A palpable tension hung in the waiting room during the interim period, and though he was somewhat reassured by the addition of a far more experienced protector on their side, he was far less enthused that he had ended up on Silas's squad. After all, it seemed logical to Austin that the bigger the rescue team, the more resources the other team would devote to stopping them.
While Austin sat in the infirmary with his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, he couldn't help but imagine all the various super-powered abilities he could potentially run into. He had thrown himself into training over the last four days, but he had made almost no effort beyond those sessions to get to know the other Protectors. Now, he was mentally kicking himself for not trying to.
If you had bothered to ask a single person what they could do...
On the back of one trembling hand, he wiped away the sweat gathering at his hairline, and took a deep breath. Silas had mentioned sirens to signal the start of the exercise, but that was almost five minutes prior. His team was headed directly to the common room, and though he knew as much, he still felt woefully lost in the scheme of things. Then again, he had never done too well under pressure, and was likely over-thinking it. Somewhere overhead, a siren pierced his contemplation, forcing him back into reality.
Silas stood up from where he was sitting, and politely announced, "That means the exercise has begun. Let's go."
At his voice, Austin leapt to his feet a little too fast, and stumbled as he made his way over to the other two members of his team. Without making eye-contact, he found himself compulsively wiping his hands on the front of his jacket, despite there not being anything to wipe off.
"To the common room, then?" The boy took a couple steps to the infirmary door, and pushed it open, all the while ushering for his fellow teammates to go ahead of him. He tried to keep a brave face so that his teammates wouldn't think less of him, but his heart was hammering so rapidly against his chest that he wagered they could probably hear it themselves.
The argument over who they should pick was honestly much shorter than Joan had expected. She hadn't really expected Alex and Hang to agree to anybody she picked, so when they had agreed that Silas was a good idea almost immediately, it surprised her. Of course, she would have preferred to work with Archer since they had already worked together, but she knew that Alex at least didn't like him that much, and besides, the limited teaching Silas had been able to give her in the past few days had helped her feel a bit more comfortable around him. Though, like Austin, she was upset at herself for not asking more questions during the various training exercises she had participated in.
If I had just been a little less shy about it, maybe we would have more information...I guess we'll learn something today, at least.
In the infirmary, she perched on the head of one of the beds, fiddling with the sleeve of her new jacket. It wasn't quite as nice as her old one had been, but at least it wasn't singed in various places, and it was comfortable enough. It also had thumb holes, which were nice for fidgeting and distracting herself at times like this.
I hope we manage this. I mean, we'll learn something either way, but...I dunno, it would just be nice if we could succeed, y'know? It's unlikely, but--
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sirens. Letting go of her sleeve, she swung off the bed, moving for the door. Austin reached it first, and she nodded. "Yep, that's right. Make sure to keep your eyes open, I'd rather not be ambushed so soon." She waited for Silas to go first before following him closely, letting Austin bring up the rear since that was what he seemed to want.
Along the way, Hang and Alex's voices came over the comms, and she raised an eyebrow as Hang mentioned her.
"I wouldn't have been able to grow him anything anyway even if I
wanted to, Hang," she murmured, keeping her voice low in case of any prying ears. "That is, unless somebody has a stash somewhere, but I doubt Darius would tolerate--"
She paused, letting the rest of what had been said sink in. A laugh began to bubble up, and she clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle it, not letting go until she was sure she could speak without making too much extra noise.
"Pink?
Really? For
Alex? Now that's just..." She could hear Hang reminding them to stay on task over the comms, and she nodded, taking a breath to steady herself.
"Right. The common room shouldn't be much farther."
They would reach the common room moments after Hang and Alex touched down in the kitchen. Joan reached for the door handle, using gestures to get Silas and Austin into a good position to hit anybody in the room, but before she could turn it, she heard something over the comms.
What are they doing? Doesn't sound good...
"Hang, Alex, what's wrong?" she hissed as softly as she could, casting a worried glance at the boys.
Alex groaned, pressing an ear to the comms. "Casey can use smoke too," he mumbled before taking the trash can. Stumbling over to the oven, he turned on the fan, himself an unhealthy shade of green before he emptied the contents of his day into the trash can. "Don't breathe it."
Hang herself had felt her body begin to react long before the smoke reached her. A layer of porous skin grew over her mouth and nose, a fleshy gas mask, though the acrid stench from both Alex's upset and the poison Casey had spewed made her wrinkle her nose. She scrunched her eyes as they watered, and she pressed the comms to say, "It's poison. Like tear gas."
Rather than let her get past, Hang did her best to block Casey off. She didn't want the girl getting past to wreak havoc on the rest of the team elsewhere.
Alex coughed again before pushing the trash can aside. Gripping the counter to pull himself to his feet, he reached above the stove, grabbing the fire extinguisher. "Hang, move aside," he growled, pulling out the pin and leveling the nozzle at Casey.
Hang moved out of Alex's way, tossing herself up onto a counter away from the injured girl.
Alex didn't pause, squeezing the handle before Hang was even fully out of the way, spewing white foam at the poison user.
"Hang, Alex, what's wrong?" Joan's voice came over the comms again, this time in a concerned whisper.
"Ran into Casey and she can apparently poison people," Hang said, her voice slightly muffled. "Alex's taking care of her. Just keep going to the common room and tell me if anybody else pops up."
Realizing that she had nowhere to run, Casey stumbled back with gritted teeth, bringing her free hand to her ear, revealing an earpiece that had been covered by her jet black hair. "Archer… extraction. Cover your mouth."
Archer could not come quick enough to save her from the blasting of foam, and Casey let out an angered yell. Archer did, however, arrive momentarily after, laughing through his shirt which he had pulled over his nose. He grabbed onto Casey's arm and flashed Alex a thumbs up. "Good job so far!" He said through the shirt, and he and Casey disappeared with a gust of wind, allowing the smoke to dissipate further.
Alex huffed, slinging the the fire extinguisher over his shoulder as he motioned towards the door. "Lets keep going, Hang," he grumbled, still feeling bitter about the whole 'poisoned' stuff. Somehow, being congratulated by Archer just made him more annoyed too…
Hang, in the meantime, held back a built-up roar as Archer flashed past, and she barked into the comms, "Archer has Casey, and they could be anywhere in the compound. Watch out for them."
As well as you can, anyways. Archer could be on them before they even realize what happened.
Meanwhile, outside the common room, Austin was anything but confident. He couldn't see Casey, and couldn't imagine how Alex was planning on beating her, but if the protectors were willing to go so far as poison them it was troubling to say the least. Austin took a deep breath, and let go of whatever small hope for leniency he was still holding onto.
"Alright. W-we should stop stalling. Let's, uh, get this started I guess..."
He wished he had sounded more certain than he did, but despite an uncontrollable shake in his arms, Austin managed to grip the door handle, and swing it wide open. In fact, his death-grip on the handle caused him to open it more forcefully than he had anticipated. The door bounced off the back wall with a thud, and only stopped when it swung back into his fumbling grip.
He mouthed a quick
sorry to his teammates for the noise, before gesturing for Silas to go on ahead.
Everything was happening so quickly. First Joan was hearing that Casey could use poison gas and that Alex was handling her somehow, and then suddenly Archer had Casey and they could be anywhere. It reminded her somewhat of the time in the mall, although while that had been more threatening, it somehow hadn't been nearly this tense. With a shudder, Joan looked up as Austin opened the door. It slammed into the wall, and she winced.
Great. Now we've lost the element of surprise, if we had it in the first place…
Breathe, Joan. Just breathe. From what I remember of the layout...Archer will have to go through the other door if he wants to get to us. And he can't get out of the kitchen/dining hall area without going through...ah, crap.
Looking over at Austin and Silas and waving her arm at them briefly in hopes of getting their attention, she pointed at Austin's hoodie, then pulled her own jacket up over her mouth and held it there while zipping it up. She would have to keep it there with one hand, or else it would slip off, but hopefully Austin would get the idea, at least, and Silas would have some way of protecting himself as well.
Once Silas was in, she moved in after him, keeping to the walls and waiting for Austin to bring up the rear. He would be able to provide cover in the form of his own smoke if they needed, Silas would be able to act as muscle, and she would be able to use his own powers to amplify hers and provide support.
At least...that was what was supposed to happen. But any plan, no matter how good it is, rarely survives contact with the enemy.[/hr][/hr]