HEAVY IS THE HEAD: Part One, SINISTER LEGACY Fallout

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: The Students and Faculty of the Xavier Institute
WHAT: Charity work in District X, but things are getting bad again
WHERE: District X
WHEN: Thanksgiving Weekend
WARNING(S): Violence, language, etc

So this was Christmas, and War was Not Over. The soup lines, this time, were alongside official Vaccine Centers, cures to the Legacy Virus being handed out alongside plates of hot food for the needy. Once more, winter was bleak in the world of mutants living in forced squalor. Attitudes were not particularly bright. People were no longer dying in the streets from illness, but were conditions really any better? War with Genosha was imminent. The National Guard was already standing post around the community, enforcing curfews, treating the area now more than ever like an internment community. Xavier's students were allowed to move around freely, but only with special ID badges that marked them as such. It was the same all over the country.

This wasn't Mutant Registration... it somehow felt worse. And it didn't help that the Mutant Liberation Front was still very active in the area, and many of them entirely blamed the X-Men for Renko's apparent 'death'. There were antagonistic forces around them, and desperate faces looking at them for some kind of hope. And if they couldn't get it there...

There were whispers, a lot of them, about fleeing to Genosha. About joining the MLF and working alongside Genosha for 'true' mutant liberation. About kickstarting this war on local soil. And really...

... was there anything the X-Men could do to stop it? Should they stop it?

Comments

[thenewbrotherhood]

Hah. Tiny wants to play catch, does she?

[The giant monster of a man picked up another car and flung it towards the truck.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[The second car smacks right into the truck unhindered, causing whatever force was holding it up to lose its grip. Both vehicles dropped, hitting the ground--but not before bouncing off of a field of resonance about as tall as a person.]

Your aim sucks.

[Kaede didn't give any more warnings or second chances. Her vectors ripped a door off of each car, while another two smashed into the ground to propel her forwards, out of the dust. They drove her forwards and up, to either smack Blob over the head with the doors or learn the signatures of who else might be out there.]

[thenewbrotherhood]

[WHAM! The doors definitely hit the guy, that was for sure... but he can only turn his head right back to her with a grin.]

Ah geeze, tiny... if you wanted a hug... Why didn't you just say so?! [And since she was nice and close, both of those massive arms closed around her, aiming to snap her into a crushing bear hug.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Well, that didn't work-

-shit.

Kaede's vectors dropped the doors, bristling outwards to defend herself. (Don't kill him.) They grabbed onto Blob's arms and shoulders to push back, away, but found an equal force pressing back against them this time. (Don't kill him.) The only direction they sent Kaede was straight back up again, propelling her into the air in an instinctual escape. If he threw cars around like toys, it didn't take much to imagine what he could do to her ribcage.

Instead, the horned mutant stomped on his face as she went up.]

[thenewbrotherhood]

[The stomp landed... and landed... and her foot definitely wasn't coming back out of his face as his hands moved up to try and smash her leg.]

[soundandfurry]

-It was a desperate distraction tactic, but Kagerou hoped it would work. With a loud howl, she charged, leaping towards those slowly crushing hands and slicing one of them with her psionic claws.-

[long_live_the_queen]

Ffffuuuck-

[Kaede's thoughts turned from irritation to panic as her leg stayed rooted in place; it dragged her upward progress to a sudden halt. And she saw those arms coming up again-

Her vectors spun back around, their movements less precise and panicked. Their grasp became sharp, less like hands and more like knives as she tried to get away before her knee snapped.

She saw Kagerou only as a blur in her tunnel vision; she couldn't pay attention to much else now.]

[thenewbrotherhood]

Damnit! [Blood splattered as both girls managed to cut into his hand, forcing him to swat both of them away instead of crushing them like he wanted to. Psionic cuts... he couldn't absorb those, much to his chagrin. Not without really focusing. He'd need to be more careful...]

[soundandfurry]

-The blow was enough to send Kagerou, who wasn't that heavy on a good day, flying a pretty amazing distance, only managing to stop her fall by scraping her psionic claws into the asphalt.-

[long_live_the_queen]

[The blow swatted Kaede away like an insect, but between that and literally breaking her leg the first was far more preferable. She didn't stumble too much when she landed (on solid ground not...fleshy quicksand); her ankle was holding up fine.

Her vectors just cut handprints into the concrete when she landed instead.

You got blood on my shoes.

[friendofdorothy]

Liir had been participating, rather than calming. They should have known, of course.

So when the Genoshans arrived, Liir was initially glad. Finally, they'd decided to come out of their shells. They were going to see the old Magneto again, not the new, cryptic weirdo they were used to.

It apparently was not to be. He went sprinting, catching Kagerou and steadying her.

"Genosha couldn't afford to feed you, could they?" He called at The Blob.

[thenewbrotherhood]

Tch, seems Tiny has some friends... a wolf girl, and this creep. And already with the fat jokes? You seriously think I haven't heard a million of those?

[Blob chuckled, definitely not phased by their words, and with how little the cuts were bleeding, it seemed their attacks weren't doing much, either, even if they broke the skin...]

Since YOU [He pointed, rather intently, at Liir.] seem to know who we are, you'd better tell your friends to run. Our orders are to kill anyone that gets in our way, and that includes other mutants.

[soundandfurry]

I don't care what you say. Liir's my friend, but I'm not on his team, so even if he says so, I'm not gonna run!

-Kagerou had gathered herself back up, dusting off her jacket and pulling down her hood. She was partially transformed, far furrier than usual, and looking downright pissed.-

Mutant, human, I don't even care! These people are my pack, so I'm gonna tear you to pieces of you hurt them!

[friendofdorothy]

It had been cheap. But it was all he could think of on such short notice. Now he'd gotten him talking. He held up his hand to signal Kaede to not attack him just yet. Time was on their side and he doubted Blob could beat him in a battle of wits.

"And you know who I am. But I still don't know why you tried to shoot us down in Antarctica. We were saving mutant lives."

[long_live_the_queen]

[Well, standing somewhere looking vaguely intimidating was what she was good at. Kaede stayed where she was, albeit with an irritated grumble.

...though she was curious at what the answer was for that too.]

[thenewbrotherhood]

I don't know anything about that, kid. That's Acolyte business. [Blob shrugged.]

We're here to fire the first shot of the war. If some people get hurt in the crossfire, it's because YOU didn't protect them. [Or at least that was what Genosha was prepared to say, from the sound of it.]

[soundandfurry]

You didn't just attack the army men, though! You through that truck at all of us! -Kagerou wasn't buying it.-

[long_live_the_queen]

[That amounted to...nothing, as far as Kaede heard.

Her shoulders tensed, already straining to be let off the chain.

Maybe she could break his legs instead. He didn't need both of them right now. Or she could throw him ass over teakettle into a prison cell. That was a more diplomatic solution, probably.]

[friendofdorothy]

You're making war on mutants getting immunizations? What happened to all that rhetoric about serving mutantkind? [Good, keep him talking. Maybe people can get out of there. And also...well, he'd clicked his comm to 'record'. See what happens.]

[thenewbrotherhood]

That's not my department, green. [Blob shrugged.]

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work! [And with that, he slammed his fists into the ground, causing the road to splinter, before lifting a chunk of the asphalt out and tossing it like a frisbee towards Lir.]

[soundandfurry]

-Kagerou was quick to leap into action, howling as she did so. She sprung herself on top of the asphalt chunk, slicing at it with her claws so that it was a much more manageable series of rocks rather than a mass of gravel and tar.-

[long_live_the_queen]

[That was a green light as far as Kaede was concerned.

Sorry Liir.

Though she wasn't just going to ditch him; her vectors lashed out again, knocking the shards of the road away like pebbles. Not as fast as bullets, easy to deflect.

That left Blob--blunt force was out, touching him was out--she could choke him, or cut something.

Both might kill him. And Liir and Kagerou were watching. She tried to catch Liir's eye, silently asking for instruction.]

[friendofdorothy]

[He was flattening himself to the concrete immediately, of course. The army stayed with you that way. But he didn't need to. A hand signal: fingers interlocking. "Hold him here."

People tended to underestimate his power because it wasn't all that flashy or immediately dangerous. But when you can shout to all the local cockroaches "Food! Here!" in a silent, chemical tongue, even a huge, seemingly unstoppable force might want to pause.

Especially when hundreds, thousands of them begin running up his legs...]

[thenewbrotherhood]

Holy shit!! [Blob stepped back, certainly not expecting a swarm of roaches to pop out of the woodwork. He definitely wished he was Pyro or Vanisher (or even Toad) at that moment, stumbling and uncertain of what to do. There were too damn many to squash.]

[long_live_the_queen]

[That...was a lot of bugs.

But they didn't seem to be going after her, though a number of them skittered over her feet.

Her vectors didn't require her to move, though; telekinetic hands lashed out to grab onto Blob's shoulders, pin his arms to his sides, but not lift him off the ground. The roaches still needed a road.]