Starring:
and
as "Rebel"
Guest Starring:
Riley DeMark and Matt Parkman, Jr.
Date: October 23rd, 2009
Summary:
The rescue of the last train car, containing the very youngest prisoners, does not exactly go smoothly.
"Stop This Train - Hellbound"
Rural NY
The train's departure was slightly ahead of schedule — a schedule not known to anyone but those involved in the Alpha Protocol and, perhaps, a certain Rebel and those he's alerted to its presence. It's night, and a breeze whips along the flat countryside, rustling what few trees there are here in the rural farmland. The train has left the old, abandoned station and its small city of army tents. It's dark, and would look empty, if it weren't for the headlights of vehicles.
Somewhere in those first several minutes of departure, something must have gone wrong.
The boxy, black military train's cars have been separated like pieces in a toy train set, disengaged from each other. The last car is still a ways away from the station, but closest. It still sails along the rails with the momentum it's built up. In the distance, down the tracks, the rest of the train is barely visible in the dark. Gradually, black vans and hummers are honing in. Above is the muffled thrum of a helicopter with a searchlight. There's definitely some kind of operation underway. This is no casual trip that's been interrupted.
Paula Star thought about trying to bluff her way onto the train, since these were supposedly government agents, but she didn't have enough information. She didn't know who they were taking orders from, where their headquarters was situated, or even what this operation was called. She just knew there were people on this train who had been taken forcibly from their homes, places of business, or right off the street, and they did not belong on this train by any means. So her infiltration would have to be covert, rather than open.
The redhead is garbed all in black, with a flack jacket, a black hood to cover her highly noticeable firey mane, nightvision goggles she has managed to procure from somewhere, gloves, boots, and a gas mask. She almost looks like one of the goons involved in this operation, which might be how she gets so close. When the train starts to leave the station, and a hummer starts to drive towards it, Paula suddenly pops up from where she was crouched, and stands in front of the vehicle. The headlights wash over her, giving the driver a fraction of a second to react, and then she lets the jeep hit her.
Digging odd spikes protruding from her arms and hands into the hood of the vehicle, to avoid being simply run over or thrown free, she waits for the men and/or women in the hummer to realize they just hit someone who looks like one of their own (at least in the brief glimpse they got), and that they might want to stop. If they stop, then once they come to investigate, Paula attempts to… 'Deal with' them. If they don't stop for some reason, she climbs her way up the front of the hummer and tries to take out the passengers and driver — though if she can just knock them out of the vehicle without killing anyone, that's what she'll do.
Either way, assuming she is successful, Paula is soon driving a hummer alongside or at least TOWARDS the train. Solo.
Also, Paula has a Sprint mobile phone out while she's driving and is checking some information she was given about this whole operation, from a mystery person.
Fel's not a preposessing figure at the best of times - skinny, dark coat, dour expression, and that indefinable air of being a cop. Like he's got John Law stamped on his forehead. The fact that said forehead at the moment has a gas mask propped up on it like some kind of party hat doesn't help. Nor does the pistol he's got at his belt. Not his government issue Glock, but his favored Sig.
He's standing by Alexandra like he's her bodyguard. And perhaps he is, really, eyeing her patiently. Waiting to help her with that last car, and for the festivities to begin once they've halted it. "Give me the word," he says, quietly.
Peter had brought the three together, via phone and text message, with Rebel no doubt doing his part to make sure the messages weren't mixed up or traced through the system. When Felix, Charlotte, and Alexandra all met up at the rendezvous point, there wasn't much time for big introductions; those'll have to wait until later. Charlotte had been asked to use her ability to get them into position, and now they're up the tracks, the separated last car barreling toward them, slowed only by the friction of its wheels on the track, and little else.
Clad in all black, as instructed, Alex stands next to Felix, practically a munchkin next to him. While he looks around, keeping an eye on things, the small woman digs here boots into the ground. A few deep breaths later and she's able to feel the rumbling of the car down the tracks, able to feel the course of the vibrating steel rails on the earth. As the car slides unpowered down the tracks, she throws her arms into the air. A few hundred feet up the rails, in front of the car, the earth rumbles, shakes, and begins to erupt. Thankfully, the last car is by itself, as mounds of earth rise out of the ground, stretching, snapping, dislocating tracks and ties. It's relatively loose earth though, so the car comes to as soft as stop as possible.
And Fel's there to help with that. Sweat appears on his brow, as he helps it settle back on the tracks, rather than tipping over entirely. A little rocking, but the car's left safely upright. "Well done," he congratulates Alexandra, quietly. And then he's sprinting towards the car.
The phone vibrates in Paula's hand as Rebel sends her a text in all-caps as per usual:
BOARD THE TRAIN. THERE IS HOPE PAULA. YOU'RE NOT ALONE.
—REBEL
After all, there's a team to rescue the captives. And Rebel's already provided much support for this operation, but more is needed. And so he waits.
In the distance, there can be seen a dust cloud moving very fast towards where the last train car has stopped. As the black figure gets closer, it's a black motorcycle actually. One of those fast, Japanese makes.
And on the back of the motorcycle, dressed in all black as the others rides Kitty. A pair of earbuds in her ears, some rock music blasting in her ears, she leans forward on the bike and it speeds towards where Felix and the two other women are. A light grin crosses her lips, on her legs two pistols and a leather jacket trails behind her in the wind as she rides. A quick text message is sent to the number she knows to reach Rebel. «Here ;)»
With nice maneuvers, the young psychometer stops the bike right in front of the trio. "Did I miss the party?" she asks and hops off the bike, a nod is given to Felix and the others. "Nice to see you Fel." She says and then tilts her head as he starts to sprint. "Looks like I'm just in time." She says and she follows after Felix.
The driver of the hummer Paula knocked out of the vehicle gets up out of the dust while the earth rumbles. He can't even get on his radio to alert his colleagues, but he starts running back the way he came toward the spotlights of other government vehicles on their way.
The stopped train car makes it easier for the rescuers to get to it; to save those within. But it also means the vehicles barrelling over the earth will get there faster, too. Two hummers and three vans are on their way.
None of the would-be rescuers can see inside this last train car, but when they will, it may not be the sight they were expecting. Prisoners? Yes, there are prisoners; captives held against their wills and against their rights…
This car is smaller than the others, and so are its prisoners.
The orange jumpsuits of the prisoners are slightly ill-fitting for most of the captives here in the dim prison car. They're child-sized, but not spared the black hoods and ear protectors and goggles to prevent them from experiencing their trip to more and more confinement. They're also not spared from the tubes that run up into their hoods, into their noses, from the digitized boxes strapped to their chests. The tallest can't be more than a delicate fifteen. There are about four kids, altogether — plus a young toddler, placed in a car seat affixed to the seats that line the train car. He's spared the prison garb, but has a tiny mask not unlike an oxygen mask on, breathing in something sleepy.
"Babysitting," The man known to some as Agent Riley leans against the wall as he glances with a sick look at the kids. Its not a look of disgust directed at the guards or the area, but at the kids. "For thease things. You wouldn't think they would need a full bloody team do do /babysitting/ duty." He continues to grumble as he checks the action on the taser he has dangling from his hands. Three other men sit there with him, trying the best to ignore him and his grumbling.
…that is until they feel the train stop, and the radios go dead.
"Masks up! Weapons hot, use tasers and if that doesn't stop them go right for the shotguns." He growls as he ranks a round into the chambers and pushes himself off the wall.
Kitty's text is met with an emoticon from Rebel ":)" and nothing more is displayed on the phone. And then the text is followed up by another one to each of the heroes that currently possesses a cell phone:
CHILDREN ON THE TRAIN. YOUNGEST ONE A TODDLER. THREE GUARDS. SHOTGUNS, TASERS. BE CAUTIOUS.
At the very least he could provide them surveillance.
And then another idea occurs to the Rebel, he restarts the security feed except the signal is sent to the heroes possessing video-enabled cellphones. The feed that the captors receive is now static and static alone.
Seeing the message from Rebel as she glances at the phone's window, she silently tucks away that information. It's a good thing she's not the only one here. She would have called for a full team, but with her investigation on the Sylar case being blocked at every turn, she didn't feel she could trust her superiors at the moment. She is not a one-woman army, and knowing there are others present gives her a very small degree of comfort.
Once the train slows and then stops, she leaps out of the hummer, barely taking the time to stop herself, and heads for whatever door leads into the car that she plans to break into. Another message on her phone. Tasers and shotguns. The tasers would only be effective if she weren't covered in kevlar, leather, and so forth. Shotguns are a bit more of a problem, but only if they're using buckshot. Paula closes her eyes and breathes out, air rattling in her gas mask. Then she focuses and the disturbing noises of bones growing rapidly, displacing muscles and organs and viscera, accompany her ribs, arm bones, leg bones, spine, and skull developing armor-like plates just beneath the skin. It's like she has tank armor made of bone right below the surface. It's hard to move with any degree of agility this way, but she's not planning on dodging what's coming at her. Instead, a long blade of white bone tears through the material on her right arm, with a pronged tip, like a crowbar.
Paula applies this bone bar to the door/hatch, and starts trying to bust the lock by prying on it, in an attempt to force the entrance open. She is aware that there are men with guns of various kinds just inside, waiting for something to shoot at, thanks to the cellphone's security feed. She's just hoping that whoever else is here to help will be prepared and equipped properly to handle anyone she can't take down on her own.
Fel's already flicking open his cellphone, trying to reach Charlotte. "Hey. We got it stopped. Time to start unloading the cargo," he requests, crisply. Even as he speaks, he's got his mask on. Against gas, more than to preserve his anonymity. Too bad he can't use his badge on this one…..No response. So it's home he dials. "« Darling. I know you've got the little one safe. Can you come help?»" he asks, in his native language. It's a crazy situation - a traincar full of mutant kids in captivity, complete with guards, just halted by Alexandra's efforts. Not their little Sasha, but the fullgrown terrakinetic. And of course, Fel's charging in.
"Hey! Wait up!" Alex calls after Felix, running after him as fast as she can…but she's short! She can't keep up too well, and she inevitably falls behind. As she runs, she tugs down the gas mask fumbling with the straps a little bit. This is all new to her, but, she's trying her best to keep up with Felix, who Peter told her would be the one to follow.
You paged Charlotte, Alexandra, and Felix with 'All of which can be done and figured after all the train insanity. :)'
From afar (to Serotonin, Alexandra, and Charlotte), Felix (fel) nods. Just right now, Fel's calling in Misha to help him steal the kidlets one by one.
Looking down at her phone. Kitty shakes her head, "Bastards." She says softly, placing her phone back into her pocket. On her shoulder.. is that a freakin' shotgun?? Kit doesn't like these guys. "Ahh, no friendly fire on the kiddies. I bought a whole giant tub of cookie for these kids."
Tilting her head, she grabs her pistol and cocks it. She needs to be very careful with her aim, but that's not a problem. Reaching into her pocket, she pulls out a pair of mirror sunglasses, except for.. they aren't really sunglasses, they just hide her eyes from view. Out of her back pocket comes an bandana, black and red. She ties it around her nose and then looks at herself in the window. "Hot." She says softly before she catches up, or well. Passes Alex up to be running neck and neck with Felix. "Are we ready?" she asks, voice muffled by the bandana.
Jamie, still blocked from any senses, continues to lie where she is, drugged and tied down. She has noticed the train car isn't moving yet again, though, even in her dazed state. Are they bringing more people on or something? "Hate this place," she mumbles to herself, probably too quiet even for the guards to hear.
"Gas it up," Riley's words are vicious as he notes the cameras going dead. Do they care just what getting double doced might do to the kids? Or to the baby? Nope. Apparently Riley doesn't. "Use the prisoners as cover if you have to." He adds as he notes the crunching sounds coming from the lock. You never even /know/ what thease freaks can do so he's not taking chances he's not. His weapon is coming up even as he hears the door start to give way.
So its four. Count em four fin-stabilized taser bundles that are flying towards that first person through the door. Which…would be Paula. Since she has so very nicely framed herself in the door there. Two for the chest, two for the head.
That deadly power dampening gas is already filling up the room even as the four guards unleash their rounds. All standing towards the opposite end of the train car and using every scrap of cover they can find. Hardly more than heads and weapon muzzles peaking out.
Enough to shoot though, more than enough.
"Just hold em off till backup gets here and we'll be good boys!"
Paula succeeds in prying open the door. It pops, and she swings it open awkwardly. Four taser bundles come flying in. Two hit her in flack jacket, two strike her goggles and gas mask with sparking tips. The two at the the chest sizzle and stick, but the two aimed at the head just sort of deflect off all that techno-crap she has on her face, and the hood on her head.
She raises an arm stiffly, and aims her handgun generally forward, nightvision goggles outlining the people in the room in pretty green color. She can't aim so good, so she fires slowly, to keep as much precision as possible, and not bounce any bullets off any walls or prisoner's head. Of course, if people are running for cover, she doesn't shoot. Instead she just advances slowly, breath reverberating in her gas mask, eyes covered by black lenses. As a new bone blade grows from her left forearm to match the original on her right.
The overall effect is something like having Darth Vader walking towards you, only with bones instead of a lightsaber.
And right behind Paula is Felix, pistol in hand. "Freeze, police!" he says. It makes….no goddamn sense, but might give them a moment's confusion. Or amusement. Nevermind that his own flak jacket has no agency's sigil emblazoned on it. Despite his warning, he doesn't wait to mirandize the soldiers waiting, but opens fire, taking careful aim - squeezing off the shots one by one so he can try and guide each bullet, help with his power.
Gunshots are a sure sign that Alex ISN'T going in there. That's not her bag, not at all. She'll let Felix handle that. For the moment she's standing outside the train car fixing her previous work, doing what Peter said in trying to keep her ability hidden. She makes the earth open, swallowing up the mound of dirt that stopped the car, leaving the motionless train car sitting in the rails, which in front of the car are jagged and mangled, sticking up into the air and pointing in all diractions. Alex's boots are firmly planted, and she keeps an eye out for the backups; they're coming, she can feel them, their vibrations, coming up fast from the station.
A hand snaps out and Kitty's hood is pulled up over her head. "Finished." She says as she looks at Felix. Now that just won't do, with a wink to Alexandra, that the young earth mover wouldn't be able to see. Kit climbs up the ladder that comes up the side of the train, then hooking her legs, in case she stumbles the young CEO grins and sticks Spanky through the window.
"Hey there boys." She calls and opens fire at the soldiers. Her eyes snap onto to the baby for a moment and then she growls. Her aim is steady and her pistol held fast, it's just like what she's been doing since she was fourteen. Aim and shoot, breath.. careful. FIRE.
The droning thrum of the helicopter in the sky begins to overpower all else, wild and erratic. It becomes a loud droning nose in the air that becomes more and more intense—
The ground shakes with a sudden BOOM… and it's not Alexandra's doing. A crunch of metal and parts hits the ground up ahead in the direction of the front of the train before a fiery explosion lights up the night. The helicopter crashed!
Headlights shine in Alexandra's face. The vehicles from the station start to converge on the stopped train car. One of the two black hummers jumps the tracks and they both get close enough to come to a halt on either side of rails. Rapidly, out of the window of one such vehicle, a red laser point chases the figure on top of the train car — Kitty — before a trigger is pulled. And not on a taser.
Black vans zoom past the hummers, toward the action, filled with more armed men. Backup.
Unbeknownst to, well, pretty much everyone — everyone on the train or heading to it, at any rate — there is a new and oddly-attired arrival back at the train station who abruptly manifests in a blur of spatial manipulation. Clad in a shiny, black PVC raincoat worn over a pair of what appears to be latex pants and knee-high boots. No, seriously. It's totally the Matrix up in here or something. Plus a gas mask. No. Seriously.
Oh, wait! It seems there are folks about to take note of Mariska's arrival. Without delay, the dominatrix(?) breaks into a sprint, leaping from the platform. However, her feet never find the ground. Before the government goons have time to really register her intrusion, the teleporter enacts a departure made in the much same fashion as she the way she came. Silent. Smearing the background briefly in her wake.
Some magic trick, eh? Optical illusion, maybe? Is it hot enough to be hallucinating about bondage club rejects? The government agents aren't fooled. Cue the frantic (attempts at) radio calls and the scuffling of hard-soled shoes on concrete floor in the wake of the Mariska's little 'wink in, wink out' maneuver.
They were told to play nice. They were told to use the tasers, use the gas. They were told not to use the other weapons they had until no other choice. Its easy to listen to that when you are being briefed. Its /much/ harder to listen to that when you see one of your card playing buddies get cut down but a lot of young punks with guns. Not even the cover is good enough to save one of the men as one of Felix's round tags him in the shoulder and pulls him out enough for the crossfire between Kitty and Felix to nearly cut him in half.
"Screw this. LIGHT EM UP!"
The taser's are discarded as the two remaining guards pull out other weapons. Two shotguns, one with a long barreled assault rifle. Behind cover they go, hiding from the sudden incoming gunfire. For a moment one pops up to lob a small round object in the direction of Paula and Felix. Then that object goes off….
Light and sound assault the senses, overloading nightvision and drowning out sound. Again not a through about what it might do the prisioners, or even what they might be thinking. Instead its hardly half a heartbeat before the professional soldiers pop out of cover just enough, one big 12 gauge slug goes towards Paula's knee, the assault rifle coughs out a throating burst of rounds towards Felix and Riley and his own cut down combat shotgun turns attention to Kitty sending a well aimed slug towards the woman.
That weapon goes off scant inches from Jamie's head as at the moment the wiley Agent is using the little girl as cover.
Jamie jumps as she feels the shock from the gunshot so close to her head, though unable to actually hear it. She doesn't quite know what it is, but she starts to squirm as much as she can manage. Which, really, isn't much, but it might just unknowingly make things more difficult. "What's going on?"
Faster than all those speeding bullets! It's a streak of movement too quick to be seen, almost in the wake of the helicopter crashing, and it hails from the direction the rest of the train had been going. Zooming alongside the tracks, but not necessarily staying on them, the speedy breeze of Daphne's wake shows her soon reaching where all the action's at, heralded by the noises — there was a firefight.
She's really taking time to consider her options, but to everyone else the decision is instantaneous. Going directly towards the stopped hummers, Daphne bolts right by the first parked one where a man is leaning out. As she does, she grabs for the gun that he's snipering so dangerously at other rescuers. It's really her most favorite move, barring just dashing by. Turning around just as quick, she means to use his own gun as a battering ram against his head to make sure he doesn't just go for more. All the while, she never stops being speedy.
The flash-bang grenade that goes off has an effect on Paula that the tasers don't. Her vision fills with light as the nightvision goggles amplify the flash to blinding levels. She doesn't dare fire in this state. And the noise! The noise disrupts her ability to detect what's going on around her even further, and hurts besides! So when the slug hits her in the knee, her leg nearly gives out! …But the slug just sticks in the bone plates, and throbs a painfully. The pain is more from the flesh being ruptured than anything, so it's kind of like she skinned her knee. Nothing some stitches and a pair of tweezers won't cure. Anyone else would be looking at a stump where their leg used to be.
Paula doesn't know where her enemies are exactly, but she knows they were in front of her. So she stumbles forward, feeling around in the smaller train car's confinement. If she finds any men who struggle or try to hit her, she stabs them in the face. She just puts her hand on their face, and a bone blade erupts from her palm, through their head, and out the other side. Of course, if she instead finds anyone who happens to be being used as cover (Jamie), she attempts to put herself between that person and all the other gunfire, and maybe try to cut some bonds or tubes or things. She can cut through metal pretty easy, provided it's thin enough. Tanks, no. Chains? , yes.
Also, anyone who keeps shooting her while she's doing either of these things is going to get their ass kicked when she can see again. Being shot HURTS. Period.
The bullets and slugs aimed at Felix….go wild. He gets creased in the shoulder by a ricochet, but it's far from turning him into a dying mass of blood, as they'd hoped. He's returning fire with his pistol, and looking for a way to get his hands on one of the longarms - a rifle, a shotgun, of his very own. No idea that the little wife is on the way (like Mighty Mouse) to save the day. Not immediately - he's hoping, of course.
The vehicles rolling up have Alex trapped in their lights; her tiny, black-clad body is framed against the side of the train car with seemingly no protection. Her breath is raspy, gaspy though the gas mask, as she's beginning to get a little scared, this being her first foray into any real danger. Two hummers, straddling the tracks on the rear of the train, one with half a body cradling a rifle with a laser sight (conveniently highlighted thanks to all the dust in the air from submerging that mount of dryish earth!). More vans speeding past them toward the front of the stopped car.
There's a woman, on top of the train car…right where that rifle is being aimed. Priority. It's…more natural than she would've thought, motioning upward with her right hand, causing another wall of earth to erupt from the ground. As compared to before, this is a thinner, sharper eruption, about 15 feet tall, about 10 feet tall, of hard, rocky soil. With her left hand, she makes a basketball shooting maneuver, collapsing the wall of earth over the vehicle, showering the whole front end, the windshield, and halfway across the roof with soil. The weight of a ton or more of earth causes the metal suspension to creak under the weight, forcing the front wheels well into the wheelwells; the windshield cracks and dirt pours in, swallowing up the men inside (one now beaten with his own gun). With a terrific scream, the tiny woman, both arms in the air, throws her whole body into the next motion. She pulls her arms down and sideways across her body, moving the collapsed pile of dirt, forming into a rolling wave of earth thanks to friction at the base (and the presence of a hummer getting wrapped inside), and sends the vehicle rolling sideways across the tracks, until it collides with the second hummer, rolling it too, and partially swallowing both vehicles in dirt and rocks.
When she finishes, she slumps forward, panting hard, blinking her eyes. Her body feels wasted, drained, but yet, there are two vans speeding past her. Groaning, her feet heavy, she turns to face them as best she can, if and when they come to a stop. "B-b-backup!" she tries to yell out, but it's barely a whisper, and only she can hear it over her panting in the mask.
OW! SEROTONIN!
Kitty's hit in the shoulder and she falls.. somehow into the window, breaking it and slamming onto the ground, right near where the prisoners are sitting.. and not to far from.. BABY. She winces, that shotgun blast missed her totally and she missed the big ol flash grenade too, her hood falls off her head, but it doesn't matter, bandana and sunglasses in tact. The young woman looks up and puts Spanky, down.
Off goes shotgun, pump pump, little eyebrow raise and one of the two guards left gets a chest full of shotgun. Curiosity of some hot Kittyfu. "I love you Benji and MerMer." She says as she grunts and rolls underneath the seats, her shotgun aimed at the guards, she shoots again. Heavy breathing and hair in her face, just her meeting her with man servant last wee- errr right. Moving on. Her head nudges Jamie's leg and she whispers up to her, "It's gonna be ok. Promise." She's losing some blood, her head hurts.. but it's all good. She's got a job to finish. "C'mon Crazyhoe." She says to her shotgun and aims it. Though she's under the seating.. she can't really see all that well, but enough. "Hey, F to the R-u-s-s-i-a! Take Crazyhoe!" With that, Kitty slides 'Crazyhoe' to the Russian hoe.
Rebel's been silent for some time now. No communication. No signs that he's still around, but he's been watching the whole time via satellite. He sees the two vans heading for Alex and at that moment, a voice, fuzzy, and unusually difficult to recognize comes through all of the cellphones and the radios, "Someone, help the shorty!" It's Micah's voice, almost unrecognizable to anyone except his family; in his haste and distraction (so much going on at once!) he's forgotten to disguise it.
"Actually," Riley's voice cracks into Kitty's awareness a split second before the butt of his weapon slams down for the woman's skull. Yes. One more of the guards are down, a shotgun and multiple pistol shots ending him or at least rendering him unable to get back up. However that leaves the one with the assault rifle still throwing bursts down the way to keep Felix's head down.
"Actually," After his smash the Agent steps forwards slamming a foot of the release switch for Jamie before he pulls her bodily out of the seat and drags her further away from the lumbering form of Paula by the back of the girls ill-fitting jump suit. Now she's held in front of him, and the hot muzzle of the big shotgun it placed a hair's breath from the back of the girls neck.
"It ain't gonna be alright. Now. You all back up. Drop weapons or the car gets a fresh new coat of red paint."
…yeah. It seems that these Agents are not nice agents.
Another plan comes to mind to get Jamie released. Decidedly, Rebel sends a high pitched squealing noise into the guards' ear pieces (akin to the pitch of fingernails scraping against a chalkboard except amplified ten times) in hopes of distracting them momentarily, just long enough to rescue the children.
Jamie gives a slight yelp as she's picked up, but she can't do much in the way of struggling, so she practically hangs limp in the man's grip. She does try a little, though, but so sedated as she is, it isn't much.
It's a good thing Daphne didn't stick around for any aftermath, seeing as how it involves the whole earth coming to punish the men in cars. No, she's far out of the way by the time it happens, but she stills skids to a halt just out of reach to watch the hideous destruction in real time. With her gas mask over her face and her wild hair, she's clear to express widened eyes and a thin veil of distress that she might otherwise have fought to contain. Even without anyone to see it.
But up and at 'em! Those well-worn tennis shoes push off from the vaguely disturbed ground, marking a path away from those other vehicles. Sorry, no solidarity for the fellow short-stuff, as this tiny is on a mission that involves the train car and those inside. As her blur spirals around the corner of the open doorway, speed-aided eyes take in the situation. People down, people aiming— and one giant jerk holding some nearly-unconscious thing hostage. That would be thug business. And Daphne hates thugs.
It is exactly what it looks like. Something brushes by in a loop-de-loop around the train floor and, when it's gone, so is Jaime. Daphne has plucked the kid from the hands of Riley as he suffers painful feedback and she spirits her away without so much as a backwards glance. Open season, fellas.
"Oh shi—-" Is pretty much all Riley has to say as he realises that EVERYONE hates him now.
And right about then, Paula tears her nightvision goggles off, pulling her hood back unintentionally in the process to reveal that firey red hair of hers. Oh, look, she can see again. And hey, is the ringing in her ears starting to subside? Why, yes, it is. Just a bit, but that's okay. She doesn't need hearing for this next part. She hardens the bones in her hands to their maximum density, which means that she could probably crush something really hard in her hand right now, without much effort. Like… Like… Someone's face! She grows spikes on her knuckles, and then PUNCHES Riley in the face as hard as she can. Or tries at least. She says through her gasmask, "I'm F." Then she swings her other fist around attempting to pound his head in the opposite direction. "B," she continues. And then she tries to plant both hands on the agent's chest, a palm over each lung. She finishes with, "I." Then her fingers and palms erupt with spiralling bone spears that try to drill through Riley, and pin him to the train car's rear wall. "…And you're dead." Then she uses muscular contractions and the control over her bones to begin spinning those bone spears and essentially try to shred the man until he is cat food. She doesn't take pleasure in killing, but baby-nappers who shoot her and others and use little girls as hostages aren't on her list of people to be nice to.
Fel retrieves the shotgun….even as he's got his phone to his other ear, and is warning his wife of armed soldiers in the train. She's not to attempt to come in and get the kids until he gives the okay. In at least nominal obedience to the soldier holding the hostage, he lowers the gun and steps back.
For just a moment, anyway. Until Daphne deals neatly with that problem, and he's forward in two steps, settling into a genuflection like he's about to ask for communion, and fire off the shotgun. But Paula's there before him, and he pauses in shock. "What office do you work out of?" he asks, startled into what is perhaps an indiscretion. Surely they don't let crazy bastards like that into the Bureau…..oh, wait. -He- still has a job, doesn't he?
Fel retrieves the shotgun….even as he's got his phone to his other ear, and is warning his wife of armed soldiers in the train. She's not to attempt to come in and get the kids until he gives the okay. In at least nominal obedience to the soldier holding the hostage, he lowers the gun and steps back.
For just a moment, anyway. Until Daphne deals neatly with that problem, and he's forward in two steps, settling into a genuflection like he's about to ask for communion, and fire off the shotgun. But Paula's there before him, and he pauses in shock. "What office do you work out of?" he asks, startled into what is perhaps an indiscretion. Surely they don't let crazy bastards like that into the Bureau…..oh, wait. -He- still has a job, doesn't he? But there's no time to be wasted - she may have Riley, but there are other goons, yet to be dealt with. So he turns the shotgun on them, firing as fast as he can work the action. It's mass murder, really. But……that might be his daughter in there. Almost was.
The hummers and their once-occupants are a non-issue, but those black vans wheel up dangerously close to the train car and Alexandra. A man in black flak gear hops out of the driver's seat of the nearest, gun aimed, yelling before his boots are even on the ground. "On your knees, hands behind your head!"
Oh God…here they come. After her. She's all alone out here. Nobody around to help her, just the lights and guns on her. And she's tired. So tired now, after trashing both massive vehicles. When the man comes out with his gun pointed on her, Alex is pratically in tears, thumping down to her knees in the dirt, hands behind her head as she does. Her head is slumped forward. Maybe the only thing she has going for her is that she's still touching the ground. It's a powerful ally, to be sure.
As she kneels there, cowed, the ground around her inexplicably begins to tremble. Not much…maybe a 3.5 on the richter scale…minor by all accounts, enough to be felt but not cause damage. In a final move of desperation, she raises walls of earth around her body on all sides. They're towering mountains of earth, 20 feet tall, solid, 6 feet thick, surrounding her body on all sides. The only gaps are toward the tops, as the mountains fail to lock together, and at the top itself, which is exposed to open sky. Between the quake and the earth around her, she has to hope she's safe from gunfire.
Deer. In. The. Headlights.
That's the look on Riley's face right there. However that look it wiped clean as his one remaining guard leaps forwards to knock Riley out of the way. "RUN SI—-GYRK!" And Paula's overcharged and spikey as heck fist slams into the guards head, knocking him against the wall. Her followup swing cracks the man's head back against the wood a moment before those bone-spears slam home in his ribcage and ow did that hurt. Oh wait. No it didn't, because there wasn't enough /time/ for that to hurt as bits of chunky pieces that were /once/ a man go splattering over Riley, Paula, Felix, Kitty, and all the kids. He renders him down to little more than basic parts.
As for Riley, that bloodspray hit his back as the man was already leaping headfirst out of one of the windows like the one Kitty came in. A smashing of glass and a hail of gunfire, and the man takes it one in the shoulder, one in the leg and starts to slowly limp towards his compratrots in the black van of people shooting at the heroes.
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT HER!" As he notes Alex's wall of stone.
"GET OUT OF HERE! GET MORE BACKUP IN!" He calls towards them as he does his best to hurry towards them.
Yeah. He so doesn't wanna hang around.
Micah??
Kitty can't know for sure.. but that voice.. it sounds so much like his.. she'll worry about that later. He has some explaining to do. And that was a kick to her already bad shoulder. "Fuck you, jackass. I'm gonna cut ya legs off and then send them to your mom and then I'm gonna take naked pictures of you and send them to everyone in the world. On top of the fleas, I'm gonna put in your hair and pubes and then I'll kick you in the nuts." She screams out as she withers back and forth. Owwie that hurt.
Though she is dizzy slightly, she rubs her forehead and comes up. Holstering Spanky and looking at Felix. "I said use Crazyhoe. Nice work." She says and then makes her way from child to child. Taking out the tubes and removing their hoods. Poor kids. When Kitty does make it the end of the row of kids, she frowns at the baby. "Gods." She says and tears well up in her eyes, then her gaze narrows. She quickly undoes all the stuff keeping the baby locked in it's car seat. Though she grabs the car seat in her other hand. Ahh she is gonna be in so much pain tomorrow. "I'm getting out of here! It really isn't safe for the baby!"
She's already bounding away and out of the train, stepping down carefully. Her eyes are alert, as she holds the baby to her chest. The car seat dragged, good thing she got off on the side that there weren't guards really. She hustles to one of the vehicles, since they are swarming the train, though not really. She sends Rebel a quick text.
«Give me an exit. I have the baby.»
She sends and quickly puts the car seat in and straps the baby in. "Ok little fella. We are about to go for a ride." She can change from CRAZYHOE Kitty to OMGBABAYSOCUTEILOVEYOU Kitty in no time.
A response to Kitty's text comes quickly, but in speech this time; however Rebel has remembered to digitize his voice. "Turn left. Drive through the corn field, and then drive through the fence to the next farm. They have foot patrols, but no vehicles in the fields." Not yet anyways. "I can guide you through areas without light, but Kitty, you need to drive without your headlights for awhile. They'll be looking for any light."
people are shocked to discover that Lee is not only her brother but her twin. They do, however, play together in an
Okay. Charge of the Wife Brigade. Satisfied bringing her in won't immediately expose her to a barrage of gunfire, Fel calls in Mariska. There're the little explosions of her passage, as she spirits the little ones remaining away. To somewhere very, very safe….in Siberia. No, seriously, a little place not far from Vladivostok, one of the safehouses the Ivanovs've set up around the world. Paranoia and teleportation, we're going global. And then Fel's peeking out of the door of the car again, to see how Alexandra's faring.
Whoosh. Hello. Have a Daphne back in the train car, though it looks marginally more splattered with guts than when she left it. Behind the mask, her face pulls into something disgusted but not entirely surprised. All the revealed children are a sight, themselves, but she swallows that away because they are being carted safely to Parano— Russia. Somewhere. There's only a glance out the door for the noise the guards are making as they advance or leave, then she shakes her head to dismiss it all and is just gone again. A speedster's movement is never done.
There are shouts from the government men— there's nothing they can do to penetrate the sudden earth in their way, not quickly, anyway. Hearing the commands from Riley, they fall back, piling back into the vans. All but one — waiting for Riley — takes off, the way they came, to their temporary base. Tonight has been a failure of somewhat epic proportions, and they can't even get a read on what happened to the rest of the train…
"Thanks.. kid." Kitty says softly and then starts the car up. She briefly looks back towards the train and dips her head and the direction of the others still on the train. "Goodluck." She breathes and the vehicle is put in drive and she speeds off. Going the way that Rebel has led her. "I'm just an old country hag, that gots a baby in the back." She sings softly to herself, drumming her fingers on the steering wheel.
Oh was that a moose? Naaah, just kidding.