The three of them made their way back to where the rest of the group was situated in the middle of all the cells. Mark, who was already a little unsteady on his feet, tripped a little as a shudder wracked his body. He stopped just in the doorway back to the cells room and shook his head. "I'm not going back there. I'm not," he told them firmly. Quinn looked at him, realizing that his claustrophobia must have been acting up. "It'll be ok," she said quietly. "We're here; and we're leaving soon. Just take a breath and come on." She tugged once on his hand, which she had been holding since his had stood up; she didn't want to let him go, she was like a child making sure that her parent was still there. Mark swallowed as her looked down at her. He must have seen something that helped because he nodded weakly and let Ink and Quinn lead him to the others.
"MARK!" Kitchie was the first to notice the weapons mutant and he hurled himself at his boyfriend. Quinn reluctantly released Mark's hand as both her and Ink took a step away from the pair. Mark and Kitchie held each other like they were never going to let go, and Mark kissed him gently. "I'm so sorry Jake," he told him. "God I am so sorry." Ink walked off at that point, obviously not wanting to intrude on their relationship moment. Quinn turned away too, and just in time to see Beast arrive with Ms. Dugan in his arms.
She was shaking visably and her face had spots of dried blood covering it, mostly on her cheek and around her nose. Quiet whimpers came from her lips as Beast stepped up to the group. "Ink, her collar," he said, and Ink barely paused before drawing his sword. A smile seemed to flicker on Ms. Dugan's face as he sliced the collar off. She closed her eyes as it dropped, and static filled the air. Quinn winced and covered her ears. Everyone followed suit until the static died away with a final shreach.
"My bad," Ms. Dugan laughed quietly. "Questo collare cazzo ha pasticciato con i miei poteri per troppo tempo."
People slowly began to recover and Quinn straightened from her hunch. Wolfsbane and Wolverine took a little bit longer than the others due to their sensitive ears.
"Let's get out of here," Cyclops said.
"What about Jane Kelley?" Ms. Dugan snapped. "If we haven't caught her yet then lo non lascio fino a noi!"
Cyclops paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to reply when he didn't understand half of the sentence. "We'll find her on our way out," he replied. "but our priority is getting out."
Ms. Dugan shook her head and took a step away from Beast. "Poi lasciare, ma io non vado senza di lei in custodia. Lei ci ha causato tutto troppo dolore per ottenere solo franca."
Cyclops sighed and looked around, glancing at everyone. "Fine," he said. "We'll get her but we should get the people that were kidnapped out of here; they're our responsibility."
"I'm not leaving," Mark stated.
"Neither am I," Kitchie repeated.
Rogue, Shadowcat, Wolfsbane, and all the others agreed as well. Quinn couldn't help but smile. "I guess we're finding her," she said to Cyclops, who shot her a small glare.
"That might not be as difficult as we think," Blackout announced, stepping out from around the side of one of the cells. Noah and Gabriel appeared behind her, Gabriel looking terrible with a cut running over his right eye and a large bruise covering the lower part of his jaw. His lip was split and he walked with a slight limp. Noah simply looked frightening with eyes an even brighter red than Quinn's and a long black ponytail. He and Noah each held one arm of the senator candidate, who had a bruise surrounding her left eye.
"Stupid mutants," she spat. "You think you'll get away with all this? I'll only come back, and though under me will fight you even when I die. You can't kill an idea."
Ink, who was closest to the procession, turned and socked her in the stomach, causing her to double over even more than she already was. He stepped away from her after that, crossing his arms. "You all want to do it," he said, justifying his action. No one spoke against him.
"You're just freaks," Jane continued. Ink growled and raised his hand again but Avalanche pulled him back. "Monsters," Jane pressed. "You're just spawn from some cavern of acidic ooze somewhere in Hell. You're not human, not even close. You're all just a waste of space, a waste of air, of flesh and bone-" She was cut off as Ms. Dugan strode over and hit her in the mouth. "Cagna," Ms. Dugan hissed. "Farmi del male e ti fanno male, ma male i miei studenti e si sta andando a soffrirela tortura in modo tale che si desidera tu fossi motto."
Beast wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her back, away from the woman who sparked the murderous light in everybody's eyes. Static shrieked in the air and everyone once again covered their ears. A resounding boom echoed from around the corner and the unmistakable crackle of flames caused the smoke alarms to go off, adding to the already deafening static.
"Let's move!" Cyclops shouted over all the noise, already heading in the opposite direction of the flames.
"What about her?" Blackout asked, grabbing his arm and jerking a thumb at the wannabe senator.
"Knock her out and bring her with us," Cyclops replied, although it was evident that he didn't really want to extend the invite. Quinn was glad to see that even people like Cyclops who tolerated and maybe even liked humans had a dark spot in their hearts somewhere. Blackout nodded to Gabriel and Noah, and Gabriel did the honours. Noah then took the limp body and slung it over his shoulders, following the rest of the group at a steady pace.
"We can take the armoured car to get us to the Blackbird," Ink called out.
"What car?" Jean replied.
"Just follow."
They all followed Ink, who took the lead of the procession with Wolverine, and Beast, who was helping Ms. Dugan. Eventually they found the garage again and Quinn and Mark rushed to the cracks that showed where the wall was. "Just like the training session," Quinn told him, and he nodded. Together they pried the doors open and jumped on the runners of the vehicle as it pulled out of the building. People were packed inside and sitting on the roof. Ink was behind the wheel, having hot-wired the car with the precision of someone who had done it before. No one asked any questions.
As they reached the bottom of the hill, everyone turned to glance out a window as a giant boom shook the ground and the air. What had once been the two storey warehouse was now a pile of cement and beams that were all being eaten by the flames that had originated in the basement. From Quinn's position outside she thought she saw Ms. Dugan smile.
AN: Translation: 1) I will not leave until we do 2) Then leave, but I'm not leaving without her in custody. She has caused us all too much pain to get away with 3) Bitch. You hurt me, and I'll hurt you. But you hurt my students and I will torture you so much you will wish you were dead.