A Touch of Brimstone Log 8

[x-gambit.livejournal.com]

In a desperate battle in the underground, the X-Men suffer their first casualties.

Trigger warning: Graphic violence and death.



Laurie was to the back of the group, having pulled some aloe-vera gel from the first aid supplies she routinely carried, applying a thin layer of the cooling gel to the exposed areas of her skin. She was going to have to get Jean to check out her lungs and throat after this was all over to make sure there was no permanent damage to anything internal. She could hear Tabitha and Kurt attempting to contact those within the shelter but they weren't having much luck, it was a noise from Sooraya that drew her attention to their new company.

"Shit, Bevatron, Dust, time to shine."

She realized a pheromone meant to booster clarity and energy, kind of liking getting a shot of caffeine straight to the brain, and touched each of them in turn. She needed to get out of the way here, enclosed spaces might be the perfect opportunity to use her powers but only if she didn't care about who got hurt, or who got dead. It wasn't anywhere near that desperate yet.

Jean-Phillipe cared about who got hurt, but he really was starting to itch to do some damage to the Brotherhood arrayed against them. The tunnels had stymied all of them, and it was only the fact that neither side could gain an advantage that had kept them going. Laurie's shot of 'get up and go' caused Jean-Phillipe to straighten his back where he had started to hunch over with the beginnings of exhaustion. "Allons-y," he called, darting forward to meet the new foes.

"How many did Magneto manage to bring?" Sooraya exclaimed as she straightened her shoulders, quickly taking in the various figures in front of her. Somehow, these seemed... harder then the Brotherhood members they had faced before. "Be careful everyone..." She spoke softly as she dissolved yet again, poised for action.

"All of them, maybe?" Tabitha squeaked. She didn't try to count. She just peppered the bad guys with bombs, attempting to disrupt their formation.

Unlike the Brotherhood, the Dark Riders moved like professionals, as staccato covering fire forced them into cover as the team moved forward. The X-Men were extended poorly, and the force of the attack drove them further apart, with Tabitha caught further ahead of the rest of the team.

She had a breathless moment to realize the distance between herself and her teammates. Tabitha ducked close to a wall to build a bigger bomb. A MUCH bigger bomb.

Kurt was face to face with Psynapse, and his eyes widened as he saw the man preparing to throw a blast at him. Teleporting as best he could in the tight space, he teleported to - anywhere except where he'd just been standing.

Psynapse, however, had the advantage - his ability to absorb psionic energy meant that he was able to "read" the pattern of Kurt's teleportation and every time he reappeared, another blast was already aimed at him. Wherever Kurt went, Psynapse followed, a feral grin appearing on his ghost-white face.

Jean-Phillipe, by contrast, went for the hulking figure that barely seemed to fit in the cramped underground space. His hands crackled with energy as the other man moved to meet him. Several bolts of electricity had little effect, and so Jean-Phillipe dug deeper into his reserves for more power.

As Tabitha lobbed her time bomb, designed to blow a hole in the offensive line of their attackers, they noticed for the first time the three smaller figures moving around at speed. As the bomb arced out, one of them leapt, catching it squarely and let his momentum carry him right back into Tabitha just as she breathed the word 'one'.

"TABITHA!"

She had been watching the battle, attempting to judge where she was most needed, her shock at the explosion causing her to use her teammate's real name. Rubble from the explosion rained from the ceiling and she had to move as larger chunks fell near her position.

"Kurt, can you find Dust?"

She hadn't seen the other girl, and there was a possibility that she'd survived, even if...even if Tabitha hadn't.

"Bevatron, we need to knock them out, get me close enough to do some good."

"She was in her sand form", Kurt pointed out in between trying to evade Psynapse. "I cannot look for her!"

The sizzle of electricity and smell of ozone in the air grew as Jean-Phillipe cursed at their opponents. And unbeknownst to him, he had been busy feeding the final Rider a steady diet of ambient electrical charge. A Taiwanese man, his arms deformed into what looked like organic cannon, picked the chaotic aftermath of Tabitha's bomb to unload an explosive blast of his own into Jean-Phillipe's side.

The energy having been converted from his own bio-electricity somehow kept Jean-Phillipe from being killed by the barrage. But his powers did nothing to protect him from the heat and impact, and he was thrown across the tunnel, at least a third of his uniform flash-burned and leaving charred skin behind.

At the same time, the distraction of needing to speak – momentary as it was – was almost fatal for Kurt. He took a split second longer before teleporting, and that was all Psynapse needed. The blast hit Kurt in the chest and while his uniform saved his life, it couldn’t prevent the searing pain. Kurt managed to complete his teleport, but fell in a limp heap on the other side of the rubble that had buried Tabitha, smoke rising from his body.

Flame suddenly exploded out from behind Tusk. A raging wave of fire washed over Tusk, Psynapse and Gauntlet, forcing them to back off for a moment as he joined the fight.

John's arrival had changed the battlefield - not that it was much of one with them all cramped in and little room to move. It was not going well for team X-men right now, and it didn't take much intelligence to know that taking out the psi in the group was probably her best shot. Laurie dived into the melee and caught Psynapse on the arm, pumping him full of a mix of pheromones that would have his mind and body so confused that he'd be unable to find the thought, let alone the will to use his powers.

Kurt had just, barely, struggled back to consciousness to find Sooraya lying nearby, her clothes lost somewhere under the rubble and her skin visibly burned. He managed to take in the fight, and how badly it was going, before weakly lifting his comm to his mouth.

"Blink? Evac. Urgent."

The pyrokinetic was effectively tying up Tusk and his Underlings. The pheromone girl was blocking Psynapse's powers for now... Barrage smiled thinly and took aim at the X-Man who needed most to go down.

It was all so sudden. One moment Laurie was holding onto Psynapse, the contact increasing her abilities. The next... a flash of fire and her arm ended in a smoking stump at the elbow. There was no blood - the energy bolt had cauterised the wound as it had obliterated Laurie's arm.

'Shock can be just as dangerous as the injury alone, especially in the middle of a battle.'

It seemed like everything had slowed after the blast, Psynapse would take awhile to get himself back in gear, Genosha's little gift meant her powers lasted longer when applied directly. She hoped that gave them time to get out.

Her arm was gone, at least, half of it.

She could see Kurt shouting at her but it was like sound had disappeared, or she'd forgotten how to listen. She took a step forward and stumbled, going down to her knees. She had to get up, but her legs wouldn't support her.

It didn't seem to hurt, it was curious as she'd expected to be screaming right now.

Laurie blinked slowly and turned her head, Jean-Phillipe was still lying on the ground and she struggled to stand again, to do something.

The blast had cauterized the wound, it was lucky because such a large wound, she would have bled out.

She felt arms around her, lifting her up and it took her a moment to recognize John's face. Everything was blurry and it wasn't still she tried swatting at her face with a hand that was no longer there that she realized tears were streaming.

"We can't leave them, we can't"

"We can't stay!" John yelled, pushing the girl towards Kurt and Clarice.

Trying not to bounce nervously on her feet as she waited for the next few to emerge, Clarice hated being unable to teleport directly into the building. She had been tending the many wounded in the Blackbird when the call came in over comms and she left to ferry more over. This was overwhelming and she felt ready to collapse or maybe singlehandedly build a school. It was hard to tell with all the adrenaline and emotional turmoil. "Fucking hell," she stated as she saw Laurie emerge with Kurt and Sooraya. "C'mon," she met them as fast as she could, "Med bay, now," she informed them without asking questions.

Jean-Phillipe was next, barely conscious as John shoved him through the portal one-handed, his body twisted to keep the flames on their pursuers. A second later Psynapse's energy beams tore through his exposed side, blood and skin and shredded shirt flying. John collapsed into the portal, landing into a pained heap as it winked out behind him.