xp_logs | A Touch of Brimstone Log 2

Kurt leads a team into the basements to try and stop the Brotherhood

The glow of Blink's teleportation faded, leaving the group in darkness. The sub-basements were dark, cold and damp, carved out of the black rock bones of Muir Island. Originally for storage of supplies for the castle above, they were now the evacuation point for residents of the Facility - "just in case".

"All right", Kurt said grimly. "We all know where the bunker is, and we will face a fight when we get there, if we are going to ask the people inside to open the door. As they must, to leave here... is everyone ready?"

Tabitha looked around, eyes adjusting to the dim light. "Ready when you say so, boss." She flexed her hands and felt her powers hum beneath her skin.

Laurie turned the small led lights that were part of her uniform on, and checked her batteries. In a choice between visibility, and being able to see, there were always sacrifices to be made. Besides, a little judicious use of 'Go away, you're scared of me' pheromones could always send people in the opposite direction if she chose. She checked that her supplies were still in place in the various pockets and pouches, and then smiled at Kurt before giving him a thumbs up signal.

"I'm good to go, Nightcrawler." Sooraya moved a little uneasy, the new black leathers not quite as broken in as her old dark-grey ones. "Ready as ever." She wrenched her mind away from her memories having fought Magneto and his cronies in the past, instead focusing on the people who were in the shelters. The innocent ones, the ones she loved and everyone else of course. She murmured a prayer under her breath in her native Pashtun... that they might get everyone out safely.

Jean-Phillipe gave a brief nod. He rolled his shoulders, flexing the leather of his uniform. He was certainly ready for a fight - an attack on Muir Island was unconscionable to him. Yes, some of the X-Men were in residence, but by and large the island was a medical facility, filled with children, the injured, and other non-combatants. He believed in strong measures for mutant rights, but some things were too far. And this was one.

"Then let us waste no time", Kurt said quietly, and led them towards the bunker, staying alert in case of posted sentries.

Laurie held back slightly from the rest of the team and started releasing a gentle push of pheromones that would hopefully make anyone in the area avoid their trail. She'd found people would do almost anything to avoid jittery feelings, so laying out hormones that related to anxiety should get them to move away, and thus not end up coming up behind them.

Jean-Phillipe spared a quick glance for his roommate, but then loped along ahead. He and Kurt were the skirmishers of the group - as much as he could direct his power from a distance, it was easier up close, and besides, it suited his enjoyment of a scrap.
The X-Men moved quietly through the dark tunnels, slowly and silently making their way towards the bunker. At last, they heard harsh, angry voices, and the occasional sound of something striking metal.

"I know one of those voices", Kurt said under his breath, glancing around at the others. "Abyss and... another is Bloodhawk, I think. The others must be new." He crept to the turn, not risking the sound of his teleportation, and took a quick look. "Yes. Two I do not know makes four."

One boot touched the ground, then the next one did not, instead a steady stream of sand hovering close to the floor. Dust did not pass the turn, but she was moving in a combat position, lifting away from the ground to hover just below the tunnel ceiling to give her team mates the space they might need as she waited for Nightcrawler's sign to go.

He nodded in approval, watching their enemies from his hiding place until all their backs were turned, then made a sharp hand gesture to the others. Now.

Laurie shut off her current hormones and moved up to Kurt. "I've read about these guys in the files, get me in between Frenzy and Vindaloo and I'll try to give them something to think about other than attacking us."

She'd have preferred to stay back, take more time to judge the battlefield but making it harder for the Brotherhood to fight her team members was more important.

Kurt nodded to her quickly, reaching for her hand, and teleported her to the requested place, then was gone again before anyone could take in he'd been there. Better not to give them any idea what to prepare for, if they could avoid it.

The group had been clustered near an access way, which was glowing redhot while Vindaloo focused a steady stream of plasma into the hinges. Their plan was simple; weaken them enough that Frenzy could tear the door open, and use Abyss' abilities to cause chaos as they opened other points to let the rest of the Brotherhood in. Unfortunately for them, Xavier's knew what kind of heat a mutant could generate and had employed all kinds of tricks in order to make it as hard as possible. Kurt's teleportation caught them flat footed, as Laurie suddenly appeared between them.

She'd trained hard as an X-man over the years, pushed onwards when others might have quit, either too stubborn or unwilling to admit defeat. She had never gotten over the fear, but she had learned to harness it.

She slapped her hands down on the necks of Frenzy and Vindaloo, pushing every bit of her terror into her power and then through it, into them. It wouldn't convey the emotion, it never did, but their bodies would read the signals well enough and she'd often found where physicality led, emotion sometimes followed.

Frenzy had gone rigid with shock, but Vindaloo's response was altogether unexpected. The young man gave a shrill shriek, and the superheated plasma that he had been directing at the door suddenly became cloud, enveloping all three of them in an instant.

Tabitha took a jerky step forward. "No!" she shouted. Full-sized bombs formed instantaneously in her hands, but they were completely useless.

Kurt couldn't react quickly enough to keep the cloud from touching Laurie, but he could get her out of it. He returned quickly to the group and released her, examining her for injury.

"I'm fine, just couldn't breathe for a moment," Laurie said, waving Kurt back to the battle as she breathed in deeply. She should have factored in the differing reactions to fear, she wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Jean-Phillipe skirted the edge of the cloud, trying to make his way toward Abyss. The teleporter was a clear target - eliminate him from the fight and it would leave the rest without any way out. But between the toxic cloud and Abyss' dark tentacles, he couldn't get close enough.

Dust focused her attention on the dark cloud or shadow thing, clearly seeking an entrance past the door. Again various midnight black tendrils reached out and she slipped forward, past the other combatants and dropped down a razor sharp tendril herself, shearing through the questing black ones.

Frenzy had shaken off the effects of the fear pheromones and the plasma cloud, choosing to take the offensive by charging directly at the closest cluster. She caught Jean-Phillipe with a backhand that nearly cracked her jaw, sending him reeling. Kurt jumped out of the way with a quick teleport, but it left her bearing down on Tabitha.

"Meltdown!" Kurt said sharply, not sure if he could risk another teleport with people moving around in his target area. "To the left!" She lobbed one bomb straight at the oncoming mutant, striking her center of mass. "Back off!" The bomb exploded, sending Frenzy flying back into the wall where she connected with a meaty thud. Stunned, she slid down the wall into a half-sitting position, head lolling forwards. Unfortunately, she was only one of three and the element of surprise was gone. Bloodhawk wasn't able to fly much in the cramped tunnel, but he still had his claws. Hissing something in Russian, he flew at Kurt unexpectedly, talons hooked and ready to engage. Behind him, Abyss was almost lost in a swirling mass of shadows as he prepared to tackle Dust.

Kurt snarled right back at him, arms raised to keep the talons away from anything more vital - and hopefully distract Bloodhawk from noticing his still only mostly healed wound.

Clearly this was going to come down to hand to hand, and Kurt was very good at hand to hand.

On the other side of the hallway the inky blackness receded a little after the sharp shear, but soon it went forward again. This time not for the door, but for the being that had attacked. Sooraya withdrew a little, observing for a few moments what it's next move was. It was just a few moment too long...

Various black tendril launched forward, sealing in an area of Dust's sandform and locking it in in inky darkness...

While his teammates were engaging the enemy, Vindaloo was slowly recovering from Laurie's pheromone attack. "Bitch," he snarled in a thick Indian accent. "You think you can frighten me and get away with it?" He raised his hands, two basketball-sized globes of red-hot plasma erupting from them and heading straight at the unprotected X-Man.

Laurie hit the ground at the last minute, rolling back up onto her knees once the danger was past only to have to make another dive sideways from yet more globes of plasma. It looked like those obstacle courses Scott and Kane had been running her through were going to come in handy in this fight. If she could get close enough to him, she could start pumping pheromones into the air around him but the sunburn currently itching at her skin that wasn't covered by her uniform and the dry and pained feeling in her throat told her she would have to be more careful with her choices this time. Something that made him unlikely to pull the same trick with the mist again, now that Kurt was otherwise engaged.

She skirted the battlefield, trying to keep Vindaloo in sight at all times while dodging the plasma balls he was throwing her way - it was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid being hit as he seemed to realise she was getting closer to him. She made a mental note to get some training with knives in the future, she had a good eye, and they didn't need bullets like guns did.

Vindaloo's assault was growing more random, as he was trying to harness as much plasma as possible to vomit at her as opposed to aiming properly. The by-product was super-heated plasma splashing around in the small tunnel, endangering both X-Men and Brotherhood.

Tabitha hissed when a cloud of plasma burned through the leather on her upper arm. Pain brought stars to her vision and she ducked closer to the floor. She rolled a dozen tiny bombs across the floor to get Vindaloo off his feet.

Space was tight, Kurt had to be more careful than usual, but he'd practiced this in all imaginable conditions. He teleported in and out faster than the eye could follow, staying in one place only long enough to strike Bloodhawk before attacking again from a different direction. The pummeling left Bloodhawk reeling, trying to cover up from the rain of blows. Finally, he snarled, pulling back. "Abyss, get us a route out of here!"

The black shade indicated he was busy at the moment and would do it as soon as possible. Sooraya fought against the strange sensation of even more of her sand form being sucked in the dark pocket of her opponents being. It was still there, she could feel that, but she could not exactly control it. Almost her foot tingling when she had sat on it for too long and she needed to shake it out before she could use it again.

The call from Bloodhawk might offer a small chance though... he was a little distracted and it seemed she could feel the trapped part of her sand form. Maybe... just maybe if she could manage to keep him distracted. Rushing forward, accelerating her remaining sand form as much as possible, she covered him completely. Now the hard part... splitting her attention as much as she formed the trapped part of her sand form into a drill as much as possible, sending the sharp bits of sand to make a way in the dark matter.
As small hole was all that was needed...

Freeing himself from Dust's enveloping cloud, Abyss paused for a second to regather himself before wrapping his teammates in shadow, teleporting out and leaving the stone hallway empty.

"That was too easy", Kurt said quietly. "No doubt they will return with reinforcements, so we must be quick."

He was already moving forward to lead the team to the shelter door.