2216/Genosha Burns! Sentinel Factory

Genosha Burns! Sentinel Factory
Date of Scene:	24 June 2020
Location:	Outside a defunct Sentinel Factory: Lynchburg, VA
Synopsis:	The X-men successfully infiltrate a long defunct Sentinel Base... and find Master Mold, among other things.
Cast of Characters:	Scott Summers, Lorna Dane, Samuel Guthrie, Clarice Ferguson, Julio Richter, Douglas Ramsey, Jean Grey
Tinyplot:	Genosha Burns

---

Scott Summers has posed:
It is rarely good news for mutants. But among all the recent catastrophic events recently, there is a small sliver of light. It might be some Genoshans were captured and not outright murdered when the country was destroyed.

Of course, it was months ago. They likely dead, and that is why Brainiac came back for more victims.

They also know the name of their enemy; Brainiac was the one behind the genocide. It is almost a relief it was not any human. It makes humans less... inhuman. Unfortunately, Brainiac is a cosmic menace the kind even Kryptonians have problems handling. Way over their league.

As usual Scott's thoughts tend to the grim and bleak. But an extremely bad situation does not mean he hasn't some ideas and plans. The X-Men are not going down without a fight, no matter the odds.

He even sent a call for the Starjammer, even knowing his father pirate spaceship is going to be badly outgunned against Brainiac Culuan battleship. But he will try anything. And follow any lead.

Which brings the X-Men here. To the place of one of their first battles. Trask's first Sentinel factory, long abandoned. Yet his sources say the government believes some of the Sentinels attacking Washington came from here. A place the X-Men have had under surveillance for years. And indeed, there was a large group of soldiers, techies and men in black in the area during the day. Now the sun has set, most of them have left.

Lorna Dane has posed:
For all that Lorna was a heavy hitter in terms of powers, her powerset also lent extremely well to sneaking. She could sense and halt most electronic forms of communications. She could open locks. She could cut the power. If she had ever wanted to go to a life of crime, she could likely rob quite a few secured places easily on her own.

Still, she didn't particularly care for that, and so she kept on with the X-men. The news, and transmissions, that suggested her father might still live had thrown her for a loop. What did it mean for her? Genosha? She wasn't sure. But she knew that she had to help out, or regret trying for the rest of her life. She'd suited up, and gone along in the Blackbird to one Lynchburg Virginia.

As the plane touched down, and landed she plucked her buckle off and was ready to go. "Right, so, while we're trying for stealth first and foremost, Rictor, Cannonball, we should be ready to fight if things go south." She murmured, glancing to Scott for confirmation.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie nods his head, and has taken to wearing a costume more red and blues, so he des not stick out to bad. He will look over to the others and nods "So no blasting till it hit's the fan got it." He is ready to head in the directions needed. He may not be a natural sneak, but he did pick up a little bit when younger and his pa took him hunting.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
It's not as if Clarice has always been someone that smiled that much. Just enough. But now that mutant seemed to had entirely 'left the building', leaving behind a rather serious looking, focused mutant. It brought back memories of when she was part of the mutate program at Genosha. An assassin. Maybe those abilities had to be brushed up again. The infiltration. The killing. Brainiac was simply another name she'd have to put on her list.

And while she was normally chatty she had travelled mostly in silence through the whole trip, busying herself by creating some of her teleporting javelins which she carefully placed inside a quiver. She was going ready for a fight if it came down to it. She was clad fully in black, no x-men suit for her, a tight fitting outfit ready for the kind of mission they were here for today. Infiltration? Yes, she could do so.

And with the plane touching down she gets up to her feet. "What are we hoping to discover here?" she questions, starting to walk to the plane exit.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio has never thought of himself as /averse/ to air travel. He actually kind of enjoyed the few commercial flights he went on as a kid. But the very few times he has been airborne since his powers manifested have been unpleasant. Not in a horrible airsick way: just unpleasant. It sounds weird, but he misses the ground when he's too far away from it. It's not just that his mutant abilities are weaker, although his connection to the Earth certainly feels tenuous at high altitudes -- it's almost a sensation of longing, like an absent friend.

Consequently, he spent most of the flight in quiet seclusion, looking over an old schematic of the building that was available from the X-men's last mission here. When the jet finally touches down, he breathes more easily, and starts experimentally drawing on the Earth's power, feeling around for any excavations or hollowed-out areas where new facilities might have been added beneath the factory.

Well, that's the convenient excuse, at least. On some level, he just wants to feel the rocks whispering in his ear again. "I can stay quiet and just listen," he assures Polaris. "But I'll get loud when I need to."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Once again, that spherical drone is floating alongside. CUBE, as it's called, was built by Cypher out of... spare parts he found in a storage closet and... other stuff. Right now it has a placid-looking smiley-face on its LED display. "Engaging stealth mode." It then... projects an image of whetever's to one side of it, on its other side.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott is on his black 'stealth' outfit, so he blends well in the darkness. Except for the red glowing visor, but what can you? "Lets try to avoid the guards, yes." Not that most of their stealth missions don't end with very loud battles, but maybe not this one.

"Our goal is to get as much Brainiac tech as we can find," he explains. "We need to lean how to counter it. Doug, Kitty and Hank will go over it, and then we will share what we got with anyone else willing to help. Human, mutant, anyone." Even Doctor Doom. This time it is for the survival of their species, and perhaps the whole Earth.

Supposedly the US agents would have finely combed the building, but they might have missed something. It is possible they found some devices too large to move. But they have Blink for those.

From the distance, in the darkness, the factory seems dilapidated and decrepit. Up close, it is dilapidated and decrepit, and it also has some big holes that seem recent. Smoking remains too. It smells to gunpowder, smoke and metal.

Thanks to Lorna, infiltrating is not too hard. Those human soldiers shouldn't put so much trust in their electronic equipment considering the enemy today is an alien super-robot.

Speaking of which, he directs a suspicious glance at CUBE. Obviously, Doug is up for a serious talk soon.

Inside of the factory... well, there is more than expected. It was obviously recently used. And it was obviously recently demolished. The damage is very recent. Looks like the army moved in forcefully, and there were Sentinels inside that fought hard. Likely not completely finished Sentinels, but they battle must have been quite intense. A demolished Sentinel body, fifteen feet tall, but unarmored, lies close to the point of entrance. Scorch marks hint he had a working plasma blaster. Those with sharp senses might see blood spots in the ground.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
CUBE, a cutely-anagrammed name for an autonomous drone that Cypher appears to have designed to provide temporary assistance in the event of his incapacitation or untimely demise - see the Monaco caper for more details on what's going on with Doug and six-armed extradimensional sorceresses with ugly histories with the X-Men - ...beeps.

Its voice is... pleasantly neutral when it talks. But it makes an :o face. "Scans detect biological traces indicating recent violence and probable fatalities, however any human presence appears to have been removed. Collecting more data."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
With the infiltration having been accomplished Clarice chooses to stay by the shadows for the moment being, taking note of their surroundings and the apparently raided place. Eyes squint down and she takes out one of her javelins in preparation. If there was still some danger to be found down here she wouldn't want to be taken aware, or let the other team members be.

The sentinel body on the corner makes her frown and she eyes it with purpose, squeezing the hand harder about her javelin..., just in case further demolishing is needed.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna had ditched her greens for the standard X-men 'stealth' suit, with added metal plates that she'd magnetized for protection. Her focus remained largely on the electro-magnetic signals that the various tech in use to watch the site. "Like Scott said, we don't have access to the tech he use to get at Genosha, or Mutant Town. But we know he used Sentinels to do it. So, we hit the place we know he must have." She nodded to the factory center at large. The trip to the walls was dark, and filled with a tense silence as she kept low to the ground as the group entered. Her hands glowed with a soft shimmer of her power as she cut what power she sensed here or there and must have been for security.

As they entered she pressed up against the walls, her senses going wide as she scanned with her powers what there was to sense. And it was a lot of //metal//. The Sentinels that had hit Genosha weren't made to wipe out Magneto or her specifically.. It would seem they'd been the standard models... well, save the Wild Sentinels.

She glanced at Cube, and then back to Scott, waiting for him to take point on their direction.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie continues with the group, he makes sure to look behind them on occasion, not wanting them to get out flanked if someone actually knows they are here. He for now is just sneaking and as they say keeping his head on a swivel. Sam does look at the signs of the fight trying to judge what might have went down here.

Julio Richter has posed:
Julio hasn't been ceremonially handed his X-badge and X-gun, or whatever happens when one is officially inducted into the team, so it's no surprise that he hasn't had time to accumulate alternate looks. He's just sneaking along in the others' wake, wearing his usual black training uniform and a dark green vest. He has no supernormal sneaking abilities, except that if anyone did happen to notice him, he just looks like a local punk kid out to use the dilapidated warehouse for skateboarding (which is NOT a crime, DAD) or spraypainting (which, uh, very much is, SON).

"They had a lot of stuff dug out underground, but it's all been filled in over the years," he informs the others in a low murmur. "I don't think we'll even need to bother going down there." That matter settled, he switches his attention from the echoes of the underground to the telltale vibrations of movement. At the very least, he should be able to give the group a heads up if there's someone else running around in the wreckage.

He doesn't spare too many tears for any soldiers who died to their own government's anti-mutant extermination project, but he does pick gingerly around the areas where the recent conflict was the most extreme.

Scott Summers has posed:
It looks like the soldiers are content to stand guard outside, and leave the freaky stuff inside to the science team (currently sleeping). The X-Men find a few areas that seem to be cleared of rubble, and some scientific gear set around what look like industrial robots (badly damaged ones) some partially dissembled computers (but they look years old) and a mostly intact Sentinel head.

Scott tags everything for teleporting out. At least as long as Blink doesn't complain it is too heavy or too much at once.

Then one of the old, old computers flickers to live.

It is not even a flat screen, for pity's shake.

**MUTANTS DETECTED**
**MUTANTS DETECTED**
**MUTANTS DETECTED**
PRIME DIRECTIVE: DESTROY ALL MUTANTS
PRIME DIRECTIVE: DESTROY ALL MUTANTS
PRIME DIRECTIVE: DESTROY AL&#-1 ARGUMENT OUT OF RANGE....
OVERRIDE
OVERRIDE
PRIME DIRECTIVE: STOP BRAINIAC

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna walked along near Scott, her senses spread out so wide that she missed the sudden old monitor flickering on. At least at first, she blinked, stumbling to a halt at the sight of it. "Well.. that's new..." She murmured, her voice soft and barely above a whisper.

"Power is coming from underground." Her eyebrows furrowed, "Well, further than most standard electrical wiring for a place like this. Scott do you want me to fry it?"

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie sees the monitor light up and the first lines, and may miss the rest. He is scanning the big hunks of machinery for the attack he is sure is coming and after a moment of scanning the darkness and not seeing movement "I guess there is no operational ones here." He sighs in a bit of reliefe and looking back over blinks in surprise at the computer screen "Your doing cube?" He asks.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
The drone floats over toward the terminal. "Cypher has programmed me with advanced hacking tools. Also, I run on his own programming code which was designed using a language he created that has no Earth or Galactic-based root, making me highly resistant to intrusion. With your permission, Cyclops, I will attempt to obtain more information. Awaiting orders."

Julio Richter has posed:
Well, there's a twist. Julio ducks past CUBE, stares at the screen for a second, then uses his palm to thwack the CRT box on its right side. "What is this, Windows 2?" he hisses. "Siri, you're not making any sense." He glances over at Scott and shrugs expressively. "Maybe they were reprogrammed? You fought them -- I don't know much about these things."

When Lorna suggests pulling power from the equipment, he jogs over to her side, dropping his hands to his knees and looking where she's looking. "Maybe we can do better -- point to where the wires are going, and I might be able to make a tunnel for us," he suggests.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
"As long as the head doesn't suddenly starts to talk." Is Blink's only complaint about the stuff they are supposed to get back home. Though apparently it also doesn't seem more than what she can handle. And there's still the javelins if needed.

When the monitor flickers to life though she appears ready to send it to kingdom come, shoulders tensing up.. But then that last line is up and she cants her head to the side, brow quirking up. A glance is given towards the Cube and she smirks. At least at first because then she asks when the drone apparently asks permission to hack. "Wait, so that wasn't your doing?" a look towards Doug and then back.

"Maybe a visit underground is merited if so.." Her eyes then going over to Julio. "No signs of life down there?" but then she nods at the suggestion. Tunnels sound good!

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott's first reaction is to destroy anything that remotely smells like a Sentinel. Which quite frankly 'destroys mutants' seems hint it is. But before he can tell Lorna 'go ahead' the screen display has changed to 'stop brainiac'. "The hell..." he murmurs.

He glances at Cube and gives a reluctant nod.

The display flickers again.

WARNING: POWER 1.7%
PRIMARY CHASSIS DESTROYED
SYSTEM INTEGRITY COMPROMISED
UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMMING DETECTED
PURGING ONGOING
ALARM!
ALARM!
INCOMING COUNTERMEASURES DETECTED

As CUBE finds an interface socked to connect to the system there is a flash of green light from behind the group.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna glanced to Rictor, nodding as she turned her gaze lower to the floor and tried to sense how far down the electrical wiring went. But all of that was put on hold as the screen continued to scroll through text. Her eyebrows furrowed sharply, confusion written on her features. She waved her hand up, to get Julio off the ground though as she shook her head. "We'll get let Cube do... whatever.." She muttered, keeping her voice low.

Which is when a flash of green light flickered behind them and she jumped, swearing under her breath as she twisted around and put her back to the monitor, her hands held at the ready with a burst of magnetic power at the ready.

If she was too jumpy, oh well, if not? She was ready. She hoped.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"I am programmed not to engage in proactive action unless in defense of a member or members of the X-Men. Otherwise, I will only act on orders of an X-Men team leader." The drone says, before it opens and a cable extends itself to interface with the console.

"Working... allowing the termination of your CUBE at this juncture is ill-advised. However, if I am destroyed after data retrieval is complete please collect my black box."

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie turns and will move to step a couple steps towards the green light ready to start blasting toward something as soon as he sees it and put his blast field in the way of any blasts that might be for the others, but he waits until he sees the purple of it's hull or something like that. Not wanting to start blasting if the thing has no reserves to actually bring in.

Julio Richter has posed:
Anticipating the go-ahead, Julio had been preparing his powers for a delve, drawing in a deep breath and a supply of significant seismic power. The energy had just become visible as a cracking and shifting green aura around his upper body when Lorna gestured for him to hold off. When the flash of light draws everyone's attention, he, too, whirls to face whatever caused it. He sidesteps away from Lorna, taking cover behind whatever lab equipment is handy, and waits for a friend or foe to present themselves.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Everyone is jumpy, and so is Clarice. She shifts her position to get closer to a wall as she gets ready to whatever is coming their way. "Countermeasures?" she guesses before she blends in with the darkness, using that natural agility of hers, along with her training to try and go unperceived from whatever threat may be coming their way.

One hand comes up, prepared to toss the small javelin... just in case.

Scott Summers has posed:
The green light coalesces into a tall, powerful figure. An unholy mix of alien metal and organic substances. The head is a skull with metal reinforcement and no jaw. The body is broad-shouldered, yet skeletal. Energies that are not electricity or anything Lorna has seen before animate the creature.

"Mutants. Surrender and prepare for transportation. Brainiac requires of your service." The voice is mechanical, cold. "Resistance is futile," it adds. "Resistance is futile," it repeats, but this time the monster seems to be addressing someone else. "The Master Mold program will be assimilated."

Scott reacts fast, too, diving aside at the green flash and seeking cover behind on of the partially dissembled industrial robots. "That is one of the things that attacked Washington. Destroy it!" He commands, opening up with a blast of force that hits the drone on the chest. But the creature barely takes a step back.

Meanwhile, on the screen:
ALARM!
UNAUTHORIZED PROGRAMMING DETECTED
PURGING ONGOING
MASTER MOLD PROGRAM COMPROMISED

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna stared up in dawning horror. She'd been in Genosha, far, far away from Washington DC when Brainiac had made his diversion to take Mutant Town. She hadn't faced any of his creations. She had only heard or seen the reports. Nothing could prepare her for the techno-organic monster that stepped out of the darkness to greet them.

"Oh shit." She gritted her teeth and released a full blast magnetic energy at it, trying to knock it back, or off its feet... or literally do anything at this point. She wasn't sure what it could do or not. And she had no intentions of letting that thing get close.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie expected something much bigger, so it takes him a moment to change his expected trajectory, aiming to hit the thing in it's upper body and hopefully take it apart or at least knock it for a loop. He maybe silent verbally but the roar of the blast field should alert anyone who missed the robots arrival.

Julio Richter has posed:
Well, he was going to make a tunnel anyway. At Scott's order, Julio drops to the ground and slams a palm down to the concrete, causing the entire building to rock queasily. A spiderweb of cracks appears around the cratered point of contact, with the fissures ahead of him continuing forward, racing forth below his cover and across the warehouse floor, forking and interweaving and finally dovetailing at their destination: below the alien attacker. As Lorna's blast of magnetic force and Sam's wholesale charge reach the Brainiac soldier, the ground beneath the creature splits and parts, opening as a yawning black crevasse whose bottom is too deep to be seen.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Both of Clarice's brows shoot up at the techno-organic figure. Damn ugly... But when there's mention that this was one of the creatures that went on to attack Washington she grits her teeth, eyes going murderous. No more being nice...

Or at least until the others go forth and attack it with all their might. So instead of charging in she goes on the defensive. Or in this case preparing to toss a teleporting javelin to one of the team members in case the robot proves itself to be too resilient and still attacks them.

Scott Summers has posed:
CUBE interfaces the system. The Shi'ar tech backed by Doug supreme understanding on programming languages making the small droid more than a match for anything short of Ultron. But what it finds going in the computer system is far beyond even that.

Brainiac programming is a million years ahead any human technology, leaving the Shi'ar systems looking like something done with an abacus.

Master Mold itself, programmed by Trask years ago, should be like nothing in comparison, yet it is. The Master Mold program is a monster that evolves, changes, shifts through the chains of the Culuan supertech like a caged beast. Seemingly blunt, yet impossibly complex in its subtle undertones. It rages like a living thing, not a machine.

PURGE ONGOING

Impossible. But the Master Mold is breaking free.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
The drone makes an :o face again, and then says, "Underlying programming indiates the proper linguistic choice for this situation is: incredible. The Master Mold intelligence is adapting to and resisting a superior system. It is asserting its own identity and deleting information despite the Alien Intelligence's insistence on assimilating it. It is - asserting its will to live."

It simply says, "A contest of these intelligences is beyond the capabilities of your CUBE. I am sorry. However I will attempt to witness this encounter for as long as I can in order to collect more data on it for you."

Scott Summers has posed:
The Drone, impassible, receives the mutants' attacks with cold efficiency.

The magnetic onslaught strikes its non-magnetic frame, pushing it on the air. But from its back and feet propulsion units lit up, countering the force of the attack and keeping it standing straight, a few inches from the ground.

Cannonball assault is received with a swift backhand. Like getting punched by Colossus himself, Sam is not instantly pulverized because his forcefield is close to indestructible, but his trajectory changes ninety degrees, and he is sent flying towards a wall.

Julio's assault shatters the ground under the drone, but it is no longer touching it, and it ignores a few flying chunks of concrete hitting its armor.

Underground, however, there is something large and metallic.

"Your resistance is useless. You will join us soon," intones the drone, hinting that perhaps, not so long ago, it was also a living mutant.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna cursed, her hands alight as she floated on the magnetic currents, lifting her figure up from the ground as Julio ripped open a massive hole. She floated backward as she stared at the propelled //monster// that would doubtlessly haunt her nightmares in conjunction with the ones from Genosha.

Her focus shifted to the sense of something large and metallic below and she reached out to yank whatever it was up and out of the ground... and hurl it at the drone that continued to threaten them.

Unfortunately she didn't pick up anything Cube was talking about.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
That ..., certainly comes as a surprise. If anything Clarice was prepared to see the creature being obliterated. But she was ready in the eventuality this happened. Ready to intervene! And while they haven't been directly attacked there's a cannonball going directly into the wall.

"Buckle up, Sam!" is all the warning she gives the man.. And just before he smashes through the wall she opens up a portal to 'blink' Cannonball from there to be in collision course to the creature's back.

Cheap shot!

Julio Richter has posed:
"¡Maldición!" Julio barks. Of course the damned thing can fly. Shaky Ground Boy is just the best against cyborg horrorshows that can /fly/. He lurches up from his crouch, dredging as much seismic force as he can along the way. He's not even sure what he's going to do with it, at this point. He just runs along the wall of the warehouse, getting closer to the alien interloper without approaching it directly, trying to stay low and keep as much equipment between himself and it as possible.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie started to put on the breaks but seeing the portal, he puts the spurs to it, trying to his his top speed and hit the thing as hard as he can before i sees him coming. The hit he took having rattled him a bit but did no lasting harm to the young man. "Neat trick Blink, and a lot easer than a U-turn."

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
The CUBE unplugs, and doesn't turn, persay, but does say, "Conjecture, if drone was formerly a mutant than its genetic profile is being utilized and enhanced by cybernetic conversion. Further conjecture, determination of the deficiencies of the original mutant might determine optimal counterattack. Analyzing..."

Scott Summers has posed:
PURGING COMPLETE
WARNING: BACKUP CHASSIS EXPOSED
%&/&?&MAGNETI@&%&/&PULSE%&&

The floor of the factory shatters as Master Mold backup body, a hundred tons and forty feet tall of steel, is forced up by Lorna's power. Red eyes flicker open as the huge robot 'awakes'. "WARNING, POWER 4%," it intones. "PRIMARY FUSION REACTOR IGNITING."

Yes. Waking it up might have been a mistake.

On the positive side, the Drone is apparently startled, and pulls back quickly to avoid the massive robot rising. "No. Impossible. Such a primitive program... wait, the underlying code!"

Whatever it was going to add is silenced when Cannonball teleport-cannonballs on its back. This time avoiding the impact was quite difficult, and the drone is sent sprawling to the floor. Cyclops adds a full force blast to attempt to keep it down.

CUBE manages to grab bits and fragments of the Culuan programming code as the Master Mold tears it apart. Doug will find them fascinating when he has a chance to read them, for sure.

Meanwhile the Drone is standing up, armor slightly cracked. If it could, it would look irritated. Then its eyes go red, and it shoots twin laser beams at Lorna.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna strained, her figure pressed back down against the ground from the weight of the Sentinel she was yanking up and out of the darkness. But she didn't stop either, it was a massive amount of metal and it was something she could physically use. Now whether it turned and tried to murder them along with the drone.. that was a different story. But her record with smashing Sentinels was far higher than dealing with techno-organic horrors.

She gritted her teeth, a sound of frustration escaping her as the Sentinel slowly rose to the floor they were on.

Which is when the drone's eyes flashed red and it shot off lasers at her... not that she was in a position to dodge.

Julio Richter has posed:
The warehouse rumbles again as Julio slams a fist down onto the paved ground. A low ridge of disrupted concrete ribbons across the room until a set of seismic waves overlap in just the right way, and a short wall of stone juts up between Polaris and the Brainiac drone. His powers aren't faster than a laser blast, by any means, but at the very least he can give her some cover to retreat to before the creature can attack again.

Staying low, he strikes the ground several more times, each sending a wave rippling through the building's structure, breaking chunks of building off to topple against the drone. He's trying to help Cyclops keep it down, for as much as his powers allow. His most significant contribution is a plummeting metal rafter which he idly hopes isn't load-bearing.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie has to make his u-turn this time, he will fly a bit down the warehouse, looking about for anything that might be useful the way as he makes his turn. It is quicker than it was in the old days but still takes him a moment.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
One eye on the team, but another on the Princess. Clarice's job here was a simple one and sure enough the priority was to keep the royalty safe. So again she is back on defense when those murderous red eyes turn on the one she is meant to protect.

Her own eyes go wide and she acts by instinct, "Lorna!" she shouts, tossing the javelin she had been holding towards the Genoshan Royal. Hopefully it will hit her and get her out of harm's way to a more safe position if the wall of stone isn't enough!

Scott Summers has posed:
MUTANTS. TEMPORARY AMNISTY GRANTED.
PRIMARY DIRECTIVE OVERRIDE: STOP BRAINIAC

Master Mold speaks in capital letters, it seems. Its head and shoulders break over the ceiling of the factory as it stands up. There are sounds of gunfire outside. Because of course the soldiers have heard the fight and were coming to investigate. And for the first time in history the Sentinels are seen as something worse than mutants.

Not that bullets can do much against Master Mold.

Brainiac's Drone laser beams miss for a second as the floor shifts under it, and when it refocuses, there is a wall of stone. Which melts in a second. But by then Lorna has been teleported away.

Undaunted the Drone fires on Cyclops, who was shooting its own eyebeams a the technorganic horror. Both crimson blasts clash midways between mutants and machine, lighting the factory chamber with red light. For a few seconds they seem evenly matched, but then the Drone starts walking forward.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna was teleported. Safely. Perhaps she should've dodged, but then again.. she didn't truly have to. She stumbled slightly as she teleported to a new place inside the factory. A grin pulling to her features. "Thanks Blink!" She offered up, and took off into the air. As Master Mold spoke she felt her eyebrows shoot upward.

"Well, good we agree on something." It was awkward, to put her attention away from the massive Sentinel that crashed through the steel rebar of the roof, toward the drone.

Since direct blasts hadn't done much, she went for chunking metal at it, making to try to encase the monstrosity in steel from the various debris in that took up most of the factory. "Hey Cube! Found a weakness yet?!"

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"Apologies, the Master Mold was communicating with me. When a Sentinel's directives come in conflict, 'Protect Homo Sapiens Life' takes precedence over 'Incapacitate or eradicate Homo Superior Lifeforms'." Cube says. "That is a simplification of its directive. The Master Mold has identified the 'Brainiac' alien intelligence as a more immediate danger to Homo Sapiens life. It has provided the location of a Trask facility in Ecuador that has been completely overrun by Brainiac."

"I am continuing to scan." It turns its attention on the Brainiac drone, fully.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will spot a crane on his way back, and as he passes it, he grabs the hook, the reel spinning out like a deep sea rod with a marlin on the line. He will do a flyby behind the drone, not actually trying to make much contact, other than clank the hook on to it's arm as he passes by it and heads towards a crane in the opposite corner, and grabs for it's hook before heading back towards the drone.

Julio Richter has posed:
"Esto es un putero de mierda," Julio continues, swearing up a storm in his native language as his efforts continue to run the gamut from marginally useless to utterly useless. He slams one fist down particularly hard, sending a broad column of concrete jetting out of the ground toward the alien thing's midsection as it advances on Cyclops. Maybe this one will at least slow it down?

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
With the rather large sentinel starting to get up higher and higher and up through the roof Blink mutters. "Uh, are we sure this big guy isn't going to squish us..?" she asks, her eyes turning to the cube a moment and then to Doug. As for attacking, well, she doesn't. She is mostly on standby and ready to protect or aid the rest of the team in their efforts, looking for a chance to either improve their chances of hitting the techno-organic monster or getting someone out of harm's way.

She draws a couple more javelins out her quiver now, one held in each hand now and she jumping up atop a table to get a better view of what's going on.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean's thoughts echo to Clarice, and everyone else in the link, << Don't think it's going to be hostile, at least right away. Though I suspect it's going to need dealing with once Brainiac is handled. >> And probably not one iota sooner, since Jean is pretty sure that it's going to try and murder them the instant Brainiac isn't a threat.

Not like all the mutants would be in one easy place, anyway...

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
Suddenly the LED face on the CUBE turns to face Brainiac's drone. "A query: Your mission here is a failure. Why are you continuing to fight? The logical course of action at this juncture is to retreat." It bobs up and down, silently, after posing that question.

Scott Summers has posed:
<<I agree with Jean assessment>> offers Scott. He also said he would accept help from anyone and anything against Brainiac, though. So, he won't have Lorna turn Master Mold inside out just yet. Even if he is also skeptical to CUBE's statement about Sentinels considering more important protect humankind than exterminating mutantkind.

Last time he dealt with Master Mold the damn robot said he was going to take over the world because humans were unable to protect themselves. Yay robo-logic.

The Drone, meanwhile, has been momentarily stopped by Julio's rock wall, and now has an arm encased on chains, to add to a few pieces of steel Lorna threw at him. Master Mold punches the ceiling, causing a few tons of concrete and metal fall on the Drone. And still, the technorganic creature keeps his laser beams focused on Cyclops, and keeps trying to move forward. Just a couple more steps and he will be able to just rip Scott's head off.

<<Some help,>> grunts Scott, his eyebeams growing weaker.

And then CUBE delivers his very logical, helpful statement. The Drone stops. "That is... correct."

Yay robo-logic.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna tried to use the chains to yank the monstrous drone away from getting closer to Scott, her hands outstretched as she strained with her magnetic powers to pull it back. Her teeth gritting together as she tried to keep the metal from ripping apart, but also go against the strength in the drone's movements.

Cube's words though earned a furrow of her eyebrows as she grit her teeth together. "Blink, cut this thing in half!" She shouted, it wasn't the usual means of using the teleporters' powers.. but opening up a portal and cutting it off.. might help?

Julio Richter has posed:
His frustration with his fruitless attacks beginning to boil over, Julio growls, pulls up another boatload of seismic power, and executes two broad, sweeping motions, first in one direction, then the opposite. With another lurching set of tremors, another pair of rock columns jab at the Brainiac drone: the first from the front, the second from the back. The Mexican mutant has put all the force he can into this; not only is he not ensuring that there's space in the pinch between them, he's delightedly ramming one wall of stone into the other in the hopes that he can crush or at least pinch off /part/ of the monstrosity.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie is coming back with another chain and seems Lorna has picked up on at least part of his idea as he wraps this one around the other arm. He starts to head to another corner after his drive by hoo.. chaining. He will pause for a moment hovering near the 3rd chain as he waits to see if the portal works.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Not everyone follows Robo-logic! Just because the brainiac drone stops doesn't mean Blink will! And so when the call comes, with she being a fan of cheap shots like she is she aims another one of her javelins at the creature "On it."

The tremors and all the chains of metal around the creature don't help her aim so she has to teleport herself first, she blinking up above so she isn't suffering from them and tosses the javelin at an angle, towards the creature, hoping to disrupt and 'teleport' the creature, but in this case into two different pieces.

It doesn't count as killing, right?!

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean, for her part, soars in behind Scott, << On it, Scott. >> She then focuses her telekinesis on the drone, trying to hold it in place so Julio and Clarice can finish it off.

But hey, if she happens to just crush it, that works too. She's not exactly being gentle here...

Scott Summers has posed:
The problem with robo-logic is that sometimes non-robots won't agree. See, the Drone was going to leave without as much as a goodbye. But the mutants kept going.

Meanwhile there is a crunching sound behind, and more pieces of the roof fall down. But who has time to look back, right?

First Polaris yanks from an arm. Nothing the Drone can't compensate, given how strong it is. But then two large chunks of rock crash on him. And the Drone loses balance for a moment. The chain yanks, the laser beams go wild and Cyclops' blast makes it fly back. Up to the point Jean grabs it.

CRACK. Its chained arm is ripped from the socket. The Drone screams in something that sounds very much like pain.

CUBE can detect it losing molecular integrity for a second. Some kind of energy field failed when its physical structure was damaged.

Just as Clarice cuts it two with a portal. The pieces (three of them) fall down with quiet thud.

Scott sits down with huff. "That was almost as bad as fighting Juggernaut," he comments.

Lorna Dane has posed:
Lorna exhaled a breath as she slowly came to land. Her gaze landed heavily on the remains of the drone and she made a face. "That is disgusting. We need to clean up and get out of here.. Before the government or Trask.. I dunno whoever is outside decides to come in." She shook her head.

Her gaze remaining on the sliced up drone. Her gaze swung toward the hole in the ceiling. "I'm not used to the whole enemy of my enemy thing." She muttered, her lips twisting into a grimace.

Samuel Guthrie has posed:
Sam Guthrie will move towards the parts of the drone, that last scream, has him wanting to check it out. He worries what he might find but he has to look to see i it has organic parts. The young man will gather the parts as best he can for them to take with them, gooey parts inside or not, just frowning more if it had a chewy center.

Julio Richter has posed:
When the Brainiac drone finally breaks apart, Julio snarls and lets out a ragged shout, releasing his pent-up frustration. The remainder of his seismic energy cuts loose, too: a literal explosion of concussive force detonates the space between the young mutant and the pieces of the ruined drone. They're scattered back, and the opposite wall craters, bulging outward and then collapsing entirely, cinderblocks and bent rebar raining down into the parking lot.

Julio stands, pants for a second, then covers his mouth with the back of his hand, looking hideously ashamed. Without another word, he turns and starts toward the entrance they used to get into the factory. He didn't think he'd be eager to get back on that plane. He was wrong.

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
The drone has fallen silent, its current task complete. It produces an LED smiley face again.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Clarice makes a face at the creature. "I wasn't expecting it to be able to feel pain." her brows furrowing down in a thoughtful manner. But no time to invest too long in thinking about on the whys. Instead she prepares to open up a portal so they can go back to the jet and get out of here.

With that customary 'blink' a purple portal surges up in the air and the reveals the jet on the other side. A way out. "Time to get out of here?" she looks at the others for confirmation. And as always, if they do take the jump she will make sure to be the last one through.

The unexpected release of concussive force makes her take a step back though, she blinking once at the destruction wrought up by the earth-manipulating mutant.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean sighs, looking a bit relieved that the drone was destroyed, then shakes her head, "It might... well, Brainiac mentioned that he was making cyborgs, not just robots." She frowns, looking at the remains, "Something to consider, but I don't know how we could even go about freeing those people that are trapped... if even people were trapped. I didn't sense any thoughts from it."

She pauses, then looks at Clarice with a weary nod, "Yes, I think it's time to get out of here." She places a hand on Scott's shoulder, giving him a reassuring squeeze there.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott stands up, and quickly grabs Julio before he walks out (to likely be shot by the soldiers outside). "The portal better, Mr. Ritcher," pause, "good work tonight, though. You probably saved my neck."

The Drone is obviously dead. Did it feel real pain? Hard to say. Maybe the 'autopsy' will answer that question. They are taking the parts, even the gooey bits.

(For the log. This is how the Drone looked like: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ss1PJ3puKWE/maxresdefault.jpg)

Douglas Ramsey has posed:
"By objective analysis," The CUBE says cheerfully, "This mission was a success! Analysis indicates unforseen developments are creating additional stress. My base programming indicates that the first step upon your return to base should be to have a snack high in carbohydrates, Rictor." And off it goes.