Mechanisms of Revenge: End The Machine

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

The X-Men begin their assault



The good thing about having more than one super-strong mutant on the team today was that it was the work of a couple of seconds to get the doors to the old vehicle elevator open. Scott leaned in, peering down the empty elevator shaft. It was deeper than he'd expected. Dark, too, but that had been predictable.

"I don't like dropping in when I'm not positive what's waiting for me on the ground," he muttered, leaning back and then eyeing his team, juggling possibilities briefly in his head. They weren't all fliers, so the ground-bound needed a ride down, too. Although Clarice could be useful there as well. First things first. We need cover on the ground. "A couple of you invulnerable types down the shaft first, I think. Sam? You and Monet."

"I can go and clear a path. Just make sure to wait a minute." And he was off in a flash. Sam didn't just drop down, he fired himself down. He considered that it might be better to be discrete but decided that (since they were the main party) it would be tactically safer to blast down, blow a crater for cover to those following, and risk announcing their entrance. In fact, it would be more a guarantee of the announcement. With a jet off and a slam he was down and looking around to make sure they were clear for a moment, at least.

Monet waited a count of ten before diving down the shaft, slowing only enough to make the landing smooth. She nodded to Sam and moved a couple of dozen yards away from the entry and silently cursing her lack of long-range telepathy.

Shiro flew down next, cloaked in his fire form to protect himself from any explosions that might await them. His heart pounded in his chest as his vision shifted to infrared to get a better look at the hidden base. "I cannot see anything yet," he announced through his comm device.

"Who wants to go down with me?" Clarice asked, looking at the other three non-fliers. She couldn't take more than one or risk being too tired to continue in the long term. Distance wasn't an issue, mass was. That she didn't crack a joke about going down was a sign of how seriously she took this mission. That wasn't to say she didn't take all missions seriously, she did, but this one was a bit more than the others.

"Might as well." Kyle grunted, raising a hand. "If there's anything down there -to- smell, I might as well try to smell it." Which sounded stupid to his ears, but he supposed it made enough sense. He'd lose some of it with both Sunfire and Cannonball having a distinct smell to their powers, but he could account for that.

"That leaves you with me, captain." Jean-Paul glanced over at Scott. The speedster stood out a bit from the rest of the X-Men in his Alpha Flight gear, but he'd never gotten around to replacing his leathers after the last set had been irradiated. The smart armor was a bit outdated, but afforded him mobility at least. In another moment, Jean-Paul had Scott in a threshold carry and descended silently toward the floor of the shaft.

Now there were just two X-Men above ground, and only one of them had her own way down. "Ready to fly?" Jan asked Zanne with a grin. Receiving permission, she took ahold of Zanne's uniform, and the two remaining X-Men began their descent into the great unknown below.

Inside the silos, the ground floor, so to speak, was dominated by a large garden/communal area in the centre, and lines of apartments and offices built up the sides of the hole, like an inverted apartment complex. As the X-Men moved forward, there was the sounds of people moving, and quickly the opposition came into view. It became immediately apparent that at least some of the former residents had fallen victim to Apocalypse's powers, and the X-Men found themselves outnumbered as they joined the battle.



Cyclops, Northstar and Wasp run into the first of the Dark Riders; Psynapse and Foxbat.



Whoever was rushing at them had some pretty obvious physical mutations - and was moving very fast. Scott let a full two seconds pass despite the onrushing mutant's speed, to absolutely sure he had the right angle. The optic blast, aimed for the center of the mutant's chest, was a quarter-strength at best. It was enough to smash him back to the floor, sending him skidding in the other direction. But he got back up, more quickly than he should have, and Scott registered that coolly. Obviously a little more resilient than the norm.

"What kind of how-do-you-do is that?" Behind the savage-looking rust-colored face and despite the talons and the dangerous-looking blades that seemed to come from the man's forearms, the voice was calm, neutral, the man could've easily been a news anchor, or a radio host. He didn't wait for an answer, shaking off the last of the concussive blow from the blast. "Even odds. Two versus two. How fair of you."

"That is our fearless leader; polite to a fault." Northstar sized up their feral opponent. He was best equipped to run interference on another speedster. The fact the newcomer was a speedster with sharp edges meant that this was not going to be fun; while Northstar could shake off a fair amount of battering at high velocities, the focused force of a blade could get through his defenses much easier. Take his measure. Try not to get hit. In an eyeblink, he was in the air and moving to intercept Foxbat at speeds he wouldn't have dared use against a more fragile opponent...not one that he wanted walking away from a fight.

Everyone seemed to be going after the spiky guy, and Jan wasn't about to purposely through herself into what would surely be shish-ka-bob land for a cute tiny girl such as herself. Getting between two really fast guys fighting each other was just plain dumb. Best to stay "hidden" for the moment, Jan decided, also deciding to fly in the direction Mr. Spiky had come from. Besides, hadn't he said something about "two versus two"? That meant maybe a little one-on-one action was called for now! Yep, someone else seemed to be trying to play the "no one can see me" game, and it was time to introduce the mystery person to a nice round of bio-electricity.

"Hello, tiny one." The voice was barely audible, as a lank-haired man came into view, hands shoved into the pockets of a ochre jumpsuit, eyes unfocused, mouth partially agape. "Your mind is so tiny, little bug. I could wink it out just like that. But perhaps we should play first?" He slinked out of the shadows, swatting at the air around him as though he were trying to wave off a swam of bugs - or one tiny winged girl, as the case was.

Ooh, target aquired! Wasn't that nice of the mystery man to make himself fully visible? How thoughtful! An instant later, Jan zipped by him, delivering a stunning zap aimed at his neck as she passed by.

Foxbat managed to dodge Northstar's nearly supersonic charge with a last-second leap, somersaulting up and clinging to the ceiling of the hallway by his claws until the speedster passed, and then diving down towards Cyclops, obviously intent on removing the 'long range' opponent first. As he dropped down, he crossed his arms in front of his chest, presenting both arm-length blades in front of him.

He wasn't moving that fast. But Jean-Paul, turning to head back at the hostile from behind, was in the line of fire, or would be. Yell at him to hit the deck? But that would warn the other mutant, as well. All of the possibilities flashed through Scott's mind in an instant and resolved into a solution even as he hit the deck - not to dodge the other mutant, but to get just the right angle as he rolled to come back to his feet.

The blast, much stronger than the last, caught Foxbat in the chest. The edge of it did catch Jean-Paul, but the impact was much less than what had sent Foxbat reeling. And the speedster recovered much faster.

Though if it wasn't enough to halt Northstar's momentum completely, a piece of the optic blast was a significant check to his speed and bruise like hell later. For the moment, however, it was a good thing to be slowed -- the concussive force of the blast had tossed Foxbat back in his direction, and the idea of going through the other mutant was not a pleasant one. He settled for delivering a rain of dozens of high-velocity blows that took less than a heartbeat to fall before tossing Foxbat back toward Cyclops. "Practice your aim!"

Instead of continuing to swat at the places he thought Jan might be, Psynapse ignored her, and other than the spreading red marks on his neck and face, it seemed that the zap had little to no effect. He moved towards the fight, and his red-skinned companion, moving as though he were wandering through a pleasant garden, rather than in the middle of a battle. He made no sound, no eye contact, just a slight raise of his eyebrows, and a dry laugh. "Drowning. Oh, yes, no one likes that. Your wife, hrm?"

The psionic contact was sickly, like a infected sore on the mind, and oozed over Cyclops' thoughts wetly, flooding him with the sensations and memories of hundreds of drowning victims, none of whom, and all of whom, were tall leggy red-heads with degrees in medicine.

Foxbat landed and rolled past Cyclops, coming back up just as quickly as he went down, and kicked the now-prone leader of the X-Men away before charging once again at Northstar. "Pity that we are forced to fight, I could quite respect you otherwise." He said, talons making a whistling sound as he slashed through the air, keeping them moving as he ran forward.

The optic blast took him from behind this time, slamming into his lower back; Scott had fired from his hands and knees, even as he ran through the lyrics of a song in his head - no nursery rhymes this time, he needed something louder and more forceful. The first two verses of 'Back in Black' interfered with the mental assault just enough to buy him a little thinking room. He dragged himself back to his feet, ignoring the pain in his side, and looked for another target.



Sunfire, Wildchild, and M run across two more Dark Riders; Tusk and Barrage.



The energy bolt seared across the concrete in front of them, coming out of nowhere. A voice, the English clipped, followed, ringing out in the large area even over the sounds of battle.

"That is quite far enough, thank you."

The voice belonged to a slender Asian man, stepping out from a doorway. He was dressed simply, in clothes that noticeably had no buttons or zips, and bare feet. The reason became obvious as he raised his arms - where his hands had been, green glowing energy blazed from the stumps. Even as they watched, the glow increased an another bolt of energy flashed across the space between them.

"Fuck." Kyle muttered, and flattened himself against the wall to avoid the sickly green bolt. Being set on fire, blasted apart into bits or dissolved was so not on his to do list. He dropped down to one knee to avoid another blast and caught sight of a larger shadow further behind the man, in the flash of green light and swore again. "Double fuck. More than one of 'em."

"Good. This one will not be enough," Shiro snarled from beneath his fiery mantle. He flung a fireball at the green energy man to grab his attention, and followed that up with a brief torrent of flame.

"You think so, huh?" It was the shadow behind the Asian man, coming forward and revealing itself to be a huge individual with some kind of shell casing arising from his back, bracketed by two sharp-looking tusks. "Maybe I should even the odds?" He aimed a heavy blow at Kyle, at the same time two half-sized duplicates of himself emerging from the shell and launching themselves at remarkable speed at Shiro and Monet. "Meet the Underlings, meat."

Shiro flew straight up to dodge the Mini-Me, and then rocketed down to slam into the energy projector. Shiro grabbed the man's neck and aimed a flaming punch at his face with his free hand, but was deflected by a blast.

Monet had tried to catch her Mini-Me, only to have it dodge her hands. She managed to give it a glancing blow on one ear before being it hurled her into a wall.

The blow had thrown Kyle into a wall, and before another came, he dove between the tusked man's legs, rolling towards Monet. "Switch! Take the big guy!" Had this not been so serious, he'd have tagged Monet in with a high-five or fist-bump, but it was only something he thought of in passing as he went for the Mini-Tusk that had previously been aimed at Monet.

With Shiro airborne, there was an Underling free, and as Kyle switched off with Monet, the second joined its twin, launching themselves at Kyle with supernatural speed.

Barrage - the Asian man - had pulled back under Shiro's attack and was firing repeatedly at Shiro, the air filled with that sickly green glow of his energy signature. It was not unlike watching anti-aircraft fire at night from an old war movie, and whatever Barrage's history, he had definitely not gone to the Stormtrooper school of shooting; his aim was far more accurate.

Though his powers protected him from the light and searing heat of his opponent's attack, they couldn't shield Shiro from the force of the superhot air, and he was unceremoniously flung off Barrage. Shiro righted himself in midair and didn't even hesitate to charge back into the fray, this time conjuring golden fire in his melee to knock the other man off balance.

Monet slammed Kyle's Tusk-Dude into the wall, following up with an elbow to the face and smashed the back of his head into the wall a second time. "Give up, seriously," she gasped as he struck back at her.

The Mini-Tusks were proving almost as durable as the big man who had... made? released? spawned? them. Kyle didn't want to really think about where they'd come from and couldn't help it anyway. He could concentrate on one, and then the other would head butt him in the stomach or toss him around, and it was getting sort of old. Old like tuna fish left in the trashcan and stinking up the entire house. One of the mini-Tusks charged him and Kyle dodged, feinting left like he would have in a pick-up football game and darting right, clawing at one of the small ugly men's face as he went past them, and kicking the other in the knee.

Monet slammed Big TuskDude's head into the wall again for good measure before pulling him over her hip in something almost like a judo throw. "Kyle! Incoming!" The man went sailing into one of the two Mini-Tusks, who was re-absorbed into the casing on the man's back. At the same time, the other Underling vanished, apparently absorbed as well. But before either X-Man could start to celebrate their victory, the big man rose from where he had been knocked over, as big and apparently as strong than ever. He grinned at Monet and Kyle, cracking his knuckles.

"That was almost fun, meat."

Meanwhile, Shiro was engaging Barrage more directly, charging at him powers aflame. With Shiro so close, Barrage couldn't zap him with an energy blast, which had been the intention, but it didn't mean he was defenceless. One of those glowing green stumps punched forward, aimed at Shiro's face.

Shiro agilely deflected the blow and then grabbed the other man's handless wrist. A vicious grin could be seen through his fire form, and he ignited his opponent's stump. "We are done with this now," he growled, and pulled the man up into the air and swung him at their other enemy. He followed that with another stream of nuclear flame, only dampening it from a stronger-powered blast at the last second when he remembered that his teammates weren't as fireproof as him. He made a mental note to consider apologizing to them later.

Barrage collided with Tusk, but the large mutant appeared unphased, simply grabbing the Asian man and holding him up as some sort of shield. "Wrong again, meat," he said, as Barrage's stumps seemed to absorb Shiro's blast of flame, and began growing an even brighter green.

"Ow." Kyle had just gotten himself upright when the sheet of flame passed overhead, and he hit the ground again, just in time to -not- get his hair set on fire. Barely getting up, he darted across the hallway, ending up in a all-too-undignified position behind Monet and Shiro. They were invulnerable in their own ways, he wasn't. "Okay, now what?" he muttered.

"I don't know! He's glowing at us and the other guy is pretty tough. Maybe we can throw Shiro at Tusk-dude or something? I don't know!" Monet muttered back.

"I do not need to be thrown," Shiro protested, but the general idea was good. "Switch targets. Be fast with the other projector, do not give him an easy target. I will concentrate on this asshole." His fire form flared briefly in defiance and he charged Tusk.

Tusk roared his own challenge in response, hurling Barrage bodily at Monet and Kyle as he released the Underlings again to engage with Shiro. For his part, Barrage released a flare of energy at Kyle and Monet as he flew towards them.

"I hate this guy -so- much." Kyle was doing what he considered a truly excessive amount of 'drop to the floor and try not to get blasted' and 'run around being a target' and hoping that the Barrage's aim was less than his and Monet's ability to dodge. Or in Monet's case, her invulnerability. "Hey, armless! How's being jerked off by your buddy's mini-me's working out for you?" It worked on Toad, get the guy's attention and hopefully Monet would figure out in time what Kyle was doing and use the chance to go after Barrage directly.

He got a thin smile in response as Barrage landed gracefully, bare feet gripping the concrete floor. "An admirable ploy, boy," he replied. "But one that will not work. You cannot make me angry." He blasted another burst of energy at Kyle with one arm, his other trained on Monet.

Monet ducked wildly, unwilling to take too many strikes from the man, despite her invulnerability unless it really looked as though Kyle needed it. She circled, trying to find an opening to either strike at him or cut and run.



Blink, Sway, and Cannonball run into an unexpected enemy; Sabretooth.



The sounds of the attack rebounded off of the walls of the silos, down at the bottom of the hole in the earth. The situation was rapidly becoming confused, as the attack was joined, and broke away into smaller fights, smaller desperate battles. The first indication of meeting the foe came with an energy attack that nearly took Blink head off, and a quartet of mutants arrayed around a figure they all knew well; Sabretooth.

The huge feral came forward confidently, sniffing the air and smiling at the prey in front of him. His claws itched at the thought of having them inside another X-Man, and these three would do well enough. He barked a quick order, and they moved to engage the enemy.

Fuck. Clarice was not a fan of Sabretooth. Not at all. She tried not to show it even though she was certain he could smell it. Well, that could not be helped. Reaching into a pocket in her uniform she pulled out a handful of loose change, mostly pennies, charging them into a circle. Physics was a wonderful thing when it worked. She was so
beyond ill-equipped to handle a big bad like him. Looking around there was only Zanne and Sam. Perfect. Just perfect.

Five against three seemed just a bit disproportionate to Zanne, particularly when two of the three had powers that were not exactly combat-oriented. She let her focus slide past Sabretooth to the mutants flanking them. Beside the energy manipulator, they were
largely unknown entities. If they could just get them to display their powers...

Sam weighed how he should deal with the group. He knew Sabertooth was dangerous and decided that if he was the leader he was likely the strongest. With a pop and a blast Sam was off at full speed. He had no chance of actually hurting the feral enough to keep him out of the fight; not without risking killing him. Instead Cannonball went for distance, slamming into the man to bounce him away, trying to stay close to help the others.

Sabretooth smiled as Cannonball came in, ignoring the pain as he was crashed into. This had been one of the ones who had put him away last time. Revenge was in order. He turned the skid backwards into a flip, and came rushing in before Sam could tightly turn in the air. With a leap, he was in the air, and landed on Cannonball. Even though Sam was invulnerable while blasting, the impact of the mutant drove him into a dive, and Sabretooth growled in his ear.

"You're meat, boy. You just have realized it yet." With a massive shove, Sabretooth drove Cannonball into a direct line to the ground, and bounced off just before the mutant hit the concrete. Meanwhile, his minions were coming in on the other X-Men. One, a girl who looked like a matronly librarian, waved her arms, and electricity began to crackle around Blink and Sway.

Okay, this wasn't good. Not good at all. And her coin trick would not work so well with electricity. Stupid metal. Even if it wasn't very good conductive metals, it was still metal. Well. Hell. "That's not a good idea, chickadee," Clarice called. One day someone would listen to reason, but she suspected it would not be today. Porting the coins back in her pocket she closed her portal for the moment. Okay, this wasn't good. Not good at all. And her coin trick would not work so well with electricity. Stupid metal. Even if it wasn't very good conductive metals, it was still metal. Well. Hell. "That's not a good idea, chickadee," Clarice called. One day someone would listen to reason, but she suspected it would not be today. Porting the coins back in her pocket she closed her portal for the moment.

Zanne glanced at Clarice, wondering how well here teleports would work in a freeze. "I've got an idea!" She yelled over to her.

"I'm all ears," Clarice replied. Short to porting her to the North Pole, Clarice was out of options against electricity.

The electricity around them crackled, sending jolts arcing against them, static like, but growing in power. Meanwhile, Sabretooth was back on the ground and angling their way.

"Burn them down." He growled, and the woman's eyes blazed with blue energy as she wrapped her hands into fists and pushed with her power.

Electricity arced between the two X-Men, and Zanne dodged to her right. "Just keep an eye out for a window," she yelled and started running toward the electricity mutant. The woman's eyes flared as she registered Zanne's approach and she whipped a lash of blue light toward her.

Zanne set a wide freeze, and the mutant's movement halted. "Gotcha," she muttered, sprinting under the downward arc, releasing the freeze just as she rammed the woman low and hard with her shoulder.

A window. Right, Clarice followed Zanne, but keeping a good distance still. So long as she had a line of sight, she was fine. When the electric girl froze, Clarice took her chance, opening a portal behind the girl. Lake Titicaca was nice this time of year. Or at least, it was not near them.

The woman barely had time for a squeak of surprise before she tumbled back at the force of Zanne's blow through the portal. Her cry cut off as the purple portal disappeared. Unfortunately, the rest of Sabretooth's squad had used the attack to advance, and Clarice went down heavily as Sabretooth landed between her shoulderblades, driving her to the ground. His claws scraped along the side of her face, were she was pinned.

"Which one will you taste like?" He growled, blood pearling on his claws. "The pink bird boy, or the little darkhaired frail that bled so quietly?"

"Never again!" Sam screamed, still hurling toward the huge feral. It took him a moment to turn but he was back on track. With Clarice being pinned and the taunting from Sabretooth, Cannonball wasn't interested in being careful anymore. He was interested in blood. He wanted to hurt the man badly; so much that even he would remember the consequences of harming a friend so badly.

Sam's rush didn't catch Sabretooth by surprise. He turned to meet the attack, and as Cannonball slammed into him, Clarice could feel the weight of the man disappear immediately from her back. But just a second after the impact, Sabretooth planted his feet into the ground, and twisted with all of his massive strength, diverting Sam's flight path and sending them hurtling directly into Zanne.

Zanne dropped to her knees and froze the area around her moments before Sam and Clarice plowed into the bubble. The force of their entry sending them several feet inside before they came to a stop inches from her. Quickly scrambling to her feet and out of their way, she released the freeze holding them. "I think you've got to work on your aim there!" She yelled at the feral, hoping the taunt would distract him while the other two regrouped. If he would just get a bit closer...

"One down," Clarice said grimly. One. And she had been a decent struggle. And they weren't done yet. Oh joy. "Anyone else have any thoughts?"

"We're going to have to team up." Sam stepped up behind Clarice, close enough she would be within his blast shield when he took off. He spoke low to her. "I'll take us in, when they focus on me you can blink out and catch someone by surprise, right?"

Sabretooth wasn't giving them any time to make plans. As dangerous as he was, he still had three mutants supporting him, and one of them was erupting sonic blasts around their position. Sabretooth would have liked nothing more than to charge right into the middle of them, but the voice of Mainframe in his ear said the orders were to keep the intruders contained, only to kill when opportunity presented itself.

Erecting a portal-shield around herself helped diffuse a lot of the concussive blasts that the minion was giving off, though not all of it. Somewhere in Antarctica there were some unhappy penguins. One day, someone was going to find out it was Clarice leaving people at random all over the planet and get angry with her. Until then however, it worked. "Sam? Can you blast him and have force on force?" she asked.

His reply was lost as an explosion drove them back into a defensive position, responding to Sabretooth's next charge.



X-Force makes their way into the complex secretly, but are quickly discovered by Mainframe and Gauntlet.



Jubilee settled the light weight, slim-line pack over her shoulders and buckled it across her chest. She wasn't going to be able to carry much in with her and stay flexible but a few first-aid supplies, water and a couple of thieves tools wouldn't weigh her down overly.

"Okay, I'm ready." she noted to her companions, and then started toward the concrete lined tunnel, one of the exhaust spill ports that dotted the complex.

They would go in quietly, while the X-Men went in a little more loudly elsewhere. Once in, they were to look for any survivors and get them out as quickly as possible. After that, they'd offer any help they could to the other team, without giving themselves away. First priority was any prisoners however, and Jubilee repeated a meditative mantra that Alison had once taught her, trying to get her head in the moment.

"Fucking tunnels again," Amanda muttered under her breath, wishing she'd been able to have a cigarette before all this; Remy had pointed out the smell of smoke carried down the shaft would be a dead give away. At least in the U.S. she was almost always within powers' reach of some kind of urban center - unlike Africa, she was going to be able to do something. "Shielders in front?" she asked over her shoulder to Remy.

"Non. Copycat, take point." Morgan had acquired one of Remy's typically awful field names prior to the mission. "Cypher, you and Daytripper stay close, keep an eye open for a way to access de systems from in here. Jubilee, you backing up Copycat. I'll take de left, and Tarot is in de rear."

It made sense. Morgan moved quietly, and this kind of deployment was something she'd done hundreds of times. Amanda could shield herself and Doug immediately, and he could still work protected. If something tried to jump them from the rear, Marie-Ange could wall off the entire tunnel if they needed to.

Still, it was an ambush waiting to happen, Remy thought, although said nothing.

Morgan made a face at the name. Copycat? He just had to have little cartoon names for them all out in the field and he had to think of really bad ones, too, didn't he? Aside from the face she made at him she didn't comment on the name. She kept getting this image of herself turning into a giant copy machine whenever LeBeau used the name. Without a word Morgan crept around the others, sliding in front of the group. She waited until Jubilee was in place behind her and then checked that the others had fallen into place as Remy had directed. She didn't move until people were where he had wanted them and only then did she start on down the tunnel.

Just as in Africa, the gun in her hand was a SIG P228 with the silencer on. Several other handguns were stashed on her person along with extra clips and knives for when all else failed. Sure, it was technically a rescue mission but rescues went bad all the time. Her eyes never stopped moving as she made her way down the tunnel, front and center of the group. Remy was right, she'd done this more times than she could ever try to count. Besides, with the exception of the guy calling the shots she was willing to bet she'd logged more time in hostile territory than the rest of them, which meant she'd react quicker. Or here was hoping, anyway, because something stronger than luck would be needed to get them through this tunnel without running against anyone looking to put them down.

Marie-Ange had, as always, a pair of cards tucked just inside her belt, and another dozen or so in pockets and tucked into various places. Even with the tattoo, and the myriad ways she had practiced using the four symbols on it, she felt more comfortable with a choice of images. With all of them moving as silently as possible, it was still not easy to make anything out over footsteps and shuffling noises - and she hoped that meant that nothing was following them. She fell back as Remy ordered, keeping to the back of the group, and keeping her attention as much on the noises around them, and the movement of their shadows as on Remy's instructions.

Doug reached one hand up to adjust the small earbud he was wearing which was tied into the X-Men's tactical frequency. "They're starting their move now," he said quietly. A few moments later a muted rumble could be heard. "Cannonball making his entrance," Doug said. He pulled on his short leather jacket as it bunched in an unfamiliar fashion, revealing a holster riding under his shoulder. Where Morgan favored the SIG, Doug's weapon of choice was a more ubiquitous Glock 22. Unlike Morgan, that and a single knife were the only weapons he carried, and hopefully they would not need to come into play. The compact ruggedized laptop and several other electronic gadgets in a quick-access backpack would be much more important to the overall success of their part of the mission.

"According to de maps, dere should be a point just ahead dat you can tap into. Dese nuts wired pretty much de entire place wit' webcams, why, I don't know, but if you can get inside dere system, you should be able to figure out if Apocalypse has any of dem prisoner or in some kind of experiments, and where dey are." Remy motioned them forward. This was not one of their best plans, but Scott had been clear; engaging Apocalypse head on with everything the X-Men could dish out was not a good idea, until they knew about his capabilities and forces. Summers' team had been selected for a mix of raw power, but more the ability to disengage fast with the enemy and bug out if Apocalypse had any survivors waiting, but they wouldn't leave prisoners behind in his hands. That's where X-Force came in.

As they reached the port, Remy sized up the area. It had been some kind of equipment bay once, and it was punctuated with bolt marks and cracks where machinery had been locked into the cement. Some kind of assembly area, or a service bay? It didn't really matter. "Dis is more open den I'd like. Cypher, get to work. Tarot, Jubilee, on de left near dat entrance. Copycat and I have de right. Daytripper, stay close to Cypher. Anything happens, get him under a shield and keep it up until he's done."

Amanda exchanged a brief glance with Morgan, as if to say 'and you thought your codename was bad', before nodding to Remy. "There's enough here for me to manage shields, just don't ask me to magically multi-task," she replied. She looked again at the holster under Doug's jacket, raising an eyebrow. "Tho' it looks like we've got a bit more offensive oomph than usual."

Doug shrugged. "It seemed like it could be useful in an emergency," he said quietly. He grabbed his laptop out of the pack, jacking in and tapping at the keys to bring it up and begin nosing around the computer system.

"Come on, Cypher." Remy muttered, watching the halls and hearing the sounds of battle. They would not go unnoticed for very long. Fortunately, the system was a well designed piece of programming, but was never intended to guard against high level professional intrusions, instead more of a community vanity program, and getting into the camera feeds did not take long.

"Any prisoners, medical bays, patients, anything?" The Cajun said, seeing the empty rooms on the webcams flick past on the screen from over Doug's shoulder. The question was still hanging in the air when the screen flickered, and turned red.

=Unauthorized access from node 7633. Security perimeter breach detected. Dispatching units=

"Son of a BITCH," Doug swore, attempting to catch his breath. The flashing red screen had startled him, and for a moment, he'd expected to see something about 'the revolution' or 'the will of the people', and it had coupled with the intense body memory of drowning. He clutched at his chest and struggled to calm his breathing. "Incoming," he warned the team as he did so. "Somebody found us."

"Got it," Amanda said tersely, clapping her hands together and bringing up the shielding spell. "Do your thing, Cypher. I've got your back."

***

It was dark beyond the entrance to the equipment bay, and Jubilee stood tensely as she listened for any indication that enemies were coming. There, the sound of boots on concrete, the sound of breathing that wasn't one of her companions.

She turned her powers on, allowing the plasma to spark along her hands and up her arms. As soon as they came around the corner, they'd get a face full of it.

It didn't take long for the first group to come into view. There was a feral at the head of them, sniffing the air, and instead of mutants rushing around the corner, there was a wall of fire that exploded through the hall and blistered the walls. Obviously, someone had considered the idea of an ambush, and how to best counter it. The first elemental attack forced them back, and opened the way up into the bay.

Marie-Ange had a wall up blocking the firestorm from reaching her teammates as fast as she could - and just as fast, it dissolved into ashy murky-smelling ectoplasm, and she staggered slightly, going pale from the onrush of headache from having such a large image destroyed so quickly. But it served the purpose, no one was on fire or burned, even if they had to retreat.

Morgan took a quick inventory of where all LeBeau's people were and where the ambush was. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of the dissolving wall and her attention refocused on their newcomers. The feral was a problem, sniffing the air and in possession of claws and teeth not unlike Kyle. She didn't have so many fuzzy feelings for this feral, though, and the recent memory of a pitbull trying to rip her calf off saw two bullets bury themselves in the knees of of the sniffing, growling mutant. Of course, that only seemed to piss the rest of them off more.

An energy blast of some kind hit Amanda's shield and she grunted at the feedback. "Next time we have this sort of thing in the middle of fucking Mexico City," she muttered, mostly to herself as she braced the spell. Gesture crutch be buggered - she raised her hands and rested them against the inner wall of the shield, 'pushing' more energy into it as she set her feet against the next wave of contact.

"Jubilee, get Tarot behind Daytripper!" Remy yelled, as he watched her stagger. A card ripped through one of the mutants charging them, nearly severing the man's arm at the elbow and forcing him to drape the massive piece of concrete he'd been intending to hurl at them on himself. They might be innocent, but they were also deadly, and X-Force was outnumbered in this fight.

It was his spatial sense that saved him, pivoting at the last second right as a burst of explosive rounds tore into the spot he'd been standing. Even so, Remy was peppered by shards of concrete, sending him reeling back. The gunman fired off quick bursts, forcing X-Force to take cover, clearing the way for his own mutants. He was grotesque, green skinned with a grinning mouth full of needle-sharp teeth. "Bring me their heads. Apocalypse doesn't need prisoners."

Doug had hammered out a rapid-fire series of commands after the alert he had tripped, but he had been promptly booted completely out of the system, the port he had jacked into cascading sparks and slagging his patch cable as he barely managed to get his laptop free before it was wiped completely. He took cover behind Amanda as she pushed at her shield, trying to silently will her more energy somehow. "I'm guessing that answers our question about prisoners," he observed dryly.

Morgan stepped in front of Remy even as she ducked for cover from the barrage of bullets so he could get his bearings without being the focus of attack. She inched backward and nudged him back as well so they could get some space from the incoming assault. "Aye, it does. Bossman, this ain't looking none too good for our survival rate." As she spoke Morgan was shooting off rounds in the direct of the mutants which were advancing on them. At least one, however, was capable of shielding. With the way her rounds seemed to stop and dissipate she was guessing a telekinetic but she could have been wrong.

Jubilee had followed Remy's direction already and was shoving Marie-Ange bodily toward Amanda and safety as she called up her own powers to give them some cover. She couldn't block bullets, but she could fire a series of plasmoids toward the group to keep them busy.

"Marie-Ange, talk to me." she said, glancing behind her. She didn't know if the other girl was simply staggered, or about to collapse and Jubilee would need to run interference for their two shielders once she got her there. "Can you go again, or are you done?"

"I want all the vicodin in the world." It was a headache, but it wasn't going to cripple her. Marie-Ange pressed the palm of her hand into her throbbing right eye, and concentrated - not on her cards, but on the repeating rivet-pattern on the side of Jubilee's shirt, creating a set of thick caltrop-like obstacles scattered across the floor. "No more walls, but I will do what I can."

"Looks like we're outwearing our welcome!" Amanda called across to Remy and wincing as another spurt of gunfire from the green-skinned monstrosity peppered her shield. "No prisoners, 'cept what we've got trying to--" Whatever she had been about to say was lost as she realised the feral Morgan had shot in the kneecaps before must have had a Logan-rate healing factor - snarling, he was already in the process of leaping at the mercenary's blind side when Amanda shoved the shield between him and Morgan. There was a shower of sparks as his claws hit the spell and before he had a chance to recover, Amanda had used the shield to shove him and two other mutants who happened to be in the way, forcefully into the wall. There was a meaty crunch as multiple bones were shattered, the two non-ferals dying as they dropped and the feral writhing in pain on the floor.

Doug could see the glee coming over the green-skinned gunman's face as Amanda's shield shifted positions. A quick glance at Amanda told him that she wouldn't be able to shift it back to interdict the gunfire in time. Marie-Ange was still on the ground, clutching at her eye, and Jubilee was occupied dragging her backward. Morgan and Remy's attention was on the other combatants.

That meant it was up to him.

He let go of the strap of his pack and let it fall to the ground as he stood up straight from the hunched position he had been in. His mind flashed back to his first time at the shooting range with Bishop, and the laconic ex-cop's short and simple directions.

Regular breaths. Doug did his best to ignore the cry of adrenaline and slow his breathing.

Draw. Doug's right hand moved smoothly inside his jacket to the nylon shoulder holster, clearing the weapon in a movement Bishop had made him practice something like a hundred times before he'd even let Doug put a clip in the Glock. His left hand came up to support the butt of the gun and he twisted slightly at the waist.

Breathe in. Wait. Don't rush. Doug took another breath in and held it, his eyes locking in on the other mutant as he attempted to reload his own weapon.

Pull smoothly. Don't jerk. As Doug exhaled, he applied steady pressure, and the first shot roared out of the gun. It missed high and to the right as his target tried to crouch and finish reloading. The Glock roared again and again, Doug's shots coming metronome-precise, slightly less than a second apart. The second shot chipped concrete to the left of his target, but the third hit home on the green man's shoulder, causing him to stagger back. The fourth and fifth ripped through his thigh, and Doug continued to fire until the slide clicked open on an empty clip.

"Thanks, love," Morgan shot over her shoulder to Amanda while she was shaking her head at the clip that emptied to little effect on the green, razor-mouth gunman. "Love, you should shoot the ones you can kill," she told Doug as the trigger of her own gun was pulled, the bullet piercing one of the oncoming mutants in the shoulder. She was backing up as they advanced, but she was inflicting damage as she went. If a round did nothing to her target she simply changed her focus to the one next to them. If she got lucky one of them would explode on impact.

Amanda had jerked in surprise at the sudden gunfire by her side and nearly lost the shield. By now she was sweating, face pale with the exertion as she pulled the shield back to where her teammates could shelter behind it. A glance over her shoulder told her the way out was rapidly disappearing. "We need to pull back!" she gasped. "I can't hold this much longer!"

"Burn the feral." Marie-Ange wasn't yet on her feet, but was getting there, and pulled Jubilee in front of her. "His eyes, blind him." She kept creating the obstacles, having them appear in a row, and then another and another, matching the pattern on Jubilee's shirt. She kept one arm around Jubilee's waist. "You keep burning him, I can move you." The slender Asian girl weighed practically nothing, it was easy to drag her backwards as she fired plasma.

"Cypher!" Gambit yelled, barely holding his ground. Doug finally shook his head. No prisoners, no one still in the process. Apocalypse must have gotten to them all. Remy hit the kill button on the comms. "Dat's it! Everyone, fall back. Morgan, you wit' me covering de retreat! Move!"

Gauntlet was still firing, despite his wounds, and bullets whined off of Amanda's shields as the team began to fall back behind them. Remy let loose a range of cards, forcing back some of the charging mutants, relying on Morgan's suppressing fire to do the same, buying enough time for the rest of the team to reach the vents. He triple-clicked the comms, warning the X-Men that they had to fall back, and would re-emerge near the old vehicle elevator, to either back them up or join the retreat. He slapped Morgan on the shoulder, indicating for her to fall back next, pulling a series of canisters from her belt as she did so.

Remy liked incendiaries. As a tactical weapon, they were about as accurate as a tidal wave, but nothing discouraged people from following you as much as a wall of flame. He rolled them out into the path between Gauntlet's mutants and his team, and in a few seconds, a torrent of fire exploded into life between the two groups. A couple of unfortunate mutants fell back, burning, as Remy raced for the vent after his people.



As the battle rages, Apocalypse finds himself engaged against a new foe; one that he and the others could have never expected.



The main bodyguard of twisted defenders around Apocalypse had left minutes ago, responding to his orders. Now, he stood watching the battle, only a handful of mutants at his side, but the attackers stopped in their tracks, and now the only decision left was where to commit himself to the battle and try to break the line.

Apocalypse paced back and forth, turning his head from one group of attackers to another. One of the Blue Area mutants was holding a protective field up, but the tableau appeared to be a temporary stalemate.

"Target the X-Men!" he shouted at no one in particular. "Target the other mutants, for God's sake somebody fire!"

He was isolated for the first time since the battle had begun; exposed. Exactly as Wisdom had intended.

"Right you three - go." Pete snapped into the mike, his eyes on the screens in front of him. "Jay, break up the crowd of fuckheads, then hold the perimeter and air support until Garrison has closed with Apocalypse. Dani, smack the bigger fucker as hard as you can, give him something else to worry about while Garrison stomps the goon squad. Gar, you heard. Goon squad first, then Apocalypse."

From their hiding place, three mutants burst out into the courtyard. They were dressed in identical suits, their faces hidden behind masks; all designed by Blaquesmith to rend them immune to all forms of detection. Apocalypse had been left with only a handful of mutants, but they were fanatical and deadly. It looked like all that the three would be able to do is set themselves up to be killed by Apocalypse at will. But something changed as the mutants joined the battle.

On cue, Jay left his perch on a roof top and swooped down, the slender metal wings cutting through thin air, descending on the guard. A screech rose up from the depth of his chest, a tremor in his throat and drew the attention of all beneath him. He swooped, pulling up from his dive and the wings curled in front of him, deflecting the rain of bullets that were suddenly firing.

In a moments hesitation from the group below, Jay's wings drew back and launched razor sharp feathers down, scattering them below or paralyzing others from the toxins in the organic metal. Three times he pelted them before drawing up, and spiraling into another dive to spread them out further.

Dani let Garrison take care of the goon squad and cut through them as if they weren't even there, in her mind, they were no more a nuisance than mosquitoes. Once she reached Apocalypse, her attention never wavered to what was going on around her. Pulling her bow off her back, she notched a glowing pink arrow shooting it into Apocalypse. Where it hit didn't matter, she wasn't trying to do him damage with it. She was in his head.

The rest of the defenders took little to scatter, speed and the element of surprise enough to break through them quickly. Heading at Apocalypse, they ran straight into a forcefield, his last line of defense. Beside Apocalypse, a young girl held her hands out, concentrating on maintaining the bubble.

Garrison put his hands on the field. Dani's psychic attack would only hold him for so long. The field rippled under his hands for a moment, and then he sunk through it, slipping through the barrier as if it wasn't even there. The girl stood astonished for a moment, and Garrison's backhand bounced her off the concrete, collapsing the field.

The way to Apocalypse was now open.

***

"What the FUCK?" Kyle caught the sounds of even -more- people and had half-expected Cyclops to order a retreat before he realized that the three newest arrivals were apparently on their side. Or at least fighting Apocalypse's people. The distraction cost him seconds in avoiding a volley of energy bolts from Barrage and he took one in the back of the leg before returning his attention to -not- getting fried or pummeled.

"Pay attention, Wildchild!" Shiro spat as he dodged a blow from Tusk and responded with a dragon punch that would have sent any normal person reeling. "They are fighting Apocalypse. If they turn on us, then we can worry."

"Okay, I'll bite," Clarice added, turning in to time to see the three black-clad individuals join the fray...and not attack the other X-Men. She ducked and narrowly missed a guy trying to punch her in the nose, so responded in the most mature manner she could - grabbing his balls and squeezing. It worked very effectively, even if was not exactly kosher.

The telepath had kept at it, and Scott was having some trouble focusing under the repeated psi-attacks. He heard Kyle's shout, however, and after firing off a blast that clipped Psynapse's shoulder - and should have hit him in the face, goddamn it, get out of my HEAD! - Scott spotted the newcomers. "Keep clear of them!" His bellow carried to every X-Man on the battlefield. He didn't want this getting any more complicated until he had a better sense of what was going on.

***

Apocalypse reeled, striking out at unseen ghosts as he tried to resist Dani's psychic attack. He looked up and saw the three mutants advancing on him, his defenders having been dispatched with quick and ruthless efficiency.

In a gesture of something resembling recognition, the corner of his mouth quirked in a smile. "Blaquesmith's children," he intoned, pulling himself up to stand defiantly. "Is this what he sends me as gratitude? Toy assassins?"

He spread his arms wide, face twisted in a gesture of contempt. "Take back your poison," he insisted, "you are not strong enough to give it to me."

Jay's feathers rained down on Apocalypse and he dove down in a charge, wings thrusting forward but stopped at the hands that fastened around them. He crashed down to the ground, then picked up by his throat, grasping at the hands cutting off his air. His wings arched back, trying to pull out of the grasp to separate them.

Garrison slammed into Apocalypse from the side, dislodging his hold on Jay's throat. The gleaming wings pumped as Jay kicked free and into the air, gaining height away from Apocalypse's reach. Now focused on Kane, he dealt two sledgehammer like blows to the Canadian, only to get kicked in the stomach and then slammed with a tremendous left. Kane fought silently, using his augmented strength and speed to rain blows on Apocalypse's face.

The man staggered, and as Garrison moved to press home the advantage, spun with unexpected speed, catching his wrist and throwing him into a pile of rubble. Kane smashed through the concrete, bouncing several times as he skipped along the floor.

Pete cursed under his breath. Even outnumbered and alone, the bastard still had enough raw power to hold his own far too well. He keyed the button on his mic.

"Dani, you slowed him last time. Hit him again, buy the pair of them time to regroup. Jay and Gar, take a second, hit him together, force him to split his attention. Wear him down."

Notching another arrow, Dani twisted and turned to get a better shot. This time, she hit him in the head with a more powerful arrow. It didn't look any different, but she gave the projection of fear more power. Hopefully, it would be enough. She wasn't the heavy hitter of the group, she was the distraction and she was going to make sure Apocalypse was good and distracted.

Staggered, Apocalypse stepped back away from the sources of his annoyance. The Blue Area mutants still fed him enough power to make him invincible, these little experiments of Blaquesmith's were as nothing to him.

He opened his mouth to bellow another boast, when a shadow from above caught his attention and his eyes widened, and for a second - he felt fear.

He waited for it, soaring above, watching every muscle move into the fluid motion of the man down below. He was seething with the desire to kill, to draw blood where the heart pounded. He scanned the clearing briefly, but his real attention remained on Apocalypse. That voice within, he listened to it. Respected it, but controlled by it like the raging waters behind a solid dam. Freedom by blood, it promised. How could he ignore it, the voice, it was ingrained in him, full of seductive alluring temptations that crawled down his spine and rippled through his wings in anticipation. He needed one moment, only one and he watched, lusting for the passionate violence.

The step back was all he needed, breaking into a dive, he thrust his wings forward. Two dozen feathers glinted in the light, descending to pierce the skin. YES! He keened, a screech that drove into the head of his victim, driving everything he had down into another dive that claimed crimson in his conscience. His blue fingers clawed at the air, as though he could pull Apocalypse closer to him and yellow eyes narrowed to the biting of the wind. His wings drew up abruptly, feathers fanning and sliced like scissors. The edge of organic metal cut clean through flesh and he rose above in a glide, leaving the headless body to topple forward on its own and a satisfaction that coursed through his veins. Freedom! It screamed in him and he smiled.

Apocalypse stood frozen for a moment, hands reached up to his throat, before the red weal around it started to seep. The head fell and bounced away from the body as it crumpled to the ground. In the stillness, there was a solitary giggle in Wisdom's ear.

"Oh, very good, Mister Wisdom. Very good indeed." On the battlefield, both Jay and Dani suddenly sagged in their motions, clutching at their heads. Garrison stopped long enough to rip the ridiculous mask off his face before reaching Dani and doing the same, getting his first good look at the savage scar that encircled her throat. "The telepathic overlay is now dissolving. Your friends should be fine in a few moments."

There was a beep, and the inhibitor placed on Wisdom suddenly went dark, as his powers were once more at his command. "You have done your job with distinction, Mister Wisdom, and I will honour my side of the bargain. You are free to return with your friends, with my thanks. Perhaps SHIELD would enjoy his head for a trophy. Goodbye, Mister Wisdom." And Blaquesmith's voice in his ear was gone, leaving Wisdom alone in his spot with the battle in front of him.

With the death of Apocalypse, the Dark Riders began to break off combat, using the Blue Area mutants for cover as they disengaged and began to retreat. Sabretooth took the easy route of simply tossing one at Blink and Sway to cover his own duck into the complex. Attempts to follow were thwarted as charges began to demolish the corridors, blocking them with rubble once the Dark Riders were past. The Blue Area mutants continued to fight, but their movements were slowing, growing unsure in the wake of Apocalypse's death. Obviously, his control was slipping away, and it became a much easier matter to subdue those remaining without harm or danger.

Wisdom tore the collar from his neck with a brief flash of his powers. He sat there, alone, with his head in his hands for a few moments, then he took a breath, sat more upright, and hit the lever on his wheelchair to roll it out of his hiding place, away from the now-dark screens.

***

Remy and his team had emerged from the tunnel to near the old freight elevators, as arranged. Coughing slightly from the hot air that had followed them down after Remy's farewell 'gift', Amanda paused, taking in the sight before them. Dark Riders and Sabretooth fleeing, check. Blue Area mutants, warped by Apocalypse's power, check. X-Men, looking as battered as she felt, check. Headless body of Apocalypse with Garrison, Dani and who must only be Jay under the blue skin and metal wings? The witch came to a halt, jaw dropping as she realised what she was seeing. The dead come to life. Which must mean...

"Oi! I could do with a lift home, and the first one of you to make a Professor W joke is going to get something sharp in the neck!"

"Pete?" It came out as a hoarse whisper, and then Amanda took off at a run, heedless of anything between her and the man in the wheelchair.

While Amanda took off one of the Blue Area mutants raised a hand full of dangerous looking spines. Morgan watched as the spine-covered body moved into a crouch ready to spring. A moment later the knee was blown out and it fell, whimpering, to the side. It wasn't getting back up which was good and it would recover, which was her good deed for the day. Once she realized why Amanda had taken off, though, Morgan had turned to sweep the area and she stopped dead when she saw Garrison alive. "Fucking hell," she whispered before forcing her attention back to Amanda. If she wasn't going to watch her back then Morgan would. Besides, she'd promised cupcake.

Jubilee had been just as shocked as Amanda to see the four alive, and it took her a moment, and the shot from Morgan's gun to snap herself out of the brief paralysis that had gripped her. She could talk to Pete and the others later, there was still a job to do here.

"Focus," Scott snapped at his own teammates, voice a little shaky as he took in the presence of the no-longer-lost quartet. He wiped blood away from his nose, ignoring the screaming headache and pushing away anything resembling an emotional reaction. Now was not the time. "Finish securing the site. Blink, medic duty."

Northstar was bleeding from dozens of superficial cuts that Foxbat had inflicted before finally hitting the floor, but nodded once at the order and was off. Definitely easier to be in work mode right now than to process the changes in the four presumed dead.

Garrison rose from his own crouch, not looking at Pete as he regarded Scott. "Present and accounted for, Cyclops. If it's alright, we'd like to go home now."