17436/The Path Of Progress: The Fall Of John Sublime Pt. 2

The Path Of Progress: The Fall Of John Sublime Pt. 2
Date of Scene:	23 March 2024
Location:	Madripoor
Synopsis:	Cable and the team continue their assault on John Sublime's island fortress, seeking to finally corner their nemesis.
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Neena Thurman, Monet St. Croix, Tabitha Smith, Sally Pride, Sma'shaw Ihaka

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Cable has posed:
After months of seeking him, in the end John Sublime proved to be practically on X-Force's doorstep, laying low on one of the many little personal islands that seem to populate the ocean close to Madripoor, serving as isolated little kingdoms for the world's rich, powerful and corrupt.

Only a few miles long and wide, the island fortress none the less proves formidable enough, with the northern and eastern sides being unforgiving bluffs, sheer cliff faces that are well guard with defensive emplacements. The western half of the island is covered in thick jungle while only a small harbor and beach on the south side, just shy of the significant rise up towards the waiting fortified villa above offers a natural approach.

Not that the capable X-Force team needs an easy approach of course. Nor is it always desirable. But in this case some of the team has gone ahead, striking out through those dense jungle trees to seek out and attack one of the vulnerabilities on the island -- their power supply. Finding the underground geo-thermal generator, Cable and the team have taken out the main power supply -- and in the process hopefully eliminated a significant portion of the automated defenses at Sublime's disposal as well as most means of electronic surviellance.
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While the resulting explosion will no doubt bring a horde of powersuited mercenaries down on them in short order, moving quickly enough they might be able to make it to that villa lair on the bluffs above and strike before they can be properly countered. To corner the wealth industrialist and leader of the Transhumanist movement in his lair. And see that he faces justice for all the mutants that he kidnapped, harvested their powers, and left gutted and dead in facilities around the world.

To bring this whole unpleasant, grisly chapter to a close. Once and for all.

Now, gathered back up in that thick undergrowth, with a small army of mercenaries advancing on them, it is up to them to find their way ahead.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino is familiar with virtually any environment, from rock walls to jungles and pretty much anything in between. It's those pesky 'druthers, however, that keeps her from choosing a difficult path cheerfully. Dressed in her usual dark (read: black) clothing, the albino merc has some dirt on her face to keep that pale white from showing up too brightly under any hint of lighting conditions.

Here is her problem, of course. She's a luck mutant. And that ability doesn't manifest itself unless she's doing something really, really crazy, or 'devil may care'ish. Which means, here she is, offering,

"Okay," her voice is soft in the jungle air, "let me go in first. I'll get their attention, and at least get a couple of them to show you their backs."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would take a moment over to consider, pursing her lips. "I'll go after her and identify targets while they engage her." Monet can take potshots and evade them thanks to her flight abilities. While she's strong, she's going to be in a losing brawl with multiple threats in power armor.

Neena can draw fire, Monet can go to quickly engage and pass along information telepathically.. And then hopefully the rest can flank and blast. And then they can move on to the important things rather than this riff-raff.

Like burning this outfit ruined by the jungle heat

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The power had gone out with a rather spectacular explosion thanks to Boom-Boom. While the underground generators might have been spared, it was the main connection to the rest of the island.

That left her running to get clear as the building came down and more than a little debris started raining down.

It'll be a while before anyone alive down there will get dug out.

<<Okay, hopefully that leaves the panicking. Imma head for their docks and start trashing boats. Cut off their escape routes!>> Tabby reports over the mind link shared with the team. The blonde keeping those legs pumping while she moves from spot to spot, making sure she has cover between sprints. It might add a little time, but screw getting shot.

Even if an X-Suit is good for small arms. It's still gonna sting getting shot in the jiggle physics.

<<Umm, I may possibly have power armor chasing me. I'll see what I can do!>> she adds.

Sally Pride has posed:
After dealing with the small patrol they'd found Sally takes a moment to reload her rifle. Not that she entirely emptied the clip, but it was better to ditch it with two shots left than to have to reload as another big fight was starting. It was just the strategically best choice.

"Been studying their power armor and stuff over the various encounters," the lioness murmurs as they settle into the next leg of their mission. "Joints in the legs and the power supplies are the biggest vulnerabilities. Render them unable to move or power their weapons." Her tail lashes. "If they can't fight they can rot in those armor cans for all I care."

Sma'shaw Ihaka has posed:
Having caught wind of an assault against the greatest threat against mutant existence (and the greatest enemy of someone he happened to be crushing on, in the moment), the Landshark was quick to surface off of the coast of the fortified island...and it's captain even quicker to disembark and leap into the maw of the jungles, carving a path with his Kinetic Jumpers. He would've taken the Tornado, but even with how rugged his vehicles are built, cars and un-paved jungles don't mix well, and he liked not having joint pains. Nevertheless, he followed his snout to a familiar scent, letting his body soar through the canopy when he had the juice to boost.

He managed to narrowly evade some of the more heavily armored patrols, ensuring no scout patrol on his way could give away Team Screw Sublime as Wawahi dropped down in a blur of fury and snarl, making quick work of the scouts ala emergency chiropactics against the thicker trees and HIS knees. No need for gunfire yet, he wanted to get linked up with the team before going hot. The growing scent of a familiarity, and smoke too, drew him closer at a more hurried pace...until the suited up Hyena mutate stumbled out into the open, whirling to look at none other than Sally Pride!

"Oiya! Thought Oi smelled somefin' familiar! Snout's nevah in doubt, aye? Nyeheheheh~!" He cackled out loud in his classic yeen wheeze. "Intercepted some panicked radio chattah, 'eard Sublime's foinally gettin' some just desserts. Oi'm 'ere ta help!"

Cable has posed:
Again, it is one of the advantages of relying on telepathy more then other means of communication to keep them all in touch. They can afford to seperate here, to seek out different targets without that much concern. The dense foilage mught provide issues for some other means of technological communication, but unless Sublime can blankket the area in psychic dampeners, nothing is cutting them off.

"Seems as workable a plan as any," Cable agrees quietly, squinting a little as he peers off into the jungle, the sound of tromping from the approaching power mechs echoing through the trees. Though given that cybernetic eye it is entirely possible that Cable can see the approaching forces as well as just hear them.

"Keep in mind that Sublime is our first priority. Don't get too distracted by the good time with all the fodder up ahead," he adds drily, probably as much to Domino as anyone. "I'll hang back a little and serve as the big gun," he adds.

Chances are he means that quite literally. Afterall his arsenal is made up of some very impressive, very impractical weapons that are pretty much impossible to use by anyone who doesn't have a host of superstrength... or some very helpful telekinetic abilities. And indeed, as he spreads open that pack that is much bigger on the inside then the outside, Cable draws out what appears to be a truly impractical weapon, hoisting it up casually.

Still scanning the approaching forces, the grizzled future soldier adds, "Looks like they've managed to equip some of those mechs with rocket packs as well so expect airborn threats too," he adds before Sma'shaw tramps through the jungle, joining them at last. Dipping his head slightly, Cable motions to Dom, Boom Boom and Sally. "Another hand wouldn't be amiss. There's a small army of armored mercs to the east through the jungle standing between us and sublime. Then a bit of a climb up a steep hill and into his fortified villa. Glad to have you along."

As they start out, Cable glances towards Tabitha. "Keep in contact,:" he adds before she slips off on her own, headed towards the waterfront and the solitary harbor there. Once Tabby is clear of the jungle she will find a half-circle of beach flanked at either end by watch towers with heavy weapon emplacements keeping watch out over the sparkling warm ocean waters and the ample docks lined with speedboats, transports... and one very expensive looking yacht that surely belongs to John Sublime.

For the rest of them, the trampling of the approaching forces continues to grow nearer, branches shaking, swaying as they are ripped down by the advancing power mechs, the heavily armed suits looking formidable as rocket launchers and gattling cannons are plainly mounted. But so too are the vulnerable points that Sally mentioned -- those weaker joints and rear-mounted power packs.

Then the jungle is suddenly alight with tracer fire as the roar of those cannons and the first explosions of the launched rockets begin to fall around the team.

Neena Thurman has posed:
"Still rather be here than anywhere else," Domino murmurs, and twisting around at the arrival of 'enemy of my enemy is my friend', the albino merc nods her head once in greeting. "Welcome to the team. Get in line, and it'll be a target rich environment in no time."

Pulling out one of her more practical guns, she flips the safety off with a shift of her thumb and begins to move through.

The rockets that begin to bombard in search of their targets has her running, dodging amongst the foliage, taking cover, back to trunk as shrapnel hits and splinters the forest. Breaking cover, Domino stops and takes level aim at one of the mechs that has come looking for them, having flanked and moved away from their basic, last known position, and shoots.

"Those shells are like a jungle rainy day. Can't you do any better?"

Harassment always gets the attention, right? As well as insults!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The explosions go off and the fire starts. The rockets go to land along them and Monet swears. Those things will make a mess of them even from near detonations. She knows full well what the blast radius of them is. How much damage they do. She's read the files on them from the inventory. She knows also how the timer works.. The units have a charged detonator on them to make sure they don't explode too close to friendly personnel. ANti-personnel rockets that are fired from shoulder launchers either have a minimum yield or a way to prevent friendly fire. Even fanatical troopers won't want to fire an explosive off that will kill themselves with regular use.

So Monet charges forwards, moving to yank two of the rockets from midair before they can go off as they're still set to the minimum distance.. Then she goes to rapidly twist about, and goes to hurl them right back over at the yacht. The two rockets won't damage it much.. But it will hopefully get the point across and give Monet something to castrate someone else over. The two explosives are hurled over, hopefully landing over on the broadside of the ship.. And start it along the path of the old expoistion that any ship can be a minesweeper..

Once.

Sally Pride has posed:
Sally Pride actually laughs for a moment at the yeen's arrival. "I warned you about Subline so you wouldn't get caught in any of his mutant organ harvesting schemes. Didn't expect you to turn up as we're about to kick down his door to rip his ass a new one.... But I doubt anyone's gonna complain about another helping hand to get this done." The assault group as a whole is more than glad for more firepower.

Especially with what's marching up between them and their designated target. Back to serious time. Besides her tip on weak points there is one other advantage they have -- size. Sure the armors are big and intimidating and can just stomp their way through the jungle. But when their intended targets are smaller and more nimble... Which Sally is not afraid to make use of, stalking off to the side of the path they'd been taking.

The size is going to be a big hinderance for the enemy in a moment, as she sights up her aim from the jungle brush and starts taking shots at those said weak points. Disable a leg and it's going to be a -lot- harder for those armors to stomp through the jungle, tearing up the ground and knocking over trees. "Enough to add destruction of natural habitat to the really long list of crimes," she growls under her breath.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
That's lot of Running for Tabby, thankfully she hasn't skimped on cardio and she might still be kind of hyperactive from all the caffeine and sugar she'd loaded up on earlier,

"I always gotta pick the fun jobs!" she mutters aloud while she eyes the Yacht. Just means she has to trash anything else between her and her target.

Luckily she doesn't need hands to do that, or a weapon held in them as she sprints and starts sending bombs up and into the weapon emplacements. Speedboats and other water craft getting some explosive love as well. While she moves to get things in ragne but hopefully herself out of line of sight from enough as explodey as she can be.

Sma'shaw Ihaka has posed:
"A chance to kick a racist wankah between the legs, send 'im to dear ol' Davy Jones, an' you thought Oi'd pass up th' opportunity to score some extra brownie points? Ahhhh Sal, y' underestimate how simple Oi am." He snickers with a big, wily grin under the skull-fashioned helm keeping his gorgeous snout and brain bits protected. His head and ears swiveled to the source of the thumping staccato as the big stompers rolled into view. "Speakin' off...toime ta' bang some tin cans around!"

He drew Lil' Barker from its holster, racking the pump of the oversized sawed-off, its steel maw chewing scrap into hardened rounds of super-heated slag as he took to the air in a bound, using bursts of his jumpers maintain altitude. At least, until he went sliding between the legs one of the mechs, aiming a point-blank shot at one of the joints and letting loose a bark of gunfire that sounded more like a black-powder roar of fury. He howled with adrenaline-fueled glee as he leapt up, letting his jumpers and the Lil' Barker throw his weight around through the air as he did hie absolute best to out-maneuver the mechs and hit 'em where it hurt!

Cable has posed:
Again, while the jungle is suddenly awash in the sounds of battle, in those blazing cannons that echo amongst the trees, of the explosion of rockets that fall out of the sky around them, the sheer cacophony of noise is not nearly so great an impediment to the team as might otherwise be the case. Because a voice in one's head is always perfectly audible, no matter what other chaos might be going on all around them.

Telepathy for the win.

Not that the explosions and cannon fire tearing through trees all around them doesn't present a different sort of distraction of course. Sublime's mercs definitely do not seem to be overly concerned about the fact that they are destroying the jungle all around them in their efforts to get at the invading force and they pour on that fire, apparently convinced that the sheer firepower that they can bring to bear is enough, despite the formidable abilities of their opposition.

In another situation who knows, they might even be right.

But despite the power that is packed into those armored powersuits, the drawbacks of their deployment is also put on display. While they are strong enough and large enough to tramp through the jungle, they cannot do so entirely freely. Given some effort, their rockets and gattling cannons can shread trees sure enough, but even those few seconds of attention devoted there is time taken away from their efforts to wipe out Cable and the rest of the attackers.

And that is time that they just don't really have to spare.

Then the counterstrike comes, swift and hard in it's own right. Domino, Sally and Sma'shaw are all quick targets, and while the sheer firepower of their weapons might not quite equal that of the mechs, it is a whole lot more precise and their speed and manuverability lets them duck and dodge amongst the trees with ease, attacking the powersuited mercs vulnerable spots.

Likewise Monet is much more quick and agile in the air, plucking some of those rockets before they can land amongst the jungle below and hurling them in the direction of the harbor to add the chaos there, to help provide Tabitha with a little bit of an extra hand. But then that quartet of flying meches begin to rise up out of the jungle canopy below, racing towards her. And while the speed of those rocket packs might be a match for her, they're a whole lot less manuverable. Still, tracer fire cuts through the air, chasing the flying telepath around with ruthless aggression.

Cable too plays his part, the oversized cannon cradled in his arms taking aim before spitting brilliant bolts of green death towards the advancing mechs. There is no effort there to go for week joints or power packs here. Where those great bursts of plasma bolts hit, they simply destroy everything in their path.

Sometimes the simple things, the simple approaches, are the best savored.

For Boom-Boom, attacking the harbor on her own is a risk, but a worthwhile one, what with the defenses of Sublime's forces so concentrated on the jungle right at the moment. Those heavy weapons emplacements in the tower could be a problem -- one that she solves rather quickly with her customary explosions, the towers toppling in flaming ruins amongst the docks. Then further explosions begin to rain down amongst the boats berthed at the piers there as a small squad of soldiers race towards the blonde mutant, firing wildly towards the tree line in her general vicinity.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Lovely. These things can keep up with her and the weapons they have will mess her up. Monet goes to try her best to adjust to their firing arcs. Tied to optics, automatic sequencors.. Fire where the eyes orient and target, aided by computers. Weapons are turret mounted and can track. If it's really nasty then the HUD's will give them a full 360 degree view so they can fire even if she gets behind them. The computers will make trying to telepathically distract them difficult. She doesn't necessarily have the strength to deal wtih them quickly and autocannon fire will still vivisect her. And the team is spread out enough and has enough danger going on she can't necessarily expect them to be able to support her.

She goes to dive. Hard. A lmost hitting the ground as it explodes around her with shrapnel, explosives, and fire. She goes to blast along at high speed, simply brute forcing her way thorugh the terrain. Trees, plants, everything builds up around her as she just goes to brute force her way through everything and lets it build up about her. But what this all does as the deritus goes to accumulate around her in the dark, with everything on fire, and the weapons shifting over to some level of electronic fireplans..

It makes it very, very difficult for it to pick her out. So when the guns are busy firing at everything and she's essentially buried herself in a meter or so of goop while moving at Mach 3 (don't ask the physics).. Then when she's close enough to one..

Snap up underneath, grab ankle, twist and shout.

Neena Thurman has posed:
One fade one direction, the other trail in the other. Ultimately, it's a tried and true pincer move that is silently and deftly played. Telepathy works, though 'great minds think alike' in this case. Regardless, as Sally does her thing on one side, Domino is coming in to provide yet more fire on the other.

The noise of the barrage's fury, the brilliant light-show of the blasts as the shells hit the ground is around her, and Domino revels in the chaos. She needs it to function, and she could argue, to live.

As one of the flying mechs takes off, Domino is running, climbing a tree that crumbles under her hands and feet even as she takes to the branches, and launches herself into the air, grabbing at one of the legs as one passes by.

Sliding down as she attempts to gain purchase, Domino pulls out a knife to use it more as a piton rather than a weapon. Right now, anyway.

Sally Pride has posed:
Between the trio's versatile strikes and Cable's BFG they have a fairly effective counter against the armors. Fair from easy, but they're putting the advantages they do have to as much effect as possible.

Doesn't stop one of the powered armored soldiers from trying to track where her shots are coming from and rattling off several rounds. Which split through branches and foliage like a hailstorm. But as the debris of plant matter settles to the ground, there's no sign of a lioness, dead or otherwise.

Because Sally used her feline agility to climb up one of the larger trees, using one clawed hand at the sharp toes of her combat boots while keeping her weapon frimly gripped in the other hand. Until she gets high enough to see the armor trying to track her down.

That's when she puts that agility to another use, leaping from the tree towards the powered armor. And as soon as her boots connect against the armor, her rifle is pointed right at the head, firing loudly at point blank even as she kicks back off of it. "CHEW ON THIS ON THE WAY TO HELL" she practically roars.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
If anyone could hear anything over the racket of explosions and towers falling and people screaming because oh god it hearts. You'd hear a blonde woman in synthetic leather singing The Runaways "Cherry Bomb" at the top of her lungs while she scampers and shuffles from cover to cover. Occasionally make sure any bombs she telekinetically guides to her targets swing wide or circle around where they can hit from the opposite angles.

Those on the mind link can hear the actual song and thankfully be spared Tabitha's terrible singing.

<<So anyone wanna remind me where the helipads are after I get these boats sunk like the ratings of a bad live service video game?>> Tabby asks while she moves to trashing watercraft, and the docks to some of the larger ones.

Sma'shaw Ihaka has posed:
Meanwhile, Sma'shaw flew through the air, propelled by a combination of the Lil' Barker's sheer firepower, and the occasional emergency uppsies n' steering of the Kinetic Jumpers. With every deafening bark came a steel-blistering gout of molten slag and hardened scrap, weakening joints and sending power packs into critical as the heat tolerance went out the window. It had been a long while since the hyena reaaally cut loose, and he was having the time of his life giving these bastards hell and a half.

Lil' Barker was gettin' starved for scraps though, and he leaped up into the canopy where he could have some concealment (and hopefully a safe vantage point from the aim of the mech's weaponry). Reaching into his side pouch, he grabs some scrap steel and jam it into the sawed-off's jagged maw, racking the slide to chew the gun-meal into small rounds and more of that alloy-scalding slag.

Cable has posed:
The speed of the mechs in the air is a formidable thing to be sure, but again, they corner like shit. Especially when they have a whole host of branches and dirt and other detrius flying up into their faces, playing havoc with their sensors and targetting arrays. So while Monet might come under a heap of fire, none of it is particularly guides, greatly reducing the threat.

Nor is their aerial specialist left alone, as the ground team increasingly takes to the tree tops, Sally putting the high ground to use to pick her way amongst the mechs, landing atop them and putting those blasters to good use, attacking them from above, away from the thickest parts of the reinforced armor. And another of the power-suited mercenaries drops, removed from the fray.

Domino tooturns her attention towards one of those fliers, racing through the clearing towards one of the mechs as it starts to lift up. At either end of the clearing, two of the ground-based power suits begins to track the albino mutant, those deadly gatling cannons rising, following her. Even as she grabs hold those cannons continue to track her, racking fire through the spot where she was just moments earlier -- and finding one another instead. Heavy rounds rip through armor as the two mechs shread each other in their efforts to take out Domino, her reckless luck paying dividends again.

Though it does mean that she finds herself clinging to a flying mech as it wings through the air.

Sma'shaw too cuts a swath of destruction through the mechs as well, blasting out that molten slag at the joints of the mechs, rendering several of them more or less useless when they simply can't continue the fight, unable to move or track their foes as the remain more like worthless ornaments on the field of battle, rendered helpless as friendly rocket and cannon fire falls all around them.

One of the flying mechs plows straight into the gorund as it chases after Monet, the wrenching sound of metal being ripped apart echoing through the jungle, and another of the fliers is picked off by Cable's plasma cannon, exploding in a bright green burst of energy as it dips back into view below the jungle canopy up above. Increasingly the force of mechs is scattered, isolated, with only a few still functional.

<< Time to push forward, >> Cable suggests over that mental link, diligently ignoring the steady stream of Tabby's song through that same link. He has learned to ignore a lot of things over the years. << Helipads are up in the villa complex, by the norther cliff face. We're pushing to the hill now, but it will be rough going for us. If you break out ahead, take care. We don't know what sort of backup generators there might be so some of the automated defenses might be up. And Sublime probably has any Transhuman assets there with him so you're more likely to be facing powered opponents, >> Cable cautions.

Certainly for Tabitha, with the ruins of the harbor the numerous watercraft there flaming all around here, there is a paved road twisting up the steep incline. Not the easiest path perhaps, but certainly better then the rougher, steeper climb that the rest of the team faces coming straight out of the jungle to the west.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
They can't get bogged down in jungle fighting. If the enemy is mostl yscattered, then that's good enough if they get slowed in the undergrowth and pursuit. They have a bigger target after all. Monet goes to take a moment while looking exhausted, and then goes towards one of the nearest power armored suits that seems mostly intact. She reaches down and with a YANK goes to remove the mask.. And the onboard computer system with radio uplink and ciphers. Hopefully the security here relies upon numbers and firepower and won't automatically be network cutting.

<<Can you use this to enter their network?>> Theyweren't going to get onsite and get a hardwired socnnection, so they'd have to maek do with just a soldier's one.

Monet goes to fly along after the others, moving to pick up some more weapons along the way. She goes to get up some links of limbs, going to position them together, taking her fingers inside to work over some wires, then moving tot hrow more things upon it.. Working at assembling something that's a solid limb of seven or so meters long with a half dozen random assortments of artillery in various states upon it that she was working through a manual rewire.

<<Domino, I've gotten you a gift>> She would give it to Tabitha but Tabby's a bit further ahead of the rest of them and Domino is a far better shot for what is Monet's improvised Gundam beam cannon.

Sally Pride has posed:
Attacks that were as vicious as they were precise. After all the shit they'd seen and been through Sally had no remorse about going all out against anyone willing to work for Sublime's twisted way.

She drops back down onto the path with a nod as Cable suggests they get on the move again. << Less we linger the better. They will start looking for patrols they loose contact with. >> Hopefully with Tabs causing her own chaos to keep their attention split will prevent getting too much force hammering down on them, but they've still got to be prepared.

She reloads her rifle again as they start moving out, glancing at Sha to check on him. She's half the reason he's here after all, would feel rather bad if something happened to him. But he's proven to be able to handle himself. "That another one of your... special power toys?" she asks the 'yeen, nodding towards Lil Barker.

Neena Thurman has posed:
This once again proves 'friendly fire isn't' as the mechs open up in the grand attempt to take the albino out. Ducking her head, and spinning around the mech, she finds a little cover to keep the bullets from finding her. The treetops are a different story, however, as they skim the tree-line.

Boughs scratch and scrape against her leathers, against her skin, bringing lines of red against a pale white background. Teeth are gritted behind black lips, and with a single maneuver, she's got that knife in hand and plunges it into a crease, into an opening.

Once she feels it give, Domino lets go and begins something of a free-fall, hitting branches, boughs and bursts of leaves on her way down.

*thump*thump*thump*oof*

Always in telepathic communication, there's a soft groan as she picks herself up off the ground and brushes the most egregious bits of forest that attempt to cling. "What?"

Blue eyes move skyward, and there's that grin of understanding. "You're back in my will," Domino declares, and once she's got 'hands' on it, the arms master is working out firing mechanisms. "Not giving this to Nate. He'll just attach it somehow.." is teased.

But, she's on her way; orders, as it were, are orders, and it's time to move out.

"Coming!"

Sma'shaw Ihaka has posed:
As the suggestion to begin pushing the offensive, Sma'shaw switched gears, focusing far less on knocking down every hulking mech he can lay eyes on, and more so punching a hole through the advancing defense detachments. As the mech patrols grew less concentrated, he began to engage them less as a wild, blood thirsty combatant and more of a spear-headed vanguard. Team Screw Sublime needed the path cleared to the Villa. Wait, what was he thinking? Screw conventional thinking!

As he toppled another mech in the clearing, he quickly whistled sharply over the sound of gunfire, scattering debris and shouting. "TORNADOOOO!!! Need ya', lass!" And with the distant roar of steel hauling ass, hell on wheels came plowing through the tree line and skidding to a stop near him. The scrap-armored, twin-rotating-engined muscle car revved its thick off-road wheels, and Sma'shaw didn't hesitate to pile into the driver's side. Clicking his sealtbelt on (safety first), he quickly disregarded all other traffic laws as he slammed the Tornado into high gear, racking the transmission through gears as the vehicle roared ahead, hydraulic-jumping to careen through any opposing mech's joints with far more sturdiness and inertia than a Mad-Max-lookin' car should have been capable of!

Tabitha Smith has posed:
<<Yeah, I'll keep you guys updated. Lemme know if anyone is heading my way?>> she replies back to cable over the psychic party line.

The yacht is the last thing to sink. Tabitha peppering the hull with some many blasts and bombs right up it's aft.

The only direction it's going is down, Hopefully to become a new home for marine life. <<Okay, no cars, no motorboats. Gonna start hauling to the helipad. I swear if there's a landing strip for an airplane here, I'm gonna scream! And you'll hear the loudest F-Bomb ever!>> There's gonna be some leg work.

Every day is leg day.

Cable has posed:
Oh, Nate will find a way to get his hands on Domino's new toy. When it involves an oversized weapon of massive destructive power that is pretty much a guarantee.

For now though only scattered thumps and fire continue to come from the jungle, the small army of mechs for the most part smashed, reduced to solitary soldiers hunting them through the green underbrush -- and mostly just firing off their cannons and rockets pretty much at random. Without a great deal of luck either.

The way might not be precisely clear, but it is about as good as it is going to get. And while trading the jungle for the barren, steep expanse of the hills leading up to the villa on the high ground above means exposing themselves to their enemies, it also means clearn lines of fire for them as well.

Like most things, it's a tradeoff. But a necessary one if they're going to get to Sublime before he can find a way off the island, escaping their grasp once more. At some point you just have to roll the dice, right?

At least they have a pretty good cheat code in Domino's presence amongst them.

<<Understood. We'll do what we can. Wehn you're good, get back in the air Monet and see what you can pick up from overhead,>> Calbe instructs telepathically, already beginning to hoof it, darting in amongst the trees. He's definitely not as light on his feet as some of them, but seems nearly inexhaustable, that ground-eating trot carrying him to the fringe of the tree line.

That cybernetic eye scans the hillside, steep, and rocky and unforgiving, moving all the way up to the walled villa that rests at the top, again guard towers interspersed there, giving clear lines of fire down the slope. <<Do what you can to deal with the towers. I'll deflect as much of the fire as I can with my telekinetic fields. Just try not to get too reckless,>> he adds, a dry note of humor over that telepathic link.

Like any of them would ever be reckless. Noooooo...

There destination is ahead. Their target behind those walls, beyond that field of fire. The future soldier is not about to let Sublime slip through their fingers again. So up he goes.

Almost at once that fire begins to rain down, steady fire tearing into the rocky ground around them. True to his word, Cable's telekinetic field deflects some of the incoming fire, but much of it riccochets alarmingly off of rocks all too close. Legs pumping as he climbs that steep slope, he brings that cannon into play, firing off periodic volleys of that virulent green plasma that tears into the walls and guard towers above with thunderous explosions.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino is a walking set of loaded dice weighted to the benefit of 'the house'. As she, too, starts her trot along the path, she's poking at the controls of her new toy, setting off a spark of flame through one finger, it reaching the length of a couple yards in a straight spray. That's turned off, though embers begin to burn. She leaves the smouldering behind as she continues.

"I see you eying my arm, Nate. No. it's mine. You have your own." It's an affectionate tease, born of many, many, many operations together.

Reckless, however? Always. It's in her genetic makeup! She, too, looks at the wall of rock and stone and rubble before she exhales in an audible, staccato sigh. "Right. Wish this thing had wings."

Domino looks at the wall again, this time with an experienced eye, and once she slings the arm behind her back (without the hand near her butt), she begins to climb, the dirt falling into her eyes as she does.

"Hey M.. would love it if you could find a spot to wrap a rope so climbing is just a little easier?"

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would sigh over at the others. "What's the next layer?" Of defenses? They'd just gotten through the outer ring and they still hadn't come close to the man. And then she's being asked to -carry-? She goes to grumble. "As you wish." She goes to look over for something to flip a rope up and over, moving to fumble around for a few moments before gesturing over at something. She's taking a few moments to just try and catch her breath and reorient herself as things were exploding and on fire.

Like letting Tabitha wander around unsupervised through an S-Mart.

Sally Pride has posed:
Of course there was still going to be defenses. Though now they've got some more interesting targets to potshot at, and she's pretty sure the Tornado is tough enough to handle a few. And they probably didn't expect a suped up wastelander vehicle, that's another point of confusion.

"Mmm. Guess I might need this after all..." Sally had just been using the rifle's iron sight, but after seeing the distance they still have to cross while under fire she's pulled out a proper scope and slides it onto the rifle's toprail. It's not quite sniper rifle level but it's enough to let her take a reasonable shots at those towers inbetween dodging the rounds of fire. Even if she doesn't hit anything too important, it's one more attack from one more different vector, which is a chance that Cable or Domino of someone else with bigger beefier firepower can do the real damage while the defenses are trying to pin down where she's shooting from.

Take a shot, being a moving target. As much as she dislikes what she was put through for training, these times it's really useful.

Sma'shaw Ihaka has posed:
It didn't take long for Sma'shaw to eventually find the winding dirt road leading up to the the entrenched villa. Likewise, it didn't take long for the Tornado to start taking heavy fire from the full frontal assault being thrown from the towers and battlements. Despite the wall and any armored gate that may or may not be in front of his current path, Sma'shaw only stepped on the gas, accelerating the vehicle to an already maddening degree, fighting to maintain traction on the road and stay on target. "C'mon, Tornado, you've been through worse."

He slammed into fifth gear by the time the roaring muscle car took the final corner and was lined up for a straight shot at knocking down the walls, all the while soaking in bullets and plasma as they laid into his poor beut! "WITNESS ME!!" He howled with wild laughter as he gunned the pedal and the Tornado zeroed in on the final barrier, to the horror of the guards perched onto the wall as well as his impromptu teammates.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
The run to the next destination is frought with explosions and gun fire and people shouting to shoot her. But Tabby does her best. the printing more than the bombs is starting t0o wear out those muscles.

She is absolutely gonna try and sneak into Jean's jacuzzi when nobody is around.

<<So once I blow up the air born escape routes I'll try and meet up with the rest of you guys. Unless you wanna go on ahead. I can just hunker down and start booming mooks. Just keep me linked in so I can feed you guys good snark!>>