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Summary: While the attack occurs on the mutant underground, and the Hunter forces are committed, their base in Salem Center is attacked by a force of four… leaving proof positive that until now they have restrained themselves to equal force measures.
Date: July 10, 2020
Let Slipe The Dogs Of War
Rating: R
Somewhere in the Mutant Underground…
The explosions in the tunnels is the sound-off for the three heavy hitters of the resistance to meet in one of the central caverns. While organized chaos flits around in the form of wounded being carried off, fresh fighters to other fronts to keep Spider Bots and others able to get through the traps out, and what ammo and supplies there are being moved from location to location… this center point is a bit like the eye of the storm. Volk appears in the room, walking as he reloads one of his many weapons, his balaklava and HUD-eye pieces off and his jacket missing, sporting a fresh graze along his neck. Getting to the point, he stops, and pulls out his small SHIELD PDA, and flips through until he finds the image he needs… a stolen camera feed right in the middle of the Hunter's Den.
It's not easy to wait while your friends are fighting, and dying, but Jonothon is here. Agitated enough to where the psy-fire is present, and it grimaces and winces, even as he does not, at the sounds that filter down. So wants to join the fray and help! As Volk comes in the psy-fire coils tighter around the Brit and he tilts his head at the PDA. "Is that where you are dropping us?" Asked with a little smirk. He's wearing black as per usual, but has left off with the jacket he's normally seen in. Dark shirt and jeans. Nothing fancy here.
Magneto is standing at the eye of the storm, helmet under his arm, casually making weapons. He's spinning them up from trash and dropping them into a rack against the wall, also spun up from trash. They aren't complicated weapons — knives, slugthrowers, the odd frag grenade — but they're fresh and they're good to go. He wouldn't normally do things this openly, but hey, the tunnels are already under attack. He can attract more attention this way? Not likely.
And if he's gathering unto himself an assortment of metallic powders, well.
Hellion was en route, wanting to get his frustration out. He of course wouldn't miss this little opportunity to hit the Hunters hard. Buzz-cut hair and crimson fingerless gloves adorn him. His own uniform from his X-Men days was saved for situations like this. The crimson and black UM suit clings to his body like it used to, adapting to the user. He looks to the PDA as well as he gets there, waiting the answer from Volk. It's already been asked. He nods once to Magneto, Volk, and Jono after he stops in the circle.
As Volk finishes examining the image, he nods, and says, "That's… it." Putting the computer away in a pocket on his BDU pants, he holds his hand out towards the air, "Thank you… for the swords… Magnus." Two of Magneto's compressed 'damascus' style wakizashi on his back, "Everyone… ready." Smirking a bit as his eyes brighten and the portal resolves itself into being with a flare and a tug on Magneto's senses when it blazes to life. With the image set, he motions for the others to pass on through, "Let's… do this."
Jonothon gives a firm nod and wraps himself entirely in fire. "Thank you." Offer to Volk for the portal, and he doesn't waste any time. The Brit grins a bit at Magneto, then dives through. To start he merely gains access to the camp and keeps up shields so that those behind him can gain entry without the annoyance of being shot at. Not that either needs his protection, but may as well be polite. It also gives Jono a moment to look around and decide where to start.
Magneto finishes his gathering and gives Volk a nod of acknowledgement. Helmet on head, the Mutant Master of Magnetism orients himself on the portal. Doesn't want to give himself a headache going through it, nor Volk. A glance to Jonothon Starsmore, to Julian Keller, and he smiles, wide and white. This will be a day the Hunters will remember forever… whichever of them survive the day.
His entry on the camp is less… polite than Jonothon's. He dives through and promptly EMP's the camp. This entry isn't going to be quiet, so let's make it as noisy as possible!
Cobalt blue eyes glow green as Julian gets himself ready. He gives Magneto a returning smirk, bold, just like Julian. No words, just in the zone. In his mind, the music from the Danger Room days fills his mind, heavy metal. After Magneto goes through, Julian launches himself into it. The telekinetic just assesses the camp, looking for any big obstacles that beg to be moved.
Salem Center - Hunter's Den
The surrounding area that serves as the Hunters Den is as expansive as it is diverse. Looking much like an extended bivouac, tents and improvised shelters stretch for blocks in all directions. For those with the means, makeshift bars and eateries offer a change of pace from enlisted foodstuffs, while other structures offer questionable forms of entertainment and more. Beyond the archway, in stunning contrast to the outside shantytown, the Mall has been renovated into a well defended headquarters of sorts offering the Hunters elite a temporary respite from the war and a place to rest, shower, eat, and rearm.
Inside the camp, mostly the rear guard, the support personnel, and the camp hangers-on have been left to prepare celebrations for victory… celebrations suddenly cut short as across the makeshift command center power goes out entirely. No lights, no phones, no computers. Several people step outside to see what has happened, some in uniform, most not… and suddenly a cry goes up along one of the guard posts! "MUTANTS!" Followed by someone else, "HOLY FUCK! MAGNETO!" And to the man's credit, all four can feel a shiver through the camp.
The last through the Portal, and letting it dissolve behind him, Volk is in time to watch the lights on the base go out and just smiles. Though not in his usual and intimidating visage, there's something cold and menacing in that look as he reaches out to both sides of the road just past where the camera has planted them. Power and telephone lines on each side are supported by heavy wood poles… which he negates gravity on, and then with an upward motion of his hands rips free from the ground. They float over to the left and right of him, seperate on each side by about four feet… mimicking the movements of his arms.
Jonothon decides to be simple about this. Lights go out, people are through the portal, and he lifts into the air. "Heads up, mates." It's as much warning as everyone gets, for the Brit flies to where the mall stands, or what was once the mall, and he explodes. Such a simple word that, explodes. Yet it hits with tremendous force. This is the kid who took out a city block the first time he died, and he isn't holding back this time. Nor is he afraid. Sure it will take him a bit to reform, but it's the most expedient means of mass destruction he has available. Maybe they can see the psy-fire mushroom cloud in New York.
Magneto soars over the camp, moving fast, spreading that powder he gathered as he goes, letting it fall as a nigh invisible mist. "Too long, humans, have you abused the rights of sanity! Too long have you abjured the duty of the sentient! If you must behave like mad dogs, be chained like them!" And the metal dust coalesces on arms and faces, forming cages… forming muzzles. "KNOW THAT TODAY, YOU DO NOT ANSWER TO AHAB, THAT CRAWLING CUR! TODAY, YOU ANSWER TO MAGNETO!"
Julian heeds the warning from Jono and a barrier forms around Julian. Grabbing a telephone pole, Julian holds the massive cylinder like a javelin. He sends the monstrous pole flying towards the doors that the soldiers came out of. Hoping to take out some that are still inside. The Telekinetic lands and brings a nearby wall down, grabbing the edifice with his mind and constructing it as a wrecking ball for anything that has not already been felled by Jono's blast.
The omni-direction blast from Jonothon Starsmore lights up the might sky like a funeral pyre, the blast wave knocking most of the tent-town over, leaving the temporary buildings and barracks still standing but shuddering from it. That alone knocks over several soldiers attempting to get out into the main area to defend the base, and what few actual Hunters are here are left shocked by what's happening. Julian catches the first wave and sees they're wielding non-metal weapons… dart-launchers, probably filled with neutralizers. But he can also hear the whispers… people inside the mall, some prisoners, some Hunters… the wash of the blast wave carrying over both himself and Magneto as Volk comes up from the rear.
Volk on the other hand is a little more pragmatic than Julian in the use of his poles. They swing like apish arms, pushed by the gravitic forces around them that cause splinters and cracks to striate their massive bulks. But they strike almost indiscriminately… soldiers, vehicles, buildings, nothing seems to be safe from the near-seeming temper tantrum of the pair of heavy wooden objects.
The blast wave slams into Magneto and flings him across the camp, scattering his attention and ringing his chimes but good. Many of the chains and muzzles are only partially finished; the earliest, at the edge of the camp nearest the portal, are the most complete. He slows himself by pure willpower, orienting on earth/sky by magnetic reckoning, and grabbing the nearest sources of metal, all in one movement. He's ticked at Jono, but … eh. He knows the boy. He should have been watching for this. Even before his vision clears he's dissolving those metallic whatever-they-ares — a jeep and several loose barrels, it seems. They become a metal mist all around him, and when a dart, metallic or otherwise, enters that mist, he knows it, and it fails to reach him.
The people in the mist, however… chains. Muzzles. GROUNDED.
It will take Jonothon a bit to reform. He's still very much there, and will very much be continuing this fight.. but after he takes a short breather. As it were. Does rebuilding your body molecule by molecule count as a breather?
Julian spots the soldiers sporting the non-metallic weaponry. He starts laughing loudly at the sight of them. "Really? Really? You're going to stop a telekinetic with THOSE?" SHould they start firing at him, he'll attempt to stop them and send the needles flying back to their owners with excessive force. He hears the whispers from the inside, he'll be in there soon to take care of the others.
When Julian turns the attack back on them, many of the troops scatter, the ones who did not already have metallic items on them reforming into chaotic restraints. Several attempt to draw fire onto Magneto with the air-weapons, attempting to subdue him, only to find their aims obscured by being slammed into with the large poles Volk was weilding, causing them to shatter, and spray lethal shards of wood everywhere. Jono in the air can feel the death he's caused, taste it in his being… hundreds were inside that mall complex, and some were actually innocents. But the battle still continues as Magneto in the air can see them rallying tanks and other heavy vehicles in a relatively sheltered vehicle yard.
After blocking the incoming fire, Volk scoops up one of the neutralizer weapons and opens fire on Mutant Hunters, going for another, and another as they try to flank the group. Using their own weapons against them while covering the others. Even aiming up at some of the fliers who attempt to get close to Magneto. More than once, both the master of Magnetism, and Hellion feel the brush of air as a dart passes close to strike a foe coming upon them.
The air darkens where he once floated, for Jonothon is already putting himself together. Psy-fire appears with it. A phoof and the fire is floating there. Tendrils coil aimlessly, as a haze within that fire quickly takes on a humanoid shape. Little by little it gathers mass until it begins to resemble the man who's putting all those molecules together. Clothing included. Had to work extra for that, since he gave his unstable molecules uniform away.
Tanks. You'd think that over the last half century, humanity would have learned the limitations of mechanized cavalry. They're good en masse, against infantry; they're good singly, in urban combat. They're good at many things, but they aren't good against the Mutant Master of Magnetism, as he has proved time and time again. Really. Let's go another round, and prove it again.
His ears are still ringing from Chamber's big boom, but… eh. Details. Magneto lifts the first tank and the second, stripping them of their metals, letting Volk pick off the buzzing gnats that are flying Hunters. He's still hovering in a metal mist; it catches any darts headed his way, coating them on the way in so that overlapping polarized magnetic fields close to his body can repel them. Simple, really… just like fighting tanks.
The crews? They're allowed to drop back to the ground… chained and muzzled, of course. They're not useful to what Magneto has planned.
Julian rises up and joins Magneto, picking up incoming vehicles and dragging his arms inward. The two vehicles are crushed, dropping them to be mere obstacles for the rest. The more the artillery is deflected, the less of a chance they have in getting to the party. More time to spend on general destruction.
Chaos reigns in the Hunter compound, now; tanks and vehicles dismantled, crushed, shattered, Hunter corpses scattered everywhere, yet still the sirens wail, and as Volk darts off to raid the ammo and supply yards, voices rise from the remaining buildings of the complex. Soldiers pour out of the compound, US Military symbols on gleaming tactical gear, as assault vehicles and helicopters begin moving into the attack.
Psy-fire casually swats a dart out of the air as Jonothon reforms fully. He's tired, but in a satisfied way. Gently drops down to the edge of the roof he's ruined to get a feel for what all is going on. The wounded near at hand, the tanks taken apart, the soldiers rushing in, and everything everyone is doing.. So he decides to focus a little on the soldiers. Still catching his breath, so he goes for small things. Like tripping people trying to get where they are going. Pinching gunbarrels closed.. you know, annoying shit that gives him the time he needs.
Magneto considers the vehicles, and the alarms. Sheltered from the original EMP, obviously… so he centers himself, and sends out another one. "Hellion," he says, since Julian is nearby. "I believe this place has back-up power generators, probably shielded in Faraday cages or the like. I think these power sources should be tracked and eliminated. I'll take care of the mobile units in the meantime." Those that are still mobile, anyway.
His two tanks have lost all semblance of tank-hood and now resemble some kind of space gun straight out of a B-grade sci-fi movie. Giant rings glow with purplish energy as the thing fires up and BLAMS! into the nearest whole tank. The vehicle vanishes, launched into orbit on a super-cushion of magnetic force, powered by the Earth's own magnetic field. Here's hoping the crew has an air supply…
One more vehicle taken down before Julian stops, hearing a voice. Hellion turns to look at Magneto as the order is given. A single nod. "Yes." He bids before he' flying off, following cables from the sirens. He'll find them somewhere. The only question being, if someone is waiting for him when he shows up.
Despite the onslaught of the trio of mutants, the soldiers press the attack, for all its effectiveness, pouring bullets, shells, rockets, neutralizer darts into the air. The tide of military support, if only for a moment, borders on inexhaustible… However, the vast majority of them remain geared with standard military weapons, the bulk of which are being picked apart and crushed by the trio's unimaginable power.
The resistance inside the complex is light, mostly support staff that dive right the hell out of the way at the sight of Hellion on a rampage. The secondary generators are indeed well-shielded, but as the former X-Man moves to destroy them, a massive armored fist swings in from behind, blasting Julian through the walls, and back into the chaos outside. Bursting through the wall behind the Rebel's flight path, a twelve-foot tall armored monstrosity, only *vaguely* resembling the outline of the Hulkbuster armor, and bristling with weapons, armor plating, and to Magneto's senses a very st
Bursting through the wall behind the Rebel's flight path, a twelve-foot tall armored monstrosity, only *vaguely* resembling the outline of the Hulkbuster armor, and bristling with weapons, armor plating, and to Magneto's senses a very strong EM shell.
"This ends *now,*" Booms the voice of General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, as he stomps forward, a high-pitched whine sounding from the plasma batteries at the armor's shoulders.
Jonothon, obvious on his perch, looks from General Ross to Magneto. Damn it. Not for the arrival, but because Magneto is wearing his helmet. That ruins his chances of getting a mental link with the other man. Glad now that he had the chance to catch his breath, the Brit wraps himself entirely in psy-fire, thus protecting himself from the small stuff, gives his attention entirely to that armor. Deciding not to try for heavy hitting, he instead reaches out to see if he can reach the mind of the man within. Let's see if he can't get into the general's thoughts. This even as his telekinesis crawls over the machine to see if it can be affected. Brute force won't be all that effective on this machine.
Magneto sends a couple more tanks into orbit to join the first one. Back of the head thought: start of a new Asteroid M? Something to consider. He notes the arrival of the new and improved Thunderbolt Ross, and is underwhelmed; the man is wearing the equivalent of… a tank. How effective.
It does take a couple of moments to re-aim his space gun, though, so maybe the good general will manage to impress with his next move. Magneto has no plans on being the target of that move, however, so he alters the magnetic patterns in the area. Compass needles and gyroscopes ought to be going a bit dizzy; that'll bugger the instruments of the helicopters, at least, and possibly the Hulkbuster armor, too… especially if the pilots of those machines don't think that with Magneto active in the area, electronic instruments are not going to read correctly… even if he isn't acting on them directly.
Julian was so close. Almost able to destroy the generators, and then he was shot out of the building like a BB through a sheet of paper. The telekinetic stands up after coming to again. His eyes widen as the General reveals himself. Hellion is back up in the air. Figuring that Magneto can do this guy in very easily.
Jono's telepathy reaches out, grabbing a hold of… nothing. Merely a sensation of boiling space, where the pilot's mind ought to be. Psy-scramblers, it would seem. The joins of the armor, multitudinous, but sealed tightly, well constructed and difficult to get much of a grip on. Almost as though to answer Magneto's silent challenge, the shoulder cannons finish their charge, launching twin columns of coherent, ionized plasma not at Magneto, or Jono, or the recovering Julian, but the space-gun. The General, obviously, hasn't been in the game this long without the ability to recognize high-priority threats. "Pack it up, you three," blares the voice from the speakers, "fighting'll only make it worse."
Jonothon expected that, but he had to try. Just means that he turns to other methods. Everything without a psy shield bends to his will, so he turns to the environment. Magneto needs a couple moments to get things ready, so Jono does what he can to slow the armor down. Fills up the chambers of the guns with cement, uses it to cover the cameras and electronics on the thing, to form up around legs and spike far far into the ground to hinder movement. No, it isn't going to stop the machine, but it could give them the time they need to get some stuff done.
He's working on the spike part when the plasma guns launch. As much as he attempts to get out of the way, Jono takes the blast. Loses an arm and a chunk of shoulder. There's a mental shriek of pain as he drops to the roof, and on his side. Curling inward somewhat, and stunned, the Brit struggles to pull himself together again.
The cannon fire hits the space gun dead-on, shattering it. Magneto's personal magnetic force field catches the bits that would have slashed through him, and he's shoved several dozen meters sideways by the force of the explosion. He is flying, after all, and he isn't anchored in place. Of course, shoving the Master of Magnetism around is never a good idea… and shoving him where he can see an ally go down is worse.
"You're right. Enough of this." Magneto turns his slide sideways into a curving loop, one that brings him heading straight back toward the Hulkbuster armor. Losing the gun is irritating, but not a fatal blow — he'll make another. It's just that it makes sending large objects into orbit so much easier. But there's nothing quite like the personal touch, and seeing Jonothon Starsmore in obvious pain is more than enough motivation. Armored against EMP? How about magnetism… and the force of the Earth's fields rejecting the armor, spitting it upward, watermelon seed at escape velocity? —He
—Hey! Maybe Ross'll do something about the tank crews, before they choke and/or freeze to death!
Julian stops himself from attacking after Jono is hurt. But Hellion is focused on General Ross. He can't help but watch as Magneto does his thing with the General. And then he thinks, might as well try and help Magneto with his task. Hellion plants his feet down on the ground, bringing in both arms and flailing out his palms. He's trying to pick up the General, to help slingshot him into orbit.
Helicopters veer side to side, crashing into the ground, into each other, and providing a terminal object lesson on why autopilot isn't always the ideal pilot; slaving the controls to sensors that suddenly find themselves given conflicting orientation, certain to end messily.
As the earth's magnetic field rejects the Xbuster, it begins to twist in midair, far more agile than its bulk would suggest, and launches a grappling spike from its palm toward the ground, aided by the roar of chemical thrusters meant to keep the strain off the cable. All this, and yet it still has weapons free. The plasma cannon begin to charge up again, and a blue-white particle stream erupts from the remaining palm of the armor, lancing toward Magneto's general vicinity.
Not able to put together clothing thanks to the shock and pain, Jonothon puts himself back together and levers himself up. Can't take a breather this time. On a roof, with a decent view of the goings on, the Brit blasts at those cables. Just as Julian aids, Magneto, so tries Jono. *PHOOM!* A pause to gather himself, and then another *PHOOM!* Jono drops back down to the rooftop and just lays there after that. Okay, breather time.
Magneto lets the plasma come. Plasma is ionized matter, meaning charged particles, meaning they will bend to the dictates of magnetism's master. He spreads his arms wide in the air, shaping invisible fields of energy to catch and convey those streams, to twist them and spread them in a wide fan around his body. The very air catches fire, temperatures spiking into the millions of degrees instantly as magnetic compression takes Ross' shot and turns it into a ground-based imitation of a solar flare.
The man inside the magnetic bottle smiles, lips peeled back to show sharp canines. Fear that smile. "Go away, little man," speaks the mutant, and he uses a lash of sun-hot energy to slice through any cable Jonothon Starsmore misses.
Julian continues to plant himself there, hopefully away from the 'solar' flare going on. Three powerful mutants against this…thing. His eyes turn back to glowing green as he puts everything he has against the chain planting the General here to Earth. His arms flinching as if he himself is putting the pressure straight from his own body. But it's only mind against machine.
The original model of the Hulkbuster was built to withstand a protracted battle against the strongest being in the world. The X-Buster, an upgrade designed to deal with nearly any problem a gang of mutants could throw at it. But no amount of cabling can face the combined might of two of mutantkind's highest tier of telekinetic, and a whiplash of pure solar hell. The cables part instantly, and in defiance of the forces arrayes against him, Ross activates more thrusters, and the suit's afterburners, blooming a roaring fire behind him as, just for a moment, he maintains position… long enough to launch a small capsule into the ground, before he hurtles skyward. Up, and up… never to return to ground again.
Jonothon would love to pass out now, but he doesn't. Stubborn to his core, he picks himself up off that roof because there are still things to be done. Peels out of the remains of that shirt he made earlier and discards it. «Your general is gone. What do you think we are going to do to the rest of you?» Sends out in a general wave. Odds are most can't hear him, but right now the Brit doesn't care. He watches the disappearance of the general in grim satisfaction as psy-fire coils around his person. It takes him only a moment before he frowns and looks to where that alarm is still going. Lifting into the air he heads that way. Going to blast the hell out of that building, of yes.
After the General is sent up towards outer space, Julian stops for a second, huffing, and wiping a bit of blood off of his nostril. "You think he sent down a departing gift?" He asks, looking, but not approaching the capsule that was shot down just before Ross darted off to orbit.
One of the good things about Julian's old suit is that it is distinctive to Magneto's magnetic senses… such that, though he is standing well inside the perimeter of that solar flare's backwash, it still misses him. Convenient, that. As for the Master of Magnetism himself, he missed the dropping of that capsule; it took ALL of his concentration to deal with plasma, XBuster armor, and general stuff. He actually follows the general up several hundred feet, trailing fire and metal shards, just to make sure the man STAYS gone.
When his attention returns, he's that much more focused on utterly destroying this place. No more space guns. Metal starts spiralling inward, under him. All metal. Tanks, guns, belt buckles, shoe eyelets….
The metallic vortex, nearly as good as a signal; *everyone* starts running for the hills, seeking to put as much distance between themselves and the very obvious future ground zero as human legs can carry them. Those Hunters who had been chained and muzzled and shackled die screaming as their bonds tear free of them without regard for physiology, the prisoners in the building scrambling to anything even closely resembling safety, even as the building is taken apart by Jono, over their very heads. The wailing song of human misery is the tune of the day, and the alarms *finally* cut off with an electronic gurgle as the base's power is taken out.
Jonothon finishes the destruction of the building and then adds into Magneto's mayhem. "Link with me!" He shouts upwards, a sudden grin. "Let's rebuild it!" Wrapped in flame, the man flies up to the other and repeats his words if necessary. First though, the must destroy it. Tired, but determined, he spreads his fire out amid the magnetism. What isn't metal soon joins in the maelstrorm. No, he doesn't much care about those lives caught in the middle. Lost much of that years ago. For now he bends his powers to aiding Magneto wipe this whole place clear off the map.
Magneto barely notes Jonothon's joining in the maelstrom. This place will be razed to the ground. Every cable, every vehicle, every last pipe and tent peg… all of it, drawn in and joining the massive tornado of elements forming below him. The capsule Thunderbolt Ross dropped? That, too, if there's any metal in it. Jono might get it, if there isn't.
People are ejected from the area. There is no finesse, no attempt to soften these impacts. They are merely In The Way, so they are removed. The ground is cleared in a widening circle… a dozen feet, a hundred… a thousand….
The capsule is pulled from the ground to join the ever-widening cyclone, the howling fury of the mutants' deconstruction drowning out any other noise. For a moment, the capsule flickers past Jono's nose, reflected moonlight picking out the writing etched on the capsule's side. [TO MY DAUGHTER BETTY] Of the rest of the camp, increasingly little remains, the complex scoured away down to the bedrock.
A blink, and the capsule is caught in a hand. Jonothon curbs the urge to smack Magneto, and instead looks at the thing. To who? The Brit decides that he's going to be cruel and lets that thing go. It's soon caught up in the winds and entirely pulled apart. He is keeping an eye on it though. Expecting it to destroy itself in an attempt to harm, but really, Jono doesn't want that man getting his last wish. He's been denied so many things. They all have. It's petty, but it sure makes him feel better. And once the ground is cleared he actually thumps Magnus. "Hey!" Come on, old fart. "Stop tuning me out. Let's rebuild it. We've already cleared ground and we have enough materials." You know you want to, Magnus!
Magneto turns on Jonothon, teeth bared. There is nothing left of the Hunter base, not building, not vehicle, not even person. "Damn your eyes, Starsmore!" The helmet unfolds and becomes part of his collar. "These people need to be erased! Eradicated! Exiled from this place, never to return!"
"Look!" As he's turned on, the man motions to the barren zone they've created. "It HAS been erased. They are exiled. What I'm suggesting is adding insult to injury." Jonothon tries to appeal to the old man's sense of revenge. "Not only can we raze it to the ground, but we can turn it into what /we/ want it to be. Enough with the destruction. It's gone.. let's turn it into something they will hate. So they will always know what happened here and that it was done by mutants."
"And what would you suggest, Starsmore? A statue of Charles Xavier, which they would despoil and destroy, as soon as we left? A scale model of the Institute, which they would disrespect, then inhabit and turn to their own purposes? Or perhaps you would prefer to just mark this place with a giant X!" Magneto flings out a fist and the air RINGS… and when the sound passes, a giant X in a circle lies on the ground, the X-Men symbol on monster scale. "What do you WANT?!"
Jonothon hates it when he gets this way. Entirely too focused on one thing to the exclusion of all else. "Magnus, does it matter what we make?" There's little reason to trying to be reasonable, yet there he goes anyway. "I'm talking about giving insult, not about making something to last. I'm too bloody tired to do anything incredibly detailed anyway." He's had a trying day here, after all. "Make a fifty foot tall statue of yourself! It really doesn't matter." The idea has him grinning. Of course he has several crass ideas, but he keeps them to himself. "Then this is all said and done we can build something of worth here. Something that matters. Right now, let's just be insulting. We could even go drop all this mess on Washington if that appealed." Maybe add the general there too.
With no other supplies available, and the only thing keeping his own weaponry from flying off is a gravity field surrounding them, Volk steps back into view and looks around at the barren landscape. Shaking his head once as the pair begin to argue, he takes two fingers and fires a bolt of blue-green light up into the air, bursting it like a firework to get the pair's attention, while his other hand reaches out and starts to initiate a third portal set for the day, his face showing a pallor of sweat to it.
Magneto snarls as the blue fireworks go off and he pulls back and makes ready to attack this latest threat. He's exhausted, but (typically) his adrenaline is running so high he doesn't realize it. This means he's running the edge of both temper and consciousness.
"WHAT!" A shout at Volk, static electricity flaring around him. "Do YOU have a suggestion, too!? Speak up!" Never mind that Volk speaks as little as possible.
Jonothon starts at the blue, and his look of irritation is on par with the old man he's arguing with. The Brit gets what the meaning is however. "He thinks it's time to go and since he's our return home.." Clearly Jono thinks it's time to stop. Leaving Magneto to hover there, the Brit drops down and says, "Thanks." To Volk before he passes through that portal. Sure he wanted to rebuild, but perhaps that's something for another day. Now that the power high is fading, he's not sure he wanted to pass out here where others could find him. Exit, portal right there.
Watching Jono pass on through the portal just as it resolves once more, he sighs and looks up at the master of Magnetism, with a bit of a smirk as he knows the portal is just adding to everything else going on. Volk motions with a bow and both hands, as if to indicate the man's chariot awaits, and then stands back up once more, grumbling out, "We're… done here… And that metal… has more use… to us… in the tunnels… than here. Weapons… supports… bedframes. What… was their's… is ours… shall we?" Attempting to be reasonable amidst the maelstrom.
Magneto snarls wordlessly and drops to the ground. He gives Volk a glower worthy of the solar flare he pulled earlier, then stalks through the portal. He doesn't have quite the control he did earlier, though, and manages to come out with a headache on the other side… which does wonders for his mood. Well… for suitably elastic definitions of 'wonders'.
After ferrying Julian through, Volk offers a salute before he uses his power to draw something on the ground, the last little bit of the plan before he takes his leave… and on the ground there is a fourty foot wide sign, easily visible once a satellite zeroes in on the place… 'THIS IS MY RESIGNATION -JAMES PALMER' And with a bit of a wave to the sky he turns and departs, the portal vanishing and leaving nothing but corpses, victims, and a swath of destruction that has wiped what was once the Salem Center Mall, and the surrounding camps into nothing but metal chunks and the dead.
