3555/X-men Road Rage: Vulture and Goblin scene2

X-men Road Rage: Vulture and Goblin scene2
Date of Scene:	24 September 2020
Location:	Archimedes Steel Foundry, NYC
Synopsis:	Cyclops, Iceman, and Beast take on Green Goblin, with the help of a freelancing Mystique, while the rest of the team focus on Vulture and saving Spider-Man.
Cast of Characters:	T'Challa, Raven Darkholme, Scott Summers, Bobby Drake, Henry McCoy

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T'Challa has posed:
The X-men knew that the particles used by the power inhibitor only hold a charge for a short time. Some of the research materials that Doug and Kitty had retrieved from the corporation making the device suggested how much power the particles take to be recharged.

A hack of the local electric companies and a few days of data analysis finally located a place whose power utilization was raising and lowering by that amount several times. Archimedes Steel Foundry, which had been shut down for six years since an economic downturn.

Now the Blackbird is coming in low over the Hudson River, quickly approaching the foundry. And it looks like they have definitely found the right place, for Vulture and Green Goblin are flying around the air above the facility, fighting Spider-Man!

The X-men's plane comes in, piloted by one of the other X-men so the assault team can act freely. It comes in low, hovering to let people jump out.

Green Goblin sees the plane coming and he wheels his war-glider over, heading towards them to try to occupy them, while Vulture moves to try to finish off Spider-Man. Even as the X-men exit, henchmen armed with blasters of Dark Elf design, as well as a few smaller Ice Giant weapons left over from the Battle of New York, begin to open fire on them.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique keeps a close eye on smuggling activity regarding high levels of technology, along with corporate malfeasance. Mostly it's to track and make sure Sentinel parts aren't being assembled, as it's always better to catch that particular horror in the bud before it comes to fruition. Much easier to blow up a giant robot factory than fight a bunch of actual giant robots.

A bit of infiltration and a rather painful interrogation later, she learned of the existence of the power neutralizer and was given a device to help her find its energy signature. It's range is rather pathetic, however, so she's had to be driving for a while until a faint beep finally lead her towards the foundry. When she sees the X-men arriving, she realizes she's come to the right place.

For the moment, Mystique bears the appearance of a redheaded woman wearing a jumpsuit like a mechanic, with a large metal case in the passenger seat. She pulls up just short of the heroic landing and pulls the case out, laying it on the hood and beginning to assemble a rifle with whipcrack precision. She assumes the X-men will draw most of the fire, at first and, if it proves otherwise, she will respond.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott was reluctant to use the Blackbird for an operation in New York. But now he is happy he did it, as the Vulture and the Green Goblin are on site and it would have taken almost an hour longer to get there on land vehicles.

He is not as happy when the villains and their goons start shooting at the plane. "Iceman, protect the Blackbird. For Pete's sake, they still have those Asgardian weapons? The DEO was supposed to have been tracking them down and confiscate them." But of course, they were probably too busy chasing innocent mutants!

He finds some cover and shoots to a couple of the closest goons. Hard enough they might have some broken ribs. No one shots to his plane!

Bobby Drake has posed:
Once they hit the ground, Iceman gives a nod to Cyclops and says, "Got it." Defense is his strong suit and he's happy to keep the Blackbird out of harm's way while making life difficult for the goons on the ground. He is already in his translucent ice from by the time he leaves the Blackbird and slides up over the top of it on a ramp of ice.

As flying pumpkin bombs come sailing through the air toward the plane, he creates a chute of ice and deflects them into it, causing them to slide right down it and get launched back into the air at the henchmen on the ground, like a game of reverse-skeeball. They'll have to dodge quick or get hit by their own bombs.

Henry McCoy has posed:
Thank goodness for autopilot, especially when landing sequence was initiated. Hank wasted no time, leaping out of the Blackbird, claws extended. "Doesn't anyone have the common courtesy to fight man to man anymore?" He growls out, ducking and twisting out of the way of the shots fired. Landing near one of the goons, he lashes out with a savage backhand. With his recently enhanced strength, it sends the man flipping head over heels to the side.

"Scott, can you disable his glider?" He shouts over to Cyclops, before bounding towards the next opponent.

T'Challa has posed:
Mystique has enough time to get her rifle assembled. The facility is multiple levels, from small to tall buildings, sky bridges connecting many of them, and even giant smoke stacks that are no longer active. The henchmen are spread out on a number of those walkways and rooftops, having mean to ring Spider-Man and keep him from escaping.

The sounds of the fight are everywhere, with sizzles of energy weapons as the Dark Elf pistols are fired, and the X-men battling back! Cyclops blasts two henchmen one after the other. The ruby red beam's concussive impact sends each man flying and bouncing across the rooftop he's on.

Iceman's chutes of ice save the Blackbird from being hit by the explosive Halloween-themed ordinance thrown by Green Goblin. The henchmen see them coming and try to scatter. A few of them get out of the blast radius, while others end up on the ground. Groaning and moving, still alive, but taken out of the fight.

Beast sends a goon flying, the man also down for the count. Another one of the henchmen on a walkway higher up than Beast throws a grenade at him. Only this isn't a normal grenade. It goes off in the air and starts sucking everything around it towards the spot where an eerie red light is glowing. On that doesn't look healthy to touch. Even the air is pulled towards in a rush that tries to pick up Beast and pull him in as well!

Cyclops finds himself facing an attack from Green Goblin as he launches a high explosive missile towards the X-men's leader.

Meanwhile one of the henchmen near Iceman leans over a roof and yells, "Can you get out of an iceberg, frozen guy!?" Apparently he doesn't know Iceman's name, but he does have a weapon that sends a freezing blast towards Bobby!

Over the comms, Kitty Pryde says, <<Thanks for the cover. Blackbird is away. Will hover cloaked off shore until you call. Give 'em hell, X-men!>> The stealth plane zooms off.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique snaps the rifle to her shoulder and starts trying to pick off henchman as she moves herself into the range of the battle. Her shots are deadly accurate and aimed to kill, not having some of the moral limitations of the X-men in this particular case. She has to keep an eye on them as much as the 'bad guys', knowing they could turn on her any minute for not being one of Xavier's pet goons.

When she sees the missiile swinging towards Cyclops, though, she switches her aim, centering the rifle in on the approaching missile and firing a shot to interrupt it, detonating it in the air.

"You're welcome," she calls out as she starts to jog forward.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott nods to Hank, agreeing with his assessment. With Bobby on defense, he is the one that has to bring the Goblin down. "Keep the goons off me," he requests, then looks up at the Goblin. Uh, oh. Missile.

But he has time. Except maybe not, because it explodes. Cyclops hits the ground, trying to avoid whatever the explosion was supposed to do. Then he realizes. <<We have a sniper>> he sends through the comms. <<Someone is shooting at the Goblin's men. Watch out.>>

Time to do his own shooting, too. He aims a wide beam up, trying to catch the glider and its rider. A beam that wide doesn't carry much force, but it should be enough to do some damage and maybe unseat the Goblin.

Henry McCoy has posed:
All the sounds of battle seem a distant thing - with the wooshing of air past the Beast. Hank gives out a roar, lunging for the nearest truck. Claws sink into it, the weight of the vehicle keeping him from being imploded in that nasty grenade.

Through squinted eyes, he watches for any shots fired his way, using the truck for cover - as best he can. For the moment, he is pinned.

Bobby Drake has posed:
For a moment, Iceman just blinks in confusion as he tries to comprehend the fact that a henchman is actually attempting to hit him with a freeze ray. "Oh no," he calls out clutching his hands to his chest, "Not the briar patch!"

*BLAM* he takes the blast from the freeze ray full on, letting it encase his ice form, and then, it starts to move. Oh god, did that henchman make Bobby... bigger? Yep, bigger, and now with added glacial spikes protruding from him everywhere. That.. probably wasn't what they were going for.

From each hand he hurls a hunk of ice toward Green Goblin, using the freeze ray's ice as projectiles against their boss.

T'Challa has posed:
Mystique takes down a pair of henchmen and then blows the missile out of the air, freeing up Cyclops to deal with other matters. But it also draws their attention to her. One of the goons takes aim at her with some sort of bluish-white hand weapon. The next thing she knows an ice boulder the size of a pickup truck is plummeting down towards her from on high!

Cyclops manages to hit the Green Goblin's war glider, though just barely. He's nearly as elusive on that flyer as Spider-Man is swinging from his webs! It catches the corner of the glider, sending it spinning for a moment. Green Goblin jumps into the air spinning as well as he lets go three pumpkins towards Scott, though these ones quickly grow long wicked looking spikes, meant to impale him. Goblin manages to get the glider righted beneath him using...whatever he uses to control it. He lands on the flyer and loops back for the next attack.

Beast manages to avoid being killed, or maybe sucked off to another dimension, by the Dark Elf grenade. Two henchmen run out in front of him with Dark Elf blasters and being shooting at him, one blast after another of high energy particles.

The henchman blasting Iceman with a freezer ray quickly learns the error of his ways as it just makes for a bigger, meaner looking X-man. "Fool!" Goblin curses at him, and throws a pumpkin bomb at his own man, blowing him off of the walkway and a fall that he might have survived but will leave him needing medical attention badly.

Bobby's launched shards of ice cause Green Goblin to weave the war glider to try to avoid them. One of them gashes his shoulder though. "You will not stop our revenge on Spider-Man!" he yells towards the X-men. Goblin dives off the glider towards Iceman, wicked looking blades extending out of his gauntleted wrists. Intending to pound them through the ice with his superhuman strength, breaking the ice armor away and then skewer the mutant inside!

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique sees that incoming boulder and swears out loud in a rather prolific fashion. She dives, doing a handspring forward and a following somersault to dodge the incoming assault, hearing the massive boulder shatter to pieces behind her.

"Spider-Man, huh?" she says and then there's a moment of distraction as she dives behind a nearby car and comes out the other side as a rather good duplicate of Spidey, albeit a Spidery with a rather large machine-gun, "Avenge this, bitch," he snarls, slapping a clip in his rifle and switching to full auto as the gun sprays down the various henchman wrecklessly, trying to force them to take cover.

Scott Summers has posed:
To be honest, Scott is quite impressed by the Goblin acrobatic abilities. Not many could have dodged that. He is less impressed when the villain tries to kill him, though. But he was expecting that.

His eye beams are shot quickly in short bursts, shattering the spiky pumpkins. And since 'spiky pumpkins' are such a dumb idea his most rational side consider it highly offensive, he adds a few more short blasts aimed at the Goblin himself. More to keep him moving and dodging than to hit him.

Bobby Drake has posed:
With the henchman attempting to freeze him out of commission, Iceman turns his attention back toward the Green Goblin and his pumpkin lobbin'. "Watch out, Cyclops!" he calls out. But he's about to have his own problems.

Freeze-rays are one thing, but inbound ice-picks are a whole other scenario, and Iceman doesn't just stand around to get stabbed by those. Instead, he immediately takes the form of water and *sploosh* lands on top of the Blackbird and slides off, leaving the Green Goblin to stab at a whole lot of nothing.

Henry McCoy has posed:
"Damnable roughians." Hank is getting angry, his feral side edging out more and more. As the shots from the henchmen blast into the truck - he keeps to the other side of it for shelter. After a moment, he growls - roars really. The truck is lifted, then tossed at the two gunman. Luckily for them, they duck out of the way - unluckily for them, Beast had leapt after the truck.

One claw tears through the gun of the first man, before the henchmen is lifted and tossed into his friend. The immediate assault on him handled for the briefest of seconds, he scans the battlefield for his allies.

T'Challa has posed:
After the mutant shows her acrobatic evasive skills, the firepower coming out of Mystique-Spider-Man sends a number of henchmen ducking for cover. Red force beams shot from eyes are bad enough, but the sound of bullets slamming into walls, or their buddies, have a way of making people move! More return fire is starting to come her way, those Dark Elf blasters making holes in the concrete, so if they hit flesh it would probably be very bad.

Cyclops blasts the murder-pumpkins out of the air and then turns to Goblin. Goblin is just landing on what would would have been Iceman, but suddenly Bobby's all wet. Green Goblin lets out a scream that sounds barely sane as his pick-like blades slam at the water with no effect.

That's when Cyclop's optic blasts start to flash by the Green Goblin. He dodges the first two, jumping through the air in a somersault, but the next one clips him and send his body into a spin as he crashes down to the rooftop.

Goblin rolls to his feet and when he rises he has a gun-like thing in his hand with a tube attaching it to a small tank on his back. He points it over at Cyclops and pulls the trigger, a yellow ray shooting towards the X-men's leader. Wherever it hits, man or roof, yellow particles will cling to the surface. Particles capable of negating mutant or other superhuman powers.

Beast has managed to disarm his two opponents. But the Goblin's war glider is following orders and attacking on its own! It banks and points directly at the blue-furred X-man, accelerating to close the distance and then launching an electrified net his way. Poor Henry, no one will just let him relax and read his physics books.

Meanwhile it looks like the other half of the team have gotten to Spider-Man and Julio has a protecting shield up over him, while Rogue is using her reversal device on him. Surge is running about shocking henchmen into unconsciousness.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique ducks for some cover as the energy blasts take chunks of the world around him. She had hoped the Spider-Man thing might prove more of a distraction, but, alas, he's a little too focused on his general evilness to let a weak attempt at exploiting his petty grudge succeed. Ah, well. That's life in the imitation game.

When she peeks out, she sees that energy beam aimed towards Cyclops, that yellow ray fitting the parameters of the weapon as explained to her by the (late) laboratory assistant who'd explained it to her. Mystique tries to catch her cool as she ratchets her rifle, slipping into single shot again and slapping the scope into position, moving to a full sniper state as she tries to see if she can draw a bead on that belt.

Scott Summers has posed:
<<The sniper is disguised as Spider-Man,>> comments Scott through the comms. Spider-Man with a machine gun. It... doesn't work.

He has little time to appreciate the incongruence, as the Goblin finally goes down. And up. And that must be the neutralizer! He tries to avoid the beam, but some of the yellow particles spray over his left side, and he feels dizzy as his powers face. It is a bit disorienting because his powers come with a degree of enhanced spatial perception.

Time to hide, while he activates Hank's anti-neutralization device aiming to himself. The Green Goblin might believe he is out of the fight. So, Scott is looking for a better take a good position to surprise him.

Assuming the belt works.

Bobby Drake has posed:
The puddle beneath the plane suddenly reforms into Iceman, who slides out from beneath on a ramp of ice that appears beneath his feet. As he comes up on the other side of the ramp, he notices Cyclops getting blasted in the face with the particles. He quickly zips around to confront the Green Goblin and keep his attention to give Scott some time to use the belt and recover. "Missed me," he calls out in challenge, spreading his icy arms wide as he sweeps around the plane in an arc on that ramp of ice that also conveniently creates a barrier between the Goblin and Cyclops. "Want to try again?"

Henry McCoy has posed:
Net. Right. More and more, the Beast is reverting into his feral side. The best way to avoid being hit, is to not be there. To wit, he leaps up towards the glider. It's not without flaw, though - the net still clips his foot, causing pain and numbness in that limb. He grows, trying to sink his claws into the glider - autopilot or not.

T'Challa has posed:
The Amazing Spider-Mystique takes careful aim at Green Goblin, able to spot through the scope where the tank is, and the hose that connects to the delivery device through the belt. One well-placed shot and suddenly the yellow particles are spraying out all over the place!

Green Goblin manages to throw the whole apparatus away from him, with only the smallest splash of the material on himself. He lets out another crazed yell of anger and begins throwing explosive pumpkins in all directions. Iceman's ice shield protecting Cyclops fractures and falls apart, but the shield did its job.

But Iceman meanwhile has incoming explosives at himself as well!

Beast manages to leap past most of the net, which shocks him when it snags his foot, but not before he manages to get his claws into the glider. He breaches an engine and the whole thing tips over, diving towards the ground, trailing fuel which is igniting. Beast has a short time to get free before the war glider hits the ground in a small fireball!

Green Goblin growls as he sees his glider destroyed. "Stop them!" he yells to the remaining henchmen. There aren't many left, but they start peppering the X-men, and Spider-Mystique, with blasts of Dark Elf energy weapons. There's the sound of a small explosion at a nearby building as a second war glider blasts a hole in the building and flies out towards the Green Goblin.

It looks like the other team has managed to damage Vulture's wings and he's trying to make his escape. Green Goblin sees this and jumps up, landing on the replacement war glider and turning on the afterburners to try to get away, flying out towards the Hudson.

T'Challa has posed:
Through the hole left by the new glider, a lab can be seen, set up in the foundry. Not just a lab, but the X-men can see the rest of the nullifier particles in some kind of chamber there.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique doesn't particularly care about apprehending Goblin. He's an incidental maniac and Raven has dealt with far too many of those over the years, although most of them tended to be taller and...furrier, for some reason.

When she sees the hole in the wall to the lab, though, she smiles underneath her mask as she shifts her form once more, Spider-Man shedding from her to reveal her true form (or, at least, as close to it as she lets others see), the blue-skinned Mystique in creamy white, arrayed in skulls and heavily armed. She approaches the case, tossing down the rifle and reaching in to pull out a small rocket launcher, hefting it up over her shoulder and letting loose into the hole with a WHUMP launching sound.

She didn't bother to check for civilians. The humans get what they get.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott jumps from behind cover just to see the Goblin gliding away. He sends a blast after the villain, but has to turn around to face the remaining minions. Some goons fails to realize when a fight is over. Then again, they can't be very smart if they work for the Green Goblin.

A few well-aimed blasts should help convince them to quit.

The Mystique reveals herself and, as usual, aims to make a mess of the already messy situation. Not feeling very grateful for his presence, Scott shots at the rocket, mid-flight.

Bobby Drake has posed:
Well, he did say to take another shot. The exploding pumpkins are coming right for him and Iceman throws up his arms, making himself a shield just as they all hit him full force. The explosion shatters his shield as well as a good portion of one arm, causing him to fall backward off of the ice ramp that he had created, laying him out flat on the ground. Does ice hurt? It shouldn't, technically. There are no nerve endings in ice. But how else does he feel what he's doing? So yes, it does hurt. He groans and clutches the arm, which he begins to try to repair even as he pulls himself up, glancing over to check on Cyclops.

Henry McCoy has posed:
The fireball is rolled away from, the feline Beast now moving towards the goons with a less than pleasant glint in his eyes. Claws extend and retract, extend and retract - each step coming faster. Those who know him, it's becoming exceedingly clear that he's not in the right state of mind.

Perhaps even blood-thirsty.

T'Challa has posed:
The rocket launched by Mystique flies true, straight through the hole in the wall where it strikes the particle chamber. While the particles themselves are not explosive, the rocket was.

Boom. Later examination will show that if anyone was left in the lab, they must have evacuated when the war glider took off and opened fire on the exterior wall before exiting. No casualties in that spot despite the Brotherhood mutant's indifference.

Cyclops only has time for the one shot. But what a shot! The beam of red lances across the sky almost as if homing in on the fleeing villain. It hits Green Goblin's backup war glider, blowing it apart! The rider can be seen, falling out of the sky, finally hitting the water well out into the river with a big splash!

The remaining henchmen are fleeing now, most already out of sight, sliding down ladders or disappearing into buildings. One look at Beast from any near him, only hastens their flight!

The fight looks over, here and in the other half of the foundry. Vulture is trying to get away, wings trailing smoke, when a giant mass of vines reaches up from the ground, grabbing him and pulling him down. One villain who didn't get away.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique packs up her rocket in the case, blowing away a bit of smoke. "Good thing I had this thing thermal lined," she mutters to herself, tossing it in the passenger seat of the (stolen) sedan she pulled up in. She's shifting against, switching to the generic persona of the woman she'd first arrived as, only this time in a nurse's outfit.

"I appreciate your help, sweeties. Sometimes a stiff-necked moralist with vast destructive power really is the best solution. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Nazi on life support to go visit. Ciao, babies."

Bobby Drake has posed:
With the fight over and the nullifier destroyed, Iceman heads back toward the Blackbird, working on putting his arm back together as he goes. "We should go and see how the others are doing," he says to Cyclops and Beast as he makes his way inside. "See if they need a ride back."

Henry McCoy has posed:
Once the henchmen start bolting, he crouches low - trying to get ahold of himself. He keeps squatting there, waiting for a moment or two - sorting out his state of mind. Eventually, he's back up and bolting towards the rally point, smashing the alien tech along the way. He nods to Bobby, following the Iceman without a word.