En Route Anywhere Else
Collab with @Reythaak @DarinValore @Elle Joyner
Anger burst through Penny at the sight of Harper, holding the girl captive, and she abandoned the cabinet to spin towards the man. From the hall, Finn and Keith burst into view and with a rush of wind, Finn beat her to the man…
And for a moment, a solid moment, Penny was content to let things happen. It was only with Keith's exclamation that she understood. This wasn't Finn. This wasn't what he needed to become.
"Keith is right, Finn. The bastard isn't worth it."
Somewhere in the chaos, Harper had released Rose, groping for his throat, and she scrambled away as quickly as she could, curling into herself with whatever defense she could muster.
"Finn… sweetie." Penny continued, more urgently, "We gotta move."
At Keith's words the fire in Finn's eyes flickered, and he faltered. His accidental grip on Harper's air supply stopped, and Finn's shoulders sagged. "I-I.." He started, gaze falling between his teammates. "Y-you're right, I didn't know I was…" Doing
that. Finn was shaken; coming down from anger that harsh was disorienting. "R-Rose!" He called after the girl, gaze soft and worried.
"Grab her," Deck spoke to Penny, his eyes lingering on Finn still unsure of what had actually just happened, "I'll move this cabinet."
At his urging, and as Harper dropped to his knees with a burst of air to his lungs, Penny moved to help Rose to her feet, not entirely ignorant to the dazed look the girl carried. But there was no time to waste on niceties. The helicopters were encroaching, louder now, and they needed to get out.
"Forget the cabinet…" She called back, "We're gonna need to run for it…"
"R-run for it?!" Finn cried. "There's helicopters above us! How are we supposed to run for it!"
"...Because you're gonna pull yourself together, Finn… and do something damn impressive." Penny noted, with a firm nod.
"What the heck does that mean?!" Finn yelled.
"You can already fly. You were just controlling someone's air supply. That's high level airbender shit. Pretty sure we can come up with
something else cool today," Keith pointed out.
Finn blinked, cheeks scarlet. "Controlling someone's air supply…" Is that what he had done? "Did…. you just compare me to Avatar the Last Airbender? I love you, man."
"I love you both…" Penny said, with a small eyeroll, "But if we don't get a move on, that's not going to matter much." Her eyes shifted to the trembling leaf of a girl at her side and she sighed, "Keith, can you keep watch on Rose? And Deck…" Looking over to him, she frowned softly, gesturing to Harper, who was still trying to get his breath, "Tie this bastard to something that won't move. Right now, I don't care what the plan was. RIEF can have his sorry ass."
Keith grinned at Finn, "Yup." He shifted back to a bit more serious though, when Penny spoke and gave a nod. "Yup, I've got her. No worries." And he moved over to take Penny's spot with Rose.
"With pleasure," Deck returned as he plucked the rope up at Harper's feet with one hand jerked the man up with the other. Deckard dragged the man to the bathroom and tossed him to the floor before he stretched his arms above his hand tied them securely to the toilet under the bowl, "Piece of shit," Deck couldn't help but smirk as he stepped away, slamming the door shut and propping a chair up under the handle.
Returning to the others, he turned to Finn and asked, "Think you could do something about the chopper?"
"Think I could - wh - what?" Finn gaped at Deck, after having watched him crudely drag Harper away. "H-how.." Deck couldn't mean…. could he even do that? Finn swallowed, trying to puff out his chest. He thought back to his talk with Keith, the confident answers he'd declared. "I… we… can try."
"I don't mean to sound like Yoda right now, Finn…" Penny added with a note of uneasiness, "But seriously, there's no try right now. You saved my ass once today, and I got no doubt you can do it again. Okay?"
Finn swallowed, nodding. Penny was right… there was no trying… because if he tried and failed, they'd be lab rats by the end of the day. A look of determination washing over him, Finn ducked outside, slipping past the half-pushed cabinet and out into the open. The helicopters blared above them, threatening to come closer. Threatening to hurt the people he cared about..
The air around them was already swirling, the brush bending to its will, and Finn tried to focus his mind on it. Focusing on feeling the air that surrounded him, Finn tried to make it tangible to him, and began to tug the air down around one unlucky helicopter. It was like tugging on a rock that didn't want to move, but with clenched teeth Finn could begin to feel the resistance slipping.
Deck watched from just outside the door as Finn worked. The kid was concentrating, focusing, and Deck was impressed with his effort. Still, it wasn't working as fast as they need, "Penny," he called back to her, "I gotta help Finn bring these helicopters down! Take cover because this could get messy!"
Moving to Finn's side, he called to him, "Let's push together, you and me. Bring one into the other," he nodded confident that Finn could do it, "We got this!"
Putting his hand out, Deckard visualized the closest helicopter. He shaped the metal, the whirling blades, the passengers; everything he could before reaching out with his mind. He felt it the moment his power took hold, "Ready, Kid?" Deck's brow narrowed, "Push!"
Deck's confidence in him renewed his energy. He'd truthfully never expected to stand side by side with the man, working together as equals. Maybe they weren't exactly equals… but Finn had never felt so
believed in.
With Deck's aid Finn could finally fully grasp the air around the helicopter, and at Deck's command, Finn
pushed, focusing intensely on the image of the helicopter swinging into the other, and suddenly, it swung off its course towards the team's demise and towards its own.
The two helicopters collided in a fiery explosion that drowned out the cries of the men inside and sent bits of metal shotgunning into the area below. Exhausted, Deckard threw himself at Finn in an attempt to tackle him to the ground.
Inside, Penny could hear the crash and her heart leapt to her chest as she looked over to Keith, Rose cradled up into his side with a blank expression, "Stay with her!" She called, before following after Deck and Finn.
The helicopters exploded in a vision of fiery beauty, but Finn didn't get to look at it long as Deck tackled him to the ground, metal and parts raining from the sky. "Deck!" Finn yelled, voice hoarse from exhaustion as a particularly large piece of shrapnel threatened to fall on top of them. Finn raised his arm, a strong and sudden gust of wind swept it off its course.
Rolling off of Finn just in time to witness the kid's heroism and the rest of the inferno crashing into the ground, Deck sunk into the grass, "Great job, Kid," Deck told him as he tiredly dropped a hand against Finn's arm, "Great job."
Breathing out, Penny slumped against the porch, rubbing her hands over her face, "Oh… Thank God."
Finn lay sprawled on the grass as if he were making snow angels, chest heaving. "Thanks." He gasped. "You too."
Turning his head, he saw Penny on the porch. Extending his arm straight up in the air, he gave her a thumbs up, "We got it," he told her before dropping it back to his side.
"Can we get the hell out of here, now?" Penny called with a small, uneasy smirk.
"Yes, please," Finn groaned. "Just… three more seconds...I think Deck broke me."
"Ya," he narrowed his brow as he rolled to his side, "I'm not sorry for that."
Finn grunted, pushing himself up with a little trouble. "I'm ready to get out of here. And never, ever come back." Finn muttered, offering his hand to Deck to pull him up before nodding to Penny with a shaky smile. "Where's Keith and Rose?"
Keith had kept with the other terrified meta during the excitement, but finally urged her up, taking her hand and leading her to the door. He peeked his head out, staring for several moments at the wreckage, then looking at Finn and Deck.
"Told you," he directed at Finn, smiling, then led the way through the door for Rose.
"Yes. Finn gets a gold star… Now let's go, please. The at won't be the last of them." It occurred to her in that moment that these were lives taken… And that would hurt Finn. Probably not now… but it would come, and the less time they dwelled, the better. "Let's move to the SuV."
Rose, who stepped tentatively outside, looked to the fiery crash, and her grip on Keith's hand tightened to an almost bruising strength.
"You're alright, c'mon," Keith said, giving Rose's hand a squeeze back, and leading her towards the SUV. "Am I sitting in the back with Rose, or want me driving?"
"If you're alright to, might be best you drive." Penny noted. She wouldn't say it out loud, but she was fairly sure if any trouble followed them, she and Deck would be most apt to handle it, "Finn… You good to sit with Rose?"
"Yeah, 'course," Finn said with a nod, wincing as he struggled to pull Deck up, grinning weakly at Keith. He caught up to the two, laying a tentative hand on Rose's shoulder as they hurried towards the crunched SUV. Finn opened the back door with another wince of pain and ushered Rose inside before sliding in after her.
Any other time, Deck would have found Finn's attempt to help him from the ground amusing, but exhaustion made humor the last thing on his mind. After standing and dusting himself off, he followed the party to the SUV, "We need to get a new ride before Alligator Alley because there's no rest stops or gas stations on that road. From there it's roughly a five to six hour drive depending on time of day. I-4 can be hell during rush hour with Disney and Universal sitting right off of it. Either way, we need to be as quick and careful as possible because we can't rely on my ability at the moment. I need to rest."
Nodding, Penny followed Finn to the car and once he and Rose were in and Keith had settled in the driver's side, she gestured Deck in before her.
"We'll find a motel along the way and take a few hours to rest and refresh. Then we'll see if we can't find anyone on the comms network… If anyone got out, they'll know to check in and I can set up a meeting point in Orlando."
Settling into the back seat, Finn stayed silent, trying to keep his gaze on Rose and the rest of the crew in front of them. Exhaustion was creeping in with the absence of the adrenaline, and at this point even the leather of the SUV was as comfy as his bed. His bed, which was now probably blown to bits. He would've given anything to be back there now, with Keith and Luna, arguing over Superman vs the Flash.
"Wake me up when we get there," Finn murmured, taking one last look at the cabin and the man they were leaving behind.
"Will do," Keith glanced back towards Finn with a bittersweet smile. The information Deck had rattled off wasn't news to Keith, but he nodded along to it, and Penny's plan to group up with… Anyone else who got out.
Once everyone had settled into the vehicle, Keith started the engine and pulled out, starting to head away from the cabin. And Rogue HQ.