The Games of Papa Ghede - Finale
Jun. 4th, 2007 04:39 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsIt seems that the captured staff and students have finally reached the end of the maze, but just like every Arcade game, that's where the boss is waiting.
It never seemed to end. Everytime they bypassed and survived one massive obstacle, they seemed to arrive at another. Fortunately, for the first time, they all seemed to be together, as the two groups of Xavier's residents stumbled out of the narrow halls and into a room. After the cacophony of the Big Top or the bells and lights of the Pinball table, the seemingly rockhewn caveran almost seemed tranquil to their senses. Torches burned yellow and sulpherous in scones around the edges of the room, looking like the set of a fantasy movie or some level of an online game. Against the one wall, seven corridors yawned open, each with a torch beside the entrance.
It didn't take more than a few seconds to see the words carved deep into the slate in front of the doors. 'SEVEN DOORS AND SIX DEATHS AWAIT YOU. CHOOSE WISELY' it said, so cliched a device that if they had found it on the description of a novel, they would have laughed. But in Arcade's mad world, those words had deadly weight to them. Obviously of the seven directions they could go, six of them meant certain death at the hands of Murderworld.
Kurt studied the words, his good hand hovering just above Yvette's head where she was sticking as close as possible to his side. It was the closest to comfort he could offer without taking more damage, right now. "...well."
Jan sat on Kurt's shoulder. Staying small right now was probably the safest thing she could do, plus the borrowed clothes she'd been given were back in the ball she'd been trapped in and there was quite literally a big difference between a two-inch naked girl and a full-sized naked girl.
Monet nodded. "Doesn't this just suck giant monkey balls? I've even chipped my nailpolish because of this stupid place."
Yvette sighed wearily, and looked at the doors. "But which one do we choose?" she asked quietly. She was grateful for the quiet dimness after the Big Top, but she wasn't sure she could stay on her feet much longer.
Tabitha eyed the doors. "I just bet that if we each took a different direction, the person who picked the right way would trip over a pebble and break his neck. It's just been that kind of day."
"Well, Monet's kinda invulnerable, isn't she?" John smirked. "Make a move, princess."
"In your dreams. Why don't you just open them all and I'll stay back over here and laugh when you die." Monet smiled back and didn't make any attempt to move.
Mondo just hung back and looked on everything wearily. He was so tired, so sick, and so numb that he just wanted someone to take him home.
Looking at each doorway carefully, green eyes shifted from flickering torch to flickering torch to...well isn't that interesting. "Which one of these is not like the others," Medusa muttered sotto voice, coming back to stand by Nathan.
"One of these things is not the same..." Kyle chimed in just as quietly, stepping back towards Nathan and Medusa. He'd been listening, and had only heard the tail end of what Medusa said. But it hadn't been hard to guess her meaning. "No noises behind door number three..." He said quietly.
"Well, if Kyle ain't hearin' anythin' down that way, and there ain't a torch above that one, maybe someone's trying to give us a hint which way to go?" Sam wondered aloud. He looked over at Nathan, at the rest of the group, then back at the doorway. "Anyone else got any better ideas?" he asked. "Otherwise, Ah'm thinkin' we go that way. Everyone who's functionally invulnerable raise your hand," he quipped, looking at Monet and raising his hand. "Ah'm thinkin' we lead."
"I say we send Medusa's hair ahead of us and see if her hair gets fried or shot at or something," Jan suggested cheerfully.
"No, Sam, I think you and I lead. I may be limited to very short-range telepathy right now but it still might be useful." Nathan's voice was quiet, his gray eyes a little unfocused, maybe with weariness, maybe with concentration. "Monet, if you could stay near the injured, I think they'd appreciate your help if we run into any more problems. Everyone else ready?" He looked them all over once, then nodded. "All right. Let's go."
----
"Before you say 'no' again," Nathan said tiredly, meeting Medusa's eyes, "let me explain something. It's not that we couldn't use you, or that I don't trust you to hold your own." Understand, please... "It's because I do, that I'm asking you to do this. I trust you to be able to look after them even if there's any more surprises waiting topside."
"I still do not understand why you cannot go with the children then. I agree, they need someone to look out after them...as they have proven," she said thinking of Mondo, "they would walk into their own deaths, given the opportunity...but I do not see why it has to be me to go with them." She sighed, green eyes meeting grey. They did not have time for arguments and she knew that as well.
"I want you out of here safely," Nathan repeated, still keeping his voice low, "and I trust you to take them out of here safely too. I think it's an ideal combination. Monet will help." He smiled a bit unsteadily, the expression lasting barely an instant. "She's a lot steadier in a crisis than you'd think."
"I think it is because she is crazy," Medusa confided in Nate. "Therefore she takes things like this in stride." Turning to glance at the group of students, Medusa's hair flared out slightly. She thought about how she would feel if Crystal was in a similar situation, even knowing how capable her sister was of protecting herself. "Ok," she said, the words so soft they were barely audible.
Nathan nodded slowly. "Thank you," he said quietly, turning away. "I'll see you when we're all out of here, Medusa. Take care of them."
---
Nothing was working any more. Heinrich had tried to take off all the safeguards earlier, to throw everything Murderworld had left at the mutants, but it was no use. Now, he watched as they paused in the tunnel, looking at his cameras. He turned to make a command to his men, but the explosion tore the words from his mouth as it hurled him back from his chair and sent him sprawling to the far end of the room. The tunnel passed very close to the command center, and the X-Men had decided to make a shortcut directly to him.
Heinrich scrambled to his feet, coughing out dust. His men looked stunned, but most of them still held their weapons - utterly useless if they will not shoot the verdammt X-Men!
Shoving a fallen underling aside and grabbing his pistol, Heinrich leveled it at the first mutant he saw, the large man who appeared to be leading them. "Die in Selene's name," he growled, firing three times.
The bullets were abruptly redirected, towards three of Heinrich's men. They hit non-vital areas, if only by chance; Nathan's precision was not quite what it should be after the events of the weekend. "Oh, look," he said to the others, his voice hoarse with effort. "Not a dead end after all."
"Zum Teufel!" Heinrich swore, tossing the gun aside and taking a step back. Closing his eyes briefly, he threw his head back and inhaled slowly and loudly, his lips moving as if in prayer. When he looked forward and opened his eyes, it was as if something else entirely was looking out. "Guten Tag, my little friends. You have brought playmates for my Mistress, ja? She has given me her gifts, shall I show them to you?"
Effortlessly, he reached out to lift a large chunk of debris and heave it over Nathan's head to come crashing towards the other hostages.
An explosive noise like a bus backfiring signaled the use of Sam's blast field, and the debris impacted harmlessly on him, much of it incinerated by the chemokinetic reaction. "Y'all ain't the only one with gifts," the Kentuckian said dryly, moving his arms mockingly as if he were dusting off his blast field.
Stunned initially by the wall's eruption, Klar's henchmen gathered their senses, leveling their weapons at the mutants.
"On the ground, now!" one of them shouted, "You've got to the count of three!"
Tabitha cradled a newly made bomb between her hands, she grinned ferally. "Three?" She tossed the globe at the flunkies. "Two, one?" The explosion was bright and loud, much like a SWAT-team's flash-bang grenades.
Kurt was standing near the back of the group, pallor clear under the blue skin now and his good hand pressed to his side. He raised his head in quick alarm at the explosion, having not noticed Tabitha making her bomb, then relaxed.
Some of them were still holding their guns; well-trained, Nathan thought, possibly even used to flash-bangs going on in their faces. Ah, well... Entirely unfocused telekinesis, all he could muster, spilled outwards at them. It was crude sort of bludgeoning tactic, but it dropped two of them very conclusively, at least. Another got a shot off, but Nathan managed to deflect it just enough so that it just grazed his arm on its way into the wall. He wavered, but followed up with something closely to a sledgehammer of telekinesis right to the face of the man who'd tried to shoot him.
John unleashed a volley of fireballs toward the remaining men with guns; so instantly powerful that the flames burned the bodies to a crisp. Probably not what he'd intended to do; a third degree burn --well, he might have had that in mind, but finesse was out of order for the day.
Heinrich watched his men fall, growling in frustration. These abominations would not be allowed to oppose the will of his Mistress, the will of Selene. It would not be tolerated.
"Fools," he laughed at both the X-Men and his hapless associates. "Your resistance is useless, ja? Your little witch has already been taken, my Mistress shall be appeased, and her favor shall be restored to her faithful. So you see, it no longer matters if you all live or die."
Reaching down into the debris, he picked up a flaming piece of wood, inspecting it, then extending it in front of him like a fencer's foil, the light throwing a hellish cast upon his chiseled features. "Although, I prefer that you die, even if I must do it myself."
Your little witch. Kurt's face twisted at that, and he took a step toward the man, bending to pick up a piece of debris of his own, with an effort. "Where is my sister?"
"Mit Gott in Himmel, mit zum Teufel in in der Hölle," Klar mused in a singsong voice. "With God and his angels, or in Hell with the devils, who can say? All that matters is that my Mistress has been avenged for the slight that the little witch dared inflict. And you, her dear brother, would attempt to avenge her? Then by all means, abomination, tanz mit mir. Dance with me."
Swinging the flaming rafter with a flourish, Heinrich bellowed a war cry and lunged at Kurt, aiming for the slender mutant's heart.
His usual grace wasn't with him now, but he managed to half-dodge and finish with a parry, the thin metal support pole in his hand clanging against Heinrich's rafter. "I will send you after her", he promised, panting.
Sam looked at the group. Nate was visibly wilting, and Kurt was panting and had stumbled during that attack - unusual for him. Sam had expended some effort, but thanks to his invulnerability was unhurt. And with Heinrich's obvious physical abilities, he couldn't risk anyone taking a serious hit from the fanatic. So he ducked past Kurt, and Heinrich's overhead slash with the wood shattered against Sam's upstretched arm. "Ah only know two-step," he quipped. "But Ah think Ah'll cut in."
Tabitha looked up as things started to fall from the sky. Well, the ceilings and walls, as the entire place was falling down around their ears. She dodged a large chunk of plaster as it crashed to the floor. She stared at it with wide eyes. "That was close."
She didn't notice the next chunk of ceiling, falling straight at her.
Nathan did. But the TK shield he tried to form over her wouldn't take shape - too much exertion on top of what he'd done in the circus ring, and he nearly went to his knees, blood starting to trickle from his nose again. He turned the half-stumble into a step forward instead, and then another, tackling Tabitha out of the way. Or trying to; more of the ceiling came down, half-burying them both.
The electricity running through the place shorted out with a loud crackle and pop. Scattered debris and concrete dust covered most of the floor. Trapped underneath a collapsed wall; John's ribs hurt with every breath, and it felt as though someone had hammered a nail through the back of his skull.
The crash drew Sam's attention, and if it weren't for his blast field, the strike by Heinrich that slipped past his guard would likely have incapacitated him or worse. As it was, Sam was rocked backwards by the force. He attempted to silently catch Kurt's eye and communicate a plan without speaking. They had to take care of this guy, and quickly, otherwise the entire place could fall on their heads.
Kurt's face was lined with pain, exhaustion and incipient grief, but he nodded briefly to Sam, dancing clumsily back out of the way as Heinrich turned his attention on him again. He stabbed with his support pole, aiming for the man's heart.
Heinrich swatted Kurt's thrust away, breaking the thin pole in half. However, the motion turned him off-balance enough to take a blast-field-enhanced punch from Sam, rocking the large German back on his heels. Despite his 'gifts' from Selene, he was finding himself at a disadvantage against these two relentless mutants -abominations!, he cried inwardly. Raising the flaming beam above his head, he bellowed his Mistress's name, charging forward like a maddened bull.
In his weakened state, the swat had sent Kurt reeling until he almost fell... right next to the fallen chair Heinrich had been sitting on before the explosion. He'd lost one weapon, but... Heinrich wasn't watching his back. Perhaps he had time to realise his mistake as, with the last of his strength, Kurt brought the chair crashing down on his head.
Heinrich grunted and dropped to a knee. For a moment, his face was impassive, then a slow trickle of blood began to flow from his nose, his eyes rolled skyward, and the Teutonic cultist slumped to the floor, unconscious.
He wasn't the only one in bad shape. Kurt managed an unsteady step forward past Heinrich, two, three, then the triple factors of blood loss, physical exertion and no food or natural sleep for two days finally caught up with him. He blinked once and quietly passed out.
The debris covering Tabitha and Nathan shifted as Nathan pushed himself up to his hands and knees, coughing, freeing Tabitha to move as well. Blood covered the side of his face and his gray eyes were badly unfocused. But he looked in the direction of where John was trapped and risked pushing, just for an instant, with his telekinesis. Easier than a shield. His vision went briefly white, the flow of blood from his nose increasing, but the wall trapping John flung itself away, freeing the young man.
John staggered to his feet, grimacing slightly in pain. "...thanks." He flicked his Zippo and extracted a flame out to help light their way forward.
More debris was falling, and there was no time to lose. Sam just prayed that there wasn't anything else between them and the exit, because he was probably the only one of the group at all combat capable at the moment. He bent down and slung Kurt over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, and motioned for the group to follow John's flame. "We need to get out, and fast," he urged them.
What the hell was with people and stating the obvious today? Nathan thought hazily, hauling Tabitha up with him and pushing her ahead of him. "The kids-" he started to say, but the words died on his lips as something else topside became evident to his battered mind. A very familiar mind.
Alison.
He took a shaky breath. #Cavalry's here,# he sent to his companions as they ran, the whole complex coming apart around them. He'd wanted to bring down the house more than once this weekend, but it would be nice if the final act waited until they got out.
It was a near thing, but they made it - barely.
---
With the X-Men engaging their captor, that route of escape was closed
off. They got the strong feeling that after hours of this madness,
neither Nate or Kurt would be willing to expose them to further
danger. Instead, they continued quickly up the corridor, staying away
from the battle and hoping that this would finally lead to an exit
from the madhouse.
Medusa had left the battle regretfully, but she hadn't been able to
ignore Nathan's request of her. "Stick together," she said, gesturing
to the group to shift closer together. There was no telling what the
madhouse was going to send out next and Medusa was not going to let
her guard down until she was in a spa somewhere being pampered for all
her trouble.
Yvette was reluctant to bunch too close to anyone given the lack of
any kind of protection from her skin, but she nodded, sticking close
to Monet, who at least could survive casual bumping. She staggered
slightly as the floor shook underneath them, pieces falling from the
roof - it seemed like the whole place would collapse upon them before
they could escape. "I am hoping Mr Sefton and the other teachers are
being all right," she murmured mostly to herself.
"I think so..." Monet slipped a hand under Yvette's elbow, steadying
her slightly and stumbled herself as the floor heaved and fragments of
plaster - only small ones for now, thankfully - began to fall from
the ceiling, dropping from cracks in the ceiling that grew larger with
every shake of the tunnel.
"Air's getting better." Kyle announced. "Not a lot or anything but
there you go." He stepped carefully around the debris on the ground
and watched the ceiling warily. He pulled back sharply as another
piece of the plaster came down, nearly hitting his feet. "What I
wouldn't give for a fuckin' big umbrella right now. Made of steel."
Medusa pondered Kyle's suggestion gravely. "I do not have steel," the
royal said, red hair lifting up to fan out and over her head and the
surrounding students. "And I do not know how long I will be able to
maintain this, but perhaps it will be enough to make a few steps
easier."
"Oh, hey! Shield! Cool!" Jan landed on Medusa's shoulder, feeling
safe under the outstretched scarlet "umbrella."
Medusa felt a little bit of shock at the tiny naked girl who had
landed on her shoulder. Nathan's request to her played through her
mind though and she didn't physically react to the invasion of her
boundaries.
"The air's getting better? Thank fuck for that. You reckon we could
maybe step on it a bit? Not that I don't appreciate the hair, Medusa,
but I'm just so over this." Monet stumbled again as the floor dropped
half a foot, the joists under it separating from the walls which,
thankfully, remained more or less intact for now.
Normally Yvette would have been shocked by the language the older
girl was using, but after everything, it was but a minor issue. "I
think I am seeing the light?" she said, peering through the rising
dust, her eyes light small headlamps. "We are nearly being out, yes?"
Mondo trudged forward, one foot in front of the other. He didn't
want to think anymore, to try to understand. All that was good, it was
increasingly looking like, was in the process of being destroyed. The
spray of debris from the tunnel didnt' bother him in the slightest.
Anything small enough was just absorbed into his body, and anything
bigger was left to bounce off of his form. He just wanted to go
someplace safe and never, ever leave.
There was a rumble, and then the staccato chain of explosions
behind them as half the ceiling collapsed not more than fifteen feet
behind them. The entire complex was shaking, and muffled thumps of
other explosions were clearly heard in the hallway. Arcade obviously
intended to keep Murderworld's secrets hidden as the entire place
began to collapse around the students.
"MOVE!" Kyle shouted, but oddly, slowed his pace to fall behind the
others. He didn't want to lose his group, not again, and he was going to make damn sure that they didn't lose -anyone-. "Go go go!" They
were already running, but if he had to, he'd get behind slower people
and push.
Yvette dropped to all fours, scampering ahead. She could, she
decided, clear any debris ahead of them. "Come on, Mondo!" she called,
looking back at her friend. "We are nearly to be out, and you can be
making the way be open!"
Mondo rushed ahead as well and then reached up to stabilize the
ceiling. "GO!" he bellowed at everyone else - who now, unfortunately,
had to move around him to get out.
Monet slid around him grabbed as much of Mondo's waist as she could
and started dragging him, foot by foot toward the exit. "Ignore the
fucking ceiling and run, you nong!"
Medusa was glad Monet had started dragging Mondo as she was seriously wondering how the boy had made it this far in his life without being killed. She had looped a strand of hair around the tiny girl on her shoulder to make sure no gusts of wind blew her off and it was with some relief that she saw a faint outline of light that she hoped meant an exit. Biting her lip, the redhead yanked a handful of hair out of her scalp, the strands straightening to support the ceiling. "Move it," she called out to everyone, running beside Kyle for much the same reason he had taken a position in the rear. She'd promised Nate that she'd get them all to safety and she had never broken her word.
The light grew brighter as they approached, even with the dust raised by the collapsing structure around them. Yvette ducked her head as a chunk of roof fell past her, and concentrated on getting out. Then - after what seemed an eternity of chaos and noise and destruction - she broke into fresh, dry air, an open, barren landscape, and, most welcome sight of all, there was a plane, and people she'd never seen before but wearing uniforms similar to those of the X-Men. At last, at very long last, it was over.
It never seemed to end. Everytime they bypassed and survived one massive obstacle, they seemed to arrive at another. Fortunately, for the first time, they all seemed to be together, as the two groups of Xavier's residents stumbled out of the narrow halls and into a room. After the cacophony of the Big Top or the bells and lights of the Pinball table, the seemingly rockhewn caveran almost seemed tranquil to their senses. Torches burned yellow and sulpherous in scones around the edges of the room, looking like the set of a fantasy movie or some level of an online game. Against the one wall, seven corridors yawned open, each with a torch beside the entrance.
It didn't take more than a few seconds to see the words carved deep into the slate in front of the doors. 'SEVEN DOORS AND SIX DEATHS AWAIT YOU. CHOOSE WISELY' it said, so cliched a device that if they had found it on the description of a novel, they would have laughed. But in Arcade's mad world, those words had deadly weight to them. Obviously of the seven directions they could go, six of them meant certain death at the hands of Murderworld.
Kurt studied the words, his good hand hovering just above Yvette's head where she was sticking as close as possible to his side. It was the closest to comfort he could offer without taking more damage, right now. "...well."
Jan sat on Kurt's shoulder. Staying small right now was probably the safest thing she could do, plus the borrowed clothes she'd been given were back in the ball she'd been trapped in and there was quite literally a big difference between a two-inch naked girl and a full-sized naked girl.
Monet nodded. "Doesn't this just suck giant monkey balls? I've even chipped my nailpolish because of this stupid place."
Yvette sighed wearily, and looked at the doors. "But which one do we choose?" she asked quietly. She was grateful for the quiet dimness after the Big Top, but she wasn't sure she could stay on her feet much longer.
Tabitha eyed the doors. "I just bet that if we each took a different direction, the person who picked the right way would trip over a pebble and break his neck. It's just been that kind of day."
"Well, Monet's kinda invulnerable, isn't she?" John smirked. "Make a move, princess."
"In your dreams. Why don't you just open them all and I'll stay back over here and laugh when you die." Monet smiled back and didn't make any attempt to move.
Mondo just hung back and looked on everything wearily. He was so tired, so sick, and so numb that he just wanted someone to take him home.
Looking at each doorway carefully, green eyes shifted from flickering torch to flickering torch to...well isn't that interesting. "Which one of these is not like the others," Medusa muttered sotto voice, coming back to stand by Nathan.
"One of these things is not the same..." Kyle chimed in just as quietly, stepping back towards Nathan and Medusa. He'd been listening, and had only heard the tail end of what Medusa said. But it hadn't been hard to guess her meaning. "No noises behind door number three..." He said quietly.
"Well, if Kyle ain't hearin' anythin' down that way, and there ain't a torch above that one, maybe someone's trying to give us a hint which way to go?" Sam wondered aloud. He looked over at Nathan, at the rest of the group, then back at the doorway. "Anyone else got any better ideas?" he asked. "Otherwise, Ah'm thinkin' we go that way. Everyone who's functionally invulnerable raise your hand," he quipped, looking at Monet and raising his hand. "Ah'm thinkin' we lead."
"I say we send Medusa's hair ahead of us and see if her hair gets fried or shot at or something," Jan suggested cheerfully.
"No, Sam, I think you and I lead. I may be limited to very short-range telepathy right now but it still might be useful." Nathan's voice was quiet, his gray eyes a little unfocused, maybe with weariness, maybe with concentration. "Monet, if you could stay near the injured, I think they'd appreciate your help if we run into any more problems. Everyone else ready?" He looked them all over once, then nodded. "All right. Let's go."
----
"Before you say 'no' again," Nathan said tiredly, meeting Medusa's eyes, "let me explain something. It's not that we couldn't use you, or that I don't trust you to hold your own." Understand, please... "It's because I do, that I'm asking you to do this. I trust you to be able to look after them even if there's any more surprises waiting topside."
"I still do not understand why you cannot go with the children then. I agree, they need someone to look out after them...as they have proven," she said thinking of Mondo, "they would walk into their own deaths, given the opportunity...but I do not see why it has to be me to go with them." She sighed, green eyes meeting grey. They did not have time for arguments and she knew that as well.
"I want you out of here safely," Nathan repeated, still keeping his voice low, "and I trust you to take them out of here safely too. I think it's an ideal combination. Monet will help." He smiled a bit unsteadily, the expression lasting barely an instant. "She's a lot steadier in a crisis than you'd think."
"I think it is because she is crazy," Medusa confided in Nate. "Therefore she takes things like this in stride." Turning to glance at the group of students, Medusa's hair flared out slightly. She thought about how she would feel if Crystal was in a similar situation, even knowing how capable her sister was of protecting herself. "Ok," she said, the words so soft they were barely audible.
Nathan nodded slowly. "Thank you," he said quietly, turning away. "I'll see you when we're all out of here, Medusa. Take care of them."
---
Nothing was working any more. Heinrich had tried to take off all the safeguards earlier, to throw everything Murderworld had left at the mutants, but it was no use. Now, he watched as they paused in the tunnel, looking at his cameras. He turned to make a command to his men, but the explosion tore the words from his mouth as it hurled him back from his chair and sent him sprawling to the far end of the room. The tunnel passed very close to the command center, and the X-Men had decided to make a shortcut directly to him.
Heinrich scrambled to his feet, coughing out dust. His men looked stunned, but most of them still held their weapons - utterly useless if they will not shoot the verdammt X-Men!
Shoving a fallen underling aside and grabbing his pistol, Heinrich leveled it at the first mutant he saw, the large man who appeared to be leading them. "Die in Selene's name," he growled, firing three times.
The bullets were abruptly redirected, towards three of Heinrich's men. They hit non-vital areas, if only by chance; Nathan's precision was not quite what it should be after the events of the weekend. "Oh, look," he said to the others, his voice hoarse with effort. "Not a dead end after all."
"Zum Teufel!" Heinrich swore, tossing the gun aside and taking a step back. Closing his eyes briefly, he threw his head back and inhaled slowly and loudly, his lips moving as if in prayer. When he looked forward and opened his eyes, it was as if something else entirely was looking out. "Guten Tag, my little friends. You have brought playmates for my Mistress, ja? She has given me her gifts, shall I show them to you?"
Effortlessly, he reached out to lift a large chunk of debris and heave it over Nathan's head to come crashing towards the other hostages.
An explosive noise like a bus backfiring signaled the use of Sam's blast field, and the debris impacted harmlessly on him, much of it incinerated by the chemokinetic reaction. "Y'all ain't the only one with gifts," the Kentuckian said dryly, moving his arms mockingly as if he were dusting off his blast field.
Stunned initially by the wall's eruption, Klar's henchmen gathered their senses, leveling their weapons at the mutants.
"On the ground, now!" one of them shouted, "You've got to the count of three!"
Tabitha cradled a newly made bomb between her hands, she grinned ferally. "Three?" She tossed the globe at the flunkies. "Two, one?" The explosion was bright and loud, much like a SWAT-team's flash-bang grenades.
Kurt was standing near the back of the group, pallor clear under the blue skin now and his good hand pressed to his side. He raised his head in quick alarm at the explosion, having not noticed Tabitha making her bomb, then relaxed.
Some of them were still holding their guns; well-trained, Nathan thought, possibly even used to flash-bangs going on in their faces. Ah, well... Entirely unfocused telekinesis, all he could muster, spilled outwards at them. It was crude sort of bludgeoning tactic, but it dropped two of them very conclusively, at least. Another got a shot off, but Nathan managed to deflect it just enough so that it just grazed his arm on its way into the wall. He wavered, but followed up with something closely to a sledgehammer of telekinesis right to the face of the man who'd tried to shoot him.
John unleashed a volley of fireballs toward the remaining men with guns; so instantly powerful that the flames burned the bodies to a crisp. Probably not what he'd intended to do; a third degree burn --well, he might have had that in mind, but finesse was out of order for the day.
Heinrich watched his men fall, growling in frustration. These abominations would not be allowed to oppose the will of his Mistress, the will of Selene. It would not be tolerated.
"Fools," he laughed at both the X-Men and his hapless associates. "Your resistance is useless, ja? Your little witch has already been taken, my Mistress shall be appeased, and her favor shall be restored to her faithful. So you see, it no longer matters if you all live or die."
Reaching down into the debris, he picked up a flaming piece of wood, inspecting it, then extending it in front of him like a fencer's foil, the light throwing a hellish cast upon his chiseled features. "Although, I prefer that you die, even if I must do it myself."
Your little witch. Kurt's face twisted at that, and he took a step toward the man, bending to pick up a piece of debris of his own, with an effort. "Where is my sister?"
"Mit Gott in Himmel, mit zum Teufel in in der Hölle," Klar mused in a singsong voice. "With God and his angels, or in Hell with the devils, who can say? All that matters is that my Mistress has been avenged for the slight that the little witch dared inflict. And you, her dear brother, would attempt to avenge her? Then by all means, abomination, tanz mit mir. Dance with me."
Swinging the flaming rafter with a flourish, Heinrich bellowed a war cry and lunged at Kurt, aiming for the slender mutant's heart.
His usual grace wasn't with him now, but he managed to half-dodge and finish with a parry, the thin metal support pole in his hand clanging against Heinrich's rafter. "I will send you after her", he promised, panting.
Sam looked at the group. Nate was visibly wilting, and Kurt was panting and had stumbled during that attack - unusual for him. Sam had expended some effort, but thanks to his invulnerability was unhurt. And with Heinrich's obvious physical abilities, he couldn't risk anyone taking a serious hit from the fanatic. So he ducked past Kurt, and Heinrich's overhead slash with the wood shattered against Sam's upstretched arm. "Ah only know two-step," he quipped. "But Ah think Ah'll cut in."
Tabitha looked up as things started to fall from the sky. Well, the ceilings and walls, as the entire place was falling down around their ears. She dodged a large chunk of plaster as it crashed to the floor. She stared at it with wide eyes. "That was close."
She didn't notice the next chunk of ceiling, falling straight at her.
Nathan did. But the TK shield he tried to form over her wouldn't take shape - too much exertion on top of what he'd done in the circus ring, and he nearly went to his knees, blood starting to trickle from his nose again. He turned the half-stumble into a step forward instead, and then another, tackling Tabitha out of the way. Or trying to; more of the ceiling came down, half-burying them both.
The electricity running through the place shorted out with a loud crackle and pop. Scattered debris and concrete dust covered most of the floor. Trapped underneath a collapsed wall; John's ribs hurt with every breath, and it felt as though someone had hammered a nail through the back of his skull.
The crash drew Sam's attention, and if it weren't for his blast field, the strike by Heinrich that slipped past his guard would likely have incapacitated him or worse. As it was, Sam was rocked backwards by the force. He attempted to silently catch Kurt's eye and communicate a plan without speaking. They had to take care of this guy, and quickly, otherwise the entire place could fall on their heads.
Kurt's face was lined with pain, exhaustion and incipient grief, but he nodded briefly to Sam, dancing clumsily back out of the way as Heinrich turned his attention on him again. He stabbed with his support pole, aiming for the man's heart.
Heinrich swatted Kurt's thrust away, breaking the thin pole in half. However, the motion turned him off-balance enough to take a blast-field-enhanced punch from Sam, rocking the large German back on his heels. Despite his 'gifts' from Selene, he was finding himself at a disadvantage against these two relentless mutants -abominations!, he cried inwardly. Raising the flaming beam above his head, he bellowed his Mistress's name, charging forward like a maddened bull.
In his weakened state, the swat had sent Kurt reeling until he almost fell... right next to the fallen chair Heinrich had been sitting on before the explosion. He'd lost one weapon, but... Heinrich wasn't watching his back. Perhaps he had time to realise his mistake as, with the last of his strength, Kurt brought the chair crashing down on his head.
Heinrich grunted and dropped to a knee. For a moment, his face was impassive, then a slow trickle of blood began to flow from his nose, his eyes rolled skyward, and the Teutonic cultist slumped to the floor, unconscious.
He wasn't the only one in bad shape. Kurt managed an unsteady step forward past Heinrich, two, three, then the triple factors of blood loss, physical exertion and no food or natural sleep for two days finally caught up with him. He blinked once and quietly passed out.
The debris covering Tabitha and Nathan shifted as Nathan pushed himself up to his hands and knees, coughing, freeing Tabitha to move as well. Blood covered the side of his face and his gray eyes were badly unfocused. But he looked in the direction of where John was trapped and risked pushing, just for an instant, with his telekinesis. Easier than a shield. His vision went briefly white, the flow of blood from his nose increasing, but the wall trapping John flung itself away, freeing the young man.
John staggered to his feet, grimacing slightly in pain. "...thanks." He flicked his Zippo and extracted a flame out to help light their way forward.
More debris was falling, and there was no time to lose. Sam just prayed that there wasn't anything else between them and the exit, because he was probably the only one of the group at all combat capable at the moment. He bent down and slung Kurt over his shoulders in a fireman's carry, and motioned for the group to follow John's flame. "We need to get out, and fast," he urged them.
What the hell was with people and stating the obvious today? Nathan thought hazily, hauling Tabitha up with him and pushing her ahead of him. "The kids-" he started to say, but the words died on his lips as something else topside became evident to his battered mind. A very familiar mind.
Alison.
He took a shaky breath. #Cavalry's here,# he sent to his companions as they ran, the whole complex coming apart around them. He'd wanted to bring down the house more than once this weekend, but it would be nice if the final act waited until they got out.
It was a near thing, but they made it - barely.
---
With the X-Men engaging their captor, that route of escape was closed
off. They got the strong feeling that after hours of this madness,
neither Nate or Kurt would be willing to expose them to further
danger. Instead, they continued quickly up the corridor, staying away
from the battle and hoping that this would finally lead to an exit
from the madhouse.
Medusa had left the battle regretfully, but she hadn't been able to
ignore Nathan's request of her. "Stick together," she said, gesturing
to the group to shift closer together. There was no telling what the
madhouse was going to send out next and Medusa was not going to let
her guard down until she was in a spa somewhere being pampered for all
her trouble.
Yvette was reluctant to bunch too close to anyone given the lack of
any kind of protection from her skin, but she nodded, sticking close
to Monet, who at least could survive casual bumping. She staggered
slightly as the floor shook underneath them, pieces falling from the
roof - it seemed like the whole place would collapse upon them before
they could escape. "I am hoping Mr Sefton and the other teachers are
being all right," she murmured mostly to herself.
"I think so..." Monet slipped a hand under Yvette's elbow, steadying
her slightly and stumbled herself as the floor heaved and fragments of
plaster - only small ones for now, thankfully - began to fall from
the ceiling, dropping from cracks in the ceiling that grew larger with
every shake of the tunnel.
"Air's getting better." Kyle announced. "Not a lot or anything but
there you go." He stepped carefully around the debris on the ground
and watched the ceiling warily. He pulled back sharply as another
piece of the plaster came down, nearly hitting his feet. "What I
wouldn't give for a fuckin' big umbrella right now. Made of steel."
Medusa pondered Kyle's suggestion gravely. "I do not have steel," the
royal said, red hair lifting up to fan out and over her head and the
surrounding students. "And I do not know how long I will be able to
maintain this, but perhaps it will be enough to make a few steps
easier."
"Oh, hey! Shield! Cool!" Jan landed on Medusa's shoulder, feeling
safe under the outstretched scarlet "umbrella."
Medusa felt a little bit of shock at the tiny naked girl who had
landed on her shoulder. Nathan's request to her played through her
mind though and she didn't physically react to the invasion of her
boundaries.
"The air's getting better? Thank fuck for that. You reckon we could
maybe step on it a bit? Not that I don't appreciate the hair, Medusa,
but I'm just so over this." Monet stumbled again as the floor dropped
half a foot, the joists under it separating from the walls which,
thankfully, remained more or less intact for now.
Normally Yvette would have been shocked by the language the older
girl was using, but after everything, it was but a minor issue. "I
think I am seeing the light?" she said, peering through the rising
dust, her eyes light small headlamps. "We are nearly being out, yes?"
Mondo trudged forward, one foot in front of the other. He didn't
want to think anymore, to try to understand. All that was good, it was
increasingly looking like, was in the process of being destroyed. The
spray of debris from the tunnel didnt' bother him in the slightest.
Anything small enough was just absorbed into his body, and anything
bigger was left to bounce off of his form. He just wanted to go
someplace safe and never, ever leave.
There was a rumble, and then the staccato chain of explosions
behind them as half the ceiling collapsed not more than fifteen feet
behind them. The entire complex was shaking, and muffled thumps of
other explosions were clearly heard in the hallway. Arcade obviously
intended to keep Murderworld's secrets hidden as the entire place
began to collapse around the students.
"MOVE!" Kyle shouted, but oddly, slowed his pace to fall behind the
others. He didn't want to lose his group, not again, and he was going to make damn sure that they didn't lose -anyone-. "Go go go!" They
were already running, but if he had to, he'd get behind slower people
and push.
Yvette dropped to all fours, scampering ahead. She could, she
decided, clear any debris ahead of them. "Come on, Mondo!" she called,
looking back at her friend. "We are nearly to be out, and you can be
making the way be open!"
Mondo rushed ahead as well and then reached up to stabilize the
ceiling. "GO!" he bellowed at everyone else - who now, unfortunately,
had to move around him to get out.
Monet slid around him grabbed as much of Mondo's waist as she could
and started dragging him, foot by foot toward the exit. "Ignore the
fucking ceiling and run, you nong!"
Medusa was glad Monet had started dragging Mondo as she was seriously wondering how the boy had made it this far in his life without being killed. She had looped a strand of hair around the tiny girl on her shoulder to make sure no gusts of wind blew her off and it was with some relief that she saw a faint outline of light that she hoped meant an exit. Biting her lip, the redhead yanked a handful of hair out of her scalp, the strands straightening to support the ceiling. "Move it," she called out to everyone, running beside Kyle for much the same reason he had taken a position in the rear. She'd promised Nate that she'd get them all to safety and she had never broken her word.
The light grew brighter as they approached, even with the dust raised by the collapsing structure around them. Yvette ducked her head as a chunk of roof fell past her, and concentrated on getting out. Then - after what seemed an eternity of chaos and noise and destruction - she broke into fresh, dry air, an open, barren landscape, and, most welcome sight of all, there was a plane, and people she'd never seen before but wearing uniforms similar to those of the X-Men. At last, at very long last, it was over.
Tags:
- c: kurt sefton,
- c: kyle gibney,
- c: z available: john allerdyce,
- z p1: c: .npc,
- z p1: c: .retired: medusa amaquelin,
- z p1: c: .retired: monet st croix,
- z p1: c: .retired: nathan dayspring,
- z p1: c: .retired: sam guthrie,
- z p1: c: .retired: tabitha smith,
- z p1: c: .retired: yvette petrovic,
- z p1: c: janet van dyne,
- z p1: c: mondo,
- z p1: p: prince of thieves: voodoo child
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Date: 2007-06-04 10:01 pm (UTC)*laughs* She's spent more than half her life being functionally invulnerable. It kind of reduces her understanding of personal danger, so that even when she's afraid, it's a very abstract thing that just doesn't quite translate into 'and you're going to be in a world of pain soon'.