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

[realmenknitplushies]

"Hell if I know," Kanji replies, looking around and listening to hear if anything's going on. ... Definitely doesn't sound good. "All I heard was the yell in my head 'n there's a bunch'f assholes gatherin' outside. I don't think they came for a party," he finishes, grimly.

Wrench, huh. Dammit, he needs to put his own hands on something and fast. Preferably something metal, but hmm...

[the_prodigal_son]

Jack nods; that's enough information for him. He's worked on less. And for whatever reason, Kanji is a very calming presence in this scenario. He runs over to the nearest window to check - yep, that looks bad. The look he gives Kanji upon turning back to him is.. resolute, but in a sort of childish way not fit for a man his apparent age.

"Let's go fight them." He suggests, knowing full well this is one of the stupidest things he's ever said. He should be running and hiding. But Jack just doesn't work like that.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Damn right. They're goin' down."

Neither does Kanji. This ... might not be good. He pulls open a closet in his hunt for a weapon - eh, folding chair, it's steel-framed, that'll have to do for now.

"But we can't just go chargin' in. There's a lot more'a them than us."

[the_prodigal_son]

He's seen a lot of weird weapons thanks to his stay in Rapture, but a folding chair just doesn't seem like a useful one. He wrinkles his nose, "Are you... looking for something?"

But then, as far as being outnumbered... "I'm used to that. I can handle it." This is what he was built for, for being able to kill as many people as he needs to get through an area safely. Although he's never fought side-by-side with anyone... that should be interesting.

[realmenknitplushies]

Kanji shrugs at the question. "Just somethin' to hit these guys with. I've ... used some random crap before." Until he can find something better, he's slinging the chair across his shoulder.

"In that case - if you know your stuff... where d'ya think we start?"

[the_prodigal_son]

Jack glances at his wrench. He guesses that isn't exactly a normal weapon, either. But it was all he had available to him the last time he had to deal with a situation like this.

He pauses to think over what he would normally do. Well, he would normally let Atlas or Tenenbaum tell him where to go, and trust them to keep him alive. He doesn't really know what to do when he's put in charge. His gaze sweeps the room for a second - he has no idea how to handle this. So he just sort of shrugs and mumbles, "I'm four years old."

Very helpful, Jack.

[realmenknitplushies]

Wait...

Kanji looks at him, frowning. "Dude, this is no time to be kiddin' around." As much as he might be getting used to strange things, here, that just doesn't make much sense... Unless it's some kind of mutation effect? Accelerated growth? But no, Jack told him that his power was super strength...

[the_prodigal_son]

Jack shakes his head. "I was built in a lab for killing people. It's... I'll explain later. Or Beast Boy can. I'm not... good at being in charge."

He was never built as a leader, he was built as a puppet. If he's told where to go, he can keep himself safe, maybe other people. But without a guide he'd just an overgrown child with a wrench.

[realmenknitplushies]

Okay, giving Jack somewhat of a look here. He's not sure if he can believe the story, or even if he wants to believe it.

But this isn't the time or the place for arguing those details.

"Yeah. I think we're all gonna have to have a talk," he half growls, before pausing, letting out a hiss through his teeth. "Right. We ain't rushin' the main group. I ain't sayin' we sit around and wait for some dumbass to come wanderin' by, but we take out smaller groups if they're lookin' around. An' if they're easy enough, then we start smashin' the big groups."

[the_prodigal_son]

He responds with an apologetic look. He's sorry for being complicated. It's not his fault, a conman ruined his life.

And he nods along to the plan; Kanji has similar speech patterns to Atlas, so Jack is happy to follow his orders. In fact, he's starting to think he might be able to survive tonight. "Lead the way, I'll follow. And... you can have my wrench if I find a gun."

Because it's a better weapon than a chair.

[realmenknitplushies]

"... Yeah, alright. I'll be fine with this anyway, but... What kinda shootin' experience have ya had?" he asks, starting to lead the way. For all he's a spot skeptical about Jack's story, he's got to check what he can.

[the_prodigal_son]

"I killed half a city." he replies easily, although he doesn't seem very proud of it. He figured he'd be away from all this when the X-men fished him out of the Atlantic. Apparently not. "I'm best with tommy guns but I can work most anything... it's not hard."

But then again, he's had instruction manuals for all his guns tattooed into his brain. He doesn't know what it's like for people who aren't designed to carry guns.

[realmenknitplushies]

Okay.

That's earning the funniest look yet. Kanji is definitely getting skeptical about this stuff.

"Really."

[the_prodigal_son]

This earns an upset look from Jack. "I'll explain later. It's complicated."

Actually, no, they have time now. He groans and starts speaking rapidly so they can get it over with and move on. "There's a city at the bottom of the Atlantic that's infested with creepy monsters but it used to have people and my father built it to escape the government but then this asshole named Fontaine took over and stole me and turned me into an assassin so I could kill my father and then I did and Fontaine tried to kill me but I killed him and it took forever because everyone in the whole damn city seemed the think they were gonna get something out of killing me so I had to kill them to get anywhere. Can we get moving?"

He does not want to dwell on anything he just said.

[realmenknitplushies]

That sudden rush isn't getting any more convinced of a look, but Kanji eventually just gives a 'tch' and a bit of a nod. Whether or not Jack's just making things up isn't the important thing right now, after all.

"Yeah, alright . Just don't try 'n tell me that you're actually from Mars or somethin' too... Let's go. I think I heard somethin' over this way."

[the_prodigal_son]

"I'm not lying."

Because that's clearly the thing to concentrate on. He sighs heavily and follows after Kanji. Well, he's done talking either way. He'll convince him later, hopefully with Beast Boy's help.

[realmenknitplushies]

Yeah. It's definitely not the issue right now.

Kanji leads the way out, following a wall, trying to stay in the shade... "Can you see any of 'em?" he asks.

[the_prodigal_son]

Jack stalks along behind him, rather quiet for his size, and listens hard. Listening and watching shadows has always been the most useful tactic for avoiding people, though it's weird to use it to seek people out.

"There's someone at the end of that hallway." He mumbles with a point in that direction, "At least... I hear footsteps." Jack's ears aren't particularly any better than a regular human's, but he's more used to listening for danger than most. Whether it's friends or foes, on the other hand, he definitely can't tell that.

[realmenknitplushies]

Kanji's at least being relatively quiet for him. That is to say, he's not charging anywhere.

"Gotcha, man. C'mon. Let's see who's there."

[the_prodigal_son]

Well, Kanji ends up being the quieter one, because Jack's version of sneaking up on enemies is to rush into view and think later. In his defense, he's used to being stormed by crowds.

Lucky for Jack they run across a U-Man who is both very new to battle and possession of fire powers, which Jack is very used to. By the time Kanji catches up to him he's shoved the man onto the floor and is in the middle of beating him to dead with the wrench. Which... with a wrench of that size, probably happened around five whacks before Jack actually stops.

[realmenknitplushies]

"Dude. I..."

For a second, that's not a U-Man in front of Kanji but a biker knocked to the ground as his memories decide to surface. Scowling at the fallen figure-

"...I think you got him."

[the_prodigal_son]

Jack backs off when he's spoken to, taking a deep breath to clear his head. Fighting a hoard of masked fake mutants, well, it's not hard to have the splicers of Rapture come to mind. But that worries him significantly less when there's someone to give him orders and no one actively trying to kill him.

Without replying, Jack searches through the man's pockets and, when he finds nothing useful, ripping his shirt open to investigate there. Well, whatever he's looking for on the man's chest, he doesn't find it. He sighs and straightens up, "No guns yet."

[realmenknitplushies]

"Huh. Wonder if they're even going to have 'em."

Man. He can't help but think that he's got to step his own game up - but at the same time, he's sure not planning on killing if he can help it.