18736/The Once and Future Juggernaut Part I

The Once and Future Juggernaut Part I
Date of Scene:	05 August 2024
Location:	Canada - North America
Synopsis:	When an idol to Cyttorak is discovered in the mountains of Canada, great effort is made to spirit it away to the care of WAND for safe keeping. Unfortunantely, The Juggernaut, increasingly unrestrained and chaotic, has his sights set on what he believes is his and a greater danger is soon revealed.
Cast of Characters:	Cain Marko, Spiral, Lara Croft, Emma Frost, Neena Thurman, Lorna Dane, Charles Xavier

---

Cain Marko has posed:
Vancouver, Canada

The North End Mountains...

Canada probably isn't the first place to come to mind when one thinks of temples to the entity known as Cyttorak ...but in truth, the being has shrines and temples and places of power dedicated to him the world over. Rage, destruction, physical power, chaos, aggression...these are not things keyed to specific cultures, times and places but something all of humanity has experienced and in all walks of life. Historical relevancy and context matters, of course, but ultimately...everybody has a reason to be angry at some point in their life....and many are those attracted to the promise of power and the ability to wreak havoc on those who have wronged them.

And so---Canada. Tucked away in the heights of The North End mountains a shrine to The Rage Father had been discovered some months prior and efforts at excavating its works of art and cataloguing its story had been under way. There was cause to be cautious of course but this sort of thing isn't entirely unusual. Explorers gotta explore after all and the very location of this shrine hinted at a fascinating story waiting to be uncovered.

That is, until, one of the recovered works of art, a small idol carved in the likeness of The Rage Father, barely a few feet in size, had begun emitting a soft pulsing crimson glow that waxed and waned in random intervals. Word spread. Networks with their ear to the ground on such unusual occurrences or set to perk their ears up at the name 'Cyttorak' were made aware of this, mystical tripwires were tripped...and before long, WAND itself arrived to retrieve the idol from the archeologists and excavators. Some might wonder at the worry or rush. Certainly odd magical whosits and whatsits appear all the time out in the wilds...but perhaps the activities of a certain Avatar may have been cause to adjust the Defcon status slightly. Two times now have affiliated Cyttorak artifacts been taken. A keystone of some sort from the Musuem of Art and History in Chicago. Another idol from the personal vault of a collector of esoteric items in New York - and now, in the wake of all of that, a new item has simply...woken up. The timing is suspect, to say the least.

A long winding mountain road back down towards a rendezvous point from which the item will be air lifted to a secure location for further study is now under way. The shrine further up the mountain range behind them and Vancouver glistening in the distance before them. The idol in question secured in a massive armored truck in the middle of the convoy while other armored vehicles bearing armed escorts accompany it.

Spiral has posed:
The mountain air within sight of the road is disrupted, sending eddies of material flying this way and that. A bit of rock and a number of trees suffer a series of invisible buzzsaws. A moment later and Spiral's dimensional can-openers protrude to produce a six-pointed set of sword tips, and complete an imperfect circle to disgorge others. A nimbus of magic flares and then fades to mere glowing embers as the portal is complete and a faux slice of reality falls forward like a piece of poundcake. It splatters down and dissolves and Spiral quickly follows through.

"Awww yeah, stealthy is my middle name." she hisses and moves forward to give room to everyone passing through. "Lasts as long as a streaming service. Hup hup hup." she jovially exclaims, safely, now wondering whether she computed enough time for the portal to stay open. She offers a happy shrug and sheaths her swords.

Lara Croft has posed:
When one pokes at magical relics, archaeological expeditions, places of ancient mystery, and impending mayhem.... it really is only a matter of times before one draws in Lara Croft. Especially with WAND involved. In 2020 Lara had moved to the United States, after six months of training with SHIELD's staff in London. Since then, she's been darting across the planet, researching all manner of strange occurences, magical relics, and general insanity in the field of ancient item study, and recovery. Today was no exception.

A SHIELD team had been setup, and a WAND representitive was included, this rep was none other than Lady Lara herself, known rather well today in the archaeological community, Lara was brought in to make sure the relic was transported safely by the regular SHIELD agents involved in the transit process.

She'd done just so, conveying knowledge to the SHIELD team leaders of what they were dealing with, and assuring them that she would make sure the item itself wouldn't pose a threat to the agents while it began its process of finding a new home in a SHIELD secure storage facility, where it could properly be researched by 'Top Men' (and women, of course.)

Seated in the main armored vehicle, Lara was in full SHIELD regalia, even a tactical vest due to the history of aggressive encounters related to this type of item. She was going over her research material after having given a small presentation to the SHIELD team leaders manning the other vehicles in the convoy. This shouldn't be a big deal, right? They didn't have far to go to get it in to that plane.

With her eyes down on her phone, Lara sat in the passenger seat, one hand reaching up to adjust the sunglasses on her forehead, as the wind from the cracked window to her right gently cast strands of dark hair about her cheeks, and brow.

Emma Frost has posed:
It's always rather difficult keeping up wtih Spiral. For Emma Frost, there are some personal reasons as well for this coming in with the Brotherhood. She's not in her human form, instead in the one of organic diamond. She'd much rather not trade hits with Cain, and telepathy is useless against him anyways unless they can get his helm off. Which is rather questionable as a tactic as Cain is still a decent fighter, and he knows it's a common tactic, so he will be prepared for it.

"Good, let's stay on target and do hope that this doesn't escalate more than it already has." Emma's research on Cyrrotakk has admittedly lead her to few useful things - she's not got any real mystical contacts that have any knowledge, and the ew she does she's not going to draw into a melee of this stature. So going in with what seems to be primarily a group of the Brotherhood is useful.

Neena Thurman has posed:
One of those two prior crystals had disappeared under Domino's watch...sort of. Rather, she had tracked Marko down in time to see what was going on and hadn't been able to stop the crystal from getting taken by the guy, but the pieces had quickly come together and a bigger, far more concerning picture had emerged.

Discovering that -another- one of these relics had been unearthed sent a loud and clear warning, what happened before is only going to happen again.

Fortunately, most of her bruises had healed by now.

Last time she traveled solo, mercenary to mercenary. It failed. This time she makes sure to not be alone, though just how much attention this third relic is going to draw is yet unknown to her. All she knows is she has friends in high places and a rocket launcher for everything else, plus some fancy schmancy 'concussion rifle' thing which is really good at punching holes in things or people backward without any of those nasty wounds usually associated with ballistic weapons. Because regular ammo is not..going..to work against the Juggernaut.

Maybe none of this will either, but she's nothing if not well armed!

Even so, she catches a Spiral teleport into the area while looking a good bit more nervous than usual. "Smoother port than last time" she asides to Spiral with a note of thanks.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"What's your LAST name?"

The banter is conspicuous cover for the dread inherent to confronting a Cain without restraints-- not that he's ever been the picture of discipline and self-control, but.

There's 'doing whatever you want as a nebulously middle-aged guy who mostly just cares about getting ahead in the world and isn't particularly afflicted by sociopathy or low empathy or anything of the sort';

And then there's whatever's held him in its grip for the past month or so.

There's rampaging at the head of cultists in service to pure rage.

"... just don't push your luck," follows after a couple seconds of acclimating to Canadian air, green eyes edging between her fellow mutants. "We aren't going to win a direct confrontation with the Juggernaut-- it's whole reason we pay him."

Charles Xavier has posed:
Fred Duncan bites into a piece of cherry pie. His eyes close as he savors the sudden, intense sensation. He wonders idly if the man across from him had ever enjoyed something before. He'd long since given up on catching Professor Xavier blinking. "That's the long and short of it, Charles."

"Can you get me on the convoy?" The Professor asks, sipping burnt diner coffee with a hooded, haunted gaze.

"Charles is that wise?" Fred asks, dabbing his lips with a cloth napkin.

"No."

NOW,

Charlie X sits in the armored van, perilously close to the idol of the Rage Father. The esteemed scientist (he has so many degrees it's hard to keep track.) has been contacted to help with what SHIELD claims is 'cultural and anthropological norms regarding the relic' and WAND admits is consulting work of a different sort.

Xavier gives Croft a nod, faintly, and returns to not blinking, his hands folded gently in his lap.

Cain Marko has posed:
Fortune, good timing, and a little dash of chaos places Spiral and her entourage upon a slope overlooking the main route just as the armored trucks begin cresting into view. They are rather boring looking of course. All clinical and gunmetal grey but built to look like they can withstand a ramming contest with a sherman tank or two. SHIELD tech at its finest and also most absolute utilitarian and boring. Either way, it's within easy sight of the four ladies though if they themselves have been spotted yet is likely not visibly apparent.

Within the convoy itself, the idol stares back at Charles Xavier with all the disinterest and dismissiveness such a object can muster. It is carved in the likeness of Cyttorak - or at least - one of his incarnations... A look that is perhaps all to similar to a certain domed and armored figure that many here know all to well. More demonic looking for certain. Horned, tusked, lacking any actual human features aside from the basic accroutments of an implied human body... But very much familiar iconography.

Suddenly, in the sky above, there is a loud crack of thunder and a sudden flash of red light. The trucks slam on their brakes abruptly as crackling tendrils of red and black energy fill the air, lashing out to crash into the stone and dirt of the rough hewn road and the sloping sides of the mountain. Within the trucks, it's hard to see exactly what is happening. Outside is another matter all together as from the vantage point of the ladies present a rippling portal of red energy has formed in the sky just above the road - leading into a whirling vortex of red and black clouds and from this, like a thunderbolt, a truly immense and recognizable figure comes. A thunderous sonic boom ripples through the air as The Juggernaut plummets downward for the road and then - impacts. A meteor strike from another dimension that sends a thunderous earthquake and shockwave rolling outward in all directions around him.

Ground zero was between the first set of guard trucks and the main armored one. The ground craters, sinking and splintering up wildly as the expanding blast zone sends the trucks that were ahead of the convoy spinning wildly away - the shouts and cries of the drivers and SHIELD agents lost to the noise of the impact. One of the trucks goes completely onto its side, beginning a slide through the rocks closer and closer towards the side of another slope and it is a looooong way down.

The rest of the shockwave rolls violently into the main truck itself. Distorting and warping the front of it and causing it to lurch into the air wildly and then back down again though it thankfully doesn't completely tip over due its own armor and weight.

Above, in the sky, the portal remains open - shrouding the area in a deep red hue, casting Juggernaut in its crimson light as he looms up to his full stance, and starts a slow inexorable approach for the damaged truck before him.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma's not aware that Charles is along for the ride. WHen she finds out, she'll be rather cross with him. But, what she doesn't know can't hurt her (yet). As she's teleported in with the rest, she glances over at Neena and Spiral. "So between the two of you can we hopefully find a way to slow him?" Between the two of their probability manipulation powers they might have something that can work on him.

"I can last a short while with him." In hand to hand though he can probably shatter her if he really tries on it. "His blockage comes from his skullcap if we can take his helmet off." To Lorna, she's not sure how the green woman's powers are effective on Cain - or not at all. They'll have to find that out, it seems.

And then there's the smash down from Cain, "Lovely, our friend has decided to get it off early. Best of luck, ta." She goes to make sure that the commpiece is working, and goes to drop along with the rest to try and flank her way towards the unstoppable Juggernaut. If only Fred were with them. He woudl be incredibly useful here as the Immovable Blob.

Spiral has posed:
Spiral rubs her bare shoulders and stamps her fur-lined boots. She side-eye squints at Domino for that last remark, and a corner of her mouth is tugged upwards by an invisible fish hook. "And looks like you arrived quite a bit more armed that than last 'port."

"If only we had time, we could construct a cunning treadmill..." Spiral starts to muse, as confrontation with the Juggernaut becomes a more pressing concern now that they're quite closer to dangertime. "...People would watch him on that, like, all day." It's hard to stay focused after expending so much magic in one big performance. Those mental marbles rattling around before they can settle into a new holding pattern.

"..." Spiral's mouth opens and closes like a fish on land. She was not expecting an entrance of the red giant such as this. The vibrations of the impact reach her and her guts do the jello dance. A cough, and her arms arch and sway to help her maintain some balance, at least in the physical sense. "Maybe we should just let him have it..." she says in a dead monotone.

Lara Croft has posed:
The presence of Charles Xavier, does cause Lara to look up from her Cyttorak research on her phone, and exchange looks with him. Where he nods softly toward her, she offers him a warm smile in return, and after a second of staring at his facial features, she ever so slightly tilt her head. "I feel like I have seen your face before, but I can't for the life of me place where..." The British woman tells him, as she is slightly jostled about in her seat within the heavily armored transport. "Are you with the museum in Chicago, by chance?" She asks, making that assumption based on Charles' general demeanor, which separates himself from the SHIELD agents that make up the majority of the rest of the team guarding this relic.

"I'm Lara, Cro--" She was in the process of leaning forward to offer him her right hand, when everything went wrong. A gleam of light, crimson and ominous, a rumbling thunder followed by utter chaos. Needless to say, Lara was forced to retract her hand, and instead put it up on to one of those 'oh shit' handles that hang from the roof of the vehicle. She utilizes it to stabilize herself, as the vehicle gets thoroughly rocked from side to side. Her brown eyes, alert and stricken with concern, sweep about the interior of the vehicle, as voices begin to sound off around her, both in person and over the comm network of the SHIELD / WAND teams.

"Shit..." Lara states, her voice laden with a growing adrenaline. She tries to look outside, to garner as much of a view as she can of what may be happening, before she begins to remove her seat belt, letting it snap back in to place over her shoulders.

As the panic rolls across some of the less experienced SHIELD team members, the more well seasoned veterans already begin to attempt to build a counter to this new threat.

For Lara? She reaches for a gun on her left thigh, a high caliber handgun... not that it'll do anything to what has come for them, but she's yet to learn that element!

"Are you alright?" Lara asks Charles, once more looking upon the older man.

Lorna Dane has posed:
One of them's made of diamond.

One of them's a teleporting sorceress.

And one of them is Domino;

Polaris thinks about it for a split-second before electing to let the rest of her group compensate for the shockwave in their own ways while she propels herself from the ground and projects a forward magnetic field to buoy her self against the shockwaves, bobbing erratically amidst kinetic currents until they begin to subside. It's not selfishness, or even ruthless pragmatism that animates her decision-making, here: under different circumstances, she might be more inclined to lend a helping hand to teammates and allies, even when they're more than competent enough to help themselves.

It's a matter of simple mathematics.

Of finding the optimal way to divide a vast, but ultimately limited reservoir of power between necessary tasks.

Today, this means that along with Lorna herself, truck after truck in the convoy's rising into the air with the one threatening to fly over the edge being the first to lift off. The main vehicle - situated in the heart of the convoy as it was - is among the last, because she's working from the outside in.

"JUGGERNAUT," reverberates off of metal surfaces, crackles from open comm systems, braids together from a dozen points into a singular, static-laced amalgamation of the Royal Voice.

"WHAT IS THIS SHIT? DO YOU NEED A RAISE?"

Neena Thurman has posed:
It seems they arrived ahead of the party. Convenient, to be sure, though how much help it might be is up in the air. How would they prepare for ...whatever's coming next? Where do they move the pieces on the game board? Domino's just eyeing up the convoy done up in nondescript tactical grey with a slight frown. She can -smell- the SHIELD on those vehicles from their vantage point. Not their biggest fan, by any stretch.

To Spiral with a similar smirk, she offers "I had time to load up on extra props today." A light tap of RPG tube against a metal shoulder results in a dull *Gunk* sound. "Yeah, get him on a treadmill and we could start powering New York."

To Emma, all she can do is shrug and say "Who the hell knows. Last time he about mopped the floor with me. I'd give it around a one in twenty-six thousand four hundred and eleven against."

The cracking and redding of the sky has her instinctively ducking with widening eyes. The Juggernaut's opening salvo and the resulting ground tremor and shockwave already starts to trigger memories of their last skirmish. Goddammit, Cain! This would be so much easier if she could just not give a damn about his stupid merc ass!

Emma departs, off to do who knows what. Since Lorna's here the Magnetrix has point.

Polaris has the trucks in hand. It's a mountain pass. They're trying to slow Juggernaut down. Domino does the math and settles onto a knee, aiming the rocket launcher at the rocky incline a short was above the Mighty Marko. "Landslide incoming, fire in the hole!"

In a flash of light and sound the rocket darts across the way toward the hill, the intent to drop as much rock and debris atop of Juggernaut as one lucky bitch can manage.

Charles Xavier has posed:
Charles, these days, looks to be in his mid thirties. Lara's confusion is entirely understandable, as there are pictures of him as an older man with an older face. Sometimes a space monster lays eggs in your chest and your girlfriend builds you a younger body with her space magic. It beats that french melon they sell on television now, alright. He's wearing a green jumpsuit over a black undershirt, the jumpsuit having a red and black 'x' symbol on the left breast pocket. His wheelchair is of a strange silvery design and seems to have an engine built into it.

Xavier has eyes only for the idol which he is looking at like it personally wronged him. Thin, pointed eyebrows, like a community theater Satan might have, bend in intensity as the Professor contemplates the god in the statue. "Westchester." Xavier says, finally. "Is where I do most of my work. I've spent some time in Chicago, studying the Egyptian lost century."

Everything sort of shakes. Xavier holds onto his chair, his frail body shaking but the chair itself staying shockingly in place. "Doctor Croft!" Xavier says, as if a man so slight could do anything about the horror happening. He holds out a hand, even, though Charles quickly sees that she is undeterred by the earth protesting.

And then everything goes up. For a second Laura may see a look of utter horror on the Professor's face, as if he'd made some mistake that had fatal consequences or had a fear of heights that was being awakened. The voice comes, then, and Xavier's shoulders relax, the grim intensity on his face fading to the smolder it's been at all trip.

"My name, Doctor Croft, is Professor Charles Xavier. And I'm afraid we're in a bit of trouble." Professor X says, his wheelchair's wheels retracting inside of it and two sections of the chair glowing a faint shade of blue, as the machine hovers off of the ground. "Here comes the Juggernaut."

Cain Marko has posed:
How -does- one muster a response against The Unstoppable? Especially an attack so sudden and so destructive?

To their credit, the assigned SHIELD agents are rattled but attempting to recover their wits though the more seasoned present when it comes to facing down The Juggernaut are a step ahead of them. To that end, the timely intervention of the Queen of Genosha saves not just a handful of lives.

"Ah, no... Not you guys.... C'mon now.... why youg otta get involved..."

Juggernaut's voice lacks its usual bravado. He sounds tired. Disappointed. He shakes his head as he looks upon the truck before him and begins to slowly increase his speed, moving at a steady pace for it and beginning to reach a massive arm out with intention of seizing hold of the front of it to prevent it from flying any higher into the air.

"Stay outta this Queenie!" he finally manages. A loud rumbling warning emitting from his heavy voice, "This aint yer concern.. I'm coming here to get what's mine. What I need! That's all---"

*BOOOOOOOM*

Luck has a way of working in certain ones favor, doesn't it. As the rocket from Domino explodes into the cliff side, Juggernaut turns his attention towards it just in time as the landslide comes roaring in and slamming into his body with all the force a collapsing mountain ridge can muster.

The stone rushes over him, a roaring river of debris that...doesn't even move him from the spot he stands upon. His unthinkable strength holding him in place. His durability preventing visible harm from occuring ... but it -does- slow him down and sometimes that's all that matters isn't it. His hand misses the edge of the truck as Lorna lifts it upwards juuuust out of reach.

Suddenly!

"The Champion is being distracted from his sacred mission!" A -new- voice rings out. A heretofore unexpected and unknown individual enters the scene. Eyes that track upwards would see a figure arrayed in tattored red robes. A long staff tipped with a red crystal with another around his neck. Hooded though the sight of blond hair framing a narrow scraggly face and red jagged tattoo markings upon it can be seen in the light cast by the portal he hovers beneath. Swirling chains, wrapped in crimson energy, move about him as by minds of their own.

"Assist him!" the figure commands. "Retrieve The Rage Fathers totem!"

And from the portal hurtle demons. Red, winged, fanged, their slopping visages again drawing one to the likeness of the helm of the Juggernaut and visage of Cyttorak. Human-esque in s ize but large...large enough to pose a challenge, some even bearing crystal like formations on their bodies as armor.

They fall forth, SHIELD agents beginning to open fire upon them but not halting their descent just yet as they hurtle in for the convoy.

Emma Frost has posed:
What the /hell/? Well, since technically CYrrotakk isn't from a parallel hell based plane, that might be a more metaphorical comparison than a literal one. At this range, Emma can, however, get the look of exhaustion, irritation, and the whole sense of /not/ wanting to be here that seems to be all over Cain's face. So she goes to simply walk through the barrage of flame blasts going down. She's vulnerable to hellblasts, but fortunately these things aren't doing that sort of attack. She sidesteps one, has most of her outfit melted by a blast from another, has a claw deflect off her face which was met with a shove, and she goes to head over in the direction of Cain Marko.

Presuming she can get that far towards him throughout the melee of the cultists, the summonings, and the SHIELD Agents, Emma Frost would go to approach Cain and stand several dozen meters away, crossing her arms.

"Cain, do forgive me, but what is going on here? You don't seem to be particularly enthusiastic about all of this." She would gesture her hand around. "We both know that I'm not a threat to you and all of those lovely whatevers are handling things. So, do forgive me for being rather curious if you don't mind giving some level of explanation for all of this?" Emma waits. She doesn't know exactly -what- Cain's relationship is with his patron (which this seems to be something related to), but it doesn't seem to be a particularly willing one at the moment.

"So, perhaps there's a way that we can work our way through this and cut a deal acceptable to more parties than the one that's currently holding on to the primary contract?"

Lara Croft has posed:
While observing Charles, to make sure he was alright, Lara bared witness to his wheelchair displaying a higher level of tech, than a first glance might perceive. When he speaks of the arrival of the Juggernaut, a chill runs down Lara's spine. She knew of the name, and had seen many different videos from the SHIELD breifing on this whole ordeal to know what he was capable of. The voices outside could be heard, something was certainly unfolding out there, along with SHIELD agents deploying to setup a security block. But, that would be trivial against this threat. Sitting here would be too, they'd be sitting ducks.

Quickly, as Lara could hear shouts, and gunfire breaking out, she moved a duffle bag over the Demonic looking Cyttorak relic. She stuffed it inside the bag, where she raisd it up off of its storage spot. "Can you get to safety?" Lara asked Charles, as she hoisted the ancient artifact up over one shoulder, by the bag's strap. She moved to the large doors at the back of the secure armored truck, her free hand pushing them apart, slinging them open, and giving way to the outside world where the chaos was breaking out.

Lara peered outside, before looking back toward Charles. "I need to get this away from here. If he can't find it... he can't smash through all of these people to get it." She explains, even if that may not exactly be true, it could yield the unstoppable Juggernaut to at least aim his sights elsewhere.

Lara exits the vehicle, dropping down to her booted feet upon the dusty, rocky pathway, and spies a slope created by Domino's rocket, which would lead her right up to the edge of that copse of trees she can spot above. It would be the best point of escape, and by all visible sight... there certainly was enough distractions happening.

Once more, Lara looked back to Charles, but he'd likely see she was about to make a break for it, with the demonic totem.

Spiral has posed:
Once Spiral's stopped gawking and considered options other than charging up a Warner Bros hole out of this, she tries to take inspiration from her allies to do something constructive. "Brah."

And she didn't even come with mounted cameras this time.

The powerful display of Polaris, the decisiveness of Emma's flanking attempt, and then the passage of air after that Domino's rocket barks off a round stirs Spiral's hair and seems to tousle her into action. Good thing she wore boots, like always. Off she dashes down the side of the incline and towards the current chaos of the convoy.

A series of incantations offer themselves in her scatterbrained melon. Her arms wave and undertake patterns that undulate, each hand plucking a weave of hocus pocus. The threads winding up spools of sorcery as one might pull in a kite in high winds. They trail her like feathers as she gathers and gathers, drawn from pocket dimensions. Nothing indestructible, but made of pretty darn stubborn hocus-pocus. If her hat had a brim, maybe she could pretend to be readying a series of lassos in a Western.

"This is really, really dumb!"

When that other portal appears, the arrival of another magic user makes her hackles raise. "Ooooooooo..." she seethes, and whatever arcane forces at work over there is totally instigating a competition. Her intentions of trying to bind the Juggernaut or at least trip him up, rapidly change to using her Arts for self preservation. "We got a wizard! Wizard! 12 O'clock!" she screams, and starts tossing her bindings towards the demonic looking entities. Those bonds of force and constriction meant for Cain, those magical hoops are hurled towards the flying forms. Snagging wings and limbs, and if they make contact, they constrict with bone-breaking force. They ~were~ intended for Juggernaut as temporary measures, but for these things, maybe they'll snap-crackle-pop from the force.

Lorna Dane has posed:
"Ah, shit--"

There's a wizard.

AND there are demons.

-- AND the Juggernaut appears to be-- stressed?

It's hard to put a finger on which of these is the most unsettling. She and Cain aren't close, but she knows she's never seen him be anything but confident, secure--

    The demons, meanwhile, present a significant threat to someone who has already committed a significant share of power and attention alike. Crackling electromagnetic force expands out for a few feet, forming a protective sphere from her position, but it's a stopgap--

        And then there's that goddamned wizard, turning what could have been an intervention into a combat zone.

Problems abound: several sets of them converge on her position, slipping past the lassos that capture their companions and poised to sink their wicked edges into her flesh; another pairs a thundering presence with a quavering voice, uncertainty permeating the rumbles that warn of Unstoppable violence if he isn't curtailed.

Gritting her teeth, Lorna opts for the one most likely to curb the others:

"I suggest bailing--!" cracks through a truck's radio. Half a second later, metal shrieks, smoke belches, and sparks fly as the front quarter of the vehicle shears away from the rest, exposing the cab to mountain air and hurtling towards the wizard's skull.

"Bail out!" another truck hears just before its engine block bursts from the hood and careens towards the wizard's midsection.

"Get--!"

The front of a third truck just-- shatters into gleaming shrapnel when ruby red, perpetually blood-slicked talons finally slice through electromagnetic wards and rake across Polaris' belly, driving her back several feet and causing the vehicles in her grasp to wrench precariously towards the ground for a beat before arresting. A share of unwanted shrapnel slices through the swooping demon's back as Polaris clutches her bleeding midsection, a trembling hand held forward as she sacrifices a portion of her precious concentration to burrowing hot channels through the monster's body, desperate to make it into a gory monument before it can make another pass.

Neena Thurman has posed:
When dealing with a threat like an overcharged Marko, one takes their victories where they can. The landscape gets reshaped a little and Lorna gets the trucks out of the way. All in all a solid start, Domino thinks!

But it's too much to ask that they all only have one target to focus their efforts on. Through the portal she sees robed figures again, cultists which she miiight have omitted from her 'report' of her previous encounter.

Also: Demons. -Demons?!- Aw come ON! Y'know what, screw it. A target-rich environment is far more her speed than butting heads with a goddamn tank. "Covering!" is all she offers.

Who exactly is she covering? -Yes.-

Out comes her rifle, the first flying red critter getting 'punched' so hard its wings fold in as its battered form goes sailing in the opposite direction. "C'mon Spiral, let's give 'em a show!" she yells while remote-fly swatting another pair of infernals. Light on her feet, now! Keep moving, keep blasting, stay on high ground to make herself a more inviting target, and -do not get in front of the Juggernaut.- She'll keep most of her focus on covering the others. Genosha has some good healers for later.

Best of luck, Lorna!

Charles Xavier has posed:
Xavier raises an eyebrow at this reaction. Still it's certainly in line with Croft's professional reputation. Still, is this the play? Juggernaut and those things from the Crimson Cosmos aren't going to just stop because they can't find the bauble.

It all starts getting worse. One of the convoy trucks is simply ripped apart and the Professor presses his head with his fingers as he feels every death. Most escape and despite estrangement Xavier feels proud that Polaris's first thought was saving lives.

"Hurry. Be careful." Xavier suggests to Croft, as he hovers towards the back of his still intact truck. Probably not for much longer but he'll take what cover he can get, as those horrible little men fly around wreaking havoc.

Xavier aims for their leader. Interacting with non-humans is always a little tricky, though demons tend to be very focused in a way his powers can take advantage of. All you need is a little shock and awe.

A massive glowing blue head appears in the battlefield, growing to the torso and arms of a furious Professor X, hovering over the lead Crimson Demon even as the thought construct violently probes the caster's mental defenses. "Are you the one responsible for doing this to my brother?" Xavier says, and you feel his words as much as you hear them. "Or is there another hand here? Loki? Mordo? Doom? Do I need to take the answers from you, bleating goat-thing?"

Cain Marko has posed:
It's not exactly an unending supply of demons but there does see to be enough to provide ample hassle and distraction to the defenders of the damaged convoy. Gunfire rings out over the area along with their shrieks, roars and the gouts of flames and slashing of claws and biting of fangs.

Domino's assistance and cover fire provides the needed time for the agents to regroup. Some SHIELD agents do still go down but the covering fire lets them be dragged to safety by their fellows as they take cover behind piles of rubble and distended and broken trees. Others hold their ground as the denizens of the Crimson Cosmos bear down upon them. It's a messy affair but to their credit ..nobody is dead. Yet. Hopefully.

Spiral's efforts play a signifigant role here as well. The landslide seemingly dealt with Juggernaut for a moment which lets her tactically direct her efforts towards the demons - felling more then just a few with her bindings and a distinct sound of bones cracking and crystals shattering. Window rattling and body shaking shrieks fill the air as the creatures fall and then shatter into countless pieces of broken crystal..

As Emma approaches the landslide, the ground begins shaking once again and then with an explosion of force and the fury of a high magnitude quake compacted into a human form, Juggernaut suddenly erupts free. HIs massive arms swinging to his sides, splayed out against his flanks, chest thrusted out and a loud bellow roaring into the air as the tonnage of the landscape is blasted away from the force of him freeing himself.

This has the effect of putting Emma at ground zero of this effort. A thunderous shockwave rippling out over her as debris flies and the ground sunders from The Exemplar's efforts. Her query goes unanswered as a result of this and if the shockwave doesn't send her hurtling back and down, she'll clearly see his eyes - enflamed with rage, teeth gritted as he glares in her direction and then snaps his attention skywards, "I don't -need- your -help- Malphegor! "

"Apologies, Champion.." answers the sorcerer, "I am here to serve your glorious purpose. That is all..." his voice deadpan and seemingly unphased by Juggernaut's rebuke.

His gaze tracks in the direction of the fleeing Lara as if sensing the movement of the artifact. Another set of demons swarms out from the portal, spiraling in pursuit of her.

Malphegor's attention suddenly snaps towards the blur of movement that is the incoming engine block hurtling his way. There is a split second. Time seems to slow...and then the crystal atop his staff flares to life. A whirlwind of red bands of energy swirls around him, enveloping him in a seemignly impenetrable wall of crimson hued constructs. The engine block slams into it, bursting into counltess pieces and an instant later the bands begin to unravel, revealing the sorcerer once again.

"The crimson bands of cyttorak--!" begins the sorcerer only to stop in his tracks as the mental pressure of Xavier begins to push into his guarded mind. -He- is indeed very much human even though he commands Cyttoraks might. Within his mind, Charles finds pushback. Wards present that are all too familiar to him when attempts are made to probe Juggernaut's shielded mind - not not nearly as inviolate as Juggernaut when armored. "GET OUT!" shouts Malphegor.

Juggernaut tracks his attention in the direction Lara fled to ...but then freezes.

"..Charles...?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma goes to slowly force her way up and out of it, watching Ms. Croft run with whatever it is that the sorceror is after. "Yes, Cain. We're here to aid you. Not htat you require it.. But we are here to help." the direction that Charles is is given an -icy- stare. If Emma could telepathically send out to Xavier now she would go on about how shouldn't he be concerned about falling and breaking his hip more than it already was at his age? But, given Emma can't use her telepathy in diamond mode, she couldn't! And given the weather the glare wasn't very visbile either.

As the demons go to charge towards Lara, Emma's head turns in that direction.

Debating whether to go and aid the woman that seems to have things quite well in hand that she would get in the way of or stay here and get in the way of the two brothers having an amicable discussion. Emma finally just decides to let them be. She goes to stomp over towards Malephor, and at the distance she's at, she goes to calculate, moves to take in a breath (not that she has to breathe).. And then just goes to jump at him.

Emma Frost is not the Hulk, she is not the feral little midget that is occasionally used to play dodgeball by Piotr.. But she is rather strong in her own perfect way. So.. One jump up in the air towards Malephor as he goes to wage his vocal war with those bands, and then is engaged with the mental assault upon him.. And hopefully mid-chant/monologue there is Emma to give him a brutal attempted right hook in the face. Emma isn't bothering to hold back. Normally sorcerous types empowered by dark other-dimensional entities that live on their own personal plane of existence don't quite have durability issues.

So, there's an attempted slug that could cave the front half of the armor of a main battletank in. "Do shut UP."

Lara Croft has posed:
It was far from the greatest play that they could ever make, in order to keep the totem from reaching either the dark wizard, nor the meaty hands of the Juggernaut, but they were in desperate times.

With Charles urging her onward, Lara abandons the idea of helping the man in the wheelchair. She darts off with surprising speed, toward the landslide created by the hectic arrival of those pushing back against the Juggernaut's intentions.

She spoke over her comm piece, reaching her SHIELD team leader, informing him of her plan, as she was already enacting it. But as she drew close to that column of toppled rocks, she saw the presence of two demonic beings baring down upon her. Lara was not one to be easily disuaded, however, and her nimble nature, and her ability to move in ways the average Human couldn't, she dashed between two massive boulders, contorting her body in a way that allowed her to slip right between them, backpack-and-totem included! The narrow gap is far too small for those beastly beings that were sent to retrieve whatever it was that Lara was transporting, while on the other side, the agility-graced British agent darted upward. Using a side-by-side stack of fallen mountain rock, Croft began to dart back and forth, springing jumps that had her ascending the rocks in short order. Using her hands to brace herself at their apex, she was a good thirty feet off of the ground now, rising up out of the small crevice that she'd evaded the demonic creatures inside of.

With a heavy grunt, and sweat upon her brow, Lara hoisted herself up on to a brand new plateau of stone, dirt, and natural detritus.

She breathed heavily, and could hear the chaos continuing behind her. She did not stop, however, speeding with rapid footfalls, Lara made one last jump that would take her over to the forest's edge. She leapt, and grasped hold of a toppled tree branch, using it to swing herself the rest of the way...

Right in to the face of one of those demonic creatures, that had managed to beat her to this very point of retreat.

Gunshots echoed out from the forest where Lara was attemtping to vanish in to the embrace of..

Lorna Dane has posed:
The engine block shattering is an opportunity of sorts.

One demon's rooted to the ground by a long, twisted piece of metal impaled through its gut. Other, smaller ones smoke and smolder, doing their job to batter Polaris' fields down and perishing in the effort. Domino and Spiral, collectively, are on top of laying down coverage of various flavors--

So even though she's bleeding, Lorna sees hundreds of glittering, shorn shards of opportunity raining from Malphegor's rubescent field.

<< Professor--! >> she thinks, her psychic voice small and strained as she struggles to tune into Astral frequencies she's largely been separated from, these past years. << Overwhelm on two fronts? >>

There's no guarantee he HEARS it, even-- especially when he's already occupied.

Especially when so much of her mental energy's devoted to capturing every last, disparate piece of scrapped metal in her electromagnetic grasp and plotting vectors around Emma--

She'll just have to hope that one way or another - whether he gets the message, gets the idea, or they simply luck out - adding an Itano-scale salvo of swiftly flying, inwardly spiraling metal projectiles for the wizard to contend with will be enough to stress his mystical wards to their limits by way of countless simultaneous collisions.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Ask Domino later and she'd have to admit, shooting flying creatures armored up by crystal with a concussive blast is -shockingly- satisfying. She gets this wonderfully immediate report of shattering material and a burst of particulate before the affected demon gets punted across the sky. If it wasn't such a dire situation she'd be having an absolute ball, although she could do without the various scratches coming her way as she largely focuses on covering everyone but herself. Merely flesh wounds! She's taken bigger hits. Her armor takes out most of the bite, anyway.

Or is that the adrenaline... Eh, whatever.

It's going pretty darn well until there's a giant blue head being projected in the sky which, frankly, she isn't sure who or what or which side it's a part of. "What--?" she hesitates, losing a crucial two seconds which opens her up to getting dive-bombed from the back.

With a yelp she ducks forward which conveniently presents the back-clinging demon to a chunk of rock which is now sailing their way as Juggernaut bursts free of the rubble. A series of sharp tugs and a satisfying *CRUNCH* pelts the critter off into oblivion.

Out of everyone engaged in combat, one form is running away. The lady who is clearly carrying something and heading up the hill. As more demons dive toward Lara Domino finds her next person of interest to offer some fire support to, taking a moment to crack the rifle stock into the face of a passing flying critter before firing off another salvo at Lara's attackers. Run like the wind, lady! Ah... Wow. Okay. Yeah, look at her go!

Her awaiting attacker at the top of the incline is missed by both but the sound of gunfire is certainly telling.

Charles Xavier has posed:
Charles holds onto his wheelchair, which is hovering furiously as the armored car starts basically disintegrating. His body is in peril. His body is unimportant. It's always failed him.

"No." Charles tells Malphegor, a holographic hand reaching out to give a physical impression of his following Lorna's strategy and just going all out. The wards start to unravel, the layers of mystic preparation undoing themselves, the evil wizard's mind being trapped in a psychic vice. Xavier doesn't need to be nice to crimson cosmos cultists. "You have a choice. You can tell me what you did to my brother and I can let go of your brain, Malpehgor, or I can squeeze."

"Good idea." Xavier says, right by Lorna's head. His projections are all over the place: he's clearly a little upset. "Just be careful. That's why Erik went with the body armor, all of those scratches." Xavier points at one of Lorna's cuts with, there's no getting around this, a bit of a fatherly air. "I mean and he likes looking like Alexander the Great. Hold on."

ANOTHER projection appears, Xavier, standing, right in front of the unstoppable Juggernaut. "I'm here, Cain." Professor X says, holding a hand out. "I can help you. Whatever's happened, I can help. I'm right here."

Cain Marko has posed:
Sadly - the Crimson Bands were already present. The spell had been cast. The manifestation of the constructs summoned by means of the sorcerers magic. The monologuing - well - that was just the icing on the cake. It's all about presentation after all.

And a wizard that cannot multi-task or have some things on automatic isn't really much of a wizard.

Thus Emma's daring leap and decision to attack Malphegor over aiding Lara may backfire --

At least it -would- have if not for Polaris leaping into the fray, forcing the sorcerer to stay on the defenses and for the bands to rapidly spin around him to attempt to deflect the countless sharpnel shards that come hurtling in.

To his credit, he is able to withstand the bulk of them, and Emma's own fist clangs violently against summoned constructs once summoned against The Hulk himself and rebounds her backwards and towards the distant ground below ..but all of it together proves too much. Sharpnel goes cutting in, shearing into the flesh of the sorcerer who cries out in rage and frustration.

Ichor sprays, crystalline dust billows as Domino's cover fire downs more of the creatures in pursuit of The Tomb Raider. but one yet remains upon the WAND operative. Fangs open wide, claws sweep in and Lara's unerring shot rips through the creature as it lunges at her with the wild abandon of a mountain lion coming in for its prey. It twists and turns, dragging enormous claws at her and then along her side as her shot and movements pull her away from the beast while also pushing its trajectory away from her. Nevertheless, the talons yet rake against her flanks - shredding into her vest and seeking the flesh beneath - but it continues onward towards the unforgiving rough hewn ground of the mountain side.

The most most skilled mutant telepath alive begins to press inward, piercing the wards, bursting through the defenses. Thoughts and memories flood in as the mind of the sorcerer is pushed towards its limits. A temple in Thailand.

A sacred chamber.

A -second- crystal of Cyttorak...and Malphegor's desire for power.

"I ....I need -power- Charles. " Juggernaut's eyes are wide. He's not even joining the fray as certainly he could tip the tied of this conflict. "I need it. So that my mind doesn't go again! I'm going to...I'm going to destroy him... Destroy--"

There's suddenly another flash of red light. A sudden repulsion of even Xavier's mind. The demonic visage of The Rage Father filling the mind of The Professor as a surge of defense billows up from the swirling depths of The Crimson Cosmos where destruction is a prayer.

And abruptly, as if a fail safe was activated, the attacking demons, the wounded sorcerer and then The Juggernaut himself is swept away - pulled into that portal with a rushing clap of thunder and a final flash of light over the area. The rumble of thunder echoes and then all is silent.

Lara Croft has posed:
Lara had fired her gun 3 times, utilizing her continued training with small arms from the Triskelion weapons services team. it was invaluable training, getting instructed by former military special forces on the regular. She got three shots off before the demonic enemy could pounce upon her, and one had seemingly really hit the mark in a successful fashion. But at a cost.

Lara had dodged, to the best of her ability, the final swiping attack from the creature, but it caugt her vest, and sunk through it. The claws reached through her undershirt as well, tearing right down in to her skin..

In the past five years, Lara had accrewed a number of lingering scars, with the most obvious being the one across her left cheek; which she sustained aftre having a handgun smashed in to her face by a rather nasty enemy. More scars lingered across her sides, and down her thighs, which could at least be covered up by her normal day to day clothing, but it seemed as though today she might sustain another few. Maybe it would be time to look in to SHIELD medical's proposals for treatments to repair these injuries.

If she survived this, of course.

Lara saw the demonic beast topple down the hillside that she had just climbed, not having any idea that she'd gotten any assists in covering her hide from others behind her, she'd just been too pre-occupied. But after watching the creature fall, Lara stumbled forward, making it a few paces before she felt the searing pain of a tell-tale wound making it through her multiple layers.

Staggering onward, upon her dusty booted feet, Lara felt her side, and felt the presence hot the wet, hot, blood coming from the cuts upon her vest, shirt and skin.

It did not slow her pace, too much, however. She proceeded on in to the woods, as the fighting grew quiter behind her. She had a goal here, to get as far as she could, until her team leader called for her across the team network. Her figure, form, and presence, thusly began to mix with the underbrush, and forest foliage...

Lorna Dane has posed:
The, "Thanks, Dad," is just as sarcastic and sincere as it always was. Lorna had always lacked for stable father figures prior to coming to the Institute; despite the distance, despite her misgivings about the details of his ideology, she has yet to let go of her baseline affection for Professor X.

"Gonna have to get my own space girlfriend, if this' what it's done for you--"

She even spares a quick onceover and a smirk for the Professor while testing the limits of Malphegor's ability to make Concentration checks, she cares for him so much.

The uncertainty in Juggernaut's voice wipes the mirth from her expression in short order, though-- not to mention the disjointedness of it all, the confusion--

"Cain, if you NEED something-- don't let THIS asshole dangle it over your head--!" she calls through truck radios, only to be interrupted by thunder and ruby light. When it fades, the wizard, the demons, and the Juggernaut are all gone.

And once the coast is clear, the vehicles finally return to the ground with a bumpy but ultimately safe landing; Polaris herself takes the opportunity to collapse to her hands and knees, panting and bleeding-- and seething.

Even as a mercenary, Cain is one of her people.

And historically, the ruler of Genosha does not take kindly to her people being abused.

< Dom, > she murmurs into her commlink, < get your hottest renditioning outfit ready; we've clearly got shit to do. >

Neena Thurman has posed:
Dom would like to think she could do this forever but she really can't. The power's running out on her rifle, the blood's running out of her veins, and if anything were to tip the balance of power against the organized group it could all unravel at an alarming rate. It's another delicate balance of intense degrees of power. It's also a show of just what it might take to stop the Juggernaut. The game had been stacked from the start, no way this would have been a one woman job!

She's lucky to have been able to get another shot at it.

With another thunderclap and all of the unleashed badness getting sucked back into the swirling red vortex like an inverted drain, it all comes to a sudden end. Complete with the disappearance of the Juggernaut.

A slow look around from her vantage point, then the wounded albino and her heat-smoking rifle slump onto one knee to catch her breath. << All's good on the hill >> she reports in, only half truthful given the damage she sustained. << Don't need to tell me twice, Polaris. >>

Charles Xavier has posed:
Charles gets through.

It's not great news. A second crystal? No wonder Cain's been dragged into this. His greatest fear is losing control of the Juggernaut, of being normal again. He has to.

"Aah." Charles says, his images shattering as he's forced back into his body. His frame shakes and his chair falls out of the ATV, its hover feature activating as a failsafe about fifteen feet and a little whiplash down. It's all RED. "Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Charles slumps, breathing, running a hand over his face as demons steal his stepbrother again. Enough of this, Xavier thinks, a world destroying look on his face. "It's more complicated than it sounds, Lorna." Xavier says, remembering someone dar to him was speaking and that manners are free. "They usually have sisters and let me tell you: they are a lot."