Behold A Black Horse - Log 5
Nov. 26th, 2023 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsGreycrow and Vertigo run up against Blink and Dust in an attempt to capture Jenn.
Limitations in teleportation and sand forms were as suboptimal as you could ask, but they were still X-Men, and that meant accepting the risk as they pulled away and made a roundabout way to their evac point, hoping to draw the soldiers and Marauders from the civilian they'd come to rescue. For a moment, it almost seemed like they hadn't taken the bait when the street in front of them erupted as a line of thermal rounds impacted off it, inches from where they'd been standing.
"Damn, this jerk again." Sooraya almost cursed as she pulled herself back. "I've dealt with him before. He's a tough one, very good at figuring out your weaknesses. He knows mine pretty well and with this weird powers stuff... Unless..." She lashed out with a sharp tendril of sand, even though it seemed be moving through thick syrup. "Let's see if they are struggling as well."
This was the time for creativity and for working without powers in some cases, like for Clarice. "Greycrow is the one in more concerned with," both were highly skilled in their powers and in combat, but he made weapons. Even with his powers potentially shorted out, he had range. A lot more than they had.
"If you leave us the girl, you can just leave." The man called out without revealing his location.
"I distract and shield, you sneak?" Sooraya quietly hissed at her teammate through her communicator. At an affirmative nod Sooraya quickly focused, exploding in a cloud of sand, hiding both Blink and Dunn from sight, even as it felt like she was moving in slow motion. Still, it would make their answer plenty clear.
Sneak? She was a purple teleporter! She'd never sneaked in her life. She'd never needed to. But, it was probably their best plan given everything. Taking a moment, she used the cover to go low and work her way closer, knowing it was a 'when' not an 'if' for the cover to end and their opponents be up close and personal.
Hopefully Clarice would have her sword.... or maybe a sedative with a needle somewhere. Sooraya hovered protectively in front of their protegee, fighting through the molasses to wrap tendrils around their protegee. Slowly she rotated a little, urging Jennifer towards the somewhat questionable shelter of a concrete pillar. If Greycrow recognized that though....
A sonic blast caught Sooraya square and the pitch and vibration threatened to tear apart her sand form.
"Been thinking about our last encounter. Had some ideas for this time. What do you think?" He called out as a dozen small canisters hit the ground around her with metallic pings.
As much a she didn't trust her portals for people, she could at least try them for this, opening little ones to get the canisters as far as she could safely. Yet they felt unstable and weak, things she'd never experienced before with her portals. She didn't like it.
She also wished she had her sword. Or anything long range. Tugging her backpack off, she looked through her options, then pulled out some heavy duty scissors and a couple scalpels. These would have to do. "Mess with someone your own size," she yelled, running and jumping on the back of Greycrow, the scalpels held like Wolverine's claws.
The purple sheen of the tiny portals allowed Sooraya to completely focus her attention on the effects of the sonic blast... which one word were simply weird. While she could feel its power and the struggle to keep things together, it wasn't as bad as she suspected. Was the weird molasses thing with her powers protecting her, helping to keep her together or did whatever affected this town also hit Greycrow?
Anyway, it took her only moments to regain her balance and she refocused on her surroundings, while once more pushing Jennifer behind the concrete pillar. Weirdly... even that seemed to go more easily then moments before.
"Jesus, Greycrow, control your bitches." Vertigo sneered, reaching out from behind her cover with an outstretched hand. Clarice's world suddenly inverted as her inner ear seemed to turn inside out. Greycrow through the purple woman off roughly, bouncing her off the concrete.
"We just want the girl." He said, reaching for an odd looking pistol.
"Nope," staying upright was a challenge as the wind was knocked out of her and everything seemed tilted, but it took more than that to stop Clarice. Maybe it was that she was stubborn or too stupid to quit, but mostly, it was because she had a mission and she intended to see if through. Using her portals, she created tiny ones, poking holes in the pistol and at Vertigo. She might not be able to get close or to use her portals properly, but that didn't make her helpless.
Now that Jennifer was behind the pillar ánd staying put, Dust was finally completely able to focus on their opponents. A glimmer of light caught a metallic something on an outstretched hand and a lock of green hair close to it. That must be their other opponent. Taking advantage of the weird benefit Greycrow had provided her with, she sent a tendril of sand sneaking across the ground into the direction of the hand.
It skittered across the ground quickly until it encountered flesh, wrapped around the wrist, lifted and pulled.
Vertigo was yanked out of position by the sand tendril, but her curses turned to screams as she was pulled past one of Clarice's micro-portals, which burrowed a clean hole through her body, starting at the hip and coming out just above her knee. She collapsed as blood fountained out of her, and Greycrow made the executive decision; his briefing said that the X-Men don't kill and it was obviously no longer the case. He flipped a trio of small canisters around him, his optics going opaque as they ignited and engulfed the area in a chaotic flash of light and sound. In the confusion, he grabbed Vertigo, who was clutching her leg trying to stanch the flow of blood.
"Malice, we're falling back for a med-evac." He didn't bother to wait for a response, breaking away from the combat.
Well. That happened. "Oops?" Clarice offered innocently, taking a minute to gather herself before making her way over to Jennifer and Sooraya. "I didn't mean to do that!" she instantly defended herself, knowing how Sooraya felt about killing. An accident, but no remorse.
It took Sooraya only a moment to reform. "It happened and I think that is all we can say about it. Besides, I was pulling her out of hiding. Let's just get to the meeting point."
Limitations in teleportation and sand forms were as suboptimal as you could ask, but they were still X-Men, and that meant accepting the risk as they pulled away and made a roundabout way to their evac point, hoping to draw the soldiers and Marauders from the civilian they'd come to rescue. For a moment, it almost seemed like they hadn't taken the bait when the street in front of them erupted as a line of thermal rounds impacted off it, inches from where they'd been standing.
"Damn, this jerk again." Sooraya almost cursed as she pulled herself back. "I've dealt with him before. He's a tough one, very good at figuring out your weaknesses. He knows mine pretty well and with this weird powers stuff... Unless..." She lashed out with a sharp tendril of sand, even though it seemed be moving through thick syrup. "Let's see if they are struggling as well."
This was the time for creativity and for working without powers in some cases, like for Clarice. "Greycrow is the one in more concerned with," both were highly skilled in their powers and in combat, but he made weapons. Even with his powers potentially shorted out, he had range. A lot more than they had.
"If you leave us the girl, you can just leave." The man called out without revealing his location.
"I distract and shield, you sneak?" Sooraya quietly hissed at her teammate through her communicator. At an affirmative nod Sooraya quickly focused, exploding in a cloud of sand, hiding both Blink and Dunn from sight, even as it felt like she was moving in slow motion. Still, it would make their answer plenty clear.
Sneak? She was a purple teleporter! She'd never sneaked in her life. She'd never needed to. But, it was probably their best plan given everything. Taking a moment, she used the cover to go low and work her way closer, knowing it was a 'when' not an 'if' for the cover to end and their opponents be up close and personal.
Hopefully Clarice would have her sword.... or maybe a sedative with a needle somewhere. Sooraya hovered protectively in front of their protegee, fighting through the molasses to wrap tendrils around their protegee. Slowly she rotated a little, urging Jennifer towards the somewhat questionable shelter of a concrete pillar. If Greycrow recognized that though....
A sonic blast caught Sooraya square and the pitch and vibration threatened to tear apart her sand form.
"Been thinking about our last encounter. Had some ideas for this time. What do you think?" He called out as a dozen small canisters hit the ground around her with metallic pings.
As much a she didn't trust her portals for people, she could at least try them for this, opening little ones to get the canisters as far as she could safely. Yet they felt unstable and weak, things she'd never experienced before with her portals. She didn't like it.
She also wished she had her sword. Or anything long range. Tugging her backpack off, she looked through her options, then pulled out some heavy duty scissors and a couple scalpels. These would have to do. "Mess with someone your own size," she yelled, running and jumping on the back of Greycrow, the scalpels held like Wolverine's claws.
The purple sheen of the tiny portals allowed Sooraya to completely focus her attention on the effects of the sonic blast... which one word were simply weird. While she could feel its power and the struggle to keep things together, it wasn't as bad as she suspected. Was the weird molasses thing with her powers protecting her, helping to keep her together or did whatever affected this town also hit Greycrow?
Anyway, it took her only moments to regain her balance and she refocused on her surroundings, while once more pushing Jennifer behind the concrete pillar. Weirdly... even that seemed to go more easily then moments before.
"Jesus, Greycrow, control your bitches." Vertigo sneered, reaching out from behind her cover with an outstretched hand. Clarice's world suddenly inverted as her inner ear seemed to turn inside out. Greycrow through the purple woman off roughly, bouncing her off the concrete.
"We just want the girl." He said, reaching for an odd looking pistol.
"Nope," staying upright was a challenge as the wind was knocked out of her and everything seemed tilted, but it took more than that to stop Clarice. Maybe it was that she was stubborn or too stupid to quit, but mostly, it was because she had a mission and she intended to see if through. Using her portals, she created tiny ones, poking holes in the pistol and at Vertigo. She might not be able to get close or to use her portals properly, but that didn't make her helpless.
Now that Jennifer was behind the pillar ánd staying put, Dust was finally completely able to focus on their opponents. A glimmer of light caught a metallic something on an outstretched hand and a lock of green hair close to it. That must be their other opponent. Taking advantage of the weird benefit Greycrow had provided her with, she sent a tendril of sand sneaking across the ground into the direction of the hand.
It skittered across the ground quickly until it encountered flesh, wrapped around the wrist, lifted and pulled.
Vertigo was yanked out of position by the sand tendril, but her curses turned to screams as she was pulled past one of Clarice's micro-portals, which burrowed a clean hole through her body, starting at the hip and coming out just above her knee. She collapsed as blood fountained out of her, and Greycrow made the executive decision; his briefing said that the X-Men don't kill and it was obviously no longer the case. He flipped a trio of small canisters around him, his optics going opaque as they ignited and engulfed the area in a chaotic flash of light and sound. In the confusion, he grabbed Vertigo, who was clutching her leg trying to stanch the flow of blood.
"Malice, we're falling back for a med-evac." He didn't bother to wait for a response, breaking away from the combat.
Well. That happened. "Oops?" Clarice offered innocently, taking a minute to gather herself before making her way over to Jennifer and Sooraya. "I didn't mean to do that!" she instantly defended herself, knowing how Sooraya felt about killing. An accident, but no remorse.
It took Sooraya only a moment to reform. "It happened and I think that is all we can say about it. Besides, I was pulling her out of hiding. Let's just get to the meeting point."
