17860/Mist River Montana

Mist River Montana
Date of Scene:	18 May 2024
Location:	Montana
Synopsis:	The X-Men travel to an idylic Montana farm, where they meet up with Rogue's father, and a close friend who may shed some light on the mystery of the Native American mysticism rituals that caused Rogue's mother's disappearance years earlier.
Cast of Characters:	Rogue, Monet St. Croix, Noriko Ashida, Ororo Munroe, Kitty Pryde, Tabitha Smith, Jean Grey

---

Rogue has posed:
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is finishing up its last week of classes, and as such there is a jovial atmosphere around the school grounds. Parties are planned over the weekend, leading up to the graduation ceremonies next week. People are relatively happy, and eager for the summer months to arrive, while other students are moving on from Xavier's halls, after living at the boarding school for several years now. Bitter sweet moments are a-plenty.

Not long before sunset in Westchester, a call was received, and word went out for X-Men to gather in the briefing room of the X-Men base. A call to aid an ally was requested, and a plan was formulated. It wasn't long before the gathered X-Men team was aboard the Blackbird, and rocketing off to the northwest of the United States, to a remote section of the state of Montana. Countryside, forest land, and periodic bodies of water dotted the landscape, but with the sun having set by the time the SR-77 aircraft arrived in Montana, most of it was not viewable clearly from within the Blackbird's cockpit anyway.

The pilot's were left to rely on their controls, and to make matters a little worse? there was a raging thunderstorm blanketing the region of the idylic state known for its natural beauty.

The sensors of the Blackbird would pick up a series of buildings tucked away near the edges of a large stretch of forest, with a nearby river that wound its way through the normally serene landscape, and the flashes of lightning that were peppering the horizon would periodically reveal that the remote homestead was seemingly under a bit of a lockdown state, as soemthing... was moving all around it. Shadows playing across the rain swept grassy lawns that encircled the home, and its out buildings. There was movement all around the house, like a swarm of dark figures, an army of shadowy beings encroaching upon the farm house that rests at the center of the property fenced-in on all sides.

Those with telepathic abilities would sense a number of life signs down within the farm's main house, personalities laced with fear and anxiety over whatever was taking place outside of what is likely meant to be their peaceful abode, their home from dangers that seems to be preparing to overrun the family within it.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
She was with the team, strapped into the back. She's not putting much effort into telepathically sweeping the area - Jean is superior to everyone else short of the Professor in Cerebro, so it's an inefficient use of her time. Instead as they go in for a landing she would gaze about through the windows of the cockpit, a frown on her face.

"Something is more disturbing than the state of the weather should indicate." Whether or not the weather was unnatural in a way was something more oriented towards the resident weather wizard. Monet would pause, ready to disembark from the X-Jet along with the rest of them while getting ready to peel away from the others to get some lift to start surveying from a higher position if they didn't run into anything immediately upon landing.

Was somethinga ctually amiss here or was it merely hitting all the vibes of a horror movie that had them uneasy? It was easy to let paranoia veer onto the edge of things that weren't there after all.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko can feel the storm, probably not like Storm can, but she can feel it when they approach.  It's hard not to detect the pooling charge.  As for the direct disturbance on the property or the scared minds within, she is none the wiser, but as they near and go through the storm, Noriko fidgets more.  Her knee bounces into a blur and she seems to have troubles sitting still.  Constantly rearranging how she's sitting like someone who can't reach an itch in a cartoon.  She doesn't realize it is rapid.  If she did, she'd probably not even bother trying to make casual poses.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
Storm wasn't one of the psychics on the team, hers was the nature of...nature. Still, she sits in on the approach, her own space in the confines of the jet.

"Nature doesn't always concern itself with the trials and tribulations of humanity or mutant kind...not without a little help anyway..."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Lockheed perches on Kitty's shoulder, holding onto the black and grey X-man uniform that she's wearing. It turns out to be a good choice for what looks like it is going to be a night mission.

Once the plane touches down, Kitty phases through the shoulder straps of her seat as she rises. "Was kind of hoping this would end being on horses, maybe a cattledrive," she says, trying to keep the moment light. Though her eyes go to Rogue, making sure she's ok as it seems like her father might be in danger.

Leaning down, Kitty sticks her head through the Blackbird's floor to take a look around outside. When she doesn't spot anything dangerous immediately around the plane she drops through onto the ground beneath the plane, Lockheed still clinging to her. They move off to crouch behind some bushes and survey the farmstead while she waits to hear more of what is out there.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Boom-Boom actually wore a uniform for a change. Since it was an X-Mission and not just being caught out on the street or trying to do funky sneaky stuff incognito.

So that meant the black and yellow biker look. Black synthleather leggings, jacket with yellow padding on the chest, shoulders, and back. And yellow boots. Most of the spikes and belts gone inlieu of some plain red framed Wayfarers on her nose.

She was not flying the Blackbird this time. There's enough people capable of flying they all have to take turns. "It's a wacky cult settlement. They probably spotted us coming in to land and can't tell if we're with Rogue's dad, or the feds yet." she points out and chuckles.

Storm gets a chuckle out of the blonde. "So like wanna make the bad weather go away? It'll listen to you after all!" she suggests playfully. "I can barely ride, let alone do fancy things like rustling cattle Kitty. Plus you know, we have horses at home." Stable girl Tabby points out.

Jean Grey has posed:
The year end festivities are a little bittersweet for Jean, of course. It's extremely fulfilling to see another crop of students grown and ready to enter the world, and invokes recollections when her own small class became Xavier's first set of graduates. It also echoes what came after. Back then, she'd moved away from the school to go to college, only later fully returning to teach. And now, after stepping down as Headmistress, she'll be off to do - well, who knows what.

This current mission, while perhaps not some grandiose space adventure, reflects that there are many important things for her to be doing. In this case, rather than world-shaking or cosmically significant, it's deeply personal, instead. Rogue has been dealing with shadows of it for her whole life, and Jean, at least, has been helping as best she can since her father first reappeared. If he's in trouble, or needs help, it's an easy call to make.

The fact that they have a whole gang to bring along? Well, that's what being on a team is all about.

At the Blackbird controls, Jean has only recently shifted back to manual as the weather has worstened. She hesitates to immediately ask a quick fix from Storm en route, since they can manage a bit of turbulence and there's no sense being reckless with their powers -ahead- of a confrontation. Although as they get closer and they're able to get sight of the strange shadows surrounding the compound, she glances to Ororo and wonders, "Maybe the bad weather's more useful as cover, what do you think?"

At the same time, she's checking their ground scans for a clear spot - in theory, they could leave the Blackbird flying and all air-drop down, but that's always risky. "I see a field by the barn, no animals outside, gonna put us down there. Let us approach and get a sense of what's happening rather than just hot-dropping in the middle." Not that it isn't tempting. "Last time out, we saw some -weird- stuff on the other side of that portal he opened."

Once the VTOL landing sequence begins, Jean unbuckles and rises from her seat, before turning to stride back toward the soon-to-open gangway. While she's in uniform as well, it's not the more gaudy blue-and-yellow, but her all-black one with the long trenchcoat and yellow detailing and 'X' on the chest. Did she know there were gonna be spooky vibes for it to fit, ahead of time?

Rogue has posed:
When the Blackbird touches down on what was meant to be the horse riding and animal care field, and the crew begins to make their various exits, what they find themselves out inside of is a thunderstorm of apocalyptic proportions. It hasn't even fully arrived yet either, and is still bearing down from the west, the cold air from Canada clashing with the warm air coming from the southern central US. The result is the Mist River Farmstead being battered with high winds, torrential downpour of rain, and the dangers of sporadic bolts of lightning finding targets upon the ground to strike with seemingly random destructive power.

The line of trees to the north west of the Mist River Farmstead were moving so rapidly within the embrace of the winds, that the trees themselves seemed to be alive, dancing as though entertained by the show being put on tonight around the farm that they loom above.

With the Blackbird so close to the Barn, and its Animal Pens, the sounds of frightened horses, and mooing cows, clucking chickens and oinking piglets can be heard like a cacophony song of chaos heralding the night's weather conditions.

But more-over, and worse yet, the shadows that were surrounding the farm could even be seen getting dangerously close to the two story ranch house, with its lone stone chimney that was puffing out a column of smoke from its peak, hinting at the signs of life within.

A blast of thunder, close by, hitting somewhere within the forest to the north, rocks the landscape, and but a second after that, a line of shadows engulfs the wrap-around porch of the ranch's main house, followed by another pair of booms... these booms, however... come from the barrel of what would sound like a 12 gauge shotgun! A female scream echoes out in to the night a second following the shotgun's blast!

Rogue had nodded to Kitty aboard the Jet, she'd pulled her own harness off, adjusted her jacket, and just calmly watched Jean pilot the Jet down. She'd gracefully sprung from her chair, and twisted her body-- in its green and gold suit-- leaving with a rush behind her, chestnut hair and white bangs fluttering around her shoulders as she shot out in to the night through the open Bird hatchway. She took to the air immediately, gaining her bearings as she settled in to the rain fall that was coming down like an ocean falling down upon this besieged ranch here tonight.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
What are they dealing with here? Mutated abominations? Demons? Aliens? Given what they know involved a portal, it doesn't narrow down what the hostilities are. Monet moves to reach down to grab at Tabitha as they land to go out immediately to the field. Also Kitty to drop her off over the farmhouse. She's going to fly at high speed to try and quickly deposit her charge so they can get into combat mode.

Monet goes to fallback to be the telepathic link amongst the team, freeing up Jean and Tabitha for offensive operations while she goes to fly at high speed towards the first batch of shadows - well, the ones nearest to the shotgun blast. She doesn't bother to give anyone else instructions. THeir first priority is hitting the ground and ensuring the safety of the civilians from the picturesque farmhouse that has turned to something built from a nightmare.

The mental link up so the team can coordinate, Monet is flying in towards the sound of the shotgun, intent on unless called off going to try and quickly strike at whatever the things were if possible. Even if they're ethereal or demonic, her presence would hopefully at lesat draw attention away from the civilians, give the rest of the team time to deploy and come up with a combat plan to deal with whatever it is they're facing.

Ororo Munroe has posed:
A swirl of the breeze against her skin as Storm stepped from the jet brought a sigh adding her own breath to the currents before she stretched her arms outward in a motion as if to embrace the beauty of such open space.

Or maybe just because the harness of the Blackbird felt a little confining while riding within.

As the telepathic link was established Ororo's warm, comforting presence flowed through, like at hand at the back of those who might doubt or faulter, before the sound of the blast has them bringing to action.

That breeze swirls, this time carrying the white-haired mutant aloft as she too takes to the air, voltage dancing across her skin as she prepared to let loose a smaller lightning bolt at some of the shadows and clear a path.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is wearing a blue X-Men colored top that wasn't made specifically for her, but she modified to accommodate her gauntlets, leaving the fabric a little jagged near her biceps where it jams into her gauntlet.  She's sporting her blue and orange kicks with some X-Men yellow cargo pants.

Once they finally touch down, Noriko is out of the hatch really quick.  She puts some space between her and the team as she can feel the attraction of the lightning.  She stays within visual range though.  When Monet reaches out, the mental image of a lightning rod flashes out quickly to the group.  Only one person thinks that fast and has trouble keeping her thoughts slow enough.  And only one person would then repeatedly flash that image one or two more times.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde reaches up as Monet flies down to her, grasping her hand and being yanked up into the air by it. Lockheed spreads his wings slightly for alance, but stays tightly gripping Kitty's shoulder.

The already strong wind has the speed of Monet's flight added to it, whipping Kitty's ponytail about behind her. The rain slanting into her face makes it hard to see, but the farmhouse is a large enough structure to spot even in the dark.

As they pass above it, Kitty lets go, hand holding tightly to Lockheed as the X-man and the Flock's greatest warrior disappear through the roof of the farmhouse. Kitty lands on her feet inside the structure and immediately looks about to take quick stock of the situation inside, even as she starts to let the others hear her thoughts of what she's seeing.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Sure the landing might have started getting rough. But they land well enough Soon as Tabitha is walking down the ramp, the winds hit her and with nothing tying her hair back it looks majestic for about three seconds before it all starts flapping to one direction and blowing into her face.

Luckily she has a moment to tie it back in a ponytail, and then a bun before it whaps Monet in the face when she starts hauling the blonde by air.

Unlike Kitty she doesn't let go early. Mostly because landing might leave a bit of a hole in the ground. And maybe she doesn't want to draw that shotgun fire. Buckshot does not look good on her. <<So wanna take a stab at what's getting shot? Demons? IRS?>>

Jean Grey has posed:
The high winds make for plenty of dramatic hair-whipping AND trechcnoat-flapping potential, which Jean takes advantage of as she stands for a dramatic moment on the ramp, surveying the scene ahead. With a hand up, she pushes back a few already damply plastered strands of wild red hair back from one side of her face, while arranging her fingers in the familiar gesture she often uses to focus in her telepathic abilities. There's a lot of mental noise, from the panic of those within.

...And also a lot of the regular old normal kind of noise, booming thunder and booming, well, boom-stick.

<< I don't think we've got time to be too cautious. Let's move in. >> Not that anyone needs to be told! And with the wind and thunder, it's easier to think at everyone, than shout -- not that it isn't normal procedure in the field.

They have a lot of offensive power to call on here, with Ororo feeding off the storm to lay down blasts into the seething masses ahead of them and Rogue and Monet taking the 'fast attack' positions in the air. They probably practice formations, for all of this.

Noriko, of course, is faster still, though Jean quickly picks up on her particular worry. << Right. Give us a full circle recon? I see some out-buildings, too. And if we need to go completely nuclear on these guys, it's gonna be you and Storm up, I think. >>

Jean herself very much forms the rear guard, as the others variously spread out and move in, or 'cheat' their way ahead entirely. While she relies on all of them to relay back anything they see, she probes ahead, toward the source of the noise. << Hello? Sorry to contact you like this, it might be strange -- we're friends of Owen's, come to help. Can you tell us anything about what's happening? >>

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is right there with Monet, the two flying in to attempt to clear out some of the pressure hitting that wrap-around porch that encircles the ranch house. The duo of heavy hitters make contact with the dark shadowy figures crawling their way up toward the house, and both the Southern Belle and the French Connection slam in to, and right through the dark figures, left covered in mud and pale grey ash that is soon washed in to a gross mixture from the heavy rainfall coming down from the dark skies above. Rogue doesn't linger long in thought, merely exchanging a glance at herself, then at Monet. "Keep at it, plow the road!" She shouts over the sound of the rain, wind and thunder. Their presence is acknowledged by the muddy creatures, that which several of break off and move to swarm the two flying women whilst they are low enough to the ground to be swarmed.

Storm's lightning strike has a very direct effect, causing a swath of the dark creatures to spread out from their march toward the farm house, the line of shadowy figures coming in from the west, coming in from the raging river that is being over-filled by the harsh weather conditions tonight. Her lightning strike causes a great confusion in the army of strange creatures, as they spread away from the blast, but continue to move toward the house in a wider berth around from where the bolt had struck.

Kitty dives right on inside the house, finding herself slipping through the upper stories, and right in to the main hallway of the main floor... Right in to the barrel of a long hunting rifle that aims right at her nose. Flashlights shine around the interior, and as the rifle raises up, a light crosses over both of their faces... A young man, Native American born, Kitty's age no less, stares back at her, a look of pure fear upon his face. He stares at Kitty's own face, and seems utterly confused to see a pretty girl where a mud monster should have been?

"Travis!" A woman calls out. "Don't shoot, they're allies!"

The young man with the raven black hair, lowers the rifle, just as the back door bursts open, and two more figures come from the main living room to reinforce the back door. One of them, Kitty might recognize. Owen, Rogue's father. He levels a double barreled shotgun at the back porch, where a giant mud monster bursts through the threshold, only to be blasted in the face by the powerful boomstick! Mud flies in all directions, with a healthy burst of strange ash that flutters about the interior of the home, whilst the second adult man slams the door shut again!

Owen spins around, his hand already reloading his weapon with fresh shells. "Katherine." Owen says to Kitty. "Nice of you to join us." He tells her in a oddly calm voice, though a look of relief still upon his middle aged visage.

"Jean?" Owen asks, looking up as if that'd help him find where the voice was coming from. "We're in trouble here." He speaks out, not being very good at this mental telepathy stuff. he snaps his weapon closed, and marches toward the front of the house while the other adult male keeps watch on the back door. "Travis, get back to the western windows." Owen tells the young man who'd 'greeted' Kitty.

"Jeanie. We have a portal open. It's in the river, down inside it... Beneath the water. They're coming for the key. That's where all this shit is coming from." Owen says, as he looks out the porch toward the chaos being somewhat cleared up by some of the newly arrived X-Men.

"We need the key to get to the portal, they'll shut the damn thing if they know we're close. But we can't get to it like this..." Owen adds as he opens the door, readies his shotgun, and fires at a wave of the mud creatures pulling up behind Monet and his daughter.
Another bolt of natural lightning strikes thunder across the forest to the north, as a strong gust of wind crosses over the property as a whole, causing wind chimes upon the porch's four corners to wildly ring out, with the waves of monsters headed toward the back of the main house no

Ororo Munroe has posed:
The often self-proclaimed "Mistress of the elements" might be able to clear up the weather, force it back to a calmer sunshine but...such things were not only taxing, they weren't useful in this moment.

Besides, Ororo Munroe wasn't known as the mutant 'Sunny with a chance of light winds!'

Swirling in her own corona of climate, Storm's crackling voltage surged over the shadows it could touch, the winds howled and blasted back any that tried to reach the team.

<<I will ensure the path is clear if we must move any civillians in danger, until then we will keep them at bay.>>

Not the leader, but a veteran, Storm herself was in agreement with Jean, attempting to keep the team supported where she can and male the most of this space that had her abilities able to be unleashed more freely.

Rogue has posed:
Another bolt of natural lightning strikes thunder across the forest to the north, as a strong gust of wind crosses over the property as a whole, causing wind chimes upon the porch's four corners to wildly ring out, with the waves of monsters headed toward the back of the main house now that the X-Men have arrived at the front.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Rogue's instructions are simple enough, and Monet goes to do them. She goes to simply charge through the mud creatures (?) or whatever they might be exactly, moving to try and disperse them in as wide a direction as possible. Presuming that they could regenerate or simply link up as much of their form as was around them to respawn, she would go to try to spread them out as much as possible. The further the bits were apart, the longer it would take them to reform.

This meant flying back and forth at high speed, getting covered in mud and gunk from the rain, and having horrid things done to her complexion. Sigh. The things she did for the good of the many.

She goes to keep herself connected to listen to the others, refreshing her mind on the portals, the key.. And what part she could play int his to save as many lives as possible.

She goes to clear the road, and then presuming there are no more -immediate- external threats, she's going to fall back and rendezous with the others, going to try and smash as many other things in the way if she has to to try and keep the perimeter clear.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has realized it's easier for her to communicate when she's flipping between modes with images.  Sub-vocalized thoughts aren't always reliable or slow enough in the moment.  She flashes a hitchhiking thumbs up at Jean's broadcast, Nori's own method of communication giving her away.

The speedster does /not/ have the ability to command the elements beyond being able to suck up energy from the atmosphere and this one is highly charged.  Right after the flash of mental imagery, Noriko shoots out into the rain, allowing trees to give her cover from its annoying impact as she weaves.  After about three spurts, she stops and pulls out some Cheapo Depot swim goggles that look like they'd be more comfortable on a nine year old who doesn't mind raccoon eye suction cup tracks.  Noriko catches Storm's bit about evacuating civilians if necessary, but she knows Jean and the others know she can help out with that if the time comes, so she just goes about her original task.

The speedster weaves through the outbuildings, still bothered by the rain, but not as much.  She scouts the outbuildings as much as she accumulates a sweep of the perimeter.

<<Uh-uh-lots-in-back! In-Back>> Noriko tries to broadcast across the mental link, though it comes across to most probably like barely understandable jibble.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde holds up her hands to try to help keep Travis from shooting her. Well, shooting through her, as seeing the gun pointed her way Kitty stays phased for the moment. "Yes, we're allies," she says, confirming what Owen is telling them.

As the situation is made more clear, Kitty says, "I can get the four of us there safely. Can they see us approach though and close the portal? Or is it just the creatures that we're worried about in getting there?" she asks.

Lockheed stays with Kitty but keeps an eye out towards the door she's not facing, ready to flambe any mud monsters that come through.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Monsters. Okay, that's a reasonable reason for shooting. Tabby of course is also perfectly fine with generating masses of plasma orbs to send and explode. Owen, Travis, and Napi get a waggle finger salute that turns into pointing bombs at extra planar intruders.

The very wicked grin as Boom-Boom's energy is channeled and directed explosively gets aimed at her actual targets while making some effort to not explode anyone human.

Other than Owen, she really doesn't know any of these folks beyond they probably shouldn't be monster food.

"Hey monsters! Go BOOM, fall down!" she taunts loud over the sound of plasmatic explosions starting up amongst the oncoming horde.

Jean Grey has posed:
<< Where's the key? We can clear these things, and probably even the whole river if needs be, >> Jean thinks back at Owen, having no trouble with the combination of mental and spoken conversation. Despite common admonishments to 'think before you speak,' it is, in fact, pretty much impossible to speak without thinking the words first!

In fact, before Owen can even answer her, she 'cheats' ahead a bit, nabbing the answer as he reflexively thinks of it. << Napi? Who's- oh. I see. So, escort mission? We bring him to the portal? Oh, wait, no, that won't work, then.>>

This is where the danger of their enemy sabotaging the whole thing before they can act on it comes up, and it requires a moment longer to think on.

<< Nori, forget all that, we're gonna need you for something specific. Come meet us at the front of the house. >> Jean's cooking!

All of this longer mental back and forth eventually ends with her catching up with the others, to land at the front of the house just as Owen comes out toward the porch. "Hi, Ow- er. Do I get to call you 'dad' yet?" Despite all the drama of their circumstances, she smiles a little awkwardly at that part, as if the world -wasn't- coming apart around them.

When isn't it, for her?

"So... I think I have an idea. We've got someone really fast. I'm thinking we have everyone fight the monsters, tie them up, distract them as much as possible, and then she takes the key and blitzes for the portal. I can cut a channel through the water for her, Moses-style. Hopefully, that means we get it there before they know what's happening to close it."

<< And that means the rest of you... just engage at will. Go as big and loud as you want, we need their attention on you. >> Pause. << Without blowing up the farm. >> That's totally not for Tabitha, or anything.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is piled on by some of the muddy creatures, as she takes up the western edge of the wrap-around porch, trying to block the mud creatures from getting up and toward the doorway. She tosses one arm out, sending one of the muddy creatures flying backward, its bipedal form almost Human, but also shaped in a strange blob-like fashion. Either way, when it smashes in to others within its dark army, it becomes just a mess of wet filth mixed together with the rest. "Look out, Monet!" Rogue shouts, flinging a punch over Monet's shoulder, punching right through where a Human's face would be, only to have her fist go right through the mud, and exploding ash that bursts out the opposite side. "Jump over the house, back them up on the other side." Rogue offers to the French woman who is being rapidly focused on by a large number of these strange creatures.

Storm's continued efforts to redirect the flow of the monsters coming from the distant flooded river continues to have success, as many of the creatures are forced to make wider gaps and flow around the main clearings of the farm, moving now toward more remote pathways around the barn, and the green house respectively, but with the rain beating down upon the ground, the monsterous creatures seem to only spring back up out of the flowing wet earth itself, even when some fall, they seem to reorganize out of the wet rain soaked yard, and the mud pits that surround the edges of the farmland.

Tabitha's bombs, however, are easily making mud puddles out of these odd creatures, each time she detonates one, she'll get a satisfying result of a wave of dark water blossiming out in every direction, momentarily halting the forces coming from the river even more, but they-to seem to reorganize on the ground itself, and begin to rise up again only seconds after being blown apart.

From the house, Owen and Napi join Jean on the front porch, while rifle shots ring out from the north western corner, where Travis is shooting from one of the windows. Owen affords Jean a smirk for just a moment, as he looks around the chaos outside. he reloads his shotgun with more shells pulled from his chest pocket. "If people don't find it weird, I won't complain." He answers her, before the elder Napi chimes in. "I have to go to the river with her, or the key will not be a threat." The man states with a look to Jean, then toward the speedster. His eyes finally go to Kitty. "Can you help clear a pathway?" He asks her in his calm voice.

"Katherine will have your back, Chief." Owen states, snapping his double barrel shotgun closed once more. "Do your thing."

Napi nods once, pulling the key from his back, a tall silvery staff etched in runes and strange markings. Napi strides out on to the front porch of the ranch house, and regards Nori, then Kitty. "Let us go then..." He states, as he starts marching down the steps, his body suddenly transforming in to smoke, from which a massive Dire Wolf emerges from, carrying the staff in his jagged jaws.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
It's not fun in the slightest. "Understood." As Rogue goes to punch right past her, Monet instinctively ducks her head, before going to -whoosh- around to the opposite side. They seem to be at most delaying the inevitable. In the thrashing rain, these things seem to keep on coming in endless numbers. Even if they torched the entire area.. There's little they can do now on the outside but hold the things off as long as possible for the rest of the team.

<<Tabitha, how wide an angle can you blast comfortably without straining yourself? We need to disperse these things for as wide a range as possible. Kinetic and concussive dispersion are only temporary remedies>> Punching goo into goo only went so far when all in life's existence was goo.

Monet goes to rocket around to the other side, closing her eyes and clamping her mouth shut. This is not going to be fun.

What follows is her smashing into several of them at roughly six hundred kilometers an hour, using her body as a ballista bolt. She's NEVER going to feel clean ever again.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
And another hitchhiking thumb gets thrown, though this time it's even wiggling like a little gif.  Instead of coming to a dead stop, Noriko rounds her way back so she doesn't have to modulate her speed, just enjoying the way the rain pricks against her skin.  It also happens to be the quickest route back to the front for her, given all the monsters.

For everyone else, Noriko is there a moment or three after Jean's summons.  "I can take someone with me on my back."  The speedster has always felt more secure about piggyback rides than directly manipulating people's bodies.  That just seems like a way to break someone to her.  Then Napi just turns into a wolf.  "Never mind then."

With all of this charge in the air, Noriko's energy seems boundless and she puts it to good use.  The speedster decides to run around the group as they walk like an electron orbiting a nucleus, but much tighter and more protective.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Shadowcat's affirmative nod is given to Napi. "I'll draw away what I can," she says, and begins trotting down the steps ahead of Napi as he transforms.

Lockheed takes wing, flying off a little distance away and lightning up one of the mud monsters, trying it out until it crumbles. A temporary measure with as hard as it is raining, but swooping low he might draw more of them.

Kitty? She runs forward, punching a mud monster in the head. As it flows towards her to try to drown her, it finds somehow she's behind it. "I've made mud pies more dangerous than you!" Kitty yells at it before running forward again, near to any others that are Napi's path, trying to lead them away.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
She could just keep blasting. It doesn't take much to pop the monsters into ichorish water. But they only just reform soon after.

"Probably don't wanna get any of that stuff on ya. Or in your mouth Monet!" she warns the team as she keeps laying down plasma.

The next batch of the stuff comes with some extra heat behind it. "Lets see if you can flash evaporate." she ponders. The blonde's arms sweeping around as she turns and pivots somewhere between a dance and a kata.

At least so far she's having fun.

<<Shame these things be like all mindless. If we could like make them scared. Also, on a scale of blowing bubbles to Cyclops with his glasses off? About two thirds from that I can probably keep up for a while. Maybe if we're lucky all this extra heat will dry them out. We be kiln it out here!>> she ponders ideas.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean can't help herself from beaming a little at Owen's answer - totally unrelated to the task at hand!

That aside, they've still got a job to do. She has a plan, although as Napi quickly explains, there's a bit of a hitch to it, but not one that can't be overcome. "As long as you think you can make it there fast enough, before they cut it off. Noriko might even be able to-" Yes, it seems both she and the speedster had the same line of thinking there, in terms of Napi maybe getting a lift. And they have similar reactions, when he deploys his very impressive smokey transformation. She glances back at Owen. "Seems like you've got help from all corners, hmm?"

With the play called and the plan set, they're ready to go. << I'll hold back on the water until you're close, so we don't tip our hands. Everyone else, bring it as hard as you've got! >>

After that, the theme music picks up, and they all go to work. Jean herself joins in the initial distraction play as well, flying out to join the others and making a few token efforts at battling the mud-creatures, reaching out toward one and another to blast them apart with simple telekinetic force. Still, she drifts closer toward the river, waiting until what seems like the opportune moment, and then she turns.

The weight of a river would be far too much for her to handle, sans firebird. It isn't just that water is heavy (which it is), it's also that, well, it keeps coming from its source, as good as infinite from their perspective. But water has another useful property, in how it tends to follow the path of least resistance. She doesn't have to lift the river, or even push aside all that volume. She doesn't have to move the water at all, in fact. All she has to do, is shape it's course.

Rising, one hand to her temple and the other outstretched, at first nothing happens, and then a lot happens very fast. Upriver of the position of the portal (which she has perhaps garnered from someone's helpful thoughts), she lays a simple, if enlongated V shape, two telekinetic walls set at a slight angle. As the water of the river hits the narrower end, it splits, veering off to either side. As the water further downriver continues on its course, this has the effect of suddenly exposing a patch of the riverbed in the space between. And on the bottom, at the center, the glowing oval shape that they apparently are seeking.

Of course, it's not perfect. With the heavy rain, the river is already running high, and her 'diversion' essentially floods the nearby banks. They'll have to jump or cover the water at the sides, but in the center, their goal lays open and clear. << Go! >>

Rogue has posed:
With the south side of the house being protected by the majority of the team, the mud people seem to be pushing toward the north side, the back of the house. This is the side that Travis is protecting, ducking out a window and firing off his rifle. He has the benefit of the backyard having a rather nice stone wall encircling it, helping funnel some of the mud people in to a choke-point, and his rifle is being expertly used to dash the would-be heads of the mud monsters, creating a growing lake of muddy ash-coated water that the creatures begin to rise again from.

But a scream, a female scream, comes from the cellar doors just outside the main house. The doors had been ripped apart and torn open, leaving whomever it was that was taking shelter there-in vulnerable to a siege from the creatures. Travis reacts to this, by leaping out the open window, raising his rifle and shouting something in to the madness of the hard rain, as he tries to get to the cellar doors as rapidly as he can. He ends up out in the yard, getting surrounded on all sides by the mud men that are closing in upon the young man.

Up on the rough, Rogue is battling the mud creatures off of it, casting several of them down where they tumble to the yard, bursting in to gross bubbles of mud and ash. She stands at the peak, watching the group of runners making a rush across the yard to the west, her hair plastered down to her head and down the back of her suit. Rogue notes the situation on the ground, seeing Travis under attack. "Help him out, Monet. I got the cellar doors." Rogue states, dropping off the roof, and gliding down through the rain with one knee bent and her hands out to the sides...

Out on the run, as Jean prepares her river barrier, Napi rushes toward the raging waterway. With the help of Nori creating a unique barrier of her own, and Kitty helping to create a phasing safety, the massive wolf rushes onward, the mud men trying to block him, while he utilizes Kitty's ability to help phase right through them.

The group ends up at the river within a matter of minutes, Napi still clutching the long silver key between his teeth. He snarls loudly, his wolfen head looking toward the two women who'd accompanied him to the river, only to find it raging with flood waters...

But when they part, the wolf reacts. His muscles flex, and he rushes forward, darting toward the portal as it is revealed.

The portal? It's huge. a hundred feet wide on one side, fifty some feet on the other. It boils beneath the water, its massive pink-glowing form a gargling chasm of odd energy, crackling lightning, and a display of white ash flowing out from within it, like reverse snow, falling 'upward' in to the air above it, where it had previously been taking root in the mud, creating the monsters, the portal now seems a bit out of whack with the removal of the water that had been flowing rapidly overtop it.

Napi dashes in through the mud, the dire wolf being sunk down in to the muddy river water, with mud creature hands trying to pull him down in to the sloppy mess, while the wolf growls loudly around the silver spike in his jaws!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
At Rogue's instructions, Monet goes to speak along the mindlink <<Will do>> Then she's going to barrel along and goes to send a quick telepathic signal to Travis <<Brace to the left, hold your breath>> She goes to barrel towards him to quickly pick him up and reposition him, going to quickly grab Travis, move him several meters away while keeping her body between him and the attackers, and then going towards the mud creatures. They weren't even capable of holding the line..

<<These things are clearly being directed and have some level of tactical awareness and coordination. They are not mindless constructs>> If they were mindless, they would keep on swarming from the same direction relentlessly. Instead? They were coming from multiple directions, and when being held off from one, were striking from another route. So something had to be directing them. Scanning the area mentally gave more fruitless results - so Monet had to presume that whatever was directing them was magical in nature.

A quick bum rush to once again smash into the nearest things, trying to make sure to keep Travis out of the danger zone.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko comes to a slow when they near the river.  She takes a moment (one of hers) to stretch out her arms and legs as she watches the weird ash rising up.

"Eww, it's like its burping," can be heard right before Napi dashes into the mud.  "Woah!"  Noriko doesn't hesitate.  She tries to pull the mud hands off of the wolf, but it is hard for her to know the correct amount of pressure to apply for it to be effective.  After a moment, she calibrates to the wolf's movements and goes faster, trying to swat away mud hands like she's at a county fair playing whack-a-mole.  Her gauntlets weren't made for this, but they are holding up well enough.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha's energy reserves are sadly finite, despite the semblance of hyperactivity sometimes. Right now they're going to keeping mud monster minions at bay by flash frying any caught in explosions or streams.

<<Nah, my money is drones.>> she posits in counter to Monet's suggestion. <<Otherwise, they'd be all fear and stuff!>> she adds as sweeping arms direct her blasts in wide arcs, plasma bombs flying like an anime missile swarm.

The portal is huge and Tabby winces with a look of fatigue. <<I can't boom that big. Not without chemical assistance. But something that big means something bigger gonna come though. That maybe. Like BOOM headshot.>> it's an asspull of an idea. Do they even want some big bad coming through? Probably not. <<Make a bomb and have Rogue jam it in it's mouth like a jawbreaker that's been in a microwave.>>

Jean Grey has posed:
Hovering above the riverbank, Jean grits her teeth. While she has chosen an efficient way to part the river, this does not imply the task is _easy_. That tremendous weight of water, even if she doesn't have to lift it, still exerts itself against the near-invisible barriers as the waves of water thrash and whorl their way along. << Whatever you're going to do down there, do it quickly... >>

Internally, she battles the usual intrusive thoughts, options that burn at the back of her mind: the water is but captive, intertwined atoms made something larger. Rip the bonds, tear them apart, and it will simply evaporate away...

No, not for now.

Still, it really takes all Jean's concentration to maintain, leaving her unable to do much to aid the others, be they down in the riverbed or fighting elsewhere on the farm.

Yet, once more, this is why they are a -team-, stronger as a whole than any of their individual parts. Though the mind-link may offer opportunities for tactical coordination, hours in the Danger Room mean it is rarely even necessary. Everyone knows their jobs, and even when the situation changes, they are ready to react and adapt. Her mind flicks to Travis a moment before Monet saves him, back to Napi before Noriko springs into action to help free him. Everyone, doing their parts.

<< The one time something big came through,>> she echoes after Tabi, << it took the Phoenix to wrestle it back. I'm hoping with that key, whatever plan they've got, maybe we get control of it instead... >> Ultimately, she has to have faith in Owen's half of this whole thing, and in his new ally. << Anyone who's plate isn't full, clear around the rest of the house. >>

Rogue has posed:
Owen ends up at the cellar doorway just as his daughter lands beside him. "Napi's family." He explains to Rogue, before he dashes down the stone steps, only to end up knee deep in flood waters that had been filling up the basement. Rogue moves in after him, sans her jacket, she's in her bodysuit soaked through by the rain, her tall yellow boots sloshing through the water as she eyes five more members of Napi's people. "What happened?" owen asks, only to get a frantic series of answers from three of the people in the basement. "The storm drain has hands?" He asks, his shotgun raising up as he marches toward it. "Pumpkin, get them outta here." Owen tells his daughter, who is quick to usher the others out of the cellar and back up in to the yard where Monet and Tabi are keeping the side clear...

Back at the river, with Storm acting as a continued buffer against a seemingly endless onslaught of mud monsters, Kitty joins Nori at her side with Napi in his muddy wolfen form. Kitty is quick to act, leaping on the back of the Dire Wolf, clutching around his sides, as Lockheed zips down overhead, laying a blanket of fire breath down upon the eastern flank of grabbing mud hands! The purple dragon swoops back up in to the air, as hard rain continues to fall where the river once flowed... But with Kitty on Napi's back now, the Wolf is suddenly free to make the rest of the run toward the portal's edge, and as Jean calls out... the wolf returns to smoke form.

Once more the Elder man steps out of the smoke, the silver staff back in hand. He eyes the portal with a disdain, calm but cold. he clutches the silver staff at his side, and begins to quietly chant something in a language certainly not English...

It only takes a few moments of chanting before the portal itself begins to shimmer, quiver even as though the massive, gaping, hole was afraid of the words that the aged man was channeling through that silver staff in his possession...

Jean would notice something there-in, out of the corner of her eyes. A figure is casually leaning against a stone that seems to be free of any danger from the flood waters. A man in black, a black suit to be quite specific. He is simply casually leaning against the large boulder, clutching a black fedora hat in front of him. He's watching all of this unfold, and he's simply... smiling at it. His deep sunken eyes look up to the sky, locking directly on to that of Jean's own. He continues to smile toward her, an expression of self satisfaction. He's... not even registering with a mental presence either, he's simply visually there, but not physically there?

As the portal shimmers, shakes, and begins to crumple in upon itself, a flash of lightning lights up the darkness all around the Mist River farmstead, striking across the profile of the man in the black suit, who casually raises his hat up... his body entirely unaffected by the rain, he's dry as a bone in the middle of a deadly desert. He places his hat upon his head, and offers a casual salute toward Jean, from where he leans against that large rocka good distance away from the river itself, and the portal that suddenly snaps shut in what would be the river's heart.

The second the portal snaps closed, all remaining mud creatures suddenly go full liquid, splashing to the ground, and leaving only the sounds of the storm, and the world around the X-Men that it pounds down upon.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
<<We hit it from the outside last time. This time we hit it internally!>> Boom-Boom suggests over the mind link. "Like how a .22 bullet might not get past a skull. But if you get it through an eyesocket, it'll bounce around and shred it's brain.>> It's an idea at least.

Thankfully she doesn't have to try and put her idea into practice. There's some funky goings on with portals closing and big honking lightning bolts. And finally the portals are done and all the mud mooks are just mud.

Thankfully Boom-Boom has enough juice in the tank that she can stay upright. She's got enough gunk on her. "Never mind then. Is this it, is the damn thing staying closed? Are we gonna have to go in there or something?" better to find out now so she can plan her inevitable exhausted groaning.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean is concentrating, to be sure, but still it is almost impossible to miss the man that appears. As much as his apperance is subtle, all dark silhouette and colors against an equally dark and stormy night, there is just something about him that stands out and demands attention. Some kind of sympathetic recognition, perhaps, or any number of obscure things. Reflexively, she reaches to feel 'who' is there, but finds only another empty blank, before the figure tips his hat and is gone.

It's unnerving.

And maybe distracting, yet the sudden closure of the portal and everything else that follows quickly snaps her attention back to reality. Whoever, whatever he was, it's a problem for another night. For now... well, she just wants to 'let go' of this river before she passes out or floods the area. Thus, she waits only as long as it takes for Noriko and Napi to get clear and barely an instant further, before she lets those walls of nothing collapse. If she had time, maybe she'd do it a little more gracefully, but in this case, the water comes rushing back in at a powerful rate, the sudden changes, the clashing currents and flows causing upheavals and huge splashes both inward and outward over the banks, before the liquid has time to 'settle' back into its normal path, erasing all memory of her interference.

Slowly, she drifts down to the ground nearby. "Is everyone-" A quick tally tells her that things are mostly fine, and she glances over toward Tabitha, and back toward the water. "I think, probably? I admit, I still don't fully understand what's happening with all of this..."

And inevitably, her gaze falls to Napi, especially since Owen and Rogue are elsewhere. "...but maybe now we can get some answers. Anyway. If everyone's alright and those creatures are gone... let's get inside for now. Figure people are going to want to wash up all this mud." No showers on the Blackbird!

Rogue has posed:
By the time that Jean had the river water settled back in to its natural state of being raging with flood levels, the storm had started to die down. The thunder was rumbling off to the east, and the rain was a lot lighter. Napi, Kitty, Lockheed and hopefully Nori too, all made their trek back to the farm property, where Jean descended out of the sky. Along the way, Napi was casually pointing out parts of the farm to Nori and Kitty, telling them the various bits of lore, and little stories he had on his mind about the family property, in a display of casual kindness, and an odd way of calmly moving past what they'd just bared through back there.

But, with Jean's return, and the rest of the situation settling down, Napi holds that tall silver staff up at his side, and nods once to Jean. "Thank you." He says. "Your people's arrival was timely, to say the least." He added, before his gaze went to the rest of his family. "Travis. Go check on the horses. Take your sister with you." He tells the young man, who nods toward his grandfather, and moves around the house, shouting after his younger sister who reluctantly leaves her other siblings on the porch to join her older brother.

Owen, and Rogue, both come up out of the storm cellar, walking to regroup with everyone else, as Napi motions toward the house. "We will prepare food, and help everyone clean up. Then... we will talk about all of..." He motions around the house, "... all of this..." He says, openly sighing as he walks across the rain drenched grass of his front lawn. His right hand motions dismissively toward Owen.

"And how it is all his fault." He grumpily adds as he starts up the front steps to the porch, to the waiting arms of the other members of his family, coming to check on their beloved grandfather.

Another rumble of thunder rolls across the sky to the east, a light rain pattering upon the ground, while the adornments hanging from the porch edges continue to sway, a few dream catchers glinting ambient light off of their gilded edges.

Owen, with a mock look of offense on his face, glances between Rogue, and the rest of the X-Men. "It's not /my/ fault." He says, as he flicks the safety on his shotgun on, and slips in in to the leather holster hanging from his left hip.