Starring:
Special Appearances:
Date: October 23rd, 2009
Summary:
Following the escape from the train, the new fugitives try to get to safety.
"Nowhere to Run To"
New York - Upstate New York
In the running from the train and to safety, Rudyard has kept his quips and commentary to a minimum. Adrenaline is mainly what's fueling his ability to keep up after a month of forced inactivity. There's also the fact that using his ability the way he did taxed his system. Once at a point of relative safety, he collapsed on the ground, and hasn't moved from his spot. Eyes partially closed as he remains seated on the ground, he's collecting himself. Maybe there was a plus side to all the drugs. It kept you from thinking. Now that he can think, he'd like to stop, but can't. Where are the rest of the prisoners? What's going to happen next?
Sophie would've had to mostly stagger here. Between the inactivity, the drugs, the confusion, she is not in the best of shape. But any attempt to carry or support her is met with her reflexively jerking away with a quickly muttered, "Don't touch me.." as she automatically checks to see if any skin is exposed. When she reaches wherever is deemed safe, or a place to stop, she collapses on the ground, panting, taking in pure, undrugged air in deep breaths.
Matt has a fair bit on his mind, too, though in his case it's mostly the same couple of things he's been chewing over for days. The guards on the other train cars seemed to be caught off guard, too, so the other prisoners are probably okay… but is his mystery son among the children that were mentioned? If so, then when will they get to meet? For the moment, he has little choice but to trust the child's welfare to a sharp-tongued blonde that he barely knows, while he stays with this group and watches for additional pursuers.
Elisabetha wasn't anywhere near being an athlete in the first place, and after however long she was kept a prisoner (really, she has no clue), she is not in any condition to be running for an hour or more. Heck, she probably shouldn't even be running for more than ten seconds! But somehow, she manages to keep pushing herself, until her legs stop responding. The pain tearing through her body, the pounding of her heart, her gasping breaths, all continue after she collapses to the ground. But her attempts to keep running cease.
Somewhere, in the back of her head, someth dark is saying that she can erase the pain if she wanted to. She can be numb to the suffering. And in her dazed state she almost gives in. But then she distracts herself by looking around while she lies on her side on the ground. She doesn't recognize anyone here… Oh wait, there's Sophie. She knows Sophie.
Red eyes blink, and then she calls out between gasps, "S-Sophie! A-are you… Okay?" She hates the way she sounds. Like she used to back when she was a weak, frail little girl, instead of the strong young woman she has tried to become. But it can't be helped. Broken speech is a side-effect of running for a long time. She rolls over onto her back, groaning in pain, and just rests.
All the running. Running and running. Emily barely knows these people. She's not about to tip her hand yet. So she runs. Farther and farther. As she runs, she lets her mind slide into a state of minimal-exertion, setting her body on auto pilot, pulling her senses back, reigning in her conscious mind as she runs, conserving what strength she has. When the group comes to rest, so does she…but not near them. She sets down away from them, pulling her knees to her chest, watching and listening, not saying a word.
"Looks like we're in the clear." Is announced in a soft voice as Charity joins the group finally. "Everyone alright?" Finding a spot near the others, she drops to the ground with a soft oof and then drops back to lay on the ground, arms spread out. She stares skyward for a long moment, trying to ignore the exhaustion and sharp headache that seems to have hit her now that the adrenalin has worn off. Now she is able to think about what she had just done, amazed at herself at what she just accomplished. Never before has she done anything like that, it was like instinct.
Rudyard looks towards Sophie, one of the women he remembers being locked in a room with. Now that he can get a proper look at her, he seems to be committing her description to memory. In fact, he turns to look at all of the strange faces around him in turn. Elisabetha is eyed with some awe and wariness, Emily is glanced over as if he wants to say something to her, but doesn't. His gaze stops on those not wearing the orange jumpsuits and quietly says, "I can't thank you lot enough for risking your necks… I've been better, but I'm not about to complain about my status at this time." He offers a wan, humorless smile at Charity.
Sophie manages to answer Elisabetha, between pants, "I've been better, but been worse too. Recently. Are you alright?" rather dryly, ending with concern for the girl she remembers being rather fragile. She turns her head toward the rescuers, saying simply, "Thank you. There were others, I know there were kids." the words separated by pants, but she tries to drag herself back up to a seated position.
At Sophie's words, Matt glances over his shoulder - back the way they came - but just for a moment. "They're probably out by now, too. Whoever was up front did a real number on that train…" Now he squints and looks further up the path. "Now if we can just find some place to drop out of sight, find some changes of clothes…" Those jumpsuits stick out like a sore thumb, never mind whether they're anywhere near clean or not.
Elisabetha nods towards Sophie, but it being night, and them being far away from any light source other than the stars, it might be missed. Eventually, when she has enough air in her lungs, she says, "I'll be fine." She manages to sit up, despite the pain in her abdomen. Pain might not be pleasant, but it's a sign she's alive. There used to be a time when she feared pain. Now she takes it in, considers it, and tells herself, 'Well, at least I'm not dead.' When she sees Rudyard looking at her, she reaches up her right arm — which has a small blackened patch on its surface as though it were burned, and awkardly brushes some of her shortish blonde hair out of her face. She's not sure what's so interesting about her. Isn't her hair terribly messed up after weeks of captivity?
Then she looks towards Matt, and tries to think. "…Wait, can't we just go home now? If these guys are being taken care of by other people, then once they're arrested, they won't be able to hurt us anymore." She looks around for confirmation. "Right?" No one can hurt you if you are numb to the pain. No one can hurt you if you kill them first. You were taken against your will! Imprisoned! You tried the road of kindness and it failed. They deserve only death! Thanatos rants in her subconscious. She closes her wine-red eyes for a moment and then opens them again. The ranting subsides into a resentful murmuring.
Emily has found a stunted, leafless tree, a wilted, nearly-dead looking little runt, and settled herself down into the dirt at the base. "Farmhouses" is her contribution to the conversation. "Small towns." Her voice is raspy, rarely used in the last few weeks. "Lay low. Get the townspeople to help us make our way back to the city." How she'd get the people of those towns to help them, most of them clad in the bright orange jumpsuits, and even those in normal clothes dressed in criminal-looking blacks, she doesn't say. It's implied that she means use their powers of course. She's seen bug boy…people hate bugs. She's seen…well, deterioration gal…might come in handy on locks. The male rescuer can get in people's heads…definitely useful. Question is…how do they do what they do.
Charity's head turns slightly to look at Rudyard and gives him a bit of a smile herself. "More then welcome. Just glad it all worked, it all seems kind of thrown together." Moving to push herself up to sit again, she reaches back behind her head and loosens her already messed up bun. Combing fingers through her hair she eyes all the prisoners with her. "Yeah, we're not the only people taking out that train and freeing people. They should be fine….. " She quiet for a moment and glances at Matt. "I hope. And he is right." She motions at the telepath with a nod of her head. "Need to got you out of those jumpsuits." Hanging her head a bit she turns thoughtful, "I can open locks." She offers softly, looking up. "If we can find some place without an alarm maybe we can… and I can't believe I'm saying this… steal a few things."
A glance goes to the red eyed woman, Charity head shaking slowly. "Not right away… no.. Go home and they will just scoop you right up. Trust me.. I'm in the same spot. Some weird guy with a walking stick warned me they were coming for me. They did, but I didn't stick around to see it. I called a friend, he said my place had been broken into." Her voice trails off, eyes dropping to the ground in front of her. "I don't think it's done. It can't be this easy…." glancing around at the others she asks, "Can it?"
Rudyard wants to get up, go back, help the others. It's a good thing he can't muster the energy, he's liable to get himself killed or caught all over again. "There was… Jamie.. that Molly girl, Jezabel.. and that baby.. the bastards took a baby," he utters out the names of the kids, heat creeping into his tone, turning it into a growl. The resurgence of anger is enough to fuel an attempt to push himself to his feet. He's none too steady and leans against a tree. A harsh laugh escapes as Elisabetha speaks up and he looks back at her, "They grabbed some of us from overseas. I'm willing to bet that going home is not an option." He doesn't know this is sanctioned by the US government, but seriously doubts that this is the end of their adventure. When Charity's words echo his thoughts, he doesn't smile. "I've never advocated theft, or really violence in my life, but all of .. this.. it's changed that. That lot, they obviously knew how to find us and where, it's probably unlikely we can touch any of our accounts or they'll find us quickly again."
Sophie shakes her head, "They got me.. at my parents' house. I don't even know how they knew I was there." softly, rubbing her head as she tries to get to her feet. "But that probably means they know where we live. But.." she is just a college student, after all, "How do we.. live? I mean, I can't go back to school, to work, no money.."
Molly? There might be more than one kid with that name, but if it was indeed the one Matt knows, then that means Rudyard was in custody for at least a few weeks before this. "They'll keep this up as long as they're still spooked about us." He shoots Rudyard and Elisabetha each a sharp look - they seem to be the ones with the violent tendencies here - but doesn't gripe at them out loud, after all they have been put through the wringer. "Somebody's gotta get to the top."
Elisabetha doesn't have violent tendencies! Not really, at least. She's a total pacifist, except for when she's not. But anyway, she hears everyone talking, and tries to keep track of it all. She looks towards Emily, and says, "Getting rid of the jump suits is fine. But we don't have to force anyone to do anything. We can just ask politely. I have cash on me, I think…" She feels around for a wallet or something. "…And my mother is a very powerful woman. She could have us out of here as soon as I call her. Personal security guards, private jet to 'Somewherewhichisnotherestan', whatever we need. She and my father can even get the Italian government involved, I'll bet!"
Someone seems a bit naive. Or maybe she is right in thinking this? Won't know unless they call! "Well, sir," she begins to Rudyard. "Once we are all free, baby included, we can gather and… And…" She looks to Charity, and then Matt. "Um. Where are we supposed to gather? You knew where we would be. That must mean that you have a plan, because you came to rescue us! Right?" She smiles at Matt, oblivious to his sharp looks. Maybe he's just stressed out.
Her naivety isn't lost on Emily. "If you think those fuckers didn't also snatch our wallets and cash, you're terribly naive" Emily offers to Elisabetha, a not-very-polite-at-all quip. "We've got a group of wanted folks, clearly. I'm not about to go into town and ASK those people for help. I intend to go into town and help myself." Emily doesn't do a good job at all at hiding her tone; her lip curls back a little as she talks; her voice comes out as little more than a feminine growl, pure hate in that last statement.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Charity feels a bit helpless. "Great.. I have a business to run. God I hope Mack can get things done while I'm gone." Scrubbing at her face with both hands, she feels extremely tired, like a huge weight on her head. She goes quiet for a long moment and then states, "All those men… that equipment… All that for us. Damn." She sounds just has hopeless as she feels at the moment, but at the same time impressed. "That was not small time."
Her eyes move to Elisabetha, "Let me put it this way…" Charity starts softly, "These people.. mean business. We caught them off guard this time, it's not going to happen a second time and be this easy. " A hand swings to point they way they came from. "I would bet money they have your folks under surveillance and not just that.. I imagine.." She looks thoughtful… "Yeah.. I imagine within thirty minutes you may very well be plastered all over the news as escaped inmates." Her eyes move to each person in turn and a look to Matt, to see if he agrees. It's harsh words, but now is not a moment to sugar coat anything. "Me and…." Charity suddenly realizes she doesn't know the telepath's name.. "Um… him.. Are probably the only ones that can show our faces at this point." Her eyes go to Emily, her expression firm disapproval, her tone firm. "He and I can get what we need without making our plight worse."
"Ah, that's the rub now isn't it, Sophie?" Rudyard asks of Sophie, a bit of a crazed tone seeping back in, similar to the one when he felt his ability return. Matt's sharp look is met with a cool one, unruffled. He was never a violent man before this. He was happy to keep his head ducked and to mind his own business. That is until he was dragged from his office without justification. He directs his next words at Matt, "They didn't even tell us /why/ we were being taken. No warrant, no explanation. We had to figure that out for ourselves, once it became clear we all could do things." He sighs a little at Elisabetha, wishing a little that he had her naive attitude, "And what? I've got to get back to … I need to find out if my girlfriend is safe, if they knew to go after her too. We were both so careful about what we do." His thoughts wander off track and back to Daphne.. Is she at the zoo, working, trying to stay busy, or is she locked up somewhere, what if she was in another car on the train? His head turns sharply back in the direction from which they came.
Sophie murmurs, "I NEVER do.. what I can do. I haven't done anything in months, and never hurt anyone.. well, but myself." she slips back down, sitting and resting her head on her knees, "Its what I worried about, though, if people ever knew."
Matt glances over toward Emily next - no reticence about petty theft there - but, again, there are circumstances to take into account. And he has yet to recognize her from the police tape, on which her hair was considerably less mussed. "Farmhouse could work. Do they have those out here?" He's always been a city mouse himself. "I can't afford motel rooms unless I use my credit card, and they might be watching for that by now." And it wouldn't feel right to Jedi-mind-trick their way into free rent.
Elisabetha thinks it over. "There aren't a lot of people who know about my gift either. I haven't used it for anything in more than a year. Until the day they came for me, at least." She looks in the direction of the derailed train. "I hope Teacher is alright. They might have found out about me from him, if they… Hurt him." She doesn't want to say 'tortured'. Just thinking about what they might have done to Novak makes her hurt inside. She forces herself to her feet, but her legs feel like rubber, and she almost falls down again. Wobbling, she manages to stand, and starts removing the tatters of her jumpsuit. It was pretty mangled when she originally broke herself free.
"Well, I'm sure this will all turn out alright. Not EVERYONE is out to get us. There are bound to be good people who will help us just because it's the right thing to do. But if necessary, yes, we can try to convince the misguided people to help us by force. Just… Let's not hurt anyone if we can help it."
She looks towards Emily, feeling an intense sense of suffering from her. And from Matt too. He's worried about someone, much like she was worried about her Teacher. She can't tell the details, because she is neither a mind-reader nor an emotion-reader, but she is aware of each person here who has any degree of emotional or physical pain within them. Rudyard and Matt both get looks, and then she says, "I'm sure they are going to be fine. The ones you are worried about. Maybe these people are trying to capture us… But there will be other people who will protect us. It is like she said," she points at Charity vaguely. "'We caught them by surprise once, it won't happen again.' They surprised US once. But once we begin notifying everyone with gifts like ours, they won't have the element of surprise anymore. We will be able to… To fight back!" She doesn't like saying that, but it's true. They might have to fight.
"We aren't defenseless. We can do things that no one else can do. Each of us is unique, with a unique gift that can be used to protect ourselves and others. We just have to have hope." She finishes her speech and steps out of the remains of her jumpsuit, leaving in some classy but tattered clothing. "Now shall we start looking for a place to stay tonight, or are we going to stay here?"
There are times when you lead, and times when you have to swallow your pride and follow. For now though, Emily resigns herself to be a follower. It'll be easier to make an escape with more people here, more peple around. And fundamental prinicples of biology will continue to hold: there's a reason animals often travel in packs; there's truth to those jokes about being faster than your slowest friend. "Find a house out here. Middle of nowhere. Clothes, shower, and sleep, then we think of the next move."
"With the economy the way it is," Charity glances around them thoughtfully, "Probably some place out there sitting empty. Can squat there temporarily at least." Climbing up to her feet, she stretches arms high of her head with a groan. Arms dropping to her sides she nods a bit. "If we know where to find others like us, yeah maybe we can warn them. I didn't know there were others until the weird guy walked into my garage." She turns slightly towards the direction of the train, "But I agree it is probably a good idea to get moving, put a good distance between us and that, and at least find a empty house to rest in for the night, then go from there I think. God know I feel like I could sleep for a week after all that."
Oh c'mon. Jedi mind-trick your way through! This is a bit of an emergency with the lot of them in dire straights. Rudyard is broken from his thoughts by Elisabetha's words and he stares at her, a bit in surprise. "She can call on things that can trample a person. I want to think they didn't get her." He's just… a bit cynical about his situation. "No, we aren't defenseless. If we stay together," or at least break off into groups, "we can put up a good fight. They can prepare for our individual abilities, but not as a group." Or so he'd like to think. He nods to Elisabetha and Emily, "Moving on sounds like a plan." Not to mention a shower. Oh God, how he'd love a shower and a shave. "I volunteer to watch when we get to where we can hide. Might be best if some stay on guard while others sleep. I feel properly awake for the first time in.. what day is it? Blimey."
Sophie rises again, sighing. "I guess, whatever we do, we should at least try to find shelter." she glances around, "Food, water, and something else to wear."
Matt scratches his head, nodding absently to Charity. "Probably best. I can try listening in on houses till we find one that's quiet, but that could take a while. Anybody got any better ideas?" And he squints at Emily again— something about her does seem familiar, but he soon dismisses it as an after-effect of stress. Maybe he'll figure it out later, after he's gotten some shuteye himself.
There's a sudden speeding blur, as Daphne speeds by, and on the ground near the others lays a child. Still in the hood and sound-blocking headphones, and still with sedatives pumping through the machine on the child's chest, it's impossible to tell who he or she is at first.
Elisabetha blinks, startled as there is a sudden whoosh! of air, and then there is a kid lying there! She remembers a similar whoosh! from when they were escaping. Could it be someone moving so fast that they have broken the time-space continuum and dropped of a child an hour later and then gone back to the past to help more people escape!? We'll never know, because one really shouldn't worry about things like that!
Stumbling towards the child, Elisabetha might get their second, or third, or fourth, but she will eventually arrive at the kid's side, once the faster, more fit people arrive. There's not much she can do, aside from trying to weaken the bonds sufficiently that they fall apart like her own did.
From her position by that scrawny little tree, Emily blinks and flexes her jaws to pop her ears from the sudden onrush of air from…well, whatever, whoever that was. Her mangled, tangled, blonde mane is mussed up even more, and she's only beginning to smooth it down when the ground begins to shake. "What the hell…is going on?" she manages to say with all apropriate surprise. Either they're unloading heavy ammunition over there…or something big is going down. "Are they using bombs over there or what?"
Charity blinks as the wind races by, something telling her that it's that blonde speedster. "Damn she can run." Is that a hint of jealousy? She moves quickly to crouch by small body, pulling the headphones and hook off. "Sons of…." She trails off as Jamie is revealed. "Bastards." She hisses fiercely taking care to get the tube out of the girls nose. It hurts to see a child being treated this way. The former mother of two boys has to clench her jaw against the anger that surfaces. "Your safe, sweety." She murmurs to the child. Of course the ground has to prove her wrong, the sudden lurching shake of the ground about pitches her over. "What the hell was that?"
"I'd actually prefer to be awake. I'll be of use on watch." Rudyard then admits aloud something he only would do in his girlfriend's presence, "I'd also like to be able to communicate with the insects nearby. It's been.. too long." Yes. He's weird that way. The speeding blur has his attention and he spins away from addressing Matt to stare at the child left on the ground. It takes a moment to comprehend before he's rushing for the form on the ground. He then decides to let another tend to the child as he sees Elisabetha stumbling. Moving to assist the woman, he finds that he too isn't steady on his feet. Owing to the ground shaking beneath them. He thrusts out a hand to reach for Elisabetha as he looks around, "They're a little preoccupied, but we should start moving. I'm trying to find out what's going on, but all I'm getting back is confusion and complaints about the shaking ground." Insects aren't always terribly coherent when relaying things. A quick look is cast over to the child as Charity pulls the hood from her head. "Jamie?," he asks, thinking he recognizes her profile.
Sophie gasps as she sees the child, once the hood is removed. "Jamie, honey? Are you alright?" as she walks over, wobbling a bit at the sudden shaking of the earth. "What on.." she shakes her head, making her way to the little girl. "Drugging a child.. she never hurt anyone." she says, indignantly.
A lot of these captives never hurt anyone. And Matt knew they were going after kids, but this does little to lessen the impact as a new one appears. At least she's lucky enough to have a couple familiar faces to wake up to. "I think I saw some lights down that way," he offers, pointing further down the road. And away from the increasingly unstable place where the train cars were last sighted. "Can she walk or do we need to carry her?"
Jamie blinks as the hood is pulled off, and the tube pulled from her nose. She's still barely conscious, it'll take a bit for her to come back to herself, but she's moving, and looking around with some confusion, and an initial flash of fear that relaxes at Charity's reassuring murmur. Sounding sleepy still, with the last of the high-dose sedatives still running through her, "What…we're out?" She manages to sound incredibly hopeful. Then she adds, disappointed, "I still can't change."
"Yeah, we need to move." Charity says, reaching down to gently to hook hands under the girls arms to try and help her up. "Think you can walk, Jamie? We are free, but not for long if we don't start moving." She glances at the others as she works to support the other. "Someone grab her other arm, if anything walking will work it out of her system." With that earthquake, the mechanic is anxious to get going. The more distance they put the better.
Rudyard hoists an arm around Elisabetha to support her. He shows little hesitance or fear of her touch, even after seeing a taste of what she can do. "It'll take a bit before your power works again, Jamie," he says, trying to sound reassuring. "We're moving on to safety." He's relieved to see one of the children pulled to safety, but where are the others? There'll be time enough to ask questions, perhaps. For now, time to get moving as Charity says. He throws a look of concern to Jamie as he assists Elisabetha as he starts to move.
Sophie immediately, regardless of her own condition, moves to help Jamie, putting an arm around her on the other side. "Away from here is a good idea."