13978/Savage Land: Sauron, Pt 2: God in the Machine

Savage Land: Sauron, Pt 2: God in the Machine
Date of Scene:	01 February 2023
Location:	Savage Land - Pteron Roost (aka Mt Doom)
Synopsis:	The battle continues! Sauron grows ever more powerful, as the machine core continues to stop the X-Men from using their full strength. Things get psycho-sexual as Tabitha and Emma conjure an army of illusionary angry girlfriends, Rahne feeds herself to a dinosaur, and Rogue powers-up via makeout. In the end, with Queen Leanne's amulet and some donated cosmic knowledge, Rogue deactivates the machine and Ororo shows Sauron what real power looks like. In the aftermath, Phangor gets elected king of the flying lizards, and the X-men depart with Leanne and the Aerians, with the dread Sauron... now as THEIR prisoner.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Emma Frost, Tabitha Smith, Ororo Munroe, Rahne Sinclair, Rogue

---

Jean Grey has posed:
Last time, on X-Men:

Sauron!

Yes, the group finally caught up with the Mad Dino Doc, joining their new rebel Aerian and Pteron allies, under the leadership of exile Queen Leanne of Lemuria, in an attack on the Pteron mountain roost. With the flying bulk launching a distraction attack, the X-Men, Leanne and the Pteron Phangor made their way into the inner cave complex. Fighting past the former Pteron chieftain Khalf (clearly under Sauron's control), they entered the were-dino's lair. There, they witnessed the villain at work, building a new lab around some kind of gigantic sci-fi looking pillar, which various Pterons worked to further excavate...

...meanwhile several others snuck below, discovering a volcanic bubble chamber filled with lava and the bottom of the same pillar, seemingly using it as a power source.

Above, the team engaged in battle with the dino miners and Sauron himself, although they met frequent interference from the machine, which reacted to various hostile actions (Ororo's lightning, their own borrowed Aerian future-tech rifles) or power usage with disabling stun beams, more powerful versions of the ever-present power dampening effect they've suffered throughout their journey. Rahne was able to sneak up through a vent from the cave below, and began accessing what soon became apparent as some kind of alien computer core. After being scanned by the device, both her and eventually Emma were able to understand it's hyper-dense information blasts: it is some kind of ancient alien computer core, part of the system that maintains the unique climate and ecology of the Savage Land. To it, the X-Men are no more than a 'non-native species,' and therefore a threat to the local ecosystem.

NOW:

Sauron stands triumphant over Iara, a bloody gash in his collar quickly healing, as he courses with stolen mutant power. Many of his Pteron guards have been defeated (including the fearsome RAPTOR WITH A LASER DRILL), but reinforcements can be heard outside. No doubt time is short. Leanne and Phangor (and Jean, who is feeling that power crunch hard!) are near te machine as well, having been rebuffed in previous effors to stop Sauron.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma would quickly skim over things. <<LOvely, more of the little things left behind that keep this place running>> That did, however, mean that they couldn't simply just shut it down or it would have a cascade effect on the entire Savage Land. She would close her eyes, having little idea as to how exactly to remotely -translate- this in her head. Nor did they have the time to figure out the system. Kitty was elsehwere across the melee, and te only one that might have a chance of deciphering it.

"Rahne? WHich of these buttons makes your fur stand the least on end?" There had to be something more effective than pushing random buttons on the damned thing. Emma would watch at the melee distantly. Passing along to the others what little she could tell.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It was a good idea. really, it was.

Get Iara's back and take a big honking swing at Sauron's cloaca like she was lobbing a tennis ball.

What actually happened was she was a different thing.

Sauron used Tail Swipe.

It was super effective!

So Boom-Boom is sent reeling back, tumbling even as the hit connects with a smack and the letters A appearing over T. Right into a tank growing a maybe a clone raptor, it could have been someone for all they know.

The landing is pretty hard and Tabby's probably going to need another CT scan for the latest concussion. They don't do loyalty cards so the tenth one is likely not free.

But despite the pain, or possibly because of it and she's punch drunk. She stands. And swears, mostly some chicken themed insults at Sauron with a lot of profanities.

"Dirty ass, should be extra fricking crispy. Bet you couldn't have done this if you didn't bitch out and mess with our powers. Like the goddamn chicken you are. Think your so badass, turn our powers back on and try this shit again!" she yells at the featherless parrot. "Or does Polly not want his cracker?" she taunts and challenges while wobbling very unsteadily on her feet, broken arm dangling limply while she stares down Sauron with half her face bruised up and one eye swollen over.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Any sign of weakness on Sauron's part was a welcome sight. It would give them time to come to terms with the alien technology that seems to accept his presence. Ororo's hands no longer roiled with lightning as her pale eyes drilled into Sauron, seeking his point of weakness. Someone's blood streaked her white jacket and stalactite powder glitters in her white hair.

<<Isn't this machine like the robot-snake we fought off the coast of Japan? Does anyone else see that or am I dreaming? How can we convince it that we are not a threat? Rahne, are you making progress?"

The moment of calm is swept away with Sauron's tail strike on Tabitha who though wounded, teases him like a kid in a playground.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne winces at Tabitha's backflip, almost as much as she winces at Tabitha's language. She's never been entirely comfortable with dirty talk, not even between friends. Sauron is just another misunderstood guy, isn't he? But she looks up from her button pushing to Emma and runs her left hand over the back of her head worriedly.

"I dinna know," she offers in response. "I be gettin error messages. Access denied, et be like tryin tae get inna m' email account after holidays." She's not good at remembering passwords.

She pushes a few more buttons, then sighs. "See? Lahk thet. Et dinna like whatever ah did." But as Ororo contacts her, she calls back, << I'm not very good at this! >>

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had been flung away with relative ease by the large dinosaur. She collided with a wall of rock, and slid down where she ends up crouched on the floor. Her green eyes go to those at the alien computer core, then back to the triumphant Sauron who is rapidly healing again.

Rogue's right hand goes up to the side of her head, she touches her fingers to it and just relases a heavy sigh before shaking her shoulders and standing up once more.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Turn your powers on?" Sauron croaks, looking over toward Tabitha's splayed form with his usual sneering superiority. "It's not like I did anything to turn them off in the first place. It's not -my- fault that this thing just seems to like me better!" He's boasting, obviously, in the way that villains enjoy boasting. Overconfidently, perhaps unwisely. After all, it's confirmation that he has no more control over the pillar than they do. "I wonder why that is. Perhaps because this place is my home, because it made me what I am! A creature of strength! A superior new being. Not that pathetic, mewling man I was, eager for the approval of others!"

Jean may not be able to help them fight much, but she can psycho-analyze! <<The transformation obviously causes some sort of mental break, creates a new personality layered over Lykos's.>> Maybe it's helpful, maybe it's not. But she's not Dr. Headmistress for nothing!

With Tabitha sorted, Sauron turns and starts stalking toward those at the pillar. They're the threat, as much as he perceives anything here as a threat to him. He spreads his wings, gives them an ominous flap, and charges toward them, skimming across the ground. Again, he's met by challengers in Phangor and Leanne, although the former has only fallen further behind in raw strength, as Sauron 'powers up' on his victims. Thrown aside, he lands near Rogue. Tag in?

Leanne, on the other hand, stands firm, brandishing her sword. As Sauron approaches, they are head-to-head, eye-to-eye, something the group knows to be dangerous (and Emma, her attention elsewhere, can't manage a sensory swap in time). But... nothing happens. The amulet on her neck pulses, still glowing with a smaller version of whatever energy dwells inside the alien pillar. Last time, they called it 'a wifi connection.' Sauron shows a little surprise, and Leanne lunges with her blade! She finds flesh, but at the same time, Sauron's taloned hand finds her neck, and lifts her from the ground, holding her at distance so that the blade cannot quite get deep enough. "Mmm. Funny little trinket you have there..."

At least for the moment, he's forgotten his original target, even as he reaches for the item dangling from her neck with his other claw.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma Frost would glance down at the contraption, and then swear to the others <<IT looks like he's going for the necklace. I don't quite think it's the best idea that he get ahold of it.>> Pushing at the buttons seems to avail them of nothing strategic and they don't have the time or the place to argue with whatever Celestial-damned system processor the itnerface has.

Emma Frost glances at Rahne, deferring to her as to whether to stay with the thing or go off on her own. "Best of luck, darling." Then Emma Frost goes to do what Emma Frost does.

STalk forwards. "Sauron! I find this little game of your's pathetic."

Sauron will be coming after them soon enough. "Why settle yourself for a princess wearing little scraps of clothing when you can have your inferiority thrown in your face by a Queen?" Taunt Sauron. LUre him away from Leanne, whom had no idea what she was doing. Away from the already injured Boom-Boom that was in theory capable of hurting him.

Leave him in the open for STorm to take some pot-shots at him, Tabitha to hit him, Rogue to Dyno-mite him.. Just a few moments.

Emma can't broadcast much - she can't hit Sauron with power of any sort. But..

"Haven't you tried this sort of routine before? It's lazy /and/ pathetic. Any good doctor would have adjusted and moved on. Instead here you are with the attention span of a five year old that if first it doesn't succeed fail, fail again. I fail to see any sort of intelligence here. Just a pathetic wastrel."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Physically, Tabitha is totally wiped. But she is still pissed off. And maybe not firing on all cylinders brain wise. But she can catch Jean's commentary at least.

"You weren't born here Cluckwit! and I bet whatever is doing us over would love to meet the real you. You'd think a guy named Lykos would have gotten a boner for werewolves. We got one here and she's frikkin dorbs. But you Sauron, had to be a damn scaly. With no imagination. Frikin poser!" she taunts.

With Emma getting in on it too she grins as best she can, spitting some blood out onto the floor. "Bet if this place met the real Doctor Karl Lykos it'd me able to make up it's own mind! I think it's entitled to make that judgement. And make it happen. Only the right thing to do to let it have all the damn information?" she yells out in a slurred tone.

What else is she going to do, bleed on the buzzard?

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne Sinclair can't win this by wolfing out. She's not a computer scientist, and she's sitting here trying to decode buttons. It's not her jam, but she's plugging away at it. So when she looks up, she looks almost surprised. << Um, it's not broken. Why are we trying to fix it? >> She asks that, looking confused.

She looks at the buttons, then tries a quick prayer. Then she makes a face, as Emma takes off to do 'stuff', and shakes her head. << Need a way to connect with it and ask nicely for help. Anyone? >> Ohcrap, Sauron's coming.

Sauron is nearly here. Her powers work just fine. Ohboy.

"Lord forgive me for this," she murmurs. Then she turns, claws out, and eyes the fallen Tabby and Rogue. Heavy hitters, gone down first. This'll be fun.

She knows that Sauron barely cares about HER, so, what the hell. << Someone find a way to talk with it, it's intelligent. I'm too dumb for that. >> Which is when she runs up the machine, and leaps at Sauron's face in her biggest were-form.

Sigh.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
<<The amulet! It is the only thing capable of resisting the machine. And Sauron wants it!">> Her psychic yell crosses Emma's as she rises in the air and launches herself between Leanne and Sauron. For a brief instant, she savors Emma's particular brand of psychological torture, hoping Sauron will rise to the bait.

With the intensity of a lightning strike, she casts to their Louisiana powerhouse, <<Rogue, can you get it? The machine seems to be talking to it.>>

Using her powers while near the machine have been to no avail so, she strikes no blows, takes no pot-shots and risk having them deflected onto the wrong target. Eyes narrowed, mouth open in a scream of defiance she barrels between the two.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue can't touch the guy. He'll just turn her against everyone again. She can't out power him, he's stronger than her like this. She's already tried the brute force, as have others.

She's on her way over in a run to get between him and the computer though, when Ororo ask her to get to the amulet. So she averts her course, leaping in to the air to fly low toward where it is to try and snatch it in a gloved hand!

Jean Grey has posed:
Sauron's grip closes, one sharp claw slicing... through the chain that holds the amulet. It comes loose, dangling awkwardly in those talons that are a little too large for such a dainty object. "Hmmm...."

Before he can make up his mind about it, or remember to get around to snapping Leanne's neck, they're all on him. Some literally, some more metaphorically, as they pile on with insults and innuendo of various sorts.

"Lykos has been here, child. I, he and Tanya. They came here. A mistake, wandered too far from daddy's lab... but the Savage Lands judged, and I am the result! There is no going back!" Tabitha gets some exposition for her effort, but apparently, transforming back isn't in the cards. Can he even do so, on his own? The only way they ever succeeded, when they fought him before, was basically to starve him, to deny the energy-vampire his supply.

Still, while he's talking, he's not murdering!

The eye (ok, eyes) of Sauron turn on Emma soon after. "Oh, you're next. You know, you look a great deal like her, so pretty, so blonde- perhaps you'll make a good replacement!" He sneers (insofar as a dinosaur can sneer), although hesitates a moment later. "...no, you're no substitute. A fraud, a fake." Ouch. But also sorta accurate... "No, after I'm done with you, I will take her back!" Definitely some stuff to unpack here. However, the talk therapy session is interrupted as Ororo and Rahne leap in. Although hardly a direct match, the wolf-hyrid is one of the few of them with her powers intact, and with things in both of his hands, Sauron flails somewhat to defend himself as she leaps onto him. He has to give up one, and picks Leanne, who is thrown aside to loosen his grip, but Ororo is there to catch her, rather than let her be flung against the rocks, and her swords slips from the small wound in Sauron's side and clatters to the cave floor. His other claw holds the amulet still, at a distance, playing 'keep away' from the wolf-girl...

So it's almost too EASY of a prize as Rogue swoops through, her strength enough to wrench it free.

"No!" Sauron shouts, even though he... doesn't even know what the thing is for. Or maybe he does? Could just be a standard canned villain line when the hero yoinks something. However, it's Rahne who's closest, and the direct outlet for his anger. With both talons free, he peels her loose, her claws leaving thin red lines behind in their wake, and then holds her up, as he did Leanne. But unlike Leanne, Rahne brings him another feast. Like the other beast girl before her, he does what comes most naturally, feeds his most primal urge, and starts to siphon away her power!

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Caught, Rahne twists like a demon. She's not thinking human now, and if Sauron's ever fought someone like her before, it'll be a surprise anyway. Because for all that she's done, she's never given up.

She can feel the power drain. She's got Sauron's attention, for once. And she's almost as big as he is. What to do?

Don't think.

Rahne kicks out, jamming her left leg right down Sauron's throat. If she were thinking she'd think, hey. If you want me, have a bit more! See if you can choke on it! But she's not thinking, so y'know.

Suck on this, you ugly walking handbag. Except that she does it while snarling and trying to see if he can breathe through her thigh.

Yep, that far down.

Emma Frost has posed:
Oh, lovely. Emma goes to send to Rahne <<We'll help!>> The girl is going to be very, very rough at close quarters and Sauron is ever, ever so slashable. HE's reptile, she's mammal. And his wings are nowhere near as reinforced as they should be. Even with enhanced strength him surviving being bladed at close range will be questionable.

And Emma goes to pull up those thoughts of Tanya.. And Emma goes to start force feeding them to Sauron if she can.

Tanya, laughing and mocking him. A circle of her all dismissing him and taunting. Going on about how he's pathetic, worthless, and has never done anything. She just has to hit him hard enough hopefully to lend a few more seconds aid. For them to get Rahne away, to get the amulet to do whatever it can.. And to slow down Sauron for just the slightest.

Emma adds more and more rows of Tanya's. An endless assemblage fo her. All of them mocking him. Laughter reverberating. Sereenading him with his own incompetence.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Saved! Ororo sees Rogue grab the amulet in slow motion right out of the scrum tackle the team had dumped on Sauron. One part of her mind snarks, 'Surprised, you did we? It won't be the last.'. She nearly runs straight into Rahne and manages barely to avoid touching them both as Rahne does a fair show of teaching Sauron what shoe leather tastes like.

<<"Rogue, talk to it! Tell it we're friends.">> The energy exchange between the machine and the amulet had been palpable to her, the words, if they could be called words, friendly and maddeningly just on the edge of comprehension.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
That good arm just pinches at Tabitha's broken nose bridge and there is a wince and a shake of her head. She at least picks up on what Emma is doing, while she's low end on the power levels for now, she can at least link in witb the other blonde and signal bost.

More visions of Tanya laughing, throwing in as much emmasculation as she can. The laughter of Blondes belittling and bullying. "Such a small Cloaca too, no wonder I couldn't hit it. Man just can't please any woman in his life!" she verbally taunts.

Yeah she went there.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue flies away holding on to the amulet and pulling it in closer to her chest to hold it good and near to her heart. She does hear Ororo shouting out after her, and as she comes to perch upon a rock, Rogue looks down at the amulet, then back up to Storm. "Friend? I'll let it get ta third base with me, if it just makes all this dumb shit stop!" Rogue shouts back before she just releases the rocky outcropping and drops back down to the ground near to the computer, near to where Jean and the others are. She does look down at the jewlery again though. "Ya hear that? That's better'n friendship, right? Darn right it is..."

Jean Grey has posed:
Rahne feels herself weaken by the second, but that doesn't mean she doesn't make herself a difficult meal. In fact, she makes herself exactly that, in the most literal way possible, waiting for one of Sauron to open his screeching face-hole for one comment or another and then feeding herself to the dino-man. Unorthodox approach, to be sure. And yet! Even if the power-drain feeds him life energy, it doesn't remove the basic requirement for breathing.

And so he starts to panic a bit. The taunting girlfriend doesn't help the matter, don't aid in oxygen-deprived lizard-brain processing of information. And in that panic, things messy.

First, he bites down. This is the rawest instinct. She wants to feed herself to him? Well, he'll eat! Unfortunately (?), though it does some pretty awful damage to Rahne's leg, she's tough enough like this that he can't bite clear through in a go. That leaves the obstruction, and finally, in increasing panic, he letsgo with his talons and shakes his head violently to toss her free.

There's a lot of blood.

He shakes his head, increasingly harried by the ever growing army of Tanyas as both Tabitha and Emma join in on the mockery. More and more and more and...

Oops. Maybe they forgot. At a point, when they push the psychic output far enough, one of those warning lights goes off on the pillar. And a second later, a pair of stun beams streak toward the pair of telepaths, the same brief 'time out' that Ororo got previously.

PSIONIC INTERACTION ABOVE SAFE THRESHOLD DETECTED, NEUTRALIZING SOURCE, booms the now-translated machine-voice.

Rogue reaches the computer. Jean has moved over to join her, just keeping clear of the melee. "Has Carol ever dealt with anything like this?" she wonders. "Or maybe- Rogue, sorry about this. No time to explain." And so she does an odd thing. Well, two odd things. First, she goes in Rogue's head, moving quickly since she has no idea when the pillar will zap her too. She finds that layer of extra mental conditioning that her and Emma have spent so much time helping the woman built up, and... switches it off.

Then she pushes in and gives Rogue nice, deep kiss.

And promptly collapses.

Emma Frost has posed:
And as they go to hit at Sauron, the damned computer goes on over about the safety thresshold. Emma Frost has seen what it did to ORoro. She's aware it's coming so she can do little mor ethan brace herself. IT..

Doesn't do much, even as she withdraws her mind in as far as she can and braces against the ground. It has her spasming for just a moment.

But the bracing of herself prevents her from flopping hard agaisnt the ground, and she goes to slowly force herself upright. Glancing over at Sauron, and then at Rahne, Emma can only force herself upright. Unable to check psionically, she looks at Jean.. At Leanne..

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo yelps as she feels the blast lash out at Tabitha and Emma. The kiss baffles her for all of two seconds. Eyes wide she looks at Rogue expectantly, wondering what she had absorbed - that looked like a deep kiss.

Rahne's attempt to choke Sauron on her foot has given her an idea. The energy drain makes manipulating the elements chancy and risk drawing the machine's ire.

Ororo lowers herself to the ground not far from Rahne, ready to protect her and staunch any copious bleeding. Focused on Sauron, she twists her fingers, and an unseen funnel of air inserts itself into his mouth. There is a vacuum in the funnel, sucking the air from his lungs. At the worst his lungs will collapse, at best he will black out and let them get on with communicating with the machine.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The beam is enough that the numbing effect briefly takes away the pain but also means that in Tabitha's already wobbly state she just falls and actually flops forward and lands flat on her chest. Luckily she didn't feel that.

For a while, then it starts coming back, Minus all her powers, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuu...!" she groans "Stupid ass bird relying on ancient tech. "Sauron's the bad guy! DAMMIT! Why you helping him? He onlly wants to hurt and like conquer everyone. Including you!" she yells out. It probably won't help but at this stage, yelling in futility is about the most she can manage as she starts trying to crawl over to Emma. "Well... shit!" she complains up at the other blonde woman. "This better be temporary. I can't feel the flame any more!" she pouts.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks up when the computer talks all annoyingly and shit. She glowers at it before her eyes go back down to the amulet. "Come on, we're pals. I'll let you eat all my ice cream when we get back home, or somethin'." She's saying as Jean arrives, which has Rogue looking between she, it, and the computer rapidly. "I dunno what I'm doin' here, where the hell is Kitty? Carol? Carol? She has come across all kindsa things!" Rogue is saying as she is about to look back over her shoulder when Jean makes her desperate play. Rogue goes up on her heels as she's kissed!

Why do so many people kiss her to access her powers?!

Either way, her eyes widen after a second of just accepting the lovely gesture, before they're parting again, because Jean is passing out... Rogue quickly lunges to catch her, and lay the redhead down on the ground. She glares at her, glares at her so damn hard! "What in the hell..." Rogue gasps at Jean, who is slumbering now. "This was no time for love Doctah Je---" Rogue looks up, completely changing tracks of thought. "I know the system..." She says sorta like that damn girl from the first Jurassic Park movie did.

Jumping back to her feet, Rogue stuffs the amulet down the low-scooped neckline of her pirate shirt. "See? We're good friends, very good friends..." She says distractedly as her gloved fingers start rapidly pushing buttons on the machine, with purpose, with experience, with knowledge.

"I'm gonna shut down the defenses, and re-route them to new parameters!" Ugh, she sounds like a nerd now... damnit Jean Grey...

Tap tap tap, swirl, spin, tap push, press and smash!

Rogue slaps the last button....

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Well, that's lovely. Pain makes Rahne angry. Anger makes Rahne stronger. Hulk make anger go dark. No wait, that's the blood loss talking. Considering that Rahne is wiggling her toes in a man's throat, she's half-tempted to fake an orgasm. Not that he'd know the difference. But if he goes down on a girl this hard, maybe he's not so bad...

Rahne. Stoppit, you're dying and your brain isn't working. After one more kick in his eyeball, she finally gets yanked out of his gob. Claws digging in, she's forcing him to deal with her. Seriously, you asshole. You're dealing with me. Like a were-girl window clinger, she BLEEDS on him and he can damn well ...

Okay tired now. Ororo, I need that oxygen too!!!

Jean Grey has posed:
As Rogue approaches the machine, the amulet glows brighter, and a matching light blinks in a sympathetic pattern.

USER AUTHORIZED.

OK, she can access it. But would Rogue know what to DO with that access? Maybe there was an easier way, a safer way. But the information Jean wants to transfer, it's... a little complicated. And there's a LOT of it. It isn't her own memory, but echoes of one far more vast and ancient, so old in fact that it remembers time before the Celestials -- remembers their birth, their wars, their great works and experiments upon lesser forms of emergent life. Like this one, in the Savage Land. The information is vast, and abstract. Maybe not useful on its own. But Carol's more practical experience out in space comes into play, tempering that trove of 2nd hand Phoenix knowledge, making sense of the nonsense. Suddenly, the alien control surface Rogue is looking at doesn't seem so alien.

It's not some weird 3D Unix interface, granted, yet she can understand it all the same. The 'displays', such as they are, the odd patterns of light, the blasts of data-dense audio.

There are many options there, for her to go through, huge amounts of information to access. Monitoring data on climate, weather, population levels, reproductive patterns, wars, you name it. All of that is interesting. But it's not what she wants. What she wants is...

---

At the same time, the fight drags on. It's getting worse, by the moment. Leanne and Phangor are mostly out of it, and they've lost Rahne in the same way they lost Iara -- if not much worse, as she lays bleeding. Tabitha and Emma go down next, even if it's only temporary, it still poses a seemingly insurmountable challenge. How can they beat this guy when they can't use their powers? How can they stand a chance when he only seems to grow stronger with each drained victim, somehow escaping the machine's notice?

Ororo steps up to face him, to protect her friends. Maybe the situation is grim, but she is never one to be intimidated. She reaches out, drawing on her command of the winds, trying to finish the job at choking Sauron out. She can only move so much air, however, only do it so quickly, as he stalks toward them with murder in his now only one good EYE OF SAURON (thanks Rahne!)...

Then Rogue hits the last button. Everyone will feel it, and hear the confirmation a moment later:

POWER RE-ROUTED. NORMALIZATION FIELD TERMINATED AT UNIT 7.

And suddenly, it's not just a little gust moving between Ororo and Sauron, but a proper vortex, funneling the air away from him and leaving him in a near vaccuum. "What, how? I can't-" he gasps, lunging forward, but landing on his knees. In the last few moments, all he can do is crawl toward her, claws digging at the stone, one reaching for the weather-goddess as if to defy her, and then falling limp upon the cave floor.

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne did not say any of the things that she was just thinking. In fact, she didn't even think them. It didn't happen, and anyone who says otherwise is clearly a telepath. Or a liar. Or both.

She shifts to human and whines, her leg looking like raw hamburger. She's probably still better off than Tabitha, Rogue, possibly Jean. Iara. But still, femoral artery. Apply pressure. Try not to pass out.

"We win?" she asks, jamming her thumb in where it's needed. OH THAT FEELS INCREDIBLE. /SARCASM.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
There's a change, and even Tabitha can feel it. The spark, that warmth of power. For some it's a reassurance, or a head ache. For Boom-Boom. Well the way she bites her lower lip kind of sells what she's feeling.

Alas she's still worn out and a step below Rahne for most injured X-Man. But she does start crawling over to the redhead and helping to tend to those wounds now that Sauron isn't snacking on Scotsgirls.

"You know if you wanted guys doing that, you could have asked back home. I bet we could get you people lining up. Little dress, open toed high heels. Some product in your hair. WOOF!" she actually flirts with the girl.

Tabby's normal again.

The makeshift sling that she had been using for her own arm kinda useless for soakinbg blood so she just uses her good arm to pull her belt from her waiustband to tournequet that thigh till the healing factor can kick back in. "Think we're about too. I imagine Rogue's about to kick a field goal with Sauron's cloaca!" she states. Slurred flirty tones.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Ororo sees the energy in psychedelic paisley swirls as Rogue syncs with the machine. She stiffens like she has grabbed a live wire as her powers return and the world returns to something approaching normal for the weather goddess. Drawn up to her full height, she looks down at Sauron, deciding his fate. She frowns slightly at the blue tinge to his skin as he falls at her feet. There is nothing vindictive in the frown.

"Hold on Rahne. We're not letting you die on us." And fortunately, Tabitha is there to help.

With a half-turn she gestures to the rough edges of the cave, breaking rocks from the walls like breaking peanuts from brittle. They float toward her and settle gently on the unconscious Sauron, the rocks builds until he is encased from the neck down. If there is going to be death, she will not be the one to bring it. Judgement will wait.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue feels her own power return. It's like a wash of fresh air rushing over her. She instantly has to tone back her use of her strength too, not wanting to crush the buttons on this computer as she finishes her work on it. When she spins around again, she's looking to the others. "Is Rahne okay?" rogue calls out, seeing Sauron encased in a blanket of rocks. She fumes, a desire to smash his weird head in to pieces on the ground is growing quite powerful inside of her itself....

But, Jean laying there beside her on the floor, holds her hand. She crouches down again and brushes some of the slumbering woman's hair out of her face. "Why ya always makin' me do this?" She asks, before she's scooping Jean up off the ground to carry her. "Can we move Rahne? We need to f'fall back ta the ship back at the coastline, I think." She glares at Sauron as she starts to walk with Jean in her arms. "Jackass ain't goin' anywhere any time soon..."

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean was far from chaste with that kiss (if you're about to be eaten by a dino, may as well go out on a high note), and Rogue's powers are a doozy. But recent experience suggests she probably won't (or can't?) die, so... she's probably fine! For now, she slumbers in the Belle's arms, oddly peaceful.

In the meantime, Ororo secures their unconscious prisoner. It remains to be seen what will be done with him. He's well fed, after a pair of mutant snacks. Can they force him to change back? Or must they deal with him as he is, the monster, rather than the man?

And as all of THIS is being decided, there is a clamor at the cave entrance, and then the sound of wingbeats.

The feathery kind! At least at first...

The Aerian leader Sep flies in with a small squad, although they are in rough shape, many feathers out of place. "We held them as long as we could, but there were too many - and as things turned against us, Phangor's pterons..." It is perhaps not surprising that they might have switched sides, mid-fight.

"I'll deal with them!" Phangor to the rescue. Though less than stellar in his battles against Sauron, he's recovered somewhat from their last clash. "Tell them that I have bested the tyrant!" Oh HE did, did he? "Perhaps I shall bring out his head as a trophy!"

Oof.

Leanne, too, has staggered up to her feet, though she is worse for the wear, with no powers to come flooding back to her. She collects her sword from where it had fallen, and then approaches Rogue, with some hesitation. "You were able to... command the machine? With my amulet?" She looks almost awed, by the prospect. "I did not know it had such powers. And your own magics, it has restored them?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue pauses when the woman approaches her. She glances at her, and then looks back to the computer. "Your amulet was the password, sorta. But it was Jean here who helped me figure out how ta operate it, by shuntin' her memories about it inta my head. It's... parta my mutation, an' yeah. We're fully powered now, back t'the way we're all used ta bein'." She says in that thickly southern voice of hers.

"I'll give ya the amulet back when we get back t'the coastline..." And with that, Rogue looks to her friends again before she starts to fly past the Avian guards, willing them to spread out of her way as she carries the slumbering one in her arms, her white and chestnut hued hair fluttering in the wind behind her shoulders. "Sauron is not to be touched neither! Just leave him be!" She shouts on the way out!

Rahne Sinclair has posed:
Rahne is just telling Tabitha off for bringing up the idea that guys might find her attractive. Which means that she's fine. Totally fine. The physical will heal, she'll get better, and hopefully someone will arrange a nice rare steak. Because reasons, and by the way. "I need new pants," she mentions in passing.

Definitely burning these shorts now.

Jean Grey has posed:
"...No, I think not." A moment later, Phangor has seemingly changed his mind. "I will parade about and enjoy boasting of my false victory, but I will not harm him. These people will take him and imprison him with their magics." It is, uh, very specific, convenient, and weirdly puppet-like in phrasing and cadence.

And if anyone is confused, Emma offers a little finger-wiggle toward the others from her place on the sidelines. Powers are back! <<I think we can afford to let him go boast to the other lizards, steal our glory, for the sake of peace. Boys are so easily impressed with such things.>>

Leanne bows her head to Rogue; casting a glance back at the machine and then again after the woman as she flies out, triumphantly. She smiles, a little, and then goes to find her own comfort, hobbling over to join Sep... and embracing the bird-man tightly! Perhaps they are more than just 'allies' in their war against the various usurpers...

Soon enough, though, the day is won. Phangor appears and declares his victory, which is lauded by the other Pterons, who make a great racket screeching and squawking in support of his victory. They are a fickle people, it seems, and little more is required than Sauron's defeat to end any loyalty they may have had to him.

As for the dark lord himself? With Ororo's permission, he will eventually be retrieved from his rocky prison and escorted out, under heavy Aerian guard, and no doubt the looming threat of boom-age, electric shock, psionic assault, and various other forms of harm from several very ticked-off X-ladies. Though an enemy, he is also an outsider, not a true-born dino-person, and the Pterons - if dissapointed at the lack of bloody spectacle - accept banishment as an alternative punishment.

Leaving him the in custody... of the Knights of Xavier.