Poor Unfortunate Souls - Les Poissons
Apr. 17th, 2018 08:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsBevatron and Darcy-Still-Needs-A-Codename fight guards with a compelling voice and conductive voltages - and discover just what has happened to Scott's father.
Just because Jean-Phillipe had gotten the hang of swimming as a part-eel...thing...did not mean he had to like it one bit. He would have been complaining more, except for the need to not necessarily announce their presence to the entire ocean or something? How the hell was he supposed to know how voices worked with this ritual and being underwater? But with the alarm having clearly been raised, he was free to express himself at length in chopped-off French swearwords.
Darcy raised one... antennae as angry swears tumbled through the water. "I'd say sure, announce our presence... but I think they know we're here. How the hell do fish MOVE?" She scrunched awkwardly behind Jean-Phillipe, lurching through the ocean water. At least her hair wasn't in her eyes, but not having legs to propel forward was really awkward.
"Aggressively not thinking about it seems to be working reasonably well for me," Jean-Phillipe retorted. Granted, he couldn't avoid the situation entirely, but the less he thought about the precise mechanics of how to swim with a (insert increasing amounts of guttural profanity here) tail, the more smoothly he seemed to be able to maneuver with it. "And yes, they are aware we are here, that is what the screaming is about," he added icily. "The question is what to do about it." His power was more under control than when the change had first hit, but he'd still need to be close to affect any of these...whatever the hell they were.
Not thinking about it was easier said than done. "Guess we can't ask them to nicely leave us the fuck alone and do their evil squid thing elsewhere? Plan B, fry some evil fish. But not ourselves." Darcy's movement got smoother as she slowly trailed behind Jean-Phillipe. "What the hell are those?" she yelped as they came across the first of a set of guards.
"Fish for the fry," Jean-Phillipe muttered. He darted forward, hands outstretched. "Would you like to ask them nicely to leave us alone?" he continued sarcastically. Given their warlike stance, he doubted it would work.
It probably wouldn't work, but... "Heeeeeeey you magnificent specimens from under the sea. What say you go grab some sushi and forget you ever saw us?" Darcy asked. And Gran said she couldn't be polite, pfft. The guards shifted menacingly, and Darcy frowned. "Maybe you could find a nice current and have a sauna day instead?" she gulped.
Would the concept of sauna really translate? Jean-Phillipe had no idea. "Perhaps they do not speak our language," he observed, attempting to loom threateningly. The effect was somewhat reduced by his unfamiliarity with his replacement lower body. His hands crackled with electricity - this was certain to end in a fight.
Behind the Lemureans, in a imposing stance, was Corsair. Unlike the others, he was fully transformed into an amphibian like-man, however his head and eyes were covered by a squid-like creature. He didn't move as the Lemurean made their move against the intruders. They moved fast, not paying much mind to the electricity that was sparking from one of the intruder's hand or the danger that it presented to them in the very near future. Consair stood back and allowed the guards to do their job.
Darcy noticed the amphibi-man standing solitary in the back. "That squid hat seems to be fashion from the deep this season," she called out to Jean-Phillipe. "Vous êtes confortable et chaud dans votre lit, mon cher. S'il te plait, va te faire foutre." Maybe they'd understand the French where the English had failed and at least get lethargic?
Strangely, as Darcy repeated herself in several different languages, the mer-...things began to swim away, somewhat lackadaisically and a bit confused. It was almost as if the language didn't actually matter, and the intent of Darcy's words were what was causing them to...
"Can you bring them back in close?" Jean-Phillipe asked her abruptly.
"Sure... well, I can try." Darcy focused on getting the fishmen to circle up, "Hey fish dudes, I've got some uh... high quality sushi in a keg for you, just come in and get it!" She bobbed a bit side to side as they started rounding up. "Think that's close enough?"
"D'accord." If the Lemurians had had all their faculties about them, they would have recognized the threat in Jean-Phillipe's aquatic physiology - something in the ritual had piggybacked off his mutation as similar enough to an electric eel and...furthered the similarities. But Darcy's insistent murmurings had their opponents in something of a daze, and so Jean-Phillipe was able to grab two by the forearms and, pushing them into the others to form a sort of chain, unleash a large amount of electricity that pushed that daze over into unconsciousness.
SquidCorsair took the opportunity and rushed both of them but stopped short before dropping blow and kicking up the sand that litter the floor. He knew that he had to move if he was going to take out these potential threats, especial the male. What better way of getting the fight to favor you than to have your environment tailor to your ideal situation. He was quick as he kept the sand up.
"Oh hell no, Squidsair, I did not come here to be treated with the glitter of the damn ocean!" Darcy choked out as the sand flew up. She focused intently on the idea of Corsair doing the Macarena, feet firmly in place. Dance to that, squidlboy. "Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría why cosa buena, dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena. Hey Macarena!"
The squid over his head wrapped tightly around Corsair's head, it wouldn't be beat by a siren's call. At the end of her words, and the dust was almost settled. Corsair was in a position to bone rush Darcy, hoping to take her out and be less distracting. It was proving that it would take more than a call to finish him off.
If he had only faced Darcy, the elder Summers and the controlling mollusk on his head might have been able to overpower her. But Jean-Phillipe's power didn't need to be heard to be felt. The Frenchman darted forward through the silt, his arms wide to try and gain some sort of hold on the man. Electricity snapped around him as he did so - even a near miss would still be effective.
He swam up as he felt his body jerked from the electricity in the water. Picking up one of the Lemurean poles with his foot and catching it with his hands he turned to face the two. Gritting his teeth and trying not to think of the pain that was still surging through his body, Corsair got back into a defensive position. It appeared that he wasn't willing to surrender easily.
Well, shock and sing seemed to make them pass out before, so Darcy was willing to try it again. "Go to sleep you fishy man. Go to sleep you fishy man. You and me and the shock makes three so pass out now my little fishy." she crooned, hoping JP would send another shock through Corsair.
The squid-thing again went to cover Chris Summers' ears, as if it understood the threat that Darcy posed. But each time it did, Scott's father had to pause his movement, as if the squid could control its movement or its host's, but not both at the same time. Jean-Phillipe was ready for the opening this time, and his hand grabbed Corsair around the base of the skull, right where a tentacle was pressed against his neck. Current arced, and the man and the sea creature both flailed about uncontrollably, as if the feedback between them had amplified Jean-Phillipe's power's effect.
Jean-Phillipe looked at the injured man as he swam frantically away from the pair, but held his position
"Scott is going to kill me," he sighed.
Scarlet Witch and Nightcrawler are attacked by a regally and terrifingly transformed Jean Grey. She tries to defeat them with temptation, heartbreak and cannonballs.
The waves churned above them as Jean glided along the ocean floor, her pallid, greenish grey skin caught by the light of the moon. Her red hair was the only remnant of what used to be, and what remained was a graceful, yet terrifying creature that resembled something like a cross between an eel and a jellyfish. Her features were distorted by something that looked like a squid that covered her face, its tendrils shoved down her throat and nostrils. The tendrils pulsated with life as black, inky eyes surveyed the seascape.
Intruders.
~You dare come here? You shall feel Lemurean wrath for entering this territory.~
Kurt stared at her for a split second in horror, glanced at Wanda, then back to Jean.
"Something was taken from us", he returned. "We have come to claim it."
A shiver ran down Wanda's spine at the sight of her friend turned into ... that. They were all transformed, yes, but there was something beyond that in Jean. Her hand unconsciously went to touch the tentacles that her hair had turned into. No, her own transformation was nothing like the one forced on Jean.
Clenching her jaw, she swam slightly closer though was careful to keep a good distance for the moment. "I would rather like my friend to come back without that ridiculous new headdress," she said flatly. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to do that peacefully, would you?"
Jean's black eyes regarded Wanda and Kurt coldly. ~Peace? I've been shown the way. Everything will soon belong to Lemuria,~ she said, lifting her head proudly. . She spread her palms wide. The ocean floor rippled, and a trio of soldiers floated up from the sands, having been hidden in them.
~Bow, and be subjugated . Or resist, and perish. Your choice.~ Jean said.
"It is not a choice at all", Kurt said quietly. "Not for us."
While the spell had done nothing to impact her powers, the ocean was playing some havoc with them. Things shifted and changed slightly with every moment, every wave. It wouldn't make using her powers impossible but it added another layer of concern. Especially if Wanda ended up fighting Jean - no, she realized, there was no if to that statement. Gritting her teeth, she forced the tail that replaced her legs to move in a powerful motion, sending her gliding towards her friend. The space around her blazed in muted reds as she activated her powers as a shield against the telepathy.
There was still some things that Jean remembered, such as what these people could do. There was a time she considered them her friend, but these things blinded her from the truth. There was only the will of the mistress. If they didn't come with her willingly, they were now her enemy. Caring was weakness. She could sense the chaos coming from Wanda, who was rapidly headed her way. She was not bowing.
~Perish, then~ Jean said, her black eyes narrowing. as she kicked up a flurry of sand to try to blind Wanda, then aimed a telekinetic blast her way with enough force to break bones. She turned toward the soldiers, pointing towards Kurt.
~ATTACK!~
The soldiers rushed toward Kurt, stabbing a trident at him while the other armed a bolo at him, the goal to tangle his arms up.
Jean might have been aware of what Kurt could do but her soldiers obviously weren't. Before either weapon could touch him, he was behind them, striking out at their heads.
Blinded and choking on sand, the way the strings in her mind flared and shifted were the only warnings Wanda received that something far worse was coming her way. Everything was in flux and danger was everywhere, so she did the only thing she could think of.
She dove, using her brand new, powerful tail to shove her towards the bottom of the ocean. It saved her, barely, as she felt the powerful wave of TK barely miss her but she was still floundering in the water, off balance.
The wreckage of a sunken ship loomed in the distance, and cannon balls from its cannon, having been in the water longer than they had been alive (and then some), shot toward Wanda, as well as Kurt while he was distracted fighting the soldiers.
As Kurt struck the soldiers, one was hit, while the other managed to duck, swiping at him with his trident as he shouted something in a foreign tongue.
He was still quicker than them, dodging the trident and grabbing for it, trying to pull it out of the soldier's hand.
Wanda's powers screamed danger and she turned, much faster in the water than she would have been on land, and let loose a crackling wave of entropic energy. The energy met the cannonballs, disrupting their very existence in one case - one of them simply disintegrated into rust. But the other exploded before it could get closer to Wanda, though two guards weren't so lucky.
Turning, Wanda glared in the direction of the thing controlling her friend and continued on.
There was a certain beauty in distraction. It was all calculation. While Wanda was busy with her own obstacles, and Kurt had thought he'd gotten the upper hand on their soldiers, Jean struck. As Kurt grabbed the trident, Jean seized control of his mind, blowing through his barriers. He was now her puppet. But not for long, as she decided. Best to put him out of his misery. He and Wanda were too much of a threat.
Jean made Kurt position the trident toward his throat. Then, she thrust it upward.
As the tips of the trident neared Kurt's throat, they disintegrated in a flash of red and iron. The corruption ran from the metal down through the handle faster than thought could follow, chewing through the dangerous weapon and turning it into a disintegrating mess. Wanda floated near by, the water red around her, and her heart slightly in her throat as it had only been chance that she had seen the attack out of the corner of her eye.
Twisting back to face Jean, her expression hardened. "Enough." And she reached out, not as gracefully as she would like considering the circumstances, and honed in on the red tendrils of chaos that leaked out where Jean ended and the creature began. Mentally, she started to pull, hoping to disrupt the connection enough to let Jean come back to herself. But they were intricately tied together and she knew the wrong tug would injure her friend just as quickly as the thing that controlled her.
It might not have physically injured Jean but it certainly hurt.
Jean let out a mental scream of pain that echoed (or tried to echo) through her mouth.
For a moment, her eyes fluttered and even flashed green with a hint of gold. The world came rushing back, and it was still as Jean remembered it when she had been pulled under---except Wanda and Kurt were there....as mermaids?
~What....?~ she said, looking at the two of them with bewilderment.
But before she could think another word, her bewilderment turned to horror as the squid reasserted control and she was yanked back under, her body trembling uncontrollably with what looked like a seizure before she opened her eyes again.
~You'll regret that.~
And with, she encased Wanda into a telekinetic bubble without water, or air, knowing that she needed either one right about now to survive, while lashing out at Kurt with a telekinetic blast to try to disorient him. Perhaps she was feeling vengeful.
Kurt was knocked back, but recovered quickly, twisting in the water to get back to where he had been. A glance at Wanda told him the trouble she was in, and he barrelled straight at Jean without hesitation, aiming to break her concentration and make her drop the bubble.
Encased in a bubble of nothing, Wanda lay on the bottom of the TK encasement, unable to move, unable to breath. Holding her breath didn't seem to be working, the gills that were now on her neck were trying in vain to find any sort of water around them. But there was none. Spots danced before her eyes as she pressed herself harder against the bubble and shoved with both hands and powers, pressing against the prison even as her body screamed in panic.
The 'walls' started to turn a pinkish color but Jean's strength was made stronger by the creature controlling her and Wanda was working against a short clock.
Staring at Wanda's vain attempts to try to break free and the panic on her face, Jean felt something...unpleasant stirring within her. A sense of wrongness. But before she could address it, Kurt had tackled her, causing her to skid across the ocean floor and kick up sand.
The bubble popped.
Jean flipped Kurt over, raking her claws against his arms and back as she tried to throw him off of her.
~You never quit, do you? Your allegiance to your friend will get you killed. Why do you care? The world would call you demon. Or they would if they saw you on the street. You should just give in. I may make it painless.~
"The world does call me demon", he retorted, clinging on despite the pain. "But I know who and what I am, and I will not abandon a friend."
He wasn't only talking about Wanda.
The squid's tentacles twitched around her mouth as Jean regarded him with her black eyes, looking completely inhuman.
~We all know why, right?~ she said, keeping her distance for the moment as she swam around him.
~Why you try so hard...~
She cocked her head to the side, parroting the words Kurt had no doubt turned over and over in his mind back for him to hear in Jubilee's voice.
~'I can’t be who I need to be and love you. I’m sorry.'~
She let the words hang there for a moment, then spoke with her own.
~Because no one will ever love you. How could they? They'll realize it before it's too late. You're a waste. And you know it...~ she said gently, like a mother talking to a child.
~You're in pain. I can take it away. Just give in, Kurt.~
He flinched at the reminder of those words, and Jean's own, but didn't back down.
"I would rather be free and in pain, than a slave with none."
As preoccupied as they both were, they failed to notice Wanda moving back towards them. She kept her distance, though, as she considered her options. The ocean made things difficult, changed things constantly, and was filled with danger. But it wasn't just the ocean that was a danger, it was just the most visible one. Reaching out, Wanda grabbed the least dangerous of the dark, twisted threads that stretched down, past Jean and Kurt, past the guards and deep into the sediment that covered the ocean floor.
And something that shouldn't have shifted for another decade, if not longer, lurched with the intrusion. It slammed against the other plate and sent a shock wave through the water, shoving aside all that stood, or swam, above it.
Even a minor earthquake was still a force of nature when one was right on top of it.
Even without feet to touch the ground - perhaps especially, as he couldn't brace himself - Kurt was bowled over by the sudden wave, helplessly swept away until it weakened enough to resist.
Jean was blown backward by the force of the earthquake, throwing her focus off Kurt. As she turned her attention back to Wanda, she realized her powers were down....which meant her mind was open.
Locking eyes with Wanda, Jean quickly wormed her way in. She was the bigger threat at the moment, and she was vulnerable. Naturally, Jean had to strike.
~I was wrong. Perhaps...you might be of use alive. After all, being the child of an elder god...You're already corrupted.~ She smiled, or would've had there not been a squid there.
~Wouldn't you like the power to rule? They can give it to you. Like they did to me. We can do it together. Join us. It only hurts a moment.~
She was lying, but the rest was true.
Everything felt heavy as Jean drifted closer to her and her mental powers dug deeper into Wanda's mind. A spark of her powers and she could cast out the telepathic presence but it was so hard to think past the thoughts the other was planting into her mind. The suggestion tugged at the parts of her mind that knew she was corrupted by Chthon's influence, changed in ways she was still discovering. It drove spikes into parts of her that were ruthless, encouraged them to be something more than what she was.
It was offering her power to rule. A tempting offer.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and something wicked and sharp flashed in them. ~Who says I don't already have that kind of power?~ she mentally sent back followed verbally by "Fuck you."
She was able to lunge forward because the creature was so focused on her mind that it had forgotten to tamp down on her body. Even with water slowing her movements, her sharp right hook into Jean's nose (and squid) was fast enough to drive the creature back and out of her mind.
Pain.
Well, that was unexpected.
Jean flew backward, knocked for a loop. She saw stars, and she didn't like that. Especially because that made things....topsy turvy. She felt herself start to slip.
And for that, Wanda would die by her hand. Bloody, beaten, and broken.
She would show her true power.
Clenching her fists, the ground started to rumble.
Just because Jean-Phillipe had gotten the hang of swimming as a part-eel...thing...did not mean he had to like it one bit. He would have been complaining more, except for the need to not necessarily announce their presence to the entire ocean or something? How the hell was he supposed to know how voices worked with this ritual and being underwater? But with the alarm having clearly been raised, he was free to express himself at length in chopped-off French swearwords.
Darcy raised one... antennae as angry swears tumbled through the water. "I'd say sure, announce our presence... but I think they know we're here. How the hell do fish MOVE?" She scrunched awkwardly behind Jean-Phillipe, lurching through the ocean water. At least her hair wasn't in her eyes, but not having legs to propel forward was really awkward.
"Aggressively not thinking about it seems to be working reasonably well for me," Jean-Phillipe retorted. Granted, he couldn't avoid the situation entirely, but the less he thought about the precise mechanics of how to swim with a (insert increasing amounts of guttural profanity here) tail, the more smoothly he seemed to be able to maneuver with it. "And yes, they are aware we are here, that is what the screaming is about," he added icily. "The question is what to do about it." His power was more under control than when the change had first hit, but he'd still need to be close to affect any of these...whatever the hell they were.
Not thinking about it was easier said than done. "Guess we can't ask them to nicely leave us the fuck alone and do their evil squid thing elsewhere? Plan B, fry some evil fish. But not ourselves." Darcy's movement got smoother as she slowly trailed behind Jean-Phillipe. "What the hell are those?" she yelped as they came across the first of a set of guards.
"Fish for the fry," Jean-Phillipe muttered. He darted forward, hands outstretched. "Would you like to ask them nicely to leave us alone?" he continued sarcastically. Given their warlike stance, he doubted it would work.
It probably wouldn't work, but... "Heeeeeeey you magnificent specimens from under the sea. What say you go grab some sushi and forget you ever saw us?" Darcy asked. And Gran said she couldn't be polite, pfft. The guards shifted menacingly, and Darcy frowned. "Maybe you could find a nice current and have a sauna day instead?" she gulped.
Would the concept of sauna really translate? Jean-Phillipe had no idea. "Perhaps they do not speak our language," he observed, attempting to loom threateningly. The effect was somewhat reduced by his unfamiliarity with his replacement lower body. His hands crackled with electricity - this was certain to end in a fight.
Behind the Lemureans, in a imposing stance, was Corsair. Unlike the others, he was fully transformed into an amphibian like-man, however his head and eyes were covered by a squid-like creature. He didn't move as the Lemurean made their move against the intruders. They moved fast, not paying much mind to the electricity that was sparking from one of the intruder's hand or the danger that it presented to them in the very near future. Consair stood back and allowed the guards to do their job.
Darcy noticed the amphibi-man standing solitary in the back. "That squid hat seems to be fashion from the deep this season," she called out to Jean-Phillipe. "Vous êtes confortable et chaud dans votre lit, mon cher. S'il te plait, va te faire foutre." Maybe they'd understand the French where the English had failed and at least get lethargic?
Strangely, as Darcy repeated herself in several different languages, the mer-...things began to swim away, somewhat lackadaisically and a bit confused. It was almost as if the language didn't actually matter, and the intent of Darcy's words were what was causing them to...
"Can you bring them back in close?" Jean-Phillipe asked her abruptly.
"Sure... well, I can try." Darcy focused on getting the fishmen to circle up, "Hey fish dudes, I've got some uh... high quality sushi in a keg for you, just come in and get it!" She bobbed a bit side to side as they started rounding up. "Think that's close enough?"
"D'accord." If the Lemurians had had all their faculties about them, they would have recognized the threat in Jean-Phillipe's aquatic physiology - something in the ritual had piggybacked off his mutation as similar enough to an electric eel and...furthered the similarities. But Darcy's insistent murmurings had their opponents in something of a daze, and so Jean-Phillipe was able to grab two by the forearms and, pushing them into the others to form a sort of chain, unleash a large amount of electricity that pushed that daze over into unconsciousness.
SquidCorsair took the opportunity and rushed both of them but stopped short before dropping blow and kicking up the sand that litter the floor. He knew that he had to move if he was going to take out these potential threats, especial the male. What better way of getting the fight to favor you than to have your environment tailor to your ideal situation. He was quick as he kept the sand up.
"Oh hell no, Squidsair, I did not come here to be treated with the glitter of the damn ocean!" Darcy choked out as the sand flew up. She focused intently on the idea of Corsair doing the Macarena, feet firmly in place. Dance to that, squidlboy. "Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría why cosa buena, dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena. Hey Macarena!"
The squid over his head wrapped tightly around Corsair's head, it wouldn't be beat by a siren's call. At the end of her words, and the dust was almost settled. Corsair was in a position to bone rush Darcy, hoping to take her out and be less distracting. It was proving that it would take more than a call to finish him off.
If he had only faced Darcy, the elder Summers and the controlling mollusk on his head might have been able to overpower her. But Jean-Phillipe's power didn't need to be heard to be felt. The Frenchman darted forward through the silt, his arms wide to try and gain some sort of hold on the man. Electricity snapped around him as he did so - even a near miss would still be effective.
He swam up as he felt his body jerked from the electricity in the water. Picking up one of the Lemurean poles with his foot and catching it with his hands he turned to face the two. Gritting his teeth and trying not to think of the pain that was still surging through his body, Corsair got back into a defensive position. It appeared that he wasn't willing to surrender easily.
Well, shock and sing seemed to make them pass out before, so Darcy was willing to try it again. "Go to sleep you fishy man. Go to sleep you fishy man. You and me and the shock makes three so pass out now my little fishy." she crooned, hoping JP would send another shock through Corsair.
The squid-thing again went to cover Chris Summers' ears, as if it understood the threat that Darcy posed. But each time it did, Scott's father had to pause his movement, as if the squid could control its movement or its host's, but not both at the same time. Jean-Phillipe was ready for the opening this time, and his hand grabbed Corsair around the base of the skull, right where a tentacle was pressed against his neck. Current arced, and the man and the sea creature both flailed about uncontrollably, as if the feedback between them had amplified Jean-Phillipe's power's effect.
Jean-Phillipe looked at the injured man as he swam frantically away from the pair, but held his position
"Scott is going to kill me," he sighed.
Scarlet Witch and Nightcrawler are attacked by a regally and terrifingly transformed Jean Grey. She tries to defeat them with temptation, heartbreak and cannonballs.
The waves churned above them as Jean glided along the ocean floor, her pallid, greenish grey skin caught by the light of the moon. Her red hair was the only remnant of what used to be, and what remained was a graceful, yet terrifying creature that resembled something like a cross between an eel and a jellyfish. Her features were distorted by something that looked like a squid that covered her face, its tendrils shoved down her throat and nostrils. The tendrils pulsated with life as black, inky eyes surveyed the seascape.
Intruders.
~You dare come here? You shall feel Lemurean wrath for entering this territory.~
Kurt stared at her for a split second in horror, glanced at Wanda, then back to Jean.
"Something was taken from us", he returned. "We have come to claim it."
A shiver ran down Wanda's spine at the sight of her friend turned into ... that. They were all transformed, yes, but there was something beyond that in Jean. Her hand unconsciously went to touch the tentacles that her hair had turned into. No, her own transformation was nothing like the one forced on Jean.
Clenching her jaw, she swam slightly closer though was careful to keep a good distance for the moment. "I would rather like my friend to come back without that ridiculous new headdress," she said flatly. "You wouldn't happen to be willing to do that peacefully, would you?"
Jean's black eyes regarded Wanda and Kurt coldly. ~Peace? I've been shown the way. Everything will soon belong to Lemuria,~ she said, lifting her head proudly. . She spread her palms wide. The ocean floor rippled, and a trio of soldiers floated up from the sands, having been hidden in them.
~Bow, and be subjugated . Or resist, and perish. Your choice.~ Jean said.
"It is not a choice at all", Kurt said quietly. "Not for us."
While the spell had done nothing to impact her powers, the ocean was playing some havoc with them. Things shifted and changed slightly with every moment, every wave. It wouldn't make using her powers impossible but it added another layer of concern. Especially if Wanda ended up fighting Jean - no, she realized, there was no if to that statement. Gritting her teeth, she forced the tail that replaced her legs to move in a powerful motion, sending her gliding towards her friend. The space around her blazed in muted reds as she activated her powers as a shield against the telepathy.
There was still some things that Jean remembered, such as what these people could do. There was a time she considered them her friend, but these things blinded her from the truth. There was only the will of the mistress. If they didn't come with her willingly, they were now her enemy. Caring was weakness. She could sense the chaos coming from Wanda, who was rapidly headed her way. She was not bowing.
~Perish, then~ Jean said, her black eyes narrowing. as she kicked up a flurry of sand to try to blind Wanda, then aimed a telekinetic blast her way with enough force to break bones. She turned toward the soldiers, pointing towards Kurt.
~ATTACK!~
The soldiers rushed toward Kurt, stabbing a trident at him while the other armed a bolo at him, the goal to tangle his arms up.
Jean might have been aware of what Kurt could do but her soldiers obviously weren't. Before either weapon could touch him, he was behind them, striking out at their heads.
Blinded and choking on sand, the way the strings in her mind flared and shifted were the only warnings Wanda received that something far worse was coming her way. Everything was in flux and danger was everywhere, so she did the only thing she could think of.
She dove, using her brand new, powerful tail to shove her towards the bottom of the ocean. It saved her, barely, as she felt the powerful wave of TK barely miss her but she was still floundering in the water, off balance.
The wreckage of a sunken ship loomed in the distance, and cannon balls from its cannon, having been in the water longer than they had been alive (and then some), shot toward Wanda, as well as Kurt while he was distracted fighting the soldiers.
As Kurt struck the soldiers, one was hit, while the other managed to duck, swiping at him with his trident as he shouted something in a foreign tongue.
He was still quicker than them, dodging the trident and grabbing for it, trying to pull it out of the soldier's hand.
Wanda's powers screamed danger and she turned, much faster in the water than she would have been on land, and let loose a crackling wave of entropic energy. The energy met the cannonballs, disrupting their very existence in one case - one of them simply disintegrated into rust. But the other exploded before it could get closer to Wanda, though two guards weren't so lucky.
Turning, Wanda glared in the direction of the thing controlling her friend and continued on.
There was a certain beauty in distraction. It was all calculation. While Wanda was busy with her own obstacles, and Kurt had thought he'd gotten the upper hand on their soldiers, Jean struck. As Kurt grabbed the trident, Jean seized control of his mind, blowing through his barriers. He was now her puppet. But not for long, as she decided. Best to put him out of his misery. He and Wanda were too much of a threat.
Jean made Kurt position the trident toward his throat. Then, she thrust it upward.
As the tips of the trident neared Kurt's throat, they disintegrated in a flash of red and iron. The corruption ran from the metal down through the handle faster than thought could follow, chewing through the dangerous weapon and turning it into a disintegrating mess. Wanda floated near by, the water red around her, and her heart slightly in her throat as it had only been chance that she had seen the attack out of the corner of her eye.
Twisting back to face Jean, her expression hardened. "Enough." And she reached out, not as gracefully as she would like considering the circumstances, and honed in on the red tendrils of chaos that leaked out where Jean ended and the creature began. Mentally, she started to pull, hoping to disrupt the connection enough to let Jean come back to herself. But they were intricately tied together and she knew the wrong tug would injure her friend just as quickly as the thing that controlled her.
It might not have physically injured Jean but it certainly hurt.
Jean let out a mental scream of pain that echoed (or tried to echo) through her mouth.
For a moment, her eyes fluttered and even flashed green with a hint of gold. The world came rushing back, and it was still as Jean remembered it when she had been pulled under---except Wanda and Kurt were there....as mermaids?
~What....?~ she said, looking at the two of them with bewilderment.
But before she could think another word, her bewilderment turned to horror as the squid reasserted control and she was yanked back under, her body trembling uncontrollably with what looked like a seizure before she opened her eyes again.
~You'll regret that.~
And with, she encased Wanda into a telekinetic bubble without water, or air, knowing that she needed either one right about now to survive, while lashing out at Kurt with a telekinetic blast to try to disorient him. Perhaps she was feeling vengeful.
Kurt was knocked back, but recovered quickly, twisting in the water to get back to where he had been. A glance at Wanda told him the trouble she was in, and he barrelled straight at Jean without hesitation, aiming to break her concentration and make her drop the bubble.
Encased in a bubble of nothing, Wanda lay on the bottom of the TK encasement, unable to move, unable to breath. Holding her breath didn't seem to be working, the gills that were now on her neck were trying in vain to find any sort of water around them. But there was none. Spots danced before her eyes as she pressed herself harder against the bubble and shoved with both hands and powers, pressing against the prison even as her body screamed in panic.
The 'walls' started to turn a pinkish color but Jean's strength was made stronger by the creature controlling her and Wanda was working against a short clock.
Staring at Wanda's vain attempts to try to break free and the panic on her face, Jean felt something...unpleasant stirring within her. A sense of wrongness. But before she could address it, Kurt had tackled her, causing her to skid across the ocean floor and kick up sand.
The bubble popped.
Jean flipped Kurt over, raking her claws against his arms and back as she tried to throw him off of her.
~You never quit, do you? Your allegiance to your friend will get you killed. Why do you care? The world would call you demon. Or they would if they saw you on the street. You should just give in. I may make it painless.~
"The world does call me demon", he retorted, clinging on despite the pain. "But I know who and what I am, and I will not abandon a friend."
He wasn't only talking about Wanda.
The squid's tentacles twitched around her mouth as Jean regarded him with her black eyes, looking completely inhuman.
~We all know why, right?~ she said, keeping her distance for the moment as she swam around him.
~Why you try so hard...~
She cocked her head to the side, parroting the words Kurt had no doubt turned over and over in his mind back for him to hear in Jubilee's voice.
~'I can’t be who I need to be and love you. I’m sorry.'~
She let the words hang there for a moment, then spoke with her own.
~Because no one will ever love you. How could they? They'll realize it before it's too late. You're a waste. And you know it...~ she said gently, like a mother talking to a child.
~You're in pain. I can take it away. Just give in, Kurt.~
He flinched at the reminder of those words, and Jean's own, but didn't back down.
"I would rather be free and in pain, than a slave with none."
As preoccupied as they both were, they failed to notice Wanda moving back towards them. She kept her distance, though, as she considered her options. The ocean made things difficult, changed things constantly, and was filled with danger. But it wasn't just the ocean that was a danger, it was just the most visible one. Reaching out, Wanda grabbed the least dangerous of the dark, twisted threads that stretched down, past Jean and Kurt, past the guards and deep into the sediment that covered the ocean floor.
And something that shouldn't have shifted for another decade, if not longer, lurched with the intrusion. It slammed against the other plate and sent a shock wave through the water, shoving aside all that stood, or swam, above it.
Even a minor earthquake was still a force of nature when one was right on top of it.
Even without feet to touch the ground - perhaps especially, as he couldn't brace himself - Kurt was bowled over by the sudden wave, helplessly swept away until it weakened enough to resist.
Jean was blown backward by the force of the earthquake, throwing her focus off Kurt. As she turned her attention back to Wanda, she realized her powers were down....which meant her mind was open.
Locking eyes with Wanda, Jean quickly wormed her way in. She was the bigger threat at the moment, and she was vulnerable. Naturally, Jean had to strike.
~I was wrong. Perhaps...you might be of use alive. After all, being the child of an elder god...You're already corrupted.~ She smiled, or would've had there not been a squid there.
~Wouldn't you like the power to rule? They can give it to you. Like they did to me. We can do it together. Join us. It only hurts a moment.~
She was lying, but the rest was true.
Everything felt heavy as Jean drifted closer to her and her mental powers dug deeper into Wanda's mind. A spark of her powers and she could cast out the telepathic presence but it was so hard to think past the thoughts the other was planting into her mind. The suggestion tugged at the parts of her mind that knew she was corrupted by Chthon's influence, changed in ways she was still discovering. It drove spikes into parts of her that were ruthless, encouraged them to be something more than what she was.
It was offering her power to rule. A tempting offer.
Slowly, she opened her eyes and something wicked and sharp flashed in them. ~Who says I don't already have that kind of power?~ she mentally sent back followed verbally by "Fuck you."
She was able to lunge forward because the creature was so focused on her mind that it had forgotten to tamp down on her body. Even with water slowing her movements, her sharp right hook into Jean's nose (and squid) was fast enough to drive the creature back and out of her mind.
Pain.
Well, that was unexpected.
Jean flew backward, knocked for a loop. She saw stars, and she didn't like that. Especially because that made things....topsy turvy. She felt herself start to slip.
And for that, Wanda would die by her hand. Bloody, beaten, and broken.
She would show her true power.
Clenching her fists, the ground started to rumble.
