2013.10.21 - X-Men: Quarantined

Bastion.

Nightfall.

Approximately one hour ago, the X-Net received a transmission. The X-Men at Hammer Bay were going to The Spire. The mission: retrieve Monet St. Croix from captivity.

One hour later, at sundown Genosha time, the world was rocked by a cosmic scream that was heard across the entire planet, even extending through the cosmos itself to the farthest corners of the galaxy and beyond. Shortly thereafter, global news feeds came alight with distorted footage and blasted headlines.

The Spire has fallen. Bastion is in flames. Countless are dead.

While nightfall claimed the island, four X-Men made their way from the glassed remains of what once stood as Magneto's fortress. They traveled through the apocalyptic ruin of what was left behind, and found their way after what felt like an eternity to a small outpost at the edge of the city. One of three locations where the team is scheduled to be picked up by the Blackbird, in the event of such a catastrophe.

In truth, could such a thing have even been avoided?

Rachel has taken refuge in sleep. Nate and Hope? Shift only knows that the two are alive, for just outside the outpost, he stands in front of a bonfire, his eyes glassed over blankly as they look into the flames that lick at the air stained with destruction.

They have no gear. No technology. No way to contact the X-Men and let them know that they are still alive. All of the gear left behind at the outpost had been fried by powerful magnetic forces; useless. And so, like an empty shell, Kwabena stands guard, watching for the machine he's been silently praying to see for hours.

/Technically/ one of the people involved is not part of The X-Men. She is not a student. Not part of The Institute. But she is known to some of the people there. She is sort of connected.

After all, she is a Summers.

Unfortunately, as soon as the team touched down after retreating from the spire, the redheaded teenager, one 'Hope Summers' passed out. She wasn't even able to stand long enough to land. She just kind of got close enough to see the ground, suddenly solidified, and was out like a light.

But she's alive. She's breathing. There's no sign that she's in pain. But after everything she saw tonight, if... No, when she wakes up, she probably will not be feeling too good.

Especially considering the teleporting she did.

Nate is still alive and kicking, although he is coughing quite a bit. Probably breathed some smoke. He has a killer headache, but that is not unusual after extensive power use, and he has learned to travel with painkillers. He expects to feel better soon, but truth is his telepathy is now weak. Too weak to reach New York. He is spent, so he waits, pacing impatiently and glancing back to the burning city. A part of him wants to get back to help getting the population to safety. But chances are he would be lynched if he tried. And he wants to keep an eye in Hope.

It'd taken some time, but monitoring the situation in Genosha, and seeing the destruction on the news, the contingency plan as well as the lack of communications...

Well, this wasn't the -best- Doug could do, but an emergency evac situation meant getting ahold of a few X-Men that could keep their tracks covered...

And so when the Blackbird arrives stealthily around Genosha, it carries Cypher and Storm, with necessary contingency plans to make a quick exit, and notice left behind for the other X-Men.

"See anything out there, Ororo? If not, I'm going to the next site..." Cypher comments, looking for a signal. FR

"Nothing yet, Doug. Perhaps I should take a more direct look?" Storm has opted to stay with the jet thus far, but as they're almost to their destination she might be able to do more outside of the vehicle. "If nothing else, I may be able to slow some of those fires with a bit of rain."

A sudden and violent bout of coughing comes from Shift. He takes a few steps back from the large bonfire, shielding himself against wayward smoke that comes his way. However, when he's far enough away from the smoke and -should- have stopped coughing, he does not. Eventually, he doubles over, hacking violently in fits, before finally catching his breath. Wearily, he falls back upon a rock, body slumped as he stares at the fire.

Only then does he begin to taste the blood in his mouth. With a frown, he raises his hand and wipes at his dry lips, leaving blood on his hand when it comes away. He stares at it for a moment or two, before an alarmed expression crosses his face. Turning, he calls toward the compound with a hoarse word. "Nate!?"

Eventually...

Eventually Hope starts to stir. Her eyes open. She glances around. She turns her head slightly, only to wince.

And then she closes her eyes. She tries /NOT/ to comment about how she feels. The aches. The pains. The headache. And more. Heck, as she hears someone else coughing nearby, she nearly starts doing that herself. But it isn't until she hears Kwa shouting a name that the teenaged redhead all but sits up in a sudden motions.

"Nate...?" is asked as she glances around, trying to find the source of that voice. And more importantly, the source of his concern.

"Yeah?" Nate frowns when he sees the blood in Shift's lips. He shouldn't be bleeding by now. He checked all the wounds and none was too serious, and although he is no doctor, he knows how to patch up a mutant after a super-powered fight. He checks Rachel briefly, she is feverish.

"Horsemen," he mutters. "We might have been poisoned, or infected," he says to Swift. "The Blackbird better gets here soon." Because his wonderful smart-phone, an Halo+ prototype with endless batteries, was also killed by Magneto's pulse.

"I don't know. If they have no means of contacting us, then we may need you to go look." Doug considers, knowing that Storm was the senior X-Man here, but wanting tell her to that she do just that before they fly on to the next site, wasn't really his place.

"Um, I can wait while you check, ma'am?" the younger X-Man suggests. "Maybe they're at one of the fires..."

Storm nods and moves to the hatch on the side of the plane. "If I do not return in ten minutes, continue to the next location and I will contact you as soon as I can." She exits the Blackbird and uses some wind currents to stay aloft, her eyes going white and a gentle but steady rain starting to fall over the area. Hopefully that'll put out all of the fires she can see. Once the rain starts she moves closer to the ground to try and visually locate ... anyone.

There is a harshness to the way Kwabena called Nate's name, and though he is tired and beaten, there's something about his movements that are almost automatic in nature. It closely resembles shell shock. He looks on as Nate checks Rachel's forehead, and a frown crawls across his lips at Nate's words.

"Pestilence." The word is uttered quietly and with no shortage of distaste. What they had done to Kurt was bad enough, and with the signs of the others growing sick, he's got yet another bad feeling curling up in his stomach.

Turning away, he begins to pace about the fire, irritation visible in his body language. He's silent for a few moments, before turning aside and cursing virulently. "Damnit!" he hisses. "We'a going to have to be quarantined. We--"

A fit of violent coughing replaces the word, leaving him once again wracked by the expulsion of his lungs.

Meanwhile, a gentle rain begins to fall, soon growing more steady. It doesn't bother him, but it seems out of place. The skies had been clear at sundown, very clear. Too clear to warrant this.

Looking up at Nate, Kwabena swallows down some of his violent coughing long enough to squeeze out the word, "Storm," followed by, "Ororo."

From where Storm cruises, the landscape looks rather tattered, as if a great and powerful blast had blown through the area. There are no lights on the horizon, as if the power grid of this entire country had been blown out. It all bears a close resemblance to post-nuclear war Japan, in many respects.

That one word from Kwa makes Hope shudder, even as she lets her gaze lock on Nate. Worse, it causes her to shudder. But even as she tries to force herself to stand up, she all but falls back to the ground.

Maybe it's how far she pushed herself. Maybe it's what ever she may have picked up from Pestilence. Or maybe it's even something she accidentally infected herself with. Either way, her body aches, hurts, and she feels beyond exhausted.

But she isn't coughing. At least not yet.

"We have to get out of here first..." the teenager mutters. And as she just watches her 'uncle' she narrows her gaze as he mentions the bit about the Horsemen. "Great."

That is before she /thinks/ she picks up one word, albeit a word that doesn't hold the same meaning for her as it does the others.

"Storm?"

Oh great, now it is raining. Nothing makes war worse like raining. But at least it will help a little in the city. "Heh, Magneto built that huge hospital down there." It is going to see plenty use if Pestilence has unreleased plagues on the Spire and the city. Insert coughing fit here.

Kwabena mentioning Storm, however, makes him look up, and send his telepathy upwards. He has never met Storm, but of course he knows who she is. << We are here, about half a mile southwest your position >> he projects to the white-haired woman after a brief scan. Then grabs the bonfire with his telekinesis and tosses it upwards, it works as a crude signal flare.

Storm receives the telepathic summons and stops, reorienting herself toward the southwest, and then that helpful 'flare' helps her pinpoint where she needs to go. Putting one hand to the little communications unit in her ear, "Doug, the flare. Bring the Blackbird to a landing as close as you can." She shoots ahead of the jet, hoping to get to the where the not completely familiar mind reached out to her before the ... what is that? burning pile of something falls back to the ground.

Now seeing the flare, Doug acknowledges, "On my way," as he banks the Blackbird, steering it over towards the flare.

It's only a few minutes before Doug can find a location to set the plane down, and open the doors. No doubt, however, something short, mean, and attitudey beats him out the door, though.

Through his coughing fits, Kwabena looks up in time to see Nate tossing the bonfire up into the air with his telepathic powers. In almost every other circumstance, he might have laughed. However, he just doesn't have it in him right now, especially considering the violent coughing that has gripped him.

Wiping the blood from his mouth and face simply isn't going to cut it this time. Whatever disease has gripped him, it's coming on strong. He's no doctor, so he's no idea whether it was a normal onset, or something synthetically enhanced. Regardless, it doesn't matter, for the Blackbird is coming in, and those arriving will have to be warned.

Taking a deep and wheezing breath, Shift stomaches the urge to cough for now. "Quarantine protocol," he says, though his voice is nowhere near as strong as it usually is. "You have to tell dem, Nate." He looks toward the man at his side. "Quarantine protocol. Dey've got to... *COUGH COUGH* got to seal off de cabin and take us to... *COUGH* Muir Island."

Nothing would stand in his way. Wolverine is going to be first. If it wasn't for the other passengers he would have opened the doors and sky dive until he hit bottom. An advanced healing factor is a wondrously reckless thing. Only one thing is on his mind and her name is Jean. "JEAN!" he screams then starts to smell.

Having liaisons with the phoenix, or a phoenix copy (he's not quite sure which), and knowing Jean, Logan is fairly certain he can peg her scent be it regular Jean or Phoenix Infused. He looks over the area before a scent causes him to run. Before long he's a small blur of blue and yellow. Whoever harmed Jean just signed their death wish because he would gut anyone just for harming a hair on her head. Possibly killing Jean meant a very slow and painful death that would result in the killer seeing limb by limb separated from them one at a time with surgical precision until they were just a stumpy torso begging for death.

Deep down underneath the well-meaning man Wolverine has the instincts of a killer. And it's moments like this he remembers these instincts and doesn't care. People would remember why it is a very -bad- idea to anger a short man that's filled with rage.


 * "Hold there, don't come closer"| Nate projects to the minds in the Blackbird. Doug and another he hasn't felt in a long while. Wolverine. He walks to Hope, helping her up. "Hope, Wolverine is here. Reach with your powers. He can heal anything very quickly." Then to the others in the plane. |"We have been infected by some disease Sinister cooked up. Shift says to implement quarantine protocols and take us to a place called Muir."|

Storm was JUST about to touch down near Kwabena and Nate when she gets the telepathic warning to stay clear. "Are you otherwise injured?" she calls down even as she reaches for her comlink again. "Doug, did you receive that? They're calling for quarantine protocol for the Blackbird. I'm returning now to help." She wait for a reply to her question before heading to the landed jet.

As Logan gets closer... As he cries out, Hope blinks. Sure she hears what Nate is telling her to do, but still...

Still, as she tries to get up yet again, it can be seen that she's leaning against a giant gun. Albeit a broken BFG. But still...

Power wise, she reaches out, and tries to copy Wolverines powers.

And maybe, just maybe for a moment she doubts that she can, considering how exhausted she is right now. But then, she starts to feel better. Not perfect, but better. And given what she was told, she's willing to bet that she is copying as needed.

"Who ever this Wolverine is..." is said as the teenaged redhead glances at Kwa. "We need to keep him back as well. He could still end up carrying whatever it is we have on his skin and clothes..."

Yes, there is a look at the Blackbird as well as that's said, as she can't help but wonder a little about whoever is onboard it, as well as the flying woman who landed near it.

"I got that. I'm initiating quarantine protocols for the Blackbird," Doug calls out, as fingers dance across the consoles.

Panels slide in place, sterilization protocols set, and Cypher reports back, "All right, quarantine protocols initiated. Storm, you first?"

Turning away, Kwabena makes for the outpost. However, when he hears the familiar voice shout Jean's name, it draws his attention back for a moment. Watching as Logan departs and takes off brings a great pang of grief to him, one he just can't hide. It sneaks through his own suffering, his beaten and defeated frame, and causes him for a moment to slump against the wall.

Looking over toward Hope, Kwabena nods his head. "De Blackbird has de necessary scannahs," he starts, only to be interrupted by one more violent cough. Something shoots out of his mouth. We'll leave it at that, but it seems that the expulsion has stopped the violent fits for now.

Pushing away from the wall, he musters what strength he can find and goes inside, finding Rachel. Feeling her forehead, he finds her still feverish. "Ray." No response. "Rachel!" Still no response.

With a grunt, Shift hefts the girl over his shoulders, trying to be mindful of her shoulder injury while he carries her back outside and toward the waiting Blackbird.

Nate looks pleased Hope is getting better. At least she will be ready for whatever else Sinister throws at them next. Then he follows Shift into the plane, he barely manages to reach one of the seats before collapsing unconscious.

Ororo Munroe WANTS to help the people in the area onto the jet, but if the telepath is to be believed (and no reason why he wouldn't), she can't risk it. Logan, she knows, will be fine, and he can help them. "Logan, I'm returning to the Blackbird," she says into her commlink, and HOPES that Wolverine bothered to carry his own communications device this time while reaching the co-pilot's seat just before the quarantine protocols kick in and isolate them from the rest of the plane. "Notify me if you need assistance getting everyone aboard."

Staying still Wolverine watches what happened. *Sniff.* *Sniff.* He tries to figure out what happened. "I need to know what the hell happened?!" Wolverine angrily speaks into his communicator. Whatever happened here he needs to know what happened, what the team is going through and most importantly who to stab. Breathing heavily he holds back his anger to figure out the mystery behind it all.

What ever Sinister throws at them next should be 'What ever Sinister throws at them next, if the X-Men want Hope to help with it'. Not that she wouldn't come running if they called, but let's be honest here. She isn't a member of their team. Or even a student at their school. Thus the odds of her actually getting involved 'next time' might not be that great.

But anyways, as Hope starts to feel better, she does stand up. And hefts up her broken gun. If Kwa needs help with Rachel (or need help with himself) she'll do what she can to help him get onboard. The same goes for Nate.

Then again, it's probably a good thing that Hope doesn't know Storm or Logan, nor that Doug is here, nor does she have any form of working communicator, X-Men or otherwise. After all, having her trying to explain just what happened might just make things worse at this point in time...

"We can find out after they get back on board, Logan," Doug replies testily. It'd been a long flight, and the quarantine protocols made him edgy. "We can ask them when we get them on board. We need you on board -before- they do."

Shift is glad for Hope's assistance, though he seems curious that she is not showing the signs of sickness shared by himself, Nate, and Rachel. Regardless, he lets her take part of Rachel's weight, and once they are aboard the Blackbird, moves to help set Rachel down in one of the Blackbird's medical cots. He looks to see that Doug and Storm are separated them by a thick pane of glass, and breathes a hoarse sigh of relief at registering that the quarantine protocols are active.

He's halfway through rushing over to check on Nate when he hears Logan's voice over the comm. For a moment, he gives Hope a meaningful look. They say that looks can say a thousand words. His simply says, 'thank you', but it is loaded with more than an effort at thanking her for one simple action but rather many more.

Before long, he reaches over to press one of the comm buttons, letting his voice fill the cockpit and Logan's communicator. "Logan." His voice is hoarse, on the verge of another coughing fit. "Get on board. It's ovah." He pauses, eyes going glassy again for a moment, before the skin around their edges becomes tight and filled with grief. "Magneto's gone. Jean's..."

He finds that he can't finish. The African lowers his head, tears welling up through clenched eyelids. He keeps his hand on the comm button, but he can't finish.

Storm ignores the fact that she was flying about in the rain and now has her hair dripping onto the control console as she reaches to enter some commands into the communications console. "I'm contacting Muir Island, Doug. If whatever they've contracted is as severe as I gathered, I will not take this Blackbird anywhere near the school until everyone aboard is clear..." She stops abruptly and turns to look at Shift through the glass.

"What?" She looks at him for a moment, her eyes going white and the rain outside abruptly becoming a monsoon-level downpour before she takes a breath, closes her eyes, then turns back to the control consoles, her face an expressionless mask. "Logan. Get aboard now. We're leaving."

Doug is right but it doesn't stop Wolverine from letting out an enraged snarl. Then hearing Kwa's words makes Wolverine's face go blank. Pulling back his mask he goes back on board. As he waits to be scanned a breathe escapes his lips. A second later he strikes at the wall. Then he strikes it again. And again. And again. Each hit makes the sound of metal on metal striking. The noise echoes through the jet. An imprint of his knuckles form on the metal panel he struck. Bits of blood is in the grooves of the knuckle indentations. Bits of his glove have torn, the holes are stained with blood from wounds that are healing. No one knows he was working up the nerve to ask Jean out to the dance. Sure they would be chaperones but he was hoping to have a dance with her. Looks like Fate dashed those hopes away moments ago. He waits not saying anything and looking blank until the scan is complete. Without saying a word he sits down in silence.

The fact that Hope is copying Logans healing factor is probably the only thing keeping her upright at the moment. The aches and pains are still there, but they've faded away enough that she isn't paying them much attention to them. And the moment she breaks that connection, that she stops copying him, odds are whatever illness she had may be caught again, even if the other effects of the battle are gone.

And yet despite that, Hope is staying close to Nate and Rachel, letting neither of them out of her sight. That is even as she glances back at Kwa.

Yeah. She's staying close to what little passes for 'family'. Even if they don't know her that well and vice versa. But with Jean apparently now gone...

"Aye aye, Storm," Doug responds, eyes shifting towards Logan as the Canadian mutant takes hsi frustration out on the metal panels, as he checks the consoles to be sure everything is in place and that the quarantine was holding.

Silently, the Blackbird takes off, its path set...

Kwabena is wrestled from his own grief when Logan finally comes on board. Jean had made the decision to make the move to rescue Monet. It was a horrible irony that she had pit herself against Magneto, giving everything to stop him so that they could live. There is a part of him that would have pounded his own fist into that wall, but Logan does it for him. And so he simply watches, seemingly immune to the fact that the Blackbird is momentarily rocked by the sudden monsoon that comes with Storm's grief. His eyes are blank, defeated, empty.

"We're clear," he says into the comm, so that Doug and Storm can hear, but his voice is empty. "Jocelyn is at de hospitah in Hammah Bay. It's too dangerous for her dere. Retrieve her, and head f--- *COUGH!*"

Kwabena lifts his other hand, spewing blood into the tattered and charred glove of his uniform. Then, with a sudden fire in his eye, he looks back to the comm. "Head for Muir Island," he spits, a growl in his accented voice.

Pressing a button that will keep the comm open to the cockpit, Kwabena sits back and looks about at those gathered. Logan sits in silence, as does Hope who is keeping an eye on Nate and Rachel. His eyes have one again gone glassy. "Hope, you'll need to stay in quarantine with us. Storm, we have to..."

There is a long pause. He closes his eyes, reaching to brush the tears away before they can dry. There's so much to say, and with the threat of coughing, he just can't get it all out. "We have to talk."