*Rhodesy: New reader. I read, "A new Flame" it's great. Didn't get a chance to review.
*Summers2004: My one question is: Where'd he get the alcohol?
*Zero-0: Thanks. One more chapter.
*Moon and starrs: Thank you. Mmm. yes, Jon.
A/N: I'm alive! *dances around* I know this took forever to update and it's dinky, but there was so much stuff going on in my life. It was like hell trying to find time to type a word in this story. My life has FINALLY settled down for a bit. At least until Christmas. But I plan on doing a lot of writing in between times so I'll still be able to update. *grin*
Mmmm, what else? Not much as of the moment.
Sweep
I couldn't help, but smile at Vanessa comment. "Yeah, time flies when you're running through the woods getting shot at," I remarked with a roll of my eyes.
"Being cynical, that's my job," Jon teased.
I rolled my eyes, "Can you be serious? For once?"
"No." He paused for a minute, "Um, yeeah. What're we gonna do now?"
"Breaking the window sounds like a good idea right now," Vanessa replied.
"Dude, we're three stories up. Jumping, not a good idea," I reminded her. "And not all of us can fly."
"I know," Vanessa mumbled. "Jon, break the window, please."
"Why do I always have to break the window?" Jon grumbled but did it anyway.
Vanessa took the rope she had stolen from a guard and tied it to one of the pipes that hung from the ceiling. "Powerless muties first," she announced, peering down. "There's still an eight foot drop, so you know, watch out."
I was too short to reach the window. Jon easily lifted me up, but I took one look at the drop, let out a high pitched squeal, and wrapped my arms around the nearest stable thing–Jon's neck–like a scared four year old. "Uh-uh, uh-uh. No freakin' way! Not gonna do it! Nope, no way! Nuh-uh!"
Jon sighed, "If you're not gonna go out the window, can I at least put you down?" Not that he waited for an answer or anything, he just dropped me.
Clomp, clomp, clomp. Footsteps thundered down the hallway. We exchanged glances.
Only a second before they opened the door and found us. "Hide!" Jon hissed.
Like he needed us to tell us. We're strange, not stupid. Yeah, but, where?
Vanessa vanished somewhere and Jon crouched down by the door. He'd be able to make a run for it if need be.
My eyes darted nervously around the room. There was a catwalk, circling the upper parts of the room and a bar about six feet underneath that. I leapt and hung on, swung my body, so that one leg was hooked over the bar and both hands were clasped around the bar.
We waited and as I was staring up at the catwalk, breathing shallowly. "You three check that room," A voice rag out.
I stiffened as the door banged open. "Sir, you better come see this!" Someone yelled.
'Sir' entered the room looked at the empty mutant cases and the rope and cursed. "Seal off all the exits; check to make sure that none of THEM haven't gotten left behind." Sir spat out THEM like it was a curse word.
All four of them marched out of the room hurriedly. Vanessa melted out of her hiding place and Jon straightened up. "So what now?" The rope was gone. And Jon can't fly.
And Vanessa and I may be strong, but admentium isn't light. Vanessa went to the window and hollered a few instructions to the mutants on the ground.
"Let's get out of this room, first of all," I decided. I looked up at the catwalk, pivoting slowly, there had to be a door or something up there. I climbed back on the bar, and managed to pull myself so that I was kneeling on the bar, and stretched out slowly to grab the catwalk. Holding onto that I pulled myself onto the 'walk.
"And you expect me to get up there, how?" Jon asked, eyeing the bar with a huge mound of distrust.
I strolled around the catwalk, keeping in eye on the edges until I found what I was looking for. With a thunderous clatter, I unleashed the ladder. "Using that," I answered Jon.
With some difficulty, we managed to force the door open and step inside and we were met by complete and total darkness. If I had put my hand in front of my face, I wouldn't have been able to see it at all.
"Great idea, Tianna," Vanessa said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Vanessa."
A hand brush across my neck, making me jump and fall back into Jon. "Ow," he muttered. "Hey!"
"What?" I asked.
"My claws came back. I missed you, claws." He joked.
"Yeah, well, that's dandy unless you happen to have a lighter stored on them, they aren't much use."
Jon shouldered past me, "See that's where you're wrong." I heard the sound of him dragging his claws against the wall and a shower of sparks fell.
"Do it again!" I ordered. Jon complied and I managed to catch a handful and nurse them into a flame.
I held it up, to see out surroundings. Not that there was much to see. We were in a low ceilinged tunnel, with stone walls, and a stone floor. "Something about this isn't right," Jon muttered, surveying the area. "What do you think?"
I shook my head. "It isn't right. We should be up, but right now it feels like we're down."
I placed my hands on the stone and sent a thread of earth power downward. I was met with solid rock. I withdrew it and sent it snaking upward. It cleared the ground and hit the air. A frown creased my forehead, "We're underground, somehow. What do you think, Vanessa."
She closed her eyes. "Uh-huh. We're below most of the root systems."
We stared off into the waiting darkness. "So, who wants to go first?" Jon asked.
"You two," Vanessa squeezed behind us. "Ti's got the light and Jon, if anything jumps out at us, it won't hurt you. Much."
"Thanks," Jon said. "I feel used."
We followed the tunnel, ( not like we had any other choice) until it came to an end. There was a ladder built into the wall. "Up we go?" I questioned.
"You first," Jon said giving me a shoulder up. Since I could only use one hand this would be interesting.
I ended up hugging the bar with my arm that had the fire in it, lifting my free hand to the next spoke and bringing my feet up behind me. It was slow business, but eventually we made it to the top. I pushed tried to turn the crank to the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Jon, steady me, please?"
Running my fingers along the surface, I found out there was a keyhole. Well, we couldn't get out like that. I rubbed my hands together and raised the flames heat and intensity and place my hands on the door.
The metal slowly began to melt until it was just big enough for Jon to fit through. I smiled pleased with myself and started to scrambled out because I became aware of the fact that there was absolutely no ground in front of me.
We were, in fact, by the same ledge that Sammy, Vanessa, and I had fallen off of earlier that day.
Talk about irony.
"Uh, Houston, we have a problem," I mumbled.
Vanessa and Jon peaked out of the hole. "No ground."
A few muttered curses, some in French, most in English. "Well, this is perfect," Jon grumbled.
At that moment the little ledge that was supporting most of my weight, cracked and piece of it gave me, tilting me forward. Jon lunged forward and managed to grab my hand.
At first I was thankful until I realized he was resting most of his weight on the same ledge that I had been on moment ago.
There was another crack. Earth was far and away my worse element. I could try and concentrate on convincing the rock to stay together for a few moments longer, but then I wouldn't be able to help Jon rescue me which would in all likelihood send both of us into the river.
Adamentium and water don't mix.
Or I could concentrate working with Jon to pull me up. But even more likely than before the ledge would break and send only Jon into the river.
I could try and fly, but then the ledge might break and send Jon into the water. But that seemed like a bad idea. I felt a little frayed around the edges from all the power usage in the last ninety minutes.
OR I could let go which I didn't like, but seemed the best option. I can stay underwater for a while so I doubt I would drown and if I had to I might be able to use the water or wind to save me at the last moment.
"Tianna if you let go of my hand, I will hurt you," Jon warned. "Vanessa, climb down a few steps."
:Crack:
I winced at the sound and tried to harden the stone a little. I don't know if it worked on not, but it was worth a shot. Jon grabbed my other hand and helped me walk up the ledge. Once I was more or less safe on the ladder, I let out the breath I had been holding.
"I know!" Vanessa cried, snapping her fingers. "We can com Sammy! You've got the Communicator link, don't you?"
I checked my pocket and groaned. "No. It must've fallen out when I fell."
"We're doomed," Vanessa intoned moodily.
Jon chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, "If they made a tunnel to here, there must be a way out."
We all sighed in unison, and Vanessa quavered out, "I could fly out of here and see if I can find the others."
I frowned, "Vanessa, with your sense of direction-,"
Jon snapped his fingers interrupting "Ti, the ledge!"
"What about it?"
"It's the way out!"
There was a silence that was typically broken by Vanessa, "Okay, things aren't that BAD."
"No! Tianna, just see if you scan it please?" Pause. "I'll hold you."
With Jon anchoring my ankles in place, I reached over and touched the rock again and found the place where the rock had chipped off. Something blue shimmered deep inside. Experimentally, I stuck two of my fingers in the hole and watched in amazement as a pattern of rock, perfect for climbing, pushed itself out of the mountain.
"Told you so," Jon quipped.
Vanessa and I both glared at him. He grinned, "Ladies first."
I stepped onto the ledge and climbed up steadily.
After a few minutes finally, I got to the edge of the cliff. I pushed myself up on the ledge and pushed myself over–
only to be stopped by a pair of legs. I groaned inwardly. Not another agent. I glanced up and discovered it was much, much worse than it agent.
I gave a weak grin. "Hi, Logan."
He grunted and pulled me up by the back of my shirt. "What the hell did you thinking you were doing?"
"I thought I was going to take a nice relaxing walk through the woods. Unfortunately, that idea crashed and burned when we ran into a guy with a gun. Then we fell in the river, got swept downstream, found a building, got chased some more, found all the missing mutants, got chased some more, and then we wound up here. Then it gets fuzzy," I mumbled into the ground.
Jon hoisted himself over the lip of the ravine and grinned. "Well, that was fun," he smirked.
"You might wanna radio Sammy," I slurred into the ground. Frankly, I was too wiped out to lift my head and articulate.
Logan growled out, "Blondie radioed me. Thank God that one of you has some sense."
As if on cue, Sammy leading the croup of mutants charged up the hill. "You guys, okay?" she squealed.
"I was until you showed up and decided to break my eardrums," Vanessa grumbled.
And several hours later, I was still totally wiped, but it wasn't worth it trying to catch any Z's. Trying to sit down was useless, every time I did I just found there was something else I had to do.
So when I had more or less walked into a wall and fell. It's no wonder I just lay in the middle of the hallway.
Jon looked down at me. "What are you doing?"
"I've tried hiding. They find me. So maybe if I just lay somewhere very obvious, they won't notice me."
Jon smiled, "It's not working."
"Darn it." I raised my arms and Jon pulled me up. "I'm going to make some coffee."
Jon trotted after me, "So how much trouble are you in?"
I shrugged. "I think seeing that I practically passed out while I was meeting with Summers and Xavier. I might get off the hook a little easier."
Jon snickered and broke off abruptly as we passed Vanessa's room. The door was open just a crack and we could hear two voices.
"They've been in there for a LONG time," Jon told me as we passed the door.
I nodded. I could tell Jon was aching to eavesdrop and so was I, but we both behaved. Not that we needed to since what happened next could probably heard through out the whole X-mansion.
"Mr. Speaks in the Third Person is my what?!" Vanessa exploded.
Jon scratched the back of his neck, "So what have you been doing lately?"
The door flew open and Vanessa stalked out. "I hate my life. I think I'm going to go pass out or die. If it's the last one give me a nice eulogy.."
Remember when I said, life has a sick sense of humor. Well it just decided to reinstall itself back in my life. Vanessa didn't pass out. I did.
*Summers2004: My one question is: Where'd he get the alcohol?
*Zero-0: Thanks. One more chapter.
*Moon and starrs: Thank you. Mmm. yes, Jon.
A/N: I'm alive! *dances around* I know this took forever to update and it's dinky, but there was so much stuff going on in my life. It was like hell trying to find time to type a word in this story. My life has FINALLY settled down for a bit. At least until Christmas. But I plan on doing a lot of writing in between times so I'll still be able to update. *grin*
Mmmm, what else? Not much as of the moment.
Sweep
I couldn't help, but smile at Vanessa comment. "Yeah, time flies when you're running through the woods getting shot at," I remarked with a roll of my eyes.
"Being cynical, that's my job," Jon teased.
I rolled my eyes, "Can you be serious? For once?"
"No." He paused for a minute, "Um, yeeah. What're we gonna do now?"
"Breaking the window sounds like a good idea right now," Vanessa replied.
"Dude, we're three stories up. Jumping, not a good idea," I reminded her. "And not all of us can fly."
"I know," Vanessa mumbled. "Jon, break the window, please."
"Why do I always have to break the window?" Jon grumbled but did it anyway.
Vanessa took the rope she had stolen from a guard and tied it to one of the pipes that hung from the ceiling. "Powerless muties first," she announced, peering down. "There's still an eight foot drop, so you know, watch out."
I was too short to reach the window. Jon easily lifted me up, but I took one look at the drop, let out a high pitched squeal, and wrapped my arms around the nearest stable thing–Jon's neck–like a scared four year old. "Uh-uh, uh-uh. No freakin' way! Not gonna do it! Nope, no way! Nuh-uh!"
Jon sighed, "If you're not gonna go out the window, can I at least put you down?" Not that he waited for an answer or anything, he just dropped me.
Clomp, clomp, clomp. Footsteps thundered down the hallway. We exchanged glances.
Only a second before they opened the door and found us. "Hide!" Jon hissed.
Like he needed us to tell us. We're strange, not stupid. Yeah, but, where?
Vanessa vanished somewhere and Jon crouched down by the door. He'd be able to make a run for it if need be.
My eyes darted nervously around the room. There was a catwalk, circling the upper parts of the room and a bar about six feet underneath that. I leapt and hung on, swung my body, so that one leg was hooked over the bar and both hands were clasped around the bar.
We waited and as I was staring up at the catwalk, breathing shallowly. "You three check that room," A voice rag out.
I stiffened as the door banged open. "Sir, you better come see this!" Someone yelled.
'Sir' entered the room looked at the empty mutant cases and the rope and cursed. "Seal off all the exits; check to make sure that none of THEM haven't gotten left behind." Sir spat out THEM like it was a curse word.
All four of them marched out of the room hurriedly. Vanessa melted out of her hiding place and Jon straightened up. "So what now?" The rope was gone. And Jon can't fly.
And Vanessa and I may be strong, but admentium isn't light. Vanessa went to the window and hollered a few instructions to the mutants on the ground.
"Let's get out of this room, first of all," I decided. I looked up at the catwalk, pivoting slowly, there had to be a door or something up there. I climbed back on the bar, and managed to pull myself so that I was kneeling on the bar, and stretched out slowly to grab the catwalk. Holding onto that I pulled myself onto the 'walk.
"And you expect me to get up there, how?" Jon asked, eyeing the bar with a huge mound of distrust.
I strolled around the catwalk, keeping in eye on the edges until I found what I was looking for. With a thunderous clatter, I unleashed the ladder. "Using that," I answered Jon.
With some difficulty, we managed to force the door open and step inside and we were met by complete and total darkness. If I had put my hand in front of my face, I wouldn't have been able to see it at all.
"Great idea, Tianna," Vanessa said sarcastically.
"Shut up, Vanessa."
A hand brush across my neck, making me jump and fall back into Jon. "Ow," he muttered. "Hey!"
"What?" I asked.
"My claws came back. I missed you, claws." He joked.
"Yeah, well, that's dandy unless you happen to have a lighter stored on them, they aren't much use."
Jon shouldered past me, "See that's where you're wrong." I heard the sound of him dragging his claws against the wall and a shower of sparks fell.
"Do it again!" I ordered. Jon complied and I managed to catch a handful and nurse them into a flame.
I held it up, to see out surroundings. Not that there was much to see. We were in a low ceilinged tunnel, with stone walls, and a stone floor. "Something about this isn't right," Jon muttered, surveying the area. "What do you think?"
I shook my head. "It isn't right. We should be up, but right now it feels like we're down."
I placed my hands on the stone and sent a thread of earth power downward. I was met with solid rock. I withdrew it and sent it snaking upward. It cleared the ground and hit the air. A frown creased my forehead, "We're underground, somehow. What do you think, Vanessa."
She closed her eyes. "Uh-huh. We're below most of the root systems."
We stared off into the waiting darkness. "So, who wants to go first?" Jon asked.
"You two," Vanessa squeezed behind us. "Ti's got the light and Jon, if anything jumps out at us, it won't hurt you. Much."
"Thanks," Jon said. "I feel used."
We followed the tunnel, ( not like we had any other choice) until it came to an end. There was a ladder built into the wall. "Up we go?" I questioned.
"You first," Jon said giving me a shoulder up. Since I could only use one hand this would be interesting.
I ended up hugging the bar with my arm that had the fire in it, lifting my free hand to the next spoke and bringing my feet up behind me. It was slow business, but eventually we made it to the top. I pushed tried to turn the crank to the door, but it wouldn't budge. "Jon, steady me, please?"
Running my fingers along the surface, I found out there was a keyhole. Well, we couldn't get out like that. I rubbed my hands together and raised the flames heat and intensity and place my hands on the door.
The metal slowly began to melt until it was just big enough for Jon to fit through. I smiled pleased with myself and started to scrambled out because I became aware of the fact that there was absolutely no ground in front of me.
We were, in fact, by the same ledge that Sammy, Vanessa, and I had fallen off of earlier that day.
Talk about irony.
"Uh, Houston, we have a problem," I mumbled.
Vanessa and Jon peaked out of the hole. "No ground."
A few muttered curses, some in French, most in English. "Well, this is perfect," Jon grumbled.
At that moment the little ledge that was supporting most of my weight, cracked and piece of it gave me, tilting me forward. Jon lunged forward and managed to grab my hand.
At first I was thankful until I realized he was resting most of his weight on the same ledge that I had been on moment ago.
There was another crack. Earth was far and away my worse element. I could try and concentrate on convincing the rock to stay together for a few moments longer, but then I wouldn't be able to help Jon rescue me which would in all likelihood send both of us into the river.
Adamentium and water don't mix.
Or I could concentrate working with Jon to pull me up. But even more likely than before the ledge would break and send only Jon into the river.
I could try and fly, but then the ledge might break and send Jon into the water. But that seemed like a bad idea. I felt a little frayed around the edges from all the power usage in the last ninety minutes.
OR I could let go which I didn't like, but seemed the best option. I can stay underwater for a while so I doubt I would drown and if I had to I might be able to use the water or wind to save me at the last moment.
"Tianna if you let go of my hand, I will hurt you," Jon warned. "Vanessa, climb down a few steps."
:Crack:
I winced at the sound and tried to harden the stone a little. I don't know if it worked on not, but it was worth a shot. Jon grabbed my other hand and helped me walk up the ledge. Once I was more or less safe on the ladder, I let out the breath I had been holding.
"I know!" Vanessa cried, snapping her fingers. "We can com Sammy! You've got the Communicator link, don't you?"
I checked my pocket and groaned. "No. It must've fallen out when I fell."
"We're doomed," Vanessa intoned moodily.
Jon chewed on his bottom lip for a moment, "If they made a tunnel to here, there must be a way out."
We all sighed in unison, and Vanessa quavered out, "I could fly out of here and see if I can find the others."
I frowned, "Vanessa, with your sense of direction-,"
Jon snapped his fingers interrupting "Ti, the ledge!"
"What about it?"
"It's the way out!"
There was a silence that was typically broken by Vanessa, "Okay, things aren't that BAD."
"No! Tianna, just see if you scan it please?" Pause. "I'll hold you."
With Jon anchoring my ankles in place, I reached over and touched the rock again and found the place where the rock had chipped off. Something blue shimmered deep inside. Experimentally, I stuck two of my fingers in the hole and watched in amazement as a pattern of rock, perfect for climbing, pushed itself out of the mountain.
"Told you so," Jon quipped.
Vanessa and I both glared at him. He grinned, "Ladies first."
I stepped onto the ledge and climbed up steadily.
After a few minutes finally, I got to the edge of the cliff. I pushed myself up on the ledge and pushed myself over–
only to be stopped by a pair of legs. I groaned inwardly. Not another agent. I glanced up and discovered it was much, much worse than it agent.
I gave a weak grin. "Hi, Logan."
He grunted and pulled me up by the back of my shirt. "What the hell did you thinking you were doing?"
"I thought I was going to take a nice relaxing walk through the woods. Unfortunately, that idea crashed and burned when we ran into a guy with a gun. Then we fell in the river, got swept downstream, found a building, got chased some more, found all the missing mutants, got chased some more, and then we wound up here. Then it gets fuzzy," I mumbled into the ground.
Jon hoisted himself over the lip of the ravine and grinned. "Well, that was fun," he smirked.
"You might wanna radio Sammy," I slurred into the ground. Frankly, I was too wiped out to lift my head and articulate.
Logan growled out, "Blondie radioed me. Thank God that one of you has some sense."
As if on cue, Sammy leading the croup of mutants charged up the hill. "You guys, okay?" she squealed.
"I was until you showed up and decided to break my eardrums," Vanessa grumbled.
And several hours later, I was still totally wiped, but it wasn't worth it trying to catch any Z's. Trying to sit down was useless, every time I did I just found there was something else I had to do.
So when I had more or less walked into a wall and fell. It's no wonder I just lay in the middle of the hallway.
Jon looked down at me. "What are you doing?"
"I've tried hiding. They find me. So maybe if I just lay somewhere very obvious, they won't notice me."
Jon smiled, "It's not working."
"Darn it." I raised my arms and Jon pulled me up. "I'm going to make some coffee."
Jon trotted after me, "So how much trouble are you in?"
I shrugged. "I think seeing that I practically passed out while I was meeting with Summers and Xavier. I might get off the hook a little easier."
Jon snickered and broke off abruptly as we passed Vanessa's room. The door was open just a crack and we could hear two voices.
"They've been in there for a LONG time," Jon told me as we passed the door.
I nodded. I could tell Jon was aching to eavesdrop and so was I, but we both behaved. Not that we needed to since what happened next could probably heard through out the whole X-mansion.
"Mr. Speaks in the Third Person is my what?!" Vanessa exploded.
Jon scratched the back of his neck, "So what have you been doing lately?"
The door flew open and Vanessa stalked out. "I hate my life. I think I'm going to go pass out or die. If it's the last one give me a nice eulogy.."
Remember when I said, life has a sick sense of humor. Well it just decided to reinstall itself back in my life. Vanessa didn't pass out. I did.
