2013.10.30 - Arctic Bust

It's been a while since Domino's been out to this corner of the globe. The facility in particular that she's after isn't the easiest thing in the world to locate, either. It was always secret, it was always well hidden. These days it would barely show up on thermal scans, plus it's been dumped upon by a whole lot more snow than it was probably designed to hold.

On the upside, she finally gets a chance to fly the Blackbird! Which is really pretty funny considering that she's not an official member of the X-Men these days. Apparently she gets better perks from the sidelines, who knew?

Then again, it might have something to do with Rachel being along for the ride and that whole telepathy/Phoenix thing. (-Don't scratch the paint.-)

As to be expected, it's snowing. It's the Arctic circle. There's lots and lots of snow. The sun's dim on the horizon yet almost blinding against the ice-crusted sheet that the large black 'Bird settles onto, then sinks another few feet as the landing gear bear the jet's full weight.

Dom switches the flight controls down then turns to grab the suppressed rifle she's got nested nearby, covered in insulated white clothing to match the white paint of her weapon.

"Alright, kids. Everyone off the bus. Remember, this is search and retrieval. If we encounter anything hostile, don't feel bad about having to put it down."

The Blackbird. It's a fun bit of engineering, and something Cable would love to get his hands on to tweak. All for the good of the aircraft, honest! A little better gas mileage, a little better way of fuel system routing...

It's easy enough to relay the coordinates through Ship for any buildings-slash-anomalies in the Arctic. Easy enough to find 'what doesn't belong there' as opposed to 'where is it?'.

Once the small group lands, Cable is pulling off the flight harness and rising to his feet once again. "You really could have missed the turbulence a thousand miles ago. You do know that, right?" After all, Ship had mentioned something about routing. Still, they're here, safe and sound.

"I'll catch up with you. Need to run a few things, and shouldn't take too long. If it helps? No one home but bunnies and foxes." And the occasional bear? Penguin?

If Rachel's presence on this jaunt is why Domino got the keys to the Blackbird, shouldn't she at least get the co-pilot's seat?

For the view, if nothing else, since she hasn't even managed to borrow Jean's Lexus yet?

Apparently not, since she only gets a seat in the second row. She doesn't seem bothered, in fact as the jet comes in to land she's still wearing the thoughtful and vaguely satisfied expression that's been on her face since the other two encountered her on her way back from the X-Mansion's garage.

As soon as the big plane's engines spool down, though, Rachel's expression turns alert. Hitting the quick release for her seat restraints, she moves quickly to stand - although something about what Domino says makes her look over and the other woman and smile. "Shouldn't be a problem." She's not... exactly ticking all the X-Man boxes today, it seems. Crossing to the hatch, she ignores the stairs and floats herself down to the snow, her boots settling into the powder. Despite not being particularly dressed for the Arctic, she doesn't shiver, a close telekinetic field keeping the air close to her warm.

As Cable immediately announces he's got his own business, Rachel looks over at Domino with an amused, questioning look. "Does he do this a lot?"

(Cripes, do all of the TK'ers have to do that levitating thing..?)

Dom gets to take the ramp on foot, and she gets to deal with the chill the old fashioned way. Lots of fur lining, big goggles, stuff that generally makes anyone look fairly ridiculous. She can still hear the question through all of that, however. "Only all the time," she replies in a tone void of any obvious emotion.

It's true, this isn't exactly 'official' X-Men business. But, the people they're set to encounter did sort of capture and detain a bunch of the X-Men for some two weeks not that far back. Dom included.

"You've got an overclocked brain, what sort of tricks can you bring to the party today? Any good at picking out other people? Because now would be a great time to give it a go."

Given the nature of their target location she's had to park the jet a healthy distance from where they're trying to go. ..She thinks. To be completely honest, she's not sure where this place is. It should have been something they could find on the jet, but..they couldn't. "Can't be too far out," she mutters while trudging forward through the powder.

Rachel just gives a judicious nod and a quiet 'hmm' that pretty easily translates as 'I thought so'.

And then a quick grin despite, or perhaps because of, Domino's completely flat delivery.

Rachel takes a couple of steps away from the Blackbird, boots crunching into the snow, and squints against the glare from the ice. Hunting around in the pockets of her jacket, she finds the one extra piece of equipment she packed, a pair of high-end ski sunglasses that she almost certainly borrowed from a team-mate, and slips them on. All the telekinesis in the world isn't going to stop her getting blinded, out here.

Half-turning to look back towards Domino, her eyes now hidden behind the reflective finish, Rachel chuckles a bit, under her breath, but quickly nods. "You could say that." Rachel seems to find something amusing, from the way she answers. "Let's see who's out there."

There's no theatre to what Rachel does, no visible sign of her powers coming to life. She simply stretches out with her mind as she walks beside Domino. The two presences close to her burn strongly, but she pushes further out, expecting to find something, and finding... nothing. Or virtually nothing. Rachel grimaces. "I bet you hate it when he's right, too?" She asks Domino quietly, and then stretches out an arm to point about thirty degrees off their direction of travel. "I've got a polar bear who hasn't decided whether to be curious or not over there. Other than that?" She shakes her head. "Nothing." She grimaces again as another thought hits her. "Or really, and I mean /really/, good psi-screens."

On the now powered-down Blackbird, its lights flare on for a single moment before they die out once again. That is coupled with the whine of an engine, an immediate *whooooosh* of jet rather than the usual sound of the turbines coming slowly to life.

Ahem.

It's a moment or three longer before the white-haired Nathan exits the aircraft, his drovers coat still the only thing that surrounds him as proof against the cold. Okay, and a shield. But at least he's not floating above the snowpack. His boots are making a distinct *crunch* under his feet.

All through the trip, Nate's made the attempt to keep his psi shields up and in place, but that buzz in the back of his head, in his neck that marks Rachel as, well, Rachel, is hard to ignore. And he's NEVER had to shield against his sister. Ever. It does bother him, but--

Mission first.

"She hates it when I'm right. Of course, I never have to worry about that." Because she's never right? He's teasing, of course, and it's said with a distinct fondness.

Once out of the aircraft, Cable looks around, searches out and finds that bear, penguins, and the fox. "Dom, you may want to go--"

For as much time as Domino's spent around a psychic sort it still seems ..strange when the mind masters do their thing. By comparison the albino takes up position and searches around through a thermal filter on her rifle's optics, pretty oldschool by comparison (and for being fairly cutting-edge tech!) But, it's what she has to work with.

"-Sometimes,-" she attempts to correct in regards to Cable being right. It's not enough to spare Cable a glare from behind red tinted eyeshields, all the same. "Never's a strong word, Wingnut. But, yeah. He's usually right in the long run. The immediate stuff often misses his notice but the far-reaching matters never escape the guy. That's why I still give him the time of day."

When the bear is pointed out Dom's automatically training her weapon in that direction, although she can't tell if said bear is on the surface or lurking somewhere beneath. "I'll take your word on that."

Standing upright with a quick sigh, the mercenary femme takes another look around. It's white. Very, very white. "Good psi-screens, good thermal shielding, good seismic dampening..." she momentarily trails off. "It's a flippin' research bunker, they should be leaving -some- manner of footprint."

Speaking of footprints, as Dom gets moving again she starts to hear what Cable is warning her about before finding a loose spot within the snowy crust. There's a brief "ShiiI--!" of surprise as she simply disappears from view, leaving behind a gaping hole in the surface.

Which happens to lead right down to the dark grey walls of a hallway.

"Found it..!"

And, it seems, Cable has perfect timing. Rachel's learning a lot about her 'brother' today.

She's just not sure if any of it is very useful.

Rachel doesn't try to intrude on their banter, it's so unforced and easy that she just enjoys listening to it for a moment. And then she has to stifle a laugh at Domino's 'wingnut'. "Maybe I should get him to tell my future." Rachel suggests. "Or not." She adds after a moment's thought, but her tone's still light. Possibly lighter than it should be, walking next to a heavily-armed mercenary in probably hostile territory.

Rachel lets herself get dragged back on topic, a slight frown creasing her brow as she considers Domino's words, then she shrugs. "I could..." She begins, though whatever she was going to suggest is completely forgotten when Domino abruptly vanishes.

Rachel reacts about a second too slow - the top layer of snow blasting skywards as her telekinesis scythes out in an instinctive attempt to lasso Domino. Rachel takes exactly one hurried step toward the hole when Domino's chipper voice floats up from it, and she blows out a relieved breath.

Her eyes find Cable, oddly at ease enough with the big man to joke, "Is this a regular thing, with you two?" Before she crunches quickly over to the edge of the hole. "You OK?" She calls, though she's already pretty sure there's not much wrong with Domino. Stepping quickly forward as the edge of the snow hole crumbles, Rachel hovers in mid-air and then lowers herself down, pocketing her sunglasses again as she descends and dropping the last foot or so. "Looks inviting." She offers, reaching out again with her mind and still coming up empty.

Research bunker.

Domino's thoughts as to where it is, where they are, and grilling herself as to what she remembers about the place is a veritable neon sign placed in front of the large mutant. Cable doesn't so much as scan the place with eyes, but in that psi he's got, lingering too on the things that Dom knows of the place.

And what she'd experienced there. Distractions, however. Forever distracted!

Cable turns about to Rachel, and his expression remains easy, even if his tones hold a certain light wistfulness. "Or not," he readily agrees. No harm, no foul! Time to tamp down the anger, big guy... can't dwell on the past, though he'll ask her about it later. No tap-dancing through the medulla oblongata out in the field.

Shiiiii--

Cable exales in an audible sigh as he begins to telekenetically push snow away from the drop so as not to have the extra weight pull the ceiling down on top of them. Not that he's worried about being buried alive in snow. Such things an almost impossibility.

Almost.

"Dom?"

Pushing forward with the crunch of snow under his boot, he's careful, but jumps down into the hole after. No TK there, though the moment he is down, he's looking around fully.

"You okay?"

Watching as Rachel takes the lighter path down, Nate is back to clearing the packed snow away from the hole to allow a little more light, such as it is. "This is a pretty regular thing, yes. If it's not? Worry, because she's mad at me. Or, don't worry. I am usually back and on my feet after a week." And surgery to help his healing process.

"Just fine," Dom calls back with a firm shake of her head. "I'm sure the snow that got lodged up my nose will melt and run out sooner or later."

At least there was enough snow beneath her to cushion her fall!

"He's always been a real good sport about that whole 'getting shot in the back of the head' thing. Domestic disputes tend to resolve themselves fairly quickly between us--Hell, didn't expect to need a -flashlight- on this op," she mutters while pulling a gunlight out from a pocket and clipping it onto the front of her rifle. It's pitch dark inside of the hall, making the light that much more obvious when it gets flicked on.

"Looks -dead,- she adds to Rachel's observation, now in a lower-pitched tone. Even then her words carry into the shadowy caverns. No lights, no power. Nothing. The wheel is still and the hamster is dead.

"Gonna be real upset if we missed their going away party," Dom grumbles while pressing forward. Nothing's coming up on either psychic radar. Nothing's coming up on scanners. Nothing's coming up, -period.-

Goggles now peeled away from her eyes, Dom starts taking note of the condition of the facility. Pockmarks in the bullets from gunfire. Scratches and furrows torn through the concrete from something less bullet-shaped and more claw-shaped. And frozen dead guys. As soon as the first one is found there are, in fact, -many- of them to be found.

"Son of a bitch... So much for a warm reception. We're going to sketch and fetch, don't get lost."

Now isn't that a charming image? Dom, with a dripping nose? Rachel just pulls a face and forbears to comment.

As the verbal tussling starts up between her companions again, Rachel looks between the two of them and finally just says, "I'm just going to be pleased that works for you two." There's a bit of a smirk as she says it, but she doesn't seem quite as casual as she did on the surface, a little more tense, and she looks quickly away, into the darkness of the hall, with an expression of unease. "Feels it, too." Her reply is equally hushed, her eyes still on the darkness ahead.

She didn't bring a flashlight, and drawing enough power to light her body on fire with telekinetic flame isn't a particularly appealing method of piercing the darkness. Rachel falls in behind Domino as the mercenary moves off, her eyes following the beam of the gunlight as it illuminates first the damage, and then the first of the bodies. Rachel stops, but if the sight of the dead bothers her, she's doing an excellent job of not showing it.

"Harder to get lost if you know where you're going. Hold up a minute." Rachel reaches for her powers again, and pushes out a light telekinetic field in front of her. It flows along the hallway walls, mapping the branches ahead like an extended sense of touch. It's not perfect, but in a few seconds she has a rough, partial map in her mind. Cable almost certainly felt what she was doing, so Rachel glances over at Domino. "Do you know the layout of this place already. If not, I can..." Rachel hesitates, shrugs, continues. "Or he can pass it on, I guess." Not many people are comfortable with a strange telepath in their head, after all.

Such a good sport. "At least you haven't left me lying in sludge."

Yet.

Always a first time, however!

Cable turns his head back around to Domino, brows rising, and that one eye seems to pulse with light. "What? Oh.. no lights." Silly him. He can see regardless.

The walking power station saunters towards a wall, and passing the frozen, dead bodies that lie littered, reaches out to feel for wiring that he knows is there. Has to be there.

"Mapping the place as we go. I mean, might as well let Ship have the day off, right?" Heh. Like an AI needs it? "Perfect, Rachel. Thank you."

As Nate stands there, slowly the lights begin to blink to life, giving the place an eerie glow, with only half the lights glowing. No real need for the gun lamps now. The dim glow works in that it won't burn their retinas, too!

"Figured we only needed the emergency lights."

Cable chuckles at his older sister's.. Rachel's comment. "She can't really kill me, Rachel," Nate begins. "It just puts me out of commission for a few days. Out of her hair, which gives her the chance to cool off, and not take a second shot at me." Literally.

"She hasn't yet used expoding flechettes?" How again is this helpful? "Or depleted core."

But, a touch of seriousness creeps in, and he can virtually -feel- the discomfort that Rachel exudes. ~ Rachel? ~ Turning his head back to the other telepath, the send is gentle, reassurance tinging every bit of that thought as it drops lightly in her fore. ~ Don't look at them. Don't concentrate. We're looking for hardware. Tech. Nothing living. ~ Cable is a man who is so very used to the dead. Frozen this way, at least they don't have to smell the stench of rot.

"Dom, lead the way. I'll drop the map in your head if you want."

"I observe certain standards of hygeine," Domino flatly replies to Cable in regards to leaving him in sludge. Because really, neither of them would win in a situation like that!

Freakin' psychics, man... First Rachel has the immediate area mapped out then Cable's got the blasted power back on?! Slowly she turns to face the two, the motion of flicking the gunlight off both minimal and completely deliberate.

"You guys just take all of the fun out of this. Well, if anyone's home they'll know we're here at this rate."

Seriously though, that's an awesome pair of advantages for their team! She's just..feeling slightly out-classed, is all.

"Not for lack of trying," she once more cuts in when Nate talks about how she can't kill him. There's a smirk on the inside but she's really, really good at poker-faces. "And then I get to clean the gun again. Still worth it sometimes. Hey--uranium rounds don't grow on trees, you know! Or..hell, maybe they do in your timeline," she scoffs with a dismissive snap of an open palm into the air.

With the order called the albino's already in motion, not looking back to the two while motioning with a hand over her shoulder. It doesn't look military in origin so much as a 'yeah, whatever, I've got this.'

No lights. Maybe Rachel should have put a little more effort into preparing for this trip? Because she feels very much the amateur in this company.

Despite that, a bit of darkness shouldn't be getting to her. Not this much. It doesn't help to know what's -really- got her off her game - the prospect of facing Jackie Estacado and his friend The Darkness itself again. Particularly since they haven't been able to find him. He could be anywhere. Even in this buried, pitch-black...

Stop it, Ray.

Cable's voice is a welcome distraction, even if it reminds her again how little she really knows about his capabilities. "No problem." She replies, then looks up instinctively when the first lights come on, then back down at Cable. He gets a quick smile of thanks for that one - though the smile turns a bit rueful as she hears Domino's complaint. "We could wait outside?" She offers, not even remotely serious.

The light does a lot to improve Rachel's state of mind, even though it reveals a great deal of unpleasantness. It's enough for her to grin back at Cable's 'explanation'. "Christmas shopping for you two is going to be fun." If they're going to casually talk about maiming each other around her, she is NOT going to bite. As she falls in behind Domino again, Rachel cocks her head slightly at the feel of Cable's mind touching hers, and then his voice is in her brain. << I'm OK. >> She tries to reassure /him/ of that, distracted enough to add, << They're not mine. >> Before she can stop herself. Damn.

Domino's 'antics' in the field gains the albino something of a lopsided grin as he turns to fall in line with her. Over his shoulder, Nate offers towards Rachel, "And this is why she doesn't like me to come play when she's in the field." Unless, of course, his size and power is needed to bring the roof down. Literally.

Sorry about that, Star Labs! (Or not.)

"Next time I'm going to hide your Hoppes before you shoot me. Then, either you'll have to leave and get more or wait for me to wake up." Which could be, yes, up to a week.

There is nothing in his manner or mien that begins to show even the barest hint that he feels that Dom is outclassed. The woman is remarkable, which is one of the reasons he keeps her around. And she believes in him. Also a big plus. And she never fails to surprise him.

For real.

Looking back at Rachel at the offer of waiting outside, the hint of a smile broadens. "Careful what you ask her," he teases.

Now that he's in line and the search begins for the tech, he's not paying too much attention to the stirrings of life. Wildlife will always be around as a background humm, and minus sentient life, it's easy enough to ignore.

It really is.

Besides, Nate has something else to concern himself with. Rachel. "Just don't get her something that'll blow too big a hole in me. And if you get her a car, make sure I can fit in it?" Please?

He's using the light talk to keep Rachel's attention up, and keep her from delving too deeply- even into her own psyche. He's getting hints at the edges of his communication that there are darker elements potentially at play, but what they are?

No clue.

~ Not yours? ~

Aroo?

Taking a deep breath of the cold air, Nate keeps eyes front now, watching their path before them. ~ Just don't look at them. ~ is repeated. Whether they're hers or not.

Hers.

"To be fair, you are -really good- at giving them another moving target."

Wait outside? "What, and miss all of the creepy stalking around a bunch of frozen dead guys?" Domino offers back while stepping right over one of those bodies. She pauses at one of them, starting to get a closer look before sloooowly turning back around to face Cable. With the assault rifle following the line of her gaze.

"Don't you dare."

Besides, she has more hidden ab--psychic. (Damnit!)

Back to the body in question, she can see from the frozen tissue which remains that the former soldier had been shredded and impaled. Not post-mortem, either. The uniform still tells plenty of the story of his final moments.

"Mutants," she thinks aloud. "We didn't hit this part on our way through. This is someone else." Not much further there's the glint of light on a small number of shell casings, one of which she crouches down to catch in her fingertips. "Five NATO. Fed through a poly mag, looks like."

Flicking the rounded piece of brass aside leaves it chiming and rolling across the floor as she stands upright. "Mixed unit tactics. Had a front assault force, looks like a scrapper sort or two. Someone else taking precision shots at anyone trying to flee the carnage. Team split up, probably running interception to keep anyone from abandoning ship. They didn't stand a chance, this was a massacre. Someone had it out for these boys in a big way."

A bit further still and the narrow hallways open up into a much larger room, looking more like an underground hangar. This one's complete with a large portion of the floor missing due to a high-yield explosion. Discolored patches on the floor might suggest that some sort of acid had run free. Plenty more frozen carnage can be found lying about, though what -isn't- there anymore is--

"The Sentinels. They're gone. Everything."

Domino slowly surveys all that remains (which isn't much) before reeling back and ramming a snow boot into a nearby railing, causing the metal to ring out into the deserted facility. "There's nothing -fucking- here..! Gone! All gone."

Turning back to Cable once more, she asks/demands "Couldn't you have seen this coming and saved us a trip, Nate? Or were you waiting for me to fall ass over heels through the crust back there?"

Rachel shakes her head as they carry on. It's insane. And somehow oddly endearing.

She can imagine her life expectancy if she ever said that out loud, though.

Rachel just shoots Cable a wry look with a raised eyebrow as he teases her. If they'd /asked/ her to stay outside she'd have been furious and refused, but that doesn't mean sunlight and good lines of sight don't have a certain appeal right now. "Forget I said anything. Really. I'm loving the tour." That gets tossed back to Domino, but it's all for show. She's noticeably less uneasy now, and she hasn't failed to keep up yet.

She snorts in response to Cable's suggestions. "A car? I was thinking something small. Like matching hand grenades." Now she's doing it. This is a surreal expedition.

<< ... >>

<< I won't. >>

That's the safest - and really the only - way to answer.

Domino's efficient summary of /just/ how this particular soldier met his particularly unpleasant demise is almost a welcome distraction. Of course, it makes Cable's instruction not to look at the bodies a little hard to follow.

Rachel dutifully troops into the remains of the hangar with the others - but soon discovers that looking around with interest is the wrong response to what they find - or rather don't find. Domino's flare of anger is unexpected, and makes Rachel turn sharply toward her as she confronts Cable. She knows she shouldn't get involved. God knows the man's big enough to fight his own battles.

But there's something...

"This'd be some of that immediate stuff he's not so good at, huh?"

Rachel's leaning against an undamaged section of wall, arms loosely folded. Not confrontational.

Whether she's dumped water or gasoline on the fire is something she's yet to find out.

"One that can soak up bullets," which makes Nate's ability to be a moving target that much better! He doesn't feel used, nope. Not in the least.

"She's right, Rachel. This is the best part of the job. Stalking around the lab, waiting for something glinting to emerge further down and point at the group- that's a good Friday night for them! After pizza, that is.

"Matching grenades work, actually..." is given with a grin. "His and hers. Just make sure her grenade's pin is super-glued in."

Coming up to the same body that Domino pauses at, Cable crouches down to get a closer look at the corpsicle, reaching out to roll it over fully with his non-organic hand. "Yeah." Mutants.

Rising from his crouch, Nate is up again, and he begins a slow jog down that corridor, coming into the open. He's got his bionic eye checking the spectrums, and everything is dead. Deader than a doornail, as they say.

As quiet as the grave.

He's stopped short, and the moment the realization sinks in with all of them as to exactly what lies before them, Nate exhales in a long, soft sigh. To his partner's demands, the mutant sounds almost tired... as if he's explained this before in other situations.

"Domino, it's not how it works. It's not on the radar. It's not one of those kinds of events." Not one of the world changing ones. Read: if anyone died in it, the timeline would continue on just the way it should. The way it would. "The place was shielded. I didn't see anything from orbit." Okay, not so much shielded as dead.

Turning about to his sister, Nate nods slowly. "This would be one of those times, yes."

There Domino stands with her forehead resting in an open palm. One. Two. Three... Down goes the hand, up goes the head. "I'm not a fan of wasting time," she says by way of apology to the two.

Besides that, she's been keeping her concern over Kurt's well-being under very close guard. She's yet to show any emotion at all, up until that short-lived outburst. The poor guy's life could be on the line and they're out here chasing ghosts.

She really thought they had a good hand in this game.

Leaning back against the railing with a drawn-out sigh, she looks from one mutant to the other. "This op's a bust. Thanks for playing."

This is definitely one of those times, yes. Cable nailed it.

Looking to Rachel once more, Dom asks "You drink? First round's on me tonight."

What else can they do? Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't.

Turns out it was water after all. Nice to make the right call for a change.

Rachel's eyes find Cable's and she returns his nod with a crooked smile. It's halfway to an apology for reminding everyone present that he's not omniscient. But it seems to have saved a lot of shouting, so she's not /that/ sorry.

Rachel lets the silence stand for Domino's mental three count, then abandons her carefully indolent pose, pushing away from the wall and letting her arms drop to her sides. She doesn't offer any platitudes as Domino works out her frustration, though she privately thinks the lead was worth following up, but she does crack a smile once Domino comes out the other side. "You're on. Let's get out of here."