Template:Featured Articles/35-2016
Doug had started out the fighting in an attempt to avoid lethal tactics, mostly so there wouldn't have to be Yet Another Discussion about the difference between X-Force's methods and the other various groups at the mansion. But when their opponents' guns had come out, and their tactics had turned more serious, so too had his. He could see the woman directing the attack, but she was canny and wasn't allowing anything like a clear shot to her through the reinforced positions of guards. It did not escape his notice that they'd been penned up inside an area with no doors or windows to make their escape through. "The way I see it, we need to make a hole - either in the building, or in them." Sue peeked out from behind cover and immediately pulled it back as bullets ricocheted off the floor near her. "You know I think they plan to make putting a hole in them difficult," she noted dryly. "It might be easier to put a hole in the building, we can always send an apology card later," Sue stated as a bullet hit the desk she was sheltered behind, chipping off a piece of wood which arced lazily over the top of the table to land next to her. Jessica cursed before she pressed her fingers to the comm in her ear. "Fuck! Marie-Ange, make a call! Have Alex blow this place to hell and lets get out of here." She cursed again. "I can carry anyone who needs it and I’ll knock down any wall that gets in my way." … "Surfer boy, consider those your orders." Marie-Ange's voice was tight and rough through the mesh of imaged disks covering her lower face and chest - she was trying not to double over to cough out the tear gas, and her eyes and nose were already running. "Jewel pull Cypher and me out. Lucky, find us a path!" Then she did lurch towards Jessica, staggering and desperately trying not to choke. The blond man blinked, his eye lit up like a star, from where he had been hunkered down near the front of the group. He had been slightly chanting "shield them" over and over instead of listening, with only his own luck as a bulwark, but it had been rather effective. That was until his concentration wavered and Arthur did a double take at the code-name. Sure enough, a bullet almost immediately grazed by his head, but that was enough to get his head back in the game. "It is a wall! How do you get lucky with a..." Arthur refocused, standing. They had truly been backed into a corner, and who knew which wall was even to the outside? He sighed, but a stupid idea was already brewing. "Wait." Arthur grabbed a loose lab stool and sat it before him. He mumbled resignedly, "My power is awful," to the group before spinning himself dizzy and launching headfirst, chair now aloft, in a random direction toward a random wall. There was a loud bang as the metal seat of the stool tore through drywall and into what had once been an airvent, now sealed and painted over. There was a slight whistling in the air as the weak point was now exposed, but if one looked closely they could see that the mortar was riddled with tiny holes. Odd, that. Even odder, there seemed to be garbage glued to the frame of the once vent. The blonde man, woozy, waved toward the hole. |
