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

[thirdarrow]

Unlike Zian, Takakage doesn't break his stride at all. With a flick of his wrist the water whip by his side elongates, lashing out horizontally and deflecting all the metal blades in one clean sweep.

"It seems that we cannot proceed until the course is clear. Can you fight?"

As he speaks, two more orbs of water condense behind him. It's important to always have backup ammunition, after all.

[defibrillating]

"No," he admits, a bit ashamed. "I mean, I could zap them if I get close enough to touch... but..." Zian had never had to hurt anyone before. It just went against everything he believed in. Helping people. Healing people.

He almost shudders, hugging the wall so the U-Man can't get a good second shot. "I'm sorry."

[thirdarrow]

"Don't be." Takakage voice is calm, without a hint of displeasure or annoyance - which just served to make it more terrifying. He retrieves a scalpel from somewhere inside his jacket and removes the plastic cap. It's clean, and the blade polished to... what was possibly razor sharpness. "Take this. It's not much, but you will be armed."

And with that he merges all three water globes together, forming an even longer whip - which he promptly uses to knock the gun out of an approaching U-Man's hand. The whip then goes around the man's neck, and in a few seconds their opponent is out cold on the floor.

"He is not dead. Merely unconscious."

[defibrillating]

Zian looks a little bit hesitant as Takakage hands him the scalpel. He had held hundreds of these in his life, but never as a weapon. He moves it slowly between his long fingers before he nods, gripping it tightly. It was at least something... just to defend himself, or the kids.

He's still mulling over his moral choices when Takakage snaps out his water whip and incapacitates the U-Man quite effectively. Taking a deep breath, Zian nods and hurries after the doctor, giving the fallen U-Man a concerned look in passing. He did seem unconscious and his chest was rising, something that calmed the medic down a bit as he follows along, "Please be careful," he signs as they move further into the school.

[thirdarrow]

Takakage nods, not glancing back. The sheer number of brawling people in the vicinity is making him hard to focus on his ambient water senses, and he isn't exactly sure if friendly fire could be avoided. His water whip precedes him, disarming U-Men and almost-strangling quite a few from the back.

The 'almost' here is a very important keyword - unconsciousness is the most effective way to knock someone out of action, but he makes it a rule to never actually kill anyone. There is one line he will not cross, and it is taking someone else's life.

And it's a little satisfying to see them fall like dominoes, but that's something he will never admit. It's almost like he's drowning them, something that he himself is immune to - after all, water will never hurt him.

They manage to make it through the hall, leaving five or six incapacitated U-Men behind them, but there had been collateral damage as well. Quite a few of the students had received surface injuries, and one of them had been punched into a wall. They had to get to work immediately.

[defibrillating]

Zian really wasn't the most awesome battle buddy but he did his best to not get in the way or accidentally step into shooting range again. He's pale and slightly nauseated, however, hating the violence with every fiber in his being - but what else could they do? These men and women were obviously insane and out to hurt people. Kill students.

As soon as the battle ends and there are hurt students in his vicinity, however, Zian is getting to work at once. Most worrying was the student that had crashed into a wall, so he gestures to them. "Check for internal injuries, doc! We gotta set any fractures before I can heal it."

Then he turns to the less injured students with what could only be a big, toothy smile. "Hey! Look at how brave you guys are. Real heroes already! If you just wait a little moment I'll make sure those nasty cuts go away, but first we gotta make sure your friend isn't hurt inside."

[thirdarrow]

Takakage nods, kneeling down immediately beside the student. "Hold still for a moment, alright? I will take a look at how we can heal you." With that, he closes his eyes, funneling his water sense into a concentrated, narrow range.

The force of the impact had fractured the student's femur, but luckily it was a simple fracture and the displacement was quite small. Since there didn't seem to be any connective tissue that had gotten between the bone's original position and where it is now, he ought to be able to... move it back...

He opens his eyes and inhales deeply. "Alright. Your bone has fractured, but I can re-align it, and Zian here will give you a quick boost so that it will heal. But I will need you to try not to move your leg." Any disruption to his concentration would have severe consequences.

The student nods, unable to speak by way of someone having given him something wrapped in cloth to bite on. It's a useful decision, on hindsight - helping to distract from the pain.

"Okay. I will start now." The doctor closes his eyes again, focusing all his attention onto the required area. It takes a good three minutes for the maneuver to be completed, given how complicated the water distribution was. The student had done well in not struggling, but the adrenaline in his body hampered the efforts significantly. Takakage had to tap into reserves of willpower that he usually did not use.

"Alright. It's in place. Zian, your turn." He gets up from where he had been kneeling, a little unsteady - and there seems to be some blood coming from the corner of his mouth. However, he doesn't seem to notice it.

[defibrillating]

While Takagake was handling the realignment for the hurt student, Zian was gently wiping blood away and checking in gashes for the other students, cracking a few dumb jokes to make sure everyone stayed nice and calm.

"Ever touched a metal door knob after rubbing your feet against a carpet? That's how this is going to feel. Just like getting a shot - it hurts for just a bit and then everything will be a lot better." He pokes one of the students with the worst superficial wound, the small charge helping to heal it even though it obviously scared and hurt the student. "Shh, it's okay. It's over, you're better. I'm sorry that it hurt."

Looking over at Takakage, he switches positions with him, handing the doctor the gauze and other first aid items he'd been using so they could continue each others work. "Hey, you took a pretty big hit, eh? I'm impressed, I'm sure you looked cool. Let's see if we can fix this, okay?"

Broken bones needed a bigger charge, but at least the kid was already biting down on something. "Alright, kiddo! Brace yourself - this will feel really weird but you'll be walking - well, hobbling - in no time!"

The touch makes the student jerk a bit, teeth gnashing against the cloth. Thankfully, they look a lot more relieved afterwards. "There you go! A+ hero material right there!"

mango and grape team gooo

[thirdarrow]

Takakage sees to a few other students while Zian worked his powers, stemming bleeding wounds and binding them so that they would not open again. Simple things, and tasks that he had regularly done as a surgery apprentice - though if they had anesthetics it would have made things much easier on the students.

It takes a while, but the task is done. Everyone here had been seen to - he instructs two of the more well-built students to guard the one with the fracture before stepping back and assessing the situation again. There didn't seem to be any U-Men in the vicinity, and there are a few upperclassmen around who would be able to watch them.

"Everyone should be fine now." He addresses the college student who had stepped up to take charge. "If anything happens, try to disable your opponents as soon as you can. If anyone else gets injured, give us a call and we'll come as fast as we can." He had his phone with him, and the student is one of his students. "Take care."

delish derps

[defibrillating]

"You guys should probably go somewhere safe and hide," Zian instructs with another toothy smile. "Everyone's fighting these guys, and I'm sure the X-Men will kick their butt out of here soon enough. As soon as everyone is nice and safe, you can come back to me and I'll fix up any of you that are not seriously injured."

The purple medic was getting a little winded from using his powers so much, but he doesn't slow down or complain. There were still people fighting, and that meant people getting hurt. He joins up with Takakage again, giving a quick thumbs up before they head down the next corridor.

"How are things going, you think? Are we winning?"

[thirdarrow]

Takakage pauses and scans the area ahead of them - it's clear for now, but that might only be because the majority of the fighting is focused at the open lawn. Even from this distance he can sense many people, their water signatures blending together into a shifting mass.

"I am... honestly not sure. We can only hope for the best." There is a pause. "But if it helps, there are no more invaders in this wing."

They continue walking for a few more moments before he speaks again.

"You have a very encouraging presence, Zian. It will help to boost the students' morale." His tone is significantly lighter, now - it's something he has observed and can greatly respect.

[defibrillating]

He sighs slightly, wiping his hands a bit on his jeans to not frighten people. This was really a big mess, and he just wanted to keep the kids safe from these maniacs. It was a bit of a relief, however, to hear that they were safe for now.

The purple medic looks a little confused at first as Takakage speaks again, but then brightens at the praise. "Thank you, doc! I try my best... my father always told me that patients feel safe and relaxed with a few jokes and a gentle hand."

Even more important when it came to scared kids.