The Ashes of the Phoenix [OPEN]

[thethirdspecies]

WHO: John Sublime, "No Girl", the U-Men, and their unfortunate target... The Insitute
WHAT: Sublime's U-Men attack the school. They're aiming for the sublevels. Stop them at all costs!
WHERE: Throughout campus
WHEN: Past midnight, Wednesday-Thursday
WARNING(S): Gonna get violent.


The time was now. The media attention over his followers actions was too much. And after all, Xavier's little henchmen in London had figured it out. He was sure of it. There was no more time to bide. No more room for hesitation. It was act now, or the revolution would end in a prison cell, festering away in the disgusting care of this unclean world. Sublime couldn't stomach it. Couldn't fathom it. And whatever god help those who stood in the way of him and his dream of Homo Perfectus.

"All units are in place," Sublime whispered, peering out over the immaculate green, covered in moonlight, staring a drilling, piercing hole into the mansion. "Martha... it's your turn now," another whisper, as the floating apparatus before him, holding a strange glowing orb, began to shine even more brightly.

Just like that, the security systems failed. And just like that, Charles Xavier gasped and sent out a short, psychic burst to all X-Men, perhaps to everyone in the school, before he was overwhelmed and silenced, collapsing from his bed to the floor, stunned into sleep by a psychic force even he was not prepared for.

"This is it, Martha... our dream... U-Men! Bring me the Ashes of the Phoenix!" And like that, dozens of the men from the blurred video that Glamour and Spy had managed to obtain swarmed the ground, organic and mechanical, using a plethora of stolen mutant powers, attacked.


[[ This is it! Our first major action post, and in X-Men tradition, it's a direct attack on campus. Feel free to start your own threads. The U-Men will be NPC'd by the mods. Their ultimate goal is the filed away genetic samples of Jean Grey in the sublevels. They must be stopped, before someone uses them to integrate Jean's powers into a U-Man. ]]

Comments

[icy_heavens]

He was going to press his attack, but the sudden change of form stayed him and he instinctively leveled his blade into a guard position. Well, what did you know? Sublime was literally slime. How appropriate.

But he could work with that.

Toushirou frowned, thoroughly unimpressed with the scolding. "You're laying seige to a school; you don't exactly have moral high ground, here." Just one of the man's offenses, but this was hardly a time to list them all.

Another swing, short and swift, this time aimed for the midsection. It might seem that he was repeating his mistake, but if it connected and Sublime pulled his slime trick again, Toushirou would be concentrating his power to freeze the slime solid.

[thethirdspecies]

"Oh don't pretend you've never attacked anyone to get what you want," Sublime did a more traditional dodge this time, feeling the cold from the blade against him as he did so. So that was his plan...

"The X-Men and I aren't different at all. Unlike you, however, I don't look at mutanthood as an exclusive club. I refuse to be evolution's plaything! I'm not... going to be left behind, damnit!" Sublime reached his arm out, a flood of the slime forming into a giant, solid club and launching towards Toushirou.

[icy_heavens]

The only time that statement could have been remotely true was the mission to get the kidnapped kids back a few years ago. But he hadn't incited that violence. It had been to recover and protect, not just because he wanted something.

"No, you'll literally tear people apart to get what you don't have. That's so much better."

As in, completely disgusting and he had no respect for it.

Liquid was easier to work with, using something as a focus for his power helped -- but neither were necessary for him to use it effectively. Ice crackled over the club, the cold penetrating deep, weakening the structure. So when he moved his sword to block it, the club shattered.

And now ice also crept along the floor, moving to encase at least Sublime's feet in an effort to prevent further dodging.

[thethirdspecies]

Sublime winced heavily at the counter attack. He tried to draw the chunks back, to re-coalesce himself, but he found himself having trouble. He'd never tested his abilities against the cold, and was now cursing himself for that neglect.

"You don't understand... NONE of you understand!" He was also clearly losing his grip elsewhere. "This planet can't go on like this! The coming war between humans and mutants will kill ALL of us!" He twitched and formed his other arm into a spike, something far harder to block, and shot it forward. "We can't keep on like this! I can't save billions without losing a few, I can't!"

[icy_heavens]

People were people no matter what form they took, and there would always be fighting. Making everyone the same species wasn't going to change that; it wouldn't stop any wars. But he wasn't here to debate philosophy with the guy.

Toushirou wasn't even going to try blocking that spike. That, he dodged, albeit narrowly; a little hiss of pain escaped him at it grazed his arm. This served to temporarily distract him as he instinctively put more concentration into maintaining his footing. The creep of ice would stop briefly, just up around Sublime's ankles. More difficult for him to move, but possible to break out of at this point.

[thethirdspecies]

All he needed was a nick. The spike collapsed back into fluid, and soon enough Sublime was clinging himself to Toushirou, pushing hard against him, tendrils of slime trying to literally push into the wound he'd just made.

"When I have the Ashes, I can make this world as it should be... no more human, no more mutant... no more hate no more fear... just... perfect. I really... HATE to say this, because like I said, I am NOT a violent man, but... I'm afraid you won't see this new world.... Because I'm going to kill you."

[icy_heavens]

No, no, no he's not letting those in. He didn't make it out of stasis for this. Normally, he was more controlled than this, prided himself on not just blasting his power out -- but if he didn't do it now, he would die and like hell he was letting that happen.

It was instant. Ice exploded in the hallway, the temperature plummeted, and the tendrils froze. But it wouldn't be just the tendrils; much of the force was directed at Sublime as a whole, and not just from outside. His power even went so far as to attack the water molecules inside of him this time, something Toushirou had long known he could do in theory but never really wanted to practice.

Survival instinct was all it was; he wasn't thinking. He was not going to die, even if it meant freezing the man from the inside out.

[thethirdspecies]

It was just a student. This was no X-Man, it was just a student. There was no way they'd have that kind of strength. The sort of strength he envied. That he coveted. That could change the world. The power he needed to stop the Apocalypse. And yet there it was. And it felt... so cold. So unbelievably cold. His body couldn't move anymore. And his mind, after a few moments more, simply ceased to think.

He was completely frozen, right to his very core, in a flash. In an instant. Perfectly preserved. Alive, but still.

[thethirdspecies]

And at the same time, the mental shockwaves stopped, and the pink glow subsided. The power to the building was restored as well. Whatever fighting was going on would soon be put to an end by the school's internal defense systems.

"I'm sorry..." came a voice from the machine, one familiar to at least Giselle.

[icy_heavens]

After all the fighting, all the use of his ability, especially that final push, Toushirou leaned on one cold wall, taking some solace in the chill. His blade was lowered, but he still gripped it tight, unwilling to let go.

The hall was, as Giselle assumed, coated in ice. It wasn't smooth and uniform, but rough and haphazard; this clearly hadn't been a finely controlled expulsion of power. But it had gotten Sublime off of him, and hopefully hadn't hurt anyone else.

The voice grabbed his attention and his head jerked up toward the brain in the machine. Just . . . apologizing? Really?

He didn't know how much he could believe that, but checking something could put his mind a little more at ease. Considering this was who'd overwhelmed Professor Xavier . . .

He declined to address the brain. "Giselle. You're okay?"

[defibrillating]

Toushirou had just barely managed to avoid Zian with that ice blast, which was both a good thing for the medic and most likely the professor that he had collapsed over while trying to shield the older man.

The mental shockwaves eased and he slowly opened bleary orange eyes, trying to connect his thoughts and at first failing badly. Everything was just a mess of colors and moving objects for a moment until he could finally focus on something still in front of him.

...it looked like that crazy guy. Only deep frozen in... cold stuff. The hall was full of ice. Still not sure if he was seeing things correctly, Zian rubbed his eyes again. Nope. Still icy.

He kind of regretted leaving bed without a shirt on, now.

Remembering what had been going on, he quickly turned to check on Storm while carefully repositioning himself to make sure that Xavier was still in one piece.

[dreamingoftruelove]

Brr, it was cold in the hallway. Small wonder, considering Toushirou's power and the state Sublime was in. She glanced over at the man, trying to sense him with her telepathy. Like Martha said, he was alive. He'd just ceased to think.

"Everything is going to be okay," she assured. "Toushirou...this is Martha. We talked things out in my mindscape. She's a nice girl who was helping Sublime because he saved her."

She would have to bring up the apocalypse issue with Professor Xavier soon, but the important thing was making sure everyone was okay now. It was good to see that Zian was moving. Now all she had to do was verify that Storm and Professor Xavier were recovering.

[blesstherains]

Storm, at least, was not bothered by the cold at all. With the power all functioning normally again, she shut the terminal and approached the others. She looked around the room at all that was before her. Toushirou, Giselle, Zian and the professor, Sublime's frozen form...

"We need to get him too a cell and Charles to the infirmary... Hitsugaya, are you alright?"

[thethirdspecies]

"He is injured... his mind told me so," came the voice from Martha. The voice modulated by the machine was remarkably close to the voice Giselle had heard in the mindscape. "John will not be unfreezing anytime soon. It is a deep cold... his mind is silent, but he is alive."

[icy_heavens]

Toushirou, of course, found the cold downright comfortable. Or as comfortable as anything could be right now. Hearing that Sublime wasn't going to be unfreezing in the near future was helpful; he honestly hadn't been sure whether he'd killed the man or just put him in stasis. All he'd been concerned with in that moment had been surviving, and there had been no specific intent to kill Sublime. Just to stop him, however that came about.

So it was over, it seemed. That got him to sheathe his blade.

He'd almost forgotten about his injury until Martha mentioned it. "Just a scratch on my arm. It's nothing bad."

[dreamingoftruelove]

"You should still get it seen at the infirmary," Giselle suggested. "Just in case you need stitches."

She glanced toward Sublime and toward Professor Xavier. She would help where she was needed, but her priority was definitely Professor Xavier. Sublime was unlikely to be able to move for well over an hour.

"I can help lift Professor Xavier to get him to the infirmary."

She might be able to help in the infirmary as well. It felt better to be helping, and it wasn't like she was going to be able to get to sleep in the next couple of hours after a night like this anyway. She could make herself useful until she felt tired and calm enough to get some sleep.

[defibrillating]

Zian was still kneeling with the professor, both to check on him and the fact that he wasn't sure his legs would fully support both him and Xavier at the same time. As Giselle offers help, he nods quickly.

No need to give the man any more injuries by dropping him after all of this.

The fact that someone was still hurt was important to the medic, however, and he waves for Toushirou to get closer. He might have one zap more in him to deal with that.

[icy_heavens]

He just sighed, not much up to arguing at the moment. Mostly he was just tired, but he approached when Zian beckoned him, edging past Sublime's frozen form.

... Damn, he'd done a number on the guy, hadn't he?

The cut probably looked a bit worse than it really was. Kind of bloody, but not very deep. Not anything to worry about, as far as he was concerned.

[defibrillating]

Thankfully Toshirou was short enough that Zian didn't need to stand, and he gave the student an apologetic smile. His hands were a bit shaky and he had to hold on to the professor, so all he could do was just sign 'this will hurt for a sec' one-handed and hope the translator got it.

"Hurt for -error-" Nailed it.

He shook his head and just tried to tap the nearest area on the boy instead. It should be nothing more than a static shock, since he frankly didn't have much juice left on him. While it didn't look bad and Zian had left a few other students with similar wounds without zapping them (just patching them up with normal medical aid), he'd be lying if he wasn't utterly weired out by Sublime and just wanted to make sure Hitsugaya didn't end up getting odd infections and suddenly wanting to change the world.

[dreamingoftruelove]

Giselle had never successfully used her telekinesis consciously, but she'd been able to shield herself, save herself from injury when falling, and even make her aim more accurate when throwing an object. Even now her telekinesis was working subconsciously.

She could see how shaky Zian was, and so she willed herself to take on more of Professor Xavier's body weight. It was more than she reasonably should have been able to carry without extreme difficulty. Her mind did the rest, so all Zian would need to do would be help her steer. Between using her legs to support some of his weight and her mind supporting the bulk of it, she was taking on most of carrying the unconscious professor.

"I hope the Professor is going to be all right."