20364/Killing the Kinneys - Slash and Burn

Killing the Kinneys - Slash and Burn
Date of Scene:	09 April 2025
Location:	Weapon Plus Bunker
Synopsis:	In a final battle and rescue the X-Men and Superboy save Laura and rescue her family. Running through a gauntlet of pain, hate, and suffering as they brawl their way through Logan's greatest enemies for one final fight through the complex, and Laura shows that she has a soul. But the nightmare is never over.
Cast of Characters:	Monet St. Croix, Laura Kinney, Logan Howlett, Tabitha Smith, Drake Riley, Rogue, Conner Kent, Quentin Quire

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Monet St. Croix has posed:
They had tracked Laura via her stealthily fired off tracker. Sneaky enough and high tech enough that it wasn't noticed. Here, the grop would arrive via a teleporter in an abandoned corridor. In the literal sense that it was connected to the base but long and empty, rocks and mold covering within. The type of mold that if one breathed in they might very well get extremely sick from exposure. Hope you brought your breathing masks, X-Men. A light screen up ahead kept the worst of the mold out. Something lazy, barely better than a tarp. An indication that this place had only recently come back online or that they didn't have enough personnel here to fully secure it. That was hopefully a good sign..
    But, never expect things to go your way. Anyone with enhanced hearing or senses could pick up massive amounts of activity from further within. Boots, machinery.. All such twisted things.
    Deep within the facility, there was a whistling - far off and away. Inside, a man that was supposed to be dead, Doctor Zandar Rice, and a woman that brought up suppressed hate and loathing from Laura that she had put in all of her strength to holding back her rage in the times they had met since.. Were standing with Laura over on a gurney. Her wrists wtisted about, pressed to her stomach and held with bracers made of titanium. If she deployed her claws, she would gut herself and the restraints gave her no room to try and maneuver her wrists at all to try and leverage herself free.
    On her head was a helmet that was constantly barraging her brain over with conditioning from her days as a child. Memory after memory, trigger after trigger.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney must remember to thank Tim for that tracker. Having it handy to connect with Drake is going to be her best hope here. Assuming Drake didn't hurt himself trying to ride back to the Mansion on the motorcycle Laura swiped from Logan for hte job. It'll be fine. It coudln't possibly go wrong.

It's a sign of how much she's changed in the last five years that, in this position, trapped by people who know hwer powers better than she does, she lets out a brief soft chuckle at the vision of Drake trying to ride to save the day.

It's her best hope of resisting reconditioning: hang on to the people she's met as a free person.

Logan Howlett has posed:
In a sick way, the moldy corridor with its foul odors triggered a portion of Wolverine's brain normally reserved for feelings of nostalgia. But in a way, this was a sort of homecoming for him. His earliest verifiable memories were of a place very much like this, along with flashes of the corpses he had to create in order to escape it. A deep sniff, and he's already learned most of what he needs to know about the place. He's caught her scent, at least, and once he's got that there's almost nowhere on Earth to hide from his bloodhound's nose.

By the time that the teleporter has finished doing its thing, he's already crouched in a familiar stance. Hands extended out to his sides, balled up in fists, with his face positioned far more forward than any sane close quarters expert would advise. But most sane close quarters experts don't like to draw in attacks to the face.

"She's that way."

It's a simple enough command, disguised as information. The bright yellow and blue suit of Wolverine is moving almost immediately. Staying low and crouched. Moving silently. But moving swiftly, nonetheless. A thin screen up ahead. No match for a set of Adamantium claws. But it's best not to give away the element of surprise so quickly. Though he is a fighter who leads with his face, Logan isn't as dumb as he looks. Unfortunately, he's exactly as tall as he looks.

"You kids save the family. Grown ups'll bring this place down on their heads. Anyone left alive afterwards is getting fisted by yours truly."

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It pretty much just took. "Laura's in deep crap." to get Tabby to haul ass. Though the hurry she was in, she didn't have time to switch in her whole uniform. Fronting up in some comfy, and way too tight camo print cargo pants and a pink tube top tucked into the canvas belt looped through the waistband. Some sturdy wedge heeled faux combat boots and pink tinted wrap around shades finish the look.

Porting in with everyone else, Boom-Boom's nose crinkled up. "Smells like some of the cardboard shanty towns in some of the alleys in New York." moist paper goods and flimsy wood tended to get funky like this after too long. The words are kept hush while she puts out a psychic sweep to try and get a general bead on where Laura is, and how much resistance there might be.

<<So we gonna be sneaky. Or we gonna make some fun of it. And the policy on dropping bodies? I know these types are gonna be balls deep in the cause... Anyone with a conscience wouldn't get hired.>> Comes the psychic mind link. Nice and quiet comms because you try listening to an earpiece over gunfire.

Of course Logan leading the charge gets a grin. "Dude, phrasing!" she snickers.

Drake Riley has posed:
Well, this is a strange turn of events and certainly not how Drake expected his day to go. It began with classes. Then a motorcycle ride with the girl he'd met in Bushwick, his first ever motorcycle ride. He was already in over his head, what with not even being in the X-Men. But a desire to help someone in need - especially one he'd met - overrode an already low sense of self-preservation. Then racing back to the mansion at her behest to fetch help; his second motorcycle ride, this time with him in the driver's seat.

It was not graceful. He did not earn any cool points. He only managed to return to the Institute covered in a few twigs shy of a full ghillie suit. But the message was delivered, and he insisted on helping the recovery. Laura deserved it; to know he had her back.

Of course, he also doesn't have anything approaching an X-Man uniform. So today's daring exploit looks like it features The Uncanny X-Men and a Random Hobo in a Hoodie.

It's comforting to be in a group with the self-defense instructor he's gotten used to - Logan. But this is very much a first. He's been sticking to the back of the group, the electrokinetic and burgeoning hacker prepared to serve as tactical heavy artillery, but taking heavy cues from the others. But what Logan says gets a brief pause. Drake's mouth opens, but Tabitha beats him to it. He simply thumbs in her direction with a sagely nod.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had been caught in the X-Men base, not quite ready for the mission. She had to rush off to get suited up, and by the time the portal was prepared, she was arriving just before it would probably close without her. A gloved hand zipping her green and gold suit up, and another swinging her jacket around her shoulders, she snuggly settled it over them, as she took in the sight of the place.

She grimaced at it.

"I've been ta dive bars that remind me'a this place." She quietly commented, her words tinged with burnt-end edges that made each one a flavor for one's ears to savor.

She dipped a gold gloved hand in to an inner jacket pocket, and pulled out a crimson red cowboy bandana, that she went to tie around her mouth and nose, her elbows up, and her hands tying it off behind her neck, beneath her wavey chestnut locks. She glanced to Logan, and Tabitha, Tabi drawing a bubbly little laugh from the Belle, smokey and amused at the joke. "We'll save Laura, an' make these rats pay..."

Conner Kent has posed:
When Laura vanished Conner quickly concluded that what she feared could happen had happened. Weapon X had managed to grab her somehow. Fortunately the tracker was still working. Robin 1, bad guys 0.

And he still has Gabby Kinney's contact email, so one thing led to another and he joined the rescue team. Nice to see Laura has made friends along the years. And now they are here...

"Weird smell, you would think these mad science types would keep the AC systems in better repair," he comments. Not in a joking mood, because it wasn't so long the Outsiders had to rescue him from a similar setup.

Kill people? Well, that is usually against the superfam code, but he is willing to look the other way, he has heard of Weapon X. The world would be a better place without them.

Usually he leads the charge, because invulnerable, but since the other have worked together and he barely knows them, he will let Logan go first and stand ready to help.

Quentin Quire has posed:
Not one to pass up the chance to screw with some zealots and earn some brownie points with the Xavier's folks, Quentin added himself to the mission that fired up once someone brought back word that Laura was in trouble. Why was he at the Mansion in the first place? Probably for dinner or something, it doesn't matter.

Boots hit the floor as the teleport finishes, and he lifts the back of one hand up to his nose, "Ugh.... you bring me to the best places...." he comments to no on in particular as he tugs his own leather jacket in place over his combat jumpsuit. A little psionic self-surgery to deaden the neurotransmitters responsible for passing that god awful smell to his brain, and then he's supporting Tabi's psionic comms.

<<Leave the first one mostly alive. If I can get hands on a grunt, I'll get us a map download, rather than wandering in a maze...>>

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As the group goes to head in and split up to try and track down Laura's family and herself, there's the rapid noises of approaching runners. Clad in combat jumpsuits with light exoskeletons - power armor. Light cybernetics as well. Parts of their skulls had been replaced. One of them would go to yell in a harsh, electronic voice.
    <<CONTACT!>> All of the enhanced guards would go to immediately go to kneel down to start blasting over at the group as they spread out with high end plasma rifles as autoguns would deploy along!
    Logan is likely the first to pick up something familiar. The one that each year comes to give him a birthday present and visit. Even as the group rushes along, anyone with Logan is quick to pick up the brutal and familiar presence..
    "Hey Runt." A massive, hulking beast approaching with a feral dance in his position. One identifiable to virtually every single person that had a passing knowledge of any supervillains.
    Viktor Creed, aka SABRETOOTH

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And Laura is in the room over as she would be continuously blasted with things. Memories. Hypnotic suggestions. Reinforcements of things she had broken away from years before. The type she could hold out for awhile from, but not indefinitely. But they'd only had her for hours, not weeks. So she could last.

Kimura's voice chimes in, "Oh, so pretty, looks like the little thing is holding out. I'd say we should go back to the older ways.."

Doctor Rice would hsis, "We want a weapon from her. But that's of secondary use." He would move to jab a needle into Laura's spine. "Bone Marrow, Brain Matter, Blood.. Heart and lung samples.. We've drawn everything we -need- from her if she continues to resist."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney is a stronger person than she was 5 years ago. Gentler, healed, loved, understanding there's more than what she'd been brainwashed to believe. But they did make her a fighter, and she's tough. So now, she's fighting for what she's got NOW. As her own person. With a family. And friends. And hope.

She hangs on the the pain of every sample they make to keep her in the moment. Her body struggles, wriggles, she tries to close her eyes to the conditioning. Whens he can't, she fixates intensely on the best memories she has of the last 5 years. And of her mother.

Logan Howlett has posed:
It'll be an easy mission. Slaughter a few soldiers and scientists, rescue the girl and her family, get home in time for nacho night. Things are never that simple, and Logan isn't surprised when the first wrinkle arrives to slow the haphazardly assembled team down. Though he's still attempting to sneak his way through the corridors before pouncing on the unsuspecting eggheads, he reacts with a string of words that are inappropriate for the ages of some of the listeners nearby as the cybernetic security guards show up.

Perhaps he should have expected the second wrinkle. But this one surprises him nonetheless, as he catches wind of a familiar stench a bit too late to plan for it. Classic Sabretooth. It's not easy to prepare for someone who has so many of ones own abilities. And who, despite all protestation to the contrary, thinks so very much like him. Of course he didn't smell him coming...

"Tell me Creed... howcum you always smell like you didn't wipe?"

There's a familiar 'SNIKT!' of Adamantium claws being forced through his forearms, through the skin of his hands, and left to steam in the chilly, humid corridor.

There's no time to talk further. They both know the score. Claws will flash and hair will fly.

Some other time.

"BLOW THIS UGLY PIECE OF SHIT UP, BOOM-BOOM! Nobody got time for that."

There's a girl to save. No time for a grudge match.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Part of the benefits of being a walking bioelectric plasma generator. Eventually you can neutralize even some of the worst smells. So as she channels her energy ready to throw down and fight.

Whether it's an improvement depends on one's perception of the smell of ozone and the functionality of some air purifiers.

Over the group mindlink tabby gives a brief tutorial for those not used to it. <<We still have our out loud comms. But you can just think what you wanna say and we'll hear it. We're not rummaging about any deeper than that. So no panicking about TMI. But try to not let subconscious get conscious.>> That comes with a grin. <<Quire, you wanna go non lethal, psychic brown notes!>> she suggests while some of the younger heroes split for Laura's family. Leaving the 'grown ups' to move along and help Logan get to his kid.

The growly voice from Creed gets an eyeroll and with a look first to Wolverine and Rogue. Then starts just filling the corridor with softball sized plasma orbs, ready to launch. "Alright, you dumbass following orders idiot maggots. You wanna live, then you bug out. You know where the doors are." she warns at the top of her lungs.

Siryn she ain't, but she can get loud. "The rest of you, the really stupid ones. Don't mind the smell of burnt pork. That's probably you." First target as the bombs start flying like anime missiles;

Sabretooth.

Logan did say so.

Drake Riley has posed:
One of the nice things about the Xavier Institute? You learn to acclimate quickly to psychic messages. Drake remembers when that used to trip him up. Not that he's capable of mentally projecting anything, himself, shy of some telepathic bridge, but still. It hits him how much has changed.

The fact that he's in a VERY restricted area and actively hostile territory for the first time isn't lost on him, either. That has him on edge, adrenaline pumping, acutely aware of everything hitting his senses - the stench, the shapes in the corridor, the instinctive need to scan for cameras and surveillance devices. And the equally instinctive need to dive aside when cybernetic soldiers roll up and start firing.

Now on one knee, he plants a palm to the floor - only to immediately raise it again. Logan's regenerative abilities notwithstanding, friendly fire would suck. Fortunately, he has other options. So while the place is lighting up in explosives, Drake's right arm reaches forward to the mechanized grunts. A twisting bolt of brilliant blue electricity races to meet one of them, even lancing to the next in the lineup, funneling mass voltage into their chassis.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's green eyes peered above the red bandana she had tied around her nose and mouth to serve as a mask from the nasty nature of this place, and the particles drifting about in what it called oxygen. Her green eyes went to Drake, to the side of her, and she nodded once toward him. "Looks like your aspirations for the big league are already payin' off." She told him, based on their conversation the other night. Her next look went to Conner, whom she didn't know, but she did upnod at him from behind her mask. "Just do whatever ya can t'help out, and we'll be right as rain..." She told him, assuming Logan knew him!

With Creed arriving, and the sounds of some form of advanced tech soldiers near too, Rogue pulled a crumpled section of wall down, holding it in front of her by the metal rebar poking out from behind it. She held it up as a shield, and flew past Logan and his angry relative. "Tabi, I'm makin' a go for it, just direct me where I need t'actually GO!" She said, as she rushed ahead, leaving herself positioned by the barrier she held before her, going full battering ram mode.

Conner Kent has posed:
Plasma and automatic guns, of course. Conner is on the case in a second, meaning that he is shielding the squishier members of the team, playing defense as usual. At least until everyone that should has dived for cover. Then he will move into punching guys and breaking their weapons.

That is another leather jacket totalled. Plasma is bad for the parts of his outfit outside his invulnerability aura. Typical wednesday.

Quentin Quire has posed:
The corridor fills with blaster fire and cybernetic security guards, and Quentin is quick with a telekinetic shield for those that need it; mostly himself, but anyone else who needs one will get one too; as he flattens himself against the wall. What fire gets past Rogue is left to bounce off those shields, splattering harmlessly against the walls and ceiling.

<<Still need someone with a working brain....>> he points out as the ragtag group of would-be rescuers as they start in on the grunts. A shiver runs down Kid Omega's spine as he briefly considers Sabretooth as an option. <<...that's not Creed...>>

Rubbing the back of his neck and generally feeling like someone just walked over his grave, and said grave is a small box, Quentin instead focuses on dropping the nearest grunt, telepathic daggers pressing into brainmeat to trigger what neurological reactions he can wrest from cybernetic control.

The guy's gonna vomit, piss, and shit himself like some kind of messy bomb, if Quentin has his say, and then he's getting braindumped for a map of the installation.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The blasts from Tabitha go to strike over Creed. *BLAM* He's sent flying. But he goes to quickly get up, and moves to power through the blasts going over him. His attention, however, is over on Tabitha as he moves to charge at her, simply powering through her bombs as they would blow off chunks of his skin and simply charging through them and tanking them! His claws would go to slash wide and in an arc, the type of slash that could tear the girl apart and rip her in two cleanly with powerful slices!

"Don't worry runt, you'll get your's. Didn't think you a coward. Actually, nevermind!" Hawing as he went to try and charge through the blasts to deal with one irritation first.

Logan's next maneuver is met with someone clearly metallic. Cybernetic. And involves a pair of long lashing metal tendrils snapping right towards him. Carbonadium. The familiar sense of his healing factor starting to have issues if they made contact with him would kick in. "Come, little beast. I've been hungry for so long.." Omega Red. Of /course/ everyone on the old school would be out to get him. Sabretooth he could run past. Omega.. Not so much. Or could the others if they got too close. Logan would be able to dodge or deflect the life draining tentacles.

Drake's blasts would be effective at dropping the soldiers, quick energy jolts going into them and simply pew-pewing them on down and shocking them. Their cybernetics were soldered in - they couldn't take that much of a shock as each of them would go to scream over from the pain as they would drop, sizzling and slashing! Quick blows from Superboy would leave them down for good. Hit hard and unconscious, injured.

Rogue's proficient use of shielding has her simply blocking all the shots coming in from the deploying plasma turrets, and then a quick swing and a smash goes to crush them all - as well as blocking the way from any reinforcements coming on. There are faint screams coming down from that end of the corridor, some ways away. Unfamiliar ones - unless one had met Laura's family. Two women howling in pain. One a teenager, the other middle aged. If one recognized the sounds - Megan and Debbie.

Quentin gets in touch with the minds of those that are pure scum, and almost might shiver from it as he goes to clear the halls ahead. Further along, he can pick up the very, very faint mental signs of what would seem like.. Children? No, even younger. Babies. Barely conscious if even that. Burbling over and barely capable of coherent thought.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney continues to resist. But it's hard. Deprived of senses, deprived of contact. deprived of sleep, it's the perfect storm to mess with her.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Yet another familiar scent arrives too quickly for Logan to react to it. Not for the first time in his life, Logan remembers that he doesn't particularly like mold. But with his claws already out, he's able to deflect the first blow from the carbonadium tentacles, a loud metallic 'CLANG!' resonating throughout the corridor.

Here's hoping the girl can hold out a little longer. Looks like Logan will be stuck in the corridor for a while.

"Omega Red AND Creed? Didn't know you two were dating."

'CLANG!'

"When's the anniversary? I'll send you a card."

'CLANG!'

He has to be light on his feet to avoid the whipping tentacles. It's not as easy as it sounds when you're lugging around an extra hundred pounds or so of exotic unbreakable steel. There's only one way to keep to the mission plan, and it involves Logan remaining behind on mold patrol.

"You guys go ahead! This place is turnin' into Wolverine Appreciation Night at the Retired Flunkies' Home."

'CLA--' No wait... that one got him.

Skewered through his midsection by a carbonadium tentacle, Logan lives out a lot of peoples' most deeply-desired fantasy. But he doesn't seem to particularly enjoying it, judging by the noise he makes.

"GRAAAAAAARGH!"

As he gets lifted into the air, Logan feels his healing powers begin to fade, as they are drawn out from his body. Muscles begin to grow weary, even looking a bit shriveled. Skin loses its elasticity. Gray hairs start to sprout, but fortunately he's wearing pants.

But the gray hairs are there, nonetheless.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Tabitha grins as the inevitable happens, 'Creed' gets back up. <<Not the real guy? Ugh, we back to weaponized cloning aren't we?>> she laments at Quire's reveal.

Over the link, Boom-Boom is sending directions to Rogue, or Mighty Woman as some non X-folks might know her.

Outwardly, Tabby just grins at the big unfriendly feral mutant, already healing after each blast takes massive chunks.

The grin on her features turning possibly almost as visious as anything this iteration of Sabretooth can muster.

Probably more so because the bombs ramp up in intensity, moving to volleyballs. With the same force she might just reserve for robots like sentinels instead of anything more squishy.

He'll probably heal, and good luck bring him to heel. But Boom-Boom has her zoning game dialed in. <<Any prisoners need a jailbreak, you guys wanna jump on that?>> she asks towards Conner and Drake. <<The rest of us gonna be getting extra messy. And not just new underpants.>> Referring to those that caught the brown note.

Drake Riley has posed:
It's weirdly satisfying, seeing the results of his electrical projections against hostiles. He's been in plenty of scenarios in the Danger Room, primarily involving 'robots'. But this is the real thing. Live fire. Thinking adversaries. People who want to do him and his team harm. And all at once, he has a deep appreciation for just how much more effective the real thing is than a scenario with safety precautions. Everything's on the line. Not just for himself, but for his teammates. For Laura and /her/ family.

Hearing Rogue, he quickly shoots a look her way and nods. That's another thing about this; seeing everyone work together, bringing their powers to bear? It's cool as Hell. But things are taking a turn, and Logan is giving the order to advance. He shoots him a quick, concerned look, but abstains from projecting any ordinance his way. That would almost certainly turn a bad situation into a worse one.

<<He said to go ahead! I THINK I can get through, if we know where to go!>>

He discharges another stream of electricity onto a mechanized grunt. <<And I can burn through these douches all day long!>>

He hesitates a moment to try to choose the best time to advance - preferably when they're not focused directly on him - and darts to push through. He'll be leaning on years of experience darting through alleys and using terrain to propel himself away from pursuers and into safety, attempting to break through and advance, fully expecting one or two more to be moving forward with him.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue peeked out from behind her cover, as she flew, only to duck her eyes back behind the shield of crumbled wall, her white bangs fluttering against the sides of her face. Blasts of fire came from the automated defenses, smashing against the wall in her hands, as she raced past them at high speed, her agility in mid-air course corrections on full display, as she whipped down a side corridor, and flew toward where Tabi was directing her.

When the enemy weapons stopped firing on her, and when she heard the sounds of female screams, Rogue set down on her thigh-high boots, and tossed her battered shield aside. It landed with a thud, reverberating through the dank corridor, and Rogue crept forward, her eyes peeled, and her crimson bandana mask fluttering outward, and drawn back inward, as the Belle's mouth beneath it was taking in breaths, and exhaling them again, each laced with a measure of anxiety at the situation. When the members of Laura's family came in to view, Rogue took action, brazenly rushing toward them, caution abandoned.

"Hey, Gals. I'm Anna-Marie. I'm here ta help ya outta this bind..." She said, as she moved to do just so. Her gloved hands started to rip away bindings, while she checked them over with her rudimentary field medic training too.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner hears the screams (barely) through the sounds of gunfire and explosions. It might be the 'family' it was mentioned, or hostage, or just more victims of Weapon-X.

And the situation is not great. The short guy that happens to be Laura's infamous father just got skewered. "I am hearing something... two women screaming, they might be the hostages," he tells Tabitha.

And... there goes Rogue. Conner follows, slamming the armed guards against the walls along the way, breaking their guns. "Claws guy might need help," he notes.

Quentin Quire has posed:
With a bevy of cybernetic security grunts leaking painfully from various orifices left in his wake, Quentin heads THAT WAY. The direction not currently occupied by Logan getting tentacle'd by Omega Red and Tabby blowing chunks off of Sabretooth. The much safer direction. Splitting off from Rogue to follow that weird mental noise he's picking up on, he continues to work his way through the halls, disabling grunts as necessary

Janitorial service is going to be clocking some major overtime tonight.

Following his mental nose, Quentin comes to another guarded lab. Two more security grunts make electronic exclamations of surprise before opening fire, their shots bouncing ineffectively off another telekinetic shield before Quentin simply snatches up each guard's mind and shuts them down, dropping both into a dreamless sleep.

"Don't have time for this..." he mutters to himself as he steps over the sleeping forms and hauls the lab door open with applied telekinesis. And it's not like he'd want to step through the same mess that he left back there, either. The lab door springs open and Quentin springs into the sterile room, running up against a familiar site.

<<Well, that just got weird...>> he broadcasts to the group, tagging a mental image of a couple dozen rows of cloning tanks, little bundles of flesh floating in bubbling solution. Test tube babies!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Rogue comes upon Debbie and Megan Kinney. Both look like they've been through hell. Megan (Laura's cousin) is covered all over her body with scars. Her head has been shaved, and her throat looks compltely raw. It takes her a few moment sof blinking to whimper, "You, you're.. Laura's told.. You're real, right?" Her trying to strain through memories and focus and make sure that reality wasn't just another hallucination from pain.

Debbie, Laura's mother, was curled up in a ball. Several of the fingers on her right hand were missing. Ones that had been sent through the mail to Laura. She was breathing, but completely unresponsive. Just curled up completely fetal.

Behind Rogue's rescue group there would be the sound of heavy, metallic feet stomping in. A man that was nearly as bulky as Creed wearing a black bodysuit, metal hands with claws on them.. Metal up to his elbows. Adamantium up to his elbows. Claws on his hand dripping hallucinogenic paralytics. "Why, I don't believe I've had the pleasure of meeting you. You can call me Cyber. I can't wait to see the sorts of fun we'll have." Even as he would go to ready himself to attack Rogue, claws ready to charge and lash out at her - powerful enough to cut through her skin if she took a hit!

Drake keeps up the offensive, smashing his way through with his friends as nearby Tabby goes to deal with Creed. Creed goes to keep on barreling through Tabby's blasts, now starting to dodge them even as she would keep up the rapid fire pace. He's not able to break past her energy blasts, but she's not having much luck hitting him hard and making it count. "You're the latest little toy of his? You don't seem the type. NOrmally he goes for 'em small and tight." Creed would mockingly laugh.

Omega Red goes to hold Logan up in the air with his carbonadium tentacles. "Logan, I've waited a long time for this. You, stripped of all you have and starting to decay." His body glowing as he would move to absorb more of Logan's life force if not stopped, even as Logan would start to be growing grye. Around him, death spores going everywhere, for those that came into the slightest area they would start to have thier own bodies be drained. It was going to be messy if they didn't hit hard and fast. But Omega Red was -very- strong and very tough. Actually hitting him hard would be really tough.

All the armed guards are down.. But behind Drake there's a nearly silent drop. Someone sticking the landing and then slashing at the back of his neck with adamantium.. Fingernails. If he knew who she was, she was the cybernetic adept LADY DEATHSTRIKE, going to try and cut his head off where she stood! "I hate children. What is it with you types that think you're so good?" Trying to hit him from ambush even as no other mooks were to be seen!

Meanwhile with Laura Kimura goes to grin, "Come on hot stuff. Time to play." She would move to chirp while yanking the helmet off of Laura's head. Her own body going hyperdense to levels that even Laura's claws couldn't cut. "So let's go out there and boogy." NOt caring whether or not Laura had been reprogrammed successful or not as the restraints would pop off the girl. "Let's head to the noise, babycakes."

Doctor Rice would just let out a sigh, not speaking while going towards a nearby exit and hidden elevator.

Along with Laura would be another pair of girls almost identical to her. But smaller. Thinner. Closer to her own clone. Each wearing a mask over their heads of a fully mechanical nature, blocking out all reality from them but what they had had forcibly done to them. Each would have a SNIKT as bone claws would come out of their arms and they would advance as if on full autopilot."

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Quentin is entirely correct. Babies in test tubes. several months along in gestation. None at the point where sentience had gone in. Floating in tubes with nutrients being fed to them. Each having a bar code on their bodies and marks over upon the tube with some sort of numbering along the frames. This was what the endgame of things was intended to be. Genetically formed, genetically programmed killers.

Kimura would give a cheerful stomp out through the corridor. "Come on folks, it's dyin time!

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney stands. Her pupils dilated, she blinks, and her body adjusts quickly. Claws springing out, she goes into the exact smae battle stance she was taught to take since childhood. "Wolverine is mine," she says ice cold, and takes off running.

Acting like she's growing into a frenzy, she starts slashing. She cuts the wall,s he slices pipes which clatter down. The tentacles giving Logan grief are sliced, freeing him. Then she stands over him, and mouths "I'm wearing nose plugs. Play along and fight me." And then she goes to kick him in the head, spike-first.

Logan Howlett has posed:
Suspended in the air with a tentacle stabbed through his guts, Wolverine didn't have a lot of options aside from flailing helplessly and swiping ineffectually at the springy carbonadium tentacle with his Adamantium claws. And for a couple of brief seconds, that's essentially what he did, howling in a pain that threatened to overpower his rational mind entirely.

But though he was only slightly smarter than he looked, Logan had fought this guy before, and he'd already won. He was the best there was at what he did, and since the last time he had encountered the likes of these classic 80's villains, he'd gotten even better.

Reaching behind himself with a pained grunt, Wolverine gripped the tentacle in his gloved hand. Growling like a bear caught in a trap, he gripped the section of tentacle before him with his other hand. The gloves wouldn't protect him for long from the effects of the power drainage, but that was a moot point anyway. He was already impaled.

Nowhere to go but forward.

With a loud "GRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" he pulled himself forward. It was less than a foot, but it was progress.

Another pull. Another "GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

It's surprising how slippery a carbonadium tentacle can be when you use your own blood as lubricant.

Watching the expression of his prey change from triumphant to worried, Logan kept pulling himself forward, down the tentacle, getting ever closer. His legs might be hanging more or less limply, but all he's ever needed to beat this guy was his winning personality.

By the time he's within striking range, Logan is grinning manically. And with the ferocity of a coked-out honey badger, he begins to furiously dig in with his claws!

This time, the "GRRRRAAAAAA!" noises that he makes are clearly from enjoyment.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
It's starting to feel like a stalemate with Creed. Splash damage only gets you so much. And with the others having their own difficulties. Tabby just starts to look like she's just done dealing with Sabretooth's bullshit. There's already chunks of wall and ceiling knocked out of the building supports.

"The oldman? Nah, he's a bro. His baby girl's more my speed!" she teases back as she switches from sending orbs, to manifesting direct streams. Filling the air around but herself and Creed with plasma while seeming to try encircle the much larger man as he gets closer.

Better the chance to connect with something much more solid at point blank range. Let him think he's out maneuvering her blasts.

Can't really level the place yet while there's folks need saving. But she's got just the thing in mind.

Drake Riley has posed:
There hardly seems a reason for Drake to be checking his six when the rest of the team is doing their thing and handling business - whether fighting the heavy hitters or racing to the rescue of the other captives. He needs to find Laura - he made that guarantee to himself, and perhaps tacitly to her when he agreed to everything, that he would. And he's fully prepared to deal with whatever obstacle appears ahead of him.

/Behind/ him, though. That's an issue.

There's a sudden stinging pain followed by the sensation of wet warmth down his shoulders, sending him pitching out of his sprint and into a spill. Thank the good lord for hoodie fabric being absurdly thick and bunched up behind the neck. The claws shred them, but with just enough of a fabric interference to give his sprinting form enough forward movement to avoid cutting his head clean off - or into his spine. Still, the hood section of that hoodie? It's left flapping before it hits the ground.

With a wince, Drake turns over onto his back to look at his attacker - not one he recognizes. She radiates with menace, and the silhouette she cuts with those extended claws are damn well nightmarish.

Crap, crap, crap, crap...

He starts to raise a hand when- no. A thought hits him. Impulse and adapting. A hand gives her something to lash at, and she can probably move like the wind. So he, somewhat theatrically, inches back from her in fear... hoping she pursues him.

Because the moment she gets within five feet of him again, a concussive blast of intense, sparkling electrical energy will suddenly erupt from him in a spherical shell. Maybe it'll blast her back. Maybe it'll render her unconscious. Maybe it'll fry her. Life's a series of tests.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue found the missing fingers on the mother, and it caused a worried expression to grow deeper across the Belle's half-masked face. "Sons a bitches..." She quietly said, as she nodded to the distrougt pair. "I'm real, and you're headed back home, real soon." She assured them, as she got them to their feet. Having had her back to Cyber, upon his arrival, he got to see the Southern gal leaned over one of the tables, and got to get a minor jump on her because of it. When he spoke to her, Rogue spun around, half-facing him, and glaring with daggers on her visage, from behind her mask. "Ya look like a reject from a summer blockbuster movie." She quipped back at him, before she tapped the comm badge on the left side of her chest. "Two ta beam out, X-Base." rogue ordered, and waited for the portal to open.

When it did, she hurriedly rushed the Kinneys toward it. "Laura is comin' next, don't worry." Rogue told them, before she stepped back, staring for a moment to see the X-base through the shimmering portal. To the woman who created it, on the other side, Rogue called out. "Close up!"

She obviously stayed behind.

When it did, Rogue spun around, just in time to dodge an incoming attack from the Cyber foe. She did not want to find out what those claws were made from, or what they could do to her, as her Danger Sense was really triggering in her mind... which told her, they were not just kitchen knives of the run-of-the-mill variety!

"Ain't ya gonna buy a lady some dinner first?" Rogue asked, before she balled up a fist, and sent it toward the side of Cyber's face!

When he struck back at her, he sliced her belt right off of her hips, causing it to fall to the floor, as Rogue narrowly avoided getting sliced, by quickly lunging backwards! She exhaled a surprised gasp, and snarled behind her red cowboy bandana mask.

"The Kinney family is back home safe." Rogue told everyone over comms, knowing they were doing their parts somewhere else in the base.

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner clenches his jaw at seeing the sorry state of the Kinneys. "We are real, hang on, help is on the way," he tells the younger woman. "Someone else is coming," he tells Rogue, a second before Cyber barrels in. He grabs the injured woman and pulls them away from the huge man. To the portal.

And then the big bruiser makes a silly mistake. He attacks Rogue and ignores the guy with the red S in his chest. Seriously? Conner is offended, also pretty angry after seeing what they did with the hostages. "Hey, ugly," he calls. Then charges, fast as a bullet.

And this time is not being extra careful with his strength. Cyber's adamtium skin can probably take a punch from his father, but some of the impact is going to be felt by the flesh and bones inside said skin. And anyway Cyber is likely to find himself punched through the wall of the cell, and perhaps couple other walls. "How about picking something closer to your own size?" he adds.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney continues to go through the motions. Fortunately her super-hearing catches the comms chatter from Rogue. So she screams. "NO THEY'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" It's completely absurdly over the top. So, it should make Kumra happy, she mutters to herself. She gets some good spittle going, eyes wide, and makes a crazed run. Jumping, hissing, she finds the Gabby clones, and gestures for them to follow.

She tracks down Rogue. Must find Rogue. And when they get there... she dives through the portal! More than anything, ANYTHING, she's going to protect the family right now.

Sorry Kimura. You failed becuase you don't understand the power of love, and friendship. <3 <3 /= rainbows and sunshine

Quentin Quire has posed:
<<At least someone's safe...>> comes the stray thought from Quentin as he approaches the cloning tubes, wiping condensation off one tube to get a better look at the mindlessly babbling non-sentience floating within. The tap tap at the glass brings no conscious response from the form floating within.

Tabula Rasa.

"Oh geez, this is like one of those ethic questions on a test, isn't it...." Quentin mutters to himself, outside of the telepathic comms, as he considers the rows of mindless clones. The thing about being an omega though is sometimes you have to make the tough calls on your own.

Telekinetically stripping out all of the support systems from every cloning tube as he moves, Quentin works through the tab until he finds something suitably explosive. Telepathically shutting down what little mental activity had barely started to form as the flow of nutrients and other vital needs slows to a halt.

"These people are crazy...." Quentin growls to himself as he sets the fire in the lab, and then bails before it explodes in a fireball, running back towards the main fight.

He's really in a mood to punch someone for reals.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Tabitha goes to meet Creed's central torso over with a BIG blast that sends him flying. Clone or original, it still blasts a hole in the center of his torso. He stumbles, even as the energy has nearly cauterized the injury already. And monster that he is, he's still moving. Somehow. He goes to let out a shriek even with a hole blasted almost through him. Then.. Then his form goes to blur, and he goes berserk.

He's charging over at Tabitha like a freight train, moving in ways that no one should be able to with a hole through their central body. Even as his center of mass is already starting to close itself up. Thi sis definitely horrifying, even by the normal standards of what passes for the monster. Is he enhanced? Is it just a freakly occurence? Whatever it is, she's probably going to have to let her full juice loose. Upside is she can. Downside is that she has to survive Creed moving at near supersonic speeds trying to slash her down the middle to get off that blast first.

Laura goes to charge in over to meet Logan, the two clashing over while Kimura looks as cheerful as she can, "Aww, i Love family reunions! Aren't you two the most adorable. Now baby, kill daddy." she would cackle while moving to stomp along after Laura even as Omega Red would howl as his tentacles would retract, his body in pain from the cuts. Then he would go to stop flooding his death spores as reinforcements were there. And the two other clones of Laura and Gabby are going along after him. "Stabby stab time!" The sadistically gleeful tone of Kimura would fill the air.

Lila Cheney grabs the portal from Rogue's command and goes to quickly yank the two through. They're then over in the medlab, where on the other side they're met by Elixir as Lila goes to close the portal before anyone else can charge through.

Cyber goes to grin at Rogue, "That's the thing, even you invulnerable ones can bleed. And all I need is the smallest touch.." If he hit Rogue, it would be bad. He was a fighter as skilled as Logan, as brutal and strong as Creed.. Rogue is still faster and stronger than he is but in close quarters, all he needed was just the smallest pinprick. "I suppose I'll just have you as some.. How's it go? Finger licking good? Now, please girl.. Let me reach out and touch you!" His claws were slashing faster and faster as he went to try and pin Rogue in as she evacuated the hostages!

Drake goes to barely avoid having his head be cut off by Lady Deathstrike. She goes to slash at him again even as his electricity goes to blast back over at her. She quickly falls back even as he doesn't quite manage to short out her cybernetics. She quickly goes to defensive maneuvering, leaping around and dodging wildly. Then she's gonig to charge at him with the intent of flanking him hopefully faster than he could aim. Long adamantium nails would go for another lunge as she would slash so quickly that sparks would almost fly from the blades seemingly cleaving through the edge of molecules as she would keep on the full offensive, trying to give him no time to use his powers against her beyond sheer instinct! All she needed was one little chop chop. On the upside, she was taking him seriously enough to avoid taunting. Which was a step up in the world of bad guy respect! On the downside, he might end up very much dead very fast.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Fortunatley for Rogue, she's not alone over in the room as Cyber has focused on the mutant that was helping his victims to escape. His obsession on hurting someone close to Logan blinds him to the far greater threat. The man with the 'S' on his chest. The blow goes to hammer in HARD as he moves to charge at Cyber and quickly goes to move to get in the way of Rogue as the punch embeds Cyber into the wall in agony. Cyber's body cracks in pain.

"Oh, aren't you a useful one." His breathing is hard. Punctured lung. Broken spine. And then if Superboy can feel it (or not) there's a sense of PUSHING at his consciousness as Cyber goes to try and hit him with an admittedly weak psionic attack. But Cyber's more than happy to use bodies as meat puppets.. And that clearly is his goal iwth the Clone of Steel! Rogue's Danger Sense would definitely be flaring out now.

Laura goes to rush in and finds the melee a trois of Rogue, CYber, and SUperboy, even as now she has the two other clones of Gabby pausing, and then running after her. They were programmed to do that, after all. So it comes naturally as they rush after their genetic progenitor.. And go in and get out.

Kimura goes to screech, "No, no, kill the brat!" Still too caught up in her power fantasy of Laura going to rush in to skewer Rogue. "Kill them all!" Her mad laughter filling the halls.

In the test room, the secret elevator door slams shut, and goes to head towards another concealed area as Doctor Zander Rice, briefcase in tow continues to walk towards his escape.

Quentin has to make a hard call. One that many would perhaps be horrified by. But sometimes the hard call is the right one. These aren't alive. They're made to be weapons. It's written into their DNA. In years, they would be monsters. One might be able to rehabiltiate them. Maybe? Maybe not. Could one escape with them?

Maybe, maybe not. It's a brutal call to make. And one that many would disagree with on either end. But Quentin? Quentin chooses one that would leave them at peace. Never having to deal with being weapons. Never having to go through things. They weren't alive. But they were mourned.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
There's some definite risks. One is, can't just blow the whole room, or the whole base to bits yet. But sometimes you gotta go a little extra in a fight.

So once Creed gets let into striking difference, the blast pattern changes again.

When it comes to blunt force trauma, Tabby can deal with a lot. She's been through so many walls that durability lets her put a little extra in her punches.

The punch itself when it hits Sabretooth in his midsection is probably no more than a tickle.

Why is she still grinning? This is probably a very, very bad time for her.

Why was her fist still glowing when the punch hit.

That's when the blast goes off.

And there's a big chunky hole in creed and a bunch of him on the floor. "No fisting like Iron Fisting!" she manages to get out, rather smugly before he gets up and starts at her again. Even the real Creed would have been down for hours after that. And he's still fast. <<CRAP These clones suck. I'm bringing the whole place down. Everyone we want leaving, get bailing!>>

Someone should text their ride out.

That leaves Tabby scrambling and charging up a blast while working to not get mauled and torn apart by a berserking feral knock off. That also means probably getting Deathstrike off Drake's case and making sure Omega Red's gunk does not go near anyone else. "CRAP, CRAP, CRAP!" She might be a bit panicky right now.

Hence exploding harder. The solution to everything.

Logan Howlett has posed:
The emaciated near-corpse of Wolverine doesn't accept any surrenders. As the tentacle retracts from his guts, Wolverine should probably get some distance between himself and the creature who used it to stab him. But the mind of a berserker has its own logic, and though his strikes are weaker than before, they don't stop just because his body is enfeebled. Repeatedly slashing at Omega Red's torso, he fills the corridor with feral war cries that sound halfway between a grunt and a wheeze.

Claws continue to flash, gaining purchase in his abdomen. But Logan is breathing hard, and his injuries aren't closing up.

Leading with his face, in opposition to all training and common sense, the feral mutant digs his teeth into the creepy alabaster mutant's flesh, ripping out a chunk as he continues to dig, dig, dig, into his guts.

Blood drenches his forearms. Blood drenches his masked face. Blood forms a rapidly-expanding pool along the ground, joined by the heavy plop of freshly-severed entrails.

Wolverine seems to be getting stronger with each stab, and with each rip of his teeth. But he doesn't seem to be getting any less angry.

Conner Kent has posed:
Of all things a bruiser the size of Cyber could do, Conner didn't expect a psychic attack. He is not particularly resistant to those, and steps back clenching his head. "Ah... shit! Get out of my head!" Fortunately, he is not a clone fresh out the vat, he has been through a lot of weirdness in the last eight years and mind controlling him is not particularly easy.

Nevertheless, it might be a good idea to pull him away from Cyber ASAP!

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney gets through the portal. The clones stop before going through, as their conditioning has them wanting to go after Rogue. But following Laura is the prime directive... so they go through. And there, THERE, laura is waiting.

IT took some doing to convince Megan and Debbie not to be scared. "No, I resisted... but RUN. The clones are coming. Run. I'm here to protect you."

She points toward the wood besides the mansion, and they flee. Here on this wide field, she then engages the two clones in combat. Honey Badgers they are not. Under mind control, no nuance, no experience, they fight in a mechanical way. It's cold, and ruthless, but Laura knows that warmth and emotion matter more.

So Laura takes them both on, giving her all to avoid making them suffer, while dodging their attacks. It's not perfect, and she takes some slashes, but she keeps them busy, luring them away, and away... keeping them busy... and begging, in her mind, for someone to knock them out in their minds. "They're just clones, they don't know any better. Don't kill them." she pleads, even as one slashes across Laura's stomach, leaving three red lines.

Drake Riley has posed:
Drake Riley got her on the defensive, which was great. But he was hoping for something a little more pronounced, something that gives him more leeway to get back on task. At least this gives him a chance to get get back up to his feet, which he achieves with a quick sidelong roll and scramble.

Just then, he spots Laura and.. siblings? Going nuts in the distance. "Wait, wha-" A probing attack from Deathstrike quickly brings him back to the present, skipping back a step.

The two engage, with the bleeding, increasingly searing reminder at the back of his neck concerning how bad an idea it'd be to let her get close. She advances, he withdraws with light steps and a quick, snappy flash of an electrical burst to try to keep her at a distance. One of them will have to make a mis-step somewhere, but for what it's worth, the combat class at the Institute is in full utility here. But it's only a positional exercise, acutely focused on keeping those long Mr. Tickle claws away while looking for an opening to blast her. It's not unlike a matador, trying to lure her in and committing to an attack without getting gored.

Then Tabitha's message catches him. His gaze flicks briefly. Explosions begin ringing out. And he takes the opportunity to make a run for it at a low sprint.

Low specifically to touch the floor.

Touching the floor specifically to spider-web a blanket of sparkling electricity along the floor beneath Deathstrike.

Rogue has posed:
With the clones of Laura coming for her, Rogue reached up to pull her mask down. She ducked under the slash from one, and rolled away from the slash of another, but the real Laura was on them, and drawing them through the portal. "The Breakstone Slashers..." Rogue muttered to herself, before she spun around to see Conner in trouble. She wasn't sure who he was, but she was sure what that logo on his chest represented... She'd met one of his kind before, awhile back. He needed help, though, and with the place being rocked by Tabitha bombs, and Logan in a bloodthirsty rage, the Belle drew in a breath, and rushed toward Cyber's back.

She flew right at him, and reached a hand out to grace gloved fingers up his spine, while he focused on the Superguy. Inverting her body upside down, as she moved forward, Rogue did a half-roll over-top of Cyber, until she just suddenly came down from above him, her face right up near his, her nose near to where his is. "Lets have a lil' mind game, shall we?" She asked, a second before her body lowered down in mid-air a little further, and the Southern Belle planted a solid kiss right on Cyber's exposed lips.

No consent.

Rogue kissed the man, her hands on his chest for support, she slipped them up to cup either sides of his face, her gloved fingers holding tight, as she began to pull his life force from his body, from his soul, in to her own.

As he started to struggle, Rogue held on tighter, squeezing the sides of his face, as she drew out the kiss, working her lips and jaw, before she broke it, and pulled back, leaving the man to the whims of a deep slumbering sleep.

She fell from the air, and landed on her hands and knees, shaking her head from side to side, before she moved to stand up.

"Everyone, lets high tail it outta here already!" Rogue called out, as she staggered toward the portal to the fields where Laura was in her own epic little fight.

Quentin Quire has posed:
Leaving behind the burning lab with none the wiser, Quentin rushes through the vomit/piss/shit-soaked hallways and groaning soldiers to rejoin the main fight. Just in time to see Rogue leaping on Cyber to make out with the hulking adamatinum-clad villain. Or are they all clones at this point? Quentin hasn't been keeping track.

Either way most of the villains are a whole lotta dead, just the manically cackling Kimura left chasing after the trio of clones. "Isn't this your mess?" Quentin calls out at the woman to draw her attention away from the fighting clones. Just in time to hit her with a telepathic whammy.

Quentin's really done with creepy cloning labs at this point, and Kimura's getting the brunt of his frustration. Nothing short of another Omega is going to be stopping him at this point as he tries to tear through whatever telepathic defenses the woman has available. If he keeps going, he's not going to stop until her mind is a hollowed out shell. Forced amnesia; she can perform basic functions, she's got motor and verbal skills, and she knows she's lost something. But everything else is left a blank, including her name.

"God damned crazy cloners...." he mutters as he telekinetically pushes her aside. <<Where's our ride, Cheney?>>

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Logan versus Omega Red is brutal. Monster versus Monster. Logan is drained and berserk. Omega Red hate shim. Even as the two brutalize one another, as blood and cybernetics flare all over the place. As adamantium tears through armored carapace and claws deep into guts. As Omega Red punches back with blows that could slam PIotr backwards. The fight is not about skill, strength, or anything but the raw hate the two have. I tshall only stop when one of them falls still. Perhaps not even then.

Logan is drained, his healing factor has been weakened by the Death Spores. Omega Red is still strong, having only so recently drunk from them. Logan is not at his best.

But since when has that stpoped him? As he goes berserk, claws slash, stab, and skewer. Blows are traded that could stagger buildings. But in the end?

With a likely scream of dominance and power, there can be only one as Logan's claws go in one end and finally out the other. And one finally goes still.

Likewise is the bloody form of Sabretooth, deep fried and with much of his upper body melted off. There's a skeleton with meat on it hitting the ground right past Logan. Already starting to heal, but with the type of injuries that will take him at least a half hour to get back up on his feet to. The body goes flying past now to impact near Lady Deathstrike, who has to scramble ou tof the way to avoid being hit by it, as she has to deftly dodge around it. That end of the fight is over as the scramble continues. Kimura screams.

"No, you $#*#'ing BASTARDS!" She goes to charge after Laura, catching up with her even as Laura goes to try and hold her two.. Sisters? Hold them off to try and save them. They don't want this. They did't ask to be monsters. They wanted their own lives. Kimura is going to charge at Laura now, brutal fist slamming over at her. "YOu've taken EVERYTHING! So I'm going to take YOU from them!" Her punch is aimed for the center of Laura's torso with the power of a freight train and the speed of a bullet. If it so much as touches Laura it will disintegrate her into so much goo splattered over around the area.

Drake has time to ready himself as he goes face to face with one of the most brutal close quarters combatants on the planet. Lady Deathstrike's claws would slash out at him again and again, even as he's able to get that opening now as she has to dodge. Then she's caught over in his web. Suspended from it for just enough time. And there's the ZAPPT of electricity blasting through her as she would howl in agony, cybernetics sizzling as she would slump down. how much of her body is machine now? Well, that part isn't working anymore. Drake has the time to retreat before she wakes up.

Rogue goes to move in towards Cyber, and goes to kiss him as she returns the favor to Superboy. From Cyber's brain, she gets a century of memories. A man that had fought in countless wars and battles. That had tortured Logan so hard that Logan had nightmares for a century. An abomination that hunted and stalked for fun. That shuffled his mind from body to body when he had a chance. Laura goes in to kiss. And Cyber RAGES against her as he fights for control of her consciosness, throwing mental torture after mental torture at her, as if trying to break the mental consensus in her mind. But Rogue's will is stronger. Hopefully.

As Quentin goes to haul ass (in a totally fabulous pink) Lila Cheney's portal goes to flash into existence for him. "Was waiting for you to ask, Pinky. Suppose I should call you Brain though. Come on everyone, get out while the getting is good!" Another portal goes to flash in front of Drake for him to go through. Then one for Logan. "YOu had better hose him off first. Then burn whatever he's wearing." Flash as another portal would appear in front of Tabitha. Another in the room wtih Rogue and Superboy.

Logan Howlett has posed:
When it's all over, and the blood and guts stop flying, Wolverine is the one left standing. But he's missing a few important chunks himself.

Ripping the heavily-damaged mask from his face, Logan takes in a breath of foul, moldy air. His healing factor seems to be working again, albeit sluggishly, but he still looks emaciated and worn. That trademark shock of black hair has turned completely gray, and his face has aged at least a good thirty years. In human years, not Wolverine years.

As he steps away from the still-leaking corpse, he keeps his hands up defensively, but doesn't look like he'd be able to put up a fight like that again any time soon. He seems a bit confused, almost, even more confused than angry. Angered by his confusion, certainly, but why is he in this corridor? Here's hoping the rest of the mission went well.

Anyone looking in the right direction at the right moment might get a glimpse of Old Man Logan.

The torso of his uniform is pretty trashed as well, and the parts of it that remains are soaked in blood. But he catches sight of the person that he came to save, just in time to see an attack moving her way that he'll probably not be able to stop. She's moving toward the portal, and the old man gets a whiff of what's on the other side of that portal. It smells like freedom, and rye whisky. More importantly, it doesn't smell like a moldy corridor.

There's the sight of one of his best friends sucking face with one of his worst enemies. Though he usually complains about his extensive amnesia, this is one memory that he wouldn't mind losing when he wakes up in a couple days.

As a portal takes him, his claws retract with a slightly agonized 'SNAKT!' Elsewhere, somebody's shirtless grandpa is about to arrive, asking if anyone has any beer, or if they have seen the keys to his stealth jet.

Drake Riley has posed:
Drake Riley had very little to go on, finding live combat to be... shall we say, more noisy than simulations. The world is shaking, the pain is real, the stress is both overwhelming and energizing, keeping him sharp - but it's difficult to know what to concentrate on. No doubt this is something that team training helps mitigate, even refine. But for now?

For now, the sky is falling.

But he heard, amidst the chaos, that people were out. At least, he thinks that's what he heard. So they got what they came for. No regrets in beating a hasty retreat and leaving Deathstrike to sizzle.

Also, holy crap, screw her and her grabby claws!

Drake focuses on regrouping with the others, when suddenly the world before him splits open into a whole new place. He leaps through, hitting the ground hard on his shoulder and sliding, leaving a slicked trail of blood behind him.

Conner Kent has posed:
And suddenly the pressure is off Conner's head, leaving him with a nasty headache and... "wait, you kissed him?" He looks at Rogue in mild disbelief. Maybe he hallucinated that. Sometimes it happens when one is psychically attacked. Conner read that in the Internet!

Blinking away the headache (well, trying), Conner conducts a quick headcount. "This place is coming down, I am going to grab anyone I can find alive as fast as I can, and get through the portal."

This is usually Impulse's job, Conner can't move very fast inside a building because things like inertia and not having reflexes up to the task, but before everything comes down crashing on his head, he might be able to grab stray X-Men and some injured guards, and even Cyber, because sometimes he is too nice for his own good.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue was over 10 years in to having this Mutation as a weapon of choice, for choice moments where it was essentially a last resort option. In her teens, she'd used it a lot more brazenly while under the tutelage of one Mystique. Through it, she saw all manner of terrible things in individual people's lives, traumatic moments and harrowing events. It lead Rogue to the X-Men, to Charles for help. Seeing what she saw in this Cyber fellow? It was pretty bad, but she's been through pretty bad in the past decade, and she's getting a lot beter at controlling the memories, and emotions, when they enter her own mind and body.

She staggered through the portal, and turned to watch the others come through too. Conner? He got a smile. Up closer, and in good lighting, she could see the resemblence in his features to what she assumed was his family lineage, at least what little she knew of their features. She nodded to him, before she watched Logan joining them, and with that, she breathed a sigh of relief, and showed him a meager expression. She got a glimpse in to HIS life, and she could feel the hatred, and sadistic glee that Cyber felt for the Wolverine, cornered in her own mind now, being held-at-bay by her own mental defenses built up by Charles and Jean's training with her.

She flared her nostrils, and called through the portal...

"Boomer, legs go! Do your thing!"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney takes a deep breath. This is it. She's been doing her best to avoid combat. Avoid fighting. Avoid hurting. Prove herself in control. But now, there's too much to ffight for.

Laura goes full matador. As Kimura approaches, approaches, Laura faces her head on, fighting stance, ready to go. And then, at the very last second, she jumps, rakes her claws, wich with the raw energy and momentum Kimura has built up, has devastating effect. On both parties. Laura breaks her wrists and goes FLYING, but the damage is done to Kimura. Those claws, they can do unpleasant things to someone charging in with reckless abandon right into them.

As she lands in a heap, she spits. "I've taken my life back."

Now anyone who wants to do something to Kimura has a moment to do just that.

Tabitha Smith has posed:
Sabretooth is down, for now. And Tabby is sending telekinetically guided bombs at anyone trying to prevent Heroes and any rescues heading through portal and exit. All the while she cradles an increasingly larger bomb in her arms like a football till it's soon large enough she has to telekinetically drag in around her. <<Wolverine, haul ass. You got kids to think about!>> she points out while she occasionally skids and slides her feet on messier floors.

So much mess, about to get even messier. Seeing Lauras , or Gabbies, it's hard to count exactly how many claws there are. And Tabby's eyesight wasn't great to begin with. <<Gah. I can't untangle all that mind mess. Gotta concentrate on blowing things up on time. Or exactly when I mean too>> defusing mind control might still be a bit below her skill set even under less frantic conditions.

Bad enough she really struggles with traction, something gunky sticking to her bootsoles.

Once everyone the heroes want through the portal is through, Boom-Boom brings up the shapely rear leaving a hatchback sized bomb behind her as she dives through the portal. "CLOSE IT, CLOSE IT UP!" landing face down with an oof from squishing her chest, she yells loud from which ever spot on the other side of the galaxy, or universe they might be on. Cheney never could do a sort hop. But once the portal closes. They won't hear the cascade of explosions when flammable tanks and pipes blow bring the building down on anyone that didn't get out in time.

It probably really sucks to be Kimura right now.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
The melee is finishing as the group is all fleeing. Laura and Kimura have one final faceoff as they exchange blows. Hate. Rage. But all of those? The hate and the rage is one sided. Kimura's loathing over Laura. The girl that got away. That took her own life back. Pinocchio that declared she was a real girl and had a soul. Kimura goes to scream.

"Going to kill you, everyone you ever cared for and loved!" Even as others rush past her, heading to the evacuation portals flashing up.

And then there is Quentin Quire, blasting through her brain. Changing it. Twisting it. Remaking it. Taking away and rewiring bits. Altering. And what is left is just left there to fall to her knees and weep in anguish as the facility goes to burst. She is on her knees as the last of them is through and things flare out. She's left behind as Tabitha's detonations go off.

THe group of X-Men have freed their friends. They've won the day. The portal flashes shut.

And yet.. And yet..

Far, far away now Doctor Zandar Rice holds the briefcase, speaking on a phone. "Yes, I have all the samples. The.. Destruction of the facility is a setback. But we have all we need to continue it without the flaws of the.. Previous itinerations. Yes.." There's more sounds on the other end.

"Yes, Director. I understand." The phone clicks off.

Even further away, a main veiled in shadow and balding would turn to face another. "So you can work with that, Doctor Cornelius?"

The man would give a twisted smile. "Yes, Director Colcord. We have all that we need."