[Alison, Marie, Sarah, Shinobi] We've met a good witch...

[x-shinobi.livejournal.com]

Now let's meet a bad witch. Alison, Marie, Sarah and Shinobi meet the wicked witch of the west Black Queen, at the tail end of Alex's rescue. It all goes down-hill from there. Get'cher asskickin' hats on, folks! Excelsior!



"This way." Marie flew down the hall ahead of the other three. They'd all looked over the blueprints
before the evening began and Sarah and Shinobi had made quick work of the guards. Now it was time to
get into Selene's personal chambers and distract her thoroughly. Nodding to Sarah and Shinobi to go
ahead, Marie neatly ripped the doors from their hinges and discarded them as though they were made of
paper.

Sarah ran behind Marie, shoes having been discarded long before. (who knew heels made such good
weapons?) She pulled a bone from her leg, using it to slit the skin-tight skirt of her dress, and
muttered "I'll be fucked if I'm going to get my ass kicked here because my clothes got in the goddamn
way." When she entered the room, blood was still running down her leg.

If the casualty of Sarah's dress bothered him, Shinobi didn't show it, bounding along after the others.
His suit's still in excellent shape, since much of his time in battle has been spent intangible, and
those fights had a tendency to end very, very quickly. Once the doors were discarded, he ducked through
the newly opened doorway alongside Sarah, hands flexing anxiously as he quickly looked around.

Alison followed more sedentarily so in the back, titanium re-enforced heels clicking on the floor in a
regular rhythm, letting the younger excitable ones bound ahead as they would - not that she even
considered stopping them in any way, shape or form, quite content with making sure no one sneak up on
them from behind. For now.

Selene was already turning at the crash, her mind pulling back from her search for Emma. The woman was
always up to no good and here were her brats, come to snarl and snap like the puppies they were. Emma
had improved vastly if she were throwing away children to get what she wanted. Selene purred at them
and narrowed her eyes, focussing on Sarah, at the bright, defiant energy around her.

"Mmm. Lovely," she said, raising her hand and beginning to utter arcane syllables. The vines in the
lush carpet underfoot began to writhe and rise around Sarah's feet.

Sarah blinked when she felt something moving around her feet, shouting 'fuck!' when she realized what
was happening. With the sharp bone in her hand, she sliced at them, freeing one foot and struggling to
pull her other foot away.

First things first. Shinobi quickly cleared the doorway to make room for the others to get inside,
keeping his eyes fixed on Selene even as he moved, trusting Sarah to be able to handle an overly
friendly bit of carpet. As much as he might like to charge, Emma's words were all to loud in his ears,
and he didn't trust Selene not to have some way of rendering him solid enough to touch again - and he
had nothing in the way of long-distance offenses to offer. But he knew someone who did. "Could we get a
light in here?"

And light there was as Alison stepped through the doorway and moved to the side quickly but calmly, one
hand raised in the air to send a bright strobe of light directly in Selene's direction, eyes locked on
the woman in the center of the room. "Marrow, don't move." And in the next instant, Alison lasered
through the vines neatly, freeing the young Morlock.

Rogue slipped in as Alison burned away the vines. Without touching the floor, she snagged Sarah around
the waist and pulled her back to the bare floor. "Throwy things," she suggested dryly, before grabbing
the edge of the rug and, in a smooth motion, flipping it up and over toward Selene.

Selene simply stepped through the carpet. --Really, children.-- Her mind on theirs was like a stinging
whipcrack and there was a brief compulsion to obey. --Enough of this.-- There were footsteps out in the
hall, many people moving quickly. An alabaster vase flew from the shelf toward Shinobi's head as Selene
strode confidently toward Sarah.

Sarah knew better than to just stand there, no matter what that little voice inside her head was
telling her to the contrary. She backed away, pulling a bone-knife from her forearm and sending it
rocketing at Selene.

Selene laughed, caught it neatly, and sent it flying back at more than twice the speed, fast enough to
embed deeply in anything it hit.

Shinobi couldn't hide a wince at the sudden voice inside his head, clenching his jaw and giving himself
a firm shake to keep from moving forward, as much as he may have briefly wanted to. The sting that came
with Selene's voice had been enough to startle him tangible, but he saw the the vase coming out of the
corner of his eye, hurriedly ducking his head to let it sail past - at least, in theory. With a
telekinetic, one can never be sure, so he tried to regain enough focus to ghost himself again before it
could come back.

Alison shook her head once sharply, and then turned, eyes narrowing at the sound of people running down
the hallway. They'd have to be dealt with, and lasering the doors shut was a bit impossible now,
unfortunately. For them. She stepped out into the hall way, light flickering into life around her to
shielf her from them in case they had guns in hand.

Marie wasted no time scooping up a very nice, heavy marble statue of a rearing horse that came up to
her waist and tossing it at Selene with remarkable ease. She was ready for the inevitable and skittered
neatly out of the way as Selene sent it flying back in her direction at the same speed.

"Oh look. Bone armor." Sarah couldn't have dodged the bone if she'd wanted to, but one of her own bones
hardly seemed a threat at all as it hit bone forming plates over her skin and fell to the floor. She
used Marie's distraction to throw a couple of bone knives in quick sucession, eyes flickering curiously
to the commotion in the hallway.

Selene's mind moved smoothly between the four and she counted Alison as distracted. Irritatingly
enough, none of them were afraid. Time to change that. She raised a hand and began to speak. Sigils on
the ceiling glowed like mood lighting.

Now, in the hallway, he could be useful. "Be careful," Shinobi asided to Sarah and Marie, giving Selene
a quick look before he spun on his heel to follow Alison back out into the hall, briefly squinting at
the light surrounding her before his eyes had a chance to adjust. Trying to ignore Selene's
thrice-damned chanting, he peered towards the approaching footsteps, rubbing his hands together
impatiently and regaining enough focus to force himself intangible again in the event the incoming
guards had their weapons drawn. The alternative defense was there, but ricochets in such an enclosed
space would be bad.

"Close your eyes," he heard Alison say, a wry undertone to her voice. As the footsteps turned the
corner, a group of men charging down the hallway with alarmed shouts, Alison narrowed her eyes, feeding
off the racket around her from both the newest attackers and the events unfolding in the room to send
out a brilliant burst of light at the guards, momentarily blinding them."

The knives from the girl skittered uselessly off of Selene's marble skin. Full of life, she was hard to
damage. She laughed at Sarah and strode toward her purposefully, knowing full well that being in her
home - her center of power - gave her a few advantages she wouldn't have otherwise. And as she closed
in on the Morlock, she used one.

Sarah could still hear that little voice inside her head, telling her to stay put, and she faltered for
a moment before retreating back onto the carpet. Oh shit. But it wasn't the carpet that was
Selene's next move. Instead, she held out a hand, willing all Sarah's extra bones out at one time. They
do, hanging in the air for a moment before falling to the ground in a heap. Sarah gasps, and soon
follows.

The rule remained that they weren't to touch the witch but as Sarah collapsed Marie, moving fast and
silently up behind Selene, caught her by the hair and waist and threw her, sending the woman crashing
across the beautiful, marble-topped desk on the other side of the room. "Back off, bitch." Marie didn't
turn back to Sarah but stalked Selene across the room.

Quickly bringing up a hand to shield his eyes at Alison's instruction, he grimaced as the flash was
noticable even through his eyelids and palm, though the sharp cries of surprise from the surprised and
disoriented guards were the perfect medicine. He opened his eyes in time to see Sarah fall to the
ground, sharply biting down on his lip and sucking in a sharp breath as he stops himself short of
rushing back inside. You're no use in there, Shaw, he harshly chided himself, shaking his head
and turning to start for the guards instead. "I have them," he called crisply to Alison, narrowing his
eyes as he prepared to take out his frustration on the blinded men in his path. "Deal with the witch!"

The choice Alison was presented with was hardly a difficult one, and she simply turned on her heel to
enter the fray in Selene's room without further ado. A quick look around to take in the scene, a downed
Sarah on the side, and Marie stalking Selene - both women with the ability to do nasty things with
touch, and a combination Alison preferred not to test, really. All it took were a few steps to the side
to make certain Marie would be clear of the blast, and Alison raised both hands, eyes narrowing as she
focused, coruscating light erupting to life and slicing through the floor underneath Selene's feet.

Training together had done some good. The cadence of footfalls behind Marie was Alison and she had the
presence of mind to cover her eyes as she heard Alison inhale sharply. She was going to have to mention
that cue. The light and the noise were incredible.

The floor gave way under Selene and she tumbled into the basement with the floor and subflooring
crashing down around her. The rubble continued to fall, burying her.

"Let's go," Marie said, backing up toward Sarah.

--Impressive.-- Selene thought as she fell. She landed well enough but the debris covered her for the
moment. She phased out to pass through it, shaking off the effects of the fight so far, and then leapt
for the mouth of the hole above.

"Move, now! Marie, get Sarah!" Alison called out, keeping an eye on the hole, trusting Shinobi to deal
with the blinded guards... and not trusting Selene to stay down there for very long.

There was a hail of gunfire outside shortly followed by a chorus of heavy thumps, nearly a dozen voices
all gasping weakly for breath in unison before one by one, they all fell silent. Crisp footsteps
returned towards the doorway as Shinobi reappears, eyeing the hole in the floor a moment before he
moved towards Sarah, crouching down so he can check her over. "I think she's alright to mo--" He cuts
off at a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye, whipping around to look back as Selene
reappears, hissing a curse under his breath.

Selene came up in a rush, eyes ablaze. "Thank you for the ammunition, darling," she said to Alison, and
flung a hailstorm of stone flooring at the four in front of her, filling the air with shrapnel.

Marie shot straight up before she could even think. -Up is safety-

Without thinking, Shinobi threw himself in front of Sarah's prone form, putting his back to Selene even
as his body solidified. His suit would never forgive him the injustice, but he used his diamond-hard
body to shield Sarah from the rain of shrapnel, gritting his teeth.

Alison flung her arms in front of herself, light shielf sparking into form at the last second, the hail
of rocks battering her but thankfully reflected off her light shield - the odd solidity of her body as
she stood underneath the assault noted and set aside for later perusal, the realization that it wasn't
normal ignored just as the stings on her legs and arms from the first cuts were, dismissed as
unimportant.

Selene picked up the words of her spell again, weaving the sorcery around the room.

-Fuck.- Marie assessed the situation and knew they needed to get clear. She pulled down one glove to
bare her arm and dropped, getting Selene around the neck in a choke-hold, one knee in her kidneys. It
wasn't a move the witch had expected.

The results were less than optimal. The spell misfired like lightbulbs blowing all around them as
Selene slipped in her recitation. She felt pain and her powers slipped, life trickled out of her at an
alarming rate. Disconcerted, she phased out even as Marie lost her grip and collapsed, unconscious.
Selene didn't wait to look around her, though, she was gone to regroup and reassess the situation.

This was.. different. Warily, Shinobi looked over his shoulder, blinking twice at the sight that
greeted him. "Shit," he hissed feelingly, springing to his feet and rushing over to the fallen Marie
even as Selene slipped through the floor, dropping to his knees and reaching out to check the girl's
pulse through her dress' collar. "She's going to be interesting when she wakes up," he murmured sadly
to himself, shaking his head and looking back towards Alison with a sigh of defeat. "So. Do you want to
carry Sarah, or Marie?"

"I've got Marie," she answered tersely, lifting still silk sheated arms in explantion. And not going
into the fact that Shinobi had better chances of not having a bone stuck in him by mistake if Sarah
woke up while being carried out. "Get Sarah, we've done our part, we're outta here."