20191/X-Men Flame of Darkness

X-Men Flame of Darkness
Date of Scene:	15 March 2025
Location:	West Bushwick (Mutant Town)
Synopsis:	The Flame of Darkness is still burning. Foxtail Falls becomes an animal preserve in Westchester. Carmichael is still out there, the leader of this Black Team of anti-Mutant mercenaries.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Aisling Caroll, Longshot, Jean Grey, Monet St. Croix, Tabitha Smith, Jubilation Lee

---

Rogue has posed:
The taxi rumbled up the long driveway to Xavier's School, its headlights cutting through the early evening haze. Tyler leaned against the worn fabric of the seat, his fingers drumming anxiously on his knee. The mansion was exactly as he remembered - every stone, every window - exactly the same.  But it wasn't. It couldn't be.  

The cab rolled to a stop, and through the windshield, he saw her.  

Rogue.  

She was sitting on the front steps, a cigarette between her fingers. The sight of it nearly knocked the wind out of him. Ten years ago, in his world, they had a conversation in this very spot. She had been smoking then, too. A rare moment between battles, between losses, between the slow collapse of everything.  

But this wasn't his Rogue. She didn't know him. That moment had never happened here.  

He swallowed hard and stepped out of the taxi.  

Rogue's green eyes flicked up, sharp with curiosity as she took a slow drag. "You lost, Sugah?"

Tyler exhaled. "No. But you will be." His voice was steady, urgent. "All of you will be if you don't listen to me. I don't have time to explain. I need the X-Men. Right now. People are going to die if you don't help me."  

Rogue studied him for a long moment, then flicked the cigarette aside, crushing it under her boot. "Well, hell. Ain't had a dramatic doorstep speech in a while. Let's go."  

---  

X-MEN MEETING ROOM, SUB-BASEMENT LEVEL  

Tyler gripped the edge of the meeting table, his knuckles white. He forced himself to breathe. The faces staring back at him were alive. Whole. The sight of them - this room, this team - made his chest tighten. Back home, the X-Men were gone. He had stood in the wreckage of this very mansion, felt the ash between his fingers. He had buried some of them himself.  

Now, they were here. Watching him. Waiting for answers.  

Professor Xavier folded his hands in his lap, his gaze piercing but calm. "Tyler, I can sense your distress. You knew us, didn't you?"  

Tyler clenched his jaw. "Yeah. In my world, the X-Men tried to stop the Flame of Darkness - and we lost." His voice dipped lower, heavy with memory. "I don't have time to explain what that felt like. What I need to explain is how it started and why we have to stop it tonight."  

"The Flame of Darkness isn't fire," he continued, following a short pause. "It is a force. A living force that spread like a plague. It consumed thought. Life. Energy. It started as an experiment - one that should've never been activated. It latched onto power, feeding off anything it touched, and it spread faster than anyone could control. We tried to contain it. We failed.  It turns people in to shadow, angry monsters that just live to kill."  

He swallowed hard. "We lost cities in days. This school was one of the first places to fall."  

The Professor's expression tightened, but he remained composed. "How did you get here?"  

Tyler shifted, uncomfortable. "The Avengers. Doctor Strange and Tony Stark. Before everything fell apart, they found a way to send a few of us across realities. We were looking for answers, solutions. Not all of us made it." He exhaled, pushing past the weight of that loss. "But we found something. In my world, the Flame started here, in Bushwick, with a man named Ezekiel Vaughn. He built a power core designed to be an unlimited energy source. Instead, it became the catalyst for everything that followed.  It was the union between Mutant DNA, and the most advanced energy tech the world had ever seen.  I don't fully understand it, I was the fucking music teacher here..."

Xavier nodded gravely. "And you believe the same event is about to happen tonight?"  

Tyler nodded. "Not just believe. I know. My team and I have been here for a week, we've discovered that Vaughn is about to activate the experiment in an animal hospital in Bushwick. If we don't stop it before it starts, this reality could end up just like mine."


<Part 2 incoming....>

Rogue has posed:
<Part 2>

He took a steadying breath. "I didn't come here alone. I have three others with me. Vincent, Jose, and Dyson. They were students at Xavier's back home. We lost everything, but we survived long enough for Strange and Stark to send us here. They're already in Bushwick, trying to get into the hospital before Vaughn throws the switch. But they can't do it alone. We need the machine for our reality, and if not it... We need Dr. Vaughn to survive. It, or he? They're the only chance to save what is left of our world."

Professor X exchanged a look with the team. The hesitation was gone.  

"We'll stop it," Rogue said.  

Tyler exhaled. "Then we need to move. Now."  

---  

BUSHWICK, BROOKLYN ? JUST AFTER NIGHTFALL  

The streets of Mutant Town hummed with late-night energy. Neon signs flickering above small storefronts, their glow reflecting off wet pavement. Street vendors called out their last sales of the evening. Mutants gathered in groups outside bars and food stalls.  

Tyler moved quickly, leading the X-Men toward their target. His senses were on high alert. He could feel it in the air - something was wrong.  

A block ahead, shadows shifted where they shouldn't. A man lingered too long on a street corner, murmuring into his collar mic. Further down, a figure ducked into an alley too quickly.  

Tyler's heart pounded. They were being watched.  

He looked ahead to the dimly lit sign of the Bushwick Animal Hospital named 'Foxtail Falls', where Vincent, Jose, and Dyson were already moving into position.

"I believe that Dr. Vaughn is being forced to start the machine up tonight, by some outside forces.  They might be watching the hospital, waiting for someone to try and stop them." Tyler said to the X-Men with him, as they drew closer to his other teammates from another universe. "How should we handle getting in there? There might be trip wires, and eyes just waiting for us..." The blonde man said, anxiety clear on his face, as he looked to the X-Men for guidance.

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    The positive thing about being a baby empath, and telepath but whose keeping score, is that when you walk out of work in to the street... you tell isntantly that something is, wrong. The bad part about being a baby empath, is that you can't tell /exactly/ what is wrong. Or how it's wrong for that matter. All you can tell, is the buzzing in your head and chill up your spine.

    With that chill, Aisling closes up her jacket, places her hands in her pockets, and walks across the street to find a bench to sit on.

    IF something is going to go down, she's going to be here, waiting. There are too many good people here and she's spent way to much time helping out to just walk away. So for now, she crosses black slack and black boot covered legs, leans back....and waits.

Longshot has posed:
Longshot's visits to Mutant Town are as sporadic as he everything he does, but this he's at least here intentionally. The saxophone case that accompanies him on busking days is closed now, sign and case tucked away to signal that whatever show he been putting on this street corner is done for the night. Longshot sits with his back against a brick building l counting out his earnings for the evening. He makes more than he should given his musical skill-level, but somehow just so happens to play what a passer-by apt to give money wants to hear.

Longshot is not very good with money, but after counting twice and looking up how much a dime is worth on his phone, is humming to himself happily. Enough money for a hyperloop ticket, a bus to Cloverton and a bagel for dinner, exactly what he needs!

He should be on his way out-should scoop up his stuff and head to the loop, after all it's late and he's got an inconvenient walk after the bus to Doom Manor where he's been crashing. However, that distractible attention shifts to Mutant Town itself instead.

Something is off-what? Who knows. Not Longshot. He does not have a nice spider-sense, but he does have an incredibly lucky set of instincts that seem to remember more about danger than the man himself actually does. Thus, as he pockets the evenings earnings and scoops up his saxophone case, he only makes it a few blocks and to plop down again on a bench occupied by a stranger. This is a good spot to be. Dunno why. Doesn't matter why.

The saxophone case stored safely under the bench, jacket collar adjusted up against the cold, Longshot will offer Aisling a bright smile, tone equally chipper, "Hi, don't mind me, just waiting for something!"

Jean Grey has posed:
There are people who might be somewhat dubious in the face of this very premise: travel across worlds, multiverses and so on. However, when discussed in this particular company, the topic is a touch less exotic. This world has faced 'external' threats before, like the Doppleanger invasaion. Jean herself can claim an assortment of relatives, of _family_, from other timelines somehow thrown into this one. And more than that?

She has seen it herself.

Years ago now, following her 'death,' she ended up in a pretty strange place. The White Hot Room, the waiting place shared by all the Phoenix's eternal hosts, all parts of some greater whole. Less abstractly, she and the X-Men who came to save her entered a crystal lattice said to contain the blueprint of reality, and through its many facets looked out upon a multitude of variations of her own life, of the lives of those around her. Other versions of the X-Men, of herself, other Phoenix hosts, other outcomes.

Which is all to say, she's entirely willing to entertain this story. Though she has one immediate concern: "Flame of Darkness, consuming life... I just hope this doesn't mean I'm going to have to fight myself, but it sounds a little different."

Sometimes humor helps, on particularly dark moments.

---

Once they arrive, she is ready for action, wearing the black uniform that she prefers for, well, less flashy operations, for moments where the blue and gold seems out of place. She even has the trenchoat!

As for a plan? She stands with the team, doing what she always does first, holding a hand to her temple as she reaches out with her mind for all those in the vicinity. Tripwires might be a bit out of her wheelhouse, but human intel? She's very good at that. Eventually, the hand comes down. "One group of people on the main floor, nervous. Hostages, I think. Guarded by something fairly heavily psi-shielded. Then more in the basement, also hard to read. So I'd assume those are our targets."

She glances back, to the team they have. "Jubilee, want to demonstrate why you're the Queen of the Night? Seems our best scouting option. I can relay info from you. M, Rogue, Boom-Boom, you guys are all loud, so... you take various breaching angles as soon as we have our intel, aim to hit the guards fast and quick. Obviously limit the large-scale lethal attacks near the hostages."

Why is she looking at Tabitha for that one?

"Our new friends can assist you guys when you go in. Once we secure the upper floor and the hostages, we see move to the second floor. If we're worried about extra inteerference, I'll remain a wildcard handle anything unexpected."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Disturbing. That's the only way she can think of it. In a world with time travelers, alternate realities, alternate planes of existence.. Hearing someone say they come from another reality that collapsed and they were sent here to stop the same evenst is disturbing on an entirely different conceptual level. How does one deal wiht that? Seeing things which aren't the same and so close? How does one cope with seeing all of existence unmake itself? Disturbing. The man's words press at her consciousness even as she buries it away. Something to worry about later. For now, action. And to resist the impulse to quiz the man as extensively as possible another time as to events in his own plane of existence that might be used to gain insight into events and concepts which may or may not reflect each reality upon one another. But now.. Now is not the time.

And then they're getting ready for the infiltration. Monet hovers and listens to Jean's instruction, thoughtfully analysing it and considering. "As you say. If need be I can charge in to take fire away from the hostages and Tabitha can deal with them then." She would go to glance at Jubilation, her lips pursed. She had not worked with her teammate in the field for quite some time. This would be interesting. And a good update.

There's a quiet look of support on her face given to the snarkier girl that strangely enough was one of her first friends at the Mansion somehow.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Last few days, Tabitha's felt a little extra empty headed. Understandable after being temporary hosting for a small number of Klyntar so they could be smuggled to Earth, where they can live free and maybe create a chocolate scarcity.

At least she had the foresight to let them go in Europe via zeta beam.

The Land of Chocolate.

Now she'd fronted up for another mission. Black and yellow synthetic leather jacket, pants, and boots in a biker style X-Suit, orange tinted Oakley style shades handling any glare from street light glare. Or that of her own bombs.

So with planning comes positions. Though when there's an accusatory look back at Jean. "I'd like to point out I could just blow the hinges on any doors or pop the locks, and be as quiet as bubble wrap. But if you wanna wall knocked down, fine. Just make sure there's no fricking animals anywhere near the other side." Always was the best way to bet Tabby pissed off was to see critters get hurt. And exploding a vet clinic made that risk even likelier.

Doesn't stop her getting in position. That she can do easily, going from thief to demolitions in less than a snap. It's totally tacticool.

At least she hasn't threatened to eat anyone's brains.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
There was just SOMETHING about tonight that made Jubilation decide she shouldn't spend it cooped up in the mansion. After a couple texts, she arranged a babysitter for Shogo and put on her black-with-pink-trim catsuit and bright yellow duster for a little field trip to Bushwick. She even loaded one of her pockets with that blood-flavored gum she has to order off the dark web and grabbed her favorite pair of Ray Ban's before leaving.

---

Jubilee's shadow seems to shift ominously as it follows behind her, appearing as a monster in the intermittent puddles of light created by the street lamps. Sometimes it looks vaguely like her, just with some sinister differences, such as long, sharp claws, or stretched out proportions that imply a much larger size. In the flesh, though, she's just Jubilation Lee -- teenage mutant vampire... turtle? No, at least she's not a turtle.

"Rogue, have I told you how much cooler you look when you smoke?" she wonders, raising her hand so she can get a good look at her black gloves as she pulls them tight. When Jean gives the order, Jubilee puts her hands on her hips. "Okay!" she agrees, giving the group a gentle glare. "But, nobody look!"

Despite not needing to breathe, Jubilee lets out a shuddering gasp as the sensation of change overwhelms her. Bones compress, muscles twist, limbs retract, skin darkens. Where there was once a bright yellow duster are black leathery wings. Where a woman once stood, a teeny, tiny black bat flutters around in the night air. It catches a cool wind that carries her upwards to a window on the second floor of the animal hospital. After awkwardly squriming underneath a barely open window, the bat lands silently. The moment it touches the tile floor, the change reverses, and the soft flutter of leathery wings give way to the whisper of fabric as Jubilee's coat settles around her.

Jubilee reaches forward and covers the mouth of a horrified hospital employee. "Don't remember this," she tells him in a soothing, almost hypnotic tone while staring deeply into his eyes over the top of her sunglasses. He stand there, stunned and stupified as Jubilee's vampire glamour erodes his memory of this moment while it happens, leaving her to tip-toe to the landing at the top of the stairs so she can get a good look at what's happening on that main floor.

Jubilee's thoughts come to life for Jean to hear:

'Okay, so, you've seen that movie, right? Spaceballs? Remember the guys with the ping-pong ball helmets? There's a bunch of those down on the main floor and, get this, they've got these rifles that look like they're straight up Sentinel tech. They're pointing them at a bunch of hostages.'

Rogue has posed:
With the X-Men finding a temporary holding spot across from the Animal Hospital, Tyler observed Jean issuing her orders. He fidgeted in a nervous fashion, as he was uncertain about how all of this would play out. He watched Jubilee turn in to a bat, and flutter away in to the darkness. "That... is not how I remember her..." The blonde man quietly noted, as he watched for a second or two, before the approaching form of three young men pulled his eyes away. It was the rest of his team. One man in his twenties, and two teenagers, one of whom was 7 feet tall with dark grey skin and a bald head. "Guys, this is---" Tyler started to say...

The youngest and smallest of the three new arrivals, threw himself at Jean, wrapping his arms around her waist, and hugging her tightly, With a large headset over his ears, the teenager clutched on to Jean's side, and held on to her for dear life. "Miss Grey!" He shoutd with joy, as the other two with him stared on with a bit of an awed expression. The tall guy looked over the X-Men, and nodded a few small times. "Good job, Tyler." He said in a deep voice.

The Third? He was somewhere in his mid twenties with dark hair, and a calm expression on his face. His eyes were locked on Rogue, and for a second he almost looked as though he was about to choke up, before he cleared his throat. "Marie. It's good to see you again." He softly said to her, drawing Rogue's eyes away from the boy clutching Jean, to the man who'd just spoken to her. She looked him over once, before she smirked, and nodded toward him.

"Hey," Rogue said, pulling a cigarette from a pack, having been about to offer it to Jubilee, before she had flown away. Instead, she offered it to the guy who'd known her name. "You look like you could use this more than me." She said, showing a small smirk.

"Guys, this is Vincent. Jose, and Dyson." Tyler said of the man who'd spoken to Rogue, the boy clutching Jean, and the taller teen with the bald head and smoke grey skin. "I told you I'd get them." Tyler stated with a bit of a smirk.

Inside the hospital:

The soldiers holding the hostages were ordering them to stay down, keeping their weapons trained on them.

For Aisling and Longshot? The city seemed to be moving along normally, save for the Animal Hospital being closed up early tonight, for those who know the local shcedules.

Jean Grey has posed:
"We don't have much idea who is where or near what kind of cover or entry point until Jubilee gets a look, but we have to assume multiple guards and multiple angles. If a door's quicker, knock it down. But if you have to open up a wall, that's fine," Jean reassures Tabitha. "We've got our account with Damage Control." When people's lives are on the line, Jean isn't going to quibble over the cash liability for some broken masonry. "Just keep it to flashbangs near the hostages."

Jubilees thoughts reach Jean first, as she plays telepathic tagalong, observing the vampiress' course through the building. <"I can see them, you don't actually have to describe them,"> Jean reminds Jubilee, with a touch of amusement in her tone. <"But those are some pretty ridiculous helmets.">

Reliably, the thoughts, images, the whole experience is re-broadcast through the psionic link she maintains with the team, albeit perhaps through whatever filter of Jean's own observation and analysis. This, over all her years doing this, remains the greatest constant in her role on the team. Not TK shields, not putting people to sleep or scrambling their brains, not throwing heavy objects or anything else. No, it's the unparalleled level of communication, intelligence, and coordination made possible via telepathic contact and the experience in using it for exactly this purpose.

She builds an image of the place, a mindscape, highlighting the guards and their relative positions to points of entry, be they more convenient like any exterior windows or useful interior doors, or... less so, where they may simply be near enough an outside wall to hit them quickly by busting through. As ever, their heavy-hitters get the hardest points, while Jubilee she leaves to take advantage of her already sneaky position. Considering there's a good number of guards, she assigns targets to their new friends too, to Tyler, Vincent, Jose, and Dyson based on whatever notion she has of their abilities. However, the key jobs, the hardest entries, those go to the X-Men: the people she knows and trusts to execute the whole thing.

There's a saying that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and Jean's expectations hold that today won't disprove that maxim. But it's still best to start with a good plan.

Jean herself? Well, she's going in the front door. Maybe she wasn't explicit on this part of the plan, but it's come to be par for the course that she puts herself in danger ahead of the team at most opportunities. If you have extra lives, why not? There's also the fact that she goes in with a pretty substantial TK shield in place. So if she happens to draw some initial fire from the Spaceballs crew?

The doors rip off their hinges, flying outward, as she strides forward, trenchcoat flapping in early 2000s edgelord glory: In mental unison: <"Lets move.">

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    Aisling turns slightly and smiles at Longshot, her mismatched eyes, one blue and one gree, locking on to his face. "Me, too" she adds casually. "Which, as a note" she adds with that ever present irish lilt in her voice, "is going down, right now." She motions with her eyes towards the Animal Hospital. If she senses the X-Men, she doesn't let on, because there are rules and if she ever wants to be an actual team member instead of just the nurse...she's going to keep to those rules. It also helps a quick surface thought scan here and there means she's not instantly tracking Longshot as a hostile.

    Then, ya know, front door, jean, doors flying... welp, here we go. "Like I said, buckle up" and she's off at a full sprint. Why a full sprint? Well, there's nothing in her way now since Jean blew the doors off, and an angry redheaded irish woman at nearly forty miles an hour, that can bench two tons impacting a bad guy is prolly gonna hurt. Maybe, she's a Nurse, not a Physicist.

    <<Hi Jean!>> Zoom, <<By Jean!>> Smash. Ka-Pow. Insert other comic book accurate thingy here.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The entire nature of encountering duplicates of individuals from one realm into another is one that Monet is -truly- fascinated by and wants to make further inquiries of and then isolate the man to fully interrogate him later on. Why, if she could find a way to make a control group for a paper this could give her insights itno quantum mechanics.. Admittedly in a way far from appropriate to laboratory settings. But that was something more for Doctor McCoy to work on. So Monet pushes her fascination tot he side while she considers bits of whether Rogue smoking should be an ongoing thing or not as she just watches in rapt fascination at Jean Grey getting all the hugs. The redhead somehow manages to make it nto nearly as awkward as it might be.

She keeps up her mental link to allow Jubilee's train of commentary to go along while letting out a sigh <<That is a rather juvenile way of summarizing it, Ms. Lee. You could have given a far more succint one for visualization even if we were not capable of picking it up.>> Annoyed. Because M could never let something go simply when it could have many words instead.

But Jubilee was completely right on the helmets, though Monet would totally never expect it.

Then the strike plan is given, and Monet goes to move to quickly head in, offering Tabitha a ride along with her. Monet goes to take along Jean's impression of the building, and to it affixes her own layout - this time simply having pulled the blueprints of the building from the Mansion's computer to add to the layout.. And then while Jean goes in the front door, Monet goes to smash in not through the wall, but rather through the vents. They're wide enough to crawl through.. So why not fly?

Which she does, at approximately five hundred kilometers an hour, breaking through with intent to flank the hostage takers by exploding out of the air vent. Alas, however, she did not think of when she first schemed what was IN the air vent. And that said air vent hasn't been dectonaminated since the building was first built, no doubt.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Well, the wall can be rebuilt. But sometimes it's the intimidation factor you really want. So when doors get blasted open, so does one of the walls with Boom-Boom getting to work, pushing a bunch of small holes through the brick work as easily as one might perforate paper. Just with telekinetically guided spheres of plasma. Once enough holes all punch through it just takes a little nudge with a larger blast to knock the wall down in one large if jagged slab of brick work and drywall plastering.

So maybe she might not want to breath any of that in, but it can't be worse that then ozone she's normally huffing when she uses her powers.

The fact that the helmets do in deed look like they came from a classic movie gets a chuckle. "Oh shit, there goes the planet!"

Tabitha never was above throwing a pun at someone that needed it.

Longshot has posed:
"Oh what a nice coincidence! I don't know if it's Bad, it might be-I just know I should hang out for a bit, you know?" Explanation for sitting down next to strangers, it's all good, but look at that timing, too perfect!

There is no concern in the man until Aisling's words, "Oh? Is that so? Okay!"

The sound of doors being ripped from their hinges will interrupt any and all thoughts of simply walking in himself, and Longshot but will be up in a moment after Aisling.

Knives are pulled from slits in his sleeves, shadowing behind the nice stranger who clearly knows what's going on. Full trust in strangers! But HEY he knows that red-headed lady being impressive and will immediately wave, "HI MADDIE!"

Wait, no, fighting-also so many people are weird about identities! Shouting names of friends is not acceptable behavior in a fight, Longshot has had this conversation before-But hostages and a fight will be ample distraction for now! Knives are thrown ahead of him, aiming towards any important-looking wires in the bad guy's funny looking guns and silly helmets, back to shadowing the people who look like good guys! More trust for strangers!

Jubilation Lee has posed:
'Right, right, right,' Jubilee thinks back at Jean, frowning to herself as she puts up with the mental intrusion. Even when she was alive, she never liked it, though some have found Jubilee's mind to be a monument to attention deficit and not a place that's comfortable to visit.

And then there's Monet. Jubilee rolls her eyes and blows a bubble with her gum. 'I guess I could've done that, Monet, but isn't doing the bare minimum really more of your thing?' she thinks back at the stuck up telepath.

When the order to strike is given, Jubilee takes advantage of her position at the top of the stairs. She moves silently to the first landing and extends her gloved hand towards the center of the room. A blinding cluster of plasmoid explosions fill the room. They're harmless. They won't hurt any hostages or X-Men, but they're just about the brightest thing ever.

"Don't look directly at them, boys!" Jubilee quips triumphantly. "Gee, I guess I should've said it beforehand, huh?"

Rogue has posed:
The tall grey skinned man moved in to grab the shorter boy by the back of his collar, pulling him off of Jean. "Jose. That isn't our Jean... Leave her be." He said, his voice deep and forlorn. Jose relented, and stepped back to his larger counterpart'side, his hands adjusting the headset worn over his ears. "Sorry, Miss Grey." The boy softly said.

With the X-Men rolling out, Tyler and Vincent exchanged looks, and together, told the two teenagers to hang back, and support them from the flank if needs be. The two older men of the universe-hopping group trailed after the X-Men, and soon... all Hell was breaking out in the Animal Hospital.

With Jubilee's lights, Tabitha bashing through a wall like the Kool-Aid Woman, Monet doing similarly through the place's extensive ventilation system, it all resulted in Jean's dramatic entrance being punctuated by a team that seemed to not be up for any games tonight.

Inside, one of the soldiers rushed away from Tabi's falling wall, his gun coming around to fire a dangerous blast right at Tabi, only to have the weapon disabled by one of Longshot's weapons. His Sentinel rifle sizzled with electric sparks, as it fizzled out.

The rest of the soldiers in black, stunned by Jubilee's fireworks blasts, staggered on their feet, but so did the hostages, who fell in heaps across the floor, some crying out in terror, while others tried to pull themselves beneath cover.

The man in the middle of it all, dressed in black, spun his large rifle around toward the entrance, and blind-fired a barrage of Sentinel laser fire toward the doors that Jean had just strolled through, narrowly avoiding Aisling, only by happenstance, as the chaos unleashed resulted in all the helmeted soldiers suddenly firing off in seemingly random directions as they tried to conpensate for being flashbanged in a way their helmets were not well designed to counter!

Rogue was right there, behind Jean, and when the chaos going off the chain inside, she too flew inside, rushing toward two of the gunmen, and bulling her way right in to them, toppling them back over on to the floor, while another rushed up behind her, raised his rifle and pulled the trig---

A bone-blade shot through the man's vested chest, his tactical armor doing nothing to prevent the bone sword from splitting his body in to separated segments, as Vincent stood behind him, a look of anger showing toward the man, who had just tried to execute the Southern Belle from behind.

Rogue looked back over her shoulder, seeing Vince pull the blade from the man's body, leaving him to crumple in to a heap on the floor of the hospital foyer, Vince's bone sword jutting from the wrist of his right forearm, a twin extended from his left, both aimed at the ground.

All seemed to be in peril, at least in so far as the soldiers still somewhat able to fire their guns, if in a bit of a haphazard fashion, as those still standing tried to regain their composure.

Jean Grey has posed:
There's a briefly apologetic look at Jose and co before Jean goes all 'tacticool': she'd love to trade stories with these people, but in the moment, time is of the essence. Thus, engage 'badass slo-mo trenchcoat intimidation walk'! So radical!

Except that even in the midst of this, she gets another curveball in the form of 'Hi Maddie.' "I'm not- we'll circle back to that."

Ahem.

AHEM. Mission time.

As the team enters from every-which direction, there's inevitably going to be chaos. Doubly so as they've seemingly picked up two (2) bonus teammates along the way. Sometimes, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth, and you just roll with it. <"Miss Carol, nice to see you, and ah- er, I swear you look familiar. Do you play sports or something? Anyway, let me give you a quick catchup brief.">

And that's the story of how Longshot and Aisling get all the story exposition beamed into their foreheads so they can understand the plot in full! Hooray! Also there's probably similar tactical info.

Returning to THAT situation, which rapidly becomes a chaotic mess, Jean as ever does her best to focus some semblance of sanity from the madness, serving as the eye of the X-men shaped hurricane they unleash upon the building and troop of be-Spaceballed troopers. Though she's there to make a target of herself, she's even more specifically there to guarantee the safety of said hostages, who quickly get the TK-bubble thrown over them, as much as she can isolate them in a single position.

As for offense? Well, as ever with people who think that magic psi-blocking helmets will foil Jean Grey while they shoot at her with GUNS, the nearest soldiers will quickly learn that this works more or less as poorly as it does on Magneto: if you rely on toys, it's easy to have them taken away. A pair of nearby rifles are yanked from the grips of their wielders, then twisted into scrap mid-air.

Unfortunately, there's only so much brain power to go around, and between protecting the hostages and disarming some of the nearer soldiers, she sacrifices somewhat on her own protection! Plus, as PERILOUSLY large amounts of multi-tasking go, Jean has yet one more worry:

<"Shit, I feel... on the lower level, like they're turning the machine on.">

Here, Jean doesn't wait to call in one of the others. Suddenly, everything else, from fighting the soldiers to dealing with the hostages, is forgotten as she focuses on that single worry. The floor suddenly heaves and cracks, as she starts ripping a hole open directly to that lower level. <"We gotta get below and stop whatever they're doing! Auxiliaries,"> that term might suggest the alt-dimensional X-men, <"Clean this up, main team, 2nd target!">

Jubilation Lee has posed:
And so, Jubilee takes a moment to admire her handiwork. Guards shouting in confusion under the crackle of blinding plasmoids, each bursting like a miniature firework and filling the room with searing light. Shadows twist violently across the walls, masking Jubilee's movements as she continues to spread chaotic bursts of light and color.

"Move, move, move!" she barks, guiding a group of three hostages towards the jagged, blown-out hole in the wall courtesy of one Tabitha Smith. She covers her own path with a tail of plasmoids that arc and explode into more clouds of blinding light. Dust and debris swirl around the weary hostages as the cool night air rushes in to meet them.

"Go, like, get a Frosty or something," Jubilee tells them. "The drive-thru's open till, like, 1AM."

Jubilation heads back inside, leaping into the hole once again. One of the guards fires blindly into the flickering haze of light, but Jubilee is already on him, vaulting over a toppled desk and delivering a sharp kick to his wrist, sending his rifle skidding across the floor. With another gesture with her gloved hands, two more plasmoid clusters detonate near a guard, giving another pair of hostages the courage to stand up. One of them is keen to go, but the other needs some convincing.

"Almost there," Jubilee mutters, half-carrying, half-dragging the old lady into Tabby's hole.

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    Aisling imagines the bolts or beams from those rifles are going to hurt. Thankfully, this is currently the land of confusion... ah ah ah. So, their aim is just off enough, she manages to not get blasted in the face as she bolts through the front door.

    However, oxford comma, the one that did take a shot at her gets her attention first and foremost. Much to his detremint, he gets to meet a very angry woman.

    How angry one asks? Angry enough that she plows in to him, wraps a single hand around his throat, and lifts him in to the air to leave him dangling. Angry enough, that Jean is very likely to sense Ais about to walk off the edge. Angry enoguh that the little info dump she just got, makes her burn with rage. A rage that spills out in to the area around her, Hank is going to be so dissapointed.

    Angry enough, that Her intent is to strangle the life out of this man.

    Aisling glares at him now, "I am going to end you, slowly. You will NEVER hurt another Mutant, or another human being, ever again."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
When a knife prevents Tabitha from catching a semi wild energy blast, there's a grin and a little salute aimed at Longshot. Right before she starts returning her own fire while aiming for those big spherical helmets. They might be good for blocking telepathy. But how much protection against concussive explosions in the face is a question they might be about to find out as Tabitha starts moving from spot to spot. Not every weapon is the same energy type, so it might take a bit before she can tell what's what.

Plasma blasts are one thing, but who knows what the crap else is getting shot at her. Last thing she wants is all her hair falling out because of some stupid weird radiation.

Boom and move becoming the game for now.

It's probably getting difficult to tell which blasts are coming from her, and which are from Jubilee. Tabby being able to change directions with her own plasmatic emanations likely isn't helping with the chaos.

Especially when she starts making another hole to speed up getting at target number two. If Tabby is lucky she might drop a whole ceiling on the thing as she uses plasma streams to cut a circle as wide as her arm spans. Standing in the middle of it might or might not ensure hilarity ensues.

Longshot has posed:
"Oh, hi there!" A grin and nod back to Tabby from Longshot is a quick thing before back to business at hand. Longshot has a lot of knives. However, having a lot of them and despite generally using them well, they are still a limited resource. Thankfully, blades that do not end up lodged in the helmuts or guns often end up in convenient locations for a generally athletic person to jump and flip and scoop them up again for second or third throws.

It's a bit of a dance between the wild spray of blasts and bullets raining through the room courtesy of blinded goons, a jump and flip, twisting to avoid rays. Another set of blades thrown back toward a goon a bit too wild of a spray in panic. Wow, a lot is happening! AND DUMPED INTO HIS BRAIN

Longshot is frozen on the spot as voices in his head come with a huge amount of information. Wow. That was. Wow. Okay. That was a thing that could Happen? These are Bad Guys and those are Good Guys and it's lucky there are so many other Good Guys here to keep Longshot from being murdered from his full stop of action.

Hole. He's not sure which of these categories he falls into, but some of these people look awfully young to be fighting here and Longshot is content to hold ground here and help protect these Alternate-dimension folks.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The group is bombarding themw ith an extremely divergent amount of weaponry. High end, high technology, and some of it quite eclectic. Monet will have to look into just as to where tehy -got- all of these weapons from later on. Presuming that they're not all immediately confiscated by SHIELD or they're extraterrestrial tech that needs to be given back to the Shi'Ar. but Sentinel guns? That's something terrifyingly disconcordant as a concept to face in the future.

She pushes aside the 'not Jean Grey' comment picked up in passing and brushes it away. Philosophize later. Fight now. She moves to charge in at the hostage takers, using the cover of Jubilee's explosions and Tabitha's blasts to hammer into them as quickly as she could without risking crippling them. The point was to try and herd them away from the hostages.

And try not to be hit with one of those very nasty weapons that could hurt her rather badly. She'd been hurt enough times after all.

Rogue has posed:
@emit
"We don't kill." Rogue told the bone-blade wielding man named Vincent, offering him a stern look, before her green eyed gaze went to Aisling. Rogue rushed toward the school nurse, and reached a gloved hand out to touch her shoulder. "Set him down. Debilitate, don't kill!" She shouted over the sound of all the insanity happening around them. With the building shaking, and the floor being torn asunder, the Belle stepped back to avoid falling through to the basement floor below. She sidled up beside Vince once more, and she glanced at him again. "It is our team mandate. We don't kill others."

"I do," Vince countered her. "If it means protecting you."

Who the Hell was this guy? That was the look that Rogue gave him, at least for a second, before she had to look back toward the others, and suddenly fly across the hole being created in the middle of the foyer floor. She rushed toward one of the soldiers, who was aiming down on the quickly moving Jubilee, Rogue smashing a fist in to the back of his spherical helmet, slamming him face down in to the floor, and causing his rifle to skitter away, behind the receptionist desk.

Outside, on a nearby roof.:
A man in black peered through a sniper scope, watching the situation down the street at the animal hospital. "They took the bait. They're moving on the machine. Team Bravo. Move on them. Surround them. Take out the red headed bitch first..." He raised his one good eye up from the scope lense, his face half Human, and the other half cybernetic, with a shining glowing eye. "For Black Team..." He whispered the last part off comms.

On the street outside of the hospital, two large transport vehicles arrived with the sounds of screaching tires, and more soldiers in black military tactical gear leapt from inside, as they formed a line around the front of the building, getting in to aa fortified position.

From the alleyway, Dyson and Jose emerged. "We gotta do something..." Dyson said, as he balled his massive hands in to grey fists. He slapped one balled up fist against the other, as Jose reached up to adjust a dial on his headset. "Lets protect our friends!" Jose said, before he ran toward the soldiers, stopped 20 feet away, and released a powerful sonic burst of energy from his mouth. An ear-shattering scream that rolled across the soldiers, while Dyson rushed passed him, a battering ram of a Mutant, slamming in to the side of the soldiers, who were caught off guard. The flank being flanked!

Inside:
Tyler appeared beside Jean, reforming from a cloud of smoke, dropping a Sentinel rifle on a pile on the floor. He looked down in to the hole Jean and Tabitha were creating, and with a chill in his voice, he saw it. "The Flame. they've lit it."

Down in the basement, the lab was filled with moving black fire, the obsidian flames licking the walls, and consuming the forms of screaming souls that had been observing the final test startup of the machine. With the hole torn in the ceiling above them, the black fire now poured out of the basement, and up in to the main foyer where the X-Men (and friends) were located. The black flames poured over several of the soldiers, and a few straggling members of the hospital staff, consuming them in black fire, and causing them to scream in agony for a few moments, before they rushed at the X-Men.

"Don't let them touch you!" Tyler shouted, as he picked up a Sentinel rifle, and struggled to figure out how to fire it at the dark creatures that the Flame of Darkness had created.

Outside:
The soldiers were firing upon Dyson, blasting him with their Sentinel weapons, as the black fire poured out from the basement windows of the hospital, streaking across th sidewalk concrete, and toward the soldiers, catching one by one on fire in the black flames too.

Jean Grey has posed:
What awareness Jean may have of the situation above ground, courtesy of Dyson and Jose is unclear. Initially, she broadcasts only the vaguest details: <"We have some friends outside, but main team, keep focus on the objective. Those topside, secure exit for the hostages.">

That's a darker side of 'communications via psi-link,' perhaps: they reflect the will of the red-headed woman, and her own view of the situation, her own objectives and motives. Like Xavier, she can bend things toward her own goals when she deems it necessary. She -tries- not to constantly brainwash her friends, but...

Regardless, her focus remains below, as Tabitha speeds their entry with some good old fashioned explosive mining. <"I have no idea what this black flame stuff is, but I'm not taking any chances.">

It turns out, Jean called it earlier. While it might not be fighting herself, exactly, this does seem like a 'fight fire with fire' sort of situation. As she leaps down the hole, her arms fling wide, and the tell-tale aura of crackling yellow-orange cosmic flame alights around her, the 'wings' extending around the flapping edges of the trenchcoat. The fact that it's still a trenchcoat is reassuring, for those better in the know.

The first of the black-flame creatures is met with her own fiery construct-talon, its motion following that of her own arm on a larger, more exaggerated scale. It's the same logic as before: face the danger first. If the Phoenix can't handle it, then...

<"Boomer, hit the machine with as big as you've got. Don't mind the splash damage this time."> After all, its all hostiles down there... and Jean herself. <"M, Rogue, I don't know- I'd avoid close contact, but see if you can't help bring the whole structure down? How much of 'me' do you still have in you, 'Sugah'?">

<"And that means anyone topside, you need to be clearing out, yesterday.">

Longshot has posed:
It takes a few heartbeats longer than it likely should for Longshot to fully shake off the shock of being added to the psy-link and caught up to speed. In that time, the absolute trust gifted freely to strangers is reaffirmed as the correct choice.

That? That right there? That black maw of burning pain eating it's way through people? That's evil. Nice when the universe clarifies things like this so easily.

Knives probably not going to do anything against that so Longshot is not going to even try. That'd be a waste of a perfectly good knife, after all. A gun lost by a goon will be scooped up and Longshot will be immediately disappointed to find it already embedded with one of his own knives lodged in the barrel. Bummer. Knife yanked out, the gun is thrown at the approaching flames while all of Longshot's efforts shift to dodging and weaving among the oncoming fingers of dark fire. Grabbing any hostages or staff or even Non-shadow fire bady guys still around to drag back with him, should any remain. Retreating back as quickly as such dodging darting with a drag-along resuce of any sort he can manage from danger will allow.

Longshot generally tries to keep most questions he realizes are stupid to himself, particularly with meeting new people. However, the situation being what it is demands some bending of that: "Um-I'm sorry! How do you fight something you can't touch?"

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    The man Aisling is holding is already unconcious by the time Rogues hand hits her shoulder.

    WikiAdmin (talk)We don't killWikiAdmin (talk)

    "No, but we gods damn well should..." toss. Yes, she tosses him aside like so much detritus in the wind.

    Being blidned by rage, usually means you're not paying attention to other things...

    So, the Problem? Simple really, she didn't see the hole coming and well... someone else who can fly is more than likely going to have to either react very quickly, or Aisling is about to plummit to the floor below surrounded by all the shadow fire flame demon things.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As military vehicles pull up to the front, Monet goes to twist her head around just in time to look out the window and catch sight of those deploying. Too far away for her to move to read their minds but she has good enough sight to read thier lips. She goes to send out a warning <<We're being flanked!>> Right as those flames of darkness go to invade! And seemingly consume everything in their path. What /are/ those things?? Monet goes to quickly try to focus. They're under threat from three sides and pinned within the interior. A tactical withdraw would be prudent.. But that would require leveling the building. Which Jean can actually do

Monet goes to yell to the mental link <<Ms. Lee, are these things magical or not?>> She rather hated things she couldn't hit with her fists, even as she doesn't bother to try and read the 'minds' of those flames, if they even had any. She had done enough flops of trying tos can the minds of noncorporeal abominations, thank you very much.

When Jean goes to give the instructions to go smash, Monet goes to very, very happily smash while also trying to keep some level of coordination with the others.

For once, the complete smashing and leveling of the establishment is necessary. And Monet is FAR too etnhsuiastic as she smashes.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Black Flames doing weird things to people.

It's clearly the sort of thing to add to the things Tabby does not want to get in contact with. Especially as she rides the ceiling down to the basement and finds the source of the black flames.

There's a look to Jean, while Tabby gets her footing after wobbling on the landing at least when she gets told to blast it she grins. <<Get the animals out of here. No critter left behind. Human goons, not so much. I'm amazed Jubes hasn't had a snack. I'd call those assholes fair game.>> They prefer not to kill, but this particular X-Person tends to not lose sleep if bad guys don't survive.

Eyes on the machine, Tabitha starts charging a blast, swirling her hands as a ball of plasmatic flame starts growing and growing. A baseball at first, but soon as she lifts it overhead it's starting to take up about as much space as a compact car. The alternate X-Survivors get a reassuring sense from down the hole. At least as far as her own telepathic range goes while piggybacking with Jean. <<We got this guys, might wanna get clear, gonna show these assholes how to really start a blaze!>> she beams while those than can see her watch a possibly manic grin form on her features along with a blue glow in her eyes.

Usually this is the sort of blast she saves for evil lairs and labs. Not a vet clinic in the middle of Manhattan.

"Tick... Tick... Tick..." she counts down without numbers.

It's probably a good idea for anyone not linked with a cosmic entity to hightail it.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilee watches a rifle slide across the floor. She traces its path in reverse to a soldier lying face down, and then up to Rogue's fist. A conclusion is drawn.

"Thanks," she tells the Belle.

When the situation begins to unravel, thick clouds of death and despair bursting forth to transform the guards into Ringwraiths, Jubilation stares with wide eyes behind her sunglasses. She's almost ready to go on the attack, somehow, perhaps find out if these monstrosities have blood and, if so, what it tastes like, but Jean's all-call to the group that Tabby should blow the machine down below, Jubilee makes a better decision.

"Okay, okay, okay, I've seen this b-word work and believe me when I say, we gotta go!" Jubilation announces, hands high in the air with little clouds of plasmoid sparklers at her fingertips, trying to summon the attention of any remaining hostages.

They don't care. It's hard to care about anything but the Black Flame of Darkness.

Jubilation scowls and summons the dark curse that is her continuned existence. The entire room fills with feelings of dread, despair, and otherworldly horror as the vampire digs deep, summoning all of the supernatural presence she has available to her.

"Get OUT"

Her voice echoes in their very souls, replacing every one of their good memories with images of themselves being torn limb from limb by a really hot asian teenager. The horrifying memories, false in every way, is exactly what they need to get off their asses and flee Jubilee (and, therefore, the building), before Tabby, perhaps, knocks it over.

Rogue has posed:
At the behest of her favorite redhead, Rogue burst through one of the main load-bearing walls of the building. She began smashing in to them repeatedly, moving side to side, crushing them and causing the roof to cave-in on spots that did not have people clustered up beneath it. Through it all, Vincent was watching the situation unfolding, and when Aisling fell, he grabbed her hand. "I've got you!" He shouted, falling to his stomach beside the hole in the floor, holding on to the Irish woman with the two different hued eyes. Dangling over the basement, Aisling was very nearly a morsil of more food to consume by the black fire that was just mere feet beneath her, as Vincent stared in to her eyes, and began to stand up, pulling the redhead up to the main floor, using considerably strength, and showing it as he lifted her back up to relative safety. "Come on..." He said, as he motioned toward the front doors. "Lets go help my friends!"

The building shook, as Rogue began taking down another support wall, making ceiling tiles crash to the ground, dust kick up in the air, as Jubilee put the fear in the remaining people within the building, causing them to stream to the nearest exit, some of the soldiers too, as they had given up on their orders, only to be consumed by black fire from their already consumed comrades.

Their screams were other-worldly, as they too joined their brothers in the darkness, the obsidian fire bouncing from one body to the next, as it hungrily searched for power to consume.

Tyler, not in his smoke form, held a Sentinel rifle, aimed for the basement. He fired on one of the guards flanking Dr. Vaughn. He blasted the soldier square in the chest, a second before his counter-part was consumed by the black fire, and thusly rushed at the back of the unsuspecting Doctor, who stood in abject terror at the creation he had brought upon the world... The Doctor did not even see it coming, as he too soon joined the black, and was fully encircled by the dark fire, to a chorus of shifting screams.

"No!" Tyler screamed, charging his rifle for a powerful burst, only to see one of his two main objectives for saving his world be lost.

The flickering light of Tabitha's bomb drew Tyler's eyes, and through it, he saw it flying toward the machine, the creator of the Flame. Tyler tossed his weapon aside, burst in to his smoke form, and flew directly at Tabitha's bomb. He wrapped his smoke-form around it, covering it in his essence, as he suddenly diverted it from the machine, and flew it high in to the sky, passing through holes created by the crumbling building!

He just saved the machine, at what cost?

Outside: Jose and Dyson were surrounded, backed up between the transport vehicles that had off-loaded Bravo Team. The soldierse were entirely black fire now, taken by the Flame of Darkness. The boys stood back to back, fear on their faces, as Jose adjusted the setting on his headset, and prepared to scream again...

In the sky, the bomb from Tabitha blew. A massive plasmatic explosion that blew up so brightly, that Jubilation might be issuing cease and desist orders, for fear of losing her shtick.

The explosion spread out across the sky, as golden sparks fell from above the transport vehicles, covering down over Jose and Dyson on the street, with Vincent rushing out to try and take some of the black fire creatures attention off of his friends, his brothers.

Golden sparks began to rain down upon the ground, as two figures emerged from a portal in the sky, with the explosion in the air above them. One figure looked to the other, a voice of disappointment clear on his voice. "I told you." He said. "this was not a great plan."

Jean Grey has posed:
As Jean fights the shadow-creatures, somewhere in the brawl, she's had a moment of epiphany: her mind goes searching, finding the boy who hugged her, his reaction already having told her so much about her own fate in that world. Right now, him and his friend are fighting for their lives, but inside, they have memories of their prior battle with this thing. Memories of defeat, of loss. And Jean has a suspicion on just why their realities may be playing out differently, or at least, how theirs went so very wrong...

...and she scowls, as her quick and dirty psychic rummage through the boy's memories confirms that very suspicion. "Right. Shit. They don't even know."

Maybe there's an explanation here, for the fact that she's not on the same page as their visitors. It becomes obvious when, even absent the expected tick tick BOOM, there is all the same a massive flare from the basement, as everything tumbles in around them. It's not an explosion, however, so much as an unfurling, those blazing wings stretching out from inside the rapidly collapsing building, brushing away or simply disintegrating bits of falling rubble as they pass outward.

Ultimately, the Phoenix does as Phoenix do: she rises.

Emerging from the destroyed basement, Jean hovers at the center of the much larger projection, the trenchcoat (and everything else) is now gone, replaced with the familiar bodysuit.

Still green... for now.

As some of the rubble clears away, one might catch sight of one blazing talon clutching the machine. It's not clear if she's saved it... or is ready to destroy it. As the entity grows larger, higher, it's avian-shaped head turns toward the odd pair in the sky.

"'Not a great plan?' How about you explain it, Gentlemen. The Docotor didn't know what he was doing, there is no flip a switch and stop THIS."

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilee runs after the terrified hostages, both arms in the air as she makes stereotypical monster noises that, frankly, aren't necessary. "Aghhhhhh!" she shouts, baring her fangs at them as she chases. It's not necessary. She already filled their hearts with nightmares, but there's no reason she can't have a little fun with it.

"And, remember what I told the last group! Wendy's drive-thru is open till 1AM!" she shouts.

Knowing that her part in this mission is likely at an end, Vampilee stands in the street, arms folded across her chest.

"Oh, now you guys are in big, big trouble," she comments, watching the Phoenix rise from the ashes.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
There was a lot of energy that went into that bomb. When it's sent, Tabby's eyes stop glowing and she wobbles a lot.

She might be out of juice enough she might need one of those ass tasting energy bars they make her pack instead of the snickers bars she'd rather take. At least they aren't all melty despite all the heat and flame and requiring dry cleaning of her jacket's inside pockets.

When communication seems to go sideways and seemingly they shouldn't explode the machine. Tabby is a little confused and maybe more than a little annoyed when Tyler smokes up and snags the bomb.

It's probably a good thing most of Tabitha's energy went into making the bomb and shaping the charge so the big column of BOOM up in the sky while bright doesn't get too far out of hand.

It also meant she couldn't just yank the thing back down like she'd be able to do with a smaller bomb.

"What the hell, rude!"

Not helped that when Jean gets her flames on and all that Tabby gets blown about and possibly stuck down in the hole with a lot of stuff engulfed in black flames. And possibly the building still coming down on top of her. "Are we blowing the damn thing up or not!" the exhausted blonde yells with a confused shrug of her shoulders while landed upside down on her neck and shoulders.

"Really wish they'd make up their minds." she mutters to herself down in the increasing pile of rubble.

Longshot has posed:
Longshot is caught in the fear-radius of Jubilee, lots of new experiences! Fear is another thing that doesn't happen often, but he's out in the street far faster than he'd even originally intended. Only when in the street and abandoning the people he'd dragged with him will Longshot turn on heel, full attention on the terror-filling black flames within.

The explosion above will pull Longshot's full attention upward, not helping the panic. The stretch of light across the night sky before the black flashes surrounding Jose and Dyson and the attempts of Vincent to pull the monster's attention away. Longshot doesn't have anything to fight these things with and Vincent appears to know what he's doing. He's useless. He's scared. He can't touch them. His weapons are nothing here. He's never been scared before. He's-

Wait Jose and Dyson? Longshot is running forward, launching himself over the Bravo team to land squarely next to Jose and Dyson without thinking. They look scared, he can be brave for them.

Immediately comes a bright smile, Longshot's words warmly directed the two boys, a pointed ignoring of the evil bearing down on them, "Hey there, I'm Longshot! I need you to get close to me, okay? I'm going to do something and it'll only protect you if you are close to me-It's okay, It's okay! Be close! Hugs! Really, I mean it-It's going to be okay!"

One eye flares with light as Longshot yanks hard on reality, warping as much of the probability of these two young men surviving this. Chance of survival? Up. Chance of Team Bravo becoming Not A Problem? Up. Chance of the world not ending? Please, please, people live here. So many people live here, so many people live in these boy's world too. This isn't right, it isn't fair, it doesn't Have to be This way.

Think lucky thoughts.

The light of a star in one eye, Longshot hasn't stopped talking to Jose and Dyson, "It's going to be okay, you guys are going to be okay, no one else is going to die tonight-I promise. I promise everything will be fine, just trust the X-men. I promise, I'd know-"

"I deal in miracles."

Aisling Caroll has posed:
    Well, she was saved, and that was going to hurt a lot. Who also knows what else was coming in her future if she actually fell. "Right, gotcha..." she replied to Vince and off she went with him and the others.

Rogue has posed:
Tabitha, in great peril, finds herself half buried in rubble from the building that Rogue and Monet were bringing down around them all. But, her life was not at its Boomer end quite yet! The structure wall that crossed over her, was suddenly tossed away, and Rogue, covered in dust and detritus, reached her hands in to grab hold of her teammate. "Who told you it was time t'lay down on the job, Sugah? We got a world t'save here." The Belle told the Blonde Bombshell, as she lifted her up off of the ground, and up away from the black fire monsters, as they rushed in toward the two women, trying to pour their dark fire upon them.

Flying up in to the sky, Rogue carried Tabitha out to the street, where the creatures that were surrounding the boys, were being distracted by Vince and Aisling, joined now by Rogue and Tabitha, Rogue spared a glance skyward...

"You heard that?" Iron Man said, flying in mid-air, wearing a suit made of black metal and gold trim, he eyed the Phoenix in the night sky. "I'm embarrassed, Dr. Jean Grey. I've always been a big fan. In fact, I'd say you're my second favorite redhead. Though, right now? Well, don't tell Pepper my current feelings."

"Stark, focus." Doctor Strange said, his arms folded across his blue vestament, as he eyed Jean and the machine she carried. "Hold that thing still, Dr. Grey. While we ... handle this." Strange moved his hands, and began sweeping them in wide circles, until mirror images of himself fanned out from either sides, and moved down to the street, Hundreds of Doctor Strange mirror images began to cast spells, creating fiery swords, that they wielded against the shadow monsters, slashing, stabbing, striking and beheaded. The sounds of the shadowy Flame of Darkness monsters cried out, as the army of Stranges surrounded Longshot and the boys that he was protecting.

"Leave my kids alone." Iron Man commanded, as he held up his hands, and unleashed a wave of energy, a blossoming burst of power that spread out, toward the machine in Jean's Phoenix claw.

A powerful EMP burst, crashed in to the Flame of Darkness machine, causing its spherical structures to shimmer, and deactivate, the strange combination of Mutant powers and technological creation whirring in to a state of silence, no longer producing the flames of shadow fire.

On the ground, Strange's minions were pushing back against the shadows, their fire swords successfully crashing and crushing the darkness. Though some of Strange's mirror images were felled by the monsters, bursting in to smoke and magical sparkles that scattered across the pavement of Mutant Town.

Jose and Dyson held close to Longshot, cheering as they witnessed the onslaught of their saviors. Vincent rushing to their sides, and Tyler appearing in a puff of smoke that came from the sky. Tyler appeared directly beside Tabitha, his eyes cast upward, watching the PHoenix, before he looked to Tabitha. "I'm sorry about that... I had to do it."

With the machine powered down, the gleaming form of the armored Iron Man flew toward Jean, his rocket mounted feet guiding him closer toward her. "Look. I don't know how to say this... But, I need you to put that big sphere in to my portal. I need it, really badly. The fate of our world rests upon it..." He pauses for a moment, before adding. "That's not the worst line I've ever tried."

Longshot has posed:
Longshot's luck does not work on other people to speak of, he knows this without knowing why. He knows he is almost entirely guaranteed to walk out of every situation he walks into alive. It is a blessing. Or a curse. Depending on how much Longshot knows about his own existence. This is not a gift he can guarantee for others without them being close like this. He's not totally sure how far the radius of protection he can extend is, just that it isn't as large as he'd like it to be and it is a radius that has failed him in the past.

That Jose and Dyson are willing to put trust into a stranger is a relief, Longshot holds them close as he can as the mirrors of Strange's magic flicker around them removing the threats. A bright smile is offered to Vincent as he joins them, but no words and no move to let go of the two younger mutants until absolutely sure that all the threats are gone for good. Radius of luck is not being given an opportunity to fail if Longshot can help it.

At least these are heroes who have enough of a media presence for Longshot to recognize them. Content to wait, watch, protect with presence and hope. He's really good at that last one. Hope.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
Jubilation laughs out loud. "Nice try, Discount Brand Iron Man! Maybe that works on the ladies in your universe, but you gotta do a lot better than that here!" she shouts. "C'mon Jean, sink the shot! I got a kid I gotta put to bed!"

Jubilee continues existing off to the side, as she often does, making wise cracks, as she often does.

Jean Grey has posed:
Friendly banter from another universe's most eligible billionaire nonwithstanding, the Phoenix... is not impressed.

"You should know, nothing in that man's mind would have saved your world. I know, I felt him die, like I've felt so many others."

The voice that issues from that flaming eidolon is overlapping, echoing through ear and mind as the gestalt being speaks for entity and host alike. In this case, the words are true for either, both: the Phoenix bears witness to the cycle of life and death itself, dwells in a place where all souls eventually pass. And Jean? That's only how all of this started. Poor little Annie Richardson... and every lost friend or comrade since. She's felt every one.

"Vaughn.... shared more with you two, than you would be pleased to admit. Brilliant men, who think themselves infalible, and who because they cannot be satisfied even with the scope of their own genius, toy with things yet beyond their comprehension." Does she, it, they sound a bit... annoyed?

Not a worrying sign, or anything.

"Your /plan/ might have worked better if you warned us fast enough to stop him from turning it on." The bird-head turns to follow the else-world Strange: "Was your time rock not working?" That, despite the hostility, _must_ come from Jean. Surely the Phoenix doesn't quip.

Still, there's an air of... hostility, as her blazing talon clutches that thing, contains it for Iron Man to do his little routine. When he's done? She holds up the resulting product, or rather, the exaggerated talon does so, leaving it hovering someplace in the air, just ahead of where Jean hangs in the 'heart' of her flaming image.

The firebird cocks its head.

And then there's an audible crunch. Did she...?

The blazing talon unfurls, and displays the sphere, free of its mountings, hovering held between the sharp points of two of those claws. No, not simply between. They bury into its surface, piercing it without damaging the physical structure. "Curious."

And then, with little fanfare, it is shoved through 'Tony's hole.'

"I am... sorry for your world. I wonder, who will-"

But the thought is thrust aside, as the firebird starts to pull backward, not just away, but contracting back toward Jean, back into her. "I wish... I could have just done my usual power-up off Tabitha, and not all _that_," she grumbles, as her hovering form finally meets the ground, and there falls onto a knee. Still, Tyler and co are spared a soft look, maybe a soft -thought-, wherever they've ended up in all of this. "It's not your fault. Your version of her- of me- wasn't like this."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
They may never find out if Tabitha vs black flames would go in her favor. Though being a telepath herself and a pyrokinetic, there was probably better odds in her favor even if she wasn't on Jean's level.

That said, when Rogue has her pulled out of the collapsing building, the worst you could say is that Tabitha has enough dirt and soot in her hair she might be mistaken for a brunette. And she really, really needs a shower.

"Hey, I just got blue balled." the bomb was starting to tinge blue before it was stolen and wasted. "I'd have caught up." she adds, total bullshit. Even if she could survive the building coming down on her, there's probably a few other things that would have been a problem.

At least now she doesn't have to climb out of a burning hole in the ground she created.

The apology from Tyler when she's set down gets a shrug. "Next time just shove it back at me. I can reabsorb my own energy. Jean coulda done it too. I need sugar and a big bowl of..." she doesn't actually finish that sentence.

She smells enough of the non fun smoke right now.

Rogue has posed:
Iron Man did not immediately reply to Jean. He just flew back out of her way, and watched her eventually put the tecnological device where he had asked. He descended with her to the ground, while the mirror images of Strange utilized their fire swords to help finish off the last of the shadow fire creatures, though they had only barely just been enough, leaving only five mirrors of Strange left to walke back in to the Wizard Prime. He regarded Longshot, Dyson and Jose. "You two." Strange said to them. "You were supposed to guard the Doctor, until we arrived."

Jose peaked out from behind Longshot, Dyson was seven foot tall, he didn't peer out from behind anyone. He just folded his arms over his chest and frowned at the Doctor. "We had to do it this way, we were out of time."

Vincent checked the boys over, before he offered a thanks to Longshot, and moved over toward where Rogue was standing, helping some of the hospital staff who were hiding behind a large box truck.

Iron Man's helmet foded back over his head, revealing Tony Stark's visage. His eyes scanned those nearby, offering a nod toward Tabitha and Aisling, before he stared at Jubilee. "Do I know you?" He asked her. "Wait, yeah... I remember you from the 80s. You were the girl who put gum under all the tables, and placed bets on who'd put their hand in it first. What a cold hearted bitch." He stated, winking at her in a playful fashion, before he looked toward Jean.

He stared at her a moment, his body language easing up, as he drew in a breath. "We fucked up." He said, suddenly being much more serious. "I destroyed this thing... in our world. I thought if I destroyed it, I'd stop it from spreading. But that didn't work, obviously. Desperate times, call for desperate measures. So here we are, being desperate. It won't save what we've lost though, even if we can make this replacement fit in the square hole. But, we have to try everything, until all our options are exhausted. We can't let our world be completely burned up in the flame of .. whatever the Hell this is."

"It is Hell." Doctor Strange interjected, as he stepped up close. His eyes went from one face to the next. "It is as close to Hell as I've seen, anyway. It's a Hell unleashed through pushing too far in directions we didn't understand." this got a pointed stare from Strange to Stark. But the good Doctor exhaled, and shook his head. "We're sorry for what this has done to your world. I'll check back in soon, to make sure there were no residual effects. We'll bring your machine back too, if possible, to keep your timeline intact."

"With a user manual, hopefully." Tony added, before he whistled loudly. "Boys! Assemble! We got a train to catch." He nodded to the Doctor, who offered a solemn head nod toward Jean, and then one to the others who were close by. He stepped back, and aimed a hand toward the sky, pulling his portal from the air, and down to street level, where it showed the interior of a lab on the other side, presumably in some other alternate reality.

Vincent stepped away from Rogue, pulling his hand from one of her gloved one, leaving some black chain dangling from her gloved fingers. She glanced down to it, and then back to him, as they all gathered at their portal.

Jose stepped from Stark's side, and rushed to Jean, to give her one last hug, before he was collected up by Dyson, who smirked toward Tabitha and Jubilee. "See ya later, X-Men..." The big guy said, before the group gathered, and crossed back to their home, leaving tony the last to pass through, shouting to everyone on the other side. "Okay, we got work to do!"

the golden portal swirld and faded, leaving sparks on the ground, and the left overs of chaos in its wake.