2013-02-01 X-men: Consequences PT 1

A journey is like a marriage.

The certain way to be wrong is to think you can control it.

--John Steinbeck

Anchorage, Alaska

Many years ago

"No Alex," the little boy with brown hair says. He's the older one, clearly, and takes some responsibility in bossing the other around as the pair play in the living room. "You're not supposed to climb on the stairs. Mom said." The older boy continues playing the video game on the family's large television. Outside it is at it always is during this time of year.

Regardless of the older brother's best intentions, the small, blonde toddler continues to climb up the stairs in a pair of light blue footie pajamas that slip and slide a bit on the carpeting. With a giggle and a large smile on his face, the blonde gets to his feet.

"Mom said!"

And if by prophecy, the plastic on the toddler's foot slips, moving his center of mass and wreaking havoc on his already awkward balance. He tumbles off the steps and catches part of his mouth on the wooden banister at the bottom of the stairs. Immediately the toddler begins to scream with blood curdling effect. This finally gets the older one to drop his controller and rush over. He does his best to console his little brother but it has little effect. A small bit of blood comes from the younger's mouth and the older begins to cry along with the younger.

Loud footsteps hurry up from the basement, where Katherine, their mother, hurries to see what the problem is.

"Scott!?" Katherine asks halfway up the stairs. She doesn't receive her answer until she gets to the top of steps from the basement, around through the kitchen, and into the living room where she can see for herself. Immediately she takes young Alex from the older brother and moves to the kitchen for a rag and some water to help clean up the blood.

-Later-

Katherine and Christopher Summers enter Scott's room, just as it is time to go to get settled in. The boy lies in his bed, still looking a bit rattled.

"I should have stopped him, mom. It's my fault," Scott says.

"You couldn't have known, sweetie. Sometimes children just need to learn things for themselves."

"But I could have stopped it. I should have stopped it. I was just play-" Christopher Summers interjects. "Scott," he sighs. "One of these days you're going to need to learn."

"You can't control everything."

_____

La Isla Bonita

South Pacific

Present day

"Again."

Scott Summer stands along the beach on a sweltering day, far away from the frigid temperatures of New York and from the day to day grind of the mansion. The reflection of the movement of bodies can be seen in the lenses of his glasses, but the image is obscured and difficult to discern in the crimson inside the frames.

"Do it again, but this time, keep your center of gravity lower. You'll be able to turn better."

In the foreground, a handful of students play on an obstacle course. One student, Gabe, looks to have invisibility on account that he seems to disappear and appear at irregular intervals without the normal zig zagging of a teleporter. Another student, Charise, with the gift of flight, soars through obstacle course with little effort.

Scott folds his arms, unimpressed, as the group of students make their way through the obstacle course.

"Again."

Almost in unison the group of students groan their complaints. "Mr. Summers," asks Charise, "This was supposed to be a /vacation/. Can't we just go to the beach and swim?" "Yeah," Gabe echoes, "I want to explore the caves."

"You want to explore the caves because you want some alone time with Felice, Gabe. And I don't need Jean here to read your mind to tell me that." Some of the others in the group giggle behind their hands, and it is clear that Scott's on to something.

"There will be plenty of time for fun, everyone," Scott replies. "Your training still needs to be maintained, however. Just because we're on a short vacation, it doesn't mean you can let your work just slide. You must be committed."

"Committed to *muttermuttermutter*," muffles Gabe.

"You got no idea," Scott says with a chuckle. "Again."

Assorted people from the Xavier Institute have chosen to spend a long weekend in the South Pacific as a sort of break period for their studies. Call it an early spring break. Classes have been cancelled on Monday and many of those who haven't travelled with the group have gone home to spend time with their parents over the long weekend.

All over the island, students and staff are setting up tents, getting out grills, going swimming, going fishing, or suntanning. The weather is perfect and the water is nice and warm. Towards the middle of the island is a small jungle and a few mountains. Some students have taken to exploring the caves or the waterfalls and lagoons. It is, quite simply, paradise.

Meanwhile, things are not so rosy elsewhere. Emma Frost, and the rest of her Academy of Tomorrow have received a distress call from Charles Xavier, explaining that some, unknown force is heading to intercept a massive field trip for his school. He explains that he has attempted to reach them through all sorts of means, but has been unable. He asks Emma and her team for assistance in this troubling matter.

Kurt's been putting in a little bit of 'training' in on the side; getting some of the upperclassmen used to travelling via his particular teleport. Thankfully, it's something that can improve with every use, and he's doing it the same way he likes to do it at home- in the summer months. Taking hold of a non-flier, the blue elf is dressed for swimming in his bathing suit.. and he teleports straight up and over the water, about ten feet.. and drops first his passenger before he teleports higher.. and he, himself drops, tucking in for a proper.. "Cannonball!"

"He did not come." Piotr calls to Kurt. He's had enough training and has decided this vacation will be a vacation. Let Scott work and make the students' lives miserable. He will enjoy the sun - an in his swim trunks he is enjoying lots of it - and ice cold beer as he lounges on one of those folding beach... lounges.

Well, Carol isn't a part of the school. She's not a mutant, not a student... not a teacher. Well, she's barely a friend of -some- of the members. Even at odds with some, but this is the X-Men, when are they all fun and games and flower petals anyway? She found out about the trip and the vacation and all and took it upon herself to do something to help out. On her own authority, she signed out a SHIELD craft, a small ridiculously fast VTOL plane that can seat one person with a very small amount of cargo... why fly when you can FLY?

So, lucky hat packed in a bag, and a blue bikini she's been itching to wear to the beach, she took off, filed a flight plan. She knows there's a tracker in the plane but that doesn't bother her. She's taken some leave time herself and wants them to know where to find her if they -need- her.

So it is that the plane comes in low and fast, not quite supersonic (She slowed down when she got close. No sense in blowing things up down there.).. about two hundred feet off the deck, she whooshes overhead and then banks to turn and approach the beach she saw movement on. The craft slows and ends up hovering about two hundred yards behind Scott before it settles in to land.

Clamboring out, Carol removes her flight helmet and then pops open the cargo compartment where she has like... a dozen twelve packs of various caffinated sodas. Of course, the fact that she's in a flight suit, and carrying a small pallet with all of those things with one hand does indicate she's not exactly, the norm for the world.

Setting the sodas aside, she strolls up beside Scott, her flight helmet (with the emblazoned call sign: Cheeseburger) held under her left arm. "How're they doin'?" she asks Scott. She understands and approves of rigorous training after all.. she still has the military mindset and all.

Domino hasn't been with these Xavier kids for long and already she's been given an opportunity to get away from the world at large and take a vacation. Seemed too good to be true at the time. It should have been a simple decision to make, something not requiring a lot of thought. It still takes her a few days to make up her mind, mulling it over both while on the job and while cleaning her gear over a few stiff drinks.

Sometimes, one just has to let go. Remember who they are. Where they've come from.

She's been hiding from those details for too long, lately even more than ever before. When she finally agrees to tag along with the others, it isn't so she can reflect in peace. It's to try and keep herself distracted through some other, yet untried means. A change of surroundings, responsibilities, temperature, even. It should help keep her distracted.

Being able to open the throttle on a jet ski doesn't hurt, either. She's easy to spot, black details almost painfully contrasted against bleached white skin. Don't ask how much sunscreen she's having to go through on a near-hourly basis. She just might have to ask what's up with that VTOL that tears across the warm, clear sky, however. Isn't that a SHIELD craft..?

Not one to pass up the opportunity to travel to an exotic location and have some fun on someone else's dime, Rogue eagerly accepted the offer to fly down to the island paradise with the rest of the institute. However, her enthusiasm for the trip is not matched by her enthusiasm for drills, and so instead she stations herself near the beachgoers and sun worshipers. Having picked her spot, she hesitates for a moment as if uncertain if she should take a risk until she mutters to herself, "Get over yourself, girl. Ain't no one gonna bother you here," and tosses off her sarong and hat, revealing a bikini top and cut-off jeans because.. . . that's her style. She stretches out to catch some sun and let the worries bake away.

"Scott! Stop toruring the kids and relax yourself already!" Bobby calls from his own lounge chair. Just in his swim-shorts and sunglasses, Bobby sits up enough to call over to Scott. He's got a beer himself and he's got one ready to toss to Scott too. Both ice cold of course.

It wasn't quite as fancy as the X-Jet, but Emma Frost had found herself no real need to swoop around the globe. A private plane and helicopter usually took care of such things, and right now, those at the beach might see a sparkling in a distance. Emma's helicopter. It was all white, and that reflected the light rather strongly - the side of the helicopter bearing a logo: Frost Enterprises.

Earlier, Emma had received... a 'call', of sorts, from Xavier, asking for her help here, and proclaiming dire consequences for the world at large. Turning her blue eyes away from Gambit, she casts her gaze towards the island proper, shifting in her seat to allow her jacket to settle more comfortably upon her shoulders. "Charles was always a bit overdramatic."

Why Doug Ramsey shades his eye against the sun. Being invited by Scott Summers while still working for SHIELD and trying to find himself post-death... it was almost like Cyclops -had- sensed some of the growing discontent about the way of things and sought to remind him just what the Xavier Institute -offered-.

A wry half-smile crosses his face as he watches the ongoing incidents. While he wasn't -sure- that people even knew who he was after these years, there was something that was missing among SHIELD that he noticed here.

A sense of -family-.

Shaking his head ruefully, Doug glances at Scott talking. Subtle, Summers, subtle.

Doug sighs, takes a deep breath while slumping his shoulders, and approaches the people he recognized: Piotr in particular. "Zdravstvuj, Piotr," he greets.

Commitment. Honor. Duty. Words that rung in the minds of youth like the young Victor Barkowski clear as any bell. However, another bell rang just as loudly: The Dinner Bell.

"Kielbasa!" Victor cried, as he shifts a few slabs of meat on the grill- sunglasses sliding down his nose as he watches people swim and enjoy themselves. Oddly, few of the girls seem on the young Vic's radar- just grinning and waving to one of the other young men- just a bit of a grin on his face before he looks back to his work grilling. "Who wants some Keilbasa?!" he shouted out. "Got me some thick keilbasa!" Vic's eyes gleam wicked a moment, before adding. "So, Who wants a taste of my delicious smoked sausage?" Queue childish grin.

In-flight on the Frost chopper, Gambit's attention remains primarily on the Queen of Diamonds dancing between fingertips as it flits in agile flips up and down one hand. He's not feeling particularly talkative-- unknown forces threatening schoolkids with half-trained mutant powers have that effect on him. It's even money he's even snarked as much earlier. Now, he just watches the ocean over that dancing card. It's displayed face-out, then the etched backing of the ornate, paper card shows, the second nature sleight of hand like breathing to Remy; it's just impressive enough not to show overtly as anxiety or agitation, too. If the Cajun's lucky.

Not lucky enough to have a beach vacation before getting called into action, though. "Could be de kraken." Gambit mutters back to Emma, dry enough to parch. Staying /out/ of harm's way? More LeBeau's favored method; if the stakes were different...

Jamie Madrox, PI extraordinaire, his own best friend and all around nice guy, got a distress call from Charles Xavier. A man he hasn't talked to in a while, not since he was invited to the school years ago. But hey there is something about mutants and Xavier, unless you're a completely evil jerk when he calls for help you answer. So once again Jamie took a trip to Westchester and borrowed a plane from Chucky, cause Jamie doesn't have his own plane like the other Xers do. But damn does he have a really nice VW Bug, just cause it's small and he can make a really great clown trick with it!

But anyway Charles gave Jamie a jet, and Jamie is flying to the Island. Hey having one of his dupes take flying lessons is really paying off. Pilot Jamie lands the plane and reabsorbs Navigator and Co-Pilot Jamie, and he makes a mental note, open an airline, can save a bundle on labor costs! But anyway Madrox walks out of the plane and towards the beach..and spots people playing in the ocean and women in the bikinis. "So uhm are they gonna be attacked by Crab People?" he asks himself.

Since even the number of jets that the Xavier Institute has would be a bit crowded with all the people that were coming Warlock volunteered to act in part as transport since he could be anything from a jet pack to a full sized space ship. Given that he has never fully understood the idea of vacations, or even most human rituals that amount to play the Alien has found trying to fit in with some of the students a bit...difficult on the beach. For instance his current look.

Made to look mostly human, with the exception of his black eyes and small hints of gold and black here and there, Warlock has taken the appearance of a young man dressed...in a white bikini similar to one worn by one of the girls on the beach. "Self does not understand. Query: Why is this inappropriate swimwear for self but not for self-friend?" He asks almost forlornly while finding a place near Doug on the beach to sit and ponders.

Grill? Grill means fire. Pyro is, therefore, having an adventure in helpfulness. Most of the students don't seem to appreciate his efforts to jumpstart the cooking process, though. Not after the fourth plume of flame and the another row of charred burgers. So John has been banished to help pitch tents, which he's trying more to avoid than anything else as he surveys the beach.

"They're doin' alright," Scott says leaning over to Carol. "I have to keep in mind that they're still kids, sometimes. It's. . .been a morning."

Eventually Scott breaks up the training session. He sighs as he walks back to the campsite and feels as if the training was a failure. Not a complete one, there was still some cardio work done, but he grimaces knowing it could have been more useful.

This was his idea.

Bobby had been killed, and then resurrected somehow. Warren had been feeling left out. Jean had that whole Phoenix thing. Logan and Scott don't precisely get along.

And then there's that whole bit about Cyclops ordering the killing of a foreign leader.

There's been a lot of stress on the X-men lately and the strains are starting to show.

Scott looks up to notice a white helicopter and tilts his head, "Frost. . ." He hrms. "That's odd." Likewise, he notices another X-jet make a landing across the beach. Even more odd. Perhaps someone who didn't come had a change of heart.

The air has that growl inducing odor of barbecued food. Small grills have been put up everywhere and the smoke wafts all over the island.

Thud.

Thud.

Scott turns his head towards the sea. If he didn't know better he'd think there was something coming from out in the water. Like gigantic footsteps, almost. As if some giant is out there among the blue abyss. He looks back to a cooler and wipes his hands on his swim trunks. Did he remember his ruby goggles? He certainly hopes so. Scott fumbles through his black duffle bag which has a home half buried in the sand.

Thud.

Thud.

"What is that?" Scott says, as he turns around. Just then, he can see it. The crest of something coming out of the water. Something metallic. Something sinister.

It becomes more revealed the more steps it takes. A face lifts out of the water. Metallic and ugly, it's dead eyes look to the beach in a hollow way. As it continues to walk, it slowly comes up even more out of the water. There, behind it, is another. Two of them now. Whatever they are, they're big.

"Hey!" Scott yells, but everyone is so spread out on the beach that it's difficult to hear from the distance and above the noise of people playing. "HEY!" he screams.

It's not Scott's voice that warns the students of the danger, it's the gigantic metal object blocking out the sun. A handful of students look up and scream as two giants make their way towards the beach. It doesn't take long for them to turn and begin to run.

"Make for the jungle!" yells Gabe. Immediately, he goes invisible, but as he does, the gears of the monster make some audible noises as their gears and hydraulics come into action. It's mighty hand raises up and begins to glow yellow. There's a pregnant pause as its hand crackles before THABOOOOOOOOOOM!

And energy strike erupts through the sky, aimed at a place where before there was nothing. As it hits, however, there's the brief outline of a charred skeleton. A moment later there is nothing but acrid smoke.

"Gabe!" screams Felice. Her shriek and screams cut through the air in a way that Scott's voice couldn't.

The second mechanical giant lifts its left arm in much the same manner as the first. The energy erupts from its hand once again and blasts clear through the Blackbird, incinerating it in an eyeblink's time.


 * SPLASH*

With tail tucked around, Kurt tries to make the biggest splash he can (obviously) as there seems to be some competition going on. Rising to the surface again, he shakes his head, his hair whipping back and forth for a moment.. and it's not a second before he teleports back to the beach.

"Me next, Herr Wagner! Me next!" No fear of the blue demon that looks a great deal more like a wet dog at the moment.

"Ja.. you.. Katelyn.. then Edgar.."

Sand is sticking to fuzzy legs, fuzzy feet as he comes near the begging students, and he pauses, yellow eyes looking up to the indistinct sound of someone yelling.. is that Scott? The sound of his teammate's voice, however, is drowned out by the sound of..

Thud.

Kurt turns his head towards the water, and at renewed yell.. he seconds it.. scooping up Katelyn and Edgar, ready to go a completely different direction now- the jungle. "Move!!"


 * BAMF*

Kurt's got the two young students at the edge, drops them.. and the moment he does, he's off again.. only to bear witness to the murder.. the execution of Gabriel. "Mein Gott.." he whispers before, calling out, "Go!!" He's demanding the children retreat while he heads towards .. them, into the fray.

"You are looking well, Douglas. No longer being dead agrees with you." Piotr says to the man and tosses him a beer. Coming back from the dead has become an epidemic lately so seeing Doug barely counts as noteworthy. Must be something about mutants: take a licking, keep on ticking. He's not really paying attention to the water but when the panic starts and the sun gets blocked, he looks over and instantly is in his metal form. "Run." he tells Doug as he stands up. Glancing at the beer in his hand, he reaches for the cooler then starts throwing cans of beer at the robot's head, aiming for the eyes. It might not be Coors but with Colossus' strength, they still count as bullets. "KURT! Take me where it will do the most good." Assuming they can hear, he doesn't want to tip them off to their exact strategy.

Scott is a leader, and a trooper. But he's not a soldier. Carol has been soldier, fighter pilot, spy, SHIELD agent (not to mention novelist and journalist, but those last two don't really count here.) She hears Scott yell, sees things happening. In the blink of an eye, even as that first blast fires, she's already in her new costume... that military styled bodysuit and she's in the air and aiming for the monsters.

When she left the military, she was a Colonel... you don't get to be a colonel without having the ability to use 'The Voice'. She uses it now, the sort of voice trained to be heard over a battlefield. "EVERYONE MOVE!" she calls out, "REGROUP WITH SCOTT!" And then she fires off a quick pulse of photonic energy towards the robots. Not that she expects it to harm them... but she wants them focused on -her- as a threat, and not on the kids. The explosion of the Blackbird behind her has her shaking her head. In a split second, she mentally inventories her little jet. Fast... yes. About three quarters of a tank of fuel left. But no weapons. Only room for a pilot and MAYBE a small passenger. Not exactly useful for evacuation.

"Piotr! My plane! It's got fuel! Explosive jet fuel!" she calls out as she lands as close to the robots as she can get. "Might make a good lawn dart!" she adds with a grin as her hands and eyes glow yellow. Yep, she's hoping that she can at least provide a bit of a distraction for one or more of these things.

There's something wrong with the waves... Vibrations felt through the water, through the hull of the tiny craft that Domino's perched atop of. The throttle is let up and the ski eases back to a coast, the two-cycle engine sputtering as she strains to hear. Was that..-is- that...

"What the -hell- is that?"

At first the sight is too unreal, too unbelievable, for her to do anything more than stand upon the craft and watch as those metallic behemoths emerge from the water. All it takes is that first blast of energy to yank her back into reality. It's trouble. Several tons of trouble.

Dom's starting to feel vastly unprepared for this. She brought some gear along, she always does, but the majority of it? Back on the island. Locked up in the Blackbird. You know, the same Blackbird that just got -vaporized.- Frig! Plan B. She kicks open the cushioned panel of the seat and hauls out a black harness, complete with a pair of all stainless sidearms, spare mags, and a few knives. Packing light, for her. No explosives. Nothing heavier than a couple of forty-fives. And one jet ski.

The albino takes a knife and punctures the craft's fuel tank, drops the seat back down, then guns it toward one of those machines. Time it right and she has herself a moving pile of explosives that only takes one well-placed shot to go up in a ball of fire. Let's teach these guys all about a flanking maneuver.

"If y'all don't cut out that racket, Ah'm gonna have to come over there and make some real noise," Rogue teases misunderstanding the noises interrupting her sleepy relaxation, but the sound of the energy searing the air and the screams cause her to bolt upright. Surveying the situation with a look of confusion that quickly shifts to seething anger which becomes impulsive action as she takes off into the air, scattering any unfortunate personal effects left in her wake. Like a mutant missile, she streaks straight towards the head of the metal monstrosity and full speed, forgoing any teamwork or strategy and planning to strike it right between those cold dead eyes as she calls out, "Wrong move, scrapheap!"

Bobby is -really- trying to not think about his 'death'. He's been waking up in the middle of the night with a frosted room a few times thanks to nightmares about it. It shook him pretty badly and he's trying to hide it under his usual jokey, flirty self. It's also why he's taken an increased interest in the students...more distractions. "Hey, heads up, Cyke," Bobby calls when the training session ends, ready to toss the can of beer once Scott is ready.

Then there's panic, heavy footsteps, darkness, and a student being vaporized. Bobby's iced up before his beers even hit the sand. "MOVE!" he echoes the other calls. He moves forward though, the air chilling as he goes. Hands get thrust forward and a frigid beam lances out to start freezing the water around the robot's legs to stop it in place.

One of Emma's little 'quirks', so to speak, was her penchant for just... browsing the minds of those around her. Emma had learned to restrain that a bit around Gambit for various reasons, but she clenches her jaw, and levels her ice blue eyes at him. "Thank you for accompanying me," she says, without any warmth in her tone; Emma rarely thanked anyone, in spite of tone. Still, she quirks an eyebrow at first, the ice in her demeanor seemingly melting at the joke, a practiced, false shift. "Perhaps - or perhaps it is a way to lure us to the party, as I highly doubt I would attend otherwise," she says.

The helicopter lands, kicking up sand for a handful of minutes as the rotors die down, Emma taking a few moments to speak to the pilot.

So she allows Remy to disembark first, before stepping off onto the small clearing that was used as a makeshift helicopter pad as the copter begins to wind down. Just in time for... THUD. "Mr. Evans," says Emma, her eyes narrowing upon the water as her voice tenses. "Leave the helicopter, and go to the jungle as well." Hopefully, the pilot would comply. Giving Remy a sharp glance, she simply nods to him, before turning her eyes away and starting to move crisply towards the jungle. She wouldn't presume to order Remy about. Overmuch, at the least. So what she does do instead? Watches the monster - and if it should move to attack someone who was unaware or fleeing? She would send a jolt to their mind - and send the word, "DODGE."

Shaking his head ruefully at the 'dead' comment, Doug offers a small, if not entirely comfortable smile of agreement. "I saw Illyana and..."

The commotion causes Doug to jerk his head towards the action immediately, missing on Warlock's answer. There's only the slightest brief of hesitation as Doug considers, but then the linguistic mutant is off and running. Hell, he was -SHIELD-. He could take damned care of himself, and the first order of business was to get to where his weapon was, assess the situation from there, and -rely on himself- rather than on someone else to save his butt. Exactly what he -needed- to do for himself post-death. Dodging and staying away from whatever -those- cybernetic things were was first priority, and then after that...

"Huh?" Anole looks up from his grilling at the flash of light from Emma's helicopter, "Oh. We're having guests!" He grins wide as he turns to add a few more bits of food to the grill.

And then the scatter of birds as the island itself seemed to shake. The eerie quiet as metal-headed death machines crest and breach the waves. "What in the..."

It was as if someone had sent the sun to kiss the beach, brightness. A flash. And then, shrieks of terror and death. "...Jesus Christ...." Victor barely manages, as he stares in shocked horror as his friend, Gabe, was forcibly removed from his skin and left only a pile of stinking ashes.

Frozen in a moment of terrible realization, Victor looks up into the face of death and breaks free into a run towards Felice and Gabe's charred remains, pumping his legs as quickly as they'll take him. Honor. Duty. Commitment. Those ringing words urging the green-skinned mutant to refuse the loss of another friend. "FELICE!LETS GOLETSGOLETSGO!!!"

"Merde." There are a few other, choice French curses in the mix as hostiles appear from the water-- with alarming ferocity. He's left his coat behind, heavier attire unbecoming in the island weather, but his armor provides the cajun with no shortage of space to carry a number of throwing knives, his telescoping bo, a compact pistol.. and numerous packs of playing cards. The first of those, Frost's face card, stops passing the time and seats itself between Remy's knuckles, subsequently slipped away and hidden at his wrist.

"See if I can slow dem down." It's all he offers, that and a wink and flippant salute, before the Cajun sprints away from the landing site and jumps another jetski from the adjacent dock, revving it to life and racing around the island towards the murderous automatons... as he charges the vehicle with high explosive, brilliant violet energy the entire way, racing outwards to follow in Domino's wake, feinting sharply from side to side over the waves. "Life is cheap, non?" Remy inquires rhetorically of no one at all, really.

So Jamie was thinking about what to do. Seriously there are a lot of people that he doesn't know present and well he has no idea what to do! He was told that there was some type of emergency here, really, this is an emergency. But it's not like he was doing anything else, not even any case. Plus he just solved the case of the invisible cheating boyfriend.

But then as he's contemplating things and noticing that there is at least one person there that he knows. He starts to hear the THUDs. Okay this is just bad, nothing on an island should be making sounds like that. Then he springs into action, hey this is going to be one of those situations where being a Multiple Man comes in handy. He starts hitting his fist in his palm making more of himself. Once that is done he sends his dupes out to start help get some of the students to safety. He can't fight against metal thingies that well, but hey he can at least help with this.

Warlock's attention is pulled from his trying to understand why a white bikini, top and all, is not right for him to wear by the thumping sounds. The micro termers that the alien can feel in the ground with each thump have him just as worried as the sounds themselves. Without thinking he shifts, becoming far less human looking and more machine, growing small dishes out of an ear and one replacing his left hand as he places it on the ground to take measurements. "Self friends, Query: should self be worried about approaching noises?"

It is as warlock asks his questions of those that might be near him that the first of the cold robotic faces crest the waves. As students start to run, and more giant robots appear on the beach warlock's skin is already changing taking on a harder more armored appearance. When one of the robots fires, and kills, a student warlock has a moment of...of something he has not felt since he last faced his Siredam. Fear. Not for himself, but for the person on that beach he calls Self-Soul-Friend who has already died once because he could not protect him.

Warlock's first instinct is to move, to shield Doug first. That instinct though becomes quickly moot as Doug goes running not from danger, but to it. It takes warlock almost two seconds, an eternity for a computerized brain, to process and make sense of his actions before the alien decides on a new course of action. If he is unable to protect his friend by shielding him, then he will do so by drawing fire. The shape shifting alien quickly changes into something like a tank made by a species far more advanced that humanity, with a scowling face on the front, and bristling with weapons. The largest of the weapons on the tank wastes no time zeroing in on the lead robot, and opening fire with a single large plasma blast.

Pyro's attention is turned from his efforts to get a tent in place fairly quickly. The boom and the sight of things rising from the water catch his eyes, and he stands rapt while the two figures plow their way to land. It's only the flash of light and the scream that come after it that jar him out of a complete stupor. His eyes flash toward the people moving around the beach, those fleeing, and the adults throwing themselves at the monstrosities.

John runs. He's not a battle hardened X-Man, not a soldier, and giant killer robots have yet to be introduced into his curriculum. He's had training, but nothing quite like this. He's a kid, he's scared, and he's speeding across the beach and away as fast as he can possibly manage.

Somewhere near the border between Russia and Mongolia

"The Sentinels are engaged, sir." A young officer looks from his computer equipment back to Bolivar Trask. "Very well. Proceed with program. Echo-Alpha-Delta-Sigma"

Trask turns on his heel and continues walking by the banks of computers. An assistant follows behind, on a track of metal. They look to be deep underground.

"Mr. Trask," interjects the assistant. "I don't understand. How were you able to find them?"

"Simple, Hollings. Their heat signatures were easy to track based on the readouts from the equipment in Mureybet. Once that video became viral, we killed two birds with one stone. We were able to take advantage and turn the tide against these dirty Mutants. We were also able to track those signatures with satellites. It was far too difficult once the two individuals in the retreated to the New York City area. Once they left, apparently to some island in the Pacific, they were far easier to track. From there it was easy. We had the technology. We just needed the reason. And the cover. Now we can bring those mutants to pay for what they've done. And keep the region in control of our allies."

"You were allied with Munqid?"

"Absolutely. And his overthrow threatens to destabilize the entire region. I attempted to tell him, many times, that his reliance on mutants would be his downfall. He never listened and was murdered."

"But the mutants weren't his m. . ."

"Silence," Trask raises a hand and shakes his head. "Mutants are all the same. And these will pay for the insolence." He tilts his head, "And it's a great way to test out our program." Bolivar's face grows into a smile.

_____

Kurt's heroic actions get two of the students out of danger and to t relative safety of the jungle. Meanwhile, Scott is yelling something but it's hard to hear in the commotion and other screaming.

It sounds like caves.

As Piotr yells for Kurt, one of the giant Sentinels' head turns slowly in the Russian's direction. The palm comes as it did for the last two strikes, the yellow beam intercepts Piotr. . . there's barely enough time to. ..

Pyro, aka, John, is flat out booking it. He may or may not think about things like "slowest gazelle gets eaten by the Lion," but he runs like it. He's able to reach the jungle safely and then, in front of him, towards the base of the mountain, he sees the caves.

Emma's idea comes in use because as the pilot, Mr. Evans, makes his way into the jungle, he narrowly avoids an energy blast thanks to Emma's quick thinking.

Doug seems to steer clear of any energy blasts for the moment. But Anole is not so lucky. As he heroically leads some of his friends away, the energy blast comes for him.

Carol sends some blasts toward the Sentinels, but they, as she surmised, do not seem to harm them, at least not yet. Worse, she does not seem to be of any real interest to the beings. They don't pay her much mind as of yet.

Domino guns it towards the Sentinel, bringing the speeding weapon upon them with little resistance. Unfortunately, as Bobby freezes the water, it brings Domino's vehicle to a stop just yards away and causes her to be a sitting duck. When Remy goes to join her, he gets stuck in the ice as well. Despite those problems, Bobby's trick does the trick, however, and at least for now, the machines cannot move.

Madrox multiplies himself with ease and suddenly there are tons of versions of him everywhere. Jamies of all attitudes and dispositions begin trying to assist. The massive increase in the mutant gene sparks the interest of the Sentinels, and the hand comes up at a small gathering of dupes, just getting going a short distance from Jamie prime. The yellow blast comes and the effect is almost immediate. Flesh tearing from bone for an instant until the bones themselves burn to ash. And then, nearly nothing left of six of them.

Rogue, now has an easier target. Carol hits it from one end, the Belle from another, Warlock's beam, and an optic blast off from the right hits the side of the Sentinels face. Inside, the machine begins to go haywire and the beast reaches up to tap something on its chest. Almost immediately a green goo starts to envelop the sentinel and begins to melt it away out of thin air.

Scott is yelling to anyone who will listen, "Retreat-retreat to the c" BOOOM! The second Sentinel blast does not hit Scott but hits the area near him, causing the displaced sand and the X-leader to fly up into the jungle and disappear from view.

There is just something about working as part of a team that kicks in as instinct. Kurt is down the beach, and no sooner did Piotr call out his request that the blue elf is by his side. "Going up, mein freund.." is more a statement than a question. Taking hold, he's there..


 * BAMF*

The delivery of one large, steel Russian by the name of Colossus is dropped upon a Sentinel head. Anything that Carol might have said, might have wanted him/them to do.. well.. he knows his ability, as do his teammates. It's a game of 'help the other' that they're so very used to.

However?

"I'll get the airplane.." Carol DID say there's one filled with fuel, and he'd be the safest to fly it in! "I'll be right back.."

In the blink of an eye, Nightcrawler is gone, only to reappear next to Carol's aircraft, and it's only a quick teleport in. See? He's actually listening to the Colonel. Former Colonel? Rather attractive SHIELD.. or is that ex-SHIELD?

Engines on! Target acquired! (Though, to be honest, the chances are better than even that one of the giant robots are "thinking" exactly the same thing!)

It's something they've done in the Danger Room. It's hard to seriously hurt giant opponents from the ground. There's rarely any critical components in the feet. Colossus was counting on Kurt's memory and tactical sense and was rewarded as he's deposited on the robot's head in the nick of time. He's not sure if that beam would have hurt him and he prefers not to find out if it can be helped. Taking stock a moment, he hops down onto the robot's shoulder, squats down, and grabs the bottom edge of its head. Then starts to stand. He will straighten up. He WILL straighten up. And the robots head WILL come with him. He has decided this. The question is always will reality follow suit?

Shaking her head, Carol narrows her eyes. Oh, ignore me eh? Not the brightest idea these people have had. It's time to show them that just because she's not a mutant, doens't mean she's not a threat to them and all they hold dear. She takes a deep breath. "Damn, this is going to hurt..." she says before she clenches her fists, charges energy down into them... holding it there before she releases a far more powerful blast. She did see Rogue slam into that one and really... it's not like she'd hold back just because Rogue was there. After all... there's two factors here.

1) She knows that Rogue is as tough as she used to be. This might hurt a bit but it shouldn't take her out of the fight. And then...

2) She really doesn't mind if Rogue hurts a bit. Poetic Justice in her mind? Well, she unleashes a blast that is more powerful than Sub-nuclear tactical ICBM's, along the line of a MIRV and it's focused in a beam about ten feet wide that is aimed right at the one that's starting to melt away. She's hoping to destroy it before it can escape really. But she's already in motion after that...

Launching herself into the air, Carol has energy charged up about her fists and decides that it's time for a good old fashioned slugfest. "C'mon you big nutcrackers... let's see what you've got!" she calls out as she attempts to put herself -through- a second Sentinel's chestplate to get inside it if possible. For all she knows, these might be Ultron-Sentinels with Adamantium armor. God, that would suck....

Impact in five..four..th-ERK!

Domino's jet ski suddenly encounters an obstacle that hadn't been there a moment ago. In a flash she's launched clear of the handlebars, somersaulting through the air before she hits the (very cold!) ice and slides on in toward a massive metal leg.

"Not good."

Options are low. Odds are, frankly, looking positively -awful.- No set charges to slap onto a leg. No large bore rifles to take shots with. What she's packing isn't rated against giant robot war machines, she's either going to have to get really freaking lucky, or ...

No, just really freaking lucky. Even she's not ready to play these odds. Bare feet scramble across the ice as she tries to get herself moving. It's painfully chilly and seemingly hopeless on top of that. She just can't get herself -moving!- And what the hell is Gambit doing out here?! Nuts to this mess, Dom's bugging out!

After her smashing the sentinel with all the pilfered power she can muster, Rogue pauses, hovering in the air as she watches the metal creature become encapsulated into nightmare-fuel goo. "Now that's just gross, y'all," she says as she tries to get her bearings, her reckless rage flowing into confusion as she hesitates, unsure how to continue the attack. She pulls back a fist and prepares to descend on the monstrosity, but Carol's blast changes her course.

Instinct takes over and while she may think she's untouchable, her reflexes aren't so sure and her hands come up to cover her eyes and face in a protective posture as she exclaims, "What the . ..? You tryin' to attack it or me?!?"

Bobby pumps a fist when he sees the machines stop. Then he sees Domino go flying and winces. "Oh crap," he mutters, trying to come up with a plan to get her out of there with everything else going on. He looks around and his eyes go wide when he sees just how bad the chaos has gotten. Cursing, the Iceman takes to one of his ice slides and starts making some ice barriers to protect any fleeing students and staff he can.

Emma breathes a sigh of relief when she sees her employee avoid the blast. Good people were hard to find; and it would take /ages/ to find another human with the same level of skill. Remy would find a reply to his question that he was inquiring of no one, however, the sound of Emma's voice whispering across his mind, "Life may be cheap, Mr. LeBeau - but my own... and yours... is expensive," she 'says', the socialite caught in absolutely the wrong situtation striding towards the jungle proper. Although there was a smile in the next words, "Do /not/ die."

Although she bites a curse when she spies the blast levelling one Mr. Summers. Casting a glance back at the fight, she starts to ~quickly~ move across the landscape - at least, as quickly as she can. It seemed to her - or maybe it was foolish hope lighting the way - that he should not be dead yet. If she can find him, perhaps she can drag him into the jungle, and away from the sudden warzone that sprung up around them.

It takes him a short time to grab his SHIELD-issue revolvers. Not that they were going to be much help, but Doug Ramsey dashes towards Anole, to help him herd his friends away. The problem comes when the blast is coming, and without any thought, Doug immediately dives to try and take Anole out of the blast range.

Flying through the air, Anole managed to push the mourning girl, hard before face planting in the sand, "RUN FELICE!" Victor shouted as he scrambles to his feet as the MurderMachine raised its glowing hand and fires.

It is said that one's entire life will flash before one's eyes the moment before that same life is terminated. Victor Borkowski saw only white heat,Doug's dive catches the young man just in the nick time pulling him down to the beach mostly intact.

That is, /mostly/.

"MY ARM!" Victor shrieked in horror and pain as his right arm was severed. Gone. No more. But a pile of atomized and stinking dust on the wind. "Oh, SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS MY FUCKING ARM!" Vic rolled on the ground for only a moment. It didn't hurt. Why didn't it hurt?! Anole didn't care, he hurried to his feet and tried to do the same for Doug. "We need to go. No time to sit still." he offered his right hand. His. /right/ hand? Victor didn't even think about it- even though it clearly increased in bulk, talons extending from each finger-tip and spikes along the carapace to his shoulder.

"Ice? Really?" Disbelief or no, Gambit's explosive entrance is forestalled by the frozen ocean, and thankfully contained his vehicle-slash-bomb doesn't go off beneath him. "Best be out of here, I t'ink." It's more greeting than he has time for, as he comes to a halt near Domino. Remy's off the jetski as the charge dissipates, front-flipping to land in a controlled skid across the icy field; balance and momentum? Kind of his thing.

The heavy hitters are dealing those death machines a nice hammering, or at least giving it a solid try, and LeBeau is inclined to stack the deck their way-- and maybe help Iceman cover Domino's own egress. Sliding in low, the Cajun flings perhaps just under a dozen cards in his transit time, dealing a quick hand of hold-'em in violet, explosive hues.

The playing cards are propelled with alarming force and accuracy, more than such an object should possess; but it's the explosive impact of each, singing violently through the air in subtle tones of their own, that's really cause for concern.

The high explosive hits are targetted up the body and into the skull of the nearest hunter/killer, as Gambit throws himself shoulder-first for the beach, intent on remaining elusive until he's under some damn cover. Those energy blasts do -not- look fun-- not even the friendly fire version.

Dupes Live and Dupes Die...this time a lot of Dupes Die. The blast hits some, and others decided to try and pull the dupes out of the blast only to get caught in it as well. And with one blast the One-Man Regular Guy Parade is now cut in half. The big problem with dupes dying is that Jamie feels it. All of his remaining dupes do, that's just the way it goes. So as half of them are killed the other half just let out a scream of agony. Poor Madri, they now know what it feels like to get hit by the Sentinel Blast, and it's not pleasant.

But once that experience passes, and well Madrox reabsorbs his dupes back into himself. Okay they seemed like the group, time to go solo on this one. But anyway that leaves Jamie still trying to figure out what the heck to do. In the chaos he does hear Scott yell something about regrouping so well he tries that. He knows all about regrouping!

Even as one of the giant robots starts to disappear after spraying it's self with a green goop Warlock is preparing to take actions on the others. The pair of weapons pods to either side of the main gun on the tank shape he has taken open up and fire a number of rockets that air aimed to hit both of the surviving Sentinels, or specifically at their hands where they are firing lasers from. The rockets don't have quite the power of the plasma burst of his main weapon, but Warlock is more interested in trying to keep attention on him and softening up the robots a bit for the others.

While firing on the Sentinels Warlock does something else he is fairly uniquely qualified for. The antenna on the back of his tank form starts to twist back and forth in place as he turns as he scans the area for more giant robots, or possible communications between them and each other, or possibly whoever sent them. The fact that only three such creations are visible means either someone has underestimated the x-Men or that they are only the start of the fight. While he hopes for the first, the alien is expecting the second. Of course if he finds anything there is not much he could do to warn other people. If only he was not the only person with built in communication systems. (OOC Note a Picture of what warlock looks like at the moment for anyone that cares and has not seen the New Muant's comic where they were at the beach. http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/icon_uk/11800056/709492/709492_original.jpg )

Pyro isn't super tough, super fast, or super anything, but he can sure move with all the adrenaline coursing through his veins. He flies through the trees and shrubs, heedless of how well anyone else is keeping pace or the explosions of energy that shake the air behind him. By the time he actually gets to the cave entrance he's out of breath, panting and sucking in air, nearly collapsing inside the entrance as he props himself up on a wall and turns eyes back the way he came.

Kurt's effort is flawless and he drops Piotr right now upon the shoulder with perfect precision. As he bamfs away, into the cockpit of Carol's plane. The problem, the remaining Sentinel lifts its arm up towards the vehicle and moves to incinerate it.

Colossus, meanwhile reaches down and lifts with all of his might. The gears groan loudly and it sounds like something is breaking inside. The monster is still able to function, but a piece of it is ripped away where the neck meets the shoulder, revealing the workings underneath.

In the meantime, Felice is running through the jungle with tears in her eyes. Thoughts of Gabe and math class flirting sessions, note passing, and playing on the basketball team all enter her head until a yellow flash envelops her, killing her almost instantly.

Carol's energy blast hits the first Sentinel with a titanic force. It rocks back upon its legs and one can almost hear it groan in pain as it has nowhere to go and no way to break the force given that its legs are encased in Bobby's ice-grip. The green goo, however, is not to be undone and within moments, that first Sentinel is no more.

When Carol superspeeds at the Sentinel, it reaches up with a previously unseen quickness and bats Captain Marvel away, using the force she produces against her. From the distance it sort of looks like a human batting away a mosquito, but instead of splat, Captain Marvel is just misplaced and displaced.

Domino tries as best as she can to get her footing. It's slow going at first, but eventually she's able to start moving more quickly. Luckily all the stuff going on above prevents her from being a target.

Emma, perhaps using her powers of telepathy, is able to find Scott. He's bloodied, but the good news is he's alive. The better news is that his glasses somehow remained on his face. He's a heavy lug, but she's able to begin dragging him.

Then the staggered, second Sentinel takes a full house to the chest via Remy LeBeau. It causes flashes and bangs and causes some damage to the center of the Sentinel, causing two things. First it brings the attention of the Beast away from the Beach. Anole and Doug have a clear path to get themselves to the caves. Whether all their limbs come with, well, that's another story.

Madrox stutters in thought as he tries to think of something to do. It's understandable in all the chaos. He sees droves of remaining X-students making their way for the jungle and heading for the caves.

Explosions erupt at the hands of the Sentinel and disable those darn lasers, thanks to Warlock. The hands themselves still operate, but it seems to have shut off the power to the beams. Warlock's readings catch nothing. The only immediate danger seems to be the Sentinel who is getting its but handed to them. There only seem to have been a couple.

From John's vantage point he can take it all in. The smoking remains of the campsite. The burning carcass of the jets. The large monster in the ocean and the fighting that remains. And he can see the burned rubble of carcasses of the people he used to know.

The aircraft Carol came in.. engines are hot, and after a moment of getting used to the controls, Kurt begins it's take-off.. or rather, more like a lift-off, thanks to VTOL. Yellow eyes look at the scene before him, and as long as everyone is out of the way (mostly), this plane is going to be a missile.

Sadly, Kurt isn't going to have a really good distance for his approach to be at an optimum speed, but with a good fuel spill? Conflagration with a lit match.

However.. it's not to be. One of the Sentinels has determined that this is a hazard, or perhaps it's attuned to the mutant within it. Whatever the reason, Kurt has to teleport out, and quickly as the plane is incinerated long before it's final destination is reached.


 * BAMF*

And Kurt is on the beach once more, yellow eyes looking around. Children.. his team.. and others. He looks out onto the water, then.. and sees some certain sitting ducks, as it were.


 * BAMF*

Domino may find a blue elf right beside her, reaching out politely but insistantly. "Time to go, fraulein.. before he takes hold. "Hold your breath." Really not necessary, but it helps keep his passenger's minds off the fact they're.. probably passing through some level of Hell to come back to the other side. Into the jungle!

Colossus lets the metal plate drop once he's exposed interior of the sentinel he's standing on. He's very, very good at breaking things. Wires, supports, struts, anything he can get his hands on is ripped away and dropped. As he creates space, he shifts deeper into the hollow to continue his destruction. It's not often he gets to really cut loose. Strangely enough, he's had the opportunity a lot lately but with a machine, no one dies. Bonus!

Batted away, Carol shakes her head to clear it and then as she reorients, she sees the plane destroyed. Well, that's going to piss off Fury. The fact that it just stopped transmitting might help get some backup here in a hurry too. "Seriously?" she mutters to herself as her crimson helmet materialzes about her head. Sometimes, attack attack attack isn't the smartest choice. Now that she's a couple hundred yards off, she surveys the situation and wonders if there will be followup waves.

Not much point in overkilling, so she simply streaks towards the beach once more and lands gracefully between the remaining Sentinel and any of the kids Kurt just appeared nearby. "I've got rear guard." she remarks, preparing to move to intercept energy blasts if they're incoming.

"Understatement of the year!" Domino yells back to Gambit. They're really feeling like a pair of sitting ducks out here, that familiar itch settling into the back of her shoulders. It's that same sort of feeling she gets when it feels like a sniper's bullet is seconds away from clipping her from behind. -Targeted.- Even if the Sentinel's attention isn't on her, it still could be.

There's people flying around overhead. Allies. "Hey, how 'bout an air evac down here?! Some of us don't fly!" On the other hand, she's got some momentum built up now. And Gambit is still back there, doing his card trick. Is the Cajun -insane?-

Yeah, don't answer that.

Keeping the speed on, Dom does the only thing she can think to do. The only option she currently has left available to her. Pea shooters against Goliath, it is. "Ass in gear, Gambit!" she yells back, pulling her sidearms out then, very quickly, emptying the full compliment of eighteen slugs at the one Sentinel to remain. She's not expecting it to do much. Distraction, buy Remy some time. But, she may well be in possession of a winning hand without realizing it.

Or, maybe luck will find its way to her in the shape of a fuzzy blue teleporter. Guns empty, Dom doesn't accept Kurt's hand so much as she throws her arms around his shoulders, forward momentum turning the motion into a full-on body tackle.


 * BAMF*

The two re-appear in the jungle and hit the ground in a tumble. The albino winds up detached and on her back, smoking pistols resting in her palms at either side. "I think..we forgot my stomach back there..."

Even though she can't help but smirk as the sentinel bats Carol aside, Rogue looks about to take off after the woman but as she recovers on her own, it saves them both an awkward moment. Instead, the Belle changes course and flies in the direction of Gambit, saying "Nice hand, Cajun. Remind me never to double down against you. Ah think you may have won the pot or, at the least, a quick exit before the shrapnel starts flyin'." She appears to be offering him a quick lift back the to the shore and the rest of the group.

Bobby isn't counting on his barriers to do much against those energy blasts themselves but he's making sure to shield anyone he can against debris and indirect blasts. Watching Piotr work a moment, Bobby debates a moment before sliding his way out there. "Hey, big guy! Time to go," he calls, holding out a hand to Piotr. Should he take it, Bobby will pull him onto the slide and take them towards the jungle with a parting blast of icy spears at the robot's inner workings...or whatever's left of them after Piotr finishes playing the mutant version of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots.

The reason Emma was absolutely certain that Scott was alive, was that she could still 'sense' him. Admist the debris, admist the mental 'noise' of the panic and so on, Emma does manage to happen upon Scott. "Normally, I would do no such thing - but I'd imagine you would appreciate the circumstances," she says, digging her heels into the sand, hooking her arms under his, and /pulling/. The jungle might be a bit too much of a stretch for her - she'll settle for a shoreside boulder, or some other sort of cover to hide him beneath, before vanishing.

At first, Doug had been in a panic, checking over Anole for his 'missing arm'. Which was when he realized...

"Your arm... it's there." Doug says, bafflement in his voice. And then Anole's further words has him nodding in agreement, although Doug shakes his head at taking -that- spiked hand. No.

A quick look up towards where the blast was, and Doug grunts in frustration. This armored mutant's friend... gone. "Come on," the mutant linguist urges. "We've got others to help." As if to illustrate that point, Doug starts running towards some of the stumbled mutants, doing his best to help them along towards safety.

Insane is all relative when robots are attempting murder. At least, that's the rationale that gets Gambit through the moment as that towering face, battlescarred and inhuman, turns to regard him. Well, at least the others got clear, right? LeBeau can't help but gulp as he comes up in a three point crouch, palming an entire deck of cards from a custom pouch built into his dark, sleek armor.

"Jus' a minute chere. We going all in." Because Remy doesn't give himself better than even money on making it to the treeline, or Rogue, turning and running from that behemoth. Nor does he want its weapons loose on his back. "Nique ta mere!!!" The Cajun splits his deck, the bare fingers of each sleeveless-gloved hand flexing the cards outwards as a sudden charge spreads one to another through the entire ensemble.

The lowliest two to the noblest King, to the deadliest unseen Ace... they flutter like luminescent waveforms into the sky, flittering back and forth with uncanny velocity and carrying a devastatingly volatile staccato of explosive force. "Any time now be good, Rogue!!" /Then/, LeBeau runs back towards the shoreline.

Once Jamie gets over the shock of several of his dupes dying at one time, he glances around and spots the students heading towards the caves. So what is a good Multiple Man to do, but to go and head that way himself. As he heads over there he snaps his fingers, making a few more dupes as well. Not as many as the last time, but well 3 others. Once they are created he sends them to look at the students.

Jamie Prime does speak for them once they do, "Okay I'm not a full doctor, but I have had medical training. Can help get anyone patched up that needs it right now." See this is something Jamie can handle now, not giant robots with lasers on their freaking heads and all that stuff. Also mental note, send a dupe to learn Field Medicine, would be useful at times like this.

The Warlock tank starts to come apart at the seams as he shape shifts again, this time into something a little more mobile and a lot faster. If SHIELD starts looking for Carol using satellite imaging someone is going to have the fun of explaining to Nick Fury that in place of her jet they managed to get pictures of the starship Enterprise, the original one NCC-1701 no A, B, or even E.

Having heard Carol state that she was going to cover their retreat, and seeing that the last of the giant robots was not only disarmed but had a Russian digging his way into its inner workings, Warlock figures that now is the time to get the injured safe, and start everyone regrouping. He moves so that he is hovering over the beach and drops several large elevators near to those that need evacuation most, the injured and unconscious first then the ones that can't fly and look like they need a lift. That means the first elevator opens up next too Emma and Scott. From inside the elevator Warlock's voice can be heard.

"While Self is unable to detect more hostile robots incoming Self still advises speed in evacuating the beach." In other words, all aboard, the USS Warlock is going to be picking up anyone still on the beach that can't fly and does not have another ride.

Away from the chaos of battle and laserbeams, Pyro has a chance to gather his thoughts. The young man slumps down against the cave wall, catching his breath and digging into his pocket, fishing out a silver zippo with a sharks face painted over it. There's nothing much to burn with it in the vicinity, he's clutching the thing more for his own stability than anything else. He watches the proceedings through wide eyes, but retreats no further as he pulls himself together.

There wasn't time to sit still- Doug refused the hand and so Anole began to help his fellows to the treeline. "Lets go, comeon." he said to those who had been injured in the chaos, wrapping an arm around one to help them limp towards the safety of the Jungle. As he passes the remains of Felice, Anole looks at his right hand. His new arm- and at the single shoe that was all that remained. He bent, took the shoe, and held it in his right hand. His injured, still living classmate takes his left hand and squeezes it before the two hurry into the forest.

As Colossus rips at the inner workings, those hollow yellow lights in the middle of dead black eyes begin to spaz and falter. The Sentinel is definitely on the ropes, now, and its inner systems are telling it to self destruct. It attempts to reach up to tap itself in the chest as the first one did. ..

Carol notices that the energy blasts no longer seem to be coming in at the beach and that most of the students are now in the jungle and heading towards the caves.

Nightcrawler and Domino can hear the groans of the machinery and can see the flickering lights. To them, it's clear that the tide has shifted to the X-men (and friends). The hands, which house the energy beams are dark, as opposed to the yellow lights that accompany them normally.

Emma finds Scott and drags him to a shore-side boulder with relative ease. She leaves him there, unconscious, and hidden before departing.

Doug comes across two of the student mutant stragglers and begins to assist them along. They don't look to be injured necessarily, but rather just stoned scared.

Madrox' dupes find several students in need of first aid. Though bandages and the like are in short supply, they can do things like apply pressure or wash the wounds with the pool of water.

Meanwhile, Warlock finds several more stragglers in the form of students, who beam themselves up via escalators.

Gambit throws his set of cards and hits the Sentinel straight away in the chest, finishing the deal. The Sentinel starts to smoke and looks as if it's about to topple. It's the best Colossus can do to take Bobby up on his offer and get away before the whole thing comes crashing down.

Within a few moments, it does, and the sheer weight of the mechanical mess causes the being itself to break in two at the knees. The top part crashes down with a smash on top of Bobby's metal ice and breaks clear through so that it breaks a hole and begins to float. The remaining parts, the knees and below stand; gigantic stumps frozen in ice.

_____

Trask looks intently at the monitoring screen as the last Sentinel falls to the ground. Standard protocol called for the Sentinel to activate the self-destruct mechanism. That damned silver mutant and his friends! Damn him!

Though Trask wouldn't know it, this is the second time Colossus has gotten in the way of he and his allies.

"Sir, they won't be able to use the carcass of that Sentinel to. . ."

"Shut up, Hollings," Trask says and makes his way down the hallway. This time, alone.

_____

John stands, pulling himself together, but over his shoulder he hears muffled cries. Charise sits in the cave upon a rock near a pool of water. Her blonde hair is as dirty as her face, messed all around. She sobs uncontrollably thinking about her friends, Gabe and Felicity, and about all that she's seen today. She didn't sign up for this. This wasn't what she was told when she came to the Mansion. She was promised she'd meet new friends and learn to control her powers. This wasn't part of the deal.

She rocks back in forth, continuing to sob the sort of cries where there's none of the normal sound that's usually associated. The her breath and the high pitched wheezing.

X-men: Consequences, Part I