xp_logs | A Touch of Brimstone Log 4

Phoenix leads another strike team to flank the Brotherhood

The small group clung to the salt-wet rock face at the bottom of the sea cliff. Above was the small open area that formed Muir castle's "front yard", with the bulk of the castle looming above them. Cyclops' plan had been simple - his team would lure Magneto and his Brotherhood out into the open space. Jean's team would flank them, by scaling a cliff face no-one would be expected to scale. Except, of course, a telekinetic, two ferals and a girl who could use her hands and feet as pitons.

Jean stared up at the tall outcropping of rocks as the ocean waves crashed up against where they were standing, threatening to soak their feet. It was nearly high tide. She glanced over at her team.

"I don't think anyone would mind if we take a short cut?" she said. Scott could only keep the Brotherhood distracted for so long.

"As long as it does not tire you too much, lifting all of us so far?" Yvette replied, looking up at the cliff. She'd tried wearing her goggles, to cut the tell-tale glow of her eyes, but between the salt spray and the condensation fog, they'd been useless. "But yes, we need to be up there."

"Yeah, lets just cut to the chase, boss lady." Kyle said, gruffly. He'd tucked himself into a space that looked too small to hold him, so he could assess, and the upward path didn't look great. "Don't wanna race the tide or learn to cliff dive today, and this rock is pretty crumbly." He flicked his toes and a few pebbles flaked loose.

"I do! Oh... you mean falling off the rocks. I don't want that, but learning how to cliff dive could be fun, I mean, yeah. I'll shut up now," Dori said. There wren't enough trees here, in her opinion. She could climb up rocks or under things or over other things if she had to, but without a ton of trees she felt really exposed, really nervous. Her tail twitched.

"Where should I go? I'm not sure where I should go... I could go that way," she said, still rambling.

"We go up," Jean said with a soft smile, then added with a note of assurance. "I'll be fine, Penance. No worries." She'd held back a tsunami, so four people was decidedly smaller.

The waves seemed to crash against an invisible force field that appeared under their feet.

"Okay, everyone hold on. Figuratively speaking, of course." With a simple twist of Jean's hand they were suddenly moving, shooting up at steady pace toward the top of the cliff. As they reached the top they came to a soft landing. The sounds of fighting could be heard in the distance.

"Remember, we need to surprise the Brotherhood and hit them from behind. It's currently our main advantage. The key is stealth. We'll rendezvous with Cyclops' team and join forces. I can sense...9, maybe 10 opponents. Everyone ready?"

"As much as we ever can be." Yvette's voice was tense and her hair and hands were lengthening into sharp points. "I wish Fred was here," she added, under her breath. And then they were at the top of the cliff, looking over the Brotherhood and Scott's team, already engaged in pitched battle.

"Jeeeesus." Kyle huffed. "This is gonna be a cluster." He shook himself head to toe, and then took in a long look at the fighting. "Boss lady, you think you could toss Penance and me claws first, there?" He pointed across, to where they could just see Toad's green mottled skin, and a man wielding glowing whips. "Don't need to be too precise, I gotta beef with both those assholes."

Jean quirked a brow, then nodded. "I think that can be arranged," she said. She often had a worry that Kyle might one day go too far, but he was an X-Man. He'd been through this before. They all had.

"One Fastball Special, coming up."

She focused on Kyle and Yvette as the two began to float off the ground looking almost ethereal before she suddenly shot them toward their target like an arrow.

"Bye honey!" Dori said, waving as Kyle went flying off with Yvette, "Kick butt!!"

The Fastball Special had become a common tactic for Yvette - as she flew through the air, her skin hardened and spiked into her body armour, until she resembled a red pincushion. Her claws were aimed at Toad; the other man was an unknown to her, and she knew she could take Toad quite easily. But then, half-way through their arc, some other force seemed to grab them, wrenching them from their projected path and instead hurling them up into the air.

"What the...?" Yvette looked down to see a skinny, older man in a shabby-looking costume - it looked to be hand made - pointing open-splayed hands at the two of them. "Wildchild, we have the problem!" she called to her teammate.

Kyle was scrabbling in the air, trying to fight whatever had pulled them off their intended course. "I noticed! Ess-Queue, could use an interception here!" He twisted in mid-air uselessly. "Penance and I are locked up in some asshat TK's whatever! Come readjust his skull"

"Can do!" Dori said, two bounds forward and a leap and she went flying under her own power, full speed. Dori was light, happy and when she wanted to be, a tiny powerhouse that could rival her lover, especially when one considered the strength of her legs. The TKer suddenly had a very fast moving Squirrely Girl aiming for their head.

"WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!"

The Lifter staggered as Dori hit him squarely in the back of the head, losing his grip on the two other X-Men. Already shaky from Cyclops' optic blast earlier, he dropped to his knees before pitching forward and landing on his face, apparently down for the count.

With nothing to hold them up, Kyle and Yvette resumed their fall, flung wildly off from their original intended trajectory until they were caught by Jean. She barely had time to slow their fall, and was abruptly cut off because she had to throw up a force field to keep from behind slammed into by one of the Brotherhood, Kamal, who had taken on the properties of some nearby rocks and looked like a giant rock monster.

"I will crush your head in my hands like a grapefruit," Kamal growled, relentlessly swinging another fist at her in hopes to connect before she could throw up another forcefield. His attempt didn't work, however, and he shot backward from the force, the ground rumbling slightly as he stumbled backward.

Cocking her head to the side, Jean narrowed her eyes. "You can try," she said.

Kyle tucked into a roll as he hit the ground, and came up in motion, a whole step and a half before Toad barreled past him in the wake of a crimson eyebeam. Gravel skipped up as Kyle spun, tucked his head and crashed into Toad from behind with a rough tackle that sent the green-skinned to the ground, with Kyle's knees in his neck.

Thanks to Jean's intervention, Yvette was able to land somewhat more gracefully than she'd anticipated. She looked around, taking in the scene - the X-Men were clearly outmatching the Brotherhood, even with Magneto's new recruits. She caught sight of Dori - no, Rocky, team names were important - alone, and made her way to the trainee.

"Watch my back and I will watch yours!" she called, putting her back to Dori's but still careful to keep a safe distance from the girl's tail - she wouldn't appreciate an impromptu tail shredding. "I think we are almost finished here."

"Yep yep. Don't worry, we got this," Dori said, straightening herself up and taking a fighting stance, long nailed hands more than ready to serve as claws. A lot of people might over look squirrels, but Dori knew that when the need popped up they could easily be violent. "We can even keep score! Loser buys all the candy!"