Alex walked from the ammunition depot with Ink and Haze tailing him, the spiked mutant talking cheerily (for not the first time this morning) about his encounter with the blonde nurse. He was not sure which was funnier, Haze's enthusiasm or Ink's pleading for him to shut up about it.
Despite the activity in camp, it was a pretty light work day for them. It was not often their group had such mundane, non-military things to discuss either, especially the topic of girls. After years of enlisted service, females were nearly a foreign species.
It was doubly rare for them to encounter the female in question twice in the same day. But, as Haze chatted on, Alex spotted nurse Irene darting through the crowd. She looked frantic, her eyes wide against her pale face.
"Fielding!" Haze called from behind Alex, having spotted the young woman as well, "Hey, Irene!"
The agitated nurse spun around in a full circle before spotting the three men. As she began to shove her way across the busy road, Ink suddenly let out a yelp of alarm. Alex turned to see his teammate fall to his knees, clutching the sides of his head.
Alex and Haze crouched next to him, their hands on his shoulders to keep Ink from sprawling on his face.
"Too soon..." the tattooed mutant gasped, lightning bolts behind his temples vibrating, "Someone is... it can't detonate yet... too soon... he's yelling... saying too soon... you set it up too soon..."
The other two soldiers locked eyes for a moment in fear as Ink heaved out the words that seemed to be blazing in his mind.
The soldier's hands hit the ground and he breathed heavily, "Too soon... too soon..."
Barnes listened to Malloy explain the situation over his wrist communicator, shoving out of the barrack doors to find an available transport.
"And where are you now?" he asked, failing to wave down a passing jeep.
"On the road, heading out of camp... there are trees... some grass... whoa, just missed a big rock..." Malloy replied unhelpfully.
Barnes rolled his eyes, "Never mind, I'll track you with the wrist strap."
He waved a hand over his head and another jeep went by without slowing down.
"I'll meet you at the ravine," he said, watching a third transport approach. It was clear this driver also had no intention of stopping as Barnes signaled to him.
Malloy voice crackled over the communicator, "What? No, don't..."
Her voice was cut off as Barnes slammed his cybernetic left arm down and grabbed the front of the jeep, the squeal of metal on metal covering her words. The Private who had been driving gaped in shock as his ride lurched and halted. Barnes gave the youth an apologetic smile.
"I need to commandeer this vehicle, son," he said, "Get out."
The Private scrambled from the driver's seat and took several panicked steps backward as Barnes jumped behind the wheel. Barnes drove off after his wayward crew mate and used his communication device to update Jack and River to the situation.
Alex and Haze still knelt beside Ink as Irene reached their position and lowered herself to the ground to check his condition.
"What happened to him?" she asked, helping the fallen man return to a kneeling position. She drew a handkerchief from her jacket, wiped his face and tried to check his pulse before he waved her off.
"I'm okay, I'm okay," Ink panted, "It was just..."
He paused and glanced at Alex. Alex gave a nod of encouragement to indicate Ink should be open about his telepathic power in the nurse's presence.
"...another message," he continued, "Or whatever the hell you want to call it. Just like before..."
Upon the word 'message', Irene bolted to her feet and inhaled sharply.
"Oh, yes," she said, "I had an urgent message for your Sergeant as well. Toynbee found something in the back of your squad jeep. He thinks it's a... well... a..."
"Bomb," Haze finished for her, his oddly color eyes swirling with distress as he pulled Ink to his feet.
Irene frowned at him and said fretfully, "Oh, then you knew about it already. Smith, you really should have told Toynbee. The poor man was scared nearly to death..."
"No, no, no," Haze retorted, "We didn't know about it. It's just Glitter gets psychic voices in his head sometimes and it's..."
"Too much to explain now," Alex interrupted, then asked, "Where is he? Where was Toynbee and the jeep?"
"At Shed 4," she said, "Shall I go on to report to Sergeant Fury? There was some kind of timer and..."
"Yeah, he should be in the command barracks," Alex said, sending Irene running to locate Fury.
"What do we do then?" Haze asked, "Start evacuating people?"
Alex shook his head, at a loss about how to manage the sudden risk to the populated camp. Just beyond where they stood, people began to shout and jump out of the way as a jeep barreled down the lane. Alex caught the driver's look of recognition and Sergeant Barnes jerked the vehicle to a stop.
"Summers!" Barnes called, "Get in! We've gotta a pair of numskulls driving explosives toward the ravine. I think one belongs to you."
Without protest, Alex climbed into the jeep followed in quick order by Haze and Ink. Alex heard Barnes' wrist device announcing coordinates and directions as they headed out of camp.
Rebecca Malloy gripped the jeep's passenger seat with both hands as Toynbee navigated them along the uneven terrain toward the ravine. She glanced back at the bomb with growing anxiety, wondering if it had not been a totally stupid idea to take the thing on a bumpy joyride. She knew lots about fire but nothing about explosives. What pyrokinetic needed to know artificial ways to blow things up?
The timer ticked over from 5:00 to 4:59 as Toynbee pointed toward a shape taking form along side the road.
"There..." he said, returning his grip quickly to the wheel, "That's where it starts."
He steered them to the right and Malloy could see the spot in the earth where the ditch began. The tires slammed down from the upper ledge and rolled erratically over rocks and debris. The dirt on either side of them rose as the small chasm's floor became deeper.
"How far should we take it?" Toynbee asked, keeping his eyes on the makeshift road.
Malloy shrugged, "I guess up to the point where you can still jump out. I'll stay with the jeep and..."
"What?! I'm not gonna leave you in here!" Toynbee protested.
"I'll be fine!" Malloy shouted back, then added with less confidence, "I think. I need to try and contain the explosion!"
The sides of the ravine had risen to at least twelve feet high when Toynbee slammed the breaks, passenger side scrapping against the raised earth. Malloy winced as the bomb hit the back of her seat with a thump. The timer rolled over from 3:07 to 3:06 as the pair exited the vehicle through the driver's door.
"Okay," Malloy said, rubbing her hands together to mask her doubt, "No problem. Now I can just... UGH."
Her breath was expelled suddenly from her lungs as Toynbee wrapped both arms around her waist and leaped. Malloy had a spinning moment of vertigo as the soldier's strong legs propelled them toward the top of the ravine. They hit the ground hard, feet dangling over the edge. Malloy drew air back in her lungs as he released her and rolled away.
"Smeg," she swore hoarsely as she struggled to her feet.
Toynbee was already upright, more agile than his companion. He tugged her arm in a direction away from the pending blast zone. Once Malloy got her balance, she swatted at the soldier's grip with aggravation.
"What the hell are you doing?!" she shouted, "I need to stay and control the explosion! You need to get out of here now in case I can't!"
Toynbee scowled and shouted back, "I told you I'm not gonna leave you here!"
"There's no time to argue!" Malloy said, "There's only like a minute left and... oh you have GOT to be kidding!"
Malloy and Toynbee both spotted another vehicle heading in their direction carrying four familiar faces.
"Malloy!" Barnes' voice shouted as his party approached, "Where's the bomb?"
"In the ravine, ya smeghead!" she raged, "We brought it out here to get it away from people! And you bring half the gang out for the show?!"
Barnes and the three mutant soldiers got out of the jeep and Malloy held up her hands.
"Stop! Right there!" she ordered and then looked at Toynbee desperately, "Tell them! Tell the squad what I can do! Tell them what you saw!"
Summers looked totally perplexed and said, "Private, report!"
Toynbee stepped quickly toward Summers and his words came out in a rush.
"She... she's a mutant, sir," he explained, "She can start fires or something. She set Rand's pants on fire this morning."
"That was you?" Ink asked Malloy, then added with a grin, "Right on."
"Yeah, yeah, groovy to the max, or whatever," she said, "That's why you guys need to get in that jeep and take off out of here! This thing is about to go off like...now and... oh shit...like right now... hang on a sec..."
Malloy turned and ran back toward the ledge. She held up her hands defensively just as the bomb detonated.
Captain Jack Harkness shielded his eyes from the bright flash on the horizon as he drove with Staff Sergeant Fury to reclaim their subordinates. Fury rolled the vehicle to a stop and stared toward the rising smoke. It was clear there had been an explosion but it had not behaved like a normal weapon detonation, the sound muffled without an accompanying shock wave. Still, it was big enough that the whole camp was probably on alert.
"If they were in proximity to that blast," Fury said darkly, "There may be nothing we can do for them."
Jack sighed and shook his head, "No, nothing we can do. But I have a feeling your soldiers will still be alive and well when we find them."
Fury turned his head to glare at Harkness and said, "Captain... I have a feeling we have a lot to discuss if you wish to continue working with the men I command."
Malloy felt the fires around her subsiding and lowered her hands. The ground beneath her feet was scorched and crystallized, smoke making the air hazy. The ravine now had a wide circular crater marring its previously linear path. The blast had been intense but not difficult to control. As she gazed down at the remains of the jeep, she felt quite pleased with herself and her uncanny gift.
The sound of coughing made Malloy turn to look over at the group of men. Barnes was walking toward her while the mutant squad began to appear from behind the remaining transport vehicle.
Malloy gave Barnes a wide grin as he came up next to her.
"Phew!" she said with an exhale of breath, "That was close."
Barnes glanced down into the ravine and then back at her with a bit of amazement.
"And, wow," Malloy said, "That was so much easier than I expected. I mean, Rimmer's had me controlling fires and stuff but nothing like that. He would have probably wet his hologrammatic pants if I had tried something like that during training. Too bad the vortex manipulators don't take video cause I would love to have that shit on replay!"
Barnes was still staring at her but his expression was odd. He kept glancing toward the other soldiers and frowning. Malloy did not notice initially and continued to revel in the explosion's containment.
"Oh, man, Bucky, do you think River and Jack would let me try that again?" she asked excitedly, "Like farther away from the camp. If I gotta do something like that to close the rift, I should get more practice, don't you think?"
Barnes widened his eyes and jerked his head in the direction of the squad. Finally getting that he was trying to tell her something, Malloy frowned in confusion.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
Barnes sighed heavily and turned her by the shoulder to face the mutant soldiers. Summers, Ink and Haze were watching her in stunned silence while Toynbee grinned, wiping soot from his goggles.
Malloy looked back at Barnes and bit her bottom lip. The bomb's aftermath had been so exhilarating, she had not considered that a majority of the men nearby had no knowledge of her powers.
"Oh..." she said after a moment, "Smeg."
Taking a step toward the squad, Malloy looked apologetic as she tried to explain what had just happened.
"So... funny thing," she started with a wave toward the carnage, "I'm... a fire starter. Or, fire stopper in this case..."
"Fire starter?" Haze asked, "Like, you can just start fire?"
"Yep," she agreed, "Or stop it. It works both ways."
"You're a mutant," Summers stated, looking angry, "And never told us."
Malloy continued to look guilty, "I would have but..."
"We were under orders not to," Barnes said firmly.
Summers folded his arms, unsatisfied with the excuse.
"Well," the Private responded, "Command's going to want answers about all this. And that's not our biggest problem..."
Before Summers could elaborate, the vehicle carrying Jack Harkness and Sergeant Fury pulled up behind them. The squad jumped to attention and Malloy gave a lame, contrite wave.
Fury stood up and leaned against the top of the windshield, "Gentlemen... and lady. We need to have a little chat."
"About a lot," Barnes put it, staring again into the ravine, then back to Jack, "You better see this."
Malloy turned and gasped when she spotted what Barnes was looking at. Jack walked up between them, saw the sickly purple light shining up through the broken jeep, and spoke.
"Looks like we found our rift."