16982/The Path of Progress: Sublime Strikes Back

The Path of Progress: Sublime Strikes Back
Date of Scene:	04 February 2024
Location:	Madripoor
Synopsis:	X-Force's Madripoor safehouse comes under attack by mercenary forces sent by John Sublime.
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Sally Pride, Sundance, Tabitha Smith, James Proudstar

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Cable has posed:
While Madripoor offers some stunning architectural wonders -- both ancient and modern -- much of it is made up of the makeshift shanties that dominate Lowtown. And outwardly at least the safehouse that Cable and the team have procurred while focusing their efforts in this particular area doesn't look that out of place, though perhaps a little more sprawling then most of the 'buildings' in the neighborhood.

But then looks can be deceiving and the leaning, seemingly improvised shelter of sheets of metal and wood conceal a far more fortified and secure structure then it might seem from the outside.

Night has fallen over the city though the sultry heat of day lingers even under the cloudless sky. Lowtown, quite naturally, is nearly devoid of street lights or any exterior illumination beside that which shines out from those dwellings that actually have power and the streets are quiet. Strangely so, really. As if all the little predators that usually prowl their confines have been scared off by a much larger, more dangerous example of the breed.

The interior of the seemingly haphazard structure shows the lie that the exterior present, fortified concrete offering a whole lot more stability then the seemingly thrown together mismash of metal sheeting and boards would suggest. Power might not be prevelent in other structures in the neighborhood, but there is no mistaking the fact that it is present here, lights shining and even the air kept at a reasonable temperature.

After months of trying to track down the hiding place of John Sublime, to bring the fight to him once more, they finally have a solid lead, acquiredi n the aftermath of their watery raid on the yacht of one of his biggest supporters. And while it might have taken a little time, sooner or later everyone talks.

Something that apparently Sublime knows quite well, because out on those quiet streets men move, some swiftly and silently as they approach that seeming innocuous series of structures that sprawl out, while others -- larger shadows -- move with the mechanical clang of the powered exo-suits that the team has run into on several occasions already.

Within the bunker itself, lights begin to flash as the advancing force of mercenaries and whatever other forces their enemies have managed to rustle up trip the proximity alarms nearby, the advanced tech at the disposal of the future solider virtually unnoticable.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
They've taken pains to conceal themselves. Cable's tech is advanced, amongst Cable, M, and Tabitha they've got plenty of telepathic coverage to conceal their comings and goings. It's easy enough to pay off anyone in the general area that might care. SO as to how they've exactly been located enough for a significant enough strike team to be dispatched at them is.. Rather disturbing. Just what is their enemy working with them it comes to having so many things at his beck and call that can neutralize whatever they have?

Monet goes to steel herself as she hears the alarm. "We should probably torch here." They can't leave anything for anyone that's breaking odwn into here to use. Even if they might be able to beat back an attack, mroe will be coming. This is just the first wave after all. And the first wave will just be fodder - no one will know anything useful of them so no sense in digging in and taking out some high value targets.

But Cable might say otherwise as Monet is going to rapidly join up with anyone else at the place. And anyone that's outside.. well, probably getting pizza and beer.

Sally Pride has posed:
It was inevitable that Sublime was going to try and put them out of his misery. That's part of why Sally had gotten in contact with some of her other allies she could trust to help strengthen their odds. But she hadn't expected it to reach a point that Subline would actually manage to track down their Madripoor hideaway.

Especially with all the effort put into not being easily traced to it.

Pierced feline ears slick back as the alarms start going off. "Dammit!.. Though I guess it's also kind of a compliment they've decided we're enough of a threat to send a strike after, too." She huffs, grabbing her blaster with a lash of the tail. Doesn't bother turning it off the more potent settings, this wasn't going to be a 'non-lethal' night if they want to get out of here. "But sure as hell not going without a fight."

Sundance has posed:
It had been a while since Sundance had been outside of New York City, and he'd sure as hell never been to Madripoor. But Sally had told him there was a good chance that he'd be able to fight some really bad hombres, so he was more than happy to come along when she asked for it. He had been in the middle of cleaning his long rifle when the alarms had started going off, and he was quickly on his feet, coming up behind Sally after a moment and adjusting his hat, "Where do you want me, Sal?"

Tabitha Smith has posed:
"Look, I did not get us a take out order!" Tabby points out indignantly. She'd have gone out and picked it up herself instead of having delivery. There was a place a few blocks over that did really good noodle.

She was planning on going but the alarms kind of put a stop to that. The blonde had dressed to enjoy the warmer equatorial weather. Muggy as it can get, old red cutoffs, black fishnet stockings, blue cropped tank with a her brown BOOM patched bolero bomber jacket. Her cateye glasses with yellow tints and her hair in loose twin tails.

"So if ya want I can go tell them to come back later? I'm hungry and that is gonna turn to hangry real soon!" she tries to get a telepathic sweep to try and get some numbers amidst the psychic noise of Madripoor. Not easy.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar sighs and pinches the brow of his nose, he is sucking on a lollipop, mango flavored. "It's like there not even trying. I've got armored mechs and mercs converging form all sides." He frowns considering, "Pretty well organized to. It's enough to make counting heartbeats hard. So, a few dozen at least?" James is wearing cargo shorts and a sleeveless tee shirt with an obscure hard rock band on the front. His hair is braided up as he frowns at Tabby, "I mean if you were going to the good noodle place you should have said. I would have gotten it myself. You know I love their Shanghai Mei Fun." There is a rumble, a deep low rumble, "Great, now I'm hungry too. Can we just take them out and go eat? Are we still under the minimize collateral damage protocol?"

Cable has posed:
It does seem likely that Sublime used some method to track his closest allies, though clearly it had to be fairly sophisticated to avoid detection by Cable's technology and the telepathic abilities at the team's disposal.. But regardless of how it was accomplished, the barbarians are at the gate now.

Of course this is not their only bolt hole, either here in Madripoor or elsewhere in the world for that matter, but they do have a preponderence of equipment here. Staring down at the bank of monitors hooked up to the video feed outside, Cable watches the advancing mercenary forces closing in around them.

Even that is not really an issue, not given their ability to teleport out of course. But he has no intention of leaving any more to find then they absolutely have to. Straightening, the grizzled future soldier turns away from the computer arrays and glances back towards the rest of them. "They do seem to have gone to a lot of effort," Cable says almost mildly. "It's only fair that we reward them with the fight that they were expecting."

He's just fair that way.

"I'm elevating the security level. I'd rather not ditch any tech that we don't have to so I'll start to teleport it out. Lets see if we can't buy some time. We can torch anything that we absolutely have to," he agrees.

Cable's not one for going down without a fight either, though it is vaguely amusing to imagine the faces of their enemy if they broke in and found absolutely no one waiting for them.

Naturally there is no shortage of weapons available -- there never is when Cable is around given that he has a seemingly endless stockpile of weapons, ammo and other helpful gear. He leaves the matter of the front line of defense to the others, for the moment at least, and instead turns his attention towards managing that same equipment. "Greymalkin, begin evacuation protocol. Gearslide packets tweleve through twenty-eight.

That done, the grizzled soldier of the futre turns his attention towards that bank of computers once more, tapping at them as around them the first batches of equipment begin to vanish from view, teleported away by the satellite orbitting the world high above. A brief smile flickers over Cable's expression as he presses a button. "This should wake them up..."

Outside, small triggers fuzz into existence around the base and when the first advancing soldiers and power-mechs step on them a string of explosives suddenly flares to life, rippling through the night sky, lighting up the neighborhood as the mines detonate, taking out the first advancing ranks of the approaching enemies.

For Tabitha, reaching out she can quite literally sense hundreds of minds growing closer and closer, though as those initial explosions rip through the surrounding street that number drops by a not insignificant number.

Clearly Sublime is sending a small army after them this time, intent on putting an end to them once and for all.

Moments later the first reprisals hit home as the advancing armored mercs fire off a series of rockets that pound at the fortified bunker, the building shaking around those inside though for now it seems to be holding.

"We bought up the nearby block too so their shouldn't be innocents in the immediate vicinity. Still, keep your eyes open," Cable says without looking up, still otherwise preoccupied with the defense and evacuation procedures.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would disagree - anyone coming after them int he first wave is going to be there purely to test the defenses and wear them down. So there's not going to be anything that the enemy will regret losing. But she's likely outvoted here - Cable's going to stay and the others are going to follow his lead. But Monet's also not one to leave a fight early. So she's given the logical, the rational bit up. It's been countermanded. Now they can go out and fight.

Then she goes to look over into the armory. "Why.. Are there so many.." Shoulderpads? Pouches? Why does one of the smaller guns look like it needs a car to mount on? Monet rapidly decides she doesn't really want to know the particulars as to the tactical efficiency of all of those things.

She goes to let out a sigh. "I can take Tabitha and Ms. Pride up to the surface so we can flank them when they've fully committed and are engaging the defenses." She's expecting that Warpath is going to want to do his own thing a lot more effectively than she can suggest will be his own thing.

But as Monet goes to scan up to the surface and she can get the sheer -number- of minds she looks freaked for a moment, even as they rapidly go to shut off. She almost stammers.

Sally Pride has posed:
"Guess you'll get to meet the assholes we've been dealing with sooner rather than later," Sally replies to Sundance. "I'd say use your sharpshooting skills from farther back to try and cripple the mechanized armors if you can get a bead on them, they're the bigger threat to those of us going to the frontline."

She rolls a shoulder, and moves to a ready position as explosions go off. "Yeah, they're testing how hard a shell we have to crack. I'd say a few of us get up there like Monet says, while that is what they're focused on."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Even with bad guys, Tabby would like to avoid leaving bodies. The locals she wants to see hurt even less. <<Mindlink online!>> Tabby loops everyone in to the group think. Beats having to yell over coms when things are exploding.

For collateral damage she still warns. <<Just cause you own it, doesn't mean the local homeless are gonna get the memo. That just gets the ones that do doubling down. So maybe when we're done use the place to put up shelters?>>

The numbers of minds coming at them while reduced after Cable's welcome is still a lot. <<Think that's cause we keep pissing Sublime off. And a few local tongs too.>> The blonde looking very amused. Especially when the idea of flanking comes up. <<Might be an idea to grab the new guy instead of me along with Sal. Drop them on some roofs along the sides of the street, let our friends go ham while I get ma mortar on at ground level!>> she suggests back as she gets a few spheroid plasma bombs orbiting her already.

<<Or Jimmy and I can go order take out, then while we wait, hit these assholes from behind. Then bring the food back after.>> Boxing bad guys into a killzone. Can't be fun getting hit on four sides.

Sundance has posed:
"Sounds like a good plan." He replies, taking his lever action rifle and heading up towards a higher vantage point that he can manage to get. The coyote starts climbing, and soon has set himself up in a nice seated position, rifle angling down towards the group of incoming mercenaries.

The line of explosions going off to decimate the front line of their forces does get a bit of a smile on the mutant's face, as he leans down and aims down the long scope, scanning towards the back lines for anyone who looks like they might be in command.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar nods slowly, "So, we maintain the integrity of the base for now?" Jame nods to Tabs, "Yeah, tat works we can get the takeout and I'll force my way back after we've ordered. While I', out there I can try and find the leader, tell him he's outmatched and should try and find some more guys?" James smiles easily, "Monet, one have you seen how he dresses, Dom too and second, that one is actually for me." He indicates the case which says Apache mounted, though that may be another sort of Apache entirely.

    James slips an arm around Tab and nods, "That works, we'll get the food and come back for the ass kicking, maybe put in on the Tongs tab?" He nods to Tabs and lifts off, it's a short hop to the noodle shop and then a bit longer to use their pidgeon madripoor to order.

     The process is interrupted by a squad of mercs with a similar idea, backed up by a mech. "Boys, the ladies, already hangry. Your better off with me." Jim is seated outside on top of the dismantled mech suit when Tabs finished the order."

Cable has posed:
Cable is a little more... pragmatic then some of them admittedly. But then he has worked as a mercenary around the world. More, he grew up in the midst of a war, one without even the bare minimum standards that exist in the present. One with an enemy that is completely ruthless and fully intent on wiping out everyone on his side. It makes him a little more willing to do what needs to be done.

<< Sensors Tabitha. We're not going to leave our flanks unwatched. The buildings are clear, >> he assures her and the others. << As for what we do with these places after our business is done, lets finish it and then we can worry about that. >>

There's that pragmatism again. << These assholes won't pull any punches. They're trained killers and I imagine they're being paid an awful lot to put those skills to use against all of you. Keep that in mind, >> Cable projects bluntly.

<< Bodyslides are up as you need them to get around the battlefield. There will be small delays as Greymalking keeps up with the other evacuation protocols so keep that in mind, >> the future soldier adds across that mind-link, keeping them up to date even as the building continues to shake around them.

By now of course the advancing mercenary forces have to understand that this isn't some makeshift structure that they are up against, some of the camoflauge ripped away, sheet metal and timber laying strewn about the street. This is Madripoor afterall. There won't be any authorities coming to investigate why there is a small scale war going on in Lowtown. There probably won't even be a clean up process when all is said and done, just the assumption that the locals will drag debris aside when it becomes inconvenient.

And that debris will surely begin to pile up because those rockets and larger rounds from the shoulder mounted cannons on the advancing mechs begin to tear into the bunker, chipping away at all that reinforced concrete, sending up shards of debris as they try to punch a hole in those outer defenses. The building echoes with the sound of those explosions even as the defenders within begin to spread out, to take up more advantageous positions to deal with the incoming rush.

The night above, lit mainly by the moon in the sky, might prove daunting to some, though the constant flare from exploding rockets and tracer fire certainly light up the neighborhood. And ominously amongst the dozens, hundreds of swiftly moving shadows that dart from cover to cover -- local mercenaries, well armed and well trained -- are the fifty or so much larger silhouettes of the armored personal mechs that stomp closer and closer, cannons and rockets firing, working to bring down those outer defenses and breach the bunker that they didn't really expect to be there.

That attempt at a swift, explosive victory has been stymied at the very least.

Cable lingers within even as the sound of explosions, of crumbling concrete begins to echo around him. "Greymalkin, Gearslide packets twenty-nine through forty," he says calmly, continuing to teleport out the team's gear while they still have the chance.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
This is dangerous. They're massively outnumbered and despite Cable's technology well outgunned. This seems excessive even by the standards of a local warlord. How much money is being thrown into these mercenaries? And to equip them as well? ANd yet also not sending in highly skilled attackers as a followup? Monet is being rational, not paranoid. Why spend at least fifty or sixty million dollars here at bare minimum but not put something heavier intot he mix? She's focused on hit and run tactics herself, staying away from the armored units and mostly going to hit the isolated groups of mercs as quick as she can. Moving to do a quick strike to then disengage before they could focus fire on her. And she's definitely staying well out of the range of anyone over in the mechtoids. That's not a risk she's gonig to take when they're just slowing the attack for an evacuation.
    She's trying to keep an assessment of the entire situation - spending more time trying to cycle the battlefield to figure out what the next trick coming in is than necessarily on her immediate engagement. Sublime has shown himself so far to be rather slippery and cunning. So where is this last minute sloppiness from?

Sally Pride has posed:
<<Appreciated. If we don't all come out the same direction they can't just pile in and clusterfuck us.>> Sally will take the delay due to Greymalkin multitasking to have the advantage of getting onto the combat field not going through the obvious entrance. Especially as it's part of what's getting blasted away at.

The bodyslide puts her off to the side from where the forces are trying to blast their way in. There is a lot of money they're burning on the heavy arsenal to try and do so. Too bad it's probably not that big of a dent in Sublime's overall assets. But it's still something.

Hunkering against a wall, Sally takes out a couple of grenades, pulls the triggers, and throws them out into the enemy ranks. Let's see if they are paying attention to more than just blasting at the doors before those go off.

Sundance has posed:
The chaos that was going off around them was rather insane. Sundance knew that he could take out a few targets, then take advantage of the tech they were using to move to another sniper's perch, but he remains unspotted for the moment. <<Damn Sally, this new crowd you're hangin' with sure seems to attract the wrong kinda attention.>> He muses over the link, finally picking out a target.

Those mechs are causing way too much trouble though. Sighting down on one of them, instead of aiming for a headshot, it'd be hard to do with that kind of armor, he aims for one of the rockets themselves, letting out a slow exhale as he squeezes the trigger and sends the armor piercing round straight for the warhead. Lets see if these things can survive what they can dish out, shall we?

Tabitha Smith has posed:
After being dropped off by Warpath, Tabby gets blasting with the enthusiasm of someone who gets a rush out of her pyromania. It's probably a little disconcerting for some of these mercs and mooks to find an American blonde girl dressed somewhere between tourist and what might get seen on a street corner sending multitudes of explosive plasma blasts down at them.

Particular aim is made for anything the bad guys have that might seem very sensorish. Dishes, antennae anything poking out on the roof of a vehicle. And the vehicles themselves. It might also knock out enemy communications.

The good thing is, she can hide behind walls and corners and barely has to keep her head out. Telekinetic control allowing her to practically carpet bomb the street.

A hugely giddy grin on her face, eyes glowing bright with power as she throws down the explodo.

James Proudstar has posed:
    The order is placed, about half an hour forty minutes till it's ready. Whatever to do with the time... James grins as the others start picking off targets he nods, "Okay, then, front and center." Then there is a whir and a hum and James is in the middle of the advancing troops. The troops are well trained but the sudden arrival of an enormous apache warrior in the middle of any formation would be a problem for almost anyone. He starts with a war cry and pulls his knives, you can see one guy sneer "Who brings knives to a-" A that is far he gets before dropping lifelless to the ground. Monets is right, though he'd bever admit it, these are hard men and there's only one language they understand. Warpath rips into them.

    What he does next is, well, I mean how much do you want to know? He is surrounded by enemy combatants intent on his destruction, the first squad drops before they can fire a shot, the second before they realize that conventional arms fire is every bit as useless.

    That's when one of them gets smart, or maybe stupid. He fires a grenade at James torso, it explodes in a cloud of shrapnel and fire.

    That's when James gets angry. Angry and injured though the bruise is already starting to fade. The assaulter is pulped as is everyman around him and that bring James to the mech suits.
    He grins and launches himself at he larger foes

Cable has posed:
While the X-Force bunker might be more then it appears, most of the surrounding buildings are anything but, very much being improvised shelters made from sheet metal or whatever other makeshift building materials the locals might have found. Scattered amongst the block is the odd legitimate building, the flat rooftops offering perches to pick off the advancing enemy, though the sheer amount of firepower arrayed against them does make any location somewhat risky.

Still cover is cover and there is a lot of that available out on the battlefield, though those armored mechs are increasingly flattening everything in sight.

That constant assault finally succeeds in opening a breach in the bunker, one corner of the building pretty much blown to smithereens but the barrage of cannon fire and rocket impacts, crumbling concrete giving way to open a hole into the interior. Inside the lights flicker, sending shadows skittering through the stark chambers and hallways of the safehouse before they die entirely. Linked to a power backup, the computer monitors in front of Cable last a moment longer before they do die, plunging the base into darkness.

<< They've taken out the power and backups. Video surveillance is down. >> Cable sends across that telepathic link grimly. And while the base might be plunged into darkness, his cybernetic eye pierces the gloom even as he reaches for the big plasma cannon he favors, hefting it up in one hand and turning towards that breach. "Greymalkin, last load. Gearslide packets forty-one through sixty."

And with that, the grizzled soldier from the future turns towards the exit to the base to take the field himself until the last of the equipment present is teleported away.

Outside, on the chaotic streets surrounding the bunker the violence continues, increasingly crazed, increasingly chaotic as the surrounding force of mercs continue to close in. At least where they aren't encountering the sudden resistance from the defenders at any rate. Shadowed gunmen advance in formation towards the gap they've blown in the building's side, backed up by a half-dozen mechs.

Elsewhere another team comes under fire from Sundance's position as a perfect shot finds the shoulder-mounted rocket launcher on one of those mechs, the resulting explosion taking both it and the half-dozen ordinary mercs out of the fithing.

Sally makes good use of Greymalkin's bodyslide tech to flank the enemy, to hit and run, striking at the advancing force's vulnerable points, to toss those grenades that explode amongst another squad's position and send them flying.

James and Tabitha come under a stready stream of fire, but despite the firepower arrayed against them, little gets through Warpath's defenses and Boom-Boom is able to continually move even as they wreck havoc on another front.

As for Monet, with her aerial survey she can see the sheer forces arrayed against them as well as feeling them out through that telepathy. And the concerns that Sublime would not stop at just this are well founded as a moment later a huge jet of fire comes shooting up from the ground below, a glowing figure down below sheathed in flame as he pours forth that inferno.

Clearly Sublime has insured that the mercenaries have support from some of his Transhumanist creations as well.. That could prove... problematic.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
She logically had a high probability of being right here. A very high probability. So the fact she's spending most of her time along the battlefield doing quick mental reconaissance and passing along information to the others is enough to give them a warning. However, her hovering up in midair also makes her an easy target in the midst of the chaos of street fighting. So when the inhumanoid goes to blast out at her with flames along the lines of five thousand degrees Kelvin, she can only barely launch herself out of the way.

Just those few centimeters away she was while going at supersonic speeds has her body popping over in boils and bliasters, sizzling over and almost instantly searing over to bones. Her body is blasting, even as she just goes to lauch herself along at highs peed to smash herself into the nearest building, twitching in agony as debris falls atop her. Water goes to spray on tp of her - maybe the sprinkler system is working (freakishly). Maybe someone was having a bath. But all the liquid on her instantly turns to steam..

Which prevents her from burning to death.

Sally Pride has posed:
<<We've been a pain in their ass for a very long time now,>> Sally replies to Sundance. <<But the shit they've been doing to mutants makes taking them down a few notches is worth it. I've seen crap that would make Lady Null wonder why she didn't think of it first.>>

The grenades go off, sowing more surprise and chaos in the ranks. Soldiers that aren't dropped dead or thrown like ragdolls spin in the direction the grenades came from, but Sally is already on the move. Knowing the buildings are empty makes her more willing to take advantage of them, ducking through one and circling to the opposite side before peaking out. A few of the troops have broken away from the direct offensive to investigate where the grenades came from.

That gives her a chance to put those predator abilities to use, stalking up behind the men trying to track their attacker down. The lioness slinks up, grabs one around the neck and yank him back from the group, while grabbing his weapon with her other hand and opening fire on his teammates as they turn around to see what happened to him. Any of them get triggerhappy they're going to to shoot the guy first, and seeing what the kind of mad shit Sublime supports Sally is not going to feel bad about using one of them as a body shield.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Alley corner, to alley corner. The brick and masonry work being left fof the next when gunfire chews through it and starts getting too close. She doesn't have a healing factor like Jimmy does so if she gets hit it's not going to result in just fueling some anger.

Well it did as she increases the output on one bomb aimed at the asshole that clocked her ex center mass.

The mind link lets her know what might be coming up on Monet soon enough there's a blast of energy knocking Monet around. It's not going to help M though. The enhanced human going on Tabitha's to-do list. <<Try to keep out of that guy's way till I can get there.>> she warns. They're probably going to have to bring extra noodles to Westchester and bribe Josh to get her friends looking pretty again.

That just means more extra force going towards her own plasma blasts at person, mech, and vehicle alike. How much she can keep up the fight may start becoming a real question.

Sundance has posed:
Firing until his rifle goes empty, Sundance takes advantage of the last few moments of power before the safehouse goes down to teleport away from his perch, down somewhere momentarily safer. Slinging his rifle over his back, he draws both of his revolvers and heads out into the street proper from the alleyway he'd found himself in, spotting one of the nearby groups of mercs.

Tempted as he might be to make some kind of quippy remark, he knows these guys won't hesitate to shoot him, so he raises both weapons and opens up, aiming to drop as many of those mercs as twelve bullets can take down, and then move to cover, tossing a flashbang over the wall he ducked behind, so he can take a moment to reload his weapons and he hopes it'll disorient them in the chaos.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar is wading through Sublime's forces, The Apache are well known in military circles for holding off the entire US Army with a small band of warriors and up close you can see why. James literally molds the battlefield tossing large debris into collection of soldiers, but also using it to provide cover for his teammates.

    He stops when Monet is hit and the shadow of that pain flashes over the telepathic link. James frowns, engaged with three mechs, holding his own but the site of a teammate in peril, raises the stakes, "I'm on it, Tab. Team keep an eye out for the other ones." James grabs the nearest mech and just tosses it at the inferno man.
He follows it in quick succession with a second mech attack, wondering how many Inferno Guy can burn through.
    The third Mech suited merc is taken in hand and James shoots across the battelfield flying at speeds that are not cuducive to the health of those around him. Then using the the mech suited man as a bludgeon against the attacking fire monstrosity.

Cable has posed:
The first of the mercenaries to reach the breached compound are in for a rather nasty surprise and as they creep through the opening battered in that hardened concrete wall they are met by the grim-faced Cable. More specifically they are met by the barrel of that oversized plasma cannon that he seems to favor. The muzzle begins to glow a bright, virulent green before super-heated plasma burst forth in a sizzling ball of power that tears through the attackers and clears the breach for a moment longer.

With the way clear, the grizzled soldier from the future plants himself in that opening and begins to spit out bursts of that deadly green energy towards the nearest squads of mercenaries that advance on them.

Monet's like a shooting star, trailing fire as she crashes into that building nearby, her justified concerns not saving her from the stolen powers of Sublime's Transhumanist creations. Though as bright as she might be for a moment, that's nothing compared to the fire-wielder as he lights up the neighborhood, each step he takes melting asphalt beneath him, leaving glowing puddles of burning pavement in his wake.

And while that certainly makes for a tempting target, it would seem that he is indeed not the only one present. Warpath's hurled mech is met by gouts of those super-heated flames and that tossed mech -- and whoever is unfortunate enough to be piloting it -- dissolves into a pool of molten metal that rains down on those caught beneath. That second one though seems likely to find the mark, crashing down towards him.

Then suddenly another figure is there, looking much like some 'roided out monster as bulging, muscular arms reach out to snare the tossed military-grade hardware like someone intercepting a football. With a bestial roar, with muscles and eyes bluging, that mech is tossed straight back towards Jimmy.

Other flashes of power begin to show across the battlefield, shifting the odds once more in the attacker's favor. Tabitha's bursts of power rain down towards the enemy squads -- only to be met with invisible walls of force that shield the attackers from those explosions. As Sundance empties that rifle into another squad a figure steps forward, eyes glowing bright before beams of searing light leap towards him, tracking him across the street and casually sliding through walls and other barriers. Even Sally, as she starts to pick off those mercenaries one by one with superior speed and stealth runs into problems when the ground literally moves beneath her, fists of stone burst up from beneath her to try and grab hold, to snare her in that rocky grasp.

Back at the bunker, a quiet chime finally sounds in Cable's ear as he ducks back behind the crumbling wall once more, a barrage of rockets and cannon-fire starting to blanket his position, those green flares of plasma energy attracting return fire. << Evacuation complete. Bodyslide out when you can. We'll regroup at safehouse Delta. >>

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet is hurt. Badly. She'll need an extended period over with Joshua - or whomever is on healing duties. And whatever is needed to handle the burns. The very, very nasty burns she has on her. Hope you have a cold compress! She's going to be among the first to be evacuated over for treatment to wherever thier fallback point is.

Sally Pride has posed:
It's only by sensative feline sense of balance that Sally feels the shift in the ground beneath her heels as she dispatches the squad of 'normal' troops. Though even with that warning she's not able to leap entirely out of the way in time. One stone hand clamps shut and there's the gristly sound of flesh and bone being scrunched.

But no aganozing caterwauling. That was the merc Sally had been using as a body shield, thrown into one of the stone hands as they lurched from the pavement. There is a dull oomph as the lioness hits the ground because the other hand had managed to catch her leg between it's digits. She grunts and rams the butt of the rifle into a stone finger, applying enough pressure to twist and pull her foot free, tearing pants leg and leaving a boot in the wake of getting free. Sally scrambles off the ground, clenching her teeth and ignoring the pain of the injured foot long enough to get some distance and bodyslide away.

Twisted ankle she'll take over getting crushed into paste.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Okay, there's a pyro that's getting the street a free light show. A telekinetic, a bruiser getting up in Jimmy's grill and a geokinetic going for Sally and who knows what for Sundance.

<<Someone's been taking notes.> she smirks and ponders lining and charging up a blast on her fists plasma glowing and shifting from reds to yellows and into the purples and blues.

<<Someone grab M. Imma make a distraction while everyone else ports out.>> The way she's going, it's possible that demolition is going to be a lot cheaper.

A mental sweep for the empowered combatants made while she charges. If she can find them, she can try and brute force a blast, as much heat, and concussive blast force as she can muster. It'll wear her out but she'll have bodyslid out by then.

Or at least that's the plan.

She still has to pick up that takeout order.

Sundance has posed:
The guy that steps forward does so, Sundance was peeking out from behind his cover and he saw those eyes start to glow, "Shit!" He bails out from behind the small wall as those beams slice through it and start following him. Great all this guy has to do is look and he can aim at the coyote.

Those beams catch him in his left arm as he was moving to another spot, cutting a clean slice through on the shoulder. He doesn't cry out, but it does send him sprawling to the ground.

His right hand closes around something, and he decides the best defense in this case is going to be offense. He's back on his feet, and instead of running away, is now heading straight towards the eye guy. When he turns to look at him, Sundance is going to drop to the ground and slide, while throwing the brick he had picked up off the ground at the guy's forehead. He figures it'll either kill him, knock him out, or maybe make him at least close his eyes long enough for Sundance to finish closing the distance to take him out for good.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smiles and laughs as he uses the mech in his hands to swat the football mech aside without losing any momentum He streaks at Roid rage and for once doesn't hold back but he also uses the same hit and run attack stye that MOnet favors. He continues towards the massively muscled goon, with a bellowed, "OH YEAH!" He hits him hard and takes a blow that send him off course into a squad of mercs. James picks himslf and charges the Muscle bound attacker, keeping his attention on him. The enemy is stranger than Jim which is saying quite a bit but that's not Jim only ability, as he uses his greater physicality to move the attacker, he tosses him into the Inferno guy. You can hear the screams and smell the burning flesh, as James follows up smashing Roid rage hard enough that Inferno feels it.

     "I'm on it." James is flying to retrieve Monet. He pulls out a first aid kit and uses some advanced cooling spray to soothe the wounds for transport. He's scooping up MOnet, gently and sweeping out of the area to meet up with the delivery guy at the fall back position as dozen blocks away. He fades out with Monet over his shoulder at the food under his arm, "All, you Tabs. Bring us home."

Cable has posed:
It is always a good rule of thumb in any battle. Whenever possible, make sure that you are choosing the field of battle, not the enemy.

X-Force and their allies might have plenty going for them, but they are definitely a little outgunned this time. Equally to the point, smashing a bunch of soldiers and hirelings is not the endgame here. No, they have bigger fish to fry. They have John Sublime to catch, corner and finish and for the first time in a long time they have a solid lead on his whereabouts. Which means this here? This is just noise. Not the mission.

And Cable is all about the mission.

That doesn't mean that they are going quietly of course, each of them taking their last shots before putting Greymalkin's teleportation technology to use and beginning to teleport out. Tabby bombards those shields and tries to overload them with sheer, volatile plasma -- and by the sounds of the screams succeeds. Sally leaves one of their own to be snatched up by those crushing stone fists before porting away. James hurls the hulking brute into inferno man, leaving one battered and the other one burnt. And Sundance's aim is true, that brick smacking laser eyes right in the forehead, sending him staggered back and dazed, those bright beams of death ceasing, at least momentarily.

Peeking out from cover, Cable levels that big, deadly cannon once more, belching out more glowing green orbs of plasma energy across the field of battle, laying down cover fire for the last of the team to retreat, to distract from James' rescue efforts of Monet. Then he too is straightening.

"Greymalkin, bodyslide by one."

With a quiet fizz and a flash that briefly illuminates the air, the future solider vanishes, whisked off to their backup safehouse.

And as the mercenaries advance towards the bunker that last surprise triggers, the building exploding, lighting up Madripoor's night sky and showering the surrounding army of mercs with flaming debris. Just a little thank you present.