2013-02-17 XMN: Consequences, Part II - The Bed You Made

Xmen: Consequences, Part II: The Bed You Made

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." -- Nelson Mandela

Omaha, Nebraska

State Home for the Foundlings

A long time ago

"Leave it alone, Summers. This isn't your fight."

The orphanage was a tough place to live, grow up, and matriculate-that much is for sure. For one hundred years the State Home for the Foundlings had taken in boys whose parents were dead, unable to take care of them, or simply did not want them any longer. The frayed edges of their upbringing showed themselves all the time.

A group of boys is huddled around another, smaller and younger boy. The mob has been teasing him for the better part of recess regarding his weight.

"Leave him alone, Tommy or-"

"Or you'll what, Scott?"

The slim boy with a mop of brown hair stares down the mob. The individuals of the pack slowly turn their attention to him, while the other youth who has been the victim of the bullying takes the opportunity to bolt back into the gymnasium entrance to the school.

Scott stands with balled fists as the faction begins to encircle him. Though trapped by others, the boy's eyes haven't left the ring leader, Tommy.

"You should have walked away, Summers."

_____

Xavier Institute

Professor Xavier's Office

2 weeks ago

Charles Xavier closes the file marked Mureybet and moves some hand written notes on the metallic monsters that attacked the students on the Island.

"Scott, you have served this institute and the X-men for a long time and you've done so honorably. For many years you have been more committed than I could have hoped for."

Scott leans back in his chair and grits his teeth. His face is still purple from the recent attack and he has two large gashes on his cheek. "But."

"But there have been some extremely concerning decisions made recently-decisions which need further investigation and contemplation."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it seems it would be most beneficial for you, the students, and the X-men, if you took a leave of absence while we review some of the decisions that have been made recently."

"Professor-"

"Scott, people have died. Students have died. At the very least we owe it to them to tread carefully and give these matters a full review. I'm sorry."

Scott remains seated, motionless, for a long moment. His gaze appears to be on the Professor, though it's not clear due to his glasses

_____

A recent reverse-engineering analysis of the downed Sentinel revealed some startling clues as to its creation. The large terrors appeared to have been powered by Dubnium fusion reactors. The element is not found in nature and must be synthesized in laboratories. The most extensive research done on Dubnium was conducted by the Soviets during the Cold War; indeed it was the communists who first were able to create the element.

Since then, the United States and Western powers had abandoned dubnium research mostly for cost. Trying to create fusion based on dubnium was deemed too expensive and highly unlikely to produce any real fruit. It wasn't clearly stated at first whether the Soviets continued the research, information like that was not readily given out to the press. What was discovered after the fall of the iron curtain, however, is that much of the dubnium testing done by the Soviets was done at the Lake Baikal Region, and there had been rumors that the testing was done at a secret base underneath the lake itself.

Further investigation into satellite data also found peculiar information. Large shipments over the past few months, originating in Mureybet, Iran, parts of Turkmenistan, the Ukraine, and Kazakhstan had all traveled to and from Lake Baikal via overland routes in the months leading up to the Mureybetan Revolution. There was also evidence that the Sentinels who came for the X-men, judging by old feeds, came from the Lake Baikal region.

The information seemed worthwhile to monitor, at the very least, and it did not take long to get some results. Though the shipments to and from Mureybet had come to a stop, those from the earlier mentioned nations had continued. The shipments were taken from a small warehouse on the shore and a closer inspection seemed to suggest that there was movement coming in and out of a hatch that led down into the water. At the very least, it was something to check out.

Heat signatures also pointed to something going on in that area of the lake beneath the water. Essentially every clue pointed to this region being the epicenter for the creation of these creatures.

Though Cyclops has been suspended indefinitely, a group of other X-men have been assigned to infiltrate the facility and inspect. The last time the Sentinels came, the X-men were not prepared. This time, however, they would surely have the upper hand of surprise. It was shown when the X-men work together, they can overtake the Sentinels.

The craft touches down not far from the warehouse in the middle of night under the cover of darkness. All is still and quiet. As the members of the team disembark they can clearly see the warehouse and a paved road that leads out into the lake. Those with excellent vision will notice that the water has been damned back and the edge of the pavement leads downward into what would otherwise be the lake. For those who can fly, the higher look will show a large, double overhead metallic door that looks like something you'd see in the shipping industry.

Having called in favors from old CIA friends, and her current SHIELD employers had Carol contributing more than just muscle. She provides some of the spy images used, and even offered to fly the craft to get everyone into the target region. Before they left though, she had a package delivered from SHIELD. Namely, if she's going into the field, she wants a field kit.

Once that kit was examined and such, she made sure to have a second kit for agent Ramsey. However, there was one special item added that she kept wrapped in black cloth until arriving on the ground.

"I still say this feels like too much of a setup. It's like whomever is behind all this -wanted- us to find this facility. I call this Operation Red Herring." And then she steps up beside Domino and holds the black cloth thing out. When opened, it's a gunbelt and holster with a newly upgraded Needler straight from SHIELD's Armory. "Thought this might come in handy." she remarks before moving to Doug's side and saying, "Stick with me." before she strides down the ramp. Sure she can fly, but if allowed to pilot the craft, or even co-pilot, she would've jumped at the chance.

However, despite her take-charge attitude, and command instincts, these folks aren't -her- command, and she is looking to whomever -has- taken over as commander to give her directives.

Since the last attack, Domino's taken the opportunity to learn whatever she could about the creation of these Sentinels, as well. While the others had focused on tracking down their origins and figuring out what made them tick, she kept herself busy with figuring out what they could withstand. Armor, defensive capabilities, any obvious weak spots. Everyone needed to be prepared for this. She had prepared by taking scrapped chunks of armor plating to the range to try and put holes through them from a distance.

She's settled on her choice of weapon for this operation. Once they touch down she's quick to hop out and put some initial distance between herself and their transport, nightvision goggles covering her eyes as she sprints for cover. The fifty caliber rifle that she carries with is loaded with the finest in anti-armor projectiles, capable of offering sledgehammer force with minute of aim precision from over fifteen hundred meters out.

It's because of this that she does an initial long-range sweep of their target area, keeping an eye out for anything ..out of the ordinary. The gift from Carol only means that she's got that much more at her disposal for when something goes awry.

"In position. Careful, kids."

Water.. and the fuzzy elf shudders at the thought. With a *bamf*, Nightcrawler teleports to the edge of the lake, peering with yellow eyes into the darkness, down that road. He's not long there before he's back amongst the ground, his voice quiet in the night's air. "Eeeny, meeny, miney moe.."

It's another quick *bamf* that Kurt is gone once again, to reappear on the side of the warehouse, covered in the cloak of darkness where indigo fur means virtual invisibility. Yellow eyes peer into the tiny windows at the top of the warehouse, and for a couple of heartbeats, remains where he is, taking it all in.


 * bamf*

And it's back to the group once again, Kurt's voice low. "The warehouse is empty. It looks, however, like some sort of staging area.." and he nods in the direction of the road that leads into the lake. "To there."

Jocelyn is part of this team, which suprised her a little bit, but she was going with it. She'd rather be helpful than stay behind, and her sight was suggested as a possible useful asset for a mission like this. She'd been at the mansion only a short time, but had at least picked up the basics of her powers, and wasn't getting a massive headache every five minutes anymore. That was a definite positive! The young girl, and newest resident of the mansion, looks out the window of the craft and closes her eyes to clear her thoughts. She then begins to look around. The warehouse looked normal. The sky was normal, though the stars were rather bright here, like they tended to be, what with all the energy she gave off. The road looked normal. However, that was when her gaze settled upon the water. And then down. "There it is," the girl states. "Underwater there's a huge amount of energy humming. There's the usual electrical, heat, and that stuff. But there's something else. Nuclear, if I'm seperating this out right". She points in the general direction of the lake and where the power was coming from. "Hope there's an easier way in than just swimming down there," she adds.

Her preparation hadn't been as inclusive, but she did take the time to pull in a bit of energy to toughen herself up. That would prove useful, at the very least. She was dressed for the weather, at least the best she could manage, while still being able to move around quietly. But, they'd all be a bit cold she figured, in a situation like this. It wasn't the best of weather.

Anole was still getting used to his 'big' arm. Fantastically strong, its been a little slow going in his learning to moderate the strength there. He's taken up using his left for finer-tasks. The taloned reptile fingers of his right hand great at tearing through steel- not so good for folding the laundry.

Since the attack, Vic has been somewhat more quiet- he watched friends vaporized in front of him. That sort of thing takes a toll on a kid raised in 'Normalville'.

However, none of that held Anole back in the desire to figure out who'd sucker-punched his extended family. When the plane landed, Anole stood. Outside, he changed colors- matching the pattern of the ground below, he knelt and stared down the road into the water. "If I were a switch to a secret military bunker, or whatever... Where would I hide..." He asks, mostly of himself.

Rogue has been quiet on the flight, unusually pensive and serious. Seeing young children get murdered is enough to shake most people but if those robots, the so-called 'Sentinels,' are humanity's weapon against mutants, this could be the opening shot in something much bigger -- and maybe her mother and Magneto are a lot more right than she wants to admit.

As the craft lands, Rogue checks her battle dress -- a green tunic with white trim, the hood carefully pulled up and gloves secured to make sure that when she touches someone, it's on purpose. While she normally favors inconspicuous clothing, this time she wants them to know who, and what, is coming for them.

Taking a deep breath and clenching a fist, she looks at the giant metal doors to the warehouse, the hint of a faint grin touching the edge of her lips for the first time this mission as she asks, "You want ah should knock?"

Adjusting the smartphone he had, the most up-to-date technological weapon he could use, and pre-setting it to the X-Mansion computers and the SHIELD computers remote hotlink, making sure it was fully charged, Doug puts it away, along with a few spare extra charged batteries. If all were as he expected, he'd need a way to access the computer systems, and it was, at least under -his- ability, the best on-field hacking device he could use. Especially since he could talk to the smartphone faster than he could type on a laptop.

Nodding at Carol, Doug takes the SHIELD kit, arming himself. Taking a deep breath, Doug glances at the field leader. "All set, sir."

When it comes to overwatch, having flight, enhanced senses, a small form, and an intelligence several magnitudes beyond super-genius doesn't hurt. It is for this reason Broo has taken this role. It also is more likely to keep the littlest brood out of most forays, since he prefers to not harm organic life. He clicks his comm, and speaks softly, "I will maintain line of sight, but try to do a quick flying sweep of the area. Perhaps I can see some heat signatures to locate lifeforms or working machinery. Shouldn't be too hard with the temperatures here." Broo's decision to come along was factored heavily by the presences of three beings, one of his best friends, Vic; the new acquaintance he feels an odd interested in, Rogue; and most importantly, because she is one of the beings he feels safest with, Carol. "Any orders, or should I reconnoiter on my own?

Getting out of the plane, it's not to the warehouse that Illyana looks first. Wrapping her arms around herself as though she's cold (which is entirely possible, given it's Siberia in February), she instead stares out over the lake as the rest of the group makes its way out and gets situated. When Doug stops by her, she says in Russian, << We used to come here when I was small in the summer. Picnics. To think, we're only a few miles from my home. >> She finally brings her attention away from the lake as Doug answers Carol, frowning as she looks at the SHIELD woman.

Children murdered, giant killer robots, and a general feeling of unease have Iceman being unusually quiet today. He's not particularly happy that they're bringing students to this. Considering that there will likely be more of those things, he was of the opinion that the kids should be at school because they hadn't been trained enough for this kind of trouble. In a nice thick coating of ice armor, he's peering out towards the lake. "You should probably stay in the back," he comments to Broo. Looking to Nightcrawler, Iceman nods. "Then it looks like we'be gotta find a way in there."

Madrox was invited to this little party for reasons even he doesn't understand. He's a freaking PI, not a giant robot fighter or whatever he is here for. But well he was brought along on this little shindig, so well here he is. Once the plane lands Jamie does what anyone with his super cool powers would do. He makes many dupes of himself and sends them out to scout the area. Hey many eyes are a great thing to have, and well he can have many eyes. But well he still wonders about why he's here, cause all he can be is many normal people dang it!

Earlier...

A silent sound came from beneath the Ghanaian's headphones as he sat in a chair on the rear veranda, smiling slightly. It was the sound of music from his home, and it made the sunset much more enjoyable. Plumes of white smoke are expelled from his nose as he breathes out the nicotine laden toxin, then flicks ash from his cigarette and reaches down for the ice cold beer.

Having stayed behind at the mansion while the others went away had made him feel important. He wasn't one to enjoy vacations... he'd never had one himself. Never needed them. However, as soon as his hand touched that beer, the alarm on his comm device went off.

Feet pounded into frozen dirt as he ran toward the X-Men's secret base and into the War Room, where data from the Blackbird had been fed before its eventual destruction. He had to stand there and watch, feeling disgusted and helpless, as children he knew were vaporized before his very eyes. Only a moment after the feed went silent, he was on his motorcycle and headed for the nearby Westchester County airport.

Now, he sits suited up in his gunmetal gray X-Men uniform, with a locked and secured firearms case resting in crash webbing against the wall nearby him. He is silent during the journey, his eyes staring forward in an almost meditative state, until the plane sets down. At this point, he opens the case, straps two sticks of C4 into his utility belt, and slings a freshly loaded SIG assault rifle over his shoulders. Where the hell he got that kind of gear is anybody's guess, but he doesn't speak about it. He merely checks the gun, sticks as many extra clips of ammunition into his belt that he can, and hops out of the plane with the others. He comes up nearby Jocelyn, feeling a kind of protectiveness that an older brother might have, and looks around at those nearby before eyeing the lake. A quiet sigh comes from his lips, though he says nothing for the moment. He's merely ready to follow the orders of anyone who takes charge.

When Iceman speaks up, Shift looks over toward his fellow mutant, then back toward the lake. He does not volunteer. His liquid form has not yet been perfected, and he'd hate to lose himself in that lake.

Omaha, Nebraska

State Home for the Foundlings

A long time ago

The sickening thud of fist hitting face smacks over and over again. Tommy the bully is on top of the younger, scrawny Scott Summers. The latter's face is already bloody, but the brute continues to pummel away.

"You should have listened, Summers. You want more of this?" Tommy laughs down at him with his fist raised. He delivers one more vicious blow, one designed to knock Summers out. Tommy gets up amongst cheers from his friends and dramatically brushes the dirt off his hands and shoulder. He turns his back, but as he does Summers picks himself up off the wet, winter pavement and struggles to his feet.

"You just don't know when to give up, do you punk?"

_____

Lake Baikal

Sentinel Assemblage Facility

Present Day

As Carol departs down the ramp, she'll notice a wide rocky terrain set out in front of the craft. The warehouse to the right, roads leading away to either side, and a large path that leads down into the dammed area down below the surface. The runway is large enough to run about 5 semis through if they were lined up side to side with some room in between.

Domino's pre-research has led her to believe that this group of sentinels have several weaknesses. As many X-men would recall, they use energy beams from their hands but they seem to have weak links at both the elbows and the knees. There's also weaknesses between the neck and the face where it meets the head, the area that Colossus literally ripped one of their heads off.

Jocelyn, as she noted will feel sort of like a new duck to new water, but these are the most dire of times. It was clear that the X-men are sending nearly every able bodied person they could at the time.

Meanwhile, Anole takes on the camo of the world around him, giving him a neat (if a bit disconcerting to others who see it the first time) appearance. He blends in seamlessly and can only really be seen when he moves.

Rogue motions to the doors and asks if she should take the polite route. Everyone will notice that while the doors look large and strong, they don't seem to be reinforced in any way.

Doug's check through of his equipment seems to show everything working fine. Added bonus, he even gets 3G way out here. Three cheers for modern technology.

Broo's efforts will illicit similar information to what Jocelyn discovered. Lots of heat down below the surface. It's a fortress of some sort, alive with all sorts of energies. Thermal, nuclear, electric.

Illyana will feel a weird foreboding. Just sort of an awkward, butterfly in the stomach feeling.

Iceman's further inquiry will notice that there's a bit of a corner at the left edge of the giant garage door type facade. It seems as good of place as any as a doorway, perhaps for dock workers during the day. As soon as it becomes apparent that's what it might be, one of Jamie's more adventurous and reckless dupes confirms it. There's a utility door in a little nook on the side.

Shift is locked and fully loaded. He brought enough ammo; as much as he could. There's a sense around the group that he's going to need it.

It's really crazy to have a group of this many people, of so many varying degrees of skills and combat prowess, without having a defined command structure. Last time they all had Scott to fall back to. This time? He's not here.

Domino's still new to the group. She doesn't want to assume or take liberties (or the responsibility) of trying to lead this operation. But, she can still help guide things. Her skills here could be beneficial. The real trick is figuring out how to proceed without stepping on the toes of anyone that has a bit more of a foundation to stand upon. Like Iceman, for instance.

"All's quiet at range. Anyone with good senses, enhanced vision, whatever the hell, we need to find our way in. Sounds like we can follow the path of energy. Stay low, stay quiet, be brisk. Whichever one of you has the twenty-odd copies running about, try to keep us up to date on any activity on the grounds. Shift, if you see a generator or power station, get it rigged on a remote trigger. If we need a fast exit we'll pull the plug and blind 'em. Iceman, confirm?"

Final say is his, but she knows what initial plan she'd like to run with. In the meantime she's going to press the assault, distance won't do them any good if they need to get under a lake!

"Under the water eh?" asks Carol as she smirks a bit. She's a soldier and has learned to deal with the loss of teammates, especially young ones. Young soldiers seem to be the majority of losses in wartime. She's focused on the living right now, not the dead. "Well, whomever's running this op, I can provide quite a hefty diversion if needed but... those giant robots didn't seem to pay much attention to me. Maybe that makes me a good stealth insertion candidate?" She's currently clad in the navy blue SHIELD uniform which she can change into her costume on a whim. But the uniform is at least stealthier.

"And under water? Well, I get enough energy, I can sustain myself without needing air. But it takes a lot of energy for that. I'm guessing though that to get folks into and out of the facility, they included a tunnel with access somewhere on the shore."

And then she looks towards Illyana and raises a brow, speaking in Russian herself. << I -am- here to help. >>

Kurt looks back at the warehouse again, and smiles, showing pointed teeth as an idea occurs to him. "If they use that as a staging area.." comes as a half-formed thought.

Immediately, the blue elf is gone again, following a hunch, disappearing and reappearing right next to Doug. Reaching out, he smiles to Illyana, "Leibchen," before he takes a hold of Doug. "Hold on.. und take a deep breath." Not that it does anything; as he'd explained to Domino before- it only allows his passenger to think of something other than 'OMG, I'm being teleported!'.


 * bamf*

Having taken notice of where things are located within the warehouse that is above the water line, Nightcrawler isn't in any particular danger of teleporting into anything that might cause him any serious injury. Once they land on the floor of the warehouse, behind the large doors, Kurt explains. "If this is a staging area, there must be a way down that is stored here, ja?"

Kurt looks to the doors again, and now explains to those with radios outside. "There must be a way to get to the other warehouse from within this one. I'll be finding a way to open these doors," which, of course, tacitly puts the request in with Doug to find that which is probably a whole lot harder! No sooner does he communicate it than he's looking for that elusive garage door opener button. "They usually put such buttons by the entrance doors.. by the lightswitch..."

"Well, I could feed you some energy, but it'd be slow," Jocelyn responds to Carol. She's not got the raw oomph yet to really give Carol the amount she'd likely need for something like that. "Well, let's see about finding a doorway in then," the girl responds. She starts scanning the area for any sort of electrical energy.

Jocelyn notes Shift next to her and gives him a calm nod as she continues scanning the area. She knew she was new, but that just put a little more pressure on her to perform. She was hoping to find some sort of hidden button or panel or something based on the location of the electrical energy that would let them inside without having to bash their way in. "Okay, I'm firing the wiring," she speaks into the comm. "Head about 40 feet to the left. Five or so feet up the wall is where I'm seeing a concentration of power. Look there".

Moving closer to where the water meets the road, Anole begins to investigate either side of the shoreline, trying to find clues. Any clues, really. The search continues slowly, while Anole approaches the doors that lead underwater- he speaks into his com. "This place must have cost a fortune."

Rogue glances back and forth as others scramble to find a more subtle avenues of entry, "Well, shoot," she mutters under her breath, "Looks like we're bein' all cloak and dagger. Ain't that just grand." She lets out a long puff of air, impatiently tapping her foot before something catches her eye.

"Broo, get down here and stay nearby, sugah," Rogue says to the diminutive alien, "We already lost. . ." she stops mid-sentence, a momentary pause to alter the direction of her words, ". . .we got enough folks flittin' about. Help me keep an eye out for anyone sneakin' up on us."

And then Kurt comes by, and Doug blinks. But his SHIELD training holds in good stead, and the young mutant nods in agreement.

Once he's teleported to the warehouse, Doug frowns at the door, at Kurt, and then shakes his head ruefully, tilting his head to examine the doors closer. "What Kurt means," Doug radios, "is that I'm supposed to figure out a way to open these doors. Even if I deal with software, not hardware... what am I supposed to do, say 'open sesame' in assembly language?"

Shaking his head ruefully, Doug joins in the search. Oh, for something that -would- let him get at the software...

Peering all around, Broo nods as he is ordered to stick close... okay, he was ordered to stay in the back, but Bobby, while a veteran, is not familiar with what Broo can do, so, the littlest Brood is interpreting the caution as more a -Don't split the Party- ideal. Flying down to by Rogue, he does use his comm again, "This place is crackling with power. It is actually hard to locate life with so much energy in use." licking his teeth, he sniffs the air and then just shakes his head at the stench of brimstone, "Why do Terrans not use safe cold fusion, or better yet, molecular resonance or point singularity energy production? They are far safer, far more efficient, would have far less environmental impacts, and take up far less property, as well as needing far less personell to maintain." he directs the quandry to no one in particular, but then again, sometimes it is better to hear many opnions on the subject so it is easier to find the grains of truth within the deserts of biased opinions.

When Carol turns back to look Illyana's way, the younger blonde doesn't flinch at the language or the message. Magik's blue eyes hold the same chill as her surrounding homeland, seemingly empty of warmth, compassion... soul. Kurt's appearance and greeting gets a slight nod, and she stands where she is, letting the others move forward as she touches her comm. "If you just want to get everyone into the warehouse, I can do that without breaking the doors." Opening a pair of portals, one on each side is easy peasy.

"Pretty sure we've got a door we can use," Iceman remarks as he examines the corner. He waits for the confirmation from the dupe before confirming it himself. Domino's suggestions get a moment of consideration. "Already looking for a way in, Dom. Be careful with blowing any power stations. If they've got nuclear power down there we don't want to all go up," he says. "And listen to Rogue, Broo," he snaps that last part. Kurt porting himself and Doug inside gets another little nod. "We're not trying to get in there," he adds for Magik.

Once Domino gives the dupes orders they all answer at once, "Yes Ma'am." Jamie prime walks on over to Domino, "So anything else I can do? If we need them I can make some more dupes to do other things if we need them." Hey he's gotta feel useful and stuff. "Besides some scouting work, not sure what else I can help you with though."

A gloved hand reaches up to his ear as Shift receives Domino's message over the comm. "Copy," he says, before looking toward the younger Jocelyn nearby. "Keep your eyes peeled for de lahgest concentration of powah," he requests with a quiet voice. He wasn't an electrical engineer, but unless their foes had somehow shielded the generator, it would be his best bet at locating it.

Then and without warning, with a -poof- the African turns into a cloud of smoke. It collapses against the ground, quietly bringing his weaponry along until it is lying down gently in a neat pile. Once finished, the cloud begins to float out and over the roadway, spreading out thinly until it's nigh invisible in the darkness. In this form, Shift begins advancing upon the water, his mutated senses feeling the pavement as he progresses with as much swiftness that he can manage.

A few moments later, the cloud of smoke is back with the others who are still gathered in silence outside the warehouse, and forms up into a man once more. "Lots of tire tracks on dat road," he reports to Carol and Iceman, using hand gestures as he explains. "Smallah vehicles, large trucks for shipments, even tank treads." He shakes his head and eyes the spillway and the facility it provides access to down beneath the water. "Lots of activity down dere."

Omaha, Nebraska

State Home for the Foundlings

A long time ago

With what little energy the boy has left, Scott Summers flings himself recklessly at Tommy with a right hook. He gets one good shot in, knocking the bully back, but it is of little use. The rest of the boys pile in and the beat down continues.

Within moments the boy is left bloodied upon the pavement. The only apparent motion of his body is slow, shallow breathing, and his left eye is completely swollen over. He is a bloody mess.

_____

Lake Baikal

Sentinel Assemblage Facility

Present Day

Domino gives her remarks as most of the dupes and the flying Broo are still within ear shot. She's right, it seems. Standing out here they are relatively safe. Thus far they have yet to be seen. But it's clear they will need to get down in under the lake.

From Carol's vantage point, it seems she does not realize that one of Jamie's dupes has already found an entrance down the ramp and into the dammed area below.

Nightcrawler takes action, bringing Doug with him. There is a long hallway that leads down, down, down and out of view. His hunch is right. Jocelyn's directions lead him right to a device on the inner wall. It's where all the electrical wiring leads and it's a computer bank control panel. That's a fancy way of saying that it's a real big, complex garage door opener-a lot more sophisticated than the switch at your grandma's house-but Doug is there and can get to it. That's a good thing.

Doug gets to work on the computer.

Anole is right. Whoever created this place had extremely sophisticated technology and spared no expense in building it. Though Lake Baikal is a tourist destination, Siberia itself is pretty remote, and the parts of the roads that lead here are gated off.

Rogue's impatience is probably not solitary in the group. All this waiting and checking every nook and cranny is something Scott would probably be in favor of. There's no getting away from it, it seems.

Illyana must feel the irritation too, and decides to open some portals. But a funny thing happens. She'll be surprised to learn that she can't. Her link to Limbo is somewhat mysteriously fuzzy. She can still feel her powers, but her ability to teleport is sort of fuzzy. Shorting out, if you will.

Broo is more right than he knows. Cold Fusion would make everything better and easier. Using fusion with Dubnium? Well that's what the Soviet's tried in the past.

Sift's report is accurate. Through his investigation he reveals precisely what he's said to Carol and Iceman. The picture of what happens here is more clear now. Shipments from all around, presumably Mureybet, Kazakhstan, the Ukraine, and the others drop off the shipments in the warehouse. They're taken below. Then, whatever's made down there is brought back up to the warehouse and prepared to ship out back along those same lines.

As Madrox speaks and gets that, "Now what?" feeling, everyone's attention turns to the door.

"Yes!" Doug's exuberance is contagious. "Kurt, found it... I'll be right with you."

Fingers boot, and then Doug is quickly at work. Whatever passwords are in, they were using software, and Cypher could -talk- to the computers in their language... which meant that 'Open Sesame' would -work- if he wanted to... and so the young mutant grins up at Nightcrawler. "Open sesame," he says, motioning to the doors...

The doors open wide revealing to all what Doug and Kurt already have seen. There's a large hangar-way that leads downward until the slope ends. Then it continues on.

Broo and Jocelyn will notice that the energy begins to shift within the structure. Warning klaxons begin to sound just a moment later. Things are about to get hairy.

Within a minute a small garrison of troops arrives, but the X-men have the both the high ground and the element of surprise. Way out here, these troops have not seen much action.

"Anyway.." says Carol, reverting to English as she looks from Illyana towards Doug. "There anything....hey um. Any idea where my partner went?" she asks towards Illyana as she lifts a hand to her com. Then she starts hearing Nightcrawler and Doug chatting over the comms and does a mental facepalm.

"Okay, a heads up next time would be great." she mutters, not putting -that- over the comm. But then the doors open and she starts moving towards them. "Well, looks like the welcome wag.." She literally stops mid-word. It really is that abrupt.

"Folks, we're about to have company." she remarks over the comms. "Dom, you got eyes on anything?" she asks as she starts moving towards Doug. The moment she starts moving, that's when the klaxons start to sound. Somehow, she had that little hunch of hers again, just before things dropped into the pot. "Need anything more out of the computer?" she asks Doug as she ends up right by him, preparing to quite literally give him cover with her own body... prepping to blast enemies as they appear. "Are we engaging?" she asks over the comm as a golden/yellow glow comes to surround her hands.

Wow, that's ..actually kinda unnerving, having so many copies of the same guy responding to her at once. Domino doesn't know all of these kids yet or what they're capable of, it's all down to what she's able to see from them in the here and now combined with those few that she does have more familiarity with. Iceman's points are acknowledged with a simple "Confirmed, Ice."

The part that she keeps to herself? Nuclear reactors can make a very unsightly mess. The facility they want is under a lake. Good protection from fallout. With a remote trigger they could slag the entire place with the press of a button, whether they're all inside of it or half a mile away. She plans on being careful, but she's also not afraid to bow to excessive force if push comes to shove.

Iceman can always wring her out for it later if it means getting everyone out in one piece.

With the question from Madrox she breathes a quick sigh before glancing his way. She's about to offer something else when the klaxons sound, resulting in her staring at the other mutant for an extra half second as her thoughts shift gears. "Try not to get yourselves shot."

Seems like Dom doesn't need to be restless any longer. The alarm's sounding and their doorway is open. "Negative so far, Danvers. Coming in for support," she coms to the group. "Heavy hitters, you're our front line." There's way too many untrained people here to risk them getting taken down in a fight... "Clock's ticking, kids!"

While Doug is working, Kurt is busy exploring the place, quite probably making a nuisance of himself, teleporting around, checking around corners. It all goes back to 'keep moving' adage. Means that he's less of a target when sh-


 * KLAXON*

Kurt looks up with glowing yellow eyes towards the light display as the doors to the warehouse begin to open. Moments later, as the garrison begins to pour out to investigate what is probably an unscheduled opening of the doors, Nightcrawler begins to do that which he does best- disarm as many as he can in his short burst teleporting, as rapid as the beating of a hummingbird's wings. (Not quite, but pretty darned quick!)

"You won't be needing this." *grab*BAMF*grab*BAMF*grab*BAMF* "But we might, later."

Shifting into a defensive stance, Jocelyn speaks into her comm. "I'm seeing dozens of humans, based on body temperature, approaching". Stupid alarms. She pulls in some spare electrical energy that's kicking around from the complex, enhancing her agility as she becomes lighter on her feet. She chooses not to push it by pumping her strength up as well. She'd rather hang back and blast things if she can avoid getting into the thick of things. There was going to be plenty of kinetic energy flying around soon enough for her to borrow. She doesn't really want to kill, and pulling in electricity might just do that, if they're normal humans. She'd be ready once they started pouring out and were visible for a fight. She just didn't want to hit her own teammates today. That would be swell.

The blare of sirens. The crush of jackbooted feet. Anole hurries towards the sound, becoming visible in the process. As quickly as feet will carry him, to aid in the battle. Once close enough the young man's tongue rips from his mouth, stretching towards one of the guns (Should Kurt miss any) held by the soldier in an attempt to snatch it away before it caused any harm.

"Sugah, if your idea of a pep talk is all of that fancy science stuff, we really gotta get you out more. . ." Rogue says to Broo, making chatter to pass the time and ease the tension, but when the troops come, it's almost a relief, an excuse to unleash some pent up aggression. "About time, I've been itchin' for this."

Rocketing to full speed, she dives headlong into a bunch of soldiers, sending them flying in all directions. Rogue's not using lethal force but she's from from being gentle. These men are going to have some scars and a few broken bones and that's alright with her.

As she lands, one of the soldiers she knocked over has managed to find his feet and levels a pistol at her. "Go ahead," Rogue says as she takes a step towards him. *bang* The shot rings out and the deflects off her invulnerable form, and she advance with each shot. "Lets see how tough y'all are . . ." *bang* ". . . .when ya ain't firin' on. . . " *bang* ". . . a bunch o' helpless kids!" *bang* The final shot rings out as Rogue reaches the panicked soldier. "Outta bullets, outta guts, outta luck," Rogue quips before backhanding the man with superhuman strength, sending him crashing unconscious into a nearby wall.

While Kurt is busy handling the forces (and hopefully keeping them far far far away from him), Doug's fingers are flying over the terminal, trying to find out just how extensive the computer systems can get into the complex's network.

Quickly enough, the mutant known as Cypher discovers that the computers do indeed connect to the self-defense mechanisms. And the communication systems.

There's a look of almost grim glee as Doug quickly tells the turrets, pretty please be nice and shut down and stop firing on friends, and then a thin tight-lipped grin as the communication systems suddenly garble into white noise, then silence... and then Justin Bieber's music start blaring...

The noises, the increased heat, the movement, Broo dislikes it all, and the incoming troops put the littlest Broodling in a position he truly detests... having to harm one life, to protect the lives of those he cares about. He was going to listen to Rogue's body to follow Iceman' instructions, though why he should be listening to Rogue's heart and gastric system makes little sense to Broo in such a potentially unfriendly surroundings. Since their is a current potential threat, Broo forgos the listening for now, since it really can wait until later. An unconscious nervous tick Broo has developed, emerges as it does frequently when he is stressed, rubbing that golden bracelet on his wrist against his cheek, doing it every so often as he digs a little into the snow beside Rogue, taking chunks of it and loading it into his mouth, partly talking with his mouth full of snow, "diz ib oogie vroo angwabe ve hovilez?" (of course, if Doug can hear that over the comms, he'd completely understand the request to know if 'it is okay to engage the hostiles'), already pulling snowballs back out of his mouth that seem to be now saturated with the diluted corrosive that is his saliva... but as the combat begins, he decides that there may not be time to wait for instructions, and begins his volley of corrosnowballs, aiming for hands and weapons, figuring acid burns can be treated and healed, and dissolved weapons are weapons that can't be used to harm anyone. He doesn't rush in, but every hit from his improvised attack means one less opponent who can shoot a friend, and one more enemy who is screaming in pain from having something similar to sulfuric acid mixed with snow splashed on their fingers, wrists, and backs of hands.

Illyana's eyes narrow as her attempt to open a stepping disk gets her zip, pricking her temper. And she was already not in terribly good spirits to start with. "There's some kind of interference here. I'm going to guess dimensional, since they don't seem the sort to mess with magic and wardings. Might be the radiation. I can't get a portal to Limbo to open." So any quick, easy evac is out. "Dom!" She calls out towards the pale-skinned woman. "Got an extra blade?" Because her Soulsword isn't going to do much against soldiers except startle the heck out of him. "Students, with me!" Which is at the back of the action, thankyouverymuch.

"Kids back now," Iceman orders. "Watch our backs and don't engage unless you have to," he says. Seeing Anole rushing in, Iceman curses under his breath. "That's a yes," he offers Carol's way, letting out a few frigid beams. Guns not beingg targeting by the Amazing Nightcrawelr get an icy coating to render them useless. "Give a yell if you need quick cover," he adds over the comms. "Instant chest-high walls," he adds with a slight joking tone. "Cypher can you kill those alarms while you're in there?" he asks. "If she doesn't, I've got plenty," he adds as he overhears that call. He can make an ice blade after all.

Jamie decides to fall to the back of the group, cause hey he doesn't have overly cool combat powers like others do. But at least this way he can help keep the students together, having many copies is good for that! And hey for a change all dupes are in the right mind set of what to do! He looks at witchy woman, when he gathers himself. "Uhm, I'll help you keep the kids in line." He totally needs to get introduced to these Xer types one day.

. o O (Haven't we seen enough killing?)

It's an ironic thought that comes to Shift's mind as the klaxon sounds, for he's already gotten his gear back off the ground where he left it. The Sig 552 Commando Assault Rifle, his weapon of choice, was both light and easy to carry, without sacrificing punch. The armor piercing rounds loaded into its chamber could make quick work of most, if not all military-grade body armor.

Things are, indeed, about to get ugly.

The African lifts the mask over his face, while memories of Mureybet flash before his eyes. Back then, he'd used his mutated ability to kill well over thirty, maybe even forty soldiers. He could do it here, too. However, this time, he's aiming low. A bullet in the leg might stop an enemy short, while freeing up the others to do the disarming, silencing, freezing, and teleporting. They weren't trying to protect innocent families, innocent children, from an all out massacre, like in Mureybet. This time, he doesn't need to be a killer.

His soul will thank him later.

The assault rifle issues forth its rapid fire deployment, but Shift isn't waiting behind. He's the diversion. Charging at full strength right toward the incoming soldiers, the Ghanaian breathes hard and fast into the night air while emptying the weapon's clip. The enemy's bullets (oh, how he prays they are using bullets and not plasma guns) will simply pass right through him, harmlessly. Even the C4 strapped to his belt needs an electrical charge to go off.

Every soldier he brings to their knees will only make an easier target for those trying to disarm, bust jaws, freeze or melt weapons and the like. And if he actually gets close enough? Well, the butt of that assault rifle makes for a very effective, non-lethal head-bashing tool. His primary goal is to be loud and distracting. The more bullets that come at him, the better.

For those poor bastards, the Shift just hit the fan.

_____

Whether Carol or Domino are engaging or not, the people below aren't waiting. Armed with assault rifles they begin to fire almost immediately, spraying bullets upwards at the heroes.

Nightcrawler leaps into the middle of the fray and takes guns away in his classic non-violent way. The soldiers, who look to be made of all sorts of different ethnicities and nationalities, look at each other with confusion and fear as they are suddenly disarmed. There are many more, of course, but a sense of worry is pervasive amongst the military forces.

Jocelyn stands and begins to capture some of the energy within her body. She'll be interrupted, however, and forced back behind cover, as bullets begin heading her way.

Anole's quick thinking rips another assault rifle from the hands of a weak enemy warrior. Anole gets the weapon away, but he makes himself a target. A few shots are sent in his direction, but the enemies accidentally pump their own man full of led. The disarmed warrior explodes like a blood sausage as bullets rip through his body.

More soldiers turn their attention to Rogue, but their weapons are simply not effective. They bounce off her with no discernible effect. It's almost laughable to the southern belle, and helpful to her teammates, who now are no longer the focus of fire quite as much.

Some of the soldiers look around in confusion as the Bieber music starts playing. Some don't know him. Those that do can think of no worse fate than listening to BoyBand Music without the BoyBand and having their asses handed to them by southern belles, lizard boys, blue elves, and girls from Detroit.

Broo's acidsnow attack hits marks and burns the flesh away from certain parts of the Bieber listening crew. They scream in horror. It's not clear at which.

Iceman covers much of the forces in sparkly ice which renders their weapons useless. Meanwhile a stray bullet snaps past Illyana's neck, and her blond hair wisps up to show how close the shot was to doing real damage.

Shift unloads on the enemies, incapacitating with shots to the kneecaps. There's small snaps and poofs of blood that explode in the air as his strikes hit their mark. Jamie moves quickly to encircle some of the newer X-men as his protective streak takes over.

The battle is a bloodbath, just like a few weeks ago, but this time it is the X-men who are in control. They take the hill with ease and are able to move their way down to the main part of the facility.

Once they reach it, they'll see more forces coming for the battle. Four tanks, dozens of new soldiers, some of whom are snipers, others normal infantry, and some with bazookas. This is the major brunt of the forces.

A quick tactical decision. Carol changes her uniform out for her costume. No sense in having SHIELD reported to be invading siberia eh? As the bullets start flying, she makes sure that she's covering Doug with her body. "Keep working." she remarks as a half dozen rounds bounce from her. Noticing the fire spraying towards others... less.. durable we shall say, she points a finger-gun towards those firing soldiers and fires off a rapid-fire series of photonic energy bursts. She'd drop to one knee but that'd expose her charge. So she just stands there, becoming a living gun turret... one that is systematically plinking soldiers. She's ignoring the ones targeting her, and trying to provide cover for everyone else of course.

Once the team begins moving, she goes ahead. "Doug, find cover." she remarks as the tanks come into view, "Rogue... let's see if we can't break their toys!" She calls out as she surges into motion, pulling up before she rams the tank. She places her fist into the main gun and fires a burst down the barrel before she moves to the next tank, trying to lift and flip it on its side.

You know what Domino forgot out of all of this? If she's going to get in trouble for killing people in front of these kids. It's perhaps slightly less of a concern when Illyana asks for a blade, it seems like her mind is in the right place.

As luck would have it, she does have a nice solution for the scary Limbo Lady. The same wicked machete she had taken with on that trip to the Underworld, complete with a sawtoothed back, gets pulled out from behind her shoulder and passed grip-first to Illy. She always keeps a few of those blades stocked, they're easy to burn through (pun not intended.)

"Keep 'em safe." The kids, not the blade.

Then things get crazier. These guys are rolling out -tanks.- Granted, someone like Danvers or Rogue could probably punch one and turn it inside out, but here Dom sits, with a long-range anti-materiel rifle, and nothing to shoot at... Yeah, no. She drops to a knee and shoulders the fifty cal, zeroing in on one of the four tanks starting to roll through. There's only one issue.

"This might tickle, Shift."

-BWAM!-

The darkness gets lit up with an instant flash of burning powder, more than a ton of force slamming the anti-armor slug across the battlefield, punching a neat hole clean through the Ghandian, clean through the chest of a guard coming up behind him, then clean through the tank another hundred-odd yards out.

Somehow she got the driver as well as the engine.

Danvers is on the scene, too. "Two turtles down, two to go!"

Kurt has the pile of guns off to the side and to the rear now, pleased with his work. Taking that part-stroll, part-teleport down the access road, he's looking for more trouble. It seems that an elf's work is never done, as it appears that they find said trouble. He straightens, yellow, pupil-less eyes looking before them as the doors of the -OTHER- building slide open. He takes a moment to blink before a grin creases his face. Tanks!

"I want one!" Kurt calls out. "Mine!" Last time he took control of a tank, the ground was blown up all around the ground forces.. ahhh.. such memories!


 * bamf*

Kurt appears inside one of the tanks that is further back, waving his fingers in greeting. He's been in vehicles just like this one, and knows his way around. And how many people can actually -fit- into one of these!

The moment Kurt lands in the tank, he proceeds to take on the tank drivers, knocking them out easily as they simply don't expect that they'll be attacked from -within-. Rendered unconscious, it's not a second or two after that the tank begins to rock violently from the destruction of the tank near him. Poking a blue head from the top of the Soviet era armoured vehicle, he yells out, "Hey!"

As she dives for cover, Jocelyn learns one new and helpful fact about how much her toughness previously enhanced her. A bullet plinks off her leg and doesn't actually hurt her. The girl glances at the bullet as it skitters across the floor. "Well. Guess that's why I didn't blow up," she comments mostly to herself. Then there's the guy who is spending some time guarding her. "Just keep me covered from anything really big. I'll snipe," the girl states as they start to make their way further in. While they make their way in, she finishes pulling in that energy to enhance her agility. It was much easier to do in a moment when not under fire.

Once the tanks and more soldiers show up, Jocelyn feels all the kinetic energy around her and starts pulling some in, making sure she's behind some cover when she does so. She then peeks around and launches a wide blast of kinetic energy towards the group of bazooka-wielding soldiers, trying to use it to slam them all up against the left-side wall and knock them out. The ones with regular guns? Jocelyn isn't as worried about them, given the team that they're with so far. However, she takes a couple of breaths afterwards, grateful for cover as she regains her composure. No explosions, that's good. She just hasn't done this in a real fight yet, and she has to be careful not to draw too much energy, which would be easy with the rush of a fight.

Anole crushes the gun, flinging it aside- just in time to be spattered all over with blood. Gore. Muck. Hours in the Danger Room, training.. Getting into dangerous situations. The flight or fight response clicks.

To Fight.

Anole leaps, landing on a wall, his body twisting as legs piston hard. Twisting mid-flight he attempts to bring double-booted justice to back of one soldier's skull. Momentum would carry him into the second, his feet meeting the ground soon after to deliver an uppercut with his big-balled green fist. If it connects, the man could expect at least a broken jaw.

"You like to pick on kids, huh?!" Anole shouted towards another soldier, who lifted his rifle and fired on the young mutant, only to watch the kid move as if his body were boneless. That big right hand comes up, Anole crushing the barrel of the gun in his bare hand. He hisses in pain, hot barrel singing scaled flesh. He attempts to tear the gun from the soldier's hands, and throw it hard. With any lucky, Vic will catch the man's finger in the trigger guard and send him flying.

Rogue hovers in the air, eyes narrowing as the tanks appear. She's not sure she can shrug off a tank shell and she's pretty sure a lot of her friends can't. More used to scrapping and street fights, heavy armor is not something she's used to handling. However, Carol's suggestion sparks an idea and she flies over and lands next to her.

"Ever been to the bowlin' alley?" Rogue asks Carol before saying, "Never mind, Ah know you have. On the count of three? One. Two. Three!" At the end of the count, the pair combine their might and not only flip the tank but send it tumbling on a path through a mass of soldiers, sending the men scattering out of the way and, hopefully, leaving them disoriented, frightened, and exposed for the other X-Men.

"On it, Iceman," Doug replies, after finishing turning up the volume all the way out on the opponent's devices.

Fingers dance, and then Doug checks around to see if there was information on exactly what the base contained, as well as a self-destruct system.

Damn. Not accessible from this terminal.

Tilting his head as he considers the options, coolly and dispassionately, something that was more common since he came back from the dead, Cypher glances down the hill, and then engages his smartphone. "Iceman, the information we need isn't here. Engaging deeper." Getting up, Doug starts heading down there, weaving his way through the X-Men as carefully as carefully as he could, heading deeper and deeper into the complex. Sorry, Carol, that wasn't happening. The information needed to be found, and it needed to be found now.

"Excuse me, he says politely to each X-Man he passes as he heads deeper, relying on a -feel- for how the complex was put together, the way most buildings were designed, to tell him -where- the terminals with the information he wanted were.

It was almost like he was -asking- the facility itself to tell him where... but that would be ridiculous. And yet, it seemed, the young mutant was relying on the -way- the tanks and the soldiers and the men moved to tell him exactly where the most critical area he wanted was... and trusting in his teammates to keep him -covered-.

Either that, or he didn't care too much about dying after having died already once...

Okay, the tanks are a bit intimidating... really they are... Broo rubs the bracelet on his cheek a lot as his mind races for a solution, his acidsnow technique is fine for the snipers and bazooka guys, sure, but really, how good is that. Deciding perhaps reasoning can be reached, Broo flies up a bit, and tries to project his voice over the din of combat, speaking in Russian, . All the while he dodges bullets, catches rockets and redirects their courses to explode in snow banks away from the action, and does high speed passes where he throws more acidsnowballs on weapons, even trying to make sure the splash damage is minimal from his unique attack. When he finds the biggest soldier he lands in front of him,  actually catching the fist of the big guy with his own little clawed hand, then shaking his head and tossing the guy onto one of the rooftops like he was a puny little plush toy.

Illyana accepts the long blade from Domino with a practiced hand as they move deeper into the facility. The bullet that whizzes by leaves a welt against her throat from the air's passage but that just sets her mouth into a grim line. "Keep low!" She calls out to those around her, keeping to the back line of the fighting. The bulletproof sorts can stay up front, but any soldiers that are still looking to put up a fight as they move forward, Illyana disables them as she goes. Kindly, really. Broken hands, pommel to the head to knock them out. She'll try not to be too terribly messy.

Moving along on his ice slides, Iceman curses softly at the sight of all the soldiers and the tanks. First thing's first though, those tanks. As two go down, he looks to the others. Kurt's call brings a smile to Bobby's face before he can help himself. The elf just makes him smile even in this situation, especially when he pops out of the tank. The smile doesn't last long though. Stepping forward, Bobby puts his powers to work. He jokes around and doesn't take things seriously so people often underestimate him. They forget or just don't know he's got more raw power than snow and slush to him. And so close to that lake in such a cold place, the Iceman is even more powerful than usual. "Hey, losers in the tank! Catch a ride!" he calls out. The air around him chills and he slams his fists into the ground. A coating of ice races across the floor from those points of contact. Sure, it slips up soldiers unlucky enough to land on it but it's got another purpose. Once it's under the tank, a pillar of ice erupts upwards to flip that vehicle right over and likely freeze the underside something fierce. "Carol! Cover Cypher please!" he calls after Doug says he's going deeper.

A fresh clip gets smacked into the assault rifle while a spent one clatters to the ground. Many of the soldiers have turned their guns on Shift, but the bullets pass right through him, each point of contact becoming a tunnel of smoke. It's something he's gotten used to, and the blessing is, it never hurts.

It does sometimes tickle.

Finding himself in the middle of enemy soldiers, Shift takes a knee and begins spraying their legs in a full three-sixty. He doesn't care whether he hits knee-caps, tendons, bones or muscles, as long as they drop. And drop they do, many of them disarming themselves as they clutch their injuries. It's an excellent distraction for those trying to disarm and disable weapons, and makes for an impressive show of non-lethal teamwork.

There is a sudden pause when Domino's shell goes right through him, punches through the guard, splatters Shift with blood, and enters the tank. It distracts him just long enough to see Danvers doing her dirty deeds, dirt cheap upon one of those tanks.

That tank's entire upper half gets blown free, flipping end over end and right toward him. Snarling, Shift drops the assault rifle beneath, places both hands on the blood-stained pavement, and growls rage into the fray of battle. His entire body begins to crackle and harden as it solidifies into matter harder than flesh. Stray bullets now bounce off him rather than going through him, and the Captain Marvel-ized chunk of tank strikes him with brutality, only to bounce right off his back and flatten some of the troops he'd disarmed nearby.

Briefly glancing toward those dead soldiers, Shift frowns and offers a simple, "Oops."

Grabbing the assault rifle from the ground, Shift's body begins to soften into human form again. A fresh clip is smacked into place, and he goes running for the closest group of soldiers who are still armed and standing. He ends up back to back with Rogue and Danvers after their little tank-flipping display, and instinctively mows through a trio of soldiers who were leveling their weapons at the ladies. Those shots were not as well aimed, of course, and end up peppering the soldiers' torsos and chests in death. "B'yun pada kweena!" he curses, then cants his head their way. "Like -you two- can't handle a few bullets."

Iceman's call is noticed, not to mention his handiwork, and since he's right next to Carol, he looks quickly for Doug and elects to go along with her. A hand comes up to his earcomm. "Detroit, you find anything on dat powah genahrator yet?"

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Carol picks off soldiers with ease, like shooting fish in a barrel. One by one they scream and horror before collapsing. When Carol sticks her energy blast down the first tank's large gun, the top part of the vehicle explodes in an electric charged poof.

Rogue and Carol tag team to flip a tank over and send it toppling over. The vehicle plows through a group of soldiers and a moment later the only thing heard in that particular area is their screams.

Dom's shot bursts through the hull of a tank and it explodes a split second later, smoldering and leaving no one able to exit through the top.

Nightcrawler hops into the tank and disposes of the driver with little effort. Oh no. German's in charge of tanks have never been a good thing for the opposition.

With all this 'protecting of the children' going on, the heroes might be surprised to see the effortless effect Jocelyn has, wiping out a large swath of enemies with one large attack. The bazooka fire that his Carol earlier seems to have subsided.

Who comes from Detroit? Meg White. Who else comes from Detroit? Jocelyn Stream.

Bad ass chicks come from Detroit, Michigan.

Anole bashes the opponent's face in with a vicious uppercut. The young mutant can feel the bones of the jaw give way as his fist pushes through it. He then moves and crushes the gun easily, and Vic sends the man flying just as he intended.

From the information gathered from the computers, Doug will learn that there are many different levels of computers and protocols in the system. The main computer banks that house the power seem to be behind the column of soldiers the X-men are plowing through. From his vantage point he can see that the room condenses down into a smaller room full of computers.

Broos attack flings the much larger being up onto a stack of crates where he skitters along and slams into a wall.

Illyana moves through the attackers with an elegant grace, leaving destruction and screams of terror in her wake. While chaos erupts around her, she moves through silently with a trained precision befitting of Limbo's Empress.

As Bobby attacks, bad guys begin slipping and sliding like it's their first time at an ice skating rink. The final tank is pushed up into the air and flipped nonchalantly.

Shift's attack leaves soldiers downed left and right. He attacks with reckless abandon and by the time he's finished, the team can rest. It seems that they have won the day.

In front of them is a large bank of computers that Doug will want to get through as quick as possible. To the others, however, it's a time to pause and catch a breath.

"Right. He should be.." begins Carol as she whips her eyes about and narrows them. "In cover.." That said, she notices Shift... and his likely desire to tag along. So she grabs his hand and takes off towards Doug. "I learned one thing in the military. I shouldn't give orders I -know- won't be obeyed. So just do me a favor and don't get yourself -killed- on my watch?" she asks as she sets Shift down and proceeds to -escort- Doug wherever the hacker-from-the-dark-side-of-hell happens to be going. "Shift and I are with Doug. Anything that gets to him will have to come through me." she says into her comm. . o o O O (Oh great Carol, I think you just invited Murphy to find something that -would- go through you.....) she thinks....

'Speak softly, and carry one of these.'

With the rifle still shouldered Domino works the bolt, kicking out a palm-sized slab of brass with a meaty -k-Chung!- With this many friendlies around, shot placement is everything.

"We're looking good out here folks, nice work. Final sweep then regroup, let's see where we're at. Party's not over yet, keep alert."

It is true. Germans in command of a tank when it comes to the Russians isn't healthy.. for the Russians. Once his head is ducked back in, he does allow for at least one *WHOOMPH* of a large callibre shell to explode -near- where those finals are being dispatched. After his one shot, however, Kurt takes hold of some of the main controls, and with a sigh, teleports out with it in hand, thus rendering the tank useless.

Landing in that blink of an eye, lands outside, in the middle of the screaming and carnage. Pain flickers across his face, regret as well.. and he has to turn his back on the pleas, the cries of pain. He's not deaf to the suffering, nor does he ever wish to be. It's just.. right now, there is simply no opportunity, no chance. The fate of mutants may very well rest upon their work, and this is for the greater good.

Yellow eyes scan, and he's at the ready, however. The job isn't over as he begins his way towards the computer banks, no amusing quip finding it's way from him for the moment.

Anole shifts colors once more- his skin taking the color and texture of the land around him. Slowly, he makes his way towards the landing zone, while keeping his eyes open for more trouble.

Rogue dusts off her hands and comments with a grin, "Not too bad if Ah says so myself," admiring her own work with the tank. Yet, as she looks around at the carnage her bravado fades. Sure, she came in here all het up and looking to square things, but the reality of gunshot wounds and dead soldiers is not what she had in mind. She may play rough, and is no stranger to the other side of the tracks, but she's not a casual killer.

A sudden chill pulls her out of her own thoughts. While she may be invulnerable, her clothes are not and her grandstanding with the soldiers resulted in a few tears and holes-- nothing indecent or too dangerous to those around her, but just enough to let in the cold and make her uneasy. Out of habit, she tugs on her hood, ensuring it is in place as she quietly tells herself words that sound like they were said to her on more than one occasion, "Keep your head out o' the clouds, girl. The job ain't done yet."

Getting to the large bank of computers was relatively easy, thanks to the rest of the party being -efficient- at their task, and Doug was polite enough to send a general "Thanks, guys," before the glow of the computer monitors draws his attention.

Information processes. Self-protective encryption were not so much smashed through as finessed, translated from code to words and schematics, and then further translated into data, and sent in a steady stream back to the X-Mansion, whatever useful information there was... 3G might be damned slow, but not when -compressed- into a cypher-language that he'd devised for fast processing by himself.

And when it was over, Doug lets out a sigh. "Iceman... information gathered. Activate the complex's self-destruct?"

While he'd rather have gone with Carol, as the carnage falls around him, Broo solemnly flies from it to the only being he knows who is sort of like Carol enough to make him feel sort of safe as only a few beings have ever made him feel. Landing near Rogue, he looks up at her, "Why must beings harm one another? Why can't they accept others uniqueness, and not hate?" he rubs his bracelet against his cheek and looks at her, slipping his other hand inside his sleeve, he holds the sleeve covered hand out to Rogue, as if hoping she will hold it, for comfort.

Illyana's hands are dipped in red by the time she's joined the others, because none of this is clean, even if there's no killing. In some ways, it's the worse for leaving them battered and broken in the snow. Some will undoubtably die long and slow, bleeding out or from exposure. There's no remorse on Illyana's face though, just cold hard purpose. She doesn't know these people, only knows that they've hurt, and would continue to hurt those few she cares about, and thus they're of no true concern to her. Not now. Perhaps later, when she reflects.

Pegging one incredibly brave or incredibly stupid soldier trying to come at him with a knife in the face with an ice-ball, Iceman looks around at all the chaos and destruction. There's no quip or joke from him right now, just a deep and unhappy expression. He walks with the others, remembering to make sure he isn't making things too cold for allies. He keeps an eye out for further trouble while Doug gets the information, frowning at the question. "...if you can lock them out of the system and give them enough time to get out but not stop the boom or move anything big, set it," he says. "We're not here to kill them after all," he adds.

Jamie has been working on trying to protect the kids on top of distracting guards. Having multiple copies running around in various directions is great for distraction purposes! Note to self, next time he gets invited on one of these trips, bring some type of weapon. Also note to self, have a dupe learn how to handle a weapon!

When Carol takes his hand, Shift gives her an odd, half-cocked smirk. "What are we, skipping trough de jungahl on our merry way to Candy Mountain?" he quips darkly, before moving along with Doug toward the large room of computers. He eyes the area suspiciously, then casts a look Carol's way. She was Captain Marvel, and she could handle covering Doug for a little while. It was time to do some additional reconnaisance.

"Keep an eye on dese for me," he mentions, before poofing into smoke form again. The assault rifle and spare clips are gently set down, but it's worth noting, for those watching, that the two bricks of C4 are being carried in that cloud of smoke as it rises toward the ceiling.

Once there, the black cloud begins to skirt the length of the ceiling, heading deeper into the room. A human face is visible within the tendrils of thick gas, with eyes that seem to be dancing about upon anything he can see.

_____

The information gets dumped to the X-computers with ease. But once Doug gets deep into the computers his initial excitement quickly turns dour. He only gets another piece of the puzzle. There are many computer programs running simultaneously in the building, and he quickly finds that while he can maneuver about and get information on the power that runs the facility, he will not be able to engage in any sort of self-destruct mechanism.

He digs even deeper, but just as he comes across the most vital information, blast doors slam to the ground at all of the exits and the lights turn from normal white light to a green shaded hue.

One by one, the powers of most of the heroes begin getting thrown out of whack. Though X-men like Domino do not show any outward problems, but heroes like Nightcrawler's powers begin fading in and out and become uncontrollable. Jocelyn crackles with electricity, Bobby ices up then ices down, then ices up, then ices down. Madrox's dupes jump back into his body then spill out again. Portals begin to appear all around Illyana, but dissipate as soon as they open. Doug's mind is overcome with a million different languages, both organic and technological, invading him at all corners of his brain. Anole begins to shift into kaleidoscope of colors and textures. Even Broo is helpless.

Shortly afterward, a green gas begins to fill the facility. It doesn't kill. It does, however, make the characters in the room drowsy. One by one our heroes begin to drift into sleep, all except for Shift, who was lucky enough to become gas before things really took root. In horror, Shift will watch as his teammates helplessly lose consciousness.

_____

Somewhere near the Arctic Circle

"We have them, Commander Trask," says a non-descript officer.

"Good. Prepare them for the journey."

"Sir, I'm not sure why allowing a garrison of some of our troops to be slaughtered was worth the price of this set of mutants. It seems that-"

The officer flanking Trask has his words cut off by the elder's cold gaze.

"We will bring the prisoners here and collect their samples to add to our databanks. After that, we kill them. And this little band of soldiers will be no more. Problem solved. Our Sentinels will then be able to be fully unleashed on their targets. There will be no one to stop us this time."

"But sir, are you sure we got everyone on their team? Readouts of the island show that there were many mo-" Again the words that are cut off. "Those that did not come are obviously their weak links. If they weren't sent on this mission, they present no particular issue. I am sure they will present no significant problem. Come now. Relax. The day is won."

_____

A small apartment in Harlem

"Listen, I'm trying to reach Colossus." Scott sighs. His face shows the growth of facial hair stubble from not having shaven for some time. Indeed, it looks like he may not have showered. It's the 8th time he's tried to get a message through to his friend. He paces around back and forth in a small apartment that is notable by its dinginess, it's capacity to be rented on a month to month basis, and that it has been set up as a sort of makeshift war room. Readouts and print outs have been taped all over the walls. There are computers, cheap Wal-Mart tables, and a blanket on the floor. Takeout boxes are strewn about the floor with little care. You can take the boy out of the team, but you can't take the team out of the boy.

"Well please be sure that he gets this message. I need him to call Scott right away. Yes he knows the number!" Dammit. He's sure that Colossus gets 150 phone calls a day from well wishers and gawkers. His cell isn't being answered at the moment. Dammit. Where is he?

Scott's already exhausted his contact with SHIELD to much the same effect. Trying to get information without the X-men's resources is proving more difficult than he had feared.

"Scott," a familiar voice enters Scott's head. "Something has happened."

X-Men: Consequences

The Bed You Made

To be concluded. ..