xp_logs | GBOW: In The Navy

The Indian Navy learns just what the right four mutants can do with their backs to the wall.

This wasn't working. Though her team were performing admirably - above and beyond the call of duty, she thought - they were no closer to stalling the naval fleet, much less diverting it completely, than they had been when they started. The ships rolled onward, cutting through the choppy waves like knives through silk as they sent round after round of ammunition into the sky, endangering everyone battling against them. It was only a matter of time before somebody was injured or killed and the fleet escaped. They couldn't let that happen.

It was time to end things.

They had discussed a plan before the assault, hushed tones and doubt coloring their every utterance. Ororo still wasn't sure it would work, though even attempting it would push them to the brink of their capabilities. It was this doubt that ran through her even now, playing her nerves and giving the slightest hint of uncertainty to her voice as she spoke into the comms. "Iceman. Hamster. Buttercup. Gather to me. It is time."

Bobby Drake quickly diverted his attention back towards the sound of his leader's voice. Leaving the ship he had been trying to halt behind, he turned his ice chute downwards and quickly began skiing as fast as he could towards Ororo's position. He had heard their plan earlier, but was still a bit cautious, not knowing exactly how it would end up. Still he called back, "Iceman, incoming", trying to calm his mind and prepare.

It's about God damned time, Lex thought as he sprinted towards Ororo's position on the front of the craft. He'd been using his powers constantly after that first engagement, enhancing every system within his capabilities to help hold off the enemy fleet, and he knew that he didn't have much more to give. After flying with Monet and assaulting the carriers he had made the executive decision that he needed to be in control of his transportation, or at least keep his feet on a solid surface. It wasn't easy, as the X-men were moving wherever they were needed, but so far he'd managed it fairly well. "This is Hamster, be there in one."

Deep breaths. The weather continued to twist and batter, though it was more in reflection of the weatherworker's nerves than any intention against the fleet. "Buttercup, as soon as you are ready. Begin."

Crystal nodded once, the nod an automatic motion, more out of the habit of nodding in agreement than out of the expectation that Storm would see it. She rose higher into the air, feeling the air in the surrounding area. One moment it was simply there, and the next it was hers, changing at her command. It was good that they were working in such an open area, giving her plenty of material to work with. While her usual changes to the air tended to be imperceptible to others, unless of course noticing the change was the entire point of what she was doing, what Crystal was doing now in order to create a vacuum was such a drastic change that surely she and Ororo wouldn't be the only ones to feel it.

Even though he couldn't see the vacuum forming yet, Bobby knew that they had to work quickly. The fleet wasn't slowly down any time soon. As soon as he had his three companions in his sights, he stopped his chutes formation and instead crouched down in his position. Reaching out towards the area, Bobby began poking around at the molecules, slowing their interactions, knowing that it would begin to lower the temperature. Sweat appeared on his brow, but Drake knew it was the final push. They needed everything he had left. He spoke once more into his comm piece. "Temperature dropping."

"Good. Keep going, both of you." As she had done earlier, Ororo began to gather charge in the air around her, feeling the familiar tingle run over her skin. The trick was going to be containing the ionized particles and keeping them from triggering too soon - the more charge they contained the more likely they were to spark upon contact. She raised her arms, hair flying wildly as she orchestrated a complex, invisible dance in the air around her.

Crystal felt the alterations being made to the area of air currently under her control, changes made by someone who was not her. As focused as she was on the task at hand, the air was, in effect, an extension of herself. She didn't feel pain if someone ran into one of her air shields, but she could know it was happening even without visually seeing it, and this required much more concentration than solidifying air, something she'd been able to do for over a dozen years. Buttercup wasn't one for chatter during missions; actions tended to speak louder than words. She appeared to be frozen in place in her spot high above the water, but she didn't need to do so much as lift one finger in order to compress the air.

With Bobby's eyes closed tightly, he felt the beads of sweat on his forehead beginning to crystallize. His entire body aching, the frost began to shoot back against his arms. Still concentrating on keeping the temperature where it was, he spit back to the rest of the team. "It's as cold as I can hold it! You're up Hamster."

Lex held onto the railing as he concentrated on the vacuum in front of him, he had to release a massive charge straight through the center. Gritting his teeth he reached out with one hand. For a moment there was an intense crackling surrounding his arm and then he let the energy arc outward. It was a beautiful display, lightning emanating from his fingertips, but it wasn't strong enough to do the trick. He wasn't strong enough to do it alone. "Oh, Fuck!"

Ororo could sense what was happening below and winced; their chances of succeeding were ebbing by the second. "Lex, keep it up," she ordered harshly, willing him not to hear the fear in her voice. "Take power from wherever you can. Do it now."

Opening the panel next to him Lex grabbed a fist full of wires and tapped into the main power of the ship. He winced as he realized how much power he was going to be drawing, and braced himself for the feedback. "Here goes everything," he muttered under his breath, hoping that it wouldn't be transmitted to his teammates.

For a second nothing happened, and Lex blinked in disbelief. What the fuck? His power had never simply failed to work before. As he stared at the vortex, trying to feel the power of the ship behind him he realized it was no longer there. In a single moment he'd fully absorbed the ships power, and he could feel it ready to fry him. With a piercing howl he released it into the air, directing it in the general direction he was supposed to. The energy was bleeding out at an inordinate level but he knew there was enough power to achieve the reaction desired. He didn't have time to warn his teammates before he collapsed.

The charge surged through the air, the sensation like fire over Ororo's already stretched-thin nerves. Fighting for control, she grit her teeth and opened her arms, waiting a split-second before triggering a massive confluence of chain lightning in the air around them. The bolts arced away, lancing towards the ocean and carrying the ionized air along the now-open channels from the vacuum where it had been born. It took every ounce of her energy and control to direct it, avoiding the mutants still in the area and focusing on the fleet of ships below.

The sky flared impossibly bright as the energy ripped through the complex web of ionized air, and as it collapsed, the energy yield multiplied exponentially into a single phased discharge. The flow of the electricity on expression moved as part of the artificially enhanced electrostatic field, in a pulsed power array, and tore open in a single moment. The resulting pulse was a furious burst of electromagnetic radiation, which radiated out with enormous power over the mutants and encapsulating the bulk of the fleet.

Fingers of blue electricity ran up and down the hulls of the ships, jumping between antenna and receivers, tracing and grounding along metal rails and cannon barrels. Small explosions dotted the decks as electronics overloaded against the burst, not hardened enough to withstand the ferocity of the energy blast. One by one, the ships began to slow and all the movement of the radar domes and weapon systems ceased, as insider, overloaded computer systems smoked and only hardened circuits had prevented the entire electrical systems from exploding.

The captains and engineers of the ships shouted for answers, but there were none coming. Somehow they'd run into a blast that didn't exist outside of a nuclear attack or a hideously expensive and uncommon bomb, and their ships were dead in the water. The Indian systems were designed to be quickly replaced, but no one had anticipated an entire fleet suffering a catastrophic loss of electrical systems all at once, and there simply wasn't the materials to handle it. It would be days before any of them would be moving again.

Crystal had managed to keep going until their task was done. It had required great effort on the part of all four mutants, and her strength was gone. It took everything she had to keep herself from simply falling out of the sky and plunging into the water below. Summoning the last vestige of power she could find, with none of the usual grace she showed in the air, Buttercup awkwardly dropped down to the ship where Hamster had collapsed. Exhausted, she lay down and was still.

Bobby fell to his knees and let the sudden rush of warm air hit him in the face. It was a strange feeling as all the frozen droplets on his face instantly melted, but a welcome relief. He was able to open up one eye as he continued to breathe heavily. "We got it..." Before collapsing onto the deck himself.

Above, Ororo sagged against the open door of the Blackbird, having made it to the jet with the last of her energy as the ships below slowed and then were still in the waters. "Storm to all team," she said, closing her eyes and resting her head against the cool metal beside her. "Mission objective completed. Retrieve Lex, Crystal and Bobby and then rendezvous at the Blackbird - we're leaving."