15706/Smoke and Mirrors

Smoke and Mirrors
Date of Scene:	09 September 2023
Location:	Havenbrook Base - Colorado
Synopsis:	The X-Men do battle with Black Team 5 1, and the rest of his soldiers. The captives at the hidden lab are rescued after a gritty and violent battle. Magneto puts on one hell of a light show before fleeing in to the sunset, and Mr. Sinister offers an ominous fairwell.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Monet St. Croix, Piotr Rasputin, Erik Lensherr, Tabitha Smith, Jean Grey, Betsy Braddock, Lorna Dane
Tinyplot:	The Ohio Mutant Conspiracy

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Rogue has posed:
Previously on X-MEN:

A number of people were rescued from the Center for Genetic Improvement in Atlanta Georgia. Two teenage members of a little group of super heroes from Ohio, calling themselves Pipe-Dream and Rewind, along with two adults. One of the adults was a senior scientist working for CGI, and directly working alongside the still mysterious Dr. Bachland. The second adult was a woman from the Food and Drug Administration who witnessed CGI testing their medication on unwilling Mutants. All four were very nearly wiped out by the members of the antagonistic Black Team mercenary group. The X-Men recovered them, and brought them back to the base in Westchester, where each was interviewed, and each gave new insights in to the situation. Time was running out, and the authorities were pressuring the -Men to turn themselves in!

The Scientist, however, had knowledge of the secret lab that was the main production source for the Mutation Reversal drug, and he suspected that it was where the X-Men would find their missing members in Rogue, and Magneto, while the missing teenagers that formed the rest of the 'Ohio Mutant Conspiracy' would likely be found at that same site too.

Now:

The SR77 Blackbird is in transit to Colorado, where the secret base is located. In a remote valley between the mountains of Colorado, the old missile silo sits on a complex of a few outer buildings, and a large property of idylic grassy lawns.

The Blackbird is moving at high speeds toward the hidden base, with the seemingly endless pine trees stretching out beneath the X-Men's transport plane.

Charles Xavier is monitoring the situation from Cerebro back in Westchester. "You're coming up on the base now, my X-Men. I have good news too, I can sense Erik and Rogue again. They just came back in to my mental radar. I cannot speak on their well being, however--"

Outside the forward viewport, in the exact direction that the Blackbird is speeding toward, there is a sudden massive explosion that lights up the sky. A brilliant ball of fire reaches toward the heavens....

"Something dire has happened..." Charles speaks over the holo-graphic display in the ship's forward control board. "Be ready for anything."

When the Jet gets closer, something terrible is already happening.. violent actions, and a lot of it.

On a long runway, a burning wreckage of a large aircraft is strewn across the pavement, veering off toward the western side of the runway. Across the entirety of the large grassy lawn of the fenced-in military complex, a massive force of tanks, and flying vehicles are all focusing fire on one singular location in the yard, located near to where the mouth of a large silo complex is built in to the side of the mountain.

All of the military firepower is aimed directly at pieces of whatever plane was destroyed on the runway, the pieces of the plane being held-up by unseen sources, creating a makeshift cocoon of armor that is rapidly being ripped apart by bullets and laser weapons! The telepaths will sense many living people inside of the cocoon of the plane's hull, while a visibly recognizable form is flying around it outside.

Rogue is in the air, being hammered upon from all sides by gunfire from the ground, and blasts of lasers from the six towers that encircle the property. She's dodging, weaving through the air, but being taken apart slowly with every blast that she's unable to avoid!

It is a desperate situation!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Monet can first pick up that their comrade is in trouble, in a brutal crossfire. Even as soon as the Blackbirdi s arriving on scene she goes to move to unstrap herself, and then is going off the fast deploy ramp. She goes to share with the others even as she goes to fly out.. <<Giving her some backup>>

And then M is hitting Mach 3 over towards the first group that is firing over at Rogue to close the distance. She knows that one of the otehrs can create a more effective shield for her or disarm the attackers. But Rogue needs some backup /now/, not in the few seconds.

M is not a speedster or a Kryptonian that can hit these speeds without issue. As she blasts twoards Rogue at Mach 3, she goes to move to just blast along close to the ground, letting the sonic boom carry along with her towards the first array of weapons and shooters.

Then she goe sto impact into it HARD, leaving a crater and an erupting blast of pavement in every direction for several dozen meters! All she has to do is give Rogue cover. And hopefully a cuople of moments to go evasive - and for backup to arrive.

It's a move that M hasn't done before but that she's seen many times. Hopeuflly enough to make an opening - metaphorically and literally for the rest of the team to arrive and give backup.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Above as the rush of the Blackbird is seen before it's heard, already there is a figure that is left in its wake, hurtling forth with the speed granted by such a hurried craft. It's at first little more than a silver gleam, no contrail so it's not a missile, then the dropping flicker becomes a silhouette only for it to grow as its flight to the ground is fast. The collision with the ground is heavy, impacts firing off one after the other as several X-Men make their deployments.
    Monet's crashing form kicks up that blast of pavement, then several dozen yards away Colossus' heavy metal body _crashes_ into a tank that suddenly jack-knifes into the air, its treads cracking like the snap of a whip. There are no gentle words from the large Russian for the time for peace and politick is gone.
    Now is the time for the catching of large turrets and the use of them as great clubs upon those that so threaten his friends.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Inside the half-sphere of fiberglass and metal, the Master of Magnetism stands with both arms raised. The prison jumpsuit he wears is torn away in places, leaving bare arms from the shoulder down that strain and flex with the effort. In truth, such an act should not be that taxing for him but he's been several days without his gifts. That, and the bullets that come flying his way are designed specifically to circumvent his powers.

"Be ready to move," he growls through gritted teeth, eyes glowing an eerie blue-white as he does, "Keep your heads low and seek out cover."

The dome shield shifts slightly, opening on one side to provide a longer wall of defense against the direction from which the majority of the fire is coming. It makes Magneto easily visible to the X-Men as they arrive, as well as the mutants clustered around him. Some clearly wounded.

He is purely defensive for the moment, keeping the small group safe rather than taking the attack to the soldiers.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Whether or not Rogue and Magneto were on site was up in the air but a rescue was still on the cards for whomever might have been captured. Sure Tabby is tired like a lot of the team, but she also loaded hereself up on way too much sugar and caffeine on this leg of the flight.

So while she might be a little hyper, it just means she can also push herself.

With others disembarking on the entry from where they came in hot, Tabby watches Piotr and the others disembarking and with a couple bounces on her feet and a wink at the mutant rescuees, Rewind and Pipe Dream. She charges out and makes a big jump with the sort of yell normally reserved for something a bit more Goofy!

<<Uhh, probably should go check the peeps on the plane. Make sure nobody is hurt that don't have it coming.>> She beams out over the mind link. Mid jump and all that rushing air is murder on a earpiece microphone.

Getting close enough to the ground Tabby cups her hands like she was ready to pass a basketball before a stream of plasma flies downward at a slight angle, the resulting explosion likely not fun for any mooks caught in it but it does change the direction the blonde bomber is moving.

Back up in the air in an arc towards the downed aircraft.

The landing will likely be rough but hey, it's not like she has super speed or flight.

Fake it till you make it!

Jean Grey has posed:
As the Blackbird makes its final approach, Jean is already rising from her position. Like the last flight some hours ago, she's notably NOT been at the controls, because her mental state has been... is 'erratic' unkind? Whatever efforts Charles has made to help her get a handle on things, they're band-aid measures at best. So she is taking every bit of time she can to rest and focus, and that means sitting in back. But once they're close, she puts on her game face and gets ready to do the hero stuff, marching to the back as the rear bay lowers. For a moment she stands there, red hair whipping in the wind, and then she jumps.

Explosions! Tanks! Pew-Pew in every direction!

There is chaos around her as they descend, so much that it is hard to address any aspect of it conclusively. Hand at her temple, she redirects a tank shell here, a piece of flying debris there, keeping the airspace free of random threats that might threaten the Bird itself - a bigger target - or any of her teamates as they descend. And then, she goes the obvious direction, toward the suspiciously-behaving orb of debris. Who could POSSIBLY be doing that?

<<Rogue?>> Of course, it's the very first thought she sends out, pinging the flying figure. <<Erik? We're here, what's the situation? What do you need to help get these people out of here?>>

Keep it simple, focus on the plan.

Betsy Braddock has posed:
In a situation like this, best to keep moving at all times if possible. When the opportunity presented, Psylocke was out of the Blackbird and assessing the situation from ground level. The other telepaths were already on the metallic shield protecting others thus she didn't reiterate though she did head that direction as quickly as possible.

Her own telekinetic abilities were not as advanced nor as powerful as Jean but she still utilized them to offer a shield here or there to teammates. Then a concentration of power, adding that shield to the area behind the now exposed Magneto and mutants to keep them from taking any shots from the opposite direction even as she used available debris for her own cover. She sent out a mental ping, to see if she could pick up the number of foes they might have that didn't have any sort of protective gear hiding them from telepathic detection.

Rogue has posed:
Inside the husk of metal plane parts:
The three teenagers are huddled together.  Red Rover is nursing a broken leg that he suffered when he first arrived at the base, and tried to escape.  Charade is clutching Slapshot by his shoulders, and trying to help support them both.  Slapshot has a gaping bullet wound to his right thigh, that a makeshift tourniquet is doing its best to try and help.  The teen groans as Magneto tells them to start moving.  "I don't know how long I can stay on my feet.  I feel cold." He says, which garners a extra amount of support from Charade who looks utterly terrified for their well-beings.  Red Rover groans as he tries to limp forward, falling down to his knees in the wet grass beneath them.  "I can't do it..." He gasps.

Lastly, on the edge of the interior of the structure Magneto had created, a massive hulking form is peering through the small gaps!  "Let me out!" He growls.  "Let me out, damnit!"  He punches one of the metal walls, and when it moves, the massive monster of a man rushes out in to the battle, his fists bursting with electrical power as he releases an ear-rumbling shout of adrenaline and anger! "You fuckin with the wrong Psycho!" The towering man screams as the soldiers begin to take some aim off of the flying Southern Belle, and begin to fire upon the brutish man mere moments before members of the X-Men begin to arrive!

Rogue is continuing to zip, weave and twirl through the air, with her body slamming down in to a line of soldiers to take their legs out from under them, before she rushes back up in the air again, her left sleeve entirely gone, with only pieces of it hanging off her shoulder, fluttering in the winds rushing over her!

When the X-Men arrive, Rogue pauses for only a second to view the Blackbird, and the telepathic link that touches her mind garners her familiar mental voice in return. "Well, heya, folks.  Nice t'see ya in this part of the world.  As ya can see, we've made a few enemies... any extra help would be real appreciated." She says through the mental connection a second before she rushes toward one of the towers, only to get driven off by the laser beam that bursts from the cannon within its tower's peak.  "Jean, havin' a lotta trouble with these laser guns!" Rogue adds, before two more turn to fire on the Blackbird!

The laser beams 'zzzzzot' through the air, following after the nimble SR-77, attempting to blast it out of the sky.

Inside the Blackbird:
Pipe-Dream is holding on to one of the 'oh shit' grab bars from the ceiling, with Rewind standing beside him, the wind rushing around the two bewildered teens.  "This is absolutely nuts." He says as Rewind peers around his side, gripping on to Pipe-dream's denim jacket.  "They're down there." Rewind shouts, pointing at the metal cocoon.  "We gotta get down and pick them up!" She shouts, whether she knows what they should or shouldn't do.

Down on the ground:
Colossus gets a big amount of attention when he arrives, in the form of three of the eight tanks turning their cannons directly at him, and the soldiers all around them suddenly aiming their mixture of bullets and plasma guns to all begin to open fire on the Russian metal man!

On the runway:
The plane that was ripped apart on take-off continues to burn, smouldering mess of twisted metal.  There doesn't appear to be any survivors, and there does indeed appear to be some bodies mixed in with some of the wreckage.

Telepaths:
The sensation of all of the kids inside of Magneto's cocoon is that they're all terrified and none of them have any protection against the situation unfolding around them, as they all have visions of their own death and demise being imminent!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Teh weaponry shooting at her is enough to hurt her. Badly. The point is to draw fire away from Magneto and the children that he's moving to rescue and give the rest of the team time to deploy and secure the area. Monet goes full evasive, moving to dodge at high speed now, spinning and turning on a dime as best she can. She's lucky that the guns shooting at her are turreted or computer controlled, but not guided. That means that she can move enough to the side to dodge most of them, and the shots are too low tot he ground for them to have any sort of automatic detonation sequence when it's close to a target. Staying close to all the things hsooting at her means that they can't alter the arc of thier aiming enough to get a lead on her and adjust thier aim.

She plays decoy, trying to draw as much firepower towards her.. To setup some of the other X-Men to take things out as soon as they're in a proper position! It's buying time. Painful, painful time when anything goes to connect with her.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    The metal of the tank's cab and turret complain and squeal as Colossus twists them around, holding the large cannon by the muzzle like some gigantic club while the hull of the tank is grabbed and pulled in by the twisted lengths of the treads, creating a makeshift shield. Having their attention now that is when the fire power engages. Rounds start to lance in, impacting with loud /CLANGS!/ followed by the _Whumpf_ of focused explosions as HEAT and Sabot rounds are fired at first, likely seeking which might work better against the Russian mutant.
    Plasma beams play across the armor plating of the destroyed tank, striking a glancing blast over the metal armored figure's heavy forearm that is in view gripping the exterior portion of the tank. There's a crackle of ozone and a sizzle as that energy weapon sluices over the frame of that tank. For a time more and more fire is aimed that direction, creating a heavy focus of firepower that might give others the time or chance to invoke their will to influence the battle...
    There's a brief lull, however, as the tanks are reloading that the rough 'shield' of the destroyed tank's hull is suddenly _pushed_ forward, sliding over the ground like a mobile bunker as Colossus charges with it forward.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
<<Doctor Grey, Colossus,>> Magneto, for once in a rare while, is not a blank void within the telepathic landscape, <<The soldiers are equipped to resist my abilities but I imagine they are less well-equipped against your own unique capabilities. If you can provide cover for the other prisoners, I will make space for their evacuation.>>

As he reaches out psionically, a rocket-propelled grenade sails across the tarmac in their direction. For a moment it seems as though it will hit him, only for the detached hatch of the plane to shift in its orbit around him. The explosive strikes the door, protecting the group from the hail of shrapnel and the gout of flame that follows it.

<<Also, there's a bomb in the facility. Not just for destroying the evidence. They are looking to destroy the entire valley. I don't hesitate to mention that it's been activate and it's counting down.>>

Lorna Dane has posed:
    Still in the plane and with a hand pressed against the modified battle corset she is prone to wear, Lorna, takes a deep breath and looks over her shoulder and frowns at the teens freaking out. A look is given to the pilot and a hint of fear is swallowed down to her belly before Lorna unfastens her belt and stands up within the plane.

    Her powers securing her boots to the floor, and her hands onto the interior bulkhead of the jet as she slowly makes her way back towards the kids. "You two, strap in." Lorna begins as she reaches out to Pipe-Dream and brings the straps over his shoulders and looks to Rewind, "Help me secure him in. We'll get your friends, but first I need to know YOU'RE gotten and safe." The obviously pregnant woman with green hair says, her vibrant eyes locking onto the younger mutant's.

    Once secure, Lorna reaches a hand out to levitate Rewind's belts over her shoulders and with a practiced mental motion, she's secured into her own seat. "Are either of you two hurt?" Lorna asks before moving onto the next step of finding out how she's going to help those down on the ground with her fantastic metal moving powers while keeping her unborn children safe from any possible harm.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
To those hunkered down with Magneto, the sight of an explosion bouncing and then parabolically arcing towards them might not be a reassuring sight. It is the sort of thing they were told to seek cover from after all.

Especially when it takes a few bounces to cover the distance. Mostly by having to land, roughly, tumbling about to get back on her feet and then begin another rocket jump. There's a small wincing of pain over each hop. And some out loud swearing here and there.

<<Uhh? bombs? Where? I mean I could try a disarm if we got time. But like we should probably just haul ass.>> Then there's a sense of possible realization. <<There's no residential stuff round here right? People's homes and stuff? Civilians?>> she asks while looking around for well, anything that might be the start of a path to that.

Which probably isn't wise to do in the middle of a firefight filled with ordnance and explsions she didn't create.

Jean Grey has posed:
"I'll see what I can do," Jean calls back at Rogue, although she keeps PART of her response private: <<I am mad at you! We're having a discussion about all of THIS later!>>

They have to GET to later, first.

Without the flaming bird wings (and she's trying REALLY hard to keep those in!), and with the enemy soldiers always reliably well-guarded from telepathy, the vast scale of the battle is a challenge to Jean. She doesn't have the raw power and leverage Magneto does, to casually toss around tanks and... well, maybe she could do a chopper. Ask her jacuzzi. Still, small scale precision is altogether a different matter, and something she's quite adept with: doing jigsaw puzzles with her head was one of the first exercises Charles ever gave her.

And so as she flies over the field, and over one group of soldiers, they'll find their guns (plastic or otherwise!) disasembling themselves in their hands, one after another.

As for the turret at the tower top? Well, from what she knows about lasers (and that really isn't very much) they're pretty fancy and sensitive. Hanging in the air, she reaches out with one hand, holding the other near her forehead, and focuses, waiting for the next time it fires...

ZZZZZT!

Yeah, you don't really have to be that precise, it turns out, to break extremely sensitive, high-tech weaponry pumping huge amounts of power. A very small failure will do just fine. Basically, the laser melts itself.

<<Everyone, focus on disabling the big defenses. We need to move the people out of here, then we can worry about the bomb if we've got time to spare.>>

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Psylocke was focusing on the little things. Which, in this situation, was people. Though she was doing her best to keep those shields up to help the group around Magneto, she wasn't going to let that keep her from something more physical.

Any soldiers she would come across, she would eliminate through physical means or a psiblade to the head. Not dead unless she couldn't avoid that entirely, but definitely out of the equation. She preferred officers if she could find them since they were the proverbial brains of the conflict, sending down orders to others. But she couldn't go indoors or she'd lose line-of-sight to those she was shielding.

Rogue has posed:
The soldiers of Black Team are wearing that heavily modified exo-skeleton armor that seems to provide the soldiers with some measure of extra protection, while also giving them boosted strength and agility, maybe not as much as some of the X-Men, but far more than the base-line Human standards.  thusly, colossus' attack of charging Russian rage is mostly avoided by soldiers diving out of the way, while turning to fire upon him.  Dirt and debris is kicked up in all directions, as the soldiers shout in voice-jarbled comms that are encrypted so only those within the Black Team helmets can understand what they're saying to one another.

Most of the firepower on the battlefield is still coming down hard upon Magneto's barrier  cocoon, causing new holes to rapidly get torn in to the protective shield, with a stray bullet even slamming in to the dirt beside where Erik is standing.  But the kids keep trying to move, the injuries they've sustained making it very hard for them though.

Outside the cocoon:
Psycho Storm is rushing another line of soldiers, who are peppering him with bullets, and sphers of thrown plasma.  They're tearing in to Psycho Storm's flesh, sending pockets of red blood up in to the air around him.  But the foolish fool rushed in to this situation on his own accord, he chose this, and it's just generating unleashed rage from the crazy captive Mutant, as he pummels members of Black Team in to submission.  He slams down on to two of the black clad soldiers, and begins slamming his electrical fists in to their bodies, sending untold amounts of electricity in to them, along with his bone-shattering fists!

"There's no time t'get back down to the bomb.  It was in the cell block with us." Rogue says over the team link, as she flies past one of the towers, slamming through one of its corner support structures, weakening the whole tower's foundation.  "We just gotta focus on gettin' outta here.  We're in the middle'a nowhere too! But they can probably hear all these damn guns in Denver!" The Belle exclaims as she goes in for another pass on the tower, hoping to take its last legs out from under it as one of the beams from its peak fires up at the Blackbird again!

The tower crumbles in Rogue's wake, as Jean causes the 5th tower's laser cannon to overheat internally.  It shoots out sparks in all directions, pouring the glowing energy out of the interior of the device before it shuts down.

"Four more towers." Rogue's voice says in to the mindlink, and she shoots through the sky like a green and gold missile!

Tabitha, meanwhile, is seen by a group taking cover behind one of the tanks.  They avert their aim from Colossus and Monet, now unleashing a hail of bullets toward the Boom Girl, while moving around behind the tank to avoid any retaliation fire from the blonde mutant that she might have!

Those in the air get more attention sent their way, with rockets flying up toward both Jean and Rogue, the Belle flying ahead of them, weaving around obstacles to try and collide the rockets in to them and get them off her tail!


On the Blackbird:
Lorna's efforts to get the teenagers to sit down, and get away from the open ramp are met with frustration from Pipe-Dream who just shrugs her off.  "My friends are down there!" He shouts at the green haired Mutant royalty.  Rewind, however, moves to comply.  She sits back down, allowing Lorna to get her harness in-place.  "Adam." Rewind says to her friend.  "Sit down. The X-Men are handling--"

A spout of blood splashes against the bulkhead of the Blackbird, directly over Rewind's shoulder.  Her jacket is torn open across her shoulder, and the young woman instantly notices, and begins to scream.  It happens right beside Lorna's head.

Rewind rapidly starts grabbing at her shoulder, as she checks for the wound.  But within seconds, it is obvious it didn't hit her, and it wasn't her blood.  On the deck of the Blackbird, Pipe-Dream falls hard on to his back, a gaping woun

Rogue has posed:
Her jacket is torn open across her shoulder, and the young woman instantly notices, and begins to scream.  It happens right beside Lorna's head.

Rewind rapidly starts grabbing at her shoulder, as she checks for the wound.  But within seconds, it is obvious it didn't hit her, and it wasn't her blood.  On the deck of the Blackbird, Pipe-Dream falls hard on to his back, a gaping wound in the middle of his chest, and his eyes staring up at the ceiling of the Jet.

Down on the ground:
Betsy will see dirt kicked up only twenty feet from where she was, followed by the glint of light reflecting off of a sniper-scope aimed right up at the Blackbird.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet goes to do some quick mental math. Of the amount o ffirepower that they're up against, of the fresh onslauhgt of the troopers in power armor that have given them such trouble so far that seem resistant to everything that they've sent at them.. That are resistant to their telepathy and so many other powers. Now they've given them enough trouble.

M goes to call out to Piotr <<Give me some cover>> Monet goes to then charge over towards one of the tanks, heading towards the turret as Piotr draws fire. Monet goes to quickly jump atop of it, goes to dig her hands first over into the turret base.. Moving to WRENCH it up and off the tank! It's over at the limits of her strength to do so, and she can't exactly toss it - or the tank aside. But she has other plans. She makes a point of taking the turret and power systems moderately intact.. A hand goes to snap in to take some of the cables underneath, and she goes to rotate herself around.. Sitting o top of the tank that she's using to brace herself, lifting the primary plasma turret over her shoulder to line up a shot over with the grou of power armor clad troopers.. <<Firing at area, warning>> Firing?

And goes to fire a shot from it. Her accuracy isn't particularly extraordinary, the smack will go to snap her shoulder and do something painful. But hopefully for the troopers having a ball of exploding plasma hopefully detonating near them will be QUITE an effective distraction.

Tabitha is gonna have to up her game.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Piotr's attacks are not the most effective against the soldiers, for they are somewhat ponderous as he swings the heavy club of the tank turret around, though is able to crash it into the side of one of the other tanks, sending the vehicle reeling. He tries to draw more attention of the firepower sent Magneto's way as he brings that broken hull of the tank around to absorb more of the fire.
    Yet some of the plasma beams break through, slicing through the metal armor of the AFV, leaving blazing blistering trails upon Colossus' osmium frame. It's enough to register and causes Colossus to roar in a mix of anger and pain, that ruined tank finally lifted and _hurled_ like a projectile straight into the largest cluster of fire, likely sending men scattering and hopefully either fouling or destroying another tracked vehicle.
    Then when Monet makes her call, it gives Colossus enough time to smash his fists down, sending a ripple of shockwaves across the cement, but also providing some cover along that line of fire as pieces of concrete crackle and lift upwards.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Being cut off from the electromagnetic forces that permeate everything around him, it has taken time for Magneto to get a firm hold on the reins once again. But with every moment that ticks by, his strength in his abilities grows. In one burst of energy that ripples through electronics and makes every filament of ferrous metal in the area vibrate, more of the base is rended by invisible forces.

Pieces of the base take to the air, caught in a undetectable hurricane of power before they are driven down into the tarmac. It quickly becomes clear what is happening - Magneto is creating a shielded area for the Blackbird to land. His whole body crackles with white-blue energy, the sheer force of his abilities agitating the very air around him.

A bolt of electricity crackles from the tips of his outstretched fingers, catching one of the armed soldiers in the chest and prompting him to drop into a smoking heap. His chest, neck, and face horrifically burnt and still sizzling from the sudden shock.

Lorna Dane has posed:
    "My friends are down there too." Lorna says in counter to Pipe-Dream and is about to step away, back to the front of the jet when that warm, almost hot liquid splashes across her face and chest and she has to pause while looking towards Rewind. The young girl is the first to react with that haunting scream. That scream that snaps Lorna into action.

    "Stay seated." Lorna commands as she is moving quickly, trying to move the slumping body of Pipe-Dream onto his back. "No no no. Not like this big guy." Lorna says to the football player as she bends on her knees and ankles as she reaches a hand out to the back of the jet and pulls a medpack through the air and rips it open. "I'm not sure what hit him, I didn't feel any metal or bullets..." She says to herself, as she presses the wound-fill into his chest and into the bloody hole where his sternum WAS moments ago.

    While not the team medic, Scott did make sure they all knew basic med-care, and she's doing what she can immediately to stop the bleeding, though Lorna knew it was pretty much over for him the instant she saw his body. She would give orders to the front, to the pilot, but she has to focus here, on these kids.

    Then there's that tinnitus like feeling, causing the small hairs on her back to stand. "Oh no." She whispers, feeling that movement within the electro-magnetic sphere around her, and Lorna's head pops up for an instant as she looks at the wall of the jet as if she can see through it down to the source of that ripple. "Magneto." She whispers and then swallows hard again before looking at Rewind and back to Pipe-Dream.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It's when some of those shots whiz right by her that Tabby maybe gets her head back in the game. Forcing her to duck and roll and try and get herself not shot full of holes. She has enough of them as it is and those ones are actually functional.

"Hey I am thinking here!" she yells aloud as she sends a rather mean looking snarl while throwing a beachball sized bomb right at the tank between her and those grunts clearly having a really bad day.

The blonde might not have super strength but those plasma blasts can level buildings "So done with their crap!" she groan and flexes her palm open and shut as the sphere of energy gets close enough the people in the other side can see the increasing glow of proximity and totally a lot of danger.

BOOM!

There's enough oomph in that to flip whatever doesn't get destoyed by exploding shells inside.

Moving to find her next target, Tabby just sprints to yet another tank. The sound of more explosions and property damage that she's causing bringing an almost sadistic glee.

Especially as she climbs atop one and starts streaming plasma at the top hatch. "Anyone inside may kinda wanna run and slip out the back!" she warns. Assuming this tank even has extra doors and stuff to escape though.

Jean Grey has posed:
As Rogue leads several of the the rockets on a merry chase through the sky, Jean seizes control of those targetting her with her mind, jerking them around and 'retagrgetting' them toward the towers. In one sense, this is easy: As dangerous as they are, the rockets are discrete and not particularly heavy. Their propulsive engines generate a lot of force, but it's unidirectional, with their mid-air maneuvering usually accomplished by small adjustments in control surfaces and limited to fairly shallow corrections. Which is all to say, they're limited in how much control they have once they're fired, once they're going in a particular direction.

However, this sudden adjustment to their trajectories, defying all laws of physics (or at least, reflecting some new physics springing up out of nowhere), is still pretty rough. Several explode in the air, tearing themselves apart as they go nose-over-tail and intertia does what inertia does best. But several she doesn't need to turn quite so drastically, and these, Jean puts on new courses, aimed at the defensive towers.

Boom?

Elsewhere, she just briefly registers the pang of pain and emotion from inside the Blackbird, gritting her teeth as she recognizes what it means.

<<Erik, we need to get moving and there's no time to do this clean. I'm gonna have the Bird come down on the next pass, near the area you're holding.>> Then her thoughts shift, to the other group holding the tanks. <<Keep doing whatever you can to suppress their tanks and big guns. We can retreat separately if it comes down to it.>>

Betsy Braddock has posed:
There is that instant analysis as Psylocke tries to determine if she can close the distance to the figure on the hill. She starts to make her way up there, to where the sniper has made his nest. But unfortunately, she knows she will never make it up there in time before he takes his next shot. Thus, she has to resort to other methods.

Reaching out with her telekinetic powers, she grabbed the sniper rifle the man was holding and yanked with all her psionic might. She did her best to wrestle it out of his grasp, so that he couldn't take another shot at the plane above. Then she brought that rifle back toward him. With force. Toward his face. With extreme prejudice. In the hopes of knocking him out even as she was scrambling up that hill toward him.

Then the rifle was yanked to her hands, slapping into her grasp with enough force to sting but at least she had control of it now as she finished closing and fired a psiblade around her left hand in preparation.

If he was still conscious, she would use her telekinesis to try to tip the helmet off his body to give her a line of attack with the psiblade.

Rogue has posed:
At the remaining tanks:
Psycho Storm leaps up from the pummeling he'd been putting on those downed Black Team soldiers, leaving a mess of shattered exo-skeleton, and bone in his wake.  He is pelted with a rainstorm of bullets from a heavy machine gun upon one of the nearby weapon platforms, which causes him to roar and run toward it!

Colossus and Monet will see the massive Psycho Storm run right between them, his electrical fists charged up with bright glowing energy...

Right as he is hit in the face with a full burst from one of the tank's plasma weapons.

Colossus and Monet are summarily showered in pieces of Psycho Storm, as his meaty legs are left taking one and a half more steps before they topple over in to the grass, devoid of the rest of the ill-fated Mutant Captive from Los Angeles.

Mere moments there-after, and Boom Boom is on that tank.  Her efforts pay off in getting the crew to abandon ship, but soon they're drawing firearms now to aim up toward Tabitha anyway! Small arms fire begins to pepper their own vehicle, as they try to fill the Blonde Bombshell with a few shells of their own!

Two and a half tanks remain, with the two still firing up toward the flying X-Women in the sky!

Meanwhile, Rogue continues that 'catch me if you can' chase with the rockets, while Jean takes advantage of it, sending the blazing ballistics in to another of the four remaining towers.  The rockets slam in succession against the tower, sending concrete flying out from its internal guts, followed by a blooming explosion that rips the tower apart, along with its laser cannon mounted atop it!  "Got another one!" Rogue shouts, not knowing that Jean actually helped out, because how would she know that? She just assumes its her great flying!

On the Blackbird:
The efforts from Magneto pay off, and the Wolverine is quick to see the safe space on the ground for the SR77 to make a hasty landing.  The Jet begins to kick over to its port side before its landing gear extend, and it touches down.  One of its wings is clipped by the laser beams from one of the three remaining towers, but the defenses of the Jet cause a minimal amount of damage to the hull itself...

Lorna is only left to her devices to deal with Pipe-Dream on her own for a few seconds.  Because Rewind has joined her at her side, abandoning her seat again.  "No, no!" The young girl shouts as she tentatively places hands on her friend's shoulders. "Adam!  Adam!" She shakes him, though his eyes are simply open, and lifeless now. Rewind stares at Lorna for help, but she can see that the green haired Queen is out of her element on this.  Peyton turns back to her friend, and places her hands over his wound, her fingers shaking intensely...  She begins to concentrate, her eyes slip shut, and her purple painted lips begin to whisper beneath her breath and the sound of the chaos all around them.

On the ground, at the sniper-nest:
Betsy arrives to find that her smash with the butt of the rifle hadn't knocked the man out, but it did disorientate him.  He's on his back when she tears his helmet off, and with it she'll see a grizzled older man just staring up at her.  "Wait!  Wait!  I can tell you everything about what happened here!" He pleads, hoping to avoid whatever demise the wrath of Psylocke is about to bring down upon him!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
No! Monet is caught off guard as Psycho Storm charges in - and is blown apart. She's moving to try to reorient over to give him a telepathic yell to warn him away, to get him to stand down.. But she's too late as her attempt at a telepathic cry is cut off by pain and screams, and then he's blown apart. It's all over before she can do anything. And as more blasts come out at her, she can only quickly dart out of the way as a plasma blast goes to narrowly miss her, detonating over and blasting her with heavy energy as it would erupt over her. SHe manages to hold onto the turret, but the charger inside is destroyed - it's of no use beyond being a bat. Which she can barely l ift, much less.. She can barely lift it. But Piotr.. Monet goes to call out to Colossus <<Swing>> And goe sto flip the large primary turret of the tank for Colossus to if he wishes catch it.. Then use it like a giant bat to go to start to club everyone and everything, rugby style!

The cries of panic, agony, and the individual in the cocoon near death has her agonized. But she can do nothing. Not render aid, not reassure in the middle of battle.. Seh can only fight the one she is in. And hope that one of the others can lend aid. Even if that aid is little more than comfort in final moments.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    At the explosion of the poor Psycho near them, Piotr's response is to finally break his silence as he shouts, "Monsters!"
    With renewed vigor he rushes into action, though more plasma beams cut across his broad chest, crimson fabric giving way to reveal more of the brilliant metal beneath, some of the steel bubbling from the intense heat sizzling into the Russian mutant. Yet he pays it no mind for now, roaring as he leaps across the distance with a metal fist leading the charge, the heavy impact of the powerful punch causing the hull of the tank to ripple and compress around it, caving it inwards so hard that it wraps around his fist as his other hand reaches in to grasp it.
    Lifting it straight up he turns and spins in one single motion reminiscent of something out of the Bolshoi, the tank his lovely dance partner as it is held aloft in the air... then comes _crashing_ down into the other heavy armored vehicle with a resonant crunch.
    There's just time enough for him to catch the hurled tank turret from Monet as he makes a leap into the air, a moment brandishing it as he gets a good grip on the heavy object, then he rushes forward seeking others who might defy his anger.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
Magneto's eyes shift to Slapshot on the ground, brow furrowed beneath thick white brows. As though yanking his hand free from some invisible trap, he turns it towards the dying mutant. The blood that runs in rivulets away from his wounds, quite suddenly, begins to flow backwards. The most subtle, nigh-indetectable elements of iron manipulated enough to draw it back into his body. The Master of Magnetism's mind shines with sweat, fingers clenching as a band of steel disconnects itself from the shield to instead bind itself tightly around the wound.

<<Hurry,>> comes Erik's voice through the telapthic link, <<Get them on board. Medical attention. Immediately.>>

His efforts to save the man are limited by his mutant capabilities. A brief stay of execution that may only last long enough to keep him clinging to life before he can benefit from the first aid equipment on the Blackbird. The unconscious Red Rover is suspended in the air along with him, suspended by the limited elements of metal in his jumpsuit.

"Go, all of you," Magneto demands of the other prisoners still within the cocoon, a tunnel of metal created for them between him and the Blackbird, "Now!"

Lorna Dane has posed:
    "Wait wait, you need to stay in your-" Lorna begins to argue with Rewind getting out of her seat to put a hand on her friend's chest, but she stops, and leans back, giving the girl room to grieve or to... "What are you doing?" Lorna asks with curiosity tinging her tone.

    The girl can do something, and Lorna's curiosity is getting the better of her, so she stays out of the way, and looks over her shoulder to Logan as it feels like they're going down. It's about to be a lot more crowded on the jet, and she needs to make sure there's not only room, but a clear path for people to quickly onboard. "Come, come this way." Lorna says as she stands back on her feet, and making the metal ripple within the fusselage she shifts Rewind and Pipe-Dream closer to the walls, and away from the 'center aisle'. "You'll be safe here." She says, watching softly with her eyes on the teens.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
So maybe a couple of those escaping mercs might clip Tabby as she pops the lid of the tin can open and down. So yes while the average X-Suit is good for small arms fire. That probably doesn't include the rifles being fired at her as she drops another bomb down into the tanks insides directly as she rolls off and into cover while she starts sprinting or at least running a bit slower than a print as a few spots of red leak along her thigh and midsection. "Crap, crap, crap!" she yells, <<Someone put those kids into sleep mode so they don't crap themselves on the flight home!>> she mentally yells. Doing her best to outrun her own explosions.

"Three... two... one..."

BOOM, again!"

It goes off and Tabby faceplants in a superman dive to make sure she doesn't need more than stitches and a solid nap.

It's really not a good day to be those poor dumb mooks.

She did warn them to haul ass after all.

Scrambling to her feet, the blonde pats herself down for any more wounds beyond what already hit her. Thank goodness adrenaline is a hell of a pain killer. But soon she's looking for another tank if there even is any left.

<<We bailing, or we making sure any booms stay on the tarmac and not spready to the gen pop?>> They haven't all blown up yet. So hopefully that can stay that way.

Jean Grey has posed:
Once they're done with the towers, Jean starts down toward the area Magneto is clearing, hovering gently to the ground even as the Blackbird makes its own more substansial landing. Although his tunnel is sufficient to protect the evacuees, she raises barriers in the air around the jet as they make the transfer, caution against any stray fire directed toward the 'Bird as it sits vulnerable on the tarmac. Of course, it's a lot of area to cover, so she really hopes she doesn't have to do it for long, closing her eyes briefly in concentration.

Focusing so much mental energy, she is slow in trekking up the ramp of the jet, discovering the scene inside only as she does. She winces, and then moves toward one side of the plane's interior, looking to Lorna. "We need to get the med bed ready." There's one built into the wall, that folds down. It's limited in capability compared to what they have at the mansion, but valuable for immediate treatment and stabilization. And it's not clear that this even as anything to do with what's happening between the two young mutants there, but rather, the one Erik is holding barely stable.

<<Everyone on board now. If you can't make it on foot, sound off, and we'll pick you up on the route out!>>

After pulling down the bed (maybe Lorna can help!), she looks over her shoulder to the other two. She doesn't really know what most of these kids can do, despite having been with a couple of them for a few hours. "Can you help him?" Mentally, she reaches out, trying to make sense of what's happening.

Betsy Braddock has posed:
That causes Psylocke to pause. "Alright, I won't hurt you unless you force me to do so. But if you try anything, I will not hestitate." She slings the rifle over her shoulder for now, since it's hers. That's the rules. "Stand up. Head for the landing area." The one that is being created. Her psiblade still glows around her hand, the sum totality of her psionic powers at the ready should he try anything.

"And this will not be comfortable but it won't hurt." There is the purple glow around her eyes, a butterfly type of visual, as she reaches into his mind. Because while she is willing to let him tell them everything, she also knows that she has to get him across that battlefield to the plane and she's not going to chance losing the information he has. So she takes it, forcefully, from his mind. For his part, he'll have a little bit of a headache perhaps later from it but it doesn't hurt him. If he makes it to the ship as their prisoner, then he can still tell them later.

As she motions and starts to follow him toward the craft, she picks up the helmet in her right hand. "Is there a way to tell them to stop the timer on the bomb? If not, order your people out. They need to get to a safe distance. I'm presuming they have the craft to do so? Or were your people going to sacrifice them all?"

Then she reached out telepathically. <<On the way with a prisoner. Hopefully we can make it. He claims he will give all information about what was going on here.>>

Rogue has posed:
On the Blackbird:
The Blackbird touches down upon the lawn with a less than graceful landing, but a sufficient one.  Inside its passenger compartment, Rewind has ignored Lorna's questions to focus instead upon her friend.  Internally, the young girl's heart rate has increased, rapidly beating faster and faster with every second that she pushes her mutation.  She's never pushed it past fourty five seconds before, and now her internal counting has carried her up to a full minute.  She feels light headed, as her fingers start to shake more intensely.  It is mere seconds after the Blackbird slams down on to the ground that Adam's eyelids flutter, his lips part and he draws in another breath!  The bone, flesh, and internal organs had been re-knit by the reversal of the time-stream running through Pipe-Dream's place within it.

"Peyton..." He quietly says as he stares up at her.  Her eyes stare back down at him, as she has a detached, and delirious expression crossing her visage.  Rewind sucks in a breath, and collapses down upon Adam, who instantly wraps his arms around her, turning over beside Lorna to trade places with the other teen, now hovering over her.  "Peyton!" He shouts down at her now, shaking her shoulders as HE looks to Lorna for help!

Outside the Blackbird:
Jason 'Slapshot' Gerber suddenly wakes up, his own eyes fluttering open again as he looks up at the intimidating form of Magneto telling them to get moving.  Charade, kneeling beside her friends, places her hand on Jason's face, as she is nearly weeping in terror.  "Come on, we gotta go!" Charade says, and what Charade says, people do.  Slapshot stands up, feeling no more pain in the moment, as they both pull Red Rover up by his armpits, and begin to hoist him out of the metal cocoon of fragmented jet pieces.  The trio of teenagers start to limp their way out toward the X-Men plane that rests only a handful of meters away...

Outside of the Blackbird landing zone:
The last of the tanks goes up in a shower of fire, and flowering metal pieces that scatter across the yard.  The trio of X-Men that assaulted the heavy military vehicles seemingly coming out the victors in this part of the fight, but the ground soldiers are still present, and seem to be falling back toward troop transports that line one of the main concrete roads toward the base's exit far to the southwest.  They're all still unleashing a hailstorm of bullets and plasma spheres that sizzle across the yard of the besieged military base, focusing their aim on the trio of X-Men that just wiped out their tanks!

When the last laser tower emplacement tips over in to the earth, sending up a wash of mud and rocks, Rogue arcs through the air, coming back around to join Jean on her side.  Her suit in tatteres across her body, Rogue lands with a bounce from the force of her boots touching down upon the soil, and her green eyes look with concern toward the trio of teenagers who'd helped she and Magneto escape from their cell.  She's quick to move toward them to help them as much as she can, but in her current stage she's dangerously unprepared to make skin to skin contact with others, any mental barriers not up in this moment of heightened mental states!  "Come on, ya'll.  We're almost home." The Belle encourages as she works with them as best she can.

At the Sniper-nest:
Betsy is able to get the man to his feet, and able to get them started back toward the Blackbird's landing zone.  He's in pain, but he's no worse for wear.  His helmet is raised up, and he grunts in pain.  "The bomb has only a matter of minutes left.  My people were ordered to stay here, and that's what we were going to do." He tells Psylocke as he glances off toward the troop transports.  He raises the helmet and reluctantly speaks. "All remaining forces, make for the road.  Get out of here.  This is Chezman. 5 1. Get your asses out of here.  The valley is about to become a crater."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix can follow along enough of what is going on from the information being passed along by Psylocke. <<Lovely, their employer values thier lives as much as he did his experimental subjects>> She doesn't feel sorry for the men. They're still scum to her. But at least they know that they're just as disposable as the mutants they were torturing.

<<If anyone needs a lift I can pick them up to take them to our extraction>> In other words, if anyone needs a ride to the Blackbird, she can carry them very quickly.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    At the call to assemble, Piotr turns his head sharply only for another beam to lash across it causing him to wince abruptly as more metal bubbles and seethes. He brings a large arm up to shield his face, then shakes his head, trying to focus and sends as he seends the heavy debris and ruined turret hurtling toward the gathering of soldiers that had fired upon him. Now was not the time, however, to further the battle.
    Instead he broke into a run heading toward the gather point of the Blackbird, heavy footfalls resonating across the ground with each thunderous stride. He hesitates only to make sure his comrades are with him before he makes his way to the evac jet.
    Then he turns and his mind's 'voice' is heard on the shared telepathic channel. << I am in transition. Moving now. >>

Erik Lensherr has posed:
As those under his direct care are ushered aboard the Blackbird, Magneto's attention turns from defense to attack. No longer merely standing on the ground, he reconnects with the magnetic forces of the Earth that he has long considered himself lord over. His whole form sparks with electricity, the light around his body bending at an odd angle as the sheer force proves too much for even non-ferrous bullets to pierce.

"You've lived your lives in fear," he calls, stentorian voice rising even above the din of battle, "Fear of what the mutant might do to you. Your fears have been unfounded ... my people have simply wished to live. But if you will not cease to lash out in fear, then I will give you something to be afraid of!""

The ground itself begins to rumble. A terrible earthquake beginning somewhere deep underground. Parts of the runway tarmac buckle and crack, whole rooms of the underground facility pushing up from beneath concrete and earth to ascend into the air.

He's ripping the entire facility out of the ground. Turning the very air into a whirling chaos of debris.

Lorna Dane has posed:
    "Glad your alive." Lorna says with a deeply surprised and honest tone, "Now do what I say and we can keep you that way." Lorna says, closing the medpack again with the straps that held it closed and she points at the chairs. "Sit down. And Buckle up." Lorna says as she stands up, grimacing at the pain in her body, and the blood smeared across her face and shoulders.

    "Wait." She says turning back towards the kids, and seeing the girl now down. "God damnit." Lorna whispers beneath her breath before she drops down to her knees again to help the kids. "Go sit down." She says to Pipe-Dream. She's going to do everything she can to get Rewind's heart beating again. A hand presses against the girl's chest and the electromagnetic field within her chest is coaxed by the Princess of Magnetism. "C'mon. Wake up." She says, frowning as she's trying to force the heart to pump on it's own.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
<<Hauling my butt back, just gimme one sec! Covering fire!>> she sends back. When they start sending plasma at her Tabby just chuckles. If they can't quite generate enough to singe Piotr then they really won't like what comes back.

The incoming blasts might as well be a hair dryer.

Her own return comes en masse. A swirl of her hands as her eyes glow, her glasses having long fallen off her nose in all the hullabaloo before she sends a veritable rainstorm of bombs up and then down pelting anyone that hasn't already run under orders.

Sure it might slow her down even more as the shots she took in her sides from ballistic weapons along with her thigh hobble her a lot.

But it beats having anyone sticking around to send a parting shot at the blackbird while it's doing it's pick up run.

She might be cutting it close a scooch.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" she mutters under panting breath. She probably needs to spend more time on cardio instead of the squat rack.

Jean Grey has posed:
Triage has a very precise meaning, and it's not always a happy one.

Although Jean gets a brief sensation of what is happening between the other two mutants as she touches their minds, she's not clear, in the moment, that there's anything she can do to help. Maybe she could hold back Rewind's power usage, as she pushes herself too far... at the cost of the boy she's trying to help?

On the other hand, in front of her is someone she can do something concrete about, someone who is definitely saveable, in the moment. With whatever effort, physical, magnetic, telekinetic, they get Slapshot into the med-bed. This isn't the first time Jean has done this, not even close as much as she'd prefer otherwise, and she works with hasty precision. Triage has steps. And in this case, the first step isn't even treating him: it's yanking down the straps that will secure him in the bed, because when the Blackbird takes off...

...yeah, usually dropping the patient is something you want to avoid.

Only after that does she start in with the vaarious first aid steps, which the med, at least, makes easier. She affixes monitors. Affixes a blood supply. Checks for the injures. Bandages. There's a lot of steps, and she focuses on them, while Lorna works on her own patient.

"Get us up," she shouts over her shoulder, up toward the cockpit. She has her mind on the people running to the bird. Presumably, they can dramatically make it, just in time! If not? Well, they have telekinetics and magnetomancers, a small blonde woman and a MAN MADE OF METAL. They'll get them one way or another!

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Psylocke continued on the path toward the Blackbird, putting a hand on the arm of Chezman in order to be sure he maintains his own balance as they rush down the hill toward their own extraction point. Then she speaks outloud, even as she echoes the words telepathically. "Just because they don't care about life doesn't mean we don't. Hopefully that saves a few."

But then she goes back to silent communication with one of the points that she learned in her telepathic scan of the soldier's mind. As they have reached the plane and are entering with the others to make their escape.

<<Arnold Bachland was not here. He was not one of those killed in the plane. And...>> A pause and they can almost feel the mix of annoyance and dread in her mind as she adds.

<<Arnold Bachland is Mr. Sinister.>>

Rogue has posed:
At the troop transports:
The remaining contingent of Black Team soldiers begin to pile inside of their vehicles.  One by one the troopers climb in, or jump in through the back until they're all loaded up.  Many of them begin to look up at the display that Magneto is putting on of pure power.  The trucks begin to roll out, their tires running across pavement as dirt and debris rains down upon them from the base that lifts ever higher up in to the sky...

Rogue appears beside Erik. Her eyes up on the sight of what is unfolding at the invisible hands of the Master of Magnetism.  She just stands there in awe of it, her wild hair flowing in the wind around her face as her green eyes watch the skeletal structure of the base that they'd been both captives within, just rise up toward the deep clouds of the Colorado sky.  "Mags... I dunno about this... They're gonna see that explosion in Europe if ya do this...  Come on." She says, raising her left hand up to offer him his helmet that she found aboard the Blackbird, along with a small smile for the older man who kept her going through this ordeal.

Back at the Blackbird ramp, Chezman and Psylocke arrive.  The Black Team Five One  takes a seat on one of the Bird's open bench spaces, his grizled eyes looking around at the X-Men and the others aboard.  He stares down at Lorna working on Rewind, and a smirk crosses his lips.  His eyes go up to Pipe-Dream who'd backed up to get out of Lorna's way.  He eyes the blood on the kid's shirt.  "Guess her heart wasn't in it." Chezman says to Adam, who instantly has his youthful face scrunch up in anger.  Pipe-Dream rushes Chezman, trying to throw a punch at the Black Team leader, who instantly catches it and moves to pin the kid down against the floor of the Blackbird!

Outside the subterrainian base continues to rise in to the air, shedding earth, trees, and pieces of itself, as it ventures up toward the clouds, beginning to disappear within them.

And then it explodes.

The earth itself is lit up like a flash of lightning that lingers for several seconds, before the ground begins to shake and a powerful burst of noise rocks the world!

Rewind's eyes snap open, and she begins to cough harshly, her body undulating on the floor, as her hands go up to Lorna's shoulders to clutch the green haired woman's arms tightly!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix watches the fireball blazing off in the distance almost numbly as it goes off. She lets one of the others go to take care of the human that her first instinct is to throw out the Blackbird towards the explosion that they fly away from. But she just looks at everything turning to ash in a giant fireball.

And she's haunted. By how far from a win it feels like they've accomplished. A minor annoyance to Sinister? Perhaps. A loss? Not of any heavy nature.

She has seen new worlds formed. New societies spring up. Aliens and the stars. Here? HEre on Earth there is pain. The worst of things. From mutants and humans. It is a reminder to her that whatever uniqueness Earth has in the galaxy for how many meta-beings it has made..

That Sol's population's propensity for bringing the worst out in one another that is Earth's most important contribution to galactic society.

And so she just watches the fireball go up. THinks of Sinister's experimentation and murder of mutants. Thinks of the human that participated in it and that they rescued. And shuts off as much of the outside world as she can as she just stands still. Like a statue.

And cries.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
    Within the Blackbird, Piotr maintains his armored form, trying to make it in and make clear for the others. Portions of his osmium steel form still surge with the intense heat that washed over it, an angry hue to some of the metal is seen even as he takes a seat and straps in. There is so much pain and loss around them, and this may well be considered a victory to some in some ways for their goals were... accomplished.
    Yet it feels not like a victory to the large Russian. When Chezman makes his comment, Colossus gives him a stern look, then his eyes shift toward Elizabeth with a glance.
    On the mental comms his mind's voice is heard, << I am secure. >>

Erik Lensherr has posed:
"Let them see," Magneto says lowly, eyes now a pure blue glow as he tilts his head upward to watch the ascent of the underground base and the explosion that follows soon after, "Let them know what becomes of the petty works of little men."

As the twisted remnants of the base crash back towards the ground, no longer under his control though he extends his influence into a dome that diverts all falling matter away from the Blackbird. He extends both hands to take his helmet from Rogue, sliding it on over his head to once more become undetectable to even the Omega level telepaths on the team.

"You are a brave woman, Rogue," he tells the Belle with a faint smile, reaching a hand to place it on her shoulder as the pair hover in mid-air, "I could not wish for a better standardbearer for our People's cause. And a heart greater than any other. If I had worried that Charles had grown blind in his old age, I needn't have for he plainly sees the goodness in your heart."

He turns his attention towards the Blackbird, looking towards the open bay before turning back to Rogue.

"Go now. Tell Doctor Grey I am not quite ready to return from the wilderness. Not yet."

That said, he turns and flies away. The invisible waves of the Earth's magnetosphere bearing him aloft and into the clouds.

Lorna Dane has posed:
    "Breathe. Breathe." In, out. Show her how to breathe. "You're with me." The green haired woman says with a deep frown and a shake of her head. "You kids need to chill for like, FIVE minutes." She says with a sigh and a want to sit on her backside and take a breath, but she's got more work to do. "Now, for the final time. Sit down and buckle up. Please." Lorna says as she holds out a hand to pull the teen up to her feet and motion towards her seat.

    "Is that everyone aboard?" The queen asks as she moves around towards the group and feels that magnetic signature of her father not moving closer to the blackbird and she squints her eyes, sharply as she grits her teeth and bites her tongue near literally. "Is that everyone?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Boom-Boom thankfully isn't too far behind anyone else so when she finally makes it up the ramp she pauses only long enough to lean over the edge and puke her guts up from the exertion. And maybe having had to see the remains of Psycho Storm along the way among other messes she might have caused.

"Gross." she mutters and wipes her mouth as she drops to the decking and sits down, wiped out and still working to catch her breath. And watch her own fireworks get trumped rather spectacularly. "So we out?" she says and winces sharply when she forgets and then remembers she had been shot. Or at least winged. "Think half the reason we came is still outside by they fliers!" she doesn't see Rogue or Magneto yet but then staring a the the ceiling of the Blackbird as she lays down probably isn't great for the view.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean is sort of in her own world, doing her medical routine with Slapshot. Blindered, focused. At least until she's done all she can do, hopefully keeping him stable enough to make the trip back to Hank's tender care. Those blinders hold against all kinds of would-be distractions, interruptions from the world outside:

An unfamiliar man being dragged aboard the plane.

Exploding bases.

Mr. Sinister.

As long as she continues working, all of those things are just noise to be shut out. It isn't until they're flying away, until the shockwave of Magneto's terrifying display washes over the Blackbird and makes the whole plane rumble, that she finally can spare some attention from her patient.

And when she does, she has one question: "Who the hell is this guy, and what is he doing on my plane?"

Needless to say, Chezman doesn't get to beat up on anyone. If Betsy doesn't put a stop to it, Jean does. She can hold him there like a puppet with his strings taught, if she wants to, and she's not inclined to allowing this man any sense of power or control here. If the kid wants to get some free shots in, she doesn't even stop him.

She does hold a hand up for Betsy, just in case.

"Someone important?" And just assuming that the other telepath has already done some digging, she wonders: "You find anything good in there? These people need to answer for what they've been doing."

PResumably, Rogue makes it back from her talk with Magneto. When she gets aboard, she gets a hug from Jean. "I'm still mad at you."

Betsy Braddock has posed:
Unfortunately, Betsy doesn't see things the same way as Jean.

As soon as that hand caught the fist and Chezman moves to take down the boy, Psylocke has moved. The wrist is grasped on the hand holding the boy. Then she fires a punch directly for the elbow of the soldier. Followed by that satisfying snap of bone as she breaks the arm that dared to touch the kid.

Then she brings up a foot, using that grip on his now broken arm to keep him from moving out of range. Leg up, chambered, firing of that foot to his jaw with all the power she can muster. Hopefully breaking his jaw in the process. Eating through a straw for a few weeks is earned after his mouthing off.

Then she smiles. Not a friendly smile. There is a feral edge to it, something that reflects a part of Betsy that she was not born with. But that is part of her now, that darkness, that violence. Still holding that arm and twisting it sharply to cause as much pain as possible for the man. Then soft words spoken. "I warned you." The purple blaze appears around her free hand and she drives the psiblade directly into his face. The synapses in his brain should misfire and he should pass out immediately.

He's lucky she didn't do worse.

Then she just lets him fall to the floor of the plane as she moves to her jumpseat. If he happens to get slammed around in the flight, so be it.

"He was in charge down on the ground. He has a lot of information in there but I only was able to obtain some of it so thought it prudent to bring him along. Perhaps I was too...gracious."

Rogue has posed:
Pipe-dream made it back to his feet right after Psylocke took over the situation. He jumped back to watch the Ninja do what she does best, and he'll likely remember what he sees for the rest of his life too.  His heart thuds inside his chest, and his eyes linger on Chezman who ends up turned in to a vegetable on the deck of the plane.  "Son of a bitch..." Adam mutters, before he turns to look at his friends.  Charade is helping Red Rover who is still unconscious, but otherwise in stable condition save for a broken limb.  Slapshot is being taken care of by the pretty redhead, and Rewind...

Adam ends up back at Peyton's side, taking one of her hands, and looking to her.  He exhales with relief, before his eyes go to Lorna.  "Thank you." The kid tells her, his voice laced with sincerity.

"Who knew having a super hero team would be this hard?" Slapshot says quietly, laying on the makeshift med-bed that Jean had prepared.  "YOu're the X-Men?" He asks her, sounding pretty out of it.  "I can't believe the X-Men came to our rescue..."

Rogue watched Magneto depart for a moment, before she turned and glided her way back down to the Blackbird.  She arrived after most of the hub-bub had settled, and returned the hug to Jean.  "I can explain most of it.  They... were makin' some serious threats." She states, before she lets it lay for now, and moved up toward the cockpit where she sat in the seat opposite of Logan.  She reached for a jacket slung over the back of the chair, and began to pull it on as she smiled over to Logan. "Nice of ya'll t'make it out here." She told the Wolverine.

On the control board of the Blackbird, a light began to flash, along with an incoming message alert.  Logan reached out to it, and punched it with a single finger.  Over the holographic display pannel, a blue-white image formed like a flickering candle flame in the dark.  The image of Mr. Sinister's visage.  He smiled with a sickening amusement. "Fair well X-Men..." The man's rumbling voice states from an origin unknown. "The battle is yours, but the game... as always... is mine." The holo-gram rippled, and then vanished.  Within moments, the Blackbird flew due-east, away from the settling remains of the wreckage of the sinister hidden lab.