xmutanthigh | [OPEN POST] SNEAKY X-MEN TEAM

[Josh stares wide-eyed at Laura's state, wondering if she'd be unable to heal from too much blood loss. He doesn't like his chances, between Polaris and Havok, and Polaris having destroyed his energy shield.]

Let her go first. I'll have her stay back. [Josh doesn't think they're in much position to argue with his demands, so he goes for it.]

[Laura merely gasps, chokes at the turning odds, the blades deep into her gut. Rivulets of her blood trickle down from her suspended form, soak into the grass and dirt. She does not move or struggle; that would be unwise. Instead she hovers still, her green eyes seeking out Rogue and Forge; they are stuck. Her visions swims as the coppery taste of blood fills her mouth, choke her breath. She has punctured a lung. Two ribs. Stomach. She moves her gaze to Josh at his authoritative words, only his eyes giving his emotions away - he is... worried. She is... scared.

Bargaining. This is futile. She has read Polaris' file.]

Edited 2011-02-25 05:00 (UTC)

[Out of options. Polaris out of reach and unresponsive to his demands. Havok down, but soon back up. Josh's mind races. His expression is strained as he watches Laura struggling against Polaris's control over her adamantium, and watching her bleed out makes him desperate.]

Meet Louisville Slugger, Polaris.

[Josh throws his wooden bat directly at her -- Polaris could now either duck out of its way or be hit by it, but either way, he hoped it'd make her lose her focus just long enough for Laura to pull her claws out of her torso.]

Laura! Now!

[Havok lunges, getting between Josh and Lorna, taking the hit wide across his ribs. Something cracks, he hisses, staggers, throws a blast of energy toward Josh. Polaris is protected, though, that's what's important.

He collapses, catching a glimpse of something coming fast upon them from the horizon.]

Babe, your six o'clock...someone's coming...

[He coughs, slowly returning to a battle stance, some blood staining his lips. A broken rib? Punctured lung? From a golden kid and a baseball bat. It doesn't seem fair. Lorna notices, twists Laura's claws deeper inside her self, the cry of Alex's name pained and urgent.

"Heal him now, boy, or I'll make the little whelp wear her insides on her outsides."

Hvok advances, calmly, beedling...everywhere it seems, and grabs Josh, defenseless (it seems) without the help of his Louisville Slugger.]

Do what she says, all star. Maybe you'll live long enough for Magneto to find you useful.

Nghhh!

[Josh struggles against Havok's grasp. Laura's so tough. He thinks she can hold out just a bit longer. And hopes to God he's right.

Please be okay, he thinks to himself.

Then he takes advantage of Havok's hold on him to turn his own healing power around. There's a strangled yelp from Havok as red welts rise from where he had been touching Josh. Immediately Josh is let go and he races towards Laura.]

[Unfortunately for Havok, Polaris is about to have a problem of her own. Rogue's embraced the powers from Magneto's psyche. Her jaw is set as she and Forge both throw themselves back into the fray.]

Hey Polaris! [The former make-shift cage has been broken into individual iron poles that floating in the air around her.] Didn't your daddy ever teach you that it's rude to leave a conversation before it's finished? [With a thought, she sends half a dozen of them hurtling straight at Lorna.]

[Polaris whirls around, her hand reaching out to still the oncoming assault. It's enough to take her attention away from Laura, dropping her unceremoniously to the ground, lodging the girl's claws deeper still upon impact.]

My father taught me many things. [There is a humm of power as the bars are redirected toward Rogue, though they fly askew under the smaller girl's deflection. A stray one impales Forge, luckily in his false leg.] But I learned first from your precious White Queen.

[She hears Havok's cry as Josh attacks him, her eyes narrowing, possessed by vengeance and rage. There is a creak, a groan, and the earth beneath them shakes, the metallic supports of the tunnels beneath the mansion rattling as Polaris calls them to the surface. Nearby, the chrome substructure of the blackbird hangar rips free of the basketball court, flying towards Rogue.] I think you'll find I'm a force unto myself. Can't quite say the same for you.

[While Havok is distracted by the boils, Josh is able to further manipulate his body to shut down some of his brain functions. Havok drops to the ground, and Josh is uncertain of how much damage he did or even how long he'd be out. He wasn't concentrating too much on making his physiology manipulations precise.

Now freed up, he runs back to Laura and tries the same maneuver once again. Probably not the smartest idea, but the bat's wood, so he gives it a shot -- Josh whips the bat back towards Polaris and grabs Laura's wrists, trying as best he can to pull her claws out.]

Hang in there.

[Laura has rolled onto her back by the time Josh has arrived at her side, coughing up blood. Josh's hands on her wrists are a warm comfort; so are his words and reassuring face hovering above her. She thinks it is... special, how much he seems to care about everything, even her.]

I am fine.

[She rasps the words out, wincing as she detracts her claws, free of Polaris' control, her wounds closing quickly. She wheezes and coughs as she rolls over to kneel, blood still in her lungs.]

Our mission. Havok.

Edited 2011-02-25 09:26 (UTC)

Yeah, I know. [Those are the words Josh says out loud, but he doesn't move for another few seconds, instead keeping his hands on her wrists. Laura's healing factor is incredible, and soon she'll be up again, but Josh gives her a little boost of his own -- together, their combined healing forces make Laura's recovery almost instantaneous. Josh even does what he can to replenish her blood supply.]

Back to business.

[Josh gets up, faces their attackers, and looks at his bat out of the corner of his eye. Too far away to retrieve after the last throw. Here goes nothing.]

[Laura does not question the prolonged contact, takes it for well-intentioned help, and only understands it when she feels the warmth of Josh's powers - she has never felt it before, never required to. It is more than a simple healing touch - it is rejuvenating, infusing her with strength.

She turns her head just so to look at him in slight wonder at it, pushes herself to her feet, claws erupting from her knuckles.]

I will take his fire, feign attack. You will debilitate him.

[Josh eyes the approaching Havok, who has now managed to wake up and get back up on his feet. Damn, Josh thinks to himself, really should've held on to him a second longer. Havok hasn't been out for long.

Now, Josh gets ready to face him again, and is liking his chances of squaring off with Havok better than Polaris, who could fly.

Josh meets Laura's eye contact, breaks away from her, and goes around. Laura will meet Havok head-on and engage him. Josh will attack from the side or behind and use his destructive touch. It's a move they've practiced before.]

[Havok is dazed and disoriented; Laura approaches fast and purposefully, zigzagging just enough to be a target. His lip curls up in annoyance; he doesn't look for Josh right away, instead raises his hand and lets out a violent pulse.

Laura dodges it just barely, rolls out of the way although it skims and sear her side. She's off the cool grass in an instinct letting out a guttural growl; at the last moment Havok lets out a pulse from his chest, throwing Laura back; she lands on her back several yards away.]

[In the ruckus, Josh comes in from an angle and violently tackles Havok -- a move he learned from high school football. With yells from both of them, they roll along the ground for a moment til Josh gets a good hold of Havok and begins to use his body-manipulating powers. Josh's hands don't grow black they way they do when taking life, but remain gold as he uses his powers to change Havok's physiology exactly the way Josh wants it to. Josh then lets go, and the bigger mutant's screams die down until he is silent.]

He's not dead.

[Josh says this to reassure both himself and Laura.]

I've shut down a lot of his body functions, but he's alive. Out for a lot longer than before, though.

Good. [Laura walks up to Josh's side, claws still out. Her skin is healing as she does it, ugly burns reapidly smoothing into unmarred, dirty skin. She looks to Josh.]

We are not finished.

[She looks pointedly to Polaris and Rogue, back to Josh.]

She will sense me attacking from behind.

[Josh nods and braces himself for another similar attack.]

Then you'll have to take her head on as my distraction. But Laura --

[Josh bites back his worry; they're in battle and don't have time for doubts. Josh does worry though -- anybody who can twist metal is bad news for Laura. So instead, he decides to go with:]

I'll be as fast as I can.

(OOC: PS! I want to tag into the Mystique business, but I wasn't sure if you guys had a plan already?? Let me know!)

OOC

trainedweapon.livejournal.com - 2011-02-25 20:00 (UTC) - Expand

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newbrohood.livejournal.com - 2011-02-26 02:41 (UTC) - Expand

You know nothing about me. [Rogue grits her teeth, using the borrowed powers to counter Lorna's attempts to destroy the mansion. She tries to split her focus, sending a few more of the fence parts flying towards the older girl again but with less speed than before. It's too much of a strain to break her focus like this. Her voice is purposely low as she speaks rapidly into her comm.] Forge, I can keep her focus here if you can attack from behind. [The strain of forcing the metal supports is insane.]

[Forge is still struggling with his leg impaled. Even though he's not losing blood, leaky lubricant and short circuits are slowing him down a lot. He's working around the shaft of metal, ripping out wiring and working furiously to try and fashion something of value to take out Lorna. His best bet, so far, is switching the casings for a tear gas bomb in hopes it'll at least slow Lorna. Watching her dispatch so easily with Laura and Josh doesn't leave him much hope.]

I'm working on it. Keep her busy, I'll need a few minutes. [He glances at the rod jutting out of his false leg.] And Rogue, if you get a chance...

Got it. [She glances over, gesturing and sending the rod flying.

The ease with how Lorna dispatched with both Laura and Josh has unnerved her, to say the least. Scaffolding's already gone flying despite her best attempts to counter it. Almost flying straight into her if there hadn't been a hurried attempt to block it. She sends half of the scaffolding back below to try and resupport the hanger substructure and uses the other half against Lorna despite the futility of the matter.] Why does everyone always have to wreck the mansion?

[Lorna puzzles at the amount of resistance Rogue puts up, it's much harder than it ought to be to rip the metal free from the foundations of the campus. She smiles, cocks her head to one side.]

You're more of a challenge than you look. [A chuckle, realization. Polaris slows her assault on Rogue to float closer to her, their banter suddenly more intimate for the lack of distance.] You weren't just Wolverine's little friend, were you? He trained you, didn't he? [Polaris stops an incoming rod from impaling her through the abdomen.] Must hurt, knowing I ripped the metal from his bones, knowing I watched Wither turn him to dust.

[Her face contorts with anger at Polaris's taunts, a scream of rage ripped from her. She focuses her anger into another wave of hurtling rods. One flies straight into Rogue's hand and she almost smiles as she hefts it before swinging it straight at Lorna as if it were a katana.]

[Lorna catches the wild swing with her fist, trying to make it look easier than it actually is. She shoves the metal back, using only her strength, not wanting to be cowed by this insignificant thief of a mutant. Lorna raises her boot, her heel connecting with Rogue's gut, sending her reeling backward.]

Don't worry, you'll join him soon enough.

[Lorna pulls back, almost reeling, gaining altitude at a ridiculous clip. The very earth beneath her shudders and something deep within the bowels of the Mansion groans, the walls and gardens and walkways all tremoring as Polaris commands them to surrender any and all alloys to her will. Even from a distance, her eyes glow with power as if her sole purpose is to come and undo everything that the X-Men, Charles Xavier, Rogue herself has worked to build.]

No.

[Rogue doesn't even think as she reaches deeper to bring forth more of the psyche. She needs more of its power, more of its control. There's no way she can stop Lorna as Rogue; she needs to become Magneto. The psyche doesn't quite have complete control but it's more than she's ever tried to channel from a psyche ever before.

It doesn't matter. She has no choice anymore.

Rogue shoots higher into the air, drawing level with Polaris again. She reaches out with the now more than ever amplified powers, trying to counter the destruction Lorna's attempting. The entire earth continues to tremble, the metal beneath torn between two opposing commands. Her eyes are glowing with power again and it's started to spread to her hands, the iron rods before just floating around her without any real focused thought. The air itself is buzzing.]

[Lorna cries out as the metals in the earth itself being to shudder under their opposing forces. Their struggle turns primal as Lorna faces the closest approximation to her father she's yet to encounter since his disappearance. Her rage is paramount, the sheer nerve, that Rogue dares to turn her Father's power against her.

Part of the supports of the east wing of the mansion break free, hovering behind Lorna, waiting for her will the shape them, mold them into projectile death. They wait, held at bay by Rogue's will, but each broad strut, each flat sheet of metal bursts into a thousand shards of razor threat at the ready.]

[The strain is taking its toll on both of them, Rogue particularly so. These aren't her powers which most definitely leaves Polaris with the upper hand. The thousand metal shards are worrying her and she focuses what attention she can upon them, trying to flip them around so they'll become a danger to Lorna instead.

The psyche's thoughts and memories are easier access now and she latches on to them, trying to find something that could shake the other mutant's focus, make her sloppy.] Destroying the mansion isn't going to make your father love you, Polaris.

[OPEN POST] SNEAKY X-MEN TEAM

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i figure they can help rogue whenever she needs the distraction!

Yes, for sure!

OOC

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