xp_logs | GBOS: Diamond Chaney (Reply)

Emma uses Nick's nose to help her find the leader of this assault.

It should have been a surprise, and to Di Alvito's credit, he only started as the first sounds of gunfire percolated across the camp to his tent. With a shake of his head, he grabbed for his satellite phone, waving away Emma. "I knew this was going to happen." He growled, following it up with a spate of liquid Portuguese curses as he tried to raise Islamabad and call the alarm. "Ms Frost, the USACE base is right near the helipad. Get your students over to it as soon as you can. It might be the only safe place left. Yes-hello! This is Doctor Vasco Di Alvito!"

He turned away as he struggled to get his information up the line, leaving them standing outside in a world of chaos, as plumes of black smoke curled upwards over the camp and the screams of fear and pain carried on the wind like a miasmic cloud.

Emma allowed herself to curse in a number of languages even as she strode out of the tent. The students, she knew, were more than capable of taking care of themselves for a while, but she couldn't say the same for the residents of the camp. She reviewed the information she had about the tactics of her probable enemies and knew that, more than likely, whoever was in charge of this attack was going to be using mutants. Casting out her mind, she ran through the people around her until she found someone who might just be very helpful.

#Nick.# She inserted her voice in the young man's head between a number of conflicting thoughts, bringing them neatly to a halt. #I need your help. Can you sniff out anything alien? There are going to be mutants out there and I need to find them and try and stop this. I'm not far from you; if you start tracking, I can catch up.#

Gleason nearly jumped at the sound of the voice in his head. Even though he had been at the mansion for nearly a year now, the sound of a telepath still sounded more alien than any scent he could think of. Still, he knew that he needed to help out any way he could, and quickly put his hand to his ear to block out the others as he began talking out loud. "I should be able to. What am I looking for exactly?" But he took on the woman's advice and prepared to transform into his wolf-form, not wanting to waste any time.

#I don't know.# Emma didn't attempt to hide the frustration in her mental tone. #Our enemies change so often it's hard to tell who it might be. Look for non-humans. We're talking mutants and some of them have probably had further alterations imposed on top of that. I would imagine they smell very different from most of the people in the camp. Find whatever smells different and follow that. Be amazing.#

Nick had already turned back into a huge werewolf as he growled "gotcha" back at the voice in his head. His nose to the ground, he quickly pressed his nose to the ground, beginning to take in deep breaths. It was hard to justify any one alien scent. Everything at the camp was a far stretch from his Midwest home. But the boy tried to take the advice that Professor Sefton had given him to heart, and shut out his mind. With this he began to pick out a group of scents that seemed different from the others at the far end of the camp. Maybe it was just a stray dog. Maybe not. But he wasn't going to let anyone down, a shifted into full tracking mode, slinking forward as he awaited his mental companion to physically join his hunt.

Emma couldn't quite suppress her smile as the flavour of Nick's mind shifted against hers. It was always interesting to see what shape-shifting did to a person's psyche. It was still easy to track him, however, annoying as it was to have to shoulder her way through the panicking hordes without being able to shift to diamond. One of the fortunate side effects of her martial arts training, though, was the capacity to slip easily through crowds and it didn't take her long to sight and then catch up with the large wolf that was stalking purposefully, head downwards. "You've found something?" she asked, enjoying the fact that Nick was leading them in the opposite direction to the fleeing crowds, opening up the way in front of them considerably.

"Think so." His voice was even deeper than it normally would be in his wolf form. Different from the people. Different from the feral dogs. The scent twisted in his nostrils, pointing like an arrow. "It's... strange..." But he kept his head down hoping not to disturb the crowd too much as they already had done enough panicking. "Plan?" He didn't mean to be rude or disrespect his elder in the least, but in his wolf state, he couldn't turn away from the scent for long, or else he may lose his beat on the unseen foes.

Emma shrugged. "The usual. Find them. Beat them up until they stop." She loped easily along beside the wolf, enjoying the physicality of this tracking in comparison to her usual psychic searches, staying quiet as she felt Nick's concentration on the scent, a hard knot of aimed thought.

As the crowd started to grow in panic by either his appearance, or the fact that they were zeroing in on their target, Nick couldn't tell at first. But as the smell suddenly overwhelmed his nostrils, the boy knew that they were close to the foreign smell, and possibly the cause of the hysteria. He tried to warn his companion, but instead of words, all that came out was a growl. He knew that speaking while in the height of hunting mode would come out too jumbled, so making a split-second decision the boy decided that he needed to do his best to try the whole telepathy thing. No matter how strange it seemed to him. Slowly he tried to push the animal side of his brain to the side and clear his thoughts. #The smell is coming from just over that ridge. I can't put my finger on what it is, but it's nothing like I've smelled since we've been in the camp.#

The gentle touch of Emma's hand on Nick's shoulder was a silent but obvious signal to stop. #Give me a minute,# Emma requested and then cast her mind out in front of her. Sorting through the babble of languages that assaulted her, some she could translate, some not, she gradually sifted out those who were irrelevant. Her focus narrowed and narrowed again until she could isolate one single aggressive mind. Her hand relaxed on Nick's shoulder and her eyes closed, trusting the boy to protect her, as she let herself slip beneath its - no, his - surface mind and start to dredge up details of his powers. She stopped, frowning, as the man whose mind she was in said something that was obviously a response to - no-one that she could find. Emma quested out harder around the man she had found, looking for shields, concealments, anything that would let her find who he was speaking to, but there was still nothing.

Emma opened her eyes, rocking back on her heels. "There's two of them," she said quietly. "I think. I can find one but he's talking to someone I can't find on the psychic plane. He or she's either got some spectacularly good psychic defences or got some kind of power that works to blind telepaths. This may be an interesting fight."

Nick took his position in front of her. His wolf brain wanted to charge forward, but instead, he did his best to reign himself in. Her touch was soothing enough to keep him from galloping in, fangs bared at least, but he was still antsy as he turned back to her. "Other's powers?" He wanted to know at least a bit about the person he was going to charge, but right now what he wanted to know the most what their hides tasted like. He had seen enough of the devastation. It had to end.

"The person I can feel," Emma frowned, "he's not thinking about them and it'll take too long to delve, but something transport-based. Maybe. It's a flavour, not a certainty. The one I can't feel, I can't feel." Emma shrugged. "Which means I might as well take this approach to start with," she said, shifting to diamond form, the cutting off of the numerous panicking voices in her head a happy side-effect. "What do you think? Shall we startle them with a full-frontal assault?"

That's what Nick's wolf form wanted to hear. With only a slight groan, the wolf lunged forward, his teeth bared. Allowing the wind to rustle through his fur he locked in on the two forms in front of him. His human half tried to tell him that it wouldn't be too easy, but the wolf was looking at the pair as if they were deer just waiting to be pounce upon.

One of the pair looked startled as Nick closed, and blinked out of existence just as his jaws attempted to close on his arm. The other didn't seem surprised at all. Instead, as Nick's charge propelled him past, he took a swipe with a combat knife, the blade opening a long shallow gash along his flank.

"~Voyager, you must learn not to be so easily startled.~" He said, crossing his arms. While he wore the suit of a member of the Imperial Guard, he also had golden epulets on his uniform, and the air of a man used to command. "~Obviously the American mutants would try to fight back. This way, their deaths will now hinge on the Pakistani refugees who attacked their own camp, slaughtering the Westerners and indulging in a spot of rape of the youngest volunteers before beheading them for Allah. I've already issued the orders.~"

"Oh how nice," said Emma, as she strode towards the pair, paying only peripheral attention to Nick's wounding, which seemed minor. "Confessing to the organisation of crimes against humanity before they happen. I'd enjoy testifying if ever it came to court." She paused in her advance for a moment and then made a sudden rush towards the man. Knives weren't going to hurt her and she might as well try and find out whether he had any powers other than making telepaths mind-blind.

Emma found her momentum being turned against her, and the diamond woman was sent sprawling into the dirt by a deft move. "Ah, the redoubtable Emma Frost. We heard you might be here. The Prime Minister had some choice words about what we were to do if we got our hands on you. I don't think you'll enjoy it much." Before Emma could reach her feet, Voyager blinked out of existence and back again, as a crate stacked with masonry blocks came with him, raining down on Emma's position.

The wound had made the wolf more pointed in his movements. He knew that he would need another visit after the trip, but now he had to keep his angry wolf half from charging at the man that hurt him only a few seconds earlier. But a good thing about wolves were that they also protected their own. As soon as he saw the blocks crashing down, Nick's hind feet were spinning in the dirt as he rushed towards Emma, diving at her and spreading out his paws, hoping that at least a majority of the blocks would hit his muscled back.

Emma cursed as the boy sprawled across her. She was not a fan of chivalry at the best of times and this was not the best of times. With a surge of diamond strength she pushed upwards, catching Nick and using his own momentum to hurl him towards the commander. "They can't hurt me," she shouted, even as the blocks landed on her diamond form, burying her momentarily. She cursed again, crossing diamond arms above her head and crouching down beneath the blocks. "Just slow me down," she said beneath the rain of masonry, hoping she hadn't hurled Nick from the frying pan into the fire.

The boy skidded across the ground, slightly embarrassed, but quickly got up to his feet and whirled around to try and find the two attackers. His wolf brain was getting frustrated, but he needed it to be as calm as possible. He tried to push his human half to the forefront again, hoping for guidance #What's the plan?# His side was starting to seer, and he needed to give his brain something better to wrap around rather than 'WOLF SMASH!'

The cascade of masonry blocks finally ceased falling from the sky, and Emma unfurled her diamond form in a surge that brought her out of the blocks. She flickered back to flesh for a moment, allowing herself the quickest telepathic scan around, catching Nick's question, confirming that she could get into the teleporter's mind, but even when she had full visual contact, the man who was obviously a commander was not available to her on any telepathic level. There wasn't even the smoothness of impenetrable shields or the static that characterised Remy; there was simply an empty space. #We need to find out what he can do.# She threw the image of the man she meant at Nick. #Can you try harrying him? Nip and evade?# She slipped back into diamond form again, even as the teleporter aimed a punch at her that would have sent her sprawling in flesh form, but did little but make her sway in diamond form. She grinned at the commander. "You'd be surprised what I enjoy," she said. "Maybe you can find out when I get my hands on you."

"~I'm particularly certain that you won't get your hands on me. No one ever has.~" He said, and turned to his minion. "~Voyager, take care of Ms Frost for a moment. I want to collect a wolf skin. Perhaps as a rug for my office."

"~Yes, Mentor.~" The other replied, blinking out of existence and reappeared for a fraction of a second behind Emma. Just long enough to touch her with his finger and blink them both away. A cold wind assaulted her as they reappeared, a mile over the camp, and Voyager was gone instantly after, leaving the diamond woman to plummet towards the ground.

Nick heard the response and was instantly on his paws again. Adrenaline pumping as he began to circle Mentor, the throbbing in his side quickly dulled. He would deal with that soon enough. But now, he dropped his head down as he circled around Mentor. He was much more cautious this time as he lurched forward. It wasn't his goal to hit the man, but to simply test what he would do as he bared his teeth only a few inches forward before pulling them back, honing his trained eyes on the mutant to gauge his response.

Mentor didn't take the bait, as if he knew it was a feint a second before Nick committed to the attack. He slowly put his knife back into the sheath and unholstered his sidearm. It was a 9mm Beretta, used in militaries all over the world, and the oiled metal carried a level of menace as the Indian officer drew it out. "~Now, where to make the smallest hole in the pelt...~" He mused.

"Well, that's annoying," said Emma as she fell. It wasn't really going to sting when she hit the ground, but it was probably going to destroy what little of her outfit remained. What was lucky, she decided was that Voyager was lazy. He had teleported her up, but not away and it was clear that she was going to fall very close to the battle she had just left. And considering the tableau of armed man and wounded wolf that was rushing up to meet her, that was probably a good thing. With skills honed by years spent jumping out of planes, Emma aimed herself at a spot close enough to man and wolf to, she considered, be quite distracting. When she hit the ground, it sounded like the ending of the world.

Hearing the whistling of Ms. Frost above his head, Nick took the opportunity to rush forward. His paws were spread enough that the shaking of the ground didn't affect his footing, and let him get a good hold on the ground. His paws forward, he jumped through the dust caused by her body hitting the dirt, hoping that he was hidden enough for his claws or fangs to at least hit the gun still pointed towards him.

Mentor wasn't able to get a shot off as Nick burst through the cloud, but he was forced to let go of his gun, diving away just as the wolfboy came through. They were proving to be annoying, and Mentor did not like to have his careful plans ruined.

"~Voyegar, you idiot. I want her taken out, not let to come back in. Do it right.~" His hissed at the other guardsman, who paled and nodded.

"He could try," said Emma, rising out of the dust of her fall and shrugging back into flesh-form, "but I am awfully hard to catch." And with the words came the sudden realisation about Mentor's powers and the reason why he was so certain no-one would get their hands on him. He was a pre-cog. Short-term, she bet, but it probably helped explain why he was telepathically invisible. It wasn't Marie-Ange's big black hole of crazy but pre-cogs always fucked up the Astral Plane. #Go for Mentor!# she shouted into Nick's mind. #As hard and fast as you can.#

Nick didn't have to be told twice. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he sprinted forward as fast as he could, his ears pinned back by the wind. He didn't hold back as he zeroed in on the man named Mentor, a growl ripping through his gut as he saw nothing else but the target.

Voyager reached over to touch his commander, and they both disappeared from the attack.

Even as Voyager reached his hand out, Emma set and sprang her trap. With a flick of her psyche she reached in past Voyager's barely rudimentary shields and into his power. With the finesse she was famous for, she slipped into his navigation and looped it on himself. Wherever Voyager though he was going to take himself and Mentor, that was not where he was going to end up. She saw Mentor's eyes widen as his pre-cog obviously told him something, but he couldn't stop Voyager's hand descending on his shoulder. Emma left the loop behind, and turning into diamond, ran forward, fist extended.

In the blink of an eye Voyager and Mentor were gone, and equally fast, they were back in the same spot, with only the time for a widening of eyes in shock.

"Surprise," purred Emma, staring into Mentor's eyes from only a few inches away. Both of them looked down together at where Emma's arm hadn't been when he had blinked out but now was. Unfortunately for Mentor, the space her fist was now occupying was the same space his chest was attempting to occupy. Diamond won the battle over flesh. Mentor's mouth gaped open, fishlike, wet with blood and then he died.

Nick was still in full sprint, banking on Emma's plan. He had to be one step ahead because his opponent would be. Leaping forward, his front paws hit Voyager, pinning them to the dirt bellow. As his head hit the ground and his eyes closed, Nick growled at the man's face, hoping that it was over.

"That," said Emma, looking at the man impaled on her arm, "was rather satisfying." She leaned backwards and managed to arc her leg up between herself and the corpse, planting a boot firmly against Mentor's stomach and shoving hard. It took several kicks before his body gave a protesting squelching noise and slid off her arm. She gazed down at it in distaste, but necessity made her turn back into gore-spattered flesh. "Excellent job," she said to Nick as he stood guard, growling, over the unconscious teleporter. She scanned outwards with her mind and nodded in satisfaction. "Judging by what I can hear, I think we may just have cut off the head of this monster."