Participants:
| Scene Title | Down The Rabbit Hole |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Darla and Minea make good their escape. Minea is introduced to the Foxhole. |
| Date | July 23, 2009 |
The stretch of tunnel leading up to the Foxhole looks like any other part of the system beneath Midtown — neglected, unused, full of dust and multicolored graffiti. Inhabited by few things, given the desolation of the blocks above — a few rats, a few stray dogs, the occasional human imitating a goblin, all glimpsed in fleeting passing at best. Perhaps not glimpsed at all, but only heard, the furtive sounds of solitary creatures avoiding company.
The Foxhole itself, however, begins with an expanse of pristine concrete, cleaned of dirt, grime, and graffiti; the walls are seemingly a solid piece of concrete, as if the entire length of reclaimed tunnel was poured and set as a single cohesive whole. Metal supports bolster the arched ceiling, not out of need, but out of redundancy; they too appear to have been created entire rather than pieced together. Evidence, perhaps, of Evolved abilities applied in the renovation. Evidence too in the fact that the Foxhole's air is never damp, always seems as close to fresh as the air of the city outside; somehow, this space is well-ventilated indeed.
The two walls press close against the tracks, providing room (probably) for a train to barrel past but nothing more; ledges atop each hint at space for people — but at over ten feet from the tunnel floor, they're not readily reached. A single door set into each wall seems likely to provide access; they are not directly across from one another, but separated along the length of the tunnel by perhaps fifteen feet.
Behind each wall is a series of small, cramped chambers — storerooms filled floor to ceiling with stashed supplies, empty rooms for later use, some that look like they are occupied by one or more residents. Some have features identifiable as original construction; others appear to have no connection with the original tunnel at all. Each side connects to the maintenance halls behind the original tunnel, offering additional storage space — and, at desperate need, the potential of an escape route.
Darla leads the way not across ground, but into the dark and dank tunnel of an abandoned subway. "Watch the rubble," she says, a green chemiluminescent stick providing just enough light to make out the edges of fallen concrete boulders. The young woman hops down them with familiar ease, turns to offer her free hand to Minea.
It's a quiet, empty place; dark as only the underground can be, without even the sounds of rustling critters or dripping water. The rubble peters out after a short distance, revealing dust-covered subway tracks. Bits of trash lie in the cracks and corners, blown in by time and lack of care. It doesn't look like anywhere anyone would particularly want to be.
Unless you're a rat or a cockroach. Minea's not above taking the hand to help. Her breathing calmed in the time it's taken to get here, she's intent on just hiding, perpetually looking behind them to see if they've been followed. The grip on her gun never quite goes away, always tight. She side steps some loose concrete and when they reach subway rails, she steps to the middle an walk between the iron bars. "Understood" Woman of little words the last bit. "I can look at your arm, when we're safe"
The glance back is noticed. "Doesn't seem to be anyone following," Darla remarks. She pads down the tracks beside Minea, apparently not minding the fact that — last time? Minea was the one who shot at Darla. "Sure. Seems about done bleeding, but we've got a bit to go. Fortunately, no one knows these like I do." Justified self-confidence.
"Another ferryman hideyhole" Minea hasn't realize quite yet that she shot at Darla before. Sorry, it's just a job, no hard feelings. "Least, this time, you really are the underground railroad" She gestures to the dimly lit subway ties as she lets a small laugh escape. "Thank you, for that. I don't know how she found me. I've been careful, never going in the same place within a few days of each other. She pissed that I pounded agent Varlane when he came to me"
"We're everywhere," Darla affirms, tone upbeat. "Rats. Cockroaches." A quicksilver grin. "Foxes." She stretches her arms up towards the ceiling, not slowing her pace any. "You're welcome. Wasn't that long ago I was the mouse; now I pay it forward. Hold on a second."
The aerokinetic jogs over to a small alcove on one side of the tunnel, once upon a time relevant to maintenance crews; retrieving something from it, Darla jogs back. Since Minea is keeping a hand on her gun, she's the one that turns the flashlight on, aiming it at the tracks before them. "Can't say anything about how she found you; just that we'll know well before anyone follows us here, if they even try. Most of the moles — the really crazy vagrants who think they can actually survive under Midtown — will stay well away from us. It's the stray dogs you need to keep a watch out for."
"I don't know, and it worries me" Minea knows who the she is. "Not safe to head back to the Hangar today. I was hoping to get some ID's done for some folks, but that's on hold now it seems" Minea waits for Darla to fetch what turns out to be a flashlight. Guns not being put away, not after the dog comment. "Gone Feral?"
"Yeah. Scrawny, skinny things; usually don't hear more than one, and one won't mess with you, but every now and again a pack collects." Darla leads her rescuee left at a fork, around a bend. "You're welcome to hang out here as long as you like. Lord knows the company would be a nice change." There's a brief pause before she speaks again. "What do you need for your work?"
"It's all in a box in the room at the Hangar. Inks, papers, there's a special Lamp. My pens. Stuff I was able to buy. If someone can get it here safely, I can keep doing it. less distraction. I was heading out to get more stuff, and work, sort files" Less of a grip on the gun now. "This a way point? Or a fallback point?"
"I'll pass the request along soon's we're settled," Darla promises. "Shouldn't be a problem; there's stuff moved back and forth all the time." Change of routes again; still heading ever-deeper into Midtown. "Whatever I want it to be, really. Set this particular space up back in January; I guess it's most correctly a fallback point."
"Ahh, January" It makes sense now. "Shanti Virus. Well. Then I guess I shall stay underground then, unless Phoenix requests my presence. Which should be soon if tonight activities end up doing anything good" Minea picks her way along with Darla. It's just niggling at her where she's seen the woman. "You were with the ferryman they flushed out in April. Little Cafe. You knocked me on my ass"
"And you tried to tranq me," Darla promptly points out, grinning sidelong at Minea. "Figure that makes us even." She rounds another bend, flashlight beam illuminating a scrawl of old graffiti. Beyond that, and a screening pile of rubble, the atmosphere undergoes an abrupt change. Subway tunnel? What subway tunnel?
"It's not much, but it's the next best thing to home," Darla quips. "Welcome to the Foxhole."
Well lookit this. Minea's stunned as suddenly, the tansition from neglect and disarray, chaos, suddenly turn to cleanliness and organization. "Well I'll be damned. Foxhole. How appropriate" Minea's stunned and really these days, it takes a bit to stun her. "Just claim a room?" As they wander in further, Minea looking here and there. "Well, if they blow up midtown again… You'll be fine. Terrakinetic make this?"
"That's the idea!" A few people could weather the end of the world here. "Terra, metallo, hydro — we called in a lot of markers," Darla replies, curls bouncing as her head bobs. "Although that sounds a lot more formal than how it really worked." She waves a hand towards one of the two doors set in the cleaned concrete walls. "Yeah, take any likely-looking space. I'll grab you a kit. There's faucets at a couple points in the corridor; cold only right now. So's the shower at the end of the hall, but you shouldn't be here long enough to get used to it."
"Can't be any worse than Columbia and that cold spring which was our only source. I swear, I got used to ice baths" There's an empty one, far back from the way they came in and she slings her backpack down into it. "Done, and done and Appreciated. Lets go get your arm seen to first, then we can worry about a kit"
"Fair enough." Following Minea in to see which room she picks (cell is probably a more apt term), Darla gestures at a cupboard set into the wall. "First aid kit up there. It'll be enough for this. Lemme pull up the real lights, though." For that, she moves back over to the main door, flicks a switch that wasn't in obvious view. If there's a generator, its noise is muffled; all they can discern is that lights come on, bright compared to the dim, emergency-type lighting that had been left in Darla's absence.
"Maybe I won't need my light set up" She will, because this light doesn't compare to true light. But the first aid kit is fished down from it's hidey hole, gloves put on, gauze gotten out and Minea puts her military skills to work. "let me tell you, about that day, in Brooklyn. Because in a way, you had a part in my defection believe it or not" And while Minea sets in to patching up Darla's arm, Minea tells her about the time travelling April.