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Slaves to the Cause: Scene 7The X-Jet broke through the cloud cover like scissors shearing through the soft grey silk of twilight. England rolled out before them, dyed bronze and black by the crimson setting sun. Twisting strips of streetlights crisscrossed the undulating countryside like golden necklaces, adorning the ancient land. Pockets of light were smaller Pennine towns and villages, segregated by moorland. Larger swathes were the big towns that relentlessly marched on, merging with the cities, becoming vast urban sprawls.
Dipping down again to enter the airspace above Manchester, the jet flew over slate-roofed red brick terraces in never ending rows. Stately but neglected red brick mills gave way to scruffy industrial units and business parks. They crossed motorways that roared with traffic no matter the hour. Tower blocks, both offices and apartments, sprang out of the ground like spring bulbs. Buildings of all ages from Industrial Revolution to ultra-modern glass and steel were splattered across the skyline. The city centre closed in on the two X-Men in the jet, challenging them and denying that there had ever been green wide-open spaces.
They could see the blue flashing lights easily from where they hung in the sky. The emergency services were careering down every avenue, converging on one point. Wolverine and Gambit didn't even notice. The massive spectre of a burning building demanded all their attention.
"Think that's our girl?" Logan asked sarcastically, scratching a sideburn.
"Merde." Gambit swore, shaking his head. "Blaze knows I always find her. Why she t'ink she gotta go light a two-hundred foot bonfire to guide us in?"
"Beats me." Logan replied, "Maybe she thinks you're losing your touch Cajun. Try the comm. device."
"I did already. No answer, but the battery probably dead by now non?" There was worry in Gambit's voice, but he was trying to hide it. Logan did nothing to help.
"Maybe. Will you look at that? Looks like there's riots starting down there, and Blaze is most likely in the middle of it…"
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People had streamed onto the streets from every building at the resonating blast that had been the explosion Blaze had caused. For a few moments, confusion and fear reigned as they watched the plume of fire and smoke trickle into the sky. What had happened? What did this mean? Were they in danger?
By the time the sirens started in the distance, most people had realised the blast was a solitary attack. Fury started then, and rumour. Rumours that mutants had caused roadblocks near the city centre. Rumours that the whole of the Northern Quarter was burning to the ground. Rumours that all the CCTV in the city centre had been short-circuited. Mutants, everywhere mutants were being blamed, and the crowd was becoming a mob.
Blaze and Indigo rounded a corner onto the Millennium Garden behind the Urbis museum. They intended to head for the opposite end and the train station to get out of the city centre. An angry crowd seething with false information and irrational hatred blocked their path. They had seen what had happened in America on the news. They knew mutants were to blame for all that was wrong with the world. Even as Blaze and Indigo skidded to a stop, they were already taking their anger and hatred out on a cowering unknown figure, kicking and beating the man as he lay on the floor.
"Its all gone insane!" Indigo hissed, clutching Blaze's arm and tugging her back into the shadows. "What the frigging hell is going on?"
"They've got a mutant." Blaze answered desperately, "Indie we have to do something!"
"No way! These head cases will rip us apart!" He tried convince her, and nearly succeeded. Blaze felt her any desire to be heroic rush out of her into him as he touched her.
"Don't do that!" She shook him off, "I have to do something!" She started forwards just as the emergency services screeched into the same area. She was pinned between the mob and the bank of white riot police vans. From another direction the sound of stampeding hooves pre-empted the mounted polices' arrival. Even as the riot police armed with plastic shields, helmets and truncheons marched in from one side, the horse units charged in at a parallel.
Chaos erupted as some of the mob tried to fight the police on foot, throwing missiles. Others more sensibly ran from the charging horses, scattering into the darkness. Shouting and screaming overpowered Blaze's hearing. Police dogs barked as they fought their handlers to be let loose on the crowd. Blaze called out for Indie, but couldn't see him anywhere in the press of hundreds of bodies.
Fighting through the mêlée she lost all sense of direction. She didn't know which way to turn, or whether she even had a choice any more. Panic hit her in her gut as she was pushed to the ground and repeatedly trodden on. It was all she could do to curl herself up and try to protect her head. Coward, she cursed herself, eyes tight shut. Shut up, she argued subconsciously, concentrate on your powers! A fire blast right here would kill everyone! Suddenly she was aware of someone grabbing her ankles and dragging her towards them…
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"Well well well," Gambit and Blaze's associate Studd chuckled from the confines of his wheelchair. "What brings you out so late, eh Forge?"
"Desperate times call for desperate measures my friend," The Native American Shaman shook Studd's hand with a wry smile.
"Lemme guess, Studd took off his thick glasses and polished the lenses on his black Led Zeppelin t-shirt before replacing them. "The secret government department that pays your blood money wont stand for having mutants around anymore, not with that cretin Kincaid and his bloodhounds sniffing about? You're looking for somewhere to hide out."
"Right as usual, old friend." Forge followed Studd through the techno-criminal's mansion-like house, to his secret cave of computer wonders. "With the curfews and the law enforcement officers on every intersection, I was hard pressed not to get arrested merely coming to visit you. The last thing I want to do is end up in a fight and give Kincaid more ammunition for his anti-mutant cannon." He stroked his trim black beard with his hand, his gun-toting other arm tucked neatly behind his back. The Native American mutant was as always pristinely presented, from his crease free clothes to his neat black ponytail down the middle of his back. He certainly didn't appear to have worked up much of a sweat getting to Studd's safe house. "What do we have here, Studd? Are you keeping an eye on our GRSO friends?"
"Can't help myself." Studd admitted, patting the equipment that gave him a window on the GRSO radio and satellite communication. "Its kinda a grim fascination. I know what I hear them doing every night to other mutants will be eventually what they do to me. It's not something I'm relishing. But rather than keep my head down or leave the country, I sit in here for hours listening to it."
"Are you recording the transmission?" Forge was suddenly very interested, peering round the back of the equipment to examine Studd's electronics.
"Absolutely." Studd confirmed. "If ever this blows over, there will be evidence of what happened to all this country's mutants." Suddenly the equipment burst into life, cracking insanely. Forge slammed his fist down hard on top of the receiver, which stilled the white noise. Instead the voice of a military-sounding man filled the room.
"Closing in on the Hawley girl and her unit now, grid reference X28555, mark 5655, mark 24. GRSO troops prepped, armed and ready. The mutants don't stand a chance…"
"Hawley girl?" Studd breathed, "That's no military unit, it's a bunch of school kids, Gambit and Wolverine told me! They're gonna annihilate a group of children!"
"Not if I can help it." Forge swore grimly, raising his weapon-arm in a salute to the spirits of his people. "This means war."