2260/Genosha Burns: Revenge of the Brainiac Phobiacs

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Genosha Burns: Revenge of the Brainiac Phobiacs
Date of Scene: 11 July 2020
Location: Washington Square Park, NYC
Synopsis: The Titans, X-Men, and more of Earth's heroes make Brainiac regret he ever chose to mess with Earth. But surely there are more threats out there aside from Brainiac...
Cast of Characters: Erik Lensherr, Donna Troy, Samuel Morgan, Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Clarice Ferguson, Neena Thurman, Raven Darkholme, Illyana Rasputina, Jean Grey, Piotr Rasputin, Kitty Pryde
Tinyplot: Genosha Burns


Erik Lensherr has posed:
     Two hours ago, Avengers satellites have picked up movement from Brainiac's skull ship orbiting Saturn's moon Titan. The promised final battle was about to begin.

  30 minutes ago, above New York City, Brainiac's skull ship has arrived, tentacles from beneath the ship inch out and extend, beginning to start an attack on the city's as a whole.

  10 minutes ago, the drones had been sent out from the ship to begin their attack. Many had been augmented just as Brainiac had aimed to do. Each drone has a power, they are varied, of course. Much like their mutant counterparts, the drones are more resilient than had been seen before.

  In Washington Square Park, a battalion, one of many that had been sent around the city, began their assault.

  Chaos has come to the city once more, but the brave heroes of the world have prepared for this. It was showtime.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Warning is short, but for the Titans it's largely a matter of getting in position, waiting for news and deciding on which of the contingency plans to put into operation. They have been putting a lot of work into the problem over the last few weeks.

    All around the city, civil defense forces are armed with the newly-produced anti-drone bolas rounds, designed by the Titans to target a weak point on the drones' necks and manufactured in mass by Stark Industries. Against the newly upgraded drones it may not be much, but it's something that gives the unpowered defenders of the city a fighting chance.

    When the attack starts, small groups of Titans appear through portals at several hot-spots devoid of other heroic defenders. For three weeks they have been hard at work drilling in anti-drone team tactics using very realistic Danger Room simulations based on plentiful real-world data. They will make a difference.

    None of which will win the fight, but that's not the idea. At Titans tower Cyborg mans the computers, initiating programs worked on long into the nights. Having broken the code of Brainiac's programming language and operating systems, this is perhaps the best chance to make an infiltration work. Beside him Vorpal sits ready to unleash an emergency back-up plan of psychic insanity, which may or may not be good to disable a large number of drones, at least for a short period of time.

    As Cyborg puts his work into effect and seeks to break into the Brianiac ship's systems and create a blind spot in its defenses for the infiltration team to exploit, encrypted communications to the other teams pass on continual progress reports.

    On the T-Jet, the small infiltration team takes to the air, ready. Cailtin is at the jet's controls, Donna sitting beside her, close combat experts and perhaps the teams' best tanks. With them is Techno - infiltration expert and technopathic mutant, his skills are likely to be vital to the mission.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    There aren't enough hours in the day. Since the attack on Washington DC, Sam had divided most of his time between the labs and training, hitting both the gym and the Danger Room hard. Being one of the heroes that was there when it all happened just means that he has a better appreciation for the capabilities of the enemy, and a healthy respect for just how lethal these things are.

    Except this time he's going to be prepared. This time his team has spent uncounted hours learning how to fight these things. And this time they know the objective of the enemy, and have a target of their own. He's not trying to fight a desperate defensive action, Techno has a role, a purpose, and a target...

    "Titans, comms check!" comes the voice over the team frequency, no longer distorted, as Techno checks his gear for the drop into the park. The power packs of his suit are brimming with energy, the lenses on the blank face plate shine brightly, and even the finish on the Tungsten-Titanium alloy of the power armor is an immaculate matte midnight blue. GAUSS had been repaired since the trashing it took in Washington, now sporting a stylised 'T' decal on the right pauldron.

    With a sense of some relief, his right gauntlet falls on the modified pistol held in the cordura holster, twelve spare clips arranged on his belt. Three with a green stripe, three with a yellow stripe, and a further six half painted red. Anti-drone rounds in standard, hot load and custom wildcat load, for when things get really hot.

    The world zips by underneath him as he sits in the flight engineer chair, watching systems, getting ready to drop down and do some serious damage. As a Titan, and as a mutant, he has a score to settle.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Whether Nadia could hack the Avenger's sattelites to tap their feeds is a question for another day, since fortunately Hank, being an Avenger, had a system connected into those feeds in his house where she is now staying. Needless to say gaining access to that was one of her first 'fun projects' while exploring the house in his absence.

Nadia is just putting the finishing touches on a new red and black suit, soldering the last bio-synthetic wing panels into place, when the warning system starts going crazy and warning of the imminent arrival of Brainiac's ship above New York City.

Nadia looks at the newly finished suit and back at the monitor and at the suit again. The Avengers told her Brainiac was an extinction level threat. She's seen first hand what his shrink tech can do and even helped to reverse the effects on some unfortunate victims. She knows she can help. So she does what any sixteen year old would do, throws caution to the wind and quickly dons her new 'Wasp' suit.

Keying her suit's communications into the sattelite feeds to continue monitoring the situation she takes off out of the house and into the air with a blurry buzz of bio-synthetic wings.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
     At Washington Square Park, a number of drones had been engaged in a fighting those who were in the process of running away, their fight could be seen from the sky as various beams and blasts could be seen shooting upwards.

  As the others arrived, SHIELD's Hellicarrier had approached next to the skull ship, beginning to take large armament shots at it. Arms fire had created a blanket of bullets and energy fire above the city. Luckily, the gunners aboard the Hellicarrier were some of the world's best, and knew where to shoot to avoid the heroes and bystanders on the ground.

  The Skull ship itself showed its shielding once rounds and other heroes started to act against it.

  As the Titans had approached, the jet had started to be fired upon by a myriad of drones. electrical blasts, fire plumes, and green weapons fire all aimed towards the T-Jet as they touched down.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Fashionably late!

For Blink that's a couple of words that she thought would never apply to her. But here she is ... A portal opens up in the middle of New York, under that large, looming ship above... A Clarice steps out, purple hair flowing and her unnatural green eyes blinking in surprise at that damn large ship. A surprise that soon turns into a focused intent. They had a mission to do here. And damn right the Brotherhood wouldn't stay hidden when there was a chance to save Genosha.

"So, have you ever took in a merc contract that you thought was way above what is supposed to be your paygrade?" this asked to the other Brotherhood mutant(s) still having to go past the portal.

She adjusts her quiver, full of all those nice teleport javelins she likes to throw at people. Or cyborgs in this case.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino's been ready for this. Safe house in NYC, armaments cleaned oiled and filled with all sorts of ammunition. She's kitted out to the teeth, and then some. Where she gets it?

She's just a lucky girl.

As the ships hover over NYC, Domino's got a ride; a sweeter one than even her cherry red Mustang by the name of Blink.

Appearing at the opening of that portal that the other mutant had just made, the albino merc in leathers steps out as if she owns the world and is going to fight to make sure she keeps it.

"Kid, if I'm paid, that IS my paygrade," is answered with a cock-sure, black-lipped quirked smile. Cold blue eyes look up and above them, and she takes a deep breath. "Countin' down the seconds to showtime."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
     Stepping through the portal behind Clarice, Raven steps through, shoulders back eyes aimed upwards towards the ominous ships obscuring the sky with their enormous sizes. The azure mutant stands behind the two other mutant women with weapons strapped to her thighs, bandoliers criss crossing across her chest with a larger caliber rifle on her back with an assault rifle in her hands. Mystique has gear held in a combat craft, a few extra magazines and even a knife with some upgrades to that even. "Alien Invaders must be a hell of an expense bullet to sell to your clients." Raven smirks towards Domino and then motions the rest of her brotherhood through the portal.

Erik Lensherr has posed:
     Cyborg and Sam's efforts seem to be working, along with some assistance from a distance away from the city. The weapon that Tony had created blasts the skull ship, dissipating its shielding and making the tentacles from the underside go limp. The hellicarrier in the air started to make a barrage for the ship, working on the tough metal hull of the thing. This was their chance, the heroes chance to get in. From a number of blocks away, the Quinjet and a green bubble seem to be making their way towards one of the eyes of the ship.

  The hellicarrier had made enough of an impact in the side of the skull for the (in comparison) small ship to enter in.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Those with the X-gene bear the brunt of Brainiac's harsh interest more than most. Countless lives seized from Genosha, thousands culled from New York's bosom make all too apparent a bitter truth: nowhere offers sanctuary against the alien forces. For that reason, a strike force claiming no name or evident banner abandon the Earth.

One step. Just inside the city's borders, an avatar, a paladin, and a queen bypass the veil separating mundane reality from its outer shells. Guttering indigo flames mark a point where the attack by the X-Men begins.

Second step. Roses tremble with the chorus of the spheres, galaxies spilling over iridescent petals gathered in massive drifts as the strike force lands within an eldritch glade under a dusken sky. Facing Jean and Piotr, the blonde sorceress manifests a blade seething with starlight. She lifts the point skyward, beams shifting and cascading softly over Jean and Piotr's armoured form. An incantation on Illyana's lips calls out to Limbo, ripples of raw power spreading out around them from the Sanctum Sanctorum and raising complex sigils to visible sight for miles.

"You have the lead," Illyana says to Jean. "Any instructions?" She weaves the threads of radiance into a massive hammer almost as tall as she is. It floats in space before Piotr, taking on increasing solidity, burning glyphs cooling into a sinuous pattern.

Third step. The tide comes back at the center of a mystic pentacle and the silver-limned teleportation circle opens to a plane of dreams and possibility. Time flows differently in Limbo. On Earth, mere moments pass as the three take the Astral Realm on chiaroscuro pathways scribing their route high into the air. Shadows roil around their luminous forms, vibrant and brimming with life, wreathed in bright halos.

                              * . * . * . * . *                              

Fourth step. Another illuminated slice in time-space appearing ahead of Clarice and Domino beckons the two women to join the trinity. It seals shut should they enter (or not) to prevent anyone or anything else from passing through. Swirling ethereal lines trail around the five traversing through the Astral Plane, following a beacon of their captive fellows onto the ship from another dimension altogether, where drones and Brainiac presumably may not reach. Thieves bringing hope, as it were, and ready for war.

Cavalry's coming.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean looks over at Illyana, "Just get everyone out that we can. We aren't there for a fight, that's what the heavy hitters are doing outside. But if Brainiac starts something with us, we end it, hard and fast." She sounds pretty serious about this, "You all know what's at stake. Literally this is the future of our race, of our planet, on the line here. No mistakes, and we bring everyone home."

She pauses, then concentrates, forming a mental link with Piotr and... well, if she permits it, Illyana, << I don't know what Brainiac's capabilities are, but I'm going to intensify mental protections in case he's got some sort of tricks up his sleeve. So we're going to make sure the link is active. >> Once Clairce and Domino arrive, Jean loops them into the link as well.

<< Look sharp, and stay alert. We might have bypassed the bulk of the horde to get here, but there's going to be something in the way of internal defenses waiting for us. >> With that, Jean floats into the air, hovering slightly as she nods towards the others, << Let's go. >>

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
Piotr was quiet for the time being. Having joined his sister and Jean in the astral plane. He has already donned his metallic form, the osmium alloy replacing flesh. For this particular mission he has donned his usual field gear, though his vest has been fortified with some steel plates to hopefully take a little more of a beating. The larger Rasputin looks down to Illy and accepts the hammer, taking a few moments to test its heft and then nods, "Da. Be careful, please." He sighs and looks as the way forward is given, the time is now. The glyphs that seem to wrap around him, give him some degree of confidence, but the worry is still there; however, Piotr tries not to show it, trying to be the rock for the group.

Piotr lets the mental link form and then responds <<Will do, I am expecting trouble, and would not be surprised if there was /something/ watching us now that we are here. It also means we have a horde behind us /and/ in front of us.>>

Neena Thurman has posed:
Abandoning Earth to save it. Seems about the perfect description for what lies ahead. Domino's watching the fight from the outside, and she's almost vibrating with the need to go and fight. She's watching the tactics of the drones, how they work, and if they appear to be working in tandem; so much information. That, and the tactics of those already with the opportunity to take out 'the bad guys', though not with a little bit of envy attached.

And there.. there it is. The invitation to the gala ball as far as the albino merc is concerned. She takes the step when beckoned with a soft whistle of impressed, though she's not loading up any weapons into hand. She's not sure what's needed, and they can stay in abeyance.

On the other side, with the feel of Jean in her head, Domino does pause to search quickly for the redhead, giving her a quick thought <<Don't get too deep, Red.>> in passing warning.

Piotr's $0.02 USD brings that wolfish smile to bear and offers up, <<You want point or back? Your sensabilities may want defense rather than offense, but I'm easy.>>

She's steady as a rock, and ready to roll.

Donna Troy has posed:
    The T-Jet hovers low over the park, powerful downblasts from the V-TOL engines aimed at the densest concentration of drones, hurtling cyborg bodies into a tangle. Fine threads of targeting laser fire erupt from the ship, following by a thunderous discharge as anti-drone rounds chase the targeting beams.

    All around the park the bolas rounds impact against drones, the formers sliding into position on cyborg necks, wires wrapping tightly and small explosive charges bursting against the weak point on the drone's necks. It's a hit-and-miss sort of weapon, but the Titans manning the guns are slowly thinning the assault force.

    Finally word comes over the comms from Cyborg that the hack is in place. The Avenger's beam weapon punches upwards, and the shields protecting Brainiac's ship comes down. The assault is on.

    The T-Jet roars upwards, a barrage of missiles crashing into the hull at a spot selected by Cyborg as he downloads as much data as he can from Brainiac's systems, before they have time to adjust to the digital intrusion and throw up new firewalls. The T-Jet hovers at the hole in the side of the ship, and waits a few moments for the initial defenses to appear - and then proceeds to blast them with two more missiles.

    The missiles are followed up by the Titans' infiltration team themselves, as the T-Jet wheels away to a safe distance. "Attack pattern four!" Donna calls out to the team, her lasso whipping out with golden fire. They've been preparing for this scenario for weeks against larger concentrations of drones than this.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
A portal, and not one of hers. But she can recognize whose it may be. So it's without any kind of hesitation that she moves in as well to get up there onto the fray.

Blink .., blinks once she gets into the mind link. << This ..., doesn't look like Kansas anymore.. >> because being in the astral plane is a whole different bag of beans from what she is used to. Though she takes it in stride.

A glance is given about and she follows along with the rest for now. << I wonder if I can open a portal here or not. >>

Kitty Pryde has posed:
As the heroes reach the ship, the large scale weapons are shut down by the Avenger's actions. But there are still plenty of dangers. A doorway in the top of the ship opens and a half dozen drones spill out to face the Titans. Getting through the door into the ship will require fighting their way through for those who landed on the ship's exterior.

Two drones appear to be armed with some sort of energy whip, perhaps something taken from a mutant power and adapted to the robotic figures.

Another drone sends a plume of fire at them that would impress Pyro were he present. A fourth drone is flying and charges forward, mechanical hands already making fists as it appears intent on pummeling someone.

The final two drones have weapons pop up from their arms and begin blasting away with energy beams.

Inside the ship is peaceful for those moving through the Astral Plane. If there are defenses for it, so far they have not encountered them. Up ahead is a doorway from which Jean senses the minds of those they are coming for.

As the mutants approach though, Astral space begins to become... sluggish. It starts to feel like wading through water. And then it's wading through jello. Something is making it more and more difficult to proceed further.

From inside the room, a mechanical voice can be heard. "Other dimensional adversaries approach. Dimensional defenses activated but they may not be fully effective. Preapre." Within the hallway, a trio of turrets, two machine guns and one that just looks like a cylinder, pop up and swivel back and forth, seeking targets.

Jean Grey has posed:
Since the X-Men are loitering in the Astral Plane to avoid Brainiac's interior defenses, Jean actually takes the point. Mainly because while Illyana has the ability to bring the group here physically... Jean is very comfortable here.

Almost like coming home, in a way, if your home was whatever you wished it to be made real. Currently, Jean's astral self is not too different than her normal one, though the aura of a fiery bird of prey does seem to surround her, as she wields a gleaming sword in one hand. << It's the Astral Plane, Clarice. Most people that aren't psychics or mages have even been here, save maybe in dreams. >> She flashes a reassuring smile to Clarice, following the psychic presence of the captive mutants.

When the progress begins to slow, Jean frowns, << I think Brainiac might have some psychic abilities after all. Be ready. >> Because technologically slowing the Astral Plane seems... not really possible, to Jean at least. So instead she raises her sword, and sweeps it across space, psychically //burning// a clearer path as she uses her own psychic abilities to reform the Astral into something a bit easier to traverse.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    Pro-tip for any would-be invader of Earth relying on technology: take out the Technopath first! It's the second time now that Sam's thwarted the high-tech plans of an alien threat, and so far they don't seem to be learning the lesson. All the good for him, as he sits at the engineer's console and grins inside the helmet at the readouts, allowing himself a small 'hah!' in triumph as the shields fail and the heroes move in. "Two for two when it comes to shields. Next time I'm going to charge for the expertise."

    Then he's pushed down into his seat as the powerful engines of the T-Jet cease playing merry havoc with the drones in the park, and the craft screams towards the skull ship. Alright then, showtime. Targeting is, as always, left up to Caitlyn and Donna, Techno content to simply monitor the targeting sensors and making sure the feeds cycle properly.

    As soon as the infiltration is green lit, his gauntlet thumps the quick release on the seat harness and Techno double times it down the ramp, hopping the last few feet with contemptuous ease down to the hull of the ship. In a reflexive move, he draws the pistol with the widened trigger guard and reinforced frame, angling left away from Donna to cover the opposite flank.

    A rapid succession of bolo rounds are fired at the necks of the oncoming drones, blowing up the weak spot at the base of their spines. "Left flank, clear!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
It's a hot mess above the city as Nadia tries to take stock of the situation. Drones and weapons fire everywhere. Her tiny Wasp wings buzzy about at incredible speeds as she dodges around incoming fire. Ultimately she decides that a smaller target is harder to hit and in the blink of an eye has taken on a size closer to that of an actual wasp.

Amidst the cacophany and chaos she watches the Avengers' beam take down Brainiac's SHIELDs and still monitoring the feeds from the sattelites between them and the Titans zeros in on the T-Jet and it's approach.

Hot on the T-Jet's heels, a black and red blur goes zipping through the sky after it as Nadia throws any sense of caution or self-to the wind and follows after the T-Jet through the gaps in Brainiacs defenses and towards the giant skull ship and through the same hole in the side that to Titans entered through to whatever awaits her there.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
Piotr moves throught eh astral plane, though he does not the progress not being as quick as he'd like. He shoulders his hammer and follows Jean, deferring to her expertise on what is... well, her home turf. He looks at the various threats in the room, but keeps moving, as time is of the essence, though he does speak over the bond <<Da, this is not right, but we will be ready, we have prepared.>>

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Outside the drones take fire from the Titans. The one shooting fire explodes, sending shrapnel into its companions. Donna fires from the jet, the missiles taking out more of the drones and opening a path through the hole blasted in the hull.

Inside the hallway's defenses are already activated. Two machine gun-like weapons that will begin firing at any who pass inside. The third turret begins to emit a green gas as soon as it has targets. It billows forward, the gas poisonous to normal humans. Two more drones begin coming down the hallway, built for melee combat, with an energy sword for one, and nasty pinching claws for the other.


Meanwhile, the mutant team was slowed by whatever technological or mutant power was being deployed to affect the Astral Plane, but the Phoenix Force seems to cut through the defense and suddenly it's like that 'jello' just collapses and they are able to move forward again. Behind them, in the real world, a hole has been blown in the hallway by the infiltration team. It looks like both teams are converging in the same area.

Inside the room opens up into a tremendously large space. Along the walls are shelves which house numerous little domes that contain what look like toy buildings. There are dozens and dozens of them. Those from Genosha may recognize parts of the city in them, and one large area on the far side of the room looks like Mutant Town.

However there is a crackling energy barrier blocking access to the shrunken bits of city. Illyana's magic senses can detect their energy even in the Astral Plane as being a threat.

A dozen drones are arrayed around the room, looking for a threat. One drone has a larger head than the rest and seems to be scanning the area with sweeps of its hands. "Intruders," it warns the rest, who prepare for a fight.

Donna Troy has posed:
    It's energy whip versus lasso. Bad luck for the energy whip, Donna's lasso can channel energy. The golden cord flicks out to wrap around one whip-weilding drone and entangle the second. A spider-web of energy crackles down the lasso from the whip of the second drone, straight into the body of the first. With a flick of her wrist, Donna yanks the surviving drone around in an arc that meets Caitlin's fist.

    "Right flank clear," Donna replies to Sam's own call. That just leaves the two in the middle. The three Titans close in on them, Donna's arms a flurry of motion as she deflects incoming fire from her bracelets, Caitlin tanking their attacks, and Sam bringing the fire from behind. The movement of the three is a perfect harmony of planning, the countless hours of drilling rendering the fight into simple choreography. The drones are down.

    Donna spins to face Nadia on her arrival through the hole, but she doesn't look much like a Brainiac drone, so her aggressive stance is quickly relaxed. "Come for the fight?" she asks. "Stay close then, we've..."

    She's interrupted as the T-coms bleep with an incoming signal. The systems intrusion operation taking place back at Titan's Tower has a rough floorplan of the ship now, with a route mapped out to the best guess as to a likely storage point for the bottled city, bypassing as much security as possible.

    "Techno, fall back behind me. Turrets ahead, I'll intercept the fire and cover you while you get close enough to disable them. Cait and..." she eyes Nadia. "Whoever you are - two drones to deal with. Gas is present, masks on. Let's go... I mean... TITANS TOGETHER!"

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Understood, stacking."

    It's a technique Sam knew well, readily adapted to the composition of the new team. Firing on the move at the drones, in the center of a wedge because even in power armor Techno is less durable than Donna and Caitlyn, he shifts position at the call-out to fall in behind Donna and lower his weapon, left hand on her shoulder to confirm that he's behind her. Now he has to rely on her to guide him in, unable to sense the turrets yet, and knowing that trying to look around his team mate is to invite disaster. Yes, he's nominally bullet resistant, but let's not test this against alien high-caliber rounds.

    Step by step, closer and closer, with the rounds ricocheting around, Techno finally gets a sense of what's ahead. And it's as he feared... Brianiac knows he's here. It's going to be a fight unlike any other.

    Rather than brute force, Sam attempts a vector he hasn't tried before, corrupting the targeting system of one of the gun-turrets using a snipped of code he'd saved for this occasion, knowing it won't work again. But it doesn't have to... the turret swings on its pintles, brackets the other gun turret and starts to blaze away, having clearly switched sides for now.

    "Together, and onwards!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia comes barreling through the hole behind the titans and inadvertently face to tiny wasp face with Donna. The little flying wasp girl waves to her and gives her a thumbs up gesture before zipping around Donna's head and off towards the gas turret seemingly vanishing from sight as she gets yet smaller still.

Her heart is pounding as she flies as fast as her tiny wings can carry her towards the turret emitting the toxic gas. It is exhilarating to finally be in the thick of the hero-ing she has always dreamed about, the very edges of fear induced adrenalin and a manic desire to help others urging her onwards. She knows her own suit has environment controls and an air supply but the others might not be so lucky.

The thing about machines is no matter how well built any sort of moving parts creates gaps and when you can become microscopic those gaps become very easy to exploit. Slipping within Nadia attempts to find her way through the gaps and crevices of the machine sizing up and planting miniturized explosives as she goes with a demolitionist's eye for maximum structural damage.

Once all of the charges have been place she zips clear of the other side again pushing her wings hard to gain distance before the turret explodes in an orange and red display of green gassy fireworks behind her.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The shrunken bits of Genosha, and the whole of Bushwick, draw people's attention easily enough. Those who look around the room more may notice the mass of equipment within the room. At the far end there is a telescoping arm with a dish on the end which looks like a miniaturized version of the giant one that emitted the green beam that shrank Bushwick.

Only this one is situated above a large counter that seems to have a circular plate in the middle about the size of the containers holding the shrunken bits of town. There are computer terminals there as well, some of them showing views of the New York cityscape down below. Some of them have what appear to be targeting crosshairs on them as well.

Jean Grey has posed:
Suddenly there's a blink, not too far away from Donna, as a portal appears near her. And that's when the gleaming metal form of Colossus flies /through/ the portal, the mutant superhero being propelled at high speed directly into (and through) one of the many drones as he gets dropped right into the fray.

Flying through shortly after is Marvel Girl, the woman flashing a smile over at Donna, << Decided to take the scenic route here. >> With that, she forms up a mental link between the X-Men and the Titans, grabbing another drone with her telekinesis and giving it a good and proper *CRUNCH*.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Illyana takes up a midway point on that astral journey, following in Jean's footsteps. Light ripples and bends over the iridescent sheen of armour fully wrapped around her, the near mirror-image to her plated elder brother. The Soulsword flares in her hand as she proceeds forward, its multifaceted blade illuminated in that unearthly radiance.

Once Jean transforms the malleable, shifting dream-stuff of the dimension into an open road, she advances with a cautious speed rather than skipping her way into an energy wall. "Up ahead, the doorway has been fortified. Anyone wish to take it down? You will have to do it likely from the other side." A look back over her shoulder to the others offers the choice, through the blurring shadows and her falling blonde hair. Her double-handed grip shifts when the blade adjusts to a wider, broader cutting edge, lengthening in kind.

Surveying whatever lies beyond the door lends itself to a bit of a smirk, no more. With that offer of removing trouble, she causes one of those stepping disks to bloom behind her, the better for anyone to drop through. Pass Go, collect $200, scare the living daylights out of a drone. "Jean, I will be making a rather large dropoff."

She has another plan, one that involves twinning and bending the fabric of time-space. The second portal springs up from the other side of the doorway, enveloping the weird Voyager-meets-dentist apparoatus and multiple containers on a plate, shrunken bits of town going on an interdimensional adventure.

"Cyclops is going to love this," she adds in Russian for her brother before he vanishes.

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
Piotr snorts in amusement at his sister's comment before he flies out of the portal, hammer in both hands, though the first drone he runs into is not an issue for it as his bulk just wrecks it. Before he lands, the large Russian baseball swings the hammer into another one. <<That counts as two,>> he calls over the comms. He then sees the others and blinks, "Quick introduction, I am Colossus, this is Marvel Girl, we smash things."

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino has had enough of the waiting thing. Every step through the Astral plane just feeds into the need to take these things down. She's enough of a tactician, however, to know that anything she does has to have real meaning for the crew. Picking her targets carefully means that the fight has one less baddy to deal with.

There's the portal! Domino steps forward and nods, "I'm on it.. shoot.."

There's an easier way, huh.. Domino makes the single step more onto the disk, and pulling out one of larger rifles, offers a jaunty salute before she makes the jump to the other side. Once there, Domino's no fool. Move and move quick.. with a roll, quick aim and fire to get a chance to at least exhale.

"One!"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
When Domino is moving out back to the normal plane so does Clarice does. She jumps into the fray, immediately into the sounds of lasers being shot, the Titans over on the other side. She offers a salute by touching a couple of fingers to her forehead but doesn't linger much. Too many years dodging enemies... So she also flips to one side, quickly reaching for one of her javelins and tossing it to one of the drones. It gets 'teleported' apart, one half to each side.

"Does that count as two..?" she calls out to Domino with a bit of a smirk. But she could see their end goal close enough.. And it was time to call out their last backup.

A portal begins to form up, she hoping that Mystique hasn't really moved from where they were as one 'blinks' on right in front of the blue-skinned mutant.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The remaining half dozen drones move into a line, getting between the attacking superheroes and the bubble-headed drone. "Matter materialization ray is offline," it announces aloud after Illyana has teleported a large portion of the computers and machinery away.

A blue light glows within the dome of the bubble-headed drone, and the energy field also shifts to a matching color. "Protective barrier reinforced. Fit the mutants with restraints, kill the rest," it tells the other drones.

They start forward, blasting energy at the heroes, one heading for Colossus and swinging a gigantic barbed mace at him. Another heads for Jean, opening its mouth to emit an ultrasonic shriek that is so loud and high frequency as to be disorienting.

One of the drones sprouts many arms that look like they have some sort of collars hanging from each. The arms start to telescope towards the mutants, trying to latch the collars onto them!

A hulking drone moves towards Donna. It pounds a fist into a lab table it passes, smashing it smithereens in a display of strength as it goes to assault her.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
     Mystique steps through the portal, smoke flowing from the barrel of her gun and she gives a look to the team before her and she looks around the room.

    More drones cause the shapeshifter to move herself to cover behind some of the bottles. She fires several rounds towards the drones before asking Clarice, "Do you know what's in these?" Raven asks.

Jean Grey has posed:
Jean was busy coordinating with the Titans that she didn't quite notice the drone until it gets close enough to do its shriek, causing her to collapse to one knee, her pain obvious to everyone in the room thanks to the link. At least she filters it so it doesn't disorient everyone... taking the brunt for herself.

However, while she's disoriented, she does the instinctive thing for a telekinetic... that is to say, she makes a force bubble around herself, keeping any grabby drones from trying to slap those collars on her while she's dealing with the ultrasonics. << If anyone... can take care of that thing... I'd really appreciate it! >>

Donna Troy has posed:
    Donna gives Nadia a grin and a thumbs-up when she takes down the turret. As the Titans burst through the defenses and into the chamber, she puts on a burst of speed, blurring for a moment and coming back into focus with her hand around a drone's neck. She lifts it into the air and slams it down into the ground with a hammering crash that leaves a drone-shaped dent in the deck, then picks it up and hurls it at the hulking drone that's advancing on her

    Donna points Sam towards the terminals and dish. "Techno, get over there. Hook into the systems, link back to Vic. See if you can find a control-z please. Black, red and buzzy, buy him some time please - and keep that thing with all the arms away from him!"

    <<Marvel Girl, fancy running into you here>> she says with a mental image of a grin, as the telepathic link is established. <<If you reach your mind back to our tower you'll find a telepath there. If you'd care to hook into him and... this is important... briefly disengage with everyone else... we have him linked up with a highly chaotic mindscape, which if linked to drone brains will hopefully disrupt their neural storage for a limited time. Might be an idea to use that for a blast of madness that will disable any drones in the area for a bit and buy us a little time to figure this out.>>

    Without waiting for an answer, the Titan's two tanks close in on the remaining drones in the room, a flurry of lasso and fist in perfect co-ordination. Caitlin barrels into the one assaulting Jean, while Donna hooks one of the downed drones with her lasso, yanks it into the air, spins it around and lets it fly at the hulking drone. As soon as it's in the air she drops low and slides forwards underneath it, aiming to go between the hulking drone's legs. She draws her sword as she slides in a smooth motion to slash the actuators at the back of its knee joints with sharp Themysciran steel.

    <<Anyone got a reading on that barrier? I can drain energy with my lasso, but I suspect there's way too much energy in that for it...>>

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Pain rushing in over the link binding her to another leaves a mark, even on Illyana. Her lips part, the shared experience dim, defeaned, but rattling through all the same.

Funny, the price of friendship and trust. Her shoulders arch back, the Soulsword still vibrant and alive at her side, practically daring any of the drones to draw close. Their preoccupation with others may help, however, but the vibrating edge of incandescent light practically keens for the chance to strike. It'll have to wait; she's got smash and grab to complete.

Designating simple measures, the blonde sorceress flicks her fingertips and plunges another chunk of real estate off a table and into the primordial abyss. Blue-white radiance flashes in repeated bolts to work at claiming bottles from the tables, leaving Clarice to gather up the rest if she can.

Somewhere not terribly far off, said bottles are being lined up roughly corresponding to the machinery sent shuttling through the harrowing journey to safety. No issue, dropping through Limbo, where a literal demonic horde might be lined up in anticipation of anything unwanted trying to save on precious holiday time by avoiding the airport.

Exclusions permitted for scientists with buzzy wings or shrink-ray/grow-ray technology!

Piotr Rasputin has posed:
Piotr obliges in the helpful yeeting of Domino and then sees one drone go for Jean. The usually kindly and professional Colossus changes. He furrows his brow and lifts his hammer, charging forward, though it is defeated before he can get there, and thus he lets out a roar of pure anger. He then turns to Jean, "Are you all right, Jean?" There is some concern in his tone.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
A microsecond later *fwip* there is a full sized Nadia in a black and red Wasp suit standing there. She gives Donna another thumbs up. Though with that helmet and Janet's propensity to change costumes, well you never know...

"Wait!" she calls out before figuring out that she can think at people. <<This is so weird!>> First experience with telepathic linkups. <<Those components you moved are very likely only part of the process! Those devices should be hooked up to a larger array of ship based weapons that were used to fire on the cities. It's possible we could use that same array to not only restore their size but to send them back where they belong!>> The mental voice of a teenager babbling about Science and Engineering definitely isn't Janet. <<Or we need to try and somehow acquire the ship's external space and mass beam arrays that interfaces with those devices. It will be difficult, though not impossible to restore them otherwise.>> she does occasionally take a breath, but the heat of the moment has her babbling pretty quickly.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Let's hope it's all still on the clipboard, or this is going to be some very fine cutting and pasting." Yes, even now Sam can crack a joke... and a shot at a drone that's getting a bit closer than he wanted. Ideally he wants to take out the other drones, but... it's not his job now. This is why he's here. Time to once again trust the rest of the team.

    So he installs himself, almost literally, at a console he seems to sense can control the whole array, or at least enough for him to get some work done eventually. The pistol is put down in reach, but if he needs to use it, things have already gotten so bad that he won't have much of a chance. No chance to fight back, this is going to take all of his concentration.

    The lenses in the GAUSS suit flare a bright blue as the comms suite begins to link up to the Tower, and Sam's control starts to worm its way into the technology. "Victor? I'm direct interfacing with whatever took Genosha and Bushwick. We're gonna put it back, all of it. Fire up that copy we've got of the master control, and send me some exploits. This thing is fighting me already."

    And, of course, this wouldn't be Techno doing his thing without music. Pretty soon the whole room can enjoy the sound of Trapt's 'Bring it.'

    Should have taken out the technopath first...

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
The pain spread through the link makes Clarice wince and she says through gritted pain. "Shrunken.., cities." this said towards Mystique. "I have not spotted Genosha yet.." which is worrying in itself, but she points to a particular bottle over to one side. "That's Bushwick though."

The calls of the drones for extra protective measures makes her frown, but worse than that is the drone coming out with collars. She had enough of that in the hands of the Magistrates... So that's the drone she focuses on.

First step, disarm them. Literally! She focuses and opens a couple of portals when it's coming towards them and making sure those multiple arms aren't put to use again on collaring mutants as they are teleported 'elsewhere'.

And to finish, she runs forward and kicks the drone down. Yes, she's angry.

"Do we have somewhere to teleport these?" This she asks to Illyana. Though she lets the more science-savvy people say whether they can or not do the teleport trick with the rest of the bottles.

Neena Thurman has posed:
On the move and towards the fray in what some would consider reckless abandon. Her rifle is set away with something(s) a whole lot more maneuverable given the field she's working with. Two quite functional pistols, kitted out with that sweet trigger so all she has to do is twitch, and there's a lovely, lovely *bang* that reverberates around the room. She's used to the noise of battle, and this place sure is going to get noisy quickly, unless it already has.

Clear, crystal blue eyes pan and land on that drone.. the larger one that pulls up a defensive forcefield.

<<I'm on it.>>

Reaching over to pat the large Colossus in order to get his attention, she's gesturing wordlessly in it's direction.

It's not hard to determine what it is she wants, and is dutifully picked up (okay, she clambored a little) and thrown with great force towards the humming blue forcefield.

Now, there are other teams going on, doing wonky things with technology on board that ship. But, true to form, Domino's luck pulls its wildcard, and the moment she is thrown at it, she shimmers that *blue* as she hits it, only to go right through in the next second as it dissipates. It's back up within a second as the drone compensates, but the merc is one it, albeit a little tingly!

Raven Darkholme has posed:
     Mystique, having had a hand in the development of Genosha, is quickly able to recognize the section of the country she was instrumental in shaping.

    A look around the room and the carnage, the chance to further her own agenda, to further the cause of mutants as the true heir to the world - No - he galaxy. It's their right, as homo-superior. She takes aim at a drone on the other side of a bottle and willingly shots the bottle, with a chance to damage one of the bots acting against them.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
The drones are going down one after another. The internal portion of the shrinking machinery has been teleported away so it is out of harm's way. Out of harm so long as no demons or gremlins are more interested in messing with it than they are afraid of the Darkchilde!

The other main part of the system though is still mounted on the outside of the ship. Cyborg and Samuel Morgan manage to hack and start downloading the computer controls for the shrink ray, but share that taking those outside weapon arrays may be necessary to restore the shrunken bits of Genosh and Bushwick.

There are only two drones left up, the bubble-headed one and another that is trying to protect it. The passage of Domino through the field seems to have caused the bubble-headed one to stagger a bit. Clearly the drone is connected to the field in a very direct way, then.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino sticks the landing, though not without a little bit of ungraceful clamboring. It's a floaty drone, but it should bear weight, right? She's got that alpine stance going on, balancing a little more gracefully than when she'd landed only a second ago, and points her pistol at the delicate circuitry, once she peels off the panels, should she get there. She's ready for a wild ride, and the drone does just that.

Spinning wildly in order to try and dislodge the intruder, Domino's holding on, working quickly (as quickly as she can, anyway!) and once she tears off the protecting panel, she takes a couple of deadly aimed shots, firing into the drone itself.

Immediately, it drops like an iron weight to the ground, and Domino jumps aside, tumbling to break her fall, and coming up, just in case there's another threat.

The blue defensive barrier drops.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
Clarice's attention was on the various bottles around. Namely the ones that she had yet to identify, which -could- be Genosha. And when she spots the gun being levelled at the bottle where the bot is close she mutters. "Careful, they may have people inside." this said towards Mystique.

Though as the various drones fall she finally steps out of cover, a nod to Domino and then her eyes going towards the X-men and Titans. "How do we want to do this? Teleport them down there or can you guys work your magik from up here?" in this she leaves the choice to the brains. She's just a taxi!

Kitty Pryde has posed:
There are signs of the battle being waged elsewhere. The lightning in the lab flickers, goes out, and comes back on. Some of the computer consoles, the screen jumps or fuzzes, and a few just go off or display crazy patterns.

Cyborg and Samuel Morgan would let the group know the ship is being more and more affected by the assault on it.

Donna Troy has posed:
    Over the mental link, the mind-voice of Techno announces <<We're in. I think we could reverse the process here and now if we've got time, but I've got the code downloaded and if we can recover the projector array from outside, we can do it later. Might be the safer call. I am uploading some little going-away gifts to the systems now.>>

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
There's just no time. Amidst all the fight with half of the required computers and machinery already removed off to Limbo, Nadia leaves Techno to do what he can with what's the remaining tech. She is off to do a task she is uniquely suited for. <<I'm going to get the Array!>> comes over the telepathic link. One gets the sense that she means literally.

In a flash she is a tiny Wasp again, no bigger than one of the actual insects as she darts through the fray and down the hall. It doesn't take her long to cover the distance with her fast buzzing wings and anything that gets in her way? Well at that size and density it's like colliding with a very determined bullet.

Making her way outside she studies the general structure of the ship and makes a few educated guesses based on engineering principles, the location of where they were inside relative to the outside, and positioning for good targeting. With all of those considerations it doesn't take her long to locate it.

Once she has done so the tiny Wasp suddenly becomes a very big Wasp perhaps sixty feet tall as she flexes a side of Pym Particles she has never really tried before, never felt the need to use, but in the heat of the moment it's this or nothing and that array is coming with her!

Gripping it solidly with one arm while firing a huge cutting beam from one of her gauntlets with the other Nadia begins yanking the Mass and Space Beam array from the side of the ship. At first it is well very firmly attached, Brainiac wasn't messing around with his construction, but a sustained combination of strength and cutting energy blasts the metal begins to creak and groan as it starts to give way before finally coming free of the ship's hull.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
With the portal being down means all the bottles, and the tech, is fair game. So Clarice will help in getting over for transportation. And perhaps safer than just teleporting them somewhere on the ground they might as well use the Titan ship nearby!

"Lets get these to the ship and get outta here?" She suggests, eyeing the others as she begins preparing bottles to teleport out and away to the waiting ship. With most likely the help of the rest of them all!

The anger had become hope now that there might be a chance her people could be alive.

Neena Thurman has posed:
Domino is done.. the adrenaline is still rushing through her veins, but there are more ways than one to take care of that. (Maybe a good run in the park?) Scanning the immediate area, cool blue eyes land on a taxi. Sorry, Blink!

"Okay, kid. Time to go once you get those things. If you don't and this thing hits the drink, we can always salvage later. Just grab ours and we're good to go."

Have teleport will travel?

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
In the relentless back and forth of time, the tidal effort comes in part with Illyana shunting materiel en masse to preserve whomever might be alive in those bottles, whatever territory might be restored to a ravaged island. Because, in the end, all that matters might be found in giving them a thin razor of hope while stealing back their lives from Brainiac.

Hell-Lords are possessive at the best of times, even those straining to hold to nobility by the skin of their fangs or the claws. And the best she can do is aid Nadia, abetting that uncertain fulcrum in tilting in their favour.

Little Wasp, Big Wasp. Purple portal, indigo-bleached-silver portal. The exchange in folding space and twisted, kindling links to the otherspace between times is all arranged to give that frail flame a fighting chance of survival. What with the Titans actually /fighting/, Domino and Piotr's shots, it's the most she can do. "We will see them live," she replies to Clarice.

Simple as that, naturally. It's a promise, and promises even the infernal are bound to keep.

Two parts good, at least?

Donna Troy has posed:
    The room shakes as a series of blasts impact the side of the ship, tearing a hole in the wall a decent distance away from where anyone is standing. Outside the hole, the Titan's T-Jet hovers a couple of feet from the hull, cargo doors open and awaiting anyone who wishes to use that method of escape from the ship.

    Techno hits send on the final payload of viruses, then leaps to his feet and through the breach into the T-Jet. Donna and Caitlin scramble around the room, rescuing any spare bottles that haven't yet been teleported away, and making a convenience grab for any random bits of Brianiac tTechnology they can get their hands on and shuttling it to the Jet. A couple of the control collars the multi-armed drone had are included in that loot, but don't worry X-Folks, Sam's a mutant too and he wanted them to figure out a way to defeat them.

    The final thing recovered is the body of the bubble-headed drone, which Donna slings over one shoulder. "Uber is here," she announces. "For anyone who doesn't have their own exit covered. Those of you who do, I suggest you use it now!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Nadia is beginning to feel the strain of what she is doing, it was a heat of the moment thing, the moment demanded it, but it is still her first time doing it and it's questionable how much longer she can keep it up.

Once the array has been wrenched free of the side of the ship she dwindles in size again and the array along with until it is closer to four feet long than fourty, though still rather large and cumbersome in her grasp. Raising one of her hands to point a black and chrome gauntlet at it, some sort of beam is emitted and the array seems to dwindle yet further until it is a far more managable size that fits within the palm of her hand.

Buzzing bio-synthetic wings beat a fast past as she zooms over to the T-Jet. There's no doubt she could make her own exit, but she has not idea where these people are going otherwise, or even really who they are, and she still wants to help!

Erik Lensherr has posed:
     In the other parts of the skull ship, Brainiac himself had been beaten, assaulted electronically, and partially melted. The heroic efforts of everyone involved, the Avengers, the Titans, SHIELD, the X-Men, and others proved too much for the Coluan android to keep going further.

  Amongst all areas of the ship, Brainiac's voice had called out: "Emergency proto..." before a familiar drumroll and synthesizer rang through the ship. "We're no strangers to loooove. You know the rules, and so do IIIII." Some cheeky hacker had the audacity to spike their last attack with one hundred links to Rick Astley.

  As the song continued, the skull-ship had started to make its descent slowly into the Atlantic. Brainiac's mothership had been blasted to hell and back, and was now about to make it's swan dive. A massive splashdown, and descent into the depths below, deep below.