SKILORD
Insurgent
Bloodhound likes to get close to national guard encampments, lurking in the woods outside their chain link fences, one of the guards at the watchtower, she can see him.
Recently demoted, his wife was mad, used to be on guard duty at the Gainesville national guard headquarters, now he8217;s running road blocks on I-75.
She8217;s been marching for a week and a half, eating deer; Raul8217;s been turning rocks into potatoes. She had complained that he could just turn it into New York strip or caviar, Raul had smiled and said, 8220;I8217;m not that good, besides, this itself,8221; he raised his hands to the sky, 8220;is manna from heaven.8221;
Bloodhound had little patience for his religious references. At least August never talked about that bullcrap.
The guard on the watchtower, he used to guard high security mutants8230; psychics8230; more powerful than she was, mind controllers and heavy duty telekinetics, nobody you would want to meet in a dark alley.
She could see the enterance, on the edge of town, lightly defended, no chain link fence, just an average building. The basement, the whole trick was the secrecy. Dangerous mutants.
August is a dangerous mutant; she likes him just fine, the handsome mulatto boy who had saved her life. She guesses she8217;s been hanging out with them long enough to be classified dangerous herself.
She heads back to the woods to tell the rest.
-
Seven people in trenchcoats and sunglasses, red white and blue bandanas covering their faces, stand at the edge of town, near the airport and Newnan8217;s Lake. The new armory is at the city limits, built just for the disaster.
Dangerous mutants, Raul hadn8217;t wanted to help. But August kept saying, 8220;Any one of us would be locked up here.8221;
He had a point.
Raul swings open the front door; the place is like a fire station, except with a M1A2 in the big open space instead of a fire truck.
8220;Who are you?8221; one of the guards finally approaches them. Everyone is out, there are high profile targets in Gainesville, nobody is here during the day, they are manning roadblocks, looking for muties.
8220;I plead the fourth,8221; Raul says, catching the guy as he falls asleep.
Bloodhound runs up to the door, she remembers it clearly from the guard8217;s memory. She remembers the code.
The door slides open.
Guards at the far side of a hall, Raul makes sure their guns don8217;t work, and after a few futile clicks they give up. Lightning flashes down the hall.
The Liberation Front has arrived.
August blows up the next door, the guards are unconscious, their shirts turned to lead.
Ricky is already at the far end of the next hall, slamming through the door, the guards on the other side collapse to the ground,
The elevator, Lucy punches in the code.
8220;There are a lot more guards downstairs,8221; she tells them, 8220;But most of them are scared of the inmates, really superstitious,8221; she smiles, 8220;easy prey.8221;
8220;How long until the cops get here?8221; August asks.
8220;No telling,8221; she informs him.
The elevator door slides open.
8220;Any one of us would be locked up here,8221; August had said.
Ricky charges down the hall, Single bound flies in front of him, slamming headlong into one of the guards before Ricky knocks the rest aside and bashes the door open, they have made it to the detention center.
A hail of bullets deflects off of Ricky8217;s arms, right back into the shooters.
Everything is calm, quiet, the hallway branches off in two directions, the Sandman joins Raul and Alice to the right and the rest charge down the other side.
At the far end of the hall, Raul starts turning doors into sand, turning restraints into dust. Simon puts them to sleep for a moment as the group runs down the hall.
On the other side they come across the cell of Al E. Gator.
August looks to Ricky, 8220;getting in the way of the plan,8221; he sticks out his tongue.
Ricky smashes the door open, Lucy says, 8220;I don8217;t have a plan.8221;
8220;Me neither,8221; says Ricky.
On the back of the wall, a pair of eyes opens.
Ricky pulls the cell open.
And is abruptly slammed across the hallway through the next door. The mutant in that one, a manic depressive telekinetic was huddled in the corner, weeping when the door to his cell flew open.
Raul runs to the middle of the hall, back towards the elevator, doors turn to sand behind him, dangerous mutants, Simon follows him, putting the captives to a short sleep, a minute or so, a power nap, leave them groggy, they don8217;t need any trouble.
Ricky is not so lucky. He throws Al through another door in the hall, August and Lucy dodge the heavy bodies as they fly.
Single bound slams into the Gator, feet first, top speed. The blow knocks him back over before he can recover and sends him through the wall of the cell.
The Mountain and the little guy exit the doorframe, they start following August and Lucy back to the middle. As they pass the next door from behind them the scaly mutant holds one of the doors that they had torn off. He throws it at Ricky.
Who smashes it aside, bashing open another cell.
Raul stands at the center of the hall, watching August and Lucy run up, the battle continues behind them, Ricky throws the Gator through a wall, the Gator retaliates, occasionally Single Bound would leap into the fracas, before bounding out quickly.
Telekinetics are starting to slam open doors from the outside that they couldn8217;t manage from behind them or alone. The elevator comes down, the little man flies down the hall in a single bound, Ricky throws the Gator all the way down the hall.
8220;Let them deal with it,8221; August says to him, Ricky runs into the elevator.
Quiet again, elevator music plays.
At the top of the elevator, the door slides open, on the other side, across a small room, a thick steel plate slams down.
Ricky punches it, nothing, 8220;It8217;s got to be two or three feet thick,8221; he says.
-
One of the national guardsmen lies on the floor, watches the security doors engage, he can hear the sirens getting closer. A thud on the other side.
Another.
The guardsman smiles.
The door turns to sand in front of him.
On the other side the elevator dings, a scaly mutant grins inside, launching himself out.
Ricky smashes him back into the elevator, Al picks himself up and shrugs.
A swarm of flies, all through the building, more and more of them.
Raul frowns, 8220;Let8217;s get out of here.8221;
Lucy runs up at the front, with bewildered insects falling all around her, the bugs still swarm and bite into Raul, he swings on them as he flees the building. The others follow out the door, heads down in the onslaught.
On the street they see a van, Raul shoves his kerchief into the keyslot, a flash and a turn later the door swings open. Alice jumps into the drivers seat and slides open the back doors. High speed chase in a minivan, that sounds like fun, she thinks. Not much choice with a group this size.
The sirens are getting very close. The engine cranks.
8220;There8217;s a juicebox on my seat,8221; Lucy complains.
Ricky is the last out the door, swinging at flies, but also fistfighting with the Gator, throwing him back into the armory, thinking 8216;this was a mistake,8217; he runs for the van.
On the other side of the armory the gator flies clear out into the swamp.
Raul is trying to figure out how much of a mistake this was, terrible or catastrophic. Dangerous mutants, he frowns, he doesn8217;t even know what to expect anymore.
And it speeds off down the road, sirens chase them.
Predictably, the wheels of the police cars all turn to glass.
Recently demoted, his wife was mad, used to be on guard duty at the Gainesville national guard headquarters, now he8217;s running road blocks on I-75.
She8217;s been marching for a week and a half, eating deer; Raul8217;s been turning rocks into potatoes. She had complained that he could just turn it into New York strip or caviar, Raul had smiled and said, 8220;I8217;m not that good, besides, this itself,8221; he raised his hands to the sky, 8220;is manna from heaven.8221;
Bloodhound had little patience for his religious references. At least August never talked about that bullcrap.
The guard on the watchtower, he used to guard high security mutants8230; psychics8230; more powerful than she was, mind controllers and heavy duty telekinetics, nobody you would want to meet in a dark alley.
She could see the enterance, on the edge of town, lightly defended, no chain link fence, just an average building. The basement, the whole trick was the secrecy. Dangerous mutants.
August is a dangerous mutant; she likes him just fine, the handsome mulatto boy who had saved her life. She guesses she8217;s been hanging out with them long enough to be classified dangerous herself.
She heads back to the woods to tell the rest.
-
Seven people in trenchcoats and sunglasses, red white and blue bandanas covering their faces, stand at the edge of town, near the airport and Newnan8217;s Lake. The new armory is at the city limits, built just for the disaster.
Dangerous mutants, Raul hadn8217;t wanted to help. But August kept saying, 8220;Any one of us would be locked up here.8221;
He had a point.
Raul swings open the front door; the place is like a fire station, except with a M1A2 in the big open space instead of a fire truck.
8220;Who are you?8221; one of the guards finally approaches them. Everyone is out, there are high profile targets in Gainesville, nobody is here during the day, they are manning roadblocks, looking for muties.
8220;I plead the fourth,8221; Raul says, catching the guy as he falls asleep.
Bloodhound runs up to the door, she remembers it clearly from the guard8217;s memory. She remembers the code.
The door slides open.
Guards at the far side of a hall, Raul makes sure their guns don8217;t work, and after a few futile clicks they give up. Lightning flashes down the hall.
The Liberation Front has arrived.
August blows up the next door, the guards are unconscious, their shirts turned to lead.
Ricky is already at the far end of the next hall, slamming through the door, the guards on the other side collapse to the ground,
The elevator, Lucy punches in the code.
8220;There are a lot more guards downstairs,8221; she tells them, 8220;But most of them are scared of the inmates, really superstitious,8221; she smiles, 8220;easy prey.8221;
8220;How long until the cops get here?8221; August asks.
8220;No telling,8221; she informs him.
The elevator door slides open.
8220;Any one of us would be locked up here,8221; August had said.
Ricky charges down the hall, Single bound flies in front of him, slamming headlong into one of the guards before Ricky knocks the rest aside and bashes the door open, they have made it to the detention center.
A hail of bullets deflects off of Ricky8217;s arms, right back into the shooters.
Everything is calm, quiet, the hallway branches off in two directions, the Sandman joins Raul and Alice to the right and the rest charge down the other side.
At the far end of the hall, Raul starts turning doors into sand, turning restraints into dust. Simon puts them to sleep for a moment as the group runs down the hall.
On the other side they come across the cell of Al E. Gator.
August looks to Ricky, 8220;getting in the way of the plan,8221; he sticks out his tongue.
Ricky smashes the door open, Lucy says, 8220;I don8217;t have a plan.8221;
8220;Me neither,8221; says Ricky.
On the back of the wall, a pair of eyes opens.
Ricky pulls the cell open.
And is abruptly slammed across the hallway through the next door. The mutant in that one, a manic depressive telekinetic was huddled in the corner, weeping when the door to his cell flew open.
Raul runs to the middle of the hall, back towards the elevator, doors turn to sand behind him, dangerous mutants, Simon follows him, putting the captives to a short sleep, a minute or so, a power nap, leave them groggy, they don8217;t need any trouble.
Ricky is not so lucky. He throws Al through another door in the hall, August and Lucy dodge the heavy bodies as they fly.
Single bound slams into the Gator, feet first, top speed. The blow knocks him back over before he can recover and sends him through the wall of the cell.
The Mountain and the little guy exit the doorframe, they start following August and Lucy back to the middle. As they pass the next door from behind them the scaly mutant holds one of the doors that they had torn off. He throws it at Ricky.
Who smashes it aside, bashing open another cell.
Raul stands at the center of the hall, watching August and Lucy run up, the battle continues behind them, Ricky throws the Gator through a wall, the Gator retaliates, occasionally Single Bound would leap into the fracas, before bounding out quickly.
Telekinetics are starting to slam open doors from the outside that they couldn8217;t manage from behind them or alone. The elevator comes down, the little man flies down the hall in a single bound, Ricky throws the Gator all the way down the hall.
8220;Let them deal with it,8221; August says to him, Ricky runs into the elevator.
Quiet again, elevator music plays.
At the top of the elevator, the door slides open, on the other side, across a small room, a thick steel plate slams down.
Ricky punches it, nothing, 8220;It8217;s got to be two or three feet thick,8221; he says.
-
One of the national guardsmen lies on the floor, watches the security doors engage, he can hear the sirens getting closer. A thud on the other side.
Another.
The guardsman smiles.
The door turns to sand in front of him.
On the other side the elevator dings, a scaly mutant grins inside, launching himself out.
Ricky smashes him back into the elevator, Al picks himself up and shrugs.
A swarm of flies, all through the building, more and more of them.
Raul frowns, 8220;Let8217;s get out of here.8221;
Lucy runs up at the front, with bewildered insects falling all around her, the bugs still swarm and bite into Raul, he swings on them as he flees the building. The others follow out the door, heads down in the onslaught.
On the street they see a van, Raul shoves his kerchief into the keyslot, a flash and a turn later the door swings open. Alice jumps into the drivers seat and slides open the back doors. High speed chase in a minivan, that sounds like fun, she thinks. Not much choice with a group this size.
The sirens are getting very close. The engine cranks.
8220;There8217;s a juicebox on my seat,8221; Lucy complains.
Ricky is the last out the door, swinging at flies, but also fistfighting with the Gator, throwing him back into the armory, thinking 8216;this was a mistake,8217; he runs for the van.
On the other side of the armory the gator flies clear out into the swamp.
Raul is trying to figure out how much of a mistake this was, terrible or catastrophic. Dangerous mutants, he frowns, he doesn8217;t even know what to expect anymore.
And it speeds off down the road, sirens chase them.
Predictably, the wheels of the police cars all turn to glass.
