Plans

[Pyro]

Meanwhile, back at the plane...

"Giacomo says that the kid's gonna be OK," said Python, flipping closed his mobile phone. "The guy who patched him up is one heck of a good doctor - refuses to treat anybody who isn't a mutant in much the same way a lot of human doctors refuse to treat mutants. Said that John needs a day or two to get over the blood loss, though."

Python put the phone in his pocket.

"Choice is ours really, big guy. We can stop here until he's ready to go, or we could head out to pick up Sekhmet. Report from home says she's in Miami for some reason. Probably a good job the kid's not awake to know that, he'd burst something."

He turned to look at the Juggernaut.

"Your call."

[Juggers]

"Your call."

Cain scratched his chin thoughtfully. The evening was warm and pleasant and still young. The Juggernaut had been stuffed into an assortment of increasingly small spaces over the last twelve hours and he had fallen off a fire escape from the third floor. All things considered he didn't feel like jumping straight back on the plane this very instant.

"What the hell is she doin' in Miami?" He suddenly asked and then shook his head. He didn't actually care much. They would go and get her though.

"We'll go get her in the morning," he decided, "right now, I want a beer, a pizza and not to be on a plane."

He pulled a fifty pound note from his bulging pockets, "for that, we need one of them ... byoorow de changes."

He looked at the distant, winking lights of Partenza. It was a fair way off.

"Do WE 'ave a car?" Cain asked, glancing around.

"A CAR, not a bloody van!"

[Pyro]

Python met his gaze steadily.

"I might have one in my pocket," he said. "No, you moron, I DON'T have a car. But I can call Giacomo up and get him to drop us into the town if you're that desperate for beer and pizza, how does that grab you?"

Python was one of the few people who could get away with the kind of abuse he threw at the Juggernaut's feet.

Nobody, including Python, quite knew why.

[Juggers]

"I might have one in my pocket," he said. "No, you moron, I DON'T have a car."

"Didn't ask if you 'ad one, I asked if WE 'ad one, y'know, around!" Cain shook his head. "Slag," he added as an afterthought.

"But I can call Giacomo up and get him to drop us into the town."

"Call your mate then, 'cos I 'ain't gettin' on a plane again tonight and I 'ain't standin' around 'ere until Pyros fixed."

A short call later and a slightly longer wait and the pair were roaring through the quiet country lanes around Partenza in an open-backed truck.

"Well it's not a van," Python said through the rear window, his mouth quirked in a semi-amused smile.

"Nah," Cain replied from his position on the back, "this is much better!" Twenty minutes later they reached the edge of town and the driver let them off.

Finding a place to change their illicit currency proved slightly more challenging. The banks had closed up for the night, as had the Italian equivalent of the post office. Finally they found an auto-currency exchange in the central rail station. Fortunately the instructions for the thing were in several European languages. Unfortunately, getting the thing to accept the fifty proved to be much more challenging.

Eventually, Cain had settled for bullying a pair of tired British tourists that happened by into changing their fifty into two twenties and a ten. It had taken Python a long while to explain that they needed to keep a low profile for a bit, and killing, robbing or otherwise abusing strangers was likely to attract unwanted attention.

The machine had accepted the money.

Over an hour after they arrived in town, Python and the Juggernaut finally found themselves a late night bar, that not only sold an array of cold beers but also traditional Italian pizza.

"It's about bloody time," Cain grumbled as he settled himself into the largest seat in the place.

A few of the nearby patrons relocated themselves away from the unlikely pair, muttering things in Italian that could not have been complimentary.

Cain honestly didn't care.

[Juggers]

Three pizzas and half a crate of beer later the Juggernaut felt much, much better about the world. Most of the bar patrons had drifted out as the evening grew old and by the time the mismatched pair left the bar-keeper was almost asleep on his feet. He had considered telling them to leave several hours earlier, when they had meant to close, but he'd figured that trying to throw someone that looked like the Juggernaut would have ended badly. Besides, their money was good.

An hour later they had returned to the plane and spent the small hours of the morning resting in the cargo hold. Cain lay spread-eagled on the floor; he never much cared where he slept.

They woke early to find the plane fully fueled and ready to go and after leaving a message for Pyro and Jane that they would be back in twenty four hours or so, departed for Florida.

Six hours into the flight Python got a call.

"Good mooooorning! You have reached the Python!"

Cain gave a half smile and went back trying to his experiment, which mostly seemed to involve building some sort of catapult from the cargo webbing. Thus far it was not going well.

"Yes, you done what Pyro asked?"

Pause.

"No shit! Who'd have thought another survivor of Alcatraz!"

Pause.

"Uh huh."

Pause.

"Uh huh."

Pause.

"He's staying in Potenza, with our new friend, we're gonna swing by and pick them up on the way back."

Pause.

"Yeah."

Pause.

"Well ... yeah, I know, you told Pyro already and he told me."

Pause.

"No I'm not on my way to New York, you already told us you were going to Orlando. I know it's been a bit crazy over the last twenty four hours but not that crazy."

Pause.

"Whatever."

Pause.

"About an hour or so, be there sharpish, I don't want to be waiting around."

Pause.

"Right ... seeya in Orlando." *Beep*

"Somthin' up?" Cain asked, the half heard conversation momentarily distracting him from his engineering.

"Nah, nothing's up, I think someone just got their wires crossed somewhere. Either that or they think we're stupid."

The Juggernaut grunted and went back to his construction.

[Juggers]

Connects to thread Orlando-Florida