It was only a matter of moments before Naka surveyed the scene. She knew how to keep herself safe, usually, it came from living on the streets for the past two years. Her ears still ringing she moved forward only to find Miss Vaughn in the arms. He spoke her name and the gypsy nodded as he carried off her teacher. All around her Naka could hear gunfire and the sounds of people screaming. 

With one more look back, she slipped into a crouch and made her way through the hole that had been made in the wall. A cough escaped her as she moved down the corridor and stayed to the wall. Her foot caught something as she fell to the wall. The body of a young man was crushed in rubble, her booted foot had caught under his crooked arm. A gasp escaped her as the teen backed up in horror. Thoughts of her friends in the same position as the crushed boy came unbidden and caused the fear to freeze her in her tracks. 

A curse escaped her as she forced her legs to carry her. A set of stairs appeared at the end of the hall and it was the only way she could go. As the teen took the steps two at a time, she only paused when the clatter of gunfire came too close for comfort. The sound of booted feet hitting the stairs echoed up the stairwell, and the fear threated to paralyze the girl. If her friends were down there and hurt, this man was the only thing standing between her and them, as far as she knew. 

[i] It's now or never[/i]

Her hand gripped the cool metal railing and the girl concentrated for moment. A dark green sprout shot along the underside of the railing and soon began to spread. At first it would be but an annoyance to the man climbing the stairs, the young mutant out of sight, but as the vine sprouted more off shoots, they wrapped more solidly around the legs of the man. By the second landing he was rooted to the spot, a shaking and terrified Naka concentrating to smother him before her made a sound. The sprouts thickened and as the man tried to fire off a shot, the gypsy grew angry, thorns digging through his clothing now. 

It took a full minute to no longer hear the man struggling inside his vined cocoon before she carefully picked her way down the stairs.

Gingerly, she pushed the door open to see groups of people filing past. Some of them looked familiar, when green eyes searched, Naka held her breath as she moved back low to the ground, she needed to find the others. The man had said to follow the hall and here she was, in the WWII exhibit. Her eyes widened as she caught sight of a group that seemed to contain people she recognized. Keeping close to the wall, she moved closer, hoping she was right.