2012-07-10 - Acts of Random Stabs

The call had gone out. Alex had called for Generation X to suit up and meet in the Danger Room to prep for an actual real live mission. Since Asia happened to be visiting the school, he also included her, knowing that after their toussle with Sabertooth awhile back, the green lady could definitely handle herself in a fight. And having the added muscle wouldn't be a bad idea. He was already clad in his own X-Men uniform as he addressed the group. "Thank you for being prompt. I've called you all here for a specific purpose. This is not a training exercise or drill. This is a real live mission." Taking a remote control from the pocket of his jacket, he hit a button. A holographic 3D map of New York comes up as Havok walks around it, he begins to speak. "As you know we've been expending a lot of effort in rebuilding the mansion after the alien invasion and afterit was assaulted by the Brotherhood of Mutants. The senior team feels that it's high time the junior team get to cut their teeth and actually get field experience. And we've chosen a sensitive mission as your first one." He presses a button and a line wiggles through the city indicating a route. "Some very sensitive materials are being shipped throughthis route later this evening. The compents are critical to the security system of the mansion so we cannot allow them to fall into the wrong hands. In our line of work it's better to be safe than sorry, which is why I am assigning you as an escourt to the courier."

Small dots show up at intervals on the outlined route. "Should something go wrong, there are multiple escape routes that you can take to make it to the checkpoint where I will be waiting with a transport." Another area is indicated with a highlight. "Now, I don't know if you'll encounter trouble or not, but you'll need to be on alert status just in case. There's been some gang activity as well as some rioting through this area, and though we'd rather use another route, this is the fastest way. We'll just have to take our chances." He looks around at the group assembled. "Any questions?"

There is a nod over from X-23 as she sits and considers. "If we are engaged are our orders to fight back or to attempt to disengage as rapidly as possible? And what is the severity of potential threats, and if so what level of force is authorized?" To her, they lack someone who would be effective at immobilizing adversaries without Paige or Candi present, so they will be in a position where it is likelier they will have to fight if they ar epressed. "And is our priority safeguarding the shipment at all costs or attempting toengage if threatened?"

Legs crossed, arms crossed, adjusting his jacket, Chamber looked at the map with a furrowed brow. “Layman's terms of Laura's questions - what threats should we expect, how much of a fire-show are we allowed to use, and just how important is this thing to get? I don't want to kill anybody.” His facial covering was currently down, his energy flowing up around his head, wreathing him in a halo of biokinetic 'flame.'

Paige Guthrie peers in. "Hey...?" she says. "Something going on? Sorry... I was tutoring some of the college kids in town." She notices everyone in uniform. "Going somewhere?"

Asia is quiet she doesn't have any questions as of yet.

Havok replies as he waves Paige in. "Your priority is to safeguard the shipment. Should the situation allow you to disengage, do it. If not, I expect you all to remember your training and do the best you can. However, lethal force is NOT authorized." He pointedly looks at X-23. "Should you encounter resistance, neutralize the threat as best you can and get the hell out of there. Chamber will act as Field Commander, his orders are to be followed to the letter." He lifts a finger. "No heroics. You don't breathe unless Chamber gives the word. Well be using rotating com frequencies so that they can't be hacked. If you encounter resistence I would expect either members of the Brotherhood or possibly mutant street gangs. We don't want to attract attention, but if you have to, try to get ghost before the locals show up. Should the situation get out of hand,call me for evac."

The response from Alex is enough for X-23. Protecting the shipment is paramount, and escalating force is authorized only as necessary to protect the shipment, and other than that normal combat restrictions apply. "Very well. Will Jono be in charge in the field then?" SHe waits to hear this to make sure she's correct over on it then so she cna know to do what he says.

Havok nods. "Jono is in charge and has final say on what goes on in the field."

Nodding, Chamber covered his missing face back up, quelling the light that emanated from him. “Affirmative,” he said, standing. “We should try to be as subtle as possible about this. I'd recommend plainclothes if I could, but business is business. I suppose I'll telepathically broadcast commands and tactis when the situation arises.”

Asia looks up at them and shrugs. "I can drop in first, Daisy and I can do recon." after all it's what she was designed for, the robot doll two. "Plus ah don't show up on infrared scanners, and I don't really breath like you do." she says eerily all buisness. She does end it with a little giggle and smile, yep there's the Asia we know and love.

The courier, a young man by the name of Brice, drives in behind of the team in his own car. Gen X has been given the use of one of the many vehicles from the mansion garage. The first leg of the trip is uneventful. There are people that watch as they drive by, but none of them seem like they want to cause trouble. At a stoplight, two gentlemen approach the vehicle housing the team, but one look at their uniforms, they decide to be somewhere else. The street is quiet, perhaps too quiet. Just as the light turns green and the lead vehicle begins to move forwards....

An explosion rocks the area between the two vehicles utterly destroying the back end of one and the engine of the other. Both vehicles are pretty much slag at this point and the occupants are seriously jarred from the exsplosion itself. A lone figure who seems to be on fire walks out from the darkened alleyway. He actually looks a lot like the mutant Sunspot, but there's something a bit off about him. Joining him is a cat-like woman with orange fur and a prehensile tail lazily whipping behind her. On the other side of the street is another man dressed in a dark trenchcoat with a grin, he flips a coin between his fingers as he regards the wreckage. Reignfire, Feral, and Kamikaze...the Mutant Liberation Front. The man on fire, Reingfire speaks. "We'll be taking what's in that car." A ghost of a smile crosses his lips.

This has just turned into a mess. X-23 shifts to combat mode as she speaks to the others "They are the Mutant Liberation Front." Her eyes narrow to thin slits then as her knuckle claws popped out, the only thign stopping her from charging being awaiting Jono's order. Then speaking along the group's commline. “They are known for utilizing lethal force. They will gut us where we stand if we do not quickly disable them. They have no qualms or restraitns.”

Jonothon was rocked when the explosion hit, and at the wreckage he kicked open the door and stepped out to assay the situation. When X-23 gives the rundown, Jonothon tears away his facial covering, and the intensity of his energy outpour is magnified - he's trying to look frightening, and with how his eyes are glowing the same color, it might be. “Scare tactics first. They may gut us, but show them we're tougher than them, maybe an overt display of strength, might get them cowering away. X-23, get Brice out of the car and into ours for cover. Asia, take cover and prepare for my order.”

To the three mutants, Jono is displaying himself as a target and attempting strong intimidation tactics. His voice is a boom in their heads. “STAND DOWN!” he shouted, eyes and energy blazing. “Warning you once.” As he said this, his energy roiled and twisted around him. “Slink back to wherever it is you came from... or things will get messy.”

Asia's body armor instantly activates and she jumps away from the firey care wreck with a frown, she is not a fan of fire. She puts Daisy in her bag. "Hold on it'sgonna get rough." she pops her claws and looks to see whats going on.

Kamikaze actually smiles at Jono's display of power. "This is going to be fun." He flicks the coin he was rolling between his fingers at the ground in front of Chamber. It promptly explodes, sending asphalt and dirt up into the air. "Yeah. Right."

Reingfire intensifies the flames surrounding his body. "I think Faceless here is trying to intimidate us. I don't rightly think he knows who the hell he's dealing with." He leans down and punches the ground in front of him, sending a shockwave towards the two vehicles and cracking the ground with his pure strength. He then floats up into the air with a sadistic grin.

Feral playfully licks her claws as she eyes Asia. "Mmmm. Salad. Why don't you all just leave the human and the package to us and we won't have to gut you." She pauses. "Then again, feel free to resist, darlings. I rather like gutting sell-outs who protect humans."

Meanwhile, poor Brice is cowering behind the wheel of his car, too afraid to get out. He keeps muttering to himself. "I'm sorry, they told me they'd kill me. They told me they'd kill me. Oh god, I don't want to die." For those with the super senses, the distinct smell of urine permeates his vehicle.

There's a hiss from Laura then. "Any chance fo intimidating.." At this point, she closes her eyes then and looks at the one sending flames nad shockwaves. She pays attention tohow he moves, mapping his agility to be able to more effectively dodge. Her claws are out in front of her, a leashed animal ready to charge. On the signal.

“X-23, face-to-face with the man with the coin! I'll try to knock the flyer out of the sky. Asia! Get some burrs in that kitty's fur!” And all that energy seemed to suck inward, and then blast out in a swirling arc towards Reignfire - Jono launched a concussive blast of biokinetic power, rocketing towards the member of the MLF... is there an I missing?

Asia dosen't give the Cat the pleasure of a witty combat with the whole salad combat. Asia returns fire with a sharp swipe to Feral's face. It's time to fight she's not pulling any punches she's going to subdue the kitty kitty.

X-23 takes her moment to charge in towards her adversary, the flaming strong man. Speaking over the commlink to the other two "The Mutant Liberation Front has very poor teamwork and is prone to infighting if they cans be set against one another." She charges in towardsa her adversary, not holding back as she tries to slash him across his torso!

to infighting if they cans be set against one another." She charges in towardsa her adversary, not holding back as she tries to slash him across his torso!

Chamber's attack on Reingfire strikes home, blasting him out of the air and back into a nearby building. Debris is immediately swatted away as he re-emerges with a smile on his face. "That actually hurt, Faceless. I guess you're more than just tough talk afterall. But can you take as good as you give?" He flings his hands forwards, as twin beams of energy composed of heat and fire fly on course for the young mutant!"

The kitty cat Feral recieves a swipe across the face from Asia, but the lithe and almost spineless mutant leans backwards, her head almost touching the ground as she shoots outboth her feet attempting to kick the plant based mutant in the gut!

Laura's attack on Kamikaze strikes home, resulting in a wound across his abdoment. However he uses the close proximity of Laura to grap ahold of her clothing and then quickly lets go. His mutant power? The ability to excite the molecules of any substance so that they explode in a violent fashion..and he just touched the clawed female mutant!

If only Creek were here! He might die happy. Right before X-23 skewered him. But her attire is being submolecularly detonated and blasting through her torso like shrapnel. She lets ou ta howl now, and her eyes flash wtih fire then as she tries to slash over with her claws, intent on exacerbating the injury she had already inflicted upon him, trying togive him if at all psosible a rather deep gut wound!

Chamber dove forward and ducked, before using his hands to push himself back up. His shoulder was aflame - it looked cool, so cool he didn't seem to notice it! “You think this is a game?” Jono asked Reignfire - and that voice echoed in Reignfire's head... as Jono sent out another plast. Streaking like yellow and orange lightning. This blast focused on the psionic aspect - it would do no physical harm to Reignfire at all, but it would hit his brain and it would HURT!

And a kick to the gut Asia gets sending the light weight mutant a few feet back, but she lands sprins on her hands and rolls into a crouch, she uses her momentum to push forward running with claws out...SPLASH PAGE!

Feral doesn't just look like a cat. She has all of the abilities of one, including agility and speed. When Asia rushes her, she leaps into the air, twisting and turning, attempting to rake her claws down Asia's back as she passes by underneath her. "You'll have to do better than that, darling!"

Jono's psionic blast strikes home and Reingfire grabs the sides of his head and screams from the pain. The scream eventually turns into the chuckles. "Pain is my comfort, Faceless. I have a high threshold..how much can you take?" He rockets with the full speed that his pyrokinetic powers allow him. He fires a blast at the area around Jono's feet just before attempting to impact him with his fist. Gotta love superstrength.

Kamikaze has another mutant ability. He can fly. When Laura comes back at him, he flies up and away backwards, attempting to get away from her. Reaching into his pockets he pulls out a handfull of coins, tossing them with deadly accuracy. Each time a coin hits, there is a large explosion.

X-23 has trained wtih Gambit. She knows this trick. She slashes out wtih her calws, evading the coins when possible, but otherwise tanking them as her flesh knits. SHe howls, "Fear me coward!" Trying to get in towards Kamikaze and slash at her adversary's wrists, intent on severing the main tendon.

Something truly disgusting happens. A hole is bored through with flame through Jono's outfit... and out the back. And Reignfire's fist is sticking out of his back. The section that Jono doesn't have, due to his explosion when his powers manifested.

“Pain? You want to talk about how pain is with you?” His voice echoes in Reignfire's head from different directions. Down, diagonal, forward, punch. As Reignfire's arm is sticking in Jono's energy, Jono started to chuckle. And this chuckle, creepily enough, is broadcast only to all of the villains.

“Try this.” And then his energy roared out of him, right in Reignfire's face. Both psionic and biokinetic, the energy makes the asphalt sag and melt, fusing those cracks and bubbling up around him and Reignfire.

Asia's armor can handle the swipe this time, she staggers taking a few steps and turns smiling. She crouches and watches her opponent. No words, she going to take this one down, Kitty meet stick, stick going to bash Kitty, but all in due time, she's watching carefully, ready for the Kitty to pounce.

Reingfire's firey eyes widen a fraction of a second before he is whammied with something the likes that he had never seen before. He couldn't believe that his fist hit...nothing and it's this thought that follows him as he is catapulted several blocks away thanks to Jono's attack. He doesn't seem to be coming back, either.

Kamizake begins to think that maybe he's bitten off more than he can chew. The way this girl was acting, she was more dangerous than even he was. It was time to go while the getting was good and preferably before she kills him. Her attacks were moot at this point because of how high he was flying. He drops a couple more exploding coins to cover his escape and then rockets off into the night.

Aaand Feral realizes that the boys have left the cat holding the bag. She hisses at Asia as the hair on her back raises before she scampers away on all fours, just as fast as she can possibly go.

“X-23! Get Brice out of there. Make sure the cargo is safe too. Asia, call for evac. We can't get anywhere with ruined vehicles.” Chamber's energy slowly retreated, before going back to the usual halo around his head. He'd cover up but there's a gaping hole in his uniform... and he puts himself out, shoulder and the bit of burning around the hole.

Yeah, Asia kind of locked in, she drops her bag and hopes Daisy will relay the evac, she goes chasing after Feral. "Oh no you don't, you don't get to mess up my uniform and run away." she's a fast little tree. "Come back here, you are giving mutants a bad name!"

Over the com. “This is Havok. Call acknowledged. ETA 6 minutes.” And it's about six minutes that the Blackbird sets down on top of a nearby building. The hatch opens and Havok steps inside the doorway.

Brice is long gone by the time they check the car. However, the cargo is still there, the metal crate resting on the back seat of what's left of the abandoned vehicle."

When Asia goes running after Feral, she has her work cut out for her. On two legs, Feral was fast. On four, she was REALLY fast. But as Asia rounds another corner she runs smack into a brick wall. Or rather, that's what it feels like. A mountain of a man stands in her path with his arms crossed over his chest. He only says two words. "Back. Off." And then he turns his back on her, beginning to walk away without another word.

X-23 cocks her head as she watches Asia run, and speaks into the commlink “We have an injured civilian. I will go after Asia to retrieve her.” After retrieving the injured driver, she's in a race along after Asia. “She has locateda nother member of the Liberation Front.” Laura can hear Asia the ways off, and is rushing to try and get to her.. “Suggestextraction.”

“Extraction necessary. Asia! No!” Jonothon shouted in her mind. “Get back here!”

X-23 calls out along the commlink “As soon as I grab Asia, Jono, yank us back at full power.”

Asia rolls back after being smacked by Sumo. "Jeeze lousie." she steps back. "This aint over you got that um..bub." she looks back ."logan would totally say Bub atthis point right?" she turns and heads toward X-23.

Havok says through the com. “We have about three minutes before the locals get here. I'd like to be long gone by then. Hurry the hell up, people!" He never cut the engines on the Blackbird though he's standing in the doorway looking down at the carnage caused.

Acquiring the Package, Jono heads towards the girls. Reaching out with his strange energy, odd biokinetic tendrils wrap around Laura and Asia... and then another blast, downward occurs. The three of them rocket up to the roof! Awesome!

The trio was yanked up, arriving, and they landed heavily, "I take it you do not wish to call up the senior team for pursuit and neutralization?" Her eyes flash in the direction of the hopefully still retreating MLF. Laura herself is still injured and healing, slowly.

Havok replies to Laura. "They were neutralized and we have what we came for. Going after them would be petty revenge and we're above that." He moves to slide into the pilot's chair as he prepares to lift off. "Strap in." Once they are in route back to the mansion he speaks again. "Good job..though next time, let's not let our feelings get in the way of our judgement. I'm sure you'll see them again. There's always a next time." He shakes his head as he glances over at Asia. "There's one in every bunch." A soft chuckle.

The plants girl armor returns to normal revegned her singed skin and a pouty face. "If the big guy didn't get in the way I had her." she says.

X-23 accepts the judgement from Alex, but then brings up, "But they are also weakened now and a wanted terrorist group that has possibly killed dozens. Does not neutralizing them while they are weakened to bring them to face justice so they cannot hurt others also count as a possible proposition?" She's not interrogating him, just intent on feeling itout.

Havok raises a blonde brow. "Weakened? You're sure about that? You ever stop to think that chasing them is what they wanted? Lead you straight into a trap, and then the cargo is left defenseless and you're all dead." He looks at both Laura and Asia. "The Blackbird's sensors counted eight. Even with me, there are only four of us. None of you are expendable. In the field, if Jono says no, damnit you don't do it. I don't care how close you are to 'getting them'." He sighs. "By the time I mobilized the senior team, they'd be long gone."

The next comment from her is perhaps more worrying as X-23 speaks, "Then the next moment of concern is that how did they know exactly where the transfer took place, and exactlywhen? They arrived ahead enough of time to complete a snatch and grab and neutralize the driver before we arrived. The only reason they stayed was to play wtih us. If they wereprofessionals, then they also might have switched the cargo or put a tracking or listening device upon it."

X-23 shrugs her shoulders, "I would suggest you have Forge inspect it when we return to base."