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xp_logs2004-10-29 11:04 am
x-cable.livejournal.com) wrote in xp_logs2004-10-29 11:04 am
Nathan and Alison, Friday morning, Tournai
Nathan and Alison head for the safehouse in Tournai where they hope to find Foley. Mistra beats them there.
He could feel it from here. They were still a good five miles away from the safehouse, but he'd pushed his scanning range to its max, and there was unmistakably a fight going on at their destination. "Faster," Nathan gritted at Alison, who was in the driver's seat. "Fuck the speed limit--they beat us here."
"Speed limit?" She pushed back in the seat, foot pushing down sharply. "What is that thing you call a speed limit?" The dull road of the engine spiked in response as they ripped down the road, breaking the silence of the peaceful countryside, and then dipped down suddenly as Alison started to pull in the sound. It was hardly a problem keeping things that way when you were with a telepath after all and she had every intention of storing as much of a charge as she could manage before they arrived.
Scanning ahead frantically, Nathan fought through the chaos, trying to lock in on Foley's psi-imprint. But he hadn't been in telepathic contact with Mick for years, and there were too many other minds there, too much agitation...
Then the storm on the astral plane cooled abruptly, and Nathan stiffened in his seat. Cessation of hostilities, that's the only thing that could mean... "They've got him," he hissed, his hand clenching on the handle of the door.
The maps she'd downloaded had covered this region, and had been accurate to the last twelve hours thanks to the satellite download. Without batting an eye Alison flicked off the lights and wrenched the wheel, taking them off road and into a straight line towards the safehouse. She mentally calculated the path before them from the one she'd studied while Nathan was sleeping as they crashed through the undergrowth in completely silence.
They emerged into a field, and Nathan's eyes widened. #Keep going!# he snapped at her telepathically, seeing the two sets of lights. Two helicopters - one rapidly moving out of range, but the other right there, just lifting off...
The first one was too far away already. He couldn't take it out without killing everyone on board, and if Mick was on that one... As Alison sped towards the safehouse already, Nathan lashed out with his telekinesis and yanked the second helicopter back down out of the sky.
#That is a nice clue, is it not?# she thought at him, concentrating on two things - get to where that helicopter would be set down fast and make sure the ride was as smooth as possible while never losing any speed, so that Nathan had an easier time of it.
The aircraft was straining against his grip, and Nathan bit his lip, hard enough to taste blood. No... you... DON'T. Another yank, harder this time, and the helicopter fell fifteen feet and slammed into the ground hard.
The impact shook the ground and Alison narrowed her eyes at the twisted frame of the helicopter, although thankfully it didn't burst into flames. She undid her seatbelt and slipped out of the SUV fast, knowing Nathan would be doing the same, to take advantage of the moment while the occupants were dazed from the sudden relocation from air to ground.
Nathan was drawing his guns as he ran after her. He wasn't going to count on any of them recognizing him, especially if they were dazed from hitting the ground, but visible weaponry might keep them from lashing out at him.
#Shield yourself,# he snapped at Alison, realizing she was going to reach the wreck several steps ahead of him.
The light had already been flickering into life as she heard the words, and she didn't slow down once even as it took shape fully - making her a better target than Nathan at first sight as well, which she knew only too well. Which she discovered only too well as one of the panels was suddenly ripped off its hinges and thrown at her by someone she briefly saw through the whirling sheet of metal. #Nathan, get that.# She narrowed her eyes, keeping a lock on the form to take them out as soon as the plate was yanked out of her firing path.
Nathan pulled the plate aside, and as it clattered on the ground he saw her immediately blast her attacker back into the shadows of the helicopter. Coming around the other side, he scanned the interior. Four occupants. The unconscious pilot and a dead man in the sort of nondescript body armor Mistra technician wore when they had to go out into the field. The unconscious operative Alison had just blasted, and...
...another technician, a woman. She was groaning, stirring in her seat, and Nathan tore the side off the helicopter telekinetically to get at her. Baseline human, he realized, pushing into her mind as he reached in to haul her out of her seat. Medical staff?
Alison cautiously double-checked the one she'd knocked out, noting that his uniform had odd attachments on it that made it different from the others. She didn't worry about it further though, instead checking the other two while Nathan extracted the fourth from the helicopter none too kindly.
Nathan gave the helicopter in the distance an angry look. Too late, he thought and glared down at the woman, who was beginning to stir a little more noticeably. "Where are they taking him?" he spat.
She looked up at him, then moaned in obvious recognition, shrinking away. "I don't... please, don't hurt me, I'm just a medic..."
"Someone working for Mistra of her own free will," Nathan hissed, raising a hand. The woman sobbed as she was levitated into the air, hanging there helplessly. "Reason enough to hurt you, if you ask me."
"Where are they taking him?" Alison asked as she leaned no the side of the downed helipcopter, scanning their surroundings. No one else seemed inclined to wander over and investigate - lovely bit of countryside, this was. She had the feeling this could get ugly very quickly if the woman didn't talk and if Nathan wasn't distracted enough by said talking to not do other things.
"I d-don't know, I'm not privy to operational details--AAAH!" The woman screamed, sobbing hysterically, her eyes locked on her left hand. The sound of bone breaking had been audible, and her index finger was bent at an odd angle.
"One at a time," Nathan growled, his eyes locked on her as he pushed deeper into her mind. She would have had anti-interrogation training, like any other member of the program staff that went out into the field, but if he hurt her enough, she'd think the answer even if she didn't say it. "Every bone in your body, one at a time until you tell me."
The sound drew Alison's attention and she pushed away from the helicopter to stand next to Nathan, turning her back on the woman. #I know you can hear me, Nathan and you better listen well. You break any more bones and I'm out.# Anger blazed through with the words, along with a flat uncompromising undertone. #Work with me. You are not a Mistra agent anymore!#
Nathan glared down at her, wrestling with that burning rage. It was getting ahead of him, the part of him that was still thinking clearly pointed out, and he traced one of the meditative patterns in his mind as he looked back at the woman.
"Or maybe I'll be a little more subtle," he snarled at her as she sobbed. Bluffing this time. Damn it. "Would you like a demonstration of what telekinesis can do to your internal organs?"
Alison didn't relax in the least even though she had seen him get a grip on himself before he turned back to the woman still floating in the air. She kept her body language as neutral as possible - uncaring and bored. "I'm not cleaning up the mess this time," she murmured, looking out towards the helicopter. "And make sure you actually keep her alive long enough to get what we need after you do that this time, will you?" Now, bluffing, Alison could do nicely. It was all acting, after all.
"So what do I start with first?" Nathan snapped, glaring at the woman. "You need your lungs, to have enough breath to talk..." She whimpered, tears coursing down her face. "You know, I have this rather intriguing image of a telekinetic fist closing around your heart. Suppose that'd hurt?"
There. A flash of a building, coordinates on a map - from a briefing?
Alison shifted weight slightly, still not looking at the woman directly - she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep up the act if she actually did that, no matter what the Mistra agent had done. But then the silence went on and she looked up at Nathan curiously to see if he had the information they needed already.
Nathan took a step back, letting the woman drop to the ground where she huddled, weeping. He leaned his head into the wrecked helicopter, his eyes narrowing. The communications equipment exploded in a shower of sparks, and he glanced at the safehouse. "Don't have time to go in there and wreck their comms," he muttered, then turned to Alison. "We need to keep them from reporting back, though..."
"Is there anyone left inside? What are the standard floorplans? Just show me where to hit and I'll slag the thing." Alison eyed the building pensively. "If you need it to go entirely though, I'd just suggest you pointing me at the largest ammo pile there is in there." And this was, of course, provided no one was left alive in the place. She hated the way that thought had turned out, too.
Nathan stared hard at the safehouse, narrowing his eyes again. "Empty," he said, then flashed her the image of the armory, on the west side of the house. "You hit that. I've got to see what else I can get out of her," he said, kneeling down beside the woman. Alison glanced at the safehouse and then down at him, and he shrugged, his expression cold. "We need to burn this exit route anyway. It's compromised."
#Don't break her mind, Nathan.# With that Alison walked to a short distance away, calculating the best angle to fire from based on the mental image she'd just received. After looking over the building a few moments she raised both her arms, one hand cradling the other as though she were holding a gun, and aimed. A thin laser slammed into the wall, stone vaporizing on impact, the armored metal behind it soon following.
As the safehouse exploded in a fireball, the ammo dump going up, Nathan reached out, his fingers brushing the medic's temple. She shivered, weeping, but there was no more resistance and he plunged into her thoughts easily, scanning her memories. Once the fight had moved outside, she had seen it, Foley fighting for everything he was worth in a futile attempt to get away. There had been bodies on the other helicopter, dead members of the retrieval team. Good for you, Mick...
The explosion had been loud, the sound somewhat damped by Alison actively drawing it in once more, thought not nearly enough to muffled it entirely. She moved back to stand beside Nathan and the prone woman, keeping a careful watch on both the Mistra agents unconscious nearby and their surroundings, in case someone came over to investigate things.
"He's not hurt," Nathan said, his voice low as he stood up. "Not badly, at least. They were trying to subdue him. He didn't make it easy. They're taking him to a facility outside Leuven; I've got the coordinates." He spared a glance for the burning safehouse, then looked back at Alison. "Time we called for a ride," he said.
He could feel it from here. They were still a good five miles away from the safehouse, but he'd pushed his scanning range to its max, and there was unmistakably a fight going on at their destination. "Faster," Nathan gritted at Alison, who was in the driver's seat. "Fuck the speed limit--they beat us here."
"Speed limit?" She pushed back in the seat, foot pushing down sharply. "What is that thing you call a speed limit?" The dull road of the engine spiked in response as they ripped down the road, breaking the silence of the peaceful countryside, and then dipped down suddenly as Alison started to pull in the sound. It was hardly a problem keeping things that way when you were with a telepath after all and she had every intention of storing as much of a charge as she could manage before they arrived.
Scanning ahead frantically, Nathan fought through the chaos, trying to lock in on Foley's psi-imprint. But he hadn't been in telepathic contact with Mick for years, and there were too many other minds there, too much agitation...
Then the storm on the astral plane cooled abruptly, and Nathan stiffened in his seat. Cessation of hostilities, that's the only thing that could mean... "They've got him," he hissed, his hand clenching on the handle of the door.
The maps she'd downloaded had covered this region, and had been accurate to the last twelve hours thanks to the satellite download. Without batting an eye Alison flicked off the lights and wrenched the wheel, taking them off road and into a straight line towards the safehouse. She mentally calculated the path before them from the one she'd studied while Nathan was sleeping as they crashed through the undergrowth in completely silence.
They emerged into a field, and Nathan's eyes widened. #Keep going!# he snapped at her telepathically, seeing the two sets of lights. Two helicopters - one rapidly moving out of range, but the other right there, just lifting off...
The first one was too far away already. He couldn't take it out without killing everyone on board, and if Mick was on that one... As Alison sped towards the safehouse already, Nathan lashed out with his telekinesis and yanked the second helicopter back down out of the sky.
#That is a nice clue, is it not?# she thought at him, concentrating on two things - get to where that helicopter would be set down fast and make sure the ride was as smooth as possible while never losing any speed, so that Nathan had an easier time of it.
The aircraft was straining against his grip, and Nathan bit his lip, hard enough to taste blood. No... you... DON'T. Another yank, harder this time, and the helicopter fell fifteen feet and slammed into the ground hard.
The impact shook the ground and Alison narrowed her eyes at the twisted frame of the helicopter, although thankfully it didn't burst into flames. She undid her seatbelt and slipped out of the SUV fast, knowing Nathan would be doing the same, to take advantage of the moment while the occupants were dazed from the sudden relocation from air to ground.
Nathan was drawing his guns as he ran after her. He wasn't going to count on any of them recognizing him, especially if they were dazed from hitting the ground, but visible weaponry might keep them from lashing out at him.
#Shield yourself,# he snapped at Alison, realizing she was going to reach the wreck several steps ahead of him.
The light had already been flickering into life as she heard the words, and she didn't slow down once even as it took shape fully - making her a better target than Nathan at first sight as well, which she knew only too well. Which she discovered only too well as one of the panels was suddenly ripped off its hinges and thrown at her by someone she briefly saw through the whirling sheet of metal. #Nathan, get that.# She narrowed her eyes, keeping a lock on the form to take them out as soon as the plate was yanked out of her firing path.
Nathan pulled the plate aside, and as it clattered on the ground he saw her immediately blast her attacker back into the shadows of the helicopter. Coming around the other side, he scanned the interior. Four occupants. The unconscious pilot and a dead man in the sort of nondescript body armor Mistra technician wore when they had to go out into the field. The unconscious operative Alison had just blasted, and...
...another technician, a woman. She was groaning, stirring in her seat, and Nathan tore the side off the helicopter telekinetically to get at her. Baseline human, he realized, pushing into her mind as he reached in to haul her out of her seat. Medical staff?
Alison cautiously double-checked the one she'd knocked out, noting that his uniform had odd attachments on it that made it different from the others. She didn't worry about it further though, instead checking the other two while Nathan extracted the fourth from the helicopter none too kindly.
Nathan gave the helicopter in the distance an angry look. Too late, he thought and glared down at the woman, who was beginning to stir a little more noticeably. "Where are they taking him?" he spat.
She looked up at him, then moaned in obvious recognition, shrinking away. "I don't... please, don't hurt me, I'm just a medic..."
"Someone working for Mistra of her own free will," Nathan hissed, raising a hand. The woman sobbed as she was levitated into the air, hanging there helplessly. "Reason enough to hurt you, if you ask me."
"Where are they taking him?" Alison asked as she leaned no the side of the downed helipcopter, scanning their surroundings. No one else seemed inclined to wander over and investigate - lovely bit of countryside, this was. She had the feeling this could get ugly very quickly if the woman didn't talk and if Nathan wasn't distracted enough by said talking to not do other things.
"I d-don't know, I'm not privy to operational details--AAAH!" The woman screamed, sobbing hysterically, her eyes locked on her left hand. The sound of bone breaking had been audible, and her index finger was bent at an odd angle.
"One at a time," Nathan growled, his eyes locked on her as he pushed deeper into her mind. She would have had anti-interrogation training, like any other member of the program staff that went out into the field, but if he hurt her enough, she'd think the answer even if she didn't say it. "Every bone in your body, one at a time until you tell me."
The sound drew Alison's attention and she pushed away from the helicopter to stand next to Nathan, turning her back on the woman. #I know you can hear me, Nathan and you better listen well. You break any more bones and I'm out.# Anger blazed through with the words, along with a flat uncompromising undertone. #Work with me. You are not a Mistra agent anymore!#
Nathan glared down at her, wrestling with that burning rage. It was getting ahead of him, the part of him that was still thinking clearly pointed out, and he traced one of the meditative patterns in his mind as he looked back at the woman.
"Or maybe I'll be a little more subtle," he snarled at her as she sobbed. Bluffing this time. Damn it. "Would you like a demonstration of what telekinesis can do to your internal organs?"
Alison didn't relax in the least even though she had seen him get a grip on himself before he turned back to the woman still floating in the air. She kept her body language as neutral as possible - uncaring and bored. "I'm not cleaning up the mess this time," she murmured, looking out towards the helicopter. "And make sure you actually keep her alive long enough to get what we need after you do that this time, will you?" Now, bluffing, Alison could do nicely. It was all acting, after all.
"So what do I start with first?" Nathan snapped, glaring at the woman. "You need your lungs, to have enough breath to talk..." She whimpered, tears coursing down her face. "You know, I have this rather intriguing image of a telekinetic fist closing around your heart. Suppose that'd hurt?"
There. A flash of a building, coordinates on a map - from a briefing?
Alison shifted weight slightly, still not looking at the woman directly - she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep up the act if she actually did that, no matter what the Mistra agent had done. But then the silence went on and she looked up at Nathan curiously to see if he had the information they needed already.
Nathan took a step back, letting the woman drop to the ground where she huddled, weeping. He leaned his head into the wrecked helicopter, his eyes narrowing. The communications equipment exploded in a shower of sparks, and he glanced at the safehouse. "Don't have time to go in there and wreck their comms," he muttered, then turned to Alison. "We need to keep them from reporting back, though..."
"Is there anyone left inside? What are the standard floorplans? Just show me where to hit and I'll slag the thing." Alison eyed the building pensively. "If you need it to go entirely though, I'd just suggest you pointing me at the largest ammo pile there is in there." And this was, of course, provided no one was left alive in the place. She hated the way that thought had turned out, too.
Nathan stared hard at the safehouse, narrowing his eyes again. "Empty," he said, then flashed her the image of the armory, on the west side of the house. "You hit that. I've got to see what else I can get out of her," he said, kneeling down beside the woman. Alison glanced at the safehouse and then down at him, and he shrugged, his expression cold. "We need to burn this exit route anyway. It's compromised."
#Don't break her mind, Nathan.# With that Alison walked to a short distance away, calculating the best angle to fire from based on the mental image she'd just received. After looking over the building a few moments she raised both her arms, one hand cradling the other as though she were holding a gun, and aimed. A thin laser slammed into the wall, stone vaporizing on impact, the armored metal behind it soon following.
As the safehouse exploded in a fireball, the ammo dump going up, Nathan reached out, his fingers brushing the medic's temple. She shivered, weeping, but there was no more resistance and he plunged into her thoughts easily, scanning her memories. Once the fight had moved outside, she had seen it, Foley fighting for everything he was worth in a futile attempt to get away. There had been bodies on the other helicopter, dead members of the retrieval team. Good for you, Mick...
The explosion had been loud, the sound somewhat damped by Alison actively drawing it in once more, thought not nearly enough to muffled it entirely. She moved back to stand beside Nathan and the prone woman, keeping a careful watch on both the Mistra agents unconscious nearby and their surroundings, in case someone came over to investigate things.
"He's not hurt," Nathan said, his voice low as he stood up. "Not badly, at least. They were trying to subdue him. He didn't make it easy. They're taking him to a facility outside Leuven; I've got the coordinates." He spared a glance for the burning safehouse, then looked back at Alison. "Time we called for a ride," he said.