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There was such a rush to get out of the claustrophobic interior of the ship, everything else was an afterthought. If they could not find their way out of the ship, why worry about what came next when they would just be dead. In a crisis, the easiest way to tackle tasks was by prioritizing the thing in front of you.

Now that they were in the fresh air, Sabine could free up some processing power for a new set of challenges. They could breathe, she could think, and their goal was visible, if not far, far in the distance. They were not safe by a long shot, but Sabine could take control of the situation.

Seeing their redemption so far out of reach was getting to Pippa, but that was fair. She was being confronted, not for the first time that night, with how likely it was she might die. Sabine was already opening doors and looking through drawers. Ignoring the pressing panic, she found her smile and did what she could to ease Pippa's nerves. "We find the way out. You've gotten us this far." Sabine found a silver survival blanket in a drawer and tossed it to the other woman, who looked soaked to the bone already. "I'll get us home. Trust me."

It was easy to make promises when failing to keep it would mean they were both dead anyway.

It took time to get to the front of the ship, but Sabine found the bridge. She was not going to delude herself into steering a sinking ship, but if she was lucky...

A radio. A radio! Maybe it was already out of commission, but it was worth a shot. "Mayday, mayday, is anyone reading? Mayday, mayday!"

There was a long pause as Sabine held her breath. Finally, static rose to life from the radio. "How did you get on this channel? Who is this?"

"This is Senior Agent of SUPER, Sabine Sang." She had to hope whoever was on the radio was not part of the plot, but if they were, why would they be asking who she was? "We were left on a battleship off the coast of New York City being sunk to create an artificial reef."

A pause. "...really?"

Sabine did her best to explain as quickly as she could how they got on the ship and where they were. The man was familiar with the ship being decommissioned and sank. Fortunately for her, he claimed to be part of the Coast Guard. Sabine ran back to Pippa, doing her best not to shiver in the cold of the sea air. She peaked over the side along the way, confirming that their time was dwindling. "Good news! The coast guard is sending a hellicoptor." Assuming the guy she spoke to was legit and not part of the trap. Once again, she could only hope, and either way, she needed a plan B.

"Bad news is I'm not confident they get here before the ship is under the waves. I checked the manifesto while I was on the bridge, and there should be a storage area with life boats near the stern." Sabine saw the light at the end of the tunnel, but she needed Pippa to see that, too. Without giving it much thought, she moved some of the hair plastered to Pippa's face away so she could meet her eyes. They were going to live. They had to believe that. "Let's get to the back of the ship and find ourselves a lifeline."

People assumed Sabine was cold and detached. They were not wrong, but most people knew her as a professional with a mission. Staying on task was easier when she focused on the job and agents of SUPER did not need her to baby them. They signed up for risks. Pippa was not an Agent. She was handling things better than any civilian Sabine knew, but she deserved to feel safe. That was the mission tonight.

Letting Pippa’s accusation slide, Sabine watched the woman go into her trance-like state to read the ship, prepared to pull her out of it should the trip go bad. Eventually, Pippa came out of her reading with ominous shock.

The shipped was rigged. ”To explode? That is an insane thing to just set up off the coast of a—“ Sure, setting off a surprise explosion at sea near New York would be impossible to hide and hard to explain, unless it was already planned.

First thing was first, they had to move. No sense standing around thinking when the ship was actually exploding and sinking. Sabine grabbed Pippa by the gloved hand and ran toward anywhere that was not their storage cell. ”An artificial reef. I bet this ship was just consigned to be sunk to form an artificial reef,” she suggested as they took a turn. ”I sort of saw a documentary about it. I bet they snuck us on here knowing that was scheduled for tonight.”

They came to a T-intersection. Sabine could not see a sign toward whether left or right was the way up and out.

Carrick had to deal with one of Sabine’s greatest fears: a power he did not fully control. Sabine spent her teenage years and, honestly, most of the years after that fearful of a manifesting a power she could not handle.

“Best behavior would be not ditching your tracker, for the record,” Sabine interjected following Pippa’s own correction, but her tone was less stern. Carrick carried himself with casual swagger, even if he was learning when to bite his tongue and listen. She mirrored his energy, which came with a hint of smugness. If he hid behind relaxed confidence, meet it in kind.

Sabine bit back a response to being called the muscle. He was not wrong. Pippa was not wrong either, but she may have overreached. ”Something like that,” she muttered. ”There are plenty of people over my head, but I’m the Senior Agent handling Personnel Management and Training. More title than I’m a fan of, but I want to use this to help mutants in our custody.”

Carrick was curious what SUPER intended to do with him and what the two women were planning. Sabine looked to Pippa, hoping Sabine’s decision was in line with what she would approve of. Sabine did not want to strain SUPER’s relationship with Haven, or her working relationship with the PR Specialist. Especially when it gave them access to Haven resources. ”R&D has been working with psychology and behavioral specialists in hopes of developing training exercises meant to help mutants work on controlling aspects of their powers tied to mental blocks, inexperience, or in your case, clashing personality.” Less controversial than split personalities, which it sounded like Carrick was describing.

”A local organization we have a working relationship with, Haven, has a simulation environment called CLASS that we can likely request access to use for training.” Sveta might even approve of a request like that, and using Haven resources should get approved by the higher ups if Sabine spoke to the right people. ”We can work with you in an environment where you can experiment with your powers without risk to anyone.”

There was, of course, an administrative detail they had to address. ”To approve this, you would be reclassed as a SUPER Asset rather than a Mutant In Custody. SUPER identifies potential talents to invest in as potential future assets. This is a non-binding role; you would not be an Agent. You may choose to never be an agent once your custody period passes. But appointing you as an Asset does let me request what I need to help you.”

Sabine leaned forward in her seat, meeting eye to eye with the young man. ”It’s up to you. But we want to help.”

Back in her home universe, SUPER had a habit of controlling narratives and stomping out dissent. This did not always come by violent means; the government was on the side of SUPER, media was somehow even more corrupt than the media of the MROverse, and anti-mutant sentiment still ran high in the general public. Despite all that, you could not control all corners of a populace, and SUPER justifiably had opposition groups speaking out against their efforts.

Among the rebels and activist groups, X-quality gave higher ups headaches. Impassioned “human first” agents held strong opinions over the group that kept framing them as the villains they were. Amongst their ranks was Pippa Swan, according to reports, and agents were on the lookout to bring her in for questioning before the rift between world shifted priorities.

Sabine knew hiring Pippa would raise red flags with some of the old guard of SUPER. Sabine never knew the Pippa of her world, and while suspicions were natural, Pippa had not misstepped or given her reason to ask further into the possibilities. Whether or not… well, whoever she was, she shared a name with a pro-mutant radical. Could that be part of what tossed them on this ship?

The why of their abduction would have to wait, as the whole ship moved uneasily following a powerful series of noises on a lower floor. A knot tied in Sabine’s stomach as she considered possibilities. They could just run—but what if that put them further into danger?

Begrudgingly, Pippa was willing to probe for more information. Steeling herself to keep from shaking, she rested a reassuring, steady hand on Pippa’s shoulder. ”Only if you are up for it. You’ve got this; any insight and we’ll figure out the quickest way to safety, Pippa. I promise.”

As expected, Pippa was not harboring a secret surname tied to wealth and power. If there was a time to give up a secret like that, it was on a creepy kidnapper ship. It was most likely their antagonists were targeting Sabine, given her standing and the variety of enemies she amassed over her time in this universe.

Still… Sabine did consider the other Pippa. This gentle public relations expert might not have enemies, but maybe she got caught in the crossfire. ”No rich family, got it. Say, by any chance, has anyone ever briefed you on your counterpart? From my universe?”

Before they could proceed, that clanking sound surprised Sabine. Were they… hitting something? Fixing it? An old ship like this probably made plenty of weird sounds, she guessed, but something felt off. That only concerned her more when it was brought to her attention how odd it was that they still had not crossed a guard. Sabine was alert, but nothing was popping out of a corner to surprise them. Hell, she did not even hear the sounds of footsteps or guards idly chatting.

Why would they leave them on a ship unguarded? Unless…

There was a thunderous boom from somewhere in the ship, followed by the creaky rending of metal. The whole ship rumbled, nearly knocking Sabine into the nearby wall. ”We’re hit? Wait.” That made no sense. What on earth would be attacking a ship like this?

How would some of her more macho agents handle being told to learn how to use a hairpin in an escape situation? Some would scoff. Michael would probably be fine, of course. The best agents Sabine worked with thought outside the box, and the ones she did not trust were rigid. Sabine was accused of being cold or frigid, but she was anything but when she was under pressure.

They made their way out of their holding cell, which was a start. Sabine took the lead, but made certain to keep Pippa close as they walked the halls. She had half a mind to take the woman’s hand in case someone tried to grab her from behind.

The spy kept her voice hushed. ”Realistically? Either a ransom or someone plans to make an example of us. Maybe mutant extremists mad at SUPER’s past. Maybe human extremists mad at SUPER’s new direction. Maybe you’re keeping some big secret that makes you a valuable target? You’re not a secret heiress, right?” That would be her luck.