15552/The Path of Progress: We're Down At The Bottom Of A Hole

The Path of Progress: We're Down At The Bottom Of A Hole
Date of Scene:	07 August 2023
Location:	The Remains of the Sublime Research Facility -- Outside Gotham City
Synopsis:	Cable and his team need to escape the hole they find themselves in after Sublime tried to blow them up. He might have a few more surprises for them too. Fortunately the good guys might have some backup of their own...
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Sally Pride, Quiet

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Cable has posed:
Their world explodes.

For a moment everything around them is shaking and an impossibly bright light that pierces down into the pit they've dug for themselves, that they have covered with whatever debris Cable could manage to reach out to, to drag into place as the power dampners fail just an instant before the entire research facility above them explodes, before Tabitha's counter explosion denonates back in the remains of the chamber above, to try and blow the worst of the building's implosion back from them.

It is a desperate sort of plan really, though a good one as far as it goes. With the ground around them that should lessen the blast, the inevitable shockwaves. The debris overhead should hopefully keep anything from collapsing down ontop of them, crushing them. And the counter-explosive might just keep them from being roasted by the blast, or buried by too much debris for even them to move before their oxygen runs out.

Still, it's a hell of a thing to be caught in, and for a moment just about the only thing that can be done is duck and cover. Cable does through up as much of a telekinetic shield as he can manage, fortifying that makeshift roof over head and pushing out against the hard packed ground to try and keep it from simply collapsing in on him.

Then the last of the explosions fade away, the world stops shaking and they are plunged into darkness. The sound of debris settling overhead still sounds, heavy thunks of the remains of the building keeling over in the aftermath. Dirt skitters downward, little trails of earth moving around them as even Cable can't hold everything back.

But finally the soldier from the future finally lifts his head, that glowing eye even more piercing in the darkness. A moment later a glowing orb is lifted in his hand, casting a pale, white light across their improvised shelter. "Sound off," he says brusquely, almost matter of fact. "Greymalkin, bodyslide by four," he adds quickly, trying for the quick evacuation. But whatever dampening field was in place to prevent them from teleporting out would still seem to be in play, despite the explosion.

"Alright, we've got to move. We can't count on the fact that SUblime is going to assume that was enough to finish us. Chances are he already has people on the way," Cable says quietly, clambering back to his feet carefully.

Of course, he might have arranged a little backup himself...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix goes to quickly brace herself, completely defeaned over as the group is down far in the hole. Grunting hard, in pain and trying to speak.. Her brain scrambled over as she goes to try and assess their situation. She tries to talk, but her ears are ringing. She goes to then speak telepathically <<How is he able to counter your technology?>> It gives her a precious few moments to breathe and to try and reorient herself.

How is he able to fight things from however far off in the future (or a future) that Nathan is from? And just how exactly has Sublime been able to figure it out? She goes to force away the confusion. That's not important now. Now the immportant thing is getting away. <<Can we dig our way out?>> Monet goes to rapidly look for things that can be used to quickly block the way that the enemy reinforcements might come.. Or that might hide a hole to let them scramble through. How far down were they? Maybe there was old sewer access. If they were deep enough underground, there could be tunnels heading elsewhere. Sublime had a flair for the theatrics.. Hopefully that included an underground escape tunnel.

Sally Pride has posed:
When it was absolutely dark there was nothing. But once there is even a faint bit of light being made it becomes clear as it gleams in feline eyes amongst the debris. "Ugh, here." It takes another moment or two for the lioness to drag herself into a more visible position. "The sad thing is this isn't the first time I've been involved in a building collapsing... but this is probably the worst." Seeing as last time didn't involve getting buried.

There's a bit of rummaging around in the faint glow, and something getting kicked away. "The cutting torch got busted in the fall, no good for digging back out." A pause. "May of banged up a shoulder but otherwise in one piece."

Quiet has posed:
Not too far away, a bit of backup was on alert status, waiting to get a signal to call her in. She wasn't directly connected to whatever this contact of hers was doing, but she'd offered to help him if push came to shove. When things seemed to be eeriely quiet though, she went ahead and moved to her response area. A nearby perch. A viewing line that would let her see the target zone, see what might be happening.

She was curious by nature too, and thus she ended up going in without any direct word.

This is where Agent Houston is located, having setup her sniper-nest inside the unfinished interior of a building being remodeled. She's laying on her stomach, dressed in a sleevless black bodysuit of very fancy modern materials. She has a black ball cap on her head, that she has turned backward for style points.

Her eyes are positioned down the scope of a rather intimidating rifle mounted on a small tripod. She's running the rifle scope over the target zone, trying to spot her contact, or any of his supposed coherts.

Beside her rifle, is a napkin, with a cup of apple sauce, and Agent Houston's fingerless-gloved hand is raising a spoon of the delicious appley goodness up to her mouth as she scans the target area with her rifle's scope.

Spoon in mouth.

Cable has posed:
Suffice it to say that things have not exactly gone according to the plan.

That is pretty much always the case when one gets blown up. There are almost no good plans that involve getting caught in the middle of an exploding building while still functioning power dampeners make any normal reaction far more difficult then would otherwise be the case.

The important point though, for the moment at least, is that they have managed to survive.

Of course, that too could be a fleeting condition if they can't manage to get out of this pit. As Monet and Sally sound off, Cable seeks out Tabitha as well, finding her alive at least, if not terribly responsive. It was an awfully big explosion she tried to counter afterall. So with that verified, the soldier from the future turns his frowning visage up towards the ceiling.

The question Monet raises is a fair one. One that Cable wouldn't mind an answer to as well, though he doesn't offer an immediate response, instead keeping his gaze firmly fixed upward on the debris that seals them in. << I don't know, >> he finally offers telepathically. <<When we get out of here we'll have to see if we can figure it out. But right now it can wait. Finding a way out can't, >> he conceeds.

One problem at a time.

Stretching out a hand, Cable furrows his brow and starts to push against that mass above them with his telepathy. And it does stir in response, despite all that way. Dust and detritus begins to drift down in a choking cloud, but that pile does begin to move. Slowly but surely.

Up above on the surface all is quiet.

For about a minute. Then there is the quiet sound of buzzing in the distance that slowly grows louder. Before too long a half dozen sizable drones come into sight, zipping towards the remains of the research lab. The itneresting thing about these drones? They appear to be rather heavily armed, replete with mounted cannons and missiles.

Highly unlikely to be friendly then.

Also appearing at the very fringes of the blast, stepping out from under the cover of the nearby woods are a trio of men in heavy trenchcoats that obscure their features. They glance around, appearing to look for anything out of place before creeping a little closer. The two in front seem to be covering the third man in the back.

Fortunately neither the drones nor the trio of men seem to notice Agent Houston and her sniper's nest.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix goes to force her way upright and then goes to take a few breaths as she evaluates their position over and ponders. She tries to guess how far away the men are and the state of the trio. They're not in any immediate position to fight. Even if they take down these men, then it turns into the next men after, and the next. They might get through the first few groups.. But they'll be dogpiled adn worn down by attrition before they can break the jamming zone.

M goes to focus and speak to Sally <<Can you keep track of where any are ground level? Cable, between youa dn I hopefully we can convince them there's nothing around here to be seen. Maybe some corpses>> She doesn't want to fight their way out of this. She's hping if the men have sensors then they won't be able to pick anyting up in the aftermath of the immense explosion.

<<Just.. Fake them over, let them think we're dead, go around them>> There will be others. They don't have much time. Hopefully if one group reports having found bodies, the rest will too. And if they leave a very lasting impression on the minds of these ones..

OF course, that presumes whether the men aren't mentally shielded or blocked.. And that the two of them /can/ put up a convincing enough illusion. Monet, racking a concussion and heavily disoriented, can barely focus.

Tabitha's probably in better shape htough.

Sally Pride has posed:
<< We're better off avoiding as much fighting as possib-- >> Sally's mental response is cut off as she turns her head a bit. Eyes narrow and brow furrows, but it's merely an expression of focus because her ears are doing the real work. << I can hear motors. Small. So not actual vehicles.. yet... probably drones or something else similarly small sent to investigate ahead of a personel response. >> She growls softly under her breath. << Both impressive and annoying that Subline wasn't foolish enough to just assume the explosion ended us. >>

Quiet has posed:
Seeing the building in utter ruin has Houston just shaking her head side to side softly as she spares a glance away from her scope, and instead just using the naked eye to look off at the far off target zone.

Another spoonful of apple sauce is enjoyed too, before she drops the spoon back in the cup on the napkin marked with a 7-Eleven logo on it.

When movement is seen with her naked eye, the enigmatic Agent lowers her stare back down to her rifle's powerful scope.

The crosshairs move, now, over the lights on the incoming drones, which has Houston biting down on her bottom lip as she watches them. Had they killed the guy who'd hired her for this job? She hadn't gotten a message from him yet, but had elected to get in position anyway... but was she too late?

She lets out a very quiet huff of indignation, before her scope starts to scan the perimeter of the target zone.

It centers upon the creepy figures in the long coats, the crosshairs touching each one of them in-sequence.

Some part of her feels the 'danger' of these figures, and she has a sense of 'shoot on sight' from years upon years of experience tugging at her senses, but she hasn't received that order, and it might expose her position if she started now, just firing like a lunatic.

If her employer was already dead, then she had no reason to even stick around here.

She elects to keep watching, and her half-gloved hand reaches for her spoon once more...

Cable has posed:
It is a sound strategy. Play dead, do what they can to make sure Sublime's men don't stumble across them, and then escape under the cover of darkness. With luck no one will be the wiser and ocne they regroup they can go after Sublime without him suspecting they're even alive. It's not perfect, but it definitely has merit.

Pausing his efforts to move that mountain of debris above them, Cable glances down at his arm, feeling a certain coldness there. And sure enough, where that metal meets flesh seems to be creeping forward. Just a little. Mere millimeters really. But it brings a frown to his features, his eyes hardening a little, the lines there just a little more pronounced. For a moment he even seems to strain and the gleam of fresh metal recedes, pushed back by the formidable powers of his mind.

But he doesn't exactly have a lot of extra power to spare right now.

<< The power dampners did a little bit of a number on me, >> the future solider conceeds without getting into specifics. << Any telepathic tricks you want to play, you'll be on your own. I can probably do some earth moving though, as needed, >> he allows. Again, not ideal, but it's what they got.

Glancing over towards Sally sharply as she reports what her own, superior senses are picking up, Cable glances upward once more. << Makes sense. But damn, that's fast response time, >> he admits. << M, see if you can reach out. I have backup out there somewhere. With communications jammed though I can't reach her. See if you can find her and loop her in, >> he adds.

Meanwhile, up above thsoe half-dozen heavily armed drones continue to hover, to circle slowly, weapons trained on the remains of the research facility below. They sweep in clear patterns, apparent to anyone watching that they have divided up the area into grids to maximize their chance of finding any survivors.

And likely changing that condition for the worse.

Across the field, the trio of men finally cease their advance towards the drestroyed research facility and the two in the lead suddnely join hands. Almost immediately a bright, glowing dome of flickering energy seems to envelop them all while behind them the third man drops to one knee and presses a hand to the ground.

For nearly a minute it is not clear that anything is happening, but then a ripple seems to spread outward, across the torn up srface of the earth. First one, then another, and another. They start to come quickly, more forceful and violent and then the entire ground is shaking.

Earthquake!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would go to take a breath, and move to focus over. <<Very well. Those things are going to be.. MOtion detectors, right?>> There's too much smoke over for them to be using heat sensors or anything else particularly sensitive. She closes her eyes, and goes to sweep through the area. Hostile mind, hostile mind.. Unkonwn.

She goes to push her powers to try and flip up and out her consciousness, making contact with Stephanie <<You're here to help us. Make some..>> She goes to assess, and speaks to Sally.

<<Sally, time the drones when they pass along towards..>> she tries to put a fuzzy location on where the drones are and how they're moving. <<When you can tell they get far enough..>> Trying to focus more on positioning through her concussed head. Then to Quiet.

<<Make.. Motion, noise.. Enough to set them off and get them..>> Trying to give a haphazard sense of the opposite direction for the drones.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride chuffs softly again. << We painfully underestimated how willing Subline would be to go to put an end to our interference. >> She pauses to listen again. The drones she can at least keep tabs on without needing more than her own predatory senses. << They're breaking off in clusters. Search pattern. >> Monet is really taxing herself to get everyone in the loop, but it's appreciated. She has to pause a moment to listen. She's going mainly by sound, but her familiarity with machines in motion certainly helps, picking out the right sounds to go with moving, turning, ect. << Their pathes should still overlap to ensure coverage of their sweeps, if you can set something off to get the attention of them while closer together again... Direct them away from where we're trying to breach through. >> She's trying to help fill in the bits for Monet's struggling.

Quiet has posed:
The drones quickly lose interest with Houston, as they're simply doing what drones do, the kinds of things she's been seeing drones doing in battle scenarios for the past decade over now.

The men on the ground, now THAT is interesting television...

It's these men that Houston keeps her focus on, her scoped sight traveling around them up to the point that the voice of a French woman fills her mind.

It isn't shocking to her, she knew the grumpy Cable-fella talked with his mind too, it's how he easily arranged this with her... since she doesn't talk. Telepathy was a loophole, of sorts, when it came to interacting with Agent Houston.

"I am watching six drones hovering in a grid pattern over what I assume is your position." Stefani's melodic voice eminates from her own head, her own memories of what she sounded like fueling her mind's eye of it here through the established mental link. Tinged with a faint accent of unknown origins, the voice continues.

"There are men in trench coats. They are doing some strange ritual, I think they are Mutant or Meta. You better hurry your escape." Stefani's somewhat ethereal voice returns through the link.

"If I open fire now, they will zero in on me very quickly with their drone support." She advises, her trigger finger gently ghosting across the casing of her rifle's firing stud.

Cable has posed:
The first warning that they get down in the bottom of their pit is all that debris up above them begins to vibrate, metal and concrete and rock all grinding together, shaking noticably, despite the weight of it. But those vibrations only seem to work lower and lower and it is not long as all until the entire pit around them seems to shake. The earthen walls that surround them begin to buckle, begin to shift, one of them collapsing on one side in a small landslide of dirt and debris, the makeshift ceiling above tilting ominously as it starts to sink towards them.

All of which is to say that waiting things out is no longer an option for them. In a few more moments it is very likely that they are going to be buried in truth, under a whole lot more crushing weight then the human -- or mutant -- body is generally designed to handle.

As the pit starts to shake around them, as the work they put in to dig down this far, out of the immediate blast radius is undone in moments, Cable grits his teeth and flings out both arms as if he is pushing against something, though the walls of the pit are not yet in his reach.

It's a pretty bad time to take up mime, but that unseen telekinetic force he seems to manipulate does seem to slow those small landslides that threaten to bury them. << I don't think we're going to have a whole lot of time to set up anything clever here, >> he warns them, that strain apparent even in his telepathic 'voice'.

Then Agent Houston's voice sounds in his head as Monet makes contact and they get a bird's eye view of what's going on up above.

<< We're going to have to move. I'll throw everything I have into clearing a path out, but then we're going to have to take out those men. Sublime must have stolen some sort of mutation shielding powers and either earthmoving abilities or some sort of vibrational powers. Either way, if we stay here they're going to bury us, >> the future solider says. << Be ready on my mark. >>

Outside, those drones continue to circle, continually to methodically patrol the site below even as it shakes, what little remains of the structure crumbling under this new assault on the earth. Hovering and waiting for their prey to come out into the light.

On the plus side, they do leave Stefanie alone.

Across that field the trio remain in place, the rippling ground that radiates outward from them does not seem to actually effect them, safe and sound behind that energy barrier that continues to glow, continues to ripple with mutli-colored lights.

Down in the pit, Cable falls to one knee against the strain, arms still fully extended. All of this might come from the power of his mind, but clearly the gestures help him to focus. And right now he needs all the focus he can get. Dirt continues to rain down and the ceiling pitches another few degrees, only moments from collapsing down on them entirely. But slowly the future soldier brings his hands up as if pressing at some unseen burden.
    hen all that debris above them explodes outward and they can once again see that blessed, overcast sky above.

That then would be the Mark.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
So much for them getting out of here undetected. But that was only ever a stalling matter. Monet goes to wince at the sounds, which ring in her ears to the point she almost can't think again. She's dazed, disoriented, and she can only really think what way is 'up' by hitchinga ride on Sally's mindscape.

<<Up it is.>> And she moves to grab Sally, grab Cable, and goes to flip them up into the air as best she can, flying and skidding along with her weaekned powers. Fortunately she's sitll capable of lifting the two and tossing them up and over. The flip is more for all ther's sake.

If there's something out there that's going to shoot at them, if all of them are together in one cluster is makes for an easy target. Monet goes to as soon as she can flip them up and over in different directions, on different sides of the pit.. Hopefully with enough time to go down for a crash landing herself nearby. However,s he does this with all the grace and subtlety of a whale beaching on a lawnmower.

Sally Pride has posed:
<< We're going to have to risk moving as soon as we ca-- >> Sally cuts off into a hiss as she recoils from the vibrations reaching her sensative hearing, which she was focusing most of her attention into. It's only through sheer grit and training that she doesn't let out any actual sound of pained shock. That and biting down on her lower lip to keep her mouth shut.

At first it looks like she's fumbling around. Until she grabs onto a sizable chunk of debris, palming it.

Then Monet takes them for a wild ride to try and capitalize on the chaos of Cable's erupting push of an opening. Then hurtles them into the air, in different directions, smart girl.

And as she's flipped through the air Sally hucks the debris chunk at one of the drones, hoping it'll be mistake as something shot out of the eruption and not immeadiately hone in on one of them.

Then hits the ground. On her feet of course, because cat. Though maybe with a little stumble from the improvised acrobatics, but it goes right into a sprinting dash to keep from being a stationary target but a tempting one to try and follow.

Quiet has posed:
Stefani isn't one to overly risk her own well being, even if she's a woman with a number of tricks up her non-existent sleeves. She's been at this game of merc-work for many decades now, and her level of putting herself at risk is directly tied to her adoration for those she works with on the job. Cable? He was gruff, and kinda attractive, but he also had a severe Grandpa-vibe about him. Overall her adoration levels for him were still next-to Stranger in level!

This stays her hand from opening fire before she's given a decent amount of cover to work with...

And that cover eventually comes when the visible pile of building rubble bursts upward, blossiming outward like a Applebee's Blooming Onion.

It's then that her finger snaps to her weapon's trigger, and her scope veers upward to wobble briefly upon, then lock dead-eye upon one of the drones nearest to where the explosive outburst takes place.

And she fires.

Cable has posed:
While that explosion of debris outward is certain to draw the attention of the drones and what Cable presumes are some of Sublime's supposed 'U-Men', it certainly does offer them pretty good cover in that moment. And with Monet bodily dragging them out of their trap, it frees the future soldier up to focus entirely on that outward burst.

Well almost. He does snare Tabitha in a telekinetic sheath and send her skimming across the ground under the cover of that arching debris that starts to fall back to earth, hopefully to safety where they can pick her up after they get out of this mess.

If they get out of this mess.

The cover of that debris does more then just get them back to the surface safely of course. It also gives them -- and their still hidden ally -- a chance to go on the offensive. The sound of Agent Houstons shot is lost in the clatter of metal and concrete raining down on the ruins of the building below, but rather abruptly one of the drones soaring over head simply explodes in a bright, fiery burst. Possibly because that shot hits one of the side-mounted rockets. Pretty nifty shooting that.

Cable will give himself credit. He has a pretty good eye for talent.

But it is not the only drone to suffer an epic failure as Sally's toss is right on the mark, that hunk of rock striking one of the drones whirling rotors, a small plume of smoke rising from the flying craft as it begins to circle erratically before crashing to the ground nearby.

Two down.

Of course there's still four to go, and those heavily armed drones do start back towards their position, racing in. The closest opens fire, absolutely blanketting the area with those cannon bursts.

But each one is met by Nathan's telekinetic shiel, taking the impact and leaving the rounds to pile up on the ground, crushed by the impact. "Let's move!" he shouts, scrambling to collect that interdimensional briefcase of holding with all his weapons to find something suitable.

Across the grounds, the sudden explosion and the swarming of the drones seems to catch the attention of the trio of men. The pair in the lead start to shuffle forward, still holding hands, that dome of energy still surrounding them. While jsut in their wake the third man crawls, keeping contact with the ground as those tremors continue to radiate outward, shaking everything in their path...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It's just like Fenris, the Nazi incest Struckers. There's no going to breach that force field, and there's no going to be able to try and charge at them. Monet goes to take a breath. She can barely focus.. But she has to try. She's too disoriented to try to attack the drones in midair, or to shoot something. She has to trust the other three to handle that. Monet is braced hard to the ground, using it to cover as she rolls along, trying to make sure that her crushed ribs aren't puncturing a lung. All right, all right.

The group are likely psi resistant, but she has to try something. Something. That's fast, simple, and teh type of thing that they can't just shred out of. That they can't just power through, and that's not too copmlicated given her own state. Something simple that can get through whatever psi shielding they have in this moment of brute force..

Monet goes to try and smash them over not with an illusion, not with a sudden emotion, not with something overwhelming. Not dissassociative. Monet goes to focus on one thing that she can very, very quickly.. She goes to try and blast into their heads, firing off specific parts of the mind.. Hopefully triggering in each of them a simple thing.

Vomiting. Uncontrollable vomitting. Something that she's feeling very much right now like doing herself, so there's the shared experience to make it all the more realistic. Added in those sensations from Tabitha when she's blackout drunk that she can recall.

hopefully enough to give the individuals enough of an overwhelming overload tos low them down for a few moments.

"I hope you choke on it."

Sally Pride has posed:
As much as one might be tempted to throw something else at a drone Sally knows better than to rely on the same trick twice. Seeing all the other advanced toys in those Sublime labs she's pretty sure the drones would adapt in some way.

Fortunately once they're on the move she can bring out better options. Like retrieve her own blaster pistol from where she concealed it within her getup. Strokes her thumb across the dial that takes the place of a hammer to turn up it's output. Then she skids to a stop abruptly, planting a heel and pivoting on it with the momentum, bringing up the weapon to bead in on the first drone to cross her sights and open fire. Hopefully the energy discharge is enough to fry some of the electronics in the thing. Or at least it's weapons. This is not a point in time to be picky as long as it does something useful.

Too bad she couldn't stash a rifle, it would of been a lot more useful right now.

Quiet has posed:
Seeing the first drone she shot at erupt in a satisfying ball of flames, Houston is quick to aim toward another, but it is summarily taken out by someone from the ground. She spends a second observing it to make sure it was truly out of control, and on its way to the hard deck, but when she saw it truly was, her sight went roaming for another target.

"You made it out." Comes Houston's voice over the mind-link from Monet. "I am glad." She adds, a second before her scope zeroes in on another drone sweeping through the sky. This one is opening up fire down on to her protection orders, which has Stefanie's face visibly swathed across by a black stripe of smokey masking. She's angered by it firing at her people on this assignment.

Another swipe of her bare finger crosses the joint of the trigger casing before she's satisfied with her shot, and her finger snaps back to the trigger to pull on it again!

Another burst of fire escapes from her rifle, sending a swirling projectile of hot lead toward the drone firing down upon them!

Cable has posed:
Of course this whole thing is definitely a little more tricky with the ground constantly roiling and buckling beneath them, trying to steal their footing out from under them. Sally might have the reflexes of a cat, and Cable is definitely pretty spry, it would still be a lot easier if he could just telekinetically lift himself from the ground.

Unfortunately he does not have a lot of power to spare. Between battling back the techno-organic virus that races through him, seizng the advantage offered by the brief suppression of his telepathy and maintaining that shield of force to keep the drones from simply pummelling them into oblivion, he can't really afford the expenditure.

So Cable just grits his teeth and pulls out one of those too-big plasma rifles that he favors, taking aim at the nearest of the drones.

Before he can get a shot off though Agent Houston strikes again, another of her shots finding the mark and the drone right above them blows apart in a fiery show, abruptly buying the future soldier below the time to recover a little, to ease back on the telekinetic force.

If anything Sally's gambit is even more successful as she peppers another of the approaching drones with that bursts. Little sparks fly as the drone's targetting systems blow out and when it tries to launch a rocket attack in reply, those projectiles lock onto the nearest target -- the third drone. As it explodes, the other's engines fail and it drops out of the sky.

That's three more down. Just one left.

Across the field Monet launches herself towards the trio of trenchcoated men, their features still hidden by those bulky coats despite the warm weather. They seem entirely unconcerned about the fact she's racing towards them, seemingly supremely confident in that force field they generate. But whether their psy-shields are not up to the task, or M just manages to find a vulnerability, you can almost sense their surprise.

Then there is no need to guess just how successful Monet manages to be. The growing puddles of vomit on the ground are pretty gross testement to that.

More importantly hwoeve,r the ground suddenly stocks shaking. No longer fighting his footing and the drones above, Cable raises that Plasma cannon once more, taking aim at the last drone overhead. Braced by his telekinetic powers, he fires that oversized rifle, a burst of green energy leaping out and exploding around the flying machine, leaving one more pile of wreckage to rain down on the ground below.

It would seem that the threats are neutralized. For now.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would pant heavily down and go to retch once more, adding her pile over to the ground and looking at the men. She looks for a big rock to try and hit them with - she wants to make sure that they stay out. A fter a few moments it's aborted by her being barely able to walk - she can't lift anything, she's staggering, and has to use her flight to stay aloft without flaling down. she keeps her head parallel to the ground so she doesn't risk choking on bile and blood.

<<We should take one laong to interrogate if none of us can braindrain him. Failing that, shoot them each in the head so that therea re no further issues with them being a threat.>> That's sent directly over to Cable. Monet is not in any sort of merciful mood now. EIther the men will give them something useful over about Sublime so this doesn't feel like just another loss. Or at least they ensure that these.. U-Men aren't a threat any further. And as far as M is concerned they're likely just lab grown in a vat and addled with steroids. Tehy're not real at all. Just things.

That's sent just to Cable. She expects the others might not want to go along with it. If Cable says not to do it, she doesn't care that much either. at the end of the day, they're expendable. It's not going to change anything.

Right now M isn't bleeding out so much as she's trying to make sure she can still breathe and has to float up a half inch or so to keep herself stable.

Sally Pride has posed:
For now. A very big for now. Who knows how many or how close any reinforcements might be.

Sally lets out a brief breath, but keeps herself in focused mindset. It wasn't time to relax yet. "Grab our injured and lets get out of here." Once they're somewhere safe, then they can worry about tending to wounds and such. First they need to get to that somewhere safe. "And tell your backup thanks," she adds towards Cable.

Quiet has posed:
The last drone is brought in to sight by Stefani's rifle, but it soon ducks behind the convenient cover of another building's concrete outcropping. It makes the sniper release a sudden huff of frustration, but soon she sees the drone getting lit up by some of the team on the ground.

This causes her to smile softly.

Her rifle is swept around then to the group of Shady's, only to find whatever aftermath of what Monet had left them in. Naturally this display garners a furrowing of Houston's dark eyebrows. It is unpleasant to view at such a ranged magnification..

Instead, Houston sweeps her rifle to the fleeing team, to Sally, to Monet, then to the back of Cable's head. It's weird how you might have a sniper crosshair on your brain canoe and not even know it...

"Awaiting orders." Stefani's sing-song voice sounds out inside the mind-link. "If pulling out, I will start my evac."

Cable has posed:
Unsurprisingly Cable is not particularly bothered by the possibility of killing that trio of men. It is practical, if a little ruthless. But there is little doubt that they are all powered by the blood -- and body parts -- of mutants that were slaughtered to give them their abilities. That doesn't leave the soldier from the future in all that good a mood either.

It doesn't help that he has been blown up, buried and their quarry slipped away from them despite all of that. Still, Cable only pulls out an attachment from that case before sealing it up. The device is fastened to the bottom of that huge rifle as he stomps across the torn-up ground underfoot to join Monet, eyeing the pair before levelling his weapon towards them.

"This is more then you deserve," he says to the puking trio.

He does not kill them though, no greenish blast of death arcing out to leave them little more then charred corpses. Instead blue arcs of energy leap out, and very much like a taser their captives go into spasms before being rendered unconscious. A soft exhale is released through Cable's nose, but he plucks them up with his telekinetic powers, leaving them to float after him.

Monet is spared a breif glance and then the same power wraps her up as well. "Rest easy soldier," he says quietly. You did good," he adds before hiking back over to join Sally.

"Keep your eyes open and lets go fetch Boom-Boom. Whatever jamming signal Sublime has going can't extend far. We'll get out of it's range and then we can bodyslide out of here, get them the medical attention they need," he says quietly, already starting to hike off in the direction he sent Tabitha's unconscious self.

"And we can see to our prisoners." By the sound of his voice, that probably isn't going to be all that pleasant. For them.

With Monet in bad shape, Cable lets out another soft sigh and reches out with his mind, seeking Stefanie's once more. << Thanks for the backup. We are bugging out. I'll be in contact. Payment will be wired to yuor usual account. >>

Sally Pride has posed:
Once they spot where their other wayward member ended up Sally hustles over to heft her onto a shoulder. Cable is carrying enough around, she's got this one. Besides, it's best they keep moving until they can get a clear bodyslide out.

This job had started for the money, and for helping other mutants.

But after that attempt to unlife them all? Now it was personal too.

Quiet has posed:
Stefani takes her eyes off of her scope, looking over its form now toward the distance. She takes in a light breath before she looks back down to her gun, and pops the tripod in to a collapsed form.

The mind-link is fuzzy, breaking up it seems, but she overhears the last bit from Cable which causes a smile to grace her lips.

A second later, however, and Houston starts to dematerialize in to black smoke along with her rifle.

The last visible vestiges of Houston is her left hand reaching out to grab her apple sauce cup before it-too vanishes up in to a puff of smoke...