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 Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:49 am
Wade took her fingers from the dead kid's throat. "********," she muttered, sitting back on her heels. She glanced over at the pyro: the girl looked pretty freaked. Maybe she'd be less trigger happy next time. Or not. You could never tell in the fog of war. It was even worse when kids were ******** with your brain.
She didn't offer any apologies. Nothing she said would matter now anyway. This kid had lost family, nothing would make that better. God damn, there were a lot of dead over a stupid misunderstanding. Wade tried not to think of how many people she'd personally shot down.
"The Peace Movement?" she asked, a knot of dread forming in her stomach. Oh god dammit, this day was getting worse and worse.
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 2:09 pm
The kid spat over the side of the plane at the name. "The 'Peace Movement' came and said that mutants were an abomination on the world and that they need 'cleaning up', starting with us." The kid looked up at Wade. "They said they were cleaning the world and making it right for the 'purebloods'." The kid spat again, again in distaste. "We made our way here and convinced the elders here to let us join them. We just wanted to be left alone."
Flint nodded, glancing at Wade. "We can leave you alone."
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Posted: Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:16 pm
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry"
Tears pooring down her face Chandra ran from the hanger, barely making it outside to the grass before she lost her stomach.
"Never stop to think do you? Silly little girl. People play with fire and they get hurt. Mother knows what you are, how sad and useless."
Curled into a ball, Chandra rocked and muttered the words she heard so often.
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Posted: Tue Feb 14, 2012 2:07 am
******** Peace Movement. They made mercenary work somewhat difficult: Wade had once responded to an ad for a mutant capable of "heavy lifting", only to find out it was a Peace Movement trap. It also made getting around the country difficult: you never knew when using your powers would get you shot. Or captured and enslaved. Or experimented on.
At least she was one of the lucky ones. The young mutants had a harder time of it; she looked old enough to usually get by without too much suspicion. Very harmful to her self-esteem though. It also helped she had a less visible power. She'd worked with this one kid, Victor, had spikes all over his body. Very useful in combat. Less useful when trying to get through a checkpoint.
Wade stood up, backing away from the body. She inclined her head at the surviving twin and at the others, holstering her gun. It didn't mean much, what with powers being able to do more damage, but there was power in gestures.
She crouched down by Chandra. "Come on kid," she said quietly. "Get up." Things seemed peaceful now, but it would be best to leave quickly, lest grief turn to rage. Plus, she didn't like being this close to vomit.
Wade offered the pyro her arm. "Hold it together," she said.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 3:06 pm
Flint turned his back on the kid, who broke down and started sobbing. Flint jumped off the plane and landed on the ground hard, cracking the concrete. Dee, Penn and Henry fell in behind him, bolstering weapons and not saying much. Penn went to Chandra's side with Wade and rubbed Chandra's shoulder.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 6:59 pm
Chandra grabed the offered arm and swung to her feet.'Come on Chandra keep it together. Everyone makes mistakes.'
"I'm fine now guys, sorry to distrupt the group. Whats the plan now?" She attempted to draw attention away from her.
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Posted: Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:57 pm
"Zee aircraft 'ere are ruined. Zey will not be able to take off wizout major repair." Dee sighed and shook her head. "It is a pity. Being able to get to zee northern city would have been nice."
By now they had gotten back to the convoy. "Dad, next nearest airport?"
John and Mary exchanged a few words before John looked back at the younger group. "Penrith and Richmond. Penrith is a small, domestic airport and Richmond is a military airport. Other than that, Sydney international, then further up the coast at Gosford."
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 3:59 am
Wade looked up sharply at the mention of Richmond. She'd never been there personally, but she was an army brat, born and raised on a battleship. She knew their ways and their lingo. But you had to be careful with old military facilities: the worst kind of crazy sprouted up there. Wade had been at Hampstead when the massacre went down, and seen the abuses at Kokoda. Bastards had set up a mini feudal system, with the "supreme admiral" as king. And vacated military bases often attracted unsavory elements. She'd met more than one militant cult holed up in an old armory. Hell, she'd seen wars waged over the places.
Maybe if they had a radio she could listen in, find out if the place was occupied by ex-military or by crazies. They didn't need another fight, especially not Chandra. She seemed better, but murder was no light burden.
"Has anyone been to any of these locations?" Wade asked.
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Posted: Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:56 pm
Chandra tried to keep her mind on the here and now. "Wouldn't a civlian airport be a better bet? Didn't they target military places in the war?"
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Posted: Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:13 am
John nodded. "Generally yes. Also, we may start encountering radiation. But, I'm fairly certain one of the young ones has an ability to neutralize radiation, so that will be helpful."
"Indeed," Dee piped up. "Zat is an extremely useful talent."
"Anyway, moving on. I think that if we head to Sydney international or Richmond, we're likely to find nothing or trouble, both we don't want." John glanced at Mary, who nodded. Penrith might be the best of those three, but it was mostly a civilian airport. Gosford did deal with commercial shipping and it was also a port town. I think we should try Penrith first, then head to Gosford. Only problem I have with that is that to get to Gosford, it's either take the long way around Sydney, or go straight through it."
"Sydney was attacked, but not with nuclear weapons," Dee said. "Let me check with my father, see what I can find out."
Flint went with Dee back to the truck, where Dee had set up her laptop on the trip. Within minutes she was connected to her father and their database.
"Zere are several active groups," Dee called out, signaling people to come to her. "One is actively Peace Movement. Zey are at zee international airport and 'ave claimed it." Her father said something that had John and Mary smiling. "Oh, good news. Zere is a friendly in Penrith. Apparently zere is a small trading town zere and my friend Nick is zere." She asked a question in French to her father, who gave her a reply. "Appantly he has relatives there. Shall we go zere first?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:08 pm
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 3:01 am
"We have confirmed friendlies and a knowledge of the terrain?" Wade asked. "The only way it could get better is if they were throwing us an ice cream party." s**t, this would be an excellent set-up for a surprise birthday party. If her birthday hadn't been four months ago. And if they hadn't just killed a score of innocent people, whose corpses were rotting not far from where they were standing.
"Let's have this conversation on the move," she said, glancing back at the battleground. Although they could no longer see it, they were too close for Wade's comfort. If she was a better person, she might suggest helping bury the dead. But considering that their group had killed them, that might be in bad taste. Also, it was a warm day. It wouldn't be long until the bodies started farting and shitting and decomposing. Corpse clean-up was one of Wade's least favorite jobs.
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Posted: Fri Feb 24, 2012 4:32 am
As everyone started piling into the vehicles again, Grace followed and sat next to Dee, talking to her quietly and gently stroking her arm near her wound. Dee was grimacing, but not crying out in pain.
As the convoy started up again, they turned and headed towards the bomb scared Sydney. As they travelled into the city, it became apparent that there were people living there, but they were all in hiding. It was likely that no one had seen a working vehicle in over twenty years and those who were still alive would probably think they were being invaded again.
As the convoy covered ground towards Penrith, in the evening shadow of the Blue Mountains, Dee sat chatting away to her father and support in France. Occasionally she would relay information to those near her, but mostly she seemed engrossed in reports and information from other countries and people. She did however, keep one window open, showing a picture of a young man, about the age of twenty.
As they neared Penrith, a pair of armored cars pulled up alongside the convoy, moved in front and slowed down, forcing the trucks to stop. Flint and Dee exited the truck and exchanged a few words with a pair of men who got out of one of the cars. Nods and smiles abounded as the mutants returned to the truck.
"Nick iz 'ere and iz waiting for us."
~
The convoy came to a halt on the end of the intact runway, just outside the area of a ramshackle trading area. A few young people came out to watch, but one in particular, besides the men from the cars, came straight up to the truck, opened the door for Dee and enfolded her in a hug before her feet even touched the ground.
"Welcome to Penrith," the German accented young man said after releasing Dee. "I am Nicholas. I'll be your guide for the evening. Please make yourselves comfortable and don't mind the shy children. It's not often they get friendly strangers here."
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Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 3:25 am
"Wade," the mercenary said, appraising Perinth's layout. The trading post had gotten creative with building materials, giving it an eccentric, but resourceful look. She especially liked the road signs used as makeshift walls in one of the houses. At least, she assumed it was a house.
Despite how friendly the people seemed, Wade kept her eyes open, noting possible sniper spots, escape routes, and cover potential. She kept her hands off her gun though. If these people were friendly a weapon would just make things tense. And if they weren't, well, they were probably ******** anyway.
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 11:41 pm
"Hi, I'm Chandra. I don't suppose you have a place where I could wash up?" As she spoke she gestured to the ash and grime that covered her.
Chandra feelt rather strange and detached. Like what had happened before was some weird dream, but it wasn't and she had to get on with life.
'Everyone's on edge after what happened at the ariport maybe I can start to make up for what I did by showing we're not here to start a fight.'
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