Just as Sophie had said, Fern ave was home to a large apartment block as well as houses crammed in on both sides. There was a group of kids playing on the street, sometimes running up the front steps of one of the homes to retrieve another toy from inside. Further down a dog was jumping up at a chain fence and barking at the children, wanting to play.
Logan eyed the surroundings, hoping to spot an ideal place to park. Thanks to the purple mutant girl in the back seat he needed to find a parking spot where they could get out without drawing much attention. He settled for a space at the far end of the street, almost outside the apartment block itself.
"You might want to get down," he warned.
Sophie began to squirm and twist on the spot while her wings twitched and bent. She ended up almost at a right angle, her face against the car door and with one foot sticking out between the front seats, however her wings remained half open. It was as if someone were trying to control a pair of broken umbrellas.
"Uhhh. I think that's the best I can do..." she said. Logan twisted in his seat and raised an eyebrow at the mess she had created of herself.
"Nevermind," he said, "just sit normally."
Once righted, she rested her chin on the edge of Logan's seat. "So what's the plan?"
"Wait for men in a van to show up, find out where they're going and then go rescue a kid."
"Cool. Nice and simple. Want me to fly onto a roof top and get us a handy birds eye view?" She stretched out the fingers on one hand and immitated her scanning the landscape.
"If you want to be spotted by everyone on this street that's an excellent way to do that." Her shoulders drooped, as her excitement deflated. "There's nothing you could see up there that we can't see from right here, so you're staying put. And that goes double when the van arrives."
"Oh, what? But I was gonna help," she moaned.
"Tough."
The sky grew dark as they waited and the kids were pulled inside by their mothers one by one. The dog had grown quiet and lay down beside the gate, watching the street wth interest. After Sophie hummed and sang at least three renditions of her favourite musical number Logan was relieved to finally see the van race down the street.
"Jeez, it's a good thing those kids weren't still playing out," said Sophie, eyeing the vehicle with some distaste.
The van screeched to a halt right outside the apartments and two men jumped out, running inside with guns in hand. As soon as they were out of site Logan moved. He ran for the van and came to a stop out beside the van door, thumping against its side. He quickly became annoyed when he spotted Sophie running towards him.
Logan couldn't help but let out a low growl that eventually became words once Sophie was close enough to hear them. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get back to the car."
Sophie took a place right next to him, clinging to the van in an attempt to be stealthy. "No way, we're in this together now."
Someone shouted inside the apartment block, the sound travelling through the open windows in the stairwell. Logan wondered if he had time to drag Sophie back and even grabbed her sleeve. She gave him a curious look and he dropped it.
They heard the shouts, this time from the doorway. Logan peered through van's windows and watched as the two men dragged a third. He was a wiry twenty-something in torn jeans.
"Are you even the cops?" he questioned on seeing the van. "You can't just take people." The final word turned into a manic scream.
Sophie stepped forward, her hands raised in fists and her face full of determination. Logan swung an arm out and stopped her. He pointed to the floor, a signal for her to stay put. Crestfallen, Sophie leant her back against the van again.
The back doors were opened and the vehicle shook as the young man was thrown inside. Logan sidled past Sophie and towards the back end. He crouched down and watched the men's feet, waiting for the perfect moment.
A hand grabbed the edge of the door and Logan kicked the man in the knee. He fell to the floor, crying out. Logan stepped around and looked for the driver. He was no longer at the back and so he checked around the side of the van.
Standing there was Sophie over the unconscious body of the driver. She had a single hand held gingerly behind her head. "What did you do?" Logan demanded to know.
"I flew over the top and tried to do a grabby, flippy thing but ended up just sort of landing on him. His head hit the pavement." The man's face was planted to the floor and blood was indeed starting to trickle from his forehead. "We should call an ambulance right?"
"Don't worry about it kid. His buddy can do that later."
Logan returned to his victim to find him trying to escape, his injured leg hanging uselessly behind him. Logan slung his arm around the man's neck and dragged him into the van. The mutant, chained to the floor as Sophie had been, could only stare in shock.
Logan crouched over the man, holding him firmly in place with one hand. He let his claws loose on the other and held them to the man's throat. "Who are you and why are you taking mutants?"
"I... I don... don't know," he stammered.
"Bullshit, who are you?"
"We're security contractors," he explained through deep breaths. "We're given a name, an address to pick them up from and another to drop them off at."
"And this place you drop them off at, what's it like? Is it easy to get into?"
"Armed guards, name checks. It's what you'd expect." He shrugged as if the point was pointless to explain.
"Looks like you're our way in then." The man's eyes widened with a renewed fear.
...
Sophie eyed the poor man bleeding on the floor of the van. She was sat down with her arms wrapped around her knees. Guilt threatened to overcome her, she only kept it at bay with the hope that he would receive some form of help at their destination.
At least they had managed to save a young mutant, one who currently shared the space with her in the back of the van. It had been Logan's decision to drop him off somewhere else, somewhere he could lie low for a little while.
"Did you know they were coming?" asked Sophie.
The man flicked the hair from his eyes. "Nope. Didn't think I did anything amazing enough to get any sort of attention."
"But you're a mutant, you must be able to do something amazing."
He shrugged. "I can change the state of water."
"Wow, so you could turn water to ice or melt snow, that sort of thing?" Sophie leaned forward, curious about this unusual power.
"Or boil the water in someone's blood," he added with a heavy tone. "It's why I hate using it. I don't do much with my life but at least I don't hurt people." Sophie shrank back a little, both at his frightening information and at her own guilt for hurting someone less than half an hour before.
"But you could help people," said Sophie. "You could unfreeze pipes in the Winter, you could..."
"I'm not interested. I'll help a neighbour but I'm not gonna start walking around showing off the fact I'm a mutant."
The two fell silent. It wasn't very often that Sophie got to meet other mutants. She always felt as if there should be a sense of community and companionship between mutants. But apparently others didn't feel the same way.
The van came to a stop near to a bus station and the mutant hoped out. He offered a brief thanks and they were on the move again. After anxiously waiting in the dark for what was definitely Sophie's definition of "too long", Logan opened the doors.
"Don't come out too far," he warned. Sophie walked in a crouch to the very back and hopped down. She allowed herself a quick peek to get her bearings.
They were parked outside what looked like a regular office building, except the entire area was surrounded by 10 foot walls topped with barbed wire. Security guards were posted at every entrance.
"I don't get it, I was expecting a prison," said Sophie.
"Trust me, every nasty secret will be hidden below ground. I've seen it before," Logan grumbled. "Don't suppose I can convince you to stay put?"
"Nope. Mutants are being taken and I want to help stop it. What's your plan?"
"Need to find out who's in charge, get him to tell us what's going on and free any prisoners on our way out."
Sophie nodded. It wasn't the most detailed of plans but it would do. She leant around the van door and scanned the building. On the highest floor was an extra-wide window where a man stood with his back to the glass.
"Important people have their office way up high, don't they?" asked Sophie.
"I suppose."
"Then I might have found who we're looking for. I could fly up there too," she pointed out.
"You'll get shot out of the sky," Logan warned.
"Then you better draw the fire for me."
Sophie spread her wings, giving Logan little chance to argue. His claws came out with a snikt and he went running towards the biggest gathering of guards he could see. Before she made her move Sophie leant towards the still-unconscious guard and took his baton.
Sophie leaped upwards and threw her wings down, boosting herself into the air. Her heart began to race at the sounds of gunfire and yelling. She hoped she hadn't just sent Logan off to his doom. She shook the thought from her mind. Logan didn't seem like a man to lose a fight.
Floor after floor whipped past her as Sophie flew higher and higher. At last she reached the one she was after and stopped to hover in mid-air. She threw the baton at the window, smashing the glass and flew inside.
The man that had been by the window had stepped back with his hands up to protect his face from the shards. Sophie grabbed his wrists and pushed him back. She landed with her feet either side of his waist as he half lay on his desk.
His face pulled back in a sneer of disgust at the sight of her and pushed her away. She hopped off and twisted in the air to land safely on the ground. She blocked his only safe exit and threw out her wings as wide as she could, hoping to instil some fear in him.
A wooden block with a named inscribed on metal teetered on the edge of the desk. It read "Jacob Seaton - CEO".
"Is that you?" Sophie asked, pointing the name. "Are you Seaton?"
"Who else would I be?" Seaton rolled over on the desk and placed his hands down to prop himself up again.
"Good. Then tell me why you're stealing mutants? Why was I arrested when I'd done nothing wrong? I'm too busy studying for an English Language course at University to even step a toe out of line." Sophie clenched her fists as something began to burn within her chest.
"Nonsense, you'd committed a crime." Seaton was on his feet and set about straightening his tie and brushing the debris off his sleeves.
Sophie opened her mouth and at first nothing came out. His words at astounded her. "I didn't commit any crime!" she demanded.
"Of course you did. You've got a pair of beautiful wings and a highly useful skill-set. It's a crime that instead of doing something with them, you choose to study such a pointless subject. And that is something we just had to rectify."
"And the kid who could do things to water? What was he doing with his life that was so terrible?" she spat.
Seaton shook his head and sighed. "Damn shame. A power like that and he does nothing but sit in his squalid little flat all day. Did he mention his mother pays his rent?"
Outside there was further shouting and a crashing sound followed by screeching metal. Seaton peered out with curiosity as if it was merely a car alarm going off.
"So you were going to arrest us for not living in a way that suits you?" asked Sophie. She struggled to keep her breathing at a steady pace, her anger threatened to get the better of her.
"We don't arrest people!" Seaton acted offended, whether it was honest or not, Sophie couldn't tell. "We want to train you to make you heroes. You'll be like police with powers. Work with us and you could put your skills to use saving lives. You could even be saving other mutants in a year."
"But you can't just force people into it, we deserve a choice." Sophie's wings drooped as anger became defeat.
Behind her the doors to the office were forced open and before Sophie could react there were arms all over her, grabbing at her arms and restraining her wings.
"I don't think you do," said Seaton, offering her a final smug grin.
