14373/The Path of Progress: Blood Dues

The Path of Progress: Blood Dues
Date of Scene:	19 March 2023
Location:	Madripoor Outskirts -- Asia
Synopsis:	Having tracked a mutant trafficking ring to a facility on the outskirts of Madripoor, Cable leads a handful of fellow mutants in an assault to try and rescue any remaining victims -- and to try and find out more about who is behind the despicable scheme.
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Tabitha Smith, Rhona Lauren, Samuel Guthrie

---

Cable has posed:
"So that's the situation," Cable states grimly.

On the face of it it all seems simple enough. Someone has been kidnapping mutants from around the world, particularly ones that might go unnoticed due to their isolation. But the speed and number of disappearances has been escalating, slowly over time. By the future soldier's estimation dozens have been abducted by now, seemingly vanished without a trace. And Cable has spent the past several months trying to track them down.

All of that has led them here, to the hills on the outskirts of Madripoor. Hardly a garden spot, the outskirts are particularly vile. The city proper at least has an illusion of gloss that conceals some of the darker underside from the naive and ignorant, but such pretenses are more or less abandonned out here where unregulated industrial complexes deal in all manner of shady goods and equally shady business practices.

The facility sprawled out in the valley below is a pretty good example of that, the dingy buildings looking fairly unassuming in and of themselves. But the whole compound is surrounded by a fifteen foot high fence topped with barbed wire and guard towers rise up a further five feet above that, clearly manned with men with automatic weapons. Powerful floodlights illuminate not only the grounds between buildings but also the surrounding area around the compound.

All of it seems rather... excessive for a legitimate business.

So here they are, Cable crouched just behind the ridge line overlooking the target below, a small arsenal of weapons strung across his back as he glances around the group of volunteers he has recruited to assist him with this particular venture. "Missions simple. We get in, we rescue any hostages on sight that we can find. We look for any information that we might be able to find on who's behind all of this. See if we can find any indication of just how widespread all of this is," he says, that grim, craggy visage glancing from each of them in turn. "Anyone tries to stop you, don't pull any punches. The mercs guarding this place are well trained and well armed. This operation is well funded. The fact that they are seeming to abduct mutants without significant blowback suggests they have some means of dealing with their powers, whether technological or chemical so if your abilities suddenly seem to be reduced or gone be ready to pull back straight away," he states flatly, slowly rising to his feet as he readjusts that heavy load across his shoulders.

"Everyone clear?"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would nod over at Cable, "Understood." She had only been in Madripoor a few times, most often on those few missions she'd been there, but she was familiar with the sense of the city. She might hold back on killing anyone, but she had few problems with crippling. Then she would frown as Cable would go on about the capability of suppressing powers.. Thoughtfully.

"It would have to be range based. Likely some sort of projector. They can't always rely on something like a suppressor collar. In a city as chaotic as this one, most of the locals will be difficult to get close to and overpower even for well trained soldiers."

Presuming that her analysis held any sort of probability, something that could suppress mutant powers over in a wide area was terrifying in concept. If it could be tkaen out in the field by about anyone.. All the better to track it down immediately, find out who was doing it, and destroy it. Monet is thoughtful while she would look ahead, using her slightly better than normal senses to try and get an idea of what might be ahead o fthem. Not bothering with her telepathy yet. From this distance, it wouldn't be particularly useful.

Now time to see how Cable did as a field leader and how well she would work with Tabitha on something that required a degree of actual stealth.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Boom-Boom eyeballing the whole site with some binoculars being passed around like it was one of her joints just groans as she looks at the place. She'd geared up in her mostly black and yellow one piece uniform. The yellow padding at the top half covering back, chest, shoulders, and arms. The whole thing looking more like a biker catsuit. Good for passing for civillian attire and stopping at least small arms fire.

"Greaaat, so we wanna get in there. Fences and walls, armed guards. Probably power dampening. You got an actual plan boss?" she asks of Cable. The blonde still looking for any holes or weaknesses in the perimeter to exploit.

Walking artillery she may be but this is not the sort of place for a smash and grab.

"Maybe we should try a Wounded Gazelle and a Daisy Duke. Steal a bike, joy ride and crash deliberately at the gate. Everyone else sneaks past and in while guards deal with the commotion." she offers some idea of avoiding being shot by half the guns in Madripoor.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Well when you get kicked out of a Mutant School in London, and then end up being shipped over seas to a Mutant School in New York... you do expect some odd directions to follow in life, but ending up here, with a strange guy covered in weapons, and a speech about infiltrating a base like something out of a Bourne Identity film... how do you really train for that?

The Danger Room, right? That's where Rhona Lauren had been getting the bulk of her refinement in her mutation over the past year, but... this, this was the real thing.

She's with the others, she's dressed in a generic black synth-leather X-Men bodysuit, and has a army green jacket thrown overtop of it. Her hair tied up, her expression fairly grim, fairly nervous, like she doesn't belong here. She just keeps close to the others that she knows fairly well from the school.

They're here to save mutants, and that's what she wanted to do in life. Right?

Right.

"Right." Rhona softly says, keeping the 'This is nuts. Who is this guy even?' to herself.


"If my powers leave me, I don't know what I bring to this group." She says, though on her back she does have a quiver of hunting arrows, and a fancy black and red compound bow....

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie looks over and says "Thats why he said if you find your powers acting odd pull back." He looks over to Cable, and says "You got special coms, or we going with standard?" He asks as he is wearing a mostly black outfit, but there is yellow highlights on it. He says "If we need a distraction, Ah can either buzz or come in from the far side, get them centered on me, but Tabby's idea might get us in deeper before it hits the fan." He checks around the building, "We know if it has it's own power, or connected to the grid? With being here Ah would expect it's own."

Cable has posed:
"Not an unreasonable assumption," Cable says with a brief nod Monet's way. "Always best to prepare for the worst. But don't wed yourself to the notion. I have limited intelligence on what sort of powers these mutants might have. It is possible they're utilizing the element of surprise and restraining collars or even simple sedation," the soldier says flatly as he turns his gaze back down hill.

"We'll keep it simple," Cable says flatly. While he has worked with a few of them before, while he has reviewed the dossiers he has on each of Xavier's mutants, there really is no substitute for experience. For training. Unfortunately he doesn't have the time to see to all of that right now, not with actual lives on the line. So he'll... improvise. The idea does not exactly seem to faunt him, but then his expression might not shift in the least even if he does harbor some buried concerns.

"The heavy weapon emplacements will be in those towers. Cannonball and I will deal with them. I doubt anything they have will have a chance to get through Sam's blast field. And I have enough ordinance to take out those towers quickly," he says quietly, a brief, grim smile sliding across his expression. There's not a whole lot of humor in that gesture however.

"While we're making a nice, visible distraction you three are going to work to slip past those outer defenses and start into the buildings proper," he continues, glancing between Monet, Tabby and Rhona in turn. "M, if you can try to utilize your telepathy to keep the guards from noticing your approach as long as possible. Boom-Boom, you'll provide the entry as needed. And Disco, you'll run interference and provide cover if any of the guard's attention does turn towards you," he lines out. "Once you're past the perimeter you shouldn't have the heavy weapons to worry about, but do expect plenty of guards inside. Automatic weapons are almost surely the order of the day and if they do have power suppression technology it will be there. Hold back and wait for Sam and I to clear the perimeter and join you."

Cannonball's question draws an answering nod and Cable turns towards the fold out table behind him where an array of gear has been laid out. "I assume M can keep us in telepathic contact, but in case there are dampening fields at work to keep any prisoners pacified there are comms there. Take one, make use of it. There's also weapons," he says, and indeed there are an assortment of various firearms of all shapes and sizes. "Only take one if you're field certified already," he states sternly, hesitating for just a moment. "And take the smaller ones. Some of the big ones have a bit of a kick."

"Any questions? Otherwise lets move out."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would take a moment to consdier this and shake her head, "No, that works." Always better to keep something relatively simple before the inevitable copmlications come in and ruin something so nice. Monet goes to give a nod over at Tabitha. "I can keep their attention focused outward but my range is likely going to be limited in how many I can effect and over a wide region."

She'd had to learn the hard way on beign up front on her limitations. A few too many times when it'd come back tos hover her as she would glance at Cable. "I'll defer to your directions in the field." That would be said over to Tabitha. "You have more experience than I do at this." So, much as seh further loathed saying it, that meant admitting someone else knew more and was better at it than she was. Also M wasn't the most 'subtle' type around.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
To Rhona Tabbitha can sigh and look amazingly worried about the younger woman. The English girl probably should not be along with them on this Mission. "Cable is well. It's really fricking complicated to explain. And you bring a cute accent. And some decent aim with that bow. But I'm sure you have some other skills that might help. Honest, if we lose powers just hunker down and stay out of sight till you can get clear." she suggests to Rhona.

"You're about to see some nasty ass shit in there. You thought the thing in Alabama with Will and Theo was wild with the gun toting protesters." she's got big sister concern and warning in her tone. "You might think you're ready but there's people in there likely being tortured and other kinds of abuse." she adds. "It's one thing to see it on Tee Vee, but another to see it up close. Or experience it."

Sam gets a grin. "Human flying fast over the compoud is probably gonna like get their hackles up and they'll keep their eyes peeled for incoming. <<Two and a bit telepaths as long as our powers hold up. Good for Jedi Mind Tricks. Then old school group voice chat.>> the mindlink. The earpiece is stuffed in one ear so technological comms is made ready.

As for weapons she straps up with a .45 and as many spare clips as the bun belt allows. She can always field loot something bigger if the supression field kicks in. She had the same training most of the New Mutants did. Groaning through most of it at the time. Amazing that she actually retained any of it.

<<Okay, lets let the boys do their thing and we'll get our ninja on when we've got an opening.>>

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Disco shoots a look over to Sam, she knew of him, but not really interacted with him... of course, there's a lot of people at the school to interact with, it's easy to feel like a face in the crowd. Her stare goes back to Cable though, and his bravado, and action-hero confidence does instill some kind of confidence in her. Her eyes go to Tabi and Monet though, and she nods once to them. "I'm ready, I guess. I mean... when you guys said 'rescue mutants' I thought they were like, stuck in trees. But, okay." The English girl says, her stare now going to what arsenal Cable has laid out.

Moving to it, Disco runs her eyes over it all, and she just elects to snatch a rather cool looking knife. She holds it up and stares at its blade for a passing few seconds before she sheaths it again. Turning then, Rhona walks over to M and Tabi. "Well, we best get this going... I'm not going to get experience in things like this, just sitting around back home, now am I? Mutant and Proud, right?" She says quietly then.

Her eyes go back to Sam, and Nathan. "Good luck, Gentlemen." The young Brit offers to them before they set off, with thoughts of torture and suffering on her mind now after Tabitha's descriptions settle in...

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will look over the weapons, and picks up a pistol and a rifle. The pistol at his side, and the rifle slung to be easy to get. Before putting them on though Sam does take a moment to check them out make sure they are loaded and such. Yes Cable would make sure of that, but if you can always check your own weapons. He will nod, and looks over to Cable, and says "You want to come in from which direction? Ah can can make my way to the far side and come in from that direction keep the distraction away as best Ah can." He looks to the ladies "Keep your heads and look out for one another ladies and kick ass, we will join you when we can."

Cable has posed:
There are a lot of benefits to keeping any plan pretty straight-forawrd and direct. As is well known by any good military strategist the best laid plans rarely survive first engagement with the enemy anyway. But having a clear objective in mind is usually enough to keep things focused and on track.

It would appear that Cable was not exactly expecting a lot of dissent or questions and indeed with none forthcoming he is already turning, starting to trot down the hill, falling into a side-shuffle over some of the steeper parts to keep better control though it does send a small spray of pebbles and dirt trickling down the hill in front of him.

Before he is even half-way down the hill he is already reaching back over one shoulder, unfastening a rather large, heavy looking rifle-like gun from his back, making a few small adjustments without even looking down. Clearly someone has had a fair bit of practice with all of this. "You got it," he replies to Sam over the comm, not bothering to look back and make sure that everyone else has sprung into action as well. Trusting your team is fairly important. Or perhaps he is putting his own telepathic abilities to work, a little more than he would prefer. "Start causing some chaos on the far side of the compound while I lay down covering fire onthis side to give our trio of infiltrators their opening," he urges.

The floodlights do stretch out more than a hundred meters beyond the perimeter fence, the reflected glow going even a little bit further and Cable pulls up just short of those lights. On the bright side, that illumination will have totally wrecked any nightvision those mercenaries in the tower might have and the mutant soldier crouches by a small, rocky outcropping as he brings that heavy weapon to bear.

When he first pulls the trigger it is hardly standard ordinance that shoots out. Instead there is a searing blast of bright blue light and a crackling orb launches itself further down into the valley, unerringly seeking out one of the corner guard towers there. It does not strike the watchnest proper, but instead the supporting struts beneath and simply cleaves right on through. There is an audible crack, a groan of twisting metal and the entire tower begins to topple over.

On that hill, Cable has already turned to the next tower in the line. Given the light display, he is already scampering away from his spot, drawing a bead on his next target as he moves. When he fires again there is no ball of energy and instead there is a quiet hiss as a disk goes flying out from the barrel that is fastened to the underside of the really big weapon. A second, then a third quickly follow and a few seconds later there are a string of explosions around the second of the guard towers, engulfing it in flames before it too starts to tip precariously.

"If you were waiting for a signal, that's it," Nathan says over the comm as the first answers of sporatic, blind gunfire begins to fill the night air.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As Cables goes on the attack, Monet goes to move to pick up Tabitha and Rhona underneath her arms and moves to pull the two up to a fireman's carry. Easier for M to hold her and less risk o fher dangling and getting out of control.

<<Why does he have a gun nearly as large as he is? And what is in all those pouches? They look like they've sprung up on him like warts>> That's sent over to just Tabitha and Rhona as Monet goes to haul the two along, even as she's going to rapidly fly up and over with the blonde and Brit in tow.

Her intent being to just as the floodlights go on and all the attention is blasting -outside- to skim a few dozen meters up into the air in a high arc.. Enough to take her out of the immediate line of sight with her dark skin and attire hopefully standing out even less.. Then hse's darting towards the ground to fly parallel over to it if everything works out without being spotted, and then going to let Tabitha point out mentally to her good insertion routes to get inside and leave it open for Disco to make a distraction if they need it and to release her as she moves to sweep along telepathically to hopefully further let the duo go to the side of anyone rushing out without being seen admist the chaos.

And just where is that continuous theme to 'The Terminator' coming from?

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The sight of the explosions get a hand waggle from Tabby while she grins at M and Disco. <<Welp, lets do it to it!" she states and gets moving to sneak around. <<Once we're in, hunker down Disco, move when folks nearby are all looking up at Cannonball. Or at whatever is exploding via basic Cable.>> she suggets and actually practrices what she's preaching right now. <<Scouting got hardcore where Cable grew up>> being flown makes spotting where to move easier but they don't have to stay aloft too long. At least Tabitha and Rhona are no problem weight wise when tonnage is easy to lift. The just need to hang on and not fall off the allegedly perfect mutant.

Once over the wall she can start guiding her friends to a nearby door that has less people spilling out.

Sure she could just blast it but there's probably guards on the other side still.

She does however aim some rather superheated streams of plasma at the locking mechanisms she finds melting anything that looks like it might keep the door closed. If it needs muscle after that, Monet can knock.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
Prior to coming to Xaviers, Rhona's skill with a bow was primarily just shooting at official archery targets. Now, through the Danger Room, she's learned more of a Legolas-esque approach to archery, and it's been... well... an interesting experience. She's right there with the other two ladies, and is already kinda keeping low, some of it being nerves. She does unclasp her bow to clutch it in her left hand, listening to Tabitha. "My powers are bright. They'll draw attention if I summon my disc shields. They're not great for stealth because of tha---" And then explosions.

The first one makes her visibly twitch, jump really. But then they're going over the wall courtesy of Monet. Really though, they've done stuff like this in the Danger Room, and though it's true-to-life, it still has that video game feeling to it at times...

When they land, inside the base, Rhona draws in a breath, notches an arrow, and runs her fingers over the fletching to the drawstring and key locked to it. "Right, okay. In and out, that's it." She says, not looking toward the explosions, nor the sound of chaos on the other side of this facility where the booms are going off.

She's right there, as Tabi starts to get them in to the base.....

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie jogged down the path a bit to make sure he was not coming in from a direction that would take eyes towards the ladies Once he is in position he will jump up and kick in the blast field. The roar of the mutant's power joining the sound of explosions. As Sam arches up into the air, he heads towards the farthest guard tower. He banks on his nigh invulnerability while blasting as he heads straight for the tower. His goggles down over his eyes as he flies straight and true, if he was able to line it up he will make a line through two towers, like his name sake but larger and a good bit faster.

Cable has posed:
It would appear that they have managed to take the complexes' guards asleep at the wheel. Either they're not quite as professional as Cable cautioned them against, or perhaps they had little reason to expect any sort of assualt. Certainly not one of this nature at any rate. Then again, by the very nature of operating in Madripoor one certainly does not expect interference from local authorities, not if the right people have been paid off at least.

The returning fire from the towers that still stand is mostly sporatic and blind as those guards still in a position to try to draw a bead on their attackers. But with each tower that crumbles to the ground the surrounding field of light grows dimmer, receeding back into the darkness, large patches of shadows beginning to envelop the compound.

Clearly an airborn strike wasn't really expected either and only the fact that Cannonball's flight method isn't exactly subtle gives the guards any warning whatsoever. Those heavy gun emplacements are swung about and the cries of the local mercs can briefly be heard before strreaks of gunfire blast up into the night sky, surrounding the flying mutant in a hail of bullets. None of which can pierce that shield of sheer force that envelops Sam, letting him easily slam through the first of the towers before proceeding onto the second before they can even bring their guns to bear. After that the last of the towers on the far side of the base do begin to pepper him with fire once more, but have no more luck.

Those floodlights gave the guards an illusion of safety, of knowing what goes on in the dark of the night. But as towers begin to crumple, as the lights literally go out it allows M, Boom-Boom and Disco to soar over the fence with a mimimum of interference, attentions indeed preoccupied with Sam's blasting and Cable's fire from the hills. The door to the closest of hte buildings might be reinforced, but not much stands up to Tabitha's plasma and the lock and door handle simply melts under her barrage, literally dripping into a small puddle of molten liquid as the door cracks open. As it swings more widely open, standing on the far side is a surprised looking man in urban fatigues, assault rifle brought to bear and aimmed towards the trio of women.

With each new shot from the hills, Cable wrecks more destruction on the compound below. Should he feel bad about all the property damage? Maybe, but he clearly doesn't. Whoever owns this place is dealing in trafficed mutants. That makes them fair game in his eyes clearly. As the last of the towers is engulfed in another bright energy blast, he starts trotting down the remaining hillside, suddenly lifting into the air as he nears what remains of the fence line, landing on the far side.

The heavy rifle is slid back over his shoulder and a slightly smaller weapon takes it's placed, the sight raised to his non-cybernetic eye as he peers through it, the world illuminated in a greenish glow as he seeks out any targets heading towards the infiltration team. "Proceed into the building. I've got you covered," Cable instructs.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It was too easy here, which meant htat something would have to go wrong soon enough, and that they were missing something completely obvious that would bring about their ruin. That was the way it went. Monet would be scanning ahead as best seh could while she would release Tabitha and Rhona to the ground, going to land herself. Now was the point of trusting Tabitha to find them an opening.

HOw strange it was to -find- an opening rather than make one. This was rather irritable, but they put lives at stake if not.

As Tabitha goes to melt the door's handle in, Monet goes to take a moment to be ready to crunch the door open. As a backup braced against it just in case so she can shoulder slam through it ot use it as a shield.

She goes to keep on telepathically sweeping ahead and then go to head along after the group while letting Tabitha call out their formation for insertion.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Oh look, armed guards inside as expected. Tabby just grins and when the doors swing open and are about to fall off their hinges Tabitha winks at the guards and with arms out stretched she waves her hands and two bombs form and blast at the falling doors.

BOOM!

Launching them right into the defenders path as surely if anyone kicked the doors in normally. <<Keep our perky butts covered Disco! It's smash and grab time. We need to find so much good stuff. Laptops and tablets. Anything we can have Doug and the tech nerds rifle through. Wherever any captive mutant are held up. Gotta spring them if we can. Make sure they have a clear path out. Make sure power dampening is off cause I can't boom forever if we get elbow deep and that's still a thing.>> she suggest to her co-conspirators.

<<Also if you see any wall maps, it would be handy to have an internal layout in here. Going in circles is like so bad for Cable and Cannonball outside. They causing a ruckus but they can only go so long.>> she points out.

How the crap did Tabby get any kind of tactical?

Rhona Lauren has posed:
The very first time that Rhona had used her shield discs was at a wedding party, when she'd accidentally pissed off some snooty rich girl her age, and she had a glass of juice thrown at her. She'd reacted, summoned a disc without even thinking about it, and blocked the juice from hitting her, at the cost of showing off that she was a mutant to all of her peers, her parents socialite friends, most of which were all very anti-mutant. It hadn't been fun. Nor had the time since then, within that social circle. It's why coming to America had felt like a good chance to get away from that life...

But here? Jesus P. Christ. Guns are going off everywhere. People are screaming. Bombs, the bombs... This is a Hollywood action movie set! But... it's not, it's the real deal.

As Tabi is burning through the door, Rhona is flexing her free hand, over and over. She wants to summon one of her disc shields, she wants to have it out and sizzling protectively over her, as she shoots her eyes left and right... but she can't. Like she'd said, it'd make them a target, with how bright the energy that she summons is...

Rhona glances down to the puddle of molten metal from Tabitha's plasma cutting through the door, and when it pops open, she sees the soldier on the other side. She sees him snap in to action, and start to ready his gun...

"Shit." The Briton teen says, just before Tabi lays down the boom!

Staggering backward, Rhona controls herself. She nods to what Tabi says as the other two head inside, and that's when she starts to summon her discs. Three of them in fact, glowing a bright purple-pink in hue. She lines them up around the door they'd just burst in to, shielding it to keep it blocked off until they get back. "I have a bag, I'll put whatever I can in it!" Disco says, leaving the trio of shields to hover in mid air outside of the base, keeping them from getting followed, but also sorta locking them in until Disco can clear the shields again when they come back to leave.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will head to the last tower, and says over the com "Ah see the motor pool, should Ah take it out or leave it in case we need something from it to get out of here. He will do a circle in the sky after taking out the last tower, and then moves to hover in the air to let them target him. One thing Sam can do is make a target of himself.

Cable has posed:
The interior of the main building appears to be largely one gigantic room. Whatever purpose the facility might have once served, any heavy machinery has been cleared out, leaving the space mostly open. Or at least it was. Instead it appears that something akin to livestock pens have been installed, leaving the main floor criss-crossed by concrete walkways. On each side of the walkway fenced in areas rest, dividing up the room. But these were clearly not meant to hold animals -- though clearly whoever is behind all of this might not agree about the status of mutants.

Instead of feeding troughs or anything else of the like each pen is filled with four gurney-like beds where a variety of restraints are clearly visible. And at each bed? A stand, complete with an IV bag dangling down. Clearly this is where any abducted mutants were kept. It would also seem that the restraint method was a mix of physical and pharmaceutical in nature which hopefully bodes well when it comes to more advanced mutant-dampening technology throughout the rest of the facility.

On the far side of the pens is a hallway that does run off into another wing of the buildings which bears at least a little hope. Because the pens themselves? Devoid of any captives. Unfortunately the room is not completely uninhabited however as about a dozen or so gunmen are spread out throughout the room, eight or so spread out between the pens while a quartet are perched in the catwalks that run about thirty feet up, giving them a birds eye view.

Unsurprisingly, all those eyes swing towards the doorway as that reinforced door is blown back by Tabitha's bombs, completely bowling over the lone guard standing there. But as the trio of women pile into the room, the first salvos of gunfire begin to rip towards them.

Outside Cable continues his slow advance towards that same entrance that has been blown open, the weapon in his hand sweeping across the now darkened compound grounds. A single shot rings out when he spots a lone mercenary starting to advance on M, Boom-Boom and Disco's rear and the man simply goes down on in a heap allowing the mutant soldier to continue crossing the yard.

Thanks to Sam's efforts the last of the towers crumples, collapsing to the ground in a heap of twisted, shattered metal and the compound's courtyard temporarily goes silent. "Negative, leave the motor pool intact for now. Depending on how many hostages are inside and their condition we might need a means of evacuating them," Cable replies. "There should be a bank of windows on the west side of the main building. Why don't you crash on through and see if you can give the infiltration team a bit of a hand."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
This is less than optimal. Monet is the one in front, but even she can't take several automatic weapons opening fire on her at once. But before Tabitha can work up a heavy attack or Rhona can work up one of her discs, that means they all die cut apart over by blasts before they can do more than scatter. And dying on the job is ever so -not- dignified.

This is where the huge door that lead inside comes in handy. Likely reinforced in case they need ot seal off the area for whatever reason, M goes to hold it in front of the group for a few seconds over like a shield in case the gunmen start to fire over at them as soon as they enter, her going to brace it up and over. Shield in front of the group, likely being shredded by bullets, she can just brace it to give an opening for Tabitha and Rhona to take them out without injuring the poor souls here and to get the facility intact.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Gunfire heading the way of the women gets a loud "Dammit. Goddamn high ground bullshit." at least between Monet lifting one of the detached doors and Rhona's shields they have some cover. If Tabitha had to use that Fortyfive, then those railings ad catwalks could provide cover for the guards shooting down.

But there is no apparent power nullification of dampeninfg so that just means Tabby can be Tabby. She doesn't even need to look out from the cover her friends provide and flings out a series of bombs about the size of volleyballs. All floating up and with psionic control and a telepathic ping of locations guides the explosive up and over railing to go off in as many faces as possible at a very concussive level of force.

BOOMS!

The explosions loud and anyone caught in it might feel like Monet had just swung a haymaker and a flamethrower at whatever bodypart catches the brunt of each blast.

<<Damn it feels good to be a gangsta!>> she calls out over the mind link with her team. A sense of extra sadism and viciousness in her emotional state. She might not be aiming for lethal but they all might wish she did. They definitely have iit coming in Tabitha's eyes. The medically bound captives could have easily included her at some point earlier in her life.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
They're inside! Rhona spins around to see where they're going next, only to see that 'inside' is basically a big warehouse setup, and ... oh shit, guys with guns.

Quickly, another energy shield is summoned up with a raise of her free hand, the brightly colored power pouring out of Rhona's glowing fingertips! The five-foot-tall disc is setup in front of her position, and it stretches side to side with an equal wing span for anyone else to get behind if needs-be...

And then the gunshots are going off, along with more bombs.

'Ow my freakin' Ears!' Rhona considers the sheer noise level of the chaos, and how she's definitely going to be deaf now by the time she's in her 40s...

There's no time to think about that though! When she looks over the sets of pens, she sees a gunmen sweep around the corner, and from behind her cover, she raises her pre-loaded bow, draws her breath- along with the string-- and loosens an arrow toward the man. Should it hit, it'll nail him straight in the chest, or neck. But she doesn't hang around to look, instead she spins around to setup a second shield to cover herself from the opposite angle.

The door to the outside is just a few paces away still, and if Cable is trying to come in through it, he'll see the previous discs setup by Rhona to be blocking his way, but she's right there on the inside, easy to shout at her to take them down... should needs be.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie nods his head to this and comes around and into the window of the building with a crash and roar. "Say hello to my little friend." He says as he brings up the rifle and starts firing from his hovering spot. Really it is not fair, his bolts will come out of the field but theirs can not get in. Sam though is not shooting to kill. He is shooting to send people back under cover and make them keep their heads down. He does take a moment to get the lay of what is going on through the room as he hovers there.

Cable has posed:
Between M's improvised shield and Disco's projected shields, at least the trio have a good deal of cover to make their way into the cavernous chamber. Dim flourescent lights sway gently overhead as those bullets rain down on them like hail and while the ones caught by Rhona's shield might simply stop, falling to the ground harmlessly, it might be just a little more nervewracking for Monet as she is surrounded by a dozen different *plinks* each second. But the reinforced door holds up to the punishment even as it grows increasingly pock-marked on the far side.

With their defenses secured, it only makes sense to go on the counter-attack and Boom Boom's bombs are definitely called for, floating up towards the mercenaries on the catwalks before exploding amongst them. Again metal creaks and groans, bodies go flying and a number of the catwalks start breaking apart, beginning to dangle or even fall into the pens down below, only adding to the cacaphonous noice that fills even this substantial chamber.

Whatever else might be said about Disco's lack of practical experience, she maintains her composure well enough that when she draws back and puts that bow to use, it is quite effective. Even as the men that patrol the pens begin to race forward, her arrow does indeed strike true, hitting one of the onrushing guards square in the chest. While a bow might not be exactly a high-tech weapon, the force of the strike knocks the man cleanly off his feet, sending him pitching backward, gun flailing as wild shots straff the room, adding to the chaos.

And then there is the shattering sound of glass, shards beginning to rain down on the mercenaries below as Cannonball makes his own dramatic entrance. With the catwalks already neatly destroyed, his cover fire from above suddenly changes the whole complexion of the compound's defenses and the half-dozen or so men spread out below go scattering, trying to seek out cover.

Bringing up the rear, Cable turns his back to the now gapping doorway ahead, letting his gaze sweep across the courtyard one last time to make sure there are no surprises sneaking up behind them. Only then does he whirl and follow the others in. Tempting as it might be, he does not immediately open fire, instead letting that cybernetic eye take in the room, gathering information. He quickly notes the fact that there do not appear to be any hostages out and about, his mouth settling into a thin line. "Push on. We need to get to the back and see if they're being kept there. Clear a path," he instructs, bellowing those orders out over the explosions and gunfire. Of course he seems to be an 'actions speak louder then words' type of fellow so he moves to flank Monet, gun drawn and laying down a barrage of fire.

Those pens and the barrier fences? Yeah, they pretty much evaporate and the narrow pathway leading across the room becomes a whole lot wider.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Her shield up and over in front of her Monet goes to give a nod, "All right." She goes to cautiously sweep ahead the nearest corridor. She does so psychically, trying to feel for any sensation other than terror orennui. If the prisoners were kept completley drugged, it would be ennui from their incoherent minds. If it was terror then they jus tknew there was a firefight going on and no idea who the attackers were, or who was winning.

Anything not at those particular extremes? Those would likeliest be hostiles or allies of them. And so ones to keep an eye out for. Monet figured they just wanted to tkae a few of them intact enough to get information out of. but, with the breach point secure for the time being, Monet would ive a low nod of acknowledgement at Cable. She's hovering a few centimeters up in midair as she takes the time to focus her mind along to try and sweep through the corridors ahead.

Presuming she does pick up something she will gesture in that direction. If not, she would defer to Tabitha's judgement and go along after the girl.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Plasma Bombs, is there anything they can't do?

Make ice probably.

<<Nice shot, he probably didn't die. Just became quadraplegic. Remember nobody tell Jean we brought Rhona with us on a BlackOp.>>

Guards getting blasted around, some landing in crumpled heaps while partially on fire. That gets some grins as she hears and maybe enjoys the feeling of pain being inflicted. Feeling their pain via that telepathy, and the blonde might just be wearing a grin that could get positively frightening if you didn't know the girl.

Heading further in Boom-Boom, looks for any more doors she might need to blast open. Melting the locks and hinges if need be again should at least give a moment of cover and more suprise by the stealth.

"Wanna take bets there's an elevator into a hidden underground lab? I haven't blown one of those up in a minute."

Rhona Lauren has posed:
'I just killed someone. I just killed someone!' Rhona has rolling through her mind, having no idea if she actually did or not. All the same, her heart is thumping inside her chest a million miles an hour, but with both Sam, an... seriously, who IS that guy?! both coming in guns blazing, she feels some sense of relief. If they're in here now, that means the outside is secure, right? They're doing it!

Oh yes. Not much longer, and they'll be out of here... Tabitha may think this is a party, but Rhona assuredly does not!

Then Tabi is telling her the man she hit lived, and it makes some measure of strange relief roll through her. Would he feel the same if he'd shot her? No time to worry about that! She sweeps her bow back on to her shoulder via a small nylon strap, then slinks her baggy army green jacket off, letting it fall on the floor. She needs the agility!

With both of her hands free now, she grabs one of her shields with her fingertips, locking it to her left hand with her fingers spread apart wide. She begins to follow after the others, a second shield snapping in to form in her right hand, this one roughly twice the size of Captain America's shield. Two shields, one in either hand, the young teenager just marches after the others, holding her arms out to either side, the energy discs humming happily as she keeps them read to defend herself, or put to a more offensive use... should THAT need arise.... She keeps to the near back though, trying to cover them from behind.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie figured Cable briefed someone on who he was taking but then again Cable has always been a more easier to apologize after rather than get permission, especially when you skip the apologize part. Sam will keep his spot, near the roof, snapping shots here and there keeping the goons heads down. He calls out roughly where he sees folks compared to those heading in. He will call out to the goons "If you know whats best, you will leave here as fast as your legs can carry you." He then repeats himself in French, the French is a bit iffy but it should get the message accross.

Cable has posed:
Perhaps ominously, Monet is not getting any of those extreme psychic impressions that she might be hoping for. Oh, there's definitely a little terror -- that's understandable given that the compound has been nearly completely overrun in just a matter of minutes with strikes seemingly coming from all sides at once. But there is nothing that feels like the terror of prisoners, nothing that feels like drug-addled thoughts. Indeed, on a both good and bad news front there are no more thoughts coming from nearby then the half-dozen or so men that scramble, seeking cover. Nothing in the back, the last remaining place to be searched

Maybe Sam's shouted suggestions are getting through to them? Or maybe they don't want to be caught in Cable's next blast, or Boom Boom's explosive barrage.

While the mutant soldier from the future might not have a ton of mercy for his enemies, he's not exactly a bloodthirsty killer either. He's about getting the job done, as quickly and efficiently as possible so he doesn't chide Sam for his generous offer to let the remaining mercs turn tail and flee. But he doesn't seem to feel compelled to honor the offer either. He strides down the passageway he has more or less opened through the center of the room, the last of the gunfire fading away. Still, one of the gunmen is a little slow to race for the nearest exit and as he passes that metal arm of his snaps up and a wave of telekinetic force lashes out, picking the mercenary up bodily and hurling him towards that open door, letting him crash into the wall just behind it.

The fire fight might be done -- for now -- but Monet and Rhona have the defensive side well in hand and Sam certainly has a bird's eye view for any emerging surprises. For his part Cable nods absently at Tabitha's suggestion, mouth still pressed into a thin line. "I'm starting to get the feeling this isn't quite so central a facility to the operation as I hoped," he says bluntly, throwing open the doors at the far end of the room with a telekinetic push.

Beyond, another hallway stretches out to the end of the wing, a set of open doors lining the corridor. And within each room is what appears to be makeshift surgical suites, metal operating tables and trays full of various equipment. The floors are tiled with drains in the middle and despite the fact that they have clearly -- and recently -- been hosed down there are still little puddles of blood marking the table and floor here and there, the surgical implements all showing signs of recent use. The only small mercy is that any further evidence -- such as bodies -- is blessedly absent.

Cable's features grow increasingly grim as he leads the way down the hall, past a side branch that appears to lead to a makeshift barracks and rec area, to the solitary office in the complex. It too stands abandonned, though a solitary laptop at least rests on the desk.

Perhaps the assault was not a coplete waste of time.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix has seen such macabre and morbid things. She was not at Genosha like Tabitha that had to live through it. She has seen horrible htings. She has experienced them. She is fortunate to not have had the chance to expeirence this.

It's with clinical detatchedness that she goes to note things, even as she subsumes the emotional part of her brain that is horrified by this and her logical part which she lets take over. Sweeping about and glancing around for any sort of internal data connections.

They have a laptop, hopefully. PErhpas some of the casualties might also have phones. Even if they were crushed in the fighting they only needed a few intact microchips to track the data up into the Cloud and decrypt it.

If they were lucky there would be enough data-threads to track to something larger down the line. Of course.. That required them to have something in the first place to go after.

So now it would be waitingw hile she would continue mentally scanning and sweeping about for further hostiles and then for Cable to declare the area secure.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha had enough experience as a thief, brief as it was to spot some similarity in certain situation. Usually it just means her comments feel like an asspull. But sometimes she can actually be insightful.

"Think we got made well before we got here Cable?" she asks while she looks around. The odd guard still awake but downed that fell from the walk ways getting one of Boomer's boots to the head. Like Monet, Tabi gets on with some Telepathic poking at them before getting their lights out probing for anything useful. Other locations, names up the food chain. If there really is a hidden bunker slash lab under their feet. Pain might make things fuzzy but if they think about how to resist interrogation, the untrained against psychic intrusion often make conscious thought about what they want to lie about.

"Got the laptop bagged Disco? Anyone not on fire might have a tablet or handheld. These guys would have to have written comms and stuff. Shift rotations, where to report to work. That kinda thing." she points out herself.

"Getting a feel we just been blueballed." she adds and grins. It can be frustrating to hit a near dead end.

Rhona Lauren has posed:
The tour of Hell certainly is going to be soemthing Rhona will remember for a long time. It was like they flipped the lights on in some horror movie setting. She kept her shields up, but did shrink them down a bit to make moving around a little easier, the humming noises sounding not all that dissimilar to that of a lightsaber, as she walks along with the others. A different form of a disgusted expression hits her facial features when they pass by the sights of blood, strange experimentation labs, and whatever else that Cable takes them through.

"This is all very fucked up..." The British teen finally surmizes before her brown eyes fall upon that of the computer, and her shields snap back in to her hands.

"Got it..." She states, pulling the strap on her back around to hold out a black canvas messenger bag. She steps over to the laptop, and reaches out to gather it up. She slips it in to her bag, then slips it shut again. "That it, then?" She asks. "There's... there's no people?"

She has to ask it, even though she can see on the others' faces that there doesn't seem to be any one to rescue. It causes her to draw in a breath, and slowly let it back out again. "Maybe this computer will tell us where to go." "us' as if she's going to go on another one of these! Jean is gonna have her ass for being on this once, should the Dr. Headmistress find out!

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will keep his eyes open, and now that the goons seem gone, Sam is looking about seeing if he sees camera, or other things where someone maybe watching this. He will lower down to the ground, still hovering a foot or so off the ground and starts looking about the room, not for people but for hints of what might have been left behind.

Cable has posed:
Perhaps Cable has too reached out telepathically like Monet and come to the conclusion that anyone who is not already down -- permanently -- is now running for the hills about as fast as their legs will take them. Perhaps he too has sensed the fact that the facility is empty of the hostages they seek, with few enough scrapes of evidence left to hopefully lead them to their next target. Then again, perhaps not. He doesn't seem to put that substantial telepathic prowess to use. For good cause, since turned within it is the only thing keeping the techno-organic virus within from completely ravaging his body.

Grim-faced, the mutant soldier from the future stoically ignores those surgical suites too, and all the implications that they imply. None of which are particularly good. The sorts of thoughts that will keep one up at night -- if they hadn't already seen so much. Instead he makes a beeline to that office and the only scrapes of evidence that they might have at their disposal. It's not much, but it's better than nothing.

"I think," Cable begins slowly, voice hard as rock, "That this was always only intended to be a temporary location. Some place disposable, with disposable hirelings. Keep their operation broken up, decentralized and probably compartmentalized so no one individual cell can compromise the next. Clearly they just pulled out of here, earlier today probably. Less, I suspect because they knew we were coming but more because they had finished going through their stockpile," he adds grimly. In this case, in would seem, their stockpile was kidnapped mutants.

"Grab what you can. Search for anyone downed and strip them of any tech. If you find anyone alive call M over to scan them and see if you can pick up any psychic impressions, any hint that they actually know who they were working for or where they might have gone. I wouldn't count on anyone knowing much though," he conceeds.

Disco's question draws a small nod from the mutant soldier, a brief, if grudging acknowledgement. "We were too late. There's no one on site," he admits. "Alright, we can have a pity party when we're airborn. I want to be wheels up in ten and on the way back to Westchester. Lets get a move on people," he says brusquely, all business once more. Turning, he starts to stalk back through the facility before he pauses, turning for just a moment to glance back over his shoulder. The team might have been assembled on short notice and their mission might not have been as successful as they all might have hoped but operationally it went about as good as could have been hoped for.

"Good job people."

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will make sure if they have time they check the other buildings, specially the motor pool, making sure if any vehicles there have GPS or computers they take those parts as well, since it may have some clues to where the people were gotten from or taken to.