Jean (paper_roses) wrote in artofwar_rpg, @ 2011-04-16 18:23:00 |
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Entry tags: | {backstory}, †haylie collins; spitfire, ♦charles xavier; professor x, ♦hank mccoy; beast, ♦scott summers; cyclops |
Who: Scott Summers and Professor X's Rescue Team--Jean Grey, Haylie Collins, Hank McCoy, and Logan. [NPC cameo by Professor Xavier]
What: Scott destroys his bomber and crew, and tries to survive the crash, badly injured and with eyes shut.
When: August 23, 1961, Starts at 8:44am to 11:30am CST - continues from that time
Where: 120 miles east bearing slightly north of Galveston, TX and north to shore to swamps south of Deep Lake in Rockefeller State Wildlife Refuge and Game Preserve near coast of Louisiana
Rating/Warnings: R. Will note violence and death and deep emotional stresses of an highly injured man.
Status: Closed; Complete. Part 2 of 2
Eight hours.
It had taken them eight hours just to get close enough to the crash to find the area crawling with Air Force and Army personnel. And of course, Haylie’d spent the entire flight fidgeting with her gloved hands and tapping her feet impatiently - silently wishing they had their own plane so they could avoid the extra hassle of procuring plane tickets, rental cars, and going through check-ins. She had her pilot’s license... sort of. Once they’d arrived near the search and rescue set up, Haylie shifted on her feet anxiously and stayed behind Hank and the Professor. She hated the military - they made her nervous and if they knew what she could do? They’d turn her into some kind of weapon. And Haylie was no one’s weapon.
“So,” Logan said, his voice harsh against the relative silence. “That could be a problem.” He nodded at the personnel that surrounded the area. “Wade through ‘em, or wait and see what they leave behind?”
“What they leave behind?” Jean’s mouth dropped open. “It’s a person, Logan.”
“Looks more likely to be a prisoner,” he said bluntly. “Or a patient.”
“A person.” She repeated, stressing the word with a glare at him. “Being prisoner or patient doesn’t negate that.” Jean folded her arms and watched the figures moving through the swamp. She didn’t recognize all of the uniforms that the men were wearing but some of them were definitely military in origin. Her mouth pressed in a frown as she tried to think of what to do next.
“If we decide to--” Jean bracketed her words with her fingers. “‘Wade through them,’ as you put it, and there is a mutant, how will we get him out of there?”
“What I asked,” he grunted. “Besides,” he added, with a glance at Jean, “I never said there might only be the person here that we’re interested in.”
Haylie just listened to Jean and Logan’s bickering for a moment before holding up a gloved hand to shut them up long enough for her to get a word in edgewise. They were like children, really. And she thought she was supposed to be the baby here. “I vote we offer our assistance in the search. And then we... conveniently happen to get separated from the search crew. Honestly, I didn’t realize you were goin’ that way, officer. I’m just a lady, what do I know?” All sarcasm aside, Haylie was good at playing up the ‘stupid woman’ angle if she needed to.
Jean flushed as she noticed Haylie’s hand lifting up. Trying not to show how irritated she still was at Logan, she straightened up and glanced across the swamp area, then back at the five of them. “It’ll have to be you, me, Logan, and Hank then. The professor’ll need to stay back here.” He nodded quietly. “Who gets to do the volunteering?”
There was a moment of silence. The redhead shook her head and said, “I guess I’ve just been volunteered.” She darted over to the search teams, her face animated as she began to negotiate for their inclusion with the party.
“What? She acts like she thinks I’m gonna volunteer to stroke their egos and bat my eyes to get in on this.” Haylie commented mostly to herself once Jean sauntered off, shrugging at Logan and Xavier.
“Ain’t gonna work if it’s me doing it,” Logan pointed out, with the barest hint of a small smile and a definite raised eyebrow.
Haylie chuckled at Logan’s response and folded her arms across her chest, smirking. “That’s because you’re a prickly little porcupine, Logan.”
The eyebrow stayed in the same position, but the rest of the expression shifted away from amusement.
Hank stared at the uniforms thoughtfully, searching for the most senior ranking individuals. “Hmm. I’ll accompany Jean. I’ve spotted the officer who is most likely to be in charge of the situation. With a little persuasion of smoke screening, I believe we should be able to get to our goal.” At least, he hoped so.
Jean looked at Hank gratefully when he came over to stand next to her. She hadn’t been making much headway. While she didn’t mind using her charm to attempt getting her own way, the fact was, it was difficult to convince a group of military men that one had to be with a search party because one was pretty. Mentioning that she had mutant abilities--that wasn’t even on the table.
“Sir?” One of the men questioned when he saw Hank, throwing Jean a casual look before focusing his attention on the man instead. Jean’s fingers clenched although her smile remained plastered on her face.
Hank gave the man a smile. “Hello. We were just in the area and I wondered if you could use some extra eyes out here. Swamp’s a hard place to search through, lot of places people could miss things.”
“Well.” The man tugged at his collar, looking a little nervously at the couple. “I guess if you folks are headed out that way--” He pointed east. “You could see what you could find. Course, we don’t think there’s nothing out there but...”
Lines of frustration were etched on the lead searcher’s face as he frowned. “Just take care.”