X-Men Mission: Skull Island 4
Dec. 22nd, 2018 08:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe first squad makes contact with a massive bug.
“The last transmission Dad got put the survivors of the crash over here, on the east side of the island.” Kane held up the holograph map of the island that the Blackbird sensors had built before their rapid landing on the island. It was a solid topographical rendering, but it was very short on any fine details. They’d know where they were going, but outside of large features like rivers, jungles and mountains, they’d be largely blind. “It’s a pretty clear path if we hack down to the coast and then cut north through that valley. At least, it misses the mountain.”
Kurt leaned over to study the map.
"And they did not mention at that time that they planned to move?"
Xavin sighed. "As far as I know, they didn't say they were planning to and you'd be crazy to go off. I mean," one hand took in the surrounding wall of trees. "this is full on jungle. Like, no roads jungle. Actually, why are there no roads? I thought, like, everywhere had roads and stuff now."
"There'd have to be people actually living here for their to be roads, and there sure as heck aren't any humans here besides us," Miles offered helpfully. "Ay, what if there are people, though? Some undiscovered tribe? I read on Wikipedia about these people on an island in, like, India that throw spears at helicopters that pass by. Hmm. Spider-sense is quiet right now, though, so no spears in our immediate vicinity. Good for us?"
"Or you know, maybe they're out there just watching us, no hostile intent yet so no spider-sense." Scott glanced up at the treeline, "Miles could be right, we could have some spear throwing tribes here, or even no-one at all. Which could make them a lot more dangerous to us."
"Certainly if we do not see them until they start throwing spears", Kurt agreed, "but that is unlikely with Miles' senses. However, there may also be animal life to consider."
"Throwing spears?" Xavin's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Undiscovered tribes? Aren't you being, I don't know, kinda racist or something?" They bounced slightly on their toes and picked up their pack. "Can we get started? It's hella humid here."
"There's an indigenous group on the island that's had some contact with fishing crews. I'm not inclined to worry too much about them until they give us a reason to. And yeah, we've got real actual jungle to hump through to reach the coast, so unless anyone is sizing up the surrounding area for a condo, let's get moving. Xavin, take the comms pack. Losing touch with the base camp is the last thing we want." Kane settled his pack and hefted a sinister looking machete. "Now, let's see how fast super-strength can make a road, shall we?"
***
The trip down to the river was faster than they'd expected. It helped when you could physically tear up or blast down trees in the way. Other than a flock of bats and entirely too many bugs, they'd seen nothing out of sorts on the island. Kane brought up the map again.
"Valley is that way. Scott, how do you want to do this? We'll be out of cover."
Scott glanced out at the valley for a moment, letting his eyes take in the view before he nodded slowly. "We go one by one, so we can support you from back here. Kurt, you go first, you should be able to teleport right into cover. Garrison, you can follow him. The rest of use can come in once we know we're secure." It helped that they were two of the more experienced and tougher members of hte party, so should be able to handle any situations tthey found themselves in.
Miles had the good sense not to argue to propose an alternative. That much had been beaten into him before he was allowed to come on this mission. "So, this is fun," he whispered. "I'm having fun. Are you guys having fun?"
Xavin wriggled down behind a bush and waited, heart pounding in their ears. No one had said waiting was going to be this hard. "How long do we need to wait till Kurt has it secure?"
They were answered by a burst of acrid blue smoke, bringing Kurt and Garrison back. "We saw no one in the valley", he reported. "Only startled animals."
"It's safe for now, it seems. Might as well get moving while we're still clear." Kane said as they fell back into a rough line and left the jungle behind. The valley was filled with tall waist high grass, which waved gently in the breeze. They moved through carefully, keeping watch on the horizon. After an hour, they pulled up under Scott's order. Wordlessly they watched as from the jungle, the huge hairy legs of a spider emerged. The twenty-foot tall hairy legs of a spider.
Scott's eyes started glowing, an instinctive reaction to the appearance of a threat as his hand shot up, the man's breath catching in his throat as the spider emerged, it's head waving from side to side as the compound eyes caught the light. Very slowly Scott lowered himself to the ground, starting to inch backwards. Giant spiders, he was gonna have nightmares about this for days.
Miles gulped. "Anyone got a giant tissue to pick this thing up with and throw it in the trash?" he asked just loudly enough to be heard. "I know this is gonna sound ironic, but I hate spiders. Haaaaate. I say we kill it. Maybe leave it as a warning to the other giant spiders."
"Look, it doesn't seem to be interested in us. Maybe let it pass..." Kane said, watching the massive creature start to make his way across. "Because that's a really big fucking thing and I don't want to fight it if I don't have to."
Xavin gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "I really hate spiders. Remember when Clea bought the cursed game last year? With the spiders?" They settled their pack on the ground and concentrated, in and out, shifting into the seven foot tall, rocky form that was best for fighting.
Kurt couldn’t blame them for the precaution, but was himself being as still as he could, hoping not to attract its attention. “I hope that is the biggest of its kind”, he muttered.
"If we go around that way," Miles said, indicating a small copse of trees that offered them a wide berth around the monster, "We can probably sneak out of its detection range, right? Won't aggro us if we stay far enough away that way."
"Aggro? You know what, don't tell me. Let's look as little as prey as possible, eh?" Kane said, taking the lead and walking low in the grass. He moved slowly but steadily, angling away from the spider as it moved across the plain. In its own way, it was beautiful. The massive legs and articulated body scuttling like a normal spider in an impossible close-up as it went past.
It was maybe an instinctive reaction but Scott had found himself holding his breath as the spider stalked past them, the thump of the giant animal's feet thumping across the ground sending vibrations through the forest floor. "Ok...so that was terrifying," As soon as the animal had moved out of range the X-man had found himself sagging in relief. "Someone just really needs to tell me what's going on here."
"I wish I could." Kurt was watching the spider disappear into the distance, making sure it didn't turn around. "But I do not like the thought of what a spider that size must eat."
"Not us, I don't think. You'll be happy to know my spider-sense is not yelling at me," Miles informed the group, waving away an overly large (but at least not monstrous) mosquito. "So we're in the clear for at least the next five seconds."
They cleared the plains, looking speculatively at the trees the massive creature had felled walking through. "So... uh, yeah. Something is deeply fucked up on this island." Kane said as they walked towards the coordinates that they'd had for the flight team's last location. "I mean... what does that eat? Have you guys seen a bunch of massive bugs, because otherwise... how the hell does it survive?"
"Anyone else see that Science Channel special about how giant bugs are impossible? There isn't enough oxygen or something." Xavin waved a rocky hand towards the trees. "Not. Possible. And hasn't someone youtubed this shit? I did Anthropology 101. Prof Singh was so clear that all kinds of people have phones cos its 2018."
"Phones, perhaps, but only satellite phones would be of any use here, I think", Kurt pointed out. "Which far fewer people own." He paused for a moment, ears almost literally pricked. "Does anyone else smell smoke?"
"Lol Comcast def doesn't have a signal out here." At Kurt's question, Miles lifted his mask halfway so he could sniff the air. He did not have spider-smell as one of his enhancements, but the aroma of smoke was unmissable. But not just burning wood. Something sweet that made his mouth water. The shutter lens eyes of his mask narrowed to bring the distance into focus. "Smells like pernil. Is there a pig roast? Oh God, can these monsters use fire?"
"I think that if we find monsters that can use fire then we're in a lot more trouble than we thought," Scott allowed as he turned his head back and forth trying to sense the direction of hte smell before he growled under his breath, "I had to go and put Logan in the other group didn't I? We could really use him here."
"Where there's barbecue, there's civilization of some type." Kane said, scanning the treetops. In the distance, he could see a tendril of smoke rising up. "And that smoke has been concentrated through a chimney of some type. That has to be our locals and where Wu was heading. Let's go."
Despite the direction, it was still an hour over rough, wooden terrain before the trees began to thin out and the wall appeared. It extended out from the hillside, thirty feet high, and made from massive felled trees. The shocking thing wasn't just the height but also the age. Vegetation grew out of older areas and it was clear that the wall wasn't a relic of some past, but an ongoing, evolving fortification, reinforced by stone. Huge trunks, the ends chopped into crude spikes jutted from the wall intermittently, although as they got closer, it was clear that some of them were made from huge bones, not wood.
The structure had its intended effect, at least on other people. Miles was awed and all he wanted to do was run up and touch the material. "Want me to camo and climb up to check out the other side?" he asked, forcing himself to get back to the mission.
Kurt was staring worriedly at the enormous bones, clearly thinking about the size of the creature they'd come from, but looked at Miles with a nod. "Yes, but be careful."
Xavin nodded. The bones - bones were insane. "These guys aren't messing around. They killed... some kind of monsters to get those." Did giant spiders have bones? Did spiders get that big because they were eating something as big? "The giant spider might not be the only crazy giant thing in there, bro. Just saying."
The same thought had crossed Miles's mind, so he moved as quietly as possible through the grass to reach the wall. He kept low to the ground, hoping anyone watching would mistake the rustling for a small animal and not an invisible teenage superhero-in-training. And hopefully, no one would want to hunt him because they thought he's a small animal and not an invisible teenage superhero-in-training. He stopped several times along the way, peering up like a meerkat to examine his surroundings before proceeding.
He returned to the team about fifteen minutes later, materializing beside Garrison. "They're there," he confirmed. "Not even tied up in a giant soup pot like Bugs Bunny cartoons led me to believe about isolated island natives. They seem pretty chill, all things considered."
"Sounds friendly enough to me. Kane waved Miles back down. There was a small opening no higher than six foot at the base of the wall. As they used it to pass through, the natives took notice, appearing silently near the path to watch them. They said nothing until an Asian woman stepped forward and called out in a language none of them recognized. An old woman, obviously some sort of elder or chief replied and the woman looked back to them.
"I'm Leiko Wu. I bloody hope you're the rescue team because this is fucking hell on earth."
“The last transmission Dad got put the survivors of the crash over here, on the east side of the island.” Kane held up the holograph map of the island that the Blackbird sensors had built before their rapid landing on the island. It was a solid topographical rendering, but it was very short on any fine details. They’d know where they were going, but outside of large features like rivers, jungles and mountains, they’d be largely blind. “It’s a pretty clear path if we hack down to the coast and then cut north through that valley. At least, it misses the mountain.”
Kurt leaned over to study the map.
"And they did not mention at that time that they planned to move?"
Xavin sighed. "As far as I know, they didn't say they were planning to and you'd be crazy to go off. I mean," one hand took in the surrounding wall of trees. "this is full on jungle. Like, no roads jungle. Actually, why are there no roads? I thought, like, everywhere had roads and stuff now."
"There'd have to be people actually living here for their to be roads, and there sure as heck aren't any humans here besides us," Miles offered helpfully. "Ay, what if there are people, though? Some undiscovered tribe? I read on Wikipedia about these people on an island in, like, India that throw spears at helicopters that pass by. Hmm. Spider-sense is quiet right now, though, so no spears in our immediate vicinity. Good for us?"
"Or you know, maybe they're out there just watching us, no hostile intent yet so no spider-sense." Scott glanced up at the treeline, "Miles could be right, we could have some spear throwing tribes here, or even no-one at all. Which could make them a lot more dangerous to us."
"Certainly if we do not see them until they start throwing spears", Kurt agreed, "but that is unlikely with Miles' senses. However, there may also be animal life to consider."
"Throwing spears?" Xavin's voice dripped with sarcasm. "Undiscovered tribes? Aren't you being, I don't know, kinda racist or something?" They bounced slightly on their toes and picked up their pack. "Can we get started? It's hella humid here."
"There's an indigenous group on the island that's had some contact with fishing crews. I'm not inclined to worry too much about them until they give us a reason to. And yeah, we've got real actual jungle to hump through to reach the coast, so unless anyone is sizing up the surrounding area for a condo, let's get moving. Xavin, take the comms pack. Losing touch with the base camp is the last thing we want." Kane settled his pack and hefted a sinister looking machete. "Now, let's see how fast super-strength can make a road, shall we?"
***
The trip down to the river was faster than they'd expected. It helped when you could physically tear up or blast down trees in the way. Other than a flock of bats and entirely too many bugs, they'd seen nothing out of sorts on the island. Kane brought up the map again.
"Valley is that way. Scott, how do you want to do this? We'll be out of cover."
Scott glanced out at the valley for a moment, letting his eyes take in the view before he nodded slowly. "We go one by one, so we can support you from back here. Kurt, you go first, you should be able to teleport right into cover. Garrison, you can follow him. The rest of use can come in once we know we're secure." It helped that they were two of the more experienced and tougher members of hte party, so should be able to handle any situations tthey found themselves in.
Miles had the good sense not to argue to propose an alternative. That much had been beaten into him before he was allowed to come on this mission. "So, this is fun," he whispered. "I'm having fun. Are you guys having fun?"
Xavin wriggled down behind a bush and waited, heart pounding in their ears. No one had said waiting was going to be this hard. "How long do we need to wait till Kurt has it secure?"
They were answered by a burst of acrid blue smoke, bringing Kurt and Garrison back. "We saw no one in the valley", he reported. "Only startled animals."
"It's safe for now, it seems. Might as well get moving while we're still clear." Kane said as they fell back into a rough line and left the jungle behind. The valley was filled with tall waist high grass, which waved gently in the breeze. They moved through carefully, keeping watch on the horizon. After an hour, they pulled up under Scott's order. Wordlessly they watched as from the jungle, the huge hairy legs of a spider emerged. The twenty-foot tall hairy legs of a spider.
Scott's eyes started glowing, an instinctive reaction to the appearance of a threat as his hand shot up, the man's breath catching in his throat as the spider emerged, it's head waving from side to side as the compound eyes caught the light. Very slowly Scott lowered himself to the ground, starting to inch backwards. Giant spiders, he was gonna have nightmares about this for days.
Miles gulped. "Anyone got a giant tissue to pick this thing up with and throw it in the trash?" he asked just loudly enough to be heard. "I know this is gonna sound ironic, but I hate spiders. Haaaaate. I say we kill it. Maybe leave it as a warning to the other giant spiders."
"Look, it doesn't seem to be interested in us. Maybe let it pass..." Kane said, watching the massive creature start to make his way across. "Because that's a really big fucking thing and I don't want to fight it if I don't have to."
Xavin gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "I really hate spiders. Remember when Clea bought the cursed game last year? With the spiders?" They settled their pack on the ground and concentrated, in and out, shifting into the seven foot tall, rocky form that was best for fighting.
Kurt couldn’t blame them for the precaution, but was himself being as still as he could, hoping not to attract its attention. “I hope that is the biggest of its kind”, he muttered.
"If we go around that way," Miles said, indicating a small copse of trees that offered them a wide berth around the monster, "We can probably sneak out of its detection range, right? Won't aggro us if we stay far enough away that way."
"Aggro? You know what, don't tell me. Let's look as little as prey as possible, eh?" Kane said, taking the lead and walking low in the grass. He moved slowly but steadily, angling away from the spider as it moved across the plain. In its own way, it was beautiful. The massive legs and articulated body scuttling like a normal spider in an impossible close-up as it went past.
It was maybe an instinctive reaction but Scott had found himself holding his breath as the spider stalked past them, the thump of the giant animal's feet thumping across the ground sending vibrations through the forest floor. "Ok...so that was terrifying," As soon as the animal had moved out of range the X-man had found himself sagging in relief. "Someone just really needs to tell me what's going on here."
"I wish I could." Kurt was watching the spider disappear into the distance, making sure it didn't turn around. "But I do not like the thought of what a spider that size must eat."
"Not us, I don't think. You'll be happy to know my spider-sense is not yelling at me," Miles informed the group, waving away an overly large (but at least not monstrous) mosquito. "So we're in the clear for at least the next five seconds."
They cleared the plains, looking speculatively at the trees the massive creature had felled walking through. "So... uh, yeah. Something is deeply fucked up on this island." Kane said as they walked towards the coordinates that they'd had for the flight team's last location. "I mean... what does that eat? Have you guys seen a bunch of massive bugs, because otherwise... how the hell does it survive?"
"Anyone else see that Science Channel special about how giant bugs are impossible? There isn't enough oxygen or something." Xavin waved a rocky hand towards the trees. "Not. Possible. And hasn't someone youtubed this shit? I did Anthropology 101. Prof Singh was so clear that all kinds of people have phones cos its 2018."
"Phones, perhaps, but only satellite phones would be of any use here, I think", Kurt pointed out. "Which far fewer people own." He paused for a moment, ears almost literally pricked. "Does anyone else smell smoke?"
"Lol Comcast def doesn't have a signal out here." At Kurt's question, Miles lifted his mask halfway so he could sniff the air. He did not have spider-smell as one of his enhancements, but the aroma of smoke was unmissable. But not just burning wood. Something sweet that made his mouth water. The shutter lens eyes of his mask narrowed to bring the distance into focus. "Smells like pernil. Is there a pig roast? Oh God, can these monsters use fire?"
"I think that if we find monsters that can use fire then we're in a lot more trouble than we thought," Scott allowed as he turned his head back and forth trying to sense the direction of hte smell before he growled under his breath, "I had to go and put Logan in the other group didn't I? We could really use him here."
"Where there's barbecue, there's civilization of some type." Kane said, scanning the treetops. In the distance, he could see a tendril of smoke rising up. "And that smoke has been concentrated through a chimney of some type. That has to be our locals and where Wu was heading. Let's go."
Despite the direction, it was still an hour over rough, wooden terrain before the trees began to thin out and the wall appeared. It extended out from the hillside, thirty feet high, and made from massive felled trees. The shocking thing wasn't just the height but also the age. Vegetation grew out of older areas and it was clear that the wall wasn't a relic of some past, but an ongoing, evolving fortification, reinforced by stone. Huge trunks, the ends chopped into crude spikes jutted from the wall intermittently, although as they got closer, it was clear that some of them were made from huge bones, not wood.
The structure had its intended effect, at least on other people. Miles was awed and all he wanted to do was run up and touch the material. "Want me to camo and climb up to check out the other side?" he asked, forcing himself to get back to the mission.
Kurt was staring worriedly at the enormous bones, clearly thinking about the size of the creature they'd come from, but looked at Miles with a nod. "Yes, but be careful."
Xavin nodded. The bones - bones were insane. "These guys aren't messing around. They killed... some kind of monsters to get those." Did giant spiders have bones? Did spiders get that big because they were eating something as big? "The giant spider might not be the only crazy giant thing in there, bro. Just saying."
The same thought had crossed Miles's mind, so he moved as quietly as possible through the grass to reach the wall. He kept low to the ground, hoping anyone watching would mistake the rustling for a small animal and not an invisible teenage superhero-in-training. And hopefully, no one would want to hunt him because they thought he's a small animal and not an invisible teenage superhero-in-training. He stopped several times along the way, peering up like a meerkat to examine his surroundings before proceeding.
He returned to the team about fifteen minutes later, materializing beside Garrison. "They're there," he confirmed. "Not even tied up in a giant soup pot like Bugs Bunny cartoons led me to believe about isolated island natives. They seem pretty chill, all things considered."
"Sounds friendly enough to me. Kane waved Miles back down. There was a small opening no higher than six foot at the base of the wall. As they used it to pass through, the natives took notice, appearing silently near the path to watch them. They said nothing until an Asian woman stepped forward and called out in a language none of them recognized. An old woman, obviously some sort of elder or chief replied and the woman looked back to them.
"I'm Leiko Wu. I bloody hope you're the rescue team because this is fucking hell on earth."
