xp_logs | X-men Mission: Riding the Nightmare

Dominion and Marvel Girl work to protect the crowd.

There were way too many people on the street for what time it was. Some were wise and hurried out of the path of the thundering creature... others were not so wise and stood there gawking or even attempting to get closer. Sirens sounded and a squad car came through, screeching through a halt. The officers inside stared before pulling out their weapons. One pulled out a megaphone and his voice sounded loud through the street: "Halt!!! Release the force field and hold your hands away from your body?"

Taking cover nearby to maintain the element of surprise, Jean eyed the police, then the mound of rubble that had been left by the massive horse. "I sense people still alive in the rubble. Any heavy vibrations from the horse's footsteps could shift the debris and crush them if it gets too close. We need to get the police to back off without further riling up the girl. Any ideas? I can keep the rubble stable but not for long."

"Yeah, but they aren't good ones." Kane said. He reached down and picked up a small chunk of rubble. With careful aim, he let it fly. The rock struck the megaphone like a buzzsaw, causing it to explode sideways in a thousand tiny pieces. The cop dropped the handle in shock, just as Kane came around behind them both. When they turned, his hand moved in a blur, snatching both service weapons out of their hands.

"Sorry to do this, guys, but we have a situation here. There's people trapped in the rubble and these aren't going to help against that horse."

"Holy shit! Holy shit! Ally, it's one of those guys from SHIELD!"

"Wait, really? You are?"

"... yes, yes I am from SHIELD. You need to coordinate units keeping people back from this thing, and have emergency teams assembling while we free the people who are trapped."

"Yes sir!" The female officer clicked on her handset. "This is Car 28. I need a cordon set up along Elm and Sheridan. We're going to need fire and medical down here." Kane left them to organize and went back to Jean.

Jean tried not to wince at Garrison's lie but went along with it. It helped clear the area but they would have some explaining to do should SHIELD <i>actually </i> decide to show up. She hoped they got stuck in traffic or their super fancy airplane was low on fuel if the girl's rampage managed to get on their radar. It meant they had to work fast. But fast wasn't always the easiest thing to do in these types of situations.

"There's one person here," she said, motioning to an area a few feet away after surveying the rubble. "And two over here grouped together. Once we get this wall off the first one should be easy since she's right there. The other two are a little trickier. One's leg is pinned by the rubble so we'll need to be careful, otherwise he might lose it."

"Here. If you can telekinetically brace the rubble, I'll get the top layer off." Kane said and waited for her go sign before reaching down and grabbing the brick wall. Fortunately, it was still mostly whole, allowing him to slowly raise it up as a single piece and move it off the pile. The problem was that right under it were chunks of torn up concrete, precariously placed.

"I can't brute force these ones."

Once the wall was lifted, the muffled screams for help and cries of pain became louder. Already keeping the rubble stable, Jean let out a breath, then nodded to Garrison.

"I'll take care of it. Just be ready to grab when I tell you. The man with the trapped leg will be last. We're going to need a stretcher."

Glancing back down to the debris, she focused in on where the victims were located, then gently began to move the pieces of concrete that were on top of the easiest person to access, the scrape of rock and gravel echoing.

Suddenly a hint of movement was seen from underneath, as a hand reached up from under the rubble.

"Dominion, go now."

Kane reached down, drawing up the teenager from the concrete tomb. In the space, he could see the other two and carefully dropped into the hole. Using his shoulders and legs to brace the rubble, he pulled up the woman to the street and then took hold of the massive chunk of rubble on the man's leg.

"Alright Doc, I've got the rubble. Get him up there as soon as I say." Kane said as he grasped the edge of the rubble. It was a massive shard, right at the upper limit of his strength. He strained against the side of the hole as he lifted, realizing that a whole section of the building's HVAC was still weighing on it. It came up slowly, inch by inch, and his arms and back screaming white hot pain to his spine. With gritted teeth, he finally had it up far enough to let the leg clear.

~Jeannie, now!~ He thought blasted her, directing it how they'd been trained to catch the attention of a telepath.

If Jean hadn't been prepared for it she might've flinched, but as it stood she was ready, and carefully started to slip the man out like it were a game of Operation. Unfortunately the man was conscious enough to be aware he was suddenly floating and began to flail.

"Argh...oh my god, what's going---Ahh!" he said, before abruptly falling unconscious due to a small telepathic nudge.

With a heavy frown and shaky breath, Jean gently put the man on a nearby stretcher. I hate doing that. I hate doing that. I hate doing that.

"I've got him. There should be no one else. You can come out now."

"Nrg..." The groan was all she got from Kane as he strained against the rubble. Beneath him, the concrete cracked and gave way, and the Canadian disappeared in a cloud of stone dust. Rubble poured into the hole, smashing down with shocking finality. There was only the creaking of metal and brick as the now filled in hole shuddered and all movement stopped. There was a long silent moment before a few feet away, a manhole cover suddenly jumped in the air and spun a few times like a giant coin and crashed into the pavement. Kane pulled himself out of the hole, caked in mud.

"Guess where the sewer line ran under?" He muttered, grimacing in distaste at the filth.

Jean's nose reflexively curled, and she covered her hand with her mouth to keep from laughing after getting over the initial shock.

"God, you scared the hell out of me for a minute there," she said, shaking her head as she unconsciously gave him a cursory once over to check for injuries. For a moment there she was about to call in reinforcements to dig him out. She nodded toward the chaos.

"Come on, Leonardo. We should get back to the others."