what's nicer than a walk in the woods?

[Slade Konrad]

Slade chuckled lightly to himself as meaty hands grasped at the wood scattered across the ground. This wasn't uncommon, a lot of things around the cabin ended up knocked over or moved around. The wildlife in the area was abundant and ran largely unchecked due to the land being private property. The big man didn't mind. One of the reasons he liked it up here was that there was always some small task to busy himself with. It certainly beat sitting in the staff dorms all day and night.

The trained ears of the phys ed teacher caught the rustling from the treeline as well. Eyes narrowed as he looked out across the small clearing where the cabin sat. Something about the sound didn't sit right with Slade. It was too big to be a squirrel or raccoon and too tentative and careful to be something much bigger. "Zoe." He called. There was no panic in his voice, but it was plain there was something wrong and the large man was deadly serious. "Go in the cabin and shut the door."

Slade heard the faint click of the device just a split second before it went off.  He'd been careless. Hadn't checked his surroundings like he was supposed to.  Like he'd been trained to do.  If it had been an anti-personnel mine, the big man would've been reduced to little more than red chunks smeared across the clearing.  Thankfully for Slade, it was one of those 'less than lethal' measures that fired rubber pellets.  Still, he was far too close to the device when it went off.  His entire body was racked with intense pain.  Out of instinct he'd turned toward the explosive (another move he was trained not to take) and took the full brunt of the blast into his torso.

Doubling over Slade's arms wrapped around his stomach and chest.  The pellets weren't meant to kill, but the tiny bearing had shredded his shirt and done an admirable job of doing to same to the skin underneath.  The big man crumpled to the ground as a faint trickle of blood began to leak from his ear.  "Zoe!"  It took every ounce of effort for Slade to force the air out of his lungs to call to the girl.  "Get down!"

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe heard Slade and turned to him, frowning. "Is something wrong?" but as she turned, she noticed another shape moving in the distance. Zoe wasn't quick; she didn't have military reactions or anything, but even a normal teenager could react when necessary. Zoe did the first thing that came to mind, which involved stepping into the cabin. She still felt something graze her arm, leaving a burning trail along her. The tough fabric only helped so much. Zoe heard more ratting and she dove, not caring about anything. The camera cracked under her weight, which made her wince, but she was soon crawling.

"Mr. Konrad?" she yelled, twisting and looking. He had to be there somewhere, right? As Zoe moved, she saw the shapes quite clearly, becoming people. Her eyes widened and she jerked toward the door, snagging it with her foot and yanking at it. She felt something else fire off, the wood splintering and catching her. For the first time in some while, Zoe was glad that she wore so much protective clothing. "They're heading for the cabin!" she yelled, rolling, giving up on the door. A window nearby shattered, causing her to scream and curl, feeling glass rain down near her. Her chest felt bruised from where she fell and her heart hammered. Why would anyone...

SPECTRE? But why go after them? And why here? This just didn't make any sense, and Zoe felt the tears coming, her body compressing, attempting to ball itself up despite the intense pain in her arm and chest.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade could just barely make out Zoe's voice through the haze and ringing in his ears. "Stay down!" He managed to croak as loud as he could muster the strength for. The concussive blast of the anti-riot mine had rattled his brain and his insides. Groggily, as if drugged, he shrugged off his back pack and rolled onto his hands and knees. He felt a deep cough well in his throat and he hacked a mixture of spit and blood onto the dirt beneath him.

The big man couldn't focus, his mind refused to think straight. He probably had a concussion and some internal damage. It didn't matter. Only one thing continued persisting through the pain and nausea. They wanted the girl, no doubt. He should have suspected as much. The non-lethal force used to take him down led Slade to believe they would probably take him as a bonus if given the chance. He'd barely had time to lean back onto his knees before a camouflage clad operator caught him square in the jaw with an extendable metal baton. Teeth and blood flew from Slade's mouth as the blow sent him reeling to the ground again. A fresh batch of fog and pain shot through his face.

In spite of it all, Slade began to laugh. Through the pain and the hazy vision he could feel the beast within him stir. Soon it would awaken and there would be hell to pay.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Zoe could hear the sounds of battle, like some obscene video game or horrible action movie. How often did the heroine of one of those sit whimpering against the door, bleeding all over herself and feeling more pathetic by the passing moment? Zoe heard something soar through the window and pulled her head out of her crouch, seeing a spinning canister. She yelped and scrambled away, crawling for the most part, almost overturning some kind of chest. Without thinking about it, she threw the chest over the spinning canister, covering it just as gas began to seep out. Another soon shot through, but Zoe scooped it as well. The box practically vibrated and, not knowing what else to do, she flung it back out the window, hearing yells as people scrambled away.

Zoe hurried further into the cabin then, glad that it had at least a few rooms. She felt something clip against her side, a blaze of pain shooting through her. Something tore at her clothing too: they were apparently trying to shoot darts but failing because of her clothing. Zoe didn't stop to think: she simply stumbled and fell into the one of the three other rooms: the bathroom. This room had only a small window, and not a lot of space. Zoe hurriedly threw herself against the door, leaning against it for a moment before realizing that was a good way to get hurt again. She pulled her exhausted, aching body from it, groping to grab at a trashcan and wedge it in.

Zoe really needn't have bothered that much: she might have been the original target, but the squad hadn't been that large. They'd only expected to find a scrawny girl and maybe one adult protecting her, so only a handful of SPECTRE troops were needed. Those agents were now mostly focused on the rampaging man outside, knowing they needed to take him down. It didn't help that their own gas flooded near the front of the house either...

[Slade Konrad]

As the agents swarmed the clearing Slade, once again, pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. The black metallic substance he'd rarely called upon had already begun seeping through the pores in his skin. As it hardened he felt the pain from the strike with the butt of the agent's weapon and the blast from the riot control mine fade. Once the transformation had completed Slade slowly got to his feet. The agent who'd struck Slade had glanced away to order a pair inside the cabin to secure the objective. The big guy was a bonus that they wouldn't hesitate to put down if necessary. The girl was the real reason they were there.

It wasn't as if that mattered to Slade. Lunging forward with startling quickness he pounced on his attacker like a wild animal. A short elbow caught the agent and cracked the heavy plastic tactical helmet he wore. The agent would have been incapacitated but that wasn't enough. Slade had reverted to a previous state. One where a living enemy was a dangerous one. Massive hands wrapped around the concussed agent's head and twisted. With a sickening crack the big man took yet another life. Just another in a long line.

Turning, Slade squared himself to the trio of agents left outside to secure the big man. They looked at each other with a mixture of shock and fear. This wasn't what they had expected. Intel hadn't prepared them for a rampaging... metal thing. Slade hadn't noticed the exchange. His eyes moved past the three standing in his way to the pair who were setting about getting into the cabin. The door would hold long, it wasn't the sturdiest out there, and they would soon gain entrance. Coal black eyes narrowed as they dropped to the three agents who were hurriedly discarding their non-lethal firearms in favor of those loaded with real bullets. Left with no choice, Slade charged. He didn't fear for himself, his only concern was getting through these guys before any harm came to Zoe.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Six agents should have been more than enough to handle one girl, especially a quiet, meek one. Six might have been able to handle Slade Konrad too, had those six actually been prepared. instead, they were borderline panicking, feeling like they'd faced one of those real monsters instead of an invented one. A little girl who could sometimes paralyze was one thing: a large man made of steel was something else entirely. Your training only went so far in that regard.

The two on Zoe were therefore desperate to get to something, technically someone, easier. They worked at the door, bursting into the cabin. That meant figuring out where Zoe had hid, and since she'd gone through most of the rooms, well, that would prove rather on the difficult side of things. one headed toward the "bedroom," the other toward the bathroom. Zoe soon found herself yelping as the door near her jerked, realizing too late that making noise was probably not a good idea. The agent began working at that door too, hammering at it, ready to break it down and break in on her. Zoe cast around for a weapon, forgetting that, technically, she was one. She gripped a plunger with her gloved hands, feeling them slide a bit.

Slide... that reminded her of her power. She had to touch them, but they might try that themselves, though with gloves. Zoe removed them with shaking hands, jerking them off her hands, also rolling up sleeves and working to rip her tights. The more skin she could bare, the better. All while hiccuping and sobbing as they hammered the door, knowing that they'd be on her in moments.

[Slade Konrad]

Slade had long returned to a world where pain was the norm and death happened in an instant.  Long years of training and instinct took over.  There was no anger or malice in the mutant's actions.  After the initial outburst a cold, calculating mind assumed control.  Throughout his life Slade had found his greatest skill to be taking lives and he had been frighteningly good at it.  He was an artist who's canvas was death.  And he was about to paint his masterpiece.  The only thing that scared him was how much he missed it.

Within moments Slade had pounced upon the trio of agents.  They were well trained and switched to lethal weapons with ease.  The bullets ricocheted off the tough, metallic hide Slade's mutation gave him.  The rounds would leave deep bruises, but adrenaline and determination refused to let Slade so much as wince.  He waded through the small arms fire to get his hands on one of the agents.  With a snarl he ripped the sub machine gun from the operator's hands, breaking a couple fingers in the process, and whipped the weapon into a second agent.  There was little resistance as the now disarmed agent was hurled into the last standing attacker.  They weren't incapacitating blows but that wasn't the point.  Slade just needed to by time and stem the hale of bullets.

In a flash he was upon the first fallen, the one who'd been struck by the weapon.  Heavy knuckled came down upon the helmeted head of the agent.  Plastic and bone were crushed beneath the force of the blow spraying a burst of crimson onto the ground.  Slade moved quickly to the next, he didn't have time to allow the team to regain their composure and train their weapons upon him again.  His hand darted out and caught the rising agent by the throat.  A muffled crunch barely registered over the chaos of the scene as Slade calmly crushed his would-be attacker's larynx leaving the agent to what would surely be a painful end.

Although an efficient killer in a brutally dangerous body, Slade wasn't fast enough to dispatch the third, and final, agent left to secure the outside of the cabin.  The agent rose, drawing a sidearm and sent a well aimed round into Slade's skull as the big man stalked closer.  The round didn't penetrate the thick metal skin, but it rattled the big man.  A blinding pain rang through his head and his vision grew blurry.  Getting shot in the head wouldn't kill or even seriously injure Slade in his mutant form, but it certainly knocked him for a loop.  Shaking it off he lunged forward  Two more shots rang out with each of them finding their mark.  Through the fog Slade saw two, metallic hands get a hold of the agent.  With a quick motion the arm holding the gun was snapped.  He didn't hear the operator's scream of pain.  He couldn't hear much of anything with the ringing still in his head.  From there everything faded into a haze of red.

With blood on his hands Slade turned toward the cabin.  He didn't bother looking at the bodies he'd left on the ground, least of all the one he'd just finished.  The details of his third victim may have been hazy but there was no debating the broken corpse he'd left behind.  He'd slipped, allowed anger to take over.  That couldn't happen, not today.  The wrong people died when emotions were let onto the battlefield.  Leaving the carnage behind him, Slade made his way toward the cabin. The entire exchange outside had been just a couple, short minutes long but he hoped he wasn't too late.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

The panic only grew as the two hammered at the door. one of them turned, hearing the commotion outside. Zoe heard something about "getting the girl" and then movements, someone running away. Doubtless Mr. Konrad would soon find another person ready to fight him, though that one most likely wouldn't be quite as prepared. They had been armed and prepping for Zoe.

That still left one hammering down the door above Zoe. She saw a hand reach through and heard them grunt as the shards of wood tore at their uniforms. In fact, Zoe saw that their uniforms weren't quite as padded as they should be. Strange, given who they were going against. The person leaned forward slightly, and Zoe saw that there was space between helmet and the cloth on the torso. Fear paralyzed her as that person moved, and without thinking, she lunged out with a bared hand, catching the arm. The agent gasped and moved to hit Zoe, but in desperation she shot her other hand out. Her poor aim meant that her hand crumpled against the helmet, jerking the head back. It throbbed, bringing tears to Zoe's eyes, but she jerked it down regardless, shoving it against that bared space, touching a jaw.

The person struggled for several seconds, pulling, even moving to hit Zoe. The awkward position worked to her advantage, as did her having both hands gripping flesh. The agent still slammed their weapon against Zoe, first hitting her side and then actually hitting their head. She saw stars and felt her grip weaken for a moment. But the paralysis had spread to the throat, and the agent soon could do little more than flail and squirm. Zoe kept holding, even as she felt the agent going limp and falling against the shredded door, her panic locking her body onto him, her reeling mind not thinking about how the paralysis spread throughout that body.

[Slade Konrad]

The red haze that had clouded Slade's vision slowly began to fade as he made his way through the open cabin door. The two agents that had been tasked with securing Zoe had met more resistance than anticipated. This served the big man well. Calmly he approached the scuffle. It was obvious one of the operators was getting a first person view of Zoe's power. Slade would deal with that one soon enough. Powerful hands wrapped around the helmeted head of the agent trying to pull his collegue away from the deadly grasp of the waifish girl. With a quick twist and a sickening 'crack' the agent ceased his attempts to help his partner.

Paralyzed or not, Slade wasn't about to let any of the operatives who'd attacked him and Zoe live. It was a conscious decision he may come to regret in the near future but at the moment it sounded like a good idea. Gripping the back of the agent's tactical vest, Slade yanked backward, pulling the man from the hole he'd made in the bathroom door. The man was limp, barely conscious but unable to move from the effects of Zoe's mutation. It didn't matter. With a quick, forceful motion Slade brought the agent's life to an end in a similar manner as his partner.

With disgust, Slade tossed the corpse to the side and approached the smashed in bathroom door. His eyes closed as he felt the metallic skin he'd manifested slowly begin to soften and melt away. As the black substance sloughed off in flaky chunks bruises appeared on his skin where the bullets had struck him. His left eye was already beginning to swell shut and his head began to throb with pain. "Zoe." He croaked as he fell to his knees outside the door. Reverting back always took so much out of him. He could only hope it was over.

Shakily, the big man pushed himself up to his feet. The fight was over but they weren't finished. Exhausted he leaned against the wall near the door. "It's okay..." He said weakly. "It's over. They're gone." Slade winced at the thought of the girl having to leave the cabin through the carnage he'd left. "Please tell me you're okay." The back of his head hit the wall as his eyes closed and he gulped air.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

More noises sounded in the room. At some point Zoe lost her hold on the agent she'd been paralyzing, felt him slip between her fingers. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Maybe both. Maybe neither. She was just suddenly aware of the hurt, her arm blazing with the pain of that graze, the little shards of glass all throughout her, her broken camera... for some reason, that last hurt more than anything else. Tears flowed in little rivers down Zoe's face, and she struggled as best she could to maintain herself, struggled and, for the most part, failed miserably. She heard the last few noises, hearda croak that sounded like her name. Not what the agents would call her, but what Slade, what Mr. Konrad, what the steel bear would call her. Zoe hiccuped, moving weakly, everything aching, her body screaming at her.

She kicked aside and moved the stuff she'd shoved against the door, clearing that path. She lurched upward, grabbed a handle, pushed, and all but fell into the other room. That only served to remind her of how much her chest hurt, of the broken camera. She fought back a whimper, pushing herself upright and looking over at Slade. He looked exhausted, and Zoe scanned him, trying to see if he'd received any injuries. The blood that had seeped into her sleeve gave way to the more serious bodily harms on Zoe; the ears and blubbering silence hinted at the emotional.

"I---I---" she stammered, her words choked, her voice hoarse. She swallowed hard. Was she? Was she okay? After... that? She looked down at a body, staring at the people who'd wanted to hurt her, hurt them...

[Slade Konrad]

Every muscle in Slade's body protested as the big man pushed off the wall. He could feel the bruises in his torso already forming and he was quickly losing vision in his eye as it began to swell shut. He'd taken stock of his own injuries while Zoe had carefully extracted herself from the bathroom. He was concussed, that was the most notable of maladies. He couldn't move very quickly without vertigo setting in and he would be shocked if the point-blank rounds hadn't jolted something loose in his guts. Lifting up the tail of his shirt the discoloration in his stomach confirmed that. It didn't matter. Neither internal damage or a concussion would put him down yet.

Pulling the blanket off the bed that rested in the corner of the cabin's modest living area, Slade shuffled back to where the sobbing girl stood. "It's okay." He said softly, tossing the blanket over her shoulders. "Don't look..." To say that Death and Slade were friends would be a misnomer. Death was never welcome, per se, but the two had reached a professional agreement. Seeing the broken, bloodied remnants of war had ceased to register to Slade sometime around his second deployment to the Middle East.

Zoe, though, was no soldier. Slade took a quick look at the wound on her arm and was relieved to find it only a graze. It could've been much worse. He'd admonish himself for letting his guard down later. For now, the girl was his only worry. "You're safe now. Okay?" He said, kneeling enough to remain at eye level. He wanted her to focus solely on him. "They're gone." He assured as he wrapped the blanket tighter around Zoe. "Can you walk?" Although he doubted she would be able to make the trek back to campus. As is, it had taken some out of her just to reach the cabin. He didn't wait for an answer and moved to gather the blanket-wrapped girl into his arms. He'd carry her the entire way back to campus if that's what it would take.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

everything ached, but Zoe wasn't entirely certain her physical condition had anything to do with that. Each breath felt like a struggle. Don't look, said Mr. Konrad, as if Zoe really had a choice. She stared, remembering all her thoughts upon death and the moment. They'd been alive moments ago, alive and attempting to hurt them. Now they were dead. Zoe felt like she should be sad at that, that people had died because of this, because of her. But.... she wasn't. No, the situation still bothered her, she still couldn't stop shaking, couldn't stop freezing, couldn't stop blubbering, but she didn't feel sad or upset about the bodies as much.

A blanket wrapped around her, then heavy hands. Zoe sucked in another shaky breath, meeting Mr. Konrad's eyes as he knelt before her. Safe. They're gone. "Their bodies aren't," she managed, not even sure where the words came from. her eyes drifted toward the bodies before snapping back to Mr. Konrad, blinking at him, not sure what to do. Walk? He was already moving to gather her. Probably for the best; Zoe wasn't sure her body was going to cooperate with her any time soon. She felt like she should be moving or something. She was, she supposed, with Mr. Konrad.

Zoe didn't protest, wasn't sure what to say, to do. "My arm hurts," came out without her really thinking about it. She could feel the wet, sticking to her. She could feel the air on the various tears in her clothing. Felt a lot and nothing, really, and that just summed up everything far, far too well.

[Slade Konrad]

Even though his muscles threatened to go on strike with the strain, Slade bundled Zoe and the blanket around in his arms with little effort. There was no amount of exhaustion or pain that would let him fail the girl. Not today. Not again. Confident the blanket would prevent any accidental skin contact that would send him to the ground in a heap, he started for the broken cabin door.

"Just close your eyes." The big man ordered softly as he stepped out into the still crisp morning air. It had been such a beautiful day and now all he could focus on were the bloodied corpses of their attackers, the searing pain that came with every step, and the shivering bundle gathered in his arms. Zoe had been through enough. Slade wished for nothing more than to keep her from seeing more than she already had. "I got you." He said quietly. "You're safe." In all honesty, he wasn't sure which one of them he was attempting to reassure.

Slowly, carefully, Slade headed along the path they had came. He'd fallen silent once they had gotten out of view of the scene of the horrific battle. By the time he was halfway through the densely wooded area, one eye was swollen shut and the vision in his other kept growing fuzzy. Repeatedly he squeezed the eye shut and shook his head in vain attempt to clear it. The dull pain in his torso where the majority of the rounds had hit escalated into a searing roar. It didn't matter. He forced himself to think only of the waifish girl in his arms. He was almost there. Almost back to the Academy where she could get help. Almost home.

[Zoe Wallerstein-Smythe]

Close her eyes. She was safe now. Zoe did that, did it without thinking. That was how Devyn spoke to her, and, as horrible as it may sound, she'd grown used to people wanting and needing to protect her. When she closed her eyes though, she remembered it all, saw it all. She had to fling them open, looking around, focusing on the distance, on the birds, on how normal everything around them was. They were just going through a walk in the woods, and what was nicer than a walk in the woods? The day still beamed forth; they were still alive, battered, shot, tormented, but alive...

..."my bag," said Zoe, remembering it after some time, blinking, "it's--back there--my phone," she wasn't thinking clearly, obviously. She tried to remind herself that a phone wasn't important. It was in the cabin; they'd be fine. So why was she thinking about her phone? What had made her...

"Call someone," she said, blinking, looking up at Slade. "We should call someone, let them know what--what happened," and, as often happened with Zoe, she fell silent, lapsing into a comfortable silence, feeling tired, so tired...

[Slade Konrad]

In hindsight, Zoe had been right. They could have called ahead and had someone waiting for them. Silently Slade kicked himself for the oversight. He didn't really do cell phones himself and combat was rarely the place for such devices. In short, he simply forgot. His focus had been on escaping the scene as quickly as possible. It was too late now. They were almost to the treeline and from there it was just a short walk to the campus proper where they would assuredly be seen and help could be offered.

"We're almost there." Slade said, still speaking quietly. "I'll come back and get your bag once I drop you off, alright?" And he meant it. If there was no other option he'd drag his ass back to the cabin and find her bag himself. For now, though, all he wanted to do was get her to safety. They were making good time as the deep, throbbing pain in his head had gone numb for the moment. That was usually a fairly bad sign, but he'd take the temporary relief.

Breaking through the treeline, the sight of the Academy campus was a welcome one. Crossing the grassy field that separated the campus proper from the wooded area they'd just emerged from Slade made a beeline for the center of the school. He didn't know what time it was, hell, he probably couldn't even tell what day it was. All he knew was the school meant safety. It meant medical professionals and proper help for Zoe. "Get a medic!" He barked at the first blurred things he could see moving. Whether it was a teacher or student he couldn't tell. Much like so many other things this, too, didn't matter. Whoever it was took off like a bat out of hell at the sight of the hulking teacher with the tiny girl bundled into his arms.

Within moments Academy staff swarmed around them. Slade was reluctant, at first, to release his hold on the girl. His mind swam with broken thoughts and distorted images that threatened his hold on reality. Finally, though, he relinquished custody of Zoe to the medical staff. Once the weight of the girl had been taken from him he dropped to his hands and knees. The fight was over and they'd survived. At what cost remained to be seen but there was nothing like the sweet release of having returned from another battle. Another instance of getting into a staring contest with death. One of these days, Slade thought, it won't be Death who blinks.