The Jeep sped through the small side rodes of New York, and James desperately thought of what to do next. He couldn't simply go to a hospital, that was the first police the police would be checking, and he knew his car was not hard to identify. Neena was still asleep in the back, but the he knew she would be waking up soon, maybe with her help he could figure out where to go. The Jeep hit a large pothole on the side of the road, causing it to violently rock back and forth, he was getting lost and decided to pull over to the side of the road.

Pain momentarily flooded Neena's senses along with the electricity, followed quickly by blackness as she passed out.


Waking up was a different matter. That happened in short bursts. Rather than seeing spots, her various visions were scrambled. Every time she blinked, a different sight took over, whether she wanted it to or not. A quiet groan heralded her return to reality.

"Jim, I'm going to kill you," she mumbled as she tried to bring her eyes back under control. She purposely used a nickname, hoping that if he was within hearing range it would annoy him. Turnabout was fair play, or so they said, and right now she was annoyed beyond all reason.

About the time she figured out that she was lying on the back seat of a vehicle, they went over some sort of a bump or hole, and she was tossed off the seat and onto the floor. That completely woke her up. Muttering various oaths in several African languages, she pulled herself up off the floor and leaned groggily over the front seat. In the dark her almost-white eyes stood out in bold relief, though one of them had a greenish tint to it; she was still working on her right eye, which seemed stuck in night vision.

"Nice drivin'," she remarked sarcastically, then smacked James upside the back of his head. "Darn fool. You could have tried something that didn't scramble my brain, ya know." She ignored the little voice in her head telling her, 'Serves you right for being a stubborn hothead.'

She rubbed the back of her neck, and leaned back on the seat. "Where are we, anyway?"

"well next time don't be such a pain in the ass." James said as he popped open the glove compartment, he reached in and searched through some papers, coming upon a map he pulled it out and unfolded it. James' eyes scanned the map, and after a few seconds he turned back to Neena "I'm not sure." he said pointing to an area on the map "all I know is were around here, do you know where the other mutants would go to, maybe a pre set point for everybody to meet up." James was in no condition to try and take any mutants in now, but if he knew where thye were meeting, maybe he could get an element of surprise, or atleast some information.

"Well next time don't be such a pain in the ass."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"All I know is were around here. Do you know where the other mutants would go to, maybe a pre set point for everybody to meet up."

Neena resisted the urge to tell him he should have stopped and asked for directions. Just barely....

"No. I haven't got a clue." She sighed. She had been hoping there would be no need for such precautions. She should have known better; humanity didn't always learn from its mistakes. More often then not, they merely repeated them in a different way. "We probably should just stay out of sight until morning, and go back to see if anyone is still around." If nothing else, his brain-scrambling had set her back to clear thinking. At least for the moment.

"What's wrong with your arm?" She saw that he wasn't moving it; it seemed to be hanging limp. Her right eye still wasn't cooperating, so she blinked her left one, and saw the break. Then she noticed the missing door. She shook her head.

"Word of advice, don't try to hold onto the door if it's being pulled away from you." She began hunting around the seats for a rag or two to fashion a sling.

The helicopter followed the jeep but remained out of sight, relying on the tracking device to follow it. They would hang back until the jeep came to a stop, then move in to try and rescue the mutant. The helicopter would be heard by the occupants of the jeep, but they wouldn’t be able to see it, not until it came for them.

James stepped on the gas and started speeding down the road ahead "I know where we are now, we are going to meet up with a friend in the woods ahead, I just didn't expect us to arrive so soon." James said taking a tight turn "He can help us out." The Jeep slowed to a stop and James pulled himself out, he immediately started heading into the woods "Cmon, it's only a matter of time before the cops catch up to us."

While James fiddled with the map, Neena paused in her search. She could hear something in th distance, something that sounded like a running zebra herd, or horses. She glanced around, letting her still-stuck-in-night-vision eye scan the area. They were far enough from the Mansion that she couldn't see it or the grounds anymore. Nothing out of the ordinary jumped out at her.

She blinked several times, but her eye still refused to unstick. Muttering irritably, she swithed her left to heat vision. Half of the world flooded with color as the creatures of the night were unmasked. Still nothing unusual though. She glanced skyward. Honing in on the sound she spotted something above them, several 'hot spots' that she couldn't identify. However, putting them together with the sounds, she guess a helicopter was following them.

Just then James hit the gas and threw her into the seat again. She kicked the back of his seat with her heel.

"Do I look like a sack of potatoes, to be thrown around?" she grumbled loudly.

"I know where we are now, we are going to meet up with a friend in the woods ahead, I just didn't expect us to arrive so soon. He can help us out."

The question briefly occurred to her; why did he have a friend hiding in the woods ahead? She twisted around, leaning over the front seat again to ask it aloud. But finding the answer was tossed away, as was she, when he slammed on the brakes. She lurched forward and tumbled head first onto the seat then the floor, her legs waving undignifiedly in the air. Another string of muffled curses wafted up as she attempted both to right herself and kick him at the same time.

"You didn't have much success with girlfriends in life, did you?" she muttered. He was halfway to a stand of trees by that time, and probably didn't hear.

"Cmon, it's only a matter of time before the cops catch up to us."

"Yeah, like right now. There a chopper following us." Unless he was deaf, he should have already heard it. "And who exactly is this 'friend' of yours?"

She was mildly suspicious, but up until that point she had nothing solid to base it on. Almost nothing. That gear he was toting around wasn't exactly Mansion standard-issue. But maybe he was a machine manipulator.

Maybe....

Through their night vision goggles the soldiers in the helicopter saw the jeep come to a halt and people disembark. The pilot sped up and they closed on the mutant and the unknown soldier. Why he had chosen a wood to stop in they were unsure, maybe he was meeting a contact there. Whatever the reason, they would be on top of the duo in thirty seconds.

James could see his friend in the woods, as they approached James could hear the chopper closing in on them, time was definately running out, but he knew it would take them a second to land, and then move in on foot. Once they arrived James nodded towards his friend "I got all I could" He said as he pulled out his Tranquilizer pistol and pointed it at Neena, "but she doesn't know anything else, sorry Neena."

Neena had two minor advantages. One, her blood was already ‘up’ from both the Mansion attack and the effort to keep up with James in the dark, so her muscles were still ‘twitchy’, ready to react on a moment’s notice. Two, her eye was still ‘stuck’. Despite the darkness, before he had fully turned, she saw the outline of the pistol coming up. Her partial suspicions flared into full reality as the betrayal became all too clear.

”Sorry Neena.

”Yeah, you are,” she muttered under her breath even as she ducked. She could feel the passage of air as the shot passed overhead. She touched the ground, and instantly launched herself from all fours, like an animal. She latched onto his gun hand and arm, and dug in with all ten nails, and pushed backwards sharply, with intent to break either his wrist, elbow or, even better, both. With one arm already broken, if she could put his working hand out of commission, it would cut down on the threat he posed. His ‘friend’, on the other hand, was another matter.

Still holding onto James’s arm, she used him to lever herself into a kick, aimed at the other man’s chest.

James pulled back on his arm, the strain was immense, but he was able to keep her from attacking his friend. Jame's contact was ready though, the man was one of Quinn's old comrades, and he was not unarmed. He reached to his hip and pulled out a tranquilizer gun of his own, and took careful aim at Neena, firing off two shots at her.

Neena grunted slightly as she was pulled off her 'kick course'. Still hanging onto James, she let her full weight pull down on his arm. One of the two shots missed, by pure luck. The other imbedded in the back of her shoulder. With an animal-like snarl, she reached back and yanked it out, and attempted to drive it into James's arm.

The tranq's effects were speeded a bit because of her anger. But she still managed to stay conscious long enough to aim a fist at James' face.

She began feeling woozy. Just before passing out, she spat in his face and let loose another string of various African insults at him, loose and polite translations being 'Traitor' and 'Hypocrite'. She was mid-curse when darkness completely claimed her.

Quinn dodged the needle but still got punched in the face and spat on. He gave Neena a menacing look as her grip on his arm loosened. He broke free and grabbed her neck, lifting her off the ground. He could feel her as she finally lost consciousness, he then tossed her limp body to his friends feet "get her to registration." he said picking up his M9 and throwing it over too "and make sure she doesn't wake up till then. The man nodded and grabbed Neena, giving Quinn a last look he ran into the woods, to his own waiting vehicle.

Quinn walked over to a nearby tree and sat down against it "The police will be here soon" he though listening to the rotors of the chopper. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes and place on in his mouth, pocketing them he pulled his lighter out and lit it "all I have to do now is wait."

The chopper reached the jeep and saw it empty. Infrared vision on the goggles showed there to be a trio in the woods, though two were moving away rapidly and would soon be to far away to track by the goggles. Concluding that capture of the individual remaining would be the most effective method to gleaning the location of the other two the soldiers zip-lined to the ground.

Once on the ground they advanced towards the individual with weapons raised. Closing ten remained concealed while a two closed. One of the pair had a tranquiliser weapons to hand, as did two others who were still concealed. “No false sudden,” Sergeant Maddok warned the man, “hands where we can see them.”

Quinn raised his hands and smiled to the men "late to the party" he said blowing smoke out of his mouth. "what held you up, with a nice ride like that I expected you to beat us here." he said jokingly. "So I assume you aren't just some typical NYPD, maybe some SWAT? or maybe a new division I never heard of. Nah I would know if that happened." The wind kicked up behind James, blowing the smoke towards the men.