2013-02-24 X:Men Consequences - Final

X-men: Consequences, Part III - Long is the Way

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -- John Stuart Mill

ONE WEEK AGO

Jackson, Mississippi

The long muddy driveway bends way around from the highway and leads to a small, nice white home out a few miles past the edge of town.

Scott Summers has looked better as he pulls into the driveway and puts his rental car into park. He's wearing a pair of faded, ratty blue jeans, a rumpled white button up shirt, a simple black jacket, and a week's worth of facial hair growth.

He makes the distance to the porch in slow, measured steps with a small box in his hand. When he finally reaches the door, he takes a deep, sullen breath. The wooden storm door creaks as he opens it and he stops for a moment before knocking. He tries to figure out what to say.

A moment later the door opens slowly and an elderly African-American woman looks surprised one moment, but crestfallen the next.

"Mrs. Allen," Scott begins. "I'm not sure how to tell you this."

"Gabe is dead."

TODAY

Somewhere in the Arctic Circle

An annoying tapping to her left cheek beckons Rogue to wake up. "Come on," Cyclops says with a calm bit of impatience if there is such a thing. "Wake up. It's time to go."

One by one, the heroes who have been captured by Trask will begin to wake up from the fog they've been put under.

They look to be in a dank cellar of some sort; a dungeon. Each X-man has been suspended by chains and fastened upright to a rocky wall behind them. IV's with a yellowish liquid are also hung by their ears, though it seems as though the toxin tubes they have been drugged with have been removed.

"I know you're all pretty disoriented right now, but you're going to need to snap out of it. You've been taken by a man named Bolivar Trask. The Professor was able to track Trask here, to the arctic. It seems that after he captured the X-men, he let down his guard a little bit. Sloppy. It seems that Trask brought you here, to his facility, to run some of his genetic tests. And then to kill you."

"Obviously, we're not going to allow that to happen. You'll find that your powers are being blocked. We've got people on that right now. When they come back, it might be a bit uncomfortable."

Cyclops frees the members of the team by undoing the chains. "The good news is that the others are working on a diversion so that we can get the hell out of here. The bad news is that we're going to have to fight our way through more of those metallic beasts before we do so."

Cyclops radios in, "Colossus. Wolverine. What's your status?"

Meanwhile, the team of Colossus, Wolverine, and the others of the Beta team stand in front of a large metallic cylinder. The face of the cylinder is grid-like and metallic, and hums along with a green energy.

"Remember," Cyclops' voice comes in through the communicator and is audible to team Beta. "As soon as you disable that inhibitor, we'll all get our powers back, but it'll get pretty hot for you pretty quickly. We'll be coming up from behind."

As Illyana's freed she has to keep a hand on the wall to keep her balance. She shakes her head, trying to clear the muzziness that the drug leaves behind. Blinking hard a few times she looks up at Cyclops and gives a sharp nod. Her blue eyes have gone Artic. Hard. Cold. Empty of anything approaching a warm and fuzzy emotion. Mouth set in a hard line, her expression promises that those responsible? Will pay dearly.

"Huh wha...the world is really...". Jocelyn rubs her eyes a little bit as she tries to bring the world into focus. She can't /see/ things. It's like how it was a week...two weeks...something ago? She's not sure how much time has passed. At Scott's explanation, Jocelyn makes sure her gloves are on and that she's otherwise alright. She wasn't sure how this was going to go down with the powers returning, but she figured the worst was she might give anyone too close to her a shock. So the girl makes her way over to a corner of the room and crouches down, waiting for it to come. The young girl focuses on breathing in and out slowly, waiting for it. She isn't expecting herself to pass out or slip or anything, but it was better safe than sorry. She is grateful Scott, really...but she's kind of focused on not exploding the second her powers come rushing back to her.

Bobby shivers slightly as he's let down. He's wet and not really dressed for weather that he doesn't have his powers in. Leaning against a wall, he looks up. "What the hell were they pumping into us?" he mutters, holding his head a moment.

A touch, even a light tap, something Rogue is not expecting and as her eyes open and she realizes it is not a dream she jumps back as if to leap out of her own skin. For a moment, it's a good thing she's in chains because it keeps her from falling on her face. As she struggles through the confusion and nausea, her eyes dart from left to right, her brow furrowing with concern. When she is released, she folds her arms herself, suddenly looking a lot less like the belle of bravado and a lot more like a scared girl. "What. . .what did they do to us?" she manages to ask softly.

Colossus studies the glowing contraption a moment before noting to Wovlerine "If we just destroy it, it is likely to explode." Which is an acceptable outcome if it were just him but not everyone withstands explosions as well. "So we destroy what gives it power instead." Tracing some wires and shit back to a console, he sinks a fist into the center of it and pulls back a fistful of electronics. "Be ready for the enemy to arrive."

The fate of Kwabena Odame has, unfortunately, been quite different than for the others.

Having been already in smoke form when the mutants were captured, he'd been forced to 'look' on in fear as they dropped, one by one, under the effects of the gas. Two C4 charges fell to the ground from his gaseous clutches, only to splat harmlessly on the floor like so many of his comrades.

Like all of his comrades.

Not yet understanding what had happened or why, Shift had spread himself as thin as he might, until his gaseous form began to lose the blackness of its color. Unfortunately for Shift, as soon as those mutagene inhibiting devices were put to use, it caused him to be, for lack of a better term, stuck in that form.

He'd managed to track the X-Men to the dungeon within which they were now being released, but not too soon after arriving, his ability to function simply broke down. His body had been in gaseous form for too long. The nutrients that fed his cellular structure strangled from him. It may later be proven that it's impossible for him to die when he's not in his natural state, but it is very possible for many other things to happen.

As one by one the X-Men are accounted for, one particular mutant remains 'missing'. Nothing more than the consciousness of a man, trapped in his own cellular prison as thin, tendrils of black smoke that all but disappear where they linger upon a crook between the wall and the ceiling.

Nate has been quite... restless in the way here. The Blackbird was too slow for his tastes, he kept trying to reach the captured mutants telepathically (yes, even Domino) without any luck. Now he is finally given a target, he can barely wait. Also, isn't it a little cold here? Hell. "Just let me know when we start," he growls.

Freed, Cypher slumps on the ground, rubbing his wrists as he contemplates the situation. "Great news, sir," Doug notes dryly, as he glances towards the others, cricking his neck, and then slowly standing up, checking his balance. After a -week- like this, reactions were bound to be off. SHIELD training, then. No time to go crawl into a little ball. Anything for a make-shift weapon around here?

A week of threats against the others sufficed to make sure that Carol didn't try anything stupid yet. She was biding her time... waiting. -She- knew that her powers weren't mutant in nature. One thing she learned in the service... how to sleep... anywhere, anytime. So she was napping when Scott showed up. As he starts releasing folks, she stands up, simply snapping her way out of her own chains. "Time to go I assume?" she asks.

Yep, she managed to -play- powerless for a week. After all, she couldn't save everyone without risking everyone else and she would rather take her time and prepre for an op the -right- way rather than go off half-cocked as it is.

Cessily's junior X-person on Beta Team, so she's kept herself low to the ground, as it were, following instructions and keeping a look out. "How hot are we talking?" Mercury asks over the comms, hoping she didn't sound nearly as nervous in the asking as she actually felt.

Pyro usually likes when things get hot. In fact, he's very much looking forward to it. Ever since the incident on the island he's been waiting for something to take his frustration out on, and this seems like a pretty good opportunity. He was insistent, so here he is. He's kept quiet for most of the trip, electing to play with his lighter, flicking it on and off with a nervous little twitch. This time, things will be different.

Getting in was the easy part; in this case, /too/ easy, too quiet.. for him. |"Can't fuckin' wait."| Just what Cyke wants to hear. /Remember/ that it's going to get hot pretty quick? Wolverine is /counting/ on it. These people took his friends; his family. They experimented on them just for being different, seeking power without benefit of wisdom. What he's seen of the high-tech murderbots these assholes employ? Well, it tells Logan more than he wants to know about what their eventual fates will be.

Plus, giving everyone their powers back, unexpectedly, in the midst of the enemy's fortress? What operative /doesn't/ love that idea? Adamantium claws spring free with *SNIKT* in stereo, and the Canucklehead immediately moves to back Colossus' play, 'disconnecting' wiring and electronics and sending bits of them flying off to the sides. He's enthusiastic about it, you see-- and inclined to prevent any backup systems from kicking the thing back on at the worst possible moments. "Just keep your head down an' watch each others' backs." Beat. Wicked grin. "Petey and I make good cover." Mmm, distraction.

There are no words from one Laura Kinney, a.k.a. X-23, as she listens to her communicator. Nor does she say anything as she listens to what Colossus and Wolverine decide what to do. Instead, for now she waits, listens, and occasionally sniffs the air. If... No, when they need her to do stuff, or if the enemy finds them, she'll react. Until then she just stays quiet, and tries to be patient.

It couldn't have been the Antarctic? At least there's sunlight there this time of year. As it stands, Roberto has gone out of his way to get as much sunlight as possible in the last couple of days. And he is quietly cursing the cold, under his breath, interspersed with muttered imprecations against whoever it is who kidnapped Illyana. And the others, of course. But mostly Illyana. And all in Portuguese. But when Colossus tells the group to be ready, he shuts his mouth and powers up, jet black spreading across his body and forming an aura of spots in the air around him. They will regret messing with Illyana. And the others. About three of whom can he name.

Captured. -Again.- Domino's getting awfully tired of this song and dance. This time, knowing that her very powers are no longer working? There's a particularly acute feeling of dread already stepping in to keep her company.

"Please tell me this isn't going on my permanent record."

They're mobile again. Point there. They have backup. Second point. She's not useless without her power, though her usefulness will grow drastically if she can lay her hands upon a weapon. "Find me something that shoots and stay out of my line of fire," she states while trying to hide the fact that she suddenly needs to brace a hand against the wall to keep her balance in check.

Jamie slowly starts to wake up, hey he was having a nice dream that he was surrounded by hot women, and they all wanted him. Too bad that was only a dream. A little groogy still he does start to talk, "Hey at least they kept our clothes on." But once freed he drops to the ground and actually has to ask a serious question, OMG Jamie is serious the world is going to end, "So how many of us have useful skills without our powers?"

ONE WEEK AGO

Jackson, Mississippi

After an hour, sitting in silence, Gabriella Allen has composed herself enough to go through the events that happened to her grandson, the young boy and mutant she raised since his parents abandoned him as a baby. The pair talk for hours-from early in the morning until the late afternoon.

"That boy wasn't so tight lipped about the things that went on in dem halls," Mrs. Allen says as she wipes at her eyes. "I knew all about y'all in that basement of yours."

"But you let him stay anyways?" Scott asks as he sips at some coffee. "Why?" The black box is sitting on the table. A golden piece of metal has been affixed at the top with the inscription "Gabriel Matthew Allen."

"Protestin's been the family business. My daddy, Gabe's great-grandpa, was real active with the SNCC back when I was a little girl. I spose I figure this mutant gene is just a new name for n*****."

She smiles faintly. "Not like I'da had much choice in the matter. Gabe was goin to that school and after he first did, he weren't ever goin' home. He thought the world of y'all. You. That Jean Grey. And the Russian guy." She chuckles a bit, shaking her head. "He was damn sure he was gonna be an X-man and make his gramma proud. I know he wasn't sposed to tell me none of this, you know Gabe. Boy had a big mouth."

NOW

Somewhere in the Arctic

"No problem, Kurt." When Nightcrawler mentions the lack of powers, Scott gives a nod.

"Not sure, Bobby. Some form of sedative. The plan, it seems, was only for Trask to keep you alive until he was finished testing on you." A nod to Rogue, "I'll have more time to go over it later. Suffice to say that we're all lucky we found you when we did."

A bit of a chuckle escapes Cyclops as Domino makes her demand of weaponry, "I'm sure these creeps will have more than enough guns. We're just going to have to take some from then." Madrox' question gets a grin, but Cyclops lets it be answered by someone else. Now is not the time to preach the importance of training.

As soon as Team Beta dismantles the inhibitor, each of the heroes will notice that they're slowly beginning to get their powers back. Cyclops was right, it is a bit uncomfortable.

Within moments though, a new threat presents itself. Warning klaxons and sirens have begun sounding and the stomping of boots above them.

Cyclops leads Team A out from their cellar, which upon passing, seems to have been blown open with some sort of plastic explosive. "The others aren't far. We're going to meet them down this hallway and to the left. Let's go!"

Meanwhile, Team Beta does not have far to go to meet with Team Alpha at the rendezvous point. Their two hallways come together and lead off to the right to a large open area that looks to be some sort of storage facility 100 yards deep and many stories high.

In the distance, the X-men will see the troops assembling, and preparing for their assault on the intruders.

Worse, dozens of holes open up from below and slowly the dead eyes of the Sentinels make their way up through the metal floors, rising higher and higher.

"Engage them immediately," Cyclops orders. "We're sitting ducks out wide like this. Get in close and draw some of them into their own crossfire! They have weaknesses at the knees, elbows, and most of all at the neck joint. Attacking from behind is your best option. /Stay out of the way of the blasts from their hands!/"

As Kurt gains his strength, he stands straighter and nods, a touch of a smile coming. He at least can move to the walls, moving through the shadows, leaping from one side to another. "It sounds as though the cavalry is here." And.. as he looks down into the vastness.. those sentinels. "Is nothing easy anymore?"

Engage them? Taking a deep breath, Kurt gives his teleportation a shot.. and nothing.


 * poot*

"No bamf?" There's a moment of distress.. but it's normal, right? No one is getting them. "Engaging.."

"Hey you! Over here!" Hey, give the blue elf a break. Asleep for a week? Brain's not functioning all that well. "No! Over here!"

Illyana's actual mutant power isn't like many of the others. No extra senses or control of energies. It makes the return a little less disorienting. She can feel it though. That ability to whisper sweet nothings to the Stepping Disks of Limbo and get them to open and close at her whim. As they meet up with the others, she takes a moment to touch 'Berto on the shoulder before looking up at her brother with those cold, empty eyes. She doesn't say anything. She doesn't have to. A disk of light appears at her feet and she's gone. But just for a moment. Another disk appears, off in the distance. Behind the ranks of their enemies and their machines. Huge. It reaches towards the ceiling and casts its light at their backs. Illyana steps through and a heartbeat later... demons emerge from that glowing surface, like an ocean tide. The blonde continues to stand there, no expression on her face. No mercy in her eyes.

Jocelyn doesn't immediately explode. Instead, Jocelyn feels herself start to 'energize' again. First the world gets brighter, and more vivid. There's some kinetic. And there's Scott's eyes. Those are a bit refreshing to 'see' in that sense of energy as she pulls it in, charging her abilities up. She was going to need them. Then there are other energy patterns emerging. Heat and sound and those of the other heroes in the vicinity. Carol Danvers is like an incinerator, however, and the girl can't help to start pulling in energy from some of the excess that just seems to leak about her, giving the woman a glance. "Give me a boost?" she asks Carol with a rather serious look to her face. That's when she pauses as she looks around.

"Shift... come on. Pull yourself together".

There's something about being able to see energy that lets her pick up on those signs in the black tendrils everywhere.

When they start to move, the girl spots the Sentinels and her eyes go wide. "Oh my god". Then there's a pause. "Giant robots? Not living?" A scowl crosses her face as she raises both hands up and sends an explosive blast up towards the necks of some sentienals, trying to do a blast-zone of them up in the air. There's a blue photonic explosion near the necks of three sentinels close to each other (yay for uniform design sizes!), and she hopes she does some damage to them. She's a little woozy for aiming beams right now, so she's going for blasts at weak points, hoping to disable them that way.

Bobby lets out a sigh of relief as he feels his powers returning, adapting to the cold again. Slowly, he forms up his old snowy armor. It's the best he can do at the moment. The machines rising and soldiers assembling gets him scowling. "Where's Shift?" he wonders aloud, remembering his friend was with them. Shaking it off, he picks a Sentinel and clenches his fists. "Is that Trask asshole here? Seems like someone who's ass needs a flash freeze," Bobby remarks, starting to 'skate' along the ground. No ice slides yet but he can move quickly at ground level. Getting behind a Sentinel, he starts firing off icy blasts at the knees from behind to trip the metallic monster up and hopefully knock it over.

Rogue closes her eyes and takes deep, slow breaths. Words flutter around her but she can't concentrate. How did they do this? What did they do to her? Orders, someone is giving orders. But it is oddly quiet. No powers. She can handle this, she keeps telling herself, she can handle this. Another long slow breath and she turns to the nearest former captive, which just happens to be Madrox.

"Ah hope y'all brushed yer teeth before we left," Rogue says and grabs him by his t-shirt, pulling him in for a kiss, long and passionate like someone who hasn't been kissed in a long, long time. When she finally lets go she looks him in the eyes and says simply, "For luck," before turning back to Scott.

"Alright, ah can do this, but once mah power's back, Trask is dead," Rogue declares. She clenches a fist and hangs back from the fighting, waiting for that surge of power to hit her, building her strength for the right moment.

As soon as the machine loses its power, the green glow fades and lets Colossus know they've been successful. The warning klaxons help too. Turning from his destruction, he grabs hold of the now dead inhibitor and with a heave, rips it free from the floor and tears it in half. They won't be repowering that any time soon. "Now we rendezvous, da?" It's not really a question since he immediately runs down the hallway next to Logan, the two X-Men taking point. As they near the warehouse and see the Sentinels rising, he reaches over to grab Wolverine. "On three." he says. "THREE!" It's their famous fastball special and Wolverine flies toward one of the giant robots as fast as Colossus can throw him. "Maximum damage." he tells the others and runs after Logan, though toward a different robot. He does pause briefly to nod to Illyana in response to her look. Permission? Approval? He knows what she's capable of. Maximum damage.

Being disassembled into gas, however, is -not- exactly Shift's natural state. As soon as the mutants are no longer struggling with the inhibiting of their mutagenes, the tendrils of smoke start to appear all around the room. It is Jocelyn's verbal encouragement that seems to draw a reaction, and the tendrils suddenly form together up near the ceiling. When Kwabena has finally reformed, he falls from the ceiling and lands with an ugly sound into an unimpressive heap, and doesn't seem to be moving.

Or breathing.

A sudden gasp of air is drawn in, like a man waking from a near-death experience. He tries to push himself to his feet, but finds no strength in his limbs to bring him up all the way. His neck cranes forward and he can see the signs of impending battle, the X-Men and many of their allies, but he cannot find the strength to join them.

Words begin to come out in utterance, but they don't come in English. "Boiyee. Boiyee. Un'tahme. Boiyee, un'tahme. Tahme..."

(Translation: 'Water. Water. Help me. Water, help me. Help...')

There is little time to greet and check for injuries, although Nate's eyes go to Illyana first. Then he curses when the robots appear, recognizing the general design. They look, perhaps, more primitive than the Sentinels he remembers, but those are just the first model, aren't they?

As soon as the group reaches the large storage area, Nate takes the air and surrounds himself with a telekinetic field. When Wolverine goes flying, he follows, targeting the Sentinel just at the left the one the Canadian berserker is going to hit. He pretty much ignores the indications about weak points. The thickest armor is going to be the chest, and behind it is going to be the robot's CPU, so that is where he strikes, with the full force of his telekinesis.

A piece of chain, then. At the least, Doug could hit someone with it, at least until he can get to something -more- useful.

Which was all well and good, until the Sentinels appear. Right. This called for a -different- approach. Taking a deep breath, as Doug tests his thoughts, a small smile crosses his face. "Cyclops? Can you get a small team together and get me to the control center? I think I can do something about those."

There's a pause, as Doug tilts his head. While Scott was working on that, Doug calls to Iceman, "I need you, stat!"

Crossing to Shift, the mutant quickly points out, "He's asking for water. Can you do something like... slushies, and get him some?"

"If you call Fighter Pilot, Pararescue, and CIA training useful skills without powers. You might say that." begins Carol. But then her hands begin glowing and she grins, "But I think I can contribute a bit more since... well, these came from quite a different source than an X-Gene." And she heads for the exit. As folks begin powering up, she passes near to Jocelyn, a golden ripple flowing up from Carol's feet to her head.. when it finishes its quick pass, she's in her whole costumed getup. She radiates a bit of energy towards Jocelyn as she says, "Absolutely."

And then it's out into the halls and oh look, a fight. "Watch for gas." she says to folks. Then she's off and kinda doing her level best to ignore Scott's advice. She's aiming to intercept energy beams from Sentinels... being a human shield. She's already got a lot of energy in her and each time she intercepts a beam... she glows a bit brighter.

Photnic pulses fly from her hands towards the troops as she goes for mass mow-downs. Anyone who socializes with Carol would not recognize her on a -real- battlefield. She is a warrior... and she takes war to these ... these caricatures of humanity. She's not worrying about... nonlethal shots. She's firing to put folks down. Punching for effect, so to speak.

She has a secondary strategy... a method to her madness. She's hoping that if she makes -herself- enough of a threat, she can take heat off of some of the others who can't quite take it the way she can.

"Don't worry, Laura," Cessily tells her classmate. "I'll watch out for you." Because the killing machine really needs help from the liquid metal girl. It's pretty to think, at least. Mercury breaks out into a run after the others as they assault. She flicks her eyes and then looks between Nate and Wolverine. Choices choices. No, it's clear where she needs to go. As Logan jumps up and tears at the sentinel, Mercury jumps, then flows up its form, taking advantage of the openings Wolverine's created to ooze into the interior of the machine, yanking cables and connections as she moves about inside it.

At least this time Pyro doesn't make a run for it this time. There'd be nowhere to go, either way. John's eyes flash toward the floor and the huge machines that begin to rise out of it, his eyes widening as the sentinels are set loose on the playing field. He freezes, but only for a second. The sound of energy explosions and the movements of teammates around him spur him forward again, the boy gritting his teeth and breaking into a full-on sprint toward one of the nearest emerging machines.

Then he shoots fire at it. He's got the lighter, but someone had enough foresight to hook him up with something a little more appropriate for this situation. A press of a button, and the tank attached to his arm begins to spit out flame. Which becomes a white-hot bonfire in the space of a second, flaring out to begin melting the legs of one of the rising machines.

"Yea. Time to rendevous. Fastball special, bub." Wolverine confirms, moving in beside Colossus at the mouth of their walkway and taking a rather unorthodox approach to breaking through the line of soldiers: gunfire be damned, the feral runt just hops up into Piotr's grasp, coils into a little ball of metal and muscle, and snarls as he's hurled downfield, not the least bit surprised at the abridged countdown. Adamantium claws lash out right, left, slash an arc across the Canucklehead's path in swift succession; so swift as to be easily mistaken for one quick movement.

Several of the first responders, those on the front line attempting to keep the mutants pinned down, fall to sudden and grievous injuries as the mutant missile cleaves directly through their position, oblivious to the gunshot wounds he acquires as he's hucked down that concourse-- then out into the expansive storehouse. It's not a drop that concerns him, but neither is it freefall: hurling his substantial weight to one side, Wolveirne subtly adjusts his momentum and lands, claws first, into the midsection of a Sentinel. Dangerous as an assault, but also similar to Carol's aims: in their midst, Logan intends to buy the others a moment of cover; a moment to charge.

It's one of those times Wolverine actually enjoys taking Cyclops' advice to heart (write it down, it's rare!), as he clambers quickly up the robot's back with his built-in, if improvised pitons, leaping up to one shoulder and going to town on that vulnerable neckjoint. He doesn't stop with a precise stroke, rather slashing back and forth, over and over at the same point: digging a trench deeper and deeper into electronics and armor, until he's riding a half-decapitated Sentinel right back to the ground with a battlecry that's more feral /roar/.

And as Beta Team rushes in, Laura is not that far behind Logan and Colossus. In fact there's a distinct *SKNIT!* as she charges. One that sounds for the most part like her older... Sibling? Cousin? Genetic...

What ever.

The sound is a lot like Wolverines as her claws come out. Just her hand claws for now though. All though as she notices what Colossus does to Logan, the clawed girl actually smiles, if only for a moment, before there's a second *SKNIT* as her feet claws extend. If she's shot at or attacked, she dodges what she can, if only so she can get close enough to start lashing out with her claws at the first robot she comes across. And by lash out, it's a mixture of pure ferocity mixed with almost surgical precision, as if she's both cutting loose with what ever primal emotions she's been trying to keep in check for who knows how long, while at the same time trying to make every strike cause as much damage as possible. There's even a loud, feral snarl as she 'hacks and slashes' at the armored giant.

...Or at least that looks like what X-23 doing. After all, she's never seen anything like this before, let alone fought something like this. And no, she doesn't react to what Mercury says, but the idea that /she/ has to be protected is something that if mentioned later, might cause her to look at her classmate in an odd way. Nor does she react to the chaos happening around her as Nate and the others attack. Instead... Laura just cuts loose.

Well, that 'three' was the only cue Roberto needed. With Illyana's demons on the field, he figures the sentinels are going to be going down fairly quickly. Admittedly, he's never fought sentinels. But they're big purple robots. How tough can they be? The Brazilian mutant launches himself after Wolverine and Colossus, jumping high, aiming himself toward the ankles of one of the great machines. Harder for them to hit him if he's already on them -- and he does his damage up close.

"So, this is kinda bad," Domino almost calmly observes as they get all of ..um, a -lot- of giant, murderous robots coming their way. She's still off her own game, feeling a bit dizzy as her probability field starts to reorient itself, or whatever the heck it's doing in order to make itself work. She has no weapons and the kind of hardware she could steal off of these soldiers is going to be even less effective than what she had been packing before getting dragged way out to this place. The upside is that she's starting to become herself again!

Already the odds aren't looking too good for any of them. That's just dandy with her. Ideal, even. "Hang on, kids. I'm gonna go be reckless."

Big scary robots shoot big scary energy beams. There's a lot of them and little room for them all to move about in. All she can think to do is throw herself into the worst possible situation she can think of to try and jumpstart her power straight into high gear.

She's going to go dance with the Sentinels.

In a flash she sets off in a dead sprint, aiming to blitz right between them all to see if they just happen to start destroying their buddies for her. The bigger the risks, the bigger the rewards. As the others add their own gifts into the mix Dom's got herself the perfect storm for highly improbable madness.

She's always worked best on her own, anyway.

Wow a hot girl just kissed him! Jamie doesn't have that one happen to him that much. "Thanks, sure I'll need it. And if we survive I owe you dinner!" Well at least he can die with a kiss, cause well it seems the robots are back. You know having the power to become many people is totally cool, but it's not something that's good to fight against Robots with. "Okay I need some type of weapon or something." Hey one of the dupes did learn how to fire guns and stuff. Plus a PI isn't good without a gun, right. He starts looking for something he can use, a gun, a knife, heck he'll settle for a shoe with a really long heal right now! "Uhm, or I can just do medical support! I am trained as a battlefield medic!" But then he hears the stuff that Shift is saying, see that he can help with, so well he runs off and finds the guy some water, hey they are in some kind of base, has to be water around somewhere. But it appears powers are back, so he snaps his fingers and two dupes show up, "Water, find some." Is a quick order given to them. <> he says to Shift, in the language that Shift asked for water in. See having a dupe spend time learning languages paid off!

ONE WEEK AGO

Jackson, Mississippi

"I know you think this is your fault. I know that's why you came rather than him," Mrs. Allen says after Scott has gone through the story in a new way for the fourth time. The apologies have been too many to count.

"You can't blame yourself for this, boy. You gotta pick yourself up. If you and your friends don't fight back against whoever did this to my sunshine, who else is gunna?"

The elderly woman grasps Scott's hand. "If you aint gunna do it then my boy died for nothin'. You know if the shoe was on the other foot, Gabe woulda kept fightin. You aint got no right and no time to sit and feel sorry for yourself."

She looks long at Scott through gritted teeth

"Let me tell you somethin, Scott Summers. My daddy wanted to give up when he was scared and when folks started dyin down here. You ever heard the story of Emmett Till? That boy came down from Chicago to visit his uncle. Got caught talkin' to a white lady, whose husband didn't take to kindly. They beat that boy and when they was done beating him they shot him through the head and at his funeral his mamma left that casket open for the whole world to see what they did to her baby."

"Lot of folks wanted to quit after that-my daddy too. But my daddy was a fighter. Gabe was gunna be a fighter, and that boy told me you was a fighter. 'Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light', Mr. Summers. My daddy taught me that. And if you haven't learned that already, you better start awful quick."

Initially, Kurt has trouble regaining his focus but gradually he'll begin feeling more and more like himself.

Illyana's horde erupts through the disk, hungry for metal, flesh, and death. The demons mow down a group of soldiers and a few of them even climb over the head of a Sentinel, looking to crush its head with pressure from the outside.

Jocelyn begins to pull the energy together and a shower of sparks erupt out from under the plates on their dead faces. One begins to topple just as it gets to its apex from under the floor, while another sputters and fizzes. The third reaches back and slams a giant fist down at Jocelyn, intending to do her some physical harm.

The ice blasts that Iceman sends to the back of the knees of another Sentinel, takes hold easily. It makes for difficult sledding-pun intended-for the beast. As it tries to step off the disk it rises upon it catches on the lip of the floor and comes crashing down onto a group of terrified soldiers.

Scott catches Rogue's words and kiss and grimaces as a quick flashback from Mureybet enters his mind. He's not so sure doling out death should be part of the plan for this team. Rogue will, meanwhile, feel her powers come back to her soon.

One of the Sentinels finds itself with a hole as the fastball special hits its mark. It's an oldie, but a goodie.

Shift is grabbed by the scruff of the neck and pulled back and out of the way of fire by the gloved hand of Cyclops. "We're gonna need you to stay put until you get your strength back, Shift. You okay?" Cyclops grimaces, knowing that Shift is worse for wear, but it's not as though they have a lot of options at this point.

Nate's telekinesis attack does not look to have much effect initially, but after a split second of resistance, the chest gives way and crumples onto itself amidst a shower of sparks. The machinery goes slack and the being collapses on top of itself, neck first, then limbs, just sort of fall downward in a heap and a crash.

"I've got you," Cyclops says to Doug with a nod. "I think a group of one is about all you're going to get. I'll cover you." A wide red blast arcs out across the room as Cyclops provides some cover for Cypher, giving him the ability to move with some freedom to a set of computer banks against the far wall.

Carol is unwise to disregard Cyclops' advice. As she flies out into the middle, several Sentinels, in unison, blast her from all directions with an energy blast. Normally, this would be no big deal at all, but because it is so much energy, she overloads herself.

Cessily seeps into the hole that Logan created and begins ripping away at the inner organs with ease, making the mechanical monster useless.

Pyro's blast gets the attention of the Sentinel he's attacking. An arm moves out towards him and the palm begins to glow a hot yellow. Moving quickly would be a stellar idea.

Logan rides his Sentinel like a Canadian Cowboy from hell. Meanwhile, another sentinel looks like it's about to attack him from behind, sensing that his robotic friend is already about to become scrap.

Laura slices through the bottoms of one of the Sentinels, leaving tear marks through parts of their legs. A giant fist, slams down at her from above, eager to smash her into several pieces.

Sunspot's attack causes the ankles of one of the Sentinels to dent. He hasn't gotten through it yet, but the attack is gaining momentum as it begins to dent farther.

Dom slips and slithers her way through the carnage like an ambulance driver. How? No one is really sure.

Madrox' dupe heads down a hallway and finds the mess hall, inexplicably. He comes back carrying a cup of water. No joke. When you have enough you's, you don't need to be Domino to put the odds in your favor.

Meanwhile, since only the demons have attacked the mass of soldiers milling about, assault fire begins to fill the room, coming at the heroes from all directions.

The very thing that does gain Nightcrawler's attention is the appearance on the scene of Illyana's little demons. He's momentarily distracted, but not for long. He's an elf on the bounce, as it were, moving to force the Sentinel's attack, and with any luck, having them begin the Three Stooges maneuver of shooting each other rather than being able to target the blue one.

"Was?"

As the others begin to take their respective powers back, the obvious ones Kurt can tell, as he makes a leap from wall to wall, and then up and up, he makes the attempt once again to use his God Given Gift.


 * poot*

"Again, poot? What a God forsaken sound--" and Kurt calls out towards the Sentinel. "Now, I would much rather hear YOU all make that sound.. or rather, more like.. *ZZZZZZT* Or.. *SNNKT* is good too."

Oddly enough, Domino isn't all on her own as Kurt is doing just that.. only, if asked, with a great deal more finesse!

Illyana slowly starts to walk forward, the stepping disk at her back still wide-open with demons emerging to replace those that have fallen. One comes up to Illyana as she holds out a hand, and places a sword into it. She has her demons to help deal with the Sentinels, and distract them if nothing else. She'll save her violence for those that can feel it. There's the flickerflash of one of her portals, putting her at the back of one of the soldiers as she drives the blade at his back, through armor designed to stop bullets, not blades. Another flash and she's already gone even as the body drops to the ground.

Boom! One goes down. Boom! A second fizzles. Boom!...? No boom? That's not good. Jocelyn dodges backwards with superhuman agility, letting the fist slam into the ground near her, her previous combat training kicking in. No smashed X-Student today! The girl then dodges around to one of the fallen heads and decides to use it for cover as she looks for her next shot. She glances around and spots Carol starting to overload. Well, it'd be nearly impossible for her not to see the massive spike of energy that the woman was taking.

"Oh, that's not good," Jocelyn says as she reaches up and starts siphoning energy off Carol, attempting to prevent Operation Overload from happening and wiping everyone out. She doesn't know exactly the nature of Carol's powers, but if they're even remotely like her's, Bad Things were bound to occur if that wasn't checked. As she does so, she starts blasting more photonic energy towards sentinels, first at one that just tried to turn her into a pancake. The girl chooses to use Carol as a sort of a battery to start yanking energy from as she needs it, pulling energy in and shooting it out in explosive blasts at the sentinels targeting Carol, attempting to both siphon energy out of the woman and prevent them all from targeting her at once.

Iceman can feel his powers getting back to normal and it brings a smile to his face under the snow. A few soldiers shooting him chip the snow away but don't seem to be slowing him down any. Rushing, the snow falls from his form and by the time he's grabbing a gun and decking the soldier, he's back in his ice armor form. "Iceman on the scene!" he declares, shattering the gun he's grabbed into icy metal bits. The demons and Illyana in action get a scowl out of Bobby but before he can comment, he hears Doug. "What's up, Cypher?" he calls out, ice-sliding over. Pointed towards Shift, he nods and heads over towards him and Jamie. "I got it covered," he calls after the dupes. "Help me get him sitting up," he requests off Jaime, forming up a quick handful of ice chips and offering them up to Shift. He'll help him eat/drink them if he has to but he'll let the guy try on his own first.

While some of the others may be soldiers or ninjas or mercenaries in their spare time, Rogue is just a girl from little old Caldecott County and doesn't have much to offer in a full blown firefight. It seems like an eternity as the seconds pass and she waits for her powers to return. It seems most of her teammates are getting theirs back. Is this it? Are they gone for good?


 * I can't stay out late, I have a math test tomorrow. Should I kiss her? She looks so pretty under the moonlight. Don't sweat it, the stewardess couldn't tell I was drunk. I'll put this bird down just fine.* It starts as a trickle, an out of place thought here, an idea there, and then there is a flood of half-forgotten memories and emotions and then a surge of strength in her body.

Rogue grits her teeth and fights the urge to scream. It was only a moment but it was a dozen lifetimes rolled in one. Hovering in the air, she narrows her eyes, "Payback time."

Surging forward, Rogue barrels through a formation of soldiers, sending bodies, armor, and weapons tumbling in her wake. She is like a guided missile, relentlessly closing in on her target until she grabs what appears to be an officer and flies up to the ceiling, slamming him into it with enough force to crack concrete.

"Where's Trask?" she demands through clenched teeth.

"Go to hell, Mutie," the officer responds defiantly.

"Wrong answer," the enraged mutant replies as she pulls off a glove with her teeth and touches her bare hand to his face.

Illyana's safe. From the look of it, everyone that was captured is still alive and (mostly) well. Cyclops would have said something otherwise. So while Colossus is angry enough to destroy anything that gets in his way, he's not in berserker mode. And while he'd normally trust his fellow X-Men to look after themselves and call for help if they need it, he's not with just his fellow X-Men but a bunch of students and friends as well. Which is why he's keeping an eye on them and as one of the Sentinels seems to be targetting Pyro, Colossus grabs the foot of the Sentinel he picked out, lifts it, twists, yanks, and hopefully gets it to fall in the way of the energy beam being aimed at the pyrokinetic.

With a grunt, Shift is taken out of the way. He looks toward Cyclops, and then toward the Madrox-Dupes that join and speak to him in his native tongue. He nods at both, but it seems his ability to speak English still seems to be inhibited. "Am'e," he says to Scott, then leans back against the wall and closes his eyes, breathing heavily and deeply.

Everything is such a blur. The sounds of battle, the weakness of his body, the desire to get up and help. It angers him to be forced to -sit there- and not do anything.

Soon enough, the dupes return. There is water given, which he slurps down hungrily. One of the dupes prepares a field stimulant, and he watches with an ironic sense of ire as the needle is slipped into his arm, the injection given.

The moment that stimulant works its way into his veins, a burst of strength comes to him. That, paired with a growing anger, causes the flesh of his body to begin hardening. It's a welcome sign. Looking to Bobby, he nods his head twice and reaches out to take the chips in hand, slipping one into his mouth. Soon enough, however, his attention is drawn by the battle.

"Tenah, tenah!" he emotes, still speaking in his native language. <> "De boyn pratana! Een p lonah." <>

The rest of the ice cubes are downed one by one, but as Shift sits there and watches, his eyes begin to glower with a steadily growing rage. The last ice cube gets swallowed, and he begins to steady himself upon his feet. He tests his limbs and finds renewed strength, and without considering the danger of fighting in his still weakened state, he starts running for the battlefield with flashbacks of Mureybet in his eyes.

Nate concentrates on fighting the Sentinels, not as much avoiding the armed humans as just ignoring them. Giant robots first, starting by those attacking the less armored members of their group. After the first Sentinel falls, he lands on its shattered body and reaches with telekinesis to the arm of the one trying to crush Laura. Pulling hard, trying to rip it free, then tossing it against another of the machines.

He pauses second, though, as I hearing some silent command. His next blast targets the far wall of the warehouse, punching a house-sized hole in the concrete and brick, opening the area to the icy artic wind and the hovering Blackbird outside.

"Thanks, Iceman," Cypher grins, nodding at Madrox's duplication. "I've got robots to try and shut down, so if you can..."

Bringing his hand up just enough to clasp the two mutants' shoulders in thanks, the young blond linguist gets to his feet, quickly using the cover provided by Cyclops to check the computer banks, just before Shift does his Mureybet-fueled Hulk Hogan impression.

A quick hack and infiltration through the system tells him...

Sorry, Mario! The Princess is in another castle!

... that he can't get to the Sentinels from here. BUT! There -was- a hatch nearby that would take him to the main control room.

"Cyclops, the main control room! Whoever you can spare, follow me!" Cypher calls out, leaving it to him as he takes advantage of further cover to locate the hatch, and open it...

Well, one truism when it comes to Carol... when she gets so much energy she can be considered... overloaded, it never works out well for those who -gave- her that energy either. As she blasts and blasts, and tries to use the absorbed energy she has, before it backs up and explodes to become effectively a nuke with her at ground zero, she knows that she is losing the race. But... that gives her a ton more energy to play with and her photonic blasts are going out with far more power now than they were earlier. Each one delivers kilotons of energy transfer, likely ripping through sentinel, soldier, and wall alike.

As she feels her control slipping though, she calls out, "Might want to get everyone to cover... soon! Very soon!" before she can feel the overload lessening. She takes just a moment to glance towards Jocelyn and smirks. . o o O O (Gonna have to have a nice long chat with -her- when this is over...) she remarks. But it may not be enough to stop at least a partial explosive release. So she launches herself at the chest of a sentinel, trying to pierce its body and gain access to its innards before she can explode. Maybe a Sentinel-Shrapnel-Grenade will be useful here! But she's trying to push it back and away from the mutants, containing her power for as long as she possibly can... trying to get as far from her comrades as she can before... well just before. After will take care of itself.

There is an opening though. Just before she impacts, she sees the hole blasted by Nate, and she steers her... well, hijacked Sentinel for the hole... out and up, and up and up... fast as she can before... in the sky, well up above all of this... a flash of nearly blinding golden light with Carol at the center.... oh yes and a vaporized Sentinel..... and now comes the falling, the whole weakened... thank god it's over with... nearly powerless feeling... freefall.

Cessily finds the right connectors and panels and yanks at them for all they're worth. The sentinel shudders to a halt, and a minute later a panel pops out and Mercury oozes forth. The puddle reforms into the silver woman, complete with red hair and matching costume. "Did I get it?" she asks, smiling faintly. She looks up to see the halted machine, then turns and breaks into a ru n to get clear in case it decides to collapse.

Yeah, Pyro's not going to survive that. When he hears the beam beginning to charge above him he cuts and runs, breaking away from the leg and diving away, toward the shield that Colossus happens to be throwing in his direction. Hopefully it'll provide enough cover to keep him in one piece. Streams of flame putter out momentarily, until the boy's eyes flash up to catch sight of another one of the huge machines stomping up behind Colossus.

So he returns the favor. It's probably not going to do significant damage, but the force of the flames might at least wobble it a little. Or distract it enough to make it also want to kill him instead.

"Keep movin', cover to cover!!" The last thing any of them need is a definitive bead drawn on them by sentinel or soldier-- not that Logan is real good at following his own advice. Then again, it's likely not meant as anything but an advisory for much of the team-- but keeping the rookies alive is something of a priority. Rising atop that fallen sentinel, the Canucklehead draws gunfire from the surrounding men and acquiring a dozen gunshot wounds of varying lethality in the process of sprinting off to the side, gritting his teeth through the pain as he rolls back to his feet.

Blood runs down his sternly hewn face, further adding to the feral warrior's gruff countenance even as it threatens to obscure his vision for the moment it takes the grazing blows off his adamantium skull to heal-- ironically, among the least serious of his gunshot wounds. Wolverine doesn't need to clearly see every detail to pick out giant robots, however, weaving around the energy blast discharged by his newest fan and charging past in a flurry of armor and circuitry-shredding strikes for the behemoth's foot and ankle. Even in the midst of the mayhem, the cagey Canuck catches the new escape route, "Rookies get the hurtin' out of here, rest of us'll keep 'em busy!" The army of conjured demons rather helps tip those odds in their favor; good of the angry little buggers to take one for the team.. even if that's usually his job.

Wolverine repeats his former tactic from his lower vantage point, clamboring swiftly up the opposite leg the one he initially damaged. Then comes the fun part, cleaving deeper and deeper into the back of the murderbot's knee joint. It may not have tendons, but close enough for a certain stubbornly deadly mutant and his adamantium claws. Three, four, five swift strokes, and Logan kicks off one knee for the side of the next, seeking to dislodge the sentinel striking out at Jocelyn by digging himself a tunnel /through/ its supporting limb; utterly oblivious to the cuts and burns he gets from shorn metal and shorted wiring in the process, of course.

The fist comes down fast. And X-23 just keeps trying to slash, up until the last moment, trying to at least to enough damage to at least topple the giant robot over.

BUT, as that hand starts to come down, it's dealt with by Nate. Thus there isn't a real 'last moment'. In fact, he even rips the whole Sentinel away before she can do much more to it, there's a snarl directed at him.

That is before she turns and charges right at the next Sentinel she can get at and start to slash at with her claws.

A dent is better than nothing. And less than Roberto expected. But he keeps at it, slamming his fist into the robotic ankle once, twice, and then, in a fit of inspiration, trying to fit his fingers under the joint itself and yank the machine apart.

It's wholesale Sentinel destruction all around them. Domino (and Nightcrawler, bless that crazy fuzzball,) get right into the thick of it as energy blasts erupt, cratering the ground, pulverizing various bits and pieces of other Sentinels, and generally make an utter mess out of the facility.

One errant beam wipes out a newly arrived gathering of soldiers, vaporizing the crew just like the machines had done to a few unfortunate mutants upon the beach.

Another Sentinel loses its foot from a misplaced blast, then loses its balance as it overcompensates and lands on a patch of ice, courtesy of Iceman. It slides and topples into another Sentinel that was already tipsy from Pyro's attack, reflexively slagging a large chunk out of the rafters and ceiling as it slams down to the concrete.

Domino suddenly spots Nightcrawler and grabs the fuzzy blue guy, throwing both into a sidelong roll as another beam melts through the floor, detonating a spare fuel cell within the lower level of the warehouse with enough force to make the building shudder.

Another drives a fist into the floor, narrowly missing the two mutants but pancaking an errant demon mid-leap, spattering the area with its remains. With the floor already weakened from the sub-level detonation the massive force from that machine's arm causes long fissures to open up across the ground. In seconds part of the floor is going to give way beneath its heavy feet.

A freight elevator is starting to descend not far from her position, prompting a shift of direction as she makes a mad dash for it. She barely gets moving when an undamaged, fully loaded assault rifle comes falling through the air, perfectly aligned for her to grab it mid-sprint and keep on hauling. Thank you for plowing into that group of soldiers, Rogue.

Yep, Dom's back on her game.

One dupe finds all the stuff that Shift needed, go team Madrox! See he's actually being helpful, so the dupes return with that stuff. And Jamie keeps making more, hey they have always said there are strength in numbers. So once again he isn't good against the robot thingies, but there are regular people here, those he can handle! So as he starts to make more dupes, he starts sending them out to try and find and fight regular soldiers.

When done, Jamie finishes making 25 dupes, "Take other the soldiers, stay in groups of 5." Hey it'll be a little safer that way. Plus maybe having all the dupes running around with their mutant signatures, well that should confuse the robot thingies. But the dupes run around and start to take out the regular soldiers, yeah take that mutie hating soldier scum!

Kurt's ear is nearly sliced in half as a bullet from an assault rifle whizzes by his head. Life is different without the ability to teleport, that's for sure.

After Illyana's vicious attack, one of the soldiers begins to panic as the man next to him dies without even seeming to be hit. "Dear God! What are these freaks?"

Jocelyn's power-trick works great for her, but not so great for Carol, who is being used as a sort of battery conduit: taking the attack, growing in energy, having energy siphoned off. It's all a bit discombobulating. Jocelyn then uses said power straight back at the Sentinels, causing one's head to light up like a flaming Christmas tree.

Iceman brings the watching eyes of a Sentinel over towards Shift, Jamie, and Bobby. A giant arm lifts up and takes aim at the trio with a powerful energy blast.

Rogue's victim screams in horror as the life energy is sucked out of his body through his face. He goes unconscious almost immediately, and if her hand is not taken from him he will surely die.

Shift's return to battle is not noticed immediately by the soldiers or the Sentinels, giving him some time to pick and choose his area of attack.

Cypher gets to the hatch, followed by Cyclops who snaps off several shots to cover the young X-man. Doug descends the ladder as quickly as he can. He's followed by Cyclops. When the pair get down to the bottom of the ladder, there's enough computer machinery to get even the most backwards technophobe a little hot and bothered.

"Magik, we're down stairs. Cypher is pretty sure he can get a self-destruct mechanism going. I'm going to need you to start getting folks out aboard the Blackbird. Nate should be blasting us an out route any second now."

"Do whatever it is you need to do, Cypher," Cyclops says. As Doug takes a seat behind the control panel a figure leaps out from the shadows, gripping Cyclops by the visor, ripping backwards and pulling it off.

Everyone will notice a red beam that explodes up and out of the floor and straight through to the sky, while slicing an unsuspecting Sentinel straight in half.

Within a split second, Trask is on Cypher, finger nails clawing at the young man's eyes in a fury a man only has when he is threatened with his own life. "You mutant scum!"

The visor falls to the floor during the melee.

Meanwhile, Carol's hijacked Sentinel explodes into a million fragments of shrapnel and light, far above the battleground and away from her allies, who likely would have suffered in the process.

Cessily's monster does, indeed, decide to collapse. Though she has been pretty effective in killing the Sentinel, the dismount needs work. A large shadow grows over her body as the towering piece of dead machinery topples in her direction!!!

Pyro's flames disorient the Sentinel enough that its wayward shot, meant for Colossus, is given instead to one of his Mutant-hating machine brethren, whose head explodes and sends a sizzling faceplate crashing upon the ground.

Despite the damage that Logan takes to his body-his body is littered with cuts, bruises, and exposed flesh-he rips away at the supporting limb of the Sentinel haunting Jocelyn and bringing it to a halt before it can hurt her.

Laura rips into the sentinel with her claws, sending sparks shimmering all over its body. Though she, herself, gets a pretty good jolt, the Sentinel catches the much worse damage.

Roberto's fists puncture the hull of the robot and he rips it apart in an impressive display of strength. These new Sentinel models have yet to be programmed on how to hop on one foot. Try as it might, the Sentinel cannot balance and comes crashing to the ground, taking out a group of soldiers as it does.

Domino's luck has brought the X-men good fortune. She makes it to the freight elevator with ease, though some remaining soldiers are beginning to notice her.

On the ground, as the Madroxi branch out to full effect, the dupes begin to attack the soldiers and overwhelm them. They weren't ready for a new battalion of x-soldiers to attack from their flank.

Gunfire?

Gunfire!

Kurt was so busy with the idea of the lack of *bamf* that he'd neglected to notice the armed 'guards' that, thankfully, the little demons have engaged. Though, with bullets now ricocheting around the room, there's little that he can do to avoid any collateral damage to his own skin. At least there's a little comfort in knowing that even with his abilities, there is that possibility that he'd be hit regardless.

And sure enough, and he yelps in pain as the bullet sweeps a shallow path, leaving a reminder of its presence, and blood begins to drip.

Wolverine's yelled admonition to keep moving-- well, if there was ever a day that he ascribed to such a thing, today would be the day. "Ja.. moving targets!"

If it weren't a matter of life and death, this would almost be fun. Rolling forward to escape a blast, he's got Dom by the hand, imitating the same maneuver, body over body as they'd done a couple of times before. "Danke."

The ground shakes beneath his feet, and glowing yellow eyes blink once again as Dom leaves his side to rush headlong into.. of course. A gun.

Now that he's back to being alone, he makes a leap and rushes into a group of human soldiers, and this is something he //can// do. Off the walls, up and up.. and down onto one of the soldiers. Grabbing the man with his feet, he dives backwards, flipping the guy into the air, pushing him into another, effectively bowling them over.. and over.. and over.

"Like I need Nate to give me an exit." Illyana replies back to Scott, her usual sarcasm failing a bit as she's still riding that waved of Pissed Off. "I copy, though." Lifting fingers to her lips she gives a shrill whistle that turns the heads of a lot of demons when suddenly the floor erupts upwards with ruby light. Magik's first impulse is to teleport down to help out, but despite what some people thing, she can play for the team. "Time to go!" Portals start to open to get people out. She starts with the non-X-Men, and she's not really giving them a lot of a choice. The real X-Men, there portals open so they can dive through them to the safety of the Blackbird.

Hearing Wolverine's order for the rookies to fall back, Jocelyn slams both fists into her sentinel head that she'd been using for cover, looking over the top of it in order to see in front of her. Enhanced strength comes in handy, and the girl lifts it up, using it as a massive shield. She charges up, grabbing some of that stray energy of Scott's that just split the sentinel in half, and charges her hands up as she angles her shield up towards a group of sentinels.

The eyes of the sentinel head-shield begin to glow a deathly red.

"Rookies, use the red cover fire and fall back through the hole!" Jocelyn calls as she unleashes the charge from her hands. A red beam shatters through each of the eyes of her head-shield and explodes up near a group of sentinels. The girl starts backing quickly towards the exit as she attempts to provide cover fire, letting out quick, explosive blasts of red energy.

Then a portal opens up underneath Jocelyn and the girl unexpectedly drops out of the combat with a cry of "Or not!" Meanwhile, the sentinel-head drops back to the floor with a loud crash and it's eyes going dark once more.

"Oh hell no," Bobby grunts when he sees that Sentinel raising it's hand. "Freeze," he scowls, throwing his hands forward and firing off an icy beam. He aims to fire the beam right into the Sentinel's beam-emitter to work on freezing it from the inside out. As he pours more power into the attack, Bobby's appearance starts changing. He ends up looking less like a guy under icy armor and more...translucent as he shifts to that same frigid form he was in before he 'died'. Glancing over his shoulder, he notes the portal and starts backing towards it even as he continues firing his attack. He cuts off the attack right before stepping back through the portal.

Rogue's nose crinkles in disgust as she absorbs the officer's psyche. It was only a brief touch, just enough to borrow his knowledge of the base for a few moments. She quickly tosses him aside as if putting some distance between them will cleanse his vile thoughts from her head that much faster.

"Trask's in the Control Center. One level do---" Rogue's announcement is cut off by an optic beam ripping through the floor, splitting the Sentinel and passing only a few feet from her in the process.

And then she sees him through the gaping hole in the floor. The man who did this to her, the man who made her feel like this. Her eyes narrow. The order to evacuate has been given but he's right there, one good punch and it's all even. She can make the humans pay. Eye for an eye. Or, she can play it Scott's way, get out and keep fighting the good fight. And, in that moment of decision she pauses, not sure what to do.

But, it doesn't look like Rogue is picking sides today. In her moment of indecision, she's not paying attention and a blast from a flailing Sentinel strikes her and sends her rocketing into a wall and laying in a crumpled heap amidst the rubble.

Colossus grabs the leg of the Sentinel that missed him and yanks it out from under it. As it begins to topple, he uses the time not to dive for the portal Magik provided but to run to her, ignoring the soldiers between them except to shoulder them out of his way if they aren't smart enough to move. Leave before Illyana? Like that's going to happen.

The fury has grown in Shift's mismatched eyes by the time he reaches a group of soldiers, but it's still well contained for now. Hardened limbs strike chests, torsos, and not-so-bolstered limbs, taking the soldiers out one after the other. A general cacophony of confusion erupts as the soldiers try to fire at him, but many of their bullets strike their own allies as they pass through the Ghanaian harmlessly.

Then, the din of battle gets the best of him, and his angered state goes berzerk. Exposed skin actually begins to bristle with solidity, and his arms and head turn into veritable battering rams that smash through skulls and chests, leaving a blood-stained wake of death around him. In this game of trying to take a higher road, Shift has failed.

And there will be consequences. Immediate consequences.

One of the Sentinels that remains operational has caught sight of the bloodbath and the mutant creating it. A hand rises, charges with yellow energy, and a beam of destructive power lashes through the air, scathing the ground in its path. Half of the soldiers surrounding Shift are immediately incinerated, and when the blast catches him, he immediately poofs into a roiling cloud of smoke.

The Sentinel's hand is jerked upward by one of the X-Men attacking it, and rips along the wall nearby Domino's escape route in that freight elevator, coming dangerously close to them. It also brings the cloud of smoke that was Shift along with it.

When Shift reforms, he is plastered against the wall with half of his body seemingly gone; his left arm and left leg, along with a fair portion of his body ripped free. Where the energy beam had struck the wall, there remains a cloud of smoke that instinctively forms into the -rest- of Shift's body, the limbs collapsing to the ground in a heap. The African lets out a horrible bellow of anguish and pain, while terrified eyes turn to look at his dismembered limbs nearby with blind and uncontrollable shock. He screams and screams for a few moments, unable to get himself together and do the one thing that might save his life - turn back into smoke again. The fear just hasn't gripped him enough, because he's in shock.

Magik's portal, however, opens up on the floor beneath Shift's dismembered limbs, and they fall right through. It's enough of a 'what the fuck' moment to snap him out of shock. With his one arm, he pushes himself off the wall, using his leg to guide him toward that portal. He falls forward, closing his eyes and letting momentum do the rest. He falls on his good side, rolls, and drops through the portal and into safety.

Nate remains in the thickest of the fight, blasting those Sentinels on sight until the smoke from the explosions and burning machines is too thick to aim well, forcing him to go hand to hand with them. The plasma blasts of the robots wash over his shields, but they take the brunt of the heat and force, leaving only minor burns on the young psion. When Illyana's teleporting circle appears, he pauses briefly checking the positions and status of the other mutants. He shifts to defense, creating shields to protect the retreat of the others, he will be among the last to go.

"Almost there..." Cypher notes, as he sets up the self-destruct sequence for just enough time to get -everyone- out, as well as making sure all the intercoms would catch the warnings loud and clear.

And then the large blast upwards startles Doug, right after he starts the sequence. "Cyclops, wha..."

And before he knows it, -someone- is upon him, and the young mutant's blue eyes widen, as he ends up pressed against a table.

Trask's maniacal grip is on his throat, and Doug's hands frantically seek pursuit, recognizing the insanity of the man, before a moment of mental clarity sets in, as the mutant remebers his SHIELD training, bringing his hands together and then shoving upward, using leverage to break Trask's grip on his throat. Wincing for breath, Doug fends off the immediate attack, looking to Cyclops for assistance. But Cyclops was busy trying to find his visor, and...

And Doug wasn't going to stand around waiting for someone to rescue him, dammit.

And as soon as Trask tensed, indicating he was going to -attack- again, Doug shifts his weight, looks for that tic that meant he was charging...

... and Doug's fist meets Trask's face in a satisfying crunch.

Gasping for breath, Doug watches Trask fall, wincing and rubbing his hand.

Any thought of taking a little bit of rest is abandoned, when the self-destruct start going off. Moving quickly to help Cyclops find his visor, Cypher frantically grabs the glasses and passes it to the X-Men leader. "Come on, we haven't much time left..." Cypher says, as he starts towards the hatch, trying to climb up it...

And above ground, green goo starts oozing down the walls of the warehouse, melting everything in its path. People start scrambling to get out of the path of the ooze, seeking escape, as the green goo encroaches the fallen Rogue...

... and green goo starts oozing down the hatch, melting everything in its way.

With a yelp, Doug leaps down the hatch, trying to drag Cyclops down as well. "Look out!" And helplessly, he watches, as the green goo begins to encroach on the two X-Men in the control room...

"Had enough Danvers?! Are we making this too hard for you?!" Sure, it's a voice that is only in Carol's head right now.

How did Drill Sergeant Michaels get here?

"If this is too hard! You can quit any time Danvers!" demands the voice.

Despite the bitter freezing cold, the near powerlessness, some sembelance of consciousness drags itself back from the brink in Carol.. and her eyes open to see... oh look stars.

She is falling towards the Earth, caught in its inescapeable gravity, but she wasn't high enough up to get any re-entry friction. That would've helped warm her up... As it is, she notices the stars and a stray thought hits her. . o o O O (Even when she was with NASA, she never got to go into... but then powers, and then no powers, and then BINARY! and then... oh hey, was she falling?)

Looking over her shoulder, she notices the ground coming up awfully fast. Oh.. this is going to


 * WHUMP!!!* There's a crash and a shudder as she impacts the ground. A puff of snow and ice launching skyward in reaction to her impact.

"Ow..." is muttered. Well, at least she wasn't really without her powers, just really low on energy. A few moments later, she comes staggering into sight of those at the blackbird, "Little help?" She asks, limping along with a wrenched knee, a dislocated shoulder... it takes a lot to do those sorts of injuries to someone as durable as her. Terminal velicity impact? Yeah, that'll do it.

"Make sure everyone is out." she mutters to whomever is nearby. "Nobody gets left. Right?" she asks...

With no control servos to keep it dynamically balanced, the sentinel Mercury managed to short out begins to toppled, shaken by all the thudding and commotion around it. Mercury seizes for a split second, before remembering what her dad told her if she was going to fall - 'go limp'. It's the same thing her teachers at the Institute told her.


 * Ker-Splat*. The sentinel hits the floor hard, smashing through Mercury. A metal fringe emerges from the side, as if it's bleeding. It's not - that'd be silly - and the metal moves about slowly, pooling and combining into a large slick that becomes denser and resolves back into Mercury. "Stupid robot," she mutters. She sees the portal open and makes for it immediately. "Joce!" she calls to her schoolmate. "Time for that later," she advises.

Mercury jumps through the portal, into the safety and comfort of the Blackbird. It's just in time to see the big puff of snow out the window. "Oh no...." she mutters, pressing her face to the window. Somebody needs to get out there and the cold doesn't affect her, so.... Mercury swings towards the hatch. "Don't leave without me!" she calls to whomever's about, as she goes out into the snow. "Captain Marvel!" the young mutant calls, coming up at her side to prop her up. "We'll be leaving soon," she says, after grappling for anything to say to the accomplished heroine.

Pyro has had enough of these giant metal things. He's decided to burn stuff that's more flammable. Like human flesh. All the bullets whizzing around has brought his attention to the soldiers, and soon several huge balls of flame are being launched in their direction. John's also screaming. It's hard to tell if it's just because he's really pissed off by this point, or completely terrified. Probably a little of both. Either way, he's actually advancing, fire everywhere, Until a portal pops up under him. His yelling becomes significantly less manly as the world drops out from under him. Plop, into the ship he goes.

Wolverine ignores his own exit, for the moment, as students and X-Men begin to vanish into space, and more proverbial shit hits the proverbial fan. For his part, the Canucklehead actually runs back -deeper- into the facility, and redoubles his pace as he sees Rogue hammered into the reinforced facility wall. With a snarling, focused growl, the feral runt hurls himself up at the striking sentinel's underside, both claws digging into its crotch and providing the leverage to redirect his momentum.

For such a burly brute, Wolverine can sure execute a flip. Kicking straight upwards and reaving a vertical stroke with his claws as he inverts himself on the sentinel's chest, Logan digs deep for conduits from that power core he saw go up in one of the other disabled killbots. "Rogue! Wake up, girl, you got to get clear." The yell comes over one shoulder as Logan tears his way to his target's 'throat', and kicks free into a backflip that lands him amidst a squad of approaching soldiers. They're cut off, no pun intended, before they can reach the fighting escape in the main chamber-- it's a flashing show of metal against black as Wolverine rather mercilessly disables the group.

Each receives only one or two strikes, but each clawed fist aligns with a precise, deadly point-- he's not looking to let this lot free to do it again. Several hit the ground seemingly in tandem, as if slain simultaneously; several have time to clutch arteries and missing limbs and ponder their fate. Efficiency isn't always merciful.

If the Southern Belle /doesn't/ regain her senses quickly, well... Wolverine will just cast a rather regretful look towards the hatch where Cypher climbs back up to their level, wanting to chase after that scent-- Trask-- about as much as Rogue herself. Then, he'll turn to scoop her up and run back towards extraction. "Cyke an' Cypher are cut off! Need a port a level down!" Assuming he doesn't have to go in after them himself; Scott would /love/ that.

Maybe it's timing. Maybe it's luck. because despite the order to fall back, Laura doesn't even start to. She's just slicing and dicing. Or at least she is until the shock hits her. And then there's that portal that opens up below her as she's recovering. Thus before X-23 can fully recover from what the Sentinel did to her, she's teleported away...

Roberto wants this sentinel down for the count. But they're getting ready to go, and he's not sure he has the time. Well, good enough. He takes the foot he wrenched off the monstrous robot and jumps up to smash it down into the thing's head -- and then dives for the portal. Time to head out.

The freight elevator's door opens, timed perfectly with Domino's leap. Life for those soldiers is about to get very, very rough.

Deflect rifle at Eight o'clock--BLAM!--Ricochet takes Two o'clock in the head--SPAK!--duck fist, foot in from side to knee--SNAP!--Four o'clock trips over dropped gun--THUD!--jump, roll back, catch the toes under Eleven o'clock's chin--THUD!--as his weapon jams--CLICK!--grab the barrel, kick to rechamber--KaCHAK!--sweep the stock around to One o'clock's crotch--CRUNCH!--as he misses and bumps the trigger--BLAM!--shooting Ten o'clock in the gut--while coming in at Seven o'clock's blind spot--CRACK!--as a Sentinel beam fries the side of the elevator and drops an I-beam--WHAM!--onto One o'clock's torso.

Eight, Four, Eleven, and Seven are still alive. Four more rapidly spaced shots slam out from the cargo elevator, leaving a mass of demolished soldiers and a seriously unhealthy amount of red liquid stains behind. In the center of it all stands Domino, now armed with two smoking automatics and a third slung across her shoulders, all just in time to watch Rogue get swatted out of the sky.

"Shit."

The newly opened portal behind her can wait. Remember what happens when you go off playing Lone Wolf, Domino? With the floor crumbling and caving in around her she sprints along the back of a downed Sentinel, using its prone body as a makeshift bridge as she closes the gap to the downed X-Woman. Wolverine gets there first (and he's not about to ask for help,) but he gets some on the spot cover fire as both of those rifles erupt at arm's length, the albino mercenary quite literally running and gunning to help weed out the opposition. "C'mon, time to leave! Anyone else around?"

Dupe army is taking out those silly soldier people, Madrox is proving that his Army of One is the better one! But hey the skills he learned in the Shaolin Temple are actually coming in handy, see that's just awesome! But hey he's fighting the soldiers and then a portal is opened underneath him, and well all of his dupes. And just like that all of his dupes are now in Limbo, or New Jersey, they both look the same.

Despite being unable to use his teleportation, Kurt is still known to be rather frisky in his movement and his close call is not repeated.

Illyana sends disks out to all of the heroes, giving them their escape routes. If they take them, they'll feel that awkward displacement feeling of moving through dimensions, but it'll get them to safety aboard the large assault plane.

Jocelyn's carnage fills the room with explosions and more confusion, but she doesn't stick around to find its effects, disappearing into a portal and coming out in the Blackbird, which is hovering safely above the fray.

Bobby succeeds in freezing the arm of the Sentinel. The glow from its hand goes out almost immediately, and a moment later, ice crystals burst through the hand in assorted parts. Soon it is completely covered and Bobby makes it through his portal and onto the Blackbird.

Rogue's body lies prone to attack from all sides. Certainly someone better give this southern belle a hand or someone might not make it aboard the Blackbird in time!

As Colossus joins his sister, and he puts his body in front of her, a hail of gunfire bounces harmlessly off his back and the side of his face. Whether they mean to or not, that's kind of what big brother's do.

Parts of Shift enter through the portals at different points. Eventually it seems that all of him has made it back to the Blackbird.

Nate's shields protect the mutants a great deal from the weapon fire of the soldiers. Bullets get caught in what almost looks like liquid, making a slight indent to the shield before dripping off and falling onto the ground.

"Wow, Doug," Cyclops says re-fixing the visor to his face and opening his eyes. "From the sound-and the looks of it--you knocked him out cold. I don't mean this as a slight, but I didn't know you had that sort of right hook in you, buddy." But things get serious once the green goo begins burning their escape route away. "Shit," he mutters, breaking one of his own rules of the battlefield. He moves for the radio, "Magik. Magik come in." Cyclops pulls the unconscious body of Trask out of harm's way as the walls and parts of the floors begin to soak in green. Things are getting tense as the world around Cypher and Cyclops begins to burn away right in front of them-the walls, the floor, and now even the ceiling, as the green goo gets closer.

"ILLYANA!!!!"

Mercury arrives on the blackbird just in time to see Carol in her disoriented stupor. In her wake, the 'not-so-bloody' Sentinel zips and zaps awkwardly before it goes motionless.

A gigantic flameball erupts from John's attack of terror and a host of soldiers get burned to a crisp. They attempt to stop, drop, and roll to little effect. Meanwhile, Pyro falls through the portal and finds himself crashing into one of the comfy chairs.

When Logan gets to the ladder he'll notice half of it has ben burned away by the green goo, trapping Cyclops and Cypher down in there. It looks like their warp zone will have to come from a different route. But the Canadian has Rogue, and that's an important catch in and of itself.

Laura finds herself aboard the Blackbird. It's doubtful she'll need medical attention, but if she does, she's in the right spot for it. There's medical equipment towards the back of the plane.

Berto's attack brings the foot right through the front plate. If anyone says foot in mouth disease, I'll give them a dollar.

Domino miraculously makes it to Wolverine without any nicks or scratches of note. Talk about dumb luck. Shit. Talk about smart luck.

Eventually, Jamie and his dupes make it aboard the Blackbird, having to travel through hell and the Garden State to get there.

Things are getting treacherous now. The ground near the remaining heroes feet is beginning to seep with this nasty green goo that literally burns away everything in front of it. If you thought this was the same thing that turned the sentinel from the beach into nothing, you have a good memory.

A portal! Kurt knows what those are, and from whence they come. There's that flicker of a thought that if he passes through Limbo, maybe that'll put a shock to the system and kickstart his *bamf*?

Leaping upon yet another of the guardsmen, he takes him sideways, and makes that attempt again to teleport, only to come up with nothing. Thankfully, however, he's not pulling his punches, as it were, and Nightcrawler tackles him, and the guard is off his feet, onto the floor, the staccato of gunfire going off directionlessly.

That threat, however, has been neutralized, and with a glance towards the others to be sure they're taking their free ride to.. wherever Illyana has them going, Kurt moves to take a step onto his disc, but he notices Shift first. A couple of steps are taken, running, dodging steps before he catches his friend slinking down and through. There's another search, and he calls out, "Rogue!" as he catches the Southern Belle go down.

Springing, using the walls, the Sentinel pieces as 'diving boards', he rolls and comes out beside his stricken adopted half-sister, and makes to scoop her up. He's a moment too late, however.. and simply calls out as Logan takes her, "Time to go, Rogue." The blue elf simply isn't as quick as he normally is, and has to take 'the long way'.. but that's still pretty quick- though not quick enough.

Wolverine's call out to get a teleport or something to the level below brings the elf's attention around. He opens his mouth to speak, closes it again.. and finally manages, "I cannot." Beat. "Illyana.. leibchen.. please." He finally takes the step onto the disc, and this time, here's hoping it takes him.. and that step does, indeed bring him out. "Time to go.."

It's back up, and there's that other portal that leads, then, undoubtedly to the Blackbird. This, now, the elf knows, and well. First putting his charge into a seat, Kurt makes his way towards the pilot's chair where he sits heavily down, and pulls at the straps to get himself locked in. "Thank you for flying X-Air.. this aircraft will be flying direct, so please.. pay heed to the signs und when we reach an altitude of 40,000 feet, you may undo your safety belts und walk about the cabin."

Illyana steps in close to Colossus as he runs over to her so that he can use his armored body as a shield. She hears Cyclops yelling and Nightcrawler's just after that. A portal opens for Kurt, winking out behind him and opening down with Cyclops and Cypher. As the fuzzy elf pulls them through and into Limbo and then from her demonic realm to the Blackbird, the blonde yells out, "That's it! We're gone!" Portals open at Logan and Rogue's feet, beneath Mercury and Carol's, beneath her and Piotr's and one opens to the side of Nate to slide over to the side like this weird mouth that's eating him. Express elevator to Hell, anyone?

"Well, hey, I was...". Then Cessily is out the door to help Carol. Well, Jocelyn can't do much from the Blackbird but watch and wait for the others at this point. So she takes this moment to rest and recover from the physical and mental stress of the fight, and the time before when they were doing who-knows-what to the captured mutants. Then more people start to appear in the Blackbird, and the girl just rests her head against her seat. Yep. Nap time.

No, Laura doesn't need medical attention. But she is pissed. Even if she's on the blackbird, she's still pissed.

She's ready to hack and slash, and well...

Odds are someone might have to work to calm her down. But that's a story best left for another time since her player is currently nodding off at the computer.

"We get everyone out?" asks Carol of Cessily ... or Mercury. "Nice look by the way." she mutters as she looks to her newfound supporter. "Damn. Knee hurts. Be better in a bit but... " There's a pause as she ponders trying to fly with one arm and one and a half legs. As in piloting the plane. Then she remembers that Kurt is also a pilot and she pauses before she and Mercury board the blackbird. "Hey, do me a favor. Hold my wrist.. tight." she says. If that's done, she wrenches to -re- locate that shoulder the harsh way.

"Gah!" is cried out just below the ramp, but... she'll be alright. Pain is just god's way of saying.. suck it up soldier. You ain't done yet.... "Thanks by the way." she says as she heads towards the plane... pausing to give one more look back and wondering... -did- everyone get out? *flit* portal time! "Oh hey, I guess we're all here, eh?"

Inside the Blackbird, Shift rolls out of the portal and lets out another horrible cry of agony, paired with the sudden urge to vomit, thanks to the awkward displacement of traveling through Limbo. Sadly, there isn't much to spit up, and so for a few moments he simply lies there, dry heaving spit and blood all over the deck. His distraught eyes look toward the pile that is his dismembered arm, leg, and parts of his body, all of which are still ensconced in pieces of his X-Men uniform.

The fear finally hits him. His body poofs into a cloud of smoke, but frighteningly, his other parts seem to remain solid... for a grueling five or six seconds. And then? They as well poof into smoke, and everything merges back together into one blob of swirling smoke.

This time, however, the African mutant doesn't reform. The cloud lingers there, it's swirling enough proof that he's still alive, but it seems Kwabena Odame has found his limits... and pushed beyond them.

"Pretty sure," Mercury says. She adjusts her arm to try to hold Captain Marvel up better. "Oh," she says, distinctly surprised by that reaction. "Thanks. Thanks...for being here," she offers with uncertainty. Captain Marvel's not a mutant, she's pretty sure, and thus Cess chooses to be optimistig about that. Mercury stretches her other arm over and holds Captain Mavel's wrist as instructed, morphing her arm into a makeshift cast. The portal brings them back into the Blackbird. Mercury drops Carol into a seat, then crosses the asile to take one of her own next to Jocelyn. Her head pops up to see Laura head of her. "Think so," she says.

Nate was seriously considering digging Scott and Doug out of the control room when Kurt and Illyana get them first. Alright! This time when the portal appears at his side, he jumps in. A few seconds later, he is at the Blackbird, dropping on a seat, smelling a bit to burned Kevlar and ozone.

He is also bleeding from nose and ears. One of this days he got to get that looked upon. For now, priorities: "everyone alright? And... do we have coffee in this plane?"

"Ah ain't had enough . . .ain't quittin'," Rogue mumbles to some unseen voice as she struggles to stay conscious, barely lifting her head as she sees Wolverine. "Leave me. . not important. . .Trask. . ." is all she manages to force out before she collapses, down for the count.

Still in his strange fully-ice form, Bobby heads for the co-pilot's seat as soon as he's on the blackbird. Nodding to Kurt, Bobby straps himself in as well. "Today's inflight movie will be the comedy classic Airplane! and please don't harass the flight attendants or our air marshal will hurt you. He's got the claws to do it," Bobby jokes a bit.

"Don't think he's getting clear of this, darlin'." Not that he wouldn't like to make damn sure of it himself, but sometimes Wolverine has to prioritize; even the best there is at what he does can't do /everything/ he might prefer. There's a nod of appreciation for Domino and Nightcrawler as they fill in some of those gaps, suddenly shifting the odds more notably in the X-Men's favor. "Time for all of us to go." the Canucklehead half-agrees with the Elf's assessment, looking around for a path back to the nearest portal.

That green goop is fast-spreading, and all consuming-- or nearly so. Logan's left foot trails through the pursuing ooze, as he's backed, lip curling, into a corner. He's about to bite the bullet and charge right through the devouring substance when that portal opens beneath them, and he drops out of it in a suddenly aborted freefall onto the Blackbird. Good thing he already retracted those claws when scooping Rogue up. Not so good? Sitting on his rump in the aisle of the jetcraft, with a sudden frown on his face. "We got everyone?" It's half-rhetorical, as Logan sniffs at the air to confirm just that.

"Damn it!" Pyro has no time for comfy chairs. He also almost sets it on fire before he snaps his fancy new flamethrower off. He looks fairly intent on going right back to what he was doing too, but injured comrades, lack of adrenaline, and the physics of the plane taking off will prevent that fairly quickly.

Alright, it -looks- like everyone's being taken care of, which is a good thing given that awful green gunk that's dissolving everything in sight. (Man, could Domino make bullets out of that stuff?) Erm..hold that thought. Less weaponizing, more escaping. Wolverine's not looking too good over th--and he's gone. Next!

"I get real tired of this," she grumbles before dropping through the nearest portal. Back to the Blackbird.

There was a quick move to disengage from Nightcrawler quickly. "Hold on a minute, Illyana," Doug says, as he steps back through the portal. Quickly, he shoulders a burden, and then steps back through the portal.

Upon the looks on everyone else's faces as he returns, Doug shrugs. "Couldn't leave him behind," he says softly.

The burden he carried was Bolivar Trask.

Cyclops ushers Cypher and Trask back to the back part of the Bird, where Trask is stuffed into a compartment. Cyclops stands guard, knowing some of his teammates would prefer to see Trask dead than tried. "Next stop," he murmers to the compartment, "is home for us. For you? Somewhere different." SHIELD will be getting a special delivery this evening.

Epilogue

Westchester County, New York

The entire student body and assorted family members are dressed in black as the joint funeral for those who lost their lives on the island concludes.

A long procession of black against the white snow leads back to the lounge where a makeshift gathering with pictures of the dead has been set up. Mourners take their seats in metal chairs that have been propped up in a circle around the room. Eventually, after an hour or so, the family heads home, leaving only members of the Institute in the room.

It's somber and quiet until Scott feels the need to say something to those who remain.

"Listen, I know things have been very difficult here over the past few weeks," he begins before taking a sip from his glass of water. "We've been reminded that we live in a confused world that does not understand us. Indeed, it seems that it has become or always has been human nature to attack what it is that they don't understand. The fault is with them, but there have been decisions made recently that could have changed this. I am accountable for those decisions and take full responsibility for my actions. I wish to God I could undo the events that led to the loss of these children's lives, but I can't. And that's something that I'll have to live with for the rest of my life."

"We can, however, choose to decide how we react to the deaths of these students. Is this something that will deter us and have us shrivel away out of fear for the safety of everyone here? Or will this tragedy remind us why we do what we have chosen to do? The very reason that we are here, that we were in Mureybet, or why were went to the Arctic was to help create a world where something like this can never happen again. Perhaps that's arrogant of us. Perhaps that is us trying to control the uncontrollable. But at the same time, to give up would only prove that the needless deaths of these children served no purpose. We don't honor them by continuing on in fear. I can't tell anyone with any more assurance than what I feel in my gut, that our efforts will lead to our children living in a world where mutants and humans can live together in harmony. I can't promise you that, because I just don't know. I believe it, but I can't force you to."

"What I do know is that if we sit by and allow the mongers of hate to continue slaughtering our people-if we choose to let fear win-then fear will win. But if we continue to press on and fight one of two things will happen. Either we will be successful in making this world a better place. Or we will die knowing that we tried to."

X-MEN: Consequences - Long is the Way