17936/Not a Team Player.

Not a Team Player.
Date of Scene:	14 May 2024
Location:	Rural Westchester County
Synopsis:	Jaxon gets to take out some of his anger at Stryker and the Purifiers on some hapless goons with the help of Mystique. Offers are made, at least one accepted - the rest remains to be seen.
Cast of Characters:	Jaxon Blain, Raven Darkholme

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Jaxon Blain has posed:
For the past few weeks, there have been rumors of mutants going missing - it's not an overly alarming rate, just a handful. Just a handful - just enough to send out red flags. Who is it that takes mutants by the handful and whisks them away to become part of sick and twisted experiments? After all, Stryker and the Purifiers certainly aren't looking to form a mutant army. That doesn't mean they're not above using a few to their advantage.

It's nearing dusk, the shadows are growing longer as the sun begins to set.

On a particularly deserted stretch of road, someone is using those elongated shadows to his advantage. It's Jaxon, otherwise known as Tenebris, hopping from one to the next in pursuit of a non-descript white van followed and led by black SUVs - another Stryker favorite. Every few seconds, there's a brief glimpse of the shadow mutant popping out of one shadow and preparing for the next hop. He's gaining on the vehicle quickly.

How Jaxon found out where the van started and where it was heading is anyone's guess, the important bit is what a fool he is for actually /following/ one of Stryker's teams.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
One missing mutant was too many, but a handful? For Mystique it has started with a phone call from a contact, which leads to her personally investigating each and every mutant who had disappeared in the area. Between her tactical mind, a computer program analyzing the information, and the twins adding their vast capabilities, she had managed to come up with two possible 'next targets'. They were both located near enough to one another that she could set up surveillance on both, then sit back and wait.

She could have warned them, she could have moved them to safety, but that wouldn't help her find those who were already missing, nor allow her revenge no those taking them.

Dressed entirely in black leather, her head concealed inside a motorcycle helmet, she sat on the back of her sleek black Ducati watching the surveillance cameras on a heads-up display. When the abduction occurred, a tiny drone launched itself from the camera that caught the action, and attached itself to the white van.

Starting up the motorcycle, she tore out of the alley she was parked in and moved quickly in pursuit, making certain to keep back out of sight and using the drones signal to follow.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
It's a blind turn in the road where Jaxon takes the lead and finally makes his move. He doesn't go for the van first - that's the smallest thread out of the group. He opts for the SUV in front, one that's sure to have at least a few armed Purifiers inside. One moment he's near the trees at the side of the road, the next he's used the shadows inside the van to make his attack.

Of course the driver and his cohort are taken completely by surprised. Where once there was no man behind them, now there is one.

With nearly enough force to crack open a melon, Jaxon smacks their heads together from behind with a satisfying clack of skull against skull.

When the SUV swerves and careens off the road, Jaxon's gone again.

But to where?

Raven Darkholme has posed:
To the naked eye there was only a blip, nothing truly noticeable to indicate to Mystique what has happened. One minute the SUV was on track, the next it was swerving all over the place and then off the road.

"Son of a...." she hisses under her breath, forced now to speed up and get the white van in her sights. Without the SUV there was no way to get to the bastards who were behind this, because if her guess was correct, the white van would be next to start swerving and go off the road.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
It's actually the rear SUV in the convoy that gets taken out next, much in the same manner. However, with what happened to the first, the thugs in the second one are more on edge, more aware, more ready. The sounds of gunshots ring out over the sounds of engines.

That vehicle, like the first, ends up careening sideways off the road, just not quite as violently as the first.

The driver of the van slams on the breaks. Doors fly open and four men, dressed in black, all of them armed - one with a shotgun - get out, smoothly and efficiently.

No sigh, not yet, of the 'blip' on Mystique's radar. But again, it's not like the blip was all that easy to spot to begin with?

Raven Darkholme has posed:
More curses escape Mystiques mouth as she reaches the vehicles just in time to watch the second black SUV go off the road. Teleporter? It wasn't one she knew, but someone was most definitely taking out the SUVs from the inside.

Now clearly visible to the driver of the white van, she lays low against the bike to make it more difficult to be shot if they decide to start shooting at her.

She wanted to find the other mutants, so who ever was doing this was going to get screamed at, possibly in numerous languages. This was sloppy work, very sloppy, no matter how well intended.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Mystique finally gets her first glimpse of the man responsible for all of this. Using the gunman's own shadow, cast long behind him, Jaxon simply appears behind - one quick twist is followed by the snap of the man's neck. That's even a more satisfying sound than the clack of skull hitting skull. By the time the other three have it together enough to see what's happened, Jaxon is gone yet again.

The radio chatter finally begins. All of it happened so quickly that there just wasn't time for it before.

'We're under attack! ... Can anyone see anything? ... It's a teleporter, it has to be! ... Guard the van, don't let them get to those mutants! ... I've seen this before! It's - -' That's the last thing that goon will ever say. Before the man has a chance to name names, Jaxon is repeating his move from a moment before.

It's clear that he aims to take them all out, methodically, one by one. He's showing zero mercy - that's a man with a grudge.

The two from the other SUV were down, but not out. One of them comes staggering out, still dazed, but gun in hand.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Keeping the bike steady, Mystique reaches with her right hand to the gun strapped to her hip. She has favorites, working weapons, and even some that she used just because they had at one time been used to kill a mutant. Her guns tonight were working guns, Baretta M9s, one on each hip.

As the man came up from the side of the road, the gun lifted and aimed, she timed the shot for his head as she passed. No words offered, not even slowing down, and then she saw him... Tenbris. It all became so clear in that moment, why things were happening as they were.

"Hey kid," she announced through the amplifier in her helmet. "You ready to take the van? I got your back!"

Jaxon Blain has posed:
With two other gunman still outside the van, Jaxon hesitates. The urge to kill these bastards is so strong that he /almost/ loses sight of the real reason he's here - the van, the mutants inside that are on their way to a hell that's probably worse than his own. He was 'special' and his life still sucked.

Jaxon doesn't trust easily, he works alone for that reason. But when Mystique doesn't hesitate to splatter the brains of one of Stryker's goons all over the pavement, well, he decides in an instant to give her a shot - in the moment - for a little bit of his trust.

The van's easy now, only one man left inside - left behind by his Purifier 'brothers' to guard the cargo inside.

The van is also rather filled with shadows, as windowless vans tend to be. This time, however, the kill isn't instant. This time he appears behind the lone guard with a knife carved from shadow but sharp as steel. Knife to the guard's throat, he growls, "Don't fucking move. Where are the keys to the shackles? Tell me and I'll let you live." That's a big fat lie.

In the rear of the van, with Jaxon and the guard, six mutants cower the best that they can in their restraints. The van is set up much like a prison transport, all of them shackled - hands and feet. And every one of them are wearing Inhibitors.

Outside, those remaining open fire on Mystique.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
The motorcycle skids to a complete stop, turning sideways to put her right side toward the van, as Mystique is lifting the Baretta M9 back up and aimed toward the two men who climbed out of the white van.

*Pop* *Pop*

Two shots perfectly aimed, skillfully executed, the bullets flying straight and true at angles that would ensure they didn't strike the van. Head shots. They were always the most effective at ensuring death.

Leaping off the bike, leaving it standing, she turns back toward the direction the second SUV went off the road and waits for the second man to appear. "I'll take care of those out here kid, you deal with the assholes in there," she stated, leaving the helmet on for now. "None of these bastards will walk away from this."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
"I'm not giving you shit, filthy mutant," is the guard's very stupid reply to Jaxon. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to take them myself," is the whispered return from the shadow master. Somehow, that whisper actually sounds more sinister and threatening that the growled words from before.

Just a heartbeat later and the guard has a second smile just under his chin. Jaxon lets him go and the guard falls - clutching his throat before the lights fade from his eyes.

After a quick pat down, the keys to the shackles are found.

"C'mon, lets get you out of here." Jaxon's tone when speaking to the terrified mutants is completely different. If a person didn't see the same mouth speaking the words, they would never guess the voices were one in the same.

He makes short work of the shackles - murmuring quiet comfort words to each mutant as he frees them, but those damned Inhibitors, those are beyond him. Jaxon's not even sure there's a release for them in the van. Why keep a way to totally free the captives here?

Raven Darkholme has posed:
As the last man's head come up over the edge of the ravine at the side of the road, Mystique smiles darkly and fires off another round. Five bullets, five dead Purifiers... it was a good day.

Turning back to the white van now, she ensures that there are no other Purifiers still standing before holstering her weapon. Reaching up as she walks toward the back of the van, she pulls off her helmet. Fiery red hair falls out around her face, but one shake of her head and her blue skin is visible. There was no mistaking her for anyone other than who she was.

Passing by the bike, she sets the helmet there, then steps up to the back of the van. Looking over the scene inside she growls, "Inhibitors." as her eyes narrow. She really wanted just one more of those bastards left that she could kill with her bare hands.

"It'll be alright. We have the means of removing them on the asteroid," is then said more calmly as her yellow eyes look at each and finally come to rest on Jaxon. "That is, if he'll allow it."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Hands slick with blood from that last Purifier, Jaxon uses one of them to tip an imaginary hat. "As you wish, m'lady," he almost purrs along with a wink.

Even for him, he's looking a little pale and the swirling blackness beneath is skin is fading just a little bit.

That might be because he's sprung a leak on the right side of his stomach. Tendrils of shadow - not pouring but more floating - out of the small hole in his shirt begin to dance and wrap around him like a thin layer of gauze. That damned bullet earlier.

"But whatever you're going to do, you'd best do it fast. I'm sure they'll be sending someone this way soon." The entire scene unraveled in a matter of minutes, so they have time - a little time. It's not like Stryker's Purifiers aren't well equipped and quick.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
A playful grins dances across her face as Mystique reaches up to her right ear and taps the device here. "H & D, triangulate my location and have Ritz send a portal three feet south of me," she states with authority. "Two minutes, tops... let's get you all out of this van and onto solid ground."

Stepping back, she offers her hand to the first of the mutants who moves to get down. Then the second and third, until all are outside. Looking back into the large space where Jaxon stands, a slight frown plays across her lips.

"Come with us," she says firmly. "Let's get you come body armor so we can avoid leaks like that one in the future." She then extends her blue hand toward him.

Jaxon Blain has posed:
It's truly a war that goes on inside Jaxon. He works alone, he lives alone, he's always /alone/ and, most of the time, he prefers it that way.

He looks down at Mystique's proffered hand and then back up to her face. Then he looks down at his 'leak'. It's getting bigger, not in the sense of size but in the sense that there's more leaking from it.

Finally with a gruff sounding sigh of a breath, he concedes but not before, "I'm not a team player, in case you thought maybe I would be.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Helping Jaxon down, Mystique offers up a charming, witty smile. "I know you aren't, so don't worry about that. This isn't an offer to become part of a team, it is merely an offer to Better equip you for your own tasks and work."

Just as she predicted, one minute later a white swirling portal appears. It was large enough for people to walk into side by side, which means she can walk her bike through it.

"We have a complete armory of weapons and armor that you can choose from, then Ritz will send you anywhere in the world you want to go." She looks to each of the mutants. "Go a head, you'll find it's not as bad as it looks. I'd go first, but I have to get my bike."

Looking to the wound on Jaxon's body for a moment she adds, "We can also get you some bandages, and our healer can take a crack and closing the wound if you'd like," is added then, as she looks up to his face with obvious concern in her eyes. "But that is entirely up to you."

Jaxon Blain has posed:
Jaxon grits his teeth, almost grinding them. "Just need to get the bullet out, then I'm golden." He doesn't say it, but it's clear in his tone that 'bullet out' is something he's perfectly willing and able to do himself. As far as the rest of the offer? Well, he doesn't mention it. Either he's accepting of the offer or he's not, it remains to be seen.

The storm clouds in his unusual eyes seem a little darker when he looks over the carnage caused here. He's not sad to see all the dead Purifiers, but there is a sadness about him - in those eyes. A sadness merely over the fact that it has to be this way.

"Get it and lets go then?" Before he changes his mind.