X-Men Mission: Skull Island 5
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xp_logsThe second squad of X-Men make contact with something inhuman.
Unlike the survivors of the crash, the intelligence package didn’t have a broadcast signal. It had sent one short encrypted burst when it was a thousand metres up, which gave them a general area where it might have landed. This was the reason why Logan in particular had drawn this duty. They’d be relying on his senses to help locate the package.
Jean wiped the sweat off her brow and a few matted strands of hair across her forehead as she scanned the area, both physically and mentally.
"I'm getting a few mental signatures dotted around the area. They aren't friendly," she said.
"Did we think that was gonna be a possibility?" Rogue responded cheekily. In truth, she was starting to feel a little off. The jungle's humidity was suffocating, and for the millionth time since they'd landed, she wished she could just take her gloves off.
"What ya smellin' there, Wolverine? Are we goin' towards the people or away?"
Humidity wasn't his favorite thing to deal with and Logan preferred the cold for a lot of reasons. The main one being that scents were clearer. Everyone was sweating and wafting their scents into the air. It made scenting what they wanted to find harder. He was off to the side slightly away from the rest of everyone attempting to get a clearer read on things.
"Hard to tell. Humidity's makin' everythin' shitty and there's no wind movin' things."
Right now, Clarice felt mostly useless on this mission. That didn't mean it wouldn't change later, but for now, her powers were worthless when it came to locating people (or avoiding them) or finding the package. "Because if it were easy, we wouldn't be here," she pointed out. They didn't really do 'easy' in their lives. Unfortunately. There were days when she thought becoming a librarian who knits cat sweaters and then posts them on her cat to Instagram would be a nice life. Then she remembered that she wasn't at all suited to that sort of life.
Looking around at their surroundings, Tandy was on alert after Jean called out hostiles in the area. The crescent moon glowing around her right eye, signifying that she was ready to strike if there was any sign of danger. This was her first real mission as a member of the X-Men, and Tandy wasn't going to lie - she was looking forward to it all.
Jean-Phillipe was all on board with the X-Men's ethos, but he rather loathed some of the spots in the world it tended to take him, if he were being totally honest. "If I wanted to breathe this much humidity in the air, I would have booked a sauna day," he murmured, doing his best to stay vigilant. Between Jean and Logan, he trusted that they would have enough warning if the hostiles approached.
Once his nose had finally gotten a lay of the land, Logan took point and moved them in the direction that most smelled out of place in this jungle. It was likely what they were here for. If someone else hadn't already beaten them to it. The storm would've hidden some of their presence, but not all of it. Not their first time being someplace where they didn't have permission to be.
He held up a hand to slow their forward progress as he caught the waft of sweaty humans. No one else from their side should be anywhere near here. That meant trouble. "On your toes," he called out softly, "We've got company."
The first cracks of automatic weapons fire cut through the background buzz of the jungle like a peal of thunder. They could hear voices yelling in Chinese getting closer and louder. The weapons fire was in bursts, controlled. This had to be the Special Forces they were warned about. However, against it, they could also hear trees splitting and a noise of something moving through the foliage like a runaway train. Four men appeared off to their right, looking up at the canopy before one spotting the mutants and shouting an alarm.
Jean steadied herself as the ground seemed to quiver ever so slightly, reminded of when they had battled the Hulk (or the scene with the T-Rex in Jurassic Park). She reached her mind out on instinct, flinching a little, then shook her head.
"Whatever's coming I don't---I don't know what it is. It's like nothing I've ever sensed before," she said, backing up slowly as she kept her attention divided between where their other opponents were looking and the opponents themselves.
"But I don't think it's human."
Something caught the light, as the staccato rhythm of the gunfire made heavy pings, bouncing off something that created sparks. The green foliage gave way to a bright, orangish brown massive creature that looked like the love child of a Easter Island head and Tiki mask with arms and legs, an oversized head and huge glassy, saucer shaped eyes. Once clearing the tree line it seemed to stop in its tracks at sight of the X-Men then drew in a breath. When it released it, a huge gust of air came out that leveled the trees near it...threatening to do same to anyone caught in its path.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding," Rogue groaned, barely able to get out of the way of the breath. "I hate this stupid island." Taking to the air, she got up to its eye level, easily 25 feet in the air only to shakily avoid a rock hand. "Just the one," she called down.
"Tabernac de calisse, it is a damn large 'one', though," Jean-Phillipe cursed as he sent a bolt of electricity toward the...thing. It coruscated harmlessly off of whatever rocky substance it was made of, and the Frenchman ground out a wordless sound of frustration.
"It's....orange..." the hell? Teleporting onto its head, Clarice was back almost as fast as she left, "It's rock!" she reported, her actions only angering the creature.
The creature lashed out, crushing two Chinese soldiers with one sweep of its mighty arm. It waved at Rogue a couple of times, like she was a gnat bothering it, before suddenly shifting to focus on Logan. It charged the diminutive mutant, slamming both fists down to try and destroy him.
"The hell's with this thing..." Logan mumbled to himself as the creature came at him. He lengthened his strides to deal with the bouncing before resorting to bounding from one patch of ground to another on all fours. He finally found enough leverage to bounce off an extremely thick tree trunk and slammed his claws into the side of a gigantic hand in an attempt to climb upwards.
"What the actual fuck." Were heard from the blonde when the creature first appeared. Tandy should be used to seeing weird creatures but not on Earth. Her arms arced down and 10 daggers, five from each hand were sent towards the stone creature. Her daggers didn't work on nonliving things, but since this thing was moving - maybe there was an exception.
The creature seemed to stagger back, letting out a roar of pain from the daggers that managed to glance across it, sending out sparks.
Jean, seizing the opportunity, send a number of vines the creature's way, wrapping them around it's legs in an attempt to knock it off its feet. Arms flailing, a rumbling was heard as the creature tumbled to the ground, kicking up grass and dirt.
But unfortunately, the creature was too big and it only worked for a few moments before it snapped the vines with a kick of its legs.
"Damn it!" Jean shouted. "We need a plan."
His adamantium let Logan claw his way up the creature slowly but Jean's toppling of the creature had Logan jumping off him then scrambling back toward it. "Keepin' it close to the ground's the best bet!" Logan yelled as he ducked under a gigantic, stomping foot then attempted to climb up the back of the creature's leg.
With the enormous thing on the ground, Jean-Phillipe saw an opportunity. Electricity was going to just spill off whatever rocky hide the thing sported, but if he could reach the creature's eyes... He darted around, barely avoiding a swipe of the thing's arm. "Les yeux," he yelled at Tandy. "Go for the eyes!"
The eyes were said to be the window of the soul - which was good enough for Tandy's daggers. It seemed that her daggers worked before when she was just aiming at the creature herself - but it only seemed to have stunned it for a few seconds. Once again 10 daggers raced towards the creature, Tandy was concentrating on guiding them towards their mark. Another roar of pain as it shut it's eyes as they hit their mark. "I think all I am doing is making him pissed and I put more 'umpff' into it."
"Do we want it alive?" Clarice yelled. She could kill it she was pretty sure. But if they needed it alive, that was more difficult. Hopefully, if she sliced it in half, they wouldn't have double trouble.
Rogue squinted at a sudden glare in the distance. "Well, we might not want it alive, but I think they might?" She pointed towards the quickly advancing dots. "I'll see if they're friendly or not."
Unlike the survivors of the crash, the intelligence package didn’t have a broadcast signal. It had sent one short encrypted burst when it was a thousand metres up, which gave them a general area where it might have landed. This was the reason why Logan in particular had drawn this duty. They’d be relying on his senses to help locate the package.
Jean wiped the sweat off her brow and a few matted strands of hair across her forehead as she scanned the area, both physically and mentally.
"I'm getting a few mental signatures dotted around the area. They aren't friendly," she said.
"Did we think that was gonna be a possibility?" Rogue responded cheekily. In truth, she was starting to feel a little off. The jungle's humidity was suffocating, and for the millionth time since they'd landed, she wished she could just take her gloves off.
"What ya smellin' there, Wolverine? Are we goin' towards the people or away?"
Humidity wasn't his favorite thing to deal with and Logan preferred the cold for a lot of reasons. The main one being that scents were clearer. Everyone was sweating and wafting their scents into the air. It made scenting what they wanted to find harder. He was off to the side slightly away from the rest of everyone attempting to get a clearer read on things.
"Hard to tell. Humidity's makin' everythin' shitty and there's no wind movin' things."
Right now, Clarice felt mostly useless on this mission. That didn't mean it wouldn't change later, but for now, her powers were worthless when it came to locating people (or avoiding them) or finding the package. "Because if it were easy, we wouldn't be here," she pointed out. They didn't really do 'easy' in their lives. Unfortunately. There were days when she thought becoming a librarian who knits cat sweaters and then posts them on her cat to Instagram would be a nice life. Then she remembered that she wasn't at all suited to that sort of life.
Looking around at their surroundings, Tandy was on alert after Jean called out hostiles in the area. The crescent moon glowing around her right eye, signifying that she was ready to strike if there was any sign of danger. This was her first real mission as a member of the X-Men, and Tandy wasn't going to lie - she was looking forward to it all.
Jean-Phillipe was all on board with the X-Men's ethos, but he rather loathed some of the spots in the world it tended to take him, if he were being totally honest. "If I wanted to breathe this much humidity in the air, I would have booked a sauna day," he murmured, doing his best to stay vigilant. Between Jean and Logan, he trusted that they would have enough warning if the hostiles approached.
Once his nose had finally gotten a lay of the land, Logan took point and moved them in the direction that most smelled out of place in this jungle. It was likely what they were here for. If someone else hadn't already beaten them to it. The storm would've hidden some of their presence, but not all of it. Not their first time being someplace where they didn't have permission to be.
He held up a hand to slow their forward progress as he caught the waft of sweaty humans. No one else from their side should be anywhere near here. That meant trouble. "On your toes," he called out softly, "We've got company."
The first cracks of automatic weapons fire cut through the background buzz of the jungle like a peal of thunder. They could hear voices yelling in Chinese getting closer and louder. The weapons fire was in bursts, controlled. This had to be the Special Forces they were warned about. However, against it, they could also hear trees splitting and a noise of something moving through the foliage like a runaway train. Four men appeared off to their right, looking up at the canopy before one spotting the mutants and shouting an alarm.
Jean steadied herself as the ground seemed to quiver ever so slightly, reminded of when they had battled the Hulk (or the scene with the T-Rex in Jurassic Park). She reached her mind out on instinct, flinching a little, then shook her head.
"Whatever's coming I don't---I don't know what it is. It's like nothing I've ever sensed before," she said, backing up slowly as she kept her attention divided between where their other opponents were looking and the opponents themselves.
"But I don't think it's human."
Something caught the light, as the staccato rhythm of the gunfire made heavy pings, bouncing off something that created sparks. The green foliage gave way to a bright, orangish brown massive creature that looked like the love child of a Easter Island head and Tiki mask with arms and legs, an oversized head and huge glassy, saucer shaped eyes. Once clearing the tree line it seemed to stop in its tracks at sight of the X-Men then drew in a breath. When it released it, a huge gust of air came out that leveled the trees near it...threatening to do same to anyone caught in its path.
"Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding," Rogue groaned, barely able to get out of the way of the breath. "I hate this stupid island." Taking to the air, she got up to its eye level, easily 25 feet in the air only to shakily avoid a rock hand. "Just the one," she called down.
"Tabernac de calisse, it is a damn large 'one', though," Jean-Phillipe cursed as he sent a bolt of electricity toward the...thing. It coruscated harmlessly off of whatever rocky substance it was made of, and the Frenchman ground out a wordless sound of frustration.
"It's....orange..." the hell? Teleporting onto its head, Clarice was back almost as fast as she left, "It's rock!" she reported, her actions only angering the creature.
The creature lashed out, crushing two Chinese soldiers with one sweep of its mighty arm. It waved at Rogue a couple of times, like she was a gnat bothering it, before suddenly shifting to focus on Logan. It charged the diminutive mutant, slamming both fists down to try and destroy him.
"The hell's with this thing..." Logan mumbled to himself as the creature came at him. He lengthened his strides to deal with the bouncing before resorting to bounding from one patch of ground to another on all fours. He finally found enough leverage to bounce off an extremely thick tree trunk and slammed his claws into the side of a gigantic hand in an attempt to climb upwards.
"What the actual fuck." Were heard from the blonde when the creature first appeared. Tandy should be used to seeing weird creatures but not on Earth. Her arms arced down and 10 daggers, five from each hand were sent towards the stone creature. Her daggers didn't work on nonliving things, but since this thing was moving - maybe there was an exception.
The creature seemed to stagger back, letting out a roar of pain from the daggers that managed to glance across it, sending out sparks.
Jean, seizing the opportunity, send a number of vines the creature's way, wrapping them around it's legs in an attempt to knock it off its feet. Arms flailing, a rumbling was heard as the creature tumbled to the ground, kicking up grass and dirt.
But unfortunately, the creature was too big and it only worked for a few moments before it snapped the vines with a kick of its legs.
"Damn it!" Jean shouted. "We need a plan."
His adamantium let Logan claw his way up the creature slowly but Jean's toppling of the creature had Logan jumping off him then scrambling back toward it. "Keepin' it close to the ground's the best bet!" Logan yelled as he ducked under a gigantic, stomping foot then attempted to climb up the back of the creature's leg.
With the enormous thing on the ground, Jean-Phillipe saw an opportunity. Electricity was going to just spill off whatever rocky hide the thing sported, but if he could reach the creature's eyes... He darted around, barely avoiding a swipe of the thing's arm. "Les yeux," he yelled at Tandy. "Go for the eyes!"
The eyes were said to be the window of the soul - which was good enough for Tandy's daggers. It seemed that her daggers worked before when she was just aiming at the creature herself - but it only seemed to have stunned it for a few seconds. Once again 10 daggers raced towards the creature, Tandy was concentrating on guiding them towards their mark. Another roar of pain as it shut it's eyes as they hit their mark. "I think all I am doing is making him pissed and I put more 'umpff' into it."
"Do we want it alive?" Clarice yelled. She could kill it she was pretty sure. But if they needed it alive, that was more difficult. Hopefully, if she sliced it in half, they wouldn't have double trouble.
Rogue squinted at a sudden glare in the distance. "Well, we might not want it alive, but I think they might?" She pointed towards the quickly advancing dots. "I'll see if they're friendly or not."
