X-Men Mission: Repent Harlequin, Said The Tick-Tock Man - log 6

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

The X-Men face off with a bizarre suited man at the end of the floor.



The transition from the smooth and chilly surfaces of the last level couldn't have been more stark. Instead of the deadly clear walls and thin, almost surgical blades, this level was a nightmare of rusted, twisted metal. Sharp edges, spikes and jagged metal stuck out from the walls.

"Jesus. I hope everyone got their tetanus shot." Kane said lowly, moving carefully between the metal. In the background, they could make out slow moving fans and industrial engines turning equally haphazard and jagged blades.

"I can phase someone else with me...maybe two, but yeah. I'd watch your step," Kitty said. She forced herself to remain substantial long enough to offer her hand to the group, wondering who would take it. "Anyone got a plan for disabling those things? The ones up ahead?"

"Depending how rusted though the blades are, I can probably snap of some of the sharpest parts. But..." Sooraya surveyed the level closely for a moment. "If Kitty and I can find a path, would you be able to protect yourself from the blades... Dominion, your skin and Scion and the doc... maybe with a TK forcefield? That'd be faster then trying to disable everything?"

Jean rubbed her temple. She had a headache. It had started awhile back, a steady bum, bum, bum that seemed to move in chorus with the way the blades and spikes moved in and out. She glanced up when Sooraya asked the question, silent for a couple of moments, then nodded.

"I'll do what I can."

At least the blades were tangible, easier to direct the forcefield to push against, unlike the other areas. She glanced to Julian.

"Are you okay to work together, Scion?"

Julian abruptly nodded and lowered the mental blocks he kept in place, allowing Jean into his mind to help coordinate their efforts. "You've got it, Doc," his shields sprang back to life, filling in the gaps in Jean's over-extended fields. "Let me know when you want me to take point, okay?"

They moved as a unit, slowly easing through as blades snapped against the force shield. Dust's semi-solid state let her set off the traps, blades passing harmlessly through the sandy composition of her form. Jean's neural connection helped both her and Julian tap into Kane's enhanced reflexes, using it to help identify blades as they spun out. Finally, the path ended, leaving them dropped into a central space. It was ringed with rusted razor wire and towers of sharpened junk.

"I must applaud you for getting past the traps of blades and wires. However, I am afraid this is as far as you go." A voice emerged before silence followed. It was a long couple of seconds before spinning blades hurdled towards the small group.

"Duck!" Kitty screamed. She phased just seconds before a blade spun through her abdomen. Gasping, she looked over to see if she had called the warning in time.

Sooraya dove in front of the others, sand pulling together to form a barrier. The blades fell to the ground with an innocent tinkling. She resumed her human form and called out:

"Show yourself. Only cowards hide like this."

The blades started to vibrate before they shot back in the direction that they came. No answer came from Sooraya's taunting only the sounds of what sounded like the room started to come alive. The rusted razor wires and sharpened junk started to spin before they moved. "Come find me." The blades shot out again but this time came from different angles.

Kane grabbed a plate of metal from the floor, using it to block a wire that nearly took his head off at eye level. "I don't see where they're being controlled from!"

Kitty saw a spinning disc come screaming toward her. She phased, feeling a slight swoosh of air right before the blade slashed through the space where her neck had been. Feeling green as she thought of the others, all without her powers, Kitty fought the urge to look back and instead began walking forward. Her eyes scanned the room, looking at each tower of razor wire and jutting blades.

Another pile of shrapnel came shooting toward her. She ignored it and pushed on, so close to one tower now that she could have reached out and touched it if she had gone substantial. It shifted, moving ever so slightly as another blade sprang out. Then it came to her.

Is he in this room? Under one of the piles? As the thought came to her, she hesitated, afraid to voice it outright. She turned around, touching her temple as she stared at Jean, hoping she would understand. Jean, is he underneath all of this? Can you tell?

Furrowing her brow, Jean reached out her mind, like little psionic fingers peeling away all the layers of the armor (figuratively, of course), searching for the one bit of organic among the lot. After a few moments her eyes flickered back to Kitty, and she nodded.

Near the middle, slightly to the left.

Holding herself steady, Kitty edged toward the middle, darting and dodging as the blades came at her. She focused her gaze on the piles of trash and sharp edges.

Then suddenly, as she reached her hand out, going solid to grab their tormentor, it shifted.

A blade sprang out at her. Kitty yanked her fingers away but the knife grazed her palm before she could phase. Blood dripped between her fingers as she went insubstantial, stumbling back as the heap of jagged steel and twisted metal began to roll and shift, coming toward her.

"Does it ever end?" Sooraya shifted yet again and moved closer to the heap of junk. Rushing forward suddenly she covered it, probing and searching for an entrance to it's inner workings. The sharp edges didn't hurt her and finally she found a small piece plastic where an opening seemed to hide behind. Speeding up a small whirlwind of herself, she drilled through the plastic, gaining access to it's innards.

His systems told him that something was making holes through his suit. Flipping a switch to raise the temperature as the metal started to turn red from the increase heat. "Not this time, dust bunny." The pile of harmless looking junk started to shift as a fearsome looking suit began to form, with steam pouring out as the temperature continued to rise.

"Oh yeah, that doesn't look terrifying at all." Kane said, backing up slowly.

Kitty backed up. For a second, she went solid. The sudden heat was enough to trigger her reflexes and she phased again, toeing back swiftly to avoid the steam.

"Oh, I don't know. I think you can take him," she shot back at Kane. The truth was, she wasn't sure how any of them were going to make it out of this place with the others. Each trap seemed worse than the last.

Sooraya ignored the heat though. Silicon dioxide, which was what she made of in this form, did not melt below 1700 degrees Celsius. Even if lower temperatures could damage her, they were still beyond the point the metals could be heated before they lost their strength. Now if she could just find the source of the heat and cut it off.

Jean saw the blood running down Kitty's hand. It was the drops of red on the floor she spotted first, really, since black leather hid the sight of blood frustratingly well (making it hard for her to determine the severity of wounds). She didn't have time to see to it while they were in the middle of a battle, but filed it away for later. If there was a later. Right now it just felt perpetually pushing a rock up a hill.

What was your plan before? I can try to find him again. she thought to Kitty.

I don't know... Short circuit him? Can you tell the others? Kitty edged closer, fighting the urge to shudder.

There... She had push herself through a small hole and she finally found a vent that seemed not as hot as the rest around her... The driver must have some way to stay cool... some kind of airco. Sooraya lashed out with a sharp tendril and and a blast of cool air blew past her. Following the tube upwards she ended up a very small cockpit and immediately lashed out with a thick tendril of sand, cocking the driver in the head.

"Fucking dust bunny." He moved his head out of the way and reached over to press a button.

"Self destruct in 10 seconds. 10...9..."

"Self- oh hell..." Kane turned and cupped his hands beside his mouth. "Predator here just activated a bomb. Let's move!"

Sooraya hesitated for a long moment, not wanting to leave the man to this death, even though he probably had hurt dozens of people, but finally she spiraled out, finding the quickest path out the thing and rushed towards the exit she could see, tiny tendrils of sand floating behind her and poking her teammates along.

Jean glanced over her shoulder. It was as if she were reading Sooraya's mind, but she had the same thought.

First do no harm.

"Go, go! I'll---" The seconds counted down. Even if she got there, there was no time to get back. Her shields couldn't contain the blast.

=Her breath heaving, she felt a stab of guilt plunge it's way into her heart as she kept running. She couldn't stop it. They couldn't stop it.

"...5...4..."

Julian hesitated, wondering if he'd be able to block the blast with a barrier, but as he saw the more powerful telekinetic turning to flee he decided that it would be best not to find out. As he ran he tried to ping everyone's location, and throw up a barrier behind them as he ran, hoping what little protection it would afford would be worth the sacrifice in speed.

"...3...2..."

Sooraya dissolved into her sand form, rushing above Julian and Jean, but still within the level of the barrier.

"...1...0..."

At the back, Kane hunched his shoulders as the thunderclap of the explosion hit behind him. The heat had already toughened up his skin. But the explosion walloped him solidly, skidding along a few feet. The barriers held the rest of the explosion, and save for a few tears in the uniform, everyone looked unhurt.

Kitty glanced back at the devastation. What else lies in wait? But she was with the X-Men now and it was time for action, not introspection.

She gritted her teeth against the fear and said, "Let's move."