The Dark Phoenix - Log 17
Jan. 21st, 2015 12:01 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe forcefield fails...
The push of energy against the forcefield was growing, as the other assaults on her failed and Dark Phoenix was finally able to focus her powers against one of the last barriers between her and the mansion basement. The air around her groaned from the violence of her assault, in stark relief against the rents that continued to grow in the sky.
Lights flashed across the giant shield as it was battered by objects, some physical, some pure energy. Chaos was everywhere, and Billy could almost feel it drawn into him, flowing through his veins. He began to chant more quickly. "I want the shields to hold, I want the shields to hold." His hands, already glowing bright blue, flared white--almost painful to look at, and the energy traveled up his staff, pouring into air, binding Amanda and Cecilia's shields more tightly to his own. He glanced between the two, where exhaustion was evident. "We need more power. I want more power, he continued to chant, willing even more energy into the shield and his comrades.
Amanda jerked slightly as the power from Billy hit her. She was nothing more than a conduit now, Billy's magic flowing through the channelling spell on her back and out through her hands into her own shielding spell. Conscious thought had essentially gone - she only existed to hold the barrier upright. At some point her nose had started bleeding from the strain, but she hadn't even noticed - everything was light and pain and willpower.
Cecilia cried out through gritted teeth, as she'd been doing intermittently during this psychic onslaught. The nature of her gift meant that she felt every blast, every object acutely. To distract from the strain, her inner monologue was alternating between sí, se puede and a string of curse words in various languages. When she felt like she was about to give way, she'd imagine green-and-gold, Cecilia-channeling-Rosie-Perez in front of her. After what she'd done, no way in hell would she let that bitch get the satisfaction.
"Whatever's powering this thing," she said after a minute of silence, "has to be exhaustible. Everything runs out of fuel, right?"
"Including us," Billy thought silently. Wave after wave of power crashed around them, pulverizing the wood, brick, and mortar around them. "Well, them at least," he corrected himself. Every onslaught brought new waves of chaos that he continued to draw upon. Still, even with seemingly endless power, more cracks of light continued to spider across their translucent barrier. He staggered as a large pane of glass rammed into the shield, his efforts to keep it from slicing through barely successful. He leaned hard on his staff; his legs felt like jelly beneath him, and that was the only thing keeping him on his feet as he fed another wave of energy into the wall.
The human body, as magic users over the centuries had discovered, isn't designed to deal with large amounts of mystical energy. No matter how strong the user, how great their gift, eventually everyone found their limits. Amanda had, over the years, gotten away with far more than her more genetically-mundane peers, but everyone has their limits and she was just about at hers. Her jacket and shirt had long-ago succumbed to the heat of the runes on her back; now, as they blazed a deep and fiery red, there came a smell of burning skin. And then, like the filament of a light bulb hit with too much voltage, the spell snapped, Amanda dropping to the floor like a broken marionette. Whether she was still alive or not was anyone's guess.
What wasn't a guess was the impact of her loss. Without her shielding spell, gaps opened up in their barrier, only Cecilia and Billy's efforts stopping the Dark Phoenix's telekinetic barrage from crushing them all.
"Amanda!" Cecilia's focus shifted from pain management to the crumpled figure in front of her. "Damn it, magic, get up." The words escaped Cecilia's mouth before she'd really even registered them, but there wasn't much time for apologetic looks. She threw her hands in front of her, willing her forcefield to push back against the Dark Phoenix's energy, and shifted positions to try and close the holes that had opened up.
"No!" Billy shouted, losing his concentration as Amanda went down. That momentary lapse was enough, though, and with two pillars down, the shield wall fell. He threw up his shield again, trying to connect it back to Cecilia's, but under the barrage, it flickered in and out of existence despite his efforts to tie them together. He looked across the room, and could tell immediately that Cecilia's shield would never cover both her and Amanda. He wasn't even sure their two combined shields could cover the three of them. Maybe two, definitely not three.
A jumble of images rushed to mind. Dusty books, snowy arboretum, misfired patronuses, blue hair, flaming fire escapes, potatoes, docks, lightning, eggs. Always the eggs. The choice was clear. "Your sorcerer's apprentice has got you safe and sound," he mumbled. He swallowed hard, before choking out the hardest chant of his life. "I want this staff to shield them. Let this staff shield them" He continued to chant as he pulled the pick black wood up like a javelin, breaking the mantra only long enough to call out, "CECILIA, CATCH." He continued to chant as the staff left his hand. It had to be enough. It might not be enough. Telekinetic energy slammed against him, forcing him to his knees, but he pulled the resulting chaos into himself, channeling it into the staff's path as it sailed toward them. "Let it be enough," he chanted his final prayer. "Let my staff...shield..." The final word was never uttered, the chant vanishing in a roar of telekinesis and chaos and fire and lightning.
"Billy!" The staff soared through the air into Cecilia's hands, where she stood, petrified by what she'd just seen. The Dark Phoenix was all force, all energy crushing against her, and her shield was starting to contract, and all she could do was stare at the spot where Billy had—
"Shit!" A limb from a tree whipped across her shield, leaving a sharp pain that startled her back to reality. Her grip around the staff tightened, and she felt a rush of power surging through her. "No," she said suddenly, her shield starting to expand once more. "NO!" She shouted this time, a single syllable containing her pain, her anguish, but also her determination. Cecilia lifted her chin, now intently focused on their aggressor and the torrent of power flowing out of her. "Been through too fucking much, and this is not how I'm going out."
"Move! Move!" Garrison's voice carried over the din. He'd watched the shield crumble, leaving the survivors vulnerable. "Wade, Gabriel, grab Amanda. Kyle, get Cecilia out of here."
The Canadian skidded down a pile of rubble to his target; the fuel tank that had once been underground and used for the fleet. "Jess, I need a hand with this!" He started to pull, slowly dragging the tank from the ground, half full of fuel.
Jess flew toward Garrison, her hair whipping in the wind, a stray tear running down her face.
"Got it!" She cried, grabbing hold of the tank alongside the Canadian mutant that Rogue had told her about. She pulled as hard as she could and, together, the two managed to lift the massive component from the ground.
"On the count of three. One...two...three!" She cried, throwing all of her strength into the toss. The tank hurled through the air, turning on itself a few times before it struck DP's shields and exploded on impact, creating a massive gout of flame in its wake.
Wade's impulse was to get to Cece but he went for Amanda instead because the Mountie'd said so - and because Gabriel probably wouldn't be able to lift her on his own. Come to think of it, Gabriel was more use as an early warning system. Though pretty much everything was a warning at this point. Before they actually reached Amanda's prone form, the mercenary had unbuttoned the sheath at his side and taken Selma out. He slapped her into Gabriel's hand and said, "Take this, make sure nothing sneaks up on us and stay away from Double Penetration over there, she'll squish you like a bug."
Then he stooped and picked up Amanda, muttering, "C'mon, Sammy Girl, that better not've been an aneurysm or we're gonna have to have a conversation."
He was rewarded by a soft groan, although the witch was most definitely out for the count, bruised and battered and singed.
Kyle was moving on all fours towards Cecilia - and where Billy had been, and he was not letting himself think about that - there wasn't time, he didn't have the mental wherewithal, and shit needed doing - before Garrison was even done talking, and only stopped when he skidded into her shield hard. "Doc Ceec, we are getting the hell out of here." He wasn't even sure she could hear him through her shield - he had no idea how it even worked, just that it was keeping him from pulling her out. "Jesus fuck you are not doing this to me, lady. Come on."
"Kyle," she turned toward him, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping Billy's staff. "Talk to me like that again," she said with surprising calm, "and I'll surgically remove your fingernails." Nonetheless, the forcefield contracted around her until it hewed more closely to her body. "Okay." She stepped toward him, stumbling slightly - after standing more or less in one position for so long and absorbing so much physical impact, her legs felt a little like jelly. Come to think of it, most of her muscles weren't feeling so great either. "Whoa, okay." She took another step and tripped onto the ground. "Gonna need some help here."
If yelling at her meant threats of surgery, Kyle was probably going to end up donating all his fingernails to Cecilia for scooping her up. "Sorry Doc, you can have the fingernails." He muttered. "You can shield up again this way." It was much harder to move fast carrying another full grown person, even if she wasn't all that heavy.
The Dark Phoenix's response to the hurled gas tanks was less than impressed. It became even less so when she saw who was hurling them. The redhead rolled her eyes.
"Jessica, if at first you don't succeed..." A tendril of power dove deep beneath the grounds, seeking a familiar piece of the mansion's infrastructure. With a flick of the mind, the Dark Phoenix threw a spark in the main gas line. "...you should quit while you're ahead."
Wade had put Amanda over his shoulder in a fireman's carry but lost his hold on her when everything'd blown up. Fiery bits of earth and other pieces of shrapnel rained down around them as Wade pushed himself up to his hands and knees. So the yard had basically just exploded. "Excellent," he muttered, trying to find Gabriel amidst the smoke and dust. He wasn't having much luck, though - the kid was fast, so he might've been able to avoid the blast. Maybe. Whatever else happened, they needed to get out of there fast - Fry Me Now Jess and the Mountie weren't going to be able to hold up against Evil Jean for much longer --
Though maybe they wouldn't have to, since she seemed to have turned her attention elsewhere.
The explosion had scarcely begun before the Dark Phoenix turned away. Her patience was wearing thin. Moreover, so was her interest. This world had already provided all the amusement it was likely to, she suspected. Enough distractions. It was time to claim what she'd come here for.
The bird of flame moved to hover over what had once been the center of the mansion, and the Dark Phoenix prepared her final assault.
Crawling to Amanda's prone form, Wade managed to gather her up in his arms and half-stand, noting Kyle doing much the same with Cece. Gabriel appeared as if from nowhere and began to help them make their way clear of the burning rubble that had once been the medlab. The Mountie and FMN Jess were somewhere - there. Since Evil Jean wasn't paying them any attention, he figured it was now or never - get out while the getting was good.
So that's what they did, limping and burned - they crept away as quietly as they could and Wade, for one, hoped whoever it was that'd caught Evil Jean's attention fared better than they had.
The push of energy against the forcefield was growing, as the other assaults on her failed and Dark Phoenix was finally able to focus her powers against one of the last barriers between her and the mansion basement. The air around her groaned from the violence of her assault, in stark relief against the rents that continued to grow in the sky.
Lights flashed across the giant shield as it was battered by objects, some physical, some pure energy. Chaos was everywhere, and Billy could almost feel it drawn into him, flowing through his veins. He began to chant more quickly. "I want the shields to hold, I want the shields to hold." His hands, already glowing bright blue, flared white--almost painful to look at, and the energy traveled up his staff, pouring into air, binding Amanda and Cecilia's shields more tightly to his own. He glanced between the two, where exhaustion was evident. "We need more power. I want more power, he continued to chant, willing even more energy into the shield and his comrades.
Amanda jerked slightly as the power from Billy hit her. She was nothing more than a conduit now, Billy's magic flowing through the channelling spell on her back and out through her hands into her own shielding spell. Conscious thought had essentially gone - she only existed to hold the barrier upright. At some point her nose had started bleeding from the strain, but she hadn't even noticed - everything was light and pain and willpower.
Cecilia cried out through gritted teeth, as she'd been doing intermittently during this psychic onslaught. The nature of her gift meant that she felt every blast, every object acutely. To distract from the strain, her inner monologue was alternating between sí, se puede and a string of curse words in various languages. When she felt like she was about to give way, she'd imagine green-and-gold, Cecilia-channeling-Rosie-Perez in front of her. After what she'd done, no way in hell would she let that bitch get the satisfaction.
"Whatever's powering this thing," she said after a minute of silence, "has to be exhaustible. Everything runs out of fuel, right?"
"Including us," Billy thought silently. Wave after wave of power crashed around them, pulverizing the wood, brick, and mortar around them. "Well, them at least," he corrected himself. Every onslaught brought new waves of chaos that he continued to draw upon. Still, even with seemingly endless power, more cracks of light continued to spider across their translucent barrier. He staggered as a large pane of glass rammed into the shield, his efforts to keep it from slicing through barely successful. He leaned hard on his staff; his legs felt like jelly beneath him, and that was the only thing keeping him on his feet as he fed another wave of energy into the wall.
The human body, as magic users over the centuries had discovered, isn't designed to deal with large amounts of mystical energy. No matter how strong the user, how great their gift, eventually everyone found their limits. Amanda had, over the years, gotten away with far more than her more genetically-mundane peers, but everyone has their limits and she was just about at hers. Her jacket and shirt had long-ago succumbed to the heat of the runes on her back; now, as they blazed a deep and fiery red, there came a smell of burning skin. And then, like the filament of a light bulb hit with too much voltage, the spell snapped, Amanda dropping to the floor like a broken marionette. Whether she was still alive or not was anyone's guess.
What wasn't a guess was the impact of her loss. Without her shielding spell, gaps opened up in their barrier, only Cecilia and Billy's efforts stopping the Dark Phoenix's telekinetic barrage from crushing them all.
"Amanda!" Cecilia's focus shifted from pain management to the crumpled figure in front of her. "Damn it, magic, get up." The words escaped Cecilia's mouth before she'd really even registered them, but there wasn't much time for apologetic looks. She threw her hands in front of her, willing her forcefield to push back against the Dark Phoenix's energy, and shifted positions to try and close the holes that had opened up.
"No!" Billy shouted, losing his concentration as Amanda went down. That momentary lapse was enough, though, and with two pillars down, the shield wall fell. He threw up his shield again, trying to connect it back to Cecilia's, but under the barrage, it flickered in and out of existence despite his efforts to tie them together. He looked across the room, and could tell immediately that Cecilia's shield would never cover both her and Amanda. He wasn't even sure their two combined shields could cover the three of them. Maybe two, definitely not three.
A jumble of images rushed to mind. Dusty books, snowy arboretum, misfired patronuses, blue hair, flaming fire escapes, potatoes, docks, lightning, eggs. Always the eggs. The choice was clear. "Your sorcerer's apprentice has got you safe and sound," he mumbled. He swallowed hard, before choking out the hardest chant of his life. "I want this staff to shield them. Let this staff shield them" He continued to chant as he pulled the pick black wood up like a javelin, breaking the mantra only long enough to call out, "CECILIA, CATCH." He continued to chant as the staff left his hand. It had to be enough. It might not be enough. Telekinetic energy slammed against him, forcing him to his knees, but he pulled the resulting chaos into himself, channeling it into the staff's path as it sailed toward them. "Let it be enough," he chanted his final prayer. "Let my staff...shield..." The final word was never uttered, the chant vanishing in a roar of telekinesis and chaos and fire and lightning.
"Billy!" The staff soared through the air into Cecilia's hands, where she stood, petrified by what she'd just seen. The Dark Phoenix was all force, all energy crushing against her, and her shield was starting to contract, and all she could do was stare at the spot where Billy had—
"Shit!" A limb from a tree whipped across her shield, leaving a sharp pain that startled her back to reality. Her grip around the staff tightened, and she felt a rush of power surging through her. "No," she said suddenly, her shield starting to expand once more. "NO!" She shouted this time, a single syllable containing her pain, her anguish, but also her determination. Cecilia lifted her chin, now intently focused on their aggressor and the torrent of power flowing out of her. "Been through too fucking much, and this is not how I'm going out."
"Move! Move!" Garrison's voice carried over the din. He'd watched the shield crumble, leaving the survivors vulnerable. "Wade, Gabriel, grab Amanda. Kyle, get Cecilia out of here."
The Canadian skidded down a pile of rubble to his target; the fuel tank that had once been underground and used for the fleet. "Jess, I need a hand with this!" He started to pull, slowly dragging the tank from the ground, half full of fuel.
Jess flew toward Garrison, her hair whipping in the wind, a stray tear running down her face.
"Got it!" She cried, grabbing hold of the tank alongside the Canadian mutant that Rogue had told her about. She pulled as hard as she could and, together, the two managed to lift the massive component from the ground.
"On the count of three. One...two...three!" She cried, throwing all of her strength into the toss. The tank hurled through the air, turning on itself a few times before it struck DP's shields and exploded on impact, creating a massive gout of flame in its wake.
Wade's impulse was to get to Cece but he went for Amanda instead because the Mountie'd said so - and because Gabriel probably wouldn't be able to lift her on his own. Come to think of it, Gabriel was more use as an early warning system. Though pretty much everything was a warning at this point. Before they actually reached Amanda's prone form, the mercenary had unbuttoned the sheath at his side and taken Selma out. He slapped her into Gabriel's hand and said, "Take this, make sure nothing sneaks up on us and stay away from Double Penetration over there, she'll squish you like a bug."
Then he stooped and picked up Amanda, muttering, "C'mon, Sammy Girl, that better not've been an aneurysm or we're gonna have to have a conversation."
He was rewarded by a soft groan, although the witch was most definitely out for the count, bruised and battered and singed.
Kyle was moving on all fours towards Cecilia - and where Billy had been, and he was not letting himself think about that - there wasn't time, he didn't have the mental wherewithal, and shit needed doing - before Garrison was even done talking, and only stopped when he skidded into her shield hard. "Doc Ceec, we are getting the hell out of here." He wasn't even sure she could hear him through her shield - he had no idea how it even worked, just that it was keeping him from pulling her out. "Jesus fuck you are not doing this to me, lady. Come on."
"Kyle," she turned toward him, her knuckles white from how hard she was gripping Billy's staff. "Talk to me like that again," she said with surprising calm, "and I'll surgically remove your fingernails." Nonetheless, the forcefield contracted around her until it hewed more closely to her body. "Okay." She stepped toward him, stumbling slightly - after standing more or less in one position for so long and absorbing so much physical impact, her legs felt a little like jelly. Come to think of it, most of her muscles weren't feeling so great either. "Whoa, okay." She took another step and tripped onto the ground. "Gonna need some help here."
If yelling at her meant threats of surgery, Kyle was probably going to end up donating all his fingernails to Cecilia for scooping her up. "Sorry Doc, you can have the fingernails." He muttered. "You can shield up again this way." It was much harder to move fast carrying another full grown person, even if she wasn't all that heavy.
The Dark Phoenix's response to the hurled gas tanks was less than impressed. It became even less so when she saw who was hurling them. The redhead rolled her eyes.
"Jessica, if at first you don't succeed..." A tendril of power dove deep beneath the grounds, seeking a familiar piece of the mansion's infrastructure. With a flick of the mind, the Dark Phoenix threw a spark in the main gas line. "...you should quit while you're ahead."
Wade had put Amanda over his shoulder in a fireman's carry but lost his hold on her when everything'd blown up. Fiery bits of earth and other pieces of shrapnel rained down around them as Wade pushed himself up to his hands and knees. So the yard had basically just exploded. "Excellent," he muttered, trying to find Gabriel amidst the smoke and dust. He wasn't having much luck, though - the kid was fast, so he might've been able to avoid the blast. Maybe. Whatever else happened, they needed to get out of there fast - Fry Me Now Jess and the Mountie weren't going to be able to hold up against Evil Jean for much longer --
Though maybe they wouldn't have to, since she seemed to have turned her attention elsewhere.
The explosion had scarcely begun before the Dark Phoenix turned away. Her patience was wearing thin. Moreover, so was her interest. This world had already provided all the amusement it was likely to, she suspected. Enough distractions. It was time to claim what she'd come here for.
The bird of flame moved to hover over what had once been the center of the mansion, and the Dark Phoenix prepared her final assault.
Crawling to Amanda's prone form, Wade managed to gather her up in his arms and half-stand, noting Kyle doing much the same with Cece. Gabriel appeared as if from nowhere and began to help them make their way clear of the burning rubble that had once been the medlab. The Mountie and FMN Jess were somewhere - there. Since Evil Jean wasn't paying them any attention, he figured it was now or never - get out while the getting was good.
So that's what they did, limping and burned - they crept away as quietly as they could and Wade, for one, hoped whoever it was that'd caught Evil Jean's attention fared better than they had.
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