X Men: The Fortunate IC

[NekoMata]

"I feel like a goddamned herd of cattle stomped me...but I'm a bit to pissed to care..."

Rouge rose, cracking her back and neck. Her bones still hurt but she had time during the flight to let her slow ass healing process get some sort of work done. Besides, she found during many of her more unsavory jobs that anger was as good a stimulant as any to override any pain she was in. She chuckled softly tugging at her gloves.

"Do this however y'all feel is right... Just make sure not to stand in front of me... I got one hell of a score to settle..."

Rouge moved to the back of the ship, taking a seat on the ground. She crossed her legs and closed her eyes, forcing herself to focus. If there was one good thing she had learned during her time at the school it was this nifty little meditation trick. It let her focus and search through what she referred to as the Archives, a catalog of all the powers and memories she had stolen. Right now she needed to figure out just what set would be needed for this task.

 

[wombat9966]

Logan looked over at Scott and saw that he was still a little out of it. He returned to the co pilots seat and began to check the radar hoping to find any traces of the glider and the direction it had gone. He also kicked in a few extra sensors that forge had installed. That scope glowed with the vortex traces of planes that had been in this area in the last few hours.

The radar showed about twenty planes in range. He quickly dismissed every blip above five thousand feet and anything showing it was bigger than a two seater. That left two. One was heading into Toronto and one was still flying north. Then the one over Toronto disappeared. He assumed it had landed. That was probably the one they were after. He changed their heading slightly and upped the speed to mach 8. They could be there in ten minutes and now he knew where he should look he could find the right vapor trail to follow to lead him to the exact place that silly glider had landed.

Soon they would be able to get their revenge on Hobgoblin and rescue Jean. He was looking forward to taking out a little bit of his frustrations out on those hand ninjas before the main course of Hobgoblin.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hobgoblin

"Sir, there is a plane on it's way."

Hobgob turned his gaze on the man,

"And you find this strange...why?"

The man shifted nervously,

"It appeared from the exchange site and it is moving faster than the normal traffic."

Hobgob grinned,

"Well it seems like they are eager for another dance."

He paused and flexed his fingers,

"Well Red, seems like your partners can agree on one thing at least."

He cackled and turned to the humans,

"If they arrive before our departure, you are advised to flee. Or you can die, I really don't care."

He moved to the mouth of the hanger, if only he had a way to keep them occupied that few extra minutes needed for departure. An idea came to his mind and he entered the building once more.

A few minutes later the Glider flew from the mouth of the hanger, on it two bodies, one trussed up in chains and the other standing. Hobgob stared after the decoy with a small grin, that should give them a run for it, he even managed to attach a set of thermal underwear to the ninjas, giving them a heat signature. He turned to the plane, work was going quite fast now that they knew the X-men were on the way.

 

[wombat9966]

Wolverine watched as a small blip flew away from their target building. He pulled up the schematics and got a quick picture and heat signature of the thing. Sure enough it was the glider but the picture was too fuzzy to identify the people on it, just confirm it was two bodies. He pulled up the infra red body scans or heat scans and growled. Another decoy. It showed two bodies on it alright but what it didn't show were heads. Obviously a bloody body suit on two ninjas or something similar. Quickly he looked for a landing spot that would block any chance of escape for ol' Hobby. Without his glider he was obviously going by car or jet. He finally saw what looked like huge double doors on a building. Hanger doors he would bet any money on. He landed right in front of them and killed the engines.

"Ok peoples time to go kill some bad guys and rescue Jean. Scott you up for this or do you want to cover our asses?"

 

[raiguy]

Gambit smiled, flexing his hands. He still felt really good, and owed these ninja, and Hobgoblin a well paid treat for using him as bait. He waited until Wolverine landed, before looking at him. "What's the plan, boss?" he asked, rolling his shoulders, before sensing how much energy he would be able to use. He knew from what he saw on the scans that there appeared to be hanger doors blocking their way and grinned. "If you need the doors gone as well, they can be handled pretty easily," he said, leaving it up to Wolverine on how to plan things. He remembered the last time they ran into each other. The guy had a nose for tactics, and Gambit was not going to pass up on that ability.

 

[wombat9966]

"Oh I think we can keep this pretty basic. We can assume they know we're here otherwise there was no point to that fake flyer. So obviously they were tracking us and know we have landed. Behind those doors then are probably hidden a heap of dead hand ninja's and Hobby and Jean. More than likely Hob will use the Ninjas as cover to make his escape as we have probably blocked his number one escape plan. I know this guy though he will have a backup plan and probably a backup for that. Expect some form of land transport followed by a secret exit if that doesn't work. Probably the sewers or a maintenance tunnel.

First things first though. Gambit I like your idea of the hanger doors but I want them to fall in and quickly. If we can squash a few that's just less we don't have to fight. I notice your powers have developed kid, so do your stuff and snuff out as many as you can. Rouge you and me are heading straight for Hobgoblin. There are some industrial strength earplugs in the equipment locker that should protect you and me somewhat from that scream of his. We go to hand signals people if we need them. I want him hit hard before he knows his scream doesn't work anymore. I am counting on you Darlin'. You got the speed and the strength to do it. Scott will watch our backs and hit the panic button if anything goes wrong out here." Wolverine handed gambit a X insignia. "If this starts vibrating run like hell, means something bad is happening. We regroup out here no matter what even if we don't have Jean."

He handed out the plugs after rummaging in the locker for a little bit. "Any questions?"

 

[feistyphoenix]

It would have to be quick, that would be the only way to not damage Jean. If she damaged Jean she wouldn't have a place to inhabit and she had grown to like this body and mind she possessed.

Everyone seemed busy, flitting around checking perimeters and such. She heard the low whine of the glider as it swooped out the doors, Logan would never fall for that. He knew her scent and her consciousness too well.

Stupid little man, the thought rolled around in her head.

She tried wiggling once more before deciding it was useless. Her sparkling eyes darted around the hangar, waiting and watching for the right time.

Now or never.

It was quick, almost painless. She let loose a fire from her skin, much like an intense solar flare, the pain was there for a moment until the fabric of the gloves burned away. They noticed but it was too late. Her psychic power unleashed a torrent of energy, all around the hangar ninjas burst into flame as the chains melted away from her body. They were no match for her.

She dropped to the ground lightly, a perspiration on her pale skin from the effort of pushing Jean's body to the limit. With a wave of her hand she swept them across the ground and against the wall.

Phoenix would have revenge, she didn't even need to stand to take it out on him. She could do it huddled in a corner if she had to.

She found his consciousness easily as she stumbled to the wall, she leaned against it and dipped into his mind as one would into a pool of water. She would the make Hobgoblin beg for his life. His screaming would never stop, she could hold him in a state of agony for eternity if she wished. Her eyes narrowed and she focused, it would take all her self control not to turn him into minuscule pieces of matter strewn across this god forsaken land.

 

[wombat9966]

Wolverines senses picked up the faint cries and he smelled the scent of burning flesh. He had already lowered the ramp and he ran down it and looked towards the hanger.
"Gambit, Rouge plans changed. Somethings going on in there and I don't think it's healthy. I am getting some major static and I don't think it is Jean that is causing it. I want that door down now and we go in hot and heavy people. No telling what we are going to find but I don't think those ninjas and hobgoblin are having it all there own way in there. If it is what I think you two keep back from Jean as well. The way she might be she could literally destroy you with a thought. Let's go."

 

[NekoMata]

"Y'all walk into more shitty situations then a blind sheriff in a town of bandits..."

Rouge sighed cracking her neck as she disembarked from the ship. Crazy teammates, traps and ambushes. It was amazing how much more bullshit she got in to working for the good guys then while doing illegal shit. Rouge had more than enough of the psychics too. They were all troublesome. Rubbing the back of her head for a moment she looked at the hangar. The scent of death and burning flesh was strong. The hum of her own energy tingled across her skin as her eyes lit once more. This was bullshit.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Hobgoblin

Pain...so sad really, he had been through much more pain than this when the serum...Holy Smoking Jumping Junipers on a Spiked skillet!! Dafuk was that? No it wasn't really there was it? How could he be there? How could there be four of him standing all over the place? The hell??

He felt a weight, his hand weighed down on itself, holding what seemed to be a pumpkin...pumpkins was good...but why were they good? There was this red little thing on the pumpkin, pumpkins had weird little red things...didn't they? His mind struggled to understand, to comprehend, to even get an inkling of an idea. His thumb pressed the little red thing, eyes and a mouth appeared on the pumpkin, flashing...so pretty...his arm drew back and lashed forward...his hand still clutched the pumpkin...flashing....so...pretty...flashing faster? Why flashing faster? So pretty flashing faster...

Somewhere in the most primitive part of his brain the flight or fight impulse was screaming at his body, but for some reason he just stared at the flashing....so...pretty...

 

[feistyphoenix]

She'd done it, she had turned his brain into nothing more than random pin fires of energy. She watched him, the blank look on his face as he pressed the button. A few more ninjas tried in vain to reach her but they exploded where they stood.

In the last few seconds before the bomb went off she granted him one thing, his consciousness. She wanted him to know what was about to happen, for the fear and panic to grip his heart before he took his own life with her help. She wanted to see it written on his face. She needed the gratification before she blew him to pieces and scattered him all over this hangar.

Jean's body was hanging by a thread, she side stepped behind a large shipping container just as the bomb flashed, the force of it knocking her down against the wall. She lay there limply, everything in the hangar was dead she'd made sure of it. Now if only she could get herself out of here. She tried to crawl but her long slender legs barely moved. She reached out, for what she didn't know, before her own consciousness weakly reached for his.

Logan...

 

[wombat9966]

O fuck Jean his mind screamed. He didn't even wait for Gambit, instead rushing at the smal doors built into the larger hanger doors and slashing right through them. He was inside and racing straight at Jean even as his Nostrils caught the scent of ash and the burnt remains of a body. Looked like the Phoenix had been having fun in here but it had used up all of Jeans stored energy and now she was unconscious. He picked her up easily and carried her back outside easily.

"Show's over folks. Ninja's and Hobgoblin have been dealt with. Back on the bus, we are heading home."
He walked up the ramp and strapped Jean down onto the medical table and set the scanners to start checking her out. He climbed back into the co pilots chair and began prepping the plane for take off. Turning to Scott he motioned to the rear of the plane. "If your interested your wife is back there bub."

 

[gearhead73]

The whole thing was over before it got started it seemed. Scott wasn't sure if it was the searing pain through his body, or the concoxion that Logan had given him before the flight to find Jean, but it seemed that he had no longer been told to stay and provide support in the plane before the group had reboarded. He could have sworn that he had only been alone for mere moments when he heard Logan sneer,"If...interested...wife...back...Bub."

His first instinct was to say something snarky back to him, but as if on autopilot he lept from the captain's chair and made his way on unsteady legs toward the rear of the plane. He rounded the corner to his heart stopped. There she lay, unconcious and battered. He rushed to her side, taking her hand in his and gently stroking her hair.

"Jean...baby...can you hear me?" he said his voice hoarse and cracking.

She didn't respond and the gravity of the situation hit him like a tractor-trailer. He knew she had the ability to heal, but as he knelt there, gazing at her the tears began to well in his eyes as the thought that her condition was all because of him. Had he not been so blinded by petty jealousy and his dislike of Logan, perhaps they would have been together as a group. If he had been so determined to break protocol and split up the team, maybe she would never have been abducted in the first place.

 

[wombat9966]

Logan waited until everyone was back onboard before he took off and headed back towards the institute.It would take a couple of hours normally but he was going to punch it a little. He took the plane up to the high altitudes and hit mach 9. The combination of the earths rotation and the speed they were traveling cut down the time and they did it in an hour.

He brought the Blackbird slowly into it's hanger below the pool and sang out for the professor in his head as well as Beast and Orroro. "We got an emergency. Jean took it pretty bad on the mission and the phoenix had to drain her to pull her fat out of the fire. We are taking her to sick bay but you better get there to make sure she is alright and to see who she is exactly."

He took the gurney out of the plane and with Scott who refused to leave her side started to take her towards the infirmary. "Rogue show Gambit around," he called back as they rushed off.

 

[DeathsKnight]

Frank Murdock

He had just finished butoning his shirt when he heard the hanger doors open, looking from his window he could see the Blackbird as it descended into it's hanger. He wondered where it had been and who had been on the team, surely it was a team who had gone out? He should find out! No. He should finish and get his butt to class. It was actually a class he was looking forward to, Professor Xavier had stated that for them to understand why forcing your way upon others and the horror one could commit when believing that your way is the right one, they would hear from a person who had been in the Second World War.

Everybody believed it to be James Logan, callsign The Wolverine and Frank had to admit that the tacturn, straight forward, hotheaded mutant who had seen too much in his very long lifetime appealed to his hot-headed side, while the stately and diplomatic Ororo Monroe, callsign Storm appealed to his level-headed side, all in all, it meant that Frank had nobody to actually use as role model, he just took what he saw as the best of both and studied that.

He grabbed his slingbag from the chair, paused to survey his room, it was tidy, but not spotless, there was just no way to convince himself to clean the room to the sheen that he actually wanted. Well at least he did get himself to make the bed this morning, with a slight grin, he exits the room and hurry towards the classroom, a voice in the back of his mind reminding him that Wolverine was not the only person to have lived through the horrors of war, he chose not to listen, he wanted to hear Logan's gruff voice telling his tale, it would be just so much better than anybody else.

 

[NekoMata]

"Fine though I feel like I've been tossed about like a twig in a windstorm, y'all take care of Miss Jean now..."

Rogue slowly exited the plane every fiber of her body screaming in pain. She'd have to make a trip to the infirmary herself later. But for now here assignment was showing the Cajun around the academy, a task that shouldn't be to hard since she didn't have to stay on her feet to do it. She closed her eyes for a moment and focused her powers so that soon enough she was levitating off the ground. The mission had gone so badly tonight and even she knew it could have gotten much worse. Between the volition team and the always borderline psychic it was one danger factor after another. It was a situation that was sorely in need of dealing with but here it wouldn't be so simple as trimming the dead branches. She shook her head to clear her thought then turned to smile at Gambit.

"Êtes-vous prêt?"

Without waiting for a response she turned to head out of the hangar. For the next little while she would show him about the mansion, at least the place he at current had permission to access. She wasn't exactly talkative but perhaps they would still be able to get to know each other.

 

[wombat9966]

Wolverine ran the gurney towards the infirmary, only slowing so the automatic doors could sense him and open in time. It only took him two minutes to make the trip and hook her up to the advanced, automated diagnostic systems of the medical bay. As the basic systems came online his anxiety dropped a little as it showed him that her vitals were all stable and that she was merely unconscious because of the loss of vital fluids and probably shock and her injuries.

He followed the prompts of the holographic doc and hooked up several drips and applied field dressings before the real medics arrived. All the time he had been doing this Scott had been standing there holding her hand and staring at her face but not helping in any way. "Summers if you are not going to do anything how about getting out of the way and making my job easier."

 

[DeathsKnight]

Frank Murdock

Frank halted briefly outside the classroom door, took a deep breath and let it out, preparing himself to be disappointed, like usual the two sides of his personality was duking it out in the background. He really didn't mind that, as long as he doesn't come through like a gushing schoolgirl with a crush if he does have the honor to talk to "The Wolverine"...with a slight smile, he stepped into the classroom, everybody sat talking, softly of course. Some glanced at him, but since he was a loner, nobody actually greeted him. He slid into his seat and sat back, stretching out his legs.

"You 'ave an idea whose giving t'day's class?" Frank looked over his shoulder and gave a slight shrug, "No idea, it seems rather hush-hush." With a grunt the kid behind him sat backwards, Frank did not really like him, dressed in black leathers with sunglasses on the whole time, made him think of vampires...and Frank hated vampires.