Museum of Natural History, prt 2

[Jack Russell]

Sweat beads across Arthur's back as he tries to heave Danny up. Although he's taller by his student than a few inches, it does nothing to make up the difference between their muscle tone and weight. He slips on the rubble, and the strain pulls at his skin, reopening the bite wound on his arm. Blood rushes to the shallow indention and slides down his forearm in a long, dark thread, winding down his wrist and dripping in stubborn drops over Danny's body until its hard to tell whose blood is whose.

Jack can smell it across the room that Arthur's bleeding again, and he growls, changing positions and pushing his back against the column, bracing his feet on the floor and digging his claws in. <How long, Josh? I can't wait here much longer..>

Gasping, Arthur is relieved of Danny as Toni approaches quickly and roughly drapes him over her shoulder. Next time I’m picking where the education budget is getting spent, and I promise there won’t be any attractions that try to eat our flavourful and fleshy though entirely fetching mutant fannies. I'm thinking that male strip joint in town. What-d'you think, Artie? Great way to study male anatomy, me thinks. Arthur is too weak to manage a stumbling response and in a dazed fashion, he makes his way towards the jet, slipping on rubble occasionally but managing to stay partially vertical.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh winces as he hears the thump of Danny’s body on the boarding ramp. Toni often seemed to forget that most of them were more breakable than she was. I’ll make sure to check him in the med lab after we get back. In fact, most of them were going to need some medical care. He'd gotten a few cuts from flying debris, himself, and there were some streaks of blood on his face.

> I'm thinking that male strip joint in town. What-d'you think, Artie? Great way to study male anatomy, me thinks.

He snorts. Somehow, he doubted Toni would get the strip club field trip past Ororo. “Toni… if you finish getting everyone onto the jet, I will take you to any strip club you like.” He shrugged. Being married didn’t mean he was dead. And Warren might want to come along, anyway.

> So, considering that I’m the only unboobooed adult here, I hereby declare myself pilot of this fine vessel.

Josh feels vaguely ill at the idea. He’d been present for Toni’s ‘like twenty times’. Ororo had thought it would be a good idea for him to try to teach someone else how to fly the jet. Predictably, Toni had enjoyed sending the entire simulated away team to a fiery death more… over and over.

When Toni’s rambling peters off (from having entered the jet, not from actually stopping) Josh surveys the area. It looked like everyone was on except himself and Jack.

> How long, Josh? I can't wait here much longer..

His head is absolutely throbbing at this point, and pieces are beginning to slip faster, despite Jack’s help. “No kidding…let’s get out of here.” The two of them pick their way through debris as fast as possible. Behind them, as he releases his telekinetic hold on the ceiling, it begins caving in completely.

The two of them dive for the ramp, and Josh scrabbles for the button that controls the hydraulics. His telekinesis locates it faster, and the ramp closes, protecting them from the rapidly expanding debris cloud.

“Thanks, Jack.” From where he’s lying prone on the deck, he blindly throws a hand in Jack's general direction. His hand lands on Jack's chest, and he makes a patting motion. “That was too close...”

“We’re not moving… guess Toni was joking.” Whew. Half walking, half crawling, Josh picks his way through the students and staff assembled in the cabin. He lunges for the pilot’s seat, collapsing into it, and depresses the throttle. The Blackbird punches forward into the sky. He fiddles with the stealth settings for a few seconds, and ‘Active Camouflage’ begins blinking on the HUD.

Josh curls into a ball in the pilot’s seat, clutching his temples. “Toni, you are not driving this thing. And for the love of God, someone get me an aspirin. My brain is killing me.”