9663/Westchester By Night: First Blood

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Westchester By Night: First Blood
Date of Scene: 16 January 2022
Location: Back Yard
Synopsis: After swiping an ancient grimoire important to her kind, Jubilee has accidentally left a trail of breadcrumbs that leads the armies of its rightful owner to the gates of Xavier's! The school is visited by Suthtehk The Malefactor's three vampire brides and their army of undead, hell bent on recovering what belongs to them! Divine, the half-Kryptonian visiting the school, draws first blood, figuratively speaking, and ignites a war between vampires and mutants!
Cast of Characters: Jubilation Lee, Monet St. Croix, Noriko Ashida, Megan Gwynn, Kitty Pryde, Rogue, Jamie Madrox, Divine, Bobby Drake




Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Just outside the main gates of the Xavier's School grounds, thirteen guys on motorcycles circle. They're not being particularly considerate, as the roar of their wide-open throttles fill the otherwise quiet evening with robust, throaty growls and thrumpy exhaust notes. The gates are shut and seem to be doing their job of keeping these hooligans off the property, at least for now. They're decked out in the standard effects of a biker gang: jeans, black boots, chains and leather. "Establish a perimeter," a gruff, female voice commands, belonging to a shadowy figure standing in the middle of the circle of bikers. It's quiet but somehow heard above the deafening roar of the motorcycles. Those three words send the riders obediently back towards the main road, with half of them turning left and the other half turning right before they all disappear into the night.

    The moon hangs high over Xavier's School For Gifted Youngsters, casting an eerie light over the entire property, leaving the surrounding forests dark and shadowy. A reprieve from the December snow has brought the grass back, giving this evening a sense of optimism, as though spring might come early. It's still quite cold, though, and calls for the usual winter coat, hat, and gloves. THAT memo apparently didn't reach everyone, though, as one student remains outside, leaning back in a plastic beach chair that has been set up in the backyard. It's Jubilation Lee, lounging in a bikini under the beams of moonlight as though it was a day at the beach. In her lap, she has a book -- brown, large, heavy -- and actually seems to be reading it!

    "Stifle it, Edith, huyeaah?!" Jubilation shouts into the air, though it's impossible for her voice to reach the gates from the back yard. It's also impossible that she understands her own impression from Archie from All In The Family, as that show has never reached her eyes. It's just one of those things kids hear and don't care where it came from. Still, the noise is gone so Jubilee returns to her ancient, dusty book.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix has been outside for the evening and is just walking along through the front lawn. The group of bikers going along get her attention over as she would let out a wince as they would stop thier engines at the main gates. M would go to take a moment to let her eyes flash, even as she would give a telepathic signal <<A group of a dozen or so men on motorcycles have just stopped outside the gates. I heard the word 'perimeter'>> The telepathic signal is sent to the first member of the teaching staff that she could reach even as she would go to head towards the gates. Wary and presuming this was a threat, and heading towards them from her position, taking long strides ona n intercept course along the driveway. For now not paying any attention to Ms. Lee's presence as the girl would be doing her moon-bathing and making herself paler than she already was.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko is snoozing right next to Jubilation, also in a bikini, somehow not bothered by the cold as she sprawls out on a chair dragged from the pool.  She's belly down, a pair of sunglasses slipping down her nose with her hands underneath her head.  At the sudden shout, she startles awake like a cartoon missing some frames.  "What the hell?  What happened?"

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn has been out and about, stretching her wings and enjoying some fresh air. But as the day winds down, she is ready to return home, and she hovers over the school about to land in the backyard and greet Jubes, when the telepathic signal goes out. <<Woah, what gives? Bikers? Sheesh..>> she flies towards the front yard instead, surveying the scene for now.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
  Up on the housetop space-dragons paw.
  Phasing Kitty from the roof withdraws.
  Wearing x-costume in black and gold.
  Showing it off, not bothered by cold.

"Hey Lockheed, this material is much better against the cold," she says as she moves around, testing the costume's movement range. "Forge really did a nice job on this. Will be great to be able to be in colder climates without having to bundle up terribly. Though could use a mask," she says, exhaling a puff of air which is visible in the cold air.

Kitty's ponytail bobs behind her as she turns to glance towards the front of the school where the roar of motorcycle engines can be heard distantly. She doesn't think too much of it though as she takes a jog along the mansion's roof, testing her footing on a few icy patches. "Will have to poke someone to melt this," she comments of the ice.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is sitting out back on the patio with her navy peacoat on, a wool knit hat on her head, her phone in her gloved hands, and her feet covered in crocs with spurs. She's sniffling quietly as she taps on the screen and shoots a text message off to someone on the other end.

There is music coming from the speaker on the wall, playing some tunes from her phone. She gets an X-Alert across her system tied in to the group network, and it causes her to sit up. She gets a camera feed of the front gate, and exhales. "God, now what?" The Belle asks nobody in particular as she rises up and starts to float up toward the roof, stuff her phone in to her jacket pocket as she goes....

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Whatever danger might've been presented by that biker gang is long gone, apparently, as they've split up and rode away down the dark country roads of Westchester. But, over in the back yard...

    "Oh, just a bunch of hootin' and hollarin'," Jubilee answers Noriko, trying her best to deliver it with the natural twang of a cowgirl. Hootin and hollarin! She looks over and grins a little before looking back down at the thick pages of her book.

    Three women stand in the dark forests that form a perimeter around the Xavier's property, having just met up twenty feet back from the treeline. They all look like they're in their early twenties and each of them is shockingly beautiful in her own way. The first to talk is Clemencia, a nymph-like brunette who seems to be unable to stand still. She's swinging her arms around, her head leaned back so she can see the moon. "The moon is wanton and full tonight, sisters, and she speaks of danger. Intrigue. She warns me that we've failed, sisters. Failed at our task..." she lazily states, her voice slow and luxurious. She wears a flowing toga of white and purple silks, gold trimming, with her hair pulled up into an elaborate pleat.

    Next to her stands Nefertiti, the raven-haired biker from the motorcycle circle. She's dressed like she just got off a bike herself -- jeans, black boots, stainless steel chains, with studded bracelets. "We haven't even gone in yet, Clem," she replies joylessly while staring into the backyard. Her voice is much more gruff and spartan compared to Clemencia's, but it was undoubtedly the one that sent those bikers on their way.

    "Oh yes we haaaaave!" Clemencia sings, hopping from foot to foot with a big smile on her face.

    The third woman, Severina, a blonde wearing dark jeans, boots, and a black coat, scowls at the display. "...We won't fail. The Primigenia are at our back." She sounds determined, as though she has some personal score to settle in whatever is happening here tonight. Behind them, the sounds of the forest get louder and louder as twigs and leaves snap, as though a very large number of people are moving through it...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Going to focus her mind as the group would split up, Monet St. Croix is rapidly evaluating their positions, going to use her partialy enhanced senses to track them. She is nowhere near as potent as someone with training, but the group is thankfully not making it a secret of where they're going and M has been able to track them in the few minutes before they would split up and spread out.
    So M would go to spread her mind and send a telepathic warning to the rest of the team that she would pick up, intent on cue'ing them in to things and trying her best to share the positions of them and what bits of things she could hear and make out.
    <<Should we treat them as hostile and engage them?>> That is sent to whomever is the nearest 'adult' on the line. Which is probably poor, unfortunate Katherine.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn hovers over the front yard, watching as the noisy biker gang moves out. "And stay out!" she yells, shaking a fist at them. But..It seems someone, or something else is stirring in the surrounding woods. <<Woah, sounds like a bigger gang approaching!>> She continues to hover in the sky, frowning a bit as she surveys the scene. <<Woah, so many people..I'm not sure what they want..A mob? Eww, they look kinda funny.. Kinda old and corpsey..What should we do..?>>

Jamie Madrox has posed:
There's only the one Jamie at the moment. He's coming out from the mansion to the back yard in a pair of tapered joggers and a black hoodie with a golden X logo on the front. He's just coming out when Rogue is floating up so he looks, well, up. He tilts his head, and then sticks the hotdog in his hand in his mouth, chewing. "S'goin omf?"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko squints at Jubilation.  "Well was that really necessary?...also, why are you reading?"  Jubes, reading.  Is that a book for class?  Noriko squints harder as things seem to brew around them, unbeknownst to her.  Her night vision is as meager as it has always been, so she sighs, giving up on making out the title in shadow, even if she didn't give Jubes enough time to really answer.  Her hand blurry flops as if Jubes not need bother answering just as her cheek hits the back of her other hand.  She's out.

But then she starts to hear the sounds getting louder and louder.  "Is /that/ more hooping and hollarin'?"  She butchers the accent and only halfway employs it.  She's moonbathing with the young vampire.

Divine has posed:
From the boathouse, someone shouldn't be able to hear anything from the front gates. Most people wouldn't really be able to hear anything beyond the breeze whistling through the trees and the lapping of the water on the dock.

Most people don't have Kryptonian senses.

Divine, the surprisingly polite, if surly, guest of the school does hear this cacaphony. Thus, she investigates. Silently, she flies from the balcony of the boathouse up into the sky, skimming over trees as she heads for the gates. She hovers, a shadow over the moon as she takes it all in.

Then she heads back towards the main building, using those same senses to locate People Who Live Here. She lands, boots crunching on winter grass, near Jubilee and Noriko, tilting her head slightly at their ... unseasonal dress.

"We have company, and I don't think it's friendly."

Kitty Pryde has posed:
It's Lockheed that draws Kitty's attention towards the woods first. The dragon flying about above her, and then suddenly getting alert in a way that catches her attention. She climbs up higher onto the tower on the roof, peering out towards the woods about the time she hears Megan yell.

"I see them too," she says as she pulls out her phone and triggers an alarm. Within the school, buzzers sound, alerting students and staff, while the computers send out alerts to all the X-men. Students start moving towards the elevator to the base, moving to take shelter in the Danger Room, as one of the safest places in the school.

Kitty sends her thoughts back to Monet. << Connect everyone telepathically you can, >> she sends, and then thinks information for everyone that Monet hooks up. << Dozens of figures in the woods, all around the school. They don't look healthy. Kind of decayed. X-men sound off, take positions to protect the school. >>

Rogue has posed:
Rogue floats up further, not hearing Jamie's voice as she's already up too high now. She lands atop the main central castle tower on the school, as she hears the com chatter over her phone. She looks down at it when alarms start to go off, the teachers inside likely already rounding up the students inside.

Lights start to pop on on all corners of the building, shedding more shine upon the property in the dark, providing more illumination to those who may need it outside... big bright flood lights!

Rogue jsut stands there atop the school, her eyes scanning the perimeter of the school yard, with her long hair flowing against her shoulders. She just watches, for now.

Bobby Drake has posed:
The alarms certainly draw some attention from within the school - one of those summoned is another chilly customer. Popping his head out, Bobby throws together a quick ice sled to ascend up towards the roof, depositing him in the general vicinity of Kitty. He speaks softly, eyes scanning the area to determine the problem. "What's going on?" he asks softly.

Being the mindful fellow that he is, he waves a hand vaguely and eliminates the ice issue from the roof, as he waits to get a briefing on the latest threat to the Mansion and its denizens.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Ugh. Is it ever friendly?" Jubilee mutters back at Divine. But, then the voice registers as unfamilar, so Jubilee glances up at Divine, furrowing her brow a little. A new student? "Hey, are you new---" Jubes looks back at Nori, distracted from the Kryptonian. "Oh, yeah, like, this book... So... I was meaning to tell you, but, like..."

    When the floodlights come on, the darkness of the forest erupts into a loud hissing. Mindless hordes of undead reach the treeline, finally, and start to trickle into the backyard, walking past Clemencia, Nefertiti, and Severina. Clemencia begins frolicking around in a little circle, the silks of her toga held in a loose fist. "We have faaaailed, my sisters," she sings joyfully. Nefertiti, the biker chick, tilts her head to the side and cracks her neck before moving forward to join the massive crowd of walking corpses.

    Severina, the blonde, turns and glares at Clemencia. "We will not fail," she growls.

    The hiss from the forest draws out a panicked stare from Jubilee. She turns and sees the three women and the massive group of foot soldiers they command. "Those bitches!" Jubes announces, her tone suggesting that she knows them or at least knows of them. "We gotta get out of here!" Not fight. Run.

    Jubilee clutches the massive, ancient book in both hands and takes off for the Mansion.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix would go to call out calmly to the others <<We are under attack, defend yourselves>> The fleeing of Jubilee is met with a raised eyebrow, but not something to deal with now. That's for the teachers.. Whenever they've dealt with this latest assault.
    M's going to charge her way through the groupand going to charge at Clemencia at high speed, her fists in front o fher and aiming for that one. "I find your voice annoying. So I'm going to hsut it for you." Monet just intent on dive bombing, smashing, and then hopefully throwing the -thing- up in the air if at all possible and launching it through the treeline! She would catch htem on the way down. Likely. Probably. Well as far as she was concerned it was just a dumb human. So it would be handled and then turned over to the authorities.
    But she was still slamming towards her at about five hundred miles an hour.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn narrows her eyes as she peers left and right. It's getting dark and hard to see the figures skulking in the bushes..But the floodlights help. She continues to fly around the perimeter of the school, nodding to Kitty's instructions. <<Maintain perimeter. Gotcha. Should we engage, or wait for them to act first? This isn't gonna be pretty..>> She frowns, getting ready to spray faerie dust at them as they approach.

And then, approach they do. She narrows her eyes, peering this way and that, her glistening iridescent dragonfly wings beating more rapidly to produce a glittering pink flurry of faerie dust which she launches in a conical dust cloud towards the approaching vampires. "Back off!" she warns them.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"Huh," Jamie says, once he's been briefed by Kitty -- sort of -- telepathically, thanks to Monet. He squints a little bit and then tilts his head. He's about to say something else when Jubilee takes off with the book, and he frowns. "Jubes," he says, squinting. "What did you do?" Because he, too, was a young rapscallion once and he knows that attitude anywhere. (He's 25, he's still a young rapscallion.)

Turning back to the vampiresses, he lifts his hand and waves. "Hiya." And then Monet is diving and he goes, "Whoops, there's the welcome wagon."

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"She's not a student.  She's a guest.  The professor told me to show her around so we're going to explore instead," Noriko shoots out quickly as if this has any bearing on the intruders.  Still, in a speedster's mind, there's always time.  Her eyes snap back to the book in Jubilation's hands and then up at the floodlights, then the hiss, then Jubilation at her exclamation.

"You know them?!  Jubes we have to stay and help fight!"  Noriko can't see the horde of creatures, but that sound.  Noriko growls grumpily.  All she wanted to do was take a nap under the moon after watching her girlfriend in a bikini.  Is that too much to ask?

Noriko looks back up to Divine.  "I don't know why she did that...but she knows more about spooky shit than I do.  I bet they don't like fire."  Then she smirks for a moment, her brain racing in circles on that until she hears Jamie, "Why do you think she did anything?!"  The teen might be described as being a little protective of Jubes and things say about her since Jubilation died...and stuff.  "Screw it."  Noriko, still in her bikini and gauntlets and no shoes, just makes fists with her gauntlets, letting a sheathe of electricity bolt up her arms.  There's no way she's going to let these vampires gain ground on Jubes and of course Nori expects she'll be able to outrun anything.

Instead of running in to blast everyone, Noriko slips into hyper velocity to run around the school, taking stock of the situation and trying to spot all of her friendlies, taking inventory of her teammates.

Divine has posed:
"I'm a gu--," Divine starts, just as the horde bursts through the teeeline with their generals. Jubilee runs away. She sighs. "Right. Feel free to run. I'm not." The half-Kryptonian turns, and she pulls her hoodie off. Apparently bikinis are the style for the day, because that is the top she is wearing under the now discarded hoodie.

Cracking her knuckles, Divine ascends a couple inches from the ground, staring down the slavering horde. "I'm not holding back," she shouts to whoever is within earshot. "Stay outta my way!"

Divine rockets at an unbelievable speed, seeming to pick Nefertiti the Scourge at random. Her eyes glow red as she aims to barrel right into the vampire like some kind of goth Power Girl shaped train.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty sends out to the group via Monet's telepathic connection, << They definitely don't look friendly. Engage. Keeping them from getting into the school is our primary goal! >>

She looks over to Bobby and says, "Think you can create us some defensive structures to help keep them out? Or freeze a bunch where they are so we're not overwhelmed, your call."

With that she jumps down off the mansion, falling to the ground and into it, before popping back up above ground. Lockheed swoops down towards her to join the X-man. << Jubilee. What do you know about this!? We need information if you have it! >> Kitty sends, having caught her reaction and seeming recognition of the attackers. She begins heading towards the creatures ambling from the woods towards the mansion.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue paces on the edge of the roof, looking down at the lit-up yard. She sees Jubilee running toward the house, and her eyes narrow for a moment.

Jingle spurs. jingle spurs. Rogue keeps prwoling on the roof's edge as she sees other movement, and can hear the team link through a psy-connection.

<"The Professah an' Jean are at the Opera t'night."> Rogue reminds those who are not in the know on that scheduling. <"We're mostly on our own in this, who we got on deck, is who we got.">

She reaches a corner of the house, and puts a hand on the edge as she spies the on-coming groups.

<"If we can find a way t'end this without a buncha damn dead bodies on the lawn, lets take it first!"> She warns those already engaging in aggressive responses.

Bobby Drake has posed:
<<Of course>> responds Bobby, and he's instantly at work making haste over towards the mass of the undead. He's seen enough movies to know that vampires have many weaknesses, but pretty much none of them are his strong suit. He starts a high arching bridge above the trio of leaders, watching as his colleagues leap to on the assault of those. <<I'll buy you all some time - if this is anything like the movies, take out those three and the rest will be fine.>>

And thus Bobby sets about doing his best impression of the Wall in the North, making a quick pass several yards ahead of the first vampires of the mass, and adding height back and forth. <<Hope these guys can't fly>>.

As he builds the fortification, and then starts to curl it backwards to try to catch all of them in one large ice enclosure - <<They after that ancient vampire tome you were reading back at the cabin?>> Yes, apparently he has played Wheel of Fortune enough to have figured out what VA***RE was.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "/Of/ them. I know /of/ them!" Jubilation cries back at Noriko, running for the Mansion as fast as she can. "I'm not running away, I just need to get /this/ inside..." She sounds offended! The book. The heavy, leather tome that she has been reading from. Can't fight with a huge book in both hands, right!? Jubilation tries to relay information back to Kitty, truly she does, but there's a lot going on and her mind has always been uncooperative with telepathy. All that she manages to get out through the static is <Vampires. Book. Stakes. Holy water.>

        As Monet dive bombs down at Clemencia, there's just a faint flicker of amusement in the eyes of Severina. Is tonight the night that she'll finally be rid of her younger sister? Clemencia appears to be oblivious or uncaring to the situation. She just continues to frolic around in a little circle, dancing merrily as the wave of feral vampires walk past her and onto the lawn. Just as Monet is about to make contact, a dozen or so vampires jump, dive, fall, and juke their way into a living meatshield, protecting Clemencia from the attack. Clemencia, meanwhile, continues her merriment, waving her hands in the air as though she's conducting an orchestra. She actually kind of is. "Tut, tut, tut!" Clemencia sing-songs with a big smile. "...If you want to dance with me, you'll have to wait your turn!"

    "Keep them away from my sister!" Severina shouts at Nefertiti before taking a position in the center of the lawn. With a cruel smile, Nefertiti presses her gloved fist into her palm, cracking all of her knuckles as she does. The horde of mindless vampires seems to shift and spread, creating a little bit of an opening for Monet and Nefertiti to rumble.

    "Good evening," Severina states politely. Her voice is quiet, serene even, but everyone can hear what she's saying as clearly as if she was standing next to them. Every mouth belonging to every one of the mindless undead horde opens to deliver her message, all chorusing together in frightful unison.

    "I am Severina the Necromancer, Herald of Suthtehk The Malefactor. These are my sisters, Clemencia and Nefertiti. We are not here for violence," Severina continues, her words coming from the mouth of every one of the Primigenia that have now filled the lawn. "Though... You may have forced it upon us..." Severina turns to watch what comes of Nefertiti..

    Nefertiti looks like she's preparing to square off against Monet, one-on-one, and is absolutely pleased as hell to be doing it. She has a chain about two feet long that she twirls in the air while making 'come and get it' gestures with her other hand. If there's going to be a fight, Nefertiti is going to enjoy it. Impatient, perhaps, Nefertiti lunges forward to make the first strike with her chain, but gets tackled into a wall of Primigenia by Divine. Vampire corpses go flying as though Nefertiti and the Half-Kryptonian were just rolled down a bowling lane.

    "We do not want this," Severina insists, still projecting her words through every mindless member of the Primigenia. "We just want the one called..." Severina removes a small card from her pocket that looks just like the ones that Xavier's puts in their textbooks so they can track who was issued the book that year since every student is supposed to write their name on it. "...Jubilation and Noriko 4 Eva...."

    The message begins to come from high above, now, as waves of Primigenia have begun building their own wall... of themselves... mindlessly climbing, climbing, stacking, building, climbing, to try and outpace the ice wall that forms in front of them. It's not long before the pile of corpses starts to unravel and fall to the ground. Necks break. Bones shatter. They all keep moving, now focused solely on Bobby Drake! Hordes of undead start reaching for Iceman, fingers and arms and mouths everywhere!

Monet St. Croix has posed:
As the -things- would rise up and out of the ground, Monet St Croix would yell in surprise, then going to snark along the mental link <<I believe that someone has already beat us to the punch on that, Ms. D'Acanto.>> That would come right before M would be buried over in feral vampires, going to try and reach up and over and then try to throw them and over and..

    Then there's something of a twist, and a spasm, and a mental-scream- from M over the mindlink of a sort right as it goes fully -off- and M goes cataonic and would just slump on down from -whatever- had happened, her brain going to a full panic and shutdown mode as the vampires would pile over her as it would be like someone flicked a switch off.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn arches a brow, having spotted Jubes fleeing into the mansion with the big tome. <<What's going on Jubes? What's so special about that book?>> She managed to slow down at least some vamps, but there seems to be an endless wave of them. As she sees vamps burying M, Megan gasps, making a beeline for them, summoning her glowing pink dagger, slashing them this way and that, not holding back in her attempt to tear the beasts to shreds as she tries to reach Monet. "Monet! You ok?"

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie Madrox has developed ways of... multiplying without getting hit. Sometimes it's just doing jumping jacks. Whatever it takes, really. No matter how he chooses to do it, soon enough, there isn't just one Jamie. There's several. And then a dozen. Then two dozen. _Four dozen_.

It's a good thing that the backyard of the mansion is enormous because it's getting crowded in here _awfully quick, as each dupe he made makes another dupe who then makes another dupe, who then...

It's not really yelling, but the voices of almost fifty Jamie Madroxes at once really _ring out_. "WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER STAKE." Then, he launches the offensive, the ever-larger horde of Multiple Men bum-rushing the (much more limited, thank you very much) horde of the undead.

"Leave!" Punch!

"Iceman!" Kick!

"Alone!" Headbutt!

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"You said to run!"  Noriko reminds Jubilation, shouting out as if she needs to drown out all of the psychic talking in her head to make sure she's heard.  "I'll be back.  Going to see if any-oh...wow."  Noriko stares up at the ice wall battling the corpse wall.  But at that mental scream, Nori takes off, fast, going places only a speedster would dare (not true a bunch of these crazy non speedsters just dove right into it)...on foot at least.

"<<Where is she?>>"  Noriko just knows someone is in trouble, so she's weaving through the shambling horde to see where they are converging on Megan and Monet.  She turns around and lets out a spidering blasts of lightning from her gauntlets.  They shoot out with a thundering crack at swarming horde to try and give Megan the cover she needs to get to Monet.  "I got your back!"

Divine has posed:
Nefertiti feels weightless to Divine as she rockets through the shambling corpses with a passenger. She looks unhappy. "You picked the wrong place to mess with, lady."

Divine shifts slightly, angling her flight upwards and moving her hand to get a better grip on the vampire. Her eyes start to glow red, radiating heat. "I don't even think I'll feel bad about this."

A tight beam of heat erupts from her eyes, aimed right at the Scourge.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty slows in her rush towards the attacking creatures as she hears the voice speaking through all their mouths at once. At first the 'not wanting to fight' sounds good. But as they demand the two students, Kitty says aloud, "Yeah. That's not going to happen."

If there were plans to try to negotiate though, the ensuing attacks cut them short. Kitty moves amidst the group of Jamies as the fighting spreads, moving to hold the opening at one end of Bobby's ice wall.

A shambling corpse rushes at her and Kitty dodges it, throwing a kick into its stomach that breaks it in half. "That seemed easy," she says, before another of the creatures jumps on her, easily overpowering the young woman and bearing her to the ground, fanged mouth opening and descending towards her neck.

And right through her neck as Kitty phases and pops back to her feet, then delivers a spinning kick to the back of its head. It goes down but starts to rise again. "ok, not so easy," she says. Two more of the creatures close in on her, and a whirling combat ensues, with Kitty phasing to dodge blows, while delivering her own that sometimes are effective, and other times don't seem to hurt the creatures much, depending on the individual opponent.

Rogue has posed:
Right as Jamie says 'We need a bigger stake.'

A giant tree falls out of the sky on to a segment of the hording vampire undead!

SLAM! The old tree, crushes down on to the ground, and at its trunk's base, Rogue holds on with her ungloved hands....

She'd discarded her coat, hat, and crocs on the roof, and flown out to the forest to pick up a nice dead tree out of the gathering of healthy ones.

Now, she's raising it back up, to slam it back down again, with a angry angry expression on her face!

Bobby Drake has posed:
The Iceman made a few tactical errors in this particular encounter. He did not quite anticipate the speed with which motivated vampires could generate a competing wall. So much so that as he swept back to the starting side, he was thoroughly unprepared to find a bunch of grasping limbs trying to yank him from his icewalk.

The other, and perhaps more serious, is that as quick as he was to generate a defense for everyone else, and concerned for the fleeing Jubilee, he rushed off without taking a moment to ice himself up fully. And so the building of the wall stops as its architect tumbles - and unfortunately for him, on the OTHER side from the Mansion - and Bobby is dragged down under a pile of shambling vampires.

If the psychic link were still up, certainly there would be a great deal of panic flowing through from the normally cool Iceman.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Way, way, way up in the air, Nefertiti grapples with Divine. The vampire hisses and bares her fangs! "You will feel bad about this, Abomination!" she snarls. Unlike her sister, Nefertiti cannot beguile with her eyes, so all she can do is stare helplessly into the Half-Krypton's as they charge. If Nefertiti was just one of the nameless drones down on the ground, this might be the final end of her, but the blood of several centuries flows in her veins and it has given her a few tricks. Suddenly, Divine and Nefertiti are /slammed/ by a flock of hundreds of squawking crows and ravens, all packed together in a single unit in an attempt to separate them! Will they? Who knows!

    Down below, Megan's dust cloud gets drawn into the collective nostrils, mouths, and lungs of the Primigenia. Instead of slowing them down directly, it's actually Clemencia that takes notice of the effect of the dust first, despite not inhaling any of it herself. Clemencia blinks her eyes, stares forward, and stops dancing. Her general amusement ends, her smile fades, and she just... stares, standing in an almost catatonic daze. Suddenly, without warning, Clemencia screams bloody murder as the cloudy haze that normally shields her from reality is pulled away by Megan's drug dust. The pixie dust that might make someone else hallucinate instead pulls away Clemencia's True Sight and gives her a glimpse of the world that her sisters see every night.

    "No, no, no, nononono!" she cries out, grabbing her temples with both hands. "Bad place. Bad place. Bad place...." Clemencia stumbles a little on the lawn and shrieks, looking upon each member of the horde with new eyes. She's no longer seeing the world with the veil of her True Sight and... it's horrific to her.

    The Primigenia Horde begins to buckle. Instead of moving as a mass, as a single unit, they begin to move off in their own directions, stumbling, no longer working together. This creates an opportunity for Jamie to clean house, as vampires are sent flying thanks to his punches, kicks, and headbutts! The pile of vampires on top of Iceman have fallen into a brief moment of discord... Better act fast!

    

    Three members of the Primigenia, now somewhat free of whatever hivemind had them earlier in the evening, break free from the horde and start to advance upon Kitty Pryde! One of them, dressed as a Butcher, slowly walks forward holding a cleaver. The second, a Baker, wields two loads of Italian bread -- one in each hand! Finally, the most fearsome of the three, the Candlestick Maker, wields a....knife. He pulls his elbow back and thrusts the pointy end of the knife in Kitty's direction!

    Another group of Primigenia that have started acting under their own will, have gathered in a little circle. Just as they begin to lazily kick around one of Noriko's softballs left on the lawn, forming a little hacky-sack circle, they're crushed under the weight of Rogue's tree! Severina stands nearby, a line knitting across her brow. "What! What is this?!" she growls, looking up at Rogue. "Abominations!" She looks over at Bobby and his ice wall. Noriko and her electricity. Kitty phasing past those fangs. "Abominations everywhere!" And then... Jubilee, who has just nearly made it to the mansion.

    "The book!" Severina hisses. "The book!" Thick black clouds of energy form around Severina's hands as she extends them towards Jubilation. Suddenly, there's a loud crack of thunder and the book falls from Jubilee's hands! A red circle forms on the ground surrounding Jubilee, creating an invisible barrier around her. The book, meanwhile, is up for grabs, just waiting on the lawn...

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is slammed on the ground hard, curled up and cataonic. Even as Noriko and Megan are cutting her out from the pile and M is still full blown unresponsive.. The mental link isn't up on her end and if Megan and Noriko would look at her she would be having a full blown seizure. Curled fetal, babbling over in the bodies, "NononoMariusletmegoletmego.." Barely responsive to anything - blades throwing off ghouls around her, fairy wings and super-speed saving, vampires slashing or biting.. Whatever is going on is the personal nightmare of Ms. St. Croix as she's locked in her own sort of hell.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
There's a lot going on right now, and even as the hive minded vampires seem to break formation, they're still attacking and it seems there are still enough to be a threat. Megan continues to wave her dagger at any that get too close to Monet, grateful for Nori's electric assault as she steps towards Monet, checking on her, uncertain of what's going on. "Monet! Wake up! You've got to hold it together.." she is too busy fending off vamps from Monet to notice the book go flying..

Jamie Madrox has posed:
Jamie doesn't care about the book, frankly. He's busy. Busy punching and kicking and trying not to get bit or assaulted by any of the vampires. But the Jamies are starting to break up now, less of a hive mind and more clumps of helpful dupes.

Some of them rush to help Megan pick Money up, while others continue to help Iceman, and a third group, leap to Kitty's aid, trying to keep the threesome of vampires from biting the... well, unbitable girl.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko sees the pursuit of Jubilation.  "I'll be back!" she shouts way too fast for Megan to probably parse and then the lightning bug speedster is off.  Maybe she shouldn't have said anything.  Maybe she shouldn't have ever left Jubilation's side.  Why is it taking so long to get there?!

Noriko weaves through the dotted corpse idlers like a pachinko ball on a mission of life or death.  It may feel like forever to Noriko as she witnesses the book fall from Jubilation's hands, but the girl has never ran so fast in her life.  Abominations.  The word stretches out in her mind.  No.

The speedster runs right past the book for the barrier, unwittingly, hoping to snatch Jubilation up from danger.  "I'm coming," she moves her lips, but the sound waves are lost, spread out.  I'm coming, she thinks like an unstoppable force...moving toward...well, a wall.

Divine has posed:
Divine is not super worried about the condensed swarm of night fliers. They impact her, and she grunts, but, well. Kryptonian. It is enough of a surprise that she bobbles the vampire, dropping her.

"Shit."

She unleashes her heat vision in a wide band, incinerating the swarming flock and hopefully at least giving the Scourge something to think about.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
Kitty Pryde sense the telepathic link go down. And even if she had intended to try to provide guidance to the group, the vampiric nursery rhyme that gathers around her requires her focus instead.

The stabby Candlestick Maker is allowed his stab, Kitty phasing as she reaches for him, leaving her hands tangible as she grabs his arm and pulls him forward to drive the knife into the Butcher behind her.

The Butcher responds by swinging at her. Kitty ducks under that even as she reaches out to grab the Baker and pull him into the path of the swinging meat cleaver. It lodges on his side, getting stuck on his ribs.

With the trio's weapons in each other, momentarily holding them together, Kitty ducks in the middle of them and shouts, "Dracarys!!!"

Lockheed swoops down at the Game of Thrones reference, and a plume of fire erupts from his mouth, engulfing the Primigenia and Kitty all four in intense flames that momentarily hide them from all eyes. Any Jamies in the area may end up shying back and covering their faces from the intense flames to avoid losing eyebrows or worse.

Rogue has posed:
SMASH! SMASH! SMASH!

The Belle batters the tree in to the ground. Just as she had done to the Shi'ar invaders in late summer! The old dried up branches on the tree, break and crack, and fall around the grassy lawn as Rogue smashes as many vampires as she can with the gnarled bark of the old tree trunk.

Once she clears the area around her, she rises up to look around at others... whilst holding the tree trunk. "Bobby?" rogue calls out before she starts flying toward where she'd last seen him. She sweeps over the pile of zombies atop the Iceman, and tosses the tree on to the ground before she drops down amongst the mob, and just starts swinging, punching, and kicking!, trying to work her way to the Icey-one!

Bobby Drake has posed:
What is the climax of a fight scene without a SKY BEAM! Or in this case, an ICE BEAM!

From beneath the tumultuous pile of vampires, a giant column of ice blasts upward, sending the masses flying! Rogue likely feels the chill approaching with enough time to get out of the way, but the vampires, with no sense of heat, presumably, fall victim to it.

Emerging from the column of ice is a now fully Icedman, who apparently learned his lesson already. A quick glance around as he runs towards the rest of the group, carving a hole in his wall, and sending spikes of ice directly at the hearts of whatever vampires may still be troubling his friends on the ground.

If it is still on the ground, he'd fire off a slippery slide of ice at the tome that Jubilee was carrying, with the intention of sliding it directly towards the Mansion. But he may be too late for that effort...

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Dragonfire spreads across the lawn, incinerating the waves of undead in a howling, hissing, snarling mass. Vampires do not do well with fire, as is known, and the horde burns to a cinder thanks to the quick teamwork of Kitty Pryde, Lockheed, and the fine people at HBO. Flaming corpses litter the back yard, burning charred shapes into the grass, as though they were snow angels made by orphans in a Dickens story. Elsewhere, vampires cry out with shrill hisses before being turned to dust by the wave after wave of ice-stakes piercing their hearts, causing a gentle winter dusting of...dust. How nice!

    Trapped inside a magic circle, Jubilation stares at the book on the lawn, helpless to reach it. "Get it! Get it!" she cries out, banging her hands on the invisible, silent wall that keeps her away from it. "No, no, nononno!" Jubes tries to shout as Noriko rockets towards her. "The boo---" As soon as Noriko makes contact with the invisible barrier, her speed and electricity convert into pure energy, sending shockwaves back to the source of the circle, Severina. Severina the Necromancer screams as she feels the speedster power course through her. "Abominations! The Malefactor will have that book!" she cries out. Too late! The book slides forward on Bobby's ice, zipping towards the mansion and well away from Severina. "No!"

    But then... everything changes.

    Nefertiti cackles loudly as Divine drops her. It's a fairly trivial thing, at this point, to summon several more flocks, equal parts raven and crows, to swoop in and support her limbs. She can't fly in the direct sense, but Nefertiti can command the loyalty of certain animals and has made effective use of these horror birds before. Just as a thick black cloud of feathers begins to form up under Nefertiti's arms, the wide spread of Divine's heat vision incinerates the flock, sending the vampire to the ground! She lands with a sudden /thud/ on the cold lawn, but...

    "No!" Severina cries out, running towards Nefertiti. A glowing red line crosses across Nefertiti, right across her chest. It starts to get wider and wider, glowing red and yellow as it spreads. The vampire cries out in agony as the Half-Kryptonian's heat vision eviscerates her from within. The blood-curdling scream continues until the burning line crosses past her mouth and finally consumes the rest of her.

    With a handful of her sister's ashes, Severina seeeeethes with anger. But, unlike Nefertiti, this one is patient. "You'll pay for this!" she screams. These are her parting words as Severina leads the remainder of the group back towards the treeline and into the forest. A remaining wall of Primigenia turn to form a barrier to discourage any from following them.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
Monet St. Croix is still curled up over ont he ground, silent and whimpering wildly. She's still fetal and fully disoriented, seemingly not responding to anything giong on around her. But her breathing is even and she's not having any sort of idicators of a seizure or full on breakdown. And there are no massive telepathic overloads coming off her so whatever is going on at least seems to not be whiplashing..
    Beyond what's going on in her skull and her own mind.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn glances around, continuing to hack and slash at vampires who get too close, her dagger glowing dangerously, tracing pink glimmering arcs in the night sky. Thankfully, with two leaders defeated, it seems the rest of the vampires are retreating. Once the immediate threat is over, she kneels next to Monet, attempting to rest a hand on her shoulder of she'll let her. "Hey Monet, can you hear me? It's over, you're safe. Wake up!" she seems worried, not sure what to make of it. "I think we need a medic here, or Jean or the Professor!"she calls out to any who might hear her.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
There are quite a few Jamie Madroxes that are... well, not alive anymore. And while they'll get 'absorbed', because they didn't kill themselves, Jamie is not going to be taking in their memories and their experiences, which is really a thankful thing, because who wants to suddenly live through _dying_ a bunch of times.

But as the vampiric threat dies out and they leave, the living Madri start to disappear, whisked back -- their consciousnesses into Jamie, and their bodies... to whatever dimension he called them from -- though he doesn't absorb the ones that are most hurt. Instead, he does a careful order -- healthy healthy hurt healthy healthy hurt healthy healthy -- and so on, in order to mitigate the amount of wounds injury he has to take in for himself.

Some Jamies, notably the most hurt, wander off. Maybe they're off to kill themselves, or wait until they aren't so hurt to be reabsorbed. It's a _process_.

Noriko Ashida has posed:
Noriko can't hear what Jubilation is saying at this velocity, but by the time she sees Jubilation's hands pressing against the air like a mime, she whacks into it, but the transfer of energy does two things very odd.  It seizes a large amount of her momentum, making it like the biggest whacked the air out of someone with a giant puff of air feeling thing, sending Noriko down like a cartoon bug who hit a wall...and two, that energy comes from somewhere, is used by someone, and so that energy left Noriko and leaves her on the ground, moving very very slowly as she reaches for Jubilation even still.  Someone jacked the Energizer Bunny's juice!

Divine has posed:
Divine unleashes her power. While she is nowhere near the godlike might of her template, she is still more than a match for these undead.

Dracula might be a fun fight, though.

As the swarms turn to ash, and the Scourge burns away from the inside, the half-Kryptonian folds her arms across her chest and looks down imperiously at the now fleeing undead. She snorts.

With a thought, she sends herself back down towards the group at large, taking stock of the remains of the carnage. She is pensively quiet for a moment before she speaks. "Is ... Is everyone alright?"

The words feel strange in her mouth. She is unused to thinking of others.

Kitty Pryde has posed:
When the fire from Lockheed clears, the nursery rhyme vampires are smoking heaps of ash. Kitty stands up, unharmed by the flames that she phased to avoid. Lockheed finishes sweeping across the lawn and setting flame to those nearby, helping keep them from the book, then as the retreat is sounded, he flies back to Kitty, moving to land on her shoulder.

"Good job, Lockheed," she tells him with a soft pat on his head, and then looks about to take stock of how everyone else is doing. She runs over, phasing to run on top of the snow for speed, until she reaches the tome and can scoop it up. Then she heads over to where she hears Megan calling about Monet. "Let's get her inside," she says.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue backflip flies away from where Bobby bursts out of the undead pile. She floats in the middle of the yard now, looking around frantically as people start to recover from the onslaught. She sees the horde vanishing back in to the forest, which has her snarling some before she feels something tickling at the back of her mind.

"Sothin' isn't right!" Rogue calls out over the yard. Everyone fall back and regroup! Soemthin' is still wrong!" She adds loudly, her voice coming down from her hovering elevation.

She keeps up there though, scanning the horizon, as she does a full 360 turn to take in the whole of the yard, the house only blocking her from seeing the front yard in the moment.

"Everyone report in! If ya got a team comm, have others check in! See whats up inside!" She barks out.

Bobby Drake has posed:
As the vampires disperse due to the Song of Ice and Fire, the Iceman strides towards the group, allowing the ice that pushed the tome towards the protection of the Mansion to trail off. He looks towards the building and frowns a bit after the retreating Jubilee.

As he nears the group he allows his ice form to slowly dissipate, revealing a flesh form that is rather marred by various scratches and slashes from the vampire horde. But he seems none the worse for wear. "Got the book," he says, as he trots up towards Kitty.

Then he pauses, freezing in his stride. "Uhhh..." His fingers spread out and he rounds on Kitty, lunging with mouth opening and giant fangs revealed from his mouth!

"Blah....BLAH!"


Close inspection, though, might reveal that his pearly fangs are, in reality...long spikes of ice.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    Jubilation stares at Noriko helplessly, dropping down to her knees and pressing her palm to the invisible barrier that keeps them separated. "Nori!" she cries out. "Are you alright?" As versed as Jubes might be in this kind of spooky magic, she's not /well/ versed.

    Exactly how long /was/ Bobby Drake under that writing pile of bloodsucking vampires? Long enough for him to get turned, certainly, so Jubilee has no choice but to take all of that as the truth. Her attention is split between Noriko and what's happening just a few feet further on the lawn.

    Jubilee bangs her hands on nothing. "No!" she cries out as Bobby Drake moves to sink his teeth into Kitty Pryde's neck! And... wait, did he really just... /blah/!? Jubilee frowns and rolls her eyes. "What a jerk," she mutters. To think she even wasted the moment worrying about a guy who would dare capitalize on that offensive vampire stereotype. "Nori... Nori, can you stand up?" Jubilation asks, staring at the speedster, helplessly trapped inside Severina's magic circle. At least the book is safe. No one got bit for real, at least.

    Suddenly, the Primigenia that lazily form that meat barrier stiffen, as though being brought to attention by some unseen force. Wait. Did anyone see what happened to...?

    It all happens in an instant. Clemencia appears behind Bobby Drake, her form becoming material from the depths of shadow and confusion. Her mouth curls into a peaceful, serene smile just before she sinks her fangs into Bobby's neck! Globs of blood and flesh go everywhere as the Seer doesn't even bother trying to be discrete about this. The mutants killed her sister. And...suddenly, she's gone. Though, deep in that forest, a cheery voice can be heard celebrating with whimsy.

    "Ohhhh," Clemencia coos. "...Dear sister, we have much to share, much to share, don't you think? The river of life flows from them and I bring it home to Master...."

    With the forces of the Suthtekh The Malefactor now deep in the forest, the red circle surrounding Jubilee fades into nothing and she's now free to reach forward for Noriko and others are free to apply pressure to Bobby's neck.

Monet St. Croix has posed:
And as Kitty is going over towards her, on the ground where Megan is checking on her, Monet St. Croix seems to finally be having some sort of mental connection with reality again. She's slowly turning upwards and trying to assess what is going on. She can finally manage a coherent, "No." Then a wheeze over and a spasm of dizziness as she would go to point, "Help.. Hlep him. I'll be.. Fine." There's that arrogance once more but also..
    Bobby needs help more than she does. A semblance of triage is necessary as she loathes herself for her panic attack on the battlefield.

Megan Gwynn has posed:
Megan Gwynn breathes a sigh of relief as Monet finally comes to her senses. She taps her comm in response to Rogue's request. "Megan checking in. Monet seems to be recovering and..Ack!" her eyes widen as Bobby pretends to vamp out and ' bite ' Kitty...Before a *real* vamp vamps out and bites him. "No! They got Bobby!"

She runs towards him, pulling her scarf off from around her neck, offering it to him. "Here, this should help..Rogue, Bobby got bit!"

Noriko Ashida has posed:
"Meh," is what Noriko gets out, and then, "Bat-juice," because 'battery' is just too complicated to say right now.  The speedster isn't super warm like she usually is, the chill beginning to invade her body quickly in this state.  She said what she needs...apparently, bat-juice.

Jamie Madrox has posed:
"Oh, come on, Drake, not fun --" and then it really _isn't_ funny, but before Jamie can actually react, Clemencia's gone and Multiple Man is flabbergasted.

"WHAT THE SHIT."

But, trained paramedic that he is -- of course he is; he's probably a medical doctor, too, if maybe not entirely up to date on all current practices, because that dupe isn't scheduled to come back for another few months -- he reacts quickly, moving towards Bobby and applying pressure to the wound.

"You're immortal already, right?" he asks Bobby. "You just regenerate out of the moisture in the air or something?"

_Uhhhhh_.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue floats up in the sky, continuing to search for the threat, when she sees Bobby's prank unfold. It makes her shoulders slump as she starts to lower down out of the sky, her two toned hair flowing around her head as she sinks closer and closer to the grass.

And then that creepy bitch from the tree line appears again...

"Bobby! Look out! It's Chlamydia!" She shouts, possibly getting the woman's name wrong...

But it's too late, the teeth are sunk in, and she shouts his name again as she starts to fly toward him at rapid pace! Arriving at the Iceman's side, Rogue looks to the others, then to where she last saw Jubilee. "Jubilee!" She shouts. "We gotta get him inside. Maybe we can find Doctor McCoy..." She offers in a hazy rush of adrenaline.

Bobby Drake has posed:
There is little enough time for Bobby to revel in Kitty's reaction to his faux bite before he takes on a real one. The scream he lets out is bone chilling, and then he falls to the ground as the vampiress makes her escape.

Lesson learned - always check on every vampire before mocking them.

Jubilation Lee has posed:
    "Hey!" Jubilee shouts, now free of her magical prison and able to kneel next to Noriko. "Batteries! Someone go get the batteries under our bed!" Yeah, she said 'our bed' and, yeah, she has a middle finger up and ready for anyone who might look over and give her a funny look about it. But, the group has way more pressing things to worry about, don't they? When Rogue places that task into her lap, Jubilee's eyes dart to Bobby and the blood coming from his neck. On one hand, it's nice Rogue thought she could handle it. But on the other...

    "Yeah, yeah, I have an idea," she mutters before picking the speedster up. Jubes brings Noriko towards the college apartments and, presumably, heads inside with her.

    A few moments later, four dazed-looking college-aged students wander onto the lawn and assist to bring Bobby Drake to the infirmary. Luckily, if he doesn't make it, they'll make perfect pallbearers.