6751/Cry the Children: Endings are beginnings

Cry the Children: Endings are beginnings
Date of Scene:	30 June 2021
Location:	Mysterious Island - Bermuda Triangle
Synopsis:	The Beast is defeated, more heads spring up
Cast of Characters:	James Proudstar, Clarice Ferguson, James Barnes, Illyana Rasputina, Raven Darkholme, Sam Wilson, Gabby Kinney, Victor Creed

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James Proudstar has posed:
There is one thing that Hydra can never resist like all mega predators they have a taste for live bait. And when that bait has been a nasty little flea picking at your well laid plans, and even identified as a player in the action that revealed your cards, well so much the juicier. And that was the plan thought that the trap was sprung while Jim was away from the mansion living his life shouldn't be unexpected but that the man mountain easily took down a mutant enhanced kill team, but it was his SO who struck the final blow immobilizing a sniper but leaving his brain intact.

    Enter Charles Xavier, the sniper provided the missing pieces of the puzzle he needed to place all the players and finally find the home of the miscreant they searched out. There was an old story about an island in the center of the Bermuda Triangle an Island that Magneto had used as a base once long ago, on it was a temple older than man and this island never showed up on Cerebro's scans. One of perhaps a dozen locales the machine could not quite crack.

    Once the mystery had been solved the next thing that was needed was a team, some with a score to settle and some with the skills in dire need. Not just X-ers this time but also some from Shield, those most familiar with the monster and tactics. And that's where we find ourselves in the most usual of starting points a tavern in the middle of rural Delaware, the only place with decent scotch in all of the state, the need for that stiff drink is what drew each of you here like a tickle a buzz in the back of your brain that could not be denied. You needed a drink and it had to be from this decrepit little shack in the middle of nowhere. It's empty tonight except for this colorful cast. The bar is small a real hole in the wall, Robert Irvine would run screaming, the floors are coated in spilled beer, the tables are broken and the only vehicle in the parking lot is a 1939 Indian Scout motorcycle.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Into this abandoned, filthy, and decrepit bar opens a tear in reality - tinged by purple edges. A young woman with purple skin and hair, and a bright green dress partially covered by a long black duster steps through, her gaze searching the surroundings silently before she's followed by another two figures. "What the hell happened here?" she mutters quietly. "They better still have drinks." Once her companions are through, the tear in reality seals itself with a quiet 'bliiiink.' Why now, and why this bar? She doesn't seem to think about it too hard as she jumps casually over the bar to start retrieving bottles. "What'll it be?" she asks brightly.

James Barnes has posed:
    It's HYDRA, so James Barnes, of course, showed. The only person he really knows in this crowd is Sam, so there's that. It has him a little on edge, going into a mission with unknown elements. He stands nearby the bar James and the others are gathered at, hovering, looking over someone's shoulder at any maps or whatnot that might be available.

    Dude is decked out, head to toe though, in full Winter Soldier regalia. Is that creepy? Yeah, that might be a little creepy.

    What the hell though, might as well let them know their boogeyman is coming for them.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar sits at the bar sipping a bourbon, the bartender is wiping down a glass with a dirty cloth, watching the big Apache warily. James has a small pile of folders next to him, each with a name on it. Aname that received the summons, some of those names seem odder than others but James stopped doubting that fateful day six years ago.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
There's nothing better to do in Delaware than drink. Absolutely nothing. Empty flats and deserted beaches give very little respite from the doldrums that might just outdo a Hell-Lord's personal realm for sheer awfulness. Delaware, the alternate ring of Hell Dante never told anyone about. She might have to make inquiries about it on the Thursday night meeting of assembled infernal powers.

For the moment, she nurses something clear and undeniably not fruity. It wouldn't garner much by way of attention except the glass is in hand, swirled around, the occasional sip of liquor belying the fact by numbers, Illyana Rasputina is entirely too young to drink. Or be out this late. Delaware probably has a curfew that, frankly, she doesn't give two rats' derrieres about. Now how she -got- that drink so fast doesn't matter. She has companions to share the misery with. Like Gabby, who has a history of falling through dimensions without panicking. And there /is/ reason to panic.

"We could not do somewhere nicer? Bombed-out apartment in Damascus looks good? Maybe rusting shack in slum somewhere? I hear Sao Paolo is very nice?" she asks dryly.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Stepping through the portal, Mystique takes a moment to look around the establishment, or rather what remains of it. She wears a full body leather catsuit in black and her usual thigh-high boots. Around her waist is gun belt, the holsters for each gun strapped around her thighs. Amber eyes check who is present, who she knows, and who might need to be watched, but other wise she strides to the bar Clarice just jumped over.

"Whatever they have that isn't disgusting," she offers, then turns to lean her back against the bar.

Sam Wilson has posed:
    One look at this place and Sam's pretty sure there's nothing here he's willing to drink. Sure, he has discerning tastes. He's not ashamed of liking the finer things in life! The Falcon gear is maybe not as iconic as the getup Bucky's in, but it is what it is. He stands next to Bucky and looks ten times as calm while actually being somewhere around the same level of discomfort with the situation. Moreso on who they're going up against than the uncertainties of the mission.

    Sam can deal with those no problem. He's great at thinking on the fly, which is not a pun at all. Okay, it's not JUST a pun.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney is the youngest here, naturally, though she doesn't seem to mind. Illyana was someone she'd been through enough odd situations with that she was rolling with it. Something was up but she wasn't sure what... So she sits with legs dangling off a too-tall stool with her own glass of soda. Because it came in a can and was safer looking than the questionably 'clean' glasses that the booze was being served in. Plus, well. She didn't have a fake ID that good yet.

"I don't know, this place has a certain..." she glances around looking at the utter, horrible mess of the place. "Charm to it. You know. Post-apocalyptic flaire. Could be a thing. Probably not, but I'm trying here." Lightly she clears her throat to glance back to her drink, then to the others that have begun to appear. "Oh! Clarice is her!" She announces matter-of-fact as her hand shoots up to wave rather excited toward the easily recognized mutant. As well as... "And more." Her eyes skim over to Sam and Bucky with a tip of her head. "Oh, hey, you doing better now?" she calls out to the man whose name she doesn't know. He was too busy bleeding at the time.

Victor Creed has posed:
Stepping out of the tear in reality, Creed looks around the bar, sniffing to pick up scents. His slit-pupiled eyes scan over the other inhabitants of this little dive, and he grins, fangs bared. "Well, well, this is an interesting teamup." He's mainly looking at the other mutants, not knowing Sam or Bucky at all, they are currently on the edge of his attention.

He rolls his neck a little, then tells the bartender, "Gimme a beer." He walks over to the bar near James, sizing the other man up, then shrugs, "Guess we're all on the same side tonight."

James Barnes has posed:
    "There's fucking kids here," Bucky leans in to whisper to Sam. ...even as he's giving Gabby a little nod and a thumbs up that makes him look like he really just wants to pat her on the head and send her packing with a lollipop and a stuffy. He has NOOOOO clue who she is, how would he? He was just about dead the first, and only, time he ever met her.

    "Why are there fucking kids here, Sam?"

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar smirks and hands out the folders, they outline the plan and the target. Poof, you have all the information which you may not have had access to before. Hydra has been mining the third world for mutants, they have been brainwashing them and planting them with sub neaural bombs, Jim nods to Sam and James, "I think it was for them, Jim and Sam?" He assumes though he doesn't know which is which honestly. He nods to the rest in turn "Mystique, Blink, Sabretooth, Magik and" eye narrow "Honey badger? Tonight I'll be Warpath." He nods, "Look it over, everything is in there. We can hit the control room from two sides and be done quick, then it's a rescue mission. Course if it goes bad, we all know how this works." The Bartender backs away at the rip in reality and finds something to do in the back room. James glances at Victor but remains all business as he goes over the mission. The place smells of humans and liquor and all sorts of things that you would expect a bar to stink like.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
"Post-apocalyptic flair tells me you have not met Apocalypse. Or seen apocalypse. Too happy for that." Dry as the Namib or the Atacama, Illyana's tone brooks little opportunity to assume she's teasing. She doesn't do lighthearted most days, though Gabby probably has the advantage of seeing her now and then in those lighter moods. A less black shade of vantablack; with her, it's definitely a thing. Still, she tips her drink up and takes another sip, giving an upnod as Clarice and Mystique arrive as part of the gathering group. A wordless question for Gabby follows, raised brows not saying much, but it's something.

A casual gesture keeps her at the bar of sorts, her shoulders rolling back as she glances at Victor making the smartest of orders. Checkmark in her books, then. "We can hear you," she tells Bucky for the benefit of the doubt, though as a vested 'older teenager type' instead of legitimately being in middle schoo. She takes the folder from James with a nod, a word of thanks in Apache, and carefully looks through it, quick work made of papers or diagrams that show up. "Goes bad, we clean it up. Priority targets in here?" A soft question at that follows; it may be listed. "Surgical removal possible, but may be bloody. Not sure how much organ or tissue damage taking them out does. As backup plans go, possible but ugly."

Sam Wilson has posed:
    "Man, why are *we* here?" is what Sam stage-whispers back to Bucky, looking equally mystified about the whole thing. Though after a few seconds of glancing sideways at Gabby, he cracks a smile. "He's just fine now." SLAP goes Sam's hand against Bucky's back. Yep, fine, totally fine.

    He stares in confusion at the folder which is now in his hand, and then without a word exchanges his with Bucky's, though he doesn't actually offer any verbal correction to their swapped identities. Honestly he's kind of fine with it staying confused, which will at least match how Sam's feeling right now.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice smirks at the bartender as he retreats, pulling out a beer - and a soda for Mystique. Yes, a soda. What of it? For herself, she pours a little scotch, and takes a sip, as she flips open the folder she was handed, studying the information in front of her - and shooting occassional glances towards Mystique.
    Her attention shifts towards Bucky as she adds with an amused smirk, "I wouldn't worry too much about the kid. She's pretty tough." She pauses a moment before adding, "Hello again, by the by." Then her gaze is back on the information once more, studying the diagrams and layouts of the building with a thoughtful frown.
    "I managed to blink an implant out of someone - once," she remarks in response to Illyana. "I could maybe do it again. But if I get it wrong... I mean, they're not in the most convenient spot. It could be fatal if I get it wrong."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney takes the folder out to lay on the counter in front of her wide open so she can read it. While she does she fishes into her pockets for a few barretes which she slips into her hair on either side of her face to help keep it out of her eyes for what was about to come. "If I'd had more prep time I could have brought more gear," she mutters with a mild hint of annoyance. "Seriously, I prefer wearing body armor for this sort of thing. Though," she reasons trying to look on the bright side as well as tactical side, "Having someone that looks mostly normal and around their age might help keep the hostages calm."

The gesture from Illyana earns a grin from her as she fills the Russian in. "The Brotherhood reached out to attempt to make ammends and find a way to work with us given situations going on lately. Clarice works for Lorna, anyway, and has a kid at the school too. It's a work in progress." As for Bucky's remarks, she finally looks over now that her hair has been fixed just-so to keep from obscuring her vision. "I'm here because I've had more experience infiltrating and dealing with torture than someone my age ought to, I'm quick on my feet, and I don't mind getting shot. Well. I kind of mind, but it doesn't matter much." With a little grin she lifts her hand in a fist, allowing her claw to pop through the back of her hand.

"I'm Honey Badger. Promise I won't stab you."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique accepts the soda without question, then flips the folder open. For reasons unknown, she starts reading it out loud, as if the information is better shared that way. Clarice and Victor know the reason, and that's all that matters to her. Every detail is repeated to the room, in case someone misses something, then she sets the folder back on the bar.

The cobalt mutant has no idea who James and Sam are, nor does she care, but Sam's stage whisper gets her amber eyes looking in his direction.

"If you don't want to be here, leave."

Now she looks toward Illyana, Gabby and the James she knows. "The Brotherhood has a vested interest in ensuring tha safety of all Mutants," she states clearly. "We are working with the other known agencies and playing by their rules." She takes a drink of the soda then adds, "And I am Mystique, leader of the Brotherhood."

James Barnes has posed:
    "It's Agent Barnes," Bucky returns. But his eyes still keep drifting to Gabby. He's not comfortable with that.

    Today is not the day to push James Barnes' buttons the wrong way. He looks straight at Mystique from behind his mask, shrugs a shoulder, flicks his gaze in Sam's direction and says, "Sure, we're outa here."

Victor Creed has posed:
Taking a drink from the bottle of beer, Victor flips the folder open and looks over the info. Savage he may be, he's also a professional, and useful info is always a good thing to have before moving on a target. As he reads over the info, he murmers, "Who are the soldier boys? Haven't seen them before, they useful somehow?"

He looks through everything, then adds, "Well, if we wanna take the control room, just gotta figure where it is an Blink can pop us right in, we can slaughter everyone who might push a button, then clean up at our leisure."

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar raises his eyebrows, and holds up a hand, "X wanted them here. They've been fighting Hydra since before a- most of us-" He pauses to do the math and nods, "Most of us were born, we all have a role to play." James turns to Bucky and looks firm but not aggressively, "I know they are not the most amicable of a bunch but there's a bunch of kids being held on an island by the the same people who did some really horrible things to you. I don't know what and honestly, I probably won't remember this tomorrow." James looks at Yana and shrugs, this is an old tale for them. "But we do need your help, you and Sam both. If you want to go I won't stop you but I would appreciate it if you could join us. They'll be one team." He indicated the brotherhood " And we'll be another." He nods to Magik, HB, Bucky and Falcon." James nods to everyone and the slips into Russian, "Lead the way?" He says to the slight Blonde girl.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky was full on ready to turn and leave, he truly was. He's had a shit fucking week, months... what? Life really. Yesterday, was that only yesterday? He was run through by one of the very X-ers that wanted him here.

    He huffs out a breath, filled with irritation and growls out, "Go on, Sam, I got this one."

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Honey Badger's explanations are thorough and succinct at once. Illyana takes in the details and nods, absorbing the information like a sponge. "Da. A deal then." Those arctic-fair eyes, barely invested by enough blue to be called the shade, drink the information laid out before her. Mystique's narrative adds to the two-pronged approach at maximum information gathering in minimal time. "We do the job, drink after, and make sure issues are tied up." A beat awaits affirmation from the blue-skinned mutant or other Brotherhood members on that. Her distinct Russian accent, for the record, belongs so far outside the western reaches of populated St. Petersburg and Moscow that it practically exists in another hemisphere.

Reference to HYDRA categorically seems to get not so much as an eyebrow arch out of her. Instead, those dark lips turn up in a smirk at James with a ghost of the shadows thrown through the bar stilling, tilting in her direction. Minor, but it's very much there. "Secure your loose items, weapons, and do not wander off the path. No matter /what/ you see, da?" A warning given far more for Bucky and Sam, offered the same way Fury probably gives out assignments. She flicks her wrist and reality tears itself in twain, blue fire pouring from the gash inflicted on its face. The hue rapidly turns an incandescent cerulean that singes intense copper among the firefly sparks, and beyond, a glimpse of a corridor. Perfectly sterile and lovely, as shadowy sterile places go. Nothing at all to worry about.

"Mind the step," she adds. "I go last."

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Not entirely thrilled at the concept of teleportation via a means she's never used before, Mystique eyes the ripped open passage. Nothing shows on her face, it is a mask of neutrality, even her eyes lack any indication of what she is thinking or feeling.

"Sabertooth, you go first. I'll go next, then Blink."

If they follow the progression given, she will step through this new and inexperienced portal after Victor and hate every fucking minute of it.

James Barnes has posed:
    Sam's eyebrows raise, both in unison. He seems about to protest maybe, but then Bucky repeats, "I got this..." ...and Sam reluctantly relents and exits stage left.

    "I'm not an idiot," he informs Illyana. He's been down all these roads before, paths, winding little walkways. He'll finish the mission, it's what he does.

    "HYDRA has a new program, they're creating expendable super soldiers, faster than me, stronger than me, tougher. But they burn out and melt." Yes, literally melt. "... within eight hours of being injected with the serum. I'm not saying we'll run into any there. But that's the fanatics you're dealing with. They have people in their ranks *volunteering* to do this. Don't be surprised if they suicide before you get a chance to kill them if they think it's hopeless. They won't be taken prisoner."

Victor Creed has posed:
Victor takes a long drink from his bottle, then puts it down on the counter. Watching Illyana open a portal to.. well, somewhere, he looks to Mystique and nods, "You got it." He pushes away from the bar and heads for the portal, claws extending from his fingertips as he does so. He's got no idea what to expect in there, so he's going in prepared.

He steps through and into that corridor, sniffing and looking around with a distinct lack of trust in what might be lurking just out of sight. He doesn't go far from the portal yet, waiting for the others to come through as well.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney flashes a smile at the Winter Soldier along with a curt nod. "Agent Barnes," she echoes making sure she'll use only that name for the duration of this mission. It was the best one she had so far after all as well. "Thank you for coming along. I know it's a lot to ask. Uh. You might get a little stomach flip-floppy for a moment going through," she advises people as she scoots off her stool pausing only to throw back her can of Coke with one long chug. Then she's heading in that direction intending to go first...

Before Mystique tells Sabertooth to go first. She pauses at that name as it clicks a memory for her and she looks uuuup at the taller man. "Woah. I heard you were big, but." Sigh. "So short." THe thought is shaken off as she instead focuses on the actual matter at hand currently. Then she strides through into the pathway Illyana created jogging just behind Sabertooth.

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky? If Illyana has to be last, he'll concede to that, but otherwise, he's rear guard and he's come to the party loaded with favors, everything from the SMG he's carrying in his hands to the small explosive devices in his pockets, barely bigger than a half a baseball but with enough charge to level half a city block.

    Taken point would have been his preference, despite Sabretooth's obvious size advantage. The Winter Soldier has a reputation with these asshats, effort spent is only part of why they want their asset back. The other part is... fear.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "It's fine, Mystique. It's Magik's thing," Clarice says easily, as if this is nothing new to her. She takes another drink from her scotch - before setting it down on the bar, and hopping back over to the 'correct' side of the counter. She strides without any hesitation towards the narrow passage, and makes her way through. She is very careful to stay to the center of the path, however. ...despite her seeming confidence, she knows enough to know caution is warranted.

James Proudstar has posed:
James steps through the portal and nods to Victor and then heads out in what seems a direction chosen at random but the sounds and smells bare this out as the safest path. He chooses the path to follow but it is one a short distance until he stops and waits from Yana to open the path further. The plan is in place one path for the Brotherhood, one for the rest. Jim motions for Bucky to go first into the breach he is the SME afterall.

James Barnes has posed:
    He really does look a little bit like death stalking someone when he walks down that pathway. Some might expect him to open with the SMG, but he doesn't. He waits until at least a few pairs of eyes in the place are on him, if there are any eyes in the place.

    Should anyone open fire? He'll bat the bullets right out of the air with that left hand with a *PING* or seven before it dips into his pocket.

    He tosses out the small, sticky IED type device. It sticks... right in the middle of the floor. "Get'down!" he yells to those behind him before he squats, turns on his heel and puts his back to the blast.

    The Winter Soldier can be subtle, silent death or he can bring it spectacularly, guess which he's doing today?

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
The warning wasn't an idle threat or an attempt to impress. However nice the corridor appears on the other side, a step through the fire-limned portal involves a little fall. Limbo touches almost everywhen and everywhere, and the /fall/ gives the sensation of swandiving backward past through the event horizon of a black hole even if racing comet trails in copper solidify the mind-warping dimensional freefall at light speeds across multiple axes of existence to something not nauseating. Blackened spires of rock coalesce from nothing, lava waterfalls glowing against the scales of a massive dragon clutching a precipice. Flights of leather-winged demons in full armour clash on the wing through seared, blasted skies of impossible shades. Even the shadows leer, full of deadly promise, in that place full of haunted, terrifying extremes.

Less than a second to translocate, and yet stepping through can feel infinitely longer on the flame-harrowed route. When the transition ends, they return to a place controlled by order. Techs in their HYDRA-standard jumpsuits mill about, up to their typical tasks until an interplanar rift interrupts their work. The large, elliptical room exudes sterile, almost government-approved normalcy, not noisy, not interesting in any way. Those closest to get a glimpse of a dingy Delaware watering hole and some very interesting people stepping through react predictably with stumbling, fumbling, the occasional weapon yanked by numb fingers. Because people don't strop by for nice visits this way, do they?

Following last may hide the vestiges of a copper halo in broken shards whirling around Illyana's head, reabsorbed by her aura when she steps forth. She comes through unarmed, but wrapped in odd black thigh-high boots, leggings, and a crop-top that belong in a goth club and probably aren't leather. They just behave like it. She claps her hands. "Boom!"

Nothing happens. Just to startle them? Probably.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    At the order to 'get down!' Clarice summons a portal in front of Mystique, Creed, and herself - blocking them from whatever carnage the Winter Soldier has in mind. An exit portal just above some of the Hydra mooks redirects that force from the explosion right back at them - hitting them with a secondary blast mere miliseconds after the first one. Then the portals both blink out as she clears the way for Mister Creed to do what he does //so well//.
    For her part, she reaches behind her shoulder, to where she keeps her quiver of silvery javelins, pulling them out and charging them with some of the purple energy she controls. She starts flinging them at anyone that goes near a console - and when she does the results are devastating, tearing bodies cleanly in half.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
If there was one thing Gabby was good at, it was following orders when she needed to. And knowing when not to. In this case she does just as told, she gets down. Rushing into the room and going to a corner she baseball slides behind a console to safety though perhaps it wasn't the best news to the Hydra agent already there. Feet connect with his ankles, and to follow through she swings her arm out stabbing her single bone claw into the back of his knee earning a rather unpleasant scream as he goes down. He wasn't dead. But he was surely writhing in pain and out of reach of the controls that might activate the collars on the hostages.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Drawing the guns as she falls/walks through this unknown space, Clarice's words about the portal echo in Mystique's head. At least one of them has a clue about this, and that was enough for the cobalt mutant to accept this as just another new experience. Given what happened once she passed through the opening, she was considering strongly suggesting to Magik that she charge carnival ride prices for that trip, for humans, some might get lost on the way out, but oh well.

On the other side the guns are leveled at the first target that makes itself obvious, and then there is the the portal... whatever it is that Agent Barnes was doing, Clarice's quick reaction made it easier for Mystique to just wait, choose more carefully, then open fire the second portal dropped.

This was the fun part. Victor may love his claw to face approach, but Mystique really /loved/ shooting things, repeatedly. She has more than enough ammo, no need to be sparring, but truth be told, she's a crack shot. Every bullet finds the mark she intended, in the location she wanted.

James Barnes has posed:
    Before the smoke even clears and Bucky straightens again, the SMG is tossed over his shoulder by the strap and the rifle on his back takes its place. One shot, one kill. He moves into the room taking aim at anything that might be a hostile that might be too far up for others to reach.

     Every bullet he fires ends in either center mass or straight between the eyes. He was an expert marksman when he fought beside Captain America as one of the Howling Commandos and he's had seventy years to perfect his craft. His entire life has been one long war.

    He motions to whoever ended up behind him to go left, he's going right.

Victor Creed has posed:
Victor waits for the explosion to go off, then says, "Blink, get me to the far side of the room." He dives forward and a portal tears open in front of him, the other end depositing him at the far end of the room, when he lands gracefully despite his size, then lashes out with both hands, claws tearing through HYDRA agents like paper. Blood sprays across control panels, but nobody is getting near any controls anywhere near Victor.

He lets out a roar and charges a knot of jumpsuited agents, swatting them aside contemptuously, not even slowing down when bullets rip into him, the wounds quickly closing as he continues on the attack. The far side of the room is getting very messy, very fast, but he's in his element, causing chaos while still fulfilling the objective of keeping the captives from being terminated from the control room.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar saunters through the devastation with a slow whistle and past Magik with a soft grin and a fist bump. He walks up to a console and slips a thumb drive in, tapping an earpiece, "Cat door is open, take it all out." He takes out a straggler about to set off the general alarm and the main screen lights up with images from CCTVs throughout the facility, something is off, about a third of the cells, if we're being generous, are empty. The loading dock is full of people and the major portion of the troopers are watching the ships be loaded, guarding he ships, "Hold up, Cat, you seeing this don't deactivate anything yet." He turns around, "They're evacuating we have to get there."

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Violence erupts with wicked precision and unchecked brutality, balanced between a Russian sniper and some of mutantkind's best warriors. Smoke billowing through the control room obscures several of the figures, HYDRA agents reduced to silhouettes flopping to the ground in a cloud of red mist. Bullets and claws make an excellent display of force in reducing the unfortunate technicians hired by the wrong world-controlling organisation to mulch. Icky, suppurating human mulch.

"I am thinking," Magik tells James idly, "that I steal a boat. We take several. Grand theft yachto, like in Monaco." A terrible calm lies there as she tilts a ghostly smirk, and her hands separate, humming with a blackening sapphire fire licking up her forearms. "Good distraction. Her," a slender finger points to what looks like nothing, just empty space, "distraction is not so good. We toss her somewhere safe first or assume she's not our friend?"

"Otherwise, I call 'mine' like that seagull on the ship. Let's go have //fun//."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
There's another pained scream behind the console Gabby had slid behind from the man she'd taken down. Mostly because while he was squirming down there she pulled out some zipties to hogtie him up with a quick precision that would make one wonder. Sure, everyone else is dead... but not her guy. "Look, I don't kill, but I don't stop others from doing it either so you got one chance to change your ways or else I'm calling them over, capiche?" With that done she hops to her feet.

The situation as it is, is assed with a rather dull eyed gaze. Carnage wasn't something she was unused to even if... She would deal with it later. Glancing at the CCTV she considers only a second ebefore, "Got nothing against stealing though. I want a boat too. Yeet me in there!"

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique listens to the reports, even through the explosions, enjoyable screams, and guns firing, she hears everything.

"Blink, loading docks," she states, even as she drops to mags and reloads both guns. "Victor, more toys for you to play with through the portal, I do so /love/ to watch you work. Mmm.." she winks at him, then makes for the portal once it's opened.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Are they taking the mutants with them?" Clarice asks with alarm as the room quickly begins to empty of targets, given the efficiency with which the team had cut through the Hydra agents. No. Nononono.
    Hoping she remembers the base's plans correctly, she opens one of her portals with a gesture - the other side of it showing up instantly on the CCTV footage and she's through, holding the door open for others to follow. Again, she begins to hurl javelins, charged with her own purple energy, tearing some men viciously in half, leaving one alive - but minus his gun and gun arm. She hurries around the side of one of the jets as weapons are brought to bear on her, concentrating as she summons a second portal she shield the entrance she's created for the team.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar nods and stands, "What? who?" he stops and frowns at he girl as his mind struggles with the card trick but fights through. "Okay, that hurts." He picks her up like a bag of potatoes and nods, "Like the plan, we'll drop her off on the way. Agent Winter, coming or going?" James offers James a smile and a nod, no judgement either way. Kinda admires the guys efficiency.

James Barnes has posed:
    Sorry Gabby, one shot, one kill. Bucky puts a bullet in the brain pan of the hogtied HYDRA goon from a distance. No prisoners.

    He wasn't wrong by the way, before he even took that shot, the prisoner was foaming at the mouth and writhing on the ground, face turning a shade of sunburn red. Cyanide, it's the HYDRA way.

    The SMG replaces the rifle in a quicker than the eye can track motion before he steps through that portal.

    *PING*

    An incoming bullet aimed at Clarice is deflected by his metal hand. Then another.

Victor Creed has posed:
Once the control room is cleared of anything resembling a living enemy, Victor jumps through the portal to the ships to back up Blink. A moment after he steps through, Gabby does as well. Looking down at the small mutant, then at a nearby knot of guards, a feral grin comes over his face and he reaches down, picks her up, and hurls her at the guards with a "Hey guys, catch!"

That done, he charges a larger group, taking several bullet hits along the way, which really only serve to piss him off more than he already was. He hits them hard, roaring as his claws shear though guns, armor, flesh and anything else that gets in the way. None of these guys will ever have the opportunity to hurt a mutant ever again.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Another portal blossoms behind Clarice's, and then a third equidistant across the room for Illyana to make use of. "This is where the fun begins," she announces over her shoulder to those very few remaining. The middle portal leads onto the loading docks, free to drop Gabby or anyone who takes it into the thick of it. The third drops her among the loading docks with the very expensive, poorly guarded machinery.

Vehicles like that have their own defense systems and guards. Each represents a threat to remove immediately.

With her boots touching ground on rough basalt streaked by silver flames, the Sorceress Supreme of Limbo raises her gauntleted hand. A dimensional rift flashes open in the blink of an eye, spanning the length of the Quinjet and wingtip-to-wingtip. It drops down to ground-level to consume the fancy construct and anything within, vanishing the vehicle to somewhere else.

First ship down. The second targeted is the one revving up its engines, possibly anticipating a quick, incomplete departure from the incoming strike force. That portal shows the sky, barely visible at all, probably not within their technical array to even detect; clouds look like clouds, except the angular momentum of the thing lifting will catapult it straight into the rift. Or that's the goal. If they reverse or even change their flight plans, Illyana's friendly doorway devours them.

Let them enjoy the Wailing Caverns of Pandaemonium for a bit. She's a good host.

It wouldn't be the Bermuda Triangle without planes and boats going missing.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
A slow saunter through the portal into the docking bay. Mystique is aware at this point that truthfully, she wasn't needed. Unleashing Victor alone was all that was truly needed, but her guns are ready to pick off any one trying to escape, any of these low life pieces of shit who thought for a single minute they would get away with harming mutants and then escape. Bullet to the head.

"We need to disarm the explosives," she announces, regarding those /in/ the mutants. "Before we take out too many of the agents!" If someone isn't already on that, she will start looking for computers or a device on a corps to do just that. If too many of these agents die before that happens, the mutants will simply start exploding and dying, and that is unacceptable.

James Proudstar has posed:
The Landing pads are crowded with mutants, there are some Hydra agents in the midst organizing, getting them into groups, and starting to load the quinjets. But the majority are on the periphery, organized in squads some are ready to administer the super soldier serum, if the mutants act up. A few are in armored mech suits waiting for a fight but they are all waiting for the fight in front of them and never see the what's coming from the ether. They react quickly but the battle is already joined and they start with a foot down, even as they call for reinforcements knowing that few are available.

    The lead trooper tries to radio the control room telling them to blow the collars but there is no answer. He curses and tells the guards to fire into the crowd. The mech suits and there massive gatling style guns spin up.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Yeet? YEET! Gabby was not prepared for this so when Victor grins down at her for a moment she half thinks she's in trouble. Then she's picked up, and tossed, earning a whoop of excitement from her as she tucks into a ball to tumble through the air gracefully ending up landing her feet into some soldier's face. He goes down with a crunch that she hopes is just a broken nose, but... She doesn't stop to check. Instead she launches herself at the next one about to turn guns toward the mutant prisoners.

It's not her claws she attacks with this time, but two small knives she pulls from her sides to slash at the arms of the man severing tendons and making him drop the weapon. Her claws weren't coated in metal so not sharp enough for slashing. Stabbing, sure, slashing not so much. It doesn't stop her though: She reaches for the gun the man had been using to flip it around opening fire on the next guard over. "Get down! We're here to help!" She calls out to the mutants hoping they take heed so the other Hydra agents don't get the chance to harm them.

James Barnes has posed:
    Amid the chaos and the blood shed and bullets flying, Bucky walks toward the control panels. Seventy years he spent controlled by these fucks. ...much of that time so controlled that they trusted him with security clearance.

    It's a hail Mary to say the least, but he goes from one panel to the next until he finds the one he's looking for; it's the right one, he's sure of that. What he isn't sure of? Will it still work.

    "Sobaka, rab, pribyl', neprozrachnyy, chetyre, sem', tri. Nachat' pereopredeleniye... avtorizatsiya, Zimniy soldat."

    From base to base, lab to lab, that was always the code used to turn off 'slave control' devices, at least the last year he was with them.

    A light on the panel blips from blue to red. Oh no! Wait, yellow... then green. ...and off.

    Well, fuck, it worked. He looks a little shocked. "Huh, stupid fuckers."

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Perhaps it was her abilities that had singled her out - perhaps the intent was to take Clarice down before more people emerged from the portals she'd made.
    Perhaps she was just a convenient target, separated from the rest of the group as she momentarily took cover - but two mutants approach the purple skinned woman unseen. One, has the ability to cloak his presence - he gets them close enough. The second one, however, leaps out into view once they're close enough, and Clarice barely has time to turn towards that sense of movement in her periphery as she's knocked back, the unknown man's hand going for her throat. "No, don't-!" She tries to jam one of her javelins into man - but she feels a jolt pass through her as she does - and the javelin simply fades from her hand as she's knocked back into a wall, hitting her head.
    At the same time, all three of Clarice's visible portals blink out abruptly. Maybe she meant to do that?

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Instantly livid, the rage that flows through Mystique is palpable, anyone near her can feel it rolling off her. In her mind she registered that the collars were off, some one had taken care of that, so that left her free to examine the new situation.

"Blink?!" She didn't see specifically what happened, but the portals disappearing was more than enough indication that something had happened to Clarice.

"Victor, guns!" she announces, then is moving through the chaos in search of her downed best friend.

She doesn't stop shooting, if it's in a uniform and still moving, it gets shot as she makes her way to where Clarice went down.

Victor Creed has posed:
As the mech gatlings start to spin up, Sabretooth tosses the limp body of the last guard aside and leaps, launching himself with all his strength at the nearest mech. He soars through the air and slams into the suit, ramming his claws into the spinning barrels to tear them to shreds before it can fire.

With the weapon disabled, he rams both sets of claws into the suit's armor to get a good grip, lifts it above his head with a roar of pain and effort, and flings it into another mech, knocking them both down before the second suit can fire. He follows a little more slowly, torn muscles reknitting under the flesh while he approaches to finish off the downed mech suit.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar walks through Yana's portal and into Chaos, tapping his earpiece how we coming K- Cat? The blocking is holding but we need to shut it dow- oh, we're good Kat. Get the data." He moves into the crowd, pressing people down, speaking calming words in a dozen languages words he doesn't know that he knows, cooing and nodding, the massive Apache moves like a shadow and the Agents go down one by one, he is on his fourth target when the man wises up and starts shooting but the dagger takes him out followed by a second, then a tomahawk. Then there's the mechs 10' tall and those guns, the mulch springs to mind. "Yana, Blink's down. We'll hold the line, get her out of here." One of the mechs opens up and James takes the hit full on, another mutant steps up next to him. The other swings and Mystique's bullet catches the driver through the face shield. The mutant that attacked Clarice is down from Mystique's attack, holding his bloody knee screaming in pain, but the one who allowed him to sneak so close scurries back into invisibility.

James Barnes has posed:
    Every once in a while he has to deflect a bullet, he even takes a graze to his left side once, but the bullet pings off his metal rib cage. He's focused, so it barely registers as a bee sting. The next panel he stops in front of, it just has a keypad, no voice commands.

    He punches a few keys and removes his right glove to press his thumb down.

    Any cell doors in the place open simultaneously.

    At the same console, he taps in a much longer serious of numbers, does the thumb thing and presses a button to start voice commands.

    "Posledovatel'nost' nachala samounichtozheniya, avtorizatsiya, Zimniy soldat."

    A speaker booms out, "Nachata posledovatel'nost' unichtozheniya, evakuatsiya dolzhna zavershit'sya cherez pyatnadtsat' minut."

    Translation: Time for everyone to get the fuck OUT!

    "Place is gone in fifteen!" Bucky calls out to anyone that might here him. "Round'm up and get'm out!"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice is on the ground - woozy and confused. The man who'd attacked her had started to back off - before a shot to the leg brings him down. Her gaze goes to Mystique, and even injured and confused, there's relief in her gaze - relief that quickly turns to alarm as that mutant with his strange cloaking ability appears behind her friend. Her hand goes from holding where she'd hit her head - to a sharp gesture in Mystique's direction, meant to blink the threat away from her friend. It doesn't work.
    In fact, the look of shock barely has time to register as she feels the energy turning in on herself instead, and Blink disappears in a flash of her own portal energy.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
That guy was visible for a few moments though. Enough that the little ball of fury that is Gabby has launched herself at the perpetrator before he's gone invisible again. Just as he fades from sight, she slams into him from behind with one hand grasping at what was apparently an invisible face. She doesn't kill. But she wedges her fingers into the person's mouth and pulls as hard as she can to dislocate or even rip his jaw off with a frustrated growl of annoyance. There's a rip and tear of muscle before she lets go to look up toward Clarice. "Blink, you okay?" Of course Mystique was already coming to aid as well. Likely she would be. Instead she focuses on what Winter Soldier yells. "Gotcha, Barnes!"

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
A third Quinjet targeted by Illyana ends up perilously scooped up along with a few incidental bystanders. Sapphire fire burns hot, ghostly flames whirling around the third ship that might be used to execute an escape and condemning it to sit among a grove of silver birches that sing to a time when primeval forest coated most of Eurasia.

But between selective acts of protective theft, she isn't blind or deaf. Warning about Blink, elsewhere on the battlefield, reaches her well enough from the threshold of Limbo.

"Understood." Mystique is already on her way to rescue the fallen teleporter of the Brotherhood, but she won't be wading alone through a sea of frightened people or HYDRA employees.

A slender bar of light forms in her hand, coalescing into the white-hot Soulsword engulfed in its own torrential blue fire. Who brings a sword to a gunfight except the girl diving into the mayhem like a dance, using a upper sweeping cut to open space in front of her and disappearing. An instnat later she reappears in another gap, just as Blink vanishes. Well -- so much for that.

Slashing with the weapon through a man swiveling to train his gun on another mutant comes with an almost contemptuous ease. The blade goes straight through him and passes out without a trace of blood, though he crumples in a rictus of pain. Next target -- she knows Russian. <<Anyone out, get close.>>

Because group transportation is efficient when packed together, she plants that sword blade-down on the dock and hisses, pulling that extra energy to herself.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Under normal circumstances, Mystique would not be caught off guard, she would be prepared and ready, but as of late a part of her edge has slipped every so slightly. It was a mistake that would cost her. Her attention had been so wrapped up on Clarice that she had no idea there was an invisible anything, and when Clarice looks in her direction, the cobalt mutant does not get the warning because Clarice just blinks away, and clearly it was not her choice.

That was her mistake. The knife strikes quickly into her side just as Gabby takes him down, but it was a rude awakening, something that has not happened in many, many years. The pain is a reminder of all the years of training, all the years of terrorism and attacks, all the years she let emotion remain locked away to deal with this sort of situation. Lesson learned.

Almost dropping to one knee, she staggers one step then turns, ready to retaliate but Gabby has already done that. Where was Clarice? What happened? She can't worry about it now, she has to focus.

James Barnes has posed:
    Once he's managed to free the prisoners and set off the sequence to make the place go *BOOM*, Bucky is back out in the thick of it. He doesn't just plow through people anymore, no, now he's also directing frightened mutants as to which way might lead to 'out'.

    Even after a tasered attack shorts something in that left arm of his, causing him to let out a bellow that's half pain - that fucker's attached to nerves in his shoulder - and annoyance, he keeps at it. Even one handed, he's pretty scary for someone that's mostly still just a human.

    "Go, go go go go!" he bellows, laying down cover with SMG wielded in just his right hand.

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar groans, "Complication, we need to get them all out, old school. Fire alarms? They have- NO. Just do it." James charges the mech and picks him up effortlessly tossing the machine over a yacht and into the ocean, The klaxons blare and there is a a noise as everydoor in the place opens and the Gitfo begins in earnest, a few of the Hydra types try to make sport of it. Jim catches Yana's eye as thing go abuptly south and the gentle calm demeanor is gone. James disappears in a, well at least a blur, moving through the base, getting people to safety, taking out guards and moving with strength speed and and agility beyond human possibility. He is a machine, moving through the chaos, a spot of order that is everywhere it's needed.

Victor Creed has posed:
Victor reaches the second downed mech and rips it's gatling apart as well, then turns to the mutants gathered there and points at Ilyana, "Exit is about to be that way, unless you wanna stay and blow up with the base. I'd advise against it, myself." He turns and lopes towards Ilyana, ready to evac the scene now that the bombs are disarmed and they can take their time getting these devices removed from the mutants.

Raising his voice to a roar he yells over the chaos, "Everybody to us, we're outta here. Gather around!" He waves people over, standing head and shoulders above the crowd makes him pretty visible, as does Ilyana's gathering of power through the sword, beacons to the fleeing mutants.

Raven Darkholme has posed:
Mystique growls under her breath, grits her teeth and the pain just isn't there any more. She may be bleeding and hopefully nothing vital was struck because it was time to de-ass the area with the quickness. Shooting across the docks toward Victor, her eyes flash a bright yellow, the only indication of the pain left to be seen, other wise she moves as if the wound did not exist.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney heeds the warning as much as the others. Short as she was, she wasn't great at directing traffic, but she can at least help cover those who are. The gun she'd stolen off that earlier guard is slung over her shoulder so she swings it forward now to help with the covering fire Bucky was offering as she slowly retreats as well. Some bullets tear into her, which she ignores as best she can. At least until one slams into her kneecap. With a little yelp of annoyance she goes down from her leg giving out. She's close to where Illyana, Creed, and the others are gathering at least. Enough that she can kick her good foot against the ground scooting back toward them further.

Illyana Rasputina has posed:
Barring one stumbling mutant who ends up shot in the side, everyone who can better get to. Illyana has a finite range, at least in some respects. Not wishing to transport a heap of HYDRA corpses and any explosives means limits.

That sword flashes like a beacon, and within the sweep, the last of the Quinjets, a good chunk of mutantkind, SHIELD assets, the Brotherhood and X-Force members, and one cheesed off Honey Badger all end up swallowed within its confines. Warding sigils burn the ground under her feet when they collectively end up yanked sidelong through the gossamer veil of flames into the real world behind the curtain.

But it hurts, blending magic and mutation, welding them into a controlled descent. Unlike Blink, those sidesteps mean crashing out of time. At least this time it's a meadow up in the mountains where streaming clouds seem to touch the peaks. The jolt is sharper, harsher than before; she can't protect them all from the sensation of being ripped apart and put back together on the psychedelic transportation. Whee!

James Proudstar has posed:
James Proudstar moves quickly in the crowd sheep dogging the stragglers and getting everyone from the base out on the landing. The portal causes some consternation but the big man bellows "EVERY BODY MOVE!" In his best Fezzig impersonation and they surge into the portal. James catches Bucky's eye making sure he is safely through before coming through at the end, last man out. It's a cool mountain stream and then in another blink, they are in the surf in a tropical island, the smells the tastes. This is Genosha, a famous black sand beach and tourist destination in the off season. Everyone moves towards the shore and waiting for them is a contingent of red cross, blankets, donuts, coffee, medical treatment. There are mutant healers and some with other gifts.

James Barnes has posed:
    He returns the nod along with one fist raised in solidarity.

    When the dust settles and everyone's out and being tended to, Bucky will vanish like a ghost. Somehow, he'll manage to find his way home, he always does... even if it takes seventy plus years.