JANUARY 17, 2005 (Early Morning)
He stared across the grounds, watching her; he opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it. He'd planned to talk to her, maybe offer some condolense, but he didn't know what to say. He'd never been good at talking to anyone since he prefered to run; it was easier to run or ignore problems. It didn't help any but it was easier.
"God, what am I doing here?"he asked, leaning against one of the pillars and watched her.
Angel hadn't moved in over two hours. Her full attention was on the sun that was in the process of rising before them both. Her back was rigid and her hands clenched into tight fists at her side. Everything about her screamed LEAVE ME ALONE.
The others had been resting since around eleven the night before when her mental screams had stopped. It had drained the X-men to hold up the shields that Rogue had explained about; none of them were up moving around. Their group had all collapsed almost seconds after the last scream.
Somehow it didn't effect her now that she'd slept a little.
He wasn't sure how he knew when she had woken up but he did. He continued to watch until footsteps behind him drew his attention. He didn't have to turn to feel her prescence.
"Sugah, you should restin'. I think we've got a lead today..."
"I can't. She's miserable...you don't even have to go near her to tell,"he replied, shifting to lean his weight more heavily against the pillar. "Will we find Tara today?"
"One can hope. One can only hope..."
JANUARY 17, 2005 (MID DAY)
Kellie yawned and sank into one of the vacant chairs in the Meeting Room. Her eye lids felt heavy as if she hadn't slept when actuality she's slept around tweleve hours; every part of her ached, especially her head.
"About time you joined the living, Kellie,"Russ stated, sinking into a chair at the table with a mug of coffee. He raised it to his mouth and took a drink, grimacing slightly as if it pained him. "There's coffee in the kitchen..."
She shook her head, rubbing her eyes. "Can't stand the taste. Everyone up or are some still sleeping?"
"Julius' sitting at the table with coffee. Corey's making toast. Angel's reading a book that she hasn't made it past page eleven in...you sleep well?"
"Around eleven-thirty I got a few hours of sleep,"she replied without glancing away from the table. "How's Angel?"
He shrugged, taking another drink.
Wolverine's arrival stalled the conversation. Rogue and Gambit followed with looks that betrayed nothing of their emotions or what was going on. The remaining members of their alliance entered-Julius held a coffee mug, Corey looked worried, and Angel hadn't lifted her head out of the book.
Kellie glanced over when Angel took the seat beside her. She was still reading page eleven despite the smear to the writing as if someone had cried; it was in one long place as if it was a single tear.
"Since you're all here now we can begin. Rogue's found a lead on Tara...we have a direct location and are making plans to move out today." Logan said, taking his usual seat at the head of the table. "As I mentioned before you can't afford any screw-ups..."
"Where is she?"Corey asked, shifting his gaze away from the staring contest he was in the middle of with Julius.
Julius smirked and took another drink of his coffee.
"That's the thing. It's in the downtown area...an old apartment complex that appears to have been empty for several years. For some reason we were unable to get a link on it..."
"When do we leave?"Angel questioned, rising from the table. Her book lay open and forgotten.
JANUARY 17, 2005 AROUND SUNSET-ROOFTOPS
Footsteps echoed across a roof top for a moment then silence fell. A few dark shapes appeared and lingered on the top of a shadowed apartment complex; movement like heads looking around followed. Something like a hand raised then dropped. One of the shadows kneeled then stood, holding something up in their hand; it stood taller than any of the shadows.
"Are you insane?" The words echoed in the stillness. Several people down below looked up toward the sound.
"Maybe. Don't yell...I know what I'm doing. I did all the time when I needed to get home in a hurry."
Whisphers are heard from nearby seconds before the shadows duck except what the one had been holding. It stood almost completely straight. Two other figures appear on the roof, skulking around with something held in their hands.
One lifted his item into the air, aiming it around. "Who's up here? Come out and I may not shoot..."
Three shadows held their breathe, waiting.
After a few more moments of threatening with silent responses the two figures retreated, yelling to someone further inside the building. The rooftop door slammed.
"Time to move,"one of the shadows said, sounding slightly higher than the other two. "Sabbath, you go first since you're used to it."
Sabbath shifted away and straightened out the item he still held before them. He seemed to be waiting for something then threw it and leaped with it forward; his body vanished over the side of the building.....
IN A DIFFRENT PART OF DOWNTOWN...
"Remind me again what we're doing." One unseen voice spoke in the darkness to another while they walked along a back alley.
Their feet were almost quiet except for the occcasional sound of gravel against shoes or trash against the walls. A black hand with slightly paler skin showing at the knuckles pressed against the wall then pulled away. It wiped sludge of the leg of the jeans it's owner wore.
"Finding Tara. Would you prefer to go on the roof with Misery, Sabbath, and Shatter?"the second voice questioned. "I give you my permissioni to join them."
"Cute, Dust, real cute."
"I try."
Dust slipped past him and into the streets of the busy downtown area. Her other hand worked furiously at the button of her glove before finally managing to loosen it enough so her hand would simply slip out.
The first figure came up beside her without making a sound. It was just about to speak when several other shadows appeared beside and around them. They slid out of nowhere. One, appartantly the leader, stepped forward.
"What are you doing here? Answer."
The words were a command.
"Think up a good excuse, Image, or do something..."
Image glowered at her. "Great, leave me the hard part. We were looking for a friend of ours,"he replied, shifting enough to see the others around them. There were, on a guess, around eleven people; all wore masks and some held lead pipes in their hands as if to attack.
"Your friend wouldn't be around here. Now leave, mutant."
Dust slid her hand almost from the glove at the venom with which the words were spoken. It was as if the person seriously held a grudge against mutants. There was nothing that even resembled warmth or a humane voice there, simply a voice.
Rogue did mention the Friends of Humanity were real anti-mutant. Why does their behavior suprise me anymore? she wondered, readying herself in case they moved in.
Logan had taught them to fight without their powers unless things got too serious. He said it would improve their mental skills and help theirs powers stay within a controllable level; his words echoed in a bad way and a good way at the same time.
"Oh, I think she is. Kind of short, frog-like features, little edgy and defensive of people?"
Image's explanation wasn't recieved in a manner they'd expected. Hell broke lose when one of the once shadowed figures stepped forward then slammed the blunt end of the pipe almost into his stomache. He moved at the last moment and the pipe slammed into the brick wall behind him. Some kind of sign happened because within seconds the others had shifted into motion on the two mutants.
BACK ON THE ROOFTOPS
Shatter landed hard, bruising the pads of her knees and shooting pain upward when they came into contact with the hard concreate ground. She sat for a moment but finally took Sabbath's hand to help her up; she grimaced slightly at having to put weight on the bruised area.
Misery waited on the other side.
"Come on, Misery. If I can make it, you can!"she yelled back, balancing on the ledge enough to look down.
"You're also telekenetic, aren't you?"
Sabbath took the pole from her and threw it back. "You going to stand there all day or jump?"
"Wait 'til I get over there..." Misery's hand closed around the end of the pole on the last words. He backed away a few steps.
"Guys, Dust and Image aren't doing well...I think they need our help."
He jumped across but instead of making it the pole clattered across the roof while his fingers clutched onto the edge of the sill that was overhanging. His nails scratched onto it.
Sabbath moved quickly and caught his hand, helping him up and onto the roof. His feet slipped for a moment but finally both were standing on he roof.
"See it wasn't that hard, Misery..."
"Wasn't that hard my ass. I'm still voting that we turn around and leave Tara here...there's still five of us."
"That isn't going to happen. I'm going down to help Dust and Image. You two get through and find Tara...if anything happens to her I'll personally kill you both." She smiled sweetly at both before jumping over the side of the edge of the building; she used the drainage thing hanging there to make it to the ground without breaking any bones.
Sabbath dusted off his hands and moved away to look for a way into the complex. His full attention went to the ground then on trying to find a way to get through the large padlock on the door.
"Hey, Sabbath, you like to play games so much...DUCK!"
He turned just as the pole that had been attached to the ground part of the roof flew at his chest. It came within inches of hitting him...
INSIDE THE APARTMENT
"Read it, read it, read it, read it." Tara tossed magazine after magazine across the room and against the wall. They made dull sound when they hit the wall. She continued tossing until the entire towering pile that had been beside her was laid on the opposite side of the room in a torn and tangled heap.
The door opened behind her. She turned, expecting to see Hank or one of his assistants but instead was met by Logan.
"You having fun, kid?"he questioned, walking over while twirling a large ring of keys around one finger. "Apparantly your friends didn't learn much..."
"Why would you say that?"she questioned, shifting away from him to look out the window. Her attention went directly to the scene below her. She could just make out her so-called teammates below, fighting.
Logan snorted. "They've barely stopped fighting even though I'm suprised they even came. With Julius' attitude you'd be locked here forever and then some."
He knelt and slid a key into the lock that held her cuffs. It caught a moment then both cuffs slid open and fell to the floor.
Tara leaned down to rub her ankles for a moment. She looked up at Logan with a combination of thanks and anger. "Did you wait long enough?"she asked, moving to walk past him.
Logan caught her arm, somewhat tightly. "We're leaving. Don't say or do anything. Just follow me...Hank and his team should be out by now."
She nodded and followed him out of the room then down a long curving flight of stairs. Her attention went to the item on his wrist he'd moved to his mouth.
"Give it twenty seconds then blow up the building...that should give them quite a bit to think about,"he said into it without stopping in his walking.
Blow up the building?
What was going on?"
She had thought it was simply a test for their alliance. The building was going to be blown up and do who knew how much damage to the town and her friends. She didn't want to see that happen.
"What about the others, Logan?"
He stopped for a moment then smiled almost animalistically. "Trust me we couldn't get that lucky. They'll live and regret every minute of their failure..."
BACK OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT
Dust pressed her bare hand against the face of the man who held her pinned against one of the walls, heavily. The skin there began to fake and decay away while he screamed in panic. His grip on her loosened and she released him, slamming her foot as hard as she could into first his chest then his ribs.
"Dust, that's enough..." Image's voice drew her away . "We need to get to Tar--"
His words had just come out when the building before them exploded. As if on cue the "foot soliders" as they'd named them vanished. Two figures were thrown from the roof; one stopped seconds before he would have slammed into a wall and the other barely avoided being thrown to the ground violently. His body hit the ground but at a diffrent angle and not quite so painful.
Shatter brought her hands down at the same moment as she fell to her knees. Her expression had gone completely blank as they stared up at the large burning building; her hands fell to the pavement, limply.
Sabbath stared from his place against one wall.
Misery pulled himself up into a sitting position and began to pick gravel out of his palms. His expression showed vague interest.
Dust and Image froze, staring up at the building.
One thought passed through five minds.
Tara.
Clapping drew their attention. Several figures stepped forward. One was much shorter then the other and stood at a half-crouch. The taller one looked extremely pissed; his lips pulled back in a sneer.
"Congradulations. If this was a real mission you'd all be DEAD. And those of you not dead? Would be either in a COMA or VEGETABLES. CONGRADU-FUCKING-LATIONS."
He stared across the grounds, watching her; he opened his mouth as if to speak then closed it. He'd planned to talk to her, maybe offer some condolense, but he didn't know what to say. He'd never been good at talking to anyone since he prefered to run; it was easier to run or ignore problems. It didn't help any but it was easier.
"God, what am I doing here?"he asked, leaning against one of the pillars and watched her.
Angel hadn't moved in over two hours. Her full attention was on the sun that was in the process of rising before them both. Her back was rigid and her hands clenched into tight fists at her side. Everything about her screamed LEAVE ME ALONE.
The others had been resting since around eleven the night before when her mental screams had stopped. It had drained the X-men to hold up the shields that Rogue had explained about; none of them were up moving around. Their group had all collapsed almost seconds after the last scream.
Somehow it didn't effect her now that she'd slept a little.
He wasn't sure how he knew when she had woken up but he did. He continued to watch until footsteps behind him drew his attention. He didn't have to turn to feel her prescence.
"Sugah, you should restin'. I think we've got a lead today..."
"I can't. She's miserable...you don't even have to go near her to tell,"he replied, shifting to lean his weight more heavily against the pillar. "Will we find Tara today?"
"One can hope. One can only hope..."
JANUARY 17, 2005 (MID DAY)
Kellie yawned and sank into one of the vacant chairs in the Meeting Room. Her eye lids felt heavy as if she hadn't slept when actuality she's slept around tweleve hours; every part of her ached, especially her head.
"About time you joined the living, Kellie,"Russ stated, sinking into a chair at the table with a mug of coffee. He raised it to his mouth and took a drink, grimacing slightly as if it pained him. "There's coffee in the kitchen..."
She shook her head, rubbing her eyes. "Can't stand the taste. Everyone up or are some still sleeping?"
"Julius' sitting at the table with coffee. Corey's making toast. Angel's reading a book that she hasn't made it past page eleven in...you sleep well?"
"Around eleven-thirty I got a few hours of sleep,"she replied without glancing away from the table. "How's Angel?"
He shrugged, taking another drink.
Wolverine's arrival stalled the conversation. Rogue and Gambit followed with looks that betrayed nothing of their emotions or what was going on. The remaining members of their alliance entered-Julius held a coffee mug, Corey looked worried, and Angel hadn't lifted her head out of the book.
Kellie glanced over when Angel took the seat beside her. She was still reading page eleven despite the smear to the writing as if someone had cried; it was in one long place as if it was a single tear.
"Since you're all here now we can begin. Rogue's found a lead on Tara...we have a direct location and are making plans to move out today." Logan said, taking his usual seat at the head of the table. "As I mentioned before you can't afford any screw-ups..."
"Where is she?"Corey asked, shifting his gaze away from the staring contest he was in the middle of with Julius.
Julius smirked and took another drink of his coffee.
"That's the thing. It's in the downtown area...an old apartment complex that appears to have been empty for several years. For some reason we were unable to get a link on it..."
"When do we leave?"Angel questioned, rising from the table. Her book lay open and forgotten.
JANUARY 17, 2005 AROUND SUNSET-ROOFTOPS
Footsteps echoed across a roof top for a moment then silence fell. A few dark shapes appeared and lingered on the top of a shadowed apartment complex; movement like heads looking around followed. Something like a hand raised then dropped. One of the shadows kneeled then stood, holding something up in their hand; it stood taller than any of the shadows.
"Are you insane?" The words echoed in the stillness. Several people down below looked up toward the sound.
"Maybe. Don't yell...I know what I'm doing. I did all the time when I needed to get home in a hurry."
Whisphers are heard from nearby seconds before the shadows duck except what the one had been holding. It stood almost completely straight. Two other figures appear on the roof, skulking around with something held in their hands.
One lifted his item into the air, aiming it around. "Who's up here? Come out and I may not shoot..."
Three shadows held their breathe, waiting.
After a few more moments of threatening with silent responses the two figures retreated, yelling to someone further inside the building. The rooftop door slammed.
"Time to move,"one of the shadows said, sounding slightly higher than the other two. "Sabbath, you go first since you're used to it."
Sabbath shifted away and straightened out the item he still held before them. He seemed to be waiting for something then threw it and leaped with it forward; his body vanished over the side of the building.....
IN A DIFFRENT PART OF DOWNTOWN...
"Remind me again what we're doing." One unseen voice spoke in the darkness to another while they walked along a back alley.
Their feet were almost quiet except for the occcasional sound of gravel against shoes or trash against the walls. A black hand with slightly paler skin showing at the knuckles pressed against the wall then pulled away. It wiped sludge of the leg of the jeans it's owner wore.
"Finding Tara. Would you prefer to go on the roof with Misery, Sabbath, and Shatter?"the second voice questioned. "I give you my permissioni to join them."
"Cute, Dust, real cute."
"I try."
Dust slipped past him and into the streets of the busy downtown area. Her other hand worked furiously at the button of her glove before finally managing to loosen it enough so her hand would simply slip out.
The first figure came up beside her without making a sound. It was just about to speak when several other shadows appeared beside and around them. They slid out of nowhere. One, appartantly the leader, stepped forward.
"What are you doing here? Answer."
The words were a command.
"Think up a good excuse, Image, or do something..."
Image glowered at her. "Great, leave me the hard part. We were looking for a friend of ours,"he replied, shifting enough to see the others around them. There were, on a guess, around eleven people; all wore masks and some held lead pipes in their hands as if to attack.
"Your friend wouldn't be around here. Now leave, mutant."
Dust slid her hand almost from the glove at the venom with which the words were spoken. It was as if the person seriously held a grudge against mutants. There was nothing that even resembled warmth or a humane voice there, simply a voice.
Rogue did mention the Friends of Humanity were real anti-mutant. Why does their behavior suprise me anymore? she wondered, readying herself in case they moved in.
Logan had taught them to fight without their powers unless things got too serious. He said it would improve their mental skills and help theirs powers stay within a controllable level; his words echoed in a bad way and a good way at the same time.
"Oh, I think she is. Kind of short, frog-like features, little edgy and defensive of people?"
Image's explanation wasn't recieved in a manner they'd expected. Hell broke lose when one of the once shadowed figures stepped forward then slammed the blunt end of the pipe almost into his stomache. He moved at the last moment and the pipe slammed into the brick wall behind him. Some kind of sign happened because within seconds the others had shifted into motion on the two mutants.
BACK ON THE ROOFTOPS
Shatter landed hard, bruising the pads of her knees and shooting pain upward when they came into contact with the hard concreate ground. She sat for a moment but finally took Sabbath's hand to help her up; she grimaced slightly at having to put weight on the bruised area.
Misery waited on the other side.
"Come on, Misery. If I can make it, you can!"she yelled back, balancing on the ledge enough to look down.
"You're also telekenetic, aren't you?"
Sabbath took the pole from her and threw it back. "You going to stand there all day or jump?"
"Wait 'til I get over there..." Misery's hand closed around the end of the pole on the last words. He backed away a few steps.
"Guys, Dust and Image aren't doing well...I think they need our help."
He jumped across but instead of making it the pole clattered across the roof while his fingers clutched onto the edge of the sill that was overhanging. His nails scratched onto it.
Sabbath moved quickly and caught his hand, helping him up and onto the roof. His feet slipped for a moment but finally both were standing on he roof.
"See it wasn't that hard, Misery..."
"Wasn't that hard my ass. I'm still voting that we turn around and leave Tara here...there's still five of us."
"That isn't going to happen. I'm going down to help Dust and Image. You two get through and find Tara...if anything happens to her I'll personally kill you both." She smiled sweetly at both before jumping over the side of the edge of the building; she used the drainage thing hanging there to make it to the ground without breaking any bones.
Sabbath dusted off his hands and moved away to look for a way into the complex. His full attention went to the ground then on trying to find a way to get through the large padlock on the door.
"Hey, Sabbath, you like to play games so much...DUCK!"
He turned just as the pole that had been attached to the ground part of the roof flew at his chest. It came within inches of hitting him...
INSIDE THE APARTMENT
"Read it, read it, read it, read it." Tara tossed magazine after magazine across the room and against the wall. They made dull sound when they hit the wall. She continued tossing until the entire towering pile that had been beside her was laid on the opposite side of the room in a torn and tangled heap.
The door opened behind her. She turned, expecting to see Hank or one of his assistants but instead was met by Logan.
"You having fun, kid?"he questioned, walking over while twirling a large ring of keys around one finger. "Apparantly your friends didn't learn much..."
"Why would you say that?"she questioned, shifting away from him to look out the window. Her attention went directly to the scene below her. She could just make out her so-called teammates below, fighting.
Logan snorted. "They've barely stopped fighting even though I'm suprised they even came. With Julius' attitude you'd be locked here forever and then some."
He knelt and slid a key into the lock that held her cuffs. It caught a moment then both cuffs slid open and fell to the floor.
Tara leaned down to rub her ankles for a moment. She looked up at Logan with a combination of thanks and anger. "Did you wait long enough?"she asked, moving to walk past him.
Logan caught her arm, somewhat tightly. "We're leaving. Don't say or do anything. Just follow me...Hank and his team should be out by now."
She nodded and followed him out of the room then down a long curving flight of stairs. Her attention went to the item on his wrist he'd moved to his mouth.
"Give it twenty seconds then blow up the building...that should give them quite a bit to think about,"he said into it without stopping in his walking.
Blow up the building?
What was going on?"
She had thought it was simply a test for their alliance. The building was going to be blown up and do who knew how much damage to the town and her friends. She didn't want to see that happen.
"What about the others, Logan?"
He stopped for a moment then smiled almost animalistically. "Trust me we couldn't get that lucky. They'll live and regret every minute of their failure..."
BACK OUTSIDE THE APARTMENT
Dust pressed her bare hand against the face of the man who held her pinned against one of the walls, heavily. The skin there began to fake and decay away while he screamed in panic. His grip on her loosened and she released him, slamming her foot as hard as she could into first his chest then his ribs.
"Dust, that's enough..." Image's voice drew her away . "We need to get to Tar--"
His words had just come out when the building before them exploded. As if on cue the "foot soliders" as they'd named them vanished. Two figures were thrown from the roof; one stopped seconds before he would have slammed into a wall and the other barely avoided being thrown to the ground violently. His body hit the ground but at a diffrent angle and not quite so painful.
Shatter brought her hands down at the same moment as she fell to her knees. Her expression had gone completely blank as they stared up at the large burning building; her hands fell to the pavement, limply.
Sabbath stared from his place against one wall.
Misery pulled himself up into a sitting position and began to pick gravel out of his palms. His expression showed vague interest.
Dust and Image froze, staring up at the building.
One thought passed through five minds.
Tara.
Clapping drew their attention. Several figures stepped forward. One was much shorter then the other and stood at a half-crouch. The taller one looked extremely pissed; his lips pulled back in a sneer.
"Congradulations. If this was a real mission you'd all be DEAD. And those of you not dead? Would be either in a COMA or VEGETABLES. CONGRADU-FUCKING-LATIONS."