1221/Genosha Expedition II: Pirates!

Genosha Expedition II: Pirates!
Date of Scene:	18 April 2020
Location:	Hammer Bay
Synopsis:	Back in Genosha the X-Men meet some wealthy jerks and then fight Hydra pirates under Viper command
Cast of Characters:	Scott Summers, Tabitha Smith, Bobby Drake, Lorna Dane, Illyana Rasputina

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Scott Summers has posed:
One would have expected hunting for pirates would be more interesting. But so far it has been rather lame. In a week X-Men found two ships from Madagascar and three for Somalia. Small things carrying a score of brigands and thugs armed with old firearms.

Well, the ships are now in the bottom of the Indian Ocean and the pirates in jail. African jails, since Genosha's were also demolished.

Today it has been slightly more interesting. The 'pirates' were in a luxury yacht from Madripoor carrying a dozen of billionaires from all over the world in a macabre tour around the island involving digging trophies and taking selfies with ruins behind them. Also, shooting any dirty mutant coming close. Including the X-Men. Well, their mercenaries and bodyguards did the shooting. The super-rich 'tourists' mostly threatened with 'dire consequences' and how they would call their lawyers and their country rulers.

All in all, a very annoying and rude group of entitled jerks. The mercenaries and the ship crew at least have the decency to look worried and contrite.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The reality is, Tabby is not the sort that does well with boredom. So the bit of a tougher time that gets put up by the mercenaries was a much needed bright spot in her day. Much, much needed.

However, she's not the leader of these missions, not in charge. Probably not even asked what her opinions might be on how to conduct business. So, when not blowing up things, she stands around, filing her nails and waiting on someone with responsibility to say what moves happen next.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake has been wrapped up at the school trying to help out there, but when the opportunity arose to get out and do something to actively help, Bobby was happy to come along and do his part in rounding up mercenaries and getting them subdued. Freezing people in place, literally, can help with that, which is a good part of what he did until they could be more permanently secured.

"Looks like they're not going anywhere," he observes once everyone has been attended to, glancing over toward Tabby and the others, shaking his head in disgust. "I'm all for a bit of irreverence and all, but man, respect for the dead."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna was hungover.. slightly. She'd gone out with Pietro the other day, and well, dealing with the rich and famous was something she was getting used to. Slowly. It meant that she wasn't on her best game though, and she reached up to rub the sides of her temples as she exhaled a breath. "I'll deal with the fall out of all that I'm sure for the next few weeks.." She muttered, grimacing as she glanced around.

"Maybe I should just let my father's more blood thirsty minions do what they want with them next time.." She added, and sat down on whatever available service was around. She heaved a sigh.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Rattling gunfire makes for a miserable retort by the fanciful moneyed class complaining about their social inferiors showing up. No chance for them to reap of the wealth from the ruins, claiming they're just 'taking photos.' No chance for them to dig out valuables as a trophy for the mantle, or something worth selling. It's enough to make Illyana's skin crawl if she were normal but everyone here must know she is not. The demon queen of Limbo takes the whole 'shooting at me' thing pretty calmly, all in all. Maybe because the idea of hitting her with bullets is tricky. Maybe because she plots much worse. "You know, I am tempted to cast magic missile."

She stands next to Tabby, observing things with a rather pale gaze. Her fingertips trace a simple pattern in the air and repeats the complexity over, over, and over. Delicate triangles spin around, interlaced like diamonds, building with every breath. A shield slowly takes form, a dense hemisphere. "So we have these... problems." A gesture indicates the yacht. "Our goal is to convince them to leave Genosha alone, da? Or to remove their bounty back to Lorna to distribute? Because removing the things in their hull is not so hard. I take us over there; we take the cargo, we go?"

Scott Summers has posed:
The yacht's captain is a man called Jin. Short Asian guy about 60, he has not opened the mouth unless addressed directly. Letting the billionaires do the talk. Or rather, the shouting. He is not stupid and knows where the other ships intercepted by the X-Men have ended. He doesn't want to lose a 100 million luxury yacht. In Madripoor that is not merely a career-ending incident; it is a fatal accident, for him.

So, he is trying to think a way out of the problem, letting the super-rich passengers vent, when his cellphone starts beeping. Not a call, it is an alarm. "We need to leave, now!" He manages to shout over the screams and protests.

The small man moves forward to Lorna and bows. "Your majesty. I apologize in the name of the crew of my ship and the shipping company and promise to make whatever restitution your majesty deems suitable. But please, I beg you, let us go now. I swear we will head straight away from the island and never return."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"I say we just blow them up. If I put a few well placed bombs in the right spot, I could sink this whole ship in minutes...You know how fast the Titanic sank, afterall." Tabby, clearly, doesn't know how fast it sank or she'd otherwise have used another example.

The beeping of the cellphone gets her attention, and she shifts her attention in his direction, then towards Lorna. Then she wonders, her voice pitched low for the others, "Why do you think he's suddenly freaking out?"

Bobby Drake has posed:
"Well, I definitely think we should reclaim whatever they dug up. That goes back to Genosha, and for Lorna's people to figure out who they should go back to. That part's easy enough. As for what to do with /them/? Same prison their buddies went to. They're thugs like the rest, and as for their governments? Let them explain why these guys were caught out here red handed digging up other people's belongings after a disaster," Bobby opines from where he stands, arms folded in front of him, a figure of nearly translucent ice beyond the suit that covers part of him. Bullets aren't much of a deterrent when you can melt and reform and political threats don't weigh as heavily on him as they may on others, which is why he glances over toward Lorna for what she thinks, at least on the political side of things having to do with the skeevy millionaires.

Then there's beeping and Jin is making his plea to Lorna. One icy brow lofts and Bobby glances at the man curiously, and then at the beeping device, and then out toward the water. "Something must be incoming that's got'm spooked. What's coming for you, Captain?" he asks.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna rubbed her temple and sighed, looking over at the captain and then the others gathered around her. "I feel almost as if I should give the order to sink the ship and kill every last one of the people on board. After all, you've attacked a sovereign nation and we are but defending ourselves. I doubt Latveria would be so kind." She drawled, and leaned back on the rubble she sat on. Her green eyed gaze was tired and she heaved another sigh. The beeping phone caught her attention briefly.

"My father had followers that want revenge, and they've been calling for blood. I'm betting its likely one of them." She mused, and grimaced faintly as she rose.

"It would certainly send a message if I just let them do that.. wouldn't it?" She pursed her lips together, her gaze shifting back to the ship, running her senses over the haul and the alike. But she wasn't blood thirsty either, she was tired. And she waved a hand toward Bobby.

"Take what you can for Genosha's people. I doubt we'll have the time, as I suspect we'll be forced to defend these pathetic people.."

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Eyes narrow slightly at the mention of burying everyone at sea. Without comment, Illyana holds at the rail and her shielding spell settles around her like an invisible ring. It tickles the skin, but little else, and she holds close next to Tabitha to give her a modicum of extra protection.

Her focus moves to Jin, and she holds it with the implacable gravity of a gas giant bearing down on a would be bombling meteor in space. Her unblinking stare loses just a little of its humanity when she is focused that heavily. "Why leave so suddenly, captain?" Her tone is flat, unedged. "What is coming?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"We could potentially take it all if we just let Illy shoot everyone through a portal, and everything, while we handle whatever is coming long enough for her to do it." Tabby points out, glancing over at Illyana, "Right?"

She has full faith that Illyana is capable of handling any transporting needs, after all. But then she glances towards Jin, "Unless we're about to meet a kraken, in which case I say we all just leave."

Scott Summers has posed:
Captain Jin eyes move from Iceman, to Lorna, and then to Illyana. He thought Lorna was in charge, but now he is not sure. Still, he addresses the green-haired mutant. "I do not know what is coming. But I was told if I received this message I should leave the area immediately. Please... understand. In Madripoor a man learns quickly when he can ask for more information and when he cannot."

Something might be coming, but the water seems calm, the sky is mostly clear. The sun is setting in an hour or two and there are no other ships in sight.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake nods in Tabitha's direction, liking the sound of her plan. He glances over at Jin and says, "I'm not against wrestling a kraken for a good cause, but not really to save these guys from getting eaten. I'd rather we just shove everything and everyone somewhere relatively safe and then make sure whatever's coming isn't coming here to do more looting and damage. If it's not? I'm kind of alright with waving g'bye on our way out. If it is? I'm down for arm wrestling."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, "I am not a murderer, contrary to what many people think. I value all lives.. humans too. Even when they threaten my country and people. Who are //innocent//. We'll let you all go... and in return I want the passenger list. We're going with Bobby's plan? If Illyana feels she's up for it? I support it. We gotta get ready." She murmured, glancing around.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
"There is no question. I am here, am I not?" Illyana flexes her fingers, producing a slight cracking sound from under the slender, fingerless gloves wrapped around her wrists. "From the hold into the other side for cover, or from the deck?" Once they decide on where they want her to open the portal, she will do so, a blue-white gleam of radiance percolating to the surface of reality.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Leave the ship. Just take the people and stuff. We've wasted enough time that if this thing is going to explode, they won't get clear if they try and get a big tub like this moving. It's why the Titanic sank." Tabby points out, glancing at Illyana to inform her this is the Real Reason that the cruise ship sank.

Bobby Drake has posed:
"What's with you and the Titanic?" Bobby asks Tabitha with a grin, "But sure, whatever we're gonna do, let's get doing." He nods to Illyana and says, "Beam us out, Illy. From the Deck. I'll hit the hold and meet you there." And with that one hand extends ahead of him, creating a ramp of ice as he slides off toward the hold. If he sees anything that looks like it might be particularly important to someone or their family, he grabs it. If not, well, he'll slide back on out and bail through the portal with everyone else.

Scott Summers has posed:
Knowing he is going to lose the ship makes Captain Jin a very unhappy sailor, but he gives Lorna the list. He is a man that won't be going back to Madripoor if the X-Men give him any choice.

Teleporting the people out is simple. Besides the twelve passengers and ten mercenaries, the ship had a crew of around twenty. Most of the sailors are from Madripoor, and looked quite worried about that alarm.

Bobby would find searching the ship a lengthy process. It is fairly large, with several luxury suites but little cargo space otherwise. There are a few 'souvenirs' that might be from Genosha. But also, a good deal of artwork, expensive jewelry and devices that probably aren't. The ship is a small floating palace.

Even if he calls for help, chances are the sun has set by the time they finish looking around.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake isn't terribly concerned about the art and the valuables, which can all sink as far as he's concerned, and so he doesn't bother once he discovers the task is going to be too arduous to sift through it all. And so after a brief cursory look at what the task is going to be, he sighs and slides his way back up to the deck again, and the portal off the ship.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Unfortunately for all of them men trying to deal with the issue of being transported, each and every last one of them experiences a horrifically bumpy ride. It's rare that the wealthy and powerful suffer anything outside their comfort zone other than a stock collapse or a nasty bit of side-eye from their mistresses. They simply do not tend to put themselves in reach of ignominies, lawyers making the problems go away and power protecting them from the discomforts.

Illyana, however, throws them into the deeper circles of Hell for a glimpse of the other side. The room they land in most certainly has the feeling of a baroque dining room, the sort of sumptuous place where wealth whispers and privilege simmers; true inlufnece doesn't scream. Except it should with the smiling demons waiting for them, candles burning red and the fire black, putting paid to the notion of mortality. No matter the delicious spread on the table, it is all a warning of gluttony.

She remains on the in-between space of it, a girl with an angel's face and a demon's soul. Anyone who might be showing signs of horror or sickness from their freefall into Limbo earns that smile; those who might be aggressive won't get the pleasure of a fight from her. In the meantime, she offers to help shunt stuff along with Bobby.

Leave it to the others to notice the explosive; a girl can't do anything, though given her placement, she might be the best poised to hurl problems out of the way.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
If Illyana needs help, then Tabby is there to help. Other wise there isn't a whole lot fo her to be doing at this time, except plotting her response to Bobby regarding the Titanic when he turns back up.

If things need moving, she'll do. Otherwise she's formulating things, and then shares it, "I saw the movie."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna holds the boat's deck, after all, she figured whoever was attacking was likely from her side of things.. and if not. Oh well. She could handle herself, or so she thought. She wasn't involved in whatever Illyana did, though she likely would have approved if she knew. Nor was she searching the decks below. So she held the main part of the ship. She shifted her senses spread wide already, and sensed the incoming threat of the torpedo.

Her lips curved into a smile and she flew up into the air, stretching her arms out and only only lifting the explosive but in also flipping it around and sending it back in the general direction she had sensed its approach from.

Scott Summers has posed:
The second the sun vanishes under the waves there was a torpedo heading for the yacht. Fortunately, Lorna was quick enough to notice it when it came close, and even send it back in the general direction it came.

But it is not even close to the place the submarine emerges.

Or is it even a submarine. It looks like a high-tech cross between submarine and hydrofoil boat. It looks sleek and deadly, pinch black in color but for a design on the deck, a six-armed octopus with a skull for head on a field of green. Not the Kraken, but the Hydra.

Despite being obviously well-armed, the boat doesn't open fire on the yacht again, instead it approaches while slowing down. Green-glad figures can be seen on the deck of the futuristic submarine. Armed, but not threatening for now.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby just looks at Tabitha when her delayed response finally comes and after a moment he says, "Okay," with a laugh. But then there's a torpedo, and Lorna's turning it back around on those who fired it. He remains near the portal, waiting to see what is coming next. But when a ship approaches and does not fire again, he remains behind on the deck, studying the approaching vessel and the markings on it. "What do you suppose they want?" he asks, though it's not directed at anyone in particular, maybe Lorna because she's nearby, maybe just wondering aloud.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna shrugs as she lowered herself back down to the ship, "I dunno, but if they want to use another torpedo that's fine with me." She muttered, crossing her arms and squinting as she eyed the ship despite the glare of the tropical ocean between them. She pressed her fingers to her coms, "We've got an unidentified ship approaching. I'm going to check it out." She flew a little ways from the luxury liner, her gaze and senses sweeping out over the strange thing that approached.

"State your business." She called, her eyes narrowing at the sight of the design and felt her stomach drop. "It's got the design of six armed octopus. That sound familiar to anyone?" She asked softly over the comms.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"It was a good movie." Tabitha points out, but then things are just going all crazy. She can not fly, or teleport, or even build an ice bridge out. So she does what any logical person does, she moves closer towards Illyana.

"If it comes to it, fling me over, I'll drop bombs and then leap off the port side yelling Geronimo." This plan could not possibly go wrong. At all.

Scott Summers has posed:
There is a woman on the deck to receive Lorna. She is tall, and has green hair, worn so it covers part of her face. "Come closer, princess, I like your hair," she says with false cheer. "I see you brought the X-Men with you. Your father must be rolling in his grave."

The hydrofoil moves with grace, finally stopping at parallel to the Yacht. Both ships are pretty much the same size, so moving from one to another would be easy. Except there are a number of green and gold clad goons aiming weapons to the X-Men on sight. Only Lorna is left alone, since apparently she has been invited.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake eyes the woman on the ship, arms folding in front of him as he glances from her to the goons with their weapons aimed at them. He doesn't move, for now, arms crossed and expression skeptical. He looks to Lorna to see what she wants to do, one brow ticking upward just a little bit in silent question. But he doesn't seem to like the look of those on the other ship.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, floating down toward the ship, but keeping her distance all the same, her arms crossed as she rode the magnetic fields and kept her distance. "It's Queen now, and my father has no grave to roll in." She called, tilting her chin up and arching a brow imperiously. She kept her stance, eyeing the ship and its crew.

"And I'll ask again. State your business." She didn't glance back at the ship, but she listened with care to the comms. Her voice lowering. "Have we cleared the ship?"

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Illyana is happy to give anyone a lift if necessary, though her response to all of this is fairly benign. "Bombing indiscriminately has advantages. Still, they might be armed or unhappy, da?" This much causes her a lazy roll of her shouldrs, easing her way through the tumble of death. She inclines her head slightly, corner of her mouth curled in that languid smirk. Lorna is handling the diplomatic side of things in a very different way than, say, Bobby or she might.

"Stay within arm's reach," she idly asides to Tabitha. "Safer." Unimpressed by the array of guns, she leans casually on the rail like a bored teenager and smiles at those. No finger-wiggles of greeting, okay? She can at least be the least frightening person there. "You know Chastity's Belt is out? It has maybe two percent positive ratings. So bad it must be good."

Scott Summers has posed:
The other green-haired woman considers Lorna for a few seconds, then she realizes the Genoshan has no idea who she is and laughs. "Oh, dear princess, you should have listened more carefully to your dad wartime stories. Lets just say I have plans for Genosha but if you keep to the other side of the island they won't involve you or your mutants," she pauses, "unless they want to come working for me. I have no prejudices. One time offer because I love your hair."

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake touches his comms and murmurs quietly into them, "Of people, yeah. There's plenty of art, valuables, and whatever is in that floating palace left on it. Would have taken all day to search it. Careful, Lorna.. that's Hydra. They're bad news. And I'm pretty sure that's Viper. So.. snakes. Poison. Keep your distance." He keeps his eyes on Lorna the whole time as she moves, ready to throw some ice if he needs to. But for the moment, he keeps back. No need to start none if there won't be none.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna tilted her head as she listened to Bobby's words, her frown becoming more apparent. She exhaled a breath, "Yeah I figured given the giant octopus." She muttered darkly, "Illyana, any chance you can open a portal large enough to swallow this whole ship?" She ventured, her voice still low to as only to carry to the comms.

Her expression remained impassive and she glanced back to the other green haired woman before her on deck. "You need to stay off Genosha, this is the only warning I'll give you. There will be no dividing up of Genoshan lands." She called, arms still crossed as she floated on the magnetic waves between the ships.

Scott Summers has posed:
Viper smiles again, then shrugs. "I can be a good neighbor when I want," she protests. But that is it, there is no warning, and not even a 'kill them now' command. It is just a dozen Hydra soldiers opening fire on Bobby, Tabitha and Illyana. Mostly sub-machine guns, but a couple toss hand grenades just in case bulletproof mutants happen.

From the stern of the ship (that is behind Viper) three armored figures fly up. They wear blue and black armored suits, although they don't seem full body armor like Iron Man's. Two of them fly to the sides, and the other straight for Lorna, opening fire with a sonic cannon.

Meanwhile Viper tosses a gas grenade (full of poison gas, of course) into Lorna's direction, it explodes as it is hit by the sonic blast. But Lorna might still get caught on the poison cloud. The woman herself, swift as her namesake, runs forward, jumping to the Yacht pirate-like. "I guess I will keep your scalp as a trophy!" She yells to Lorna. Probably goes unheard due to the sonic canon.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Snakes, vipers, and poison. As long as Viper turns her attention on Lorna, that means less attention on Illyana and Tabitha. Only a fool disregards a man made of ice, but teenagers? So much for the calculation of admiring the ocean blue when tempers fly. The flexible shield spell wrapped around the blonde sorceress encloses Tabitha in turn, and that's deliberate. "Da," replies to Lorna in Russian, affirmative on the question. Calculations for sea water transfer by dumping the ship in Monaco come to an abrupt end with the salvo of gunfire. Almost instantaneously midnight black armour blossoms over her clothes, slithering across her chest and racing down her arms from a spiked pauldron. It takes barely a thought for the black shadows to garb her, and the Soulsword to come to hand. The shield spell might hold against the bracing damage but she throws herself in between Tabitha and the gunmen, being the nice obvious target. Ranged fire is supposed to be the reason knights in shining armour were relics of the past. Alas, not the case here, as she takes a guarded stance of advancing or waits until someone is just too stupid to get within range and the dance begins. Here, kitty kitty kitty. Come play with Illyana while Tabby gets to blowing stuff up.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake isn't terribly afraid of bullets. Bullets hurt, but in this form, they will do little more than chip at the ice and send chunks of it flying, which several do. There are gouges along his arms and chest where bullets send shavings of ice everywhere in an explosion of flurries. He tilts his neck one way, and then the other. That.. was uncomfortable. But now it's his turn.

A ramp of ice easily allows him to slide from one side of the ship to the other ship. He lifts one hand and points it at one of the gunmen. "My turn," he grins, and blasts him with a chest full of ice that blows him right over the edge of the ship and into the water.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Grenades, guns, and various other weapons all had one weakness. Most of the important parts were made of steel. Unless specifically made to target her or her father, standard issue military weapons were typically all focused on a metal pin, trigger, or screw that allowed them to work. With as paranoid as Lorna was, and expecting an attack.. all of her senses were already spread out around her.

The weapons all aimed her way were rather jerked upward at the same time.

She didn't bother trying to protect her teammates, they were fully capable of taking care of themselves. And instead, her efforts were spent in simply puppeting the weapons aimed her way back at her attackers. The green haired woman //did// lift herself up higher into the air though, her reach plenty to still manipulate whatever weapons she chose, gritting her teeth as her eyes narrowed in focus.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Shields are super nice, and honestly Tabby sort of tuned out everything by watching just water do what water does. So when gunfire and grenades are tossed there is a strong, violent reaction from Tabby.

"SHIT!" As swift as Illyana moves, Tabby hits the deck like any well trained and very vulnurable to damage person does. But it's not for long when she realizes that Illyana is taking the brunt of the attack it is enough to send her scrambling back to her feet, summoning up a larger bomb to throw at the gunmen, "Pick on someone your own size!"

Scott Summers has posed:
The hail of bullets bounce or ricochet against ice and enchanted armor, but the grenades blow up a good chunk of the wooden side of the yacht. Splinters everywhere. Yet Iceman is not even there, he is boarding the hydrofoil in a counter-pirate boarding action that ends up with some Hydra goons chilling on the water and the rest taking cover to keep firing. Then someone tosses a 'grenade' to THEM. Another couple of the green-clad pirates go flying.

The Hydra agents seem overmatched, but they are just a distraction. The main attack comes from the power armor warriors. Lorna stops the first one, the one trying to aim the sonic cannon at her. The armor is mostly hard plastics and ceramics, but it has enough steel she can throw him back while avoiding the poison cloud.

But the second man, lets call him 'Raider Two', flies up and unfurls a large energy net, tossing it towards the magnetic mutant. And 'Raider Three' takes a flying dive towards Iceman. His weapon of choice are wrist mounted pulse lasers. More powerful than bullets, and very hot.

Meanwhile Viper comes from behind, moving with the speed and agility of an Olympic gymnast she determines Tabby is the most vulnerable target, unfurls a twenty feet long steel-tipped whip and strikes like a viper, aiming to wrap the weapon around Tabitha's neck and pull hard. That one is going to leave a nasty mark if it hits!

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Firearms being what they are, the blonde leaves it to Bobby to take out the shooters. She darts away from the ruined edge of the ship where perilous leaps into the oceanic abyss don't necessarily engender a great deal of fun. Tabitha on the ground and smacked by that whip moving at speeds of sound warrant a snarl, and she spins for a swinging thrust at... nothing? The Soulsword comes careening down into open space, but a portal snaps open at the last moment, intersecting the blade so that the downstroke intercepts the whip several feet away -- right where the next terminating portal opens up vertically, producing a diagonal cut at a distance. The relic sings in furious abandon while she tries to chop the whip in twain, and blocking any forward drag. If Tabby is still yanked, she's going into Limbo and out of the way.

"Tired of showing off yet?" she snaps back to Viper, not expecting an answer.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake manages to put a couple of goons over the side of the boat before he turns and sees Lazor Raider coming for him. That looks a little more problematic, and Bobby takes a moment to decide how to tackle this particular problem while neatly sliding away on a ramp of ice, dodging an incoming blast or two easily enough. "It's almost like we were made for one another," he jokes with the Raider, giving him an icy wink before launching himself at his dance partner, in a dangerous move to try to get in close, while dodging incoming lazor beams.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna was doing what she could to play a deadly game of 'keep-away'. She was a distance fighter, not a close and in your-face type. A glass cannon. And men in power suits could go either way. She flew fast, higher and away from the ship below to give herself the much needed space, her hair whipping about her as she flew. Which is when she noticed the man unfurling an energy net her way, and she made to dodge that as quickly as possible.

If she couldn't push him away with his plastic armor then she'd get some space herself, as she dodged. As best as she could, trying to get a feel on the energy net's signature and its composition through her senses.. but it didn't register as anything she was familiar with. It certainly wasn't a taser.

She dove this way and that, trying to keep the raider occupied and away from both herself and others.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Not getting jerked by the neck all the way back to Viper is a good thing, but as fast as Illyana is to get that chain cut, it isn't nearly fast enough for her to remain unpulled.

The bomb summoned goes flying, probably not towards the intended targets as Tabby gets pulled forward with a yelp of surprise and pain, and tumbles head first through the portal into Limbo.

Scott Summers has posed:
While the Hydra agents get the hell out of the way of Iceman ramps, the raider keeps trying to poke him full of holes, slowing down to turn quickly, his wrists blasters shooting as fast as the power cells allow him. Maybe too focused in the kill, the Raider doesn't realize in time the ice ramp is whirling his way. Crash! Chunks of ice pepper the Hydrofoil's deck. But the raider is not out of the fight yet, he reaches to grab Bobby's arm and pulls, to punch him with mechanically enhanced strength.

Raider One sees his energy net miss hitting Polaris, which leaves him without his main weapon. But not unarmed, he still has short range charged bolas that have a similar energy-draining effect. He just needs to be close enough to use them.

Raider Three, the sonic cannon one, is returning to the fight, but the cannon is not working anymore, so he is heading to help his buddy to pummel Iceman into ice cubes.

Meanwhile Viper manages to yank Tabitha for a second, just before Illyana slices his whip with her glowing sword. Undaunted, she jumps forward, feinting a kick to the blonde's head, but actually going to grab her hair with a hand. And then trying to use her inertia to slam the sorceress' head against the deck of the yacht. Of course, she fights dirty, but she is also extremely good, warriors like Wolverine and Captain America can barely handle her.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
The portal for Tabby is, mercifully, angular, a low level diagonal that sends her tumbling through the firefly fields of Limbo where pretty crystalline roses wink with fire and lightning on their thorns. The terminating portal lands on the deck of the ship -- inside, mercifully -- towards the stern, preferably in whatever passes for a cabin. It's within relative sight and therefore easy enough to adjust for.

Besides, the demon queen has her own problems to contend with. The cutting edge of the Soulsword is enough to put supersoldiers into agony, but she's using it to keep space open, to make an approach deadly and dangerous. Sure, Viper has a hell of a fighting style and Illyana is purely on the defensive about it.

Buy time. "//Bobby//," she snarls through the commlink to get his attention, and hisses when she's slammed into the ground. What is pain, for someone who was beaten for breathing by a cruel master? It /sucks/ as a lesson, it does. Especially now, especially crashing into the deck. Pain blooms like a beast and her instinctual reaction is to clench her fists. The armour tightens around her, for all the good it does, but the game isn't fair. Blood drips from bruised flesh split open on the wood.

The deck drops from under her, snapping open a portal.

It's a hell of a long drop and it's a lightning quick blossom that takes on a wide dimension, longer than herself, but it drops them into a vicious freefall. Play dirty?

Play at altitude.

Bobby Drake has posed:
One of those laser blasts manages to catch him in the shoulder, cutting a deep gouge there where the ice melts away from the heat. Bobby grips his arm and grits his teeth. Yes, he may be ice, but being injured still hurts. Chunks of ice pepper the deck as the ramp collides, Bobby collides, and the Lazor Raider collides. It's a veritable snow shower as the two tangle and exchange blows. With his bad arm in the Raider's grip, he takes a solid slug that doubles him over for a moment, but it also gives him time to see that other Raider incoming.

With Sonic Raider incoming at speed on collision course with he and Lazor Raider, Bobby does the one thing he figures they're not expecting. He turns into water and sploosh, just falls straight out of the air in a rain shower down onto the deck, where he begins to reform into a puddle, leaving the two to collide or not, depending on how prepared they were for that maneuver.

It's only when he reforms that he blinks and says, "//What?//" into his comms to Illyana, "Kinda busy here.. what can I do for ya your majesty?" He works to dodge any further incoming attacks long enough to glance around and try to locate where the others are in the fight.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna bobs and weaves, and then flies straight down toward the boat, close enough to catch Bobby's quip. "Which your majesty?" She called, and grinned, flying onward. Then over the comms, "Watch out for that energy net, it's not electricity it's dishing out, I dunno what it is." She nearly collided with the deck, but it was worth the low swoop. As most of her focus was left on trying to avoid the bolas that raider numero uno attack.

"Game plan on getting rid of these guys? Illyana, could we portal them to some hellscape and ditch 'em?" Probably against X-men rules.. Probably.

Scott Summers has posed:
Viper doesn't follow Illyana into her portal. She has not survived sixty years of terrorism being foolish. Instead she rolls away, avoiding to stand on a predictable position. "Already gone, kids have no stamina nowadays," she comments with a nasty grin.

Meanwhile the Raiders are not doing so great. Bobby turns into water and they crash into each other, going into the deck into a heap. Only one stands up, but it is Bobby's friends with the laser guns. He looks a bit stunned, but not enough not to try to shoot the iceman again.

And Lorna brings the third one, who is still chasing her. Now she slows down closing to the hydrofoil, he tosses his bolas, which blur towards the green-haired woman, draining her forcefield as they close.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
The one advantage of Limbo is /ruling/ Limbo, tumbling headfirst through friendly skies and no sign of Lufthansa or KLM in sight. Gripping the Soulsword, Illyana rotates around until she's facing upwards and prepared for that signature three point landing Cap is good at. Velocity would normally be a problem, except she isn't going far enough to make that an issue when seeing nothing of the Hydra mistress one of these days her big brother is plowing Logan into. Better yet, both of them plowed in. There might be some feels burning through her like adrenaline, but she watches one of the horrified demons flying by with a grin, in full battle accoutrement and vicious in her shadowy glory.

"Make some cocoa," she commands, ignoring the blood washed into her pale hair.

Another moment later, the portal opens and she's hitting the deck, rolling, springing into a side sweep with the Soulsword at the ready. Assuming this gives her orientation on Bobby's friend still thinking about what to shoot, perfect timing. Portal hop, skip, //stab// with a wickedly fast flurry of strikes with the narrowed blade would be desirable. Piotr's admonishment - "Justice, not vengeance" - rings in her head so the sword is meant for pain, not wreaking havoc on the central nervous system until disconnecting brain from spine. She's on the offensive at that point, leveraging speed and surprise with that harrowing talent for jabbing things with pointy bits. Maybe she hits.

Bobby Drake has posed:
"I'm at both of your services, ladies," Bobby quips back through the comms at Lorna's question with a chuckle. The two Raiders crash into the deck but Lazor Boy is back up again and firin' his lazors. So Bobby is dodging out of his way and sliding around once more, though this time across the deck of the ship, not getting up into the air again, just in time to see Illyana pop out and stab at his body with the laser fists.

"Sure, you take care of that guy and I'll get right on it." Cocoa making, that is. What, he can make hot drinks as well as chilled, can't he? Sure. His attention flickers over to Lorna, though, looking to see what's going on with Viper, and he begins to slide off in that direction.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna's powers were tied to the Earth's Magnetic fields. She had never truly 'run out' of power. She was a magnetic battery, and had never found her upper limits. Not truly. So when her dodges finally fail... and somehow the thing eats through her magnetic forefields... the bola strikes, wrapping around her feet and tangling. They hit her with enough force to send her careening off course, nearly dropping into the water. A shout escaped her as she caught herself and immediately felt the power drain..

And it was //nasty//. But neither did it send her completely out of the air. At least not yet as she struggled to fling the thing off her feet. The power drain continued, and with a grunt and scream of effort, she poured her powers into it. A massive magnetic burst that would have likely flattened a good chunk of any neighborhood had she released it in a crowded city.

All hopefully, to overload the systems that kept it working.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The cabin door that Tabitha got dropped into is flung open, and she bursts out of it, both hands lit up like Christmas trees. If Christmas trees were plasma bombs just looking for a new home. "HONEY! I'M HOME!"

Tabby screams it, at the tops of her lungs, which probably defeats any potential surprise she might have had by being out of the fight for a moment. But she doesn't care, tactics aren't her thing. And that unattractive bruise around her throat? She owes payback for it. She runs out on deck, looking for the nearest badguy to throw her bombs at.

Scott Summers has posed:
Laser Raider was still seeing spots of black after the crash, being assaulted by a demon queen was not in the plan! There is some stabbing, and then /much/ more stabbing. And the armor is not tough enough, so it is fortunate the Soulsword can't quite kill a regular human by stabbing. But that one is a merc that will have stabbing nightmares for a while.

Raider Two lands in front of Lorna with a grunt. "Finally," he says, reaching for the woman while see seems helpless due to the energy-draining bolas. But then they... go frizt and smokey. Overloaded! "Uh oh..." the Raider steps back, but the magnetic pulse still hits him, making his armor go very much the same way the bolas went. He rolls back, with most of the armor systems fried, and tries to escape under-deck to try to jury-rig some repairs.

Bobby can see Viper all smug-like on the yacht, considering what to do or just enjoying the spectacle. Iceman paying attention to her gets a nasty smile and a grenade tossed his way. Not poison this time, not. It is highly corrosive acid. Lets see how he handles...

"Oh... welcome back," she says to Tabby. Wait... bombs, so many bombs! Incredibly Viper rolls, jumps, dodges and evades like crazy! But the deck explodes around her, and she is forced to jump into the water.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
In the /water/, you say? While yanking out the Soulsword out of the raider's back, having delivered that exquisite crackle of pain, Illyana swivels away with another of those protective rolls that uses the blade as her guard as much as a smart deflection of any counterstrike. Quick motions sidestep as she rises, just in time to see Viper going for the water.

Out of reach of the sword. Not bombs, though, and not...

Words crackle through her lips, passing in detail as she reaches deep to tear a chunk of pure energy from her soul and shape it with the words given to her. Blood runs down her lips from the cuts on her brow, and it's going to hurt her to do this. However, the scouring words land on her lips with an intent of purpose, clear and calling to the incandescence of lightning. <<Sky bow to the sea, fork and strike her for me, o Bolt of Balthakk!>> It's not Ororo here, it's not a cool Christmas tree effect, but it's magic. And Magik is mad enough to throw lightning. She'll consider dropping down to a knee afterward, safety in numbers. "Tabby," hoarsely, "the rest."

Bobby Drake has posed:
Bobby Drake's weapons sometimes have limited use and aren't the best on everyone, but the one thing he is very good at is defense. The bomb comes flying at him and the first thing he does is bring up both hands and encases the entire thing in a chunk of ice. That doesn't stop the acid, of course, but it contains the explosion so that the hunk of ice begins to corrode, even as the weight of the ice pulls the bomb off its trajectory, landing in a sizzling pit in the deck instead of hitting him.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna freed herself from the bolas and she stood, her eyes sparking with raw power from the amount of magnetism running through her systems, her hands stretched out and she reached for the hull of Hydra's ship, and with a brutal scream ripping from her throat, began to rip at the insides of the ship. Magnetically going through each seam, each rivet, and ripping it out without one single care for just how much damage that would do to the ship or those caught below deck.

"You will never have Genosha!" She shouted through gritted teeth, green lighting up her hands and her whole frame as she shoved more magnetic energy down into the insides of the ship and gutted it.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"What...." Tabby blinks, others? There's an easy shrug at that, then Tabitha looks for the rest, summoning up one bomb after another to fling out at them while the others deal with Viper herself.

Aim isn't always perfect, so a lot of the blombs don't land exactly where she wants them to. But when things are exploding, then close enough is good enough, isn't it?

Scott Summers has posed:
That is pretty much over. Or it is? When Illyana points her spell to Viper, the green-haired terrorist snarls. There is a flash of light, and the bolt hits nothing but water.

Teleportation is not a trick just for Demon Queens, and Viper has a ring that lets her vanish when things go south.

With Viper gone and the raiders unconscious or depowered, the remaining dozen or so Hydra agents offer only token resistance and quickly surrender when Lorna begins to tear apart their ship. The luxury yacht has a deck full of holes after Tabitha bombs finish what the Hydra grenades started, but at least it won't sink like the Titanic!

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Well, at least they can have a nice nap. And cocoa. And complain about demons.

Illyana watches the vanishing act with a raised eyebrow, though the spell electrifies a healthy amount of water. So there's that, impressing the peons that way. Woo! Death to salt!

Tearing the ship to pieces and all those other mercenaries are just going to have to deal with the fact drowning is a possibility in the future. She enjoys watching.

Bobby Drake has posed:
"Cocoa might need to wait," Bobby says after glancing around at both ships now full of various holes. "Not sure I'm going to be able to find some and make it before one or both of these sinks. Back at the mansion, maybe?" He flashes a grin in Illyana's direction. He looks into the water, frowning a bit. Viper got away, but he isn't about to go chasing her right now. "We should get those guys we shunted through the portal to the authorities, and .. I guess these ones, too.. and maybe call it a day." He looks over to Tabitha and asks "How's your neck? You okay, over there?" Then a look to Lorna. He's pretty sure she's okay, but that doesn't mean he isn't going to check. "Your other majesty?" he grins.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath, staggering slightly as she let go of the magnetic powers that thrummed through her and practically made her hair stand on end. She rarely dipped into her powers to such an extent and she was left breathing heavily, and feeling as if every nerve was fried. She bent, leveling her elbows on her knees as she caught her breath.

"Yeah.. Uh, this thing is going to sink. Sorry. I lost my temper." She could feel the beginnings of a head ache forming behind her eyes. Over charging and frying that thing that got on her had certainly taken its toll.

"Lets get out of here."