They left Xavier's — and its complex wake of emotional turmoil — early in the morning, heading west.
Knock Out was both sorry and not to see the gated mansion slip out of his rearview mirror. While it had the distinction of being the most comfortable place they'd stayed in terms of space, amenities, privacy and provisions... it also carried unfathomable baggage for Rogue. That even with what she'd revealed after they'd broken into Cerebro, he felt like he'd barely scratched the surface of.
No amount of technology and security balanced out the thought that she might slip into that frenzied state again, triggered by something he could neither predict nor mitigate.
Still, they left Xavier's with the intent to return at some point. Even with its potential pitfalls, it was too valuable a site to be completely abandoned. Knock Out had a new box of tech and a new working (hopefully) scanner. Rogue had the supplies she'd gathered and chosen to bring, all packed away in the heavy duty tote in his subspace. They were as ready as they could be to set out once again.
Their destination was the northwest corner of Nebraska, in the Pine Ridge region, and if they had no luck there, they would carry on northward to Montana afterward. But their course — painstakingly and vigilantly charted with every scrap of information at their disposal — would be far from a straight western shot. Instead, Knock Out was taking them on a route which would minimize their proximity to large city centers, while at the same time sticking to highways that were not major transportation (and thus more heavily patrolled) corridors. The end result added several days to their travel time, but there was no way around it. At least with Rogue's gathered supplies, they could make the interim rests as comfortable as they could.
After a day of driving, they'd made good time and had followed the state highway along the Ohio/West Virginia border and the Muskingum River, past Marietta, OH where Knock Out eventually turned off to county roads. Even though he could have continued to drive, they'd agreed that an early stop for the night. The evening was clear and a perfect temperature. Away from the cities, stars had even begun to wink into existence, even though sun had only just begun to dip.
"I suppose any of these barns would work," Knock Out says idly, paging through satellite map images on the screen set into his dash console. "But there's supposed to be an abandoned cement factory around here somewhere, I thought that might be a little more generously built and a little less... bovine."
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Knock Out was both sorry and not to see the gated mansion slip out of his rearview mirror. While it had the distinction of being the most comfortable place they'd stayed in terms of space, amenities, privacy and provisions... it also carried unfathomable baggage for Rogue. That even with what she'd revealed after they'd broken into Cerebro, he felt like he'd barely scratched the surface of.
No amount of technology and security balanced out the thought that she might slip into that frenzied state again, triggered by something he could neither predict nor mitigate.
Still, they left Xavier's with the intent to return at some point. Even with its potential pitfalls, it was too valuable a site to be completely abandoned. Knock Out had a new box of tech and a new working (hopefully) scanner. Rogue had the supplies she'd gathered and chosen to bring, all packed away in the heavy duty tote in his subspace. They were as ready as they could be to set out once again.
Their destination was the northwest corner of Nebraska, in the Pine Ridge region, and if they had no luck there, they would carry on northward to Montana afterward. But their course — painstakingly and vigilantly charted with every scrap of information at their disposal — would be far from a straight western shot. Instead, Knock Out was taking them on a route which would minimize their proximity to large city centers, while at the same time sticking to highways that were not major transportation (and thus more heavily patrolled) corridors. The end result added several days to their travel time, but there was no way around it. At least with Rogue's gathered supplies, they could make the interim rests as comfortable as they could.
After a day of driving, they'd made good time and had followed the state highway along the Ohio/West Virginia border and the Muskingum River, past Marietta, OH where Knock Out eventually turned off to county roads. Even though he could have continued to drive, they'd agreed that an early stop for the night. The evening was clear and a perfect temperature. Away from the cities, stars had even begun to wink into existence, even though sun had only just begun to dip.
"I suppose any of these barns would work," Knock Out says idly, paging through satellite map images on the screen set into his dash console. "But there's supposed to be an abandoned cement factory around here somewhere, I thought that might be a little more generously built and a little less... bovine."