xp_logs | The Rictor Effect

A small team locates Magneto and Julio at the San Diego Marina and are about to attempt a rescue. Too bad Magneto's a big believer in collateral damage.

Where exactly they were, Julio had no idea. They were near the ocean, that much was painfully obvious. As the man in the helmet kept a firm grip on his shoulder, he was steered down a series of wooden walkways, where boats of various sizes were moored. Inwardly, Julio was grateful that his kidnapper had provided him clothes, shoes, and a bandage for his hand. At least he wasn't still in his hospital gown. Julio did his best to keep up with the man's brisk walk, keeping his limping to a minimum.

A group of people moving at an even brisker pace moved along the walkways, navigating closer to the pair as they neared the water's edge. Ororo knew that flying was too conspicuous (not to mention unfeasible), but she still longed to merely swoop in and snatch up the boy from Magneto's grasp. "Let us hope we are not too late," she murmured to Nate and Cain, narrowing her eyes as she peered around the various outbuildings and masts in hopes of spotting the two figures. "Do you see him?"

Cain shaded his eyes, peering over the low edge of a fuel-house roof. "Well, I doubt the guy's going to wear a big neon sign that says 'mutant lunatic here'," he grumbled.

As he spoke, the tin roof of the fuel-house began to shake slightly. The metal nails and bolts holding the marina dock together vibrated in place, sending a small tremor through the boardwalk. At the end of the long dock, next to an expensive-looking cigarette boat, a figure in a familiar helmet and cape raised his hand slowly, bringing the shudders to a halt.

"Or that works too," Cain deadpanned, willing his armor into existence around him and crouching for a charge.

Nathan's eyes were locked on the figure beside Magneto. Julio... He was conscious and upright, that was a good sign. Also a little alarming, because now Nathan was trying to imagine what Magneto was hoping to accomplish, bringing a kid with Julio's powers here, and some of the possibilities were frightening. "Storm. Orders?"

"Do not approach him. Yet." She didn't think Magneto would put the boy in harm's way, not after going through so much to bring him there, but nor would he give him up without a fight. "Cable. That boat needs to go."

Nathan winced a bit at how close said boat was to Julio, but nodded, leveling the psimitar and focusing in on the engines. Tear off the back end, that'd do it...

"I would not raise that weapon if I were you."

Magneto's voice echoed around them, every metal object in the vicinity acting like a stereo speaker, vibrating in time with his words. "Charles sent you to stop me, did he? It seems he will never learn."

Another gesture, and the boardwalk heaved as each individual bit of metal -bolts, screws, braces, girders - yanked free of their moorings, thrashing about wildly.

Julio ducked instinctively as the marina started tearing itself apart. He turned and saw the three figures in black. A woman with white hair, an extremely large man, and a third that looked almost....familiar?

Ororo gathered the winds around her and rose to hover above the bucking, twisting boardwalk, glaring at Magneto with shrouded eyes. Dark clouds began to gather overhead as pieces of the pier beneath them splintered and fell away into the water. "Cable, we need to ensure the safety of the civilians," she said, using a gust of wind to push away a teetering light pole until it fell with a splash into the ocean.

Nathan levitated as well. "Cain, don't move too much," he muttered as he prevented his friend from going into the drink, trying to stabilize the part of the boardwalk where Cain was standing. There was screaming over to his left, and Nathan swore, and started fishing people out of the water from a distance, shielding them from the flying debris as he levitated them back to solid ground with a strong telepathic suggestion to get the hell out of here.

Cain stood as still as possible, glaring as Magneto got into the boat with the boy, pulling away from the pier and beginning to accelerate in the distance.

"Shit," he drawled, "we wanna put a flyer on him and take him down? Boat like that, he'll have a hell of a headstart."

Julio gripped the edge of the boat's plastic seats, not bothering to look at the body of the man Magneto had just pinned to the wall with the boat's anchor. Instead, he stared at the three rapidly retreating figures. Then a memory came to him, His soccer ball on the roof of a building, the man with a kind face who got it down. "This is my friend, Nathan, hijo, say hello...." "Nathan!" He screamed.

Goddamn it! "Storm," Nathan snarled, about to ask permission to turn on the exoskeleton and follow - only to be forestalled when the outdoor balcony of one of the marina restaurants collapsed, screaming people falling forty feet towards the water and rocks. "Shit!" Catch them, he had to catch them...

The waves in the marina were growing choppier by the second, though they lessened the moment Ororo sensed Nate's distraction. They couldn't risk overturning the boat if Nate couldn't protect the young man. Rising higher in the sky, she watched as the speedboat cut its way out of the harbor and towards the open ocean. "They're gone," she said, the wind carrying her voice to Nathan and Cain's ears. "I will raise Scott and he will send someone to track and pursue."

Cain took a deep breath as Nathan's attention was diverted, the sudden lack of telekinetic support causing the dock beneath him to collapse and drop him into chest-deep water thick with debris. As he trudged to the shore, he saw people huddling in the water, trapped by a collapsed section of decking.

Sloshing through the surf to brace the debris and let the people crawl past him to dry shore, Cain keyed his communicator. "Looks like no one's hurt bad here, other than that poor sap nailed to the wall. I'm gonna get people out of the area. Lemme know when Cyke's got a game plan."

Julio turned away from watching the harbor disapear rapidly. He had no idea who those people were with Nathan, but he knew they were enemies of the man now steering the boat. For the first time in many hours, Julio allowed himself to hope.