"It's still occupied." Shalimar slid in next to Brennan, close enough so that the other two could hear. All four were clustered in the bushes outside of Bea Sutter's farmhouse, keeping their heads down. Shalimar held her tongue until one of the supposed 'farmhands' had moved on by, never knowing that he was being watched. There wasn't much action in the cornfields, but the activity in the barn--men moving equipment here and there, loading the boxes into the trunks of several cars--showed that this was an operating facility. Vegetables, however, were not the goal. "At least twelve men besides Dr. Sutter and Benji. I saw both of them too, going about their business. And those twelve men know that we're coming. They're ready and waiting for a fight."
"Any sign of Jesse?"
"None. But there were a lot of areas that I couldn't get into. There's a whole basement, possibly even two levels, that is accessible only from inside. If he's anywhere, he's down there." Shalimar hunkered back on her haunches, her eyes going briefly feral. "We busting down the front door or the back?"
"I'd prefer something a little less obvious," Adam told her, craning his neck to peruse the territory. He ducked back—one of the supposed 'farmhands' ambled out of the barn and into the house, letting the screen door slam behind him. "Can we get in through one of the upstairs windows?"
"I can." Shalimar suppressed a smirk. "You'd have to climb a rose trellis. With thorns."
"Hm." Adam looked at the offending trellis. Intellectually he knew each thorn was less than a half inch long but from this distance he could have sworn that the thing was covered in six inch daggers. "Any other way?"
"Like I said, front door or back?" Then Shalimar suddenly cocked her head, all humor gone. "What was that?"
The others stayed rigidly silent, the better to allow the feral, with her sensitive hearing, to determine what it was—
"Fire in the hole!" Shalimar dove for the dirt. The others followed hastily.
Six small grenades landed in a rough circle around the four. The New Mutants covered their heads, expecting this moment to be their last one on Earth.
But the grenades exploded with a small pop, and a white gas sprayed up and out.
Shalimar was the fastest, and able to get the farthest away, but even she was no match for the drifting poison that enveloped the group. She swayed on her feet, commanding her legs to take one more step, just get a little farther away, just one step…