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xp_logsWarren, QQ, and Arthur help the people".
As with any crisis situation, people were screaming, running around, cowering... all those wonderful things that meant the three of them would have their hands full directing them away from the crowds.
"Why do they always want to go towards the danger," Warren grumbled, looking around to see how they could manage this.
Warren wasn't taking any chances, but in true Warren style, he wasn't wearing a boring old mask. No no, it was a classic Bauta mask, simple with straight lines, the stark white standing out against his tanned skin and blonde hair. As much as he was getting more and more comfortable with being associated with X-Factor, he'd barely managed to get somewhat into his dad's good graces -- he wasn't going to do anything more to risk getting booted.
"Right, Arthur -- see if you can start up some of these cars? Or maybe luckily find the keys? Or hot wire? Q, you're the kind that knows how to steal cars, right? We need to block this road, see if that'll stop people from running to their death."
"First of all, Worthington, you look fucking ridiculous." Before they could get started, this was a point Quentin absolutely had to make. They could not go on this whole Save the City mission without Warren knowing this valuable fact. "And second, yes, of course I fucking can. As long as they're older cars with actual key ignitions and not just a button so my teek can turn it on." And to prove his point, the doors to the sedan nearest him swung open and he hopped onto the driver's seat. "New technology makes crime so difficult."
"I think you look refined!" Arthur chimed in with his usual, chipper tone despite the ongoing chaos of the surrounding scene. He had taken to looking in the nearby windows of cars to test Warren's left behind key theory, but currently there was nothing. The muffled screams and commands of the pressing crowds were getting louder, too, filtering in through the sounds of the battle. "Guys, I just don't know..."
Arthur frowned a little, continuing to canvas the area as fast as he could. Nothing, nothing... wait. He bent low, out of sight for a minute from the other men.
Warren looked over at Arthur disappearing and frowned. "What are you looking at? We don't have time for you to be picking up lucky pennies." With a quick glance at Q, Warren followed the other blonde and stopped short. A kid. Of course. And no parental figures in sight.
"Fucking christ," he muttered. Reaching for the kid (who could easily have been between 2 and 10, Warren had no idea about the ages of children), he picked the kid up. "Now what?"
The other man did a slow pan from the child, a small dark girl with double pigtails who was likely more in the 6-year old range, to Warren. Arthur's eyebrows raised and his shoulders tensed as if to shrug, but that's when the bang happened.
It was loud, and it was everywhere — as if the very earth a couple blocks away had been moved, and the city wasn't having it. The nearby buildings swayed from the impact, metal squeaking and twisting in protest as the noise rumbled through the nearby panicked crowds, quieting everyone.
In that quiet, one of those squeals didn't stop.
Eyes drawn upward, the source of the noise wasn't a mystery at all. A cell phone tower attached to the top of a building was hanging dangerously over all of them, and it was clear that the area network would soon experience a violent lapse in service.
Not thinking, Arthur pushed Warren away and up as much as he possibly could, scrambling to put himself under the tower's fall. His voice was clipped, but somewhat chipper, if forced, "Get her safe!"
Warren barely had time to react as the buildings started to fall. Clutching the child close, he pulled his wings around them as a cushion while he tried to dodge the buildings. Barely reaching safety in time, he watched, feeling helpless. Arthur was in that rubble and even though Warren knew Arthur was a lucky charm, he was still concerned.
A random person came charging at him, screaming for the child and batting him with a purse. Frowning, Warren happily gave up his charge and hoped that was the parent, which he was fairly certain was being confirmed in the screeching. something about damn muties, and keep your hands to yourself. The usual rhetoric. Warren was thankful for his mask.
"Q, you alive?" Warren didn't know when he last saw the younger man.
Quentin's grand theft auto had kept him out of harm's immediate way, but the rising panic battered against his telepathic shields. He stumbled disoriented out of the car, blinking several times to dismiss the multiple Warrens from his sight until only the one remained. "I'm fine. Where's Centino?"
Warren waved a hand at the newly destroyed building. "Somewhere over there..." It looked terrible, and he had no idea what they could do. "I don't suppose you've secretly developed some amazing secondary power I don't know about, like oh I don't know, super human strength or the ability to walk through rocks?" He sighed. "Didn't think so,"
"Should've figured." Quentin shook his head, though something akin to a grin appeared on his lips, the only expression of any feeling for Arthur's survival. "We cleared this block yet? It does feel considerably less head-noisy in the immediate surroundings. I think we can pull back."
Warren allowed himself to fly up a little, just enough to look over the block. In every direction it was the same: chaos, mayhem, and destruction. In all truth, theirs looked slightly better but he had to chalk that up to Arthur's weird powers. "Yeah, I think so too. Our lucky penny did his job well, and he's still standing here talking to us, so that's a win in my book."
He landed and gave a nod. "Let's move out. If Cyclops has any problems with that, I'll take the fall, but really, I'm not standing around guarding a bunch of empty buildings. They have insurance. We're good."
Bobbi, Maya, and Hope help a family in need.
Bobbi surveyed the wide swath of damage in front of them. There was no mistaking the path of destruction, which she was sure would lead them straight to its source, but for right now they had to help those left in its wake. Unfortunately there were lots of people that fell into that category.
The first area that caught her attention was an SUV that had been smashed off the road and into a nearby restaurant on a busy street corner. Several people appeared to be hurt there, including people still trapped inside the vehicle and inside of the building.
"Over there, restaurant on the corner, we should start there," she decided, signalling to Hope and Maya.
Hope was already taking in the situation and she was surprised that her old Red-X training came back so easily. "That looks bad." She muttered to her co-workers as they approached the building. "Let's see if there is a door to the side... easier to get everyone out and for us to get."
"I suppose, but is that really safe?" Maya didn't have anything against helping people, that was why she was here but that didn't mean blindly going into dangerous situations without a backup plan. "Shouldn't an adult take a look first?"
Bobbi headed toward the restaurant. "I'll go inside, you two check out the car first," she suggested. Each of them could take one side while she scoped out the inside, hoping that there weren't any serious injuries - or worse - inside. A few people ran out before she got in, screaming and fleeing the scene, then she squeezed inside. A quick survey showed no one was seriously hurt; though it appeared a few people might have broken arms or legs, there thankfully didn't appear to be anything life threatening.
She went back outside to see how Hope and Maya were doing. "What's the status, people?"
Hope maneuvered out of the backseat of the car, a little boy clinging her like a limpet. "This little one seems okay, but we are going to need the jaws of life. His father seems to be in a far worse condition. Can you take him?" Handing of the little boy, she moved back inside the car to help Maya with the other kid.
Maya was sweating, but putting on a brave face for the little girl she'd been trying to coach from the gap between the front and back seat where she'd hidden. The combination between road accident and car was setting off flashbacks that she was barely keeping under control and she was glad to relinquish control of the situation to Hope. She slithered out of the car and took off slightly down the street to the entrance of an alleyway, not wanting any of the victims to see her throwing up.
Once she'd finished handing the young boy over to an on-site paramedic Bobbi returned to her team. More people were arriving now, including a team with the jaws of life to help the man Hope had previously pointed out, and they were getting the little girl out of the back seat as well. "Good job, Hope. Where's..." Her eyes looked around and saw Maya ducking down the nearby alleyway, and she went to see how she was going. "You ok, Maya?"
Maya didn’t answer for a time, to busy evacuating everything she’d eaten that day including for some reason, something that looked surprisingly like carrot. She didn’t remember eating any carrot recently.
“I’m just peachy.”
Bobbi just nodded and looked back to see how Hope was doing. It seemed more people were showing up so they weren't in as much of a rush as they'd previously been. "Okay, take care of yourself. I think we're going to be all right here now." There was no sense in Maya pushing herself if she was sick.
She turned and called out to Hope. "How are you making out over there?"
Hope turned from where she had been coaxing the girl clinging to her to the paramedic and gave a nod to signal that everything was fine. Two minutes later a teddy bear convinced the girl to let go and she made her way over to Bobbi. "It looks like there is not much we can do here anymore." She observed.
"Agreed," replied Bobbi. It looked like everything was as under control as it could be, for the moment at least. "Let's regroup with the others and see if we can't be of better use elsewhere." She had a funny feeling that there was going to be much more work to be done yet.
Lorna, Alex, Callisto, and Sue keep the notbutreally Juggernaut from destroying more of the city.
People were running in the opposite direction, so that meant they were heading in the right direction. Lorna lead the pack as she sprinted down the street until she came to the intersection and saw a car going flying towards one of the building. Out of reflex, Lorna reached out with an arm towards the car as it came to a halt before it was lowered back to the ground.
Her attention went to the left where she saw a reflection from the sun on the helmet of the one who threw it. "We'll need to contain him to this area until the X-Men show up."
"Okay, I get why you said the billy club would be useless now," Alex said in what would have been a conversational tone if red energy wasn't already warping around his arms. "Sue, can you set up a force field or something around here? Try and keep gawkers and idiots out of the way?"
The blonde glanced back at the crowd gathering in the street before looking back at Alex with a shake of her head, "Something that big, it'd fall apart if you hit so much as a tennis ball at it. Best I can do is try to block individuals trying to get past, or anything flying back at them."
"So that's what we do then." Callisto slipped her hands into her jacket pockets and withdrew them wearing rather battered, very functional-looking knuckle dusters. "We'll take point, no one in, no one out. Who's gonna try to slow down the big guy? I'd say I'll go toe to toe with him but that miiiight come under the heading of 'unnecessary escalation'. Possibly containment of some kind is a better plan?"
"I've seen him fight when I was a little girl. He charges and once he does - there is little to stop him. I would say we would have to play tag with him. Keep him from going after one single target." Lorna looked at him but she didn't want to say that this did not look like the Juggernaut her father would brag about or that she had seen training with other rookies back in the day. He was dressed differently and whatever he was carrying in his hand, that was also new. "Alex go left. Callisto go right. I'll take point." Mostly because she could fly up and out of his reach. "Sue, leaving the force field to you."
The blonde pulled a face, her hands slipping out of her pockets as she pulled on a pair of gloves, lagging behind so she fell behind the others, glancing along the street as white teeth bit into her lower lip. It was a lot of space to cover, but she'd be more if a liability in the actual fight, especially against someone like the Juggernaut, that level of power was more than she could handle, for now at least. Working on her powers was something she'd let fall by the wayside, but that was something to worry about later. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do about limiting the collateral, just drop him fast."
Callisto broke into a light trot to head around the right flank, eyes darting from side to side as she assessed the situation. Small-scale tactics, this she could do. Though open spaces like this one, that she was less fond of. So much potential collateral. No firm barrier. From what Sue had said, whatever energy barrier they had was going to slow things at best, not stop them.
"Get the fuck out of here!" she yelled at some people who were, inexplicably, still milling around, possibly near their own cars given what looked like a slow collision from vehicles all trying to turn and flee at the same time. For now, the big guy didn't seem to be looking her way. Calliso grabbed a piece of building debris - a large concrete block with a handy iron bar sticking out of it - and took up position at a minimum distance, dropping down low.
Alex looked at Lorna and nodded before running in, yelling, "Hey, Ugly!" to get the man's attention as energy wound up and down his arms. He looked big, Alex doubted the blast would hurt him much - it was mostly to get his attention.
Lorna took off straight for the newly dressed Juggernaut. The thought terrified her but she had to help slow him down until the calvary arrived and by her teammates time to evacuate the surrounding areas. As she by passed a car with its door off, it melted into a liquid state and started to surround up Lorna's right arm and part of her shoulder. Her left hand was glowing green and she let out a pulse towards the man.
"Do you wish to spar with the Mighty One?" The voice that came out of the rounded helmet was gravely and rough and wasn't speaking any language anyone knew, and yet - none the less, his words made sense. This armored man wanted a fight, and he was grinning behind the helmet, straight, perfect, white teeth contrasting with brown skin and gold inlayed red helmet. "The Mighty One accepts, and should you prove worthy, will leave you able to speak of his fame and strength!" He reached down and easily ripped the hood off a truck with one giant hand. "See, sorceress, The Mighty One can also rend these simple vehicles!"
"The - what?" Alex asked, momentarily bewildered. Had he just fallen into a bad fantasy movie? "Oooooooooookay, bro," he said as he approached, firing off the energy spiraling up and down his arms and blasting him in the chest. Take down now, question the movie-like villain later.
This was what the X-Men got into every time they deployed to the field of combat? They could keep it, it seemed too haphazard for her, too unwieldy. Sue danced around a car, slowly pacing between the confrontation and the fleeing masses as she held her hands up like a catcher. Who knew playing softball at school would come in useful?
"More contenders! I will defeat you all, and leave you electrified as I destroy this settlement!" The Juggernaut - though acting as Lorna had never seen before - picked up the rest of the truck easily and tossed it over his shoulder. "Perhaps The Destroyer should make this clearer." He paused, and the grin turned to a snarl as he slipped from Allspeak to New York Accented English. "Fight me, or perish!" He raised one booted foot and then sent it crashing down onto the concrete. The shockwave rattled cars, broke windows - and sent everyone tumbling to the ground.
'Take the perimeter' was all very well and good but if this guy kept going like this there wasn't gonna be a perimeter. Callisto looked between the Juggernaut and the large chunk of metal-boned masonry in her hands, shrugged, and with a full spin on one foot, shot-put-style, swung and launched the object in question in the big guy's direction with all her not-inconsiderable strength. She didn't expect it to stop him, but who knew, maybe it'd give him pause?
As Lorna circled around, she helped out one of her arms out as metal started to pull away from the environment and started to make a gauntlet around her hand and up her arm to her shoulder. She flew straight behind him and using her powers slammed it right into his back, with enough force that would send a normal person flying. "Cain! Wake up!"
The ornate Asgardian armor actually creaked under the force. The Destroyer ignored her plea, but the strain against his armor, that got his attention, and his flinty eyes met Lorna's. He stared at her searchingly. "Do we know you, green-haired witch? What name does your family carry?" He asked, almost confused, nearly uncertain.
And as fast as the moment of near recognition came on, it passed, and the Juggernaut turned Asgardian Warrior shook himself, tossing Lorna from his back like shaking off a flea. "It matters not what you call yourself! I am the Destroyer and this land is mine to sunder!"
"Excuse me," Sue raised one hand, a forcefield materializing to catch Lorna, cushioning her until she managed to right herself, "if you really want to sunder some land there is some over by Houston and 14th that is a much better place to sunder things. Really I promise," she walked a little closer to him, "it's like this big old building you could go crazy in, and it's in the east side too, so think how much more scared everyone will be when they see you there." And more importantly, it got him away from this crowd, although the time she'd been talking had provided her team an opportunity to regroup.
"Lor!"
Alex was halfway to running toward when he caught himself. Sue had her. She'd be okay. She'd be okay. And there was still that giant oaf to deal with. Alex's entire body lit up; he ignored the voice in the back of his head that was trying to remind him not to be stupid, he hadn't actually tried this outside the Danger Room. "Back up, Sue," he called, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she disappeared. This is stupid, this is stupid. But hey, stupid was what he did best. Circles of energy lit up around his body, and he darted forward, his steps slightly accelerated and burning into the concrete. About five feet away, he clapped his hands together and outstretched, and all the energy surged up through his arms, down to his fingers tips, and blasted Cain at a close range, making sure there was no chance for the man to escape or dodge. He stumbled back as the energy full drained, good and completely exhausted by that one endeavor. It was only by some grace of dog that he managed to stay upright.
The plasma boiled over Cain, incinerating the scraps of fabric that clung to his armor. He was engulfed by light and heat and briefly it appeared as though it had consumed him as well and then it was gone, as though his fantastical armor had absorbed it. He glowed with a dull red heat, armor and skin, and roared with anger.
Always a fan of fighting dirty where at all possible, Callisto took this opportunity to lob another large chunk of masonry, this time throwing herself after it, taking a running leap at the target with the grace and economy of an Olympian, only with extra leather and knuckle dusters.
Callisto was not a large woman. The Juggernaut dwarfed her. But Callisto weighed about twice what someone her size should, and with that came the factor of the unexpected. The impact was brutal, fist first, Callisto's armoured knuckles impacting on the side of his helmet with a clang that echoed all round. She was there and then gone again in a moment, swinging past like a teenage boy leaning out of a car to swing a baseball bat at a mailbox. She landed lightly on her feet behind their foe, immediately swinging back around. So much for perimeter defence.
The chunk of stonework blossoming into dust against Cain's face did nothing to improve his temper. Nor did the leather-clad woman whose blow had caused his helmet to ring like an overly ornate and odd bell. He turned to face the Midgardian, found her already gone, and swung his fists wildly. He was the Destroyer, and in his rage he became a dervish of casual destruction - a light pole, the concrete and metal grates of the sidewalk, parked cars all went flying as he roared taunts at his challengers.
No sooner had she had gotten back on her feet after the first toss was Lorna met with flying objects. She focused on the metal as her green pulse reached out to stop them from harming any of her team members. It was the flying concrete that broke her concentration and the metal objects she held back went falling back to the Earth. It hit her shoulder hard as she flew back into the car and sank to her knees as she felt the air around her starting to pick up. Looking up she saw the X-Men plane arriving. "PULL BACK!" She yelled but had lost her own ability to stand as she was holding her shoulder in place.
That was all Alex needed to here; he immediately dropped back, running to Lorna. "Up and at 'em," he said, scooping her up. "Time to bail."
In the middle of a battle he took the time to pick up Lorna and sweep her off her feet, that would be kinda sweet in a way if it wasn't for the gigantic killer doing his level best to turn them into paste. "Right...ok...running now." The young woman faded from view, forcefield wrapping around herself as she dodged this way and that, waiting for a moment to see if anyone needed any cover before she made her great escape.
As she scanned the area Lorna spotted Callisto, whose keen ears had picked up the muffled but nevertheless unmistakable growl of their saviour's overpowered jet engine a little before it had come into sight, and who was therefore already sprinting at speed away from the scene. Apparently their occasional collaborator was also adept at taking care of herself.
As with any crisis situation, people were screaming, running around, cowering... all those wonderful things that meant the three of them would have their hands full directing them away from the crowds.
"Why do they always want to go towards the danger," Warren grumbled, looking around to see how they could manage this.
Warren wasn't taking any chances, but in true Warren style, he wasn't wearing a boring old mask. No no, it was a classic Bauta mask, simple with straight lines, the stark white standing out against his tanned skin and blonde hair. As much as he was getting more and more comfortable with being associated with X-Factor, he'd barely managed to get somewhat into his dad's good graces -- he wasn't going to do anything more to risk getting booted.
"Right, Arthur -- see if you can start up some of these cars? Or maybe luckily find the keys? Or hot wire? Q, you're the kind that knows how to steal cars, right? We need to block this road, see if that'll stop people from running to their death."
"First of all, Worthington, you look fucking ridiculous." Before they could get started, this was a point Quentin absolutely had to make. They could not go on this whole Save the City mission without Warren knowing this valuable fact. "And second, yes, of course I fucking can. As long as they're older cars with actual key ignitions and not just a button so my teek can turn it on." And to prove his point, the doors to the sedan nearest him swung open and he hopped onto the driver's seat. "New technology makes crime so difficult."
"I think you look refined!" Arthur chimed in with his usual, chipper tone despite the ongoing chaos of the surrounding scene. He had taken to looking in the nearby windows of cars to test Warren's left behind key theory, but currently there was nothing. The muffled screams and commands of the pressing crowds were getting louder, too, filtering in through the sounds of the battle. "Guys, I just don't know..."
Arthur frowned a little, continuing to canvas the area as fast as he could. Nothing, nothing... wait. He bent low, out of sight for a minute from the other men.
Warren looked over at Arthur disappearing and frowned. "What are you looking at? We don't have time for you to be picking up lucky pennies." With a quick glance at Q, Warren followed the other blonde and stopped short. A kid. Of course. And no parental figures in sight.
"Fucking christ," he muttered. Reaching for the kid (who could easily have been between 2 and 10, Warren had no idea about the ages of children), he picked the kid up. "Now what?"
The other man did a slow pan from the child, a small dark girl with double pigtails who was likely more in the 6-year old range, to Warren. Arthur's eyebrows raised and his shoulders tensed as if to shrug, but that's when the bang happened.
It was loud, and it was everywhere — as if the very earth a couple blocks away had been moved, and the city wasn't having it. The nearby buildings swayed from the impact, metal squeaking and twisting in protest as the noise rumbled through the nearby panicked crowds, quieting everyone.
In that quiet, one of those squeals didn't stop.
Eyes drawn upward, the source of the noise wasn't a mystery at all. A cell phone tower attached to the top of a building was hanging dangerously over all of them, and it was clear that the area network would soon experience a violent lapse in service.
Not thinking, Arthur pushed Warren away and up as much as he possibly could, scrambling to put himself under the tower's fall. His voice was clipped, but somewhat chipper, if forced, "Get her safe!"
Warren barely had time to react as the buildings started to fall. Clutching the child close, he pulled his wings around them as a cushion while he tried to dodge the buildings. Barely reaching safety in time, he watched, feeling helpless. Arthur was in that rubble and even though Warren knew Arthur was a lucky charm, he was still concerned.
A random person came charging at him, screaming for the child and batting him with a purse. Frowning, Warren happily gave up his charge and hoped that was the parent, which he was fairly certain was being confirmed in the screeching. something about damn muties, and keep your hands to yourself. The usual rhetoric. Warren was thankful for his mask.
"Q, you alive?" Warren didn't know when he last saw the younger man.
Quentin's grand theft auto had kept him out of harm's immediate way, but the rising panic battered against his telepathic shields. He stumbled disoriented out of the car, blinking several times to dismiss the multiple Warrens from his sight until only the one remained. "I'm fine. Where's Centino?"
Warren waved a hand at the newly destroyed building. "Somewhere over there..." It looked terrible, and he had no idea what they could do. "I don't suppose you've secretly developed some amazing secondary power I don't know about, like oh I don't know, super human strength or the ability to walk through rocks?" He sighed. "Didn't think so,"
"Should've figured." Quentin shook his head, though something akin to a grin appeared on his lips, the only expression of any feeling for Arthur's survival. "We cleared this block yet? It does feel considerably less head-noisy in the immediate surroundings. I think we can pull back."
Warren allowed himself to fly up a little, just enough to look over the block. In every direction it was the same: chaos, mayhem, and destruction. In all truth, theirs looked slightly better but he had to chalk that up to Arthur's weird powers. "Yeah, I think so too. Our lucky penny did his job well, and he's still standing here talking to us, so that's a win in my book."
He landed and gave a nod. "Let's move out. If Cyclops has any problems with that, I'll take the fall, but really, I'm not standing around guarding a bunch of empty buildings. They have insurance. We're good."
Bobbi, Maya, and Hope help a family in need.
Bobbi surveyed the wide swath of damage in front of them. There was no mistaking the path of destruction, which she was sure would lead them straight to its source, but for right now they had to help those left in its wake. Unfortunately there were lots of people that fell into that category.
The first area that caught her attention was an SUV that had been smashed off the road and into a nearby restaurant on a busy street corner. Several people appeared to be hurt there, including people still trapped inside the vehicle and inside of the building.
"Over there, restaurant on the corner, we should start there," she decided, signalling to Hope and Maya.
Hope was already taking in the situation and she was surprised that her old Red-X training came back so easily. "That looks bad." She muttered to her co-workers as they approached the building. "Let's see if there is a door to the side... easier to get everyone out and for us to get."
"I suppose, but is that really safe?" Maya didn't have anything against helping people, that was why she was here but that didn't mean blindly going into dangerous situations without a backup plan. "Shouldn't an adult take a look first?"
Bobbi headed toward the restaurant. "I'll go inside, you two check out the car first," she suggested. Each of them could take one side while she scoped out the inside, hoping that there weren't any serious injuries - or worse - inside. A few people ran out before she got in, screaming and fleeing the scene, then she squeezed inside. A quick survey showed no one was seriously hurt; though it appeared a few people might have broken arms or legs, there thankfully didn't appear to be anything life threatening.
She went back outside to see how Hope and Maya were doing. "What's the status, people?"
Hope maneuvered out of the backseat of the car, a little boy clinging her like a limpet. "This little one seems okay, but we are going to need the jaws of life. His father seems to be in a far worse condition. Can you take him?" Handing of the little boy, she moved back inside the car to help Maya with the other kid.
Maya was sweating, but putting on a brave face for the little girl she'd been trying to coach from the gap between the front and back seat where she'd hidden. The combination between road accident and car was setting off flashbacks that she was barely keeping under control and she was glad to relinquish control of the situation to Hope. She slithered out of the car and took off slightly down the street to the entrance of an alleyway, not wanting any of the victims to see her throwing up.
Once she'd finished handing the young boy over to an on-site paramedic Bobbi returned to her team. More people were arriving now, including a team with the jaws of life to help the man Hope had previously pointed out, and they were getting the little girl out of the back seat as well. "Good job, Hope. Where's..." Her eyes looked around and saw Maya ducking down the nearby alleyway, and she went to see how she was going. "You ok, Maya?"
Maya didn’t answer for a time, to busy evacuating everything she’d eaten that day including for some reason, something that looked surprisingly like carrot. She didn’t remember eating any carrot recently.
“I’m just peachy.”
Bobbi just nodded and looked back to see how Hope was doing. It seemed more people were showing up so they weren't in as much of a rush as they'd previously been. "Okay, take care of yourself. I think we're going to be all right here now." There was no sense in Maya pushing herself if she was sick.
She turned and called out to Hope. "How are you making out over there?"
Hope turned from where she had been coaxing the girl clinging to her to the paramedic and gave a nod to signal that everything was fine. Two minutes later a teddy bear convinced the girl to let go and she made her way over to Bobbi. "It looks like there is not much we can do here anymore." She observed.
"Agreed," replied Bobbi. It looked like everything was as under control as it could be, for the moment at least. "Let's regroup with the others and see if we can't be of better use elsewhere." She had a funny feeling that there was going to be much more work to be done yet.
Lorna, Alex, Callisto, and Sue keep the notbutreally Juggernaut from destroying more of the city.
People were running in the opposite direction, so that meant they were heading in the right direction. Lorna lead the pack as she sprinted down the street until she came to the intersection and saw a car going flying towards one of the building. Out of reflex, Lorna reached out with an arm towards the car as it came to a halt before it was lowered back to the ground.
Her attention went to the left where she saw a reflection from the sun on the helmet of the one who threw it. "We'll need to contain him to this area until the X-Men show up."
"Okay, I get why you said the billy club would be useless now," Alex said in what would have been a conversational tone if red energy wasn't already warping around his arms. "Sue, can you set up a force field or something around here? Try and keep gawkers and idiots out of the way?"
The blonde glanced back at the crowd gathering in the street before looking back at Alex with a shake of her head, "Something that big, it'd fall apart if you hit so much as a tennis ball at it. Best I can do is try to block individuals trying to get past, or anything flying back at them."
"So that's what we do then." Callisto slipped her hands into her jacket pockets and withdrew them wearing rather battered, very functional-looking knuckle dusters. "We'll take point, no one in, no one out. Who's gonna try to slow down the big guy? I'd say I'll go toe to toe with him but that miiiight come under the heading of 'unnecessary escalation'. Possibly containment of some kind is a better plan?"
"I've seen him fight when I was a little girl. He charges and once he does - there is little to stop him. I would say we would have to play tag with him. Keep him from going after one single target." Lorna looked at him but she didn't want to say that this did not look like the Juggernaut her father would brag about or that she had seen training with other rookies back in the day. He was dressed differently and whatever he was carrying in his hand, that was also new. "Alex go left. Callisto go right. I'll take point." Mostly because she could fly up and out of his reach. "Sue, leaving the force field to you."
The blonde pulled a face, her hands slipping out of her pockets as she pulled on a pair of gloves, lagging behind so she fell behind the others, glancing along the street as white teeth bit into her lower lip. It was a lot of space to cover, but she'd be more if a liability in the actual fight, especially against someone like the Juggernaut, that level of power was more than she could handle, for now at least. Working on her powers was something she'd let fall by the wayside, but that was something to worry about later. "Yeah, I'll see what I can do about limiting the collateral, just drop him fast."
Callisto broke into a light trot to head around the right flank, eyes darting from side to side as she assessed the situation. Small-scale tactics, this she could do. Though open spaces like this one, that she was less fond of. So much potential collateral. No firm barrier. From what Sue had said, whatever energy barrier they had was going to slow things at best, not stop them.
"Get the fuck out of here!" she yelled at some people who were, inexplicably, still milling around, possibly near their own cars given what looked like a slow collision from vehicles all trying to turn and flee at the same time. For now, the big guy didn't seem to be looking her way. Calliso grabbed a piece of building debris - a large concrete block with a handy iron bar sticking out of it - and took up position at a minimum distance, dropping down low.
Alex looked at Lorna and nodded before running in, yelling, "Hey, Ugly!" to get the man's attention as energy wound up and down his arms. He looked big, Alex doubted the blast would hurt him much - it was mostly to get his attention.
Lorna took off straight for the newly dressed Juggernaut. The thought terrified her but she had to help slow him down until the calvary arrived and by her teammates time to evacuate the surrounding areas. As she by passed a car with its door off, it melted into a liquid state and started to surround up Lorna's right arm and part of her shoulder. Her left hand was glowing green and she let out a pulse towards the man.
"Do you wish to spar with the Mighty One?" The voice that came out of the rounded helmet was gravely and rough and wasn't speaking any language anyone knew, and yet - none the less, his words made sense. This armored man wanted a fight, and he was grinning behind the helmet, straight, perfect, white teeth contrasting with brown skin and gold inlayed red helmet. "The Mighty One accepts, and should you prove worthy, will leave you able to speak of his fame and strength!" He reached down and easily ripped the hood off a truck with one giant hand. "See, sorceress, The Mighty One can also rend these simple vehicles!"
"The - what?" Alex asked, momentarily bewildered. Had he just fallen into a bad fantasy movie? "Oooooooooookay, bro," he said as he approached, firing off the energy spiraling up and down his arms and blasting him in the chest. Take down now, question the movie-like villain later.
This was what the X-Men got into every time they deployed to the field of combat? They could keep it, it seemed too haphazard for her, too unwieldy. Sue danced around a car, slowly pacing between the confrontation and the fleeing masses as she held her hands up like a catcher. Who knew playing softball at school would come in useful?
"More contenders! I will defeat you all, and leave you electrified as I destroy this settlement!" The Juggernaut - though acting as Lorna had never seen before - picked up the rest of the truck easily and tossed it over his shoulder. "Perhaps The Destroyer should make this clearer." He paused, and the grin turned to a snarl as he slipped from Allspeak to New York Accented English. "Fight me, or perish!" He raised one booted foot and then sent it crashing down onto the concrete. The shockwave rattled cars, broke windows - and sent everyone tumbling to the ground.
'Take the perimeter' was all very well and good but if this guy kept going like this there wasn't gonna be a perimeter. Callisto looked between the Juggernaut and the large chunk of metal-boned masonry in her hands, shrugged, and with a full spin on one foot, shot-put-style, swung and launched the object in question in the big guy's direction with all her not-inconsiderable strength. She didn't expect it to stop him, but who knew, maybe it'd give him pause?
As Lorna circled around, she helped out one of her arms out as metal started to pull away from the environment and started to make a gauntlet around her hand and up her arm to her shoulder. She flew straight behind him and using her powers slammed it right into his back, with enough force that would send a normal person flying. "Cain! Wake up!"
The ornate Asgardian armor actually creaked under the force. The Destroyer ignored her plea, but the strain against his armor, that got his attention, and his flinty eyes met Lorna's. He stared at her searchingly. "Do we know you, green-haired witch? What name does your family carry?" He asked, almost confused, nearly uncertain.
And as fast as the moment of near recognition came on, it passed, and the Juggernaut turned Asgardian Warrior shook himself, tossing Lorna from his back like shaking off a flea. "It matters not what you call yourself! I am the Destroyer and this land is mine to sunder!"
"Excuse me," Sue raised one hand, a forcefield materializing to catch Lorna, cushioning her until she managed to right herself, "if you really want to sunder some land there is some over by Houston and 14th that is a much better place to sunder things. Really I promise," she walked a little closer to him, "it's like this big old building you could go crazy in, and it's in the east side too, so think how much more scared everyone will be when they see you there." And more importantly, it got him away from this crowd, although the time she'd been talking had provided her team an opportunity to regroup.
"Lor!"
Alex was halfway to running toward when he caught himself. Sue had her. She'd be okay. She'd be okay. And there was still that giant oaf to deal with. Alex's entire body lit up; he ignored the voice in the back of his head that was trying to remind him not to be stupid, he hadn't actually tried this outside the Danger Room. "Back up, Sue," he called, and he watched out of the corner of his eye as she disappeared. This is stupid, this is stupid. But hey, stupid was what he did best. Circles of energy lit up around his body, and he darted forward, his steps slightly accelerated and burning into the concrete. About five feet away, he clapped his hands together and outstretched, and all the energy surged up through his arms, down to his fingers tips, and blasted Cain at a close range, making sure there was no chance for the man to escape or dodge. He stumbled back as the energy full drained, good and completely exhausted by that one endeavor. It was only by some grace of dog that he managed to stay upright.
The plasma boiled over Cain, incinerating the scraps of fabric that clung to his armor. He was engulfed by light and heat and briefly it appeared as though it had consumed him as well and then it was gone, as though his fantastical armor had absorbed it. He glowed with a dull red heat, armor and skin, and roared with anger.
Always a fan of fighting dirty where at all possible, Callisto took this opportunity to lob another large chunk of masonry, this time throwing herself after it, taking a running leap at the target with the grace and economy of an Olympian, only with extra leather and knuckle dusters.
Callisto was not a large woman. The Juggernaut dwarfed her. But Callisto weighed about twice what someone her size should, and with that came the factor of the unexpected. The impact was brutal, fist first, Callisto's armoured knuckles impacting on the side of his helmet with a clang that echoed all round. She was there and then gone again in a moment, swinging past like a teenage boy leaning out of a car to swing a baseball bat at a mailbox. She landed lightly on her feet behind their foe, immediately swinging back around. So much for perimeter defence.
The chunk of stonework blossoming into dust against Cain's face did nothing to improve his temper. Nor did the leather-clad woman whose blow had caused his helmet to ring like an overly ornate and odd bell. He turned to face the Midgardian, found her already gone, and swung his fists wildly. He was the Destroyer, and in his rage he became a dervish of casual destruction - a light pole, the concrete and metal grates of the sidewalk, parked cars all went flying as he roared taunts at his challengers.
No sooner had she had gotten back on her feet after the first toss was Lorna met with flying objects. She focused on the metal as her green pulse reached out to stop them from harming any of her team members. It was the flying concrete that broke her concentration and the metal objects she held back went falling back to the Earth. It hit her shoulder hard as she flew back into the car and sank to her knees as she felt the air around her starting to pick up. Looking up she saw the X-Men plane arriving. "PULL BACK!" She yelled but had lost her own ability to stand as she was holding her shoulder in place.
That was all Alex needed to here; he immediately dropped back, running to Lorna. "Up and at 'em," he said, scooping her up. "Time to bail."
In the middle of a battle he took the time to pick up Lorna and sweep her off her feet, that would be kinda sweet in a way if it wasn't for the gigantic killer doing his level best to turn them into paste. "Right...ok...running now." The young woman faded from view, forcefield wrapping around herself as she dodged this way and that, waiting for a moment to see if anyone needed any cover before she made her great escape.
As she scanned the area Lorna spotted Callisto, whose keen ears had picked up the muffled but nevertheless unmistakable growl of their saviour's overpowered jet engine a little before it had come into sight, and who was therefore already sprinting at speed away from the scene. Apparently their occasional collaborator was also adept at taking care of herself.
