X-Men Mission: Exorcism Robotica - Part 7
Jan. 21st, 2022 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsThe second team of X-Men emerge to fight the Sentinels and the Brotherhood.
Kurt teleported his squad in as soon as the Blackbird streaked over the battlefield. They'd waited to deploy last at Scott's orders, keeping an eye over the battlefield to determine where to hit. They caught sight of one of the remaining Sentinels being overlooked by the Brotherhood, in a position to flank the remaining Brotherhood. That was where Kurt took both Logan and Nica into the field.
"And there is our target", Kurt said with a sigh. "Spectrum, please try electrocuting it. Perhaps it will at least slow it down."
"On it!" replied Nica, profoundly grateful she was dealing with a giant robot and NOT the woman from the Brotherhood who had so effectively beaten her previously. She took to the air, landing gracefully on the Sentinel's head before blasting it with as much electromagnetic energy she could spare, For a moment, it seemed to work as the robot shuddered and seemed to slump... but then it rumbled back to life with an eldritch glow emanating from its eyes. Nica yelped as it swiped at her - she'd had to go solid to change frequencies - and managed to leap off and into the air again. "Uh, problem! That thing is NOT running on electricity!"
Logan fully expected the thing to go down and he'd just be left with robot slice and dice for cleanup. That didn't happen as the crackle of otherworldly energy enveloped them despite the distance. "Well shit, that's not what we needed." He broke into a run toward the Sentinel, using what cover he could find to make sure he wasn't an easy target for immediate pickings. "Smells like those demon rituals we get caught up in entirely too often," he said over his comm. He wasn't sure what he was going to do other than be a very small inconvenience. There was twenty feet of too much metal for him to deal with efficiently.
"How can that be?" Kurt asked semi-rhetorically, not doubting Logan's senses, as he followed his colleague towards the robot. "The American government has dealings with demons, now?"
"I'm starting to think that maybe this whole thing isn't exactly government sanctioned," replied Nica as she hovered out of range of the hands. "Does the government even know what demons are?" She tried an experimental infra-red blast and then dodged the return fire. "Looks like we might have to do this the old-fashioned way - when you have a can to open, you use a can opener."
"Sounds like I fit the role of that job description. Nightcrawler, 'port me up there around its head and I'll do what I can do?" Logan glanced at the robotic head with its demon glow. It looked like there were plenty of vital connections that could use some severing. It'd be trial and error to see what ran on good old fashioned mechanical engineering and what ran on demon power. "Probably gonna need you two to play distraction or I'm gonna be swatted off that thing like a fly."
"You can count on it", Kurt promised. "Whenever you are ready... Spectrum, it may be wise for you to be intangible."
“Oh, trust me, I haven’t stopped,” Nica said with a grim smile. “Let’s do this.” She soared upwards, looping around to come back at speed, aiming a series of energy blasts at the Sentinel's face until it half-turned away from Kurt and Logan to try and grab at her. Its hands passed through her and you could almost hear the gears grinding in its mind as it tried to deal with the situation.
Kurt didn't waste time, immediately reaching for Logan's shoulder to teleport them both on to the Sentinel's head, then waited only long enough to make sure Logan had a secure footing before he was gone again.
As soon as they materialized, Logan jabbed his claws into the nearest piece of Sentinel metal within reach. It established a secure position for him at the least and allowed him to focus on clawing at any and all connections between the head and the body. The faster this thing was detached into its component parts the better. Prickles of unease washed over him as he waited for the demon energy to mount some sort of defense.
Blasts of light of different hues showed Nica was using the full range of her personal EM field to try and keep the robot's attention on her. Especially since she didn't have to worry about giving it cancer or something. "Hey, Robbie!" she called as it paused to turn its head, as if to see what was on it. "Over here!"
Kurt had decided to try something while Nica and Logan between them had the robot’s attention. Since what he could physically do was limited, perhaps something on the spiritual level might help.
Without taking his eyes or attention off it, he began to pray aloud, all he knew of the exorcism ritual.
The Sentinel reached up and pulled Wolverine from his back. As it did, mist hissed from vents in the palms and covered Logan. It instantly began to burn, starting with the soft tissues of his face unprotected by the uniform. It tossed Logan to the ground hard, already struck senseless by the loss of both eyes and his nose to the corrosive spray.
The howling, screaming pain Logan felt didn't physically express itself simply because the tissues and nerve endings for those actions had been seared away. His body twitched in reactive muscle spasms while his brain whited out from everything. The pain was always the last to fade even as his body struggled to heal itself.
Clearly, whatever of the thing was demon wasn't going to be so easily banished. Kurt gave up on the prayer and leapt to rescue Logan, grabbing his friend's shoulders to get him to safety where his powers could do their work.
Nica had hung motionless in the air, her fists covering her mouth as she looked with horror at the ruin of Wolverine's face. It was one thing to read about the injuries he'd been able to heal from, but the reality was visceral. The smell of burned flesh and hair hung in the air. Only the puff of smoke from Kurt's teleport seemed to wake her from her shock. She dove behind the Sentinel's head to inspect the damage Wolverine's claws had done at the back of the neck. Long gouges proved adamantium had been stronger than whatever magic was powering this thing, wires and cables exposed.
The sight gave Nica an idea, although it reminded her too much of what had happened with Laurie in the pod. She shoved the thought away and reached with both hands into the slashed open gap, recorporating enough to grab two handful of wires. Drawing energy out hadn't worked before, but perhaps she could overload it - she shoved a jolt of full spectrum energy through her hands. The wires grew white hot, smoking as the plastic casings melted and sparks dancing over the metal components. The Sentinel paused and tried to turn its neck, the movement jerky. That was enough for Nica - she ghosted again and zoomed away to where Kurt and Logan were.
"I think my powers can disable it," she said to them, panting as she crouched by the two senior X-Men. "But I need to get past the shell." She winced at what she was about to say next. "Wolverine can cut chunks out of the outer casing, if you bamf him in and out and tell him where to cut?"
"A good plan", Kurt said with a nod. "Wolverine, whenever you are recovered enough, we can begin."
Logan managed to push himself upright with a grunt. Breathing was pain as was simply existing right now. He managed to focus his eyes on Nightcrawler and nodded. "Couple...more...minutes," he forced out through a mouth that tasted of metal and torn flesh. Those minutes passed excruciatingly slowly. Finally, he shook his whole body out then moved into a crouch. "Spectrum, direct us where ya want us."
"Knees joints first, then the elbows. We need to disable it first - stop it hitting us with any more surprises." Nica was still having trouble looking at Logan's face, even though his eyes had regrown and there were no more bloody sockets. It can't hurt me, so you'll need to be super fast, okay?"
"And I will be a second away if you need evacuation again", Kurt promised. "All right, to the legs first." He didn't waste time before teleporting Logan as close to the Sentinel as he could.
Slash. Wrench. Pull. Smash. Doing methodical damage while managing to avoid getting hit by any more self defense mechanisms was slightly nauseating. The continuous blimps from one location to another were wreaking havoc on his equilibrium but they were doing far more damage to the Sentinel. It was wobbling now and taking longer and longer to redirect to their attacks than it had before. "Almost there. Not much longer now."
"About time." Nica's voice over the comms sounded exhausted. "Time for the coup de grace - let's try for the chest plate."
"One more time, then", Kurt agreed, and this time took Logan directly to the Sentinel's chest area.
The chest plate was the one area of the Sentinel that looked intact. The rest of the robot was in tatters with sparks shooting everywhere, frayed wires and cables flopping around, and jagged pieces of metal scratching at the air. Logan slammed his claws in quickly, eager to get this over with, and for a break from the porting. Screeeech, wreeeek, urrrrrk went the metal as he tore it open, uncaring about what and where he was sowing damage until he went clear through the back of the robot. Perfect. Time to disconnect its upper half from its bottom.
It didn't take much. It only hung together by a few rivets and curved sections of rebar outer casing. Slash, slash and then the monstrosity started to sway back and forth like a Jenga tower in a heavy wind. One step and another then "Timber!" Logan shouted as the thing became completely disconnected from its two halves with the top half sliding forward and face planting into the ground with a slow motion like effect. The resounding thud as they watched from where Kurt had 'ported them was all sorts of satisfying.
Kurt teleported his squad in as soon as the Blackbird streaked over the battlefield. They'd waited to deploy last at Scott's orders, keeping an eye over the battlefield to determine where to hit. They caught sight of one of the remaining Sentinels being overlooked by the Brotherhood, in a position to flank the remaining Brotherhood. That was where Kurt took both Logan and Nica into the field.
"And there is our target", Kurt said with a sigh. "Spectrum, please try electrocuting it. Perhaps it will at least slow it down."
"On it!" replied Nica, profoundly grateful she was dealing with a giant robot and NOT the woman from the Brotherhood who had so effectively beaten her previously. She took to the air, landing gracefully on the Sentinel's head before blasting it with as much electromagnetic energy she could spare, For a moment, it seemed to work as the robot shuddered and seemed to slump... but then it rumbled back to life with an eldritch glow emanating from its eyes. Nica yelped as it swiped at her - she'd had to go solid to change frequencies - and managed to leap off and into the air again. "Uh, problem! That thing is NOT running on electricity!"
Logan fully expected the thing to go down and he'd just be left with robot slice and dice for cleanup. That didn't happen as the crackle of otherworldly energy enveloped them despite the distance. "Well shit, that's not what we needed." He broke into a run toward the Sentinel, using what cover he could find to make sure he wasn't an easy target for immediate pickings. "Smells like those demon rituals we get caught up in entirely too often," he said over his comm. He wasn't sure what he was going to do other than be a very small inconvenience. There was twenty feet of too much metal for him to deal with efficiently.
"How can that be?" Kurt asked semi-rhetorically, not doubting Logan's senses, as he followed his colleague towards the robot. "The American government has dealings with demons, now?"
"I'm starting to think that maybe this whole thing isn't exactly government sanctioned," replied Nica as she hovered out of range of the hands. "Does the government even know what demons are?" She tried an experimental infra-red blast and then dodged the return fire. "Looks like we might have to do this the old-fashioned way - when you have a can to open, you use a can opener."
"Sounds like I fit the role of that job description. Nightcrawler, 'port me up there around its head and I'll do what I can do?" Logan glanced at the robotic head with its demon glow. It looked like there were plenty of vital connections that could use some severing. It'd be trial and error to see what ran on good old fashioned mechanical engineering and what ran on demon power. "Probably gonna need you two to play distraction or I'm gonna be swatted off that thing like a fly."
"You can count on it", Kurt promised. "Whenever you are ready... Spectrum, it may be wise for you to be intangible."
“Oh, trust me, I haven’t stopped,” Nica said with a grim smile. “Let’s do this.” She soared upwards, looping around to come back at speed, aiming a series of energy blasts at the Sentinel's face until it half-turned away from Kurt and Logan to try and grab at her. Its hands passed through her and you could almost hear the gears grinding in its mind as it tried to deal with the situation.
Kurt didn't waste time, immediately reaching for Logan's shoulder to teleport them both on to the Sentinel's head, then waited only long enough to make sure Logan had a secure footing before he was gone again.
As soon as they materialized, Logan jabbed his claws into the nearest piece of Sentinel metal within reach. It established a secure position for him at the least and allowed him to focus on clawing at any and all connections between the head and the body. The faster this thing was detached into its component parts the better. Prickles of unease washed over him as he waited for the demon energy to mount some sort of defense.
Blasts of light of different hues showed Nica was using the full range of her personal EM field to try and keep the robot's attention on her. Especially since she didn't have to worry about giving it cancer or something. "Hey, Robbie!" she called as it paused to turn its head, as if to see what was on it. "Over here!"
Kurt had decided to try something while Nica and Logan between them had the robot’s attention. Since what he could physically do was limited, perhaps something on the spiritual level might help.
Without taking his eyes or attention off it, he began to pray aloud, all he knew of the exorcism ritual.
The Sentinel reached up and pulled Wolverine from his back. As it did, mist hissed from vents in the palms and covered Logan. It instantly began to burn, starting with the soft tissues of his face unprotected by the uniform. It tossed Logan to the ground hard, already struck senseless by the loss of both eyes and his nose to the corrosive spray.
The howling, screaming pain Logan felt didn't physically express itself simply because the tissues and nerve endings for those actions had been seared away. His body twitched in reactive muscle spasms while his brain whited out from everything. The pain was always the last to fade even as his body struggled to heal itself.
Clearly, whatever of the thing was demon wasn't going to be so easily banished. Kurt gave up on the prayer and leapt to rescue Logan, grabbing his friend's shoulders to get him to safety where his powers could do their work.
Nica had hung motionless in the air, her fists covering her mouth as she looked with horror at the ruin of Wolverine's face. It was one thing to read about the injuries he'd been able to heal from, but the reality was visceral. The smell of burned flesh and hair hung in the air. Only the puff of smoke from Kurt's teleport seemed to wake her from her shock. She dove behind the Sentinel's head to inspect the damage Wolverine's claws had done at the back of the neck. Long gouges proved adamantium had been stronger than whatever magic was powering this thing, wires and cables exposed.
The sight gave Nica an idea, although it reminded her too much of what had happened with Laurie in the pod. She shoved the thought away and reached with both hands into the slashed open gap, recorporating enough to grab two handful of wires. Drawing energy out hadn't worked before, but perhaps she could overload it - she shoved a jolt of full spectrum energy through her hands. The wires grew white hot, smoking as the plastic casings melted and sparks dancing over the metal components. The Sentinel paused and tried to turn its neck, the movement jerky. That was enough for Nica - she ghosted again and zoomed away to where Kurt and Logan were.
"I think my powers can disable it," she said to them, panting as she crouched by the two senior X-Men. "But I need to get past the shell." She winced at what she was about to say next. "Wolverine can cut chunks out of the outer casing, if you bamf him in and out and tell him where to cut?"
"A good plan", Kurt said with a nod. "Wolverine, whenever you are recovered enough, we can begin."
Logan managed to push himself upright with a grunt. Breathing was pain as was simply existing right now. He managed to focus his eyes on Nightcrawler and nodded. "Couple...more...minutes," he forced out through a mouth that tasted of metal and torn flesh. Those minutes passed excruciatingly slowly. Finally, he shook his whole body out then moved into a crouch. "Spectrum, direct us where ya want us."
"Knees joints first, then the elbows. We need to disable it first - stop it hitting us with any more surprises." Nica was still having trouble looking at Logan's face, even though his eyes had regrown and there were no more bloody sockets. It can't hurt me, so you'll need to be super fast, okay?"
"And I will be a second away if you need evacuation again", Kurt promised. "All right, to the legs first." He didn't waste time before teleporting Logan as close to the Sentinel as he could.
Slash. Wrench. Pull. Smash. Doing methodical damage while managing to avoid getting hit by any more self defense mechanisms was slightly nauseating. The continuous blimps from one location to another were wreaking havoc on his equilibrium but they were doing far more damage to the Sentinel. It was wobbling now and taking longer and longer to redirect to their attacks than it had before. "Almost there. Not much longer now."
"About time." Nica's voice over the comms sounded exhausted. "Time for the coup de grace - let's try for the chest plate."
"One more time, then", Kurt agreed, and this time took Logan directly to the Sentinel's chest area.
The chest plate was the one area of the Sentinel that looked intact. The rest of the robot was in tatters with sparks shooting everywhere, frayed wires and cables flopping around, and jagged pieces of metal scratching at the air. Logan slammed his claws in quickly, eager to get this over with, and for a break from the porting. Screeeech, wreeeek, urrrrrk went the metal as he tore it open, uncaring about what and where he was sowing damage until he went clear through the back of the robot. Perfect. Time to disconnect its upper half from its bottom.
It didn't take much. It only hung together by a few rivets and curved sections of rebar outer casing. Slash, slash and then the monstrosity started to sway back and forth like a Jenga tower in a heavy wind. One step and another then "Timber!" Logan shouted as the thing became completely disconnected from its two halves with the top half sliding forward and face planting into the ground with a slow motion like effect. The resounding thud as they watched from where Kurt had 'ported them was all sorts of satisfying.
