7188/Shi'ar: Night of the Raptors II

Shi'ar: Night of the Raptors II
Date of Scene:	02 August 2021
Location:	Main Foyer
Synopsis:	The Shi'ar attack continues. With the aid of a defecting Shi'ar spy and his SHIELD backup, the school organizes its defense and the evacuation of younger students from danger. With the aid of a strange living gas, the invaders manage to reach the X-Men base, but are defeated, and their leader killed. Yet Jean discovers there are several Death Commandos remaining, sent to her home town with one goal: cleansing the entire Grey blooodline.
Cast of Characters:	Jean Grey, Clarice Ferguson, Scott Summers, Lydia Dietrich, Terry O'Neil, Laura Kinney, Jessica Drew, Noriko Ashida, Michael Erickson

---

Jean Grey has posed:
Last Issue...

Xavier's School had been abuzz with strange rumors since the afternoon: a pair of visitors had appeared from nowhere in the entry hall and met with Professor Xavier, the Headmistress, and a few others. One wasn't much of a mystery, the Titan Terry O'Neil, who had brought the visitor via one of his portals. It was his passenger who really stirred up the rumors. A beautiful woman in silver armor. A close friend of the Professor. An alien? Someone with bad news.

The Professor and Headmistress, along with several members of the senior teaching staff had retreated... well, wherever it is they go when they talk about 'serious business' away from the student body. X-Men stuff. A bit later, a few had come back upstairs, with orders to quietly double-check all the school security.

What no one knew precisely was what was happening above the planet. There'd been something on the news earlier in the week, but by now, strange as it was to say, 'aliens coming to Earth' wasn't the record scratch kind of moment that it would have been ten years earlier. Life went on.

Well, a few people knew. One of them was up there as the alien ships began their final approach to Earth, fighting to stop them... and almost, but not quite succeeding. A few others on the surface were privy to information about these aliens and their plans... from a very unlikely source.

---

Now.

It's evening at the school, with students enjoying meals, hanging out in the rec room, or relaxing in the dorms. It's a typical night, until all the worst fears come true..

When the alarms go off, they go off... everywhere. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there are intruders all over the building, and even on the external grounds, both in front of and behind the building. Notably, none of the perimeter alarms (covering the various fences and natural boundaries to the school's land) trigger. They've beamed directly in. Throughout the building, teachers scramble to organize a defense, and even the older students are left with the job of leading, and protecting, their underclassmen.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice doesn't like teleporting directly into the Mansion. It's a matter of curtesy - showing that she respects boundaries, and respects the school's security. That's she's willing to play by their rules when she visits. Of course, when she teleports into the backyard, and alarms are already going off?
    Well. There are times when you just say 'screw this!'
    "Be careful!" Clarice calls to Talia as the woman dashes into the kitchen. Clarice has another destination in mind, however - Dyani's room. With a flash of purple energy, she disappears from the yard, and reappears in Dyani's room, Lydia in tow. She smiles reassuringly at the panicked girl she finds, telling Lydia a quick, "Mind the hall," before trying to answer Dyani's fears. "No, it's not Hydra. But things aren't safe. I'm sending your to your parents." She moves towards the girl to put her hand on her shoulder and teleport her away - letting out a sign of frustration as she adds, "I'll send your hives after you! I have to get the other students out. I'll come back for you soon."
    And with that - the girl is gone. That's one worry taken care.
    "//Shit//. Lorna's probably hear somewhere, too. Keep your eyes open for my Queen, will you?" she asks. "And we should try to keep Rogue and Kurt safe if we can. And if we can send Jean away from here..." then the attack might end altogether.
    Enough objectives for one day? Damnit, what a mess.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers has one simple objective: repel intruders. Strategy is all well and good, but there's no team tactic or subtle methodology that's going to overcome this full out blitzkrieg assault. They have been compromised, they are under attack and everyone has to make the choice between flight or fight.

"Students, get under cover. Those capable of evacuating the kids, get them out of here now," he says. He draws off his ruby quartz glasses and tucks them into the pocket of his shirt, clad in khakis and a polo as he snaps his visor from its compacted state and slides it over his eyes, a ruddy glow spreading across the front of it as he reaches the front doors at the same time as an invader.

"Everybody else? Kick their asses," he says, unleashing an optic blast.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia comes through the portal ready for war. Or, rather, scared shitless but unwilling to let alien forces harm the children. Mystique is going to kill her if the invaders don't do it first.

She nods to Clarice when ordered to guard the hallway. "Gotcha!" she says, standing there, ready to throw up a shield of glowing green ectoplasm should the need arise. Once Dyani is taken care of she turns to her friend, "Where would you portal her that they wouldn't follow?" she asks of Jean. "If they can just pop in here, what's to stop them from just popping somewhere else?"

Terry O'Neil has posed:
A faint shimmering of the air is the only forewarning before reality is split apart to reveal the shimmering edges of a Rabbit Hole, and out of it steps Vorpal and onto the foyer. Fresh from having delivered news to the Titans, he comes back bearing a T-Comm for the use of Jean and the school, in case they needed to call for reinforcements in an emergency.

Like this one. He comes into the foyer as the alarms are already going off, so at least he knows it isn't HIS doing

"I guess I came in just at the right time..." he comments, and he moved quickly, trying to assess the situation, and where others may be.

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's not all that often that Laura Kinney, sometimes known as X-23, stops by Xavier's. Unlike most of those above school age who loiter around she's not a former student, stopping by pretty much solely to visit her family.

Of course given her fathers tendancy to disappear on a whim and Gabby having class that sometimes means Laura has time to kill. And that's why when the chaos kicks off she's up on the roof drinking a beer that has 'property of Logan' written on it in sharpie.

Where did she get it? Best not to ask. How did she get up there? A little bit of free climbing and a lack of concern about falling.

Still even on the roof her keen senses pick up that /something/ is wrong. Sniffing at the air when her ears pick up the sound of alarms.

Jessica Drew has posed:
It has become the strangest assignment that Jessica has ever been on accompanying a Shi'ar agent. Overhead the end of the world loomed as they raced from Manhattan, armed beyond any capabilities the Agent had ever seen. At the same time, they stop in a Starbucks to get food and fuel up on coffee to overcome the lack of sleep, super abilities or not. The restroom had been handy to change into tac gear - black and anonymous. Despite her strength, she walked with a heavier gait, loaded with every gun ever issued to her from SHIELD - ICERS and a P90.

The mansion shrills with alarms as they roll into the parking lot. "It sounds like we're on time. Need help with anything?" The question directed to her passenger garbed in armor so shiny it seems liquid.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has been a bit of a weird mix of gloom and strange happiness depending on what she believes in the given moment about her life.  When your girlfriend dies and then only visits you the night before a space princess shows up to tell everyone the sky is falling or something you aren't listening to because you're trying to figure out what's real...and when suddenly those alarms are very real...

There's just no fear left to tap, just pure adrenaline.  The speedster takes off immediately to locate Scott and gets his instructions.  Noriko cracks her knuckles.  "Evac.  Got it."  And where there was Noriko, there is no Noriko now.

Just where Noriko is putting children, who knows.

Jean Grey has posed:
In front of the school, Michael and his SHIELD backup arrive to see... well, exactly what he knew he'd see. Materializing in thin air is a squadron of Shi'ar troopers out, recognizable by the way their armor conforms to around the shape of their feathered head-crests, lead by a menacing figure. Taller than the others, his body is draped in a thick black cloak and his... head? Is it a helmet? Whatever it is, it has the appearance of a skull, that of a large bird, or maybe a lizard. A dragon? He carries a large, primitive looking spear.

There's no question who he is, and just how dangerous.

Above them, they might notice a passing, shadowed form, briefly backlit by whatever moonlight. It has wings.

On the second floor, as Lydia makes it out into the hall, she can see that the invasion is, indeed, already everywhere. The quarters here are more cramped however, so the Shi'ar can't operate with the huge squad of soldiers. There are a pair of soldiers, at opposite ends of the hallway from the door she opens, looking up and down the space, checking corners-

Then they see her emerge, and open fire with their alien energy weapons, the blasts impacting against her shield, causing a strange lightshow. But it holds.

In the foyer, Scott doesn't even get a chance to hold the door, because, as elsewhere, they appear everywhere. Suddenly, there are troops on the staircases, aiming down and opening fire. But he's ready, and a blast from his visor instantly clears one side of the double staircase, blasting some troopers back and knocking others clear as they try to dodge. Pretty easy, just one more group. And now he has Terry for backup!

It's then that he'll notice something odd-- a weird mist clinging to the ground, moving across it with, well, what seems like more purpose, more 'oomph' than is normal for a weather phenomenon.

Finally, Noriko goes zooming through the halls, grabbing students. It goes well. Until she finds a hallway that is kind of full. Not with soldiers, but with... well, it looks like a huge swarm of some kind of bugs. Beetles? So many that there's no way around them, no way through. It's kind of gross.

---

Jean, the Professor and Lilandra are still down in the sub-basement that houses the X-Men facilities, accessed from the school by a separate and secure hidden elevator. << We're clear in the sub basement, >> comes a mental report as she reaches out mentally to try and coordinate the defense. << But we have intruders everywhere else. Anyone on the second floor will see to student safety. The rest of you handle whatever's closest.>>

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers finds this sort of total, overwhelming assault almost blasphemous. It's a complete nightmare for someone with an orderly mind, who wants to have a chance to analyze and measure his strikes. It's pure chaos and Scott Summers cannot abide chaos.

In its face, he only becomes more disciplined, more ferociously precise. He becomes ever-more Cyclops.

He begins to move to cover ground as quickly as he can, dishing out point-blank optic zaps in between ranged streams that try to mow down enemies in numbers. As he kneels to make one strike, he takes note of the strange mist.

"We have an unknown vapor low to the ground. Don't breathe it in if you can help it, just in case. When he sees Terry, he nods, "Titan, right?" he says, "If you can help kids evacuate, do that. Otherwise, you're officially invited to defend the school."

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Cal'hatar of Chandilar, veteran Shi'ar spy and warrior who calls himself Michael Erickson amongst humans, shakes his head as Jess pulls the car up into the school's parking lot. He was expecting this. He had a plan in mind, excellent and well-thought out, the epitome of an anti-strike strategy that his experienced mind could conjure. So naturally it would be that things would catch on fire just as they rolled up. He's about to answer Jessica's question when the sight of the towering warrior and his troops swing into view, and his attention changes drastically.

    "There they are," he hisses as the car pulls up, and he's already climbing out, hoodie and tracksuit odd armor to bring to an invasion. "That's the leader. Be careful, and I've got the troops." By 'got the troops' he refers to the fist-sized device he pulls from his hoodie pocket as he emerges from the car; a grenade, little more than a few particles of enriched antimatter in a magnetic bottle sealed inside of a hyperalloy casing. Small yield, not much more than a standard fragmentation grenade, but with much greater force. Important to know this when you're dealing with civilian structures and an assult pack of special-forces troops.

    He comes out of the car, and as he does, the casual clothes melt away; instead, there is a figure in black metallic armor, dark chrome, its shape almost exactly like the armor that the Professor's guest wore upon her arrival - a faceless visor covers him, a mask that hides the expression of grim resolve and cold anger.

    This is the time, Cal'hatar. You cannot flinch now.

    << Black Cloak, >> he bellows, holding the grenade high. << Come to kill an innocent girl? What an honorable task. Have you become /Kree/? >> The voice is baritone, hard and stony along with its challenge. The words, however, are entirely Shi'ar.

    And then he throws the grenade, a smooth arc propelling the antimatter bomb toward the towering figure and his squad of troopers. In for a penny, as the humans say...

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "They'd have to find her first!" Clarice points out. "And at least it'd be away from //students//!" With Dyani safe, Clarice steps out into the hall, seeing a swarm of bugs on one side, and two soldiers on the other. "Hell," she mutters under her breath. "Keep me covered," she instructs Lydia as she concentrates on another portal. With a gesture - she opens a portal near the swam of bugs that she's linked to the vaccum of space - hoping that as air is pulled through to space, the bugs may also get 'vaccumed' away. It's not a trick she's attempted before - but it might work. Right?
    All the while, she tries to think desperately of how she's going to get the kids out of here. If they're smart, they're baracading themselves inside their rooms. In fact, she can hear the sounds of some furniture being shifted behind one of the door. Damnit...

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia squeaks in surprise as she is fired upon from a pair of Shi'ar soldiers. She, fortunately, gets a shield up in time for it to absorb the energy blasts. If she was being truthful to herself, she'd admit that she had no idea if her ectoplasmic should would be able to stop energy blasts, so it's good that the shields are holding.

"I've got two up here!" she calls to Clarice as she forms a tentacle to lash out from her shield at one of the invaders, hopefully knocking him unconscious, or at the very least, knock his blaster away.

Hearing Clarice's order to keep her covered she looks over to see a swarm of bugs, and opens up a second shield to cover that of the other end of the hallway. Two shields and a tentacle, that's starting to push her limits of how many things she can hold at once.

Jean Grey has posed:
<< Oh? So it's treason, then. >>

Black Cloaks' reaction does not seem wholly surprised. After all, he is here, among other reasons, to kill one traitor. What's two? << Honor is for the Guard. You should know this, cojotah. >>

As the grenade flies toward him, the darkly robed figure does not move to dodge. In fact, he takes a step forward, directly into its trajectory, and draws open his flowing garment with one arm. Briefly, pure darkness is visible within, blacker than space itself. The grenade 'hits' this void, and is gone. There is no explosion, no anything.

Then he levels the spear at them, and fires a blast of energy at their vehicle. In a moment, there will be no more vehicle.

Laura Kinney has posed:
And this is why Laura hates respecting other peoples rules about carrying weapons places. An alien invasion and she's armed with nothing but her claws and two unopened cans of Canadian import beer. Neither of which are ideal against whatever foe is flying around. Still it seems she's not alone out front. At least one human..ish visitor has just pulled up out front with a friend.

She tosses one of the cans up in the air, gauging it's weight, then puts her full enhanced strength behind it and throws it skywards.

Whoever that winged individual is probably won't get hurt by her projectile even if it does hit. But perhaps it'll get their attention and tempt them to get closer. She just hopes it isn't Warren...

Jessica Drew has posed:
Danger materializes into seven quicksilver forms just as Jessica has lifted open the SUV back door. So, much for driving a new car flits through her head as she dives for a gun from the hidden treasure trove that Cal'hatar put into it.

He is gone, clothing dematerializing, as he shouts a threat at the tallest in the troop.

"Tell me this is easy to use!" In her hand is an insectile weapon of gleaming metal with a long barrel. She puts it under an arm, lifts and sweeps across three crested forms firing a pencil-thick beam of crackling blue energy then dives spider fast to avoid return fire.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
There are enemies shooting from the stairs. That is incredibly rude, because those are very nice stairs, the craftsmanship alone must cost more than Terry's apartment, and now it's going to have to be wrecked. Scott's blast takes care of a good chunk of them, though, so Vorpal feelsn he has to contribute.

That's where the rolling, glowing boulder that comes crashing down the stairs behind the remaining shooters comes from- at least, whatever shooters are left after Scooter is done with them.

"Titans, yes" He confirms, and he looks down at the fog roilling around his feet.

"Yeah, unless you have a Wuthering Heights room in this mansion, this doesn't look natural," Says the magical Cheshire Cat.

"I'll help with both- can you tell Jean to tell students to run towards me when they see me? I can Rabbit Hole them to a safe place- I don't want to think at her directly because my mind isn't good for telepaths..."

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers relays Terry's message to Jean, making sure the catman's appearance isn't going to startle any of the students. Not that it's too likely around here, given the diverse student population, but the claw and fang sort will always cause a certain amount of startlement.

Scott will likely hear the combat outside, especially the grenade's explosion and probably head towards the doors to try and intervene and also to make sure that the SHIELD agents arriving are aware of his presence, "Someone make sure the lower levels are properly secured - the last thing we need is getting our tech sabotaged and raided," he says, seething frustration at being taken off guard. He absolutely hates being taken off guard.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    And...the grenade is swallowed in darkness. Claws unfold from sheathes in Michael's fingers, curling raptor's talons, not yet having drawn the insectile pistol sheathed on his thigh. << Loyalty to the Empire means /saving/ children, p'gath, not murdering them! The codes are clear, even in war! You soil all of us with this action. >>

    And then the car is exploding behind him, and Michael is flung away with the blast - the armor protects him, if barely, and his race's inbuilt strength and stamina do the rest to keep him from being pulped immediately as he is flung against a nearby tree. Downed, but hardly out for the count, his vision flickers for a moment as he attempts to collect himself anew.

Jean Grey has posed:
Upstairs, the students continue to grapple with the chaos of the invasion. Lydia lashes out toward one of the soldiers, securing a tentacle around his rifle. As it pulls back, she'll discover that even their 'rank and file,' baseline-Shi'ar soldiers are stronger than a human by some measure. But with a bit of a tug of war, he can't really aim the weapon, firing a few shots that end up going into the ceiling or floor before she finally yanks it free.

The other soldier is less hampered, and continues firing, weaking her ectoplasmic shield with every shot.

Meanwhile, Noriko attempts a scientific experiment.

She discovers that the beetles are more than happy to count a human finger as a food source, and her speed is the only reason she gets to keep hers!

The portal that opens behind them does seem to work, and starts sucking some through, but not all. A portion coat the walls, floor, ceiling, and seem able to hold fast against the depressurization. It also probably has the effect of pulling Noriko toward said same hole!

---

In the foyer, Terry goes bowling for soldiers. For the surprise factor involved, they are indeed very taken unawares by this approach, the rock crashing through their formation and scattering them all about, some knocked from the stairs to the floor below. That said, it's probably a little less-than-lethal to their better-than-human physiology.

---

Outside, 'wings' is on overwatch duty, no doubt, to keep an eye of the grounds and any movement. Yet for all that, Laura's attack definitely comes unexpected. He is bonked with a can, and indeed, this proves less than fatal. But it does encourage him to wheel around and dive toward her. Clearly, this is not Warren, as for one thing, he has a bird head. His wings also seem metallic, or at least sheathed in some sort of armor, which... ok no Warren spoilers.

Somewhat below, Jessica pulls out the alien rifle, and returns fire. Well, opens fire, just as the troopers and their leader do the same. His weapon proves quite deadly, the shot cutting through two troopers as another drops to the ground behind it. Her leap gets her clear of the SUV before it disintegrates, but it puts her out of cover in open ground as the other soldiers pepper the area with fire.

Scott reaches the fight, and conveniently, appears behind their formation.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    As the bugs blocking the hall are mostly cleared away - Clarice lets her portal blink out for the moment. After all - if they become a nuisance again, she can always summon another portal - which, once she has a spot of Noriko with two younger students on her back, is exactly what she does. A new portal appears in front of the girl, showing a cabin at the edge of the door. "The code is 216384 to open it," she tells Noriko. "They'll be safe there. Go."
    The sight of another child peeking cautious out the door of their room prompts the magenta toned woman to toss one of her javelins - and as it hits, that student appears on the front porch of the cabin, in a flash of purple energy.
    Perhaps - with no more students in sight for the moment, she she turn her attention to the men firing on Lydia and herself?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal stops for a second, tempted to join the fracas out front, since Scot scoots over to the site of the explosion... but no. Students come first.

He turns around and realizes that he's never been here before, so he doesn't know where the student dorms are.

Then he decides to go upstairs, because if you live on a mansion, it's obvious you'd want to have your sweet roooms on the upper floor, righr? Right?

Well, in any case, he's bound to find /something/ "Openings for ye Vorpal express!" he calls out, so students can find him.

Or the Shi'ar. He's ready for both.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    Stupid, Cal'hatar, /very stupid/ --

    He tried to reason with them. Appeal to their honor - which they do not have, Guard or no, as far as he's concerned. Michael is on his feet in a moment, drawing the pistol from its holster on a glossy metal thigh; his electron rifle in Jessica's hands, the Shi'ar commando elects to go for a volume of fire, the insectoid weapon spewing globules of incendiary plasma at speed like tiny fist-sized suns seeking to burn holes through the armored troopers. << My life for the innocent, >> he bellows, using the trees as cover as he launches the rapid-fire fusilade at the troopers and the Black Cloak. << Glory to the Empire! >>

    Because in his mind, it /is/ glory. If you love a thing, you must be willing to tell it 'no', or let it go. Innocent blood is already too easily spilled over Imperial hands. It has to stop - so, let it stop here. Treason. Fine. Let it be so.

Laura Kinney has posed:
And whoever said beer was bad for you.... Okay lots of people and that was before anyone tried use it to pick a fight with an alien.

X-23 backs off, feigning fear as 'wings' turns and starts to approach, but really just getting as much of a run up as she can on the uneven mansion rooftop. She pauses, taking one last deep breath, and then bursts into a sprint.

She's no Noriko but Laura can still accelerate at an inhumanly fast speed. And when she gets to the edge of the roof she leaps at him.

It's not until the last moment, when she's hopefully about to intersect with the diving alien, that her claws pop out. That distinctive snikt sound lost in the rush of air as she sweeps adamantium through where she expects one of those metallic wings to be.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Like bowling pins split by the concussion of the grenade, Cal'hatar, and Drew, are blown in opposite directions. Spider instincts rolled Jess into a ball, the gun under her arm and on her back like spindly legs sticking out at all angles. She unfolds in the open on her back, dazed and deafened by the blast.

Reorienting, she flips over on her stomach, aiming for the third trooper she had sighted. The alien weapon spits actinic blue, targeting the smooth maw of his armor. Jess doesn't stay to see the result but moves toward the building, head swiveling as she searches for Cal'hatar's position. She looks upward as a shadow passes overhead.

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers generally tries to teach heroic behavior. He wants his students and his teammates to set an example. He believes in doing the right thing, even when it's hard. He has passed up an easy shot before, when it felt like the wrong thing to do.

But today his home has been invaded and everything he cares about has been threatened. The mansion has been attacked dishonorably and Scott Summers is going to take the god damn gloves off.

So, behind the flank, he unleashes, a full fledged attack of sweeping crimson energy meant to send the intruders flying.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"What the-" Luckily, with her reflexes, Noriko stops at the edge of the swarm of gross, a kid clinging to her front and another to her back.  Even operating at this velocity, especially this velocity, these things are outright disgusting.  The slowly moving mandibles, the eyes, oh all those damn eyes.

Noriko watches as she becomes known to the first of the swarm, the awareness rippling out as they re-orient.  "Damnit.  Should have worn my cargo shorts."

"Let's see what we're dealing with."  Noriko sticks out a fingertip to one of the beetles.  "Are you a nibbler little guy?"  She half expects her finger to go right through it...maybe.  She's holding her breath at least.

---

"GREEDY," Noriko declares and punts a beetle with her foot as she withdraws her finger.  Suddenly though, this swarm that is quite aware of her presence, well, Noriko is quite aware of what that really means for her and the kids she has.  And this is taking so much time!  How many more kids could she have gotten if these damn flesh-eating bugs weren't here.

All this time.  All this time Noriko has been avoiding resorting to using her blasts.  As soon as Noriko realizes it, she shakes her head and shifts the front kid out of the way as she raises her gauntlet to let out a directed blast of lightning.  Anyone in their right mind would want to close their eyes, but Noriko doesn't have that luxury with lightning shooting out of her body.

Joy.

"I'm not going through that," Noriko says plainly to Clarice. Then, a moment later, "I have to help evacuate more people. They can remember the code." The kids kindly climb off of Noriko after the bugs have cleared and she makes it clear she's not going to jump into the portal.

"Thanks though."

Jean Grey has posed:
Over the next several moments, Jean coordinates -- through Scott, and then back to Vorpal -- for more student evacuations, with the Cheshire fellow reappearing at the top of the stairs. This provides a handy 'drop off' for the students on the 2nd floor, where he can portal them away to safety. Combined with Jean directing them and Clarice providing another set of escapes, this proves rather efficient.

The threats remain, however, and seem soemwhat tenacious. For instance, the bettle swarm. Losing a portion of itself in the portal, it continues swarming over various surfaces. And as it moves, one might discover that the area behind it is left eaten away, right into the walls. It seems it can make a meal of more than a finger. And as it eats, the swarm seems to replace its missing number. It swarms forward, definitely focused on Noriko as a target, covering the walls on either side of her before leaping inward from every direction, just as she decides to properly fight back. The swarm, needless to say, is not very maneuverable, and so the electircal blast scourges through them, leaving hundreds, maybe thousands fried.

Yet not all. And just like before, they seem to start replicating, replentishing. But they're easy to get around, for a moment!

---

Out front, the gunfight increases in volume. There's more Shi'ar, but undoubtedly, both Michael and Jessica outclass the basic troops, whittling them down one by one. But Black Cloak seems less concerned. Several shots he absorbs into the darkness as before, and when he uses his powerful energy lance to return fire, his foes have little option but to play defense, its destructive power immense.

So is Scott's.

It's the first hit the alien seems to take properly, and from behind, he can't use his cloak in the same way to absorb it. The blast sends him flying, skidding across the ground.

Above them, Laura's baiting technique works. When she asks her sister later, they might remark upon the similarities in their stories, even. Gabby tricked a bug. She tricked a bird. But neither seems to see the claws coming. Birdman's wings are strong, sure, but not indestructible, and so the clash of claws and metallic feathers sprays sparks before it sprays blood. It scores a slash in return, those things proving sharp, although the wounds are likely little worry. What's maybe more dangerous is that the birdman has both wings and arms to work with. While using the former to parry and slash, it manages to use the other to grab one of her arms, and then launches backward, pulling her airborne and away from the rooftop.

Below them, Black Cloak lies smoking in the courtyard. Yet, clearly, he's not done, planting the butt-end of his spear to haul himself back up. He stares at Scott, perhaps ready to return fire with his strange spear-

---

No one has figured out the mist. And here, maybe Scott's warning about sabotage to the base proves prescient. Spreading out over the floor of the building, it covers everything, seeps into every crack and corner. The purpose becomes obvious when it finally finds what it's looking for: a way down. And somehow, it communicates this information to its compatriots. Because Black Cloak doesn't remain to duel. He flourishes his cloak, spear glowing... and vanishes.

<< The sub-basement access is compromised, one managed to get through somehow, it's... I don't know, living gas, maybe, we're- >>

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "This is the //student dorms//. GET OUT!" Clarice growls out, anger in her voice at this invasion - this threat to the safety of mutant children. This was supposed to be a place of sanctuary. She sent //Dyani// here to learn. With a gesture, the armed guard still firing on Lydia's failing shield lets out a strangled cry as, in an instant, a portal tears his form in half - his legs his legs and lower torso hitting the floor as his head and chest vanish. Who knows where she's sent the other half.
    The second attacker reaches desperately for whatever back-up weapons he carries on his person as he's hit with a similar attack, and falls without a sound. Alright.
    "Noriko - they know your voice better than mine. Call the other students out of their rooms so I can teleport them to safety. The Shi'ar threatened to hit this school from orbit. We need to get //everyone// out. Do you know where Jean is?"

Scott Summers has posed:
Scott Summers saw enough of the earlier battle from the other side to recognize the futility of firing into the cloak. It's some sort of force field or black hole or generally just doesn't seem to be worth of much value as a target. Which is probably why it's so enticing, so big and black and empty, a void desperate to be filled with...

Okay, that's getting Freudian. Back on target.

Scott intends to aim the blast at the spear, only to have his would-be enemy seemingly vanish before he can even strike. And to learn that an even more insidious threat that he had dimissed too soon has gotten through. He turns and heads back into the building, "I'm going to get to the ventilation controls. Meanwhile, get out of there. Now."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Holy Frijoles, Batman! "The effing fog... goddamnit." He can't contact Jean, so he does his best to race down. "EVERYBODY, Rabbit Hole to the sub-basement opening in 4...3...2.." he shouts as loud as he can to anyone who can hear him. This is your chance for a one of a kind magical mystery tour, kids! All aboard?

Jessica Drew has posed:
Troopers crumple under the fire of their own weapons, an irony that Jess will savor later. Energy lances at her from the tall black Shi'ar form, the thigh of her tac uniform bubbling. It burns away as an edge of the weapon glances across her thigh.

"Ahhhhh," she yells, shooting wildly in his direction as the world turns red and resolves into her Shi'ar adversary lying face down, smoke curling from his armor.

"Cal'hatar" she yells as she aims her weapon at the enemy trying to lever himself upright. There is no mercy for soldiers killing children.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura does indeed care very little about the cuts she gets slashing at the metal wings. Her flesh already beginning to knit itself back together even as wings grabs her arm and begins to haul her skywards. "You're going to regret this," she states flatly. Her free arm grabbing hold of him in turn.

Anything to make it harder for him to drop her.

With both her clawed hands occupied he might think himself safe. Sadly if that's what wings was thinking he would be very very wrong. There's a second 'snikt', probably also lost in the rush of wind, as claws pop out from each of her feet.

There might only be a single blade on each foot but each one is still razor sharp adamantium. And Laura is very flexible. So even as they rise into the air wings receives a flurry of kicks. Claws slashing at his legs and lower body.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Realizing she has the undivided attention of a regenerating thing eating swarm, Noriko's first instinct is to shout, "If they're focusing on me, they can't focus on anyone else."  She has plenty of time to see that guard be portaled in half in glorious detail.  "No-time-flesh-eating-swarm-get-away-I'll-find-out-where-Jean-is-just-open-portals-under-kids-done-seeya."

Jean-Jean-Jean-Jean, Noriko concentrates those wildly fast thoughts like a laser as if summoning her dark god, 'Eye of Sauron hear me now,' she disrupts her mantra'd thoughts for a moment as she starts to pushes the kids toward Clarice and sends another sharp, more confident blast at the swarm.  A little tickle to keep them on her trail as she tries to navigate the school on her search with a swarm in tow, but prioritizing her shepherding of the swarm.  At this rate though, she has to turn to face the swarm.

"Come on fuckers," she says as she keeps her feet moving up and down so nothing can land on her.  Then she builds up a charge and punches it with a right hook of electric blue.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    The Black Cloak vanishes, and so does any more threat in the moment to him. Michael takes down the last of the troopers with a pair of plasma globules to the chest, sending the man down with plumes of smoke pouring from his armor. In the moment, he is methodical. Brutal. Punishing. They are the enemy in this moment, and no mercy was ever taught him to give the enemy in all the years of study in the Imperial War College. In some ways, he's currently on automatic, but he isn't /entirely/ a killer.

    << I'm fine, >> he calls to Jessica, hearing her call and seeing her laid out unharmed - and then turns his attention to the house at large. << KILL THEM HERE, >> he booms as he stoops to pick up one of the fallen troopers' rifles, his voice reverberating from the annunciators of his helmet - a method /meant/ to produce terrifying sounds to demoralize targets, now sending messages of hope to some degree. << THEY CANNOT DO MORE THAN THIS. THEY WILL NOT JEOPARDIZE THEIR TREATIES WITH THE KREE. >> He may not be able to spew optic blasts or acid or guillotine with teleportals, but the man has /facts/ on his side. The first rule of battle is to always know as much as you can, after all.

Jean Grey has posed:
Between the shields and Clarice's reappearance (and brutal tele-assaults), the guards by Lydia's room are dispatched quickly enough. The swarm dutifully follows Noriko, clearing more of a path until ultimately they surround her. Even with all that speed, she can't keep them off, and she'll have some nasty bug bites to show for all of this, but when she finally charges up that electrical punch and subsequent blast, she's rewarded with a shockwave of flying fried bugs. If any remain to regenerate the swarm, they skitter away into nooks and crannies, nought to be seen again soon.

Laura, again, pulls out the surprise factor. It's a fortunate thing in all of this they didn't have a lot of intelligence data on 'the many children of Wolverine, clone and otherwise.' Suffice it to say, bird-man does not expect feet-claws. Cut from below, eventually, the damage to his wings (and other parts) is too much and they start to fall. The falling is unavoidable, at this point, but at least they do it from a lower altitude.

And like this, there's small bits of fighting throughout the halls, but the school seems to be winning, and no doubt later, there will be as many stories of small moments of heroism as there are students and teachers. They'll no doubt hear the tale of Gabby dueling a sword-wielding bug. Or hear of the battle in the back yard, with Rogue batting Shi'ar about with a tree trunk, Dazzler blasting a rock man, and Kitty's grim battle with a rogue Skrull mercenary.

Maybe even Hambone gets a moment of glory.

There are losses, too, but in the moment, victory feels close at hand.

Except for whatever's happening below.

<< We're in the sub-basement, they've gotten in, fighting, need to get- Lockheed needs medical.>> Her thoughts are obviously interrupted by whatever is going on, the clearer words broken by brief images of the metallic hallways of the sub-basement. They're fighting. The gas is swirling around, and there's another strange figure, a bald greenish figure with a bald head and red glasses.

And Black Cloak, stalking toward her, spear raised.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
And they're there. Vorpal doesn't have time to quip about whether they've arrived at the Starship Enterprise, because there is a clear group of hostiles right ahead. "Suggestion: I'll take care of the fog. You beat the crap out of the others?"

His claws crackle with a red-purple glow, and the chaos magic congeals into the shape of enormous fan blades that, when touched with the proper enchantment, rise into the air and begin to spin until they are one massive, blurred shape, issuing a strong tunnel of wind towards the swirling mist, to push it away from their allies. If this causes the other enemies to stumble and fall... well, that's an added bonus. Once the gas is pushed far enough away from them, he can direct the fan to chase it.

"No John Carpenter rip-off is going to threaten anyone around here, bub!"

Wolverine isn't here. Somebody has to say it, right?

Laura Kinney has posed:
It's more luck than planning that Laura and wings manage to crash through an upper story window near to where Blink is teleporting people. Although it did require a degree of skill for X-23 to twist around Wings as they plummeted out of the sky so he had the pleasure of going through the window beak first.

Still it's never a good idea to go through any amount of broken glass. If not for her healing factor and absurd degree of training she'd be unconcious from the pain. Instead bits of glass and broken wood get ejected from her body.

As for Wings himself... Who can say. Alien invaders probably are tougher than most. But he's taken a lot of adamantium punctures and a high speed crash landing.

Sadly the second one of Logans unopened beers is no-where to be seen. RIP.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "Alright kids - friendly neighborhood mutant teleporter here! Everyone come out for your ride out of here before the orbital bombardment starts! This is Clarice, Lorna's friend! Come on out!" To Clarice's relief - many of the children listen, and they blink away in quick succession, sent to a Brotherhood Safehouse in the edge of the woods in the middle of Montana. There's water electricity, blankets, some food - quarters will be cramped for this many kids, but when escaping the literal threat of an alien orbital bombardment, beggars can't be choosers.
    The blast of the message from Jean has her gritting her teeth in frustration. Where is her //Queen//? Where's Lorna? But can she ignore the fact that Jean might be in trouble, and may be key to conquering the known universe? Shit.
    At the sound of a crash and shattering glass, Clarice spins abruptly, javelins already in hand. Laura she recognizes as friendly - but a flash of purple energy simply sends the bird-like foe //away//. Wherever Clarice just send the being is sure to be an extremely hostile environment.
    "Jean needs us," she says simply to Laura, opening a portal and leaping through to the sub-basement.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Black Cloak dissolves, leaving the parking lot littered with the wreckage of a car and the smoking remains of alien soldiers. Jess surveys the aftermath, one hand to the wound on her thigh, painful but already healing. Limping, she walks up the steps into the school, weapon held at the ready.

-----

Jessica's ears pop like descending in an airplane. Blinking hard to adjust to the change of light, the agent's vision clears enough for her to see through an eddy of fog, Black Cloak raising his spear at a woman.

"NO!" The weapon she was holding clatters to the ground as she raises her hands. Green light coalesces in the palms of her hands which she overhands at the back of Black Cloak's armored head. Bio-electricity arcs down the hall toward the enemy.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    The Shi'ar have a word for decapitation attacks the enemmy -- ehs'tyl, basically meaning 'headshot'. Kill the leadership, you break the spirit of the enemy. Or so it has always seemed to be. Michael -- Cal'hatar -- has carried them out himself when younger.

    The knowledge of this is what keeps him moving, even as the teleportation portals open, even as he takes up a second rifle from the gory mess of his now-former countrymen.

    When he was younger, he heard about a man named Rock, a sergeant in the United States Military during the second world conflict that enflamed this planet. And so it is the stories of this Sergeant Rock that drive him as he charges into the house, rifle cradled under each arm, through the portals; through the hall and toward the towering shape of the Black Cloak, his spear held high. << Son of a chak'balaar, >> he roars as he emerges from the portal into the corridor alongside Jessica. << Die without honor! Die like the beast you are! >>

    Both rifles in his grip bark, rapid-cycling lances of energy snapping across the distance toward the Black Cloak. Toward the gruesome mask he calls a helmet. Or a head. No room for void-tricks and shimmering cloakwork /now/. Assuming he hits. And assuming it works.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Fights between a speedster who has bit off more than she can chew and a chewy swarm that can keep up with one happen fast...dirty...and Noriko really doesn't want one of these things burrowing through her eyeball or her nose or something to get to the gold.

It's easy enough to slip through a portal.  Those bug bites?  They are nasty, right now at least, bleeding, but the blood doesn't just drip down.  It kind of swirls and spreads out across her skin until she stops moving.  She blinks and wipes her brow off on her shoulder in a split second, good enough to get sweat and blood out of her eyes to get her bearings in her own unfurling world.  Observation is king, and Noriko immediately, instinctually decides she's on defense of all things.  Support.  She takes stock of all of her charges.  Time to play Keep Away.  Aka, keep harm away from everyone else.

To try and draw as much gas toward herself, she starts doing donuts after taking a deep breath.  If she does it right, she won't need to hold her breath, but then it's not like Nori spends her afternoons chasing her proverbial tail.

Jean Grey has posed:
As the heroes pour into the hallway, they find the battle underway. Jean is in the middle of the hall, blocking a portion that contains the medical bay, and further back, the entrance to the Cerebro chamber. Or maybe Jean was fighting. As they arrive, she's contained in some kind of forcefield orb, that itself seems to be filling with some kind of gas. The creature? Something else? The figure with the red goggles stands beside her. He's saying something in Shi'ar, even as the bubble itself seems to be destabilizing, and then shatters around her, dropping her to the floor. Her own body is roiling with a faint aura of yellow-red energy, crackling and angry.

She stands, weakly...

... and Black Cloak fires at her with his spear. She summons up a telekinetic barrier, and it holds back the blast, but they can all see it, how these multiple attacks must be wearing her down, her posture hunched, her expression pained as she pours energy back at them.

As the heroes start teleporting in, they feel what must be making this so difficult. The air is /wrong/ clearly, just to normal senses, and overwhelmingly so to the stronger ones of someone like Laura. Immediately, they're all suffocating. Or maybe being poisoned. Maybe both.

The strange gaseous alien no doubt to blame, although it's hard to localize its position, so... diffuse that its presence is nearly invisible. Is there even any 'good air' down here? Has he transmuted it all? Vorpal immediately conjures a fan, blasting the air down the hall, and Noriko creates a vortex, blowing it and then trying to capture whatever particles. Maybe it's working....

Until the alien that was holding Jean turns and conjures another bubble. At full speed, Noriko hits the edge of her new prison, a bubble just a little bit bigger than her.

Michael comes in guns blazing against one of his own, and Jessica with him. Several of the blasts hit Black Cloak, again from behind - the best way - and although staggers from them, clearly reeling, he manages to turn back from Jean to focus his spear back up the hallway. And fires, with a blast wide enough for both the traitor and his SHIELD friend. "Die."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Vorpal narrow his eyes.

"Aren't you a little grown-up for blowing bubbles?"

The fan begins to advance towards the bubble maker, spinning on its side like an enormous shuriken and heading towards him. He's probably some sort of telekinetic- who knows, maybe he's telepathic and will try to put that into play.

Vorpal's sincerely hoping for that, in fact.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Get Jean clear - and hopefully the attack ends. That's Clarice's hope. And besides - they can't let these guys obtain their objective, not if the fate of the Universe is at streak. "We protect Jean!" she calls - despite the fetid air filling her lungs and weakening her. One of her javelins is charged and sent flying towards Jean, as Clarice hopes to blink the woman away and land her in the middle of a deep, Canadian forest. Why? Look - it's one of the places she knows well, and with little collateral damage if the Shi'ar are able to track her down...

Laura Kinney has posed:
Whatever is going on in the basement is nearly unbearable to X-23's enhanced senses. Covered in her own blood and whatever alien blood leaked out of Wings she lets out a low snarl. Nearly unbearable isn't the same as unbearable after all.

And with her claws already out it'd be rude not to at least try and give the unwelcome guests a taste of the ole Howlett family hospitality!

Pushing all of the pain and discomfort down into one last burst of adrenaline she charges in too. Vaulting off walls, diving into a low roll and generally making her path as unpredictable as possible. Hoping to get close enough to introduce adamantium to alien flesh.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    The first thing he was taught as a young noble was this: protect the people, above anything else. Jessica flings electric bolts down the corridor, even as he continues firing, and as Black Cloak turns to hurl the coruscating lance of energy originally meant for Jean down the corridor instead, Michael/Cal'hatar steps forward, even as his rifles continue to spit blazing electric death, and wills his armor to put up a thick wall of nearly solid light, all the power of his armor going into creating a shield from what has served for decades as a holographic disguise.

    When it hits him, consciousness is snuffed. Entirely.

    To the observing eye, the blast hits the shield with all the energy of a freight train. Thrown back, past Jessica, the wall of hard light flares with the brightness of an acetylene torch as it struggles against the onslaught, flares and dies and leaves him to be thrown back ever farther by the remnants. The black metal is instantly coated with soot, the remains of the surface level of the armor (and possibly more) and lightning plays across limbs and ruined torso plating for seconds longer as he lies there, twenty feet back and very, very still.

    It was meant for him. He had to take it. That duty, at least he has succeeded in.

    Shi'ar do not dream. So perhaps the blackness he falls into will be permanent. Funny, that.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Remarkable.  Even more remarkable, Noriko isn't dizzy or dead from the g-forces she produces.  She laughs and coughs as her little vortex whirls.  As soon as she collides with the bubble though, her legs and arms are just a blur.  In a flash, there's a disconcerting image of it almost looking like she's just a floating torso in a bubble...but then it's clear she's dog-paddle-air-swimming, a snarl flared across her lips.

The speedster with nothing to lose screams against the bubble, her freedom seized from her, once more back in some kind of cage.

Jessica Drew has posed:
SHIELD tac uniforms are formidable against bullets, fire retardant, blast absorbent, but like tissue paper against Shi'ar lances. Agent Drew has already learned the hard way. Light bright as the sun lances toward them. Her former prisoner, lately become SHIELD asset to be guarded for the information he carries about the Shi'ar does the unthinkable. He steps in front of her, transforming himself into a mirrored shield dissipating the energy thrown their way.

A thought flits through her head as she weakly leaps upward. He has genuinely gone native and sold out his people.

The cloying air seems to sap her strength; she slides down the wall like it is greased, burned across her back, hair singed several yards in front of Cal'hatar.

Jean Grey has posed:
The strange man with goggles is not a telepath, or if he is so, he does not reveal it. His power, seemingly, is these bubbles. All the same, a giant magical fan is a threat, and apparently he's reduced to the simplest method of dealing with such a thing: diving out of the way, which leaves him a little less mobile on the edge of the hall.

Clarice's move is her go to, yet as the javelin hurtles down the hall, it... makes a strange turn. Black Cloak is facing them now, and after he fires the blast, he reaches to open his cloak again, opening a portal through whatever strange dimension of his own...

... but the reaction is not entirely what he expects. The javelin bends weirdly, space warped, and is sucked into his darkness. Then it vanishes. But the figure... stumbles. He seems weirdly affected by it, as if whatever two versions of interdimensional oddity, like oil and water, simply won't mix. After a few moments, he gives a pained grunt, and the javelin -re-emerges- from the open darkness, albeit flying at a weird angle, back toward the group although not aimed anywhere in particular. It hits a wall, and perhaps there opens up a pretty view of Canada!

But it s a moment of disorientation, for the fearsome creature with the spear.

And variously, it's enough.

Laura, fighting through the pain, is the first to reach him. He reacts to her, swinging the spear -- as a melee weapon now, not an energy lance - in her direction. But close up there's no matching her feral speed or brutal efficiency. She sinks her claws into him, through the outside of his cloak into his body. And there IS flesh under there, somehow, he's not just some interdimensional void in a raincoat. He slumps a bit, down to the ground, on one knee.

Behind him, Jean has recomposed herself slightly, energy still crackling around her. She reaches up and touches two fingers to her temple. One might imagine she is targeting one of the two, but there's a third answer: "I... can actually sense the gas. I'll try... putting it to sleep. Ah- what? No."

In the moment, she's sensed something, perhaps from that weird alien mind, and everything changes. Everyone hears what comes next, the horror and pain and anger behind it. << My parents. >>

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Bubble Guy wasn't a telepath or a telekinetic. He was just... bubble guy.

Vorpal glances at Noriko in her bubble, and snarls, turning his attention towards Bubble Man, the Cheshire cat leaning against the wall and trying not to lose his focus because of the noxious fumes that Jean is mercifully neutralizing. It was worse than when Beast Boy took advantage of the Taco Bell All Night Special.

"Let her out!" Vorpal opens a Rabbit Hole under Bubble Man, and another one on top of him, so that he's trapped in a perpetual fall loop. "Right now, or I will splatter you against the wall when you reach terminal speed- and no-one will care!"

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    "I definitely won't care," Clarice agrees - as she hurries to Jean's side - coughing out the strange air but, unfortunately, filling her lungs with it again immediately afterwards.
    "Where are they, Jean?" she asks - holding her hand out to the woman. "Let's go to them."
    Oh, she has no intention of taking Jean directly into a trap. But - if she knows where they are, then //others// can go after Jean's parents, certainly. Others who aren't the key to conquering the universe.
    In the back of her mind she hears Raven's words to her - don't be a hero. Get out.
    Damnit.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Jess staggers to her feet. Bleary eyed, she watches dimensions shift in the hall, redirecting weapons. Later, Jess will know their names, witnesses a woman attacking Black Cloak like a she-bear protecting her cub. Indeed, she thinks, no one will care if these aliens bent on destroying the school are scattered across the universe.

Woozy from the strange air, she goes to Cal'hatar and kneels. "Up. Wake up. Don't crap out on me now! Not after all this! Jean Grey is still alive."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Gritted teeth widen into a grin as X-23 smells blood in the air. Whatever these aliens wanted. Whatever reason brought them here. They attacked her sisters school. Her /sister/. Promises to avoid killing never even enter into her mind.

The claws dug into Cloaks side twist even as he falls to his knee. Keeping him off balance while her other arm draws back. Laura might not know much about alien biology but as a rule if something has a head... Well it's generally pretty important.

She sweeps her raised arm down. A flash of adamantium passing through whatever passes for Cloaks neck. No time for last words. No mercy.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    There should be alarms. There should be klaxons in his ears. Instead, for a moment, he is blind when Michael/Cal'hatar comes back to consciousness, flooded with pain. Slowly, he fights it off, reaching up and pulling back the faceless visor, revealing a man's face - a human face - blue eyes bright and sharp like chips of sapphire. Red blood streams out of his nose, his mouth, dripping out of the borders of his helmet. The pain is tremendous.

    But he gets up.

    The armor whines softly, its systems cooked from overload. Could be useless after this, he doesn't know. But what he /does/ know is that the Black Cloak kneels, wounded. Picks up his rifle. "I'm fine," he tells Jessica in a voice that's as much a gurgle as a growl, forgetting her being there for a moment thanks to the mingled haze of pain and hatred that fills his head. He half-walks, half-drags himself toward the kneeling beast.

    << Die without honor, you son of a whore. >> These words he gets in before Laura deals the killing blow, and the alien rifle in his hand suddenly seems so much better to use as a crutch upon which to sag.

    Well. He did it. But he /did/ it. It's done.

Jean Grey has posed:
Already on the floor, Goggles has nowhere to go but fall when a hole opens beneath him. And while Vorpal's threat is an unusual, and perhaps uncharacteristically vicious, it's effective. It takes only a few moments of falling, faster and faster, before the bubble fades around Noriko, releasing her back into the now normalizing atmosphere from whatever was trapped in there with her. Perhaps they'll show him mercy? Perhaps not.

Black Cloak I receives none, and that strangely shaped skull-like head hits the floor with a THUNK, and rolls a short ways.

All hail Black Cloak II.

But then there's Jean. Who looks both panicked and angry at the same time. It is not a familiar expression, not the way her students are used to seeing her, collected and overly perfectionist. She looks harried and frayed.

The first place she looks as the enemies are brought down is Clarice. Who is asking where they are, so they can get tehre. Yet as Jean answers, Clarice will realize the woman's already in her head.

"There's two more from their squad. At my childhood home, in Annandale." A scenic town a bit further north from Xaviers. "They will kill my parents. Kill my sister. Kill everyone related to us, our entire bloodline. That is their law." She seethes. "We are not /running/ from this. There's no point. They will hunt me forever. They'll kill others around me." There's mental flashes, of various people around the school, injured, in pain. Maybe worse. "Or they'll just get tired of it, and blast us all from space. Do you think they can't reach /Canada/ from space?"

"Take me to them, or I'll do it myself." As she speaks, the words echo mentally, and there's a pressure to them, like a building headache. "This ends, one way or another. No one else dies for me."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko has to breathe...and unfortunately, it's just this weird gas.  She lets out what seem like little tiny clipped coughs as she continues to struggle and hyperventilate.  The lack of control, the confinement overwhelming the girl.

Is it a stroke of good luck that the forcefield like bubble suddenly vanishes after a number of loops on Vorpal's Fun Ride?  Noriko drops and the momentum from her own contact sends her tumbling forward like a kid toppling out of a sled, no worse for wear save a scrape or two more, right?  At the end of the tumble though, Noriko is already using her momentum to roll up onto her feet.  Her eyes scan left and right, appearing as blurring a bar across her sclera.

Spotting the Bubble Man still getting the most out of his ride in this micro-moment, Noriko sprints over to be near Vorpal, no longer coughing.

Clarice Ferguson has posed:
    Clarice's teeth grit as she feels Jean in her mind. They'd have words later - she was sure - but the moment they were in didn't have time for it. "I think it's a mistake. Others will help your family, we have to do everything we can to keep you away from them, Jean. This is about the fate of the //universe//."
    But people will do stupid things for family, and if her words don't convince Jean (and she suspects they won't) Clarice relents and opens the way to Annandale.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"I'm a cat of my word," the Cheshire says idly once he makes sure Noriko is safe. The next time the man enters the portal, he vanishes, not to be seen again.

----SOMEWHERE IN THE ATLANTIC-----

A portal opens over the surface of the ocean, in the middle of nowhere. It is facing upwards, so that when the man emerges, eventually his ascent is stopped by gravity. Which then reasserts itself and pulls him down to the waiting waters below. Splash.

"I sure hope his bubbles can float!" he says to Noriko and pats her shoulder with a grin, and walks towards Jean, once he has heard what has been discussed.

"Count me in." He glances at Clarice, eyebrow raised in salute of another portaler, "We can get /anyone/ out of there, if we work together while the rest of you focus on kicking ass."

And the way to Annandale is open. Vorpal will try to get a message to the Titans to see if they can come and reinforce- but they might be too far away to make it in time. This means it's just him, representing.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney removes her claws from Cloak I, ducking to scoop up his head. "I think it might be a little premature to say no-one else is going to die," she notes with a shrug. "And alien or not they die like anything else."

And with that she begins padding off towards the elevator. She has family of her own to check up on after all.

She pauses by Jessica, then hands her the severed head. "I suppose you'll be wanting this for... whatever it is SHIELD does with this sort of thing." And without waiting for a reply walks off.

Jessica Drew has posed:
Automatically, Jess accepts the grisly prize, mouth opening then closing. To the clawed woman's retreating back, she manages, "Thank you," looks down at the bloody mess, adding, "I think."

Head in hand, she walks toward Michael/Cal'hatar in time to overhear his words to Jean. It is only now that Jess begins to measure his sacrifice.

Michael Erickson has posed:
    "No." Michal/Cal'hatar sags hard on the barrel of the rifle now, its butt on the deck, the warrior-spirit flagging in him with the fading wave of adrenaline (or whatever the Shi'ar possess in place of it.) "No, they won't strike from orbit. They have...treaties...with the Kree. It would launch a war." This man in the blasted black armor, so very much like that which the invaders wear now. "But they will kill your family, if they can. I think...they might be trying to trigger the Phal'kon. The...the Phoenix. Inside of you. To give them the excuse in the face of the galactic community."

    He has no proof, of course, but it's a thought. It's what he would do if he were different.

    Finally, Michael looks to Jean. "I have betrayed my people for you," he tells her, bluntly. "Because I do not want an innocent woman murdered for what..is inside her. I beg you, miss. Do not have that sacrifice been made in vain."

Jean Grey has posed:
As Jean turns to Michael, an unknown, it's then that one last figure joins them, emerging from the room down the hall that she herself had been defending. Lilandra Neramani, exiled Princess of the Shi'ar.

Walking slowly, her posture careful and poised, she first approaches and then passes Jean, to stand before Michael. He has never stood before the royalty of his people, but even so, she is unmistakable for what she is, in her demeanor, her carriage, her very essence. She looks at him with a measuring eye, as if weighing his measure, her fellow 'traitor'. "If only it were so. My brother, your Majestor... is a madman. For what he plans, no treaty will matter. For it, he will burn this world, burn a hundred worlds, if it should be necessary. For if he achieves that power, the Kree, the Skrull, they will be nothing. He will cast down the rivals of the Empire and spread his conquest far and wide, in wars without measure, without end... or he will shatter this universe to pieces, in his mad folly to control forces he does not understand."

She glances toward Jean then, and the portal Clarice has opened for them. "And I know this woman. You will not change her mind. Nor her friends." Spoken as if that is the last of it, she offers Michael a faint smile. "And you have betrayed nothing. When this is done, and my brother cast down... we will have purpose yet for you."

Without further word from the princess, Jean turns and begins her way toward the portal, even as her mind reaches out to her friends and allies around the school. "X-Men... we have a mission."