X-Men Mission: Lone Sentinel 5
Oct. 13th, 2021 04:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe X-Men come to grips in the aftermath of their defeat.
The battlefield was eerily silent as the Brotherhood disappeared. Only the creaking of the damaged building and the occasional groan pierced the quiet.
Jean's eyes snapped open and she sucked in a mouthful of air, sitting up to clear a series of coughs. She quickly looked around, her stomach sinking as she saw bodies strewn across the ground in the distance. Her mind reached out as she tried to pick up the mental signatures of those around while she picked herself up off the ground, staggering to keep balance.
~Is everyone alright? Report in please.~
~I'm here. Sort of.~ The reply from Nica was faint. She appeared in Jean's field of vision, flickering in and out of solidity. "I think I saw Psylocke over there," she said, her physical voice wavering in and out like her physical form was. "She's been stuck to the wall with Toad-goo. Can you come help get her free?"
Jean nodded. "Yeah...I...Just focus on staying corporal, okay?" she said, making her way over toward where Betsy's mental signature was.
~Betsy?~
Betsy’s eyes snapped open. The light felt like someone pushing a screwdriver into her eyeball. “Ugh,” she said and tried to lift her hand to cover her aching head, then panicking when she realised she couldn’t move it away from the wall behind her. ~Jean? JEAN!~
The loudness of the frightened scream in Jean's head made her wince. ~It's okay. I'm coming.~ she said assuringly. ~I'll get you out.~ As she came upon the sticky sight, Jean made a face. "Okay...this may take a bit."
Logan was covered head to toe in dust, dirt, blood, and grime. He was going to be feeling those aches and pains from his liquefaction for a few days. He held his left shoulder tight as he staggered through the debris field, blinking when a familiar scent emanated from the misshapen boulder next to him. It took a second for his frazzled brain to piece together what he was seeing. Summers, wrapped up in metal like a present, and no easy way out. He dropped to his knees with a thud and traced the metal with his hands. "Stay still. Don't wanna cut somethin' important." He looked up sharply as another scent drifted to him. It was Jean-Phillipe making his own staggering path through the concrete and boulders. Once he was certain Jean-Phillipe would survive he turned back to his task of cutting Summers free.
The sound of metal cutting into metal was jarring, like fingernails dragged down a chalkboard, the kind of sound that left you shivering, left you trying to twist away and avoid. Only....they had never been more genuinely relieved than they were now. as the X-man sucked in a breath of air, and then another, blinking against the light. That was the worst thing about having your head wrapped in metal, it was the helplessness, the claustrophobia that set in. It took a moment for Scott to gather himself, to shake away that feeling before he twisted his head around, nodding gratefully at Logan before his eyes slid past the man to settle on a familiar face. "How're you holding up there Bevatron?" Even in the middle of it all, code names were important.
Jean-Phillipe was nearby, wavering on his feet as though he might fall over at any second. His hands twitched near-constantly. "Mostly uninjured - scrapes and bruises. But my power has been...depleted." Damn Senyaka. And damn Erik too for doing this.
Kurt teleported in at that moment with Kyle limp and unconscious in his arms. “Wildchild needs medical attention”, he said quickly. “I think his healing is overwhelmed.”
Even a few minutes soaking in whatever wavelengths she could had helped Nica, and seeing the state of the rest of the team, she couldn't just sit by, existential crisis or not. "I'll go look for Echo. And Dust," she said over the comms.
Jean pointed at a level spot on the ground. "Set him down over there please," she said, crouching down to look Kyle over once he did. Blood saturated Kyle's blond hair, making it look as red as her own. Parts of his mottled skin were lumpy from the broken bones underneath and his head had a divet where it caved in. Jean took a labored breath.
"Okay. Anyone not actively dying please help me hold him down. I need to reset some bones and it's not going to be pretty."
Then Nica's frantic voice came over the comms: "I need help here! Echo's bleeding but I can't touch her and there's a Brotherhood dude here and I can't find Dust!”
Rubbing her recently released wrist, Betsy limped over to the rest of the team. “If Nightcrawler can get me over to Echo I have enough first aid training to at least stop the bleeding. Don’t know how much I can do about the other stuff, but I would very much like to hit a Brotherhood member if that is an option as well,” she said, nodding towards her blue teammate.
"I can", he said with a nod, reaching for her hand. "If you could please send Psylocke a mental image of where you are that she can pass to me, Spectrum? We will see about hitting Brotherhood members when we get there."
The images Betsy received were a jumble, edged with panic and exhaustion, but managed to convey the details - Maya, bleeding from several long gashes, one particularly long one down her face, missing her eye. Avalanche, imprisoned in a rough metal box that could only be Magneto's work. And a pile of golden-white sand near him, completely out of place. Not so far away, on the other side of a pile of smoking wreckage that had been a warehouse.
Kurt and Betsy were there a few seconds later. He released Betsy's hand so she could go to Maya, and turned to face Avalanche. "What do we have here? Did your leader turn on you?"
Avalanche sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes Heavenward. "Nightcrawler," he said, accent turning the syllables into a strange almost non-word. "Your ammódi mágoula is there," he continued, playing up the accent even more even as he dipped his chin once more toward the pile of sand. "Not dead. Only untrained or unskilled enough to not be able to hold herself together."
Nica's eyes widened in horror. "That's Soo, I mean, that's Dust?! What did you do?"
"Focused my power on her," Avalanche answered, giving a shrug. "She lost cohesion. This was the point."
"We have Echo", Kurt said into the comm. "She is injured but I think will be fine. We also have Avalanche, who seems to have been left for us to find... and Dust. He says she is not dead, but she is... discorporated.”
Betsy finished tightening the makeshift tourniquet she’d tied on on Maya’s arm and checking the various bandages she’d put on were sufficient. She stood up and concentrated but quick telepathic scan of the sand only confirmed what she had already suspected. “I think Echo will need stitches on some of the wounds and the one on her face might leave a scar, but I think this should hold until we get her somewhere better equipped. I cannot detect anything from Dust, but she is never telepathically ‘visible’ in her sand form so that doesn’t tell us much,” she shared on the comms.
It took everything he had for Scott not to punch Avalanche in the face, that satisfying thud of flesh slapping into flesh. Watching his head snap around, fall into unconsciousness. It was an action the man would never actually take, could never bring himself to stoop to, but it would feel so good. "Why would you...I don't..." The man's fists screwed up at his side for a moment before he shook his head and turned away. "We need to get out of here, bring him with us, we can turn him over to SHIELD and let them deal with him. I'm sure they'd love a chance to talk to him about a few things, they've been looking for a chance to bring a member of the brotherhood to justice. Besides, I'm not sure he'd do too well at the mansion...hopefully we can help Dust when we get home or even SHIELD won't be able to protect you."
***
"I know most of you don't trust me, and I can live with that. The only reason I'm here is that when I got passed intel about a possible return of the mutant hunting SENTINEL program, I took it to Xavier. Right to the top, and he told me we had to work through channels. To find proof. Otherwise, we'd risk our current position with the US government and SHIELD." Garrison Kane stepped away from the monitor, facing the assembled Brotherhood. "I can't live with that. I can't wait for the first attacks to start in order to be proved right."
He moved forward, challenging the suspicious looks. Only Erik smiled at the challenge, almost looking proud. "I have given up everything; my ethics, my job, the woman that I love... and now I'm teaching you the best ways to brutally bring down my friends because I believe if the program and everyone in involved with it aren't dragged into the light, exposed and then burned to ashes in full view of the world, we might as well say goodbye to the mutant race. Trust, don't trust me; I don't care. Just get the job done right."
The battlefield was eerily silent as the Brotherhood disappeared. Only the creaking of the damaged building and the occasional groan pierced the quiet.
Jean's eyes snapped open and she sucked in a mouthful of air, sitting up to clear a series of coughs. She quickly looked around, her stomach sinking as she saw bodies strewn across the ground in the distance. Her mind reached out as she tried to pick up the mental signatures of those around while she picked herself up off the ground, staggering to keep balance.
~Is everyone alright? Report in please.~
~I'm here. Sort of.~ The reply from Nica was faint. She appeared in Jean's field of vision, flickering in and out of solidity. "I think I saw Psylocke over there," she said, her physical voice wavering in and out like her physical form was. "She's been stuck to the wall with Toad-goo. Can you come help get her free?"
Jean nodded. "Yeah...I...Just focus on staying corporal, okay?" she said, making her way over toward where Betsy's mental signature was.
~Betsy?~
Betsy’s eyes snapped open. The light felt like someone pushing a screwdriver into her eyeball. “Ugh,” she said and tried to lift her hand to cover her aching head, then panicking when she realised she couldn’t move it away from the wall behind her. ~Jean? JEAN!~
The loudness of the frightened scream in Jean's head made her wince. ~It's okay. I'm coming.~ she said assuringly. ~I'll get you out.~ As she came upon the sticky sight, Jean made a face. "Okay...this may take a bit."
Logan was covered head to toe in dust, dirt, blood, and grime. He was going to be feeling those aches and pains from his liquefaction for a few days. He held his left shoulder tight as he staggered through the debris field, blinking when a familiar scent emanated from the misshapen boulder next to him. It took a second for his frazzled brain to piece together what he was seeing. Summers, wrapped up in metal like a present, and no easy way out. He dropped to his knees with a thud and traced the metal with his hands. "Stay still. Don't wanna cut somethin' important." He looked up sharply as another scent drifted to him. It was Jean-Phillipe making his own staggering path through the concrete and boulders. Once he was certain Jean-Phillipe would survive he turned back to his task of cutting Summers free.
The sound of metal cutting into metal was jarring, like fingernails dragged down a chalkboard, the kind of sound that left you shivering, left you trying to twist away and avoid. Only....they had never been more genuinely relieved than they were now. as the X-man sucked in a breath of air, and then another, blinking against the light. That was the worst thing about having your head wrapped in metal, it was the helplessness, the claustrophobia that set in. It took a moment for Scott to gather himself, to shake away that feeling before he twisted his head around, nodding gratefully at Logan before his eyes slid past the man to settle on a familiar face. "How're you holding up there Bevatron?" Even in the middle of it all, code names were important.
Jean-Phillipe was nearby, wavering on his feet as though he might fall over at any second. His hands twitched near-constantly. "Mostly uninjured - scrapes and bruises. But my power has been...depleted." Damn Senyaka. And damn Erik too for doing this.
Kurt teleported in at that moment with Kyle limp and unconscious in his arms. “Wildchild needs medical attention”, he said quickly. “I think his healing is overwhelmed.”
Even a few minutes soaking in whatever wavelengths she could had helped Nica, and seeing the state of the rest of the team, she couldn't just sit by, existential crisis or not. "I'll go look for Echo. And Dust," she said over the comms.
Jean pointed at a level spot on the ground. "Set him down over there please," she said, crouching down to look Kyle over once he did. Blood saturated Kyle's blond hair, making it look as red as her own. Parts of his mottled skin were lumpy from the broken bones underneath and his head had a divet where it caved in. Jean took a labored breath.
"Okay. Anyone not actively dying please help me hold him down. I need to reset some bones and it's not going to be pretty."
Then Nica's frantic voice came over the comms: "I need help here! Echo's bleeding but I can't touch her and there's a Brotherhood dude here and I can't find Dust!”
Rubbing her recently released wrist, Betsy limped over to the rest of the team. “If Nightcrawler can get me over to Echo I have enough first aid training to at least stop the bleeding. Don’t know how much I can do about the other stuff, but I would very much like to hit a Brotherhood member if that is an option as well,” she said, nodding towards her blue teammate.
"I can", he said with a nod, reaching for her hand. "If you could please send Psylocke a mental image of where you are that she can pass to me, Spectrum? We will see about hitting Brotherhood members when we get there."
The images Betsy received were a jumble, edged with panic and exhaustion, but managed to convey the details - Maya, bleeding from several long gashes, one particularly long one down her face, missing her eye. Avalanche, imprisoned in a rough metal box that could only be Magneto's work. And a pile of golden-white sand near him, completely out of place. Not so far away, on the other side of a pile of smoking wreckage that had been a warehouse.
Kurt and Betsy were there a few seconds later. He released Betsy's hand so she could go to Maya, and turned to face Avalanche. "What do we have here? Did your leader turn on you?"
Avalanche sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes Heavenward. "Nightcrawler," he said, accent turning the syllables into a strange almost non-word. "Your ammódi mágoula is there," he continued, playing up the accent even more even as he dipped his chin once more toward the pile of sand. "Not dead. Only untrained or unskilled enough to not be able to hold herself together."
Nica's eyes widened in horror. "That's Soo, I mean, that's Dust?! What did you do?"
"Focused my power on her," Avalanche answered, giving a shrug. "She lost cohesion. This was the point."
"We have Echo", Kurt said into the comm. "She is injured but I think will be fine. We also have Avalanche, who seems to have been left for us to find... and Dust. He says she is not dead, but she is... discorporated.”
Betsy finished tightening the makeshift tourniquet she’d tied on on Maya’s arm and checking the various bandages she’d put on were sufficient. She stood up and concentrated but quick telepathic scan of the sand only confirmed what she had already suspected. “I think Echo will need stitches on some of the wounds and the one on her face might leave a scar, but I think this should hold until we get her somewhere better equipped. I cannot detect anything from Dust, but she is never telepathically ‘visible’ in her sand form so that doesn’t tell us much,” she shared on the comms.
It took everything he had for Scott not to punch Avalanche in the face, that satisfying thud of flesh slapping into flesh. Watching his head snap around, fall into unconsciousness. It was an action the man would never actually take, could never bring himself to stoop to, but it would feel so good. "Why would you...I don't..." The man's fists screwed up at his side for a moment before he shook his head and turned away. "We need to get out of here, bring him with us, we can turn him over to SHIELD and let them deal with him. I'm sure they'd love a chance to talk to him about a few things, they've been looking for a chance to bring a member of the brotherhood to justice. Besides, I'm not sure he'd do too well at the mansion...hopefully we can help Dust when we get home or even SHIELD won't be able to protect you."
***
"I know most of you don't trust me, and I can live with that. The only reason I'm here is that when I got passed intel about a possible return of the mutant hunting SENTINEL program, I took it to Xavier. Right to the top, and he told me we had to work through channels. To find proof. Otherwise, we'd risk our current position with the US government and SHIELD." Garrison Kane stepped away from the monitor, facing the assembled Brotherhood. "I can't live with that. I can't wait for the first attacks to start in order to be proved right."
He moved forward, challenging the suspicious looks. Only Erik smiled at the challenge, almost looking proud. "I have given up everything; my ethics, my job, the woman that I love... and now I'm teaching you the best ways to brutally bring down my friends because I believe if the program and everyone in involved with it aren't dragged into the light, exposed and then burned to ashes in full view of the world, we might as well say goodbye to the mutant race. Trust, don't trust me; I don't care. Just get the job done right."
