Chapter 7.3: Away From Safety

"You do realize that Gustav's probably hearing everything we are saying right now, right?", Ray said as the four of them got out of the group huddle. "He controls the doors and everything else remotely technological in here."

As if in reply, the door of the room slammed shut by its own and a set of locks clicked inside it. Of course, Gustav heard everything, and so did Lee. However, with the rest of their team currently being held prisoner by the Organisation's lackeys, there wasn't much they could do against four superpowered teenagers. Sure, they could be said to be a bunch of dumb kids, but they're by no means dumb, and are far more than kids by this point. Gustav and the doctor were practically alone; the reinforcements haven't gotten anywhere near yet.

"Aaaaaand there goes the door." Nathan touched the metal frame of the blast door, only to recoil from it when Gustav's voice filtered in through a hidden intercomm.

"Hey guys, uh, just so you know, I kind of heard everything that you said in there. I, um, really appreciate that you want to go and help save my frie- teammates, but Lee has given very specific instructions that you not go out there until the other team that the Task Force is sending gets here. I, um... I'm sorry- wait a minute, what are you doing? Hey, that door's more expensive than your life!"

Surely enough, Caitlin wasted no time with trying to reason with Gustav or Lee to let them help; other than the fact that they had made it clear that they're not going to allow it under any circumstances, she wasn't really in a talking mood. Frost and cold crept out of her hands, quickly turning the metal door as brittle as the bones of someone with no calcium in their diet. She then formed a sledge hammer out of her anomalous ice, and struck hard on the now frozen door, causing it to shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Aw, come on." Gustav's voice was rife with worry and self disappointment. "I made that to withstand a point blank explosion but not ice powers... ah, damn it. Oh crap is still on? Uh, guys, please don't go, I'm... Err, gonna be very sad if they get you. Like, very sad..."

"Sorry Gustav.", Nikolai replied, expecting to be heard by some unseen microphone somewhere in the hallway. "I'd also be very sad if only you and Doc Lee were the only ones left..."

"Damn it, Sapohznik, you ring leader." This time, it was Lee's voice. "Get back in there, now! Or else..."

The intercomms cut short, as it seemed that she wasn't going to divulge what she was gonna do if they continued on this path of rule breaking. Well, no point in wondering what that would be, anyway.

The group walked briskly through the hallway that led out of the room, passing several rooms that were the quarters of the four that had been captured by the Organization.

It wouldn't be long before Gustav and Lee came running ik order to try to stop them from leaving... but considering just how powerful they are in comparison to a single technopath and one baseline human, they'd probably have no luck...

Bzzzzz

The whirring of drone engines reverberated through the cold midnight air. Of course they were... Gustav never went to the field of battle himself; as a technopath, he'd always use his machines and mind while never being physically present.

"Uuhhh, guys... I may have to taze you if you don't... you know, stay put. No, seriously, it's for your own good. Is that right doctor... no, what? I'll do it now? Oh okay then- oh crap, you're still hearing it right?"

Ray could hardly resist chuckling at Gustav's seemingly embarassing ineptness when it came to communication; after all, Gustav was someone that had been cooped up in home for a very long time due to asthma. He may be a pretty powerful technopathic mutant, but he was bad at talking to people.

Several of the drones fired taser bolts, only for them to get blocked by a wall of ice that Caitlin conjured at a second's notice. She would then proceed to cover literally the whole width of the hallway with the thick ice wall, sealing it off from the drones.

"Neat trick." Nathan placed his hand on the ice wall, recoiling at the sting of its cold surface. "Maybe you can make us an igloo for us to stay in?"

Caitlin shook her head in response. "Ha ha, real funny."

"Alright, let's keep on before another bunch of drones get sent at us." Nikolai motioned for everyone to proceed towards the end of the hallway, which was the exit that led to the outside world. The exit was a reinforced blast door that could withstand a rocket propelled grenade... but not the brittleness induced by cryokinesis. Or the heat of a photokinetic's lasers.

"Don't make me do the... thing. Actually, I'll do the thing. Sleeping gas go brrrrr!"

Ray stopped at his tracks as the transmission ended, looking towards the grills set in regular intervals along the length of the bottom of the walls. "Did he just say sleeping gas?"

"He did." Nikolai replied, placing his hand on his forehead in a gesture of distress. "This was a half assed plan."

As if in reply, green gas began to seep out of the grills with a hiss. Nathan immediately began to feel drowsy upon breathing the fumes, and fell over to the floor, barely keeping himself awake by virtue of him using the heat of his ability to sting his hand with enough pain to prevent the sleeping gas from taking over immediately.

Caitlin, however, immediately fell facefirst on the matted floor, breathing in the gas far too soon. She was fast asleep on the ground; even if they tried, she won't wake up for at least few minutes.

As for Nikolai, his ability to control space kept the gas at bay, at least for a time. Right in front of him was Ray, who was left as the only one not burdened with not trying to get gassed.

"Get it open, Ray!" Nikolai grunted, straining himself as he used whatever could pass as a portal to funnel the gas away from himself and Ray, though he won't be able to hold it long.

"Just go, you two." Nathan croaked, kneeling on the floor as he began to burn his hand in an effort to keep himself awake. "I can't get up from here without the gas getting me first."

"Ray!"

Ray strained and struggled with his hands in a seemingly vain attempt to get the door open with his telekinetic powers. It merely shook a little, though it was noticeably getting louder and louder. "This door is really strong, alright!?"

"Hurry up!"

"I'm trying!"

This was perhaps one of the hardest things that Ray has tried to do with his powers. True, he could stop someone from breathing, and shatter small objects from the inside out, but not a door this strong. It was a big, metal door, strong enough to survive a point blank explosion. Cuffs and throats were nothing like this...

Images of the past flew past his mind's eye; the day he first manifested, the time he saved someone from committing suicide, and when he almost choked someone to death. Why am I thinking of these now, of all times?

Another flash. Him learning how to shape objects with his mind. The urges to break Terry's fingers one by one. The soothing voice of Emma Psykes. And shattering Caitlin's cuffs when they rescued her.

A primal instinct awoke within him; an innate programming that had been inside him all this time, perhaps within every single mutant that has ever lived. With a simple gesture from both hands, the green gas seeped back into the grills, leaving the hallway as if it was never there to begin with. It left only two visible traces; a snoring Caitlin, who was rather ungracefullt sprawled on the floor like a spider; and Nathan, who stopped his self burning as soon as he saw that the sleeping gas receded. What was that?

Panting at what he just did, Ray then looked up at the one thing that stood between then and saving their newfound friends... that damn door. Using a ripping gesture with his hands, telekinetic prowess forced the door open... and outside, the streets of the Bronx awaited.

"Amazing...", Nikolai gawked at the sudden display of massive power, though his amazement faded when he saw Ray fall backwards right into him. He seems to have tired himself in the process... and now Nathan would have to carry Caitlin too.

Nikolai trudged towards the outside with Ray slung over his shoulder. The winter wind bit unto his face, and, fortunately, there wasn't any black ice on the path. He quickly threw open a portal, and in he jumped along with Nathan, carrying their friends with them to the beginning of a rescue mission of suicidal proportions...