ax_main | Scott and Bobby | Port Jefferson, NY

When Bobby's powers mishap lands him in protective custody, rescue comes from an unexpected source.

Bobby was pacing.

Normally, he wasn't one for pacing. Brooding sometimes, yeah, he was prepared to admit that. Maybe sulking, though he liked to think he'd outgrown that, because it sounded like something a five year old did. But not pacing. If he had that much energy to burn off - well, he had a skateboard.

On the other hand, he normally wasn't locked up in a 10x10 cell "for his own safety", either. Under the circumstances, he was pretty sure pacing was mandated.

Unfortunately, it wasn't making him feel any better, so Bobby plopped down on the bench and leaned forward, scrubbing his hands up through his hair . Maybe brooding was the way to go, after all.

Scott really was not sure how this was the best way to do this. Couldn't the Professor have used some telepathy, or heck, just lots of money to do this with less felony property damage? But this was what he'd been asked to do, and so here he was.

Scott was pretty sure that the Professor had not included, "breaking other mutants out of jail" in his statement to CPS explaining what after school activities he'd be providing.

He turned the dial on his visor, carefully reducing the power his eyes so that he wouldn't accidentally blow a hole through the very person he'd been sent to rescue.

Here went nothing.

Bobby heard a noise - later, he still wouldn't be able to describe it - and had barely jumped out of the way before the outer wall of his cell exploded. Or imploded, he supposed, considering he was inside it, and damn, now he was babbling in his head. Which was maybe a step up from pacing OR brooding, neither of which seemed appropriate when there was a HOLE in the WALL of his CELL, and...

No. No, it wasn't. And now there was a guy standing outside wearing a seriously weird looking pair of goggles, who he personally was voting 'Most likely to have blown up the wall'. "What the hell are you doing?" Bobby demanded as the dust began to settle. After all, jailbreaks? Normally worked better if you somehow TOLD the person being rescued.

Scott stepped through the hole and rubble. "Getting you out of here. Preferably before someone see us."

"You're kidding, right? I mean, you just blasted a hole in the wall. Pretty sure someone must've seen that." Which...okay, that was pretty cool, actually. How had the other guy done that, anyway? Bobby opened his mouth to ask, thought better of it, and shook his head, his jaw setting. "I'm not going anywhere. I haven't done anything wrong. It was self-defense." Or Judy defense, anyway, even if she apparently hadn't seen it that way, to judge by her reaction. Which, yeah. Not thinking about that.

"Yeah, I'm sure the jury will agree that a mutant freezing someone into a prick-sicle just screams self-defense," Scott agreed dryly. "Or, alternative plan, you could come with us and not rot in jail."

"I'm not in jail. Technically. I haven't been charged with anything - I'm in protective custody." Which still sucked, yeah, and his mom had to be having panic attacks over it, but what choice did he have? "Besides, y'know, you're not exactly inspiring confidence by breaking and entering a police station. Why would I want to come with you?"

Was the kid kidding him? Protective custody? They might be calling it that now, but they wouldn't be for long. And alarms were starting to go off - not just Scott's internal, silent ones but the loud ones belonging to the jail - they were going to both be in real trouble real soon.

Help would be appreciated any time now, Professor, he thought even as he readied himself to run for it. "We're mutants who can actually help you instead of leaving you here and pretending its for your own good."

"I'm not sure blasting a wall in is really going to help," Bobby observed, glancing over at the wall in question. "They're just going to blame me for it." Which was totally unfair. Okay, maybe he'd frozen that asshole Rocky, but no matter how you looked at it, the guy'd had it coming. And it had been an accident. He hadn't actually damaged anything. "Besides, there was a fucking mob forming. I'm pretty sure I am safer in here." He turned back to look at the other guy and made a face. "Or at least I was before you put a hole in it."

Scott snorted. "I've got bad news for you; that mob was forming before I arrived. And I don't know if you've ever been on the receiving end of a mob before, but I really don't recommend it highly." His hand stayed near his visor, prepared for anything that might come their way.

"Jeez, y'know, I wouldn't have figured that out on my own. Thank you so much for pointing it out. Really. Much appreciated." Bobby rolled his eyes, though he looked at the hole in the wall apprehensively. Because yeeaah, the mob that had been forming when the police had shown up hadn't exactly been there to hand out cupcakes, had they? And there was no saying they'd all dispersed. "If I were to go with you, where exactly would we be going? Just for curiosity's sake?"

"School. In New York," Scott said. He didn't exactly have time to read the other teen a school pamphlet. Did they even have pamphlets? That wasn't really here or there, he supposed.

"This is a seriously interesting recruitment technique," Bobby observed. He reached up and raked his hand through his hair, then shook his head. "I'm gonna take my chances here. I really doubt my parents'd be cool with me heading off to some school in New York with a guy who's blowing up buildings. No offense."

Scott huffed with mounting impatience as the crowd grew nearer and he could hear the shouts of correctional officers. "You can't be serious."

Bobby's face paled a bit as he heard the shouts as well, but he set his jaw firmly. "I'm serious. Totally. I-" He broke off as he heard someone shout something about killing the mutant, and swallowed hard. Yeah. Totally serious. Had to be a first for him. And maybe a last. Right now, serious sounded as overrated as it usually did. Just for different reasons.

Enough was enough. They were going to be nabbed any minute now, either by the mob or by the Man, and honestly Scott wasn't sure which would be worse. "C'mon," he said, gesturing forcefully at the willfully idiotic mutant in front of him. "They're not calling for your detention or some shit. Let's go!"

"I don't even have any clue who you are!" Bobby protested, though he took a step towards the hole in the wall. "Also? I don't think they're going to just let us go." Which...okay, yeah, he'd just acknowledged he was leaving. Whatever. He didn't have to go with this guy, right? Just...out.

"Yeah, well, I don't intend on letting them make us stay." Scott blasted a large rock in their path, shattering it into shrapnel that made people cover their faces for protection.

"Hey, you're going to hurt someone!" Bobby protested. The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he suddenly saw everyone freeze. Not literally (and god, could he do that? He honestly had no idea whether or not he could), but as if someone had hit the Pause button. "Did you do that?"

"No, I'm afraid that would be me," a voice said inside his head, sounding mildly amused. I have to request that you hurry, though. I won't be able to hold them for long."

Finally. Scott semi-huffed mentally. "Not me, but on our side. C'mon."

"Yeeah. Coming." At an actual loss for words (because if this day hadn't been weird enough, someone was pausing reality and talking in his head!) Bobby followed along. After all, what else could he do?