Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 2: Resistance

[Tim Wiley]

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Quote:

"That's a good idea Tim, think of it yourself?"

"Believe it or not, I read about it while skimming through an issue of Martha Stewart's Living." The moment Tim said it, he realized that it might not be understood why he was reading an almost worthless rag.

"It was at the dentist's office a few years back. It was sitting there with the rest of the magazines." More like 10 years ago, he heard himself say to himself.

[Katalyst]

While the other mutants concered themselves with taking showers, Joshua made for the food. Four days of not eating sure made for one hungry mutant. "Anybody here now how to cook?" Joshua yells from the kitchen.

[Rorx]

Tom tiredly nods his understanding to Tim, then hearing Joshua's call has a brief struggle over the need for food vs sleep before heading towards the kitchen.

Arriving in the kitchen Tom heads towards a cupboard/storeroom commenting to Joshua as he half staggers over, "Nothing fancy, but I doubt we need that anyway, after all it is a school closed for Christmas break. Yeah, here we go, some catering size tins of beans and some of franks. That'll do to start with."

Looking around for somewhere to sit, Tom doesn't see anywhere so struggles up to sit on one of the work surfaces.

"Just empty the tins into a couple of pans and heat them until the start to bubble then back off on the heat until they are barely bubbling and leave them like that for about 3 minutes for the beans and more like ten for the franks. At least thats what I'd do at home, there may be better instructions on the tins themselves."

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis stripped and showered, washing his suit clean of the slime at the same time. He sighed realizing that the suit was pretty much ruined at this point. As the water dripped out of the closed shower Travis took a minute and was able to focus enough to use his power to squeegee most of the water out of his clothing and his hair. A grabbed only a single towel and wrapped it about his waist as he hung every scrap of the clothing up. He padded on damp feet through the school and wondered what his own formative years had been like.

He returned to the gym and considered flopping down on one of the mats before realizing that they were probably not terribly clean and changing his mind. He shook his head and instead opens a section of the bleachers and lay down on one of the long bench like seats. He didn't sleep but instead meditated, focusing his mind past the discomfort, the weariness, and the situation at hand. He opened his mind and breathed in slow, deep breaths that cleansed his body of exhaustion as effectively as sleep would but allow him to remain conscious should he be needed.

[Stargaizer]

Most of the gunk on Kevin had already started to dry, so he picked at flakes of it as Ronnie and him waited (somewhat) patiently for Adrian to finish his shower and get out. He still had some reservations about letting the boy go out into the cold night wet (or with wet clothing), but he decided that he didn't have much choice. For his part, running his head under a faucet would make him at least presentable, and spare clothing wouldn't be difficult to find; an undershirt and jeans would work for him until he got back to the clinic and his locker there. For now, though, they just had to wait on the wet, bulletproof boy.

Plus, some times the best teacher was experience herself...

[Grav]

Annalise made her way to the teacher's lunge, to her own locker there. Inside was alight windsuit. It was a change of clothes, for a bad rainy day. She stripped down and changed. frowning at her ruined dress. She felt horrible, and exhausted. After her quick change she looked around to see if anyone had left anything in the lounge.

[Adrian Moss]

He came out of the showers, wet underwear on and one half a leg into one leg of his very wet jeans.

"Almost there," he sounded out. Getting on wet jeans was a bit tough and would have probably been painful to another man. As it was all he could feel was the wetness and the resistance of the fabric against his skin.

Adrian finally gave up on the standing approach and fell on his ass. He wiggled into the jeans with an heroic effort. Jumping back up with one might leap, he spied a t-shirt and put it on. It was about two sizes too small, but the seams held.

"Ready to go Ronnie!" The Kid sounded enthusiastic. With more concern, "Doc, you look beat. Sure you should be coming? You can tell us were to find the meds and supplies. We'll remember."

[SalmonMax]

As Adrian came out, soaking wet and in clothes too small for him, Juno's hand went instinctively to her back pocket. She swore under her breath.

"Mother bitches must pay...they took my cellphone," she muttered. "Why -now- of all times?"

With a sigh she got to her feet and sauntered over to Adrian to indicate she was ready to go.

[Mr Fox]

Seeing the lockers being opened Sly decided that dry clothes would be better than standing around wet all night till these dried. After a few minutes he found an extra large hooded sweatshirt with the school logo on it and removed his own shirt and leather coat and pulled it over his head. He followed that with a pair of jeans that almost fit, but would work with a belt, and a pair of socks and converse high tops. He was only in his twenties but if someone wasn't too observant he could pass for a high school kid. The one thing he didn't do was wear someone else's underwear, he drew the line at that. Poking around in the gym he found the laundry area and the washers and industrial big dryers. Cha-ching! Pay dirt.

He quickly threw his own clothes in and headed back into the locker room, "Hey guys, I found the laundry area, if you want to clean your own clothes real quick." The laundry facility was in the back of the gym between the girls and boys locker rooms.

[Rorx]

Tom had just arrived back at the Gym to call people for food when he heard Morgan's call about the laundry room. He immediately grabbed his stuff and headed over.

"Captain, you're a life saver and the first bottle of rum I find is yours."

Having put his clothes in the washer, he steps back so that others can do so if they want to, then steps into a central area and calls out, "There's beans and franks just finishing cooking in the kitchen for those that want them."

That done he heads back himself for some food.

[Tim Wiley]

Some kid has got to smoke...This is high school for Gods-sake! Tim was getting very antsy. He needed a cig-badly. he would not stop until all possible avenues were exhausted. Maybe the teacher's lounge or the principal's office had some.

While in the locker room, he found some clean socks and some running shoes that fit. After a little more searching, he found a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt with 'Normal' on the front of it. He dressed quickly and headed off to the principals office where he hoped, that several packs of smokes had been confiscated. Once he had a smoke (or two), he would think about sleep.

[Stargaizer]

Kevin replied to the wet poorly dressed boy. "I know what I want, what I absolutely need, and what they can't afford to be without. However, I won't know know exactly what fits into which category until we get there. Besides, who knows what's left of the place after those robots attacked. Knowing where to look or dig will save a lot of time.

Besides, I'm a doctor, I should know if I'm good enough to go out or not, right?" He finished with a smirk on his face... he was really looking better... or maybe it was just the lighting...

[z025]

*We don't need ID's for the bank. I still remember the number, and it shouldn't matter that we haven't touched it in four years. We just have to find one of the affiliate banks. It shouldn't be all that hard in Vegas, with all the casinos around.*

The t-shirt was tight where the jeans had been loose, making him look a little top-heavy. She hadn't counted on his shoulders and chest filling out in the time they'd been imprisoned. His own hair hung as long as hers; whatever they'd been given to keep them alive in those pods must have been healthy enough to have their hair grow out so long. He took the brush from her when she was done, not bothering with a mirror. He grinned at her.

*I need a haircut, or people are going to start confusing us.* After the tangles were mostly out, he pulled her into a slime-free hug. *Mother and Father aren't an option. We can't risk putting them or anyone else in the family in danger. They may be being watched, especially now that we're free. It would be foolish to hope that the ones that kidnapped us couldn't figure out who we really were.*

He kissed her forehead, just as he had the first night they'd been on their own. *We've still got each other.* He glanced around at the others raiding lockers and milling about and murmured, "And perhaps these people can help us, or at least explain a little of what happened. Let's go to the cafeteria and get some food, and then see what's to be seen with them."

[Savannah Tanner]

She reached up, touched a strand of his hair, and giggled softly.

*It's kind of like that time we were seven, and I decided to cut all mine off to look like yours, except I knew Mother would never let me, so I did it myself. Except it was awful.. so she had to take me to get it fixed, and the hairdresser thought it was cute, and went ahead and made it look pretty close anyway. We were able to pass for each other for awhile, remember?*

She pulled her hand back, but stayed in his embrace, her arms wrapped around him.

*I guess you're right. There's nothing to be done about it, but we'll always have each other. There's no doubting that now, is there?*

She finally nodded slightly at him, and pulled back a little, though she took his hand and didn't let go. To anyone observing, if was as if a whole conversation had just happened, though only the very end of it had been heard out loud. There was something odd - even eerie about it, almost. She reached into a locker that someone had left open in their search for clothes, and tugged out a pair of flip-flops. They were a bit too big when she slipped them on, but they'd do.

"Yeah.. let's go get something to eat. I'm starting to feel a little hungry, now."

She tugged on his hand, pulling him towards the door, in the direction of the cafeteria.

[Mr Fox]

Fox headed toward the cafeteria after putting his own clothes on to wash. It was time for some foot. On the way he came on the twins who were also heading to the same destination. He could see them look meaningfully at each other as though speaking without words and he realized they were communicating telepathically. Heh, this should be fun. He opened his mind to listen in on the two.

Savannah was thinking, *...really hope there is something decent to eat. We've never had high school food before.*

Sly grinned and walked up behind the two and put an arm around each of their shoulders and thought at them, *Alright you two. I don't want to overhear anything thoughts that begin with the phrase, 'Remember what happened that time at band camp?'* He chuckled at his joke and at the surprised expressions on their faces. He just smiled at them and thought, *I'm a telepath. I can't over hear what you two say to each other unless I concentrate on it, so don't worry. I was just joking with you since I could see that you were thinking at each other.*

[Ira Sagebrush]

She had let herself be carried down by the hot guy. She was emotionally exhausted from her realization and final acceptance of her freedom, however temporary it may be.

As the group scattered, all too eager to find showers and sustenance, Sam found herself all alone where the hotty had put her down in the hall.

Time to go.

She brushed off her black jumpsuit as she walked calmly to the front door and out. She scanned quickly for a car as she jogged across the grounds and headed to the closest looking reliable vehicle.

As she approached the vehicle, the driver's door unlocked and opened as the engine started in the newish sports car. She quickly got in, the door shutting behind her as the car started moving.

No time!

Click to reveal..

Sam's story continues here: Homesick

[Tim Wiley]

Sure enough, there were smokes in the Principal's office- a pack of Camel Lights. Blessedly, next to the pack was a lighter that worked. Tim wasted no time in lighting up the cigarette and drawning the sweet smoke into his lungs. Relief came instantly.

As he sat in the principal's chair, filling the room with second-hand smoke, he searched the desk for other contraband. If things in Vegas were as bad as they seemed, anything could come in handy, especially if it had value: money, jewlry, electronics, weapons and drugs. He read every scrap of paper and journal he cam across in the hopes of finding out more about what was happening.

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah stared at Fox for a moment, the look on her face startled, and a bit horrified. Neither she nor her brother had ever encountered someone else who shared their gift. Their minds had always been their private place for each other, where they were always together - even in the bowels of hell, they could feel each other's presence, and take some small shred of comfort in the fact that they could hear the other - even if it was only to hear them scream. Their captors could keep them seperated, but they could never seperate that part of them, no matter how hard they tried.

Now it felt to her as if that had been violated, much the same way a person who's home had been broken into must feel when they walk in the door and see the wreckage that was left behind.

*That's - that's not possible, is it?*

But the thought was merely in her own mind, and in Simon's at the same time. It was almost like an echo - as if one twin thinking it, or maybe even just feeling it, had caused the other to do so as well, but so close together that it didn't seem to be a conscious reaction. There was, however, no outward projection - no words spoken telepathically to Fox in return. After a moment, the beautiful blond girl spoke out loud.

"I'm.. I'm sorry, but we can't speak to you in your mind. We.. only have that ability with each other."

She squeezed Simon's hand nervously.

[Mr Fox]

Sly smiled. "I'm a telepath, I can hear thoughts if I choose to, but I don't make a habit of it with friends. I just couldn't resist the little joke when I saw you 'talking' to each other." He gave each a friendly squeeze on the shoulder before releasing them.

He hadn't really just told a lie. He never had any reservations about entering the minds of others in his life, but on the other hand he'd never had a friend either, so his statement was still true. Kinda. He smiled at them again. "So you were out for four years huh? You would have been just kids when they took you. That's pretty rough. Once we get out of here I can hook you guys up with some money and clothes if you need them. I've never met another telepath, even someone as weak at it as you two. Tell you what, if you ever want to talk to me without others over hearing, just look at me and raise an eyebrow or wink or just give me a meaningful look and I'll tune in."

Entering the cafeteria, he grinned, "Bah, I hate school food, but I could eat a horse right now. Of course being school food it might be horse meat." He chuckled and lead the way toward the back.

[z025]

Simon squeezed her hand back, feeling her nervousness and his own spark of protectiveness. He kept his feelings out of his voice, asking quietly, "You're a mutant then?"

He shook his head at the offer. "Thank you, but we should still have some money of our own. And we'll keep the winking idea in mind. It could be useful if we're going to remain together. Could you tell us what's been going on? We don't remember much."

His stomach growled, adding its own opinion to the conversation.

[Mr Fox]

Sly smiled. "Yeah I'm a mutant, I'm Morgan Fox, btw. I go by Sly." He grabbed a plate and dished up some beans and franks. Only the hunger drove him to it. He hadn't eaten this bad in years. "Recently, the governments have started requiring mutants to register and confining us in camps 'for our protection'. Of course everyone in this room and the others we just escaped with were unregistered mutants who have been in hiding." He grinned, "I am making an assumption there based on the fact that I've never heard of any of them. I know in my case I am unregistered and plan to stay that way. Life is too short to spend it in an internment camp, 'for my protection'." There was a certain amount of sarcasm in those words.

"What about you two? How'd you end up captured by the bad guys?" He knew perfectly well how it had happened to them, but there was no need for them to know that, and it was an opening for them to tell their story, or tell a lie for that matter.

[Joani]

Everyone slowly gathered at the Gym. Some food had been gathered and even the heating had been turned on. The gym-mats where better than sleeping on the floor. Some had already fallen asleep while the others talked quietly or stared deep in thoughts at the ceiling.

Grav had just left the teacher’s office when she heard a noise down the corridor. She took a few steps in the direction squinting her eyes to focus in the dim light. Someone was hiding, she could see a roughly human shaped shadow as she approached the source of the noise. With a quick step forward she grasped around the corner and caught a relatively young girl on the neck of her sweater. She looked up at her, scared and almost crying. “Please, don’t hurt me. We just wanted to hide… please…”

The girl was around 14 years-old and wore the school’s basketball team sweater. Grav put a hand on the girl’s shoulder trying to calm her down as she spoke.

“It’s alright, calm down.”, she hushed quietly and recognized the girl from the parallel class. “Megan is your name, right? I’m Ms. Gravinski, you recognize me?”

The girl’s face lighten up and she hugged the teacher obviously relieved she hadn’t run into a stranger.

“Ms. Gravinski! I can’t tell how glad I am that you’re here… common, I need to show you something.”, the girl took her hand and tried to drag her down the corridor.

[Mr Fox]

Sly was very curious so he gave the twins a look that said, "I'm gonna check this out, wanna come?" Then he headed down the hall after the teacher and student.

[z025]

Simon shrugged at his sister, then padded along after the telepath. He still wanted to rest and sleep, but his caution after the kidnapping and his own curiosity were enough to keep him up just a little bit long.

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah sighed a little bit. She wasn't as cautious as her brother, by nature - she usually tended to focus more on whatever she was the most concerned with at the moment. Which.. at the moment.. was food and rest. But she followed, her shoes making little flip-flop noises as they padded down the hall. After everything that happened, investigation seemed the wisest idea.. if not necessarily her favorite.

[Grav]

Annalise followed as well as she could between the effects of her efforts and the virus. She put up a strong front for her student, even though all she really wanted to do was sleep for at least five hours.

[Joani]

Megan led Grav and her followers towards the stairway and went downstairs until they reached the cellar where most technical stuff and the cooling and heating systems was installed. She knocked on the heavy door several times that sounded like a secret code. After a short moment the door opened.

The lighting was dim and Megan slowly went inside. “Just wait here for a second, I gotta tell the others who you are.”, the young girl looked up at Grav and put a finger on her mouth for emphasis.

After a short moment of quiet muffled voices debating Megan asked Grav to come in. What she saw was a wild bunch of kids and some teenager – no one older than 18. She recognised only a few faces from the school – the others looked more like street kids or from the MIC?

One of the older guys stepped forward and tried to assume something like a leadership role. “My name is Six, I’m the leader of the resistance in Las Vegas.”, he tried to sound as impressive as possible but not too threatening.

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah glanced between her brother, the guy who had introduced himself as "Sly", and the woman who appeared to know these kids. Or at least, this girl. She stepped a little closer to Simon, still holding his hand nervously. Then, on a whim, she glanced over at Fox, and arched an eyebrow at him meaningfully. He was the one who'd suggested it.. hopefully, he'd catch the hint. And then she glanced back at the boy who had stepped forward, so that her look wasn't necessarily noticed. Then.. she thought. She didn't know any other way to do so, other than to talk to her brother. That was nothing.. natural. They had been able to do so for as long as they remembered. It took effort NOT to, and sometimes even then it didn't matter. Besides, whatever Sly might have to say, he should hear it too.

*Should we know what he's talking about? What resistance? Is there a war going on or something? When we got taken, they were registering mutants and all, but.. there was no "resistance" that we were aware of.*

She just hoped he had noticed her look, and was listening. She had no way to actually project into his mind, the way he did into theirs.

[Tim Wiley]

After scrounging through several drawers, Tim found several cell-phones (all dead), and a PSP, which he pocketed: Entertainment was always a bonus. Most of the rest of the stuff was crap: Irate letters from Helecopter-parents who could not handle the truth that their little angels were sociopathic demon-children. Tim lounged back in the chair and sped through the letters. After a few laughs, his stomach rumbled and he headed to the cafeteria. Once there, he flopped down at a table by himself and gorged himself on substandard fare. The food was suprisingly good.

He saw the others heading back to the gymnasium area and he followed. He figured they were heading there to sleep, he knew he was.

[Katalyst]

After filling his belly with food Joshua felt much better. Even though he wasn't a great sight to see he didn't much mind the gunk that was covering him. Hell he'd been covered in worse. Joshua's thoughts kept dwelling on what he was going to do next. He'd been on his own for so long that he'd forgotten what it was like to have friends or others to talk with. It was an almost foreign feeling for him.

He sat far enough away from the Sly and the twins that he couldn't catch all of their conversataion, but from the bits and pieces he did pick up made him wonder if he could let himself feel the same as the twins did. It was obvious that they had a tight bond with each other, and he wondered if he could ever have that feeling.

Joshua thoughts were interrupted when one of his goblins alerted him that Sly and the twins had moved out of the gym. Curious to where they were going Joshua had one of his goblins stand guard and brought the others with him, as he followed the others. He didn't get a good look inside the room when he walked up, but he heard a voice coming from a kid. Joshua moved closer so that he could hear more of what was going on.

[Mr Fox]

Sly listened in on Savannah's thoughts and replied to her and her brother, "That's a good question. From what I picked up from that cyborg guy from the ship that came down with us, I think we might be looking at an alien invasion. I haven't had a chance to scan out to other minds in the city to find out what's going on. I was planning to do that but I'm so tired I can barely think to you guys right now. Let's hear what these people have to say. That should tell us a lot. Then after I get some rest I'll scan them or others."

To everyone else in the room he just smiled tiredly and listened to what was being said.

[Grav]

"The Resisitance? Against what exactly?"

She tried not to sound condescending. ""You'll have to forgive my tone, but right now I just got back, and there's alot of others in the gym."

She was curious, but mostly she was exhausted, nauseated and sore.

[Joani]

"You don't know?", Six said obviously deflated by the disarming bluntness of Grav.

"The city is under attack. They are hunting Mutants. I'm not one but a friend of mine is... we lost her during the attack.", he looked to the floor and tried to keep his cool yet his eyes had watered a little bit.

"You're a Mutant, aren't you? Are there more upstairs in the Gym? Adults?"

Grav briefly nodded not caring too much right now about what was going on. They all needed some sleep.

"I'll take Megan and go upstairs. You guys go back to sleep.", Six said in a commanding voice to the other kids in the basement.

"Lets go"

The small group got back to the Gym which woke up those that had just fallen asleep. Rebecca blinked a few times before she said something.

"Six? Is that you?", she jumped up and hugged him. "What has happened? Why are you here?"

The young man seemed a bit suprised by Rebecca's sudden outburst and smiled at her. "It's allright. We've had some rough days but we managed. The gang is in the basement and some other Mutants from the MIC. Where's your brother and do you know where Juno is?", there was a lot of hope in his voice.

[Rorx]

Tom was finding it difficult to get to sleep, not because he wasn't shattered, but that the noise from so many people in a large, echoey room grated on his enhanced senses. So he was one of the first to approach the group which came into the Gym.

"They are out with a scouting group gathering medical supplies amongst other things, but more importantly we have been out of the loop since christmas eve and are desperately in need of information. So take it from the beginning and don't leave anything out ok? I guess the last thing we can all agree on knowing was the reports of a riot at the MIC, can you take it from there?"

Click to reveal..

Tom tries to be as charming and persuasive as he can to get Six to tell us everything he can.

MAN + Rapport? = 7+[1]

(10:46:16) ChatBot: (Tom_Davies) rolls 8d10 and gets [6],8,10,10,7,7,10,3.

(10:46:42) (Tom_Davies): 1st dice Mega = 6 sux

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis' hands were behind his head, fingers laced together, his legs were crossed at the ankle and he floated a good foot above the floor. A towel was all that protected his modesty (if, indeed, he had any). His sense were tuned inward, he could feel his body slowly regaining its strength. He wished that he could claim to feel better but he appeared to suffering some low level cold or flu. A little rest, maybe something to eat in a while. I can push through this.

Voices began to batter at his hearing. They got louder and closer and he was able to discern some of the others but others were new. Travis reluctantly set himself down and sat up shortly after they entered the gym. He found that the others had been joined with a number of kids, mostly high school aged. What the hell? He went down into the locker room and retrieved his suit. The pants and jacket had been tossed into a dryer and were almost completely dry (and almost completely wrinkled) but his coat was still rather damp. He dressed quickly and left the jacket to continue drying, it would only make his shirt wet again if he put it one and the dryer would ruin it completely.

He emerged into the gym again on bare feet, his socks in his hand. He padded up to the group. "Speaker box, Q-tip, what's going on here, who are these kids?"

Click to reveal..

Meditation base QP recovery = 4 + 3 (Node) + 2 (sux on Med roll)

Meditation 6

(07:49:12) ChatBot: (Travis_Kincaid) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,1,10,1,4,8.

Hurt -1 / QP 9/28 / WP 3/3

[Joani]

Six found himself quickly surrounded by Tom and Travis. He instinctively stepped back a little and wasn’t as self-confident anymore as he was a few seconds ago.

He looked at the men and tried to answer their questions as if caught in a cross-examination.

“I… It all happened so fast. There where robots all over the place and soon the National Guard joined the scene. At first no one realized what was going on. Most people where thinking it was a riot but these machines started to pick out mutants one by one. The National Guard fought both against Mutants and the machines. The MIC is a warzone.”, he just paused to take a breath.

“I’m not a Mutant but I’m friend with a few. Our gang started evacuating as many as we could from the MIC. Most of em are kids, though. The older Mutants got kidnapped like Juno. Is she here? You know her?”

[Rorx]

"Ok, slow down Six, robots attacked the MIC and the natioanl Guard hit the Robots and the mutants. What have they done since? Is it still limited to the MIC or have they started attacking elsewhere? I noticed that all the communications channels seem to be jammed."

Tom looks around the room, "As for Juno, yeah we've met, and as I just said she went with Adrian and some others to get some stuff for us, like medical supplies. They'll be back as soon as they can."

[Tim Wiley]

Tim feigned disinterest in the conversations around him and acted as if he was engrossed with the PSP he found. In reality, he was listening to everything that was being said. When they related the accounts of the machine's attacks on the MIC, Tim started postulating what was going on. Not only were we the first ones attacked, but they knew who and where we were. He started to go over in his mind who would be capable of discovering individual mutants who were hiding amongst millions of normal people.

Click to reveal..

Injured: -1

WP: 4

QP: 11

[Savannah Tanner]

Savannah listened to the story with growing horror, and stepped closer to her brother again. She bit her lip and looked up at him, whispering softly in his mind. He could feel her fear, but buried beneath it, he could feel her anger starting to simmer.

*What should we do, Sieg? We need rest, and food. Maybe we shouldn't even try to risk getting money. We could just try to get out of town. Not that running did us that much good the last time..*

[Travis Kincaid]

"You kids are hiding out in here because the National Guard was firing on mutants. How much of this will it take, how long before the mutants get fed up with being shot at and stuffed into concentration camps?" Travis walked a few steps away, he was angry at the government for taking the opportunity of an attack to eliminate what they perceived to be a problem. "Have you all tried to leave the city? Escape this mess?"