Hellfire Club: The Mission [CLOSED]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Nightcrawler and those selected for the mission.
WHAT: The Hellfire Club infiltration mission
WHERE: Manhattan
WHEN: Late evening
WARNING(S): Could get violent.

Team One was already on the ground, infiltrating the party. The rest waited in silence aboard the Blackbird, hovering in complete stealth mode high above the island. Back at the Institute, Professor X closely monitored the communications of the team, ready to give the signal when ready...

It was go time.

[[ OKAY HERE'S HOW IT'S GOING TO GO.

Top levels will be going up for each mission phase. Each phase will, OOCly, go on simultaneously so no one has to wait for another team to complete their task. Players have freedom to play as they like, but the mod characters in each team (Feliks, Shindou, Reimu) will most likely lead the action in the direction it's intended to go. The mod account will pop in for NPCing every now and again.

Have fun! ]]

Comments

[stardustreverie]

There is a part of her that would cuss and be seriously pissed off about this fact, but time, effort and training had that kept in her head. Although if one was too look at Marisa, a furious and slightly worried look was upon her face. That counted her out on doing too much other then distractions maybe.

"Hey, better then tryin' ta just ta explain in exact terms which would take up the time better spent kickin' your ass and doin' our job here. Ya know, something more productive."

[jolie_aile]

Flandre's roll had carried her somewhat out of the stones' path and Reimu had blocked more of them, a few pieces still hit her; one piece cracked into her shoulder as she stood, numbing her arm, lacerating skin and bruising to the bone. Another glanced one of her wing crystals, which made her flinch not in pain, but surprise. The crystal flashed white, energy sparking from it occasionally. It felt...strange.

Her wound healed rapidly as the adrenaline overwhelmed the insensate fog in her head, skin knitting back together, bruise reversing itself. She rolled her shoulder when she could again, to distract herself from the uncomfortable itching burn that went with such rapid regeneration.

"I wonder if there's a limit before the mosquito bursts," she said, near-growling--another distraction.

[loveswaffles]

Though Reimu's explanation helped her understand what it was they were up against, it also spelled bad news for Raven. If he could just take all of her attacks and just send them back at the team, then it would limit her own effectiveness by quite a bit.

"Can we try to tie him up somehow? He can't absorb anything if he can't move."

Easier said than done, but at least it was an idea.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric scowled, stepping sideways to resume flanking, keeping an eye on Shaw for the moment. Trying to overwhelm him was certainly more appealing, but also somewhat riskier.

"...indeed. Inconvenient. If someone's got a trick to restrain Mister Shaw, I'm certainly open to options."

He glanced around the room quickly--if they didn't bring something with which to restrain Shaw, they'd have to improvise, so he has his eyes peeled for something suitable. Ideally some metal, something he could weld together on the fly to mock up a set of manacles, perhaps. Of course, getting them onto him would be a feat in itself, but better the second half of a plan alone than nothing.

[the_black_king]

"Oh you are all so cute with this token resistance and desperate attempts to reorganize your plans, but let's face it, boys and girls, this fight was over before it even started," Shaw laughed, approaching Flandre and Reimu with a menacing look on his face.

"They didn't even send the big names. Kannushi? You're a C-list bench warmer at best. If my records are correct, you were considered a failure back when the Sentinels crushed all of you in your little hole, right? Before Ms. Grey had to bail all of you out... This very incredibly unbalanced match-up is proving my point in the living moment. I couldn't ask for a better example."

[musou_tensei]

Those words cut deep. Very deep. Only Magus and Reine would really know how deeply. And the cut because they were true, or at least were true for the person he was five years ago.

"You're right. I was a failure back then. I couldn't protect anyone and I returned to Japan in shame... But your records are out of date, Shaw. That was years ago." He slowly stood up, his face solid and seemingly unflinching in the face of what was, by all logic, an unbalanced match-up as Shaw had said. "And I can beat you. I know exactly how."

"Alric, Raven, Magus. Blast him with everything you've got. Don't hold back."

[stardustreverie]

There is another deep scowl crossing Marisa face, even as she heard what was to be done. She pulls out the small device she took great care of and moved away from Alric and Raven. There is a quick whisper to them both as she moved.

"Watch out...Ya don't wanna be caught in this..."

She held out the 'Mini-Hakkero' and flicked a switch on the back, letting the heater turn on and boost what she was about to do. It took a moment of her concentrating, forming a ball of light and heat in front of it aiming it at Shaw, mumbling to herself softly. After the energy got to into the size of a beach ball, it suddenly shot forward, in laser form to hit hard and fast. It was going to be held as long as she could, saving enough energy to keep going afterwards. Hopefully this would work.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric glanced at Reimu. Going for what he'd considered a riskier Plan B in response to Shaw's taunting left him with a nagging uncertainty, but Reimu was undeniably more experienced in this sort of thing.

Whatever the outcome, though, they could discuss the tactics in greater depth some other time. Alric nodded to Reimu and steeled himself as Marisa crossed to flank Shaw; violet light arced over his hands, then gathered into a ball over either palm, growing larger and brighter. When Marisa unleashes her attack, Alric hurls one ball forward, followed by the other, aiming them for Shaw's center of mass and tweaking their trajectories if he evades--if they strike, they explode with a burst of intense heat and force.

[jolie_aile]

Feeling returned to Flandre's arm and thoughts returned to her head. She flexed her claws as the prickling in her shoulder subsided, gauging how long it would still be until she could use her ability again. If she even should; Shaw seemed to copy that quite readily. Her damaged wing hummed and crackled less as more energy drained out of it and back to Flandre.

This time, she stayed right where she was until Reimu asked her to move. She wasn't about to wade into that--and he seemed to have a better idea than pushing against the ceiling until it cracked.

[loveswaffles]

For someone like Raven, who always took great efforts to keep herself in control, be told to just let go and attack without restraint was ironic to say the least. Still, that was the plan and she was going to follow through with it. She unleashed multiple concussive blasts at Shaw, all coming from her hands.

Again, again and again she blasted him, and some more times for good measure.

[the_black_king]

It was difficult to see Shaw's face with the three way blasts of energy going at him, but suffice to say from the tone of his voice it was probably smug as hell. He laughed off the attacks, his body absorbing them almost as quickly as they were thrown.

"You must be joking? There's no limit to the amount I can absorb, you know. All this doing is making your Goliath larger, David, and you haven't got a damn slingshot, now do you?" Shaw chuckled. "What, do you think you're going to use one of those sealing barriers? All I needed was a single second of this, and I can crack through it like sugar glass, Kannushi. Surely you knew that, right?"

[musou_tensei]

"Actually yeah, I did." Reimu stood up, walking slowly towards the explosive mass of energy being piled up before him, and this time he wasn't the one flinching.

"But you see, there are a few things going on here. First, with all that junk going on around you, I sincerely doubt you can see a damn thing that's going on. Second, I'm going to seal you anyways regardless of whether or not it will take you an insignificant amount time to break it. Third, did you notice when Reine here burst through YOUR barrier without having to try?"

Reimu gestured behind him at Flandre to be ready. He definitely had a plan.

[the_black_king]

Shaw flinched. He couldn't see a damn thing, exactly as Kannushi had pointed out. He hadn't been worried about that fact. After all, he was just going to pound them all into paste once he had enough energy to do it in one blow. But he flinched anyways, because for a brief moment, it sounded like that was the point of all that.

... But surely this utter failure, whom he was rather sure hardly had the wherewithal to be a strategist of any sort, was just bluffing and trying to get him to drop his guard? Hmph.

"If all you're going to do is make bubbles and then pop them, boy, I don't see how, precisely, that's going to do, well, anything."

[musou_tensei]

"Yeah, that was a load, I'm just going to punch you. Flandre, throw me at him." What.

[the_black_king]

...

"What?"

[jolie_aile]

Flandre had been...somewhat prepared for a number of half-fledged ideas.

That wasn't one of them.

"What."

Wouldn't he vaporize himself that way? Wouldn't Shaw just throw more rocks at him?

-wouldn't Reimu have thought of that already?

So she shut her brain off, stepped forwards in a single long stride, grabbed the back of Reimu's uniform where the material was denser and her claws wouldn't sink through it into him--and lifted Reimu like a paper doll. Flandre wound her arm back carefully, but quickly--and pitched him forwards, right at Shaw.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric had to admit he wasn't quite sure where this was going, either--but it wasn't really the time to undermine the plan, whatever it was (assuming it was actually a real plan), so he held off for the moment and worked on backup plans in case this one happened to fall through. Perhaps Reimu had some until-now unseen trick up his sleeve. Until he knew the answer to that, though, he gathered another fistful of plasma in preparation, and watched closely.

[musou_tensei]

In all honesty?

In complete brutal frankness?

It was a stupid plan.

There were astronomically small odds that it would succeed. Reimu could have easily completely misinterpreted how Shaw's powers worked. All in all, he'd only had a brief few moments to observe them. He was gambling not just with his own life, but those of the four individuals he had been trusted with. If this failed, they were all pretty much going to die.

It was a very stupid plan.

But that thought went through his head only briefly. Probably about mid perilous hurling. Reimu instantly through a barrier around himself, aiming a fist for where he imagined Shaw's face was behind all that massive plasma and whatnot. At the same time, of course, he did just as Shaw said he would, forming another "sealing" barrier around Shaw.

A duplex barrier, one on Reimu and the other on Shaw, being drawn to one another with explosive force. If nothing else, it was going to be quite a light show.

[loveswaffles]

Raven was well accustomed to dealing with stupidity, and on a daily basis, too. But this? Well, she wasn't sure if she even had the right words to describe it. The plan was beyond reckless, but she wasn't exactly in a position to go against it. Before she knew it, Reimu was already on a literal collision course with Shaw. All she could do right now is look on, and maybe wonder if this still actually made sense to him.

[stardustreverie]

It was like watching a horrible accident. Marisa could not help but watch..She'd come up with some stupid ideas nut this?

If it failed and they survived she'd have a better idea of what to do and think but for now all she could do was hope that the stupid idea was the one that worked.

[the_black_king]

The impact was incredible, to say the least. Whether it had been Kannushi's intention or not, Shaw would probably never know, but the two barriers collided, with the force of Shaw's absorption and of Reine's toss behind them respectively, the resulting explosion rocked the entire building, sending Shaw back and embedding heavily into the wall behind him, putting him down for the count.

Odds were Kannushi would not nearly be so fortunate if someone didn't immediately stop his momentum. He was a bit less sturdy than the Black King was, after all.

[musou_tensei]

Especially considering the force of the explosion had caused Reimu to black out cold. His last thought before losing consciousness was that Flandre could probably catch him. Or Raven. But if that didn't work out, at the very least he proved to that asshole he wasn't the same failure he was five years ago.

[jolie_aile]

Flandre had to pinch her light-sensitive eyes almost entirely shut when the barriers hit, nearly blinded by the light anyway. She put an arm up in a vain attempt to shield her eyes, and her only thought was of what her family must think of her. Was she making them proud?

She heard something shatter, felt the ground shudder under her feet, and dimly saw a darker shape flying back at her. It didn't look like Shaw--was it Reimu? She had less than a breath to decide, spreading her arms to either side to catch or bring her claws forwards-

-and then a Reimu-shaped projectile hit her in the torso with all the impact of a four-door sedan.

Her feet slid back, anchored by her claws--until too many of them cracked and broke. The impact itself did more than crush all the air out of her lungs--there was an unpleasant rib-cracking sound too. She'd squawk about that later.

Now, Flandre convulsively closed her arms around whoever hit her (don't be Shaw), trying to deflect some of the impact (don't be Shaw)--and toppled entirely off her feet, landing meters away with her wings spread to either side to minimize damage both to them and to her back where they were connected.

There would have been a stream of expletives coming from her mouth had she the air in her lungs to say them.

[stardustreverie]

It was a reflex to jump back a bit and cover her eyes at the light. Getting blinded was not a part of the whole thing so better to prevent it as much as she could. Sounds were her only warning and idea of what happened and she winced at each one, waiting for a moment to open her eyes and take in the sight. Marisa frowned and gave a sigh as she stepped up at this point.

"Keep an eye out..Secure Dumbass and hopefully this is just the hard part. We don't need anyone else out of commission at the moment."

With that said as seriously as one would expect from her, Marisa moved to rejoin her downed teammates, trying to asses what she could. Obviously she could see that Reimu was out could, but she needed to make sure Flandre was okay as well.

"I can be assured the answer is both 'No shit and shut up' but ya okay?"

[knighterrantofthedragon]

...ah. So the clever ploy was "really big explosion."

Alric brought an arm up to shield his face at least somewhat from the flash and any debris, and braced himself against the shockwave, taking stock quickly of the aftermath. Reimu looked to be in bad shape--but Shaw was at least stunned, which was something, and called for a prompt response.

Marisa was checking on Reimu and Flandre, so Alric pressed forward, releasing most of the gathered plasma from his hand in a jet to propel himself forward in a burst of motion, skidding to a stop by Shaw's side and reaching to haul him out of his indentation in the wall. With the remaining plasma, he formed a jet to cut through the nearest mass of cabling (steel cable would be better, but relatively heavy-duty copper electrical cable will suffice) to liberate some length of material, moving to bind Shaw's arms behind him. He may be quite strong on his own, but if he needed to wait to absorb the X-Men's attacks, Alric's assuming his strength isn't so superlative he can just shred several windings of cable.