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Piper dipped her head in an absent nod, allowing herself to get lost in thought for a brief moment. She repressed the urge to cringe just at the thought of what they would do to Tim - and Keila especially - if they continued to stay here. That righteous fury blazed within her again, like a spark, provoked by the wind, bursting into a roaring flame. Her gray eyes focused, taking on the stormy color of a tempestuous sky, and met Daniel's gaze.

They were both older siblings, with a responsibility to someone dependent on them. In that sense, they were almost kindred spirits. It was slightly reassuring, to know that there was at least one other person who would do anything to get another person out.

"Let me know when she's ready," Piper requested. "We need to get out of this place as soon as possible."

Her heart leapt into her throat just at saying the words, slightly afraid that the scientists would barge in immediately and began punishment for even thinking about escape. It was like jumping from some great height; terrifying yet exhilarating. No one came and Piper let the barest hint of hope slip through that blank mask on her face.

"Want me to whistle you a tune, boss?" Mason spoke with a smile as he gently tugged at the chain that connected his cuff to the wall of his cell, unaware of the escape plan that was going on only a few cells down the hall.

"Shut up, and get yourself some sleep Sparky.." the gaurd growled as he closed the cell door.

"Indeed lad, for tomorrow we shall see how your powers go about affecting other experiments.." The doctor said.

"I's much rather see how it affects your big dumb, henchmen." Mason smiled, but was ignored by bother men as the walked away and left him in the dark of his cell.

OOC: ooohh, sorry about making y'all wait so long!

Daniel nodded discretely in reply, gaze fixed on the dingy cinderblock wall. He felt certain they were being monitored, though he wasn't certain where all the cameras were hidden. Daniel was pretty sure Piper planned to escape, and if he caught on just from the little bit she said... Better to keep verbal and non-verbal communication at absolute minimum, which suited him just fine.

He let out a small sigh of relief; Keila finally drifted into a light, uneasy sleep as exhaustion claimed her. At least this way she wouldn't be in as much restless pain as when she was awake. Seeing her strengthened his resolve: if the Whitecoats thought to use her against him by keeping his sister too injured to move, they obviously had no comprehension of a will to protect. As far as why they allowed the "subjects" to congregate in the same room? Maybe the Whitecoats sought to force them to develop similar bonds, despite the risk of rebellion. Speaking of which...

"Why haven't they come yet? Doesn't seem normal," he hissed caustically.

Piper frowned, struggling not to focus on the feeling of malaise Daniel's question created. It was a good point, and one that raised a few possibilities. The scientists could have decided to give them a break, considering Keila and Tim's condition, but somehow Piper doubted they would be that kind. They could be planning something big and wanted to give them the chance to rest for a bit before putting them through whatever upcoming torture was in their future. Considering what they had been through so far, that seemed to be the most likely option.

"They're probably planning something big," Piper murmured, echoing her suspicions. "Which means we need to escape soon." Nervous adrenaline coursed through her, her tail lashing back and forth to the tempo of her racing heart.

Mason didn't share the concerns of the other experiments, being kept separately. The lab cell area was apparently divided. Mason noticed this on his walks back to his isolation. There was a wing, closest to to working area of the scientist; where half dead, horridly disfigured, or pitifully sick and weakly, failed experiments where housed.
Toward the middle, where the experiments he'd previously seen where kept, was where the scientists seemed to imprison their favorite test subjects: the ones that where constantly tested on and cruelly abused.
Finally there was his wing. The one at the end. He'd only seen one other prisoner from this wing, on a walk when he happened to peer into a hole in the wall. He'd seen a man, a massive man, whose arms where nothing but boulders, solid stone that he could manipulate as if they where flesh and blood.
From this, Mason could assume his wing was made to hold experiments too dangerous to be kept in cells together.

Mason was standing as far as his shackle chain would let him, his neck stretched so he could peek out his window, into the halls. He stared intently up at an ugly old light, which gave off a dull, mind numbing hum. He stared intently at the light, his foot tapping the cold ground quietly. His steadied his breathing and stared more intently at the light, after a moment of being stone still, he suddenly snapped his head so it tilted to the side and the light began flickering madly. As it did all the others in the building began doing the same, being connected electrically, even the lights in cells began to have issues, as the boy grinned happily.

As the lights began to flicker, a small cry escaped Tim. It was a bit too much for his frayed nerves, despite his attempts to stay strong and brave. Piper rushed over to him without hesitation, wrapping her arms around him. "Relax," she hushed, hugging him close. "It's just the lights."

That's when they went out, casting everything in pitch darkness.

In the silence that followed, filled with nothing but their breaths, Piper could hear a click. She hardly dared to believe it, her sensitive ears twitching towards the sound slightly. The lock had disengaged! The electronic security system must have been connected to the lights somehow. If they were going to escape, now was the time to do it. "Tim, I need you to hold my hand and stay close to me," she murmured softly, words falling into the darkness.

Piper pulled away from him but kept a tight grip around the nine-year-old's hand. Her eyes were open wide, just able to make out vague silhouettes and outlines thanks to the cat-DNA. Piper never thought she would be even slightly grateful for what the scientists had done to her, but at least this was coming in handy. She walked carefully over to Keila and Daniel. "Security is offline," she informed, voice low. "We need to make our move now." She hated for Keila or Tim to have to move so soon, but they didn't have very many options.

"Well, in that case--" Daniel began, but quickly cut himself off. Piper had already moved back to rejoin Tim. The dull hum from the overhead fluorescent lights briefly deepened as they flickered from sort of electric strain. He could hear the kid whine softly from across the room as the light dipped dangerously and cast a threatening orange glow over the tiny room in its near-darkness.

Then they went out.

Keila stirred, stiffly pushing herself upright and tucked a stray lock behind her ear reflexively. Her breath hitched as the motion jarred her injuries, but at least they felt more stable than before...if still a bit porcelain-toothpicky. But when didn't she, anymore? Gingerly she felt the rough patches around her wrists and elbows; they felt thick and scalier than ever, though she couldn't actually see--

"Whah's goin' awn--?" she rasped sleepily, only to find a large hand clamped firmly over her mouth. Her eyes widened further in the dark (though not that anyone could actually see it), and did the first thing that came to mind short of fighting it off; she licked it.

"Kay!" Daniel hissed angrily in disgust, fighting the urge to remove his good hand and wipe it on his hospital gown. He could feel Keila immediately still. Slowly he eased his grip, though he still kept her mouth covered.

"I'm going to need you to be a big girl and do exactly what either Piper or me tell you to do, okay?" he murmured.

"'Ur mmm nohh--"

"I know I'm not Mom and Dad!" he hissed, quickly interrupting. His fingers in his bad hand twitched, itching to facepalm in exasperation, but the sling prohibited them. An idea formed; well, it was certainly better than nothing. "Remember how you'd want me to play Jedi or ninja?" --he felt Keila nod in response-- "This is for real."

Finally he removed his hand from over her mouth. About this time he heard Piper's worn sneakers scuffing slightly against the floor as she rejoined him.

"Security is offline," she informed, voice low. "We need to make our move now."

"Agreed. Hand me Keila," he said immediately. "...oh. And you're gonna need to pilot my chair (sorry about the melted wheel), but I think I can do something about those locks if I can get close enough," he hastily added.

Through the doors' cracks and thick window glass he could see weak light seeping through as auxiliary power lit the backup lamps in the hall.

Mason stood in the darkness he had caused, his glowing blue eyes his only source of light. He listened to the sounds of experiments in cells around him murmuring about the dark, before everything fell quiet and still.
Mason tried to stretch his neck up farther to see out of his window. Being in the more dangerous ward, Mason didn't realize what these berugged creatures would do, he of coure wasn't thinking about those who held a grudge.

Before he really knew it there was a starteling hiss, and the cement wall that seperated him, from another experiment he's never seen, was shattered, so too was the wall that held his door. All this made Mason yelp and fall to the side against the far right wall, which he was sure to huddle against as he stared up at the experiment in front of him. The creature that lived next to him, stood like a gorilla would, but it's front arms where covered in thick, dark green scales and it was clawed. When it turned to look at Mason he yelped a little more. It had a scaly neck and bottom jaw but a fairly human face, however it had an underbite, a several hooked lonf teeth stuck out over his top lip. He was some kind of crocodile mutant, and he wore a metal shock collar that had also lost power in the black out. "The Camera's are down.." it rasped in a hiss as some other cells doors where slowly being pushed open and mutants emerged. "We're too far from the main lab, and soldier quarters... they can't take us all!" it growled and the other experiments began to speak up in a rally. "Let's go! Before the sytem's back!" it growled and mutants began helping eachother out off cells, working quickly to beat detection in the farthest of the holding cells.

Mason jumped in terror at a metalic clanging before he realized, his cuffs had broke when that reptilian behemoth broke through the walls. He shoved the metal off his wrists and looked around, before he rose and emerged from the hole in his cells. Being a bit afraid of the inmates in his quarter, and the chaos they would surely cause when confronted by scientists and gaurds, he turned and barrled off in the opposite direction, his bare feet slapping the floor as he unknowingly bolted right toward Piper, Daniel, Tim, and Keila: as they planned for their escape far down the hall, into the next quarter.

Piper nodded, belatedly realizing that there was no way Daniel would be able to see her do that. "Okay," she agreed in a whisper. Her fingers found the IV Keila was hooked up too. There was no way they could lug around an entire IV stand...cringing at what she would have to do, she gripped the end tightly. "I'm sorry, Keila, but I'm going to have to pull this out and move you," she warned quietly.

She didn't give Keila much time to respond, figuring she should do this like ripping off a bandaid - as quickly as possible. Piper tugged on the IV until she felt it give, her tail lashing anxiously as she instructed Keila to press the small wound against her side to stop the blood. "This is going to hurt too," Piper continued, figuring honesty was the best policy. She slid her arms underneath Keila's legs and shoulders, just barely able to pick her up. It was a good thing Keila was skinny and there wasn't far to go, otherwise Piper wouldn't have been able to manage it.

She placed the twelve-year-old as gently as possible into Daniel's arms and then transferred her grip to the back of the wheelchair. "Timmy, hold on to me or the wheelchair," she instructed. She heard the rustle of cloth as he moved and the slight pressure as he grabbed on to the hem of her shirt.

Piper absently noticed the faint light streaming in from the hall - they needed to move fast. It probably wasn't going to be long until the scientists would come and check on all of their "experiments". She wasted no time in rolling the wheelchair as close to the door as possible. "Okay, Daniel," she murmured, "Do your thing."

"'Kay," Keila replied to the cat-girl...though the older girl probably wouldn't appreciate being that, even if tails beat itchy neon-vomit skin.

She inhaled stiffly as she felt the tubes wiggle beneath her skin then slide wickedly out of her veins, leaving a trial of liquid fire in their wake as a bruise blossomed. She quickly pressed two fingers against the incision to compress the flow, like Piper instructed her to do. A humming whine escaped her as the urge to tear her nails into her flesh to stop that incorrigible itch became almost unbearable. It finally subsided, moments later, when she felt her skin stitch itself closed beneath her fingertips, become almost soft and smooth, then harden as yet another scaly patch developed in the dark like parasitic armor.

Except that it glowed.

She barely noticed herself being moved as she stared in fascination at the glowing patches on her skin--the brightest of which being from her "fresh" injuries and felt almost positive she could make out the faint outline of her healing bones--until she rested securely in Daniel's waiting embrace.

'I glow! Cool!'

_<^>_
Daniel's pulse quickened. Keila...glowed.

His eyes tracked the myriad of colors marking her midair movement, and he quickly leaned forward slightly as he gratefully accepted his sister from Piper. Thankfully most of her barely cast as much light as a dying flashlight, but her limbs...they shone in the dark enough to illuminate her splints' outlines and reflect weakly off the floor.

His thoughts narrowed until they thrummed a single mantra: 'Gotta get out. Gotta get Keila out NOW.'

"Okay, Daniel," Piper murmured, "Do your thing."

Daniel quickly exhaled a suppressed breath as he attempted to center himself. "Keila, can you raise your arm for me?" he said hurriedly; the light bobbed vigorously in response.

He gingerly leaned forward again, attempting to not jostle his sister too much as she reclined cradled against his chest. Deftly his fingers skimmed over the door's frame as he searched for the latch, aided somewhat by his sister's light. The metal inside the lock pulsed and glowed dimly ruby red, then blood orange as it softened. Blood rose to his cheeks and trickled out of his nostril, and he had to blink repeatedly against the resulting headache.

"Try it now," he instructed. "The lock should be flexible enough to open, but touch only the lever."

OOC: Yeah, I know...but bio luminescence was too tempting to resist! My excuse: some sea stars glow, and the Labcoats got a bit "cocktail happy" with the DNA implants, which is also the reason behind her skin changing colors.

Ooc:// It's fine by me. ^^ I loved your 'neon-vomit skin' comment, by the way.

Piper wanted to be surprised by the fact that Keila was glowing, but honestly, things didn't seem to phase her much anymore. Being kidnapped and then growing pointed ears and a tail would do that. Timmy's invisibility didn't help that either. And then there was Danny's weird melty powers and Keila's colored patches of skin. Besides, she didn't exactly have time to be surprised. They were trying to escape from bunch of evil scientists, and Timmy was all but clinging to her side. She wanted to hug him, but all she could do was run a quick hand through his messy hair.

She reached out and carefully opened the door, wincing at the groaning creak it made. She hoped it wouldn't carry far and that no one was within earshot. Of course, if anyone was that close, there was no chance they would make it out either way. Piper poked her head into the hallway, glancing both ways before stepping out on to the linoleum tiles, taking Timmy with her. "Coast is clear," she murmured, and then started venturing further down the hall.

Mason wasn't sure how long he had been running, but he'd nearly tripped and fallen multiple times, getting startled by the sounds of doors opening, slighty terrified by the sounds, fearing that their where doctors coming.
His fears caused his powers to act up. The lights flickered wildly but always shut back off when he calmed himself and kept running.
It wasn't until he sped around a corner and came face to face with the four escapees. The fact that one girl was glowing, and one looked like a cat of some kind, that all mixed with the dark made him panic and yelp, tripping over his own feet and crashing to the ground. His panic caused one of the lights over him to flicker on and give a pop as the voltage the be caused made it shatter, before everything fell dark again.
ooc:// sorry for shortness, had to type quick before I leave the house ^^'

OOC: sorry about more tardiness...had trouble thinking of what to write beyond "oh look! we're here!" Meh.
Windy: glad you liked "neon-vomit skin" lol Piper's going to be in a huge surprise when Daniel's "weird melty powers" turn into freezy powers and Instant Chemical Reaction! *explosion* Okay...I might just be a tad bit of a pyro-wannabe

"Guess this is where someone says 'so far, so good,' but I'd rather not jinx us," Daniel replied to Piper's comment.

whirl, whirl, clack-SQUEAK. whirl, whirl, clack-SQUEAK.

Daniel sighed as his teeth clattered against each other as Piper rolled his lumbering wheelchair. He wouldn't be surprised if the Whitecoats purposely made their "hospital equipment" extra squeaky, but him accidentally melting the wheels earlier certainly didn't help with stealth. 'What stealth? Kay's a walking lantern!'

_<^>_
Keila decided glow-in-the-dark skin wasn't as cool as she first thought. She could hardly see! Oh, sure, she could kinda make out moving blobs blurring past, but the disco glowing around her ears and eyes (the result of her getting sucker-punched by an automaton in the chin and jaw) was just bright and multicolored enough that her eyes couldn't adjust and just--let--her--see!

A blob a few feet away quickly disappeared underneath her line of vision; the resulting thud and shriek of skidding skin on hard linoleum floor told her whoever it was must have fell. Or tripped. Or...perhaps fainted? Surely the others must have noticed it; after all, they were taller and didn't have glowing skin messing with their vision. Then again...maybe not. Piper kept rolling, and Danny was doing his "headache pose".

'Big kids. Just as annoying as grownups. Never seem to notice anything!'

"Stop!" she cried suddenly. "There's something in the hall. Don't just run over it!"

Piper reacted to Keila's words instantly, digging her feet into the floor. Her tattered sneakers squeaked against the tiles underfoot, the worn soles seeking to find some sort of traction. After a second they succeeded, though the weight of the wheelchair dragged her forward a few extra inches. She let out a startled hiss, tail lashing with anxious energy as she felt something bump against the wheelchair.

Her sensitive eyes squinted past Keila, the glow the girl was giving off messing with her vision. Piper struggled to ignore that and focus despite it, and managed to make out the figure of a person on the ground. "Timmy, hold on to the wheelchair for a second," she instructed, careful to keep her voice and touch gentle as she guided his hand to the back of the chair.

Piper edged around the wheelchair to get a better look, a bit surprised when she saw it was the boy from before, the one who had been rammed into the door. She relaxed and tensed simultaneously. He wasn't a scientist at least but...why was he on the ground. Cautiously, she prodded him with the toe of her shoe to check if he was alive. He had seemed fine earlier, despite the guards' rough treatment, but a lot could go wrong very quickly in here. But they couldn't leave him if he was alive...it wouldn't be right. Even though he would probably slow them down some.

Piper sighed. Being a mutant planning a jailbreak from an asylum run by mad scientists who probably belonged in an asylum themselves was hard.