The X-Project

The first team of X-Men runs into some unexpected opposition.



The command post was a concrete fortified bubble six stories up on the military base side of the Citadel. Already, the defense had marshaled around it, and the professionalism of the troops suggested that there was certainly someone in charge making the commands. As they closed on it, using holes punched through by the other teams, a pair of assault helicopters did their best to slow their process, mini-guns sweeping the ground in front of them as they charged on the way to the base.

"I find myself with a growing dislike of helicopters," Marius growled as he clutched at a thread. The primary rotor of the nearest helicopter exploded at the base, sending the helicopter careening in one direction while the blades spun in another. The entire field was a riot of strings, and they seemed to be getting more snarled by the minute. No matter how he attempted to slant the chaos, Marius had a feeling that between the bullets and the shrapnel the only one with even a slim chance of reaching the bunker unscathed was Vance, and that was only if nothing broke his shields.

Though she took no pleasure in causing the loss of life in any circumstance, there was something grimly satisfying about calling up a vast whirlwind to buffet the remaining helicopter like a child's toy before sending it careening into a nearby pylon. It exploded in a
shower of fire and metal shards. That obstacle removed, Ororo gestured for the others to continue forward, keen to reach the bunker before they were able to rally further defenses.

Even as they made their mad dash for the bunker, Vance stood out like a sore thumb, all lit up as a nice, pink target. His nimbus surrounded his entire body at this point as he raced along with the others, hanging back to provide Layla with a little more protection, should she need it.

And as gunfire, followed by shrapnel and debris rained down upon them, Vance pushed one of his hands up, creating a flattened disc above the small strike squad that caught and deflected a number of sizable, flaming bits of metal off to either side of the group to clatter harmlessly to the ground.

"I can give us enough protection to get to those stairs, but we're going to have to hurry before something breaks through," Vance said, voice a little tense with the strain of extended use.

Molly didn't really like the idea of going back to the jail. But they had to stop the Stormtroopers. She stayed with the group, shoving some debris out of the way just cause she could. It felt good to have her powers back.

Getting to be with the X-People as they stopped the bad guys was kinda almost like a reward. She would get to help save the day (and the night too)! She covered her eyes when the helicopter crashed, through and peeked just enough to be able to see as they made their way toward the inside.

Sticking with Herr North and Ms Frost had seemed like a way better idea than this was. Those two had guns and they shot people Layla told them to and it all worked out just fine because they were all about keeping the useless blonde girl alive. But now she wasn't with them, her powers made her totally useless in a fight and all she had was was her appropriated asp and her charm. Well, there was also the gun in her pocket but that was for dire purposes only. She had promised Herr North when he'd given it to her that she wouldn't use it unless she absolutely had to and she'd ditch it as soon as she didn't need it anymore. And she really, really hoped she didn't need it. So she stuck to the rear of the group, keeping her eyes open and sweeping around behind them while trying really, really hard to not accidentally get killed while the people with useful powers kept them alive from up front.

They reached the outer door of the compound, undefended for the moment but certainly not for long. "Molly, can you get this open for us?" Ororo asked, turning to the girl with a questioning expression, trying to keep the worry from her features. There were other ways to accomplish the goal of getting inside, but sometimes the direct way was the best.

Molly stared up at the big metal door. It was tall, but most things were taller than her. "Sure!" she said. Clenching her fists together, Molly squinted a little, then reached for the door handle. A purple glow burst across her eyes as she gave it a sharp yank. The door stalled a bit so she pulled a little harder. Bits of the concrete frame around the door cracked as the door was ripped off its hinges and she tossed it aside like it was a magazine rather than something that weighed probably more than the entire team combined.

"Um...Open Sesame?" she said, stifling a yawn as she motioned to the door. That sounded clever, right?

Since she hadn't used her powers in a while it made her sleepy. But luckily not like take a nap on the ground right there sleepy like before. That would be bad. Maybe they had a soda in the prison.

"Indeed," said Marius. "And now . . ."

Marius flowed into the borrowed BigCat form. After the airstrike, he and Molly had both needed treatment from those in Jayresh's group with the most medical training. The girl had been flushed and feverish from Callie's toxins with blood still leaking from her punctured hand and she had said "You can borrow powers...Maybe...at least...someone can be unsquishable..."

And so whatever the men on the other side of the door had been expecting, it was safe to say it had not been a 13 year old girl riding an enormous grey, red and purple-streaked panther . . . both of whom were preternaturally strong and completely immune to bullets.

Following in Marius and Molly's wake, Ororo quickly led her team into the building, taking the stairs two and three at a time in an effort not to fall too far behind. There was the occasional body to step over as they made it to the first landing, and then the gunfire began again from a nearby doorway, the assailant hidden cleverly within the shadows and sighting the stairwell as they emerged. "Shield!" she snapped, throwing herself back behind the stairwell wall as bullets pelted the wall where she has just been.

As the bullets ripped into the stone, chipping it and sending shards flying, a wall of pink force suddenly snapped to life from Vance seconds after Ororo called for his assistance. Just in time, too, as the bullets suddenly tracked from the wall out into the corridor and slammed into the hastily erected shield of teke, dropping to the floor.

He took a small breather and leaned against one of the walls, eyes closed and out of sight around the bend from the gunman and focused on holding the shield steady, solidifying it and hardening it against any intrusion, even should the guard decide to gas them out, or start with grenades.

"What's the plan?" he said as he recovered his breath, looking back to Ororo and the others.

Molly let out a shriek and instinctively ducked at the gunfire cause she had to do that before but there was a shield there. Like before. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths as her grip tightened on Marius's fur and she hid her face behind it. I'm unsquishable again. I'm unsquishable. Everybody's okay. There's no purple haired lady.

"Is it over?"

Shields were so damn handy, but they couldn't last forever. Layla was tapping the asp against her leg, anxious and wanting to be useful. They could advance on the guy behind the shield easily enough, but there had to be a way to get to the bastard with the gun without making Vance play buffer the whole way.

"Not yet, short stack," Layla told Molly with a hand on her shoulder. The blonde tugged Marius' cougar ear and grinned. "But I have an idea. And since you're all bulletproof... Get over there, against that far wall by angling for the inner stair railing and then angling out to the far corner in a sharp like pivot, right? Then stick to the wall going up for three stairs, jump to the other side of the well for six, then back for four and back next to the inside rail and the guy with the gun's gonna by hiding right against the doorway corner if you hit like a forty-five degree angle when you're at the second stair to the top. But hit him like about yay high," she paused in her rapidly issued instructions to indicate a height about four inches above Marius' nose. "With claws. Just...trust me."

Marius cocked his head, puzzled by the oddly specific instructions, but Layla had been placed with them for a reason and he could see she had some sort of cognitive ability. He knew it wasn't precognition, but he decided to take whatever it was on faith.

With Molly's arms wrapped tight around his neck, Marius bounded up the stairs in the path Layla described. Bullets pattered against them, easily ignored, and he took the tight corner into the doorway. There was the man Layla had described, and so he struck the man's leg right above the knee -- where the claws found an unhealed wound covering a partial fracture from the previous failed infiltration.

With a scream the man went down with a leg not just bleeding, but now broken.

"That sounds like our cue," Ororo murmured, motioning for the less-invulnerable among them to move forward once again.

There were bullets, and they were heading right for them but they just felt like getting tapped on the shoulder so Molly got less scared after awhile and sat up a little straighter as they charged down the hallway. It was kinda fun.

Then the guy screamed and there was red and she covered her eyes again. Not so much fun. But it was over quick.

Vance's shield had pulled back long enough to let Marius and Molly through under Layla's guidance before re-securing the hallway from any stray bullets that came their way. As soon as it was over, though, Vance stuck his head around the corner and moved away from the wall, pulling his teke back and releasing his shield as they moved to advance again now the coast was clear.

As they advanced up the stairwell, Layla was still a little surprised her plan for Marius and Molly had both not worked and had worked so well. Thank god there were bullet-proof people because Layla would have been swiss cheesed if she pulled that shit herself...which is probably why she had thought Marius should do it. The closer they got to the top the more certain the girl became that there was something really unpleasant at the top. Like really, really unpleasant. She glanced at the placard on the wall, fourth floor. "Guys?" she started, voice a little hesitant. "I don't think we're gonna make it to the top. And I think we need to get out of the stairwell on the next floor." She had no idea why they should get out of the stairwell, she was just really, really sure they should.

Marius, who had dragged the fallen guard out of the way by a sleeve and just finished crushing the barrel of his gun between his jaws, twisted around long enough to give Molly's leg a reassuring nudge with his cheek. However, the door ahead of them was still locked, and there was no room for a charge. He glanced back at the girl and gave the door a suggestive paw.

Glancing up at the door, Molly nodded a little. She liked the idea of a kitty, a Marius kitty, until he got all bitey. But they were bad guys and they lived so they probably deserved it.

They were pretty close to the door so she balled her fists, and gave the door a sharp punch that knocked the door off its hinges into the room itself. She almost toppled over off of Marius with the door gave way but quickly corrected herself and climbed back on.

The rest of the team piled through the doorway, eager to follow Layla's advice despite the fact it brought them up short of their target. As she moved carefully around the slightly-demolished door Ororo paused, sizing it up before looking to Vance. "If you could be so good as to block the way behind us?" she suggested, eager to minimize the threats around them and focus on what was yet to come.

"Of course," Vance confirmed at Ororo's request. He moved to stand behind the door as he reached down with his teke and lifted the top of the door up until it stood upright. Sweat beaded on Vance's forehead as he grabbed the dented and twisted hunk of metal bodily, and as he shoved both hands towards the hallway, the door slammed back into place quite firmly.

He looked at either side of the door at the frame and reached up with his hands to either side, pink teke flowing over the corners of the dented door and frame, and as Vance squeezed his hands tighter and tighter together, the teke continued to squeeze and pull at the metal-- twisting it and warping it until the frame pinched the damaged door and held it back in place.

Job accomplished, Vance let out a woosh of air and a groan of pain, once more wiping a trickle of blood from his nose. "Done." He was starting to push it-- but with this much on the line and these many people to protect, it didn't matter. He could pay in spades later as long as he could keep going now.

"Suppression fire." The calm, clipped tones echoed slightly in the room, as Magistrates flooded in, taking up a defensive position and laying down automatic weapons fire. In the back, they could see the man commanding them, purposefully directing the fire to best use his defensive alignment. He was professional and smart, which translated into deadly for the mutant attackers. "Let's bring in our surprise on the flank."

The scraping, sawing sound that erupted from the barricade they'd made of the ripped-off door was ear-piercing. Long rents appeared in the metal, followed by red-tipped claws a full foot long. In moments, a gaping hole had been torn through the metal, revealing a hulking red horror, all spines and spikes and jagged ridges of sharpened skin.

Mutate 105.