OOM: Down in the East Texas Town of Galveston... -- 1888 -- for X-23

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate's door opens out into her hotel room. It's nice  —  real nice, to be honest. Four poster bed, basin, writing desk, carved oak bureau and vanity. Empire draperies in rich reds and golds; pristine horsehair plaster walls.

"C'mon in."

Kate sets her things down on the bed, and turns to Miss X. Standing akimbo, she grins.

"Shall we see what the Miss picked out?"

Comments

[ikissdhimbck]

It's pretty impressive, to be honest. Kate's small, practically pocket-sized, but X is tall and muscular. She moves like a jungle cat.

Judging from the gasps and hollering behind them, the gentlemen are in pursuit. She doesn't pause to look for herself, she merely follows after X back inside the building, heading for the thickest crowd.

Christ in a chicken basket, can't these fellas take a hint?

As they pass the root beer again, Kate throws a handful of coins down and makes a quick apology to the stentor, gathering up several bottles. Now she turns, getting a bead on the three men. She chucks the bottles in their general direction, watching them shatter and spread sticky soda across the floor. It doesn't take much; just one wrong step, and their would-be assailants start sliding and flailing, suds a-flying.

[cutting_edgex23]

X reaches back to grab Kate's wrist, tugging her further into the crowd.

A few seconds of lead will be enough to let them get --

Somewhere else.

But moving faster would be better.

Taking a moment to think back over where they have been --

X darts toward the last known location of the prototype velocipedes.

[ikissdhimbck]

Kate makes a soft noise when X yanks her along.

Funny, she's rarely on this end of things.


Following briskly, glancing over her shoulder just once to see the gentlemen stumbling to their feet, she glances around X's shoulder and — 


Wait.



Is she — ?

[cutting_edgex23]

Hotwiring is not really effective with systems this old, but --

X is really good with practical mechanics.

Which means pretty soon the velocipede is coughing to life.

The noise is unmistakeable.

She flicks another glance at Kate.

Is she ready? Their lead is shrinking every second.

[ikissdhimbck]

Holy shit.

Kate's blue eyes go wide, and in the fraction of a second — 

stentors yelling, cowpokes chasing, the crowd gasping and shouting, closing in

 — she grabs X's waist and hops on.

"Let's git!"

[cutting_edgex23]

"It will not be difficult."

Though even flooring it -- figuratively -- it does not reach the speeds of X's own motorcycle.

But today, with tipsy and root-beer-covered cowpokes and a wide-eyed crowd surrounding them --

X will take it.

vroom

[ikissdhimbck]

"Stealin' rarely is!"

Kate nearly chokes on her own tongue all the same, and wraps her arms a little tighter around X's middle. There are folk to dodge on their way out, now pursued by the motorcycle barker as well as the three cowpokes, but they're going to make it.

They're actually going to make it.

Kate watches their figures fade slowly into the distance, and hoots with laughter.

"I'll bring a wanted poster back t'the bar, if I should find one with your face on it!"

Call it a keepsake.

This will be hard to explain.