xp_logs | Reality Coming Down

Gabriel's team is focused on closing off the security sections of the upstairs, fighting off attackers who break in.

Nothing made any sense.

On a basic level, Gabriel understood all the words that had been thrown at him: Attackers from other universes were coming to the mansion. He and a band of mutant misfits had to secure the upstairs. To ensure their survival.

But when he actually thought about what that meant, he hit a snag. This whole mess with Jean was perplexing. As was the fact that he was playing any role in this busines and not running the hell away. That he'd stayed in one place despite impending doom and chaos was just... bizarre.

Still, there'd be time to think about that later. (Or there wouldn't, in which case, he figured, problem solved.)

"Okay. Let's get to work locking this place down." He cleared his throat, unsure if the commanding voice coming from his mouth was his own. It was. "Not entirely sure what we're dealing with, so have your finely-tuned Danger Room senses alert."

He glanced down to his right. "Y no seas tonto doing something that's going to get you killed because you saw it in a movie, cumpa." He meant it. Like it or not, Gabriel was going to make sure Miles didn't get killed under his watch.

Miles opened his mouth to argue but this situation was so beyond even the worst scenario he could have realistically imagined that there was nothing to do except agree. Real actual lives depended on him, Miles Morales, not some pendejo in a crappy knockoff costume. "No pasa nada, Teach," he said instead. "Just tell us what to do."

"I think I can activate some of the security systems if I can get close enough to them." Sarah chipped in. Her powers didn't require physical contact any longer, not since Genosha, but she still had a limited range when it came to using them. "It's worth a shot anyway, right?"

Johnny nodded. "Yeah." He was an X-Man. Almost. That counted for something, right? "We did a lot for the internal security in the mansion a few years ago, apparently." He took a deep breath and shook his shoulders and arms out. "We can do this."

"Yeah, get to it, Sarah. We'll run backup. " Gabriel glanced at her. He didn't have the faintest understanding how her powers work. Or Miles'. Or his own, really. And yet here they were, defending the castle.

He took a deep breath, unclenching a fist he hadn't realized was tensed. "Roomie, you're our alarm. Plus, I think you have better reflexes than any of us. And kid, you're somehow our muscle. If something bad's coming, just attack it." Where'd that leave him? Running? Gabriel was good at running.

"I'm going to do a lap. See if I can do something six times faster than it takes a normal human. Maybe I'll barricade some damn doors." Or find a big gun. "Should only take me, like, 30 seconds, and I won't go far. Yell if something's up - I'll hear it."

"No worries about that." Sarah replied. Screaming she had down pat; unfortunately, the same could not be said for interfacing with the mansion's security systems remotely. It wasn't something she'd tried before, to be fair, and now she was walking about, reaching out with her powers in an attempt to make a connection. Nothing was jumping out at her but she kept searching.

Miles stood close to her so he could be ready to keep her safe from any threats. His spider-sense had been buzzing softly in his head all day, as if warning him of the potential for danger that was now constantly around them, but he visibly relaxed when Gabriel zoomed back a minute later. And then immediately tensed up again and fell into combat mode as his spider-sense blared like a klaxon. That wasn't Gabriel.

Johnny jumped, his own danger sense flaring as he dropped into a crouch, one of the heavy metal disks he used as ranged weapons held ready to throw and the baseball bat he'd picked up earlier still clutched in his free hand. What the hell. What the hell.

It wasn't Gabriel. Well, it was, nominally, but the figure that stood before the mutants was missing an ear and a mangled right hand. Some of the skin appeared to have fallen off his face. Its beard was patchy.

"Guys," it called out in a loud moan, "we—"

His words were interrupted by the sound of breaking glass. A second later, the disfigured Gabriel-lookalike fell to the ground as the real, living one appeared behind him. "Guys," he said, casting a glance down and trying not to lose his shit, "we've got company."

As if on queue, three more figures trudged toward the group.

Sarah had seen plenty of horror movies in her short lifetime - many cuddled up with Layla - and she never would've guessed she'd be so stereotypical as to point and scream should she ever encounter any movie monsters in real life.

She was wrong.

Screaming at the top of her lungs, she reached for the fencing sword, her weapon of choice, and backed away from them. The extra scary part was that they looked eerily familiar.

Zombies. Doppelganger zombies. With their powers, if Gabriel's fallen copy was any indication. This was wack. What the hell do you even do with mutant zombie clones? Miles glanced between his three partners. "Blunt force to the head always stops them in movies," he put forward, trying to be as helpful as he could. "So, um, punch them until they don't get up anymore?"

Johnny shook his head. "Go for the joints. Smash their knees and they can't stand. If they're down, they're slower." He barely had time to get that out.

Easier said than done. These weren't mindless shuffling Day of the Dead zombies. These were the fast and vicious 28 Days Later zombies, evidenced by Miles's counterpart leaping forward with incredible speed and tackling the boy to the ground. Miles struggled to free himself but kept his eyes and mouth shut so he could take in any of the blood dripping from the massive wounds and gashes that decorated the zombie's body.

"Miles!" Gabriel sped up, whipping around behind the undead version of the boy and trying to wrestle his clone away. He tried not to gag as his hands touched necrotic flesh. But he flinched, and that was the opportunity that his double needed to jump to his feet and punch Gabriel in the jaw. The man staggered backward, and the zombie shoved him against a wall.

"Feh, idiot." A low drawl came out of a lipless, sagging mouth that was close to Gabriel's ear. He held Gabriel against the wall but pulled his face back and looked toward the rest of his group. "I forgot how attractive I was before the plague came," he smirked, then glanced back at Gabriel, who struggled under his grasp. "But not as strong. Oh, this is gonna be fun."

Over his aggressor's decaying shoulder, Gabriel tried to catch Sarah's eye. He made a small motion toward Miles.

Sarah noticed the look but was pretty overwhelmed with the vision before her. It was troubling enough to see a zombie version of herself, especially given her ex's mutant powers to raise the dead and all, which was messing with her mind even more. Why was she thinking about Layla at a time like this? Was that her life flashing before her eyes, was she going to-

"No," she said out loud, mostly for herself, as she swung her sword low at the ersatz Sarah's knees. The edge bit deep into decaying flesh, not strong or sharp enough to cut clean through but enough to fell the creature for the time being.

Stepping backwards so it couldn't grab her, Sarah looked around for a chance to create a distraction. She settled for overloading the lights and causing them to spark and explode overhead, and causing a nearby radio to blast out static, which might give their attackers pause long enough to grant them the upper hand.

"Get off!" Miles raised a leg and threw his zombie off him, which crashed into the wall behind them. Miles then jumped to his feet and made a dash for Gabriel. The punch he threw would have been strong enough to crack a normal person's skull. In the case of a putrefying zombie, it knocked his jaw clean off. Blood and spittle poured from the beast, but Miles only allowed a momentary show of disgust before he grabbed the zombie's shoulders and tore him off Gabriel.

The zombie made a noise like laughter, though without a jaw, it was a little tough to tell. "Good," he spat out blood. "I like it rough."

"Shut up, you twisted fuck." Gabriel sped forward to punch his double in the chest, but the zombie anticipated his attack and dodged to the side. "Johnny," the living Gabriel shouted, "bat?"

He'd laid low, avoiding the carnage of his fellows for the moment, but with the others going down and the humans distracted, it was the perfect time to jump into the fray - the zombie Johnny dodged between people with a finesse that seemed impossible, go straight for Gabriel. His speed made him a nuisance, he would have to go down first.

Had he not been occupied with his depraved double, Gabriel would have had more time to avoid zombie-Johnny's course. As it was, he had just a second to turn his body so that he limited the impact not-Johnny made when he barreled into Gabriel. He grunted as the fake Johnny's shoulder went into his chest and doubled over from the blow. "Bat," he grunted again, looking up to see two zombies moving toward him.

Johnny's danger sense had been working overtime with so many threats and he was frozen in place, not sure where to go first and trying so hard not to just turn and run - if he ran far enough, he might not have to try to be a superhero. Gabriel. Gabriel was going to die. Johnny moved, swinging the bat and the zombie's head split like a watermelon, a few chunks of half-rotted brain spraying out from the impact. "Holy Mary, mother of God. Oh fuck," he muttered and swung the bat again, this time going for the knees of another zombie. "Oh fuck."

Part of the flying splatter landed on Sarah's arm. It shouldn't have fazed her, given that she'd just been hacking at a zombie herself only a handful of moments ago, but somehow having someone else's handiwork land on her like that sent her over the edge. She screamed and jumped back, knocking against a nearby chair and falling flat on her behind, her fencing sword falling out of her hands as she landed.

"No!" Sarah yelled as she instinctively rolled over and started crawling towards it in a panic.

"Sarah, get up!" Miles practically pleaded while he frantically dodged his twin's attacks. "Teach..."

"Yeah, hero, I'm on it." Still winded from having a zombie hurtle toward his chest, Gabriel tried to straighten himself up. You're doing good, Miles." His hands were shaking. "You're doing good."

Zombie Johnny's innards were on his jeans, and it only took a quick look to see that Real Johnny had knocked him down for the count. Impressive considering none of them had the slightest idea what they were doing. Which meant the most immediate issue - beyond his having no idea what the hell he was doing and how any of them would survive this - was...

Sarah. Gabriel clenched his fists, willing his powers to work as he started toward her sword. "I got this," he muttered to himself, though he was nowhere close to believing it. "I got this." Nobody was going to die. Nobody was going to die.