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Summary: Tabitha and Shane reunite after the assault on the Xavier Mansion.
Date: July 4, 2011
Log Title: Freedom and Burgers
Rating: PG-13
NYC- Abandoned Building
Somewhere in New York, an abandoned building is left to crumble on its own time. The exterior is an eyesore, the interior is worse; nothing is left but rotten wall panels, debris, and the like.
Only a few hours have passed since the attack on the Xavier Mansion. In the dilapidated building that Mindbender and Upgrade have been using as a base of operations, Tabitha walks alone; thinking she is walking into a deserted lab. She carries two skillfully purloined McDonald's bags, one in each hand, as she enters the room that in her visions house the viewscreen, where she had seen someone earlier, someone… someone who needed saving. Today, the viewscreen is blank. Tabitha sighs heavily, and her shoulders slouch. "Shane," she mumbles. She walks up close to the viewscreen, and puts the bags down so she can touch the surface with her fingertips. "Shane… you in there? Talk to me?"
The viewscreen is dark. No picture, no sound, nothing at all to indicate that anything at all could be connected to it. And for the longest moment, dead silence is all Tabitha gets.
But before long, there's the sound of uneven footsteps. Someone light, but walking with a heavy limp. A few moments later a tiny, skinny, filthy teenage girl rounds the corner, hunched over slightly, one arm swinging limp at her side. "…Hey," she says, voice tight with pain.
Tabitha whirls around, and her ears perk up at the sight. She gasps, and leaps the few steps to close the gape between her and the limping girl. "Shane!" she declares. "Shane! You're… you're out! And you're hurt. Are you okay? Do you need help?" As if there were somehow a great deal of help she could provide. "I… it's so good to see you, and see you out of there, you have no idea. Do you need to sit down? Are you okay?"
"…I'm free," Shane says, wincing as her injuries protest the effort. "…Hurts a lot, though… think I messed up my back." She draws in a deep breath, hitching as cracked ribs twinge like an icepick against her lungs. "…'S good t'see you too." Letting out a slow sigh, she shakes her head, moving to lean her unhurt shoulder against the wall. "…Thought I was done with this shit…"
The rat girl steps forwards, and puts her hands out to catch Shane's shoulders. "You really should sit down," she advises, a furrow of concern developing on her brow. "Can you eat? I brought… McDonalds. Sort of, anyway. I think one bag has a big mac and the other one has a quarter pounder, so uhm, I hope you're not allergic to beef." She pauses, and glances over her shoulder, scanning the room after something in the building creaks and settles; a few forcefields are briefly visible as they snap into existence, blocking off the entrances. "There, that should make sure we're safe, just in case," she murmurs. "It's awesome to see you, Shane. This is the best thing that's happened in ages."
Shane cries out as her dislocated shoulder is grabbed, and she twists away with an explosive "FFFFUCK!" Pausing for a moment to collect her wits, she shakes her head. "…Sorry. Arm popped out. ….Hit… pretty hard. Burger sounds good, yeah. …. ….Thanks."
Tabitha gasps, and draws her hands back. "Sorry! I'm sorry, sorry, I didn't realize it hurt there, I'm sorry Shane." She backs off, and stands in the middle of the room like a lump, until the mention of a burger being good gets through to her. "Oh, here." She plucks the bags back up, and returns to stand in front of Shane. "Here… uhm… there's fries in both. I think they've gone cold, but… hey, it's McDonalds, it's not like it can possibly get any worse, right?"
Shane reaches out with her good arm, plucking up one of the bags with a tight smile. "Hey… first real food I've had in… Iunno, forever. Take what I can get." Moving to a nearby chair, she lowers herself in, teeth gritted. "…Sorry… didn't wait. She said I had one chance to get out… Hadda take it."
Tabitha shakes her head quickly. "No no, don't worry about that," she replies. "I'm happy you're out. If you saw a chance, then you were right to take it, Shane. Who knows what could have happened if you hand't?" She digs into her bag, and pulls out the fries and the quarter pounder. "Is there a drink in your baggie? There is in mine… I think it's rootbeer. You can have it if you want, you must be thirsty, too?"
"…How 'bout just share," Shane replies after a moment, peeking into her bag and finding nothing liquid. Settling the bag on her lap, she pops open the clamshell, very nearly sobbing as she takes her first bite of the hamburger. "Hate th's sh't," she says around a full mouth. "'S crphi'st ph'd 'n Erf…" Pausing she swallows, gasping for air. "Augh… missed it *so much*…"
The rat girl takes a bit of her own burter, and chews it up while she plops the soft drink within reach of Shane's good arm. "I'e been living on McDonalds stolen from the zombies for weeks," she explains. "Well… that and Arbie's and Wendies and whatever the hell else. Who would'a thought? Zombie Apocalypse but you can still get burgers." She shrugs, and takes another great bite from her food. "So," she adds after swallowing. 'Uhm… we need to find you some help for your arm."
"Sure," Shane says, voice hard behind the pain as she reaches for the soda. "You know a doctor or three, right? Call'm up, they can make a house call." Her mouth closes with an audible snap, and she blushes, taking a sip of the drink to cover her reaction. "…Sorry," she murmurs, sliding the cup back over. "Don't worry about it. We'll deal."
Her ears color in the wake of Shane's words, and Tabitha's expression falls. "Don't worry, I don't blame you," she murmurs. "I mean… well, when Timeslip and Cheryl get back here, I guess I'll ask them what to do. Cheryl is going to need help, too, she got stabbed." She scratches her head behind her ear. "I… I mean I don't know how to… set bones or anything." She pauses, and stuffs some fries in her mouth. "So… how did you get free?"
Shane grunts, shaking her head. "…She told me where to go… big crystal mountain. …Said I had a chance to break whatever was keeping me there. So I went in. There were some mes there… wanted to kill me and take my place or something. Almost didn't make it. … …Then I did something stupid. Hurt… but it worked."
"If it worked, then I don't think it was stupid." Tabitha shakes her head. "Three weeks ago Tony Stark probably would have said that what I've been doing lately would be ridiculously stupid, but… the impending end of the world because of zombies and bad people named Marvin kinda… changes things, quite a bit, right?" Another bite diminishes the burger. "What did you do?"
Shane stuffs a handful of fries in her mouth, lifting up a finger as she chews. For a brief moment, the digit glows an angry scarlet, which then bursts with an audible *SNAP,* causing a momentary wave of pressurized air that ruffles Tabitha's hair, pushing the bags back slightly. "…She taught me how to make it smaller. Finger. Hand. Feet. ….So I blew up my boots," she continues, lifting one of the scuffed but unharmed clubstompers. "….Like, rocket jumping. Got me where the big crystal was. Only I couldn't stop, so I would've broke myself over it. ….So I blew up again. Big as I could. Like getting in a car wreck and flying through the window. Then someone stops you with a kick to the back."
Tabitha's jaw drops, upon hearing Shane's story. "You… rocket-jumped?" Her hair ends up all askew, and she doesn't notice. A big grin slowly crosses her features. "Shane, that's awesome. You might just… want to work on your landing a bit though, yeah?" She giggles softly. "Hell, I wanna try it. …Maybe sometime. I'm really glad you got through it okay though, Shane, to get serious. You're kickass."
Shane utters a sour grunt, shaking her head. "Sounds awesome. Sure. 'Cept I ain't any tougher than any other pile of twigs. Ain't gonna do it again, never. Been in hospitals too long. Hate 'em. Don't wanna end up back in one 'cos I turned my legs to powder or some stupid shit."
Tabitha nods her head slowly, wiping the grin from her face. "Yeah, I understand," she murmurs. "I don't blame you, Shane. Still, I… I think it's cool you can do it, if you ever really absolutely need to." She pauses, and stops just short of stuffing herself with fries. "So like… do you have a codename, too? Like… most mutants seem to?"
Shane snorts. "School says we should, for team shit. Guess a lotta mutants dig on it, or something. Iunno. Just went with Kiloton to shut em up. Thought about Schadenfreude, but figured no one'd get the joke."
Tabitha hunhs? "Taking pleasure from other people gettin' a kick in the grapes?" She shrugs her shoulders lightly. "Well, I get it, anyway. More or less." She pauses, and her ears color once more as she blushes. "I went with Patches," she adds. "Which… probably sounds dorky, but after I found out I'm a mutant I always just… kinda felt patched together out of spare parts. So it fit I guess."
Shane grunts. "Sounds all right. Better'n lots of others. Better'n mine. So, y'know… whatever, right?"
Tabitha snorts, "Hardly better than yours," she replies. "I mean, if you get in a big fight with a hairy bunch of badguys…what's going to inspire terror? Kiloton? Or… Patches?" She shakes her head slowly. "Oh well… doesn't… doesn't matter right now. Though we might have to leave here after Cheryl and Timeslip get back… I don't know."
Shane lifts her good shoulder, stuffing another bite of burger into her mouth, chewing and swallowing before taking another sip of soda. "S'fine. Hurt, not dead. Don't wanna walk, but if we don't have a choice? I'll deal."
Tabitha nods her head quickly. "Yeah, I… I can help you if we gotta go. I borrow telekinesis from someone a few days ago, so if we have to move I could carry you, I guess. At least until I lose it again." She stuffs a handful of fries in her chops, and chews leisurely. "So… how's the burger?"
Shane snorts, a wry smirk twisting one corner of her mouth. "It's McDonald's. Recycled crap that's barely food 'n gone cold. Best stuff I've had all week."
Tabitha stuffs the rest of her friends in her mouth, and swallows with a loud gulp, barely chewed. "Okay," she replies, and bobs her head. "I'm glad I grabbed two bags… was kinda spur of the moment." She stands up slowly, and brushes her fingers through her hair. "I'm gonna go check outside, and see if Timeslip and Cheryl are back yet… but I'll be right back, okay? And we'll… we'll figure something about your arm."
~ Fin ~
