18006/Through A Mirror Darkly: Attack On The Atom Smasher

Through A Mirror Darkly: Attack On The Atom Smasher
Date of Scene:	02 June 2024
Location:	CERN: The Large Hadron Collider -- French-Swiss Border
Synopsis:	A select strike team of heroes shows up at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN to try and stop Stryfe and the Mutant Liberation Front from achieving their ends. But just what are those ends...
Cast of Characters:	Cable, Monet St. Croix, Paige Guthrie, Kurt Wagner, Karolina Dean, Marie-Ange Colbert, Charles Xavier, Bishop, Lorna Dane

---

Cable has posed:
It is not the sort of place that one expects to find trouble. Indeed, it was build specifically in this region to try and avoid trouble.

The place? CERN, a European organization dedicated to scientific research, built on the French-Swiss border close to Generva. Home of the Large Hadron collider, certainly an impressive construct from an engineering perspective. Even moreso from a scientific one.

While unlocking the secrets of the university might be important, even at times controversial, it is still the sort of place that one might expect scientific arguments. Not terrorist attacks.

Still word has leaked out into the superhero community -- especially the mutant one -- that this bastion of knowledge, discovery and inquiry is likey to be the next target of the Mutant Liberation Front,

The why's of it? That is considerably more difficult to determine.

There is no doubt that the timelost soldier of the future, Cable, had more then a little to do with unearthing these latest intentions. Tracking down leads like this, finding interested parties to help deal threats like this is probably where he spends a great deal of his time and effort.

And while he most often makes use of his allies in X-Force for jobs like this, sometimes a broader response is required. Fortunately Cable has a way of knowing a very diverse set of people.

And for those that he doesn't know as well, for those that maybe he is not on quite so good terms with? That's what leaking details to a few select ears is for.

Some of the people he might believe are necessary for any task might not see eye to eye with him. But they tend to be the sort that can't just stand casually aside either. Not when they can stop individuals up to no good.

Even moreso when mutants are involved.

Despite their claims to be interested in mutant liberation, to free homo superior from humanity's wrongdoings, thus far Stryfe and his fellow recruits haven't exactly cast mutants in the best light. And while reaction in the mutant community itself might be a little more mixed, they are still a threat.

Especially given that just what they want with the Large Hadron collider is something of a mystery.

While it might still be early evening back on the eastern coast of North America, the midnight hour has settled in on the Frech-Swiss border. Nestled inbetween the mountain range of the Alps, the above ground buildings present a truly stunning view, especially at this elevation with such a clear sky.

But the Large Hadron Collider itself? That's located underground of course. A twenty-seven kilometer ring running beneath those same mountains, with all the necessary support facilities, laboratories and power plants to challenge one of the scientific wonders of the modern world.

Not the most accessible place. But that doesn't present much of a problem to Cable and those with him as the satelitte Greymalkin completes the process of bodysliding the team to their destination.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
She's along with Cable and has a bone to pick with the Mutant Liberation Front. And to figur eout what they've done to Paige. But mostly to beat up Stryfe. There is concern over in her eyes over as the group goes to arrive, and she moves to cock her head about quietly as they would teleport in, listening. The others had her beat by far in psionics, but hopefully her slightly enhanced hearing might pick something up. They were alone but for the low buzzing of the carefully calibrated electronics, and for kilometers along.. Hopefully that would make it easier to pick up something out of place.

Of course, likely the same was true in reverse and someone could hear them. Or if the fizzle-pop of their teleportation echoed as well. Sheg oes to instinctively look at the ring, seeing if it was reacting in any way to the teleportion. Along while cautiously going to try and make sure she was ready for a defensive position with the rest of the group to protect them if need be.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
Speak of the devil and she shall appear! Or at least, go with you on a mission in which she may or may not betray you to the foes at hand. In an effort to keep an eye on the omnimorph, she was tasked to follow along with Cable and the others.

Looking somewhat confused, she looks around with a stagewhisper, "What do they want with the Large Hadron Collider? Are they going to try to make a mini black hole or something? That makes -no sense-."

Kurt Wagner has posed:
It is not often that Kurt finds himself working side by side with Cable.

For one thing it is not like the man is a frequent visitor to the school. For another, while Kurt is no stranger to a fight, a willingness to throw himself into danger to protect others, it usually feels like the mission profile for Cable, for X-Force, is a tad more bloody and depressing then he really prefers.

But after what happened in Bushwick, the suspicions that Stryfe and the MLF might have been much more involved in that tragedy then it appeared on first glance, well, that's all the motivation that a certain fuzzy blue elf needs to put aside his usual concern.

While he could likely get down into these tunnels himself, he doesn't exactly object to hitching a ride for a change, fuzzing into existence without that customary plume of inky smoke enveloping him, glancing along the stretch of deserted tunnel that they seem to find themselves in. "I would hope not. That would seem rather self-defeating," Kurt says with a shake of his head.

But his time with the X-Men have shown that some people are just, well, crazy. So who knows.

Karolina Dean has posed:
Karolina Dean is _not_ a mutant.

She's an alien.

...and an undergrad at Empire State University (GO BLUEBIRDS!).

...and a prospective member of the Titans. _Very_ prospective. As in, she was still trying to balance the 'superhero' thing with school, but she had friends in the Titans... even if she didn't have a costume. She _also_ had friends in school, who objected strongly to her explanation of, "I have to go do a thing at the LHC -- I have to! I'm _made_ of energy. This is my _thing_!"

She didn't elaborate that she'd nearly gotten her butt handed to her in a fight in a park the other day, though. That really wasn't going to help her cause.

She probably got a little flak when she showed up to help in a blousy crop top, jeans, and tennis shoes, looking like just about every other blonde ESU student you might bump into in the cafeteria eating one of the vegan meals -- tall, maybe a little too skinny. She didn't have a fancy X-Force outfit or X-Man outfit or X-anything outfit. What she did have, though, was a medical alert bracelet, which she slipped into her pocket.

And once she did?

She glows. Her translucent skin radiates with light, that long mane of blonde hair seeming to almost catch fire as it flamed into a long tail of multi-colored energy that flowed behind her as if on some unfelt solar wind.

"I'm Karolina." She pronounced the end as 'LEENA'. "I can absorb energy," she explained with a confident little grin. "I just want to help."

But she didn't stay that way for long -- just enough to earn herself a ride, to find a seat, and to settle in for what was to come.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
It's not the sort of place where one expects to find trouble... unless one is a precognitive who obsessively (though, not quite as obsessively as she once did) reads her tarot cards before situations that might be important.

Which is why Marie-Ange Colbert came ready for a fight. Clad in her blue and yellow X-Men uniform, but combined with the utility belt with a pouch for her cards, and straps make an 'X' across her which sheathe a pair of steel sticks borrowed from her old New Mutants uniform, to ensure that powers or no, she won't be unarmed. The self-proclaimed servant of Fate knows her duty, and today it involves following Cable's command.

She stands near the time-displaced man -- a claim she believes without question -- as they bodyslide into existance, but no less than a couple of feet behind. A visible show of deference, and, realistically... she's about as far from a leader as one gets.

Speaking up after Paige and Kurt, "The cards were not as clear as I would have liked on this matter, mon amis. We must be prepared for anything, oui?" And to Karolina a little grin is offered. "Je m'appelle Tarot. Enchante, Mademoiselle Karolina."

Charles Xavier has posed:
The Man Called Cable. Even now, a bit of an enigma.

Professor X (Codenames on the field, students.) stumbles a little, rubbing his bad arm after bodysliding. It was never a pleasant experience and the first few seconds are spent making sure his bronze hover chair's systems aren't compromised. He tries not to have an ego about it but the hard fact is Xavier is always a bit embarrassed when his chair blows up and one of the students has to carry him.

"I can imagine any number of things Stryfe's knowledge of future technology could use this equipment for, Husk." Professor X says, hovering out of the landing pad and looking at Karolina. The man smiles. "That's all anyone can ask for, Karolina."

Xavier gets the pronunciation right first try, but he always does. Resisting the urge to bark orders, Xavier looks over to Cable, who's the most experienced with this case and, crucially, their ride. Manners.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop is very glad The Professor is back. He made that clear during the meeting the other evening along with his opinions on the direction that the X-Men should be taking going forward.

So naturally this means he's not comfortable with Charles being here in the field on a mission that might very well require the more extreme sanctioning efforts of X-Force to deal with not to mention the 'Must Protect The King!' instincts that are now on full alert with The Professor here in field with them. Never you mind that Charles has been taking care of himself and others for far longer then anyone else present has been alive. His name -is- Bishop after all.

So he stays close. Very close. Not moving too far from Charles and the hover chair though one can only imagine what that chair will pull off if Charles is in any true physical danger.

"These killers have a variety of powers at their disposal and are trained to work as a team. Expect temporal manipulation, kinetic shockwaves and teleportation. I can't speak to their telepathic vulnerability but I suspect they'll be prepared for that as well."

He gives Kurt and Monet both a quick glance along with a side glance back to the Professor, stating in unspoken terms what he feels they need to keep an eye on in this potential mixup. One doesn't need to be a telepath to pick up on that though no doubt he's not doing a good job of keeping stray thoughts on that from leaving his mind.

His XSE Blasters are then out and ready.

"If anybody's got any spare energy to send my way, do it now." he says roughly though he says, after a momentary pause. "Please."

Lorna Dane has posed:
"You can't imagine the potential threat posed by a bunch of terrorists having access to technology on this level--?"

Even as someone personally experienced with Paige's current radicalization, Lorna can't help a bemused, narrow-eyed glance at the omnimorph. Then again, maybe it's less a matter of brainwashing; maybe the girl is just sheltered. Not every student at Xavier spent as much of their curriculum in far-off places, fighting strange foes as she did; not every student was made to learn the myriad ways that wonder could be transmuted into horror with just a little good old fashioned human ingenuity.

Eyes lidding, Polaris takes a deep, deep breath and braces herself before the 'slide.

On the other side, the woman clad in a shimmering green bodysuit, lighter toned emerald leggings; and utterly sheer, ferrofabric paneling over her otherwise exposed sides that only gives a hint of its existence in the right light, from the right angle braces her hand against a wall and counts to three. She's grown very used to teleportation over the past few years, but the bodyslide is an unfamiliar vector-- and every vector's just a little bit different from every one vector.

"Can we get a link?" she wonders, glancing between Nathan and Charles.

Lingering on Charles afterwards, pensive; lips just barely ajar as if on the verge of something further.

EARLIER

"I'm sorry that I haven't been able to drop by yet-- I heard," Lorna Dane briskly murmurs, wrapping her arms firmly around her shoulders and tucking her chin against his shoulder, "and I would have rathered we saw each other under less shitty circumstances... but I'm glad you're back, Professor."

NOW

Nothing comes out, however, until she shifts her attention to Karolina. The twinkling rainbow blonde gets a brief, taut smile and a slight dip of her head. "This is your fight as much as it's any of ours, no matter WHO you are-- if you're Different, then pushing cretins like the MLF off the board is gonna help you as much as anyone else..." she exhales, looking the student up and down.

"Thank you," she then echoes as she meets Ms. Dean's eyes.

Cable has posed:
It might be fair to question Cable's decision making in just who he has tried to lure into this mission.

Paige Guthrie might very well be working for the other side. The last time that Cable saw her at least she was following Stryfe and the rest of the Mutant Liberation Front into a rift before disappearing from Bushwick. Then again, the future soldier does seem the sort to keep his friends close and his enemies closer.

Though the friends might be kept at arm's length.

Nor is Karolina Dean doesn't exactly give off vibes of being an experienced hand at this sort of thing by any measure. But again, Cable has shown that he isn't exactly opposed from bring the young into his war. And of course she absorbs energy. That could be pretty handy given that they are in the middle of a super-collider.

The other's all make a little more sense. Monet is an old hand in X-Force, tried, tempered and trusted. Xavier is one of if not the world's strongest telepaths. Another teleporter in Kurt. A Precog in Marie-Ange, a combat specialist and another energy absorber in Bishop. And ofcourse the Mistress of Magnetism.

It's a pretty potent lot, one that the grizzled soldier from the future seems to believe could be a match for the MLF.

"I wasn't able to determine their intentions here," Cable concedes. Grudgingly. Like any soldier he doesn't like operating without proper intel. It's... messy.

But he's also a realist. You don't always get what you want.

"But Professor X is right. Chances are there is a method to Stryfe's madness. I doubt he's here to blow this place up. He probably has figured out some way to put it to use," he agrees with a nod for the founder of the X-Men.

"If you two could reach out telepathically, see if you can pick up any mental activity? That won't necessarily narrow it down. It's almost a certainty that there will be some scientists and technicians about. They're not likely to let a little thing like the late hour prevent them from getting their lab time. Which means Stryfe could have hostages," he says, glancing towards Monet and Charles before giving Lorna a brief nod. "A link is definitely a good idea.>>

For someone with fairly potent psi abilities himself, Cable almost never uses them unless he has no other choice. It tends to have an... unfortunate effect. Having an arm and part of his face metal is quite enough, thank you.

"Polaris, if you could perhaps see if you can detect any magnetic disruptions that might narrow down where we want to head. Otherwise twenty-seven kilomets is a lot of ground to cover," he notes flatly, all business. "And splitting up is not ideal." Which might be too mild a way to put it.

Biishop has clearly appointed imself Charle's bodyguard -- and he can't blame him for that -- so Cable glances towards Paige, Karolena and Marie-Ange. "You three stick close to me." He's ruthless, yes, but he doesn't intend to toss anyone into the lion's den either.

Not if he doesn't have to at least.

"Nightcrawler, if you could perhaps play forward scout and start searching while we wait on what the telepaths and Polaris can find?" he suggests.

Methodical.
5rHis reasons for seeking out those that he has perhaps becomes a little more obvious.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Paige isn't being mentally manipulated as far as Monet has been able to tell. She's not been coerced. She's been lead to believe. And unfortunately Monet is not allowed to telepathically wipe the ideas from the woman's mind. Oh no, she has to learn better on her /own/. As far as Monet can guess if not 'keep your enemies closer' then Paige is htere to hopefully see firsthand whatever it is that the MLF is doing so she may understand things a bit deeper. The girl is impressionable and.. Sincere. Having faith that one can improve things is a rare thing in a world of cynicism. Not that Monet would ever, ever be caught saying or thinking such a thing.

She would pause over and give a scan ahead and move to head along to go and link up mentally with the team, trying to sweep ahead and also keep the group in a mindlink. She'll let Charles do the primary scanning while she keeps the team together. She pauses, considering giving out instructions but deciding that there's no sense in overcomplicating the chain of command now as she would consider.

"If they're here then it's for salvage of a sort." Whatever Stryfe was she had a sense that he didn't need such an electron collider for research purposes. But also the area was heavily isolated, deep underground, heavily shielded.. Remembering some other X-Force missions with Sublime.. Cable can probably pick up Monet's irritation if they were going in to /another/ trap.

Paige Guthrie has posed:
"They can teleport in and out. They might not even be here yet." Paige brings that little factoid up, as if to remind people about the masked one's existence. "And you forgot to mention, there are a few other members. One of them can shrink, Thumbelina. Another can fire stinging blasts, Dragoness."

Waittaminute, what? She has intel on the MLF as well. Could she be playing both sides? Or is she a sleeper agent for Xavier sent to infiltrate the MLF by making the Xavierites believe that she's betraying them. All this can be terribly confusing, but such is the case of these things.

"Just thought I'd mention it." Husk continues sheepishly, knowing full well most of the capabilities of the MLF in this case. "But I'll stick close. If things get really bad, just stand behind me." she tells Karolina and Marie-Ange. The latter would know about her Paigelossus mode after all.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
In all fairness, Kurt isn't exactly a stranger to playing the role that is being asked of him. And while there is a certain danger in plunging off into the unknown by himself, bringing a passenger along - for more then one jump anyway - would not be very pleasant for either of them.

So instead Kurt gives a dramatic sigh before flashing a playful grin, those white fangs seeming to gleam ever so slightly in the bright lights of the tunnel. "I think I could volunteer to do that," the fuzzy blue elf agrees. Or at least let himself be voluntold.

Resting a three fingered hand on the hilt of the rapier at his side, those golden eyes gleam with a certain anticipation, Nightcrawler gives a sweeping bow. "Do please keep me linked. I would hate to go into the dark alone," he says flippantly before growing a little more serious. "I will jump in one mile increments and see what I stumble over. I shall return shortly. Try not to miss me," he adds, an element of humor creeping back into his voice.

The he is gone, that customary *bamf* sounding as all that's left in his wake is an inky cloud of foul-smelling mist that rapidly disipates.

Karolina Dean has posed:
It isn't just that Karolina _literally_ glows (which she stopped, making it obvious she switch it on and off as long as she's conscious about it). But there's just something about her personality that radiates positivity, optimism, hope, acceptance, warmth -- something probably as likely to annoy those of a more brooding bent, but for those receptive? Her presence is a ray of sunshine in the dark, both literally and figuratively.

So many new faces!

It's all kind of... overwhelming, but she does her best to fit in, to look around, to do what the others are doing, to try to remember names as they're spoken, even if there are no formal introductions for most of them. It seemed like most everyone already knew each other, so... she was the new kid. Again.

Maybe one day she'd find a place to settle.

"Thank you," to Xavier, with a shy little smile.

"I _love_ your accent," to Tarot, that infectious smile broadening again.

Lorna's words seem to give her pause. Blue eyes focused, her lips part as if to answer, but that 'Thank you' shuts down whatever she might have said. It brings a bit of heat to her cheeks, instead, and she simply nods a couple of times with appreciation welling in her eyes.

Towards Bishop, she raised a hand, making sure she had his attention before she did anything else. "I'm limited too, but I've... been laying out on the green studying the last few days," she says, seemingly irrelevantly, until her entire arm starts to glow again. "Tell me if I need to stop."

And then there's a light -- a wide-beam of energy, whose size and intensity she seems to be able to control at will. It's one she'll make about the size of him and steadily increase until it has an actual physical force to it.

Even as she 'feeds' Bishop that solar energy, she's still listening, still watching, still raptly attentive to everyone's movements and especially Cable's directives.

"Got it."

Charles Xavier has posed:
IN THE PAST.

Xavier accepts the hug with a fatherly air. Maybe uncle-y. His arm hurts a little but he's genuinely glad to see Lorna. "If there's one thing I've learned over my too many years of life, Lorna, it is that circumstances are most frequently some measure of troublesome. The good times in life are won. I am so glad to see you are well."

NOW,

Professor X hears some opinions. He's a little impressed at Cable's use of so many pleases: the man had a reputation that seems unjustified. "Certainly. Karolina, you are going to feel something in your head. It is best to think of it as a sort of internal walkie talkie. The technique will not allow me access to your thoughts or memory outside of those you share over the connection. Everyone hold still."

Professor X's mind reaches out, gently touching every mind in the small task force. If you've had experience with other telepaths the soft touch might stand out, no real sense of Xavier's presence or will outside of the ability to communicate with each other.

Professor X's mind then reaches out, as he places the delicate fingers of his right hand on his temple. "I sense several groups of people in the immediate area. The emotions are...muted. Ah. Interference. Passive. Just a moment." Any psychics, and Bishop, can feel a sensation not dissimilar to your fillings being shaken as Xavier focuses his mutant brain. "I do not want to give away that we have sensed him. About five miles east, a large group under direct mental blocking. If I had to pick a location, it would be that one."

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
"Oui, Monsieur Bishop!" Marie responds quickly, moving a hand to the pouch on her hip to flip it open and reach for her cards. There's a bit of blind feeling around before... "This should help. From the front." she warns, as she wills the contents of the chosen card -- the 10 of Pentacles -- into existence a few feet ahead of Bishop. Not that they're likely to last long, as she's quickly commanding the ten, plate-sized discs to slam towards the /other/ time-displaced man so that he can absorb them. She'll keep it going, too, with other sets of Pentacles as her fingers find them, the smaller summoned creations being easy enough for her to continually bring around without having to focus more on them than the movements of her own body.

Besides. Even if there were room for it to manifest, the impressive and ominous sight of the Tower would be as much a help to her teammate as a signal of their location to their opponents.

"Oui, Monsieur." Marie responds to Cable -- she started out close, and she'll remain close as instructed. It's probably for the best to be near someone who can look out for her, especially if she does delve into the Major Arcana to face their foes. To Paige's offer? If her deck weren't /occupied/ pelting Bishop, she'd probably do a quick reading to find if the blonde could be trusted, by her, today. Because she's the cautious sort. However, as it /is/... she opts to believe the best of Sam Guthrie's younger sister. "Merci, Mademoiselle Husk. I will remember." she offers with a small smile. Yes, she's seen Paigelossus. They've probably even practiced it once or twice!

To Karolina? There's another smile and an appreciative, "Merci beaucoup!", and while she might be called a psychic sometimes, she's not /that/ type of psychic, so is none the wiser of the Professor's extra focus, but she does tense visibly with the suggestion that combat may be drawing ever nearer.

Bishop has posed:
Bishop is not convinced on the telepathic front. Experience and a general dour outlook on matters has him understanding that there are deeper and subtle manipulations that could be done to a mind that aren't simply blanket 'I take over your mind!' and as long as Paige is acting out in ways that support the MLF Agenda, not to mention taking money from them for her business, he's got his eye on her.

So indeed, he stares at her with a sort of 'why is she here' and 'security risk incoming' stare but otherwise says nothing after she gives her run down of the members he didn't immediately mention.

Instead, his blasters makes a very loud gun-cocking sound as he readies the it for use after she finishes speaking. He's at least looked away from her when he did it.

"Stay on your toes."

He quiets as Cable finishes giving out orders and then stills himself even more as Xavier speaks and he feels the brush of the telepathic presence in his mind. Unlike the rest of the non psions, the psychic energy can be sensed by him and is absorbed by his mutant gift. It doesn't prevent the communication but it does, perhaps, require a slightly stronger shove then a normal mind would need for a clear connection to be established.

More visible is the effect of the solar energy upon him. Bishop's eyes crackle and tendrils of red-gold energy race across his body's exterior and light up the veins along his massive arms before sinking into him in full. He stands unphased as the energy bath continues and nods his head in appreciatin towards Tarot.

"Thanks. Keep it up as long as you want. I can take a lot and store it for awhile but don't drain yourself on my account. I can work with this."

Lorna Dane has posed:
Green light floods from Polaris' sockets. Green hair only just held in check from falling in front of her face billows out behind and around her at rapidly increasing intensity, disturbed by by the natural forces pouring from and into the Mistress of Magnetism in an endless cycle.

As requested, she lets her senses expand, gradually-- just about shuts her eyes as magnetic waves course across her palate, so she can focus intently on picking out any bitter notes skewing the natural topography of the place like carelessly handled electromagnetic rind.

And beyond Cable's request: electricity periodically flicks from here or there on her body, coursing along walls concealing wiring or snapping towards light fixtures. Her first priority's turning twenty-seven kilometers into a manageable field; the second is getting a bead on the ambient energy available. Hunting for fluctuations, oddities, distortions in the facility's energy grid that could point to pre-emptive tampering; after all, if Stryfe has the means to co-opt police officers and straight-A students into doing his bidding, and the ruthless foresight to foment nihilistic violence against his own people for the sake of ideology... prepping the field by infiltrating CERN is probably within his means too, right?

"... the Collider is active--" she eventually intones, distant and kissed by static for a beat before she reins it in.

"-- the facility's rife with disturbances-- it's drawing a massive amount of power, like-- well, like you'd expect--"

Cable has posed:
To a certain extent they are more or less best positioned to stay in place, at least until someone can determine where they should go. Any direction that they happen to take could just as easily be the incorrect one, putting them further away from their target.

If that waiting chaffs at him, Cable gives no sign of it. Instead, he simply reaches back over his shoulder and unstraps what appears to be an almost ludicruous looking rifle -- closer to a cannon really -- that he handles with unlikely ease. He almost has to be using his telekinesis to hold it, to prevent the kickback from throwing him across the room when he fires it, right?

Or maybe the technology is just a little beyond what is available to most. He is supposedd to be from the future right? That plasma cannon cradled in his arms certainly doesn't look like anything manufactured in the present day.

At least not on this planet.

As Paige offers up some surprising little facts on the Mutant Liberation Front, Cable's brow arches ever so slightly. While Stryfe has shown he has a number of henchmen at his disposal, none of them would have seemed to fit a 'Dragoness' or Thumbelina' codename.

But that change of expression disappears almost before it has even manifested there, leaving those grizzled features just as impassive before. "Thank you Husk. It's a good reminder. He seems to have gathered a power lot. Forearm and Sumo appear to be the powerhouses. Tempo messes with time. Zero opens rifts and seems to be able to temporarily nullify powers. Reaper has a scythe that he seem to channel energy through and Wildchilde is a dangerous in close combatant. And Strobe can produce bright lights and extreme heat," he continues, adding to the summary.

A reminder for those that have already faced the MLF. And those that might face them for the first time.

Who knows if Stryfe has other surprises up his sleeves.

Monet reaches out with that mental link, joining their minds together on the surface at any rate, bolstered by Charles. Suddenly distance doesn't matter quite as much and even with Kurt gone, vanished down the passage, his presence can be felt once more.

That the collider is active can't be considered that much of a surprise. Time utilizing it is highly prized among the scientific community afterall, which no doubt is the reason for scientists to still be on sight despite it creeping towards the witching hour. That the flow of power going to it is so intense could mean a lot of things.

Call him crazy, but Cable doubts it is anything good.

Coupled with Xavier's intel, that seems to firm thigns up in the future soldier's mind. He wanted intel. He's gotten it. << It could be a trap, but it's the best place to start. Everyone keep your eyes open, >. he urges, unnecessarily in all likelihood. But this isn't his regular team. He can't just assume everyone knows what to expect. << Nightcrawler, we're coming to you, >> he adds over that mental link.

And with that he glances around the passage. "I'll bring us in as close at I can," he offers up, opening his mind to Charles to get a better sense of what he's seen. Then he says just a few simply words. "Greymalkin, bodyslide by eight." And the passage around them fuzzes out...

Cable has posed:
...then fuzzes back in. No longer in a maintenance corridor with all the associated tubing and wiring arunning along the walls, they instead stand on the very outskirts of a lab. A reinforced door rests on one side of the wall, a clear window looking into the facility, filled with high-tech equipment. It is also home to a number of men and women in labcoats who have been tied up, or in some cases had machinery wrapped around them like metal cords come to life. All the afore-mentioned members of the MLF are gathered within, a circular rift practically filling the center of the room.

Then the device on Cable's wrist chimes.

--Tachyon emissions detected. Chronal rift opening --

That doesn't sound good.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
No, that is not good. And that means that Tempo's abilityset is -far- greater than just being able to slow down time.. Or there's something far, far deeper and darker at play here. She looks over at Cable - and then over at Bishop with a 'can you explain this' expression on her face. She doesn't presume to remotely grasp the physics of what is going on here. Who.. Or possibly more specifically what are they bringing? And even more dangerously.. WHEN?
    She hesitates before charging on down, waiting for the rest of the group. They're probably rather obvious teleporting in as she goes to work along the mindlink. <<Tempo is the most dangerously immediate as a force multiplier. Their abilities let them control the pace of the battle around them. Take them out by blitz and disengage.>> That was what Kurt was best at. She wasn't sure if Tempo's field would work on a buildup like Lorna's powers would be or not. Could one slow odwn time for the magnetic energies around them? Hopefully a qestion that if asked would fall in their favor. She would be tense, waiting to go charging in and ready to, but not wanting to jump the gun (in a metaphorical sense).

Meanwhile,a lso among the tied up group are two teenagers. Both with braces. One with blonde hair, the other with dark brown. Both wearing t-shirts of 80's rock bands and giggling at high pitches (probably to the suffering of the scientists also taken hostage).

"HUhuhuhuhuh Large Hardon. Just like mine! Huhuhuhuh"

Paige Guthrie has posed:
When Polaris starts to reach out with her powers sending out signals along the EM spectrum, Paige suddenly winces and puts her hand at her temple. She takes a few moments, but then shakes it off, after slapping her cheeks with both hands.

AS Cable prepares the bodyslide, she takes in a deep breath. She's body-slid before; how would it feel?

That's racing through her mind, though she winces every now and then. That's when she suddenly remembers something important, but what was it. It had to do with something about tachyon particles and their effects on people or something like that. Huh.

Karolina Dean has posed:
"Okay.." Karolina's only, soft word to Xavier, clearly appreciative of the warning but unsure really what to expect until it happens. And when it does? She's more than a little distracted by the sudden walkie-talkie in her head.

So distracted she almost misses Bishop's actual words to her.

<< "Oh my God, is there a volume?" >> thought into the link because, frankly, she had no idea how _not_ to think it into the link.

Her eyes widen.

<< "I'm so sorry.." >>

Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about it.

How much energy did she need to have on hand? Karolina really... wasn't sure. She could go _days_ without sunlight, if she was just existing day-to-day. A quick skirmish with some thugs in the dark? No big deal at all.

An all-out fight against the MLF at CERN?

Who knows!

So just a little of that solar energy is focused on Bishop, then, until the beam dissipates and she draws her hand back. As she does, the luminous plasma making up her 'arm' once more fades back to regular skin. No sense wasting any more energy through radiation than she had to.

"If you need a top off later..." A nod and hopeful little smile.

But there's still SO MUCH information she's reminded of from the briefing. Dragoness. Thumbelina. Forearm. Sumo. Tempo. Zero. Reaper. Wildchilde. Strobe.

Holy codenames, Batman.

Suddenly there's another bodyslide, and her hands go out a little from her sides as if to steady herself, as she looks around. That was SUPER disorienting.

"Oh no..." Blue eyes focus through the glass and _everything_ there is to take in beyond it, but she's moving to make sure she's closer to her assigned 'pack'. Or unit. Or whatever.

"Um... what's a... Chronal rift?"

Kurt Wagner has posed:
What Monet suggests makes sense. But sometimes there are more important things to take into consideration then logic. Then tactics.

Humanity.

There are prisoners there that need help. And he is best suited for that.

"Back soon," Kurt promises through that link. Then he bamfs into the lab when no one's eyes are on one of the captives. There is fear there, at his apperance, but the fuzzy blue elf grins reassuringly.

Then he lays a hand on them and they both vanish, presumably up to the surface.

One down, many to go.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Paige's moment of seeming pain doesn't go unnoticed by the redhead standing nearby, a look of concern being shot over to the other young woman. << Are you alright? >> she asks; Paige meant to protect her, Marie's making note of this in case the shoe ends up on the other foot. Karolina especially might have trouble picking out her 'voice' as hers: telepathy lacks fancy French accents.

Teleportation is, certainly, a disorienting experience but it's not one that Marie's unaccustomed to. Growing Up X kind of does that to you, not to mention the other adventures that she's had over the years. She's taken on the habit of closing her eyes when it happens; so that the sudden change of one location to another isn't quite as jarring, although this is the moment that the red-haired precog /stops/ feeding Pentacles to Bishop. Because her deck is likely going to be needed in other ways, very soon. Though, she does make a mental note to arrange to train with Bishop in the near future to see just how /frequently/ she really can bring her creations out for purposes like this.

She forces her eyes to stay open in response to Cable's command, and as the locale shifts, it's definitely not the best scene. People in lab coats tied up is not a good sign by any measure.

What she /doesn't/ do is immediately summon anything. She does keep her fingers brushing against the edges of her cards, quietly 'bookmarking' ones that might be useful. As one of the more 'fragile' members of the group, making herself a target right away is unlikely the best move, plus... the information /they/ have on /her/ might be limited, so why waste the element of surprise?

Charles Xavier has posed:
Professor X nods as the information starts flowing. He barely winces at Karolina's OUTSIDE VOICE in his head.

<<Everyone has some growing pains with this. Just think normally. I'll handle the mechanics, Karolina.>> Xavier's mind says, even as he takes in Cable's briefing. And then.

Bodyslide!

Xavier rubs his bad arm again, wincing. Lousy future technology. "You know I just got this body, I really need not to ruin it immediately." Xavier mutters, and frowns. "Karolina, a Chronal Rift means that the time itself is being rent asunder in a localized pinpoint. Someone is traveling through time near us, in other words."

"X-Men!" Professor X snaps, one hand on his forehead and another moving into a compartment of his wheelchair. "Formations!" Xavier's eyes flash blue as a spark of psionic energy crackles between his eyebrows; the whole team feels a sense of security as Professor X reinforces everyone's mental defenses, setting up a shield network to run interference for any psychic tricks the MLF might be about to try.

Bishop has posed:
"Thank you both." says Bishop towards Karolina and Tarot. The combined energies are indeed doing the trick for him and shoudl be sufficient for now. If something happens in combat he knows who to call on for a charge.

He looks away from them as Lorna speaks and his eyes open up slightly larger and then narrow a touch. The Collidor is active. He may have been too quick to ask for a quick fill up.

His ability to absorb energy extends to ambient energy as well and is very, very , sensitive. A falling snowflake can gift him kinetic energy. Just standing in an ambient field of energy will also charge him up. People may not realize it but day to day activities are always yielding him -something- just ...usually in small enough amounts that it gets used to reinforce his body on a semi-regular basis .

The Hadron Collidor? Fortunately he'd need to be in closer proximity to it and it is well shielded to boot...but if something happens and things get out of hand--well--while his upper limits have not been seen or truly tested...it's not exactly a test he wants to undertake right now. HIs powers lack an on or off switch.

His mind is distracted from this as the bodyslide begins ...and then ends with them right in the middle of something truly potentially maddening.

"Tachyon.." he breathes with widening eyes. Could they be trying to enhance Tempo's powers for a great stunt - or is this something else all together.

With Kurt on hand, he knows the hostages will be attended to but preventing the MLF from taking advantage of the hostages while also continuing whatever malevolence is underway is now a priority.

He takes a heavy step forward, moving infront of Xavier's chair and propping up his gun while beginning to charge it with his stored energies. Better to use this first with the likes of Sumo and Forearm on hand. Both likely have grudges and he may need all of his energy for what physical defenses he can muster. "Here we go!"

Lorna Dane has posed:
<< "Are these assholes opening a fucking hole in time?!" >> the Queen of Genosha blurts right on the heels of that alert. Her hands snap forward, fingers clawed and ready because her first thought is disruption. Denial; preventing whatever the FUCK the MLF would like to do with a functional time gate.

Her second is the papers she made herself study about folding space and dimensional warping. The sensitivity of it; the risks that mount exponentially as the scale rises-- the realities of babysitting a hole in the middle of the world as she knows it until it can be sealed gracefully, lest it collapse and drag the swath of existence hooked into its edges along for the ride.

<< "I have eyes on Tempo," >> sighs through astral space. Already crackling with ambient energy skimmed off the top of her reconnaissance, she stretches one hand in Bishop's direction and adds a rather modest top off in the form of electricity leaping from her fingers into his chest. The other slowly extends towards the viewing pane, fingers curling to seize a firm grip of nothing and everything. Dimly radiant, viridian ribbons flutter around her fingers now and then, but far more prevalent is the distortion-- the way the air itself boils, pulses, and seethes in an increasingly large sphere cradled in her palm, and through the radiant filter of those electromagnetic flickers. << "If we're clear to engage... I can kick us off," >> she offers, << "with a signal." >>

Most of her attention is on Tempo; still, her eyes manage to flick between the timebender and Kurt once or twice, tracking his flight in and out of the room. She doesn't want to disrupt the stealthy efficacy of his efforts with a mistimed attack, so she waits; she counts silently, getting a feel for the rhythm of his jumps and aiming for an opportune moment just after a topside 'port.

Used as she is to operating in psychic concert, she lets the strokes of her plan - creating a commotion just before Kurt's next entry, so he's got the chaos to give him a bit more cover - trickle through the link.

Angry as she's been these past weeks, the shape of said commotion can't help but evince itself in screams and red-gold smears for a split-second.

It's a warning. It's all the warning anyone gets--

-- before an abrupt twist of her wrist unleashes a magnetic torrent focused wholly on Tempo, followed by her fingers snapping into a tightly clenched fist in the hopes of seizing her fellow mutant in shining armor and wrenching her towards the viewing pane at terrible, violent, pane-cracking speed.

Simultaneously, she walks towards the panel-- and if her sneak attack at Tempo does bear fruit, she will follow it up by rapping her knuckles against the span of glass where the woman's face is currently held by mounting, electromagnetic pressure. Once, twice, thrice-- just to get her attention:

"YIELD. NOW."

and make sure the other woman sees the words she's so carefully mouthing, in the brief respite she's allowed before being flicked away--

-- and wrenched inwards, again.

This, incidentally, is the signal.

Cable has posed:
Oh yes, Cable would know a little about tachyons and chronal rifts. And just why Stryfe might be interested in a Super-Collider, in a powerful enough energy source to generate rarely seen particles becomes a great deal clearer.

<< Stryfe is using the super-collider to generate tachyons. He must be combining it with Zero's rifts somehow to open up a portal not just through space, but also time, >> Cable states over the mental link.

Why? That's still a mystery to be sure. But it can't be for anything good. That a threat like him has any knowledge of temporal mechanics opens up all sorts of disturbing possibilities.

There is a host of equipment in that lab, in some cases arranged in rows -- offering both a degree of cover to them looking in -- and to the MLF looking out.

The hostages mostly sit pressed up against the wall, near that window that overlooks the scene, making them easy to spot -- and extract when no one is looking as Kurt proves -- though how often that trick will work before the dangerous mutants within catch on is up for debate.

Most of the crew is spread out near the far end of the room, watching the banks of equipment that measure and monitor just what is happening inside that twenty-seven kilometer ring, watching particles crash into each other near the speed of light, consuming all sorts of energy to produce the unlikely.

And hovering there, in the center of the room, Zero hovers, seemingly somehow mixing and minglign the tachyon particles being produced with his own natural abilities, generating that rift in both time and space. Periodically there is a flicker there in that great circular rift that dominates the center of the lab, almost as if something is passing through but being redirected before it can fully emerge.

Sometimes subtlety is the right approach. As much as Cable seems to have a certain fondness for the frontal assault school of tactics, he is capable of adapting when there is a need. The right tool for the right job. He is very much about efficency. Take care of one threat, move on to the next.

Like checking off a list.

This, here, is no time for subtlety though. He is not easily alarmed -- and even now hardly anything shows on his face. He does mutter a quiet "Sorry Professor," catching that quiet complaint. Perhaps he sympathizies. Certainly not inconsiderable parts of his own body are no longer flesh and blood, consumed by the techno-organic virus ravaging him, held back only by that telepathic might.

Before he can suggest a course of action Kurt is off, plunging in to deal with the hostages. If that focus on the smaller problems then the giant one troubles him he doesn't show it -- he was not unaware of the tendancies of some of those he had called upon for help afterall.

<< Hit them hard and fast, >> Cable not quite orders over that mental link. Fortunately they have the signal to start all ready to go. Thanks to the Queen of Genosha.

<< Karolina, if you can use your light to cut the hostages bound up in those machines free so Nightcrawler can evacuate them too. Husk, put on something good for some rough and tumble. Tarot, if you can summon up anything that might distract Zero. Getting that rift down needs to be a priority. >>

The others he leaves without instructions. Monet he has worked with often. Bishop is of a similar mindset, a similiar tactical outlook. And the Professor? Well, he might not always agree with the man's creed but he can hardly doubt his experience.

Cable has posed:
Then Polaris is making that initial salvo, trying to tie up one of their most dangerous adversaries but pulling the dark skinned woman against that thick window, demanding their surrender.

It's worth a try.

<< Go! >> Cable projects and brings that plasma cannon to bear -- on the door. Virulent green energy leaps forth, slamming into that reenforced entrance, blasting right through it -- and finding the near immovable bulk of Sumo positioned on the other side. The man cries out, back scorched and shreaded by the debris, but already angrily turning around to block that doorway.

Pressed flsuh against the glass, Tempo might look uncomfortable, but that makes her no less defiant. "Not a chance," she hisses out, trying to move even as that metal body suit she wears does an impressive job restraining her.

With a little magnetic help.

Elsewhere in the room, the rest of the MLF begin to turn in surprise.

Except Zero, how continues to hover, focused on their goa here.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Orders have been given. It's time to fight. Monet goes to fling herself towards Dragoness, surprisingly enough. The point is to rapidly try and limit the ability of their enemy to maneuver. The woman's enhancements seem to be technologically tied to her form. Maybe she had wings and were torn out at some point? Or they were added to increase them. The point is to try and cut down on the mobility of thier enemies. So while the others deal withthe ground targets.. Time to deal with the aerial ones.

Monet launches herself over at Dragoness, going from having been nearly standing still to about Mach 3 to appear over next to Dragoness if she can. Her intent is a little simpler. Reach hand up and over to the frame of Dragoness' helmet, use it to yank and smash it down towardsher knee if at all possible. Then hopefully yank her hands up and over to grab at her cybernetic wings to try and crush them as fast as possible. Hopefully disabling her opponent's abillity to flight. Her strikes are rapid if she can get them in, using focused force.

She's aiming to disable if she can, rather than badly injure. There's the chance that the others are victims in this and manipulated, useful idiots.

And.. Mostly as the Professor is here. Monet might not wish to get her hands dirty much of the time, or to use force with maximum effectiveness.. But here, she restrains herself. She tries to ust jsut enough to neutralize her opponent. SHe has to hold back and prove that she is better. That is what the X-Men have taught her. That is what the Amazons are trying to teach her. She fights.. But she has to fight better.

So her strikes are hopefully to stun, to break her opponent'scapability to fly, and then to if she can fling Dragoness over to the ground to land in the midst of the other members of the Mutant Liberation Front to get them to scatter, if possible.

Kurt Wagner has posed:
A second hostage is quickly rescued. Then a third.

By the time Kurt is coming back for the fourth Lorna has provided a rather effective distraction and Kurt flashes a quick grin towards that window before laying hands on yet another hostage.

Again he bamfs, vanishing in that puff of inky mist that curls up in the space he just departed with his newest charge..

While the fuzzy blue elf doubts that he will be able to whisk the remaining few hostages to safety without drawing attention, he is at least fairly certain that they have far more to worry about then him. That's not an insignificant advantage to have.

Karolina Dean has posed:
"Thank you, Professor."

It's so innocent and vaguely sheepish in its innocence, but Karolina's appreciation of his patience is an almost tangible thing. She was in SO FAR over her head, but that calm voice grounded her...

..._grounded_ her.

RIGHT!

As if suddenly combusting, Karolina's whole body transforms back into that feminine-shaped plasma, which glows radiantly underneath her very college-appropriate clothing (mental note... at least wear a catsuit or something next time... you guys can't hear this, right?... damn it...).

Not only that, but she actually lifts in the air, her 'hair' trailing like a long phoenix tail made of rainbow-colored light.

"I'm on it!"

And just as she's turning towards the door, she watches Tempo hit it. Again. And Again. She freezes, hovering, watching, too stunned to move until Cable blows the door, and then she's tilting forward and _soaring_ into the room with that light-tail chasing after her.

"I've got you..."

At the first hostage, her hands raise in front of her, focusing that beam of energy into a cutting laser, but it's slower than it could be -- she's keeping an eye on everything happening around her, ready to shift to shielding if she needs to.

In the end, it will turn out to be a perfect assignment for her (Way to go, Cable! Maybe I'll actually fit on a team one day, after all! ... You guys still can't hear this, right?), able to balance her energy beams with her shields to keep the hostages from getting caught in the cross-fire while she's freeing them.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
<< Oui Monsieur! >>

Tarot makes a remarkably good soldier. If she trusts you, and a very quick reading can tell her whether or not she can, she will follow almost any order she's given. She doesn't question, she just obeys.

So as Cable gives the command to distract the mysterious zero? Yes, she follows that order. Her card of choice for this purpose? One of those she'd 'bookmarked', this one from the Major Arcana... the Strength card. Her eyes glaze over a bit as she devotes her mental energies to working not one, but two bodies, and neither of which are her own.

The woman in the white gown stands head and shoulders above the majority of their forces; the lion whose jaws she would normally try to contain is a fair measure smaller, standing waist-high to the visage of strength, but closer to head-high to the rest of the group.

As Monet soars forward, woman and beast follow in her trail with long strides, trying to close enough so that the woman will be able to gracefully lift the lion and /chuck/ the beast towards the airborne Zero, with jaws open and roaring. Yes, it intends to bite if it gets close enough. Not /hard,/ but Cable said distract. Marie's pretty sure an oversized lion flying through the air at a person with hungry jaws will do exactly that... and if /not/ looking, the feeling of being plucked out of the air by teeth certainly would. She hopes.

Meanwhile, her body stands inert, almost catatonic in her stillness. The lights are on, but the tenant is elsewhere.

Charles Xavier has posed:
This is actually a pretty good plan.

Plenty of firepower are keeping the MLF's heavy physical mutants pinned down, while the more mobile mutants (and Karolina) are getting the hostages out of the way so the MLF psychics can't use them as human shields. Meanwhile Polaris is putting the screws to Tempo and Bishop is in position to disrupt whatever Mutant Power Circuit Stryfe is using here.

Which leaves Zero. Xavier moves forward a little, perhaps foolishly considering he is a middle aged man in a high tech wheelchair. Professor X raises a hand and again there's that spark of blue. "Heed me, Zero! Attend to the voice and will of Professor X! My mutant brain can feel the damage to reality your colleagues are causing here, damage that brings you no profit! Your powers are being abused and inflicted on an unsuspecting world by a worshiper of evil! I will not allow it!"

Xavier reaches out with a mental probe: big talk or no he doesn't want to kill the poor child. Professor X is intimately aware of how much damage his powers can do if used recklessly, and applies a medium amount of mental pressure to hijack Zero's brain and turn his powers off.

Professor X is flung backwards as he meets a veritable wall of resistance. "Not a human mind at all!" Xavier says, wiping the blood from his nose. "But the simulated consciousness of a machine! Advanced technology I've only rarely seen. But thanks to my studies in focusing on ways to disrupt Bolivar Trask's horrors, not immune to MY extra power!"

Xavier increases the heat, a palpable mental weight surrounding his body as Professor X focuses his power to try and get through to Zero's alien consciousness. This has the negative effect of leaving the Professor more exposed than usual.

Bishop has posed:
Energy erupts from Bishops outstretched fist, lancing across the area in a bolt of pure kinetic energy for the massive Forearm. It's not -revenge- per se.

OKay maybe there is a liitttlllle bit of that in him since it was Forearm who sent him to the medbay last time...and so maybe a litttle - okay a lot - of extra 'oomph' is added to the blast as Bishop amplifies energy that was given to him by both Tarot and Karoline. But still it's nothing personal.

Well maybe a little.

But his mind doesn't focus on that. As Cable noted, indeed, Bishop is a tactician and already his mind is whirling with options on how to deal with this growing problem. Some of the solutions ....aren't ones he's fond of on a personal level but they may be necessary. Granted, there's overwhelming force of courseBut another thought comes to his mind as well No reason why it can't be paired with good old fashioned overpower.

<<..I can absorb temporal energy as well.>>

Magic and time junk. Blame the X-Gene. Nobody ever said it had to be logical.

<<I -might- be able to slow down whatever Zero is trying to do by redirecting some of the energy back into me but I'll have to get in close. That should slow down what's happening and maybe stop all together.>>

This, however, might require leaving Xavier more vulnerable so until he's confident Charles is covered and Xavier's extra effort on his own part is meaning he's less in the 'here and now' then even normal when the use of his powers is concerned.

His X.S.E. blasters sound off, sending a round of enhanced firepower blasting as kinetic energy pulses for additional cover fire towards any of the MLF clustered around Forearm or the giant himself in order o add to the confusion and disorientation of the MLF..

Fortunately with those present, defensive options are strong so he may be able to focus his full efforts onto this if they come together.

<<Cover me and the Professor! I'm going to move in!>>

'Lorna Dane has posed:
"Tempo..."

Even though the other woman's face is pressed into spider-webs reaching across just a bit more glass than moments ago, Polaris' voice slips into a measured register. Patient; forgiving, almost.

Like an exasperated mother looking into defiant, teenage eyes, the Queen of Genosha cants her head ever so slightly left.

"You're wearing metal armor."

And in the time it takes Lorna's head to tip a quarter inch further, that armor constricts, hugging the Mutant Liberator like a clingy ex.

"... A lion is going to eat the crux of your idiot plan," comes after a brisk, bemused glance towards the battle between Marie's effigies and the dimensional wayfinder. "M is taking any hope you might have had at air superiority as we speak."

Polaris' fingers open--

-- Tempo launches backwards--

-- and then she makes another fist.

*K R R R S S H ! ! ! !*

The cracked web spreads even further. Polaris splays her hand against the viewpanel and steps closer. Closer, until her forehead's touching her pristine side of glass near Tempo's own brow. Green lips press into a sympathetic line even as fire burns in the green depths of her irises.

"This isn't how you win, Tempo-- this is rage without a purpose."

And even though she's whispering -- even though they're separated by several inches of glass and impact-proof plastic -- her voice radiates through the timebender's helmet, clear as a bell and just for her.

"This is a tantrum; this is a chrome narcissist's vanity project," she tells Tempo, "and the best you can hope for if you stand next to him is a quick death when the fires he can't help himself from setting finally catch up with you."

Polaris exhales, and the armor grows even tighter.

"If you want to make a difference..." barely escapes her lips, vibrates across Tempo's skin, and thrums bone deep.

"... if you want to win... yield," she commands.

"Yield to me -- face your due justice in Genosha for participating in crimes against Mutantkind... and let me show you what winning looks like," she promises amidst a sigh.

"... or I can keep going," softly follows half a beat later--

Bishop's mental alert jerks her eyes from the glass to the Professor, and her attention follows. It's a brief interruption - a second, maybe less than - but it's an interruption all the same, a palpable fluctuation in the magnetic grip locked around Tempo before she's able to bring--

-- well.

MOST of her attention back to the matter at hand.

Because as important as it is to teach the callow, hothead upstarts of tomorrow valuable lessons, protecting her first mentor's life is a burden too heavy to be shirked in favor of educating.

Cable has posed:
Now they're in the thick of it.

The lab beyond is relatively expansive, especially for an underground chamber. Nearly one hundred feet long, sixty feet wide and twenty feet tall there is at least a little room to maneuver.

At least for those that can get into the room at any rate. Sumo is a pretty effective barricade, that sheer size and strength not an easy thing to overcome.

Fortunately the doorway is tall enough that both Monet and Karolina can simply fly over the stunned mutant doorstop before he can recover enough to try and swat them out of the air.

For those hostages that have been twisted up in wires and metal bars, the rainbow figure;s approach is a godsend. There is no way that Kurt is freeing them from those bindings, but with the careful application of that power, Karolina is able to do exactly that, cutting them freem meticulously careful. Shying away from the sheer heat of the plasma, the freed captives whisper quiet thanks, glancing fearfully towards the growing melee in the room.

M is likewise able to soar across the room before any of the MLF can react, slamming Dragoness hard before she can twist away, the masked woman dazed for a moment, belching out a sudden surge of flame to try and drive Monet back. It's a sweeping burst, more of a last ditched effort to buy some time.

She's not alone though and Strobe rises up from the ground, that red hair blazing as light begins to gather around her outstretched fists.

Did Cable have any idea of just what to expect when he asked for a distraction? He usually has surprisingly good intelligence -- part his innate ability to ferret out information on friends and foes alike. There might be a few shenanigans with him being from the future -- a future at least. Though he might bristle at ever having the notion of something remotely fun like shenanigans applied to what he does.

Still, he gets all that he asked for as more as that incarnation of Strength strides forward and just hurls that fully grown lion -- small compared to the Incarnation but quite fearsome in all other senses.

A flying giant cat coming one's way is something that almost anyone would take note of, no matter how intently they are concentrating on the task at hand and Zero's head whips around just in time, lifting straight up to the roof above to aboid that angry cat.

And the portal in front of him flickers.

And then Professor X takes the field, turns all that mental might loose on the hovering form of Stryfe's most loyal minion -- and reveals the truth.

Not a mutant at all then, but a construct. An advanced one to ne sure, with an actual consciousness. A.I. taken to even greater extremes.

But now that the truth is revealled, overcoming that inherent resistance and the challenge is considerably lessened. This time Zero clutches at his head, that perfect black circle on that faceless mask scrunches a little, as if somehow in pain.

And this time the portal in the center of the room flickers and fades out. Shutdown at last. But what did they already manage to bring through?

Cable has posed:
"You," the man in that spikey metal armor hisses, that mouth twisting into a sneering snarl as Stryfe's eyes fall on Xavier. "Your cause is already dead old man. You are the past. You are irrelevant," he adds, anger building there. Lifting a hand, a wave of telekinetic force washes outward, powerful. Powerful enough to blow back some of those rows of monitors and instruments, sending them crashing towards the doorway.

For his part, finding the doorway obstructed upon blowing it open, Cable has already done much the same to Sumo. The future soldier might be reluctant to utilize his telepathy. For good reason. But those telekinetic gifts are another matter. He seems to have a little leeway to work with them it seems. Enough to simply wave a hand and send Sumo hurling back against the far wall -- slamming into a monitoring station there.

They're not going to be real popular with the scientific community, perhaps. Aside from the ones that they have saved at least.

<< Go. I'll cover the Professor, >. Cable agrees with a nod towards Bishop, letting him plunge through the door, to blast Forearm as the giant mutant lunges forward with those powerful limbs looking to pound Bishop into a bloody mess. Instead he goes down to one knee, lifting a pair of those namesake forearms to block the blaster fire as the future cop plunges past.

Stepping in front of Xavier, Cable is there to catch Stryfe's answering retort, that blast of sheer, unseen telekinetic force. To blunt it with his own, teeth gritted as he stop the equipment from smashing through that doorway.

But the force still drives him back, overpowering those telekinetic shields and while not quite enough to slam him into the wall on the other side of the corridor, he still slides several feet. "You okay Professor>" he grunts, not looking back and instead trying to bring his plasma rifle to bear.

On the other hand, Tempo is getting an education. That Stryfe is not the only power out there. But whether loyalty or brainwashing compels her, the woman wrapped in golden metal armor remains defiant. "Never," she asserts before grunting as she's repelled back then broguh crashing forward again, splintering that glass. Bound in that metal outfit, it is almost impossible to move. But somehow, slowly, inch after inch she seems to be doing so, probably by accelerating her actions fast enough to make some progress before the sheer magnetic control Polaris can exert can compensate.

Elsewhere in the room, with Forearm and Sumo down, Wildchild throws himself in Bishops path, clawed talons extended and a feral grin stretched across his face.

And reaper? The pale skinned mutant with that deadly energy scythe starts to stalk towards Karolina, a viscious smile on his face.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The fight seems going in their favor - insomuch as she can tell. As Monet is able to at lesat partially disable Dragoness.. Right as that blast of heat goes up towards her. Monet curses rapidly - of COURSE someone named Dragoness should be able to produce fire, she was an idiot for not even thinking of that as she would hold her arms up in front of her to block the worst of it and falls back in the air several meters. This however leaves her open to Strobe, and the flash sears her retinas, the light so bright. She screams. Even as she dives away from the heat as she redirects her telepathy to simply pull information out of the minds of the others for how they were seeing things. And she goes to smile ever so sadistically as she quickly goes to charge on down and moves to pick up Strobe if she can. Dragoness is ignored even as she moves to try and do two things. The first?

The first she does is go to try and launch Strobe over towards Stryfe. Hopefully moving fast enough to do so before Strobe can redirect her powers and turn them off. Strobe is if caught hurled over towards Stryfe. His armor likely had built in visual filters to protect from light overload but they might be having issues while he was focused on a telekinetic melee. So every little bit would hopefully help just a litlte bit.

Dragoness? Dragoness, flamethrower still active and everything, is launched over towards Bishop as Monet gives a mental warning of her action. Bishop can be powered by magic, energy.. Now let's add a bit of pyrokinesis to the menagerie and melee, shall we?

Kurt Wagner has posed:
As Kurt appears once more in a puff of stinky smoke, the indigo furred mutant takes note of the fact that Karolina appears to have managed to free all of the hostages that were bound up in cords and metal bars. Flashing the glowing young woman a grip, he sweeps a bow in her direction and despite the extra effort required, lays hands on the remaining hostages, teleporting away again with the last of the prisoners in tow.

No more threat there. Reappearing in that puff of smoke just in time to see Reaper advancing on the least experienced amongst them, the fuzzy blue elf bamfs again, appearing behind the schythe wielding man, slaping him across the back of his head with that tail. "That is not so gentlemenly," he chides before disappearing again.

And when he pops back into existence? He has his rapier drawn, grin on his face as he positions himself between Reaper and the plasma charged woman at his back.

Karolina Dean has posed:
"Gather together!"

Was Karolina giving ORDERS?! To hostages, but still... in the last 10 minutes it felt like she'd aged 10 years. There was battle raging all around her. She'd been given _orders_. She was working as part of a real time of _experienced_... not just mutants, but _soldiers_. And, she was HELPING.

It was... kind of a great feeling, if she was being honest. Maybe that's why that psilink fills up with so much positivity that the whole connection feels warm.

If that's how it works.

Otherwise, it's probably more like listening to bubblegum pop while everything's still happening.

As soon as the hostages gather up, Karrie's hovering in front of them, re-directing that energy of hers into a broad solar-powered force-field to shield them from stray attacks. She wasn't sure how long she was going to have to hold that, but it turns out to be a LOT shorter than she was worried about.

Kurt bamfs in next to them, and that bow is met with a broad, pleased smile from the blonde (well... technically ethereal _rainbow light_ at this point), and as soon as he's gone with them, so is the shield.

Which is precisely when she spots Reaper. Very too close for comfort.

"Ooooh... crap."

Kurt again. Bamfing. Smacking. Bamfing again. And Karolina's hand comes up to cover her mouth, her eyes absolutely glowing (literally) with amusement.

"THANK YOU!" comes her quick answer as she swoops down to plant the quickest (and warmest) of kisses on Kurt's cheek, then flies off in a streak of color back to Xavier. If anything Kurt had already very-well proved he could handle himself, and that likely distraction for Reaper (being attacked by the obviously more threatening Kurt) was what she needed to get back out.

And when she lands? It's back to that solar energy field, a big field of warm, radiant projected in front of Xavier.

Marie-Ange Colbert has posed:
Her attack might have missed, but her /job/ wasn't to chomp down on Zero, just to distract the man -- no -- machine so that the portal would go away, and that's precisely what happened! So letting out a quick breath from her natural body, Marie allows the summoned creatures to dissipate back into the ether from whence they came, regaining control of her proper form once more. There's a blink or two to shake the cobwebs out of her head, and she's quickly scanning the battlefield. Prisoners are safe -- or at least gone. She's not sure, but either works for the moment.

Most of the combatants have been accounted for. The ones not out of the fight are in positions that she can't /easily/ get to... so she opts to use her location for defense. This time the Ten of Swords is called upon from her deck, and in the blink of an eye that solar shield of Karolina's gains an extra layer of effort -- with ten newly created and imposing blades hovering on the side between the shield and their foes, as if daring their enemies to even try and strike it. Mutant + Alien Improv'd Post-Apocalyptic Chic, anyone?

Charles Xavier has posed:
Xavier has a little telekinesis, but not enough to even slow Stryfe down. Even with Cable's defense Xavier's chair is slammed against the far wall, the Professor giving a grunt of pain even as the machine compensates for the impact and protects him from internal injury. Professor X breathes.

<<Fine, Cable. Let's finish this before one of the children gets hurt.>> Professor X thinks, his eyes pinpricks of frustration as he feels Stryfe's power and hate. It's an obvious target. Xavier is shielded by Karolina and Tarot, giving him an enviable artillery position, and the Professor smiles at both of them before his eyes narrow again.

But what gets the job done? Xavier moves his hands inside of his chair, and pulls out a slim tube. He remembers his time in the jungle, where he got the name "X" for the first time. He remembers fighting with his brother.

Charles remembers losing his legs, and losing Cain. The golden components come together without conscious thought. Charlie X never forgot what the army taught him about putting a rifle together.

X-Men don't kill. X-Men don't use guns if they don't have to. Charles Xavier pulls what for all the world looks like a gold plated sniper rifle up to his eye, aims at Zero's writhing form, waits to feel Stryfe too distracted by Cable to run telekinetic shields for his soldiers, and breathes in, thinking. Thinking about where on the robot's body it does not want to be shot the most.

The rifle fires, a telekinetically aimed shot going right for Zero's most vulnerable spot. Robots can be rebuilt. Styfe's plan can't continue without his portal maker. Problem solved.

"It's over, Stryfe." Xavier says, "Go twirl your mustache somewhere, son. Don't make me hurt you."

Bishop has posed:
Wildchild. Great.

Bishop does not slow his charge, however. Instead he redirects what energy he has left deep into his core, reinforcing his body, amping his strength, reflexes and durability up towards superhuman levels. His body begins to race forward, ever faster as he moves in to meet the savage mutant head on like some bull charging right for the matador's swords.

Except at the last second he leaps, vaulting from the ground towards a tumbled piece of machinary and from that, pushing off overhead towards the gout of flame boiling through the air courtesy of Dragoness' tumble way of Monet.

He seems to literally catch the flames with an outstretched arm, billowing them into his body as she sails overhead and dragging it down with him and into him completely as he goes into a roll behind Wildchild.

An instant later and he's rolled to a crouched position, facing the MLF's members flank and- the flame gouts out from his pursed lips as his eyes flare the crackling energy of his mutant signature.

The flame breath rolls forth and out towards Wildchild in a violent cloud of fire and fury, amped up beyond Dragoness original force by Bishop's mutant gift such that it is indeed like a true dragon just unleashed its fury towards the other mutant.

After all, X-Men don't use guns if they don't have to!

Lorna Dane has posed:
By the time Polaris' attentions are back on Tempo, she can feel the shift, the summary effort of more microactions than she could ever hope to count wedged into less than a second. Her defiance is impressive enough to steal the Queen's breath for a beat and widen her eyes as she redoubles the pressure around the golden rebel. Reaper's crackling metal scythe draws a thread of focus, but she doesn't dare make the mistake of giving Tempo anything less than her utmost again: another moment of inattention could be all the opening the other mutant needs to break free of her prison, shirk her education, and hurl herself gleefully into the burning perdition of Stryfe's ego.

<< "Kurt-- we're about to have a prisoner," >> she informs the elf-- and the rest of the team. << "Is their teleporter still--" >>

A sudden *krak!* arcs across Lorna's perception and earns another fleeting thread of precious focus-- this time for the bullet arcing towards--

-- oh.

That's-- a lot of metal.

<< "-- online?" >> she finishes, all the same.

The pun is intended. The pun is so clearly intended that it sheds fractional warmth through the link; only a little of the outrage she's been so carefully holding back from flooding the rest of the group gets carried along for the ride.

"This little raid is over," resonates through Tempo's armor.

"But you and I--?"

Lorna withdraws her fingers and brings them together, the thumb and middle poised against one another and held right before Tempo's eyes.

"Not so much."

Just so the Liberator has a moment's warning before a *snap!* suddenly dams the arterial flow through her neck in a bid to rob her of consciousness. Once she's out--

Once Polaris is SURE she's out--

-- the Queen will turn the tap back on.

<< "Tempo is extremely down," >> she then announces. Exhaling, she turns fluttering eyes around the rest of the field with quick twists of her head and upper body, checking for casualties--

<< "-- is everyone good?" >>

Cable has posed:
The last of the hostages finds themselves freed by Karolina and then teleported up to the surface, away from harm by Kurt.

And just in time. While their advantage of surprise has carried them far up to this point, while they have been able to take out a number of the Mutant Liberation Front, those still standing are increasingly gathering their strength, mustering their power.

And none of them want to see innocents in the way.

M is no light-weight. She might not number amongst the very strongest mutants, but she still packs a whallop and Dragoness is having a heck of a time shaking off that blow. Those wings keep her aloft, but she still falls back towards Stryfe and Zero.

Strobe on the otherhand has the tactical advantage and uses it well, the glow from those fists growing exponentially, blindingly even, though very focused on M. That cry of pain brings a grin to the redhead's face.

A little too soon as it turns out. That sudden surge lets Monet grab the flying redhead, to toss her in Stryfe's direction. Whether the mask helps protect him or not, he simply lifts a hand, bringing Strobe's flight up short, starting to direct that telekinetic will outward, to gather up his fallen troops.

Amongst the few stacks of equipment that haven't been blown backwards, Karolina and Kurt finish with that evacuation and face down Reaper. With Nightcrawler there, that sadistic grin on the pale mutant's face shifts to a scrowl and as Karolina swoops away he watches her for just a second, the disappointment clear in his eyes. Still, he swings the scythe at the fuzzy blue elf. Once, twice, and finds each gambit parried, despite his much heavier weapon. Again a sneer comes over his face and he rears back as if he is just going to try and swing right through that rapier.

then he seems to have second thoughts -- or receives psychic commands -- and begins to back-peddle towards the increasingly tight formation of his comrades. Standing or not.

It is difficult to guess just how many more telekinetic blasts Cable can deflect. Potent as Cable's abilities might be, much of them are focused inward and while they seem to have a similar powerset -- Stryfe is clearly the more powerful of the two. At least in raw psychic potential at any rate.

Fortunately that doorway is quickly filled by Karolina and Tarot, that initial solar field from the first abruptly enhanced by the second. Individually would either be able to keep the armored mutant at bay? Who knows. They don't have to find out because together they are clearly in prime position to reinforce one another.

Things are clearly taking a turn for the worst, at least as far as Stryfe is concerned. Both Cable and Xavier would appear to be protected, beyond his easy reach. M and Bishop are irritatingly close and it is only by telekinetically jerking Strobe in the path of that unleashed flame burst that the leader of the Mutant Liberation Front is able to protect himself, the redhead's battered body still able to instinctively abosrb that flame, absorb that heat as she starts to stir.

Cable has posed:
But there is a price to be paid. Stryfe's telekinetics might be incredibly powerful, but clearly he is not omnipotent. His attention can be everywhere at once. And in this case the gap in his attention lets Xavier do the unexpected.

He shoots Zero. Raise your hand if you saw that coming?

Maybe Zero expected his master to catch the blast. Maybe the psychic assault left him -- it -- dazed. Either way, while it tries to twist away from the blast it fails. He does manage to move just enough that it strikes him in the lower half of his body. And the blast cleaves right through the android in a stunning strike, legs and the bottom half of it's torso falling to the floor as sparks fly and the shattered robot starts to dip precariously towards the ground.

That draws a shriek from Stryfe, like some two year old denied by his parents. The sound is unreasoning, irrational. Hate-filled even and that fury radiates from him in unmistakable waves towards the founder of the X-Men.

It seems inevitable that he will put Karolina and Tarot's shield to the test and one hands starts to raise, as if to do just that. To direct that overwhelming telekinetic force into crushing them, to hurling them bodily aside.

But he pauses and instead when he raises that gauntleted fist he simply plucks all the members of the MLF present and brings them hurling across the room to his side. "Zero, get us out of here," he comands his shattered Number Two.

Broken while he might be, clearly what would have killed an ordinary man has not completely taken the android out of the equation and a portal begins to form around the collection of mutant terrorists -- smaller, weaker then it would normally be.

Except not all of them are their.

Tempo, it would seem has finally met her match. So effective in the Mutant Liberation Front's previous appearances, this time she has been handily neutrailized. And still she fights, second by second bringing that arm up, threatening to catch Polaris in a field of time that will have her crawling. Then Lorna uses all that handy iron in the blood to simply cut off the flow of it to her captive's brain. the armored woman's eyes widen, she tries to speak, to protest. But instead she begins to slump towards unconsciousness, no longer struggling in that magnetic grasp.

And when Stryfe reaches out to claim her? That unconscious form does not return to him.

Still stagged himself, Cable finally manages to bring that plasma rifle up. He definitely isn't opposed to shooting deserved targets. And the MLF definitely deserves it. As that portal starts to encompass them, as Stryfe turns that hate-filled glare towards Polaris, the white haired future solider lets out one more burst of virulent green energy, sending it streaking across the room...

..just a split second too late as the group vanishes. Minus Tempo at least.

Staring after those departed forms for a moment Cable's expression doesn't change, gaze intent. Driven. "Sound off everybody and gather up. Lets get out of here before security arrives," he orde... suggests. "At least we've got something for our efforts. Beside the satisfaction of knowing that Stryfe has had a bad night," he adds, glancing towards Tempo.

It will have to be enough.

Karolina Dean has posed:
...They were out of danger by the time Karolina had a chance to collect herself, her glowing hands still shaking from the adrenaline of the fight.

She'd saved people.

She'd _actually_ done some good in the world.

And she finally felt truly happy for once... like she belonged.

But that guilt nagged, threaten to drag her back down to the place she hated...

<< "I am a good person. I am my own person. My parents' decisions don't define me. I forgive myself for the mistakes I made when I was too young to know any better. I am allowed to be happy..." >>

Karolina was still reciting those affirmations, even years later. Did she realize she was doing it through the link?

The odds were likely no.