2013.08.04 - Meet Your Master

It's turning out to be one of those perfect days. Mid-seventies, sunny with a cool breeze, just enough cloud cover to make touristy pictures pop with the appropriate amount of atmosphere. It's a little past noon, leaving the majority of Times Square so packed that it's constant shoulder to shoulder movement for anyone attempting to pass through. Crowds are out in full force, leaving most of the locals to avoid this area simply to escape the pedestrian gridlock.

As it turns out, Mystique could not have asked for a better day to grab the world's attention at large. Flying in low across the Atlantic are a pair of Sentinels, approaching at an incredibly low altitude. Water sprays out from behind the rockets that propel them through the air, skirting around the mainland before making a beeline straight for downtown Manhattan.

Before the machines reach land the metamorph and one of her Brotherhood pets teleport out from within the mechanical constructs, reappearing with barely a flash in the upper level of an office building a few blocks away. Not a word is spoken as the blue skinned mutant, currently lacking any sort of disguise, rolls up an office chair and takes a seat a safe distance away from any windows. Yellow eyes close as a twisted mind focuses, linked into a direct neural interface. A prototype piece of equipment, built over a decade ago. One of many abandoned branches of the original Sentinel project. It's been repurposed, given new life to its original cause.

Moments later the two Sentinels fly into Times Square, forcing pedestrians to scatter as they come to land right in the street, completely unannounced.

"Surrender, mutants!"

Life.

There's truly nothing better than being surrounded by life.

In this case, Kurt isn't looking like his 'normal' self, that is, the blue fur and tail is traded for something more 'normal'. A brown-haired young man, jeans, polo shirt, and a pair of red converse on his feet. Hands are pressed deep into his jeans pockets, and those brown eyes look out on the city's streets, trying to breathe, to experience that life.

The moment he hears that tell-tale whine of engines, his gaze lifts to the skies.

Blink.

Blink.

"Zum Teufel!"

In the next breath, Kurt yells out, "Take cover! Take cover! If you are mutant, take to the basements!" even as he's running towards the landing area, disappearing as he does, only to show up on the side of the building.

Jean Grey is sitting in a cab, when a giant metal foot comes down almost right in front of it. The cabbie yanks the wheel to the side, slamming on the brakes, and swearing his surprise out in Spanish. The car swerves, fishtails for a matter of yards, and careens up onto the sidewalk, toward a gaggle of Asian tourists that had stopped to pose in the midst of the square.

The telepath grabs hold of the 'oh shit' bar above the back passenger window, one hand bracing against the seat in front of her, even as the words "Surrender, mutants!" echo overhead.

"Sonofa--" she swears, instantly gathering in her power and telekinetically redirecting the cab so that it narrowly misses the tourists, bouncing back onto the road, crosswise across the intersection. She grabs a business card out of her purse and throws it into the front seat at the cabbie. "Bill me! Get out of the cab and run!"

With that, she's popping the door beside her open and rolling out onto the street. The skirt and heels, part of a smart business ensemble, aren't exactly made for combat. But, damnit, those are frickin' Sentinels! And there are innocents about.

Praying to God the anti-mutant machines missed the TK burst that saved the Asians' lives, she kicks off her shoes and pelts for the edge of the intersection.

Axiom may have promised to not go on patrol alone anymore but that didn't mean he was going to stay cooped up inside the apartment and not leave without supervision. Even still, as he wanders tunnels and sewers, he did bring a friend or two. Some homeless mutants he's been helping out. Not much help in a fight but perfect powers for a quick escape if they get attacked. He's just telling one about the time he met Superman and Power Girl when the sound of two big robotic monsters landing on the street above shakes their little tunnel. Eddie frowns, telling his companions to wait while he peeks through a grate. Before he even gets to the grate, those mechanical voices make him pause. Cursing under his breath, the teen that thinks he's a mutant but doesn't know he's not tells his friends to run to their shelter while he takes out his phone and uses the YAL App to signal the team. With that done, he's rushing to another part of the tunnel to get into uniform. He's got no idea how he'll stop giant robots but he knows a costumed hero is more effective in getting civillians to safety than 'random teenager'.

When Tousaint wokr up this morning, he read the paper and saw an advertisement for ad for "Jolt" coke and that "Wicked" was returning to Broadway. He looked at the clock, and realize that there was a power outage at 3:00 am. Othello understood the "message" the alienshad given him" The Shocker was going to attack Broadway! at 3:00 p.m." Othello rushed to the Theather District, but didn't find any trace of the Shocker. When he was about to leave, the Sentinels fly in. Othello peers up at the sky and says, "Folly!" Othello enters the street and shouts, "Everyone find cover!"

This isn't the first time New York's had to deal with Sentinels. Staten Island is still picking up the pieces from their last unannounced visit. Anyone that had lived through that nightmare knows what to expect.

Except that things aren't quite as they seem.

The business woman fleeing from the cab is the first one to get zeroed in on, one of the machines holding an open palm toward the cab where the lens for a powerful energy weapon begins to warm up.

"Halt!"

As the cabbie leaps out of his car and makes a run for it the arm follows him, completely ignoring the woman that's ditching her heels.

"I'm not a mutie, ya piec'a junk!"

FRRRZT!

Where the cabbie had been, born and raised in Brooklyn, not a gene out of place within him, now only a charred, smoking patch of melted sidewalk remains. A man that looked like most every other normal person in the country, vaporized in a flash.

The booming synthetic voice broadcasts once more with a complete lack of emotion, "Multiple threats detected, engaging."

People are running and screaming in every direction. Some making for nearby buildings, some for the subway entrances. Some have to run with the herd right down the streets.

"Halt, mutants!"

The second Sentinel's palm lens blasts the front of a building apart, glass and concrete violently flying out across the fleeing masses, spreading the destruction. More than one gets cut down in the attack.

Kurt is on the side of the building, those brown eyes opening wide. He pushes off, flipping through the air before he teleports out with a *bamf!*, only to reappear near that cabbie. He doesn't quite realize that it's Jean, but he's certainly caught the fact that the arm had pointed to the man.

It's what the cabbie says that gives the blue mutant pause (even if he's not blue at the moment!).

It's a pause too late.. and the cabbie is reduced to nothing but ash. Ash so light that it blows with the lightest of breeze. Turning his head, he winces and turns his head away, teleporting out. There is no saving him, but--

Kurt lands upon the side of the building once again.. and he takes a deep breath. He's no good against Sentinels alone.. and doesn't have a chance by himself, other than as a nuisance.. or to set up..

BAMF!

Kurt lands upon the shoulder of one of the Sentinels, and yells out, "You can't hit me!!"

The hell?!

Jean spins as she hears the discharge of the Sentinel's hand cannon... and watches in horror as the cabbie is vaporized.

The thing is, if anyone's in a position to know whether or not the Hispanic Brooklynite was a mutant or not, it's her. She spent 30 minutes trying to ignore his thoughts. Four kids. A hair-dresser wife and her mother. Lots of mouths to feed. Thus, he skips Mass in favour of the lucrative Sunday tourist run.

He should have gone to Mass.

Time seems to still for the telepath as she processes what's happening. She looks up -- way up -- at the grumpy grey (and purple) giants, and watches them completely obliterate the front of a building.

They're targeting non-mutants!

A figure appears in a cloud of brimstone on the shoulder of the Sentinel towering above Jean. Kurt! An ally she knows and can trust in this fight. Awesome!

~ Kurt! ~ she sends to him, announcing her presence by default as she does. ~ They're targeting humans! *dryly* I think something's scrambled their circuitry. ~ And she'd like to know just what that something may be...

The immediate fight, however, is in the street. There are, as always, civilians to protect. She lifts off the ground, fiery aura surrounding her, eyes glowing white, and starts sheltering as many of the running humans as she can from the falling debris.

Uniform and armor on, Axiom hauls himself out of the sewers in time to see building blasted. Gritting his teeth, the teen hero dashes to pull someone out of the way of a particularly nasty piece of concrete. He's back on his feet quickly, helping people along. "Everyone stay calm and head this way! Don't push eachother and if you need help, call out!" he calls to the crowd, trying to direct people safely away from the robots and destruction. Glancing back at the bots he spots Nightcrawler and Jean and nods. More heroes, definitely good.

"We really did not understand your message this time." Othello takes a deep breathe as he picks up a young girl that fell down, and put her over his shoulder. Othello recalls memories of wars past, dealing with different types of bombardments. Othello thinks to himself, "We never have to face a giant robot firing down on us, but grenades and bullets raining down on us in Korea was not fun either." Othello shakes the thought for his mind as he focuses on his tasks. He moves in a zig-zag motion down the street until he reaches the crowd in front of the subway. He places the young girl down and pats on her head, before running down the street, "We are going to need some help." Othello notices Axiom and says, "Want to help us save lives like back in the shelter?"

The sudden appearance of a teleporter upon one of the Sentinel's shoulders should register as being something important. Normal people don't teleport and yell insults. Yet, there Kurt stands atop one of the constructs. Completely ignored, for the moment.

The first squad car to enter the scene gets struck with another blast of energy, obliterating the hood and sending the car flipping end over end. At speed and completely out of control it becomes yet another flaming obstacle, striking down a few more New Yorkers that are unable to get out of harm's way in time.

A delivery truck is pulled right off of the street, metal fingers crumpling the cargo bay like an empty aluminum can before the vehicle, screaming driver and all, gets hurtled through the air, crashing through one of Times Square's famous LED screens and into the building beyond in a shower of sparks and fragmented debris.

"Resistance will be met with lethal force!"

Yet..no one's resisting. None of the targeted souls had done anything more than try to flee this madness.

Jean's suspicion is correct. These Sentinels shouldn't be targeting anything. They shouldn't even be powered up. Sitting within her perch in that office building, Mystique's blue fingers dig into the padded rests of the chair she appropriated. A face that's normally kept as perfect as perfect can be is twisted out of shape, a mixture of pain and concentration as she orchestrates the simultaneous attacks of both of the machines. Thought to implant, implant to coded signal, signal to Sentinels. The projection isn't psychic. The anguish that the metamorph brings upon herself, however...

Axiom's voice draws the attention of many that are near, a mixture of "Oh thank God!" and "Why aren't they attacking him?!"

Another woman who was planning to meet her new husband for lunch soon finds herself being swept off of the street by Othello, yelling a mix of "Thank you!" and "We need to get out of here!" When he sets her down her stunned mind can't do anything more but give him a blank stare as the man pats her on the head.

In another flash the woman is gone. The subway entrance Axiom had emerged from gets blasted apart by another focused beam, exploding against the tiled wall beneath the street until the stairwell erupts like a paved over volcano. Remains both of construction and of former people start to rain down across Times Square.

Jean is finally registered as an obstacle. "Do not interfere, live fire is authorized!"

As soon as the warning is given one of the machines fires a pulsed beam right for the psychic, not waiting for a reply.

"Hit me!" Kurt taunts again, and bamfs quickly in rapid bursts, all around the head of the sentinel he's landed upon. There's a long moment, a second in reality before he runs a hand onto his forearm, and in the next heartbeat, there's a shifting of air around the elf, and the 'true' form of Kurt Wagner is revealed. Blue, furry, glowing golden eyes.. and a spade-tipped tail. If that doesn't gain the Sentinel's attention, Nightcrawler really isn't sure what will.

~ Jean! ~ Kurt sounds relieved, though more than a little distracted. ~ When they appeared before, they targeted police as well as mutants. Und they ignored all the other mutants when they homed in on Magneto. They were based in Genosha. ~ Not too ominious, is it?

The moment Kurt gets the idea that the Sentinel is targeting his friend, he's gone with a speed that simply is, well.. Amazing. BAMF! Kurt grabs Jean and before the pulsed beam can even singe the tail, the pair are gone from the spot, landing on the corner of a building. "Are you alright?"

BAMF!

Jean finds herself displaced by Kurt's timely intervention, and shakes her head to clear it as they reemerge in a puff of hellish smoke. "Yeah," she reples to him, giving a tight smile that conveys her gratitude for the save. "Thanks."

Of course, that doesn't stop the beam that was aimed at her from slamming into the building that had been behind her, sending down another cloud of deadly debris. "We need to find out who's controlling them," she tells her erstwhile teammate. (Kurt will always be a part of the team in Jean's mind.) "Shut 'em down."

And they need to keep the civilians safe. Crap.

The presence of the other two heroes becomes evident in the reaction of the crowd as their thoughts and emotions reach the omega telepath's mind. She gives Kurt's shoulder a squeeze. "See if you can get those two to help you keep the Sentinels busy," she suggests, indicating Othello and Axiom, "while I see if I can pick up the mastermind behind this cluster."

"You!" Axiom scowls when he sees Othello. "You c-can help but if you start shooting anyone other than the giant robots, I'm taking you down just like them," Axiom replies quickly. Nope, doesn't trust Othello after the whole 'killing cultists' thing. He's not sure why the Sentinels aren't targeting him but his biggest concern is helping people rather than worrying about that. The explosion so close to where he was sends him tumbling, a white glow flaring up around him as he taps into any faith the crowd might have in him to power himself up briefly. Looking back up, he looks for Jean and Kurt and nods when he finds them. He knows Kurt's powers but isn't sure they'll be helpful for him. Right now he's going for Jean's. His eyes light up bright blue as he boosts Jean's abilities and seconds later mimics them. His costume shifts into a combo of his own and Jean's outfit as he suddenly starts pinging as 'mutant' and 'non-mutant' at the same time. There's a wince as he gets the mimicked telepathy under control and focuses on telekinetically shielding civillians from debris.

Before he can respond to Axiom's comments, the concussive force from the blast lifts Othello knocks him off his feet. He stands up to look at the dead people at the subway entrance and shrugs his shoulders. He takes a moment to fix his hat and says, "Your orders would be more forceful if you did not stutter, and We stabbed the men who were after the children, but we digress." Othello looks back at the subway as he contemplates, "There are more people in the building, but people in the streets provide instant carnage. Several pockets of people, but he picked the subway. High probabality is that someone is controlling the Sentinels, but unable to figure the location without enough variables. We will have to remind myself to steal capabilities of sentinel information, and perhaps signal isolation gear for these types of attacks.

Othello looks around the street at all the parked cars and pulls out his pistols. "Plan B."

Suddenly there's a blue creature covered in fur up there by the one Sentinel. "Surrender immediately!"

Then he's gone.

Half a block away another building now has a hole blasted clean through it. With Kurt and Jean now hidden away a follow-up shot isn't forthcoming. One mutant is spared from the attack, but at what cost?

With a city as big as New York there's going to be more metahumans. Out of nowhere some guy with dragonfly-shaped wings zips out of hiding and tries to run interference, darting about the Sentinel's heads like a mosquito around a zapper. "Hey, knock it off already!"

For his trouble another sweep of an energy beam carves a crescent-shaped wound across two buildings within the immediate vicinity, ending with another human-shaped flash of light until nothing but a fine powder and a pair of severed wings are left floating away in the wind.

Mutants are being targeted, as well.

"You are all in violation of harboring mutants!"

And, thus, everyone here is labeled as being guilty, according to the machines.

Axiom's power copying trick turns him from a nobody into a significant threat. No warning is given before he, too, is targeted by one of the Sentinels. At least the shields help to protect the masses that are still trying to run away."Unauthorized use of powers detected!"

Police, fire, EMT's, it's become wholesale slaughter. If it moves it's under their crosshairs. Another of the Square's giant signs gets cut free of the tower it had formerly adorned, the loud groan of strained metal filling the air as it sweeps out toward the street and collapses in a pile of broken electronics and steel gridwork.

As the Sentinels move about on their combat run their foot placement is given no thought, pancaking parked vehicles and stepping over piles of rubble. Othello's fortunate enough for the moment to not be marked as a high priority target, however going for one of the cars might require a fair share of that good fortune. Not far away an engine turns over as the panicked owner tries to flee the scene. Seconds later the car's nothing but glowing slag, carved through like a blowtorch to a styrofoam plate.

"Ja," Kurt easily agrees. He doesn't envy the telepath the headache that he fully believes she'll suffer after everything is said and done. Terror from everyone in a several block radius?

Ow.

The now fully blued elf nods his head, and twists around to look for the other two that seem to have joined the fray. Kurt stares for a long moment; it's the first time that he's really witnessed the change of a mimic. Metamorph, sure.. but Axiom? He'd recognized the younger man, and now?

There is decided concern that creases the blue, fuzzy face. Taking on JEAN's powers...

A loud whistle emerges from the Amazing Nightcrawler in an attempt to gain attention. "Sentinels are targeting at random!"

Taking one, two, three steps out, Kurt teleports back up to one of them, onto shoulders. "Block the hands so they can't shoot!"

Othello.. now, after the internal speech given, Kurt's head quirks and there's a narrowing of his eyes. He whistles loudly once again to gain the other's attention- "Shooting will not do anything!" Unless of course, it's to shoot the civilians so the Sentinels have no one to target?

The power boost Jean experiences as Axiom channels his ability her way surprises her. It becomes apparent to her simply because she has to quite unexpectedly strengthen her shields against prying. Automatically, she reaches out to shield Kurt's mind, as well. (Standard operating procedure when unknown telepaths are in play.)

It takes her a moment to understand what's happened. Once she has, however, she smiles. There's no question the boost will help her -- help her locate that one mind among billions that is orchestrating this carnage. Or, set it up to happen, at any rate. There's no reason to believe this is anything more than programming run amok -- except that Kurt's earlier comment about Genosha isn't lost on her.

She soars skyward, above the fray, encased in a powerful TK shield and, per force of the boost, the full raptor display of the Phoenix power. Axiom won't be able to touch the Phoenix force, mind, but that's because it's not literally the Phoenix Force that flows through the omega mutant, now. It's her own natural ability manifesting at its highest level -- which is pretty damned impressive.

(Let's just hope the Shi'ar aren't watching, yeah?)

Phoenix stretches out her awareness over the city, now, searching for that peak of controlling attention on the carnage below her.

Axiom will definitely have a headache when this is done. He always does when mimicking telepaths and with what he's feeling from the people it'll only be worse. Not that it'll stop him. There are people that need saving so he'll keep fighting no matter how bad he's hurt. He can't help but look away when the winged man gets blasted. And when he looks back, he's more determined to stop the Sentinels. Nightcrawler's orders get a nod and the Sentiels earn a little scowl. "I've g-got authorization from way higher up than you overgrown j-junk piles," he says, focusing on debris and wrecked gridwork with borrowed telekinetic power. He takes a deep breath and tries to bunch it all around the first Sentinel hand that raises in hopes of making the robot wreck it's own hand.

"We were going to target its feet, but thank you for the information about its hands." Othello pulls up a manhole cover and begins to strapped his concussive bombs and regular grendades to it. Othello quickly works on his energy pistols and shouts to Night Crawler, "I need someone to make sure this manhole cover gets close enough to one of their hands." Othello readies his pistols. "If you can toss in near it, I can shoot it."

Then Nightcrawler returns. "Target reacquired."

Another shot snaps out of one of the Sentinel's palms, targeting the furry blue rascal that keeps blipping in and out of their sensors. It happens to clip the other robot's shoulder, melting part of its exterior plating before carving another wound into yet another building. Maybe they're that desperate to land the kill on the guy..?

Maybe something was holding its punch?

Maybe someone trying to control the two machines at once is starting to grow slightly fatigued?

With Jean's burning brilliance now in the air another few shots are flung her way even as a half destroyed sedan gets inadvertently kicked across the street, tumbling on its way through the front doors of an office building. To them it's wholly inconsequential. Acceptable damage.

Blocks away, the physical and mental strain upon Mystique are also considered inconsequential. Acceptable damage. She remains seated upon that chair, bowed forward with teeth bared and shoulders bunched. Much like controlling an entire fleet of the more primitive Bicchu machines back in Santi, the Fireant device takes its toll upon her willpower. While naturally shielded from psychic detection, she's now in a weakened state.

And Jean's in a more acute state.

The pile of debris that Axiom gathers together happens to include part of a motorcycle, its gas tank still intact. When the collected matter forms a ball around one of the machine's hands it tries to shake it loose by tossing its arm around, backhanding a nearby tower and crushing a large portion of its exterior before it decides to clear the clutter away with a shot.

B-DAM!

Focused energy strikes the fuel tank. The compressed ball of debris contains much of the explosion. The lens set within that palm shatters, destroying one of its weapons and severing two of its metal fingers. Debris goes flying all over the place, though with most of the civilians either dead or gone much of it becomes extra property damage.

Explosives, it would seem, are still an option. A manhole lid covered in military-grade charges ought to leave a lasting impression, with a chance of making even more of a mess.

With Kurt back in place upon the shoulder, he's yelling all the while, yet not in anything that might do the Sentinel any good. No intel here. Instead, he's taunting.

Bamf!

Bamf!

The elf dances around the head, though the moment the potshot comes in, he's off the head, hoping for that perfect headshot.

It's the explosion that rocks the hand, destroying a couple of fingers as well that forces the elf to backflip off the iron Sentinel, and land lightly onto the ground.

In the next second, Nightcrawler's teleported next to Othello for that manhole cover.. and taking it in hand, nods at the instruction. It's covered in explosives, it appears, and he *bamfs* off again to place the item.. or rather, to throw it from a closer distance.

Three..

Two..

One..!

"It is there!"

The pain. The concentration. The concern in mind of that Brotherhood teleporter watching the Matriarch of Bastion wrestle with the neurolink. All of that calls to the heightened awareness of the Phoenix. Jean's glowing eyes narrow, power smoking off them. She ignores the errant beams shot at her, her TK shield sufficient to block it, for now.

Instead, she focuses on that teleporter and, through his eyes, on the blue woman sat within the Fireant rig. "Mystique!" she growls aloud. Not that there's anyone close enough to hear her. That particular thought, however, probably echoes softly in the back of Kurt's head, like a niggling instinct, channeled through the shield link she created to his mind.

It takes the telepath a moment or two to understand just what's happening. She can't interrupt a wireless radio signal, but she can interrupt the thoughts before they reach the rig... just as soon as she manages to knock a hole in the metamorph's psychic defenses. Thus, to that end, she focuses her mind and sends a goodly weight of telepathic energy against her identified foe.

~ Right. Playtime's over, Mystique! ~

Axiom tries to contain the debris from the explosion as best he can even with the sudden intense pain from the explosion forcing apart what he was trying to contain. Teeth grit, he seizes as much of the debris from the Sentiels' armor as he can and tries to use it to break through other giant robot hands. Even tough stuff gets damaged when you hit it with itself, right?

Once Nightcrawler gives the signal, Othello fires on the manhole cover, hoping the combine might of the energy pistols and the explosives will do some real damage against the Sentinel. His pistol overheats enough to cause Othello to throw his gun down in pain. Once the explosion happens, Othello dives under the nearest parked car to escape the possible falling debris.

Bamfing. Giant robots. Somewhat less than precise shots. The two Sentinels are looking a bit more pockmarked than before as they occasionally take another shot at the teleporting nuisance. Nevermind the considerable damage that each of those missed shots are causing to the rest of the city.

Heavy metal lid. Lots of explosives. One energy pistol shot. One high-powered beam weapon.

The explosion is somewhat 'cleaner' than a tank full of combustible fluid. The charges are small but purpose-built and added to in numbers. The Sentinel attempts to evade and misses, the chain reaction shredding its one limb to metallic ribbons before separating at the wrist, the mangled remains of its hand getting blasted clear where it takes out an ornate sculpture that had been both modern art and functioning timepiece but a moment ago.

"Heavy damage sustained, recalibrating..."

Mystique's mind is not written like any other. Whether due to her shifting ability or something else there's no shield to tear down nor closed doors to bash open. The metamorph's mind is more like a tangled ball of string, randomly woven, soaked in glue, then woven and glued some more. Very little gets through, though it also means that she's not likely to notice when anyone is trying to unless it's significant.

Her teleporter companion, on the other hand... The mental attack isn't directed at him but he's aware enough to know when someone's sniffing around. Quickly he rests a hand upon her bare blue shoulder, leaning in to try and get her attention. "It is time."

They've been made. Whether in part or in full, it's time to end this.

The next Sentinel shot misses its mark, striking its neighbor square in the chest.

"Error--do not resist!"

The wounded one in turn points and shoots at the first one. Square in the chest.

After another second it's as though the lines are cut. There they stand, smoke billowing out of their wounds before they start to fall over. Pavement cracks under the deafening collision of dead Sentinel and city street, sending a tremor throughout that takes out several more windows that had managed to survive this long.

Mystique snaps out of her trance with a stifled yelp, barely conscious of her own surroundings. A glance is afforded to her Brotherhood companion before she remembers to trigger a remote switch, setting off tiny internal charges within each machine that destroys the remote controller chips that had allowed her to assume control. Leave no evidence behind, beyond what evidence she wishes for them to discover.

One portal later and the two Brotherhood mutants are gone. Her goals have been accomplished.

Too bad she also happened to be caught in the act by one other.

Mystique?

"Mother?" is whispered, and from his new perch on the side of a half-crumbled building, his tail whipping one way, then the other. He looks up, straight up, before he *bamfs* up to another roof, searching now that the Sentinels are slowing to a halt. The firing at each other would be comical at any other moment, but he's weary. Weary of the bloodshed, of the blood on his hands, of the blood in the streets...

Nothing glorious in this. No point to all of this other than bloodshed.

But, the fact that it's his mother? Things begin to make a little more sense.

It's from one rooftop to another Nightcrawler teleports, one.. to the next.. but he's missed his opportunity, he's sure.

~ Genosha then, ~ comes, his head nodding. That was the thing, it must have been! He never did find those sentinels that had been part of Humanity First's program? Or..

Who knows?

Still feeling the effects of Axiom's boost, Jean is only momentarily deterred when the teleporter takes his mistress away. She can, after all, pick up his destination easily from his mind in the nanosecond before they disappear. Thus, she is able to track them, track Mystique and the peculiar tangled web of static her mind is.

~ This isn't over, Mystique. ~ Phoenix warns the metamorph, her thoughts settling into the blue woman's head like stones slowly sinking through thick gel. ~ Give yourself up. It'll be easier on all of us. ~

She courses to join Kurt on the last rooftop upon which he settles, landing lightly beside him, eyes still smoking with power. "She's retreating," the psi tells the elf. "She used some sort of neural interface on the things."

She's also out of easy reach of either X-Man. Jean knows this. So, she looks down at the carnage in the Square, and lets out a soft oath at the magnitude of it -- in property damage and lives. As much as she wants to pursue Mystique, potential survivors need to be the priority. "We're not going to be able to catch her, now. But, maybe we can help dig survivors out."

If there are any.

She reaches out for any signs of life she can find, to start the search.

Explosions, rumbling streets, shockwaves...it's all enough to knock Axiom on his rear again. It even knocks him out of his mimicry but he keeps the boosting up, not sure if Jean still neads it or not. "Ow," he groans, nose bleeding as well as several other small wounds. He starts to push himself up to his feet though, looking around for signs of life. He'll start digging people out as well if he can.

By the time the explosions and he crawls from underneath the car, Othello's hand has been healed by his healing factor. He quickly grabs his discarded pistol, because he hates for anyone to reverse engineer his tech designs, but he has no problem stealing other people's tech to add to his own. Othello looks around the street and quickly snatches up the some fried Sentinel circuitry. Othello is not sure what he can make of the pieces, but it is better than nothing.

He looks across the battlefield and furrows his brow as he thinks to himself, "A pyrrhic victory is still a victory. We are pleased that we were sent here for this purpose." Othello goes back to where he removed the manhole cover, and drops to the sewer to make his escape. He would stay to help, but is not going to stick around to see if a hero decides that he needs to be arrested. Heroes can be so finicky.

The mess that's left from the attack is apocalyptic. Sunlight filters through the haze from so much smoke, passing into numerous buildings that had been perforated by missed shots. Sirens are wailing all over the place, many of them still keeping their distance should they happen to get caught up in the one-sided battle. Car alarms sing out in their tone-deaf ways. Beneath that are the sounds of people screaming and crying out. Small fires burn within piles of debris and the seared wounds created by energy beams. No car is left intact for hundreds of feet. The one subway entrance is nothing but a smouldering crater.

Beneath the ash and dirt are human remains, carelessly scattered about.

It seems as though an act of war had been declared, but declared against whom?

There's nothing left out there for Kurt to find. Jean would have an easier chance of tracking the two renegades down, though Mystique has dealt with the likes of Jean Grey in the past. She has some tricks of her own for throwing psychics off of her trail, even if that means having a sudden change of plans and disappearing all on her own.

Then again, the hunt is part of the game for her.

That hunt is likely to wait. Many here are beyond help, yet dozens remain that still need saving. The collapsed subway entrance has left several trapped beneath the rubble. The fields of debris and ruined skyscrapers hold many more. For the diligent hero there is still much work to be done here, work which can now be safely aided by city officials.

Taking some of the circuitry would require getting close enough to the fallen Sentinels and getting beneath their heavy armor plating. Where their armor had been damaged there's not much left to scavenge, most of it having turned into a molten mess. Parts can be scavenged, if he works quickly enough, but they're not in good shape. The Fireant receivers had been built within their cores, it would take hours of effort to access their locations only to discover that nothing usable of them remained.

''It's a tough world out there. Learn to adapt. And most importantly, never trust anybody.''