xp_logs | The Caged Bird - The Fight (Reply)

Fighting the Brotherhood - PLACEHOLDER

Wanda decides it’s time to have a chat of her own with Daddy Dearest.

Lorna stood up from her chair and looked over at the door. No way, did her team find them? Sue hadn't been caught yet, she knew that much. Had Sue called for help? "Seems like someone found HQ." Lorna kept her face expressionless, but inside her heart was pounding.

"Yes, someone did. Vermin have a habit of showing up unwanted." The man called Magneto could surely have crushed the intrusion under his mighty heel like the insects they were, but that carried great risk. Any possibility of losing Lorna now was unacceptable. "Come, Lorna. This was only temporary, anyway. It's time to go home."

Lorna looked over at her dad but didn't move from where she now stood. However, she still felt so small in his presence. She didn't want to go, not when Alex was here...somewhere. "Dad, I--" Lorna stopped when she heard the door open behind her.

The door had not only been closed before but had been practically welded shut thanks to Magneto's use of his powers. The door did swing open but it was sloppy and lopsided as chunks of metal crumbled to useless rust around the door frame. Wanda stepped through the remains of the door, shaking off spots of the door that had stuck to where she'd placed her palm and watching as the last remains of the chaos power turned even that into nothing.

"Should I be hurt that my invitation to the family reunion was lost in the mail?" she asked calmly, glancing over to Lorna to make sure she was in one piece before switching her gaze back to Magneto. Despite her outward appearance, Wanda felt her heart start to race just a little. "At the very least, please tell me I have not missed the awkward family reunion photograph. Mine's a little outdated."

"Wanda, my dear. You have always been welcome to join us," Magneto replied. "You know that I would like nothing more than to have my son and daughters at your rightful place by my side."

"How sweet. Pietro and I get a personal invitation and Lorna gets kidnapping and deceit. Yes, that certainly won't sow any sibling rivalry..." She turned her attention to Lorna, though she certainly kept Magneto in view. "Are you ready to go home?"

Words couldn't describe how much Lorna was glad to see her sister. Lorna was sure anyone could hear her heart beating as it was filling her own ears. "Yes." She said without hesitation and quickly ran over to Wanda. "But Alex is here and it looks like he isn't doing well." She moved her head to the TVs that were showing what looked to be a makeshift holding cell. "I need to find him before his powers causes an explosion." That would be bad.

Wonderful. "Yes, let's not have that happen," Wanda said, turning her full attention back to where Magneto was watching them carefully. She sighed and cursed tiredly in Rom, wondering at the terrible summer she was having. "Lorna does not wish to return back to your Brotherhood or that life. I suggest you respect that."

She didn't expect him to respect it, not after all he'd gone through to get her back.

Magneto did not move from where he stood, did not so much as turn his glance away from his daughters. But a massive filing cabinet flew across the room and settled in front of the doorway, blocking it like a member of the Queen's Guard. "No, Wanda, you were correct. A family reunion is long overdue. You will stay here as well."

Lorna looked over at the door as the cabinet now blocked her exit. "I don't want to be a prisoner. If I wanted to stay I would had never left in the first place." Feeling her temper started to rise. "We aren't children. We are adults. And adults should make their own decisions." And with that the metals in the room started to vibrate.

Wanda felt along the chaos lines, eyes locked on the man in front of her, and noted as they shifted and reacted to what Lorna was doing. She wasn't sure how Lorna and Magneto's powers interacted, if he could cancel her out or if they just played off each other. But with the right tweaks and pulls, Wanda started to enhance the damage Lorna had started. In just a matter of moments, the entire room was shaking and shuddering and parts of the ceiling started to cave in.

But, ultimately, that was for show. Wanda's real concentration lay immediately under her feet.

"Girls, please." Magneto remained still, and the room started to quiet down. Anyone with a sensitivity to electromagnetism would have been able to sense the rotating green magnetic fields darkening to a royal purple as Magneto claimed dominion over them, slowing the rotations. They would also be able to see a tube of sorts of rapidly spinning magnetic fields spring into existence between Magneto and his eldest daughter, which generated parallel fields. But it did not require any special ability to see the jagged blue-white lightning bolt that struck Wanda, as if she and Magneto were the two electrodes of a human Van de Graaff generator. "Do not make me do anything I will regret."

Lorna felt the change of energy in the air just as she saw parts of the ceiling caving in. She knew that was Wanda's doing, the ceiling caving in, and would given her sister time to do whatever she needed. "Then let us go." She stepped in front of her sister, Lorna could handle the lightning bolt that was being created by the electric energy. Concentrating harder, she tried pulled back at the magnetic fields as if she was in an shocking game of tug-of-war

Wanda blinked back the sting of tears as Lorna disrupted the lightning bolt. She knew it was only a taste of what Magneto could do, that it had been a warning and she ground her teeth. That had hurt and it had pissed her off. A large hole appeared in the ceiling overhead as she pressed her powers down, worming them through the wood under their feet. She was almost there ...

Magneto spared an ounce of effort to suspend the falling debris in midair so none of them would be crushed. Most of his concentration was directed at Lorna, though, undermining her struggle to regain control of the ambient magnetic fields. She was strong; she was his daughter, after all. But he was Magneto, Master of Magnetism. Even now, when he was unprepared to be at his strongest, he was a mighty force of nature. Electricity coursed over his body as he reached into the depths of his unfathomable power. The drawers from the filing cabinet that blocked the door came to his outstretched hands and, like clay, remodeled themselves into thick bands of steel with which he would restrain the two rebels.

She spared a glance at what remained of the filing cabinet and knew they were out of time. Wanda lunged forward, wrapped an arm around Lorna's waist and, with a surge of power, slammed her foot down as hard as she could on the weakest part of the floor. She felt pressure from behind her as the metal closed in but then the floor caved in and they were sent tumbling down into the room below.

"Shield!" Wanda yelled, unsure of what was below them.

Lorna knew that she wouldn't be able to stop the bands, she wasn't in control - no matter how hard she was pressing. When Wanda's arms came around them, Lorna gave one last push with the metal objects towards their father before she felt herself falling.

"Hold on." Lorna's hands came up to grab hold onto Wanda's arms as she slowed their descent down, with shields up and landed softly. "He is going to follow." Her eyes shot up to the hole in the ceiling.

Wanda's eyes followed and she turned back to Lorna. Gripping her gently by the shoulders, she gave her a gentle push. "Go," she said, shaking her hand when the younger woman started to argue. "No, you need to find Alex before his powers destroy the building or harm anyone. I will buy you as much time as you need."

Lorna nodded before hugging her sister, "I'll come back for you. And thank you." She pulled away before she broke out into a run in the direction of the makeshift holding cells.

Turning back, Wanda opened the flood gates to her powers. It wasn't the same kind of explosion that she'd let loose after Simon had died but it was more than she normally operated with. This, she thought, gazing up through the hole in the ceiling, was going to be the opposite of fun.

Fighting the Brotherhood Pt. II - PLACEHOLDER

Lorna finally finds Alex - and two seconds later everything goes to hell.

It was dark.

That was all Alex Summers really knew anymore. It was dark, and he hurt, and he was starving - they (whoever they were) gave him enough food to keep him alive, barely.

And it was dark.

He could hear the distant sounds of the fight, but none of it made sense to him. All he knew was the same constant that had been his life for...too long. He had no sense of time anymore.

But he knew one thing -- the energy had been building slowly (thanks to lack of sun) but steadily in him, and he didn't have much more time before he blew.

Hopefully he would take one of them with him at least.

Thanks to Wanda, Lorna had managed to escape the little family reunion and put her trust in Wanda to take care of the rest. She had to find Alex before it got worse - much worse. It seemed that most of the Brotherhood was occupy by her teammates and what looked to be other people from the mansion, the X-Men. Lorna passed by Rogue and then Sue but was not stopped as she ran down the hall until she came to a railing that lead down to where she knew the holding cells were.

Jumping over the side, she flew down the 30 feet and began her search. "Alex?" She checked the first one, but it was empty. "ALEX!" She turned to the other holding cells, her eyes were glowing white as she started to see the world around in magnetic and electrical energy. It was easier to spot where a living person was because their magnetic field around them were different.

Alex jerked up as the distant sound a familiar voice reached his ears. "Lor?" He muttered weakly, voice cracking and scratching against his dry throat. He shuffled against his bindings, trying to push himself up - only to tip forward and fall face-first into the floor. "Ow."

Lorna paused when she heard a faint sound of something falling to the floor. She turned her head and walked slowly around one cell to the next, the magnetic readings were very active around this one. "Alex..." She whispered and rushed over to the door and opened the little slot to look inside, allowing only a little bit of light in. "ALEX! Hold on...I'll get you out." She looked to see that one needed a key to open this lock - who needed a key anyways?
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>> >>> He was in complete darkness, what would happen if she just flooded him with sunlight? Shit. Gripping the lock she pulled it off as it melted to the floor. "Almost there..." She called out as she paused to rethink how she wanted to handle the situation.

"Lorna," Sue had seen her brunette teammate run off behind the cargo containers but had never expected her trying to rip a door off it's hinges. "Is it him? you found him?" It was easy to forget why they were actually here, to find her missing fiance.

"Do we need a li'l blunt force here?,". Rogue asked, coming up from behind. Adrenaline had been coursing all day, and now that she was so close to finding Alex, she could hardly bear it.

Motioning to Lorna and Sue, Rogue felt the door and gave a nod. "Alex," she called out, "step back, sugah, Ah'm gonna be knockin' this baby down." It wasn't that hard to push it -- one forceful nudge and the door was broken, sunlight splintering into the room

Alex blinked heavily, raising his head again. He'd heard Lorna's voice and...others? Who was with her?

Wait they were taking down the door?

"W-Wait--!" He called weakly, "don't--!"

"RUN!" She grabbed both Sue and Rogue to get them away from cell. "TAKE COVER!" Already pulling metal from the other cells to create a wall between Alex's cell and them.

Too late.

The metal walls between Alex and the outside world didn't do much to temper the explosion as he had hoped - the walls bent and twisted easily as the energy blew out of him from all sides, easily taking out everything in its wake.

It was fast -- only ten seconds before the last aftershocks faded away. But the damage was done.

A large metal wall came crashing down and Lorna emerged from the wreckage, holding her arm. Lorna had attempted to create a large enough wall but she didn't have time to pull the metals between them and the blast. It did take the bulk of the blast from Lorna, only leaving a few bruises, a bit of blood now dripping down her forehead, and a dislocated shoulder. "Alex..." She whispered as she took up into the air and flew over to where Alex laid. "Alex. I'm here now." She touched his face and bit her lip. "Rogue! We need to leave now. We need to get my sister and everyone else and leave."

Broken metal pieces flew towards her as it create a makeshift gurney, trying not to let the tears fall.

Alex gave a small groan -- the only indication that he was aware Lorna was anywhere near him. Any energy he might have had was gone. His head tilted a bit into Lorna's touch before he passed out completely.

The first thing Rogue noticed was she couldn't hear anything.

The second thing she noticed was that she was suddenly wet.‎ Surreptitiously checking that she did not in fact urinate herself, she nudged at Sue and pointed to her back. She'd take Sue's expression as fact.

The petite blonde was still a little dazed, she'd never felt anything like that before. She'd had to block the odd bullet, or even arrow, before and there had been one incident with a golf cart but that blast had been on a different magnitude altogether. It had felt something like being punched all over her body several time with a hot iron. Her skin was red and possibly steaming, she couldn't really tell through the tears she blinked away from her eyes as she turned to look at Rogue's back. The pain and tears were the reasons she'd give for her inability to mask her reaction as she normally did, "Oh my god Rogue," Sue's mouth fell open as a look equal parts disgust and sympathy flashed across her face, "your back it's..." her voice trailed off as she took in the sight of her friend's back, which had been left as a mess of blood and blisters by the explosions

Yup. It was as bad as it felt. Fantastic. Wincing, she did her best to shrug. "Not the first time, not the last time.". Noises slowly started to encroach on ‎the silence, accompanied by a high pitch ring. Looking around, she gave a low whistle. "That man of yours sure knows how to make an entrance," she said to Lorna. "Can ya lift him? Ah may be injured but Ah ain't down for the count yet. Gotta keep the adrenaline pumpin'."

Lorna carefully moved the gurney underneath him and then it floated off the ground. "Yes. I got him." She stood up, wincing at the pain in her shoulder before turning to her two teammates that were caught in the blast. "We need to get you guys medical attention." Looking around for any more signs of trouble but no Brotherhood faces showed nor friendly ones. "We need to go."

"I don't think we're the only people who need medical attention, you're not looking too hot either. But we got him, so we won right?" The blonde looked down at the man in the stretcher, reaching town to gently rest her hand on his forehead and his neck. Wincing at the touch against her skin she nodded at Lorna, "He looks stable at least," wincing as she took a step away from the stretcher, the skin on her feet as sensitive as the rest of her body. "I'll go first if you two want to bring him after," there was no way she could carry the stretcher, but she could at least act as a scout for the others.

"I've been through worse." Lorna shrugged it off as she walked over to them with Alex floating behind her. "We haven't won until we get far away. Their goal is me and they will use anyone of you to get to me. "However, I think the blast would had scared off any potential threats...and I no longer feel like playing nice girl."