xp_logs | The Dark Phoenix

The mutants try to come together to put together a strategy to try and stop the Dark Phoenix

The right wing of the mansion had been partially collapsed and fire was starting to lick the edges of the ruined walls. From the other side of the house they could see flares of the firebird and the sounds of combat. Obviously, the X-Men at the mansion had begun their assault, giving them time to try and pull their friends out of the rubble.

Arthur was already hard at work shifting through the rubble, still smiling. It twitched on its edges. "We'll be sure to find someone..."

He trailed off, tossing more bits of debris behind him. The other members of the rescue team worked similarly.

"Any luck?"

Adrienne was sitting on a pile of debris, head in her hands. She couldn't bring herself to dig through the remains of her home to search for dead students and friends. She couldn't even bring herself to get to her feet. Staring at the ground, she assumed Arthur's comment had been directed at someone else and didn't acknowledge it.

"Hey." Adrienne felt hands come to rest on her knees, and when she looked up, Callisto was crouched in front of her. "Still with me here?" she asked quietly. The other woman was an incredible mess: her hair was still caked with dried blood and dust, the scarred, pitted skin of her face covered with a layer of grime, streaked where tears had washed if off. "You still with me?" she asked again.

Adrienne flinched at the touch and the acknowledgement of it forced her to focus on Cal's face. "Not in the slightest," she admitted, though she sounded like she felt a little bad about it. "There's a reason I never became a firefighter, and this is it. If there weren't ruined buildings to sift through, I totally would have become one. I like suspenders. And poles." It was easier to make asinine comments than process what she was supposed to be doing.

Callisto nodded slowly. "Well, I hate to ask you to ruin a good manicure," she murmured quietly, lips giving a tiny twitch as her filthy hands found Adrienne's and wrapped around them, pulling them away from her face and toward her. "But odds are there are live kids down there. Wanna give me a hand with some rubble? I'll let you take the light end..." It was weird, 'cause Callisto was quipping right back, and that wasn't particularly unusual, and yet when she met Callisto's eyes all Adrienne saw was sadness, and along with it an outright, desperate plea. As if to emphasise this, Callisto added, in the softest of voices: "Please."

Adrienne had to laugh wryly at the manicure comment. Because despite all she'd been through with Steven and with being a resident of this place, she was certain she'd never looked worse. Any remnants of a manicure had disappeared, seemingly long ago. "Alright," she acquiesced, letting Cal pull her to her feet. "I guess if you need my help, who am I to deny you?" She wasn't holding out much hope on the odds. But if if made Cal feel better to think there were still kids alive down there, Adrienne didn't think now was a good time to say otherwise.

"Hey, over here!" Arthur called cheerfully as he squatted near what had once been an archway.

There had been just enough room beneath the frame of what was left of the arch to keep from being crushed. As the rubble shifted above, Meggan tried to edge away from the stinging rocks that cut her arm more and cautiously climbed closer to what light seeped through in its wake. She coughed when that stirred up more dust in the space, too. At the sound of voices, she called out frantically, “I'm here. I'm right down this way!”

"Shit! Um, we're coming, Meggan. Don't get hurt - anymore - because Kurt something something, I fucking suck at this, but we're going to get you out of there, okay?" Cammie said, meaning the last part. They would get whoever was left out alive.

Giving Adrienne's hands a last squeeze, Callisto turned and began nimbly trotting over the debris to where Arthur was, crouching down and picking her way across the rubble. At first she was just feeling this beam, that chunk of masonry, and it didn't seem to the naked eye as though she was actually moving anything, but then she seemed to pick a place to start and braced herself to haul a lump of debris out from around the arch.

"Don't move," she called. To the assembled people on the surface she nodding to another big-looking masonry block. "We'll need that block moved too," she suggested. "The less crap's around it the cleaner it'll be; don't wanna knock stuff down on top of her."

The blonde man moved nimbly around Callisto's heavy lifting to supplement her work all while beaming at the spot that promised to Meggan in the rubble.

Adrienne wasn't too keen on helping with the heavy lifting, but she didn't want to face Amanda later knowing that she did nothing to help her sister, so she scuttled about with Arthur and Cammie to clean up the site while Cal hauled the big stuff away. The first big block gone, Callisto moved to where the others had cleared the smaller debris around a masonry block - perhaps a lintel? - that was significantly bigger than she was. Leaning to brace her shoulder to the block, Callisto wedged her fingers in beneath it.

"'Kay, this is gonna roll down that slope when I shift it so you'd better stand up here behind me," she instructed the others, and with a mighty heave she hauled the block up and away and, as predicted, it tumbled like a log a couple of times, the ground vibrating beneath them, before coming to a sluggish halt. The lintel had, it turned out, been Meggan's saving grace; it had sheltered the space beneath the archway where she'd found refuge and helped to create the little hole where she now waited.

"Okay, come on," Cammie said, moving as close as she could without falling in herself and reaching down, "Kurt will want to know you're alright, you know?" she said, pulling the other girl out of the hole as gently as she could, "So let's get back to him."

Meggan nodded as she was pulled from the hole, grateful to see everybody. She didn’t want to take a chance of the ground crumbling beneath her at the edge unexpectedly, and moved her feet away from that spot once she regained her footing. “Thank you so much. And yeah,” she agreed. “I want to see him, too.” She needed to see that Kurt was alive in person, too, now that she had a better look at the damage…and the fact was sinking in that it wasn’t just a portion of the building that had trapped her, but the whole mansion that had come down.

Adrienne took the walkie talkie off of her belt and made sure it was on the correct frequency. "Blink, we found Meggan. She's very much alive." It made her smile a little to be able to say that. "But it's getting pretty hot around here," she added as the flames from around the ruined walls continued to creep closer and closer to them. "Could we please get an extraction for her? And possibly the rest of us?"

Teleporting in, Clarice was exhausted and running on less than fumes at this point. "Yeah," she said, instead of going over the comms. "Let's get out of here," she picked Meggan up with Adrienne's help so they could blink out. A second later, the three were gone.

Callisto nodded. "This area's clear," she said. "I can't feel any other mutants around here."

Cammie took a deep breath, "Okay, maybe now we can get to where the action is? I'm ready to kick some ass, or do we keep looking here? I just..." she couldn't keep sorting through rubble. She needed to hit something.

Arthur nodded grimly, his attention focused squarely on where the sounds of fighting were only growing louder. The phoenix's plume now lit the sky in only swaths of red. "There's not much choice in the matter."

He grinned once more, but there was a edge to it as sharp as his knives. "Com'on then, let's see if we can slow that bird down. Luck's on our side afterall."

***

The left wing of the mansion was barely recognizable. It looked like a train had gone through about waist height, smashing a huge hole through the first and second floor. Pieces continued to break off and fall as the mansion shook from the impacts of the fight on their other side.

Marie-Ange's face was dark, layered in shadow that wasn't her own as she directed the image of a clockwork robot to wedge itself into a pile of collapsed wall and then stand. The rubble creaked and bits of wood and plaster crumbled around the image, but the space grew until it was large enough for a person to pass through - barely. If they were small. "I cannot make it much larger for long. Artie?" She gestured towards the hole.

He nodded, dropping to his belly and wriggling into the hole. ohfuck, if this collapses... He wriggled forward a little further, sent a projection back, green glowing text that read "i got movement. shadows. maybe ty." He sent a second one forward, bright enough that the words glowed enough to illuminate the space and moving shadows. "it's ok. it's me and marie-ange. we got you. we'll get you out."

Sweat dripped down Ty's face and spine as he held the rubble off their bodies. "Right on time," he gasped. "Tandy, Molly, you go first."

Tandy was glowing brightly as her own powers kept the area light and at the same time keeping Tyrone's powers from 'eating' the others. She heard a familiar voice above. "Oh thank god. I am starting to hate small spaces."

"Hang on you guys!" Molly said.

The light was bright enough for Molly to try to cover her eyes with one hand, while she used the other to try to make the tiny hole the others made bigger (Without making it all fall and squish Ty and Tandy and Sue). So she tried to be as careful as she could, moving some of the rocks out of the way before poking her head out. She was covered in soot from head to toe, making her look almost like a Molly statue.

"That sucked, like...a lot," she said.

Billy faced the same dilemma, observing the rocks closely. It was like a game of Jenga, only more deadly. Move the wrong rock, and it could all come tumbling down. As Molly's head appeared, he moved to her side. "Hey, let's get you out of there." He tested a few of the nearby rocks, before teleporting a couple of the loose ones across the room to widen the space enough for her to climb free.

"I got the last of these, you keep her steady," Paige said to Billy, pulling away the few remaining obstacles before leaning to support a corner as best she could. It was a little more difficult with her narrow shoulders, and she temporarily bulked them with a heavier, stone husk.

Korvus moved in behind Paige, putting a shoulder to her back and bracing his feet, letting her focus on holding the structure up while he kept her on balance. Being made of stone, she was an excellent column.

Marie-Ange was still crouched down, and the piece of wood she'd been touching kept replicating itself, providing more stable footing and propping up crumbling plaster and brick. "Were you all together? Is anyone else left?" She asked, as Molly pulled herself out.

Dori paused and sniffed the air again, "I smell... Sue, I think?" Dori said, "It's hard to tell through all the other smells, but I swear it's her. We need to get her out!"

Tandy crawled out of the hole and stood up, her cheek was cut but otherwise she looked to be unharmed. "Wait Sue is not with us?" Tandy looked around and back towards the rubble. "She must still be stuck in there. She was with us." Tandy started to lose her cool at the thought of her best friend trapped under the rubble.

"I'm getting closer," Dori said, the scent was getting stronger. It was hard to track people with the scent of blood, death and everything else but she could have sworn she was right on top of Sue with how strong the smell was. Dori started picking up rubble with urgency. One piece and then another and than a hand.

A still, white hand. Dori fell to her knees and and moved a few more pieces away and bent down, both to look for a pulse and to confirm it smelled like who she thought. The scent was Sue, mixed with the cold stillness of death that seemed to be everywhere and there was no pulse.

She paused, "I... I think I found Sue," she said softly.

Paige watched Dori holding her wrist a moment longer, hoping, before stepping forward, letting her section fall. She put a hand on the girl's shoulder, then bent, helping her to her feet. "We... need to get clear. I'm sorry."

Tandy stepped beside the two girls and looked down before kneeling down. She was lost for words as she reached over to take Sue's necklace. Wrapping it around her wrist before brushing her tears away from her face. Standing up again, "Just tell me what to do."

"If we can, we will get Sue out, once everyone else is safe." Marie-Ange said quietly. "But we have to get the rest of you out first. There is no sense in anyone else getting hurt."

***

The X-Men pushed through the underbrush, coming up on the rear of the mansion. They had seen Emma's team falling back in this area, but it was now the site of heaps of rubble from where the mansion had been battered and partially collapsed. The firebird on the other side of the mansion threw lurid flames in the air, underscoring their need for speed.

Jessica's breath still came in heavy pants, her hair was caked with sweat, dirt, and a bit of blood. Gladiator's punch had messed her up, but she was thanking any and all higher powers that she hadn't met the fate of several others she had come to know on what seemed like the highway to hell. She was also thankful that Rogue was still safe, but they weren't out of the fire yet. She'd grown tired of walking and so was slowly floating along. They were attempting to get to a few more people to add to their rag tag group of misfits, but if Jessica was being honest, she was going to try and do as little independent thinking as possible and instead follow the orders of someone whose head was a bit clearer than hers.

Logan walked with quick strides, tight with tension and hands in loose fists, as he strained his senses for any sign of life. They'd be lucky if they found anyone and they hadn't had much luck all week. His mouth was a grim line as his thoughts turned toward the grief they all were dealing with. They hadn't had time to deal with it and they still wouldn't. It wasn't over. Not yet. And there was no telling when it would be.

Wade followed slightly behind Logan as they pushed through the final line of bushes and reached the rubble that had once been the backside of the mansion. He could hear fighting, but it was distant - that didn't mean they were safe. He had a feeling they'd never be safe while the firebird flew, "Don't that just beat all," he muttered, gesturing for Pixie to come closer. "I know you can't fly," he said as they all began creeping forward again. "But can you dust people if need be?" He was hoping there wouldn't be a need, but the fires from the other side of the mansion kept flickering brighter and they had no clear picture of where Emma and her group might have retreated to.

Pixie shuffled forward and nodded. "If the wind's in our favor, so I don't dust ourselves." She carefully beat her uninjured wing to stir a small breeze - it was tough to move one wing and not the other, and she winced. "I can help it along a bit. Do we still have those masks?"

Amanda looked up from where she was scanning the area, looking for signs of life. "Yeah, still got 'em," she replied, jerking a thumb at the pack on her back. "Not enough for everyone, tho'."

"Me and Logan don't need them - neither does Pinkie," Wade said. "Are there enough for everyone else?"

"I don't think so," Amanda replied, mentally counting. "I only have five. But I can shield against her dust if I have to." Maybe.

Wanda grimaced as she thought about it. Pixie's dust was incredibly useful - but also incredibly dangerous if turned against them. "I could also try to manipulate things so we would not get hit if it came down to it." But she was tired and they'd already discovered what happened if you mixed their powers together - it might be too dangerous.

Rogue looked at the rubble and rubbed at her face. Lord, was she ever tired. "If I have a mask, I can start movin' things around while y'all are dustin' or doin' whatever it is ya gotta do." This was said to no one in particular. "But we gotta move now if we have any luck for survivors," she added bluntly.

Scott gingerly shuffled to a stop and looked over at the others as he leaned on a nearby rock.. "I'd be worse that useless out there right now," he allowed grudgingly. It was one thing to know he was injured but accepting he couldn't help the kids out there was another thing all together. "I can stay back here and keep an eye out see if I can spot anything coming. That'd be more useful than me getting in the way down there."

Jean was not much help either, with the collar still making it difficult for her to concentrate, much less remain standing. Still, she managed, but barely, teetering back and forth precariously before putting her hand against a tree to steady herself. "I'll stay with Scott...obviously," she added quietly. The idea of not being able to help at the moment daunted her but she knew keeping the collar on for now was the best thing to do. She wasn't sure what she was capable of. And in the back of her mind she had a growing sense of dread. She could almost feel the other presence behind the mansion walls. But she knew that was impossible because of the collar.

A glorious amount of ill advised pain killers were allowing Julian some measure of his powers back. He did his best not to look at Jean or Scott- telling himself that all this wasn't their fault, but it was a hard thing to do with so much loss. "What are we waiting for then? The end of the world?"

Rogue was tired, emotionally and physically. Her accent was more pronounced and she was simply exhausted. She was easily sleeping for days when all this ended. "I ain't waitin' for all this yappin'. We have our people to save. Pixie, if ya do dust, warn me -- I'll hold my breath or something. Jess, give me a hand, girl, and let's do some work. All of y'all can come up with a plan, I ain't thinkin' no more."

With that, Rogue broke rank and headed to the rubble, knowing Jessica would follow.

"I'm on it." Jessica declared. She still felt like shit, but she'd be damned if she was going to let people die. She moved to follow Rogue's example, lifting the massive pieces of rubble as best she could. As she let each piece fly a short distance behind her, she tried to listen as closely as possible for any sign of breathing or a voice. Her brown eyes scanned for body parts or pieces of clothing. The slight sound of choking reached her ears after about two minutes of shifting. She moved toward its source and swiftly tore away the largest piece of rubble she could find. Her eyes trained to the ground as she continued to lift, carefully and slowly. After a few moments, a person came into view. A vaguely familiar person.

"Rogue! I found someone!" She called.

A coughing Gabriel looked up at her, somewhat stupefied. He ached. Everything ached. Every little muscle and every little bone ached. His legs were pins-and-needles, and he didn't think he could manage to get up at the moment, not on his own.

The unfortunate aftermath of when a building collapsed on you so suddenly you couldn't outrun it. Maybe. He still wasn't entirely sure if that's what had happened.

"Miles," he rasped out after a second, looking around a little frantically. "Miles, we're not dead."

"Wepa," Miles lamely cheered as he pulled himself, slowly but steadily, back to his feet out from under a section of wall that Rogue pushed aside. His visions blurred and the continual blaring of his spider sense made it impossible to focus. "Where's everyone else? We had a whole squad. Johnny and Sarah, Molly..."

Wade throttled the urge to just straight up yell at both Rogue and Jessica about teammates who weren't invulnerable and how they were being reckless and endangering everyone - because that wouldn't do them any good. And it might attract a certain redheaded bitch's attention and that was kind of what he was trying to avoid. Instead, the mercenary kept his voice calm as he motioned for Logan to go ahead of them. "You're the first people we've found, but several others were located a little while ago. I think we can move forward - as a unit - to locate the Professor and coordinate from there."

Logan took up position in front of Miles and Gabriel where he'd take the brunt of anything that came their way if needed. He trusted Wade would haul the kids to safety if it came down to it. "What he said. Everyone be careful what ya do from here on out. Don't need more damage done while tryin' to help someone." No one needed more guilt on their shoulders.

Wanda drifted to join the others. She'd stayed back while the others had started to dig, knowing that out of all of them, she was least suited to finding survivors. But she'd kept herself busy scanning for trouble, ready to defend the group at their most vulnerable - helping each other. She clapped Wade on the shoulder and nodded. "Let us keep these two in the middle, yes?" she said, nodding at Miles and Gabriel. They would need the time to recover from being buried. "Rogue, Jessica, one of you at the head and the other protecting our rear. The rest of us will form between those two and around the boys."

***

The group stood in the shadows of the mansion, hearing the crash of battle on the other side, brushing off the New Mutants who'd fought so hard in the initial defense. Other groups were doing the same, and they had just finished celebrating the retrieval of Miles and Gabriel when they heard about Sue's death. The group fighting the Dark Phoenix was quickly crumbling, and that left them few options.

Kurt looked exhausted, leaning hard on his tail as a makeshift crutch. "We must try to contact the others - there may be more injured", he said quietly. "And evacuate this place if we can."

Angel winced when she heard the noises of the fight on the other side - if it could even be called a fight anymore. It sounded more like a slaughter. She tried to shake that thought off and nodded, face set. "Don't suppose there's any word from the Blackbird?" They could use the back up. But she wasn't going to hold her breath.

"Blackbird or no Blackbird, can one of you shut up and help me out?" Cecilia didn't bother to hide her exasperation. What was currently happening put her in her element, which meant she'd be barking orders and putting her skills to use. "We just dug a group of teenagers out from under our home, and all I've got is a bag full of random supplies I grabbed on the way out. Which would be fine, except I can't even make any triage decisions until someone helps me get Johnny calmed down."

Thankfully, the firebugs had kept the worst of any electrical fires from frying the communication equipment. Which meant he could, in fact, contact the Blackbird. And maybe help calm Johnny down at the same time. Hooray for multitasking.

"Johnny," he said to the teenager in a low, reassuring voice. "Just concentrate on me." He knew what it was like to have too much information crowding his brain, and from what he knew of the young man's 'danger sense', it was probably suffering from a serious case of input overload. "Just ignore the rest of what's going on," he continued soothingly as his hands checked wires and settings. "Concentrate on your breathing - breathe in for a slow five count," he said, audibly taking a large breath in with him. "Hold for five," he continued, ticking off a five count with one hand. "And exhale," blowing out air as audibly as he'd taken it in. "Okay, keep that up. In for five, hold for five, out for five."

Connections all checked, he flicked a switch. "Blackbird, this is Cypher calling. Come in, Blackbird. Anyone there?"

"I can't. I can't." Johnny's eyes were squeezed closed and he was just this side of hyperventilating. "This is insane. We have to get out of here." His danger sense had ...stopped. Before, it had been going off for each threat before the overload kicked in. Now, there was just a steady, dull roar of panic in the back of his mind. "Something bad is coming," he muttered, trying to to concentrate on his breathing.

"Topaz, calm him down." Kyle said, more calmly than he felt. "I got your back if anyone gives you shit." He crouched down to get to the students' eye level. "I got your back. I promise. We gotta get you guys outta here, and we can't if JayGee's freaking the hell out." He glanced at Kurt as if to say "You with me on this?" and then stood, holding an arm out to Hope. "If you think you're gonna pass out, you yell." and he prayed to God that they wouldn't have to carry Hope out of the destroyed mansion.

Topaz had to struggle to focus on what Kyle was saying. Was he telling her to drain Johnny? Really? Great. Okay. Fine. Like she didn't hate her life enough as it was. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to zero in on Johnny's mind - no easy task - and with a deep breath she pulled off the panic off of Johnny. Her mind protested with a violent throb - draining people with no shields was never a good idea - but she managed to keep herself upright, albeit waveringly.

Hope accepted the arm gratefully as she tried to pull herself together. " Thanks, Mr. Gibney..." Falling back to her old manners seemed to help and she could that on autopilot... "I should be able to manage, as long as we start out slow... Though I am not sure how much more Topaz can take." She eyed the girl worriedly.

Johnny's breathing calmed. The terror he'd been feeling, overwhelmed by threat after threat from his danger sense lessened. It was still there - a sore muscle that he knew would hurt if he flexed it - if he thought about his danger sense but it was dulled. "I can - I can manage." He didn't care anymore. Things were bad. Things were terrifying but he didn't care. He supposed he should thank Topaz but that didn't seem so important, either. "Thanks."

Kurt moved to Topaz' side, not touching her but providing a reassuring presence and ready to catch her if she stumbled.

"All right, everyone, I think we must move while we still can."

"The people at the Blackbird need support." Doug surveyed the ragtag group. "I think I'm the one that can be spared and be the most help." It was a cold calculus, a measure of who was injured, who was combat capable, and who could do the most good where. But he knew the group needed Kurt's leadership, and Kyle's tenacity.

He gave the younger members of the group a reassuring smile, projecting as much confidence as he could muster. "Get your butts in gear, I'll see you when this is done."

Angel shuffled forward the best she could, intent on helping anyone who needed help standing - which was most of them, quite honestly. "Right. We got this. Good luck Doug."

John placed a hand on Angel’s shoulder and muttered something about lifting her up in a fireman’s carry if she didn’t stop abusing her already broken leg. He would help whoever needed help. She just needed to look after herself for one goddamn minute.

"Alright, you still doing okay, Johnny? Why don't I stay with you for bit?" Sooraya mentioned as she looked over the ragtag group. Kyle had Hope and Kurt seemed to be supporting Topaz. A quick wince stole over her face though she realized something and leaned over to Angel, asking softly: "Can you stay close as well? I think I might need to scout for a bit later on?"

"I will take Topaz, Hope and Johnny to find Professor Xavier", Kurt said quietly. "If there is anywhere safe left, they should be there, not here."

"I'll go with. If one of them passes out or loses their shit, you're gonna need a second set of hands, and I'm no good for much else." Kyle offered. "Already cracked a couple vertebrae hauling Logan around this week, all ya'll are way lighter."

***

Garrison wiped the blood from his face, stumbling along in the ruins of the mansion. They had tried to delay Dark Phoenix and had been thoroughly and fully repulsed by the remarkable power. It was a level that they had never seen and could barely fathom.

Jean-Phillipe moved along behind Garrison, leaning heavily on Angelo for support. He'd been throwing everything he had, and since he was still recovering from getting blown into a wall by Barrage, he'd delved deeply into his reserves of power, and was dangerously close to exceeding them and tapping himself out. He flexed his fingers - numbing in the extremities was the first sign of power overuse. But with the magnitude of what they were facing, he could rest and recharge either when it was turned back, or when he was dead.

"Je t'aime," he murmured softly in Angelo's ear. He wasn't the demonstrative sort, but he didn't want to leave things unsaid between them.

Angelo wasn't in much better shape, digging into his last strength to keep moving and fighting, and to help his boyfriend do the same. He turned to look at Jean-Phillipe without stopping, afraid if they did stop walking it would be harder to start again, and whispered back with a squeeze of his hand, "Te quiero."

"God save me from the schmoop," Jubilee muttered as she rolled her eyes at Angelo and Jean-Phillipe but she grinned when Jean-Phillipe opened his mouth to answer. "Dude, kidding, kidding. Go back to your PDA's, I'll just be over here, being bitter and grumpy."

She leaned heavily on the small branch she'd repurposed as a crutch and rubbed a hand over her face to clear away the sweat. There was no way she could deal with any kind of real fighting right now, she was almost out of snacks and that wasn't going to give her much of a boost - from now on it was her own body she'd be using to feed the beast of her powers.

"We need to get the kids out of here, there's no way she isn't going to completely demolish this place and I don't think she'll care that they're in the way."

"I can do evac," Jennie panted, a hand to her ribs. She was so pale that she skin was hinging on grey. "I can't do much more, if I throw something at her I can't guarantee it'll do more that give her a wedgie, she's too powerful." She swallowed, doing her best not to sway and project Calm and In Control. "I'll see if I can't find Arthur, being near him may help me."

"I'm still durable enough," Marius pointed out, flagrantly ignoring the abrasions and full-body bruises he'd just attained. He gave Garrison a glance. "What say you to finding a few less walking wounded with which to run distraction? I can't say I particularly enjoy blunt-force trauma, but I can tank a bit more damage if I must."

"X-Men should be here by now. Jennie, Jubilee, drop back and let them know we need everyone available on the line. Marius, you and I are going to try and get around her flank. You other three, stay here, and let the other people know as they get up here what we're dealing with. If you see Logan and Wade, send them around to us."

"D'accord," Jean-Phillipe said, nodding crisply. Garrison's plan made about as much sense as could be salvaged from this disaster. And the only alternative to continuing to fight, no matter how hopeless, was to lay down and accept death. Which was not at all something he was willing to do.

North watched them leave in all his usual heavy silence, carefully rewrapping his side wound with the last of the bandages. He tested it with the heel of his hand and determined that it would hold for a few more hours.

He waved Jean-Phillipe and Angelo away when a young woman with a white streak in her hair darted by and yelled at them for assistance. Then hauled himself to his feet against the sharp pain, dropping one useless rifle by the door and using the other as a walking aid.

The spy meandered to the lower floors and replaced his makeshift crutch with Doug when he found the other man, pulling him away from the rest and towards where the pictures in his head were telling him they were needed.