Made You Feel Second Best - Day 6
Jul. 25th, 2024 11:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsTW: CSA Mention, Grooming, Gun Violence, Homophobia
The Guthrie siblings lead the first charge into the caves.
Sam felt a bit silly while comparing outfits with his siblings, but if he was going into a small dark space underground again, he was going to be wearing a leather jacket despite the July heat, and a matching hat and helmet to keep the debris off his head. He could practically hear their complaints about him lookin' like some WWII pilot already, but he wasn't too keen on heading down into the earth and needed all the stupid creature comforts he could convince himself would help.
"Alright." He said, taking the lead if for no other reason than he had the most training of all of them. "On the count of three we head in?"
Once Paige had some more experience under her belt this whole leadership thing was her problem.
Paige nodded, and prepared herself for what was coming. Unlike Sam, her clothes were less protective since her powers would protect her more than a too heavy jacket would. She tried to bring the chemical makeup of titanium to mind as they prepared for going into the caves.
It was strange to have his wings bound down again and this whole thing was making thought Jay had tried to retrain bubble up inside him. He reached out to Mel and squeezed her arm- for her reassurance, and not his, of course.
He shoulda never left, this whole mess was his fault.
"Ready."
Mel gave him an appreciative smile and did a nervous little jog in place. “Ready. It ain’t gonna get any larger or brighter in there.” The joke fell flat.
Sam started leading them into the cave, trying to keep his breathing steady. Silently, he remembered how they'd used to play down here as kids in the summertime. But that was back before Sam had learned how suffocating the dark was.
"This way." He whispered, keeping close to the cave walls. He didn't want them discovered too soon.
It was significantly cooler inside, and Mel felt the chill despite her flannel. She followed close behind her siblings, hands twitching at her sides nervously, feeling for the collapsible staff she’d tucked away in her pocket.
They snuck through the caves for a good while before there was any sign of anyone else. At the sound of someone else talking, Jay instinctively held his arm out in front of Mel and looked to Sam as he listened. He didn't want this to end in a fight if they could avoid it.
Sam nodded, keeping his back pressed to the cave wall. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and it took all he had to convince himself it was just nerves over Joelle's safety and not fear. Fear could make his powers a bit unpredictable.
"Stay close." He whispered, poking his head out to try to peer around the corner. "No matter what we stick together."
“Right.” Paige stuck closely behind Sam, waving for her siblings to follow.
There had been a time, ten or so years ago, when Sam had still remembered where all the loose rocks were in the caves. Back then he had replayed over and over again those happy memories of playing with his siblings in the dark earth as he'd gone down into the mines. But he hasn't thought about them in a while.
His foot caught on a loose rock and sent it skittering, he froze, heart pounding as he heard voices coming their way. "Shit."
Garibaldi froze on hearing the rock clatter across the floor. "Didn't ya'll hear that?" he asked, voice barely a whisper. "There's someone coming." They'd known, known for a long while, that someone might seek them out here. That had led to carting in besa blocks and cement to make something of a barricade, sheltering one half of the larger cavern, so long as you stayed low. Logistics had prevented the wall becoming more than waist high. "Get down and stay down," he said, pushing the body nearest to him into the shelter under the wall.
Sam tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible but he was fairly sure anybody trying to listen close would be able to hear his heart pounding. The sound of people moving was unmistakable and he swallowed hard. "Folks up ahead." He whispered. "An' we ain't at a fork in the road yet so the only way to go is through...."
Paige nodded and began husking into titanium. If the only way was through, it was clear they couldn’t avoid a fight.
Jay hasn't really built for fighting like Sam or Paige, but he moved into a better stance and was ready to get going forward. He didn't fear being hurt, not if it was to save his baby sister.
Biting her lip, Mel fiddled with the mechanism that unfolded her staff. It wasn’t nearly as solid as a wooden one, but would still hurt. Not much use against guns though. She took a deep breath and tried to remember all the things she’d been trained for.
Sam turned to his siblings and tried to pantomime him using his powers to blast through their little protective wall. Really trying to live up to his codename, although he was sure that they'd make some sort of joke about bowling if he managed to knock any people down with him.
His poor attempt at charades was all the warning his siblings got before Sam moved out of the shadows and then launched himself forward, propelled as fast as a moving car by an explosion at his feet. It was barely a few seconds before he hit the wall with his head, pushing through the debris he caused as he went.
The men didn't have time to take cover. Someone was screaming in the way they'd all heard too many times in the mines, in Iraq, in the shop. "Look after him, will ya?" Garibaldi snapped. "He ain't-" The man cut himself off. Didn't seem wise to say he wasn't dying on their watch here and now.
He snapped on the lights they'd rigged, ruined barricade and injured men showing in sharp relief against the dark, and the intruder - Guthrie, Goddamn - in the centre. "Goddamn," he said. "You're a Goddamn idiot. Come in like that, damn trash. Bring the whole mountain down on us." He saw the movement in back where Guthrie had come from. "Bring the mountain down on your damn fag brother, too." He couldn't identify the figures back there yet but who else would it be?
Jay raised the rifle in his hands- if it weren't enough for Girabaldi to take his sister and put her in danger, but he had to insult his fiance as well. Jay may not have been the best shot in the family, and out of practice, but he knew he shot well enough. And Girabaldi wouldn't know if he was bluffing. "Where's my sister."
Mel glanced between the two before stepping to stand closer to Jay, eyes flinty. In reality she was terrified, but one wouldn’t know that from the set of her shoulders and the absolutely icy expression on her face.
"She ain't your sister anymore," Garibaldi replied coldly. "She's taken leave of her family. You ain't nothing but faggots and muties and freaks. You're all trash. That girl is better off without you. Y'all are going straight to hell and you're taking the damn kids at your house with you. She's the only one of you lot with the sense to leave that trash heap behind since your papa had the smarts to up and die to escape you."
That just pissed Mel off. She was done listening to this creep preach about shit he didn’t know about. Her staff wasn’t the only thing Mel had brought along, and she reached into her pocket slowly. In a low voice she murmured to Jay and Paige, “Close yer eyes and get ready to run.” Sam could fend for himself.
In one fluid movement, Mel threw the flashbang into the cave, screwed her eyes shut, and extended her staff. It went off with a bang and a blinding light.
Paige shielded her eyes just in time to avoid getting blinded by Mel’s surprise attack. Rushing forward in the ensuing chaos, she grabbed Sam and tried to drag him with them. He was heavier than expected and she waved to Jay to get his help. They needed to move before the rest of the group regained their senses.
Jay grabbed Sam's other side and helped Paige to drag him out of confusion, having also covered his eyes. He pulled Sam and Paige after them as they went.
Sam let himself be dragged and then once his head was clear was able to propel himself forward, pointing deeper into the mines towards the larger cavern that he thought might be where they were keeping their sister.
As they ran he thought a message to his coworkers, asking for back-up.
[PLACEHOLDER- Back-up is called and XFi joins the fight]
The Guthrie siblings find Joelle and meet her boyfriend
It was time to get Joelle out of here. After crawling through the caves and hearing everything this cult had planned, Paige was ready to grab her sister and get her as far away from these people as possible. She and her siblings sneaked down the hallway in the network of caves, doing their best to avoid being seen while also looking for where Joelle might be. Reaching a corner, Paige stuck her head carefully around to see if the coast was clear. Standing just a few feet away was exactly the person they were looking for.
"Ellie!" Paige called out, walking around the turn. "We've been lookin' everywhere for you! You scared us half to death, girl!"
The automatic turn toward the voice as her nickname was called, curiosity quickly turned to shock before Joelle's brows knit together and she took a half-step back from Paige's direction -- and Sam, and Jay, and Mel, all with her. Nothing could be mistaken for joy in the girl's features. She could feel her cheeks and ears burning as all of her older siblings, all of her mutant siblings, were suddenly there. "What're y'all doing here?" The hiss of a question was accompanied with a full step away. Her eyes darted, confirming they were alone, and her wariness turned sharp, collecting herself to stand to her full height, to look confident. "You need to leave. Now."
Mel fought the urge to rush forward and wrap her baby sister in a hug. “We’re here to get ya outta here, we ain’t leaving without you Elle.” Still behind the rest of her siblings, she stepped out a little so she could look Joelle in the eye as she said it.
"Sweetheart," Sam said softly. "This ain't no place for you...it ain't safe, Ellie."
"Neither is being with you, Sam," 'Elle spat. "All you ever do is make problems, now 'm tryin to actually be happy and all you wanna do is ruin it."
“Hey, now.” Paige frowned, trying not to come off too much like Sam. “That mine accident wasn’t his fault, and we ain’t trying to kill people. This group that you’ve tied yourself up in is. We came to get ya before you do somethin’ you’re gonna regret. Come on, Elle, we’re going home.”
Her cheeks turned red as Elle turned her attention to Paige, tears of anger welling. "You don't even wanna be here, Paige! How you gonna tell me where home is?" She scrubbed at her eyes to stop herself from crying and turned a glare to Jay then Mel. "Maybe I am home, and y'all should just stay gone."
Jay moved to put his hands on Elle's shoulders, face drawn in hurt. "You don't mean that, these people are hurtin' people and you ain't like that. You wanna get gone from Cumberland, Lord knows I can't stop you but don't do it like this."
There was an instant recoil from Elle, a look of disgust followed by a moment of shock before she hardened her face to a stern mask. “No, Jay, I do. I do mean it, and you better leave. Now."
Sam closed his eyes and breathed deeply, thinking over their psychic connection. "Q- can you cut the line off? Just for a moment?" When he was fairly certain the other man had listened to him he continued.
"I get it Elle, I do." He said quietly. "Yer sick and tired of gettin' taken fer granted at home. Yer tired of bein' ignored. Yer plum tired of being a goddamn Guthrie. I get it."
This kind of talk was liable to get him hit by Jay instead of one of the bigots but he persisted. "They make you feel special, they pay attention to you, they thank you. I get it. But I also know how it feels to have to turn a blind eye to the fact that they're hurtin' people. Ellie- I ain't even askin' you to go back to Mama, God knows I didn't. All I'm askin' ya is that you realize yer special enough on yer own and that you don't need a grown man to tell you that....just like I didn't need a woman in her twenties to tell me that when I was yer age." He swallowed hard, vaguely aware of approaching footsteps. "Her name was Lila Cheney, and she messed me up right bad, and I don't want that to happen to you. You can be mad at me all you want hon, so long as I know yer safe."
The footsteps halted and Sam broke eye contact with Joelle to glance behind her. Fuck. He quickly used his powers to put a forcefield around Joelle and Jay. "Gun!"
There may be a gun but it wasn't being held by a sane man. Preacher was a broken man at this point, and the waver in the gun was real. He thought he was holding it straight, but it clearly wasn't as his wild eyes flickered amongst the Guthrie siblings. "Now y'all ain't thinkin' of leavin' without sayin' goodbye, were ya?" At least his voice continued to be the same -- charismatic, loud and stable. "Ain't right. Didn't Mama teach ya better than that?" He tried to give a lazy grin but it amounted to little less than a crazed smile, twitching. "Joelle, girl, come on over back here where you belong. They're no good for you, you know that. The only one who is is me, and I won't ever let you down." He gestured to her. "Come on then. Let's go back to what things were like before. Remember that? When it was good, and just, and kind. Not here, wit' these people, tryin' to lead you astray. Far from God."
"Oh for fuck's sake." Sam grumbled, watching the irresponsible way the other man held the gun. What was it with idiots and firearms? They weren't even difficult to use correctly. "She can make her own decisions. She's a smart girl and she don't have to go with nobody she don't want to."
Paige slowly tried to edge herself in between Joelle and the gun. “Let’s just calm down for a minute and talk this out. No need for anyone to get hurt.”
"Ain't no one gettin' hurt," Preacher drawled. He flicked the tip of his nose in a nervous gesture. "I'm a reasonable man. All I want is what's mine, and that there is Joelle. She's special to me, y'know. Y'all don't appreciate her the way she should be appreciated. She done told me so many a'time, ain't that right, girl? They don't love you like they should. Like a family should. We love you here, jus' the way you are." Again, he motioned with the gun. "Now I ain't gonna ask again. Come here."
Sam's eyes narrowed. "Joelle is perfectly capable of thinkin' fer herself without you tellin' her what to do. And if you ever threaten my little girl again you an' I's gonna have a chat that I don't think you'll like."
Would husking right now make the situation worse? Probably. All Paige could do was try to keep Joelle behind her and a picture of the atomic makeup of titanium in her mind while deescalating the situation so Sam didn't try to fight a man with a gun. No problem...she hadn't been this stressed out since finals week. "Elle, you don't have to listen to him."
Joelle hadn't looked away from Preacher since the man had appeared, though the comments Sam and Paige had made had dimmed her bright expression. "I'll listen to who I want," she murmered, then flushed as she realized how much of a child she sounded like. Shooting a look at Sam, her brows knit together briefly before she turned back to him, trying to smile. "They'll leave, Preacher, ya don't have to point that at them."
"Oh they'll leave alright," he said, licking his lips. "They'll leave, an' you'll stay. You ain't leavin' me, Joelle." He waved his gun again, his eyes flitting across everyone, sizing them up. "You hear?" His voice raised and he again moved the gun around. "You ain't LEAVIN'!"
And then the gun went off, his finger trigger heavy, and he dropped the gun, wincing his eyes tight against the sound of the bullet in the cave.
Paige rushed forward as soon as Preacher started yelling, sensing everything was going south. She husked without thinking about anything aside from becoming bulletproof and came out in some sort of metallic form. Then the gun went off. She heard more than felt the shot ping off her shoulder. Hoping that meant whatever form she had taken really had deflected it for her, Paige grabbed the gun and wrestled it out of Preacher’s grip.
It was one thing to threaten with a gun. It was an entirely other thing to actually use it. There was a reason Preacher had Garibaldi to do his dirty work -- feigned innocence. Preacher had always ensured to keep his hands clean so as to deflect any accusations of wrongdoing. He wasn't a bad guy, it wasn't his fault if his followers did things.
And now he'd shot someone.
He dropped the gun like it was hot coals, and instantly fell to his knees. "Oh Lord, Forgive your servant for I have sinned in Thy name..."
Sam instinctively grabbed for Paige, the barrier he'd put around Joelle and Jay dropping. "Paige!"
Joelle was staring at the gun, shock still clear on her face as she bonelessly slumped against Jay. "Paige?" She croaked out weakly.
Jay held his girl up as Sam grabbed Paige, caught between staring at Paige- who didn't seem to be bleedin' at all, and checking on Jo, holding her the same way he had when she was so much younger and Sam had left and it felt like the world was falling apart again.
The world was falling apart again. "Jo, it's okay, Paige's okay, look..."
Paige husked back into her skin and turned around. “It’s ok, I’m fine, nothing bad happened to me.” Her shoulder stung a bit, probably bruised, but nothing worse than that.
Elle didn’t sigh in relief so much as the air she’d been holding in her lungs finally released. She raised her hands to hold onto Jay, her breathing turned to pants as she tried to make the world stop spinning.
“I wanna go home,” she mumbled.
He held her up and nodded. "Course, Jo-girl, of course. Let's get you home."
Sam, Jay, and Arthur are able to deliver some long overdue justice to an old enemy.
Garibaldi stopped to take in the scene around him, as he took a deep breath of clean air. It was psychosomatic - after all this time, he still took a few deep breaths on leaving the caves, relief at getting out again, after knowing too well how badly caving could go. "God damn, yall. What in the hell were you thinking in there?" He rounded on the man nearest to him. "Were you shot in there?"
Bobby John glared at the other man and instinctually raised a hand to rub at the back of his head where that damned Guthie had bashed it in just a few months prior. "Guthrie don't carry a gun." He hissed. "He'll try an' kill you with jus' his damned hands, fuckin' mutie freak."
"Damn near brought the mountain down on us again, same's he did back when." The simmering rage he'd felt all those years, that mutants could do that, could hurt so many came out and Garibaldi lunged at Guthrie.
Sam was tired but he wasn't stupid, and he knew enough about the Cabots and their ilk to know that they talked about you before they tried to hit you. Which meant he was ready for Garibaldi when the other man tried to lunge at him.
Sam ducked out of the way and let him fall before landing on him hard, keeping him there. "I'd stay down if I was you, I don't carry a gun but I'm told state troopers don't take kindly to folks who kidnap kids."
Sam glared at Bobby John as he kept the other man down. "An' I suppose you think you can buy yer way outta this one too?"
Bobby John spit in Sam's direction. "I ain't got a clue what yer talkin' about."
The Cabot then noticed the younger Guthrie and stormed towards him fists raised. "You shouldn't've come back here faggot."
"They don't take kind to people who kill their own sisters neither," Jay said, moving to try to pin the larger man down. The only reason he didn't hit him is because it wouldn't look good when the troopers came. Everyone already knew about how he beat him back in December. "And God sure don't. You're gonna burn in hell Bobby John Cabot."
Garibaldi wasn't a stupid man. "Ease off," he said to Bobby John. "You want to be seen to be as bad as them when the police arrive? Just ease off." There was no winning in this moment. "We'll call your uncle or cousin that works for the state when we're back in town and we'll be home by morning but only so long as you stop being a damn fool."
The state troopers followed the blonde man to the scene, seemingly more cautious about the rough terrain than the outsider ahead of them. Ahead of them they could see two men being held to the ground by two other men, one with bright red wings the other with a ridiculous pair of goggles on his face. One officer sighed, the paperwork on this was going to be a nightmare.
"You said these men were holding a minor without parental consent?" One officer says to the man ahead of him. "And t'clarify, that's the men on the ground not the uh....men holdin' 'em down?"
"Ah, officer," and the blonde's cheerful tone wasn't a match at all for the situation unfolding, but he addressed the state troopers like this happened every day. "We have evidence that they have been holding abducted youth. Correct of you to point that out." Arthur gestured helpfully at Garibaldi and his men. "You'll recognize him from the images we showed you. He and his men are the ones dressed to match as what looks regretfully like unlawful private militia. How awkward."
"We're the brothers of the abducted youth." Sam supplied, tightening his grip on Garibaldi's wrists. "They tried to jump us after we got our sister outta the caves and so we're holdin' em for ya."
From under Jay, Bobby John squirmed. "Git off me you mutie faggot. Fuckin' brother corruptin' shit fer brains' reason my brother got shot."
"I weren't the one to kill you sister," Jay said, tightening his grip on Cabot a little, shaking in anger at the evocation of Julia after this man had again tried to hurt someone he loved. "You know who that were."
"I AIMED AT YOU." Bobby-John yelled, thrashing against Jay's hold. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KILLT, NOT MY BROTHER."
One trooper ran over to take Cabot from Jay, cuffing him and going through his miranda rights. Once finished, he turned to Jay. "Are you willin' to give us a statement on the event this man just confessed to?"
Another officer approached Sam and cuffed Garibaldi. "And this one?"
"Leader of the hate group that was holdin' our sister." Sam said. "Uh, Sam Guthrie. PI.....in training- I can send over all the surveillance and evidence we turned up in the last few days, and draw ya a rough map of the caves."
"We weren't holding her. Girl was with us voluntarily," Garibaldi interjected. "Seems she found sense and didn't want to be with a pack of freaks."
"I'll answer whatever I need to," Jay said to the trooper, still shaking slightly even though Cabot wasn't under him anymore.
"Joelle is fifteen Sam said pointedly to the officer who had arrested Garibaldi. "She ain't legally old enough to make that decision or be emancipated and one of his men who we ain't been able to track was in a romantic relationship with her. That man's about twenty-five and all we know him as is 'Preacher'....He shot our sister Paige in the caves."
"How many sisters you got, son?" The officer asked.
"Five and three brothers." Sam replied easily. "If it's all the same to you officer, I'd like to go check on my little sister now that you've got 'im in custody."
Arthur was there, then, a flurry of smiles between the officer and any other unfolding narrative. "Sam here is on my team. I've got all of the details you may need, but sounds like we might need to add in assault with a firearm. Whoops."
Behind his back, Arthur gave a signal he hoped meant "remember they're cops, and the plan, and remember that we're still all mutants, and ACAB of course," but that was likely a lot for a hand sign that mostly read as "go find your sister, I got this."
His diverting, cheerful helpfulness didn't break one bit as he continued to speak with the officer in charge.
Sam nodded in Arthur's direction and grabbed Jay gently by the arm. "C'mon, let's go check on the girls."
Lucinda fusses over her children once everyone is back at the house.
Lucinda's hands fluttered slightly at her sides at the sight of the children together. It was like looking at a partially pieced quilt, a few gaping absences that highlighted the unfinished nature of the thing, but enough together that you could see the beauty of what the finished product would be. Would've been. She shook her head at the thought. There were too many people to think those thoughts right now.
"Good, yer all home safe." Her voice was brusque as she gave them a once over with her eyes before stepping up to the individual children. She reached up to ruffle Jay's hair, giving him one of her rare smiles. "Good of ya to come home an help that fool sister of yers."
Jay hugged his Mama to his side, trying to muffle the sound from Joelle who was still coming into the house, shaken as she was. "We're alright enough, Mama," he assured her but glanced at his sisters. "Jo's home safe."
Paige stood beside her brother, rubbing at the shoulder where the bullet had hit. Without enough time to think through her transformation, she hadn't managed to make herself completely bulletproof and a somewhat painful bruise had started to form. She'd live, but it would be a sore few days coming up. "We all made it home safe, more or less."
Lucinda's eyes flicked over Paige briefly only to focus on Joelle tryin to sneak in. "Jo, you fool girl. C'mere." She opened her arms, wrapping the girl in her arms. "I done told you that boy was no good, but sometimes you gotta figure it out yerself." She ran a hand over the girl's hair, eyes watching the others like a hawk as they trickled into the house or down the stairs. "Melody. Y'alright, darlin?"
“‘Course Mama, always am.” Mel replied, carefully looking over Joelle with an indecipherable expression on her face, before glancing over at Paige. She put a hand on her uninjured shoulder and squeezed.
Elle blinked owlishly as her mother embraced her, before she leaned heavily into her arms, eyes cinching shut as she squeezed back. It took effort to regain her posture and stand on her own feet as she let her gaze fall to the floor. She opened her mouth to say anything, but nothing came out. Finally, she looked to Sam, Paige, back to Sam as she tried to say something, her brows drew together. “Sam?”
Sam was at her side in an instant. "Whatcha' need, Ellie?"
"Sorry for making y’all come all the way out here,” Elle mumbled, eyes dropping to his feet.
Sam shook his head and pulled her into a hug, kissing her hair. “Princess…. You ain’t got a thing to be sorry for. I’m just happy yer safe. We ain’t mad at ya darlin’.”
While she’d practically melted into Lucinda’s arms, there was a ramrod stiffness to Elle’s spine in Sam’s embrace, her face unreadable, though she allowed herself to be held. When tears started forming, she closed her eyes tightly, clenching her fists at her side to stop herself from crying. "'m really sorry. 'm sorry, Paige, I didn't mean-"
“It’s ok, Im not upset,” Paige said, joining in the hug. “Just glad you’re safe.” She wished she could have gotten a few more hits in on the guy who had dragged Joelle into that cult.
"Ain't nobody mad at you," Jay assured her again and rubbed Joelle's back a little. "Paigey's talkin' for us all- jes' glad you're home safe." Times like this, he was never sure if he needed to act more big brother or father to Jo.
"Can I hug ya?" He didn't want to overstep- this was probably set off by him having made such a fuss for everyone those months ago. He didn't know if Joelle would even want his touch.
Elle nodded, a cry slipping out before she swallowed it back down, and finally reaching out to gently return her older siblings hugs, touching Jay's arm gently with the tips of her fingers as if she herself was unsure of how to return the embrace. With tears in her eyes, she looked up to Mel between their arms. "Mel?"
Mel, who had been hanging back, content to just watch, finally stepped over to the huddle. “S’okay Elle, yer alright.” She rummaged around in her pockets and pulled out a handkerchief, leaning down to wipe the tears from her sister’s eyes. “It’ll all be alright.”
Joelle laughed through a sniffle, pushing her face lightly against Mel's hand and the cloth. Puffing out the air she hadn't realized she'd been holding in, she inhaled quickly as she stood nestled between her siblings. She tried to swallow back the stupid bout of hiccups that always seemed to come whenever she cried, like an out of breath child. "'m sorry, thanks, thank you," she found herself repeating.
Sam kissed her hair and held her tighter. "'S alright. Ain't a thing to be sorry for. We love you Ellie. Are you okay? Do you need anythin'- want me to get a spoonful'a sugar for ya to get rid of them hiccoughs?"
Mel fought back a yawn as she finished drying Joelle’s tears, brushing a piece of hair that got stuck on her face. “S’been a long day. How abouts we all go an’ get ready fer bed?” She joined the group hug briefly before taking her sister’s hand and slowly leading her, and by extent all her older siblings, towards the stairs. Everyone needed a solid twelve hours she reckoned.
The Guthrie siblings lead the first charge into the caves.
Sam felt a bit silly while comparing outfits with his siblings, but if he was going into a small dark space underground again, he was going to be wearing a leather jacket despite the July heat, and a matching hat and helmet to keep the debris off his head. He could practically hear their complaints about him lookin' like some WWII pilot already, but he wasn't too keen on heading down into the earth and needed all the stupid creature comforts he could convince himself would help.
"Alright." He said, taking the lead if for no other reason than he had the most training of all of them. "On the count of three we head in?"
Once Paige had some more experience under her belt this whole leadership thing was her problem.
Paige nodded, and prepared herself for what was coming. Unlike Sam, her clothes were less protective since her powers would protect her more than a too heavy jacket would. She tried to bring the chemical makeup of titanium to mind as they prepared for going into the caves.
It was strange to have his wings bound down again and this whole thing was making thought Jay had tried to retrain bubble up inside him. He reached out to Mel and squeezed her arm- for her reassurance, and not his, of course.
He shoulda never left, this whole mess was his fault.
"Ready."
Mel gave him an appreciative smile and did a nervous little jog in place. “Ready. It ain’t gonna get any larger or brighter in there.” The joke fell flat.
Sam started leading them into the cave, trying to keep his breathing steady. Silently, he remembered how they'd used to play down here as kids in the summertime. But that was back before Sam had learned how suffocating the dark was.
"This way." He whispered, keeping close to the cave walls. He didn't want them discovered too soon.
It was significantly cooler inside, and Mel felt the chill despite her flannel. She followed close behind her siblings, hands twitching at her sides nervously, feeling for the collapsible staff she’d tucked away in her pocket.
They snuck through the caves for a good while before there was any sign of anyone else. At the sound of someone else talking, Jay instinctively held his arm out in front of Mel and looked to Sam as he listened. He didn't want this to end in a fight if they could avoid it.
Sam nodded, keeping his back pressed to the cave wall. His heart was beating wildly in his chest and it took all he had to convince himself it was just nerves over Joelle's safety and not fear. Fear could make his powers a bit unpredictable.
"Stay close." He whispered, poking his head out to try to peer around the corner. "No matter what we stick together."
“Right.” Paige stuck closely behind Sam, waving for her siblings to follow.
There had been a time, ten or so years ago, when Sam had still remembered where all the loose rocks were in the caves. Back then he had replayed over and over again those happy memories of playing with his siblings in the dark earth as he'd gone down into the mines. But he hasn't thought about them in a while.
His foot caught on a loose rock and sent it skittering, he froze, heart pounding as he heard voices coming their way. "Shit."
Garibaldi froze on hearing the rock clatter across the floor. "Didn't ya'll hear that?" he asked, voice barely a whisper. "There's someone coming." They'd known, known for a long while, that someone might seek them out here. That had led to carting in besa blocks and cement to make something of a barricade, sheltering one half of the larger cavern, so long as you stayed low. Logistics had prevented the wall becoming more than waist high. "Get down and stay down," he said, pushing the body nearest to him into the shelter under the wall.
Sam tried to keep his breathing as quiet as possible but he was fairly sure anybody trying to listen close would be able to hear his heart pounding. The sound of people moving was unmistakable and he swallowed hard. "Folks up ahead." He whispered. "An' we ain't at a fork in the road yet so the only way to go is through...."
Paige nodded and began husking into titanium. If the only way was through, it was clear they couldn’t avoid a fight.
Jay hasn't really built for fighting like Sam or Paige, but he moved into a better stance and was ready to get going forward. He didn't fear being hurt, not if it was to save his baby sister.
Biting her lip, Mel fiddled with the mechanism that unfolded her staff. It wasn’t nearly as solid as a wooden one, but would still hurt. Not much use against guns though. She took a deep breath and tried to remember all the things she’d been trained for.
Sam turned to his siblings and tried to pantomime him using his powers to blast through their little protective wall. Really trying to live up to his codename, although he was sure that they'd make some sort of joke about bowling if he managed to knock any people down with him.
His poor attempt at charades was all the warning his siblings got before Sam moved out of the shadows and then launched himself forward, propelled as fast as a moving car by an explosion at his feet. It was barely a few seconds before he hit the wall with his head, pushing through the debris he caused as he went.
The men didn't have time to take cover. Someone was screaming in the way they'd all heard too many times in the mines, in Iraq, in the shop. "Look after him, will ya?" Garibaldi snapped. "He ain't-" The man cut himself off. Didn't seem wise to say he wasn't dying on their watch here and now.
He snapped on the lights they'd rigged, ruined barricade and injured men showing in sharp relief against the dark, and the intruder - Guthrie, Goddamn - in the centre. "Goddamn," he said. "You're a Goddamn idiot. Come in like that, damn trash. Bring the whole mountain down on us." He saw the movement in back where Guthrie had come from. "Bring the mountain down on your damn fag brother, too." He couldn't identify the figures back there yet but who else would it be?
Jay raised the rifle in his hands- if it weren't enough for Girabaldi to take his sister and put her in danger, but he had to insult his fiance as well. Jay may not have been the best shot in the family, and out of practice, but he knew he shot well enough. And Girabaldi wouldn't know if he was bluffing. "Where's my sister."
Mel glanced between the two before stepping to stand closer to Jay, eyes flinty. In reality she was terrified, but one wouldn’t know that from the set of her shoulders and the absolutely icy expression on her face.
"She ain't your sister anymore," Garibaldi replied coldly. "She's taken leave of her family. You ain't nothing but faggots and muties and freaks. You're all trash. That girl is better off without you. Y'all are going straight to hell and you're taking the damn kids at your house with you. She's the only one of you lot with the sense to leave that trash heap behind since your papa had the smarts to up and die to escape you."
That just pissed Mel off. She was done listening to this creep preach about shit he didn’t know about. Her staff wasn’t the only thing Mel had brought along, and she reached into her pocket slowly. In a low voice she murmured to Jay and Paige, “Close yer eyes and get ready to run.” Sam could fend for himself.
In one fluid movement, Mel threw the flashbang into the cave, screwed her eyes shut, and extended her staff. It went off with a bang and a blinding light.
Paige shielded her eyes just in time to avoid getting blinded by Mel’s surprise attack. Rushing forward in the ensuing chaos, she grabbed Sam and tried to drag him with them. He was heavier than expected and she waved to Jay to get his help. They needed to move before the rest of the group regained their senses.
Jay grabbed Sam's other side and helped Paige to drag him out of confusion, having also covered his eyes. He pulled Sam and Paige after them as they went.
Sam let himself be dragged and then once his head was clear was able to propel himself forward, pointing deeper into the mines towards the larger cavern that he thought might be where they were keeping their sister.
As they ran he thought a message to his coworkers, asking for back-up.
[PLACEHOLDER- Back-up is called and XFi joins the fight]
The Guthrie siblings find Joelle and meet her boyfriend
It was time to get Joelle out of here. After crawling through the caves and hearing everything this cult had planned, Paige was ready to grab her sister and get her as far away from these people as possible. She and her siblings sneaked down the hallway in the network of caves, doing their best to avoid being seen while also looking for where Joelle might be. Reaching a corner, Paige stuck her head carefully around to see if the coast was clear. Standing just a few feet away was exactly the person they were looking for.
"Ellie!" Paige called out, walking around the turn. "We've been lookin' everywhere for you! You scared us half to death, girl!"
The automatic turn toward the voice as her nickname was called, curiosity quickly turned to shock before Joelle's brows knit together and she took a half-step back from Paige's direction -- and Sam, and Jay, and Mel, all with her. Nothing could be mistaken for joy in the girl's features. She could feel her cheeks and ears burning as all of her older siblings, all of her mutant siblings, were suddenly there. "What're y'all doing here?" The hiss of a question was accompanied with a full step away. Her eyes darted, confirming they were alone, and her wariness turned sharp, collecting herself to stand to her full height, to look confident. "You need to leave. Now."
Mel fought the urge to rush forward and wrap her baby sister in a hug. “We’re here to get ya outta here, we ain’t leaving without you Elle.” Still behind the rest of her siblings, she stepped out a little so she could look Joelle in the eye as she said it.
"Sweetheart," Sam said softly. "This ain't no place for you...it ain't safe, Ellie."
"Neither is being with you, Sam," 'Elle spat. "All you ever do is make problems, now 'm tryin to actually be happy and all you wanna do is ruin it."
“Hey, now.” Paige frowned, trying not to come off too much like Sam. “That mine accident wasn’t his fault, and we ain’t trying to kill people. This group that you’ve tied yourself up in is. We came to get ya before you do somethin’ you’re gonna regret. Come on, Elle, we’re going home.”
Her cheeks turned red as Elle turned her attention to Paige, tears of anger welling. "You don't even wanna be here, Paige! How you gonna tell me where home is?" She scrubbed at her eyes to stop herself from crying and turned a glare to Jay then Mel. "Maybe I am home, and y'all should just stay gone."
Jay moved to put his hands on Elle's shoulders, face drawn in hurt. "You don't mean that, these people are hurtin' people and you ain't like that. You wanna get gone from Cumberland, Lord knows I can't stop you but don't do it like this."
There was an instant recoil from Elle, a look of disgust followed by a moment of shock before she hardened her face to a stern mask. “No, Jay, I do. I do mean it, and you better leave. Now."
Sam closed his eyes and breathed deeply, thinking over their psychic connection. "Q- can you cut the line off? Just for a moment?" When he was fairly certain the other man had listened to him he continued.
"I get it Elle, I do." He said quietly. "Yer sick and tired of gettin' taken fer granted at home. Yer tired of bein' ignored. Yer plum tired of being a goddamn Guthrie. I get it."
This kind of talk was liable to get him hit by Jay instead of one of the bigots but he persisted. "They make you feel special, they pay attention to you, they thank you. I get it. But I also know how it feels to have to turn a blind eye to the fact that they're hurtin' people. Ellie- I ain't even askin' you to go back to Mama, God knows I didn't. All I'm askin' ya is that you realize yer special enough on yer own and that you don't need a grown man to tell you that....just like I didn't need a woman in her twenties to tell me that when I was yer age." He swallowed hard, vaguely aware of approaching footsteps. "Her name was Lila Cheney, and she messed me up right bad, and I don't want that to happen to you. You can be mad at me all you want hon, so long as I know yer safe."
The footsteps halted and Sam broke eye contact with Joelle to glance behind her. Fuck. He quickly used his powers to put a forcefield around Joelle and Jay. "Gun!"
There may be a gun but it wasn't being held by a sane man. Preacher was a broken man at this point, and the waver in the gun was real. He thought he was holding it straight, but it clearly wasn't as his wild eyes flickered amongst the Guthrie siblings. "Now y'all ain't thinkin' of leavin' without sayin' goodbye, were ya?" At least his voice continued to be the same -- charismatic, loud and stable. "Ain't right. Didn't Mama teach ya better than that?" He tried to give a lazy grin but it amounted to little less than a crazed smile, twitching. "Joelle, girl, come on over back here where you belong. They're no good for you, you know that. The only one who is is me, and I won't ever let you down." He gestured to her. "Come on then. Let's go back to what things were like before. Remember that? When it was good, and just, and kind. Not here, wit' these people, tryin' to lead you astray. Far from God."
"Oh for fuck's sake." Sam grumbled, watching the irresponsible way the other man held the gun. What was it with idiots and firearms? They weren't even difficult to use correctly. "She can make her own decisions. She's a smart girl and she don't have to go with nobody she don't want to."
Paige slowly tried to edge herself in between Joelle and the gun. “Let’s just calm down for a minute and talk this out. No need for anyone to get hurt.”
"Ain't no one gettin' hurt," Preacher drawled. He flicked the tip of his nose in a nervous gesture. "I'm a reasonable man. All I want is what's mine, and that there is Joelle. She's special to me, y'know. Y'all don't appreciate her the way she should be appreciated. She done told me so many a'time, ain't that right, girl? They don't love you like they should. Like a family should. We love you here, jus' the way you are." Again, he motioned with the gun. "Now I ain't gonna ask again. Come here."
Sam's eyes narrowed. "Joelle is perfectly capable of thinkin' fer herself without you tellin' her what to do. And if you ever threaten my little girl again you an' I's gonna have a chat that I don't think you'll like."
Would husking right now make the situation worse? Probably. All Paige could do was try to keep Joelle behind her and a picture of the atomic makeup of titanium in her mind while deescalating the situation so Sam didn't try to fight a man with a gun. No problem...she hadn't been this stressed out since finals week. "Elle, you don't have to listen to him."
Joelle hadn't looked away from Preacher since the man had appeared, though the comments Sam and Paige had made had dimmed her bright expression. "I'll listen to who I want," she murmered, then flushed as she realized how much of a child she sounded like. Shooting a look at Sam, her brows knit together briefly before she turned back to him, trying to smile. "They'll leave, Preacher, ya don't have to point that at them."
"Oh they'll leave alright," he said, licking his lips. "They'll leave, an' you'll stay. You ain't leavin' me, Joelle." He waved his gun again, his eyes flitting across everyone, sizing them up. "You hear?" His voice raised and he again moved the gun around. "You ain't LEAVIN'!"
And then the gun went off, his finger trigger heavy, and he dropped the gun, wincing his eyes tight against the sound of the bullet in the cave.
Paige rushed forward as soon as Preacher started yelling, sensing everything was going south. She husked without thinking about anything aside from becoming bulletproof and came out in some sort of metallic form. Then the gun went off. She heard more than felt the shot ping off her shoulder. Hoping that meant whatever form she had taken really had deflected it for her, Paige grabbed the gun and wrestled it out of Preacher’s grip.
It was one thing to threaten with a gun. It was an entirely other thing to actually use it. There was a reason Preacher had Garibaldi to do his dirty work -- feigned innocence. Preacher had always ensured to keep his hands clean so as to deflect any accusations of wrongdoing. He wasn't a bad guy, it wasn't his fault if his followers did things.
And now he'd shot someone.
He dropped the gun like it was hot coals, and instantly fell to his knees. "Oh Lord, Forgive your servant for I have sinned in Thy name..."
Sam instinctively grabbed for Paige, the barrier he'd put around Joelle and Jay dropping. "Paige!"
Joelle was staring at the gun, shock still clear on her face as she bonelessly slumped against Jay. "Paige?" She croaked out weakly.
Jay held his girl up as Sam grabbed Paige, caught between staring at Paige- who didn't seem to be bleedin' at all, and checking on Jo, holding her the same way he had when she was so much younger and Sam had left and it felt like the world was falling apart again.
The world was falling apart again. "Jo, it's okay, Paige's okay, look..."
Paige husked back into her skin and turned around. “It’s ok, I’m fine, nothing bad happened to me.” Her shoulder stung a bit, probably bruised, but nothing worse than that.
Elle didn’t sigh in relief so much as the air she’d been holding in her lungs finally released. She raised her hands to hold onto Jay, her breathing turned to pants as she tried to make the world stop spinning.
“I wanna go home,” she mumbled.
He held her up and nodded. "Course, Jo-girl, of course. Let's get you home."
Sam, Jay, and Arthur are able to deliver some long overdue justice to an old enemy.
Garibaldi stopped to take in the scene around him, as he took a deep breath of clean air. It was psychosomatic - after all this time, he still took a few deep breaths on leaving the caves, relief at getting out again, after knowing too well how badly caving could go. "God damn, yall. What in the hell were you thinking in there?" He rounded on the man nearest to him. "Were you shot in there?"
Bobby John glared at the other man and instinctually raised a hand to rub at the back of his head where that damned Guthie had bashed it in just a few months prior. "Guthrie don't carry a gun." He hissed. "He'll try an' kill you with jus' his damned hands, fuckin' mutie freak."
"Damn near brought the mountain down on us again, same's he did back when." The simmering rage he'd felt all those years, that mutants could do that, could hurt so many came out and Garibaldi lunged at Guthrie.
Sam was tired but he wasn't stupid, and he knew enough about the Cabots and their ilk to know that they talked about you before they tried to hit you. Which meant he was ready for Garibaldi when the other man tried to lunge at him.
Sam ducked out of the way and let him fall before landing on him hard, keeping him there. "I'd stay down if I was you, I don't carry a gun but I'm told state troopers don't take kindly to folks who kidnap kids."
Sam glared at Bobby John as he kept the other man down. "An' I suppose you think you can buy yer way outta this one too?"
Bobby John spit in Sam's direction. "I ain't got a clue what yer talkin' about."
The Cabot then noticed the younger Guthrie and stormed towards him fists raised. "You shouldn't've come back here faggot."
"They don't take kind to people who kill their own sisters neither," Jay said, moving to try to pin the larger man down. The only reason he didn't hit him is because it wouldn't look good when the troopers came. Everyone already knew about how he beat him back in December. "And God sure don't. You're gonna burn in hell Bobby John Cabot."
Garibaldi wasn't a stupid man. "Ease off," he said to Bobby John. "You want to be seen to be as bad as them when the police arrive? Just ease off." There was no winning in this moment. "We'll call your uncle or cousin that works for the state when we're back in town and we'll be home by morning but only so long as you stop being a damn fool."
The state troopers followed the blonde man to the scene, seemingly more cautious about the rough terrain than the outsider ahead of them. Ahead of them they could see two men being held to the ground by two other men, one with bright red wings the other with a ridiculous pair of goggles on his face. One officer sighed, the paperwork on this was going to be a nightmare.
"You said these men were holding a minor without parental consent?" One officer says to the man ahead of him. "And t'clarify, that's the men on the ground not the uh....men holdin' 'em down?"
"Ah, officer," and the blonde's cheerful tone wasn't a match at all for the situation unfolding, but he addressed the state troopers like this happened every day. "We have evidence that they have been holding abducted youth. Correct of you to point that out." Arthur gestured helpfully at Garibaldi and his men. "You'll recognize him from the images we showed you. He and his men are the ones dressed to match as what looks regretfully like unlawful private militia. How awkward."
"We're the brothers of the abducted youth." Sam supplied, tightening his grip on Garibaldi's wrists. "They tried to jump us after we got our sister outta the caves and so we're holdin' em for ya."
From under Jay, Bobby John squirmed. "Git off me you mutie faggot. Fuckin' brother corruptin' shit fer brains' reason my brother got shot."
"I weren't the one to kill you sister," Jay said, tightening his grip on Cabot a little, shaking in anger at the evocation of Julia after this man had again tried to hurt someone he loved. "You know who that were."
"I AIMED AT YOU." Bobby-John yelled, thrashing against Jay's hold. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KILLT, NOT MY BROTHER."
One trooper ran over to take Cabot from Jay, cuffing him and going through his miranda rights. Once finished, he turned to Jay. "Are you willin' to give us a statement on the event this man just confessed to?"
Another officer approached Sam and cuffed Garibaldi. "And this one?"
"Leader of the hate group that was holdin' our sister." Sam said. "Uh, Sam Guthrie. PI.....in training- I can send over all the surveillance and evidence we turned up in the last few days, and draw ya a rough map of the caves."
"We weren't holding her. Girl was with us voluntarily," Garibaldi interjected. "Seems she found sense and didn't want to be with a pack of freaks."
"I'll answer whatever I need to," Jay said to the trooper, still shaking slightly even though Cabot wasn't under him anymore.
"Joelle is fifteen Sam said pointedly to the officer who had arrested Garibaldi. "She ain't legally old enough to make that decision or be emancipated and one of his men who we ain't been able to track was in a romantic relationship with her. That man's about twenty-five and all we know him as is 'Preacher'....He shot our sister Paige in the caves."
"How many sisters you got, son?" The officer asked.
"Five and three brothers." Sam replied easily. "If it's all the same to you officer, I'd like to go check on my little sister now that you've got 'im in custody."
Arthur was there, then, a flurry of smiles between the officer and any other unfolding narrative. "Sam here is on my team. I've got all of the details you may need, but sounds like we might need to add in assault with a firearm. Whoops."
Behind his back, Arthur gave a signal he hoped meant "remember they're cops, and the plan, and remember that we're still all mutants, and ACAB of course," but that was likely a lot for a hand sign that mostly read as "go find your sister, I got this."
His diverting, cheerful helpfulness didn't break one bit as he continued to speak with the officer in charge.
Sam nodded in Arthur's direction and grabbed Jay gently by the arm. "C'mon, let's go check on the girls."
Lucinda fusses over her children once everyone is back at the house.
Lucinda's hands fluttered slightly at her sides at the sight of the children together. It was like looking at a partially pieced quilt, a few gaping absences that highlighted the unfinished nature of the thing, but enough together that you could see the beauty of what the finished product would be. Would've been. She shook her head at the thought. There were too many people to think those thoughts right now.
"Good, yer all home safe." Her voice was brusque as she gave them a once over with her eyes before stepping up to the individual children. She reached up to ruffle Jay's hair, giving him one of her rare smiles. "Good of ya to come home an help that fool sister of yers."
Jay hugged his Mama to his side, trying to muffle the sound from Joelle who was still coming into the house, shaken as she was. "We're alright enough, Mama," he assured her but glanced at his sisters. "Jo's home safe."
Paige stood beside her brother, rubbing at the shoulder where the bullet had hit. Without enough time to think through her transformation, she hadn't managed to make herself completely bulletproof and a somewhat painful bruise had started to form. She'd live, but it would be a sore few days coming up. "We all made it home safe, more or less."
Lucinda's eyes flicked over Paige briefly only to focus on Joelle tryin to sneak in. "Jo, you fool girl. C'mere." She opened her arms, wrapping the girl in her arms. "I done told you that boy was no good, but sometimes you gotta figure it out yerself." She ran a hand over the girl's hair, eyes watching the others like a hawk as they trickled into the house or down the stairs. "Melody. Y'alright, darlin?"
“‘Course Mama, always am.” Mel replied, carefully looking over Joelle with an indecipherable expression on her face, before glancing over at Paige. She put a hand on her uninjured shoulder and squeezed.
Elle blinked owlishly as her mother embraced her, before she leaned heavily into her arms, eyes cinching shut as she squeezed back. It took effort to regain her posture and stand on her own feet as she let her gaze fall to the floor. She opened her mouth to say anything, but nothing came out. Finally, she looked to Sam, Paige, back to Sam as she tried to say something, her brows drew together. “Sam?”
Sam was at her side in an instant. "Whatcha' need, Ellie?"
"Sorry for making y’all come all the way out here,” Elle mumbled, eyes dropping to his feet.
Sam shook his head and pulled her into a hug, kissing her hair. “Princess…. You ain’t got a thing to be sorry for. I’m just happy yer safe. We ain’t mad at ya darlin’.”
While she’d practically melted into Lucinda’s arms, there was a ramrod stiffness to Elle’s spine in Sam’s embrace, her face unreadable, though she allowed herself to be held. When tears started forming, she closed her eyes tightly, clenching her fists at her side to stop herself from crying. "'m really sorry. 'm sorry, Paige, I didn't mean-"
“It’s ok, Im not upset,” Paige said, joining in the hug. “Just glad you’re safe.” She wished she could have gotten a few more hits in on the guy who had dragged Joelle into that cult.
"Ain't nobody mad at you," Jay assured her again and rubbed Joelle's back a little. "Paigey's talkin' for us all- jes' glad you're home safe." Times like this, he was never sure if he needed to act more big brother or father to Jo.
"Can I hug ya?" He didn't want to overstep- this was probably set off by him having made such a fuss for everyone those months ago. He didn't know if Joelle would even want his touch.
Elle nodded, a cry slipping out before she swallowed it back down, and finally reaching out to gently return her older siblings hugs, touching Jay's arm gently with the tips of her fingers as if she herself was unsure of how to return the embrace. With tears in her eyes, she looked up to Mel between their arms. "Mel?"
Mel, who had been hanging back, content to just watch, finally stepped over to the huddle. “S’okay Elle, yer alright.” She rummaged around in her pockets and pulled out a handkerchief, leaning down to wipe the tears from her sister’s eyes. “It’ll all be alright.”
Joelle laughed through a sniffle, pushing her face lightly against Mel's hand and the cloth. Puffing out the air she hadn't realized she'd been holding in, she inhaled quickly as she stood nestled between her siblings. She tried to swallow back the stupid bout of hiccups that always seemed to come whenever she cried, like an out of breath child. "'m sorry, thanks, thank you," she found herself repeating.
Sam kissed her hair and held her tighter. "'S alright. Ain't a thing to be sorry for. We love you Ellie. Are you okay? Do you need anythin'- want me to get a spoonful'a sugar for ya to get rid of them hiccoughs?"
Mel fought back a yawn as she finished drying Joelle’s tears, brushing a piece of hair that got stuck on her face. “S’been a long day. How abouts we all go an’ get ready fer bed?” She joined the group hug briefly before taking her sister’s hand and slowly leading her, and by extent all her older siblings, towards the stairs. Everyone needed a solid twelve hours she reckoned.
