Logs [Alison, Haroun] Going to Mexico seemed like a good idea at the time!

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Continuing the mad log posting of doom spree... Saturday, around noon, at the beach (the real one!) Revisiting the beach house Alison took the Terrible Three at last year, a few familiar faces cameo once more. Featuring interesting reading, the sun and cute moppets of doom. (Oh yes, let's not forget the misplaced paranoia!)



Mexico was an interesting place, Haroun had decided. He didn't speak the language and he sure didn't care for the way they led their lives, but the country did have its charms. Primary among them would be this lovely private beach, right on the Gulf of Mexico. Warm sand, blue waters, and a very scandalously-dressed songbird on a lounge chair not two feet away with her nose buried in a book. Which suited him fine - a little downtime, especially after the nightmare of Proteus, was just what the doctor ordered. She wasn't even giving him too much crap about his reading habits - sure, she'd teased him about it, but he was expecting that. Was it his fault that given the nature of his screwed-up life all he wanted to read about was people being happy together? Sure, it'd never be confused for Deathless Prose, and the main consumers were apparently bored housewives, but dammit, here and there he'd find a piece of writing that really appealed to him. And besides, he could always make up for it with yet another Mack Nolan book or one of their ilk. Not well-written, true, but he appreciated them for what they were nonetheless.

The sun was warm and even though the tan from her permanent glow ball stint had faded to something far more normal by now, it was enough for her to not worry overmuch about the sun exposure she was undergoing just now - warm and toasty was just too much fun and she'd put on enough suntan lotion to not be concerned about going back to the life of the over-toasted. She peeked over the book she was ready, sunglasses slipping  a bit lower down her nose, lips quirking just a bit at the lurid cover of the novel Haroun was currently reading. Entranced, he was. It made one wonder as to who else might have secret addictions which would cause someone to gape in disbelief. The thought of, oh, Remy being deathly addicted to soap operas was entirely too amusing, for one. Highly improbable, but amusing. She gave herself just a bit longer of looking at him time before speaking.

"This is nice," she murmured, still peeking over the edge of both book and sunglasses and not at all at the book he was holding, at least once he looked up at her.

Haroun looked up to see Alison staring at him. Reflexively, he dropped his book so that she couldn't see the cover anymore. "It is." he said, streeeeetching just a little. "Warm beach, cool drinks, you, no reality-warping genejokes to spoil all the fun ... just what the doctor ordered. I'm actually in a good mood for once." he joked.

He had been, actually, remarkably relaxed ever since they'd arrived - considering the New Year's events and some of the tenseness since, it had been a pleasant thing to see. "Mmmm." Okay, so she was ogling. She was perfectly entitled to do so, as well. Maybe taking a small break from intensive training had been a good idea. Even if she was going to go jogging down the beach later. "We were lucky we could get the place on short notice." Her gaze wandered towards the open sea, then down towards the right just a bit - not quite making it to area where the caves were.

"You're lucky, rather. I never could have come within a hundred miles of this place on my own." he corrected her absently. He absently looked where she was looking - too many years of fieldcraft and a finely-grained reflexive paranoia demanded it, if nothing else. "So what's down that way?" he asked idly, then reached down and took a big drink of his now-lukewarm lemonade. "Hey, this is getting warm. Think you're up for some laser cooling, or have you not puzzled out how that works yet?"

"Friend of the family," she replied. The one she was still getting news from, now and then, regarding her parents - other than the local news articles about them or the social pages. "Caves are down that way." Alison looked fully in that direction for a moment, then focused entirely on him, frowning just a touch. "Laser cooling? No, not yet. Training sort of got fubared," which was pointing out the obvious, "and I'm not exactly done going through everything I already knew just to make sure I've got it down right again. Should soon though." She'd better, at that.

"Fair enough." he said with a shrug. "I've been working the Room pretty hard. You can check my progress under the Jetstream Advanced Deficiencies Correction folder. It should all be there - programs, pre-op, post-op, commentary, the whole deal. Plus a report on medical consumables used." he said matter-of-factly. He finished off his warmish lemonade and then returned to his book, trying very hard to lose himself in the goings-on of Beautiful but Hapless People and keep his mood north of surly.

Grn. "I've been following the updates you've been making," she answered mildly, not glaring into her book. She remembered the last crash and burn too well. He'd been doing good work in theory, but most of the items of concern he'd been listing in his reports were of the 'can't blow up a mountain' nature which was of the not so good persuasion and more of the butting head into wall exercise. And the actual exercises had been along the lines of pushing too hard. Right - item to discuss again, once the vacation was over. And as distractions went, she had the perfect one. "I think I'm going to turn around. Mind helping me with my back?" She leaned over to retrieve the bottle of suntan lotion from under the long chair, offering it to him casually.

Haroun grinned and put his book down. "It's a hard life, but I'll persevere." he said with a put-upon sigh and walked over to where she lay on her stomach. He grabbed the lotion bottle and began to slowly, slowly cover her back with lotion. She had such fair skin, it would be a terrible for her to get burned. Her tan was down from a rich dark brown to a much lighter shade, and he found it difficult to regret that. Much.

"So, any plans for this evening?" he asked her as he rubbed lotion into her skin.

She grinned impishly at that, even as she stretched slowly under his touch - there was something quite simply divine about this sort of thing and if purring had been within the range of the possible, she'd be doing that just now. "Let's see... you, me. An isolated house on the beach, not falling asleep all over the place too much from training like a mad training thing..." She trailed off and peeked over her shoulder at him, still feeling a bit sheepish about having done that. Again.

It was lovely on Haroun's part - there was no problems with the touch-sensitivity of his hands, and Alison was quite rapidly building back up to the delicious mix of hard and soft that he had fallen for. And she loved it when he touched her - he'd been around her long enough now to know that. Even with all the crap in their lives, there was always that. He smiled at her when she twisted around to look at him.

"So how private is this private beach?" he asked with a grin, flicking one of the shoulder straps of her bikini with a grin. "Is it just private, or is it very private?"

"It is very, very private," she replied with a low chuckle - the advantage to not longer being the public figure was the noticeable lack of paparazzi skulking in the water in scuba diving gear, for one. "Of course, you just put suntan lotion all over me." And suntan lotion had to be the most horrible tasting thing this side of creation.

"Woe." he said, in a steadily-improving version of her own voice and accent. "However, there's a rather large body of water maybe fifty feet thataway." he said, gesturing to the Gulf of Mexico. "And this sunscreen will wash off." he added with a grin. "And if the beach is private, then I suspect that the water's even more so." he added.

She laughed at that, waiting only until he'd removed both of his hands to turn around and push herself to a sitting position. Good views were a default no matter what he looked at too, when she wore this particular bikini, and she didn't even bother to show that off - no assistance needed there. "No sunscreen on my lips, mmm?" She reached up to draw him closer, figuring the Quest to Get Something Happening (Finally!) merited some attention after all the work she'd been doing.

The low, childish giggle that drifted into hearing a few seconds later proved to be true to form, the Quest strewn with pitfalls.

Haroun was just starting to really warm up into things when he heard the giggle. Breaking the kiss but not moving an inch, he looked at Alison. "I thought this was a private beach. Very private." he said under his breath. "So why do I hear children?"

"Because we need to invest in a bomb shelter?" she asked contemplatively, tilting her head to the side just a bit. Another giggle and she froze - she recognized that giggle. "We're doomed. It's the Moppet Brigade." Slowly, Alison looked to the side to try and get a good angle to observe the gigglers. Sure enough, a blonde, sun bleached head with bright blue eyes peeking out of freckled face was there. Sticking further out was an older, darker skinned and black haired girl. "Amy and Lucinda." Alison smiled at them in welcome (was there anything else she could do?) and murmured sotto-voiced to Haroun. "Watch out for Amy. She's the dangerous one."

"Dangerous how?" he murmured back. "Is she a mutant?" He slowly disentangled himself from Alison and turned to face the source of the giggling. To keep your back turned to a potential enemy was to invite said enemy to stick a knife in it. This way, he'd at least hopefully see the knife coming.

A six year old girl pushed up further from behind the small dune they'd been using as cover (somewhat) and Amy directed an utterly impressed look at him before focusing on Alison again. Seeing that the attention didn't involve dark scowls and warning shouts, Amy scrambled forward a bit more, somehow ending up right next to Alison by the time she was done. "Hola Alison! Is Miles here? We saw you were back and know you took Miles away to live with you and did he come to visit?" With a heavy sigh Lucinda edged closer as well, keeping a close eye on the younger girl, while giving both Haroun and Alison a somewhat sheepish wave of her hand.

"She's not." Which was the best way to let him know the girl wasn't a mutant, and simply relied on being the cutest thing in creation to get her way. The impressed look at him had also been part of the opening gambit, from the way Lucinda had rolled her eyes at it. "Nooo, he's not here I'm afraid, kiddo. Just the two of us here."

Haroun looked at the children impassively. Fairly well-fed, energetic, with bright eyes undulled from drink or drugs or abuse. Sounds like they had things pretty good, for dune rats. He could resist cute - he'd seen far too many cute moppets wired to explosives or bearing poisoned knives to take a pretty pair of eyes for granted.

Amy stared back at him just as frankly, obviously entirely curious about him. She spoke to Alison as she continued however, though the new that Miles wasn't there clearly had effect. "Ooh. But we're glad to see you too!" It was clear there had been (and still was) a proprietary interest in the small, green boy. Lucinda rolled her eyes again, muttering something lowly in Spanish before speaking up in an accented English. "I apologize for her manners. Don't look at me like that Amy, you always act like you own the world." And her elder brother wasn't there to be fooled by it too. "We were just wondering how he was doing, since we snuck him out of the freak show." The memory of that drew scowls from both children - along with a glance towards the caves which had distracted Alison earlier.

Right about then Haroun was cursing his decision to give Alison some privacy where her son was concerned. He had no idea what the score was, although it was apparent that these two dune rats had something to do with things. He decided to play it smart - clam up, let Alison do the talking, and be ready to move in an instant if things demanded it. Just to be absolutely ready, he started the 'ware's wake-up cycle, prepping it to go in an instant.

Alison looked towards the caves as well, this time not bothering to try and pretend to be casual about it. A sidelong look towards Haroun, the tenseness obvious if you knew how to look, and she smiled a bit, reaching out to pat his shoulder lightly. "Why don't I go get some lemonade? You two can tell Haroun about it, while I'm doing that." Amy smiled brightly at that, both the offer of lemonade and the chance to recount their exploits far too wonderful a concept. Echoed "Yes please!" answers were immediate, followed by both girls turning attentive looks towards Haroun as Alison wrapped a beach sarong loosely about her hips before heading off in the direction of the beach house with an amused glance at Haroun.

He was going to kill her. No two ways about it. If she came back to find blood and cybernetic lubricant staining the beach it was solely her own fault. "So." Haroun said, squatting effortlessly in front of the two girls - keeping them close-by and within eyeshot and reach. "Tell me the story."

Complete and unwavering attention was clearly nothing less than Amy had been expecting, Haroun rewarded with an approving look for his effort. Lucinda rolled her eyes at that, again, though there was clearly a smile trying to sneak out from the mask of solemnity the older girl bore around her constantly.

"We helped Miles escape from the freak show!" Amy bobbed up and down, clearly pleased about having the chance to tell the story to a captive audience. Lucinda perched on the long chair Alison had left free while making her escape, clearly ready to pitch with details as soon as Amy ran out of breath. "They came to town last year and stayed for a long time! But we didn't know about Miles or the other kids! And we didn't like going, because everything was so sad there, but one day Francisco's papa told others at the cantina about how he'd seen little kids locked up but no one believed him. But we checked. Because what if he was right?"

Lucinda nodded gravely at that, anger glimmering in her eyes at the memory. "There were many niños." She paused, then looked sheepish. "But we thought Miles was an alien."

"Niños?" Haroun asked, unfamiliar with the term. "And I've seen shows like the one you're describing myself, so I have to say that by helping Miles escape you did the right thing." Still didn't mean they weren't going to develop a taste for suicide bombing or poisoned knives in the dark. "And if you didn't know about mutants I can see why you would think Miles was an alien." Maybe that was just it. Miles was actually an alien! It made sense, in a very silly sort of a way.

"Children," Lucinda translated quickly, before Amy could and then look smug about it at her. "It took us a while," she added, knowing Amy would want to tell the story further - and not minding one bit really. She was proud of what they'd done. And it had been very hard. "Amy's brother got a job helping with the cleaning and some of the other boys started to pitch in with the odd thing too."

Amy nodded at this, taking up the tale as soon as Lucinda paused. "We had to pretend to be dumb kids - though no one pays attention to littles like me, too!" This was clearly a mixed point for Amy, though Lucinda didn't seem to mind overmuch. "And my brother is big and strong. And the plan was good!" Shooting Lucinda a warning look, the little girl then turned back to face Haroun. "They didn't need that fence. And they were bad people anyway. They've come back but we've stayed away from them this year."

Haroun smiled outwardly, but inwardly his defenses screamed to full readiness. "More fool they, for not paying attention." he commented. He didn't think either of them were packing weapons, but as they'd just recounted to him they could be resourceful. Luckily, with their slight bodymass, a single kick should take them out fairly easily.

"Your brother dented my father's truck," Lucinda muttered, still feeling aggrieved at the yelling that had followed with the discovery of the dent on the following morning. "I got yelled at!" Bragging about saving the little boy from the freak show would not have been a good way to get out of being yelled at. Her uncle had liked the money the employees of the place had brought in at the store.

"It got the cage out! And then opened!" Amy turned back to Haroun after that vigorous protest, the fate of the truck clearly unimportant to her. "And it was worth it to get Miles out. We had to wait until he was strong enough though so we snuck food to him first. And then when we got him out we took him to our caves." Amy turned and pointed past the beach, to the caves further off.

"The bad people were veryvery angry." Lucinda's comment was hushed and both girls went quiet at that, Amy huddling a bit closer to the older girl.

"I'm sure they were. Yet you're both here, and Miles is safe." He commented dryly. This was getting more and more uncomfortable the longer he sat here and listened to these children prattle on. He longed to go find Alison, make her deal with the children. Anything other than just sitting there.

A beaming smile answered that, Amy clearly ready to go with that line of thought and not worry about the rest, though Lucinda still maintained a level reserve. A small push from Lucinda edged her away though but before she could protest, the dark haired girl tilted her head towards the beach house. "You should go check on Alison and the lemonade. She will need help bringing it back." This was, apparently, all that was needed to send Amy off, though a final brilliant smile was awarded to Haroun before she skipped her way on the hot sands to the less heated stairway leading off the beach.

Lucinda turned a dark-eyed gaze on Haroun, and then crossed her legs on the long chair. "Amy is very loud." The ten year old shrugged. "Adults usually don't mind, except for my uncle, but we stay away from him. And she sneaks me into her room at night when I get kicked out of the house and has a good heart."

Haroun nodded. Where was she going with this? She'd just worsened the odds, which was a point in his favor. Of course, it was possible that he was being paranoid and volatile, but in the circles he moved in, paranoid and volatile people blended right in. "Alison won't mind." he said in his best attempt to be reassuring.

A sudden, wide grin greeted that. "Alison knows exactly what Amy is up to and finds it amusing." It had been fun to watch last year, that, because it had meant that more often than not, Amy had ended up doing the very thing she didn't want doing. Except when she cheated. The smile faded, Lucinda's expression going back to neutral reserve again. "If you'd prefer, I can go help Alison and Amy with the lemonade," she offered. "We made you uncomfortable."

"In my line of work, where I come from, children are often used as weapons." he admitted. "A bomb, a poisoned knife, or merely as a distraction. I have no use for children right now. You should go talk to Alison. She loves children." he told her sadly. "She will give you lemonade and tell you comforting lies of what the future holds."

A shrug greeted that, though there was something perhaps akin to pity that flickered briefly in Lucinda's eyes before being replaced by determination. "You are not there now. And I will make my own future. I do not need anyone to tell me what it will be. " She slid off the long chair and smoothed down the hem of her shirt, dusting grains of sand off. "I will go help with the lemonade now."

"You do that." he said, and stood facing the house, ears cocked in case Alison needed him for anything. How she put up with the inanities and the incessant babble was beyond him.


~*~


An experiment in a slightly different format. Scenes from a B&E, from the planning stage to the aftermath.

Because we need a Plan first...
In which Alison finds out that the freak show is still there, and isn't about to leave well enough alone. What, did you think Haroun of all people would stop her?


Beach House ~ Saturday, 2 pm.

"So you're telling me that the girls told you the freak show is back." Yes, she was repeating herself, but the news had stopped her dead in her tracks and she was still trying to fight the 'run out door to inflict mayhem upon people very much deserving oodles of mayhem inflicted upon them' impulse. Well, somewhat. Haroun blocking the door leading outside sort of helped with the not racing out the door. A little bit.

Haroun nodded. "Yep." he said. "But we can't just go charging in and beat everyone up and save the day." he pointed out. "We need a Plan. Intelligence. Recon. An idea of what we're up against."

He was being sensible damn it. Shifting her weight, Alison conceded the point. Even if she was still eyeing the door longingly. "Right. Think. Be reasonable. Plan." Blowing them up could have been a good plan. Right - Nathan was clearly a bad influence on her, she decided, the moment afterwards, and sighed loudly, shoulders slumping a bit. "They'll have some form of security now, as opposed to last year. They'd still have the front they did then though, since looking all slick and high-tech wouldn't work with what they're doing. They'll have the local enforcement bribed to look the other way again - they did last year, I just bribed them more and it help long enough to get Miles out of the country." She stopped, considering the options.

Haroun stepped out of the doorway and over to the dining room table. "Look. Do you have a camera with you? A good one?" he asked Alison. "Because if you do I can do aerial photography of the layout. Then I'll go in as a tourist, since they don't know me, and check for security and readiness. Then we'll take that information and plan an assault on the complex or an assassination or whatever we need to do." he said plainly.

"No assassinations," Alison frowned at that, shaking her head. "If they have a new lot of kids, finding out how they control them without Miles there and getting them out is priority number one. Intel, also. Too many hints that there's more to this than a simple traveling show." She turned on her feet and headed for the bedroom, coming back soon afterwards with a digital camera in hand, the case for the zoom hanging from her arm. "Camera. I'll call in before you leave to do the aerial scouting and let Scott know what's up." It was still an open case in the Database - she doubted they'd get a 'no go' vote on checking things out.

"Hey, if we could bump one guy off to save a dozen or more, that's a trade I'd make in a heartbeat." he said, taking the camera from Alison. "But we need to get the lay of the land before we start planning for anything. And do you know what the heat sensitivity is on this thing? Never mind, I'll bring the gloves just to be safe. Do it at twilight - dark enough to hopefully avoid attention, but light enough to get good pictures."

"I could use the image inducer," Alison suggested. "Just observe the comings and goings from the outside, see if they have security of any kind. Last time I saw the place was from afar but it didn't look like much then. There's still a lot you can hide in a trailer." She blessed the habit she had of bringing the inducer with her, still. "And we'll need to see what we can improvise as equipment here." Well. That was the start of a plan.

Haroun frowned a bit at that. "Is it fully charged? It's a risk, to go in wearing an inducer. Might be an acceptable one, though." he said with a thoughtful look. "Anyway. If you want to go do ground intel feel free. I'll do the aerial stuff in a few hours, and we spend tonight planning our raid." he said with a nod of finality. "Get in, get what we need, make some chaos, get out. Too bad Wanda isn't here - she'd be perfect for that assignment." he mused.

"Everyone would be useful for this one way or another," Alison pointed out, though she was nodding in agreement at his words. "It's only the two of us, though." She grinned, suddenly. "I think we can manage to put a few wrenches in the works just fine on our own."

Haroun grinned. "True." he said. "OK, we've got a plan. Take the Jeep and the Inducer, go check the place out on the ground. I'll take care of the air angle, and we'll meet back here at, let's see, 7PM? To do the plan?"

Taking out the spare flash cards she'd stashed in one of the folds of the sarong tied at her waist, Alison dropped them on the table next to the camera. "Yes. Recon, then regroup here so that Part 2 of the Plan can be figured out based on what we've found." All that was left to do was to get changed, call up Scott to let him know and then they'd be set.


The Waiting Part
In which, once the recon is done, our dynamic duo (you know I had to say that) find themselves having to wait. The usually calm one is not, the usually headstrong one behaves. Shock! Astonishment!


Beach House ~ Saturday, 8.13pm

Haroun snarled at Alison as she paced for the forty-ninth time. He'd been counting. "SIT DOWN already!" To keep himself amused, he had one of the escrima sticks he usually traveled with (doesn't everyone?) twirling in one hand idly.

"I already tried sitting down," Alison pointed unhelpfully, trying to at least stand in place and not fidget. Failing miserably at that, she resumed the pacing, eyeing the escrima stick twirling from the corner of her eye. "I told you I was bad about waiting sometimes. And I'm a heck of a lot better now than I used to be." Pre-concert set-ups had been a nightmare unless someone managed to find something to keep her busy. In this case, having nothing to do but weight and the fact that it was this particular subject... well. Alison thought she was allowed a little pacing.

Haroun flicked out the escrima stick and lightly thwapped it against Alison's butt. "You are driving me insane. Stand up or sit down, but make up your mind! Show a little discipline." he grumbled. He then went back to twirling the stick, doing quick mid-air figure eights.

She paused in mid step at the thwap and then took a deep breath, trying not to grumble out loud. Not his fault she was bad about the waiting. But if she was going to sit down, she needed something to keep her busy. She eyed the mid-air patterns he was throwing the stick in, then reached out, snagging it in mid-flight. The twirl she gave it as she sat down on the couch facing him was noticeably different in technique. "Sitting now. I just need to keep busy." The planning was done, she knew, but it was the target of the mission itself that was driving her to distraction like this.

Haroun watched Alison twirl the escrima stick with a look of disgust. "Where did you learn that?" he asked her. "You do it like this." he said, pulling his other stick out from his bag and snapping it into a quick block-strike-block-strike combination. "Your way is just useless."

The reaction to what she had been doing drew a sudden laugh from her. "Baton twirling, Haroun." A pause. "Cheerleading. Which hey, had been called useless often enough, yes. And this is more along the lines of what a drummer would do," she modified the grip slightly and gave the stick another twirl, which didn't draw much more appreciation. Grinning by now, she gave the pattern he'd just shown her a try, after changing her grip on the stick to match his. And then went through it again, trying to get the right snap to it. "Huh."

"Cheerleading?" he asked with puzzlement. "What's that? And yeah, the Jew taught me some basic stick-fighting. It's all in the wrist. You'd like it - it's good for small fast people." he explained. "And you need to snap your wrist more - it's a sharp explosive motion, not this lollygagging thing you seem to be fond of."

"Cheerleading isn't used to beat people up, y'know," she pointed out amiably. "I didn't last long at it because I didn't want to put up with the team captain, but you still had to be decent with a baton before auditioning." She paused. "Right. Football. Those girls in skimpy suits on the sidelines doing the bouncy routines? Cheerleaders." She snapped the stick out again, snapping the wrist this time. "Okay. I could maybe like this."

"There aren't girls in skimpy suits in football. I would have watched more of it if there were." he said with more confusion. "And that's better, but I think you can do it faster. Like this." he said, and snapped his stick out in a very fast strike. "It'll come with practice."

"Yes there are. I'm not talking about soccer, I'm talking about American football. I'll show you when we get back - actually, never mind. I'm not showing you." Alison snickered at that - well at least she was starting to relax a bit now. She stood up to repeat the motion this time, taking up a better stance to do so, adjusting her grip just a bit before doing so again. And again. This had a lot of potential, she decided, not looking at the clock. "Show me some more while we wait?"

"No." he said with a grin, leaning back in his chair. "You have to show me American football cheers first." he said. He then reached out and took the escrima stick from her, so that he had both of them. "Since you brought it up. Do you have anything suitable in your bag to wear?"

Grr. Foiled. Hands twitching, Alison flopped back down on the couch again. "Picked up black pants in town. I have a tank top in my bags somewhere, but that's it." There hadn't been much time for shopping considering the fact that she'd had a few other things to do that took priority at that moment. "Found something long sleeved and dark in storage. Natalie won't mind me borrowing it."

"Make do. Show me one of these cheers you were talking about." He said, leaning back in preparation to enjoy the show. "Then you can have both sticks and practice to your little heart's content before we have to go raid the bad guys."

Alison snickered at herself. He'd meant skimpy and suitable for cheerleading, she realized. She couldn't help having a one track mind about what they were about to do, really! "Uh huh. Dangling a carrot in front of my nose, are you?" She rose to her feet and leaned forward to tweak his nose lightly, before taking a few steps back, making sure she had enough room for one of the basic routines. "Let's see if I can remember this..."

Haroun put the sticks on the floor. She was so antsy and needed something to do to keep her mind off her nervousness. This seemed to be the perfect way to let her blow off steam.


Backstage Passes for the Freak Show
Of course there was going to be a welcoming committee. Well. More like a "we'd much rather you stay and in fact we insist!" committee. We blame the damn monkey.


Freak Show Grounds ~ Sunday, 12.30am.

Breaking into the trailer and getting the actual files hadn't been that hard. It had been moved into the middle of the show grounds, as they had learned it was every night, presumably because it was simple routine. That it also provided the security equipment within, far more advanced than what any traveling show had any right to have, the chance to scan the entire grounds was of course only a detail. They'd bypassed the security system in place just fine though and the download to Alison's portable had gone without a hitch, even though the data was encrypted six ways from Sunday from what they'd seen.

It had been the trip back out, right before they reached the area where the children were locked up, which had proved a bit more problematic. Alarm monkeys weren't exactly run of the mill, as security features went. And the damn thing had been loud. And fast. And utterly out of sight within a second flat.

Turning to avoid a hit to the backpack snuggly attached to her back, Alison nabbed a wrist and obligingly pulled, sending one of the workers surrounding them slamming into the side of a trailer, the shovel he'd been holding falling to the floor as the impact knocked him out. "More noise. Ah, lovely," Alison stated, turning around. And paused, staring up. And up. "Oookay. That would be the strong man."

Haroun had his own playmate - one extremely overweight and brutally strong man. "And his brother." Haroun said with a grin before planting one foot and driving the other deep into the much bigger man's solar plexus. Textbook side kick, perfectly executed. Too bad this bozo hadn't read the book. Haroun might have been forced to get creative if that happened. The gagging sounds that the man made as he folded reeked of cheap tequila and beans.

"And he's a little ripe." Haroun said the man folded and collapsed.

"Big." That was all Alison could clearly state, because there was a lot of the man she still had to look up to make out - that he bloody well kept growing was unfair, and from the smirk on his face he knew it. Hastily, she scrambled out of reach as best she could, but still ended up hitting the floor hard as a fist whirred above her head. Her very brief hope that the man now being locked in a small space for him to maneuver in would be disadvantage proved ruined quickly. He was agile and quick for his size, clearly having practiced moving in the now limited space afforded to him.

"Oh great. We get the smart one." Something entirely unpleasant was suggested to her in Spanish and Alison decided this one had to go down fast. If only because he did seem to be the last of the reserves they had as well, and the children needed out. As well as being an extremely rude person in general. "A little help here!" she called out, the heel swiping towards her truly looking as though it might be as big as she was. How did you block a kick attached to a heel bigger than you were? Right. Maybe she could get him to keep taking swings at her long enough to position him so that the large wooden support strut was oh, behind him.

Haroun looked over to where Alison was scrambling away from her own partner. "Hasn't anyone taught you how to fight a big man?" Haroun asked, before a vicious low round kick smacked into the back of the big man's knee, sending him crashing down to the ground, narrowing avoiding smothering Alison at the same time. "He's all yours." He said, looking around for a new playmate. Not seeing one, he turned his attention back to Alison and the Goliath.

"I was working on it! There's big and then there's oh my dear god big!" And of course, bantering before the enemy clearly wasn't approved of, from the ugly look they were on the receiving end of. The mutter in Spanish seemed to involve the words 'squashed like bugs' too. "Not everyone can kick like you do, you know." This time the dodges and moving further away had a definite purpose, at least one that Haroun could see. "Don't suppose I could talk you into kicking something this time?" Gah, dodging that was a good idea and Alison did so, getting the confirmation that the fist was indeed as big as she was.

Haroun grinned. "What, this one too big for you?" he said disbelievingly, kicking him in the knee again to make him fall down just as he was clambering back to his feet. "Stay down, asshole." Haroun told the big Mexican before returning his attentions to Alison. "He's right there. Put him away and let's GO!"

Alison sighed and straightened up. "Fine, plan b since you won't kick the pole there for me." She straightened up and yanked on the cable attached to the wall she's been making her way along, unraveling the slip knot neatly. It was rather nice watching the far too big man's eyes widen, even as the sound of rope running through a metal hoop rang through the area, along with the sound of something possibly bigger falling down towards him. The netted equipment stored above clanged neatly upon the head underneath it and was followed by the sound of a body crashing to the ground permanently seconds later. "Little itty bitty fists do not mean zip on a head the size of a Jeep, dear. Not for me," Alison muttered, stalking up to join him. They were very much upping the team work and tactics when they got back, she decided. They both needed it.

"And the head is the only target?" he said with great amusement as four more men rushed into the tent. Home-grown talent - strong, but big, slow, and dumb. Perfect for intimidating the locals, but against a trained fighter?

Dogmeat.

Haroun settled into a loose ready stance and waited for the beef to  rush him. Sure enough, they obliged him with a hollered battle-cry. The first one ate a carbon-fiber alloy foot to the solar plexus, the second a stiff hand to the throat, the third got his feet swept out from under him, and the fourth got axe-kicked in the shoulder, driving him to his knees to clutch uselessly at the very obviously broken limb.

All this time, and he got a big grin on his face that threatened to swallow his head entirely.

Alison was perfectly content to let him have his fun - four opponents, untrained, Haroun could easily handle. He was better than her. And that gave her the time to pick the lock leading to where the kids were kept, along with the room which held the drugs they were being kept docile with, which they'd been able to figure out from notes in the trailer. No more power suppressant kid? Develop drugs to do your dirty work. Lovely.

It was really tempting to laser the lock to nothing, but the no powers restriction (mostly imposed on her due to how damn particular laser fire was) held her back. The place was a decidedly odd blend of high-tech and low-tech which was driving her mad, but at least it meant she could get them through this door, as proven by the loud click of the lock. "We're in. Done playing?"

Haroun had just stomped the guy with the ruined shoulder's bad shoulder, which put him down and out. "Sure." he said, not even breathing hard. "I'm a little disappointed - good help must be so hard to find these days." he said, motioning to the five unconscious and/or moaning men on the ground around him. "They'll live, in case you're curious. Zero fatalities, although that throat-shot was a little rushed. Getting sloppy in my old age." he said with a shake of his head.

Alison tilted her head, glancing around the room - no reinforcements rushing in too, which meant they either had enough time to do the last, yet most important, task on their agenda or that there was even bigger trouble coming up. "Takes more skill to knock them out without killing them," she pointed out, since she had very very insistently argued for no fatalities before they'd started this. She gestured at the door, suddenly more urgent. "Kids. Drugs to neutralize. Doors to open. Let's go."

"Sloppy equals dead eventually. It's just a matter of time." he said, then walked around the bodies to join her before the lock. "You need me to break that open for you?" he asked with a grin. "Piece of cake."

Alison leaned on the frame of the door, and then reaching out to turn the lock gently. It clicked lowly, in the way only an unlocked door would. "Said we were in. May be no powers for me, but I can picklock something like this juuust fine," she purred, waggling her fingers at him. She sobered up just as quickly as before, and after a nod of confirmation, swung the door open.


All in a day's work
Beach house, sweet beach house. The night's work is (almost) done and there's only a few details left to wrap up.Patching things up and noting things down would be the usual routine, yes.


Beach House, 3.30 am

"Ow."

The remark was absent-minded really, Alison never pausing in her typing as she wrote out the report, pausing now and then to remember a small detail or double check what she'd wrote. She was tired and her arm ached a bit, more so when a certain Moor poked at it, but she wanted to get this done while the memory was still very fresh in her mind. And then there was all that beautiful encrypted date stored on the partitioned part of her hard drive, just waiting to be handed over to the intel types at the mansion.

"Hold still." he growled as he maneuvered the tweezers to pick the wooden splinters out of the gash in her arm. "You want me to get this crap out of your arm or not?" he said to her. "Who knows what nasties were living in that tent." he said impassively. "You do not want it floating around in your body."

The rapid-fire typing paused and Alison slid a look at him from the corner of her eye. "Ew. You had to put it that way, didn't you?" She pondered this for a moment, then raised one leg to rest her foot on the corner of the low table, then leaned her arm on her knee and resumed typing. "There. Less moving. And ow to that too," she added innocently, though it didn't really bother her that much. She blinked at that and paused once more. "Huh. You know, before blowing up and all that, this really would have stung more." She frowned a bit, looking at him work while mentally going over the last sentence she'd typed up.

Haroun nodded and resumed his work. "Last one..." he said, and then withdrew the last little bit of filthy wood out of Alison's arm. "Here. Now I'll clean and bandage that up for you." he added, reaching for the medkit with his free hand. "Be just a moment..."

"Okay," she murmured agreeably enough, reaching out to type out another section of the report rapidly, going into details about how some of the children had struck out on their own at one point, lagging behind long enough to slip off in the darkness as they made their way away from the freak show. "Still wondering what the hell that story the kids who stayed with us were going on about really is." But at least that lot would be safe, Alison knew. Scott had sent them a local name and address to take the kids to, in order to either get them back to their homes or somewhere safe at the very least, if they had no homes to go back to.

Haroun got out the disinfectant, and without warning and with quick, hard strokes cleaned her wound as best he could. "Hold still, you big baby." he said as she tried to jerk her arm out of his grip. "Have to make sure I got it all."

"I felt that," she muttered, making sure to keep still despite the sting however. "It was just a reflex." Type, mutter, grumble. Over a year ago, she'd have fair shrieked at that, being as unfond of pain as she was. Then again, over a year ago, she wouldn't have had to worry about breaking and entering and generally getting into fights with freak show mooks. Or anything or anyone else. Huh. She paused and look at his handiwork again, still not that bothered by it. Well. Hank had warned her about this. They were still a bit spooked about how she'd cut herself and not noticed, during the convalescence. She was too at that. "And not a scratch or bump on you." Sure, she was setting herself up doing this, but it was the truth as well.

Haroun shrugged. "Some days are like that." he said dismissively. "Doesn't matter." he said, winding the final bandage around her arm. "Keep that clean and dry, and get it checked out by a pro when we get back Stateside." he admonished her. "Now, what do we got here? Need me to do a post-op, or do you have that handled?"

"Yes, Haroun," was the obedient reply, although Alison fully intended to do just as she'd been told. She typed in a few last words with a flourish. "I've got mine done, but I think we should get in the habit of filing one each, without consulting each other." She grinned a bit, glancing down at the neatly wrapped bandage on her upper arm. "Would it be overdoing it to suggest we then review each other's reports and see what that reminds us of that we might have forgotten, too?"

"Later." he said. "I'll file one, unseen to you. Someone who Isn't Us reviews and asks questions." he said after a moment's thought. "That should cover unreliable memories and all of that. It's a shame no one's found a way to record thought yet." he mused. "We could just keep a realtime copy of the entire op front to back."

"Sounds good. Scott or Ororo would probably want to debrief us anyway so we can see how things go from there. We were talking about doing that sort of thing, depending on the mission, but I think I want it for this. And Pete'll probably want to ask us questions too. He's been working on this for a while too." She scanned through her report then eyed the folder holding the encrypted data somewhat avariciously one a last time, before reaching over to close the cover shut. "Done."

"I'll write my report on the plane back." he said as he packed up the medkit with a very practiced hand. "It's a good policy. I may pick up stuff you missed, and vice-versa." he said with a grin. He then spoiled his grin with a yawn. "Ugh, crashing over here." he said through his yawn. "I think I need some rack time. Join me?" he asked mischievously.

The yawn was contagious and Alison groaned in agreement, stretching out slowly. "Am beat." The adrenaline high had faded a while ago and the shakes had taken her over in the shower only for a little while, thankfully, before she'd come back down to write her report and get her arm seen to. "If you don't mind me sleeping like deadweight," she smiled at him slowly, "I think we could do that."

Haroun shrugged. "Sure." he said with a grin. "I'm exhausted, so don't expect much amusement out of me." he said with another yawn. "All I want is about six hours of blissful unconsciousness.

She shook her head at him, rising to her feet. "Snuggling up and being unconscious works for me." She'd have to explain to him exactly how much just the physical contact of being held did for her, somehow. She wasn't sure she had the words for it now, at least any that would make sense. But maybe later she would. "I'm sorry we're heading back a day early," she murmured apologetically, standing next to him and looking down. They had to bring the data they'd found back in, and making themselves scarce after the hoopla had been somewhat imperative anyway.

Haroun waved that off. "No problem. Let's just go get some sleep here." he said with another jaw-cracking yawn.