Tropic of Capricorn: Beating Magneto
Feb. 18th, 2013 04:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logs Kurt, Angel, Jean-Phillipe, Jennie, Logan, and Sam break through the Brotherhood on the beach and hit the command centre to finally drive Magneto out.
The old research station had been built into the soft rock at the base of the volcano, and it was obvious that Magneto had augmented it. When you could twist and reshape steel with a thought, it became child’s play to turn crude rebar and concrete government labs into a sophisticated steel bunker. The main doors were open, one of the side lying on the ground with its huge hinges corroded and pitted by acid. The X-Men team led by Jean had been through here earlier, and now came the realization that if the Brotherhood had retreated, they might have the other X-Men trapped.
As soon as they stepped into the main tunnel, deep red lights began to flash, and ahead of them, automatic defenses were engaged. Their initial strikes may have been surprise, but now the base was on high alert, and Magneto had always been fond of his traps. There was barely any warning as the rotary cannons emerged from their recessed ports, and began to pour fire down on the X-Men.
Barely any warning was warning enough, as Kurt grabbed Jennie and teleported them both into one of the recessed ports, out of the guns' firing range. "Wolverine!" he called over. "Could you destroy those, please?"
"Leave me to do the dirty work why don't ya," Logan grumbled but his irritation was at the lead that'd be pourin' into him while he disabled the guns. He ignored the increasing flares of pain from the concentrated gunfire aimed his direction and ran to the nearest gun. He clawed it from the wall with more force than necessary. He really didn't give a shit. The only one complainin' would be Magneto and he could shove those complaints right back up his ass.
Jennie's finger's glowed red, and off Kurt's nod the bright red disks she flung took out the rest. Small errors in programming compounded each other, while a couple cannons shot themselves to pieces. Another white disk kept Wolverine from being clipped by falling debris.
"Next?" Jennie said, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She had almost instinctively called her CO 'Kemosabe,' but managed to bite back on the old habit. Flippancy was all well and good, but they were being shot at.
"Onward", Kurt said simply, stepping out of the safe place now all the guns had stopped. "And keep all senses open for any more surprises."
The exterior doors may have been breached, but the internal ones had not, and bulkheads slammed shut between the X-Men and their goal – Magneto’s control room. The doors were thick and heavy, designed to slow down intruders. As they slammed shut, a hum began, and the temperature around them quickly began to rise. With time, any door could be breached, but Magneto had gone an extra step, ensuring that anyone who tried would do so on scorching hot floor panels and a hallway being microwaved to high heat.
"Hnh." That was Magneto, Jean-Phillipe thought. Multiple layers of defense, redundancy stacked on redundancy. Erik was always at his strongest and cleverest when on the defensive, perhaps a relic of the atrocities he'd lived through, that his people had had no defense against. His eyes flicked around the hallway. Heating elements would be behind the walls, of course, but where would they be... "Firestar, can you locate the hotspots?" he asked sharply.
"Right-o." Angel quickly set to work, her eyes skimming over the walls. She winced when she saw the multiple pulsing red spots glaring back at her. "Ouch. There's a couple on each side, fairly big, here, and here..." She stepped closer to the wall as she spoke, touching her hand over each spot to give the best possible location, completely unaffected by the rising temperatures. "And directly across on the opposite side as well," she concluded, turning her head to the wall in question.
"Want I should take them out?" Sam nodded to either side of the room. He could activate his powers and try to smash the equipment generating the heat, but he'd have to be careful given that they were inside and all. His control over his powers was much better than it had been after years of experience in using them but the analogy of a bull in a china shop was still pretty apt when it came to his power set.
"Non, I have it." Jean-Phillipe had only needed to locate all of the heating elements, which he could not have done on his own. Dealing with them, on the other hand... His hands blurred about in a flurry of motion, carefully metered electrical blasts launched with flicks of the wrist at each of the points Angel had identified. The discharge of electricity was followed by the rough sound of the defenses shorting out, and an immediate lowering of the ambient temperature in the hallway. "There."
With the automated defenses out of the way, it was a simple task to breach the command centre door. Inside, several members of the Brotherhood were packing the last of Magneto's datastores away. Before they could react, a shimmering field dropped in between them and the X-Men, as Magneto glided into the room.
"Ah, of course, the final strike team. I am afraid it is entirely too late, X-Men."
"Entirely too late for what?" Logan motioned toward the hurried movements of the mutants behind Magneto. "This island "oasis" of yours is done for and your base is mincemeat. If you had anythin' else, you'd have thrown it at us already." The possibility he'd be used against the rest of the team was forefront in his mind and he readied to yell out a warning the instant he felt his limbs wrenched out of his control.
"You know", Kurt said conversationally, stepping forward, "if you had just left Garrison and Adrienne among the people on the beach, to go safely off on the next supply ship, we would never have even known you were here. But perhaps you wanted us to."
"Erik, desire an audience? What an absurd thought." Jean-Phillipe stepped forward, just behind Kurt's shoulder, as poised for sudden action as the rest of the team. His eyes flicked up and down, taking in Magneto's more youthful appearance. "Hello, Erik. You are looking...fit."
"Ah yes, the famed bravado and arrogance. How convenient for you, X-Men. How... privileged. All you have done today is underline the fact that the journey to a mutant nation will need to involve your destruction, and those of your government masters. Enjoy your momentary advantage. Perhaps the Americans will give you a pat on the head for it, like any clever dog. It will turn to ashes soon enough." Magneto motioned to the young dark haired man behind him, who held up his hands and in seconds, the Brotherhood faded from sight, escaping through teleportation and leaving the X-Men in the command room. Alone.
The old research station had been built into the soft rock at the base of the volcano, and it was obvious that Magneto had augmented it. When you could twist and reshape steel with a thought, it became child’s play to turn crude rebar and concrete government labs into a sophisticated steel bunker. The main doors were open, one of the side lying on the ground with its huge hinges corroded and pitted by acid. The X-Men team led by Jean had been through here earlier, and now came the realization that if the Brotherhood had retreated, they might have the other X-Men trapped.
As soon as they stepped into the main tunnel, deep red lights began to flash, and ahead of them, automatic defenses were engaged. Their initial strikes may have been surprise, but now the base was on high alert, and Magneto had always been fond of his traps. There was barely any warning as the rotary cannons emerged from their recessed ports, and began to pour fire down on the X-Men.
Barely any warning was warning enough, as Kurt grabbed Jennie and teleported them both into one of the recessed ports, out of the guns' firing range. "Wolverine!" he called over. "Could you destroy those, please?"
"Leave me to do the dirty work why don't ya," Logan grumbled but his irritation was at the lead that'd be pourin' into him while he disabled the guns. He ignored the increasing flares of pain from the concentrated gunfire aimed his direction and ran to the nearest gun. He clawed it from the wall with more force than necessary. He really didn't give a shit. The only one complainin' would be Magneto and he could shove those complaints right back up his ass.
Jennie's finger's glowed red, and off Kurt's nod the bright red disks she flung took out the rest. Small errors in programming compounded each other, while a couple cannons shot themselves to pieces. Another white disk kept Wolverine from being clipped by falling debris.
"Next?" Jennie said, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She had almost instinctively called her CO 'Kemosabe,' but managed to bite back on the old habit. Flippancy was all well and good, but they were being shot at.
"Onward", Kurt said simply, stepping out of the safe place now all the guns had stopped. "And keep all senses open for any more surprises."
The exterior doors may have been breached, but the internal ones had not, and bulkheads slammed shut between the X-Men and their goal – Magneto’s control room. The doors were thick and heavy, designed to slow down intruders. As they slammed shut, a hum began, and the temperature around them quickly began to rise. With time, any door could be breached, but Magneto had gone an extra step, ensuring that anyone who tried would do so on scorching hot floor panels and a hallway being microwaved to high heat.
"Hnh." That was Magneto, Jean-Phillipe thought. Multiple layers of defense, redundancy stacked on redundancy. Erik was always at his strongest and cleverest when on the defensive, perhaps a relic of the atrocities he'd lived through, that his people had had no defense against. His eyes flicked around the hallway. Heating elements would be behind the walls, of course, but where would they be... "Firestar, can you locate the hotspots?" he asked sharply.
"Right-o." Angel quickly set to work, her eyes skimming over the walls. She winced when she saw the multiple pulsing red spots glaring back at her. "Ouch. There's a couple on each side, fairly big, here, and here..." She stepped closer to the wall as she spoke, touching her hand over each spot to give the best possible location, completely unaffected by the rising temperatures. "And directly across on the opposite side as well," she concluded, turning her head to the wall in question.
"Want I should take them out?" Sam nodded to either side of the room. He could activate his powers and try to smash the equipment generating the heat, but he'd have to be careful given that they were inside and all. His control over his powers was much better than it had been after years of experience in using them but the analogy of a bull in a china shop was still pretty apt when it came to his power set.
"Non, I have it." Jean-Phillipe had only needed to locate all of the heating elements, which he could not have done on his own. Dealing with them, on the other hand... His hands blurred about in a flurry of motion, carefully metered electrical blasts launched with flicks of the wrist at each of the points Angel had identified. The discharge of electricity was followed by the rough sound of the defenses shorting out, and an immediate lowering of the ambient temperature in the hallway. "There."
With the automated defenses out of the way, it was a simple task to breach the command centre door. Inside, several members of the Brotherhood were packing the last of Magneto's datastores away. Before they could react, a shimmering field dropped in between them and the X-Men, as Magneto glided into the room.
"Ah, of course, the final strike team. I am afraid it is entirely too late, X-Men."
"Entirely too late for what?" Logan motioned toward the hurried movements of the mutants behind Magneto. "This island "oasis" of yours is done for and your base is mincemeat. If you had anythin' else, you'd have thrown it at us already." The possibility he'd be used against the rest of the team was forefront in his mind and he readied to yell out a warning the instant he felt his limbs wrenched out of his control.
"You know", Kurt said conversationally, stepping forward, "if you had just left Garrison and Adrienne among the people on the beach, to go safely off on the next supply ship, we would never have even known you were here. But perhaps you wanted us to."
"Erik, desire an audience? What an absurd thought." Jean-Phillipe stepped forward, just behind Kurt's shoulder, as poised for sudden action as the rest of the team. His eyes flicked up and down, taking in Magneto's more youthful appearance. "Hello, Erik. You are looking...fit."
"Ah yes, the famed bravado and arrogance. How convenient for you, X-Men. How... privileged. All you have done today is underline the fact that the journey to a mutant nation will need to involve your destruction, and those of your government masters. Enjoy your momentary advantage. Perhaps the Americans will give you a pat on the head for it, like any clever dog. It will turn to ashes soon enough." Magneto motioned to the young dark haired man behind him, who held up his hands and in seconds, the Brotherhood faded from sight, escaping through teleportation and leaving the X-Men in the command room. Alone.
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