Cyclops was right and he wishes he wasn't (cyclopswasright) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2013-06-30 15:08:00 |
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"Magik, give me lightning!"
Who: Scott, Kitty, Illyana, Gaz, Belladonna, Nate and Laura. Neena over comms
What: So Cerberus is back. And they nabbed a couple of their People. Rescue! (aka your typical x-men tuesday)
When: 6/25/2013
Where: Some desert base, also Graymalkin
Status: Complete
Rating: R for violence, cursing.
triggers: npc death, mentions of temporary pc death
Scott adjusted his visor, then nodded at the others. Kitty was in her black and masked costume with the bare shoulders, and he was wearing black clothing as well. He’d never gotten any of his costumes from the dreams, and he was pretty happy about that.
Kitty cracked her knuckles. “Ready. Lets do this.”
Illyana stretched, and nodded. she was wearing all black, having dug out black jeans and a tank top and a jacket, and she was holding the soulsword just out of phase so she could pull it when needed. She nodded as she looked around. A stepping disk, a shimmering silver disk of light, appeared on the floor in front of them. “That’s to location one. Step through ready for anything.” She spoke quietly, her Russian accent more intense now.
Gaz never wore anything but black and dark purple anyway. She’d tied back her dark purple-blue hair, and her dark blue eyes had taken on a sudden reddish tinge. It looked like all of the shadows in the room were somehow drawn to her, flickering around her like she was their mistress, and her smile was an angry, feral thing. “Ready.”
Scott’s glasses glinted. “Do it. Soon as we’re in, split to the side and get into cover, we’ll probably surprise the hell out of someone. Remember, there was some interference so we only have a general location.”
Kitty popped the claw on her glove. “Ready.”
Scott sighed. “Try to not go out of your ways to kill people, at least.” It sounded like he didn’t really care as much right now.
Illyana nodded. “Da. Don’t kill if you can.. something.” She shrugged and stepped through the disk, darting to the side and her sword appearing in her hand as she cleanly cut a gun in two, the man holding it swearing as he dropped it to avoid getting his fingers cut off, She reversed it and banged his head with it hard as she dove into cover, sliding the stepping disk with her so the others would have more cover from those others in the room. And she did not speak at all.
When Gaz stepped into the room, she threw herself and the others into the cover of shadow, leaving all of the men in the light. She didn’t fight with grace or finesse, but she didn’t strictly need to; she was a monster, a demon, strong as fifty men and meaner than all of them. The nearest man to her had his arms wrenched out of socket before he was propped up into the corner, and the next person that came to her would suffer the same fate.
Kitty rolled forward, weaving and punching and kicking. She phased into the ground, and popped up behind Illyana, taking out a soldier that had been sneaking up behind her.
Then Scott opened up with his eyebeams, and the hallway was cleared. “Status.”
“I’m good,” Kitty looked around, trying to get an idea of the lay out of where they’d landed. It seemed like a military base, or a hospital. Or both.
Illyana nodded. “I am good. The last readings placed out lost ones that way.” She pointed toward the door and to the right. There was no cover between them and the door, but she thought it would be just fine with these three.
“Fine.” Gaz walked toward the door, looking behind her. “Stay behind me.” Those in front of her, those unlucky ones, would suddenly feel as scared as they ever had in their life. The kind of mortal terror that only people who know they are going to die painfully and soon feel. Gaz was floating a bit, and she used that fear to reduce those near them to whimpering, piss-covered children.
"Remind me to never piss her off," Kitty quipped, before falling into line behind her She didn't give the cowards a second look.
Scott motioned for Illyana to go in front of them, and then covered their rear. If any of his people were hurt, there was going to be hell to pay.
Illyana moved silently right behind Gaz and anytime anyone was too far out to be hit by Gaz’s fear, they got hit by bolts of red energy that paralyzed them. Until Gaz’s fear aura hit, anyway.
Illyana rather liked that.
Gaz smiled at Illyana, appreciating the backup. She rather liked this; it was better than killing everyone. Not that she’d have minded, she’d just have hated to get arrested. Spending time away from Erik would have made her sad.
"Guys, you're taking away the challenge. I hope there are ninjas and giant robots or something." Kitty was keeping up a nervous chatter.
Scott let her, it kept her focused, and it wasn't impeding his own.
At the end of the hallway, someone had set up a barricade, with a large machine gun mounted. There was the sound of the weapon revving up, and then the too-loud retorts as it opened fire.
Illyana waved a hand and spoke sibilant words, and the bullets became tiny toy ninjas and robots falling to the floor, and flowers, and ice drops, and malted milk balls and... useless, harmless things.
“There will be challenges. Katya, I am sure. Keep your eyes on the walls and ceiling.”
Well, that helped. Gaz had been coiled, ready to dodge out of the way, but instead she took one of the tiny toy ninjas and tucked it into her bra.
It was cute, what.
Kitty plucked up a robot, and one of the flowers. She had someone in mind for those.
Scott actually laughed, and banked a pinpoint beam off of the ceiling and right into the gun man, sending him flying back unconscious. "Magik is right. Watch out for traps."
"You need a code-name," Kitty said to Gaz, smirking.
“What? She has to look good, kick ass, and have a snappy codename? Details, details.” Illyan moved with Gaz until they had reached the door. “There are sure to be more guards inside, or outside, wherever this leads, da?”
“Gaz is short enough, just call me that,” Gaz grinned. She nodded at Illyana’s statement, taking her axe and moving it off of her back. “Who wants to go in first?”
Scott looked at the people he had with him. Gaz seemed practically impervious. "Gaz, draw their fire. Magik, I want you and Shadowcat flanking anyone inside. I'll provide covering fire. Keep an eye out for any of our missing. If you see them, get them to Magik so she can teleport them to Excalibur and our mage friend to deal with any injuries."
Illyana nodded, ready, and she breathed in, slowly, then out and her sword shone softly as she drew it once more from the air. She pointed and stepped to the wall to once side of the door, and nodded to Gaz, then Kitty. “Let’s show these boys how to dance.”
Gaz nodded, blasting the door open with a sharp kick. She wanted to draw as much attention as possible to herself, so running through the room growling and snarling would do the trick. And sure enough, people trained bullets on her, ones that she managed to dodge. And even when she did get shot, she healed within seconds, healed fast enough where she didn’t even notice.
Her dream dad had done a terrifying job of making her in a lab.
Kitty counted to ten, then phased through her side of the wall once Gaz was inside. She dove behind a counter, kicking to trip one man up. She spun around and punched another in the throat, then ducked beneath one of Scott's beams.
Bullets flew throughout the room, none of the defenders seeming to care to capture. Only kill.
Illyana spun into the room, arching into a high kick and slamming one man across the room into one of Scott’s beams. She stalked along the wall, flanking everything in her path, her sword swinging with a shimmering pale light that sent men crying out to their knees and others running. Her sword sang and it’s tune was death and darkness.
She sent a stream of blue bolts slamming into the far door, and through it, having attuned them finally, after much testing, to not hurt anyone she knew.
Gaz was making sure not to use the axe for anything other than cutting off maybe one limb. Maybe. Besides, ripping people’s arms out of socket was a way more terrifying display of power than using a weapon.
She sighed when one of the bullets tore through her boots. These were her favorite pair. That guy got a fear wave so bad he had a small seizure. Jerk.
It was like fighting alongside the Hulk. Without the green and the anger, Kitty decided. It was a little scary, but she recognized the markings, and having it confirmed as Cerberus? She might have stabbed a few people, her sympathy gone.
What kind of fucked up world was this when they maimed people so badly?
Scott would worry about that later. For now he shoved his emotions into his box and locked it tight. His wife and his child were in danger. His son. And Laura and Jubilee were family too. They weren't the X-men, and Xavier's dream had turned into a nightmare anyway.
He grabbed one man and slammed him up against a wall.
"Where are they." His eyebeam created a hole next to the man's head.
The man was already falling over himself to answer. He was not paid enough for this one! He flailed a hand toward the door. “D-down the hall. In cells! And upstairs!”
Illyana snerked and then pressed her hands against that wall, and nodded, her hands glowing. “There are twenty some guards there, but I think... one of ours is there.” She squinted. “I cannot get a proper signal.” She was annoyed, and she looked at Gaz and Kitty. “Time is wasting, da?” She glanced at Scott. “Let’s go.”
Gaz nodded, walking down the hall. She was good with being the tank. Down the hall in the cells, that was as good a direction as any. A man tried to get into her way with some sort of shotgun, which she took from him and swung like a baseball bat, sending him sailing.
Kitty bounced past Gaz, leaping onto another soldier and kicking him the face. She used the momentum to surf him several feet before going ninja on the next guy. Scott’s beams sailed past them, striking some others.
A turret popped out next to Illyana.
She swung, her sword shimmering, as he began to fire, and her magic met the bullets and the metal in a soundless explosion that flung her back, and left the turret as smoking debris. She climbed to her feet, reclaimed her sword and spat. “I’ve had worse bruises from fun.” She raised her hand and shot a beam ahead of them, glittering blue, and slamming into the door, opening it wide, and slamming it into the first troops behind it.
Visible past them, bound, were two forms.
Gaz continued to stomp into the room where there were people tied up. Even if they weren’t who they were there for, they were people tied up and that wasn’t cool at all. So she proceeded to punch and kick her way through guards, making sure to pull her punches a bit. She really didn’t want to punch through anybody. Her shoes were already messed up.
Kitty vaulted over Gaz, then disappeared into the ground. A moment later, the two bound forms were pulled underground as well.
“Open up,” Scott ordered, as he opened up with his own powers.
***
Laura gasped when she saw Kitty, but there wasn't time to say anything before she was pulled underground. It was a pretty unpleasant sensation. Her hand still felt worse. She was too worried about Jubilee to care about any of that. She wanted to know that her wife was okay.
Nate groaned as he snapped awake, shuddering, eyes wide. “Where--- Kitty? Look out, they have mutant power dampening gas and darts.” He groaned as he sat up.”Where’s mom and Jubilee? Did they get anyone else?”
***
Illyana did exactly like Scott said and let loose. Bolt after bolt of blue energy shot out, slamming into enemy soldiers and weapons alike, picking off the ones on the edges and hitting any emplacements that opened up around the room.
Her hand slapped her chest and the comlink there. “Magik to Domino and Psyche. Shadowcat has the first two packages.”
***
Domino hit the comm button, and began working on the bodyslide sequence. “I got her, Shadowcat you’re bodysliding in three, two, one.” As she said one she heard the bodyslide generators kick in, grabbing Shadowcat and her two riders. It was bound to be an uncomfortable journey for them all, but better that than death. She turned to Cora, smiling grimly. “Go down to the med bay and report on the casualties. Let me know immediately if we have anyone dying. Tell Kitty to get ready to go back down.”
Cora nodded, and took off toward the med bay at a run. She wasn’t super-fast like some, but she was motivated, and she’d been training. She didn’t dawdle.
***
Gaz was too busy letting loose with waves of fear to all combatants in front of her. She was able to move faster than she should’ve been able to, neatly knocking out people right and left with limbs that were slender yet stronger than anyone should’ve been able to be. She really didn’t know what they were doing there or why, but still. Kitty was a friend, and these guys clearly weren’t.
***
"Just the four of you," Kitty said, shaking out her hands and groaning. She preferred Magik-ports. "Logan has a team on the other side of the facility, we didn't know where you all were."
Nate nodded as he and the others materialized in Graymalkin’s medical bay. “Kitty. Go kick some ass, please. And bring them home.”
***
Scott shot someone coming up behind Gaz. "Domino, any word on the others?" He wanted to get Emma and Jubilee and get the hell out of this place.
There seemed to be a new kind of interference, and his voice was staticy over the comm.
Illyana moved to the closest door and nodded. “Stairs up. This level is cleared. It’s time to level up.” She smiled wryly as she brought a light to bear on the stairwell.
***
Domino looked at her screen. “Fuck, I don’t know. There’s one signature that hasn’t moved in a while, the others are roaming the halls pretty freely. Could be a prisoner transfer, I don’t know. Everyone’s dots to me, but up is where you want to go to get to the stationary one. I noticed that I lost a dot sometime yesterday. It didn’t leave or escape it just. . . well I stopped being able to pick up a life sign from whoever that was. Hopefully one of the terrorist bastards bit it.” But she had no confidence in that. “The stationary dot’s signal is pretty weak, I’d hurry. Logan’s team is en route, I’m sending Kitty back now, ready or not.”
She pressed the buttons to make it so, keeping her eyes glued to the screen. She wasn’t bored anymore.
***
Gaz heard ‘up the stairs’ and ‘level up’ and grinned at Illyana. She made her way up the stairs, axe back out, figuring that they were past the ‘try not to kill them’ point. Scott seemed to be the strategist, so she cautiously waited for any sort of instruction from him.
“Sense anything?” Scott asked, adjusting his visor as he tried to listen for what might be just around the corner at the top of the stairs. He tapped his comm. “Domino?”
Illyana shook her head. “No. But it’s the way we have to go. We’ll find our final reckoning that way.” And she followed Gaz into the stairwell, moving carefully, magic ready to strike.
***
“I’m ready,” Kitty said, cracking her knuckles.
Domino heard the first half of her name before the comm cut off completely from both teams. She cursed and punched the arm of her chair, bolting to her feet. “Professor, re-establish contact.”
This might take a while. Dammit
***
Around the other side of the corner there was danger. Three soldiers, and something else invisible. Occasionally there was an electronic hum as the fourth person moved around. She found a spot and lay in wait.
Illyana moved with the grace she had been taught by several generations of teachers in the dream world, and came around the corner already throwing magic missiles, because, really, that’s what they were.
It was ironic that Gaz liked Illyana as much as she did; they were yin and yang. Gaz was all brute strength and terror. Gaz was a demon, a Viking, brute primal rage. She went for one of the soldiers, immediately breaking his back with a punch.
Belle was quite pleased that she’d finally found the damn place, and she was quite interested in the goings on. She had her sidearm drawn, and stalked down the halls. She paused when she heard the sound of fighting, and ran in that direction. She hoped it was some kind of rescue team, or that the captives had their powers back.
Scott came around, hitting the third soldier. There was a popping sound, like a silenced weapon, and blood sprayed from his shoulder, as he was knocked back by a bullet that seemed to come from nowhere.
Wind rushed past Illyana. A knife slashed towards a femoral artery as the attacker passed by.
Illyana swore and dove out of the way, and her hands came up, her sword appearing as she slashed at where the wind should be. “Beware invisible attackers!” Her sword would end that invisible screen, it she could just cut it.
Gaz didn’t want to reach out with her fear aura, but there was one other thing she could do. Focusing, she drew the shadows of the room into her, wondering if the extra illumination from the lack of their being would help the others see the invisible attacker. She also tried to stand where people who wanted to stand behind her could; she could take a loss of blood where they couldn’t.
Belle rounded the corner, running headlong into one of the visible fighters. She recovered quickly and slit its throat, before bouncing back and regaining her feet. “ Well, that’s one target located.” She noted with a huff. Where the hell were the other Summerses?
Scott was holding his bleeding shoulder as he scanned around for the attacker. He spotted a feminine shape move in and out of the shadows. Whatever she was using wasn't magic or mutant based. He could hear the hum of the electronics. It gave him an idea.
"Magik, give me lightning!"
“That I can do. Everyone hold still!” And she cried out, aloud, and around the others, even around the enemy they could see, lightning danced. The spell made Illyana grit her teeth as power poured forth, turning the spaces between into a dance of deadly discharge.
When it shorted out, Gaz pointed. “There!” She was impressed by that Scott guy, and wondered briefly if he wanted to join her COD guild.
Belle gasped at the lightning. She was pretty well out of her league. She’d had some idea that was the case before, but it was never confirmed until now.
Scott fired his beam, the red energy lancing through the air and sending the woman spinning. She hit the wall, crying out, then landed on the ground. Pushing herself up, she fell into a defensive posture, a dagger in her left hand and a long barreled pistol in her other.
Her face was obscured by a reflective, glossy black faceplate, fixed to a headpiece that covered her hair and skin. The outfit she wore was all black with shimmering silver bands throughout.
She wouldn’t be taken alive. If they didn’t kill her, the bomb inside her would kill them all. It was already ticking.
Illyana bounded to her and her tail lashed out, snapping the knife in two with a slap of hellfire. Illyana, with shimmering red horns and tail and covered from neck to feet in silver armor Kicked the woman back. And she smirked. “Who are you?”
Gaz crossed her arms, moving closer, backing up Illyana.
Belle was still around the corner. She pulled her phone out to take pictures of the woman and her armor. She needed more information about this. She doubted the home office would have much, but she thought it best to send word to her handlers. The demon woman was pretty impressive, too. Belle tried her best to keep Illyana out of the picture. She didn’t want to expose any of Scott’s new team.
The woman didn’t respond, and it was impossible to read her face behind the black faceplate. The silver bands in her clothing pulsed, and there came a high pitched whining sound like an explosive primed and charging.
“Fall back,” Scott ordered. Sounds like that generally weren’t good news.
Illyana swore. “That’s not a good sound..” And she had no patience for this. “I hope you like Limbo.” And there was a flare of white light as a sideways stepping disk appeared, swallowed the woman whole, and was gone, leaving a smell of brimstone smoke.
Illyana nodded. “Da, is done. Now let us find our other friends.”
“No need, Magik. You guys ready to bodyslide out?” Domino was already punching the buttons to bring everyone back.
Gaz cocked her head, grinning at Illyana. Yay for not being the only demon person! She looked back at Kitty, hoping that they’d done what they needed to do for her friends.
Somewhere in Limbo there was a detonation equivilent to three tons of TNT. Good call!
As for Kitty, she'd never come back down.
"Is Kitty with you?" Scott asked. "We're ready."
"I'm here," Kitty's voice crackled over the comms.
Illyana smiled. “Then, please, get us the hell out of here.” Her Russian accent was thick. It was time to go home and lick her wounds, or maybe Clarice’s.
“Alright, ladies, hold on to your hats. Bodysliding in three, two, one.” When she said one the bodyslide kicked in, picking everyone up and dropping them in the medical center.
Belle whistled and turned to keep looking around the warehouse. There was bound to be lots of stuff to look at in here.
Gaz’s pupils dilated in surprise, and her eyebrows raised, but that was all the indicator she had to let on that she was startled.
“God that’s worse than the dreams,” Scott said, rubbing at his forehead. He immediately looked around for Emma.
Kitty came in to check on them. “Everyone in one piece?” Everyone better be in one piece, or she was gonna be biiiiiitchy.
Magius moved to intercept Scott, examining him first. “MIster Summers, this way. I’ll have you healed up swiftly. Your wife is in the galley, I believe.” He nodded.
“Welcome to Graymalkin.”
And in everyone’s heads, a gentle warm, a voice sounded. Welcome back everyone, and welcome home. Nate was rather happy to see them all back.
It was about time this was over.