Players:
Summary: A strange man comes to Xavier's for help, bad things followed.
Date: October 2, 2010
Log Title: The Fun Begins
Rating: October 2, 2010
Xavier Mansion - Courtyard
Surrounded on three sides by the school, a large courtyard forms the front yard. The courtyard leads right up to the door of the mansion. Yellow square stone slabs cover the ground where the grass would be. The most noticeable thing about the courtyard is the large statue of Jean Gray, aka Phoenix, in the middle as a memorial. Benches surround the outside of the statue so students can sit and hang out in the courtyard. There are two paths leading off the courtyard, one to the left and the other to the right.
The clear sky is dark and the stars are out. The lights from the inside the mansion shining out the windows along with the lamps in the courtyard are causing the majority of the visibility out there. A chill breeze flows through the night ruffling the trees and sending some of the first leaves of fall to blow across the courtyard. The Jean Grey statute casts long shadows over the ground. Even though it's only eight p.m. out, it's gotten dark.
It's nice looking at the starts. Mike Drakos is looking at them as they begin to appear in the night, and … kind of but not completely regretting that he has stayed so long. It'll be a pain getting back to Barnes, of course, but Mom did say "day visit only" and while the check-up went well and all his systems are doing OK, he HAS missed Hank and Scott. And he's decided to meet up with some of the friends he hasn't seen in too long, and maybe meet one he hasn't met in person if she shows. So he's waiting. There'll probably be a driver along any time now, but for the moment, waiting is good.
The good thing about a place who has alien medical technology in the basement is that when you get seriously injured like, oh say, breaking an ankle, recovery is speedy. It's been a few weeks since Tara has been out of her cast, and between the Shi'ar tech and intense physical therapy sessions, her foot is almost back to new, although she does tend to walk with a barely noticeable limp. She's only walking from point A to point B via the courtyard when her senses pick up the distinctly metallic feel of Mike, and her nose picks up that familiar smell of motor oil. "Astro Boy!" she yells in glee, and rushes at her friend to tackle him in a friendly hug. "I haven't seen you in forever!"
For some a dark night is ideal, especially those who are out trying to text a night vision camera mounted onto an RC helicopter. Having put on a much mistreated lab coat to keep warm Kisha looks something of a mad scientist (more so than normal anyway!). Of course that doesn't seem to bother her as she taps away on her portable computer and studies the picture intently, muttering the odd choice obscene phrase in Russian at every little glitch. Under the lab coat the occasional glimpse of her more portable tools can be spotted, at the ready for if the second hand helicopter decides to stop working again and plummet from the sky…
Cloud has just finished his first assignment for his senior year and is now finally heading to the kitchen for dinner, he's dressed in blue jeans, red sneakers, a red and white checkered shirt and his dark roots are beginning to show though his spikey bleached blond hair, whistling to himself he notes how much darker than usual it is for this time of night, he grins when he spots a familier robot boy, and that girl Tara from the dining hall, changing course he jogs over to join them.
Lucas is wandering back onto campus from town. He's wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a white, Vneck Tshirt. Over his shoulder is slung a guitar case, like a backpack, and he's walking rather quickly towards the mansion, looking around like he's sneaking.
Running through the gates to Xavier's, comes running a tall man. Dark hair, pale skin, tripping on the hem of his long coat. As soon as he's taken a few feet beyond the gate alarms sound. Loud blaring alarms. The steel reinforcements slam down over the windows and small laser turrets pop out of the ground to all aim at the intruder. The man stops and raises his hands. "Please….I need help. I've heard…superheroes here. I don't mean any harm." Says the frazzled looking stranger.
"Woah! Tara!" Mike isn't completely bowled over, given that he had warning, but he does try to adjust his "catch" so she doesn't crunch too hard against the metal shell. He's got his image inducer on, so he looks more human on the outside, but he's also wearing his Barnes uniform underneath the illusion of jeans-and-jacket, to reduce scratches. He doesn't _see_ Lucas, but he 'feels' him moving by and waves with a free hand, to acknowledge if he chooses to.
"HI! Yeah, I had to have my 2,000 mile checkup and stuff. I'm, uhm. At the same school Rashmi's attending. Also, , and what is that flying thing up to? Isn't …"
And then the same thing happens that always happens inevitably, catastrophe.
Mike looks to the others, "YIKE. OK, could one of you do the honors? I don't have my comm on me." Not the one that works here.
"What flying thing?" is Tara's response. The helicopter is out of range of her strange fifth sense, and the sound of it's electric motor really isn't loud enough for her to really pick up on it. She scowls as the guy bursts through the perimeter defenses and starts shouting at them. "Um. Okay…" she says, still clinging to her friend, and starts digging around in her jeans pocket for her phone.
As the man storms in through the gates Kisha lets out a sigh, first of irritation and then of contentment. "This must be the standard school disaster I've heard so much about," she remarks, sending the litte helicopter flying off the direction the stranger must have come from. "Now what do we have here? A /gun turret/? It's like my birthday has come early!" She makes a b-line for the laser turret with her computer at the ready, more intent on figuring out how it works than stopping it shooting the intruder.
Lucas shakes his head, dropping the guitar to the ground and grabbing the cuff of his left glove, prepared to remove it as he approaches the stranger. "No need, the alarms went off. They'll be on their way," he says to Mike, not taking his eyes off the new arrival. "Who are you? What do you want?" he demands as he confidently marches closer to the guy.
Cloud gives Mike a nod in greeting when he reaches him and Tara, "Hey there Mike, long time no see, hi Tara", when the man runs across the grounds, he reaches into his pocket, not for his phone (he lost that) but for the small diamond he's been carrying around to absorb from, planning to either help the man, or help his schoolmates hold him back until the teachers arrive.
Looking at Lucas the man puts up both his hands as if surrendering. "My name is Alaric Blackmoore…I'm a mage. Magic user. Something's gone terribly wrong and I need help. Is there…someone in charge who can help me?" He asks quickly and with much nerve to his voice as he looks over his shoulder as if something is coming. As the alarms continue to go off a fog starts to roll into the area, clinging to the ground at about ankle height.
"Sure," Mike answers. "They're on their way, already. Is someone chasing you or something?"
That flinchy attitude, it appears to Mike that the man is under pursuit. He holds onto Tara mostly because she's already there, also, because he doesn't get to do that much any more.
"Whoa, is Storm on duty tonight?"
Tara honestly doesn't weigh all that much, for being as small as she is. She digs her communicator out of her pocket anyway, just in case they're going to need it. "No, I think it's Sam's turn tonight," answers Tara to Mike. "Why?" She doesn't address the man, though, since it looks like Mike and Lucas are doing a good enough job of it as it is.
"Who is a pretty little laser turret? You are, yes you are you adorable thing," Kisha murmurs, still flying the helicopter although the addition of mist makes it easier to direct. She simply points it where the mist is thickest. "Blackmoore spelt how? I assume you're on facebook. And it'd be a simple way to verify your identity…" She types in a few simple searches while she waits. "Although I should note this isn't Hogwarts and thus the staff may be unable to help…"
Cloud doesn't do anything yet, Mike seems to think this guy is on the level, so for now he'll follow his lead, mostly due to the fact that when he tries to think for himself in these kind of situation, he disappears for a month, "Tara's right, it's not Storm tonight", he turns to the man, "stay calm dude, like everyones saying, someones coming".
Lucas steps to the front, "Blackmoore, Ah'm Lucas. Ah'm not in charge or nothin', but Ah am on staff here." He moves over to kneel in front of the guy. "We can't let you in until someone with the authority to clear you gets here, but if'n y'all tell us what's goin' on, we can get you inside faster once that happens.
The fog continues to roll in at a fast pace as it comes upto to the knee, making feet no longer even visible. Alaric looks at Kisha and stutters his words. "Ff-facebook? Heavens no." He says before scoffing at the Hogwarts comment. "Please…he's…oh my Heaven's to Betsy…he's here." He looks to Lucas and takes a few stumbling steps back. "He followed me..I'm so sorry Young Lucas." Says Mr. Blackmoore. All the while a hand reaches out of the earth and goes to grab at one of Tara's ankles.
"What the heck…" Mike turns his eye-lamps on and spotlights the ground, which looks darn weird when he's still got his image induced.
"Did I just scan something coming out of the GROUND? It's not even Halloween yet!"
Tara squeaks in surprise as the bony hand juts out of the ground to grab at her, and reflexively flies up about ten feet into the air, losing a shoe to the hand in the process. "EEP! What the heck was that!?"
Kisha scrambles to attach her computer to a carry cable, but somehow still manages to keep the Heli-cam pointing at the scene. "Great Cloud you /had/ to talk about someone coming," she exclaims, slapping her hand on the turret in what she hopes is an encouraging manner. "Sic 'em, boy! Now that his story has checked out can we all get inside behind the nice sturdy doors meant to keep whatever /it/ is out. You might also wanna spill who the He in question is!"
"Hey, not my fault!", Cloud's eyes widen in shock as Tara is grabbed though the knee high mist, "Fuck, what the fuck is that?", once he registers that Tara has got herself loose, he tries to scan though the mist for anything else.
Lucas moves over to offer some protective cover to Blackmore as he shouts, "Form up, guys!" He yanks the glove off, his hand exploding into a nuclear ball of energy as he takes an offensive stance. "What are we fighting, Blackmore!?!?" he shouts as he looks around.
"He is a dark one." Alaric Blackmoore answers before he starts to mutter some foreign sounding words under his breath along with some complex hand gestures. All the while the fog keeps rolling in and more skeletal hands start reaching out of the ground grabbing at anything living. While the hands grab at those in the Courtyard, from behind Alaric about eighteen skeletons start to march in through the gates behind the mage.
"GAH! What is this, Dawn of the Dead?" Mike tries to stomp the skele-hands as they try to grab onto him. Somewhat hampered by the thought of Romero rather than Monroe (director of the original Bela Lugosi Dracula) he's thinking fight, rather than 'turn undead' for what that would be worth … "INCOMING," he yells, seeing the marching skeletons. SO much creepier when it's not animated! If only there were a big stone sphere here, he could try bowling?
Tara telekinetically yoinks her shoe out of the skeleton's hand and quickly puts it on again. "You've got to be kidding me," she says and creates a telekinetic wall between the small group of students and the undead. It's strong enough to keep them from going through but, if they're smart they'll be able to go around it. Hopefully, they're not that smart.
Kisha digs around in her tool belt and pulls out her number five smashing hammer. Ideal for annoying alarm clocks, percussive maintenance and hopefully just as good for fending off the shambling dead. "So /this/ is my reward for not building a ray gun? Clawed to death by skeletons which have been burried under the lawn," she yell, laying into the hands with the hammer and heading to the nearest bench. She continues with some fast and frantic Russian cursing that would make grown men blush.
Cloud jumps back and begins stomping on the hands reaching out, while considering trying to grab one and absorb from it, but does he really wanna deal with life sucking the dead?, "The dark what?!, what are with dealing with other than the whole necromancy thing?!"
Lucas glances at the others, "Ah got the gate, watch the ground! Tara, can you see the source?" He blazes up his hand, and then tosses a giant ball of energy at the gateful of skeletons. The blast explodes in a violent burst of nuclear energy when it impacts, hopefully tearing apart the first wave.
Skeleton bits go flying when Lucas hits the group coming in from the front gate but it also lights up the area to show that they're slowly coming in from all sides to surround the group. Countless numbers of skeletons appear out of the fog and the ground to shamble fourth towards the group. Mike manages to play whack a mole with the skeleton hands but more keep on coming, Tara's wall is able to keep an from penetrate them. Hands grab at Kisha as she's trying to work and drag her to the ground and as for Cloud three hands go to grab each of his legs. Alaric on the other hand is trying his thing by muttering "Traguna, Macoities, Tracorum Sati-" But it's cut off as a series of skeleton hands grab him and drag him right into the earth with a terrified scream.
Not spending any more energy on the human-seeming, Mike turns his image inducer off and dives for where Alaric was, trying to grab him but a moment too late; he tries to roll to his feet again to get back to the safety of the shielded area. NOW he remembers the other movie, and starts praying, not out loud because he's saving his concentration for the fight - there are so many of these things, and they seem to be REALLY persistent.
Tara makes a show of putting her hand over her eyes to 'look around.' "Nothing over there…. nothing over here…. Nope. I don't see anything, Lucas," she says, the sarcasm dripping in her tone. "Crap!" she cries as their visitor gets dragged underground, the horde of skeletons moving in from beyond the wall she's erected. "C'mon," she says, "Get closer together. I can make a bubble around us!"
"I'm going to make a break for the garage," Kisha yells in between her litany of curses. "We need to get out of here before they swamp us." She grabs a wrench to swing with her other hand, then yells "And to whoever is behind this you've made a /huge/ mistake. For interupting my tests I'm going to find out how to unmake you in the most painful way the universe allows." Pure fury seems to drive her forward, plowing though the skeletons despite her short stature until the mist itself blankets her and the Russian cursing cuts off suddenly…
"Fuck!", Cloud curses as the mage guy is pulled under and his own legs are grabbed, trying to pull himself loose he grabs and absorbs from the diamond in his pocket, his body, clothes and hair take on a diamond-like quality, he grabs the arms and pulls.
Lucas was standing just next to Blackmore when he's yoinked, and his first move is to dive after him, trying to grab the man with his gloved hand. "Damnit!" he shouts as he leaps to the ground after Blackmore.
The fog keeps pouring in creating a thick mist in the area, making it almost impossible to see more than five feet in front of ones eyes. The bubble around Tara is keeping herself but she can feel hands slamming against her barrier in an unnatural strength. As for Cloud, the fingers that grip him are cold and the boney fingers grip hard. Then right behind Lucas, a black form seems to appear. The figure is about eight feet tall and hovers behind the blond holding a large black scythe. "Why are you trying to help the man who poorly summoned me?" He says letting out a low pitched chuckle that cuts right to the bone. "Now…shall we step up the fun?" He asks as Kisha disappears. "Up! There goes another."
Somehow the bony hands haven't yet gotten hold of him, perhaps finding his metal form harder to grip than flesh, and Mike 'sees' behind him that Tara is holding them away and Cloud is being clutched at. "Get inside the shield," he whirls, and tries to shove Cloud towards Tara, then whirls again at that _voice_ to see 'death' hovering behind Lucas.
"No freaking WAY," he says. Half of him starts searching for prayers for protection against … whatever that is … and the other half … would back towards Tara, but he doesn't want to leave Lucas alone to face THAT.
Tara blinks, still hovering a good five feet off the ground, a bead of sweat dripping down on her forehead, the strain of keeping the majority of the skeletons away is beginning to take it's toll on her. At the voice of the skeleton's master, a chill goes down her spine. "Who said that? He doesn't sound too friendly."
Cloud tries to break the fingers off of the skellital hand grabbing him, if he gets loose he'll run past Mike and head over to help Lucas with the Reaper, "Please don't let this guy be what he looks like".
Lucas rolls onto his back and when he sees the reaper, he blasts at it with the largest energy blast he can muster!
The fog keeps on coming along with the skeletons. The rattling of bones gets louder and louder until Lucas throws a blast at the reaper. The blast seems to just go through him as the laugh starts up again. "Time for the real fun to begin." The black creature says as he goes to bring the scythe down on Lucas, but before it hits, the fog vanishes along with Tara, Cloud, Mike and Kisha, leaving Lucas standing by himself in an unmarred Courtyard.
Lucas watches as everything just vanishes. He looks rapidly around, and then slowly rises to his feet. He looks up at the sky, the last place the Reaper was as the school's sirens ring out around him. Slowly, his hand sputters, until there's no energy, only flesh, and his shoulders slump, ever so slightly. "…damn…"
