X-Men Mission: Repent Harlequin, Said The Tick-Tock Man - log 8

[x-dominion.livejournal.com]

The X-Men team reaches their second last level, to find a maze of crushing traps.



"Another floor's worth of this and we're going arrive to rescue the hostages naked." Kane muttered, looking over the wealth of cuts in his leathers that had been left by the traps and the power armored defender below. They had just ripped down another hatch, moving to a few floors below their target. As Kane piled himself up, he was almost deafened by the cacophony of sound that struck him like a physical force.

All around him, massive gears turned and hydraulics hissed in between the thunderous sound of metal striking metal. Pistons of every size drove back and forth as round crushing wheels rotated at the end of moving cables and automated factory lines.

"I don't think we have to worry about getting cut here." Sooraya replied as she took in the heavy, moving objects. "This place looks like they want to squash us like ants. I can probably slip through, but that is not going to help you..." Studying the mechanisms more closely, she shook her head. "I should have studied more engineering..."

"For this place, I think studying more Super Mario would have helped more." Kane said, lifting up the rest one by one on to the floor. "Dust, you want to take point? You can drift through first, and I'll see if I can disable things along the path."

"No toadstools that I can see around here." Sooraya quipped before studying everything one last time. "I'll see if I can trigger as many of the traps as possible. If only the power source was in an accessible place..." She dissolved into her sand form and slipped between two large crushers, clearing the first obstacle.

"Let's not be too trigger happy. For all we know, some of this shit explodes." Kane said as he walked slowly behind her. The walls were groaning constantly under the crush of the machines.

Dust paused for a moment at the next obstacle, a set of hammers swinging back forth in a narrow area blocked of by concrete. The clangs of the hammers striking the walls reverberated around them. She could slip through, but for the others it would nigh impossible to cross. Looking up she 'spotted' the gears driving the hammers back and forth and she rushed up, surrounding the gears with a sand cloud as dense as she could make it and soon she felt the gears grind to a halt. The first hammer slowed down, then stopped swinging completely.

Kane stepped between and got a strong grip on the hammer. It took a few minutes, but he was able to break off the shaft, clearing the way for the others even if the machine started again.

"That was suspiciously easy. Can you see up ahead?"

Sooraya was about to move forward when a loud rumble sounded from above. The block on which the hammer and gears had been suspended was falling down! Pulling herself together as massively as possible, she hit Dominion full in the chest, attempting to fling him out of the way of the block...

His fast twitch muscles were already moving when Dust reached him and he was launched back like he'd been flung by a heavy force. The block smashed down with a fury, and he had to shield himself as shrapnel exploded out in all directions from the impact. It took a moment before he shook his head and stood up.

"Sooraya? Sooraya?" The cloud of sand had exploded, dispersing all over the floor. He didn't know her powers well enough to know how serious this could be.

Soon the sand start to move though and it pulled together to form Sooraya, her X-men uniform concealing around her as well. A little woozy, she shook her head a few times. "I'm okay. I just need a moment to gain my bearing... So let's assume there are two layers of traps everywhere?"

"I think it's safe to assume there isn't a thing in here that isn't a trap." Kane took the lead, moving through the corridor. Ahead, a series of doors set at a diagonal opened and closed intermittently in front of them. As they got close, the speed increased as did the power of the impact. "Fucking hell."

Sooraya had been looking forth between the first set of moving doors and the block that had nearly squashed them moments before. "If we can get the block between those doors, we can get a look at the inside of the trap. Think you can manage that?"

"Not at that speed. Can you disperse on the tracks? Slow them down a little?"

She eyed the quickly moving, noting the precision workmanship on the groves where the doors ran. "I can give it q shot, but it won't stop them for long." Sooraya warned Dominion before dissolving in her sand form once more and descending on the narrow groves. She focused on packing the groves as tightly as possible with sand and soon an harrowing moan sounded from the doors.

Kane timed the slowing doors, listening to the creaking metal as it tried to grind through the sand. As they moved back, he wedged himself between the first set, bracing his back against the one side and his legs on the other. As they tried to come forward again, he stiffened his body, using his strength to try and force them back. For a long moment, it looked like the Canadian was losing the battle. But the creaks turned into the grinding sound of metal on metal, and with a crack, the gearing mechanism broke and the doors stilled.

Sooraya gathered herself again and looked at the other doors. They had stopped, but some were stuck closed, while others could easily be slipped through. "I don't put it past this dude to put another trap after each of those doors. In fact..." She ducked down, picked up a piece of debris and tossed it through the next set of doors.

Immediately once the debris hit the floor, there was another sound of shrieking metal as a block of lead was released, settling on the what had obviously been a trigger plate in the floor. "I thought I had recognized that... We'll have to go around that one though."

"I think I can shift it, clear a bit more room." Kane said, manhandling the block further to one side. "I think I can see the end of this floor. There's an emergency shaft at the end of this hall."

Sooraya moved back and once Kane had the block pulled to the side, she quickly gestured the others. "Let's go. I don't know how long he can hold this..."

Glancing over the umpteenth number of far-too-elaborate death contraption she'd seen so far, Jean's face was grim. "Shadowcat, go ahead. Scion, can you please help me telekinetically takes some of the load off Dominion?" she said.

If they were all quick enough it should only be a matter of seconds to make their way across, and hopefully lessening the strain on everyone by working together. She'd rather Garrison not become red mist should something give out.

Julian rolled his head to the left and right, limbering up. Months ago, he would have cracked his knuckles, but a lot had happened since then. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he pushed out from himself, creating a barrier around them that pressed against the hallway's ceiling, walls and floor. He pushed the barrier forward and into the gap that Garrison was holding open. "In position, ready when you are, Doc," Julian opened his glowing eyes and looked to Jean.

Giving Julian a simple nod, Jean shored up the areas where Julian's barrier didn't hit. "Thank you. Let's move quickly," she said, her movements fast as she crossed the hallway. The walls seemed to groan and shudder around them, tense from the pressure exerted against them. Kitty glanced behind her at Jean and Julian. Forcing herself to concentrate, she slipped into phase, treading air next to Garrison. "I think I see the exit--should I bring up the rear and take someone with me?" She couldn't phase them all but perhaps she could buy a little extra time somehow for Dominion to hold the gap.

"Get ready to get me out of here before I get squashed." Kane re-braced himself. He could see the trap ahead shivering, just waiting to collapse on him. "Three, two - Scion, take the lead! Move!" He said as the walls suddenly pushed hard, almost staggering him.

Ignoring the bead of sweat rolling down the side of his face, Julian began to slowly move out of the trap, still applying the bulk of his concentration to preventing the crusher from flattening his boss. He hated to admit it, but Jean was doing more work than he was and, from what he could see, was doing so effortlessly. "Doc, you...coming?"

"Right behind you," came the reply from Jean. It was quick and clipped from urgency as Jean unconsciously lifted her hands to try to take up some more of the slack from Garrison telekinetically. She furrowed her brow, waiting near Garrison on standby.

"Dominion, go NOW!" she said as she sucked in a deep breath, prepared to hold up the full weight of the walls just long enough for him to slip out.

"Un, deux, tois..." He muttered and suddenly moved. It was rare that Kane tested the upper limits of his powers but in this case he moved so fast he blurred. Even with the great speed, the hammers smashed down millimeters behind him. He lay sprawled on the ground, muscles twitching from the sudden acceleration.

"Am I dead? I don't feel dead?"

Sooraya had received her human form, standing next to him. She poked his thigh with her foot and dryly commented: "You look pretty alive to me." Reaching down, she offered him her hand. "Let's go see what else they can throw at us..."