Sorry about the cliffy! I know this next chapter doesn't fix everything, but it helps, ne? ;)
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At the last possible second, a familiar red film encompassed Nora, protecting her as she fell to the ground.
Lucas, who was close enough to the Mustang to roll underneath of it for cover, jumped to his feet, thankfully unscathed, and immediately rushed to his sister.
"Are you hurt?" he demanded, twisting her around to check her for injuries. "Are you alright?"
The soldiers had already reloaded before she could answer. Their movements in sync, the twins instantly shielded each other and ran for cover, once again rendering all the soldiers' perfectly aimed ammunition useless.
"Shit," Nora spit out from behind the force field. She caught her breath as she leaned in against the side of the Mustang, which proved a worthy makeshift barricade. "Shit!" she screamed all the louder as she fully realized the awful circumstances of their situation.
Lucas reacted much more calmly than his sister. He darted his eyes, surveying the area, assessing the situation. There were too many. Eventually, no matter how constantly they defended each other, they would be hit. Their shields had to come down when they fired. With every offense move they made, they opened themselves up to disaster.
"They have the upper hand," he observed. His voice was strangely detached, like he was watching an action thriller, trying to figure out how the hero was going to win.
Nora barely heard her brother's statement. She began to quake as her wrath reached its peak. They had never been safe. The same people had been tracking them all along. Anger flashed across her face as she watched the soldiers proudly emerging from behind the foliage.
"C'mon, Luke," she whispered through her teeth. "We did it once." Her hands glowed brightly, birthing energy between them. "We'll do it again."
Lucas breathed deeply and closed his eyes as made his decision. No, he thought softly.
Without asking, he grabbed her harshly by the arm, so hard it hurt. Before he even explained what he was doing, he dragged her across the yard to the van through the barrage of gunfire, shooting red energy from his free hand into the camouflaged humans.
Nora gave a sudden scream at his lack of warning. "Luke!" Her eyes widened as she struggled to gain her footing. "Luke, what are you doing?!"
When they were safely behind the van, Lucas threw open the door and pointed inside. "Get in," he ordered.
Horrified, Nora shirked out of his grasp. "What?! You can't fight them yourself!" Behind them, dozens of soldiers sporadically shot forth from their hiding places. There were far more attacking them. It wasn't like before.
"I'm not giving you a choice," he shouted to her vehemently.
Nora spared a second to frown at him defiantly. "I'll be damned if I'm leaving you." She pulled away from her brother and gritted her teeth as powerful blue light surged forth from her open palms.
Groaning loudly in frustration, Lucas snatched her around her middle and into the driver's seat of the van in one fluid motion.
Nora fell into a heap against the console. "What the! Luke!" The door slammed in her face, and her brother pushed his hands against the outside of her car. Both his palms and the outside metal glowed a deep red as he melded the door and car frame together.
Nora tried forcing the handle, then kicking down the door, but her brother had effectively trapped her. Anger at his sudden actions gripped her. "Let me out of here!" she shouted fiercely.
"Go!" Frowning, he pounded his foot against the door for effect. Eyeing the approaching troops, his teeth clenched as he aimed and fired into the nearest of the forces. "I'll follow you!"
A second bombardment of metal darts shattered against her back windshield and shocked Nora into action. Her white knuckles pressed against the ignition, and the Windstar revved to life. Glaring at her oppressors, she suddenly swerved backwards into reverse and smirked triumphantly at the soldiers' surprised faces and hurried movements. Her brother's red bolts of energy plowed into each startled soldier as they scrambled to move out of her path.
That's what you get, bastards. She frowned fitfully as she watched them rush out of her way. Don't mess with Artemis and Apollo.
She jerked the wheel as far to the right as it could go, clearing a path free of soldiers to her brother's Mustang. Ignoring the distinctive bulge of a body underneath of her tires, she changed gears and skidded forward back down the twisting mountain path to make her get-away.
Even as she drove out of the campsite, her eyes remained locked on her brother's form in the rear-view mirror. Reaching out, she stretched her open palm behind her to protect him against the swarm of fighters still present.
In response to her careless driving, the entire car began to shake as she crunched the right side of the van alongside the edge of a group of pine trees. Cursing in astonishment, Nora swung the bulky van back onto the road and steadied herself as she tore down the dirt path made uneven by the deep imprints of their tires.
But the obvious damage to the vehicle was her last concern. She looked apprehensively back into her rear-view mirror, void of any trace of her brother.
C'mon, Luke. Her heart beat rapidly inside her chest as she tried to will his Mustang to peel out around the corner. C'mon, get out of there.
So preoccupied was Nora with the safety of her brother that she didn't notice the speeding Harley Davidson or the Porsche Carrera Turbo coming down the road, heading straight in her direction.
* * * * *
The Ford Windstar came barreling out from the campground's exit nearly plowing down Wolverine and his Harley. "Whoa!" With wide eyes, he popped a wheelie and swerved out of her path, narrowly averting collision with the speeding family van.
Cyclops veered his Porsche off to the right just in time to see the van go shooting past them, swerving wildly all over the road. The moment he saw the driver's frightened face, Nora's high school picture flashed across his mind.
"It's the girl from the broadcast," he proclaimed, moving his Porsche to pull a U-turn straight out of a Batman movie.
Wolverine's face was a window to his annoyance. "Nothing escapes you, does it, Cyclops?" He quickly regained his footing on the motorcycle and took off after the retreating girl. "Kurt, can you get them out of the car?" he demanded, as they began to close in on the damaged Windstar.
Kurt Wagner's voice was filled with anxiety. "She es moving too fast."
Scott jostled his car this way and that as he tried to see inside the tinted windows of the van. "Kurt's right. He could go right through the windshield trying a move like that." His voice teemed with authority. "We'll have to move to Plan B."
Logan arched an eyebrow. "We have a Plan B?" That was something new.
"We do now," he said. Scott slowed his speed, keeping a steady pace behind the van.
"You want to let me in on it?" Wolverine asked casually.
"She can't leave the road if it's blocked." Scott looked to the communicator. "Storm?"
"Already ten steps ahead of you." They watched in silence as the silver X-Jet made a smooth landing less than a mile in front of them.
Watching the aqua van receding into the distance, Scott swerved his Porsche parallel to the road, and Logan followed suit, burning a black trail of tar behind his wheels as the motorcycle came to a sharp halt across the road.
