14850/Brood of the Savage Land: The God Machines, Part III

Brood of the Savage Land: The God Machines, Part III
Date of Scene:	11 May 2023
Location:	Ancient Ruins
Synopsis:	Shockingly, the creepy secretive scientist turns out to be up to no good. Maybe he's looking for Iara's secret shark juice, or maybe he wants what Jemma figured out is inside Nat. Either way, things go bad, and he loses an eye and an arm for his trouble, while Rogue gains another overdose of ageless understanding, this time in a different part of the Celestial heritage: Homo Descendus. Now, back to meet everyone's favorite green guy in a lab coat.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Natasha Romanoff, Audra Meridian, Rogue, Iara Dos Santos, Jemma Simmons, Warren Worthington

---

Jean Grey has posed:
Last time

In search of answers to the Celestial technology protecting (regulating?) the Savage Land, the heroes followed a map given to them by the Lemurian Queen Leanne. It indicated the location of a ruin said to hail from the time of her ancestors - perhaps referring to the pre-catacylsm Atlanteans that once dwelled in the Savage Land. The subsequent journey through the jungle proved difficult, however, as the Brood demonstrated more sophisticated forms of hive organization, swarms of small flying animals creating security perimeters and patrols of drones created from more deadly pretadors as response teams. All strangely focused on the area the heroes were trying reach.

Attempting a distraction to break through, they reached the edge of the ruin with the Brood close in pursuit, but not without injury. Harried ant hunted, they were 'saved' by the intervnetion of an unexpected ally, an unidentifiable figure in a reflective mask and pristine robes. It destroyed several of the Brood only to announce that several of them had already been infected.

Aloof in its analysis, the figure did not promise to help them, so much as suggested they might benefit its research. Thus, they were invited into the very clearly not-ruined structure at the center of the site, entering a high-tech elevator bound for whatever lay below.

--

Now

After a suspiciously long drop, the elevator leads out into a landing room, with several hallways beyond. Everything here follows the same universal sci-fi aesthetic, of sterile white and chrome, blueish lighting, ergonomic architecture with gentle curves, and little in the way of obvious external interfaces: everything seems to interface with the wi-fi holo widget that their host can summon around its hand.

The figure leads them down one hall (the leftmost, counting from the elevator), passing many doors along the way, and sometimes, windows into the rooms they access. Most look like laboratories, although the full function of the equipment can be hard to discern given the clear technological gap and none of them are occupied by any visible staff. They reach several intersections and take various turns (right, left, left).

Combined with the initial drop, it gives the impression that this place is much larger than would ever have been imagined.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff has noticed that the being that they're with has not given a name. It has been passed along that Natasha (and others, possibly) are infected by Brood. Despite Rogue's protestations otherwise, Natasha has already taken the time to put ready to sterilize herself in the event that the infection goes beyond the point of no return. Ultimately, she's a soldier. Her goals are to the greater objective.

So if it becomes necessary she will do whatever required to ensure that she does not become a threat. And even as they go along she takes glances at the computers.. Comparing them in her mind to the ones that they encountered in the volcano.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian sighs softly, but relents and takes a few steps back once Iara is headed in the right direction inside. After what the shark-woman did to those infested dinosaurs, she's right in insisting the woman doesn't risk any chances being too close to her.

But it's okay, she's promptly distracted once they step off the elevator deeper in the facility. Like any tech-nerd should rightfully be when presented with such a sight that could of been right out of some Star Trek rebranding. "This... is centuries beyond most technologies on earth, and those close to it are likely also alien in origin so they don't really count."

It's a good thing there's no real visible interfaces, and that she does have a more important task to focus on ahead after her initial admiration of the setting. Or she might of gotten a little snoopy and pokey proddy...

Rogue has posed:
Nothing about this situation was ideal.

Rogue wanted to get the information that they came for, and she wanted to get out of this weird base. She moved down the turns that the mirrored masked man took them on, and her eyes went from his glowing wrist widget to the environment around them. Her boots softly impacted against the floor as she walked.

"Ya know, this feels quite a bit like a trap." The Belle says to... well, everyone, and her eyes even scan over the others with her, including Natasha who looks like she's still about to assassinate herself any second.

Ultimately she looks back to their 'guide', or captor, and softly raises her chin. "Would really help my nerves if ya gave us any measure of info about yourself, or what this place is? Otherwise I'll create a name for you... like, Joe, how about Joe?"

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Iara... doesn't look good.

     Iara is sliced up, bitten, covered in small scratches and a few deep ones, and even though she's not actively bleeding... she looks like she's in a lot of pain as she walks, even as she's wordlessly toughing through it.

     "I don't really care if it's a trap..." Iara says, "If Jean says this is the way to go, this is the way to go, I'm just... I'm just tryin' not to die here." She definitely seems more lucid than earlier, even if her voice is still a little strained. As if for no other reason than to keep herself thinking as she moves, she says "Hey... Rogue... did you know there's a mermaid, in Brazil... like, a legend of one, that's named Iara? She like... seduces men... and when they get close, she drags them to the bottom of the amazon river and drowns them..."

     She looks up, continuing to rant as they talk, "There was a... thing on Netflix based on the legend, where her beauty and song compelled men to fight to the death over her, until there was one left..." She then winces, gritting those big, triangular teeth with a few gaps in the rows from ones she lost in her fight with the brood, saying "...Anyway, if I survive this, you all are taking me to a male strip club..."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
There was one person who was more concerned with the Avenger than the so-called guide. And, honestly, Jemma Simmons wasn't really all that worse for wear. It could have been that Natasha was taking the brunt of the assault, leaving the biochemist relatively unharmed. Not that Jemma was supporting that option. But...try talking Nat out of what she wants to do. It simply doesn't happen.

Still, the biologist is there. And the British tones are heard as Jemma does what she does best. "Agent Romanoff, please. Remain calm. I just need a moment to analyze your biometrics and I will determine how to counter this infection. You really have little to worry about." Bedside manner in full effect, trying to calm the patient.

In the meantime, the tactical backpack that Jemma has carried with no complaint up to this point is set down, as she reaches within. From one pocket, a wrist-mounted mini computer. From another section, a small kit that, when opened, looks to be a fully functional mobile lab. It certainly is helpful to be in the R&D department, from the looks of it.

Jean Grey has posed:
The group is led on their merry expedition through the subterranean lab complex. No one, it seems, tries to run off or otherwise explore outside the attention of their host, and so no one gets to test what kind of security the place may have - or not! Their host does not speak much, and not at all without being spoken to. Indeed, it doesn't comment on Audra's analysis of the high-tech nature of the facility.

Perhaps there's no need to confirm or deny what is obvious to the eye.

Rogue does address it directly, and so it answers, in its own fashion. Not her suspicions, those it leaves to mull. They did come a long way to find this place, and it certainly didn't do anything to CALL them. But she demands some answers. For the sake of trust.

And it provides. "This is a scientific facility, tasked with genetic research. Clearly you are not unaware that such a project is underway, as you have interfered with some of the maintenance systems already." Oopsie?

Eventually, they reach a door, which the figure accesses via the same method as before, raising its hand, which creates a small holographic in the air around it, and some kind of matching circuit-like pattern on the corresponding surface. It opens with a satisfying sci-fi woosh.

Inside, well, this very much does look like a lab. And more the kind equipped for larger subjects versus petri dishes. There are pods supported along the walls, mostly upright though at a slight diagonal, a design not unlike the one Tanya was kept in at Aerie Shalan. A large biobed sits horizontally in the center of the room, and appears to integrate such a pod structure as well, as if someone could be treated and then contained and moved. At the far end, there is something that might be a research station or terminal.

"These units are capable of biostasis. The infected human will be contained immediately; it will slow her likely inevitable death." The mirror-face then turns to find Iara. "The selachimorph provides an opportunity, given her apparent resistance. Please, place yourself on the table for examination."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanoff goes to glance over at Jemma and gives a nod, "OF course. I will do as you deem best, Agent Simmons." She goes still and otherwise remains ready. At Rogue's commentary about it being a trap, Natasha gives a nod of agreement. And then one over with Iara. It's not like they have any other options that aren't even worse. She goes to let Jemma go to take the scans, even while surveying the elevator and the room that they're coming out in. And these stasis tubes..

Just like the ones that they found Tanya in. A quick click of her tongue is given to the SHIELD comm <<I wonder if this individual is the one that put our Brood infectee that was recovered into stasis in the first place. The functinoality is identical>> She would glance over at it at the array. A quick look is given to Jemma for her approval or veto.

Her glancing at the man, "And what then are we to refer you as? Since you have such a great familiarity with the realm and the technology here?"

Audra Meridian has posed:
There is a brief wince when the figure mentions maintenance systems having been 'interfered' with. Which Audra swiftly hides by looking in another direction, as if inspecting other parts of the lab. Well it's also to give Iara and Natasha a little privacy as they prepare for... whatever that might maybe help save them? She is very much not a biologist or a xenologist so this is still out of her usual fieldhouse. "Don't worry, I won't touch anything..." can be heard uttered over her shoulder softly.

Rogue has posed:
Iara is on Rogue's right side as they were walking through the corridors, and the sharkgirl was rambling on in a injured-state of mind. It does get the Belle to look upon her, narrow her eyes for a moment before she feels sympathy for the shark woman who really took a licking back there on the surface. She reaches out and pats her gently on the shoulder. "We'll make sure t'take you to Helicopters when we get back t'Westchester." Helicopters being a All Male Strip Club that is roughly exactly midway between Xaviers School and the Triskelion, close enough to the Triskelion that it's roughly themed after it, with their 'Entertainers' even dressing like studly beefcake SHIELD agents most nights. It's a thing. Don't think about it too much... Or do!

Rogue's eyes dance back over to their tour guide then as they're given some measure of a response, then shown in to a lab. "Ominous." Rogue softly says, her eyes scanning it before going back to the mirrored mask, a look on her face showing a measure of displeasure at the 'interfered with' comment from the mysterious stranger.

"Well... about that." Rogue starts her sweet response, even smiling to them some. "Have ya considered maybe buildin' a visitors center? Maybe offer some pamphlets, or a little 'ride' with a cartoon DNA man tellin' us all about this place? Might save ya some trouble when us meddlin' outsiders come in, and just start randomly pushin' buttons t'save our lives from this absolytely /insane/ place."

With that said, Rogue starts slowly meandering... investigating their surroundings.

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Iara does smile a bit at the promise of taking her to this helicopters place, liking the sound of it already apparently, and a warm, oily, glittery, alcohol-fueled environment is really something she needs to imagine right now, away from this... sterile, metal walled laboratory setting where things are so dire. She could still die here, and the redhead doubly so. Still, the idea of making it to Helicopters... That's the sort of hope that it takes to press onward.

     "Right." Iara says, looking at the table, at first those shark jaws parting to say "I guess you want me ti-err..." before apparently thinking better of what she was about to say, "Belly... no... Back... Guh... Dorsal side up..." as she clambers onto the table, the wound on her back that penetrated the unstable molecules uniform plainly, disgustingly visible. The source of her infection. "No fuckin' sushi jokes." she says, anticipating some sort of surgery is about to take place.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
A nod and Jemma is pacified, for now. And it really does seem that Jemma is not too concerned with whatever Nat is carrying, though Jemma certainly is not about to sacrifice standard protocol for said scans. Meaning she doesn't come in direct contact, but she does use her own gear as they were being escorted...

Into a lab that makes her tech look like a playset. It is hard for Jemma to obfuscate her emotions normally and, from the look of her expression as those brown eyes take in the laboratory, she is impressed. It is almost enough for Jemma to forget her own attentions, but not quite. She gets the scans in...and lets her mini-puter do its thing.

However, when Natasha silently looks for an opinion, Jemma provides. And she is not silent. "This facility is...highly advanced. More advanced than any other facility I have ever seen. SHIELD has similar concepts, but, compared to this, extremely rudimentary, at best." Which pains Jemma to say that...considering she had a hand at outfitting said laboratories.

Jean Grey has posed:
If Audra's guilty body language is apparent, the figure gives no indication of notice. Of course, it is very hard to read much at all about its reactions or emotional state through that reflective mask. For all they know, this could be some highly advanced android or other sort of artificial being. Particularly with its monotone, slightly synthetic voice. A property of the mask, of some translator? Or its actual voice.

"Explaining the experiment would have affected the results of the experiment," it answers Rogue, as if this should be very obvious. "If it were even comprehensible at an early stage. But clearly, you have progressed to such a degree that such concerns are no longer relevant." Does that mean it can answer questions?

Although Natasha waits on Simmons' say-so, Iara follows the directions immediately. It seems more interested in her anyway. Nat's been written off as a casualty, after all. And given that it doesn't give any more instructions, it seems that what Iara has chosen is sufficient. Perhaps the biobed can do its magic regardless of physical obstruction? Indeed, as soon as she settles, a similar blueish light emits to connect paired positions on either side of the bed, and then scans over her body. Without physical sensation.

It leaves all of that to process for a moment (some of the surfaces around the lab do light up with imagery, monitoring screens of a sort, displaying all manner of data (some of which is obvious with various levels of medical understanding, some of which is far more obscure), and then turns toward Jemma and Natasha. "The infected subject defers to you; please direct her to comply. Her condition will degrade rapidly."

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Iara lays on the table, trying to relax. Trying to simultaneously not relax too much and not think about what's going on and not worry.

     So she thinks about Helicopters.

     She hopes the parody strippers are humorously tacky. The one dressed as Wolverine with obviously fake chest and leg hair that's super thick. The one dressed as Luke Cage in a Santa outfit and a candy cane prop. It makes her giggle.

     She thinks about a Warren wannabe in little cupid wings and... feels oddly disgusted by this for some reason. That's an emotion to analyze later.

     With no mind readers around, though, she appears to just be laying silently, every once in a while smiling or laughing quietly to herself. It's better than looking like she's in pain or like a zombie, anyway.

Audra Meridian has posed:
When some of the 'screens' light up it draws Audra's attention. Not that she can understand all the medical jumbo, she's an environmental scientist. But she can admire the technology in and of itself, this puts fancy 4K flat screens to complete shame.

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Oh, the entity is talking to Jemma? Too bad she wasn't paying attention. Her eyes were upon the mini computer on her left wrist....and those eyes narrow as she sees what the scans are picking up. "Oh, I see. The retrovirus genetic bomb. That was the culprit. The payload was..." Murmuring to a barely heard level as she finally snaps to attention.

"Pardon me, were you speaking to me?" Jemma regards the guide (doctor? fellow biochemist?) with a distracted air about her. "You want what now?" Apparently, she didn't hear what this figure wanted.

Or Jemma is being purposely obtuse to allow more time to fully analyze the results.

However, she does. Fairly quickly. But, then again, it helps that she has seen this sort of thing before. "Agent Romanoff, your readings has traces of the same sort of genetic retrovirus we examined in SHIELD. The genetic markers are there. However, the payload was introduced in this virus, rather than being empty when I initially examined the device in the laboratory. It may be possible to alter the virus so that it is more easily able to be expelled from your system."

Wait....that's something that ye old mystery scientist probably wasn't expecting. Jemma might be able to get rid of the infection? Curiouser and curiouser.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue steps around the lab, not touching anything because she doesn't want to really end up dead or disfigured from some creepy alien technology. Ultimately she just turns though and walks toward where Iara is laying down. Her eyes watch Iara as she's scanned, then regard the others. She knows Audra and Jemma are okay, but Nat.

"How are ya feelin?" She asks Natasha a second later.

But, she just has to look back to their masked 'friend' here. "Look, we came for answers about the power dampening fields that are blanketing this entire ... country?" Is this a country?

She shoots another look to Iara, then back to the mirrored face which is reflecting her own face right back at her, if a bit distorted from the shape of the cover screen itself. "This thing has been causin us all kinds of problems as we're tryin' to solve the damn outbreak of this Brood virus. We need your help with this, if possible. Clearly you got experience in this place, and all its pitfalls."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And that has Natasha's attention as Jemma speaks. "Appreciated, Agent Simmons." Natasha goes to stand ready to do as Jemma instructs her to analyse the virus and take countermeasures. Of course the xenobiologist will be able to figure out a countermeasure to an alien virus with but a few hours of work!

Natasha goes to give a further analysis of the man covertly. Whatever he was. She was preusming by default that he was hostile or at least had something to gain here. But there was no sense baiting him or being overly aggressive unless they had to defend themselves.

As Rogue speaks to her, she would give a low nod, "I function." That seems about as much as she can say. She goes to speak quietly along the comms to Rogue <<HIs equipment is similar to that what was found in the mountain. Possibly it was scavenged.>>

Jean Grey has posed:
"Those measures are working as intended," the impassive figure informs Rogue. "The intention was to create a normalized baseline and prevent re-contamination in later stages." It's a very not-helpful sounding answer. One that, as ever, seems more bothered by them than by the Brood.

Iara, despite being the center of various weird and possibly creep attention, has the easiest time of it, for the moment. The table, despite a variety of curious automation in its function, behaves... like a pretty good doctor. Or RN, at least. At a point, a little arm extends to press a small cylinder to Iara's skin (for an injection? a sample?), but there's barely any sensation from it, no needle. Like one of those Star Trek things.

Hank could really use some of this stuff!

Turnabout is fair play, they say, so Jemma turning the rather nonresponsive routine back on their aloof caretaker may be rather satisfying. Again, it is impossible to register its emotional reaction, but the figure does repeat the instruction. "Please instruct your subordinate to enter the biostasis pod. If she does not, I will compel her." Well. It's not a threat, precisely, but it is the first such sign of how this being might handle noncompliance.

"Nonetheless, your analysis is accurate. This form of reproduction is unorthodox, but highly fascinating. As is the ability of the dense nucleotide structure to encode data sufficient to re-generate the more complex organism." Probably, these words make sense and mean something comprehensible to the two of them! "It is not difficult to destroy the virus; your species is likely capable of this."

Which says two things. One, that Jemma isn't wrong, exactly. Two, that this being seems to find this form of treatment... trivial? Which raises the question of what it is exactly researching. "However, once secondary generation begins, reverse retroviral treatment is no longer sufficient. We must determine if this is present in your subordinate."

"Please, instruct her to enter the pod. This is my final request."

Warren Worthington has posed:
With the attack on the school Angel's return to the X-men was in costume. He'd spent the week in a sort of penitent generosity. The money had flowed into the school from his family's massive corporation, and Warren had been doing what he could to make up for the lack of his presence during the attack. So when the opportunity presented itself to redirect the swarm and give cover for the others, there had not been a second of hesitation.

Until now the last they'd seen of him, he'd winged off like a shot, dressed head to toe in his new state-of-the-art polymer armor, accented with silvery metallic wing garnitures. It looked like it was painted on to his body, because it was. On his back, a massive arming sword fixed with an energy core that sparked and crackled and lent credence to that question that lingered in the back of the mind: Was Warren really a mutant, or are angels to humble to believe in their own divinity?

He returned now, scathed and scratched, even bloodied, but somehow in a way that fit the lines and contours of his armored body and accented the way he moved.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
And Natasha's hand goes to shift over on her waist ever so slightly. Just enough to turn her palm to face the man, her knuckles facing him over and keeping her palm facing away. This was her getting her Widow's Bite ready in case she needed to unleash a heavy charge from it. But she remains still, evaluating the position of the man, the technology, and the other things present.

What was likely to explode if a fight broke out,w hat eqiupment was essential and to try and minimize damage.. Her combat analysis of the man that had so far not given them a name was difficult due to how little he had shared. He could be a construct - or just a projection. THere was no reason to believe he was human after all. Her other hand makes sure to keep her palm away from her pistol. But she is in a position if things escalate she can rapidly move to engage and draw fire towards hereslf. But she makes no move towards the pod nor any signs that she's inclined to go there.

Rogue has posed:
Everything that the Mysterious Man says from behind his mask earns a more suspicious expression to be cast toward him from Rogue. She doesn't like him. He doesn't display an ounce of 'southern hospitality', which is a sure-fire way to make the Belle dislike someone.

In fact, he's one small step away from being an open antagonist toward them.

"Hold up with the foreceful commentary, will ya?" She asks of their host, with a glance sent to her companions, then back again.

"Additionally. That Brood virus is gonna spread out from this place, and we're the ones tryin' to stop it from spreadin' across our whole damn planet. thus we need those power suppression fields turned off. I don't care if they're turned back on once the threat is dealt with, but before that time is reached... we need'em unplugged. Ya get me, Capone?" She asks with a bit more vitriol starting to lace her smoky toned voice.

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Iara almost sits up when she notices Warren has been with them the whole time, shouting "Warren!" and jolts up a little, but then quickly lays back down, those glossy black doll-eyes wider and with more clarity now that she's spotted her mentor. She winces as she lays back down, hoping the spike in heartbeat from her surprise and movement didn't throw anything off...

Audra Meridian has posed:
It probably means something to Jemma and their host. To Audra she gets the general scientificness of it, but not the specifics, for the most part. "So you're saying treat it before it advances too far." THAT much she can understand, at least.

Poor Audra is out of her depth. But she keeps trudging along, she's kind of gotten use to it after she's been working along the big shots as often as she has now.

Besides, she got to make a volcano explode. It's someone else's turn to be the center of attention.

Instead she directs hers back to Warren. "You look like you had a wild time too."

Jemma Simmons has posed:
"And what exactly do you intend to do with my subordinate once she is placed in your biostasis pod? Is it your intent to merely slow the metabolic processes so that the genetic restructuring is paused? Or, do you intend to cure my subordinate of her affliction?"

The gentle tones that may have once been used from Jemma have been replaced with a more straight-forward and flat tone. It is a sure-fire way to know that Jemma is not pleased with the lack of options and she has gone into protect mode. "Are you able to treat it, as you say? As of the present time, any genetic degradation, as far as what my sensors can detect, is minimal at best. Though I certainly agree that action must be taken to prevent this from happening, I do not wish for Agent Romanoff to be placed in cold storage and forgotten. I will not allow one of my own to be used as a lab specimen."

Not that Natasha is below Jemma in the slightest. However, Jemma does seem to have a very low opinion of her host, it would seem.

Jean Grey has posed:
"Even were I sympathetic to the details of your situation, which is outside my purview, I do not have the authority to disable those systems. I am a researcher, not a systems engineer." This is officially a new one for Rogue, getting the bureaucratic 'not my department' run around from some sci-fi... well, whatever it is. Clearly, the answer to go full Karen.

Where's the manager?!

However, all the pretenses of polite tolerance and manners get dropped pretty quickly as ultimatums come and go, unheeded. It does not seem to bluff, nor negotiate.

Lifting one arm it makes typing-like gestures over its wrist with the other, summoning that holographic interface again. In response, several things happen:

There is a kind of hissing at the doors.

In the hallway, they can see those calm blue lights darken, replaced by a pulsing red, like an alarm.

On the table, the retracted pod doors on the biobed quickly seal around Iara. The hypospray pushed against her side remains in place, but it goes from sample retrieval to... it's definitely dosing her with something, while there's simultaneously a different kind of hissing sound inside.

The pod directly behind Natasha opens. "She must comply," it informs Jemma. "Secondary generation must be verified."

Then the figure lifts its other arm, and its hand (glove?) repeats the trick shown off earlier with Rogue, its fingers extending and breaking apart, to become multiple much more agile tendrils. These, of course, thrust forward to ensare Natasha and put her in the pod, whether she wants to go or not!

Natasha, experienced as she is, is certainly prepared for something like this happening, and uses that concealed weapon almost instantly in response. It catches onto the robe and discharges, causing a cascade of shock over the 'fancy sci fi robes.' The holo-display flickers off, and the tendrils spasm wildly, allowing her to elude their grasp, at least momentarily.

"Violence is commonly indicated among your species." As it speaks, it reaches with the non-tentacle hand to pull the Widow's Bite free, crushing it in hand. "Regretfully, that is a heritage we share."

Warren Worthington has posed:
Warren stretched out in either direction, showing the massive reach of his span. He sequentially adjusted the feathers back into place, a ripple of motion that briefly revealed the soft white down running all the way to the tips of his silvery white wings. The magnificent wings where folded back then, out of view, the visual loss of them seemed to somehow silence the pulchritudinous noise of his arrival.

He arrived beside Iara without interrupting the confrontation any further than his eye catching presence usually did. He gazed down at Shark Girl where she was resting, like she was the only other person in the world, making meaningful eye contact now that she was sealed away.

"Aguente firme." he asked through the pod barrier, effortless confidence, resonating with deep overtones that conveyed conviction and fidelity; but refused to allow the possibility that she had been anything but strong up until this point. Everything in his demeanor and body language said 'I will stand by you.'

He drew his sword.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
This is why they can't have nice things. Even as the individual goes on the counter-attack as she moves to snap out with her pistols. She fires some quick shots over at the wrists from which hte tendrils were coming out. Quick, rapid ones that even if the frames were immune to bullets, hopefully the somewhat more vulnerable electronics within would be disabled or damaged. She goes to take quick shots at anywhere the tendrils would deploy from to try and give the rest of the X-Men some cover while putting herslf in front of Jemma.

Then Natasha goes to add a cryo grenade into the mix, launching it at the unnamed individual with a quick -flip- over to try and hit him over in the torso. Enough to hopefully freeze him in place an dlsow him down for however long.. They needed to secure the area quickly and neutralize the hostile.

Oh, and figure out a way to cure them before Natasha turned itno ana lien and Iara turned into a.. S harkier Girl.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Well that escalated quickly. "Why does this always happen...." Audra mutters in exasperation. The alien or whatever isn't entirely wrong about the whole violence becoming a thing, but she has no clue if he was trying to some ulterior motive or if Black Widow is lashing out because of her infection or... whatever else at this point...

Instead she looks down at the shark-girl in the medical thing. "I hope she's going to be okay. She got like this because she was protecting me from those things..."

Rogue has posed:
When things start to go south, and not in the way Rogue likes them to (not like that), she groans loudly as the Widow Bite starts zapping their host. All to no avail no less. She even rolls her eyes, if for just a second before she's leaping in to action.

Literally.

Rogue leaps up in to the air, using her ability to manipulate her gravitational field that lets her fly, she tries to get up above the 'man' in the sci fi robes as the others pre-occupy him.

Rogue's black gloved hands come down to try and use what strength she has in the now to pull his mask right off his face. She hates masks afterall!

Jemma Simmons has posed:
Jemma may be a trained SHIELD agent, with the wherewithal to be able to hold her own in a fight if necessary, but she was also in Science mode and not necessarily prepared for another fight. That...and she is certainly no Black Widow. So, when the fighting breaks out, she is taken quite by surprise as Nat steps in front of the researcher.

Of course, once she realizes what is happening, Jemma herself shakes her head in mild disbelief. She was going for the exact opposite. She didn't want to fight at all, but try to save. And, now, of course, this was just slowing things down and putting the infected individuals into more risk.

Fight or cure...hardly need any thought in that regard. Jemma's ICER remains holstered. Instead, she steps away from the immediate melee, trying to get enough space between her and the fracas to run some scenarios through her computer. Maybe she can verify secondary mutation before things get too far out of hand.

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Iara blinks as the pod seals around her, and she furrows her brow, a bit lost as violence starts happening... First Warren draws his sword, to which she replies "O que voce quer dizer, 'aguenta firma'!?" to his comment, and then Rogue... flies for the masked man up above her.

     "Someone explain it to me like I'm a dumbass!" she shouts through the pod, "What do I do to not fuckin' die, should I break out or stay in here!?"

     She hesitates a moment, but then grits her remaining teeth, and starts to push up off the bed against the pod with all her might, deciding that she really didn't like the sound of that "Secondary generation" thing the masked person was saying... even though her arms and legs and back are already burning from her wounds, and her back... is the *worst* thing to have against the pod, she starts to scream in pain and might as she pushes against the pod, aching to hear that crack of glass or some sign it's giving way...

Jean Grey has posed:
As may be expected, Nat's projectiles don't get the job done alone, although they do serve a useful purpose. In this case, there may not even be any crazy godlike powers involved in the target's invulnerability; she gets various clean hits, but those that hit his body don't seem to penetrate whatever material makes up those robes. Sci-fi textiles have advantages other than lofty, sterile futuristic fashion aesthetics!

But she has other targets. The tendrils, whether they are truly part of a suit or just a suit covering some very strange biology, are not easy to disable, there's no clear mechanism that controls them. But the other wrist, with the holo-computer? That she hits, and there's a notable spray of sparks to suggest she did some damage to whatever systems and weapons there.

No more remote control systems!

... maybe no easy way for them to open the doors either? But one problem at at time!

Most of all, Natasha's attacks serve to focus the figure's ire. Already, she is clearly the objective here, with Iara 'contained.' The others are just... other nuisances. So while the Widow strikes back, she's also pushed on the defensive as the tendril-arm grasps for her again, forcing evasive maneuvers. The cryo grenade buys some time there as well, slowing his pursuit as it ices over his lower body.

All of this means that Rogue goes in pretty well unopposed. She gets her hands on that weird helmet and yanks. The result... well, is not unsatisfying. No 'oh just some wires underneath, it was really a robot.' Nope. There's a real ugly dude under there.

His face is still humanoid, im broad strokes. But it is broader, flatter, with grey skin and broad features, including a rather upturned, almost animal-like nose with the nostrils flared upward. Not a handsome chap.

But clearly, for all of that, a dangerous foe.

As Rogue exposes him, he reaches up, snagging her by her ankle and throwing her bodily against one of the pods. The fact that she doesn't just smash it as she hits is proof that they're quite durable. This, in turn, is something Iara discovers. She's very strong, but her angle is awkward, the containment quite strong. Worse, she'll quickly realize that what's being pumped in is some kind of anaesthetic, no doubt meant to 'secure' this specimen for his further research.

Several others haven't engaged yet, and the... near-man ignores them, marching forward on Natasha. Given the strength he shows against Rogue, it's no surprise that he breaks free of the ice a few moments later. "Enough. Cease these pathetic struggles. You slow my work! There is benefit here, if not for you, then for science, for the knowledge that will be gained." The room isn't terribly large for all these people, either, so eventually, she ends up cornrered on the further side.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Her attacks are doing to do little to nothing to the individual, and she can't use much firepower here without risking catching teh others in the melee. For Natasha, that has faced off against the heavy hitters of the Avengers in training and adversaries far outside of her tier in combat, this is nothing new. So she goes to improvise.

Several pistol shots are fired into the 'eyes' of the thing, her intent being to try and hit it directly over in the pupils, wherever those bits where retina had blood vessels. This would be followed up by another small flung widow's bite aimed over at it to hopefully have the small tethers latch directly onto the eye and give the full charge.

None of this would inflict any damage whatsoever, but it hopefully would slow and stun it. Then as it advances, Natasha goes to dive out of the way.. After hurling one final small object - a small glue grenade to hopefully erupt over it's face to fully blind it with the goo hopefully harder to get off!

"Then time to go back to the classroom, you've been remiss in your studies."

Warren Worthington has posed:
The long slender blade of Warren's sword was whipped aside and then stabbed awkwardly but firmly into the gap Iara had made with her struggles. It made a loud screeching noise as the pod tried to close back over the blade. The lightning core in the fuller of the blade, installed courtesy of Stark Industries(patent pending), discharged violently and made an audible low frequency buffet that ate all the sound in the room for a brief moment.

Arcs of energy crackling across the surface of the pod, circuits popping and frying, screens and displays blacking out; Angel lunged forward, wings erupting from his back, pushing the blade like a giant lever. He urged Iara, "I know it hurts, keep pushing!" as the pod yawned open against any remaining agency it had left!

Audra Meridian has posed:
Abruptly Audra's attention snaps up from watching Iara in the pod. You can almost hear the record needle scratch sound (if you're old enough to know what a record is).

"Now wait just a twister picking minute." The woman stands upright and turns towards the confrontation going on, though not directly getting involved. "What kind of talk is that suppose to be, 'if not for you then for science for the knowledge'?! I'm all for the pursuit of knowledge, it's how I keep getting into these crazy situations. But hell in a handbasket what's the point of just collecting and hording it away?" She vagely gestures at the pods and the tech in the room in general with her hands. "What's the value in it if it's not being put to use? How much good could be done out there if you weren't fixating on specific point in this so-called experiment?"

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is flung down in to one of the stasis pods with a thump and thud of her body against hard metal and polymer materials. She falls down in a heap on to the ground of the lab, sprawled out on her right side with her right hip taking the majority of the impact. She lays there for but a moment before her head rises up with her loose white bangs a bit of a mess around her face. Her visible lips curl in a growing rage as she uses her gloved hands to push herself up off of the ground.

Her green eyes go right to the ugly man as he stalks across the room toward Natasha. She pushes herself up to her booted feet and starts to run toward the back of the man, once more she jumps in to the air but this time she completely inverts herself as she goes in to a full half-flip until her head is above his...

This time, instead of taking off his mask, she'll drop down in front of his exposed face, and lean in to plant a kiss right on his gnarly forehead!

Steal his knowledge, steal his powers, steal his ability to cure her companions?

One can hope.

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     This is a day Iara will wish she could forget.

     Clawed up and bitten. Infected with an alien life form that, from how she understands it, works like a wasp egg. Now drugged as Warren jams his sword in there with a blinding flash of electricity - doubly so with her ampullae of Lorenzini in her head from her shark physiology allowing her to see those flashes with more than just her eyes, an electroreceptive sense the others do not have. Some of her wounds reopen, notably the big one on her back as she pushes against the pod, yelling once more in pain and anger before the combined strength of Warren and Iara break the pod off its base, the Shark-Girl breaking free... Only to stand up woozily on the bed.

     So what if she's injured. So what if she's drugged. So what if her vision's getting blurry again. Normally, in a situation this dire, she'd try to frenzy again... but the anesthetic dulls the pain, makes it harder to get her adrenaline pumping like that...

     She tries it anyway, reaching back behind her and getting her own blood on her hand before licking it, feeling the taste, and trying to go against all her training, against everything she learned about how to control herself, against... well, everything Warren helped her out with, but even back when she first started training with him, he was able to calm her down if he needed to. So she goes for it.

     Iara yells out in fury once more, takes a few steps, and leaps off the bed towards the wall... and then tries to kick off the wall in the direction of the alien being with her super strength. It's sloppy, and if she misses, she doesn't care - she's tough, numbed up and doesn't have any bones anyway, technically a shark's skeleton is all flexible cartilage - but she's giving it her all, damn it.

Jean Grey has posed:
'Shoot your enemy directly in the eyeball' is... a good plan, as things go. More people would probably do it, if they could! It's hard. For Natasha? Not impossible. Still, there are a lot of complications here, making one shot difficult, let alone three. Mostly that she really has to keep moving to evade those tentacles (and you generally want to evade tentacles, as a rule). In any case, the end result splits the difference:

She shoots him in one of his eyes. Ouch.

But he also catches her, the tendrils wrapping around her leg first as she leaps some piece of equipment seeking cover. As soon as it grabs on, she's yanked off balance, and the subsequent thrown gadgets go wide.

Audra is pleading for sanity, but... the guy just got shot in the eye. It's impressive he survives it. It's probably not surprising that he roars in pure pain and rage.

Iara has her very own, very literal guardian Angel to come to the rescue. Shorting out the machine is probably just as important as the physical effort, and happens more easily: outside of the actual containment pod, the rest of the device is still strictly medical in design, so it's not shielded against that kind of damage, nor is it very tolerant of it. So its systems fry pretty easily, stopping the sleepy routine, while the extra leverage bolsters any loss of her considerable strength.

Shark girl is free!

Meanwhile, this unidentified 'humanoid' (he's also a bit taller than them, and his head a bit bulbous) has pulled Natasha to him, the tentacles gripping her more securely with every moment, until she's held before his arm, in place of where his hand would normally be. "You're not worth my time - wouldn't survive it anyway. Just die."

Which she will, soon, choked or crushed, as that grip tightens.

Fortunately, she has rescuers coming, from multiple sides. Iara charges and leaps, and he's not in much position to dodge. So he catches her. With one hand free, and that tremendous strength on display he's able to snag that mass in the air...

...but she's kind of coming in face-first, and so she 'catches' his arm in her mouth as much as he catches her. And this accounts for both hands, leaving nothing to save him from Rogue's kiss.

Externally, the moment lasts only seconds. She holds him briefly, and the tentacles loosen, dropping Nata. But then something jolts Rogue loose. It isn't clear from an outside view, what's happened. But she's forced to let go, overwhelmed by... pain? His memories?

The maybe-alien figure starts to stagger away. Just like it's surprising he can still stand after being shot in the face, it's impressive he can do so after that touch, even brief as it was. Yet he does. He still has a shark on his arm, and his solution to that?

She gets to keep the arm.

"Fools!" Bleeding, he staggers away from them, and lacking the fancy device on his arm, staggers over to a more complicated looking panel. Presses at some controls. The room alarms go red as well, and some kind of sound or message plays, incomprehensible to most of them.

Audra Meridian has posed:
Audra Meridian mutters something to herself about "how she never liked -that- kind of scientist."

It doesn't need to be comprehensible, a red alert klaxon is a red alert klaxon. "I think that's our cue to get the hell out of this pipe dream." Did they even learn anything? Guess that will have to wait until they're not about to be bumrushed by whatever security those alarms are triggering.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha gets off some damage to the target, but in turn is caught and flung. She's too slow, and trying to hit a very narrow target while dodging. She's a master markswoman, but her abilities aren't supernatural. Her shots don't hit as she intended, nor do all of her gadgets. So when she's caught over by the tendrils and picked up over by that grip her hand is going to palm out a knife concealed over in one of the compartments in her belt.. If she dgoes down, then she does as much damage to this thing as seh can with her..

Before seh's saved over by the rest of the team going in. As she's dropped, she goes to hit the ground and roll hard and away. While also trying to track her own infection rate - in case Jemma's theory isn't true - much less at this point if they hvae the time for it.. Natasha goes to hobble along, attempting to evaluate her own status while reloading her pistol to try and cover the retreating figure. Whatever the hell it was, of a species that looked completely unfamiliar. But it definitely wasn't a native inhabitant..

It almost was like it was something horribly deviant. "Time to get out." She goes to take out a grapple launcher to ready to yank anyone that couldn't fly or get carried with her.

Rogue has posed:
The Belle drops gracefully out of the air this time. Only a little bit of wobbling.

When she lands, her hands come up to touch the sides of her head whilst the alien man rushes over to his nerdy computer panel sans one of his arms...

She's lost in her own thoughts for just a moment before she drops her gloved hands, her bare arms hanging at her sides as she stares at him with a glaring intensity.

"Everyone! Lets head back for the lift!" Rogue announces as she takes to the air again, this time going straight for the lab doors to push them apart, to smash them down, or whatever is needed to get them out of the lab and back out in to the red tinted hallway that they originally came in through.

"It's time to GO!" She shouts back at everyone.

Iara Dos Santos has posed:
     Shark-Girl lands with a stumble and then a fall to all fours, catching herself, and as much as she wants to eat this thing, has had enough possible toxins and alien infections in her body today, so she spits out the free calamari onto the ground.

     Shark-Girl is not content to just leave. She lifts the bed she was strapped to and hurls it at the control panel the alien was just typing on, just to do more damage, before her drunk, sloppy movements start chasing after Rogue, hitting any doors that are only partially open to crash them open wider. She grins a helpless, pained grin as she says aloud English words she knew long before she spoke English... "Time Bomb Set! Evacuate Immediately!"

     She has no idea if throwing a bed at a wall panel would ever cause a reactor meltdown, but in her drug-addled mind coming back from a mini-frenzy, she kinda hopes it does, sloppily humming her own escape theme music just to keep things a bit upbeat and do her damndest not to focus on what her now anesthetic-dulled injuries are going to be like in the morning, let alone what is going to happen now with her brood infection...

Warren Worthington has posed:
Despite the potential contagion, or the minimal clearances available, Angel waited until Iara was done getting her righteous revenge and then dashed toward her, leapt over her with wings extending, and hooked her beneath her strong arms with both of his carrying her in flight toward the egress that the rest of the team was escaping toward. Angel had one genuine power, and his use of it was masterful. He arc-ed subtlety through the confined spaces, needing only the most minimal clearances. Even laden with the muscular Shark Girl, he weaved past destroyed consoles, over stacked and stored equipment and through corridors with his armored wing tips sparking on bulkheads and walls.

As he rounded a bend, without hesitation, he hoisted the Shark to his breast, wrapped her in wings, turned in mid air and smashed through a stack of boxes and returned to a glide.

It was something to watch.

Jean Grey has posed:
The bio-bed causes some rather satisfying explosions as it hits the wall, forcing their foe to fling himself out of the way, and leaving him on the other side of it, a blockade against further meddling, although for a moment, he glares after them with his one remaining eye. The last they'll see of that strange figure is him limping away, clutching his bloody arm-stump, as he makes toward a door at the far end of the room.

Deeper into the place. Maybe whatever he's triggered will spare him?

Maybe not.

The heroes, very sensibly, go the other way. Fortunately, someone was keeping track of all the twists and turns, because it wouldn't be hard to get lost down here.

The strange alarms keep blaring, an incomprehensible irritation to most. To Rogue, who once again finds herself understanding the strange machine-speak by virtue of a borrowed intelligence, they're almost taunting. A constant, unceasing reminder of just how close they're cutting it.

One by one, they speed through the various doors before the security seals close them in. They're a second too slow with the last one, but Rogue smashes through it, full human-shaped battering ram. That brings them into the foyer, with the elevator waiting. Naturally, it too is disabled by whatever alarm, and so they're forced to break into the shaft. It's several hundred feet, narrow and smooth, much of it bored through hard rock. But they have wings, and more esoteric flight, or even a grappling hook, if that's what it comes to.

And as it turns out... that's fine. There's no big explosion, this time, to chase them up the shaft, and they reach the entry building without further menace. Just an eerie silence, and should they look back down, the slow blinking of red light at the bottom of the shaft... before it fades into total darkness.

Not long after, the backup they called for arrives, via SHIELD... helicopter? Yeah, they've brought some lower-tech options, as the Quinjets and Blackbird occasionally have power issues. The small fliers from before harry the gunship, but are driven off by small arms fire, and before long, they're all safely aboard, putting distance between them and the place. There may be concern for Nat, if she'll even last the trip, or the danger it places the rest of them in.

Yet it isn't long before some young agent manning the gun turns back to yammer. "We're taking you to basecamp medical to see this uh, new doctor they brought in. Lykos? Said you folks know the guy. Hopefully you got something he can use."