The Dark Phoenix - Log 20
Jan. 21st, 2015 12:05 am![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
x-gambit.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
xp_logsThe last barrier falls
The landscape flashed between hellish ruin and sterile technology as water battled flame. Around the telepaths debris fell like rain; it was impossible to separate astral turbulence from the physical assault on the foundations of the mansion.
And then the Dark Phoenix faltered. Her eyes went distant, the flames banked. There was no apparent reason for the flicker, but for an instant she seemed almost a normal woman.
Haller didn't question the opening: instead he summoned his own astral weapon. Charles had favored the elegance of the sword, but such things were a product of their makers. Instead of a sword, his son conjured the weapon that had made the strongest impression on him in his own childhood: an AK-47.
The astral plane was not bound by real-world accuracy. With cold determination, Haller raised the assault rifle and took aim.
The Dark Phoenix watched the bastard child of Xavier's attempt at playing Rambo with an impassive look on her face as a light on the astral representation of the suppressor collar around her neck blinked like a beacon. Alarmingly, the blinking started to increase, until it was a steady light. A hint of a smile formed on the Dark Phoenix's face, betraying her momentary ruse.
As if in slow motion, Rachel watched as the bullets were let fly with mounting dread. The Dark Phoenix's stutter was too good to be true. Something else was up and the warning sensors in her head started blaring as she picked up a building surge of power. A ruse. A trap. Something was going to blow.
The psion threw herself forward with a panicked expression, the sinking feeling in her gut telling her she was already too late even as she grabbed Haller around the waist, pulled him backwards against her and shifted.
As the collar started to melt around the Dark Phoenix's neck in the real world, her astral form grew brighter, and brighter, until it was impossible to look at her without being blinded, Her hair caught fire, and her face twisted into that of an enraged snarl as her voice boomed across every plane.
~"Did you think... this toy... would be enough to stop me? Me?"~
The fire spread down her arms and she raised them high above her head, mimicking her actions in the real world. As the last of the circuitry burned away the deluge of power that it had been trying to contain suddenly burst outward in a massive shockwave of psionic energy that knocked the bullets, and everything else, back.
The physical constraints of Rachel's human body fell away like water from a bird emerging from a hunting dive into the water. The bright blend of energy and telekinetic power of her formless psionic form coalesced over Haller in a wave of protective light and a loud hum just moments before everything else went to pieces.
Emma smiled. It seemed a somewhat odd reaction to the fact she was probably about to die, Adrienne was about to die, the world was about to die, but nonetheless. Emma smiled.
This creature who planned to kill them all was death. Worshipped death. Wanted it and craved it and created it. Foolish, foolish creature. There was life, good life and bad life and mediocre life in between: love and hate and reading financial reports. Her sisters, her brother, her company, her partners, business and dancing and sexual. The thing wanted death, but in the last moments it gave her, Emma thought of Adrienne and cognac and lost love refound and her Christian, the best and worst of them and Sebastian falling from grace but strength and support without ending and Doug, so afraid and still holding firm, and she imagined the hands of her partners, and mouths and their touch and their worship and their love and she thought of all of the best that life could offer and even when her mind went blank and black and fell away, Emma smiled.
Emma smiled.
Then the astral interference was gone. The haze of fire and hell dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the silent ruin of Cerebro -- and the still forms of Charles and Emma, alone on the walkway.
The landscape flashed between hellish ruin and sterile technology as water battled flame. Around the telepaths debris fell like rain; it was impossible to separate astral turbulence from the physical assault on the foundations of the mansion.
And then the Dark Phoenix faltered. Her eyes went distant, the flames banked. There was no apparent reason for the flicker, but for an instant she seemed almost a normal woman.
Haller didn't question the opening: instead he summoned his own astral weapon. Charles had favored the elegance of the sword, but such things were a product of their makers. Instead of a sword, his son conjured the weapon that had made the strongest impression on him in his own childhood: an AK-47.
The astral plane was not bound by real-world accuracy. With cold determination, Haller raised the assault rifle and took aim.
The Dark Phoenix watched the bastard child of Xavier's attempt at playing Rambo with an impassive look on her face as a light on the astral representation of the suppressor collar around her neck blinked like a beacon. Alarmingly, the blinking started to increase, until it was a steady light. A hint of a smile formed on the Dark Phoenix's face, betraying her momentary ruse.
As if in slow motion, Rachel watched as the bullets were let fly with mounting dread. The Dark Phoenix's stutter was too good to be true. Something else was up and the warning sensors in her head started blaring as she picked up a building surge of power. A ruse. A trap. Something was going to blow.
The psion threw herself forward with a panicked expression, the sinking feeling in her gut telling her she was already too late even as she grabbed Haller around the waist, pulled him backwards against her and shifted.
As the collar started to melt around the Dark Phoenix's neck in the real world, her astral form grew brighter, and brighter, until it was impossible to look at her without being blinded, Her hair caught fire, and her face twisted into that of an enraged snarl as her voice boomed across every plane.
~"Did you think... this toy... would be enough to stop me? Me?"~
The fire spread down her arms and she raised them high above her head, mimicking her actions in the real world. As the last of the circuitry burned away the deluge of power that it had been trying to contain suddenly burst outward in a massive shockwave of psionic energy that knocked the bullets, and everything else, back.
The physical constraints of Rachel's human body fell away like water from a bird emerging from a hunting dive into the water. The bright blend of energy and telekinetic power of her formless psionic form coalesced over Haller in a wave of protective light and a loud hum just moments before everything else went to pieces.
Emma smiled. It seemed a somewhat odd reaction to the fact she was probably about to die, Adrienne was about to die, the world was about to die, but nonetheless. Emma smiled.
This creature who planned to kill them all was death. Worshipped death. Wanted it and craved it and created it. Foolish, foolish creature. There was life, good life and bad life and mediocre life in between: love and hate and reading financial reports. Her sisters, her brother, her company, her partners, business and dancing and sexual. The thing wanted death, but in the last moments it gave her, Emma thought of Adrienne and cognac and lost love refound and her Christian, the best and worst of them and Sebastian falling from grace but strength and support without ending and Doug, so afraid and still holding firm, and she imagined the hands of her partners, and mouths and their touch and their worship and their love and she thought of all of the best that life could offer and even when her mind went blank and black and fell away, Emma smiled.
Emma smiled.
Then the astral interference was gone. The haze of fire and hell dissipated, leaving behind nothing but the silent ruin of Cerebro -- and the still forms of Charles and Emma, alone on the walkway.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}