Rogue: The Uprising


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Penny didn't have the answers.

She didn't have jackall. As the man's staggered breathing came to a halt and his words echoed in the empty, stale air of the warehouse, she felt an odd numbness she hadn't felt in a great, many years.

"You have to run, P..." Rain plastered the sidewalks in a slick patina, a coppery pink stain swirling towards the sewer drain from the quarter-sized hole in Nate's once pristine charcoal grey suit. He was fading, and no amount of pressure she put on the wound could stave off the way his skin paled and his eyes glazed with the weight of weariness that only came at the end of all things. Her knees, the fishnet stockings she wore now shredded, bit into the pavement, and blood stained the front of her dress.

"Stop it." She hissed, bitterly, "I'm not gonna run... Just shut up and lay still!"

"No! Penny... Please. You have to..."

"Would you stop, I'm not gonna-"

"Temperance!" The word was a growl, and drew a heaving cough from Nate's chest, as his hand cupped over her own. His fingers were slick, leaving red streaks across her skin, but there was a strength to him that was about the only reassurance she was going to get from the entire situation, "Get out of here!"

"Damn it..." Whispering the swear with as much venom as she could muster through the sudden onslaught of tears, Penny dropped back from her knees, "...Damn you, Nate. You stupid, stubborn jerk. I told you to leave it alone, didn't I!? Didn't I??"

"Cause you're one to talk about not listening..."

Eyes meeting his, she scoffed, "Half dead and you're lecturing me? For real?"

"For real. Penny. Please... Don't make me regret this. You have to run, before they--"


"Trap!"

The word broke through Penny's thoughts at the same time as her mind registered the sudden explosion, and spinning around, Penny stared in shock at the metal drones, weaving their way into the warehouse.

"Go!" She called, snapping free of the haze, reaching out for Finn, who was closest of the other three. Her fingers looped around his wrist and she tugged, before shoving the boy towards the metal door that led into the next section of the warehouse, "Move! Keith! You, too! Deck! The crates!" She gestured ahead to the massive stack of crates, piled like the Red Sea on either side before the entrance to the building, "Pull them down!"

TAGS || @CloudyBlueDay, @DarinValore, @Reythaak
 
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Keith Fuller
Location:A Trap.Interactions: @Elle Joyner , @DarinValore ,@CloudyBlueDay

Keith looked… out of it. From the moment he started looking at the man’s aura, he seemed to space out; like nothing else really mattered. He crouched down, balancing on the balls of his feet and just… watched, barely registering the words. He pulled his sunglasses off, and the dust mask down to hang around his neck.

”Harper…? I… don’t know a Harper,” he managed at Deckard’s questioning of the name.

The man- no, Sphinx. Internally, Keith would at the very least use his name, or the name he knew anyways. Sphinx’s aura had been fading further, and it looked like little wisps of color had been drifting off like smoke from the main body of it.

He knew what it meant instinctually. He still stared. Still let it shake him.

He hadn’t watched anyone die before.

The morbid curiosity kept him frozen. Entranced. It wasn’t that he hadn’t seen someone die before; it was just that when he had it had been abrupt. Not the leaking of life that watching someone die brought.

The distinction mattered.

An explosion rocked Keith forward, shaking him out of things just enough for him to actually react. His eyes focused on the reality everyone could see rather than the whorls of color he had been paying attention to; or the lack thereof. He shook his head slightly. Trap.

He shoved himself up from the floor and stumbled several steps towards the door Penny directed them towards, shoving it open and moving through, looking for somewhere to hide or something.

Hiding wouldn’t do much though, so he moved further, putting more stuff between him and the drones and whatever foot soldiers would be coming along to support the drones if his suspicions proved true.
 
Collab Post | Location: Science and Research Facility
Interactions: Josie @Kat | Mac @Shizuochan | Science Tools Retrieval Team



Josie put on her earpiece and handed one to Mac, Lex, and Mara.

“We’re ready,” she told Luna and faced the three getting ready to head inside. “You know the drill guys. Get in, grab the equipment, get out. No candy snooping, Mac. Understood?”

“Understood. Unless there’s peanut-butter cups, Crunch bars, yogurt-covered raisins…” Mac’s fingers had closed briefly around the earpiece before opening, one by one, to list the various candies. “Kidding. Mega-understood. Jumpin’ beans about to get it jumpin’, right Luna?”

Luna pinched her lips to stave off a giggle, but all that did was concoct this dorky snort. She coughed in a fruitless attempt to hide it before grinning at Mac. “A-and don’t forget the chocolate-dipped peanuts.” However, she forced herself to sober up; as much as she loved joking around with her friend, now wasn’t the time to get distracted. “Jumping d-down the techno rabbit hole now.” Several progress bars popped up on the monitors as she started hacking away at the warehouse’s mainframe. Luckily, they didn’t seem as troublesome and convoluted as the previous facility.

But, of course, Luna knew not to sing praise before her totally-legal-and-not-shady softwares were downloaded...It was a poor remix of the “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch” saying. Hahaha, I’m so clever I could give Bo Burnham a run for his money. Th-that’s a credible lie, right? Oh wait, she was mentally rambling. The hacker focused on the screens once more, watching as the front security cams began to leak feedback.

“Let us know if you guys need any help and don’t forget about the new security measures. I know I’m not supposed to leave the van, but if I have to, so be it,” Josie faced the screens, dead serious, and one by one, Lex and Mara filed out of the van like snakes.

“I’ll try and give you a break.” Mac winked as she followed suit, skipping out, careful to duck her head to avoid the foliage. “Might be fun the other way though.”

The teen dropped low, following the rest of the advance trio as they slunk near whatever intermittent sources of cover they could find. Closer, closer, closer. Eventually, they came to a stop, awkwardly posed as if attempting to blend into the shadows of one another. “What’s the word on the nerd stuff?” Cameras, scanners, ostensibly.

“Update on the c-cool people stuff,” Luna countered as footage started rolling in. So far, the feed was running smoothly and she had yet to encounter any wall buffs or surprise forks in the system. Mac, Mara, and Lex came into view on a screen between Luna and Josie. “We’ve got eyes on you and th-the front area. It seems to be all clear f-for you to move forward.”

Something didn’t sit right with the hacker. Although she was beyond grateful for the lack of manpower roaming the grounds...it didn’t make much sense. Where is everybody? L-last minute funeral? she wondered. She retracted the drive, setting it down within inches reach--precautionary measure. “We should have eyes on at least three-quarters of the building soon. Just be c-careful, please.” That last bit was incredibly unnecessary. Of course they would tread lightly, it was merely the nerves speaking.

“It’s quiet there,” Josie muttered, leaning back in her chair as she surveyed what little space the screen gave her. “They might be hiding out somewhere, maybe even waiting for us. Where are you right now, Mac?”

“Somewhere.” Mac’s reply came lazily, carelessly, before she remembered that this was all ‘serious business’. “We’re slinking in. Lex’ll go first.”

Lex exited the periphery of one screen before entering another, her form shifting as she transitioned between them. Suddenly, one Ricardo Gomez left the comfort of shade and shadow to stand in the open because, after all, he belonged there.

Okaaaaaay. Looks like we’re doing it.”

As Mac and the others filed into the building, Luna ogled her screens. They were growing a tad peevish as she neared the final firewall, which didn’t sit with her instincts. Some of the feedback had grown choppy with its flow, as if chunks of molasses were clogging traffic. “That’s...Th-that’s weird,” Luna whispered while typing away furiously. She ran a few heavy-hitters through the system; she preferred to stray away from those since they made her about thirteen percent more vulnerable to detection, but she was willing to take the risk and gain eyes on the rest of the facility.

And then it happened.

A blockade. The alarm was sharp and brief, piercing the atmosphere with a single bleep. A warning sign blinked across Luna’s monitor and in that moment, she found herself dazed with shock. “Holy crud...g-guys I can’t get into the last sector.” A nervous wheeze leaked into her tone. Oh God. Oh crap. How could this happen? She never failed security infiltration before.

“Oh no. What happened, Luna? What’s going on?” Josie panicked, eyeballing the screen and the many buttons in the van, intent on figuring out how they could fix this mess. Luna never failed. Josie pressed a finger to her earpiece. “Mac?! Lex?! Mara?! Are you guys okay?! What’s going on in there?!”

Josie turned back to Luna and grabbed her upper arms, desperation crawling up her skin like a thousand scarab beetles.

“Try harder, Luna! We can’t let them catch us!”

“J-Josie! Josie, wait! H-h-hold on!” Luna swore she was going to vomit if Josie’s anxiety continued to feed into hers...which would then be fed back. And next thing they knew, they’d be trapped in a perpetual loop of screeching at one another until a guard overheard and ambushed them. Not good.

Still trapped in Josie’s hold, the hacker slapped a hand over her chest to monitor her heartbeat. The pulse thrummed erratically against her palm. Oh dear. Oh God. It was fine. She was fine. Everyone was fine. She attempted to steady her breathing, but the stutter in her voice became more prominent than usual. “I-it’s okay, i-it just means we’re at a s-s-standstill until I can figure out h-how to break through the l-...last wall.” She mimicked her friend, seizing the frantic woman by her arms and staring deeply into her gaze. “E-everything’s fine.”

As soon as she said this, she caught movement in her peripherals. “W-wait…” Luna leaned over awkwardly to squint at the monitor, only for her eyes to widen like a deer in headlights. “O-oh...oh dear...oh dear, oh God, oh no no no no…” The wheezing made a smashing comeback.

Everything wasn’t fine.

Three persons had diverged on the monitor; Mac, Mara, and the shape of Ricardo Gomez dividing to conquer the Rogues’ shopping list. The latter two moving with a practised efficiency -- one which looked almost unnatural with Ricardo’s average form -- while Mac shuffled along with all the poise and grace of an excitable-child-in-a-toy-store-slash-punk-rocker-hybrid.

And in the same instant their movements flickered upon the monitor, others did as well. Sharp, crisp motions like the jutting stabs of daggers, as shadows were overtaken by the substantial form of armored guards, nightsticks bearing down upon the Rogues.

Ricardo Gomez’s body seemingly disappeared within a mound of guards, while Mac and Mara recoiled away.

A sharp intake of breath blared through cacophonous through the earpieces, Mac’s voice following in a panic, “They’ve got us! They’ve got us!”

“Out of my way, Luna! I’m going in!”

Josie immediately evacuated the van without a second thought.

“W-wait! Josie!” Whatever protests Luna attempted to toss out fell on deaf ears. Josie was already speeding towards the building like a madwoman. “Oh no...No, no, no, p-please God no.” The hacker rolled back over to the monitors and checked them over frantically; the last sector was only leaking in choppy spurts of info, static and noise interrupting it frequently. Even with her skills, it was the most she could conjure while battling a top-class blockade. Combine the situation with her rapidly building anxiety and one was presented the prime recipe for “I should’ve brought my inhaler” pie.

This was bad. This was so bad! Luna knew that Josie was throwing herself into serious crossfire and was still technically recovering. Adding herself into the field would only hold the team back; she’d be an extra burden. The hacker wasn’t an idiot. She knew her own limits.

Sweat rolling down her face and body a complete quivering mess, her finger flew to her earpiece. “H-hang in th-there guys! Just! J-just…” Luna’s mind scrambled for a solution. An escape plan. Anything. And yet, even then, she clenched a fistful of curls as the panic seeped past her skin and stained her bones a putrid yellow.

Easier said than done.
 
PRETTY BOY
Left, right, left... another left...

The damnable warehouses could never just run in a straight line. It was bad enough they'd gotten the call so late - only having a few minutes, at best, to get into the fray before things went south - but to add on top of that navigating a veritable maze... It was meant to be simple. But why would anything ever actually be what it was meant to be? If in the end it wasn't worth it, he was gonna have someone's head.

Darting around a corner, skidding on the slick tile, he came to a halt at the sound of voices. Shouts. The team had been ambushed, and despite their powers, were sure to be vastly outnumbered. In any given situation, it was risky, running into it - but considering the chance of failure... He'd plucked the short straw, for sure, and he'd be glad when it was all over.

"Bingo..." He muttered, when he caught sight of the fray at the end of the hall.

From his side, he pulled a small bag, and opening the bag, dumped a handful of round marbles into his palms and send them skittering across the floor. As they hit the tile, a bright blue mist burst from them, spraying the hall, filling it with a thick fog.

"Rogues!" He called out, shielding his face with his arm, "This way! Follow my voice, and for God's sake... hurry up!!"

TANK
"You sure about this?" The tone was unmistakably irritated, a tone that spoke of their argument not all too long ago. He'd been sitting in the van for approximately eight minutes, now, watching the other van across the street with a sense of growing frustration, but finally... finally, the call had come through. They'd tracked the signature and this was it. This was their target - or at least one of the poor fools... and it was finally, finally time to move. Or so he hoped.

"Yes. This is it..." The voice on the other end continued, sharply, "In and out. If she fights back, you know what to do. And I don't think I need to remind you... we need her alive."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever..." Rising, craning his neck to the side to pop a kink, Vance smirked, "...Radio silent in 3... 2... 1..."

With a click, the comm buzzed out and slipping from the driver's side, Vance sprinted across to the van on the other side. Less than a few minutes ago, the dark haired woman had fled inside, and if they were right in their assessment, that left the nerd inside, alone. A grin twitched to the corner of his lips, and reaching out, Vance hooked his fingers under the handle, giving it a pop and tugging it open.

"...Hello love. How goes?"

As soon as she heard the pop, Luna spun around with her comm in hand, prepared to ask Josie for assistance in reaffirming the connection. Or scold her. Err...as much as Luna could scold, which wasn’t much--

But then she saw an unrecognizable face, followed by a voice that definitely didn’t belong to Josie.

“Oh God...h-holy cheese balls, who’re…” Luna jolted back, meeting the counter with a sharp sting in her spine and fear clawing up her insides like kindling acid. She screamed into the useless earpiece. “Guys? G-guys?! Help! Seriously!”

Leaning against the open door, Vance’s smirk grew into a grin, one not wholly unpleasant, except for the fact that he was on entirely the wrong team, “...Damn shame. Technology just ain’t what it used to be. Gonna need you to come with me, Sweetheart. Be real nice if you came quiet. Without a fuss…?”

Something about this man’s confident tone twisted her gut into knots. Was he...was he the cause of the disconnection? Luna ignored him and sprung out her chair to snatch her keyboard free. Not a keen weapon, but it was all she had. “S-stay over there! I-I swear if you don’t! I’ll! I-I’ll!” Luna wheezed, her palms sweaty and barely keeping hold of her makeshift weapon.

Laughing, Vance crossed his arms over his chest, a brow curving upwards, “...You’ll spacebar me to death? Love… just… Don’t embarrass yourself. They told me you were the smart one, after all. How ‘bout you put that down and come along? Last chance…”

A brief pause.

“N-no way!” Sucking in a sharp breath, she swung at the man as hard as she could. Perhaps it wasn’t smart to close her eyes before actual impact, but she wasn’t a fighter. Watching violence rested far outside comfort zone, let alone initiating it.

With a laugh, Vance swung his arm up to deflect the assault from the keyboard, and with his free hand, reached out to snag her wrist. With a yank, he spun her around and with hope, off balance, enough to snake his other arm around her neck - not a choke hold, but with just enough pressure to suggest he wasn’t afraid to go there.

“...Never told me you were so feisty… Cute. You ready to behave now, or do I really have to make a mess of something so pretty?”

Luna refused to cry. Nor panic. Neither of those things. And yet, it was unfortunate that her body never listened to her and it didn’t plan on starting now. Her eyes burned as she grit her teeth, trying to lean away from the sensation of his breath against her ear.

“F...f-fuck off,” she whimpered. She raised one foot to stomp down on his, while simultaneously sinking her teeth into the flesh of his arm.

“Oi!” With a growl, Vance shifted, and shoved her sideways, into the jam of the door, pushing, perhaps, harder than he actually meant to, “Gonna need to get to know me better than that, before you’re allowed to bite, Little Miss!” One hand freed from her, and pressed to the back of her neck, “Now… I gotta be unkind. Hold still…”

That impact had definitely formed a bruise and Luna yelped in pain as he pressed down on her neck. Breathing was slowly becoming a lost art form as her wheezing climbed to new heights. Despite everything, she managed to choke out shakily, “N-now you’re b-...b-being unkind?

Of course, she did the opposite of obeying and struggling fruitlessly against his grasp. This was insane. This was horrifying. This was...She wanted her teammates. She wanted video games and comics with Finn and Keith. She wanted her friends and family at Rogue. And with each desire running through her head, the panic became worse and worse. She blindly snapped her head back in hopes of bashing his nose.

Swinging his head back as she did, just barely avoiding the head butt, Vance swore, and his grip on her neck tightened as he leaned in close enough to whisper, “You have no idea what unkind looks like… Damn lucky you got me, and not one of the others. Now hush…” A warmth built from beneath his hand, slowly at first, then hotter and hotter, as his grip tensed, “...It’ll be over, soon…”

Whatever motivation Luna had left suddenly drained from her, the unbearable heat against her neck overwhelming everything else around her. She slumped in his hold, still conscious, but viewing reality through the lense of absolute exhaustion.

The next few moments happened in fragmented blurs. Being dragged out the van. Taken away. Another vehicle of some sort...And a second figure awaiting her in the back.

She still couldn’t bring herself to fight.

A swivel chair sat in the back of the van, a little ways from where Vance deposited Luna. As he laid her down, the chair turned and the figure couched in its comfort glanced down at her, deep brown eyes studying her for a moment.

“Can she hear me?” He asked Vance, who looked at the man and shrugged.

“Well as I can.”

“Good…” Turning his chair around, Emmanuel Buchanan returned his fingers to the keys, “Welcome home, Luna…”

TAGS || @Shizuochan , @Mobley Eats , @Kat, @DarinValore
 
It was only a brief moment before Josie came hammering down on a man that’d managed to hit Mac with his stupid play toy. Her hand gripped his arm and despite his growl, despite his shift in attention, Josie kept herself in the moment and breathed. The night stick came flying towards her face before it dropped immediately and the man let out a roar of anguish. She came back to the present, body turning to hit the heel of her foot towards the man’s jaw.

The man fell back from the sheer impact of her heel.

Josie felt another person, a woman from the feel of the hand, grab her upper arm and she turned to sidestep over to the left, free arm blocking the oncoming nightstick. It wasn’t long before another person headed towards her, bearing a weapon meant for rogues like her and her friends. As if on cue, a few metallic balls suddenly rolled into the vicinity and she felt a small spark of hope lift her. Someone was here to save the team.

The blue mist emitted into the atmosphere and Josie managed to get the other woman off of her as the grip loosened during the sudden fog. She shrugged herself off a few others, shielding her own face with her own arms as she followed the sound of the stranger’s voice.

“Mac, come on! We have to get back to Luna!”



@Elle Joyner @Shizuochan @Mobley Eats
 
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  • Love
Reactions: Reythaak
collab between @Mobley Eats and @CloudyBlueDay
“Y-you know...this may be the one time I-I don’t feel too cocky in the techno field.” Luna handled the controller like a fragile and alien. By no means was she foreign to video games, but she had spent all of her time watching others play on Youtube and such. She enjoyed the graphics and storytelling above anything else.

“Pretty sure I-I’m about to get my butted whooped,” she chuckled while casting a glance at Finn.

“Ha ha, you bet!” Finn cackled, tongue poking out between his lips in concentration. Video Games seemed to be the only thing he was capable of concentrating on. Injustice wasn’t his favorite, but he had already played it twice over. Luna stood no chance, though he did have a moment where he felt a little bad for so relentlessly crushing her in the game. “I’m the king, obviously. Unless you can hack this game, I will stay that way.” He flashed her a toothy grin, though only barely taking his eyes off the screen.

Luna pouted as the players showed up on either side of the screen, awaiting both of their picks for battle. She started flipping through the choices, hell bent of picking her favorite character. A pout made home upon her visage. “Y-you could’ve at least pretended like I have a fair chance. Who s-says I need hacking?” Her voice didn’t carry much confidence, but it was considered monumental by her standards. She finally found her pick (Aquaman) and selected the superhero.

“For this? Weeell. Can’t see how else you’d win…” Finn teased, leaning over to nudge her with his shoulder. “Aquaman, huh? I guess you could pick him…” He was still teasing, maybe even using a little reverse psychology to make her doubt the choice. Maybe he liked Aquaman too.

He moved the controller over to Nightwing and hovered over the start button. “Don’t cry when I win, hm?”

“Hey, Aquaman is the bomb d-dot com,” Luna defended, her jaw slacking in faux offense. “He’s basically the only superhero who can s-smell like fish and saltwater a-and still be drooled over by everyone.” Well...now that she thought about, how come nobody ever commented about that in the comics? Aquaman probably reeked. She shook the stray thought away and nibbled her lip eagerly upon realizing it was up to her to choose the venue.

“Hmmm...Gotham’s Asylum. I-it’s all dark and creepy and has the p-poisonous flower that sprays you. C-comes in handy.” She had seen gamers utilize that dang flower so much that it was borderline ridiculous.

“Lunaaa, it’s part of the atmosphere. Don’t go getting freaked on me! I know when your face gets all.. Scrunched up like that!” Finn rolled his eyes. Nightwing was a long time favorite of his… he loved the comics, and found him to be quite the badass. Aquaman was another favorite pick of his, beecause… damnit, the guy had a six pack he could never even dream of.

Luna immediately smoothed her features over, a bit embarrassed at getting caught. “N-no I’m not! I just...um...my face w-was itchy.” Ugh--she internally cringed while spitting that out. The hacker was surprised she hadn’t started burning up like a cherry lamp. The screen momentarily cut to black before playing each character’s intro. Once the proctor’s voice boomed “Fight!” into their ears, she immediately started smashing random buttons like a madwoman with fidget fingers syndrome…

Achingly accurate analogy.

“I-I don’t know what the heck I’m d-doing, if you haven’t noticed!” Despite herself, a giddy grin pulled at her lips.

He already had his combo in mind, and a laugh bubbled up at Finn’s lips at Luna’s random button mashing. He was tempted to scold her, make another witty joke, but Finn could only grin. “Yeah.. s’okay. Some people say it’s a good tactic, you know. Maybe it’d work on other people…. But not me!” Her random smashing couldn’t stand against his practiced combos, and he was quickly depleting poor Aquaman’s health points.

“N-nu!” Luna yelled in a mixture of amusement and distraught. She rocked forward in her seat and continued smashing buttons like crazy (as if being closer to the screen corresponded with heightening game skill). “Cheater!” she laughed as her poor Aquaman was demolished. Fish food. Regardless, her legs were already bouncing in anticipation of the next battle, scrolling through each character with a calculative eye. “I-I’ll win at some p-point.” She briefly stuck her tongue out at Finn before biting her bottom lip to hold back a smile.

Man, she wished she could do this all the time.

While Luna wriggled in the seat Finn was frozen in focus, with only his thumbs moving rapid fire across the controller with his gaze glued to the screen. “At some point,” Finn hummed, the calculative gaze fading away into a soft smile, “and you know I don’t cheat! I take absolute full offence to that.” This pattern continued a few times over, Finn flipping through several characters and still beating Luna every time, though she did come close every now and then.

“This is so much better than when…” Finn sighed and absentmindedly thumbed the controller. “When I used to play all day, alone.” He smiled weakly and bumped his shoulder against hers. “Did you have any siblings? Played games with them?”

Luna grinned and bumped his shoulder back, only for her features to falter a bit at the question. Her thumb fiddled with the joystick. “I-I’m sorry...doesn’t sound all that f-fun,” she said, attempting to keep a light tone. She knew she was failing miserably, though. The hacker didn’t say much after that, hoping to skim over the second-half of Finn’s question; it wasn’t that she didn’t trust him (heck--she trusted him the most out of the entire team), but the topic wasn’t exactly appealing.

Noticing her awkward silence Finn sighed, gaze shifting to the corner of the room. “Sorry. I know it’s weird… talking about… before.” Like before and after… before powers, after powers… Sometimes he felt like getting powers might have split a person in two. “Sorry I asked. Going for Aquaman again?”

“O-oh! No, don’t apologize, Finn. I d-didn’t mean...well,” Luna babbled, guilt instantly itching at her skin. She turned to face Finn fully, the controller resting in her lap and Aquaman completely forgotten. When she spoke again, her voice was smaller than usual. “It’s just...siblings is a bit of a s-sore topic for me. You didn’t do anything w-wrong, promise.”

He awkwardly avoided her sincere gaze. “S’alright, s’alright..” He scratched behind his ear. “I get it. It’d probably be a sore topic for me if I actually had siblings.” Finn shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

She tried to peer around and find his wandering gaze, partially amused. He always retracted into his shell a bit when she tip-toed into emotional territory with him; she genuinely appreciated sharing sentiments with her friends on Rogue, but she also knew to be patient with Finn sometimes. Regardless, his reaction helped to ease the nerves in a gut--though only slightly. “So...y-you’re an only child then?”

“Uhmn,” Finn mumbled. He could feel the redness growing in his cheeks. “Yeah. My parents aren't… weren’t.. around much… just me n’ my video games. And my comics.” His throat was suddenly all dry and scratchy. It was so hard talking about it.. especially with Luna. It wasn’t that he didn’t know how to talk to her.. he just… out of all the people he trusted the most, he didn’t ever want to look different in her eyes.

Judging by the mournful dip in his tone, this was something that honestly bothered Finn. She decided to tread carefully. “And...by not around...d-do you mean?” She pulled her knees up to her chest, curling into a snug ball in her seat as her gaze softened. “Uh, you don’t h-have to answer that, if it’s t-too intrusive.”

“No. Nah. Uh. It’s okay. It’s fine. They.. they were lawyers, and I just never saw them. They worked all day and night. I had nannies and tutors.. I didn’t go to school, so I never got scanned, until one time they took me out and then..” He shuddered. It was a horrible memory, of the scanners going off and everyone screaming, at him, in fear, his parents practically tripping over themselves to get away from him. “It was bad. Real bad. But everything before that was okay, I guess.”

“Those scanners,” Luna sighed, a bitter laugh burning her throat. The world was so incredibly unfair; it just hurt even more to think Finn had to go through it. He never deserved dealing with the ugliness and prejudice and...and fear. He was one of the best people she ever had the honor of befriending--why did society and fate have to punish him? Heaving another sigh, she crossed both arms over the top of her knees and plopped a cheek onto her forearm, still peering at her best friend intently. “They just really...r-really ruin everything. For all of us...I-I guess the only good thing to come o-out of it was meeting you later down the r-road, huh?”

Shakily exhaling, Finn smiled at Luna. “Yeah.. that’s the one good thing.” He nodded. “The one thing I don't get.. I just don’t get.. why. Why it couldn’t have been like all the comics, why we couldn’t have been appreciated.” He shrugged again. “It might have been cool, you know?”

“...Maybe we sh-should’ve been bitten by a spider,” Luna mumbled glumly, her eyes glassy and distant. What if she and Finn were less hated because they were bitten by a radioactive arachnid? That would be something. “Then maybe we’d f-finally get those cool outfits.” Luna bit the inside of her cheek; she wished she could say something more meaningful, but it turned out to be more difficult than she anticipated. Her heartbeat hurt--was that normal? Y-yeah right...normal. I’ll never feel like that.

Finn smiled. It’s true he wouldn’t exactly be opposed to getting bit by the same spider that happened upon Peter Parker. But in the end, it almost wouldn't have mattered. Because if Spiderman existed today.. he would have been holed up in the underground with the rest of the persecuted mutants. Finn finally realized his grip on the controller had been so tight it was turning his knuckles white. “Sorry I brought it all up Lu.”

Instead of replying with words, Luna merely hummed in response, retreating further and further into her head. Her right hand curled back and forth, nails digging into the fabric of her sleeve. She didn’t dare speak for a handful of seconds. “Um...Hey, Finn?” she called out carefully. “Can I ask you something?”

He looked at her quizzically, but there wasn’t ever any doubt in his eyes. “Of course.” He said, almost quickly. He turned his attention to her, finally pulling his gaze away from roving the corners.

“...Am I a g-good person?”

“Wh — what?” Finn balked, mouth falling agape. “Why would you think.. why would you ever think that?” He was shocked. Luna.. was the goodest person he’d ever met. “Of course you are. One of the best.” Admittedly he often had the same doubts.. wondering if he wasn’t good, wasn’t any help, wasn’t valuable.. but this was Luna. “You’re good and you’re important, too. Who else would do all our mega hacker stuff? And not even that, but no one’s kind and good hearted like you, Lu. I mean it.” He said firmly.

Luna’s eyes stung as she listened to Finn. She appreciated every single word he said, his vehement defense warming her chest inside out...and yet, a certain chill remained. Bit cruelly at the cusp of her conscience. She cracked another smile, not quite reaching her eyes. “Th-thanks, Finn. I’m not entirely s-sure how true that is...but I really appreciate it. Honestly.”

His brows furrowed. He could tell his words hadn’t totally reached her. “Luna… what can I say to make you.. Really believe it?”

She sat up a bit and looked at Finn pensively. However, after a moment, she shook her head and tugged on her beanie, a tick of hers. “Y-you know? I don’t think those s-specific set of words even exist.” The hacker leaned forward to reach out and give Finn’s hand a gentle squeeze. “Th-thank you for asking though...and sorry for the weird question. I-I was just curious about what you th-think.”

Squeezing her hand back with a blushing smile, Finn nodded. “It’s not… a weird question. I think about it too, sometimes.” He said quietly. “But.. know that my answer will never change, okay? You’ll always be a good person, Luna. You don’t lose that.”

Can’t lose what I never had, she thought before banishing it from her mind. She couldn’t afford to think like that. Not right now. Not around Finn. Instead, she forced a more believable smile than the last one. “Okay, I’ll n-never forget it, Finn.” She paused, just taking a moment to absorb her friend’s gaze before looking away and dropping her feet back to the floor, sitting properly once more. “You know? I think that...a-as long as you’re around, I might, just maybe, o-one day be an honest to God g-good person. It rubs off, right?”

Finn smirked with a shake of his head. “I’ll make you believe someday, Luna.” He said it almost wistfully. “I know when you’re lying. But it’s okay, because eventually you’ll believe it like I do.” He glanced down to their intertwined fingers and somewhat regretfully pulled his hand away. “I think you’re rubbing off on me more than vice versa.”

Luna’s hand was cold, but she ignored the disappointment and merely tugged on her beanie again. “That...that obvious? Jeez, at least you know n-not to put me out on an e-espionage mission. And Finn, don’t sell yourself sh-short. Seriously.” She crossed her arms, appearing almost guarded. “Let’s just settle on that w-we make each other better e-equally? Is it a deal?” She held out her fist to him.

With a chuckle Finn brought his fist to bump hers. “Yeah. Deal.” He hated to see her recoil into herself like that, but there was only so much he could push. If he believed… Luna would eventually, too. “Now…. why don’t you try someone other than Aquaman?”

A genuine laugh instantly escaped Luna, briefly slapping a hand on her mouth when she feared a snort would slip through. Luckily, it didn’t, and she calmed down enough to nod in response. “F-fine. But just once and then I’m back to m-my fave fish boy...Um…” Suddenly, she threw her arms around Finn to give him a snug embrace, her cheek resting on his shoulder. “...Th-thanks, Finn. For listening and stuff.”

Though he’d been desperately nervous this whole time, nervous about saying something stupid, making her feel inadequate.. But when Luna rested her head on his shoulder he found himself suddenly relaxed, the warmth of her against him.. Calming. He wished she didn’t cover her mouth when she laughed. He wanted to see her smile, all the way through, even if she did snort. Those were the best kinds of laughs, after all.

“Yeah. Always.”
 
Wood splinters flew through the air as bullets violently shattered the crates around the group of Rogues. Deck could hear the rounds ricochet off metal and the thud as they pierced the panels of the warehouse. The whine of the weapons and pounding boots of the soldiers were enough to make any one freeze in place, but not Deckard. He had grown accustomed to those sounds from different times of his life on the run.

“Out the back!” he yelled as he nodded to Penny and turned his attention to the crates she had mentioned. He didn’t need to grab them all, just a few strategically placed ones and the whole wall would come crashing down. Reaching out, he felt for the weakest points trying his best to ignore the snap of close enemy fire, “Gotcha,” he said before pulling his hand in a downward motion. The crates he had targeted shot out, crashing against the drones, spinning them out of control. The pursuing troops had to duck and find shelter to avoid the hail of bullets that ended up firing their way. While most avoided them, a few had not been so lucky.

The arrival of RIEF on his first official mission with Rogue made him doubt his decision to join up. If he hadn’t he could be hiding somewhere safe. He wouldn’t be using his powers. Instead, he could have been relaxing on a rooftop, or playing pool in some dive bar. Noooo, he’s getting shot at…again, and RIEF troopers were right on his tail.

Bursting through the back door, Deckard looked up into the sky out of instinct. No drone meant that everything that RIEF had, they sent into the warehouse during their attempted shock ambush. Quickly, he scanned the ground level. While he did not see any RIEF soldiers, the alarms had already been activated and more would be on their way. They needed to find somewhere they could blend in and be more difficult to find.

“Rogue’s gotta have a safe house somewhere,” Deck stated, but then he sighed, “which is probably compromised,” he paused, “Well, we can’t stay here,” he finished before starting down the road.

It didn’t take long before the sounds of foot steps and drones reached them once again. The four of them were never going to outrun RIEF, not on foot. They needed to lose them as best they could while minimizing the risk of them just being gunned down in the now empty streets. Stopping for only a moment, Deck scanned their surroundings. When his eyes fell on a seven-story apartment building, he pointed, “There. It’ll provide cover and,” he glanced at the others, “Their less likely to fire at us with all the innocent people around.”

He knew he could have come across cold, but those same people in the apartments would turn them over in a heartbeat, or even shoot them themselves if they knew. RIEF, on the other hand, valued the lives of the ‘normal’ people like any good police force. They’d do what was needed to ensure minimal loss of life. That meant sweeping each floor one by one. That could give the band of four the valuable time they needed to make a safe escape.

Once inside, Deckard led them the stairway and leaned against the wall. He huffed and puffed as he leaned his back against the cold drywall. The sound of sirens from outside caused him to look in their direction, “They’re going to put together a sweeping unit that will clear these floors one by one. We have to find a way out of here, or we’re all dead,” he looked to Penny, “What’s the plan....Boss?"
 

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Boss

Inwardly, Penny grimaced at the sound of that word... She didn't want to be in charge. There was something so profoundly different about leading an actively dangerous mission, where lives were at stake and could easily be lost. It wasn't recruitment... It wasn't a practice run. This was it. The real deal, and it somehow had fallen on her to make sure everyone got out alright. And she hated it. She absolutely hated it. For all the training and preparation, there was no real way to be ready for the actual event, and she'd have given anything for a redo of the day.

But it also brought much needed focus. It was clarifying, the fear and the pressure. And it was exactly the thing she needed in a moment where all her mind wanted was to go back. To delve back into the misery of her younger years and cling to the tragedy and violence of her past.

"Right.. This is bad, but it's not impossible, so long as we use our heads and keep it together. Obviously, this was a trap, which means RIEF has probably prepared for all the variables we can think of easily. So it's time to think outside the box." Nodding firmly, she turned first to Keith.

"Keith, honey. I know you're freakin' out... I am, too. But right now, I need you. I need you to pull it together, and I need you at the front. You're gonna have to read a lot of people in a short amount of time, but we need to know who's coming and from where. Finn... start wracking that brain of yours. We need your Archivist's last known address, and fast. If we're gonna get to him before RIEF does, we need to locate him. Deck... You're on my six. Try not to get distracted staring at my ass. You and me are gonna need to find a way out of this building, even if it means going through someone. We stick together, and we keep alert. No one gets left behind... We good?"

TAGS || @CloudyBlueDay, @DarinValore, @Reythaak
 
Keith Fuller
Location:An Apartment Building.
Interactions: @Elle Joyner , @DarinValore ,@CloudyBlueDay

Keith stumbled into the stairway with the rest, crouching down and resting back against a wall himself and closing his eyes for a few moments. Then he looked up at the ceiling.

A safe house nearby? Yes. There was one, or two even.. But Deckard was right. They were probably compromised. RIEF would start from the bottom of the apartments and work their way up… they definitely needed to be not on the ground floor, but none of this information was really disseminating properly in Keith’s head.

He looked out of it. Shock being the most likely cause, but honestly it was probably a good thing for his mental health for the moment. It was better than freaking out and being absolutely terrified, too terrified to move. Keith was a coward, when it came right down to it, and it definitely would have been shining through brightly at the moment if it wasn’t so dulled down by shock.

He forced himself to look at Penny and he blinked at her words. A part of him wished he didn’t have to work so hard at understanding at the moment.

”I’ll… do my best,” he said after a moment, hesitantly. He closed his eyes again, took a breath, and stood up. It took effort to try to see everyone’s auras this time, something that normally came so easily to him.

And they looked… off. A little faded, less saturated than he could usually see. A little fainter.

...I can’t see them as well. It’s more like… when I was starting to see them and figure things out. Like I’m really out of practice…

That probably wasn’t a good thing.

But telling anyone would cause unnecessary stress at the moment.

It was something to be dealt with later. Everyone often seemed a little fuzzy on the exact way his ability worked anyways.

Keith looked around for a moment, trying to gauge how far he could see and what would be a good option from here.

The handful of folks he could see were nervous and aware; they’d heard the RIEF activity nearby and were reacting accordingly. But probably further up (further from ways to escape…), folks would be less concerned, with more between them and the potential “danger.”

”Up?” He asked, shoving to his feet. When confirmation was given, Keith took his assigned spot in the line up and started leading the way carefully.

 
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Finn Westfall

Finn could tell when he came home drunk. The way the door swung open and crashed into the wall was already the first indicator. He ducked behind the couch. Best to avoid his sightline. His feet scuffed the floor, heels dragging, something swishing. Cigarette smoke filled the room.

“If it wasn’t for you….she’d be alive...”

Yeah.. heard that one before. He was beginning to believe it.

“Come out already. Stop hiding!”

No, didn’t really want to do that. His footsteps were growing louder. Oh, no. Closer. Scuffing, dragging closer. He held his breath, until Daniel grabbed his wrist and yanked him up. Finn let out a shrill cry. His eyes were bloodshot, red, and a near empty bottle of whiskey now was parked on the coffee table. Finn wriggled out of his grasp, bumping the table and sending the remainder of the drink across the comic books he’d left strewn about. Daniel grabbed his collar and yanked him close. His breath stank.

“Look what you’ve done, you little shit.” He grabbed his hand, pulled it towards him. Finn squirmed but to no avail. Suddenly his palm was burning, white hot red. Because Daniel wouldn’t let him forget… ever.

Bullets rained down at their feet and he could only vaguely here Penny shouting. Drones, soldiers, all coming to steal them away and pick them apart, piece by piece. Deckard was throwing the drones around, and Keith was tasked with checking their path. They barely even had a plan… Finn prayed Luna and the others were having a better time than this. God, he really didn’t want to be shot. Or kidnapped.

He, of course, had no usefulness other than to recall the address of the place he had hoped to never return too.

“747 Laine Road, 33184.” Finn mumbled. “Penny… you got that?” His voice was low. He was too scared, and he felt like if he said anymore his voice would break. 747 Laine Road. He couldn’t figure out which house he hated more.. Daniel’s or his own parents’.

Keith gave em the signal to move up and his feet were moving before he really even told them too; he couldn’t help but wonder if this was a bad idea. What if they got stuck on the rooftop? Surrounded? And were they really willing to put a civilian in front of them to save themselves? He didn’t want to see anyone die.

“Guys.. I don’t feel so great about this plan.” He murmured, sticking close behind Keith, trying to practice using his powers in his head, because he was afraid it was going to come to that. Didn’t it always?

@Elle Joyner @DarinValore @Reythaak
 
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“Oh God...O-oh God!”

Gunshots fired overhead like an angry hailstorm. Splinters exploded from the porch railing to her back, sending waves of horror rippling through Luna. The boggy swamp air was thick and invading her lungs; if she panicked now, breathing would become a pipe dream.

She really wished she had her inhaler.

Luna’s mind flashed back to the corpse she left behind. An ASPIDA agent, dead and soaking in a pool of his own blood. Torso riddled with bullets--the same ones she had let loose into him. Even now, she couldn’t recall much. It was a mixture of adrenaline and desperation, while armed with the gun of a man who had let his guard down. The next thing she knew, she had pulled the trigger.

Once. Twice. Seven times more. All while tears rolled down her cheeks and nausea caked the back of her tongue. The bindings around her ankles had come undone without much effort. After that, it was all a matter of shooting the handle off the door and creeping down the hall of the cabin.

Only to have come upon a group stationed outside--

Bang!

Another smoldering shell exploded next to Luna’s ear. The hacker screamed, clutching the gun between violently trembling hands. She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t do this! And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t go back; she couldn’t handle another four weeks of captivity.

There was a pause in fire, followed by the slopping about of boots through mud and hushed murmurs. It came from both sides. They were attempting to spread out--surround and corner her. Luna’s heart leapt into her throat. Wheezing, she raised the gun, barrel pointed skywards, and pressed it against her forehead. She needed to calm down.

She needed to think.

Rogue relied on her intelligence; she would be damned if she let them down now just because she was...some scared little girl. She refused.

She tried to recall the gunshot intervals. Always six or seven individual shots, followed by a round of several. Somewhere around two or three clips in between. So that means f-four gunmen total. Three with h-handguns, one with an automatic. Heavy shots, p-probably a rifle. She gulped. God, Finn, Keith, Pen, Mac, Deckard, Uncle Kee, e-everyone...watch over me.

Two more shots. Luna forced down another scream and kept herself steady. She counted the next shots under her breath. “One, two…”

Bang! Bang, bang!

“Three...four, five…”

Bang!

“Six.”

Sucking in a sharp breath, Luna rolled onto her belly and peeked around the corner of the post. She unloaded three shots, two leaving behind smoking holes in the side of a black Buick and one veering off to the right. An agent who was taking cover behind the vehicle cursed and ducked down. He’s reloading, she realized.

Luna could just make out his feet beneath the car. Closing one eye, she shot once more and watched as blood sprayed from his ankle.

“Fuck!” His distant screech was followed by the wet thunk of his body hitting mud. Luna tried to aim for his head, only to reel back behind the post before a gaping hole could rip through her skull. The bullets didn’t stop. Breathing clipped and shallow, she army crawled as quickly as she could back inside the cabin and kicked the door shut behind her.

Great--now she had officially trapped herself.

Craaack!

Luna’s head jerked in the direction of the noise. Agents were already busting down the back entrance and clambering inside. They spotted her immediately. Luna dove behind the couch as they raided the den with bullets, shattered glass and sparks filling the room.

If she knew one thing, she knew that she couldn’t keep still. This was worse cover than the front porch. Her memory recalled two men coming in, one of them brandishing the rifle, with the last agent still outside. L-Luna, don’t panic. Don’t you dare freaking panic! Think, think, think! During her mental rant, she caught the sound of footsteps closing in.

An agent appeared overhead, gun aimed for her back…

Only to see no one there.

Confused, the agent started to climb off the couch when--

Bang!

A bullet ripped through the cushions and into his abdomen. He could barely blink before another exited between his shoulder blades. Luna rolled out from underneath the couch and behind it once more, flinching as the rifle unleashed Hell on the piece of furniture.

Eyes watering, she peered ahead to a side table and love seat, but it was the gap she had to clear beforehand that made her want to vomit.

Ka-chik...ka-chik, ka-chick!

The clicking of an empty chamber. An opening.

Legs wobbly, Luna clawed her way to the loveseat, catching a glimpse of the agent in the corner of her vision. They locked eyes, only a nanosecond, but she knew what he was thinking. He was going to advance. The hacker crouched behind the chair and frantically checked her ammo.

No more bullets. “C-crap,” she wheezed.

The agent chucked his useless rifle aside and retracted a revolver from his waistband. As he approached, three rounds tore into the seat. One sliced across the top of Luna’s shoulder and she yelped, a hand flying up to the wound. Blood trailed down her arm, uncomfortably warm and sticky.

The cabin reeked of copper and heat.

Suddenly, the loveseat was thrown onto its side and Luna turned around to see the agent towering over her. He was larger than the others, built entirely of muscle and broad shoulders. The hacker threw her hands up in fear, shrinking away. “W-wait! Please don’t--!”

Whatever pleas she had were trapped between the man’s fingers. They drove deeply into her throat and lifted her nearly a foot off the ground. Luna could’ve sworn her head was going to explode as tears pricked the corner of her eyes. She slapped and clawed fruitlessly at his grasp. Fear slowly swallowed her logic whole as she raised her gun, unloading empty shots at him. Over and over. Click...click...click...

Cold steel jammed into her temple. The barrel of a gun.

“Time to die, mutant,” the agent spat.

Luna whimpered.

He cocked the hammer back.

Wham!

“Where’s that mutant bitch?!” Another agent came barreling in like a bloodied avenger, limping on one leg as his ankle left a maroon trail behind him. The man holding Luna jolted, looking over at his angered partner in surprise--

Crunch!

The butt of Luna’s gun smashed into his nose. “Shit!” he hollered while dropping her and cradling his bleeding face.

“Son of a...” The limping agent snarled and raised his gun to let loose several rounds. However, her partner suddenly became a meat shield as Luna slipped behind the man. Splatters of blood and guts erupted from his massive body, painting the floor and walls red.

Luna strained under the dead weight, groaning as she pried the revolver from his hand. She raised it to fire at the agent, only to recoil as more shots tore away at the body. She flinched in disgust and horror as a mist of crimson stained her face. “Oh my God! O-oh my God!”

She felt weak.

But the desperation outweighed it.

“Quit hiding behind Bert, you cowardly bitch!” Another round of gunshots.

It was quickly becoming more and more difficult for Luna to hold the corpse in place. Its burly form threatened to bend her backwards and snap her spine. Christ, w-what does he eat?! I c-can’t hold on much longer!

And then it struck Luna.

She fell back with the body, dodging a sixth bullet from the agent in the knick of time and rolling aside before the corpse could crush her.

She aimed the revolver.

The agent quickly swung down to intercept her shot--

Bang!

Bang!



He flopped over dead, a gaping hole in the center of his brow.

...

Luna swore oxygen ceased to exist. Along with time. And her ability to think straight.

Silence settled over the cabin, her eyes wide and trembling inside her skull. And then she remembered how to smell. Remembered the scent of death and bloodshed surrounding her. And it was thick. Putrid…

“Oh my...oh my...hurk!” She rolled over to spew vomit on the floor. Dry heaves and sobs shook her innards raw, lips peeling apart to release silent, wheezing screams.

Her shoulder throbbed painfully.

She was scared.

Luna wanted to go home.



Luna jolted awake, a yelp ripping from her lungs. She blinked rapidly, adjusting to the world around her as her heart raced, threatening to beat so hard that her ribs cracked.

A dream.

All of it--the agents, the bullets, the blood and gore and unbridled fear. It was all nothing more than a dream. The hacker couldn’t narrow down the emotion blossoming through her; was that relief or despair clutching her windpipe? Either way, she found it hard to breathe, each inhale reminding her of the bruise on her shoulder…

“Oh no...no, no, no.”

That was right. Some man raided the van and attacked her. Took her against her will. Kidnapped--

She jerked, but couldn’t move. “W-what the?” An uncomfortable tightness squeezed her wrists and she glanced down to see herself handcuffed to a table of some kind. It was in that moment that she realized her surroundings. A room, small and suffocating, completely empty aside from her, the table, and a lonely camera hanging from the ceiling, monitoring her from the corner. Her eyes widened as her inhales grew more erratic. Panic bubbled along her skin like blisters.

“H-help! Help!” Luna yanked at the cuffs again--fruitless.

“Easy does it, Love.” The voice chimed from the doorway, as the metal hatch swung inward and Vance stepped inside, “Struggling won't do much good, ‘'cept to give you a hell of a bruise on your wrists. Sorry about the dreams… We had an idea what you could do, but no clue how it worked. I'm guessing it's just a bit of rebound from my siphoning you.”

Moving further, he approached the second chair and swung it backward, straddling the back of it, elbows crooked along the top rung, “How's your head?”

Luna’s struggling doubled as soon as Vance stepped in, his face triggering a slew of memories and emotions that her body could barely handle. She ignored his question in purchase of leaning away from the man.

“L-let me go,” she pleaded before her eyes strayed up and around. Nothing about the area gave her a single clue as to where she was. “W-where...am I?”

“Somewhere safe. Can't let you go, though. That's sort of the point of a kidnapping, you know? Anyhow… I'm sure you've got questions, and we've got some time before the big guy gets here… Any questions? Comments? Livid insults? Fire away, sweetheart.”

“I’m not y-your sweetheart,” Luna said, her eyes burning. Her wrists twitched against the bindings, eyes still shifting everywhere and landing whatever space Vance wasn’t occupying. “B-big guy? What do you mean by big g-guy?” She didn’t like the sound of that title at all.

Laughing softly, Vance nodded, “Fair enough. It's a force of habit. But I getcha…” Folding his fingers together, his shoulders bounced in a shrug, “And don't worry too much about it… Just what we call the boss. You probably got all kinds of names for your leader. Wanna share?”

“I...I’d rather not.” What was up with this guy? She wasn’t going to fall for his “politeness”, especially not when the image of him throwing her around was still fresh in her mind. Either way, she knew she couldn’t afford to crumble into a mess of wheezing and tears around this man; it wouldn’t help her situation in the slightest. She paused a moment, eyes glued to the table.

“Did...P-please tell me you didn’t t-take the others.” Not that. Anything but that.

“You mean weather girl, the wall-walker, your shifter, and the one who abandoned you in the van? Nah… We can't work that many at once. Small is better… Less conspicuous. We have, uh… other plans for them.” Tapping his fingers, the metal rung beneath his nails in a steady rhythm, “So, tell me Luna… Why do you think you're here?”

Luna thought she was going to vomit as Vance listed off her teammates one by one...only to remember how to breathe as he denied taking them. Christ--this man was toying with her emotions. Annoyance sat at the pit of her gut, but she fought it off and focused on her breathing.

“O-other plans? What do you…” Her brow pinched, shaking her head as questions clashed in her head like a series of trainwrecks. “I don’t know. To...t-to kill me? To eliminate us o-one by one.”

Nausea knocked at the back of her throat. There could’ve been a more eloquent and sinister reason behind her kidnapping. Once they find out I’m gone, they’ll assume it’s ASPIDA or RIEF. T-track me down somehow, leading themselves straight into a trap of some kind...Aside from that, I can’t tell what they’re thinking, she thought. The hacker gave another yank at the cuffs, wincing as it bit into her skin.

Laughing again, he straightened, shaking his head, “Damn. Disappointingly predictable. Not gonna lie… I expected better from the brainy one. Easy…” Gesturing to the cuffs, the smile fell a little, “You're not here to die, Luna. If we were gonna kill you, we coulda done it in the van. But since you're awful pretty, and I still feel bad regarding our little scuffle… I'll give you another guess. Try to think outside the box this time, hmm?”

Not here to die--for some odd reason, Luna found that awfully hard to believe. But, then again, as much as she hated to admit it, Vance had a point. If they wanted to kill her, they could’ve easily done so while she was unconscious. But still, she didn’t know what to make of his comment. What did he mean by ‘outside the box’? What else could they possibly want from her?

“I-if you felt real remorse, you would l-let me go,” she grumbled before begrudgingly thinking further. Outside the box. What would that even entail? She started with the main reason she and Rogue had to fear for their lives in the first place--society loathed their existence. Hated all of the possibilities and potential threat they could pose against normal humans. At the root of all problems, there lied fear. Fear of being unable to defeat mutants. To stand on equal grounds.

“You’re not going to k-kill me.” She locked her shaky eyes with Vance’s. “You’re keeping me alive...a-and the only thing I c-can think of is...is using me somehow.” Terror seeped past her skin, staining her bones and insides. “U-using us. Other mutants’ abilities. Th-the same way you used yours to t-take me.” Luna knew that something unnatural had sapped her energy away when the man kidnapped her; she could only assume that he was a mutant too.

“Give the girl a prize…” Vance cooed with appreciation, lips splitting into a grin, “They call me Tank. Hell if I know why… but it stuck. You see, Luna… There's a war going on right now, and the way we see it, we can either fight a losing battle… or be on the winning side. Rather than using you, why not call it… saving you. Aggressively.” With a chuckle, he sat back, “Rogues… They're dead in the water. When my team gets through with the lot, there won't be sides left… just winners. And wouldn't you rather be on the winning side for once?”

“Tank m-might come from the bruises you gave me,” Luna said, her voice teetering on the edge of bitter, but still overshadowed by fear. “A-and you think I don’t know about this war? The same war and h-hatred that drove all of us into a corner? I-I wake up, eat, b-breathe, and fall asleep with that fact burning away in m-my head.” Her hands clenched into fists on the table, her nails carving crescents into her palms. “Rogue’s not dead. We’re never dead. We’ll n-never be dead.”

She leaned back into her chair, a hint of steel shooting through her eyes before vanishing as quickly as it came. “U-underestimating us is the d-dumbest thing you could’ve ever done. I’m on the s-side of peace, Tank.” An idea slinked into her mind, one that Luna hadn’t toyed with in ages, let alone dare to dream about. All it would take is a few seconds, brief eye contact, and she could manipulate this man’s memories. Convince him to release her.

It could be so easy.

And yet, cowardice held her back, even with the desperation swallowing her whole. She never hated herself more than in that moment.

“Oi! First of all… I did tell you it'd be better to come quietly. You didn't exactly leave me a choice and secondly, I apologized, didn't I?”

Sinking down into his chair, he smirked, “But if you think you're on the side of peace, you have been seriously duped. We'd never underestimate you, but facts are facts. You're outnumbered, outmatched. And once we've got you good and conditioned, Love… they'll be finished.”

Anger prickled up Luna’s back. “Don’t touch them!” she yelled. She almost launched out of her seat--to do what, she didn’t know--but the outburst came up short as the cuffs forced her back down. She couldn’t afford to take chances like this and chicken out, just because her own fears and traumas were sitting in the way.

She had to do something.

The hacker acted quickly before she could think to hesitate; she looked deeply into Vance’s eyes, delving past the physical barrier and into his mind. His memories. She would need to travel thoroughly through the chambers of his subconscious and alter a memory so precious and integral to his existence that he would have no choice but to free her.

But she couldn’t. Something rammed into her and smacked her powers back like a brick wall. Nervous trembling started at her fingers and spread down to her legs. “W-what? That c-can’t be right,” she whispered gravely.

She tried again. And again.

The same as before--access denied.

Grinning, Vance shrugged again, “You could keep trying. I mean… performance anxiety is a common issue.” Tapping the side of his head, near his eyes, his lip curved higher, “But I gotta tell ya… you won't have much luck. See… we know all about you, Moonshine. Expressly, how to keep you outta here.”

All at once, Luna seized up, her posture as rigid as steel. Her vision blurred with oncoming tears, the trembling climbed to new heights, and breathing was the most difficult task in existence.

“...What did you just call me?”

“Aw, honey. Don't go and cry on me. I'm no good with tears…” Digging into his pocket, he pulled out first a pack of cigarettes, then a lighter, finally a handkerchief, which he held out, before realizing a little too late her hands weren't mobile enough for it, “Damn. Anyhow… Sorry. I forget the details, sometimes. Moonshine… That's what he calls you, isn't it? Emmanuel?”

Time slowed. Emmanuel...there was no way he could mean that. But the Moonshine. The nickname. Luna hadn’t been called that since the day she...Her stomach lurched painfully, vomit scrambling up her throat. She just barely held it back as she wheezed, “You’re lying...you’re lying! Th-that’s not, he’s not--I don’t b-believe.” The hacker struggled to form a coherent sentence. Finally, her resolve crumbled, and the tears rolled freshly down her cheeks. “Liar! H-he’s not here! He was captured and k-killed years ago!”

That was what she always believed. Also assumed. That her shameful decision had lead to her brother’s demise. That had to be the reality.

“Hell…” Rising, Vance approached, and gingerly, he stretched out a hand to brush the tears away with the handkerchief, “That what you thought? Damn. No, Luna. He ain't dead… Very far from it. He's our very own Wizard… and he is very anxious to see you.”

The shock coursing through Luna was so powerful that she barely registered Tank’s touch. She sat there, numb and unmoving, as her mind raced to catch up with her heart. The Wizard, that’s what he called Emmanuel. And he wanted to see her...did he push for this kidnapping? Just so he could personally see her? Watch her crumble piece by piece. Was this her long overdue punishment?

A sob shook her lungs. “He’s alive. H-he’s alive...fuck.” She didn’t have the strength to speak anymore; all of this information was too much for her to handle, let alone soak in. Luna never expected her past to come full circle in such a cruel and twisted way.

Crouching, Vance frowned softly, “Easy, darlin. He wants to see you… Missed you. When we got word what our target was… hell. You shoulda seen how relieved he was.” Straightening again, he gestured to the cuffs, “I undo those, you promise not to try and hit me with any more computer equipment?”

Emmanuel. Emmanuel Cambridge, her brother. Missing her...Luna’s gut twisted in knots. The only thing that monster could miss were the days of holding her head underwater in the backyard pool until she flailed. However, her bloodshot eyes slowly slid over to Tank, taking in each word like a vile dose of poison.

At first, she said nothing. Did nothing. But then, finally, she nodded before her gaze strayed away from him. The quivering ensued.

Nodding in return, he fished into his other pocket and game out with a small silver key, the end of which he inserted into the cuff rim, which popped free, “Now… You ready? Or you need a minute?”

Tired, Luna’s head lulled back to stare at the ceiling; she could feel the liquid defeat coating her from head to toe. She remained that way for a moment, her hands unmoving on the table, her mind racing and slowing and speeding and crashing and burning and melting into itself. So many thoughts in such a short span of time.

She sighed softly before pinning him down with a dead, defiant look. “I’ll never be ready...Take me to my brother.” She needed to see his face and confirm the insanity unraveling before her.

Smiling, Vance held out a hand, palm open to her, “Right this way, then…”
 
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Maxine Redwell

Her arms crossed over her chest as she stared up at the screen before her. There were three video feeds all running since the launch of her mutant hunt. The blood that she had salvaged from the mutant that escaped had reaped the rewards she had hoped for and Big Brother had made it possible for her to track Josie. The drones had come online as soon as the Rogues had pulled up to the storage facility and it took only a matter of minutes for a team of R.I.E.F. soldiers to be deployed. While Josie and the other two mutants escaped, Tank and Wizard had managed to steal away the fourth one - a young woman who turned out to be their tech.

While she watched the interrogation unfold on one monitor, her attention lingered more on the second of the three. The trap they had set for the Rogues was not going as planned. Now there were four mutants running through the streets of Miami with R.I.E.F. soldiers in pursuit. Luckily for her, they retreated into an apartment building.

Letting out a sigh, she leaned forward, planting her hands firmly on the table in front of her, “Commander, set up a perimeter around the building. Anything that exits the building dies. We don’t know the extent of these mutants’ powers,” turning to the third video feed for a moment, she smirked and then continued as her attention returned to the second, “Gauge. Puppeteer. You two are up. Don’t let them escape. Drag back their corpses if you must.”

Straightening up, she watched as two members of her team slipped inside the building.



Deckard Hallows

Since they started their ascension up the apartment building, Keith had done a good job leading them without incident. Due to the time needed for him to read the occupants of the rooms they were passing, they moved slower than Deck had hoped they would. Still they managed to put a five floor difference between them and the bottom floor. Still, Deck moved with as much urgency as he could fearing that at any moment R.I.E.F. would appear behind them and everything would change.

They were just about to head up to the seventh floor when the stairwell suddenly grew cold. Deck let out a heavy breath and saw it freeze before him, “Wait,” he told them, pausing long enough for the group to stop before he let out a breath, “See that?” He repeated it, “It’s the middle of the summer in south Florida.”

Reaching out, he touched the handle bar before pulling back immediately, “It’s freezing. Something’s not right,” noticing the seventh floor entry door, he nodded toward it, “Through there.”

After Keith got a read, they stepped through the door and began down the floor slowly. Suddenly, a man stepped out from behind a door holding a box.

“Back inside!” Deck yelled, “You need to get back inside now!” But when the man turned to face them, Deckard didn’t see urgency, fear, or uncertainty in his eyes. He saw determination. He saw violence.

With little effort, the man tossed the box spilling its content toward the Rogues. It hit the floor with a heavy thud before the stuffed animals spilled from within scattering across the hall. A medium-sized bear came to a stop at Deck’s feet. It was then that Deckard got a better look at it. It was no ordinary bear. The mouth had been torn open and metal fangs attached to it. Stitching not normal to a stuffed animal littered the body. This was no ordinary stuffed animal.

Deckard looked back to the man who wore a smirk as he stretched out his hand. It took him a moment to register what was happening, but by then it was too late. A low growl sounded from the midst of the group and Deck looked down to see the bear stand on its feet. It spun in a slow circle before locking on Finn. It lunged and Deckard only had a moment to respond. With a quick thought, he pushed the bear away sending it crashing against the wall.

“Hmm,” the man hummed before turning his attention to the bear once again. To Deck’s surprise it was upright again and sprinting toward them, and it was not alone. A monkey, dog, cat, and unicorn, all started charging beside it.

“In here!” Deckard told the group as he pushed open the closest, slamming it shut just as the monkey’s arm shot through the crack. The force severed the limb leaving bits of stuffing in the door jam. The monkey’s hand was lined with razor blades. A sudden slam against the door jolted Deckard as he pressed his back against it.

“The chair!” he called out as he fought against the combined strength of the animals. Deckard cried out as a sharp pain pierced through his back with the next assault against the door. When the chair was pressed in place, he pulled back just to watch the unicorn horn pierce through the door again, “Shit,” he pressed his hand against his back, pulling reddened fingers to his sight. He’d been stabbed by a unicorn horn!

“They’re in here!”

Deckard heard the man through the noise and suddenly the temperature began to drop once again, “We have to get out of here. We’re sitting ducks.”

Spinning, he took inventory of the room and even tried to find a way out. When there wasn’t one, he moved to the outside wall and peered out the window. The building next to them was too far to jump, but maybe he could build a bridge. Knocking on the wall, he quickly realized that he would be dealing with block and steel. This was not going to be easy.

With a nod, he turned to the group, “Finn, Keith, move that dresser and table against the door. Penny, if anything makes it through, I’m counting on you to have my back.”

Turning back to the wall, Deckard lifted his hands and concentrated on the wall. He saw through the paint and block finding each piece of steel that secured the wall. Once he was satisfied, he began his work, pushing aside the constant crashing of murderous stuffed animals against the door. The wall began to crack, the steel to groan, until tiny beams of light pierced into the room. They grew and grew until, with a cry, Deckard pushed a chunk of the wall away. Stepping to the edge of the room, he began to tear chunks of the blocks apart and place them where he needed. When he was done, he looked out over a “bridge” formed of stepping stones that were once chunks of the apartment wall.

“I’m not going to be able to hold this for long,” the strain of his work beginning to show in the beads of sweat rolling down his brow, “You guys need to get moving.”
 
Josie & Leon
Collab between @Elle Joyner and @Kat

Josie ran. She followed the stranger and prayed. She prayed for the first time in ages as she darted down the hallway. She prayed that Luna was okay, that they were all okay. Her chest hurt and she realized how much she wanted everything to end. She wanted the stitches in her sides to stop, she wanted her breathing to be normal again. The duo managed to make it back out into the sun and Josie stopped for a mere moment to catch her breath and observe their surroundings.

“The van. It’s on the other side of the building! Luna’s in there. She can get us out of here!”

“She's not in there…” The man answered, his voice carrying an uneasy current of sympathy, “It was the first place I checked. Doors were open… She might've run for it, but she wasn't inside. I… I'm sorry.” Nimble fingers danced through a mop of dark brown hair, and his free hand itched near the pouch at his side, “We should find somewhere to lay low for a minute… Till their scanners run out of range. They sent out the drone squadron earlier… other side of town.”

“What? What do you mean she’s not in there?” Josie’s voice trembled as she tried to wrap her mind around the idea of Luna missing. Luna wasn’t dumb. She would’ve stayed in there the entire time. “That’s not true. She was there earlier. Let’s lay low in the van.”

Luna was missing, now, she had the Penny’s group on the other side of town to worry about. The van was empty. Josie shook her head, bewildered as she backed up. Maybe she shouldn’t have left the van afterall. A million things ran through her mind and she wasn’t quite sure how to stay calm and sort through any of it.

“Okay, next best place to lay low? Is there any way we can contact Keegan? The communications are fried in the van.”

Clearly, if Luna had escaped for some reason, or worse, gotten abducted, it was not a safe van to be any longer. Josie didn’t want to share with Keegan what had transpired, however, she knew that if she did not, he would give her hell for waiting until they finally returned. The Rogues needed to find Luna, and fast.

A brow lifted, and the man paused as he looked to Josie with a shake of his head, “Sorry… you’re gonna have to slow down there, darlin’... We are definitely not on the same page. If this Keegan guy is your SO, you should probably avoid contacting him till you’re away from the building. They’ve got point set up all around the block… They’d overhear anything you relay over the wires. I got a safe house, not too far from here, has an Untraceable you can use, but we gotta move, fast…”

“Significant other? Keegan is not… Oh god, that’s disgusting,” Josie shook her head. “Okay, um, safe house. Let’s go. We need to get out of here. There’s no telling how far the next batch of R.E.I.F. operatives are.”

Blinking, he stared, before a small smirk curled the corner of his lips, “...Superior Officer. Hell, they got you shook pretty bad, huh? Come on...it’s not far.” Looking down at his wrist, a frown folded over the smile, “...They’re close. And they’ll send a bigger wave after the first…” Glancing back the way they’d come, he flipped open the pouch at his side and tugged another handful of small, round marble-like balls, tossing them, “...Proximity mines. They pack a pretty powerful punch, so we should get a nice head start if they’re following. I’m Leon, by the way…”

“Leon,” Josie acknowledged his presence. “I’m Josephine. Everyone calls me Josie though. I hate the nickname, but I guess I’ve grown accustomed to it since Luna started calling me it a while back. Those proximity mines– that’s what you used inside, right?”

“Hm? Nah. Those were smoke grenades.They’re designed around nanobytes - to target R.E.I.F. wave channels. They seek out the radio signal, then target the person wearing the comm - Clever, right?” Turning a corner, he gestured for her to keep up, “I’ve been tinkering a few years now, to come up with this stuff. Probably looks like something a kid made to your crew, but it works in a pinch. Almost there.”

Josie was quick and efficient on her toes as she followed Leon, closely behind him every step of the way. Her mind was muddled, and although she was conscious of the hundreds of thoughts floating around, her subconscious screamed survival and her legs carried her.

“Very clever. I don’t remember the last time I’d seen something like that. Thank you for saving us back there.”

“Hell… Just glad I got the transmission in time. They’re chatty, R.I.E.F., and I’ve been trying to pick up their signal for a while. Going nuts, today… and it was close enough, I could get there pretty fast. Your crew isn’t usually so bold… Must’ve been an important mission for you to break into a warehouse in broad daylight.” Slowing, he glanced back once, before nodding the building on their right - a fairly rundown brownstone, with most of the windows missing and graffiti splashed across the surface - “Not much, but mi casa, and all that…”

“Yeah, at least it’s something we can lay low in for a bit and decide our next point of action. Thank you.”

Josie didn’t care how dirty it was. She just wanted to get inside and take a breather, maybe ask a few questions and try not to die in the long run.

“It was an extremely important mission. I should’ve listened to Keegan. He’ll go ballistic once he finds out Luna is gone. I don’t want to know how the others will view me then. I had one task to do and I butchered it.”

“Hey…” Stepping inside, he closed the door behind them, and flicked a small switch beside it, before heading towards a rugged steal elevator, pressing the call button, “We all make mistakes. I’m sure they’ll understand. And she hasn’t been gone long, right? If you can get a read on where she’s been taken, maybe you can get ahead of whoever has her.” Inside the elevator, he pressed another button and leaned back against the wall, breathing out, “It’s never too late, Josephine.”

Josie slouched against the back of the wall beside Leon and stared down at the floor.

“I hope so. She’s an awkward woman, however, she’s also one of my closest friends. She’s always putting up with my shit and she’s always sacrificing herself for others. She’s too much for this world and I want to protect her. I guess I just don’t know how to. I’m scared something bad has happened to her and I feel like it’s all my fault. It’s hard to stay as positive as she is sometimes. The world is a messy place.”

“Sure…” Leon agreed with a small shrug, “But it’s been a messy place long as we’ve been alive, and we made it this far. Besides, if she’s part of Rogue, I don’t imagine she’s completely incapable of taking care of herself.” The elevator slowed and the doors opened, and stepping out, Leon gestured to the room, a dimly lit space, circular, with a series of computers set up at the center - wires and hubs and servers scattered around in disarray, “Sorry for the mess. I didn’t expect to have guests. The Untraceable unit is over there if you wanna call in.”

“Thank you,” Josie murmured and jogged over to the unit. She marveled at the electronic for a few seconds before going straight to work. A phone number would do the trick. Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached out to Keegan. For a brief moment, she was glad he was not in the same room as her. Her call went through and she spoke immediately.

“Keegan?”

A question. She rubbed her face and tried not to let her distress show as she cleared her throat to try again.

“Keegan, it’s Josie.”

“I'll give you some privacy…” Leon muttered quietly, excusing himself from the room.

A moment after, Keegan's voice responded, tinged with concern, “Josie? What's going on? Comms are shot and we lost contact…”

There was silence. It was a relief to hear his voice, albeit concerned. Her throat felt dry.

“We were compromised. I–”

Another pause as she searched quickly to find the best way to present the information. She immediately realized was no “best” way. It would all sound terrible to him. It’d sound like it was all her fault.

“I’m sorry, I made a mistake. I didn’t follow orders. Mac, Mara, and Alex were all ambushed! They didn’t have anyone to save them and I had to go save them, but I couldn’t do anything inside the van. I tried to help them but I left Luna, and because I left her, she was gone before I was rescued by Leon. I don’t know where anyone is, I’m sorry.”

There was a brief pause, before Keegan began again, “We can't do anything until we have a clear debriefing. You need to come in and we can discuss the next move then. Who is Leon?”

“Leon knows who we are, Keegan. He came in at the right moment when we were being attacked and threw blue smoke grenades down to cut out R.E.I.F.’s comms. He says he’s been trying to pick up their signal for days and it was going crazy today, so he stepped in.”

“Just be on guard, Josie. And get back here as soon as possible. We'll start combing for the others… be careful.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Josie ended the call and took a deep breath. She couldn’t stick around. She had to find a way out and fast.

The door swung open a minute or two after the call ended and clearing his throat, Leon leaned up against the frame, “Alright? He hand you your head? I couldn't hear any yelling…”

“He was calm. He didn’t say anything about Luna or the others being compromised, not that anyone really knows whether or not they were compromised. Anyways, what’s the game plan? We need to get moving as soon as possible before R.I.E.F. gets to us.”

“I don’t really have one, truth be told.” Chuckling dryly, Leon shrugged, “I just sort of … jumped into this without a plan. Can’t just throw you back out into the streets with R.I.E.F. breathing down your neck. I know an underground route through the city… but it only helps if you know the way to your base.”

“I’ll come up with a plan. An underground route helps out. I know the way back. You said R.I.E.F. is close though– did your proximity mines happen to know how far out they’re located from this safe haven?”

“They’ll just stall them… but I can’t tell where they’re at without a visual. I’d tap one of the drones, but like I said earlier… they’re not in the area, right now. There’s an old maintenance tunnel in the basement of this building… It’s not exactly the safest hike, but I’m game if you are.”

“I can handle it. Lead the way.”
 
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Collab Post | Location: Unknown

Interactions: Vance & Emmanuel @Elle Joyner

Luna stared down at the offered hand. Vance’s hand. Her kidnapper’s hand.

Keeping her visage as neutral as possible, she accepted the gesture and stood slowly. She made sure to avoid complete eye contact with him; something in her gut told her that anything beyond this contact would smash the dam behind her eyes into a million pieces.

She refused to crumble, but she knew it was inevitable.

Helping her to her feet, Vance led Luna to the door and swinging it open, he freed her hand, gesturing down the long, sparse hall, filled with unmarked metal doors, “After you. He's down the end there, last on the left.”

She had to go in alone. Figures. Even if Vance was the one to kidnap her, his intimidation shrunk down to a hissing kitten in comparison to being in closed quarters with her brother. Regardless, she swallowed shallowly and nodded.

The journey was short and yet it felt like an eternity; coming face to face with that door was akin to staring Death in the eyes. D-don’t you dare panic, Luna. It’s okay...i-it’s okay…

She reached out for the door.

Vance hesitated for a moment, a brow lifting as he watched her head to the door, and tucking his hands into his pockets, he edged forward, “I could go in with you… if you want?”

Luna froze. In that moment, it took the will power of Hercules not to audibly sigh in relief. She glanced hesitantly at Vance, back at the handle, back at him again… “P...p-please,” she whispered, bitterness crawling up the back of her throat. She hated her weakness so much.

Nodding, Vance pushed the door the rest of the way, “Manny, your sister's ready for you.”

Slowly, not entirely unakin to a dramatic turn of a Bond villain, Emmanuel spun his chair around, a brow raised as he took in the sight of the girl in the doorway. Slowly, he pushed himself upright, and almost as if he were anticipating her urge to flee, Vance reached to gingerly grip Luna's elbow.

“Well, well. Little Moth. Been a while…” Stepping closer, he smiled and his arms opened, Vance releasing Luna's elbow.

“Fly away, Little Moth.” A hateful hiss in her ear. Water sloshing. “Fly far, far away.”

Luna didn’t move. Couldn’t move. She could only utter one word so softly that it barely reached her own ears. “E...E-Emmanuel?”

He looked so different, but of course he did. He was all grown up and yet, at the same time, his eyes never changed. Fiery and hollow and cold and everything under the sun. It shot shivers down her spine.

For a moment… just a moment, the smile remained, and Emmanuel's arms stayed outstretched. Then suddenly, like a striking snake, his hand lashed out, the back of his knuckles cracking against her cheek.

"Mon Dieu! Était-ce nécessaire ?? Elle coopère depuis le début!"

"Garde ta langue, Vance." His eyes flashed as his hands clenched at his sides, "Ça ne vous regarde pas."

"Comme l'enfer." Vance hissed, gaze narrowing, "Le directeur veut votre soeur en parfait état."

"N'essayez pas d'utiliser votre cerveau, Tank. Vous allez probablement vous faire mal." Stepped closer, he hovered close enough that if he'd wanted to, Vance could've bit the man on the nose. For a second or two, he looked as if he wanted to, "Elle ira bien ... La salope le mérite. Maintenant, utilisez-vous et allez à l'entrepôt avec les autres."

"Call her that again, Cowan... I may not have brains, but I can still kick your ass!"

“You could try, anyway. Get her in the chair…”

Luna yelped as soon as Emmanuel struck her, reeling away to cup her cheek. She scurried back as soon as the yelling started and instincts forced her into the corner of the room, where she slunk down to the floor.

It was happening again. She knew it. He was no different than before--no, he was far worse.

“You keep your damn hands to yourself…” Vance growled, before he moved to Luna's side, crouching down beside her, “Easy. He ain't gonna touch you again. Come on… better come with me.”

“D-don’t touch me,” Luna whimpered while inching away from Vance. Using the wall, she staggered to her feet, still cradling the slight swelling of her cheek. She watched Emmanuel’s every move, legs weaker than jelly and absolute fear clogging her airway. She felt trapped. Like cornered prey.

Frowning, Vance rose, holding his hands up, “...Alright, love.” Gesturing to the chair a little ways away, he shrugged, “Have a seat.”

She didn’t know what to make about the sudden introduction of French, but her brain couldn’t decode much at the moment. Thus, she obeyed, albeit reluctantly, and sat down. The hacker was functioning on shock-induced high alert now, not even taking Emmanuel’s breathing pattern for granted.

His eyes flickered to Emmanuel, who stretched and returned to his own chair, sinking into it, “Has the meathead here explained what you're here for, Luna?”

Luna’s jaw clenched. “He...V-Vance has,” she muttered, almost defensively. “And I w-won’t cooperate. I don’t care h-how many times you...you h-hurt me or whatever you do.” Despite her words, her voice lacked the confidence it needed.

“Hurt you?” Grinning, Emmanuel shook his head, “Sweetie. You really think we need to hurt you? As much as I would enjoy that, it's hardly necessary. Not when we have methods that are much more… convenient.”

Frowning, Vance crossed his arms over his chest, “It's not our goal to force you into it, Luna. We want you to want to help…”

“W-what do you mean by convenient?” Luna didn’t know how many mutants worked for R.I.E.F. and the possibilities almost scared her witless. She glanced up at Vance before shaking her head. Her cheek still throbbed. “A-and I already t-told you! I’ll never want to w-work with any of you! R-Rogue is my home.”

She pinned Emmanuel down with a hard stare. The hardest she could muster. ”My family.”

Emmanuel's expression stiffened, and he started to push himself upright, before Vance stepped between the siblings, “You. Sit down.” Turning to Luna, he shook his head, “Maybe that's how you feel now, Luna. But you hear us out… you may be surprised. Rogue ain't the innocent and broken tribe they pretend to be. We ain't so different…”

With a smirk, Emmanuel sank back in his chair, “Une grande famille heureuse, Vance? You, me, the others… Adelaide.”

Spinning, Vance's fists clenched, “How about you shut your damn mouth, you son of a bitch…”

Rising, Emmanuel moved to stand beside him, “No, Little Moth. You don't get a family, here… You only get one of those in life, and you screwed the first one over. What you do get… is a few more years of misery. But you also don't get a choice. Vance here, he isn't too smart, like I told you… but he's got a point. You take the easy way and no one would blame you. I'd be disappointed, but I wouldn't blame you.”

Adelaide? Luna watched the transaction skeptically. What did that name mean to Vance? And why did it rile him up so quickly? Either way, its importance paled in comparison to the venom Emmanuel was spouting. The hacker leaned back in her seat, looking past her brother at the wall behind him. “I-I don’t care what you say. Either of you. I-it doesn’t matter what you th-think.”

“You will care, Luna. Mark my words… before this is over. You'll care. Get her out of here. I'm bored with her.” Giving a wave, Emmanuel returned to his seat, glancing at Vance over his shoulder, “And stop sulking. We're winning.”

“Couillion…” Vance muttered, before nodding Luna towards the door, “Let's go.”

Luna followed behind Vance, stealing glances back at Emmanuel. That entire interaction was...surreal. Nightmarish. A hand instantly flew up to her cheek again; it seemed that this place was a breeding ground for dishing out bruises.

And yet, words teetered on her tongue. Words for Emmanuel. Something ugly clawed at the bars of self-restraint and the moment seized her filter before she could think to stop it. “E-Emmanuel…” She stuck close to Vance, a cautionary measure. “E-even after all this time...y-you’re still an asshole.” Coldness filled her gut. “I-I guess that’s why mother a-always liked me best.”

And then sanity returned. Regret instantly pooled into her body, disgusted with herself. That was wrong--entirely wrong.

Vance paused when she did and as she spoke, a grin broke onto his lips. Emmanuel pushed himself upwards, but Vance shook his head and taking Luna's arm, edged her to the door, shutting it behind him.

“Girl… You got brass on you. But hell if that wasn't pissin’ on a forest fire. Be careful with him… you hear? He's… he ain't right. I'm sorry about the whole… You know. I didn't know he'd… really… Guy's a jackass.”

“That was...I-I shouldn’t have said that,” Luna breathed, still reeling from the lapse in judgement. “All I d-did was put myself on the same level as th-that monster.” When Vance brought up the slap from earlier, the swelling seemed to pulse in remembrance. She shook her head. “I-it’s okay. I...I sh-should’ve known that would happen. I k-know my brother and h-how he is.”

A brief pause, contemplation waging war in her head. “Vance...who’s Adelaide?” she asked cautiously.

“Doesn't give him any right… and it won't happen again.” A sigh escaped, before she went on.

Grimacing, Vance shook his head, “She… she's my sister. Son of a bitch takes every chance he can get to remind me R.I.E.F. has her…”

“Y-your sister? Christ.” An inkling of guilt overcame Luna; she obviously didn’t share the love for a sibling like Vance seemed to have, but she viewed her friends back at Rogue as brothers and sisters. The thought of any of them being held hostage by R.I.E.F. was horrifying. “Is that...I-is that why you work for them? To keep her safe?”

A pause followed, and didn't fill again for several long seconds, and Vance ran his hands through his hair, “Ain't a good idea, chère… talking about that here. He just… he brought her up to piss me off. That's all. No big.”

Judging by the long pause, Luna knew that she hit a sensitive topic. “Well, th-that doesn’t sound like something t-teammates should do to each other, Vance. H-he doesn’t even call you by your a-actual name. But fine. I w-won’t bring it up.”

The hacker took a moment to absorb her surroundings. Despite everything that had transpired, she was still determined to devise a plan of escape. “So...w-where are you taking me n-now?”

Chuckling, he shrugged, “Fair… We ain't a perfect. But hell, Luna. You really think Rogue is? Why? What makes them any better than this?”

Luna looked up at Vance like he grew a second head. “O-of course! Rogue is...I’ve never felt s-safer and more accepted i-in my entire life. I-it’s not just an organization with a cause, Vance. I-it really is a family. We look out for each o-other. Care for one another. A-and it’d be downright i-insane for me to l-leave all of that behind for…” She gestured back to the chamber Emmanuel resided in. “That.”

Swearing, Vance chuckled, and pinching the bridge of his nose, he smiled, “Damn, girl. You rehearse that?”

Luna blinked. “You…” Then she gave up with a huff, a small pout forming against her lips, though it didn’t last long as the bruise throbbed in process. “Sh-shut up. That was from the heart, th-thank you very much.”

“You know… I don't even doubt it, darlin.” A sigh escaped again, and he gestured her into the room they'd vacated previously, “I wish I had better news, but they ain't gonna let you walk away from all this.”

“I-I’d never punish the messenger,” Luna said. She almost grinned, only to remember her current predicament and the fact that Vance had put her in it to begin with. “And d-don’t call me darling. It’s just Luna.” Vance was the enemy. That was the reality.

She sucked in a bitter breath and approached the room from before. “S-so what? I’m just stuck in th-that room until the i-isolation makes me crack?” She partially said this as a joke, but didn’t put it above them to resort to such methods.

“No. No, it's…” Closing the door, he sighed, “It's gonna get a lot worse than that. Luna. They… they have methods. And they aren't gonna start off gentle cause you're his sister.”

“I’d never a-associate R.I.E.F. with gentleness. D-don’t worry.” A bitter chuckle escaped Luna as she plopped into the same chair, elbows resting on the table as she covered her face. This was it for her. The end of the road. What hope was left for her?

“Vance...I-I know that I sound stupid. Especially for s-saying this to you of all people but...who else c-can I tell it to?” She inhaled shakily. “I’m...I-I’m so damn scared. And I know I’m pathetic for it.”

“Hell…” sinking into the chair opposite her, Vance sighed, “I'd think you were crazy if you weren't. Luna, listen… Thing is…” Looking down, his posture sagged a little, “Thing is… they want me to do it. Maybe that's why I was hoping… with your brother. I dunno… I guess I was hoping he'd be a decent human for once. And I wouldn't have to… you know…”

Luna’s hands lowered, dropping to the table with a dull thud. She didn’t know what he had to do exactly, but the way he trailed off flattened her diaphragm. “You...y-you don’t have to, Vance,” she said, “Just don’t do it. Just…” Her mind scrambled for the right words. For anything. “J-just leave R.I.E.F. Join Rogue. Vance...y-you don’t belong here. I c-can tell you don’t. We can help you. H-help you with...you know…” She didn’t voice Adelaide’s name, but the insinuation was clear in her eyes.

Laughing dryly, he shook his head, “You think it's that easy? That I can just walk out the door with you… Even if… even if I could, even if that were something I'd want… they'll kill her. And you gotta know I can't…”

Luna leaned forward, looking Vance dead in the eyes. “I’d never let that happen, Vance. I swear...I-I swear on my life. Please. L-let me prove to you that th-there’s a better way out of this. W-we can work together and f-figure this out. Vance,” she reached out, placing her hand on top of his gingerly. The memory of him siphoning her energy away was as clear as day, but she batted the image aside. “Please.”

“Can't stop it from inside here, Luna. I believe you… I really do. And hell if you aren't a damn sight prettier than the freak shows I work with… but I ain't gonna throw my sister's life away like that. Not when I'm so close…” Grimacing, he flipped his hand to close his fingers around hers, a steady warmth flooding through his palm, “I promise you… I won't make it hurt.”

Luna recognized the warmth immediately. His powers. This was it; after everything she said, he was still going through with it. And yet, even then...she couldn’t bring herself to hate him for it. At the end of the day, they both shared something in common: they would protect their loved ones, no matter the cost.

Her eyes glassed over, still latched onto Vance’s. “...I still have faith in you, Vance. E-even after this.” A gentle squeeze. “D-don’t forget that.”

Lowering his gaze, unable to meet her eyes, he shook his head, “That makes one of us, love. I'm sorry…”



Translations: "Christ, was that necessary?? She was cooperating!", "Watch your tongue...This isn't your business.", "Like hell...Boss said to keep her in perfect condition.", "This has nothing to do with you, Tank...She will be fine...The bitch deserves it. Now, use it and go to the warehouse with the others."
 
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  • Sympathy & Compassion
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Pop Goes the Unicorn [Pt. I]
a collab between @Reythaak, @DarinValore, @Elle Joyner and @CloudyBlueDay

With every floor the space seemed to get colder. He wasn’t sure if it was just him, but when Deck shouted it out, Finn knew something was wrong. Well, more wrong than being chased by drones and soldiers. “Guys…” Finn whispered, unsure of what to say that would make it better, only able to relay his uneasiness. No, his fear.

And then the creepy guy jumped out with the box - suddenly stuffed toys were at their feet, but not cute and begging for hugs. No, these were covered in sharp ends, razors, teeth. Finn let out a horrified squeal as a stuffed bear more menacing what he thought a real one to look like lunged, and if Deck hadn’t stopped him he’d be a snack for hibernation.

After that he was dashing behind Deckard, wondering who had been so unlucky to get such a terrifying powerset. He was quick to run to the dresser and nod to Keith before the two of them pushed it against the door, but not before it had been stained with Deckard’s blood.

“I…” Finn mumbled, staring at the bridge that had been aweinspiringly constructed before their eyes. Damn, he wished he had a power like that. “M-maybe I should stay until everyone’s across. I’m.. the one that can fly. I can make it if it falls.” Finn blabbed.

Penny laughed. She didn't mean to, but the tension of the situation, coupled with the determined expression Finn wore was too much, and the strain snapped like a string on a guitar.

“Finn, sweetie. We just watched He-Man here get half skewered by a unicorn. You gonna take them on while he holds up the bridge? Go… Get across and the secure the other side with Keith. I never had a thing for stuffed animals growing up. I got this.”

Red in the face, Finn balled his fists. “And what are you gonna do if the bridge falls? Stick it out with toy man and freezo? You really think you can punch through some sharp toy teeth?”

Keith gave a little shake of his head, “Finn. C’mon, move. The longer we stand over here arguing with either of them about it, the more likely we have to worry about the “if-it-fails” scenario.” He gave a tug at his friend’s shirt, but was taking his own advice. Somewhere amidst everything, a pistol had appeared in Keith’s hands.

The Aura-Reader gave another quick glance towards the door, then hopped out onto the stepping stones, taking a glance downward and immensely grateful that one of the things he wasn’t afraid of was heights, then continued across, the pistol sweeping along in front of him as he worked on processing what auras he could see.

Deckard grunted under the mental weight he bore. Never had he done something to this magnitude before, not that he wanted to reveal that to the people he was with. He watched as Keith crossed the bridge and let out the breath he was holding when he made it to the other side, “Okay, Finn,” he grunted as he tried to ignore the cracking sound coming from the door, “Your turn.”

She expected an argument from Finn, and was all too glad when Keith interjected, leaving him with little room to contradict. It wasn’t that she thought any one of them couldn’t handle themselves - the whole reason they were a part of Rogues was because they had something to offer the team… but Finn wasn’t exactly heavy firepower, and all she needed was for him to get hurt because she decided to let the kid shine at the wrong time.

“Go, Finn…” She repeated, this time with more reassurance and less authority, as she turned to where they’d braced the door with the furniture. The banging on the other side was growing quieter, and for a moment she allowed herself to hope they were giving up, but as the temperature in the room began to drop, lower and lower, a net of frost started crawling along the frame, silvery white, and with a shiver, she glanced back to the others.

“Keep it together, Big Guy. They’re comin’ through any minute.”

Though he had more of an argument left in him, there was nothing left to say. Glowering at Keith at the tug of his shirt, Finn moved towards the window. He gave one last look towards Penny, who he could only see with blood blooming through her blouse as she had not so long ago.

Fine. He followed Keith onto the shaky bridge and tried not to think about everything that could go wrong.

They couldn’t move fast enough, not that he could blame them. It was a long fall if they slipped off or took a wrong step. Then there was a certain amount of uncertainty of trusting the bridge. Truth be told, Deck was unsure he would have trusted it, but falling to his death beat falling into R.I.E.F.’s hands so the risk was worth taking. Deck felt his body strain now as if he, himself, was lifting the bridge with more than just his mind, “Once he’s clear, Penny,” he grunted, “You’re next, and you’d better make it fast.”


The door shuddered as Penny glanced back to watch Finn crossing over, her gaze shifting to Deck, struggling to keep the bridge up. There seemed to be a sort of countdown, a ticking, towards the inevitable. They would get through, and then what…? They’d need to fight, but they weren’t prepared. None of them were prepared…

She sure as hell wasn’t prepared.

Swearing softly, she turned and started for the bridge, and as if it were a trigger, the door shattered, splintering inward like ice. All that stood between them and the nightmare squad of stuffed toys was a dresser.

Her feet hit the bridge, and the temperature sunk lower.

And across the way, a quarter thwocked against the side of Finn’s head, and rush of wind brushed past him and Keith with inhuman speed.

Jumping off the unstable bridge, Finn let out a sigh of relief. He turned to look back at Deckard and Penny when something hit him square in the side of his head, his hand instantly reaching up to feel what he imagined would be a comically bruised bump. “What the hell?!” Finn yelped. “Keith, what’s going on?!”

Keith glanced back over the bridge, leveling his pistol across the gap and waiting until things cleared a bit further. He wasn’t a bad shot, but… well. He also wasn’t going to take chances at the moment, not with still being shaken up from… everything. His gaze was drawn away by a blur of color, however, and Finn’s yelp.

“Nothing good…” He tried following the blur, with little success. The movements were just too quick for him, “Get over here quick, guys, we’ve got another… friend.” The aura was a bit too rust-dried-blood red for it to be someone he’d flat out call friend in his opinion, though.

He watched as Penny started along the bridge. His heart slammed against his chest as the sound of the clawing monsters making their way into the room coupled horrifically with the ever-decreasing temperature and the blood loss from his puncture wound. Frost took hold of his beads of sweat; his lungs burned as the cold air invaded them. Shivers wrecked his already trembling body. The stress was too much.

“Come on, come on, come on,” he managed through his tightened jaw and quivering lips.

“Give it up!” The feminine voice filled his ears.

It would be so easy to let his mind slip, to close his eyes and embrace the darkness, to stop running finally. No more pain, no more heartache, no more nightmarish memories. And in a moment of weakness and exhaustion, he did just that.

Penny could feel it, even before it happened, her eyes fixed on Deck as she moved as fast as she could across the makeshift bridge. It wasn't going to work… he was losing it, and damn toothpick Finn was gonna let her hear it.

'I can fly!’

Of course the bridge would collapse.

“Deck!” She called out, praying it snapped him out of it enough to do the one thing she needed him to, and as the bridge sagged, then splintered apart all at once, she did the only thing she could. She leapt back.
 
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Pop Goes The Unicorn, Part 2
Keith, Deck, Finn, and Penny
Collab Between @Elle Joyner , @DarinValore ,@CloudyBlueDay, and Reythaak​

It didn’t matter which way Penny leapt - she was doomed either way. Didn’t anyone listen to him? He’d never let Penny hear this end of this. If she even made it that far… even she ended up in any other situation other than flat on the pavement. Blood, everywhere. Like last time. She screamed for Deck but Deck couldn’t save her, hell he’d dropped her. This time there’d be no chance. No rushing her home, begging Doc to save her. Just… gone.

He didn’t think before he raised his arms, and a strong gust of wind caught Penny before she could hit the ground, pushing her back towards Deck. Finn had never worn such a determined look.

Keith watched. There wasn’t much he could do from his position, and the guy running around wasn’t something he could handle either unfortunately. He found himself wishing his power were something more… active, something more useful. The bridge started to collapse, and almost instinctively the kid reached out to grab for Penny. He shook his head, looking towards the room they’d abandoned for a moment and leveling the gun once more. He knew about where Deck was, and faintly saw two more outlines.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three shots rang out from the pistol, clustered relatively well, as Keith hoped he could manage to hit one of the rival metas and snap Deck out of… whatever was going on there.

He was only gone a moment, but that moment was enough to collapse the bridge and watch as Penny lost her footing and fell to ground. In a desperate attempt to save her, Deck threw himself to the ground leaning half his body out of the hole he had created with an outstretched arm. He tried with everything he had to reach her, to catch her, but he had expended too much of himself on the bridge. He’d failed her.

“No!” he yelled just before he watched as she was thrust skyward. His hand taking hers as soon as he could reach her, “Hold on,” he groaned. His muscles strained due to exhaustion. His weary eyes turned to see Finn in action.

A chuckle filled the room, “That just means one less we’ll have to take back,” the male voice must have belonged to the man responsible for the stuffed monsters.

The ringing of a dagger slipping from its home sounded next, but Deck refused to check. His eyes locked down at Penny as she dangle from his arm, “I got you,” he reassured her, and as long as he had breathe and strength, he would.

Then shots rang out followed by a cry and a sudden rise in temperature, “I’m hit!” the woman cried out, “He..he shot me!”

“Shit!” the man spoke, “Let’s go.”

“What about them!” she cried out.

“Forget about them!”

Deck heard footsteps fade, “Come on,” he told her as he pulled, “Enough hanging around,” he smirked.

Penny gripped Deck with a bruising grasp, the rest of her dangling with what felt like far too much certainty towards a lengthy fall and graphic, painful death. She'd felt herself dropping, the weight in her stomach… The plummeting feeling of doom. Then she'd felt the burst from behind, the boost she had needed.

But it was all too close, and as Deck pulled, she half scrambled, clawing her way up his arm, throwing her arms around his shoulders, utterly oblivious to the unicorn-horn stab wound. It occurred to her, even despite her sudden wet-cat inclinations that they hadn't instantly been set upon by the maniac toyman and the frigid bitch… across the way, the speedster would receive a bark into his own ear piece that they were bailing.

They'd gotten lucky. They'd gotten damn lucky.

Peeling back from Deck, she glanced across the way to the pair on the other side, “Let's get the hell out of here… before they call for backup. And thanks, Big Guy… hell of a first day.”

The gunshots snapped Finn out of his determined stupor, the wind beneath Penny stopping abruptly as he turned back to Keith in shock. Luckily by then she’d caught onto Deck, and Finn breathed a sigh of relief. “Where… did you get a gun?!” He gasped, never so exhausted in his life. Doing… whatever the hell he’d just done… had taken something out of him.

“Are you guys okay??” Finn shouted.

Keith instinctively kept the pistol leveled in the direction he’d shot, even after the woman called out being hit. It wasn’t until Penny was up and clinging to Deck that he finally lowered it and let out a breath. He popped the safety back on, tucking it into the holster and looking towards Finn.

“My dad,” he gave a little shrug, trying not to think too hard about it at the moment, “Needed something just-in-case, I can’t rely on my powers for that kind of thing.” He looked down between the buildings, “You guys still have to get out of there, just because those three ran off doesn’t mean RIEF did…”

Deck took a minute to catch his breath as he nodded to Penny, “He’s right, we’ve gotta get out of here. R.I.E.F.’ll be making their way up any time now since the other two failed.”

Standing to his feet, he looked out across the street and leaned against the opening, “You guys okay to make it out of there on your own? Think you could pull the fire alarm on your way down?”

“Good thinking…” Penny echoed, with a nod, leaning back against the hole in the wall with a sudden weariness, “Pull the alarm. R.I.E.F. isn’t gonna shoot an entire building of civilians. Won’t exactly paint them in a pretty public light. We’ll make our way down separately, when the crowd clears… Meet up at the address you gave us, Finn. But if we’re not there in a hour… you two need to find a way to get in touch with Keegan. Tell him about what we ran into here, today. He needs to know we’re up against more than we expected…”

Taking in a shaky breath, Finn nodded. He had almost forgotten about his dear old friend and the visit they’d be paying him. It worried him to separate from Deckard and Penny, especially when they were 99.9% of the man power, but they had no other option. Plus, apparently Keith had a gun now.

“Be careful, okay? Don’t do anything stupid, please.” Finn called back out to them, putting a hand on Keith’s shoulder and finally ripping his gaze away from the other half of his team and beckoning Keith towards the stairwell.

Keith hesitated a moment, but nodded. “Yeah… yeah, we can get out fine.” Honestly at this point, that almost seemed like the easiest part of the next 24 hours or so. It was Finn’s hand on his shoulder that convinced him to actually move.

“I really don’t like this, Aero,” he said quietly as he headed towards the stairwell, “Never split the party.” He tried to put a little levity in his voice, but it didn’t shine through very well. It sounded strained. As the pair headed down, Keith pulled the paper mask he’d been wearing back into place, and tugged the first fire alarm they came across.

 
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broom broom get in me car
collab between @Reythaak and CloudyBlueDay

Grumbling at Keith’s comment, Finn hurried down the stairs. “I know, man.” He said quietly. “It’ll be fine…they’ll be fine…. we need to find a car. Think I could hotwire a car?” He was pushing down the terrifying memories of the house they were going back too… and he could feel Keith freaking out. “A-at least I know how to get there..”

By this point, Keith had shut down his power. He had shut it down the moment he’d drawn his gun, so he wasn’t looking through the walls or anything like that, just steadily moving alongside Finn and trying (and succeeding pretty well, for him) to keep the panic and anxiety from completely overwhelming him. His fingers were trailing along the wall as he and Finn nearly vanished into the throng of folks heading outside to escape the cacophony of the fire alarm. It was a good distraction.

“You’re more likely to be able to than I am,” he said with a shake of his head, “And knowing where we’re going is a good step in the right direction.”

Realizing he’d swam far ahead in the crowd, Finn stopped and waited until Keith caught up to him, and then put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. There was no way in hell he was gonna lose Keith. “Okay… over there.” Finn said, pulling Keith towards a darker street, one less swarmed by the chaos the fire alarm had caused.

“So… I’ve seen this done… a few times…. in the movies….” There were a few cars, parked and vacant. “Just… twist some wires… and bam.. Car!”

Keith nodded, finding his attention drifting slightly back and forth, as he slipped towards the darker street Finn had directed him to. He gave his head a hard shake, getting almost annoyed at this point. His lips did twist up into a very slight smile at Finn’s words, though.

“I’m not sure it works quite that easy…” Keith did, however, move towards the cars, glancing into them to see if they could manage to get luck enough that someone had just left their keys in their vehicle. Unlikely, but it was worth a look.

Finn centered in on a car that looked decent to him. Blatantly ignoring Keith’s unencouraging words, he raised his palm up towards the window. “You saw what I did, right? The wind. Think I could do it again?” Finn said, a devilish look in his eye, the promise of a new power distracting him from the terror of their fate. Of their friends. Sucking in a deep breath, Finn reared his hand and tried to summon that same wind to shatter the glass.

Instead, he smacked his wrist against the window and yelped. No such luck.

“You’ve done it before. No reason you couldn't do it again,” Keith replied, genuinely believing in his friend. He actually stopped, turning slightly to watch Finn. He didn't quite stifle his snirk as Finn's hand hit the window. “Was worth a shot. Car glass is really tough anyways,” he reassured Finn.

“So how far away is the address from here?” Keith had started trying doors, seeing if any were open.

Rubbing his wrist (and his bruised ego) Finn stared dejectedly at the window he’d failed to break. “I’ll.. figure it out.” He mumbled sadly. “It’s.. a few miles out. Up, mostly. As up as Florida can be, anyway.” Finn shrugged, visibly uncomfortable. “I guess… we shouldn’t waste a bullet, breaking the glass? I can try again..”

“If we shot the glass, we might draw them back towards us… and no guarantees about getting the car going if we did…” was Keith’s reply. He tapped the window a couple times, thinking. “...when in doubt, internet?” His hand vanished into his pocket, drawing out his phone.

Peering over Keith’s shoulder as they flipped through Youtube videos, Finn was surprised to find that hotwiring a car didn’t require the connecting and cutting of wires like he’d planned. “All we need is something to jam in the ignition.” Finn hummed, glancing around to make sure they weren’t being watched. “I know it’s like, our only protection.. But… can we use the firing pin, of your gun?” Ah, movies. “I-I think it’d work. I’m gonna try the window again.”

Finn moved back towards the window of the car, rearing his hand once more. He tried to remember the feeling that had overtaken him when he watched Penny fall; the terror, the fear, but also the desire to act. The need to act. Finn sucked in a breath, and with it the came the power of the air behind his hand. The window shattered under his forceful hit, and Finn stepped back in glee.

“Yeah… I guess, I don’t have a better idea of something to use.”

Keith started fiddling with the pistol, partially disassembling. At least until the sudden sound of breaking glass. He jumped and yelped, skittering back a couple steps. The small spring he’d just been handling shot off in… some direction, he didn’t even notice that. While he did believe in Finn, he hadn’t honestly expected the window to shatter.

“Holy shit Aerora… you did it!” Keith grinned as he looked at his friend, “At this point, maybe you should even drive with how much of a roll you’re on today.” His gun was in pieces, and he was actually offering the firing pin to Finn.

“Nickname level up?” Finn breathed, shaking away glass from his knuckles. He reached in and opened the door from inside, and slid into the driver's seat after taking the firing pin from Keith. Jamming it in the ignition, Finn wriggled it around until…. The engine growled, and Finn let out a laugh of relief. “Dude! It worked!”

“You got stronger, so… yeah,” Keith said, nodding. He moved around to the other side of the car, waiting until Finn unlocked the doors (he sure couldn’t break the window on this side), and climbing in. He rolled the window down, trying to make it look like the window was just rolled down on the driver’s side instead of broken out. Then he laughed as the car started up, thumping his head lightly on the dash.

“I’m… grateful this entire thing worked. We needed it to,” he let out a sigh of relief, dropping the remaining pieces of his gun in the back seat. He wasn’t sure if they could get the firing pin back out, and had lost a spring. The gun was pretty useless presently.

“Ready to get going?”

“Ready to -- wait -- you’re letting me drive?” Finn breathed, hands hovering above the steering wheel. “Holy shit -- okay -- yes -- yes I’m ready to get going. We got this.” Finn breathed, gripping the steering wheel and pulling out of the parking space. He gripped the wheel like his life depended on it, and at this point, well, it probably did.
 
Collab Post | Interactions: Vance & Emmanuel | Location: Unknown

“Fly away, Little Moth. Fly far, far away…”

Luna’s eyes cracked open. Just a slither.

Through the strip of vision, only a blinding white entered, threatening to blind her just moments into seeing the world. She clenched them shut, took a moment to gather herself, then opened them again. This time, wider…

A white room. Small, square-shaped, and nothing else but her and the chair she sat in. Along with shackles around her wrists that were bolted to the floor. Rather than panicking, she merely observed the restraints with a foreign calm and gave them an experimental tug. Sturdy--obviously.

She looked up slowly. “H-hello?”

For several minutes, there was only silence. When the door finally opened, the sound broke the silence with a soft shushing sound, like a mother calming a child. It opened only as far as necessary, and Vance shut it behind himself with a solid click, before turning to face the girl in the chair.

“...Hello, Love.” He answered, his voice carrying a gravelly undertone of grim awareness.

“Vance? H-hey, um,” Luna gave the shackles another thug, this time looking up pleadingly at him. “M-mind getting me o-out of this? Please? They...th-they kind of hurt…”

Fighting a grimace, he stepped forward, crouching down before her, “Sort of the point, dar--” Pausing, he cleared his throat, “Luna. It’s… it’s time. You ready?”

“I...I s-suppose you’ve got a point there,” she conceded with a sigh. Confusion flooded her left and right; she...didn’t feel any different and her memory of what happened previously was a tad fuzzy. “T-time for what?” she asked, though the dread growing in her gut knew exactly what he was talking about. She was merely avoiding the inevitable.

His hand rose, shaking ever so slightly, and tensing it into a fist, he shut his eyes a moment, steadying himself, before laying it over one of her hands, “...It’s not gonna hurt. You’ll wake up, and you won’t even know what happened. I’m… I’m gonna take care of you, Luna. Won’t be Rogue, but if… if you’re with me, you got family, alright? You remember that. No matter what.”

She could tell that this entire situation weighed just as heavily on him as it did on her; she could feel the trembling in his hand on top of hers. These circumstances--they were toxic and hopeless. For both of them. Exhaling slowly, Luna stared into Vance’s eyes, gratitude and fear seeping through, and nodded. “O-okay...okay. I...that means a-a lot to me, Vance. You h-have no idea.”

With the terror building up inside her, having someone by her side meant the world.

“That’s a girl…” Turning his face to her fully, Vance met her eyes. The contact was all he needed - he knew from when she’d tried it on him. Just a few seconds, and she’d practically done the work for him. It would be over in minutes…

Except that really, it was just beginning.

Luna’s world went dark before she could blink.

---

Like clockwork, she woke up again. Same room. Same chair...but no shackles.

It was the two individuals standing before Luna that drew her attention. Vance and Emmanuel, watching her like a hawk. She expected it from her brother since the man always had his paranoia issues, but she figured that was what made him an effective teammate.

She stood up, shooting a smile Vance’s way. “Hey, Vance.” Then her eyes strayed to Emmanuel, dulling as her voice evened out to a more professional tone. “So...what’s next on the agenda?”

Emmanuel’s lips split in a smirk and he turned to Vance, giving him little more than a nod. Vance did not smile, and something reflected in the man’s eyes… something cold, as he stepped forward with a folder, holding it out to her, “We’ve been following Rogue’s movements. Caught up to a team in the warehouse district up north, but one of the SoBs had a gun. Hit Gauge. She’ll make it, but they had to bail. You up for seeing if we can pick up their trail?”

Luna opened the folder and skimmed through its contents as her brother laid out the game plan. Her gut momentarily sank upon hearing that Gauge got hit, but she forced the concern aside for later; she knew how annoyed the man could get when she expressed too much care for the others around him. “I’m pretty sure I can,” she said before snapping the folder closed and handing it back to Emmanuel. “Rogue is constantly under radar, so whatever tech they’re using is likely off the Black Market or stolen. Either way, it’ll make it easy to track any communication devices they’re using and backwards track the signals. I’ll just need an hour--maybe less.”

“Excellent…” Emmanuel said with a grin, “I’ll tell Fade and Eidelon to get ready. They were… considerably stronger than we anticipated, so the Director thinks it best we send out the heavy artillery. I’m inclined to agree. I’ll hold point here. I want you in the field.”

Frowning, Vance crossed his arms, “An hour’s more than enough time for them to get below ground… disappear. Maybe we’d better--”

“...Director wants you to hang back on this one, Tank.”

Blinking, Vance turned to Emmanuel, a brow raised, “Since when? I mean… all things considered, is that advise--”

“She’s made it clear you’re to remain here. Luna can handle this without you, I’m sure. Right?”

Luna’s eyes widened, but only for a fraction of second before she forced herself to relax. She usually stayed out of the field unless the coast was clear and she had to do a quick memory wipe or alteration. This...this was definitely new territory for her, but she wasn’t dumb enough to protest her brother. “Okay...I can do that, yeah.”

She gave Vance a reassuring pat on the shoulder, eyes soft. “Don’t worry, Vance. I’ll stay safe and be back before you can say...photosynthesis.” Dorky, but she hoped the ridiculousness of it would help to soothe his worries.

Vance stared down at her, giving a small shake of his head. He didn’t like it - not just because of the danger it put Luna in, but because anytime Luna and Emmanuel were together, it put him on edge for entirely different reasons. But her words did the trick, and his expression lightened, as he gave a nod.

“Not that our walking meathead can say photosynthesis…” Emmanuel chirped coldly, rolling his eyes.

“...Don’t you have a design to finish for the Director, Wiz?” Vance hissed, and Luna’s brother scowled, but turning, made his way to the door, pushing it open with his foot before disappearing into the hall.

As it slid shut behind him, Vance looked to Luna, catching her gaze for a moment, “Sure you’ll be alright?”

As soon as the door shut, Luna let loose a long sigh and her form deflated. Her head fell to Vance’s chest, her voice small. “I, uh...I-I guess I’ll have to be, huh?” Words failed her a moment. Two more moments. “...D-do you think he r-really bought it?”

Closing his eyes, Vance looped an arm loosely around her, his chin resting on the top of her head, “Hell, I almost bought it. Thought I did something wrong. But just in case, you be careful…” Opening his eyes, he pulled back, lifting her chin to meet her eyes, “I can’t protect you out there. You pull from everything I put in there…” Tapping her temple, he smirked, “Don’t let your brother throw you. You’ll be alright.”

Luna stiffened when she felt him guide her chin up; the feeling was far from unpleasant, but not something that she was accustomed to--or willing to deal with right now. Clearing her throat, she took a step back, but her soft smile remained. “I-I promise I won’t. E-Emmanuel might be the l-literal sibling from...y-you know,” she pointed downwards, an inkling of playfulness in her eyes, “B-but I think I know his t-tune now and I’ve g-got you by my s-side.”

A brief pause, contemplation seizing her.

“And...th-thank you, Vance. I knew that p-placing faith in you w-was the right thing to do. Soon, it’ll be y-your turn to do the s-same.”

Chuckling, Vance traced a hand over the back of his neck, shaking his head, “Hell. I couldn’t mess up that pretty head of yours, too much, Love. No regrets… no matter what happens.” Pausing, he glanced to the door, then back to Luna with a nod, “Photosynthesis, hm? Couldn’t have picked a shorter word?”

Luna’s chest hollowed a bit at the graveness hidden behind Vance’s words. “W-what happens is that we’ll m-make it out of here. Alive. Safe. And w-with your sister. I know I-I’ve said this already...b-but I’m swearing my life on it, y-you hear me?” She closed the distance between them again to look up at the man almost defiantly; she refused to let anything bad happen to him. He was a friend now and she’d be damned to fail or leave him behind.

However, his latter statement softened her demeanor somewhat and a giggle managed to work its way up her chest. She shrugged, grinning. “I-it was the best I could c-come up with, okay? W-when I get freaked out, I th-think about plants...apparently,” she added apparently as an afterthought whisper, vision straying to the side.

“...Plants. Why doesn’t that surprise me? You ever not been a complete dork?” Chuckling, he looked her over, before shaking his head, and with a sigh, he reached out to tug her into a brief hug, Mon joli papillon Ne vous approchez pas de la flamme et ne brûlez pas vos ailes. Pas pour moi….”

Luna didn’t really have a chance to react as Vance pulled her into an embrace, but she accepted the motion and wrapped her arms around him, face hidden in his chest. “N-no,” she chuckled. “I’m the f-full dork package, so deal w-with it.”

However, she blinked in surprise as French flowed into her ears...and made sense. Translated. As if she suddenly understood the language. “Did...d-did you put a translator i-in my head or s-something?” She tilted her head up, shooting Vance a look of mild shock. “I...I can’t tell if th-that’s super awesome or s-super trippy. Peut-être les deux…”

Leaning back, shock crossing his face for a moment, Vance laughed, “...Damn. Not on purpose. Guess I can’t get away with that anymore, hm? Don’t let Emmanuel know… He thinks it’s our leverage over you.” Grinning, he released her entirely and shrugged, “Alright… Go on. We hang around too long, they’ll get antsy. It’s showtime…”

“W-what do you mean by ‘get away’?” she teased, her mind already jumping back to what he said earlier. She wasn’t sure how to feel about his mentioning of “My pretty moth”, but decided to show mercy and overlook it. She had learned to accept his tendency for calling her such things, especially now that she knew he meant well. “And don’t w-worry. I won’t. I-it’ll be easy since Emmanuel u-used to always underestimate me and he s-still does now.”

The hacker didn’t want to admit how quickly the nervousness snagged her as soon as he let go. This was fine. She could do this...hopefully. “L-lights. Camera. Action...a-and all that jazz,” she said before turning towards the door. As soon as her hand touched the handle, she glanced back to shoot him another smile. Weak and not quite reaching her eyes. “S-souhaite moi bonne chance, Vance.”

“...You’ve got this, Luna.” He offered, with a reassuring nod, “You’ve got this.”
 
  • Sympathy & Compassion
Reactions: KatSea and junebug
Collab Post w/ @Elle Joyner
Interaction: Penny and Deckard
As Finn and Keith disappeared from view, Penny closed her eyes for a moment, breathing in and out in a steady, calming stream. It wasn’t her first brush with death - hell, it wasn’t even her first brush with death that week… but somehow, it the idea of falling to her end, splattering on the pavement like a rotten watermelon seemed considerably worse than getting shot to death, or even gored by a psychopathic stuffed animal.

That thought spurred another, and opening her eyes, she pushed herself to rise and moved to Deck’s side, “We need to get you patched up before we move on. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb as is. Think there’s a sewing kit in this place?” Reaching into the side pouch on her pants, she tugged out her phone, “I’ll look around… Take this, and see if you can’t find a DIY on stitches. Youtube has everything, these days, but if you can find a medical training video, that’d be better.”

“Shit,” he groaned as he shifted, the adrenaline ebbing away, giving way to the pain that shot through his back when he lifted his right arm. He began to thumb through YouTube videos, “Find something dark, Penny, so it’ll blend in with the tats.”

Rolling her eyes, Penny stepped into the bathroom, and rifling around, finally found what she needed in the cabinet beneath the sink. On second thought, she also plucked a bottle of motrin from the medicine cabinet, and returning to the half-destroyed bedroom, gestured to the bench at the foot of the bed, “Have a seat… You find a video? And here…” Opening the small emergency sewing kit, she held it out to him, “You’ve got a choice of cranberry, jade green or… really ugly brown.”

“Brown. It’s the closest thing. Besides, not like I’ll be showing it off,” he wrestled to lift his shirt flinching when the pain shot through him. Propping the phone up in his hand, he thumbed over the play button, “Let me know when you’re ready.”

“Go ahead…” As she threaded the needle, her eyes moved to the video and for a moment, while it played, she said nothing, concentrating fully on what she was seeing. When it ended, she smirked, shaking her head, “Damn… If I’d known it was same as mending a button… Alright, Big Guy.” Turning back to Deck, she eyed the wound and trying not to grimace, breathed in deep, “This won’t feel good. So try to… I dunno… go to a happy place, or think about something else, yeah? Ready?”

“Can’t be worse than getting stabbed by a murderous unicorn,” he chuckled, but it ended as soon as the needle pierced his skin. It hurt, but it wasn’t much worse than getting a tattoo, a saving grace of his body art. Her pinching the wound shut was the worst part. About that time, Deck could hear the faint sound of the alarm in the building next to them, “You think they’ll be alright without you?”

“I dunno…” She murmured quietly, pinching her lip with her teeth for a moment, as she tied off one end and started on the next row, “I don’t really wanna think about it. I can’t… I can’t baby them. They’ll never make it out there if they don’t get thrown into it now and then. But hell…” With a sigh, she shook her head, “Nice ink, by the way. How many you got…?”

“I stopped counting,” he replied, glancing down at the video as it came to a stop, “I got one and then I just...kept getting them. Think it was my attempt at waking up from all of this,” he paused a moment, “How big’s that hole?”

“Listen, buddy. You got gored by a friggin’ unicorn. It’s gonna leave a mark, alright?” Looking over at him, she smiled faintly, “Waking up, hm? Hell, if that worked, I’d have no skin left.” Tugging the thread tightly, she tied off the final knot, and severed the needle from the end with her nail, running her fingertips delicately around the stitching to inspect the work, “Looks like it’ll hold for now. Ain’t Doc’s work, and she’s likely to kill me for scarring you up, but better than bleeding to death.”

“Eh, scars are like tats. They tell a story and add character,” Deck wiggled his shirt back down before her stood to his feet, handed the phone back, and headed to the bathroom. Turning, he lifted his shirt just enough to look at the wound in the mirror. He blinked twice, “I said brown, Penny!” he yelled before mumbling to himself, “Fucking cranberry..”

Grinning, Penny followed him into the bathroom and leaning over the sink, she turned on the faucet to wash her hands, the clear water turning pink as she sluiced away Deck’s blood, “I mean… you did almost drop me, there, Slick.”

“But I didn’t!” he growled before pushing his shirt down.

“No, you didn’t.” Turning, she glanced up at him, and her expression shifted, softening briefly, “Thanks. Not exactly the way I wanna go out, you know? Splat… I… I got a thing. About heights.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Deck gave an understanding nod, “I wouldn’t have let you...splat.”

“Yeah… You uh…” With a smirk, she gave him a once over, “You got a thing about saving my life there, Sugar. Startin’ to think you’d miss me or something.”

“Or something,” he teased before rolling his shoulder and stepping into the ruined living room, “Anyway, I figured you brought me into this mess, the least you could do is see me out of it.”

“Oh… So it’s vindictive.” She teased right back, and following after him, her eyes moved to the hole in the wall. Swallowing, she looked away quickly, “We’ll need to wait till the crowd clears down below. Give Keith and Finn some space to get away.” Sinking back onto the bench, her fingers dove through her hair, “Not exactly the best first mission… sorry.”

“Nothing I’m not used to really,” he looked out the hole he created and smiled wearily, “though that was a first,” turning to her, he sighed, “I knew what I was signing up for when I agreed to your terms, but I had hoped I wouldn’t be beaten by you.”

Grinning, she looked over at him, a brow lifting, “I’m not saying when I made that deal I knew I was gonna kick your ass, but hey…”

“Ya, ya,” he dropped his hands and put a dining room chair upright before sitting in it, “So, I’ve seen a lot of abilities in my travels, but never one that turned stuffed animals into raging monsters. That….that’s some scary shit.”

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.” She shivered, recalling the horror of the creations, storming down the hallway, “You realized, of course, you’re never gonna live down getting stabbed by a unicorn, right?”

Deck chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, “I suppose not. Could’ve been worse though...I think.”

“Yeah…” Penny said with a small, teasing smirk, “...Could’ve been the duck. You see him? With the saw blade for the bill. Imagine getting wrecked by a duck.” Rising, she made her way carefully to the gaping hole and with even more caution, leaned to look down at the streets below, “...How long you figure we should give it?”

“Is it clearing out down there?” he asked.

“Sounds like it…” Leaning back in, she sighed, “How’s your shoulder feel, just in case? I can take on a few agents… but I ain’t exactly, well…” Looking at his, she gestured vaguely to his arms.

“I can fight,” he reassured her, “May not be able to use my ability, but I can fight,” he smirked toward her, “Need me to show you some moves?”

“Sugar… We make it out of this, you can show me whatever moves you want. Just don't pop those pretty pink stitches. I'll forget what I learned in a few minutes.”

“Alright, well, if we’re in the thick of it and you just need a reminder, I’ll try and stay within eyeshot,” he stood and started toward the hall, “You ready?”

Breathing in, she nodded, her eyes shifting to the gaping hole in the wall, “Better than falling twenty stories to my death, right? Let’s go.”

“Alright,” he stepped out the threshold and into the hallway, “Stay close and keep your eyes and ears open. R.I.E.F. still might be sweeping this building.”
Following alongside Deck, the humor left Penny’s eyes as concentration flooded back in. They tracked back in the direction they had come, and for several minutes, moving through the eerie apartment building, their only company was silence. Two floors down, however, the chirp of a walkie-talkie caught the air in Penny’s lungs, and reaching out, she yanked Deck to a halt.

“No good.” She whispered, before looking back the way they came, then the door a short distance down the hall, marked ‘maintenance’, before nodding, “Come on.”

Deck followed Penny into the maintenance closet and pressed the door closed as quietly as possible, “They must have been clearing floors while we were dealing with the mutants,” he shook his head and sighed, “I’m not dying in this stupid building. Being stabbed by a unicorn is not gonna be anyone’s last memory of me.”

Fighting something between a grimace and a grin, Penny shook her head, “Calm down, Big Guy. We’ll figure this out. You’re pretty tapped, powerwise?”

Nodding he answered, “It turns out holding chunks of a building in mid air while bleeding and stressing out over potential death drains me quickly,” he sighed, “I might could do something small.”

Looking around the small closet, Penny frowned in thought, her eyes traveling up to the air duct with a small chuckle, “...You had to be built like the Matterhorn…” Lowering her gaze, she gestured finally to the two wide chutes in the corner, designed for trash and recycling bins, “...Ain’t exactly an appealing exit, but… If you could slow our momentum… Trash chutes usually lead down to the basement, right?”

“Only one way to find out,” he motioned to the chute, “Sit in, and we’ll go down together. Only way I can slow us at the moment.”

“...Stabbed by unicorns… Sliding down trash chutes. I’d tell you the job isn’t normally like this, but…” Crouching by the chute door, she pushed it open, before sinking back, glancing to Deck with a nod, “Ready when you are, Sugar.”

“It’d be boring any other way,” he spoke as he slipped in behind her, wrapping his arms around her core, “Gotta make sure you don’t slide away.”

With a push, Deck sent them down the chute all while he counted down from five. If he remembered correctly, it was relatively one second for every ten feet. If he was wrong...well, he hoped he wasn’t.

“2….1…” he closed his eyes and concentrated, slowing them just enough that their launch from the chute wouldn’t hurt them. Just as he’d hoped, they fell out of the end and into the trash beneath them a little harder than Deck had hoped.
“Ow…” he groaned, “I imagined that being softer.”

Graciously, larger objects fell first and Penny’s landing wasn’t quite so uncomfortable, flopping back on Deck, instead. Still, it was a heavy fall and took the air out of her for a moment or two, “...Definitely not my preferred method of travel.” She muttered, before rolling off of him, “Not out of the woods yet, Big Guy. Need a minute, or you good to keep going?”

Wearily, he exited the drop and leaned against the side of the dumpster. He took in a few deep breaths and nodded, “Let’s go. I can rest when we’re safe.”

Deck took the lead again as they hugged the basement wall making their way around the perimeter toward the garage entrance. Peaking around the corner, he let out a breath of relief when he noticed that most of the R.I.E.F. soldiers had taken the bait and had switched their attention toward the other building with a crowd gathering to witness their actions.

“Almost home free, Penny. Just a few more feet. We just need to slip into the crowd and we’ll be good.”

Following close behind, Penny paused when he did, looking out over his shoulder, “Home, anyway. I dunno about free…” With a smirk, she held out her hand, “Less likely to draw attention if we just look like a couple, hopin’ to get back to the game on TV.”

Glancing down at her hand, Deck froze for the briefest of moments. Squashing his own memories that flashed behind his eyes, he nodded and gently wrapped her hand in his own, “The game,” he reassured himself, “Alright, stay close. Don’t need anyone to notice the blood stain.”

Breathing in, Penny turned her eyes to the crowd, easing closer to Deck, close enough to block his shoulder from view. It was mystifying that the oddest and most nerve wracking part of their plan had nothing to do with the heavily armed agents after them, but the physical contact that was so alien…

As they melded into the crowd of irritated, grumbling tenants, she kept her eyes peeled for uniformed figures, “We’ll need to find a vehicle…”

“I’m sure in this mess,” Deck twisted to avoid colliding with another man as they weaved their way through the crowd, “it won’t be too difficult,” his eyes settled on a man that looked as though he’d recently arrived on scene, “Do you have deft hands?” He jerked his head toward the man pacing angrily in the street yelling into his cellphone.

A brow lifted, and she glanced up at him briefly, with a small smirk, “I think I catch your drift. Yeah… I can handle it.”

“Alright, then let’s go,” Deck steered them toward the man and lined them up perfectly. A few steps away, he put a little distance between the two of them and released her hand so she could use it, “You got this,” he said as he watched the distracted man.

Moving away from Deck, Penny approached the man, eyes dancing through the crowd as if she were searching for something or someone… When she neared him, she twisted just so and collided into him, pausing, her hands steadying against him before she stumbled back just slightly, “Oh my goodness! I am so sorry… Are you alright?”

“Watch out!” The man growled, spinning away and as he continued his phone conversation, Penny rolled her eyes before turning back to Deck with a grin, holding the keys up just enough that he could see them, giving a wink.

“That a girl,” he mumbled, barely audible, as he rejoined her side, “Now, which one does it belong to?”

“I mean… wasn’t really fair,” She started, when they’d moved away a bit, “I think I could’ve just reached right in and taken them, with how little he was paying attention.” With a smile, her eyes skimmed the line of vehicles, as she pressed the lock button on the remote, looking for flashing lights, “There we go… Black SUV, three from the light post.”

“Alright, you drive,” he nodded and switched sides, “Got a way to contact the others to let them know we made it out? Or we just showing up?”

“Gonna have to wait…” She noted, slipping into the driver’s seat. She cranked the keys in the ignition and without looking in the mirrors, not particularly keen to see if their unwitting victim would notice his car driving off or not, she pulled away from the curb, “Comms are too far out, and it’s too risky, calling on a phone.”

Breathing out, Penny eased into traffic, before glancing briefly over to her companion, “...Good work, Deck. Really. With everything. Keegan was right about you.”

Shaking his head, he objected, “I dropped you. Couldn’t done better, shoulda done better,” he sighed and then smirked, “Enjoyed the hug though.”

A brow lifted, and she frowned, softly, “Hey… You didn’t drop me, Deck. Some frosty bitch with an attitude decided arctic was a good temperature for concentrating, after some psychopath puppet master had his pet unicorn put a hole in you. I think we can all agree you did damn good for those circumstances… If you’d failed, I’d be a splatter under a white sheet, right now.” Reaching out with her free hand, she gripped his arm, “When I say it was good work, I mean it. So shut up, alright?”

Pausing, she released him, and her lip curved up in a smirk, “...Didn’t take you for a snuggler, though…”

Deck appreciated her words of encouragement, a small smile preceded a soft chuckle at the last of them though, “Not normally. Think I was as glad as you were that they weren’t scraping you off the pavement,” nevermind the fact that he hadn’t felt the warmth of another person since...he cleared his throat, “I told you I’d have your back.”

Biting the edge of her lip, Penny bit back a smile as she shook her head, “...Sentimental sap. You would miss me…” Her hand returned to the wheel and she turned off towards the highway, hoping the map in her head was sufficient enough to get them where they needed to go, “But seriously. Thanks. And just so you know… I’ve got yours.”
 
  • Love
Reactions: junebug
Collab Post | Interactions: Emmanuel & R.I.E.F. Team | Location: Van


As the van rolled on towards the target location, James Lenox sat as far from Ket Simonov as a human could. It wasn’t that the Serbian woman frightened him… it was that she utterly terrified him. The very thought of what she could do was unnerving, and considering his own powers, that was saying something.

Emmanuel, who, if anything scared him would never let it show, sat closest to the dark haired woman, but his eyes remained fixed, glued to his sister, watching her every move as if he could somehow decipher what she was thinking by her body language alone.

“...You have a plan, Sister Mine?” He finally asked, as the GPS chirped that they would be at their destination in a half hour, “Or are you just going to wing it?”

Luna had noticed the tension filling the van like heavy oxygen, especially judging by James’ posture, but she did her best to ignore it. Something in her gut told her that sticking her nose into these people’s business was bound to turn sour. She focused on the technology their van provided; it was different from what Rogue gave her, more advanced and clean, and likely allow her to work faster than usual.

“Of course I do,” she replied, pooling all of her concentration into feigning confidence. “I never wing it when it comes to my techno babies. Like I said before, Black Market tech is a tight knit breed and usually work on a small range of wavelengths in order to avoid drawing attention when they’re being shipped. It’s an unusual range, but one I can figure out as long as I know what not to look for.”

Scanners started filtering into the screens left and right as she typed away, her lips pressed into a thin line. Given the beautiful data speed of these devices, she could pinpoint at least two or three Rogue comms in less than an hour...but she wasn’t going to. One full hour. She needed to give them as much time as possible.

Rolling his eyes, Emmanuel looked from the screen, back to his sister, “Seems strange to me that you need so much time…” Cracking his knuckles, he leaned against his chair, “But I guess you always were slower than me at this sort of thing. But that isn’t what I meant, Luna. What’s your plan when we find them?”

“It’s really not that strange at all,” she countered, still not looking at him, “Cracking any device takes a minimum of thirty minutes and backwards tracing the signal takes thirty more. If you know what you’re doing.” It took a heavy dose of willpower not to sigh through her nose as he asked her if he had any plans. She thought her only job was to track them.

“Well...from what I remember, Team A is more than likely to be sent into the field first and out of that group, only two are truly effective combat-wise. The others are a bit...green behind the ears, I guess. Anyways, once we lock onto them, I can use a simple logarithm to hack the comm’s audio, pinpoint which ones belong to the weak links of the group,” her heart ached saying such a thing...but she needed to remain tactful. Clinical. “We target them, you guys handle the combat, and I’ll come in afterwards to do memory cleanup? I’m no good with muscle, if you haven’t noticed.”

Laughing, Emmanuel shook his head, “...Luna… You must’ve misunderstood the man. Not surprising… but I suppose you’ve been a bit distracted lately. Director Redwell wants you in the field. You won’t need muscle. Just let Eidelon and Fade do their thing, and you should avoid anything too unpleasant.”

For the first time, Luna tore her gaze away from the screen, but only briefly enough to cut her brother a sideways glance. She didn’t reply at first, biting the inside of her cheek to keep her emotions as bay. Finally, she muttered, “Understood. Orders are orders.” She stowed away the name in her memory bank--Director Redwell. Female. And her brother apparently answered straight to her for new designs.

Bleep!

A radar screen popped up on the monitor and revealed four signals. Two seemed to be located near the other R.I.E.F. members, while two more were further away and on the move. In quick succession, Luna started sneaking into the moving markers’ comms and let the audio play through the van.

“You got stronger, so…yeah.”

“I’m…grateful this entire thing worked.We needed it to.”


Luna’s heart dropped. “...These two are the weak links,” she said, voice flat. “I’ve got a lock on them. I’m already downloading the coordinates into the GPS.”

“Excellent.” Emmanuel said, though with less an air of praise as anticipation, “Eidelon… Fade… Get ready. Won’t be long, now.” Leaning forward, he put a hand on Luna’s shoulder giving it a squeeze, “Good work, Luna. We’ll crush them for sure.”

Luna’s jaw clenched, but she didn’t fight his touch. “Here’s to hoping,” she mumbled. She felt sick, as if vomit was bound to fabricate at the base of her throat. Regardless, her fingers kept typing away furiously, more and more download bars and codes sliding into view. Most of them were just progress reports on the info being fed into the van’s GPS; however, a few of them were something else entirely, but looked incredibly similar.

She could only thank God that public systems such as traffic lights lacked proper encryption. She would buy the boys as much time as she could, all while desperately trying to come up with something else. Anything to keep them alive.

Time, however, wasn’t something that stretched forever, and as they neared their destination, Emmanuel sat up a little straighter, while Fade and Eidelon seemed to shake to life at the back of the van, the tension rippling with something else… something new. Excitement.

“Here we go… One mile. Luna… You prepared?”

This was it...fuck. Steeling her gut, she cast a cloaker over the system before turning to face Emmanuel, eyes dull.

She nodded.

“Good. You know, I had my doubts, Little Moth… about you. About how genuine you were. But taking these two down, you’ll prove yourself, for sure.” Grinning, he nodded to the others, “One minute out. Get ready.”

Silence filled the van, which continued on, finally rolling to a stop near the signal Luna had discovered. Gravel crunched beneath the tires, and with a squeal of brakes, the doors split and Eidelon stepped out into the empty road, heading for the car ahead of them.
 
  • Love
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