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

[psykick]

More than anything, Rinka wished Kyotaro was here. In Tokyo, she'd always known he'd have her back in a fight. Here she was alone. But that didn't stop her from grabbing her batons and rushing outside the moment she realized the school was being invaded. This was her school and she wasn't about to hand it over without a fight. With her phasing protecting her from a number of the stolen mutant powers, Rinka charged into the fray, batons swinging.

She was dispatching an intruder with her batons when she saw someone slash apart another intruder's shield nearby. Very useful technique. She whips one of her batons against her opponent's temple, knocking them out cold. Then, resting the baton on her shoulder, she looks over at the other student.

"That was a rather neat trick," she commented. She'd pulled a (or rather, her only) hoodie on in an effort to hide her white hair when she was phased, to keep her from being spotted too easily, but it still peeked out from underneath slightly.

[windtail]

Xu Shu pops into existence a few feet away from the U-Man he had just finished dealing with - the Flashbang only shattered her shields, no more than that, and he curses himself for not being able to take her down. But that thought is quickly banished from his mind - focusing on the battle right now is more important.

Rinka's words surprise him - he's not used to being complimented, but he recovers fast enough to reply. "Thanks. It didn't go very well, though."

Evident by the U-Man he had been fighting getting up again. Her shields had been broken but she certainly wasn't, and she advances on the two teenagers with her sword drawn.

"Distract 'em for me. I'll hit them from the back." And with that, he vanishes again, reappearing behind their opponent.

[psykick]

Generally, one would think the person with only a couple police batons would be at a disadvantage against someone with a sword. But Rinka's batons had a feature that made them much more effective against a sword, a hook at the end of the shaft, just above the handle.

Charging at the woman, Rinka phased her upper body through the sword then used the hooks on her batons to catch the blade and lock it in place. The women would either have to let go of her sword or overpower Rinka. Another energy shield would simply pass right through here.

[windtail]

He doesn't have time to pay attention to what Rinka was doing, trusting that she could at least hold down their attacker so that his own strike would hit. The woman struggled against Rinka for a few moments, but those few seconds are enough for him to get ready.

He takes a running start from a short distance to the left, delivering three rapid horizontal slashes back and forth. Their opponent staggers, and that gives him an opening to strike a fourth and final time - latching onto her crude leather armour with his hooked dagger and flashstepping backwards.

The sheer momentum is enough to tear the assailant's hands away from her sword, and she is dragged along the ground for a few metres before he abruptly lets go. The inertia is enough to whip the dagger back into his hands, and he somersaults back the way he came to land next to Rinka again.

"Thanks."

[psykick]

Rinka releases one baton, letting it dangle by the strap around her wrist in order to grab the sword. Within seconds, she's phased it straight into the ground. Even if someone were to dig it up, the metal would be riddled with dirt particles and completely useless.

She's almost jealous of the sort of power this guy can wield, but she has a feeling it's much more taxing physically than her phasing is on her. Besides, she's grown rather fond of her ability in the last several months.

As he lands beside her, she gives him a small grin.

"The way you move, that's not teleportation. I have a friend that can do that, but yours is different. Well, it's not important now. What is, is what are we going to do with her?"

She points with a baton at the woman.

[windtail]

Xu Shu has had years of practice with his speed, and it is only his training and mutation-enhanced stamina that lets him fight like that with ease. The beginning years were very difficult, but necessary - and over time he learned how to drive himself solely with his willpower.

He returns her grin with a nod - he's not one to smile, so it's the best he can muster at the moment. "I can teleport too, but not too far."

But back to the task at hand. The woman seems to be... unconscious at best. Despite his temperament, Xu Shu's attacks are quite vicious - and their high speed would have killed an ordinary human. She would be out of commission... or dead.

"I think it's safe to just leave her there for now. She won't get up anytime soon."

[psykick]

"Right, then let's find someone else."

Rinka adjusts her grip on her batons as she looked around them, searching for someone in trouble, or an intruder that needed to be dealt with.

"I'm Rinka. What's your name?"

[windtail]

"Xu Shu. But you can call me Shu, if you want." Anyone who wasn't Chinese ended up mangling his surname, as he had found to his chagrin on the day he had arrived. "Nice to meet you." They'd be watching each others' backs, at least for now.

So far, the battle seems to be in the Institute's favour - but the stream of U-Men doesn't abate. Two are hurrying towards them right now - one levitating, the other lumbering. A magic-user and some... armoured guy. This might be a little more complicated than they thought.

[psykick]

"Shu. Nice to meet you, too."

Rinka spotted the two U-men about the same time as Shu and quickly sized them up. The levitating one was a touch out of her reach. The armored guy, well, he'd be tough, but the bigger they are, the harder they fall.

"I'll take the big one, you take the floating one."

[windtail]

"Got it."

He doesn't waste any time, readying his stance and waiting for the mage to come closer. His opponent readied a few energy blasts, but he dodges them with ease and takes a zigzag path to close the distance between them. In response the mage levitates higher - but that isn't exactly a problem, as Xu Shu simply shoots his grapple-dagger straight into the man's robes.

That is going to hurt.

The man yells in pain, but still manages to keep levitating. Xu Shu tugs on his grapple line in a bid to bring him down, and when that fails he simply jumps - in a flash he is now five feet in the air and proceeds to tackle his opponent from behind.

Their combined weight forces the man to the ground, but not after the student had taken a bolt straight to the back. It's a weak one, given the short span of time, but it takes all of his willpower to not let go.

[psykick]

Rinka is fairly certain the armored guy laughed when he saw her running toward him. No matter, she is used to opponents underestimating her. Just before they collided, she leapt up, using his shoulder as a springboard and twisted to deliver a powerful kick to the back of his head.

It's like kicking concrete.

Rinka feels the impact all the way up her leg, but the kick is enough to make the man falter. As she lands on the leg she hadn't used to kick him, he turns with an irritated expression on his face. As he lunges at her, Rinka shifts her stance. Grabbing his arm, she uses the his own momentum to throw him over her hip.

She glances over at Shu, just as the other intruder blasts him in the back with some sort of bolt. Hmmm.

"Shu! Switch!"

With his slicing attacks, he could dice up this guy's tough skin. And her phasing would protect her from any bolts.

[windtail]

The bolt had winded Xu Shu by quite a bit, but he wasn't down just yet. Fighting on the rooftops of Xuchang had taught him now to face all types of opponents, and given him experience on how best to take them down. He had been poised to literally whip the mage backwards for some extra damage, but Rinka's idea seemed good too. If she couldn't break through with her blunt impact, then his blade might do the trick.

Using his opponent as a springboard the youth vaults himself over, flashstepping in midair so that he is now behind the armoured U-Man. He didn't feel quite confident that the grapple could pierce their opponent's skin, so he opts to hook the dagger onto the crude neck guard instead.

And off he goes. The U-Man roars in pain, staggering forward - there is a ping as his neck guard snaps under the strain, but Xu Shu quickly recovers and buries the grapple into... what is probably quite a large gap in the man's natural armour.

It's not going to be pretty.

[psykick]

The moment Shu vanishes, Rinka charges at the magic user still fully phased. He raises a hand to blast her as he staggers to his feet, but the bolt passes straight through her body. A second later, she whips her now unphased baton against his forearm and hears the satisfying crack of bone breaking. She then breaks his other wrist for good measure before kicking his feet out from under him and hooking her arm around his neck. A few moments later, he's unconscious.

The done, she runs back to help Shu with the armored man.

[windtail]

Xu Shu's powers made his fighting style a vicious one, even if his own temperament was exactly the opposite. He had long since lost the ability to feel any guilt for harming the U-Men - they were the one who had come to invade them, and thus must be repaid in kind.

He doesn't have the attention to spare to see how Rinka was doing, but the yelp of pain from the mage tells him all he needs to know. There is blood on his blade as well as his overcoat, and a shower of it had coated the grass as well. However, the U-Man is still standing despite the flurry of slices that had effectively torn his back open, and is currently flailing about in an attempt to smack Xu Shu out of the air. His hands do in fact catch on to Windtail's chain, and a sharp tug manages to throw its wielder completely off course.

The youth lands roughly onto the ground, rolling a little to absorb the impact. And then his sword is abruptly yanked out of his hand.

Shit.

He dives forward, teleporting a short distance to avoid the U-Man's fist and backflipping through the air so that he could get to his sword. It definitely isn't damaged, but their opponent now has the grapple firmly in his grip. Getting it out won't be easy.