18874/Through A Mirror Darkly: A Sinister Wind In Madripoor

Through A Mirror Darkly: A Sinister Wind In Madripoor
Date of Scene:	24 August 2024
Location:	Madripoor
Synopsis:	Cable and his team attempt to rescue a number of mutant hostages on Madripoor from the Mutant Liberation Front. Things get more complicated when both Sinister's Marauders and the Juggernaut make an appearance creating a four-way fight.
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Stefani Houston, Kurt Wagner, Sally Pride, Kid Devil, Eddie Brock, Cain Marko, Divine

---

Cable has posed:
Madripoor has fallen.

In reality the battle for Madripoor was pretty much over before it began, the Mutant Liberation Force's strike on the island nation in Southeast Asia short and brutal thanks to the power at their disposal.

Of course, thanks ot the actions of some, the attempted occupation of that same island has proven to be a more difficult matter for the Mutant Liberation Front and their leader, the mysterious and enigmatic Stryfe, to lockdown.

But that tends to happen when the remaining opposition can comes and go pretty much at will.

With the destruction of Greymalkin, Cable's ability to teleport around the globe quickly and simply has most definitely been curtailed. But recovering that module ejected from the ruins of his orbital base has left him with at least some ability to move allies and those needing rescue from the ruins of Madripoor in and out with a greater degree of ease then would otherwise be the case.

Which means that the mutant soldier from the future has been able to continue the insurgency against Stryfe and his lackies with far more efficiency then might otherwise be the case. One more benefit in keeping these new rivals pinned down and off balance.

Many of those efforts have been in continuing to harass Stryfe's followers where they can, whether it be attacks on the roaming patrols of ADAM androids patrolling the remains of the city, or continuing to sabotage infrastructure, to insure that power, communication and ready trransportation remains greatly impaired.

But more then anything else efforts have centered on getting those people that either want or need off of the island to a place of safety, away from the new mutant overlords of the city. In some cases those individuals are high profile targets that are valuable for any number of reasons.

But in many cases it comes down to the fact that the residents are, in fact, themselves mutants.

By all accounts Stryfe and his followers have set up 'reeducation camps' to help persuade some of the local mutant inhabitants or those unfortunate enough to be visiting the island at the time of the attack that they are best off throwing their lot in with the Mutant Liberation Front.

Which is what brings the assemblage that Cable has assembled on this occasion to the outskirts of one of those camps. Located just inside the walled perimeter of Hightown -- the upscale, secured wealthy section of Madripoor -- the damage to nearby buildings is not quite as bad here, unlike the devestation that is so prevalent beyond the walls in the shanty town of Lowtown. Still, the collection of pre-fab buildings is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, towers located every dozen feet or so -- none of which would necessarily be enough to keep mutants captive.

But that's what the ADAM units are for. The white, featureless androids can project rays of power-nullification -- more then enough to keep their captives in line. And a threat to any rescue efforts as well.

So a short distance away from the bright spotlights that shine down on the camp's interior, Cable huddles in the shadows, lights in the nearby buildings flickering occasionally as the few remaining generators on the island struggle to keep up the power needs. "Everyone clear on the plan? We get in and get out with as many prisoners as we can manage. Keep in mind that we can only bodyslide up to ten people at a time and their is a cycle limit on ten seconds per go. Which means that we need to escort most of the people out of the perimeter and to pre-established safe zones in Lowtown. Clear?"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over at Cable at his instructions, "The response will likely be a mix of ADAM Units and mercenaries gathered. Anyone truly high profile or powerufl will have been taken to somewhere more secure than a ghetto, likely to Stryfe's primary base of operations. I'd presume the first level of guards will activate an alert to call reinforcements. I'd assume the perimeter likely has mutant sensors along it, or things designed to register other meta-beings." And given whom their group had been composed of, likely an expanded tier as well. So once they got close, an alert of sorts was probably virtually guaranteed and then the hammer would come down and tehy would have to move quickly.

Further thoughts are mostly kept to herself as Monet doesn't try to scan telepathically ahead - there's too much interference and she's worried that she might set off some sort of alert. Stryfe's no doubt gotten access to far more resources in Madripoor, if only through the power of the purse. Depending on whether some of the rumors about the Hand's elvel of operations in the place.. He might even have some level of magic available. Monet gives a nod to the rest of the strike team.

As soon as they got detected and engaged, they'd have to fight their way out.

Stefani Houston has posed:
In the shadows, the sun was down. Stefani prefered the sun up, but what can you do. Stealth op required stealth settings.

She was not far from where Cable was, while giving his final orders. Her green eyes had been pressed up to a small pair of binocs just a moment before, staring at the well-lit encampment. She lowered the tool down to her military web belt, and slipped them inside one of the canvas pouches. She stepped over to her travel pack, and rooted around within it for a moment. After pulling a few more items from it, she slipped it over her shoulders, and reached for her weapon of choice for this mission; a standard combat rifle.

When she spun around, she was ready to go, her brown hair tied back, a breathable bodysuit giving her the power of the oxygen to reach her skin beneath, and a series of strapped gear tightly clipped around various points of her form.

"Mmh." The quiet woman said, her version of a 'Let's do this."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Ahhh, back again. Madripoor has never exactly been the sort of place that Nightcrawler has felt entirely at home and having it invaded by a band of renegade mutants hasn't don much to improve the ambeience. At least not in a certain fuzzy blue elf's eyes.

But people need help. And if there is one thing that Kurt does happen to believe in it would be helping out those in need. Which is why he has once again answered the call. Why once again he finds himself in unlikely company, less concerned with wrecking even more havoc on this poor, unfortunate city then has already been done. But extremely interested in getting as many people to safety as he can.

"It is clear. I shall focus on getting as many people to one of the extraction points as I can. If you good people would be kind enough to keep those unfriendly robotic types away from me," he says with a tight grin.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride is crouched down near Cable, watching the facility with a pair of low-light binocs while the plan is being discussed. "The guards can be a pain in the ass, but the main threat is going to be the ADAMs and their dampening abilities. For obvious reasons. Keeping them from mobbing any escape movement is going to be important." She lowers the binocs and looks to the rest of the group, pointing at Kurt. "For us and our rescuees. But hey, nothing worth doing is easy, right?" She readjusts her spiked gloves.

Kid Devil has posed:
    Having heard the call for aid over one of the more unusual comms channels he was monitoring, Eddie Bloomberg managed to triangulate the position. But it was still a loooong way to teleport, and he ended up emerging from his jump in mid-air. A few hundred meters up.
    After a brief panic he was able to flex out the small wings under his arms and recover into a clumsy glide, followed by a rough, tumbling landing on the ground. But he's unharmed, and the gear in his backpack is built to mutant combat specifications.
    Once he dusts off he makes his way to the rendezvous.
    "I can open some portals to get other people out as well," he offers. "And if I can get my hands into one of those robots I *might* be able to reprogram them. Or at least come up with a countermeasure for the, uh, beams. I had a few theories as to the energy composition in those, actually, I just need to isolate the wavelengths and-- anyway. It's a whole thing."

Eddie Brock has posed:
One minute you're out riding your motorcycle in New York state, the next you're being recruited into a strike team to rescue civilians from a war zone. At least Venom has no need for the subdued Spider-Man Lite form he'd been using in New York City of late, being teleported over at his full monstrous height of around 10 feet tall. Claws, teeth and freakish tongue included. Maybe he looks a bit too much like a horror show, but he's here to help!

Venom regards the strike team, choosing to immediately join the blue one with the tail and the accent who's specifically asking for someone to watch his back. << We will come with you. >> the symbiote speaks, quite loudly and confidently. As he passes, Quiet gets a nod of acknowledgement from the hulking symbiote.

Cain Marko has posed:
There is much afoot in the world these days. On a more cosmic scale, matters of significance have the various factions scrambling this way and that regarding the potential impending arrival of a trancesendant danger from beyond the stars. Cybernetic assassins and kidnappers stalk the tunnels of Manhattan and harass those who find refuge there. Madripoor has fallen, a city of scum and villainy now fallen to an even more dire and dangerous threat....

And now, The Juggernaut has come...drawn to here to these ruins and the chaos within for one simple reason: He's got stuff here.

In truth, of late, The Juggernaut has been actively engaged in his own brand of shaking up the status quo. HIs recent activities have alarmed members of SHIELD, The Brotherhood and the X-Men all together and some unknown agenda and drive has been propelling him towards a goal that cannot mean anything good for anyone should he succeed ...but despite all of that, there are lingering matters that must be attended to before his larger goals can be accomplished and so... through means of the sorcery at the disposal of his present allies.. he'd found his way to the island and his old safehouse in low town. Technology he'd stolen from transports bound for The Raft had been stashed here and left unattended and in the wake of the takeover of the island he'd decided it best to lay his hands on it. Save now he's a problem. It's one thing to get him on and off the island through the whirling realm of destruction that is The Crimson Cosmos - it's another to take a piece of sensitive tech back with him through those same means. Fortunately, he's not without his own mutant contacts and a teleporter who had assisted him before was hiding out on the island. Except now...he's lost contact.

So now, with locals pointing to the re-education camps, the immense red haired brute, makes his way through the ruined streets and husked out buildings. He's immense, certainly, but still 'human' scale and so has largely avoided detection for now as he trundles about in the shadows in his civilian gear for Hightown.

"Figures this would be a bigger hassle then I wanted...."

Divine has posed:
Divine nods in agreement as she listens to the plan recap, giving Kurt a gentle nudge as he talks. The tall guy with the claws gets a level stare. "Keep him safe or we will fight," she says evenly, then turns to the man who'd entered through the flaming portal. "I will smash and grab for you, and we will see about your reprogramming. The power dampening affects me slower than it does those with the X-gene." She gives Kurt a quick shoulder squeeze as she moves to the other man's side, introducing herself in a low voice.

Cable has posed:
The more conventional forces guardiang the encampments have their own dangers inherent with them -- as so often tends to be the case in whatever mission Cable manages to dig up for his most improvised teams. In this case, the many and varied mercenary companies that ultimately chose to surrender to Stryfe and his forces rather then continue their pointless fights. Which means that each of the outer towers that rise up around the perimeter of the camp has heavy mounted weapons -- machine guns, rocket launchers and grenade launches -- perched on those towers while the over-sized power suited troops -- almost mini-Mechs that X-Force has encountered before in their dealings with the Madripoor mercenary companies -- walk in patrols around the exterior of that razor-wire fence, the powerful hydraulic powered legs thumping loudly against the pavement and concrete underfoot with each step as the drivers peer out into the odd mix of gloom and flickering lights that roll across the city in those random waves of brownouts the city still seems to be suffering from.

Everyone seems to understand the priorities and while he hasn't worked with some of those present before, what they might lack in unit cohesion, Cable is counting to make up for with surprise and sher power. "Good enough. If you get the chance to capture one of their androids, don't hesitate but it isn't our focus this time either. Just be careful. I suspect that trying to capture one might cause the others to swarm. And might make you a target for the mechs and their chain guns," the future solider cautions.

"Those of you on extraction, focus on slipping in quietly and start getting anyone you can out," he adds before flashing a tight smile and hefting up a truly ludicruously sized weapon gripped in both his hands. It is either lighter then it looks, or someone is cheating and using his telekinesis to balance it. "The rest of us will focus on making as much noise as we can to make sure the defenders are suitable... distracted," he says flatly.

Or, you know. Unconscious, destroyed or dead. It all works. Cable doesn't play with kid gloves.

Before he can give the order however a shimmering comes from the edge of the camp down below, a portal seeming to open up out of the darkness and instant before five figures emerge from that portal. Nearby sentires blink in surprise, turning towards this latest disturbance, staring at the small group that has seemingly emerged from nowhere. Then shouting in surprise when they suddenly attack swiftly and brutally, a half dozen mercenaries virtually torn to shreads before they can so much as call out an alarm.

Snapping his head back around, Cable peers through that electronic eye that glows on one side of his face, a hiss of surprise escaping him. "What are they doing here?" he says, the tension in his voice clear. "Things have just gotten a whole lot more difficult. Unless I miss my guess, that group down there are known as the Marauders. And they are as dangerous a bunch of killers as you're likely to find," he warns the rest of the team.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And at the teleportation in of the Marauders Monet's eyes go wide. They're a group she and the X-Men have had far too many encounters with. She takes a breath, nightmares barely being suppressed bubbling up to the surface. "The Marauders work for a man called Mister Sinister. He takes mutants and vivisects and experiments upon them. He's even more dangerous than Stryfe." Stryfe so far has seemed focused upon conventional conquest, using the technology and knowledge of the future to establish his own power base.

Sinister is a monster made Mengele. "We have to help them." So much for stealth - in fairness that's already out the window with the full on firefight. Sinister terrifies her and likely all of the X-Men with good reason. HE had captured and tortured a great many of them. THe prisoners were in even worse hands if they fell to Sinister.

Monet suppresses her panic and sets up a mind link, giving quick infodumps on the Marauders she can recognize. "Don't hold back. They're mass produced." Mass produced..? Clones. Some of which had had dozens of itinerations.

Stefani Houston has posed:
Stefani took a moment to look over the others in the team, many of them vaguely familiar to her at this point, though Venom's huge presence certainly does garner a lingering look from the soldier-garbed woman. She seemed to be confused by much of him, seeing him this up close, as compared to their last mission, but all the same, she pulls her eyes off of him, as Cable speaks further.

When Cable shows a humorless smile, Stefani's green eyes narrow for a moment, her head tilts, and he too gets a look of confusion from the young woman. The distant flash of light draws her eyes off of the Boss, and toward the Marauders arrival.

With a bit more urgency, Stef slings her rifle over her shoulder, and slips around some of the cover. Her form moves with an agile grace, to a small sniper nest, she had setup. She removes her rifle, her pack, and slips herself down in to position against her SVD scoped sniper system.

Once positioned up against it, Stef began to trace the reticle of her weapon's scope across the newly arrived figures in the distance.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
Awwww. She likes him, she really likes him.

Kurt does tend to be good at making friends. He is a fairly likeable fellow. Usually, teleporting people into extreme danger just so they can punch a bad guy would not be a winning strategy, at least not in the fuzzy blue elf's experience.

But most people are not Kryptonian clones. Apparently the rules are a little different for them, fortunately enough, so he casts a grin up and towards Divine as she nudges him. And up, and up. She's very tall. "I am greatly reassured to see you with us once more frauline. I shall throw myself into danger, entirely confident that should I get in over my head you shall be there to pull me out. Even if it is by the scruff of my neck," he says with a glint in those golden eyes and a sweeping bow.

Before he can teleport away however, the new arrivals appear and Cable offers up that warning. Studying that small collection of figures down below - the darkness no issue for his own eyes given that the shadows are his friend - he gives a small nod. "Well, whether they are here to harm Stryfe or are looking to get their hands on the captives, our mission remains the same," he says, one of those three fingered hands lifting to his fuzzy features and flicking a salute towars the others. "Reach out should you require my aid. Until then, I shall work on getting people to safety," he offers up.

Then, with his customary *bamf* Kurt is just gone, leaving only a rapidly disipating cloud of inky black mist in his wake.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom gives Kurt Wagner a look. Or at least, the space Kurt occupied before BAMFing away. << Or not. >> the symbiote rumbles, satisfied with the arrival of confirmed bad news. << We will go and meddle in their affairs, then. >>

Before anyone can stop him, or offer aid, Venom is in the air, jumping to the side of a building and looking down. << We will take that one. And then that one. And that one. >> The alien lifeform narrates to himself, or rather, to his host. <We don't even know if they're alive or robotic, man, calm down> comes the reply from said host. He's in there, trust us. It's just that he doesn't have a say in what Venom does when they're active. All he is at this point is a passenger. A Jiminy Cricket-like passenger.

Sally Pride has posed:
The kid gloves came off a long time ago as far as Sally is concerned. There's enemies you just can't reason with, and those are the ones you can't hold yourself back against either. Of course X-Force and Co. can't go on a mission without more complications turning up. Such as a second hostile group showing up and tearing into a merc patrol as well.

The lioness' tail lashes back and forth a few times as she picks up a tactical rifle and gets to her feet, watching the newest encounter in the distance. "Well, Cable." She flicks off the safety and cocks the rifle. "You know what they say about the enemy of my enemy." Pause. Then a fang bearing half-grin that doesn't undermine the seriousness of the moment despite the bit of humor. "They make a great distraction for both sides." She lifts the rifle into a firing position and sights her aim, though she'll wait for the rest of the group being ready to move in before she starts shooting.

Though now the countdown was really on, with a second group also intent on extraction, and likely for much less alturistic intentions.

Kid Devil has posed:
    Kid Devil tightens the straps on his backpack and mentally inventories all the gadgets and tools he stuffed in before he left. In the midst of tallying up how many and which type of screwdrivers are in his kit-- because you never know which one you'll need!-- a sudden threat has arrived close to the staging area.
    "I guess that means we're not catching them by surprise after all..."
    Eddie (the red one) goes about fidgeting with his comms to stay in touch with the others in the squad, only to have someone poking at his mind instead. He lets Monet's thoughts in and nods along to the information. Not like whoever's mind that is can see him nodding.
    The others clearly have the necessary violence to handle this problem, so Kid Devil sets out into the field to focus on the rescue part of the operation.

Cain Marko has posed:
The remains of a toppled office building and the jutting scorched remains of its outer walls serves as a vantage point for Citizen Cain, and grants him -just- enough obscurity to not be seen as he surveys the perimeter of the camp like some looming monolithic watchtower. The Madripoor mercenaries he's familiar with, taking note of them but otherwise dismissive as he continues looking over the encampment. The rocket launchers, machine guns and other assortments of weaponry are also given notice as well but ultimately merely filed away as a slight distractions.

The arrival of The Marauders and their swift dispatching of the mercenaries? Well -that- truly draws his interest and he rears back in some surprise at this new turn of events. "Huh..no foolin'.." he rumbles, dragging a massive finger across the unshaven expanse of his cinderblock of a jaw. "...Whelp...guess aint no time like the present..."

With that, the huge man steps forward ad plummets down, dropping a good thirty feet or so from his prior position. Mid fall, there's a flash of red light, crackling crimson energy that ripples over his body - enlarging it bigger and bigger and wrapping it in the form fitting crimson armor and helmet of The Juggernaut.

A heartbeat later and he's impacted with a thunderous *TOOOM* that shakes the area and sends a shockwave rippling out. This is then followed by the heavy *TOOMS* of each of his footsteps as he emerges from the dust cloud and makes a charge for the outer walls of the camp with each footfall increasing in intensity and force until essentially his movements are a full on moving seismic disruption as he barrels for the camp entrance in an introduction of additional chaos to this chaotic situation.

"OLLY, OLLY, OXEN-FREE!! ANYBODY WHO IS GETTIN' OUT, HAD BETTER GET OUT!" he bellows, thunderous voice booming over the audible sound of the erupting chaos and the steady rumble of his own footsteps as he reaches for the outer walls and fences to tear through them on his way into the encampment.

Divine has posed:
Divine grins in response to Cable's smile, but it falls off quickly once Monet gives them the mental dump. She knows a thing or five about people who make clones, considering her own origins, and the idea of her friends being experimented on firms her face into hard, serious lines. Maim robots, no quarter to Marauders. Her shoulders roll back, muscles flexing along her arms and back. "Well, no plan ever survives contact with the humanoid element, right Cable?" She watches Venom bound off in their direction and shakes her head, following Red Eddie into the fray.

Her head snaps up before she can get very far though, the thrum of the ground and loud voice catching her attention. "We might have another problem." The seismic disruptions increase as the behemoth of a man gets closer. "That sounds like the Juggernaut guy. Is he with us, or still..." She glances at Monet, wiggling her fingers beside her head. "Confused?"

Cable has posed:
Monet's summation of just who the Marauders are is a pretty good one, and Cable gives a tight nod of agreement. Any other lingering doubts about just how dangerous they are would be swiftly banished, watching as they make short work of the western edge of the reeducation camp, carving through the mercenaries on guard as if they are barely even there.

The figure in the lead is a dark haired woman in what appears to be a metal body suit that covers her legs, torso and one arm in the entirety. With a faint smirk, she turns her attention towards the closest pair of towers rising up out of that razor wire that surrounds the camp, directing her hands towards them. Leaping from her hands, unseen waves of power sink into the ground itself, making it shake, making it quake, the crude structures sawying wildly before both they and the heavy weapon emplacements they hold come crashing down to lay in a heap. That would be Arclight then

Following closely in her wake is a big, burly dark haired man in a simply black body suit that leaves one shoulder bared. A deep quiver hangs over his shoulder, harpoons glinting within as he reaches back and pulls one out, hurling it with surprising force towards the mini-Mech that moves to intercept them. It's a good throw to be sure, but what makes it double effective is the fact that the thrown weapon seems to transform in midair, becoming charges with energy, and as it strikes home it explodes, ripping the armored mech to pieces. That then would be Harpoon.

The third figure appears darker of skin, long dark hair hanging down past his shoulder and a beard and mustache prominent on his dusky features. Otherwise he appears almost more robot then man, all but one of his arms seemingly replaced by machinery. But he moves fast, strength and speed clearly enhanced and a pair of energy blasters appear in his hands in a blink of an eyes, beginning to rain down fire on the nearest of the mercenary patrols that wander the perimeter, cutting them to shreads and leaving another quartet of smoking bodies laying on the shattered concrete of Madripoor.

The fourth figure is every bit as distinctive as the others, this one a man with long white hair with purple highlights and a purple body suit. As the others advance, he abruptly starts to spin, faster and faster until he rises from the ground, most of his body a blur as he flies forward. Nearing the razor wire fence, the whirlwind that surrounds him simply plucks it from the ground, adding deadly metal tendrils that lash out at anyone who gets too close to him. That would be Riptide then.

The fifth figure seems positively ordinary by comparison. A man in a simple green suit and spiked hair who lingers behind the others, a faint smile on his face as he scans the nearby field of battle, hands in his jacket pockets. He does nothing overt -- yet. Scrambler.

While no other figures appears, what is also unmistakable is the fact that shortly after the portal closes, another of the advancing mechs that approach the group suddenly pauses, turns, and opens fire on another of the nearby watchtowers, that heavy chain gun tearing both weapon emplacements and the mercenaries who wield them to shreads for no seeming reason.

They might not be, strictly speaking, catching anyone by surprise. But they can still very much catch the MLF forces off guard as this unexpected attack leaves them scrambling, the sheer brutality of Mr. Sinister's agents and assassins virtually destroying the entire western flank of the camp in mere seconds. Which gives Cable and his group an opening.

Cable has posed:
Sally receives a tight nod of agreement. "Nothing's changed. The goal is still to get as many people out as we can, whether we have to cut down Stryfe's goons or Sinister's to do it doesn't really matter," the future solider asserts, watching as the others start to scatter and moving into position himself.

That massive gun comes up and with the western edge of the camp pretty much gone, he focuses his attention on the south, that huge plasma cannon spitting a ball of virulent green energy towards another of the watch towers there, that crackling energy exploding around it, demonlishing it utterly in another fiery explosion as much designed to pull attention away from the northeastern corner. And give the extraction team as much cover as possible.

Three way battles. They're a pain.

Or is that a four-way battle?

Because almost as soon as the lines of battle are formed, the sudden appearance of the Juggernaut changes all of that as his landing virtually craters the nearby street, a shockwave exploding outwards, pavement actually rolling away in all directions like the tide rolling in, as the ground shakes.

Cable isn't overly given to great demonstrations of emotion. Even when his home was destroyed by Stryfe, even when Greymalking exploded, he simply watched impassively as he floated back to Earth. But he does let out a mild explative now.

"Fuck."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
A four way melee. Juggernaut, whom had his own ideologies and goals, the Mutant Liberation Front, the Marauders.. It was making Monet's head spin. She would take a deep breath to refocus. <<As Cable said, goal is the same. Let them fight one another. If they engage, try to isolate them and take them out quickly without drawing into the larger battle.>> There's too much going on here to try and engage all parties. And they can't let themselves get spread thin trying to engage all parties to save civilians. She goes to give a tight summary of the situation <<Anyone that does not escape will wish they had been killed instead>> Her mental tone is flat.

WEll, well aware of the fate that will result if Sinister gets his hands on them. Or what Stryfe will do to them knowing that Sinister is after them. Fortunately, they have plenty of distractions now. Monet goes to make a beeline for the first ADAM ANdroid she can get to that's charging into the melee. At high speed, she geos to flip it through the air towards Scrambler. The most dangerous of the bunch. <<Do not engage them at close range>>

Whether or not her throw is accurate, Monet is going to charge towards the cages. Her intent on getting to them, moving to try and quickly brute force her way through security and restraints whether or not the sheer amount of body damage and pain it took just to open them up for the rest to start herding and evacuating the civilians out of there.

Stefani Houston has posed:
Stefani had already abandoned her sniper rifle. She could have assisted the Marauders, with cover fire, but she'd expose the staging area for her team if she had opened fire, plus this was an amazing bit of a distraction. Where once was a woman in a skin tight bodysuit, pressed up against that large rifle, was now nothing. With the Juggernaut coming in to play too, this was an absolutely chaotic battlefield, but it presented a moment of opportunity...

A black misty smoke filtered through the edge of the encampment's fence, seeping through to the interior. On the other side, the black smoke formed back in to the shape of Agent Houston, her hands moving to grip the pistols strapped to her thighs. She slid them from their nylon holsters, and proceeded to move right up toward the guard towers near to where the prisoners were being held. Soldiers shouting, rushing around the interior of the first tower, Stefani moved with a calm stride straight to them. The first soldier turned, noticed the woman in black, and went to raise his rifle up. The first shot went in to his chest, the second in to his forehead!

A second soldier saw the first being aired out in multiple places, and with his assault rifle up, he rushed out, weapon up. He fired off two shots that spattered across the fence, before Stefani appeared out of her invisible cloak, positioned just beside where the second soldier came from. She grasped hold of his rifle, pulled it aside, jammed her pistol in to his chest, and fired twice, before she leaned back and sent a hard kick right in to his gunshot wounds. The man's body flew back in to the guard post, crashing over a computer, and tumbling on to the floor near the others within the post.

Stefani threw his lost rifle aside, and cast a incendiary grenade in to the post, before she turned to walk away from it, back on course toward the captives compound.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It is getting a little brutal out there. Which perhaps stands to reason. This might not exactly be a war zone, but it might be the next best thing to one. Madripoor has defintely looked better. The ongoing insurgency has seemingly done much to keep it that way, to insure that even if the Mutant Liberation Front had any plans to try and actually improve things on the island it would be tough. Especially with more and more of their population melting away by the day.

And with luck, dozens more will be gone within the hour. At least if Kurt has anything to say about it.

Which is why he teleports to the far side of the camp, emerging in the shadow of one of the towering building that still stands - mostly intact - on the island, it's shadow stretching far across the streets below. He waits until the maximum attention seems to be diverted as the Marauders make their assault and Cable and Co. begin their own.

And then the fuzzy blue elf *bamfs* again, this time appearing amongst one of those makeshift buildings that makes up the camp itself, emerging amongst the tired, terrified and tortured residents. "Guten tag," he offers up cheerfully. "I am here to get you out. If you will please gather around, we have a place of safety waiting for you. And a way off the island to come," he promises in that reassuring manner he has.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride starts to march to match Cable's stride, after just a moment to admire Juggernaut living up to his unstoppable reputation. It's hard to not at least acknowledge the sheer level of, well, leveling he can do.

But keep to the plan, or at least the general strategy of it, and she stays with Cable's approach. Not that he needs help per say, but it's a tactic that has proven effective in the past. People tend to either try to avoid Cable's massive firepower, or tank through it if they're tough. But that's why Sally is keeping stride with her precision tactical rifle. Loaded with armor piercing rounds as has become the norm for these missions, between heavy armor and mutant durability powers.

A power suit merc gets his leg blasted through the knee, crippling his movement so Cable's plasma barrage can tear down the armor.
A Marauder jumps to the side of the spray of plasma, brings up his hand as if to fire some manner of power, but then reels backward as Sally puts a round in his shoulder.
Another merc screams as shot shatters the tactical field goggles he was wearing, and likely shredding his eyes with the bullet and shards from the lenses alike.

Several of both sides scramble as towers and walls start falling. Sally fires, reloads, aims and repeats as quickly and precisely as she can to pick off enemies of both sides as their attention is one something other than being shot

Kid Devil has posed:
    Kid Devil prowls toward one of the camps where hostages are being held. He gets low, sneaking along to avoid the patrols he was warned about. He creeps forward until he can get eyes on the prisoners, and checks his data to locate the nearest evacuation site. The circumstances for teleporting that many people out are not at all ideal, but surely these folks would prefer a few bruises over whatever their captors have in store?
    Right?
    The devil boy blips right next to the holding cell, punching one guard into a wall while giving the other a super-strength pimp-slap with the end of his tail. He holds a finger to his lips to silence the prisoners, lest any of them get the bright idea to start screaming just because a demon popped out of thin air. There are a lot of teleporting demons around today, apparently.
    Then Kid Devil grips at the air and tears a hole right in space, circled with swirling, radiant plasma. The other end isn't entirely horizontal, but at least it's only a couple of meters above one of the evacuation sites. "If you folks could hurry," he murmurs.
    Even so it takes far longer than Kid Devil would have preferred. Just as he's closing the fiery escape hatch behind the last escapee in this particular camp, one of the hostile androids rounds a corner and swivels its targeting scanners his way.

Eddie Brock has posed:
Venom sits in a hands-and-knees-and-toes position on the side of the building, watching as the Marauders split off into squads. Easy pickings at this point. And with fewer riflemen, there's fewer angles for them to surround the symbiote warrior. So, of course, Venom drops casually off the building, forming a spiked ball on one of his hands and smashing it into one of the squad leaders. Catching them -fully- off guard, Venom uses his other arm to launch tendrils at the other three, pushing them into a wall, a deserted car and through a window, respectively.

The three outside are clearly done fighting, for the moment, but Venom leaps after the one who went through a window, just to make sure. And he does this to put down a Marauder. What he finds, however, is a small group of civilians who got stuck up on the third floor. "Help us!" one of them calls repeatedly, spooked by the sound of violence outside. "The stairs collapsed, we're stuck here!" Venom glances up, seeing that in fact the stairs -are- busted. << We will help you get down! >> the symbiote calls, his rumbling voice echoing off the walls. He extends his arm, sending out tendrils into the next building over, smashing a window to make an entryway. << Walk over those. Be quick. >> he tells the group, but they hesitate. << Climb into that building, it is not as damaged as this one and you will be able to wait for evacuation on the ground floor at least. >> he insists, at which point the oldest of the civilians starts nodding. "Yeah, we'll have a better shot from there. Thank you." he offers as he becomes the first to climb over, while the rest follow suit.

Cain Marko has posed:
Cable is right to be alarmed. Those who wear the 'X' well know the potential threat brought by the Avatar of Cytorrak shoudl his ire fully fall on them. Entire teams are mobilized and protocols enacted if a Juggernaut Aggro is imminent and tha'ts when he's -not- as unhinged as reports of his recent behavior - and first hand experience of Monet and DIvine - would reveal.

But for the moment, he seems to be here for a matter that is only peripherally connected to this planned mission and intense battle.

"Vanisher!? Where you at! You got your dumbass caught! You're lucky I need you for a quick job!" his deep voice bellows, practically a booming thunder clap unto itself. Explosions envelop and engulf his strolling form as rocket launch fire and grenades criss cross the battlefield and find purchase upon his moving body. Enormous footprints follow in his wake as well as he moves from the ege of the camp towards the first set of cages and locked buildings he sees. Inexorably closer to the center of the pitch battle between X-Force, the Marauders and the Mercenaries like a ticking time bomb...only pausing long enough in his stride to get his bearings and really start to take in just the sheer number of mutant combatants, "Huh. Aint this messy..."

One of the mech suits sends an enormous fist pile driving down towards the titans head. There is a horrendous sound of reinforced steel crumpling and sundering as the fist distorts from the impact, folding around the behemoths immovable body as he looks around, seemingly not even acknowledging the impact or the alarmed shout of the merc who made the attack.

"Mebee over there." Juggernaut muses and then adds, "'Scuse me." to his attacker. An enormous hair arm, thicker then a swamp tree trunk, reaches out and his hand grasps hold of the torso of the suit - crushing it around the unfortunante pilot as he grabs it. The pilot's cage crushing around him and trapping him within as the avatar turns and with a flick of said monstrous arm, sends the suit spiraling into the air and sailing in a wide, high, flailing arc towards some of the cages!

Divine has posed:
Divine shakes her head at Monet, but she's side by side with the woman, engaging ADAM units and ripping them apart at the joints. It's a good workout, and heads and parts get hurled at guards, at Marauders - anyone trying to get between her and the encampments that she doesn't recognize from Cable's briefing either gets something tossed at them or gets tossed at someone else. This is not a time to pull strength, and she's being obvious with her use of power.

A long, slow inhale becomes a sharp flurry of frosty air that gets blown out at a trio of the ADAMs, freezing them in place and making it easier for her to pull them apart, and a leg gets used to smack a guard in the stomach. The force sends the woman in a line drive towards the pack of Marauders, and the leg-bat is chucked like a spear towards a grouping of mercenaries that hadn't been killed in the first of the Marauder attacks.

She sees the mech suit come flying towards a set of cages and leaps, taking to the sky to intercept the suit with a grunt and some skidding that leaves an obvious divot in the ground to mark her backwards path.

Cable has posed:
The situation is getting messier with each and every passing second, but there is no reason that they can't put that to good use. In a straight up fight, this whole thing would very be a nightmare. A completely chaotic melee where, even with all the firepower they have at their disposal, might still be at a disadvantage.

As it is, they may only have a matter of minutes before Stryfe's forces are able to summon reinforcements. It is bad enough out there already without a dozen more mutant terrorrists running around. Without Holocaust or Abyss making another appearance. Or perhaps worst of all, Stryfe taking the field, bringing his Omega-level telepathy into play.

On the bright side though, all the other sides involved in this fray have to be just as off balanc of course. They could hardly have expected this either.

Except perhaps the Juggernaut. He couldn't have expected it either of course. He probably just doesn't happen to care.

But each passing second buys a little more time fo the extraction team to get out as many people as possible. To clear some of those cages, or the crude bunkhouses where the mutant hostages are being kept. To seek out the children that are locked away, seperated from their parents to help insure the good behavior of their elders. With Eddie and Kurt moving amongst them, a ready escape is available, though both might find that their offers of escape are met with the stubborn insistence that 'they get the children to safety first', gestures made to a more secure bunker at one end of the encampment.

Of course it still feels like it is only a matter of time until someone notices what htey are up to, and those harsh sppotlights glare down, casting their bright lights over the camp grounds -- at least where Arclight or Juggernaut's approach hasn't sent them sprawling across the ground at any rate. Fortunately there are still shadows aplenty, enough for Quiet to slip in amongst the camp guards the patrol the interior of the now broken fence line, dispatching them with her customary aplumb.

While things remain heated within the camp proper, especially as the Juggernaut smashes his way past that outer wall of defense -- leaving only the razorwire fence to the north in anything resembling a complete state -- Venom is given a solemn reminder that there are still plenty of innocents caught up in the fighting that still periodically ravages the island. That insurgency has it's costs, as he helps the unfortunates trapped right on the fringes of the battle to a saffer place.

At least until a trio of energized thrown harpoons thrown by the Marauader Harpoon cleanly burning through the wall all around him, the blazing weapons just narrowly missing the hulking, symbiote-enhanced man.

As the Juggernaut makes his appearance, the other Marauders eye him warily but look to give him a wide berth. All except the Mech that suddenly and surprisingly switched sides. It turns fearlessly towards the hulking man, striding towards him and slamming one of those giant metal hands at his helmeted head -- to no effect. And when the giant avatar of Cytorrak casually slams the Mech, virtually crushing the cage around the pilot? For just a moment the eyes of the man go hazy before they clear, surprise and pain reflected there as he seems to have no idea just how he got in his present circumstances. Then he is flying, hurled towards one of the cages only to be intercepted just in time by the streaking Divine before more tragedy can insure.

And Monet, for just an instant, might register a sixth Marauder presence. This one bodiless, formless, except for the bodies that she steals. Malice.

Cable has posed:
From their chosen overlook, Cable and Sally continue to rain down blaster fire on any and all targets of opportunity, working to keep their foes off balance, to keep their focus away from the camp proper and on the fighting near the perimeter. To give their people time to work. "The mercenaries are in pretty bad shape. Lets focus on the Marauders some," Cable says flatly, swinging that big cannon towards that group.

Monet seemingly has had a similar idea, swooping up and plucking one of the androids from the aerial patrol it makes over the camp and hurling it towards the figure in the green suit. And while he has t o step lightly, the man does nimbly step aside, barely avoiding the ttossed android. With a sigh and a shake of his head, he glares up at M before reaching over and laying a hand on the ADAM unit. A moment later it rises from the ground, it's advanced systems overwhelmed, rewriten by a touch of Scrambler, rising to streak back towards Monet, still sparking and damaged, but it's loyalties changed by the suited man's touch alone.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet's eyes go wide as she picks up what is essentially the displaced psionic entity moving through. <<Warning, Malice is with them! Do not allow yourself to have clear line of sight from the entity. Keep mobile!>> No one knew exactly the extent of -how- effective her possession abilities were. WIth no doubt the changes that had been made to her by Sinister? It was terrifying to even contemplate. Monet is moving to keep on going even faster now, as she has to add another priority thing.

To try and keep track of the woman (?) as she would likely be switching to other targets. Allah have mercy on them if Malice jumped into one of her comrades. And now they would have to screen all of the refugees they got out of here as well to make sure they didn't have a rider along with them. But before she can do much mroe than pass along a warning or try to get ready to mount a mental counterattack, the ADAM unit is thrown right back at her by Scrambler. Dammit. Monet's focused on trying to get to as many cages as possible to free prisoners, but she's in close quarters and has limited room to maneuver. She has no real ability to get out of the way of the unit hurled at her, even as it's already weakening her powers..

She goes to try and counter it with as best possible form to smash it with an attempted football kick! The type that was designed to send the ball fifty meters across the field and just hope that she could do it before the thing shut her down. If it didn't work.. Well, then she was gutted as she had no room to try and evade or defend herself.

Stefani Houston has posed:
The lights in the second guard post went out a pair of seconds after Stefani had strode right in through the front door, with a confident gait that suggested she just belonged there like anyone else. When the lights inside the place went out, flashes, bangs, and screams began to iminate from the interior of the post. It lasted for maybe thirty seconds, before the post fell dark, and silent.

From the doorway, Stefani emerged, her eyes surrounded by an inky black mist, conveying the mood she was in following what she had just done. When she stepped from the guard post door, she left it in complete ruin, four more bodies laying upon the ground, their discarded weapons strewn about toppled chairs, and scattered papers, each one trickling blood on to the floor from gunshot wounds, or the seeping slits of knife entry points.

With her combat knife slipped back in to her belt sheath, Stefani walked evenly toward the prisoner compound shelter that the guard posts had been protecting. She listened to the comms of her team, and spared a glance toward the chaos around the encampment, but when she reached the small prisoner shelter, she ripped the door open.

Inside, she found six prisoners, all of them staring at the woman in black, with the black streak across her eyes, a look of fear upon their faces.

Stef allowed her mood to soften, and the black stream to fade back to a pale natural skin tone. She showed them a smile, and beckoned them to come with her, a simple hand gesture, and a step-aside from the shelter door.

Soon, the gaggle of would-be escapees were gingerly running toward the fence line past where Stefani had first slipped inside the base.

One by one, she took them by their hand, and allowed herself to slip in to smoke form, cascading the smoke across them, making their bodies slip in to the same non-corporeal state.

She began the process of letting them walk through her, and become the same state of black mist, allowing them to run through the fence, to freedom.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
While the fact that the captives he is seeking to help just out and out refuse to leave is a little inconvienient, Kurt certainly can't blame them. He wouldn't leave without his child either. So the fuzzy blue elf simply bows his head at the demand, glancing out the boarded up window through the cracks that show just a hint of the chaos going on outside.

"I understand. I shall be back momentarily after I get your children to safety. You have my word," he promises with that reassuring smile. Just like the Juggernaut and the Marauders aren't out there, tearing up the place.

And with that he *bamfs* one more time, this time emerging in that bunker across the camp, in the sealed room, the explosions anre thunderour footfalls outside somehow seeming more muted, more distant in the dimply lit rooms, childred cowering on bunk beds that line the wall. "It is alright little ones. Come here. I am going to take you to be reuinted with your parents," he promises.

As the children tentatively begin to approach, Kurt sinks to one knee with a smile, extending his arms. "Here, gather around," he says, showing no outward sign of the effort this will take, to bring so many people with him at once. Then an instant later the room is empty, only the faint stench of sulphur left in their departing wake.

The comms crackle to life a moment later. "I have the children out. You are free to start teleporting the rest of them," the fuzzy blue elf reports. "On my way back now."

Sally Pride has posed:
"Works for me," Sally replies as she ejects the spent magazine from her rifle. With the other hand she grabs a grenade off her belt, thumbs the trigger, and uses her enhanced strength to fastball it into the nearest cluster of mostly Marauders. If a few mercs get caught up in it she's not going to complain.

That and it's only a concussion grenade. Think like a flashbang but without the flash part, so it's just a sudden intense sonic shockwave. Even without the blinding part it's still quite disorienting, and deafening. Which can be a devestating state to be in admist a massive chaotic fight. Can't clearly hear your allies, or your enemies. Or your enemie's gunfire. A few Marauders might even inadvertantly strike at each other in the confusion.

Not that it will matter much as Sally takes the moments available to load a fresh mag into her tactical rifle and return to gunning them down alongside Cable's mass firepower while they're still on the backfoot.

Kid Devil has posed:
    Kid Devil goes wide-eyed when the enemy android turns one of its weapons his way. He hadn't even stopped to consider what-- if anything-- the beam would even do to him. He's not /exactly/ a mutant, but he does have powers he's presently trying to use to save people...
    The beam blasts through the air toward Kid Devil. Or, at least, where he was a fraction of a second ago. For a moment, to an observer, it might look like the ADAM beam had vaporized him into a puff of smoke.
    But he's appeared right behind the android, one hand raised-- and glowing white hot. He swings down and swiftly melts through the android's weapon arm, then its neck, and a leg for good measure. "Oh, hey, free head..."
    As the dismembered bot topples over sideways, Eddie collects his trophies and blips away to safety. Taking cover in the remains of a strategically insignificant building, he pries open the head and gets to work investigating the construction of the machine. "Oh, a backup power supply! Useful... I wonder if..."

Cain Marko has posed:
There is certainly wisdom in the Marauders tactical choice to not engage Juggernaut directly....aside from the attempt of the psionically influenced merc piloting the mech, but the giant has no way of knowing the ultimate source of that attempt on his person and even if he did, it's questionable if it would deter him overly much. For the moment he remains mono-focused, albeit with building ire at the confusion and chaos around him, and his lack of success in finding his target. His mind and spirit war with the budding urge of more wild acts of destruction and pure chaos to urge the disruption taking place around him to even greater levels -- but he resists and tamps it down for the moment. Ever so slightly, the ground shudders more and more at his steps as more of his restraint lifts as if a gradual warning of the escalation potentially looming the longer he remains and engages.

A horrendous sound of cement sundering and the ground breaking ripples through the air as the behemoth parts open the outer wall of one of the crude bunkers as if he were pulling a curtain apart. Debris rains down and the earth splinters as he exposes any within the building to the wild abandon of the battle occurring in the encampment. However, not seeing his target, he turns away, leaving the frigthened captives further exposed to the wrath of the battle unfolding about them.

"Alright, I'm startin' to lose my patience..." he grouses, rumbling loudly as he begins a slow tread towards another set of cages with ever increasing force as his footsteps propel him onward.

Divine has posed:
Emma has warned Divine about Malice, and though she does not have any great skills in the mind arts herself her mother-figure has made certain that her shielding is strong and littered with traps for the hostile, with a failsafe switch in the passive TP link she's allowed the woman to forge between their minds. <<Going to have Mother enact a shield, I won't be able to receive TP commands the rest of the fight,>> she sends to Monet before mentally flipping the switch "on" and sending 'Malice is here' down the link behind it.

A few seconds later she pauses, blinks, and shakes her head, and then she's right back in the thick of it, dashing behind Juggernaut towards the frightened captives. "Back, back, c'mon, I'll help you get to somewhere safer until we can move you!" She herds them towards a corner - currently away from the battle, but only just - and hopes for reinforcement soon to get them out of the fray. She touches her communicator, and "Nightcrawler, have a group in the corner just outside the battle. Can you get them?" is sent across the air.

Cable has posed:
In a perfect world, Cable would have preferred to arrange a number of smaller strikes throughout the city at the same time. To serve as distractions. to make sure that Stryfe can't simply concentrate all of his forces and bring them to bear upon them. Just to buy them a little more time.

But with the resources they had available for this particular mission, concentrating them, focusing them to insure that they got out as many people as possible seemed the better alternative.. And fortuitous in this case, because the original plan definitely did not acocunt for the Marauders, let alone the god damn Juggernaut.

Still, it means that they very well might only have moments to spare, to rescue who they can before the fight for this single camp grows even more chaotic. So they had best make those moments count.

As the number of mercenary forces outside the walls of the camp virtually vanish, leaving only a handful of those patrolling within left, it does indeed free up Cable and Sally to provide their fire support and direct it towards keeping the Marauders at bay. The fact that the incorporal and always dangerous Malice is somewhere out there, waiting for the opportunity to seize control of someone it is certainly bad news -- especially if she manages to get her psychic talons into one of their number, but there is only so much he can do about it.

Cable does take the rare step of opening up his own telepathy -- at least as far as he dares without losing a grip on the techno-organic virus ravaging his body -- reaching out with his senses to detect any sort of disturbance in the astral plane.

He otherwise focuses his attention on the Marauders -- those that he can see at least -- joining Sally in her assault, launching plasma burst after plasma burst towards the other five, trying to push them back, to keep them clear of the perimeter of the camp for as long as possible, those bright green bursts exploding amongst them much like the concussion grenades. But with those bright flashes of green.

Still, the Marauders do their best to return the favor. HArpoon rains down his own energizes projectiles around them, the harpoons exploding around the gun-wielding pair, sending them scattering. Scalphunter blasts away, peppering the nearby ground, the nearby ruined buildings that might serve as cover with shots while Riptide sends chunks of debris raining down towards their heads. Even the ground itself betrays them as Arclight directs her energy benath their feet, making it rumble and heavy to try and disrupt their footing or bring nearby walls toppling down on them as Cable covers him and his partner in a telekinetic 'umbrella' that catches stray falling bricks.

Monet's punt is a good one, and even as the converted ADAM unit steaks towards her, she batters it away before the power-sapping beams can reduce her to helplessness, sending it crashing back down to the ground. But other ADAM units are starting to swarm into the air as she makes herself a tempting target.

Meanwhile Stefani manages to find and rescue a half dozen prisoners as well, showing her softer side as she leads them to safety, escorting them past the threat of the rampaging Juggernaut nearby. And while they might not be headed to the evacuation area, at least they are out of Stryfe's clutches. There's a chance Cable's people will be able to pick them up in the days ahead.

Eddie gets his mechanical prize, the severed head of one of the ADAM's unit. And no doubt receives a surprise. the technology within is advanced. Very advanced. Fifteen hundred years in the future advanced.

Kurt's voice on the comm is a signal that the widescale evacuation can begin. Something that Divine helps to facilitate as she plays spheard over some of the freed captives, mauevering them out of the line of danger until they can be teleported to safety.

Cable has posed:
As for Juggernaut, he may or may not here a weak call from a seemingly empty cage on the peripherary of the camp. While it might appear to be empty, a weak voice calls out, "Hey. Hey, over here," it says, the image of a man briefly appearing before vanishing from sight once more.

Time is running out however. In the skies nearby, a veritable army of ADAM androids can be seen streaking through the dark night, their pale featureless bodies visible against the blackened sky overhead. Sky skiffs soar amongst them, members of the MLF like the Reaper and Forearm visible piloting them.

And on the outskirts of camp, the glowing, massed form of Holocaust simply drops from the sky, landing close to the green suited form of Scrambler who turns towards him with a smirk. "Now what are you supposed to be, big guy?" he asks, starting to reach over to touch the psionically armored mutant.

Whatever he expected though is lost in a look of horror as he stares up at the engine of destruction who raises a hand, directs it towards him, and completely and utterly engulfs Scrambler in that fiery blast that lights up the night sky, the entire camp lit up like it is day for just a moment.

And when that fire dies? Only the vague outline of a human sized figure remains etched into the pavement below, burned there as if the assassin's very soul has been burned away.

Abyss touches down lightly behind him, that sadistic grin etched across his shadowy features. "Tch," he says, shaking his head. "Remember to keep the rest of them alive. Stryfe wants them," he chides the other mutant.

Kid Devil has posed:
    "Oh. The circuits are all... I /see/..." Kid Devil mumbles mostly to himself while he works. Before too long an ADAM beam fires out of the arm he'd severed from the android and patched into the head, the dangerous energy lancing through the sky over the ruined city. "Oops. Probably not gonna get a lot of shots out of this thing."
    << If you can get me a clear line of fire on the opposition, I can hit them with one of these robot weapons. I think. Probably. >>
    He teleports back to where the bulk of the brawling is occurring, cradling the robot head in one arm and leaving the android's weapon arm propped across his shoulder like an RPG. After peeking around the corner of a building to survey the scene he plots out all the angles...
    Suddenly a fiery portal tears open on the battlefield, behind some of the enemy forces. Kid Devil remains on the other side and fires the beam through the opening. That portal closes, only to reappear elsewhere. And again, and again, each time letting loose another shot from the looted android weapon. And almost one more time, but the beam that blasts from the portal is flickering and weak, dissipating harmlessly. Eddie jostles the arm in an effort to rouse one more good shot out of it.
    His momentary distraction is enough for one of the enemies to launch a projectile back through the portal at him, the explosion catapulting him through the remains of the wall, and the next building, and the one after that.
    "...ow..."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Hammer and Anvil. They don't want to be in between either group now. If Sinister escalates, if Stryfe escalates.. If the two truly do after one another, it will result in a nightmare. If either of the two monsters get ahold of either's technology it could be a threat on the level that the entity that either of them has worked for. Fortunately, Juggernaut isn't exactly on their side but the near psionic immunity that Cain has and his near KRyptonian level strength will let him tank whatever they can throw at him.

<<Everyone, prepare for fallback>> The Marauders are going to be pulped momentally or Sinister will throw in something heavier if he hasn't gotten what he's after. Scrambler gets no pity, nor do any of the other Marauders as they're left to the unfortunate fate of Abyss and Holocaust. It's not like they won't be seen again. Sinister seems to produce them by the dozen.

She goes to put her lips together and gives out a quick, piercing and very high pitched whistle. Divine's said that she has to block off telepathy and with Stryfe's heavies present there they can't guarantee that their comm system will remain unjammed. So Monet cheats.

She calls out in high pitched Kryptonian over to Divine, which the woman's enhanced hearing would pick up fine. <<We're getting out of here. Disengage as soon as area is clear>> Then she's going to sweep in and fly high. <<Does anyone require a physical extraction?>> By which she meant did she need to physically come and lift anyone up to be a backup for Kurt.

Cain Marko has posed:
"It's about time! You better be glad I need you to port something for me! And don't go runnin' up to Asteroid M to run yer mouth about what I've been up to either!"

Juggernaut's massive hand reaches down and crunches over the top of the cage, wrenching it open as if it were a bottle cap and flattening the bars as well to let others out who may want to escape as well. Whatever additional power dampening efforts that have kept Vanisher and the other mutants inhibited will have to be dealt with after the fact.

"I don't know what th'hell's going on here but we're outta here.." he grouses before beginning to turn...and see the arrival of the MLF reinforcements. "Tth. Actually....just a second. I'm all pent up now and itchin' to do sign my autograph on something" Juggernaut holds up a finger towards Vanisher who no doubt stares at the giant as if he'd lost his mind....but Juggernaut simply turns and begins a slow approach -towards- Holocaust as he turns the Marauder to pure ash.

"Hey! What're you supposed to be...? You look like a light bulb with tiny legs!" he quips as he draws near, fist clenching and producing a sound like sequioas cracking as his knuckles pop. "Now then...hold still.. I'm itchin' to use my Sunday Punch!"

No doubt his approach leaves him wide open for an attack from the MLF's resident monster but for his part, he continues onward, bringing a colossal fist back as he draws near - muscles bulking and swelling up as his sinew surges in size and with literal audible sound to its creaking...and should Holocaust be unwise enough to not retreat .. Juggernaut's massive fist comes hurtling down and then upwards towards him - dragging a shockwave that breaks the ground beneath him just from the passage of his fist as he lunges in with a thunderous upper cut ...sparring none of his far more then 'near Kryptonian Level Strength' with the blow. SOmething that the likes of Superman, Thor, Hulk and the like can co-sign on.

"Happy trails buddy!!"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
This would seem to be the time to man up.

He has done a lot of teleporting so far tonight and he will be doing a lot more before all is said and done. Fortunately it is a lot less fatiguing for him then those that he carries, though trying to bring all of those kids with him in one jump was definitely more tiring then the fuzzy blue elf is used to.

But there will be time enough to rest in a few hours, when he is safetly ensconced back at the school in Westchester. For now people need his help.

So people are going to get his help.

Reappearing in the puff of inky black mist, Kurt stalks through the camp, nearly a constant buzz of activity, pausing just long enough to grab hold of a couple of people before vanishing once more, getting them to the evacuation point where someone waits to engage Cable's bodyslide technology and teleport them off this rock and to safety.

Some of those inky clouds of mist haven't even fully dissipated before Kurt reappears, never lingering for long as he teleports dozens to safety. But as the Mutant Liberation Front nears, as Holocaust puts in his appearance and quite literally wipes Scrambler right out of existence, time grows short. "Grabbing the last couple," the mutant teleporter reports solemnly over the comm, *bamfing* one more time, doing his best not to think about those that they had to leave behind.

Sally Pride has posed:
The good news is they have the attention of several of the Marauder big hitters, meaning they're not out there harassing the other teams doing the evacs.
The bad news is that they have the attention of several of the marauder big hitters.

As harpoons explode around them and Arclight shakes the very ground beneath their feet a combination of instinct and experience takes to dealing with the situation, Sally spreading her feet a bit for more stability while her tail swich-swatches back and forth to maintain her balance as best as possible. The shockwaves are still enough to knock her around a bit, but not enough to entirely throw off her aim. It was nights like this being a mutated feline has some benefit. Meanwhile Cable is doing his best to provide them both some cover from above, but between debris and harpoons and just whatever is being blasted at them it's a lot.

"I think it's almost time we say goodbye," she grunts, slamming a new magazine in her rifle and thumbing a switch on it's side. Changing it from the precision single fire she'd been using to burst fire.

Then opens fire once more with rapid bursts of rounds towards the Marauder group... more specifically she sweeps it in a manner that will potentially hit several of the harpoons out of the air, sending them tumbling back at the Marauders or scattering randomly across the field if they don't blow up midair. Either way it's taking a little bit of the pressure off the two of them as they prepare to make their own exit once the main operation is wrapping up.

Divine has posed:
Well, this is messy. Divine doesn't blink as Scrambler meets his end, but she does eye Holocaust and wonder if she can get the drop on him. Again. Maybe if he's embarrassed enough times he'll stop showing his face at these things? A woman can hope. She leaves him be for now - if he wants to turn the Marauders into scorch stains, that's not her problem. In fact, she'd love to help him out with that a little.

Her eyes flash, and a beam of intense heat hits the same trajectory as the harpoons and bullets and slags them. The beam turns towards the Marauders after, and Holocaust's friend Abyss, unrelenting heat searing through flesh and weapon alike with a tight precision that slowly wavers the longer she uses it, causing the beam to widen and retract with each pass of the field. Divine lets out a loud exhale as her eyes flash back to normal, and she scoops Red Eddie - and his android prize - up and out of the way of the continuing battle as they start to fall back.

Cable has posed:
They're not going to get everyone out. That much is quickly made clear.

That's how these things go sometimes. The mission is important, the battle is important. But sometimes you also have to think about the war as a whole. And if they throw their lives away here, fighting against insane odds, there won't be anyone to fight the next battle. And the next. And the one after that.

Watching Holocaust go flying yet again is satisfying definitely, but it also serves as a reminder that so long as the Juggernaut is around out there, anyone and everyone in his path is in danger; the Mutant Liberation Front, the Marauders and them.

Eddie's gambit with the purloined ADAM head is likewise effective, sapping the might of some of the mutant terrorists as they stream towards the camp. But there is only so much power in that backup generator and when it's gone, so to effectively are those power dampening rays. And again, the ADAM units begin to swarm after the red devil, always just a few seconds too slow.

While Cable and Sally might have done their part to keep the Maruders occupied, the counterattack is nothing to scoff at. Ordinary soldiers might have been overwhelmed, but Sally with her cat-like reflexes and Cable with his ability to literally hold himself mere inches off the ground and avoid the shaking altogether, well, they're hardly ordinary.

They get a further helping hand as Divine lends her abilities to the fray, heat vision catching and destroying the thrown energy harpoons before they can land amongst them, then continue to force the Marauders and nearby mutant terrorists to scatter as those sheer beams of heat cut a swath across the ground.

They're holding their own, but as Kurt gets the last few people out that he can, as Monet urges retreat, Cable adds his voice to the refrain, no bitterness in that telepathic command. << Agreed. Fall back to the first checkpoint. We'll hold there until all the evacuees are off the island. Then we can diverse once more and plan our next steps, >> he says over that mental link as another sky skiff comes into view, surrounded by a sea of ADAM drones. The man standing there in his gleaming metal armor, Stryfe looks down on the field of battle as his forces begin to surround the Marauders. If he notices the withdrawl of Cable's team, he gives no sign of it, instead landing on the outskirts of the camp, those helmetted features giving no clue to how he's feeling.

As the four surviving Marauders -- who knows where Malice is -- are forced to their knees, Stryfe stands before them, gauntleted fists clutched behind his back. "Fear not. Your former master will kneel beside you soon enough. Like you now serve me, so will he. As will the Horsemen. And even Apocalypse himself will look up at me and grovel soon enough," he says lowly, one hand appearing from behind his back, raising up in a clenched fist triumphantly before him.

Delusional? Perhaps. But no one has managed to stop him yet. Just delay him.