xp_logs | The Trial of Jean Grey

Strike team three under Wanda moves to take out communications and cause chaos

"All right, everyone, we're here." Amanda grinned briefly, but the expression was strained. The lack of a decent-sized city within her power range was telling on the witch. The group was gathered by the main vents for the bunker, crouched behind a series of low bushes after Clarice had teleported them in. "Front and centre, Candy Floss. Time to do your thing with Billy here."

Pixie nodded and came forward. She'd been quiet through the entire rescue mission so far and her all-black eyes looked especially drawn and solemn now. One wing was bandaged. It almost looked pretty again as it began to shine with beads of dust, along with the exposed areas of her skin. She whispered toward the vent her wishes to any guards or soldiers in their path, her voice further muffled through the gas mask, "Have a nice trip..." She looked to Billy as her dust slowly began to release in an effusive cloud.

Billy had been worrying the wording over in his mind the entire way, Amanda's many lessons on the seriousness of magic finally sinking in. This was important. He knew it, and he couldn't afford for the spell to go wrong. He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath, before looking up at the air grate. "I want to blow the pixie dust through the ventilation," he began to chant, trying to imagine the particles floating their way through the system. He repeated the chant again, trying to create the sensation of wind on his back. He continued, keeping his voice completely level. No errors, no summing of cyclones, just a gentle breeze, that's all he need--was that? He broke into a wide grin as a draft went last, carrying the dust on its way.

Wanda clapped Billy on the shoulder and squeezed briefly. "We'll give it a few minutes," she said quietly. "We cannot risk us either getting caught in the dust or coming across someone who hasn't been impacted yet." She wanted to mitigate as many chances of running into issues as possible - she'd fought against members of the Imperial Guard and come out the victor by only the narrowest of margins. Wanda was trying to balance the need for speed and the desire to shield as many as she could from danger. She knew that the balance would soon be out of her hands.

"Not the worst idea," Julian said in a low tone- remembering not to whisper. He was standing with his back turned on the group, keeping a look out as best as he could with one eye nearly swollen shut. "I'd like to keep my other eye, if it's all the same to you, boss," he attempted to wink at Amanda...it didn't work.

"Don't worry, Jules, we'll make sure you keep the playboy good looks," was Amanda's response in kind. She glanced down at the watch Wanda had given her for her birthday several years ago, tracking the time. Last time she'd tangled with the Guard, she'd been high on the power of a New Delhi revolting against its government. This time she was the invader, and there would be no power for her here. Still, all good magicians have a trick or two up their sleeves.

Minutes passed in tense waiting. Then, Amanda nodded and shrugged off her backpack. "Time to go," she said, unzipping it and handing out lightweight gasmasks to each member of the team except Pixie. "How do you want to play this, Boss Lady? Normally I'd go first, but I can't 'port here. Probably not that good for a shielding spell, either."

The older woman's gaze swept seriously over the group in front of her, working through possibilities and configuration. She disregarded a few ideas before pointing. "Julian, you will be take point; use your powers to shield the others when we go in. Billy and I will be close behind. Amanda, Pixie, you will bring up the rear. Take a few minutes to get into position and then - we need to hit them hard and hit them fast. If you run into trouble or see trouble, signal the group as best as you can. Everyone understand?" She gave them a tight grin. "Basically, try to stay alive, my dears."

Pixie stretched her wings gently as she dropped in place next to her teacher. Julian's shield cast a green tint over the group. Try to stay alive, she would. Their mission was inexorable, she believed, but their individual fates weren't. If someone - else - was killed, there was still no turning back. And she didn't want anyone else losing their life to protect her.

"I hope we dusted everyone up ahead. Any guards who get close are getting an extra dose." She summoned her were-light too, for good measure. Her magic wasn't powerful like Amanda's or versatile like Billy's, but she felt like it compensated for her damaged wing right now. Maybe.

They reached the entry point, moving slowly and with a bubble like shield before the initial group. "We're in position," Julian muttered, trying not to let his nerves show. He tested the door, "I'll need a second." Closing his eyes, Julian gave the lock a slight push, which was followed soon after with a slight ping as metal rapidly expanded, breaking the security measure. Now the door swung open into a dimly lit hallway. "Heading inside," he again stepped forward, extending the bubble of the team's shield forward with him as he waited for bullets to start flying.

Pixie's dust seemed to have done the trick, at least closer to the vent. As the small group headed towards their goal of the communications block, they came across soldiers giggling at patterns in the air, or spinning around gleefully or even just sitting on the floor transfixed by whatever visions the dust had given them. A relief, at least for Amanda - she had no issues using more... mundane tactics to subdue them, but she preferred not to actually have to kill anyone in front of her students unless forced to.

"Should be the next left up ahead," she murmured, only loud enough for the group to hear her.

The dim light ahead of them grew deeply as the sides of the corridor grew indistinct. Obviously there were lighting issues of some kind in the bunker and they found themselves going deeper into shadow. Suddenly, without warning, flames erupted beside and behind them. The heat and smoke from the flames were withering, panicking them with a primal survival instinct. As they pushed forward away from the flames, Julian suddenly went over backwards; the meaty sound of an impact on flesh accompanying his sudden jack-knifing to the floor.

"Nobody move, or we will open fire."

Not bloody likely. Wanda snapped "Pixie!" as she yanked on the strings around them while hitting the ground.

At her name, Pixie's head jerked up from where she had dropped into a crouch. Oh gods, Julian! She didn't have time to think. Her dust raced through her pores like wildfire and puffed into the air in an instant, where it glowed red in the light.

Billy's magic was slower than hers, and only a puff of wind was needed this time - Amanda shoved at the air in front of her and the resulting magical breeze sent the chaos-laced dust blowing straight at the unseen foes. The dust, influenced by Wanda's hex, had become sticky particles that coated everyone in its path with a hallucination-inducing glue.

"Weapons free!" The order rang out in the heads of the Indians, even as their struggled with the gluey substance. However, a psionic presence was working directly against it, countering the chaotic properties of Pixie's dust by taking direct control of their minds. Bullets started to chance the mutants and retreat was made impossible as a wall of pure darkness slammed down behind them.

He felt something wet on the back of his head as he touched the spot where it had hit the concrete floor. Bringing it in front of his face, he could see rich red blood, which was enough to snap him out of the fugue he'd entered on impact- the concussion would wait, his friends needed him. Looking down the hallway was a problem, darkness seemed to have enveloped everyone. Sounds became more clear, the sounds of gunfire- which he was familiar with. The telekinetic shield was back in place in an instant, but something was pushing against him aside from the bullets. "They have a Teek!" he shouted to no one in particular, "I'll hold as long as I can, but...uf," the shield pushed back a little ways from some direction- it was hard to tell- losing a little bit of ground, "it's a strong one."

Pixie's were-light expanded in size and darted about erratically, illuminating the scene in flashes. Bullets were flying, glancing off the shrinking shield. On the plus side, there seemed to be the right amount of upright people. Her panic eased and the ball of floating light steadied. It was up against a wall of darkness. Something - someone - was absorbing all the light. Will O' Wisp blazed, cutting through where normal light didn't seem able to do.

A plume of fire appeared in front of her, forcing Pixie to swerve instinctively. As she did, a metal baton crashed against her inner knee, staggering her. A woman in a Guardsman outfit had been waiting for her. She dodged the second swing, but the woman suddenly seemed to disappear, only to crash another blow against her back from a patch of darkness.

Immediately, Amanda moved between Pixie and her attacker, catching the next blow aimed at the younger woman's head on her leather-clad arm, bent at an angle so as to let the baton slide sideways rather than crush downwards. "Hide and seek, is it?" Amanda taunted, wincing slightly at the pain in her arm - the jacket had cushioned the impact, but it still had a lot of weight behind it. She clicked her fingers, her own werelight appearing. "Sic 'er, George," she commanded, and the small ball of light zoomed after the Guardswoman, buzzing dizzily around her head and destroying her night vision. "Wiccan, werelight party for three!" she called to Billy, using the codename he'd chosen while they'd been en route to India.

This spell was easier, due to hours of practice, and Billy began to mutter the familiar chant. Despite Amanda's early protests, Billy's werelight had reverted to its original shape; at his summon, a glowing, blue monkey appeared on his shoulder. "Go for the eyes, Boo!" he said, pointing to the nearest guard, before the creature leaped away, swinging along invisible vines toward the target.

Pixie's vision was tunneled from the intense pain. "Will O'Wisp," she whimpered. The damn thing didn't seem affected in the least - it always did seem to have slightly a mind of its own - as it wove trails of light around the attackers and joined the party of lights. Pretty lights. Her body felt like it was on fire but she managed to roll up into a crouched position. More lights - the behind her own eyes kind.

Wanda had hit the ground and rolled in between two soldiers coated with the chaos imbued pixie dust; taking out two freaking out people with well placed hex bolts had been simple enough, even with in the middle of a full blown battle. But she wasn't looking to take out the soldiers, though there were plenty causing enough trouble; she knew there were Imperial Guards somewhere and they were the real threat. She ducked as someone came at her with a knife and manipulated reality enough that the man ended up stumbling and stabbing himself in the leg. Wanda kicked him out of the way, right in time to see someone out of the corner of her eye...

The telepath had successfully managed to mask herself from Wanda until the very last moment when there was no way to physically miss seeing her. A brief look of hatred and fury crossed the face of the woman known as Oracle before she dropped the telepathic screen and slammed a fist into the side of Wanda's head.

Wanda staggered backwards, head ringing, as Oracle came in for another blow.

Amanda was focussed on the Guard in front of her, revealed now by the combined power of the three werelights. A very attractive woman, who Amanda recognised from X-Force's files as the mutant known as Nightside. "Figures," she said, rolling her eyes at herself. All the darkness and shadows, she should have known. Fortunately, the combination of Wisp, George and Boo the light-monkey were proving distracting to her and the witch went in for a physical attack, to drop her as quickly as possible before anyone else got hurt.

It wasn't as easy as that. Amanda's hand-to-hand skills had improved over the years, but Nightside had been trained by one of the best militaries in the world. The two found themselves waging a pitched physical battle, in close enough quarters that Nightside's powers were negated, much in the same way Amanda's magic was by the location.

Amanda had also missed one other thing - the small, elven-looking woman in a Guard uniform who briefly shimmered into view, before pulling up another illusion to cloak herself before she headed for Billy.

Billy continued to give Boo minor instructions to try to give Amanda a opening. His attention was focused on the battle, to the point where he nearly missed a jet of fire as it sizzled past. He leaped out of the way, finding himself cornered as he looked frantically around for his assailant. There--he spotted the woman, her fists wreathed in flame. "Well, two can play that game," he said, summoning electricity of his own and sending a jolt her way.

Amanda grunted as a fist sank into her midsection, knocking the wind out of her. Instinctively she lashed out with a booted foot, Doc Marten connecting just under the Guard's knee. Nightside stumbled back, granting the Brit a moment of respite, but only a moment.

"No!" Pixie shouted as her teacher was struck. She was struggling to control her magic. Everything was slipping away from her. But there was a deeper magic lurking below the surface of her being, out of reach of her mind, more slippery than her dust or other autonomic functions. If she could just stop flailing long enough and sink into it... sink into the hole that she felt in her heart... Her movements were fluid a she lunged at Nightside. There was a dagger in Pixie's hand. It glowed pink as it sliced through the air. It connected with something. "Let us go!"

The dagger sunk into Nightside's chest up to the hilt, and the woman looked down at it, dumbfounded. Then her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut. The dagger remained in Pixie's hand and it slid out of Nightside as easily as it had gone in, but there was no cut in the woman's uniform, no blood, no wound. Nightside lay unconscious, but her breathing was regular, her colour normal.

Amanda straightened, arm curved around her stomach, looking at the dagger in Pixie's hand. "Good save," was all she managed. Another mystery, surrounding her students. Another potential danger, and no time to look into it. All she could do was hope she'd have time later.

The pressure on the team's protective shield dropped and as the bullets started to slow, Julian turned his attention to Wiccan, who was dodging the blasts of fire from one of their mutant foes. Securing a shield behind himself- in the direction of the bullets, he reached out and tried to put up a barrier between his student and flame- but was shocked when it passed right through the green field of hardened air without a bit of heat. He'd repelled fire before, this didn't feel right- focusing on the pyrokinetic, he reached out and tried to pin her with his TK- only to discover her not there either. "Oh for...Wiccan- it's not real!"

There was a stirring of the air behind him, and a voice in his ear. "Hush," the woman's voice breathed, almost playful. "You'll spoil the ending." The words were followed up by a baton to the small of Julian's back, above the kidneys and the telekinetic went down again.

Billy continued to do his best to dodge the incoming firebolts, sending his own lightning in return. Miraculously, he wasn't burned yet, but neither was he able to hit the woman. She always seemed to uncannily dodge his attacks, and completely shrug off the ones he thought surely had hit.

All became clear as he heard Julian's shout. His bolt hit, and the illusion of the woman shimmered then faded. He looked about, finally spotting him just before the woman took him down. "No!" he shouted, sending a thunderclap that knocked her back, hitting the wall hard behind her. She slid to the ground, stunned, and Billy took the opportunity to rush to Julian's side.

It felt like burning fingers were digging through her mind. Wanda and Oracle had traded enough physical blows to make the room reel around drunkenly but now the other woman had simply slammed her powers into Wanda's mind and had started digging. She dropped to her knees and screamed as blood poured out of her nose. Oracle was pressing her advantage, and clearly remembered the piggy backing trick that had turned the battle last time.

She'd forgotten finesse, unwilling to give an inch, and instead slammed her telepathic powers through Wanda's brain and consciousness, seeking to destroy everything she could. Every time Wanda thought she'd shaken the attack through a powers flare, Oracle slipped around and found a different way in. The Imperial Guard had a hand gripping Wanda's hair as she pressed the advantage.

Wanda's fingers dug into the floor and the chaos around her flared in response to her distress. She was too battered to go after Oracle directly, unable to keep her focus on the shifting strings attached to the telepath long enough to do anything. But there was always another way, another path, and Wanda's eyes shifted to the ceiling above their heads as she commanded the chunk of cement to crumble, sending a shower of debris tumbling down towards the two women.

Billy's quick scan of Julian revealed no bleeding, but a load crack interrupted his inspection. He looked across the room in time to see the ceiling begin to collapse above Wanda and her opponent. He was too far to get to her and get them out, even with a teleport. He couldn't chant that quickly. A split second decision to try something else. "I want to teleport Wanda to me, I want to teleport Wanda to me," he began muttering. Wanda vanished moments before the cement crashed to the ground, reappearing at Billy's side. He threw his arms around her. "I didn't know if that would work. Are you alright? Still you? I didn't leave any bodyparts or your soul behind, did I?"

For a very long moment, Wanda was seriously certain she was going to vomit all over Billy. She'd been through teleportions before, more than she wanted to count, but never had one made her feel quite like her insides were actually on the outside. Wanda clutched at Billy tightly as the room rocked, a result of both the forced teleportion and the mental beating she'd just endured. "All my bits are still intact," she said, voice and small smile shaky but she made the effort to ease Billy's worry. "My lunch, in a minute, though..."

"No time for chit-chat," Amanda broke in. "Communications room's just ahead. Time to cause some mayhem."