her yellow eyes kept slipping back to Liam.
"He'll be okay," Jean said. "Physically. I know it'll take awhile to cope with what just happened. But we're all here if both of you need it."
"Yes." The word was faint, as if given because the younger woman realized a response was expected of her, but nothing more.
Sooraya gently shifted Sharon's head a little on her shoulder, one arm wrapped firmly around the girl, the other gently scratching behind her ears. "Hey, you've got to stay awake, Sharon. Okay?" Frowning at Jean, she added: "How is she so far?"
"She'll live," Jean said, giving a smile to Sharon. "It's okay, she can sleep. She deserves to rest." She glanced back to the plane full of people they had rescued.
"They all do."
It was a long road ahead getting over something like that, but if there were any other people more qualified to help...it was the X-Men.
Human trafficking should have consequences. Bevatron and Cyclops have a few ideas.
It was generally a given that Scott would be the last person to board the Blackbird. Something about seeing everyone return safe, especially in cases like these where people were being brought back with injuries needing triage and the like. So if Scott was the last to board, Jean-Phillipe would be the penultimate, because someone needed to make sure that -Scott- returned safely while he was busy making sure everyone else did. As the ramp pulled up behind them and Scott took his pilot's seat, Jean-Phillipe allowed himself to relax slightly. "What, no staying behind to watch everyone be taken into custody?" Semi-reformed mutant terrorist he might be, but he couldn't deny that seeing evil people led away in restraints had its satisfaction.
The older man slid his phone carefully into his pocket, the fingers of his other hand idly tapping on the plane's yoke as he considered it for a moment before he shook his head. "As tempting as it is, you see one SHIELD take down, you see them all. Besides, I don't think we'd be doing them any favour by making them see Ulysses and his ilk again. Or doing myself any favours either." A hand rubbed at his still sore chest as Scott considered how easy it would be for a force beam which blasted out of a moving aircraft to make the man's life even more painful as a message to anyone else who might consider kidnapping their wards. Just for a moment...ok a minute.
"I know that look, mon capitaine." Jean-Phillipe knew because it was a look he'd seen in the mirror plenty of times over the years - when he worked at the docks, when he had been a member of the Brotherhood, and even now as an X-Man. That blend of frustration at the vagaries of 'the system', a desire to see malefactors actually punished for their actions, all tied together with a tinge of knowing that one should be above petty revenges. He considered as the engines spooled up. SHIELD would be on site...and he had already seen several of the blue jackets with FBI in yellow as well... "What if...someone...were to make an anonymous call to les flics? The locals, I mean." A mischievous twinkle came to the Frenchman's eye as he looked across at Scott.
The corner of the X-Man's mouth curled up into a small smile, hands dropping to settle on the Blackbird's controls as the plane came to life beneath his hands. "You know, I think if someone decided to do that they might find that the Blackbird comes with a voice distorter and untraceable comms...just showing off my jet, you understand."
"It is like the policeman's version of the golden apple," Jean-Phillipe said with a snicker as he picked up the handset. "'To the one with the largest zizi." He glanced backward at the seating area, much more crowded than it had been on the outbound flight. "And we have all of the other kidnapped mutants, so no chance of them getting caught up in the...jurisdiction measuring." He finished dialing and waited for the call to connect.
"Time to have some fun."
