Chapter11.rtf

Chapter 11

Talon tilted his drink and chewed a piece of ice contentedly. In the back seat Kitty and Kurt had fallen asleep on each other's shoulders with Kitty drooling slightly out the side of her mouth. But in front, Rogue sipped her hot moca. The truck had been sitting in a used car lot across the intersecion from the high school for nearly an hour.

"It's them." Rogue's voice brought Talon out of thoughts.

On the street, Lance's green Jeep drove past. Talon set his cup on the dash, then reached under his seat and pulled out a very serious rifle, complete with forty-millimeter grenade launcher. Talon had loaded a round into the launcher and was stepping out his door by the time Rogue recovered from her surprise.

"Are you crazy?" Rogue's voice woke Kurt and Kitty.

Talon glanced back at her confused, "What?"

"You promised to stay between the lines," Rogue shot back and gestured to the launcher. "That is way off."

"Oh, I get it. You think I put a grenade in this launcher," Talon replied, as understanding dawned on him.

"Well duh!" Kitty put in, "What else can you put in those things?"

"No one is getting hurt... at least not yet," Talon assured them, then aimed skyward and fired. The weapon was quiet, sounding no louder than a coke bottle popping open. He then broke open the weapon, took out the spent round and passed it to Rogue. "Can you read the label?" He asked while returning the rifle to it's hiding place.

"Sky-Cam." Rogue pronounced.

"Exactly," Talon confirmed, getting back in the cab to open his laptop computer. "Now we can monitor the area from a bird's eye view." The camera feed appeared on the laptop screen.

The four mutants watched the screen in silence. At length Talon spoke, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I keep forgetting you're not my...uh, used to my equipment."

"A little warning next time." Rogue confirmed.

"Right." Talon agreed.

X X X

Lance and Toad sat in the Jeep Wrangler, waiting in the Bayville High School parking lot. They were both tired, cold, and hungry. Toad snapped at a large mosquito and shifted in his seat again. Lance glanced at him, irritated, and then looked back into the night. It was half past eleven. Ten minutes ago they had dropped Quicksliver off at the end of the block. Within sight, but far enough in case this meeting didn't go as planned.

Toad shifted around again, then spoke, "Man, I'm getting the creeps sitting out here, I feel like a fly waiting for the swatter. Blob is all warm and here we are, out in the cold."

Lance pretended to ignore him but found an uneasy feeling creeping up his spine as well.

An engine sounded in the far off streets and they both tensed, but it past on and they went back to watching the darkness. There were more engines sounding but none came near the high school. Thunderclouds pulled a curtain over the moon fading all distinctions into deep recesses. Lightning flashed in the far off distance but the sound reached them only as a mild rumble. The wind was picking up. Empty cans were tossed down the street, tumbling past with klink-klank-bangs that left them in even deeper silence.

Toad saw a flash and ducked back into the jeep, "I just don't know if I can take much more of this."

One block away…

"Man this is so boring!" Quicksilver whined, as he crouched against a wall, watching his two comrades in the parking lot. A single raindrop hit his head, "Oh great, this is the dumbest plan she has ever come up with." Huge raindrops began falling intermittently, then a newspaper rustled in the windless ally. "Why do I have to be out in the rain?" He stood up and stretched, "Now my suit is going to get soaked!" Lightning flashed in the ally, "Ahh! This place is creepy!" He looked back at his companions. "This stinks, I am so out-- EEK!"

A cold hand fell on the back of his neck. Thunder rumbled as Quicksilver passed out and silently slid down the wall. With this task accomplished, Rogue and Talon walked back to the Suburban. As they climbed in, Talon glanced over at Kitty, an evil look on his face.

"Like, what?" Kitty asked.

"Could you do that again? Like, back at the Institutes gates?" he asked.

Kitty snorted, "Like anytime."

"How' bout, like, now!" Talon said, putting the pedal to the metal.

Kitty closed her eyes.

X X X

Lance and Toad heard the approach of yet another engine. They both sat up as it drew nearer, nervously searching for its headlights. Toad went white with shock as he looked past Lance and screamed. They where both bathed in daylight. Lance turned in time to see headlights coming out of the wall along one side of the parking lot. They bore down on Lance's Jeep like a charging elephant.

"Okay, now some one might get hurt." Talon announced.

"No kidding!" Rogue shouted over the screaming coming from the back seat.

The heavy Suburban smashed the Jeep onto its side. There was a bang on the Suburban's hood, then a dark silhouette bounced to the ground next to the overturned Jeep. Lance, still dazed from the collision, tried to build a seismic wave, but the silhouette struck out, cracking Lances visor and rebounding him off the Jeep's roll bars. Toad screamed again as a rough hand caught the front of his shirt, and dragged him from the vehicle. Toad's back was shoved against the hood of the Jeep. He couldn't make out his assailant's features, but he could see a weird flash of lightning reflecting in those eyes...

Toad recovered quickly. "Say man, go easy! I was just along for the ride. I--"

"No hard feelings then?" Talon asked.

Toad now recognized the voice, "Hey, no problem, I love it here, just easy on the neck huh?"

"Riiiight." Talon agreed, slowly setting Toad down.

Thunder echoed in the dark.

With a "poof" Rogue and Kurt were next to Talon. "Can you un-snap his seat belt?" He asked Rogue. He supported Lance's weight as she unbuckled the seatbelt. Talon lowered Lance out and dragged him under a tree next to Toad. That done, he walked back to the vehicles and moved the Suburban back a dozen feet.

"Poor Lance, is he like, okay?" Kitty asked.

"He'll be fine," Talon said, then seeing the look on Kitty's face, he paused beside her. "He's ok Kitty. All he'll have is a black eye when he wakes up, I was careful." Taking the Suburban's winch, Talon hooked it to the Jeep, walked back to his Suburban and activated the winch. The Jeep righted with a crash. Rogue, Kitty and Kurt watched as Talon un-hooked his cable and rolled it back up.

"So now what?" Rogue asked.

Talon straightened up, "You three drive the Jeep and I'll follow." He walked around Rogue to the Suburban's window. Reaching for his backpack he dug out a shirt. "From what we've learned, Quicksilver was supposed to run, in case we did what we just did. So," he cleaned his hands on the shirt, "when he doesn't show up and they see the Jeep, with me following alone in the Suburban, they will think everything is going as planned." He tossed his shirt on the backseat. "And, we know that Speed-boy, Lance, and Toad were all to stay with the vehicles to make sure I don't get away, using the road.

"What about them?" Kitty gestured to Toad and Lance.

Talon shrugged and said, "Leave them." A worried look crossed Kitty's face. Talon kicked himself mentaly and tried to ease her fear. "Hollywood should be along in like, twenty minutes. Don't worry Kitty."

"Great." Rogue said without enthusiasm. Talon shrugged and opened the Jeep door for her. "Just tap on the breaks to give me my que," he said. Rogue made a skewed face and stepped into the Jeep.

"You're sure this is going to work?" She asked.

Talon shut her door and said, "No."

Kitty stopped and looked at him, half-phazed through the passanger door. Behind Talon, Kurt's eyes watched Rogue's. For an instant no one said anything, then Rogue leaned forward and started the Jeep. Relief washed into Talon's face, he patted the door as Kitty phazed into her seat. The two girls watched him climb into his Suburban then exchanged a look with each other. Kurt appeared in the back of the Jeep.

"Eh, what happened?" Lance groaned and put a hand to his head. "I feel like I've been hit by a bus."

Toad shook his head, "Man, you don't know the half of it."

X X X

Logan watched the two vehicles pull away and marvelled at the way the operation had been executed. Talon had once again proved to be a competent leader, winning the cooperation of his fellow mutants without force. Logan started his bike and trailed after the departing vehicles. The students were helping Talon, which meant that his plan sounded right... at least to them. Maybe it was time Logan checked into it.