xp_logs | Day Zero: Famine

During the continuing search and rescue attempts, one of the Horsemen takes a strike at the wounded and helpless.

Marius nodded gratefully as he accepted a dixiecup of water from one of the theoretical evacuees. He was noticing that whilst many of the remaining were indeed frightened or in shock there were a fair few who clearly remained for altogether different reasons. The rather nice restaurant now repurposed into a sort of way-station was a good case in point. Though almost bereft of food by now, it had, through some unknowable process of general consent, come to be a place for the injured and bereft. Every once in a while someone would walk or be lead in by others, with smaller groups of the able-bodied setting out just as often, presumably to do more searching. It had occurred to Marius his group were not the only ones involved in rescue work, which he found somewhat obnoxious to his sense of self-importance.

Still, he couldn't argue that many hands lead to less of a burden. He bolted the water and joined Kurt, who was regarding an older man with a crudely-splinted leg and a nearby handtruck that was the emergency version of a wheelchair. "Need a hand?" Marius asked with a tilt of his head.

"An extra pair of hands would certainly be useful", Kurt told him. "We must get these people away from here, and there is a truck parked outside."

Marius nodded, and lifted the man as gently as one could when performing something as indelicate as grabbing a person under their armpits, leaving Kurt to handle the legs. The man hissed in pain as they got him on the dollie, but gave the two men only a weak nod of thanks.

Now that things were a bit calmer, at least where they were, people had come out of hiding and were mostly helping each other either search for survivors or taking care of the wounded. It was good to see all the different people come together like this, despite the destruction and terrible things going on, people were banding together to help one another. It was refreshing and helping Dani a lot, regarding her powers. People right now weren't scared, they were too busy with the adrenaline rush to be for the most part. She was helping a lady lift some children up onto the truck to be taken to safety. Turning, she saw Kurt and Marius lift the man and she smiled at them, "I think it's almost full," she said. With the truck full of the wounded and children, it was not nearly as cramped as if it were everyone crammed inside. "We got room for a few more still."

While the others helped with more specific tasks, Sam moved supplies into their location. While flying he could move quite a bit of weight and get things from one place to another quickly. He kept their relief area stocked in clean, bottled water and pre-packaged meals where he could get them. There was no telling how long some of the people had been stuck without the necessities.

"Hold still a second." Jane murmured to green looking teenage girl, dabbing at a long gash that stretched across her forehead with a cloth. "It looks worse than it really is." One corner of the restaurant had been been adopted as an unofficial first aid station, where the wounded could be patched up between trucks. Jane had settled into it quickly when they'd arrived and found that more than anything people needed a smile and a bit of reassurance to go with their band aids. Taping a length of gauze over the cut, she grinned at the girl. "And that's it. When you can, change the bandage and dab a bit of antibiotic over it. Um, but put the antibiotic on before the bandage. If you head over there by the doors, I think that's the next group going out. Good luck!"

Out of sight from the people on the ground, a young woman in red armor watched as they scurried about like ants. All so young and healthy they were. Quick and fast. But they weren't the strong ones.

She was.

Famine smiled to herself and mounted her steed. Her master had commanded for her to kill any of the weak she saw, but now she wanted to play...

The lights in the restaurant flickered and dimmed. The nominal proprietor looked up and shook his head. "Looks like the grid finally went down. Tell the truth, I'm surprised we had it this long."

"Then ours shall be a timely exit, no?" Marius grinned. "No worries. Soon you'll be--"

"GLORY! ALL GLORY TO OUR MASTER!"

Marius blinked, then turned to look out into the street. And stared.

"Oh, surely not . . ."

After three uneventful days, it seemed they had finally encountered the resistance. Three of them, to be precise, and approaching from the opposite side of the street. The words had been roared by a man who looked as if he was having an early Halloween with an admittedly fearsome tiger's head, but unfortunately the sudden appearance was made somewhat less intimidating if you had the hearing to make out what his colleagues were saying in return.

"Stop calling him that," snapped a huge man Marius' senses told him was a fairly standard all-around physical enhancement. Though his words wouldn't have been audible to most at this distance, his tone indicated he was losing no love with the feral. "He told us not to use that word. Did no one ever teach you the meaning of the word 'equality'?" Beside him, a painfully thin man who reeked of telekinesis said nothing but looked as if this was not the first time he had heard the exchange, and was resigned to the fact it would not be the last.

But the burgeoning argument had no time to mature, because just then a shadow slid across the ground.

In the sky was a . . . thing. Skeletal and red-clad, mounted on a horse of bronze, it was impossible to tell if the figure was male or female, young or old.

It was laughing.

As a general rule, Dani feared little. When fear was your power, when it was the first thing you noticed about a person, most fears lose their scariness pretty quick. Dani however, was no X-Man and rarely used her powers. This was a good time to be afraid. Her breath catching as the fear rose in everyone around her to an overwhelming degree, she breathed like she had been taught. Focusing. "Guys...." she called, to the other X-Men. She didn't voice the rest of her question 'Now what?!'

The alarm in Dani's voice made Jane look up from the arm she was bandaging. Offering a reassuring smile she didn't quite feel at its owner, she quickly rose and made her way to the front windows. "Oh, man..." she breathed, taking in the sight before her. This was so not good. She glanced back at the crowd of people behind her who were starting to gather together. There had to be a way to get them out of here fast.

The figure in red gestured for the three mutants in the street to be quiet. She (for it was a she, even with the hollowness in her cheekbones her features were decidedly feminine) landed in front of them, sitting proud in the saddle.

"Hear me," her voice was thin and wavering, but it carried in the empty streets. "Those that are strong, gifted, are invited to join at Apocalypse's side, to be the first wave of the oncoming storm. Together, we shall rise up and take what is rightfully ours! Those that refuse, shall be culled with the rest of the weak." She gestured with one arm, and a group of refugees suddenly collapsed, flesh melting away like wax.

Marius' vague sense of disbelief at finally hearing the sort of 'Join us or fall to our swords' speech he had heretofor believed a mere cliche was shattered by the collapse of the civillians. He darted out the doorway and snapped his head around to follow Famine's flightpath, eyes narrowing. "Oi, she's a bio-manipulator!" he called to his teammates. "She--"

A chunk of masonry hit Marius in the gut.

Across the street, the largest man gave the telekinetic a dirty look. The slighter man shrugged. "What?" he said. "Like they were really going to switch sides."

The feral charged.

Sam had just dropped off a crate of water when he saw the arrival of their resistance. The two earth bound would be available to everyone but the horse riding women would only be vulnerable to Kurt and himself. He knew that he'd have to take the opportunity now, while already in flight, or he might not get another. He didn't imagine he'd be immune to being melted down so he had to make this run count. She'd see him coming, no doubt, so he raced straight for her at full speed.

Famine was ready for the race-traitor, even though he was fast she hit him and smiled as his flesh melted away. Only to have her eyes widen as that did not affect his flight trajectory.

The explosion rattled the windows three blocks away.

She was able to control her steed into a dive and hit the ground running before it exploded. She whirled on the assembled mutants in black.

Now she was angry.

Sam was alive, at least, he thought, though he was spiraling to the ground now and without much thrust. His blast shield was working but that's about all he knew; he wasn't even sure how much the woman had hurt him or if he'd be able to do much else. He took her flight from her, that should be enough.

Kurt's attention was on his friend, and he repeated an old trick to teleport straight upwards and catch Sam in his arms before returning to the ground.

"Sam!" Tabitha ran toward her friend from where she'd been ushering refugees away. One of the less-than-bright minions moved to intercept. She tossed a flash-bang at his face and drove her elbow into his gut. She jumped right over him and kept running.

The feral had raced up beside one of the departing transports and leapt up on the back gate. "There's no escape! All must bow before the Master!" The last word descended into a howl as he leaned inside and swiped at the evacuees. Screams of fear rent the air as a body flew out and landed on the asphalt with a sickening thud.

Jane watched in horror as the tiger man's arm swept inside again and wrapped around a familiar looking girl. Dissolving into a mist, she poured out of the shelter and into the air. The truck swerved crazily and the feral lost his grip on the girl and the truck, hanging in the the roof with a clawed hand. Drawing herself into a concentrated mass, over the truck, Jane's form flickered as threads of electricity began to gather. #How could you? There are children in there! How DARE you?#, she screamed at him, as a bright white bolt of lightning shot out of the cloud, striking the feral in the chest and knocking him to the ground.

As the truck screeched to a halt, Dani jumped off and onto him. Now she was in much more familiar territory. Jumping on him and using her weight to pin him down, she punched him squarely in the face several times. There was something to be said about a good old fashioned punch in the nose. At least until the feral managed to flip them around so he was on top. That wasn't so good.

"Jane!" Dani called, doing her best to block the blows and get a foot or hand on the other guy. He was faster than she was.

Jane was so caught up in her rage that she barely heard Dani. How could he do this to innocent people? Didn't he know how much their lives had changed overnight? How lost they must be feeling? How scared?

Her body still crackling with lightning, Jane funneled down into the feral's throat as he opened his mouth to let out another roar. #No! Leave her alone!# she cried. His body spasmed as the combination of oxygen deprivation and electrocution hit him hard. His hands moved as if to clutch his throat, and he twitched painfully for several long moments before falling heavily to the ground as Jane slid back out of him onto the street.

Marius staggered to his feet as he finally managed to restart his diaphragm. The restaurant's former proprietor had been hovering over him, unwilling to leave. Marius waved the man back. "No worries -- just leg it, eh?" He managed to give the man a smile. "I assure you, we are Professionals." "You talk a lot for it," came the voice of the physical augment. Marius swung around to see the man's face now had a suspiciously raw look to it, such as might be acquired from a point-blank bomb burst.

"As opposed to you Chosen, it seems we are a friendly lot," Marius said, sliding easily into a defensive stance. He paused and sniffed the air. "Although I seem to smell burnin' fur."

"You don't always get to pick who joins your cause," the man said. "We'll have time to get things sorted out later." In addition to the stragglers too well or too off-guard to have made it to the truck, Marius caught a glimpse of Tabitha crouching over Sam and sureptitiously began to adjust his position to keep the man's attention fixed squarely on himself. The woman on the horse was nowhere to be seen. Someone else, however, was. Marius' eyes flickered in understanding, then returned to his opponent.

The big man in front of him raised an enormous fist, looking resigned. "I suppose it's time to start hitting each other."

"For someone, certainly," Marius agreed.

That someone had been moving into place, choosing not to teleport in this case to keep from being noticed until the time came. Just as the big man started to swing his fist down, a thin but strong arm caught it as Kurt leapt and kicked him in the lower back, hard and with both feet.

"Ta, Nightcrawler," Marius said as his eyes followed the man's collapse onto the pavement. "Shame. As minions of an invadin' megalomaniac go he didn't seem the indecent sort."

"Actually he could be extremely annoying," echoed another voice. They turned to see the telekinetic standing a respectable distance away, a nimbus of debris spinning through the air around him. "He was right about still working out all the details, at least, but there will be plenty of time for that afterwards. Once we get the flatscans cleared out our lord--"

Marius screamed. Specifically, he screamed in the pitch Terry had taught him could throw a man across a room. This one managed to knock the telekinetic out of his cloud of ballast, through a storefront, and into a display stand across the street.

"Odd how they forget the fight doesn't stop for the speeches," Marius said, turning to give Kurt a perplexed look and without the faintest trace of irony. However, the motion was suddenly caught short by the sight of the slight, red-clad figure darting towards the last of the trucks. His eyes widened.

"Oi, it's her! The bint with the horse!" He opened his mouth and took a deep breath to scream again.

Before the boy could produce any sound, Famine raised her hand and slammed him with her power. When he dropped to her knees she smiled and turned her attention to the trucks that Dani and Jane were defending.

She didn't offer them any chance to surrender, she was looking to hurt now, and they were in the way.

She raised her hand.

Dropping to her knees as Famine's powers worked on her, Dani screamed as she began to literally waste away. Fortunantely, she had some extra padding on her tall frame. It wasn't a lot of extra fat, but there was some. Looking up at Famine, she clear saw the girl's fear. It was so simple, really. Almost poetic. A slight smile on her face, Dani reached deep into herself and replied with her own power. Anyone who said Dani was entirely sane had never seen her use her powers quite like this. It wasn't a new or even unique way, but it was for her, enjoyable. Watching Famine as meat began to pad her gaunt frame then fat on top of that until she was rather healthy looking. Dani didn't stop there though. She kept going.

Dropping to her knees as Famine's powers worked on her, she screamed as she began to literally waste away. Fortunately, Dani had some extra padding on her tall frame. It wasn't a lot of extra fat, but there was some. Looking up at Famine, she clear saw the girl's fear. It was so simple, really. Almost poetic. A slight smile on her face, Dani reached deep into herself and replied with her own power. Anyone who said Dani was entirely sane had never seen her use her powers quite like this. It wasn't a new or even unique way, but it was for her, enjoyable. Watching Famine as meat began to pad her gaunt frame then fat on top of that until she was rather healthy looking. Dani didn't stop there though. She kept going.

Famine's eyes grew wide in her pale face, she held her hands in front of her as the fingers bloated and flesh began to pack onto her thin frame. She felt her cheeks and was sicked by the amount of flesh that hung off them. Years of striving for control, of working for the perfect weight, the satisfaction of denying herself and at the aache in her stomach meant just a couple more pounds... all gone, all wasted.

Famine screamed.

Kurt appeared behind her then, face grim and determined, and wrenched her arm behind her back. "You will leave these people alone. All of them, and everyone else in this city."

Jane swirled into the truck and began to check over it's occupants. Famine's powers had not been kind here, several of those inside now looking dangerously thin. #Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?#

"Get away! Get away!" A woman flailed at her, as if trying to sweep her back outside, and several others shied back, pressing themselves against the walls. Deciding that they'd be better away from his place, Jane slipped back outside and around the front to check on the driver.

"That . . . I do not fancy repeatin'." Marius lurched to his feet, resisting the counterproductive urge to vomit. His power had protected him from Famine, but after so much time spent on search and recovery the automatic counter had depleted reserves Marius no longer had. His bodyfat remained, true, but now he was hungry. He hated being hungry. Spitting to clear the taste of bile and adrenaline, Marius glared at the girl with something very much like a snarl.

"Havin' now been so kindly bequeathed with a shot of your own ability," the Australian called to her, "I would be tempted to return the favour, were there anythin' of you to break down."

The fragile bones in Famine's arm snapped ruthlessly as she tried to escape both Kurt and the nightmare of her own body. She reached and scratched at Kurt's eyes, hissing and snarling. An extra boost of her power was able to get the man to let her go. She stumbled away from him, her arm thrumming with pain.

The vision disappeared, leaving Famine as gaunt as ever. She staggered in the street, looking confused and strained.

A bomb exploded at Famine's feet, then another. Tabitha moved forward purposefully, lobbing one bomb after another at the Horseman. "Get away from them, you bony bitch!" She panted with the exertion of using so much of her power, but continued forward undeterred.

Kurt had lost a fairly significant amount of weight in the moment of that attack, and he hadn't exactly had much to spare in the first place. Nevertheless, he leapt into the truck and grabbed three of the smallest children, vanishing an instant later.

He needn't have worried. The effects of Dani's power, the explosions, the broken arm -- Famine had had enough. The skeletal figure retreated under Tabitha's barrage, skirting a corner and disappearing. Marius made to go after her, only to falter an instant later as his head began to swim alarmingly just before his vision blacked out. He stumbled, fell, and decided to stop fighting gravity for a moment.

Sam stood on wobbly feet once he recovered. It was hard to tell if it was the crash landing or Famine's powers that had done more damage to him at the moment but he was aware enough to see he begin to dart off. He tried to provide thrust, seeing that Marius couldn't pursue her, but he hadn't recovered yet; he got a little bit of his blast shield, a tiny thrust, then he was just stumbling forward for a moment. It was time to group back up.

Blinking at Famine's sudden departure, Dani turned towards the van. It still had people in it. Her clothing hung off her loosely now, but she didn't pay any attention to that. "Are you okay?" she asked.

"We're fine," a woman replied, obviously they were shook up, but after everything else that had happened, what was one more shock? "Are you?" The woman climbed out of the truck to survey the X-Men and Red X members. Pursing her lips together, she strode purposefully back into the restaurant not too far away and then motioned for them to join her. "Come here! You kids aren't going to do any good next time they come around if you're all falling over. Rest and eat. We can wait," she ordered.

Slightly confused, but not arguing, Dani did just as she was told. The woman did have a point. What good were the rescuers if they needed rescuing?