SINISTER FINALE

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Those who signed up for the punching dinosaurs Savage Lands mission
WHAT: Time to get a cure
WHERE: Savage Land Nature Preserve
WHEN: October 10th
WARNING(S): Violence, language, etc

The Blackbird was getting quite a bit of use, lately. It left the Institute early, before the sun was properly up—from there, it was a straight line from New York to Antarctica, with no stops between. The paperwork had been cleared, official permission granted for the team to enter an international wildlife reserve. There would be no scandalous headlines of border-crossing house parties this time, thank you very much.

The glasslike surface of the Antarctic Ocean stretched away endlessly beneath the plane, disappearing into a fog-clouded horizon.

They weren’t there quite yet.

But they would be soon.

Comments

[droppedbucket]

[Just seeing everyone getting bounced back gave a moment for Kisume to think things through. Full outright attacking wasn't doing much but it might buy enough time to figure things out. With that in mind, Kisume headed in quickly and reached out, trying to gather up enough water in the area to throw at Sinister. She could be a distraction too!]

[bethemonster]

[Unfortunately for the Children of the Atom, their inexperience in comparison to Sinister was definitely their downfall. In spite of the nobility of their distractions, they were all painfully transparent.

First, Joss's machine, swiped up by a wave of psychokinetic energy, thrust into the path of Kaede's vectors. Then a simple sidestep to send Kisume's water bullets hurtling towards Rinka behind him.]

Inferior. Weak. Even among the genetic superiority of mutant kind there are elements which need to be culled. That was my Legacy. That was my purpose as His Pestilence... It is a shame that my own progeny could not see eye to eye with me, isn't it?

[openedthedoor]

[Which meant Sinister also knew what Liir was doing. The psychic backlash, a trap planted by Sinister, was enough to fry the strongest of telepaths. No doubt Liir would find it a bit troublesome, himself.]

[friendofdorothy]

[Liir reeled back, grabbing at anything nearby for support. He experienced the backlash as a blast of white noise, a firecracker stuffed with the sound of a television with its volume turned off going off behind his eyelids. Thought returned quickly though: "He knows what we're going to do." He whispered into Joss's communicator.]

He's predicting us!

[psykick]

[Naturally, the water passes straight through Rinka. As she finishes phasing out of the ground to 'stand' on the same level as everyone else, she hears what Liir says. If Sinister is predicting them, then he must have some sort of precog ability. That, she knows how to handle thanks to Ayumu. Selectively unphasing her batons, she empties her mind of all thoughts and leaps at Sinister to deliver a series of blows. Rather than planning her attack, she operates on reflex and the principle of countering. If someone attacks you, attack back. Counter and re-counter in an endless chain, not wasting a second on thoughts that will just slow you down.

Provided she can even land a touch.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[First things first--don't die. That was important when there was a robot flying at your head at subsonic speeds.

Kaede's vectors curled back on themselves, trying to deflect the thing away from her while jumping to the opposite side. It had too much mass and was going too fast to just stop dead.

She turned, still in range, and her vectors grasped after the edge of the psychokinetic wave that threw the robot at her and that stopped the tree. It didn't look like her vectors; it barely rippled in Kaede's vision, like a heat shimmer. But it still looked like something her vectors could touch, interact with, grab. If she could do that, she could push backwards, maybe even keep Sinister in place so Rinka or Kisume or anyone else could hit him.

Or she could just get thrown back on her ass. But that wouldn't stop her from getting up again. Kaede was nothing if not stubborn.]

[anythingspossible]

Joss shot up off the floor gripping her smart phone, struggling to get Tornado to not knock Kaede over. She used it's arm to shift its direction so it's ion exhaust would not blast into Kaede's face.

Her robot didn't have the thrusting power to resist the psychokinetic wave, but at least maybe Kaede could stop it, before it knocked her down.

[bethemonster]

[Kids indeed. Sinister had almost been waiting for them to give up and call in Wolverine or Storm to deal with him, and yet they weren't discouraged even still by all of their setbacks. He'd be impressed, if he didn't hold their lives in such contempt... Though he had to admit, that girl, with her psychic vectors, very much piqued his interests...

Enough to distract. Enough for Rinka to land a clear blow, staggering the man in black.]

You will... regret that...

[anythingspossible]

Joss thought a secret "yes" when her robot manged to wiggle free of the grip of the two telekinetic warriors. Her eyes darted from Kaede to Rinka. They seemed to have the fight covered better than she did.

She limped quietly, and quickly around the battle, to the place where she hoped she could make a difference.

She approached Renko. She took a quick glance to Liir "Don't worry none. Were gonna help your friend somehow."

She kneeled beside Renko. Tornado took its place by her side automatically, Joss then attempted to place one of her communicators in Renko's ear. If successful she was sure it would tell her what was wrong with Renko, and maybe which tubes were keeping her alive.

[friendofdorothy]

Liir's head was still clearing when he saw Joss. At that moment, she was a godsend.

"I can't get anything with my power. How do we unhook her?"

Later, he'd feel useless. At that moment he had to rescue his idol.

[openedthedoor]

[At that point, it was a matter of what WASN'T wrong with the woman. Most of her internal systems were in a state of near failure, though her mind had a psychic shield of sorts put up by Sinister to assure she wouldn't go braindead on him during the DNA extraction process. More remarkably, it was also clear that she was heavily infected by the Legacy Virus, though not a strain any of them were familiar with. It had seemed Sinister was already in the process of creating the Third Strain, and Renko's DNA had been the catalyst of the second one.

Unfortunately, that also meant it was nearly impossible to distinguish which of Sinister's machines were for life support and which were for viral purposes. They would have to guess... A gamble with someone else's life.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[One distraction led to another; after Rinka's blow, Kaede took the opportunity to step closer, collecting her vectors into a single a wave of psychokinetic energy to crash against Sinister. 'Look at me, not Rinka.'

Her range and reach was small, limited--but her vectors were much stronger in that small field than they were at just throwing things.]

[psykick]

[Rinka doesn't let up. If a strike is blocked or deflected, she's already moving on to the next one. She won't be able to keep up this pace forever though; her endurance and strength are unaugmented and her natural athleticism will only take her so far. And she'd already had to take on a dinosaur or two. So in another five minutes, ten tops, she's going to be flagging.]

[bethemonster]

[In spite of his sickly pale, corpse like skin, Sinister was a remarkable physical specimen, having the strength and reaction time to exceed Rinka easily. But the fact was, Kaede was a telekinetic on the level he had only so rarely witnessed, and that certainly forced his attention elsewhere. He almost had to wonder... if she wasn't the second coming of the Phoenix herself.

He was letting his fascination distract him, however, and both women were able to land blows otherwise impossible. Sinister spat, staggering back.]

Enough of this! [Sinister backed his way to a console, slamming his fist down on a large red button. An alarm started sounding as several machines whirred to life, lights blinking and flashing. One such was a large pod that started to open, Sinister rushing for it.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Being able to actually land hits now had boosted her confidence--perhaps too much. Sinister eeled out of her grasp like a handful of quicksilver. An irritated noise crawled out of her chest, almost a growl.]

Get back here, asshole! We're not done yet!

[Kaede rushed after him, vectors grasping for his shoulders, knees, anywhere they could find purchase.]

[anythingspossible]

The blood crimson glow from Joss' smart phone reflected off her bulging eyes and dropped jaw. The phone had an outline of Renko's body on its screen, with the damaged parts flashing red, and that was all of them.

"Unhook her?" Joss asked responding to Liir's question. "I ain't even sure how she's still alive! She's got the virus and then some. Her fever's off tha charts, her organs are a wreck, and her mind is workin but..."

Joss' mind was turning too fast and too hard to finish her sentence.Just looking at Renko made her feel feverish and sick. Her eyes darted from Renko to the machine, then back to her smart phone, then finally to her own thoughts. She squirmed as she tried to think. She gasped. An idea, though she knew it wasn't great.

"I need a sec to figure out tha machine she's hooked up ta to know how ta unhook her, but Liir yer takin a medicine to treat the virus ain't ya? I can't make no promises but if ya can give some up it might help her."

Joss turned to the machine that the tubes came out of. It gave her slight comfort, for even with this tech she felt at home.

"I gonna do ma best with this, but in the mean time our only real hope is ta catch Sinister, and get everythang we need to know from him!"

It was at that second that Sinister fled, and robots entered the scene.

"dang it!"

[droppedbucket]

[As soon as Sinister took off, Kisume had taken off after him, her growling gone silent finally. She was fully focused on just catching and taking Sinister down..if she could!]