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]

[He could feel it. Those tendril like holds in his mind. The same ones she'd latched onto him that time in the Institute's tunnels. Again she was trying to pierce his head, rip it apart, make him do something stupid...

But he'd had some work done since then. If she kept pressing, she'd find herself a very... very unpleasant surprise. Doing his best to look intimidated, he goaded her further.]

You got the ugly part right, but you didn't need my help for that...

[romancing]

[ The psychic tension in the air was almost unbearable. But Koishi doesn't let the discomfort show on her face, standing her ground and readying herself to start mentally probing, if need be. ]

[droppedbucket]

[There is a slow movement forward as Kisume was trying to keep that threatening look and growl going. She wasn't going to move too far, just in case but for now..Something was going to happen. It was a matter of time..]

[green_eyed]

-And Parsee kept up the pressure. If Vanisher had another trick up his sleeve, she was completely unaware of it. For as much psychic power s she had, she wasn't all that focused at using it...-

[thenewbrotherhood]

[Therein lied the 'rub'.

It was a last resort, to be sure, but Vanisher had lived through too much to die here in the dingy streets of a mutant ghetto at the hands of morlocks. Once Parsee's power got deep enough, where she normally went to start really playing with someone's perceptions and feelings, she'd find it.

The telepathic boobytrap. A psychokinetic bomb. Mastermind had helped plant one there years ago, after they'd both escaped SHIELD custody. Just in case Xavier ever tried to go after him. It's a shame to waste such an effective psycho-killer on a worthless troll like this, but hey... Live and fight another day.

The sensation would come in the form of massive psychic feedback, enough to cause an aneurysm on most people. He'd be surprised if she survived it.]

[romancing]

[ Koishi has the sinking feeling that something is horribly wrong, but calling off the fight on conjecture and mild psychic pressure alone--

She starts mentally pressing, herself. If he has any negative memories she could bring to the surface, she tries. ]

[droppedbucket]

[There is a stop in the growling, as she glances back to see what was going on. She isn't as sensitive to psychic energies so she's a little bit in the dark at the moment.]

[green_eyed]

-Unfortunately, Parsee didn't see it coming, and when the psychic backlash hit her, it was enough to send Parsee off her feet and screaming, clutching at her head. Like a severe migraine happening all at once. She could feel blood trailing down her lip from her nose, and down her jaw from her ears... Which of course meant Vanisher was free to move again.-

[thenewbrotherhood]

[He wasn't about to wait for Koishi to activate the trap, either. He was deadset on killing that green eyed troll. He ported right over to her, crying bloody murder as he raised his blade, aiming to finish her in one blow.]

[romancing]

[ ....!

She doesn't think, she acts. Most of the things she did were based on pure instinct, the toll the surgery took on her third eye coming into play. But this takes the cake, blindly running at him with her tendrils extended and jabbing at the air like needles. ]

Stop it, stop it, stop it!

[droppedbucket]

[Koishi isn't the only one acting on instinct. She darted forward, a snarl escaping her and mouth open, trying to bite at the arm with the knife, take some of it herself or just try to get Vanisher away from Parsee. Only think she could think to do to be honest!]

[green_eyed]

-Parsee was helpless, only able to do anything but watch the chaos in front of her.-

[thenewbrotherhood]

Hrgh! [Well that would teach him to lose his cool, wouldn't it? Whether he'd wounded Parsee or not, her goal to goad him into doing something stupid had worked completely. And he found himself rather painfully restrained, and more than a few bloody wounds to show for it...

He wasn't going to win this fight... After that painful realization, he was gone, teleporting off to lick his wounds and wait for the others to fall back...]