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Summary: Cyclops leads a small troup to take on Memphis.
Date: March 25, 2009
Memphis Rising
Rating: PG
Memphis - Pyramid
Things have been arranged and the orders have been given and a team collected. Addison has come along with this group to help, as usual. Between that and what he's been doing at the mansion, the mental mutant has been working himself silly. He's trying his hardest to prove himself here. But, the fact remains that he's coming along.
The Pyramid itself is guarded, this time. Just like the other location, Madri stand around the Pyramid, holding weaponry of various types. Inside? There's no way to tell as of yet. Though there are some other people at the doors, they're on the inside and hard to make out for the moment.
After gathering up the people that could come along, Scott prepped the X-Jet. Again finding a large enough place to land. "Grey King will be giving us a mental link. There are copies of Madrox guarding the pyramid, just like in California. Madrox's power is to copy himself using physical force, so just hitting him won't work to take them out. We'll have to take them out another way." As the ramp opens up, Cyclops steps up from the pilot's chair and looks to the group.
Dressed in one of the standared Xavier's uniforms, Christopher still has yet to develop a costume, Shine walks out of the X-Jet looking around. "I can try to create a bright flash and blind as many of them as possible, Cyclops." He says as he waits for Scott's lead, after all he's not an X-Men.
Cannonball is dressed in his costume, goggles up, and follows suit. "Looks like mah blashin' won't work right now. Maybe we can have a diversion out here while a few of us sneak in." He's still sometimes used to leading things back in X-Force.
Despite the strange encounter last night, Eddie's here. Dressed in his New Mutants uniform, he's ready for the mission as 'Mr. Faith'. Holding tightly onto the arm rests of his chair, he's a mix of excitement and nervousness right now. "Yessir!" he replies to Cyclops quickly. He bites his lip and then reaches up to lower his goggles into place. Pulling his X-bandanna up as well, his costume's complete. He follows the others out of the jet, looking around quickly and trying to take in as much information as possible about what's going on.
Pallaton is out and about in his Hellions uniform, but looks dedicated to the task at hand. Or, rather, 'Talli' is. He nods as Scott speaks and thinks on his own powers and how they could be useful. "With Eddie's help, I might just be able to restrain the enemy, if that's of any use to you. I'm not sure how well, but it could be possible…" He
knows his Terramancy isn't that good, and it's likely Scott knows that too. But Eddie's on the team, after all, so limits are raised somewhat. Plus it's good to have some literal muscle on the team. He follows, too, taking a rear position. Mostly because the others probably couldn't see past him if he was in front.
Nodding, Addison, or rather Grey King touches the minds of the other people, linking them together. ~Madri are no problem, in the long run. I sense at least five conscious people on the inside. I can't make them out, yet.~~ He can't hold back his own appearance. Regardless of how things are going, he always has the bright firey aura.
As the Ramp drops, Madri begin pouring from their areas, lining themselves up in a preventive manner, prepping for attack.
The leader looks about the team. "As long as you don't physically hit him, he cannot copy. A flare would be great to blind them, give us the upper hand." As Addison reports of the five people in the Pyramid, Scott acknowledges. ~Right, we will have to worry about them when we get in, for now, focus on the Madri. On my mark.~ Scott watches as the multiple men form up. ~Mark.~ He rings out mentally before starting to move to fight some himself, keeping his optic blasts out of the equation, he will attempt to disarm one with a weapon, hopefully it can be used against the Madri.
Christopher looks to Eddie and smiles. "E-Faith." He corrects himself. "Faith, either copy my powers and follow my lead or Grey King's, I think the others are too phsycial for now." Shine says as he knows Eddie's a smart kid. Christopher walks out to the area and waits for a good number of Mardoxes to get in the area before he builds up a
charge of light and lets off a bright blast of light, blinding several Madroxes in the area.
For now, Cannonball hangs back and nods. "Yessir." Sam says as he takes off in the air. If he can't blast into them, he can at least keep an ariel view on things and report them back via the mind link.
Faith swallows, glancing at Shine and Talli. ~I don't get to pick who's powers I mimic when I boost more than one…~ he trails off. Taking a deep breath, he activates his boosting and powers up the group to three times their normal maximum levels. As he does, his uniform morphs into a white and blue version of the Grey King costume. Eddie opens his eyes and floats off the ground. "Okay…nice," he mutters, glad he got a non-concussive power. Reaching into his belt's pouch the young mutant takes out some of his knock out bombs and telekinetically flings them into the crowds of Madri. He's aiming for the ground around the Madri where the bombs will burst into a thick purple fog of knockout gas unless stopped.
Pallaton takes a deep breath before he leaps into the fray, swinging his thick, powerful arms in the hopes of connecting with at least one of the Madri. If he sends them flying… well, that's great. If not, there's always the return swing. He's careful not to accidentally get anyone else in the way, but also determined to get as many of them as possible in one swing. And, of course, to stay away from Faith's knockout gas. He's had bad experiences with that in the past.
Grey King begins looking at Madrox after Madrox. Though the mental link he's forged, the others can hear what he's commanding, but not recieve the effects. ~Sleep~. He says to some. ~Hallucinate~ to others. ~Peace~ to even a few more. Of course, with holding the link, he can only do so many at a time. However, he notices one thing, ~~Talli, please. Don't hit them. They're multiplying when you do.~~
And of course, with each connecting swing, more Madri are created. The ones the others are taking on are going down little by little. Between knock out gas and commands, the madri won't last much longer. It's simply… the nature of the Madri that are obviously not themselves.
Scott allows the other non-physical team members go for the Madri. He was about to remind Tali about the Madri again, but the telekinetic had already said it. ~Just fall back, Tali. You and I cannot take them down.~ His tone is just as serious and dry mentally as it is physically. This is not the only skirmish today, he's got a good
feeling about it.
Christopher continues his tactic of trying to blind as many of the Mardi as possible while Addison and Eddie do their thing. ~Grey King, what if we try to build a box using my light to build a walk and your telekinsis and then we can have Faith throw a couple of knock out bombs of his in there." It's a suggestion to take the rest of them
out.
Cannonball still hangs around in the sky, doing a quick circle around the parameter to see if there is anything else beisdes the Mardi out there.
Faith smiles behind his bandanna as he sees the bombs do their job. He frowns over at Talli for a moment but keeps quiet on it. ~I don't have too many more of the knock out bombs. They're a lot harder to make than the other ones…~ he trails off. There's a quick count of them and he sets one aside. ~Only have six left.~ Other than the
'emergency' one he set aside.
Pallaton mentally slaps himself, which some may pick up, and leaps back, rising a clawed hand in an upwards slash on… well, nothing. Instead, he's resorting to good old sand-in-the-eyes, whipping up a handful or two of sand with his Terramancy to hopefully blind the rest temporarily. ~I'm sorry~ he mentions through the mental link.
~~Good idea.~~ Grey King nods as he begins to work with Shine to construct a physical trap. By now, there really aren't that many of the Madri left. ~~Faith, toss them in when Shine lures them.~~ He calls out, doing his part.
The remaining Madri just aren't focussing that well at all.
Cyclops continues to watch the battle. Though when Christopher suggests the box with Grey King and Eddie, he nods. Approving the strategy they are taking, hopefully that will be all of the guards so the team can infiltrate the pyramid itself.
Christopher takes a deep breath and puts out both his hands to form up two sides of a wall, and they shine bright. He can actually change the colour of his light constructs but he sticks with the basic white. He's one of those people that doesn't let on how powerful they actually are.
In the mean time Sam decides that he can hurd what Mardi he can towards the trap, trying to lead and push the ones he can there without hitting any.
Faith nods quickly. ~Yessir!~ he responds, landing to run over in to position instead. Once he get the signal, Eddie sends all six of the bombs flying in to bursts against the back wall of the box and spread the purple fog. "Sleep tight…"
Pallaton keeps back for the meantime, but on guard, his fists ready to strike should the need come. Sure, he has his claws, but he doesn't really want to use those if he can help it.
As they're all entrapped, Grey King seals the box with the gasses. Within moments, the Madri pass out. Slowly, he lowers them to the ground. ~~ Whoever wants to go first.~~ He offers, waving a hand atthe door.
Cyclops looks at Addison. Moving to open the door. ~Be on the defensive. There are five people inside, identities and powers unknown.~ He's got his thumb ready to send a blast out. ~Keep trying to identify the persons inside, Grey King.~ He enters the Pyramid to make his assessment.
Waiting for Eddie or Pallaton to enter behind Scott, Shine makes sure to go third. ~Right on Cyclops.~ He makes sure to cut the light of any of his power that might still be glowing. He doesn't want them to be a giant becon because of him.
Cannonball on the other hand makes sure to take up the rear, he's not going to let the students be one of the last ones, who knows what will happen. ~Ah least it's five on five."
Faith swallows, letting Talli go along ahead of him. Clipping his pack closed, he glances up at Cannonball and then over to Shine and Cyclops, and finally yo Grey King. Frowning a moment, he just hunges down slightly in hopes of not being seen so quickly around all the taller people. He glances around for any security cameras as they go,guessing the enemy knows they're already there.
Pallaton goes in behind Scott, but something seems off. He sniffs the air, looking confused. ~Dr. Parker-Mayfair… Mr. Faith… Shadowcat? I smell similar scents, but they're only similar… There are others, but I don't know who." His fur rises on the back of his neck as he partially supresses a growl. He still bares his teeth, though.
~I can't quite feel them. They're too well shielded. Farouk is too tightly wound in protecting here.~ Grey King says, moving along on his feet rather than flying. He's too obvious.
As the group walk into the pyramid, the inside is set up like a stadium with thousands of seats. In the center is a large open area. The open area has five figures walking around it, hard to tell from the distance. In the dead center is a machine. The Machine is humming and glowing with energies.
~Cannonball, Tali, Shine, at the first sign of aggression, I want you to start going after the attackers. Mr. Faith and Grey King, try and neutralize…~ Scott looks in harder on the machine in the center. ~The other Mr. Faith and Fabian Cortez.~ Hoping that Grey King and Faith can suppress one of the power boosters, equalizing the odds. Cyclops will be assisting the physical team, and being the strategist. ~The three on the pyramid will most likely be attached to the machine, we need to be careful separating them from the device.~
~Roger.~ Shine says in the mental link as he takes a few steps forward and tries to see if anyones going to attack. ~Shadowcat, Buff and Mr. Faith?" He can't help but ask in the mental link as two of the people named are his family. He takes a deep breath and tries to put his emotions aside but it's hard since he is quite the emotional man.
Cannonball nods and stays next to Pallaton. This is his first mission so he wants to keep an eye on the kid. "Don't run off until Ah give a signal okay Talli?" He states quitely in his southern drawl.
Faith tenses then swallows. He moves over near Grey King and gives him a little 'eep' look before focusing on the task at hand. ~Yessir…~ he trails off. Licking his lips, the teen reaches out and tries to suppress his other self's powers with the power mimicked from Grey King.
Pallaton nods his head, readying himself and keeping an eye out, as well as waiting on Cannonball's word. ~I'm ready when you are.~
There's no need for words as Grey King beings stops, suddenly, barely able to walk as he focusses on blocking their powers. He can hold the link for now, but the more he pushes, the harder it will be to keep anyone inside.
Unfortunately, the power boosting system is not dependent upon the minds of the mutants trapped within it. The three of them are all quite unconscious and unable to do anything, save feed themselves into the machine.
The noise of motion from one of the machined mutants awakens the senses of the guardians. Knuckles crack as a scarred hulk of a man holds his fists together. "Company." He says, in a deep resonant voice. Beside him, light flares. A third figure begins to glow… about his chest, firing a blast at the leader walking in. Fortunately for Scott, he's immune to this particular power.
~It's their world's Buff, Shine, and..~ He gets cut off, the blast of hot plasma simply gets absorbed by Scott. ~And Havok. I'll go for Buff, someone else will have to go after Havok.~ Of course, the brothers are immune to each others power. Cyclops presses the glove button and with the added bonus of Faith's boosting, a supercharged blast of red concussive energy booms out moving towards the Doctor.
Taking a deep breath Shine nods. ~Watch out and don't get to close to Buff, he can power share." Or at least his Buff can. ~I'll take their Havok.~ Shine vs Shine is probably not the best of ideas. A corona of light forms around the photokinetic as he flies into the air and aims a beam of light right at Havok.
Sam on the other hand has decided to go after Other-Shine. ~Pallaton, help Shine with Havok.~ He says as he rockets up and flys around, coming back to aim right into Other-Shine's back. He knows fixes his goggles over his eyes before he flys, getting ready to slam into him.
Faith frowns, stopping his power suppression attempts when he sees it does nothing. Biting his lip, he looks around and peeks out of his hiding spot near Addison. Keeping his boosting up, he tries to see if he can find the scented ShadowCat or any clear path down to the floor. Shrugging, he focuses on Other-Buff and tries to supress his powers
for now.
Pallaton nods, about to leap forward, but suddenly swats around his ears, looking around surprised for a few seconds. Nothing. So turns with a snarl and heads straight for Havok, dropping on all fours to get there quicker. ~Stupid flies!~ he's heard snarling over the mental link, bounding and clambering to take a slug at Havok with as much force as he can put into a blow without toppling over.
~It's not working.~ Addison says, sighing as he flies over to look at the machine, seeing the vietnamese girl on the other side of it. ~Did they tell you anything about this machine, Cyclops?~ He begins looking over it, trying to find the actual shut down device or sequence.
Buff takes the hit, being thrown back into some bleachers, but rises, cracking his neck. "Look, I don't want to do this, but I don't have a choice, alright?" He growls, before taking a charge in the direction of Cyclops. And Buff… is fast.
Other-Shine doesn't see Cannonball coming. Much like our own, he's not a regular combatant. Or perhaps there's more of a reason. When he's slammed, Cannonball may notice that the man's eyes are as white as the light he creates.
There's a chuckle from above Faith as a Shadowcat bearing claws from wristbands falls downwards towards him.
A thin beam of energy flies at Pallaton from seemingly nowhere, until the woman enlarges herself, Her voice, when she speaks is the resounding voice of Farouk. "Leave."
Other-Alex's single minded determination to the first target… is an issue, really. It leaves him blindsided. Literally. He's thrown back, but not down, immediately sending a responding blast.
~Forge said that it works similarly to the one in California. It takes their powers and spreads them out. It could use the same sequence to disarm it.~ The X-Man's face stays emotionless as Buff responds. "And I don't have a choice either." As the super strong man barrels towards Cyclops, another blast is sent towards him, and kept open for a number of seconds, hopefully dealing damage and keeping the possible power-sharer at bay.
As Other-Havok quickly gets up Shine is able to put up a barrier just in time so he's not hit by the energy blast. The shield immediately dissapates. ~Shit~ He thinks as it nearly got him but he was able to get it up in time. This time instead of a blast, he manipulates the light he can generate to wrap around Alex and try to hold him in place.
Cannonball notices the white eyes of Other-Shine. ~Ah think he's blind!~ He says through the link as he flies in to grab a hold of Christopher and hopefully hold him there, using the fact that he believes he's blind to his advantage.
Faith looks up at the chuckle and goes a little pale. With a squeak, he propels himself away from the spot he's in with the telekinesis mimicked from Addison. It's an unaimed fleeing, sending Faith crashing through chairs. He lands in a pile of them and groans. "Okay, note to self…do not do a Cannonball impersonation unless mimicking Cannonball or a similarly powered person," he mutters. Sure, the tk-aura protected him somewhat but it still hurt to do all that
crashing. It takes him a second but remembers 'oh yeah, enemy!' and turns to look for the Shadowcat. "Okay, okay…Shadowcat's phasing…immune to physical attacks and it's not like mine are anything special anyway…vulnerable to magic and certain energies…needs to breath still so time limit on the phasing," he mutters quickly to himself. "Gotta find her first," he mentions, flaoting into the air incase Shadowcat phased into the ground after Eddie launched himself away.
Pallaton would've stopped if he wasn't travelling all-out, so instead he trips and nearly crumples in reacting to Wasp's sudden arrival, instead rolling along the ground a bit, lifting a clawed hand to shoot a few rocks towards her (courtesy of Eddie's boosting powers), before focussing on her, now, pouncing towards her with a snarl of "We're
going NOWHERE!". It's hard to tell if he's looking to tear her a new one or just pin her, but to the casual observer? It's the former.
Taking the codes and tapping them in quickly, Addison gets the codes entered. Fortunately for all, they work. The machines power down, and the three seated mutants slump over, wires and tubes attacked to their bodies all over.
With the loss of power accompanied by Cyclops's blast, Buff goes down quickly. On his own, he can't take Cyclops's powers that hard. Other Havok glares at Christopher, once again focussing himself completely on one thing. He's bad about doing that. The other-Shine is indeed blind. And with his powers degraded, suddenly, he blinks, feeling around. "I… I can't feel where everyone is."
Other-Shadowcat begins to leap out at Cyclops as she comes through the wreckage left by Eddie.
Farouk in Other-Wasp was not expecting magic to be involved as well, so she tries to dodge, shrinking again, but at her size, the rock knocks her against the wall quickly.
Cyclops only stops his blast on the Other-Buff before he's leaped upon by Other-Shadowcat. She knocks the man down and has him on the ground. Trying to press the button on his glove that activates the shutter. After struggling for a couple of moments, a small optic blast is sent her way at point-blank range.
Rubbing his shoulder because it took the brunt of the impacts through the chairs, Mr. Faith squeaks again when he sees where Other-Shadowcat went. Heading down, he's not quite sure what to do there. Seeing the optic blast, he waits to see its results before trying anything.
Pallaton definitely notices the rocks working, so focusses on that, firing more and more rocks towards Wasp in an attempt to somehow hit home. Of course, with a person that size, it'll be tough, but it seemed to work. And if all else fails, there's always the low-tech way. Good old smashing.
Giving a mental cheer of happiness as he gets the machine shut down, Grey King calls out, ~~They're powered down. Now we just need to take the remainder out, in order to get this place back to where it needs to be.~~ He moves to the people on the machine, starting first on the Other-Eddie, removing him from the machine, very slowly to avoid any damage.
With Wasp, Buff, and Shine down, It's down to Alex and Kitty. Unfortunately, Kitty's blasted. She manages to phase through the brunt of it, but her arm snaps back loudly as it happens, obviously broken. She screams in pain, slashing at the air, forgetting that she's phased. Other-Alex stands and looks around, energies gathering around him as he prepares to send a pulse of power in all directions.
While Other-Kitty is phased and no longer on the X-Man, Cyclops picks himself up. He notices the gathering of energies around his brother. Knowing that Alex's power cannot harm him, Scott makes haste to tackle his brother.
Christopher is focused on Havok as well since it seems to be a one on one battle with the two. Christopher throws up another lightshield but some energy gets through and blasts him backwards. He might be a bit bruised but otherwise fine. ~I need some help here.~ He admists via the mental link as he gets back up and throws up a stronger light sheild this time just in case.
Cannonball on the other hand has notice Wasp taunting Pallaton and has decided to help the wolfshifer out and aim straight forward. "Ah'm sorry Ma'am but ya ain't hurtin' Talli here." He says as he goes to ram into her full force.
Faith shields his goggle-covered eyes when he sees Cyclops' blast, smiling slightly at it. He winces at Other-Shadowcat's scream. There's a bit of conern for the woman from Eddie and he frowns. ~Why don't you go to sleep?~ he suggests, trying to knock out the woman with mimicked telepathy as he slowly floats backwards towards Grey King and the machine.
With Pallaton keeping an eye on the Wasp, moving her over to join the other fallen opponents, Grey King continues freeing the unconscious mutants from the machinery.
The tackle from Cyclops will hold Alex and block the brunt of the explosion coming from the mutant. However, heat and plasma emit around him, giving a good burst of concussion as well to anyone who might be in their path.
Kitty has been held by someone else's mind for too long. With the pain breaking her free, her mind is weak. Eddie's command to sleep works, passing her out.
~I'm on it.~ Rings out mentally from Scott's mind just before the blast. Cyclops lets the blast absorb into him, even if he couldn't block all of it. The mutant keeps his eyes focused on the other-Havok. ~Faith, try and knock out this Havok too.~ It's worth a shot, before more all-around blasts happen.
Christopher hangs bank and goes to join Addison to see what he can do to assist. Since Buff, Shine and Kitty are taken out, he figures, let Scott and Eddie handle Other-Havok.
Cannonball in the mean time is still focused on trying to keep Wasp out of the fight.
~Woah. It actually worked,~ Faith thinks without really realizing it. He squeaks when seeing some of the plasma-explosion from Other-Havok pass by, feeling some of the heat. Jumping, he looks over. ~Yessir, Cyclops-sir!~ he replies, turning his attention to Other-Havok. ~Excuse me, Havok. Please go to sleep for awhile,~ he transmits as he tries to knock Other-Havok out too.
As Addison finishes freeing the other mutants, he reaches out to explore what he can within the remaining minds, finding nothing, really. He sighs softly. Shaking his head, he looks up. ~~They don't know what they're doing. They never did. Like me, they were all controlled.~~
With that last sleep command, they're all down. Memphis has been regained, but what remains?
Cyclops stands up now that Havok is down. ~Figures. Make sure they are alright, medical attention given where needed, get their Kitty's bone fixed.~ He'll call Forge and the Freedom Force in California and update them, see what's going down in California. "Good Job."
Since Christopher has the basics in medical knowledge, nothing like his husband though, he goes over to help who he can. ~So is everyone okay and snapped out of the mental control?" He asks feeling sympatheic towards the alternate verses him, Buff and Mr. Faith.
Sam on the other hand is over near the fallen Kitty and trying to assist her anyway possible. "No problem Cyclops, Ah think we pretty much got what needed t' be done here. We brinin' the these guys back with us?"
Eddie lands and stops boosting and mimicking, uniform returning to normal. Letting out a breath of relief, the teen smiles. "Thank you, Cyclops-sir!" he says quickly before moving to assist Grey Kin with the mutants in the machine. He pauses when he sees his alternate self, biting his lip and shaking his head before getting to work.
The ones in the machines will need lots of medical care. Probably several years worth before being able to move on their own again, they've been in the machines for so long. However, either way, the world is almost back in control of it's own destiny… only one thing remains. Closing the portal for good.
