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MacReady Complex; [Broodlings First, Utopia After]
Topic Started: Jun 5 2012, 07:19 PM (2,433 Views)
Jean
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Telepathy, Telekinesis
The backlash of mental force that had downed Rachel had spread like a mental shockwave through the complex. It had shot through Franklin and sent him running. It had done the same to Jean.

"Rachel," she gasped, as a sudden fist of dread squeezed her heart. Rachel, the grown daughter that she never knew, was in agony. "No," Jean moaned in horror as she raced through Utopia's halls, her cheeks wet from tears that she didn't notice. Her mind reached forward and touched the minds of the fighters, in a fraction of a second, it all played through her mind, including the horrible choice - to hurt her friends and those she considered family or to resign herself to believing them dead already, and do what must be done.

::Cyclops :: she called to her husband and team leader, as they burst into the part of the temple they'd converted into the infirmary, :: I have an idea to distract Marrow, the queen. If we're lucky, I can shut her down before this gets any worst. :: Phoenix's eyes hardened when she saw the blood on Rachel's face, and though she couldn't stop the assault of countless minds that Rachel had suffered, she could make it count for something. She took in the scene at a quick glance, relieved to see that Franklin had already pulled Rachel to safety.


Phoenix's feet hit the floor with a solid thud and she glared intensely up at the grotesquely altered form of Sarah Rushman. "You're not looking good there, Sarah, but we haven't forgiven up hope," Phoenix called up to whatever there might be of Marrow still there; the girl was a fighter after all, even under the bulk of the queen. Pre-empting the taunting response she knew would be coming she snapped, "I wasn't talking to you. I saw what Rachel saw," she called up at the insectile queen. "Taking the royal 'we' literally? Quite the bully when you have countless minds to back you up, but how do you like being alone?" Fiery energies poured from Phoenix's forehead, reaching out and encircling the Brood queen. Her mind didn't link with the queen's, instead she poured her energies into cocooning the queen, keeping all her thoughts inside and silencing the voices of the unseen far away Brood.
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Werewolf
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Before Jack could summon anything else to say the halls were swarming with his comrades, weakly stumbling as another Brood and Dani both nearly knocked him down. And even as order around him collapsed, he was frozen in shock, unable to tear his eyes away from the thing that was supposed to be his fiancee, the woman that he was supposed to marry one day.

Their eyes met in an unflinching gaze until the creature that was once Rahne smiled, her razor-sharp teeth glinting in the chaos.

JackareyouJackJACK Everything was loud, the disarray of voices bellowing in his ears, and he couldn't distinguish one from another until one rang in his mind, clear and calm. ::Jack, come, join your lover. Become one and become all. Uplift and become Brood::

Jack's face rippled, the tendons beneath his skin beginning to slither and crawl. His body went rigid, the noise around him growing louder and louder until it split apart inside his own head with a thunderous howl. The feral's chest seized, his spine cracking so forcefully he screamed, curling into a heap to the floor.

He tried. He tried to resist one change and not another, the wolf and Brood inside his mind shrieking so loud in unison that he forgot which one he was supposed to be. His body kept rippling, shrinking and expanding all at once. It was agonizing, like being ripped in half from the inside, and all Jack wanted was for it to stop. Ohgodohgodpleasestopstopstop

Jack didn't want it, it was all too much and the wolf inside him didn't care. It would never let him be a part of anything and he could never be free until it was gone. The tips of his fingers already blackened to talons, he clawed at his own chest until two spindly limbs burst from his skin that began to thicken to a shell. Still sprawled in a heap, the seams of his clothing grew taut until they ripped, unable to contain the swell of his back. With each moment Jack became less and less of himself, and the creature he was becoming rocked to twisted hands and knees to stand.

His mind was soft and quiet, and he opened his mouth to gurgle two words.

"She calls."

His body beat with a new rhythm, a new purpose, the only purpose--protect the Queen. Protect her from the attackers.

Jack reeled backwards and swung at Colossus with an open hand, each finger tipped in a long, deadly talon. "YOU WILL NOT HARM OUR QUEEN!" he roared, his red eyes burning with devotion.
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Cyclops
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Punches from the Punch Dimension
"And, you're not harming anyone," came a calm and collected voice, a single heartbeat before a scarlet beam arced out across the room, aimed with needle sharp precision to separate the thing that had been Jack Russell away from its intended victim, if not to send the altered creature ass over tea kettle into the far wall. Scott had been steps after his wife, slower only because she flew whereas he had to keep his feet on the ground. Those feet, clad in tennis shoes not uniform boots, were planted solidly, and his entire ramrod straight form leading upwards to where his clenched fist was lowering his sunglasses. There had been no time to suit up, there had been no time for anything.

Scott needed his visor to control the shape and size of his optic blasts, but he would have been very negligent with this destructive power of his if he had not learned how to control it without the visor. It was not as fine tuned perhaps, and he couldn't do fancy tricks like splitting the beams or making a narrow pinprick of force. But could he prevent himself from destroying their home... yes, now he could, and if he couldn't, well, Jean could shut him off like a light. Either way, there was nothing but confidence, despite the clear exhaustion, the clear near-the-end-of-his-rope, the clear frustration at the unfairness of the life of stress that only Jean would be able to hear at the moment. He'd said it to Danger just this morning. It didn't matter what he was really feeling, it only mattered that he present a face of absolute certainty, and he had practiced that for a long time.

But Scott had never seen anything like this outside of sci fi movie franchises, which he usually watched as a case study in extreme battle strategy, dissecting the actions of the characters and using the danger room to plot out better ways of survival. This was something... well, completely alien, and he was prepared to deliver a "Welcome to Earf" ass-kicking if necessary, even if their students and friends were trapped inside those insectile forms.

"Everyone behind me, please," Scott said, "Don't engage them. Not one step towards them. We don't know how the infection is transmit, and yes, I heard that we are all already infected. Until I see it, I don't know it, so we are going to work on the premise that this creature is a liar, attempting to goad us into striking distance. So, step back, behind me, and quickly."

"NO! If you let her escape, everything will be Bad Times! You can't let her loose because she will do to you what she did to us! The Brood don't stop until everyone is monsters! Kill her now! Kill them all! It's the only way!"

Cyclops did not look away from the quartet of alien creatures, and he continued to do what he could to distract them, to give Jean her chance to shut down their Queen. "Nat'ren, behind me," he ordered the skrull child, "No one is going to escape," he told the child. "It's 'Bad Times' alright, but not for us."
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Moonstar
Fear Illusions and Psionic Arrows
This…thing, the 'Queen' they called it, clearly believed that assaulting Dani with the knowledge that she was hurting her friends would force the illusionist to cease her barrage, but in this she was sorely mistaken. In reality, her professions only bolstered the girl's mettle. If Marrow could feel pain, then the others could as well, which in turn meant they were still present in their own bodies. As Piotr called in the situation, arrow after arrow flashed in the air, each aimed at Kevin and Rahne's writhing forms. She was wasting her energy on the Queen, that much was obvious, so she focused her assault upon the aggravated minions instead.

"Dani...?"

Hearing her name from that creature's mouth momentarily shocked Dani in inactivity, thus breaking her concentration and causing her bow to dissipate into the ether. She's stared as the parasite hissed, contorting Rahne's eyes and face into a viciously cruel snarl, an evil expression Danielle had never seen on her friend. But when the initial jolt diminished, she smirked and said:

"I'm guessing that stung a little," She taunted as the creature sneered at her, and Rachel Summers appeared to take on the queen. Moments later, the displaced telepath howled in mingled pain and terror, and the rest of Dani's jeers died on her lips. Having assumed the worst – and rightly so with the current state of things - after their connection suddenly vanished, Danielle managed to grab her bow and quiver on her way across the temple. Reaching behind her right shoulder, she grabbed an arrow and quickly glanced at the tip. "I hope these work, Sarah..." She evoked the inventor's name like prayer, as she rotated the arrowhead and launched it directly into the midst of the brood, not bothering to use her bow. The arrow revolved vertically within the air like a propeller as it pushed through the crowd and landed without so much as grazing anyone.

For months now, ever since her failure in Colorado, and Doug's near fatal injury, Danielle worked closely with Sarah Vale to concoct a few arrows she could without impaling people or giving them intense migraines. She needed to be more prepared, to have more options when in the field if she was ever going to be of use to anyone, which ignited the unlikely working relationship with the timid student. In the Savage Lands, however, tech was hard to come by, yet the technopath still managed to slap together a few handy arrowheads with salvaged and cannibalized tech. The archer hadn't used even one since the two women began this joint venture, not even a test run, as each were (in her eyes) extremely valuable. And presently, Dani simply had to hope that Rahne's parasite had the same weaknesses as her friend; otherwise, she'd just wasted her time and resources.

Moments passed, there was a contained yet potent explosion that rocked Danielle on her feet and showered her with debris, Jack began to look as though there were gerbils crawling underneath his skin, and Rusty appeared ready to fry anything with pincers. Dani crouched low and kicked out, trying to sweep Jack off his feet as he lunged for Piotr. Simultaneously, her heart fell, as it didn't appear as though there was anything trickery about this particular trick arrow. But with all hell breaking loose, now wasn't the time to dwell. "What about the exit points!?" She shouted breathlessly toward Rusty as she righted herself and extricated her bow. There was no telling whether the student had that sort of control, or if fire would even faze the brood (truth be told, Danielle didn't suspect that it would). At the present, however, it was the only solution she could think of at the moment. "Can you cover the—"

The rest of Dani's sentence was cut off by a high-pitched shriek which emitted from her lonesome arrow. The noise it produced was loud enough to hurt even her ears, and she winced as she jammed in her thumbs to try to dim the disturbance. The caterwauling did not last long, barely five seconds by the illusionist's estimation, but the tiny implement packed one hell of a punch. With any luck, the violent burst of sound would momentarily incapacitate Rahne and Jack at the very least. Her long braids flopping as she tried to shake out the ringing in her ears; Dani looked up to see the welcomed sight of Jean and Cyclops standing nearby. Though his words were garbled, she quickly got his meaning and dashed just to the side and behind her leader after grabbing Piotr by the forearm and tugging him along.

::I know you're in there, and I know you're stronger than this, Rahnedrop.:: She thought, uncertain whether or not her friend respond or even hear. ::Just…just follow my voice or something, dammit.:: Standing off to Cyclops' right, she nocked an arrow and pulled back her bowstring, ready to loose another attack at a moment's notice.
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Rusty Collins
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Rusty glanced over at Kitty his eyes glowing like smoldering coal. Her words temporarily prevented him from hurling an orb of flame at the one who had established herself as their leader. Rusty could scarcely believe what he was seeing. It was Marrow…but it wasn’t Marrow. Whatever had happened, a transformation seemed to have come over her, and the same thing had come over Kevin and a few others that he had come to know cared about as well over his half a year with the X-Men and students in Utopia.

Did he want to burn her? Could he really hurt any of them-the ones he’d come to know as close friends?

The flames snuffed out, disappearing from his hands, but his eyes continued to glow fiercely as he looked at the creatures. What would he do to protect the others that he cared about? Could he use his unforgiving powers on these others?

Only if he had to.

A two-fold wave of relief swept over Rusty at the appearance of more students, including the gigantic X-Man Colossus, Franklin and without a doubt better yet-Jean Grey and Cyclops. If there was one leader that Rusty looked up to over the years it was Scott, and he was the one person that Rusty trusted to do the right thing in this situation. Scott’s arrival was punctuated by a red beam of light that flashed across the room and knocked Jack backwards with considerable force.

Obediently Rusty stepped behind Scott, finishing his contention of “No one is going to escape.” with thick curtains of flame suspended outside of the window, away from any architectural structure. He’d gained considerable finesse with his power over the months, and though he didn’t plan on making any offensive maneuver without being told to, he was confident that he could handle it exactly as Colossus had asked him to.
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Marrow
Unregistered

The girl had been saved two fold, and despite her desire to lick the woman's innards from the spines of her tail, it was neither here nor there. Other continued trying to talk them down, but they did not understand. The concept of an over-mind was alien to them. This queen was no individual, she was an extension of a larger body, a hand to move pieces light-years beyond the physical reach of the source. It knew no fear, no real morality. When it spoke, the Empress spoke with it, spoke through it.

There would be no talking down, no repentance, there was none needed; her rule was absolute. The Brood was absolute.

She picked herself up from Franklin's blast, clawed fingers dragging across the carapace, forming from that which had previously been Rahne Sinclair. She voice no thanks, the Broodling would already know it, nor would have cared if it went unrewarded; such was its nature and purpose. The woman named Jean arrived, seeking to cut her off from the horde. To focus so acutely, to know control so finite as to isolate a single mind from the trillions that dotted the stars. This woman would make a fearsome Brood, this Jean Grey. But all in time. All when ready.

As she felt her solidarity fade she sent out one last broadcast to those creatures nearby before a piercing shriek stunned her.

Her newest Broodling lept to her defense, knocking Colossus aside just as he too was lain to the ground by a red blast of light. The Leader was here, that red-eyed guardian with his over-logical nature and tactical mind.

"You speak as if you've already won, but, really, that comes as no surprise."

She smiled. "You will not win, you will not live. Well, you will, but you will wish you numbered among the carrion my children will feed upon before long."

Outside, the forest shook to live, and the first lines of an army began to peer through the treeline, not too close.

But then, at the horizon it appeared. Once it had been called Pteranodon, but now it was something more. It's frame engorged, eyes and teeth in places neither had business. Tendril whipped two and from from it's back, its wings tattered and torn from its rapid uplifting.

It had received her message, her mental imagery of those cracks the Godling had maid in the temple. It moved fast and with purpose, eyeing for the perfect spot.

It found it with a massive crash. Falling limply against the side of the temple as its brains leaked from it's shattered skull. The stone of the building shifted, In the infrastructure, havoc broke out, sending a shifting tilt to the building. The cracks reappeared and the creature's acid blood began to tear away at the facade, to bore a hole in the structure.

Inside, it began to shake and rumble, those old crack re-emerging before they could full work themselves back into Franklin's new reality

"Hm. It sounds as if you're children are about to become much thinner." She smiled, looking to the door.

"Stop us, or save them. I doubt you've the ability for both."

Her eyes locked at Jean's.

::Children... Kill her.::

The queen made a move for the hall.

She could have ended it all there, destroyed them all there, but the Brood was prideful and evil, and they took a sadistic sense of satisfaction in the anticipation of lesser life forms before they hatched their children within their ranks.

It was that pride that kept her from victory, the desire to savor the pain and fear that she would soon cause.
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Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
The young hatchling's mind was afire. There was so much going on, so many opposing signals within and without... the arrows had knocked something loose somehow. She couldn't tell what, but something was amiss. And the psionic assault from Moonstar was not relenting. The one who had been her host's mate was flung backwards with scarlet force... the Brood, the glorious Brood... were outnumbered. How was it possible that they were outnumbered? They were legion, they were many...

They were under assault by such vicious sound... what was that... what was going on? It shrieked, it wailed, spiky, clawed hands clutched at the sides of her head, teeth gritting in anger and pain. How dare they? How dare they?!

The queen's orders after the impact of one of their brethren, sacrificing himself for the greater good of their kind, refocused the young Broodling. What the queen wanted, the queen would get. For she was one of the queen's elite, the queen's chosen.

But still... there was some fragment of memory... some leftover sentiment for the woman the queen wanted dead. She hesitated, for just that critical moment, that one small second that the target would see the hesitation, that look of uncertainty in the eyes, before she charged, skittering forward on four insect-like legs as the arms were outstretched.

"How dare ye cause pain t' my queen?! I'll flay the flesh from yuir bones!"

***

She could hear voices. Distant echoes in the still, dead air. Familiar voices, calling her name. But they were broken voices. Disrupted, like a cellphone call with a bad signal. Choppy and disconnected.

"Dani!" she called out in response, in panic. This place... it was frightening. Unnerving. "Where are ye? I... I don't know where I am... I'm afraid, I cannae scent ye... confused..."

This response would come out choppy, though. This Brood - it interrupted the connection, it drove a wedge between two souls who had long been interconnected.

"Dan--- Where - -- ---- don't know where. - - - - afraid - - - - --- - confused..."

Whereas Rahne was walking cautiously before, she began running, paws pounding on the barren rock beneath her as she propelled further, and as she ran, she could hear things behind her, hear things in pursuit. Skittering feet. Clicking upon the rock. She dared not look back. She dared not.
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[size0]Say the dog and butterfly,
in the air they like to fly.
Dog and butterfly.
She knew she had to try,
and she float back down to the warm soft ground,
laughing - she don't know why,
but she had to try, she had to try.
Dog and Buttefly.


Avatar by Natalie, signature by Olga. My graphics set is complete again! Thank you so much!
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Kevin Ford
Unregistered

Kevin grinned when yet another turned to their family and moved to protect their queen instead of attack as the metal man had originally requested. They would be one, they all would be one. Kevin took a few steps back, rattled by the attempt at their queen from Jean Grey. She wished to separate them from their queen? It did not make sense to him. Even so Kevin moved to put his body between that of the Colossus and his majestic love.

A flash of red and the new broodling was stopped by the leader of them, Cyclops. Perhaps it was because of the reservations his Host had previously, but for some reason he stood still when the man spoke. Cyclops. Memories of the leader brewed and bubbled up in his mind. The Host had avoided the man as much as possible out of fear of his position, but never had Mr.Summers shown himself to be anything but strong for the group. Kevin had respected that.

“…Summers…”

He told everyone to get behind him and for a moment Kevin’s brow furrowed and he took a step forward. The Host was confusing him that was until his Queen spoke again. Her voice spoke to their leader and he seemed to return to his senses, shaking off what of Kevins memories had been clinging to him still.

::Children... Kill her.::

His body turned sharply and he was running in at Jean Grey in a matter of seconds, his confusion melding away with the sound of her voice in his head. He was determined to not be confused again, never doubt his love and mother. His arm drew back to strike at the flame haired Jean Grey.
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Werewolf
Unregistered

Before the feral Broodling managed to get very far, a focused concussive force threw him backwards into a tangled heap of legs and arms. Jack growled, the links of carapace along his spine rising in warning as he lurched to his feet. Were these the people his host held affections for, ignorant and full of resistance? The Brood was the only way, and he would make sure they knew of that.

"How dare you object to our Queen," he glowered, flexing his tail that had begun to grow a barb.

Jack had not even noticed the fire in the halls which had already began to snuff itself out by an unseen force; unlike many creatures of lore, he did not fear it. There was nothing to fear so long as he followed his Queen and did as she bade. And yet, the numbers of the opposition were increasing, their one-eyed leader ordering his subjects to get behind him. Almost amused, Jack skittered forward closer, snapping his jaws as if to hasten them into their cluster. Everything seemed to be going well for them until a high-pitched wail filled the air, and Jack scrambled to cover what was left of his ears.

A red-haired woman stepped forward, smelling of sweat and salt and ferocity. For one strange moment, the steel purpose in Jack's mind unwound. What was he doing? His eyes flickered to a softer hue, and for a few precious seconds Jack Russell was able to look for Rahne in his own eyes. Then the Temple rattled as one of their own slammed into the side of the building. Cracks crawled up the walls, and the Brood Queen smiled.

Jack's willpower was dragged back under, the inside of his head ringing with wait, no! before he became a loyal subject again.

His Queen spoke in his mind and gave them their orders--kill the fire-haired woman. The Broodling once had a body that was graceful and limber, but he had adapted; he had become one, he had become all. Jack changed his focus, turning hard on his heels and making a lumbering beeline straight for the woman they called Jean.
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Hound
Unregistered

JP Franklin and Rachel

Franklin crouched beside Rachel, making sure that she was ok. Her parents arrived, which might have seemed something odd at any other time, but right now, the young man had never been happier to see any two people. He didn't know who he was really. He didn't know what his role was in that future world, but Scott and Jean? He remembered that they were people to fear. This monstrous thing that Marrow had turned into and subsequently turned the others into was in more trouble than she understood. He peered around the corner to watch what was happening, and watched as the Summerses proceeded to show why they were terrifying, but the Queen had other tricks up her sleeve. Ignoring everything and everyone who stood in her way, she took the quickest route to knock the big guns off her back, and she attempted to take the whole temple down, while throwing her pets... or where they her children... at Jean Grey.

"Rachel, baby!" he shouted over the noise of the rumbling temple, and the sounds of battle, "Your mom's in trouble! We need to do something!"

He pulled himself to his feet, hopefully taking her with him. "Can you stand, Rach?"


The screaming of a number of minds insurmountable merged into one stream of conscious thought had knocked her firmly for a loop, and when Kitty had come for her, when Franklin had made sure she was safe, she'd all but been unaware, those mounds upon mounds of slimy minds worming in and out of her own inner landscape, making her grind her teeth and clutch her head. The world however slowly began to reel itself back into her perception though.

You know you're no good without me...

His voice pulled her back.

That rumbling pulled her back too. Her eyes fluttered a moment as Rachel's pupils shrunk back to normal. "...Mom? What? Franklin... I..."

She pulled herself back up with his arm and pulled at her face, her head pounding now. "Not trying that again, ever..." A concerned glance found its way to Franklin. "There're millions of them in her head, like they all think the same thing even though they're all different..." She wiped tears from her face and blood from her nose, the marks on her face fading back into plain view, all pretense of hiding them out the window in deference to other priorities. The temple was shaking, swaying, it felt like. "What do we do?"

She peeked around the corner. There was one more than there had been a minute ago. "It wants to break us up so it can get out in the open." She looked to Franklin again. "I don't remember this at all, ever hearing about it or anything. That means we beat it." Of course, it could also have meant it just never happened, but optimism was sometimes key. "We gotta see if we can hold this place steady."


Rachel came back to him and Franklin, despite the precariousness of their situation, smiled. The tattoos that faded into view on her face meant nothing as much as the light returning to her eyes. She explained what had happened to her, and what she had seen, and Franklin nodded. "Yeah, it's definitely a hive mind sort of thing, I think. She's insectoid, and the dynamics of insect colonies..." The rumble and the shake of the building shocked him out of the detachment of scientific fascination that was so much a trait inherited from the father he didn't remember, and he listened to what his girlfriend had surmised from the events as they occurred, nodding. "Yeah, I think we have to trust that this would have happened anyhow, since we aren't the direct cause. Which means, if you want to think about it like that, we've already won."

"I can sort of weld the stones together, I think," Franklin said, indicating the parts of the cracks that had already been repaired by his powers, "Do you think you can keep things together long enough for this to work?"


She looked at the ceiling, at the walls. They were shaking, rumbling, and it was no doubt the beginnings of what could be the temple's death throes. Whatever had hit it, it had hit hard, and, given the fact that they didn't have too many options, she steeled herself against it, nodding to him. "I can. I might not have the oomph for wrestling with a million minds but I've got enough muscle to hold a building together. But you're gonna have to be kinda quick."

::Everyone!:: She shouted out across as broad a mental frequency as she could manage. ::We're going to try and hold Utopia together! We have to get the kids safe in case we can't keep it standing though...:: She fought to keep that astral voice reassuring instead of doubtful. Summerses didn't doubt themselves, and they sure as hell didn't doubt the people they counted on. ::Keep 'em away from these things but get them outta harms way!::

Her voice echoed into the ether of the astral, and her eyes flared as she reached out with all the psionic pull she could muster, picturing the Temple in her mind, her hands reaching out and adding tension as she tried to hold it all together. The rumbling muted but still present as she tried to envelope all that she could. "Grrr." She looked to Franklin. "It's gonna... have to... be quick!"

She felt like Samson pulling at the pillars, but this time the temple had to stay standing. She reached otu further, that fiery aura screeching into existence around her, the whine of it filling the corridors. 'Piece'a cake, Ray...' she thought to herself. 'Ooommm.'


Franklin nodded, and he said, "Hold it, tight, Rach. I need to get to the center of the temple! Be strong. I know you can do it."

Then, Franklin ran, and as he did, darting around the falling bits of masonry, he began to pull his powers into the center of himself. He wasn't certain how it worked, wasn't sure what part of him made this power, but he could see the way the fabric of reality was woven, and he began, even as he moved, to start and reweave it. Halfway down the hall, his feet left the ground and he began to fly.

Once he got the center of the temple, the atrium courtyard area that opened all the way up to the botton of the carefully monitored room that now housed Cerebro, Franklin took wholeheartedly into the air, and he began to double his efforts to bring his powers into play.

His body filled with blue light, pulling it into a tiny knot at the very center of his being.

Then, in a burst that looked like something out of the wet dream of a video designer, Franklin opened his eyes and the power exploded from him in streaks of lightning, slamming into the cracks, streaking through them to seal them up. His teeth grit with the power of it, and he felt truly like a god at this moment. If he was a lesser sort of fella, he might have begun to lose himself in the wake of these powers.


She stood there, red-orange arcs of psionic energy creeping over her, that sort of glow shining in the hall. The marks on her face darkened and grew in number, seemed to clasp over her features even further as she pushed her telekinetic prowess to its limits.

::Momma...:: She reached out to Jean. ::Momma I dunno how long I can do this... on my own.::

It was a cry for help. She knew Jean had other priorities, but she needed a boost. A chunk of the wall ripped out, thundering towards her but deflecting off of the aura around her before snaking blue tendrils of energy caught it, planting it back in place. The tension was starting to lessen. ::Franklin! I think it's working!::

Her teeth ground at eachother, her eyelidss slammed shut over those glowing orbs, picturing and willing the temple to keep upright, to keep together. Franklin's powers were working, but only just. They needed time.

She'd already seen one home destroyed.

"Never Again!" She screamed, catching grip of the temple again, wedging it together while she waited for reality to rewrite itself.
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Colossus
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Organic Metal Form
"YOU WILL NOT HARM OUR QUEEN!" Jack roared, causing Piotr to falter and turn to see what was going on. There was his friend reeling to swing a huge hand with a long, deadly talon straight for Piotr, his pal sporting red eyes aflame with devotion to the enemy. The claw stuck, biting deep into Piotr's shoulder and sending him sprawling to one side, spinning as he did so due to where he was hit.

Soon as he was hit it seemed, there was Dani leaping to knock Jack away not a second before a crimson beam threw the feral mutant being controlled by a Brood backwards into a tangle heap of limbs. From his spot on the floor some yards away, Piotr took a heartbeat to reevaluate his situation.

Again he had chose wrongly, for the second time in not too long, he had commanded to attack and it turned out to be the worst thing he could say. First time, he'd lost his powers to an overdose of anti metal, and this time, he'd simply gotten sliced into and thankfully Scott was there to overrule his orders. Thankfully someone who should be in charge was here to be in charge. His head lolled to one side, and he saw Franklin and Rachel combining their efforts to accomplish something, a ringing in his ears kept him from hearing what.

Turning his head the other way, he saw Rahne, Jack, and Kevin moving to attack Jean. Which made sense, really. Jean was the strongest powered mutant he knew, even stronger than Rachel, and the four who has been turned into monsters knew the same thing. So it was obvious that Jean would be their first target.

He'd been given a job a long time ago. He wasn't the head of the team. He wasn't even the main attacker. He was the anvil. The strongest thing around that could take all the beatings that everyone might not be able to take. And he knew that now wasn't the time to let a little thing like being weak and defenseless get in his way. If anyone was going to be their best hope to defeat these monsters, it was Jean. And she needed to live.

Rahne and Jack were streaming for her, but Kevin was closer and one of his claws was already cocking back and arching forward to skewer her. With all his strength, he shoved himself to his feet and ran flat out to a spot between the Broodling and Jeanie.

The claw stuck in his abdomen, and Piotr felt something click inside him. Well, something aside from claw catching on ribs. It was the same thing as the first time he'd turned.

That day in Russia he had sacrificed himself to save his sister from being crushed by a two ton tractor. And today he had hopped in front of a monster trying to turn his friend into a shish kebab. He grew a foot in height and metaled up even as he pulled the claw out of his body.

"I think you'll have to handle me first, Comrade." he uttered as he swung a huge metal fist straight for Kevin's head.
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Jean
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Telepathy, Telekinesis
JP Jean and Scott

Sweat beaded on Phoenix's forehead as strained to keep the mental cocoon around the Brood Queen but it seemed useless, as though the restraints weren't even there. Fiery energy poured out of Phoenix in a blinding arc but nothing would slow down the insectial queen from making her escape. Chunks of debris rained down as the old temple was bombard from above. "No! No! No!" she chanted through gritted teeth, focusing all her attention on the queen. Her eyes widened as her concentration finally snapped, "Piotr!" she called out as his human form rushed in front of her, claws impaling him that had been meant for her. "Oh no!" she cried out, but in that fraction of a second of chaos, a miracle happened and the big Russian transformed. Piotr was the slap back to reality that Jean needed, and just in the nick of time. Catching two blurs out of the corner of her eye, years of training that had become pure reflex, thanks to Scott's obsessive drills, reacted and red energy wrapped around Jean seconds before the things that were once Rahne and Jack crashed into her, their claws and teeth tearing at the energy barrier as it slid backwards under the power of the two ferals.


:: Cyclops! I'm feeling like a chew toy here, hon!::


He hated turning his powers on living beings, preferring to strike out at the surroundings, to use deflection and disabling of structures like the roof, or the floor to take out flesh and blood enemies. But there was more than once that he was forced to bring his powers directly up against an enemy and his powers could kill if he wanted them to. Cyclops did not want to kill these people who were his friends and family, but he was going to be damned if he would let them take his wife down. His fingers flipped his red glasses, unhooking them from his ears, so that he could use them to manually shape the beams that came unstoppably from whatever place they came from before being filtered through his skull. "Phoenix, exit phrase: Firefight!" he shouted, a code that he and his wife had developed over years of training together, long before she belonged to him, though the truth was he had always belonged to her. They had focused their powers together, testing the limits, how much she could take, how much he could hit her with before she couldn't hold her shields anymore. The code word was so that she knew how much he was going to unleash, and so she would have a way to alert him if she was about to falter.

Then, he opened his eyes to their widest, allowing his powers to disperse to the widest for the maximum impact, but using the glasses to focus the beams into a perfect aim.

They slammed over Jean and her attackers, crashing into the broodlings that had been Rahne and Jack, hard enough to throw them through the stone walls, and out into the courtyard unless they clawed the ground, or otherwise found some kind of purchase. But even if they did, he wouldn't let up, not until they were cleared out of his house. He didn't even register the shaking as Rachel and Franklin handled the damaged temple. He trusted that everything would be handled.

"I need my visor," he called out, to those around him, "There is an emergency equipment locker behind Hank's desk! Someone get me my tools and let's get these bugs squashed!"


The crimson beam was pure force and skimmed over her, blasting away the two one-time ferals, friends and family that they had been. Through her head, Rachel was calling for everyone to get safe. She rolled to a crouch and caught Nat'ren's green hand. "Get Cyclops' visor," she snapped the order. Releasing him, she didn't wait around to see if he would help or take the opportunity to flee. But flee to where?

:: Everyone get to your designated shelter:: Phoenix's order rang through the Utopians' minds. :: Remember your training.:: She opened her mind, saw through the eyes or others and directed their actions, showing them clear paths and blocking dangers. Then it came, the call from Rachel.

:: I'm here, honey :: she sent back, the endearment coming as easy as breathing. Bathed in a fiery aura, she floated off the ground, her energy flowing around her and spreading out her hair like a red halo. A red haze expanded from her, spreading along the crumbling building and lifting, as though it were all weightless. Sweat trickled down the side of Jean's face and her eyes glowed with fire.

:: Franklin. Hurry.::


Nat'ren stared at the chaos. He was a warrior, right? He shouldn't be standing here, frozen, but he was a warrior, he had to do something. The Brood Queen, if she turned all these people into her children then his people would just kill them and the world would be theirs... but maybe they would be harder to beat as Broodling, maybe they would overwhelm the world and there would be nothing for his people to conquer! Maybe Marrow and Miss Rahne were going to kill everyone! Maybe Mr Scott and Miss Jean would kill them... No, there was too many options, too many questions, too many decisions, he was really such a young soldier.

Suddenly, as Mr Scott turned the red lights on the broodlings that had attacked his mate, Miss Jean darted aside, giving him orders.

Important orders.

"Yes, Ma'am," he said, automatically, and he ran, through the debris and chaos to where the locker was. He pulled the visor out and ran to Mr. Scott, pressing the equipment into his hand.

Cyclops slipped it over his eyes and said, "Thank you, Nat'ren. The rest of you, get the students to their designated shelters. Evacuate the temple. Nat'ren, go with them. Kitty, he's in your custody! Move!"
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Marrow
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JP Brood Queen and Cyclops


This man, this, Scott Summers, their leader. She sensed the spores in his blood eating away at him, but slowly. What was it in these mutants, what was it that allowed for such detriment to her childrens machinations. The animals assaulting the building outside had fallen in a matter of days, ripe for the plucking when needed. But these mutants, these evolved apes, there was something to them not present in the dumb fauna that surrounded this place. Something very much like the Nuwali that resisted her machinations, that resisted the pull of her uplifting call.

She darted to the side, the onslaught of neural bolts and crumbling debris creating a minefield in the foyer. A blast of red knocked her children aside and she hissed at the source. That man needed to die. The queen would take his honor herself, and leave his head as a token message to show that no terran would resist Brood superiority.

She was struck aside however by a pushing wave of force, the one that had protected the Jean Grey from her children, and when she picked herself up, her mind still screaming and riling, still forcing itself against the psychic cage that kept it walled off from its kin, she set her eyes on the Skrull clutchling delivering his quarry to the Scott Summers, and she jumped forward, lashing at Na'tren with her tail, swiping at Cyclops with her clawed hands.

"Fall!"

Pushing Nat'ren out of the way of that slashing tail, Scott, his fingers already sliding over the control dials built into the ear cups of the visor giving him his characteristic hand-to-temple battlestance, blasted the Queen full force, as her claws came far too close to slicing him open. "You're going to wish you just let my wife shut you down," he said, and he began his advance as his powers drove into her, his fingers opening the lens array apeture more and more with each step.


Her tail drove hard into the stone, cutting it clean as if carving some marble masterwork. She wrenched it free, but too late, that red blast of energy cutting clean across her core, sending her bounding down the hall as that red force buckled her plated skin and sent the creature that had once been Marrow into a frenzy.

It's claws drove into the wall, those odd arms protruding from it's back driving in as well, cutting wide swaths in the corridor before the grip was again lost and it collided with a pylon, lying there still for a moment before it began to pick itself back up with a gargling laugh, the chitin binding it cracked and broken, the blood leaking from it viscous and thick, burning pocks into the floor as it slowly drizzled out before the carapace began stitching itself back together.

Then it shook it's head, those odd tresses moving both from the gesture and over their own, twitchy voliton, those fire-ball eyes locking on Cyclops, that toothy maw pressing past the confines of Marrow's face, the crunching of bone and twisting of sinew lost amongst the rumbling of the temple. She dove for him again. That tail, those extra, bladed arms at her back. She would taste his blood now or later. But now would be sweeter. Now would be better.


"Some monsters just don't learn," Cyclops muttered, and he turned the aperature to its most open position, letting the full brunt of his power shoot forth in a way that he so rarely allowed, and the incessant pounding in his head that characterised every moment of his adult life, for that split second stopped as he let the full force of a non-ensteinian dimension explode from him. He wasn't trying to kill the Brood Queen but he wanted her out of his house and out where he could take her down properly without the building coming down on them all. He ran directly towards her, towards her claws and her fanged teeth, her spiked tail, seemingly bent on destroying them both if it came to it.

She felt the edges of those sharp tools cut across him, but before they could do their work and rend him to pieces that flash hit her, and for a moment, perhaps more than a moment, the Queen's mind went black, severed even from the connection to its nearest kin. There was no holding against the force pouring from the man before her. Not now. This body was small yet, weak still, in need of growth, and even as she plunged what she could into the stone to brace herself she felt that natural armor, designed to withstand the harshest environments concievable by any mind, buckled and chipped and cracked as what was left of the Hosts face snarled and gnashed as even that modicum of flesh was torn away to reveal the monster beneath.

"All Become One Become All!" Came the roar against the beams, against the grumbling of the temple, but there was no strength left in that fram, and her limbs tore free, sending her down the hallway further, blasting through stone and into the bright of day outside, soaring through the air until she hit the ground with so fierce a crash that a plume of soil and dust shot upwards from the impact.

The creature lay there, wounded. That human face growing slowly back over the true hideous beauty of the Queen. It struggled it's wrecked fledgling shape to it's feet, eying the chaos unfolding outside around it, the fighting going on not too far off, it looked up at the exit point in the building, limbs torn away already re-emerging from that hardened carapace.

::Children, see your Queen away. We must regroup::

It fell to its knees then, staggered and rough, it's shell leaking that acidic bile. In that moment of haggard stress something ticked in its mind, something it had been burrying toggled on. A sleeping Scorpion waiting to sting.

A swooping creature dived, caught her up in it's claws and took to the air.


Snapping the lens of his visor shut as the Brood Queen was blasted out of the temple, Cyclops continued to run forward, following her out, hoping to crack her in half before she could escape, but she was swept away. "Dammit," Scott swore under his breath, he turned back to the temple, ::Jean, she's gone,:: he thought to his wife, ::Do you need me inside? Rachel? Do you have the temple secured?:: He looked around at the battle outside, ::Or can I stay outside and sweep this jungle clean?::


Exit Brood Queen and Cyclops to Turn Off All Your Fears
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Rusty Collins
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It was all happening fairly fast. Rusty watched in silent awe as Scott opened up his powers on the creatures, the crimson impact slamming into them and hurling them backwards violently, losing them in an explosion of rock and debris. He blinked and looked over at another one, reacting by hurling a softball sized ball of flame at it without really thinking of the consequences. Right now he didn’t have the luxury of thinking of these things as his friends.

Rusty responded immediately to the call for the visor, but saw that someone was already on it. Unsure of exactly what to do he hesitated, keeping an eye on the hostile creatures until suddenly the voice of Jean Grey rang out in his head loud and clear.

The shelters.

He looked around, seeing Cyclops and the others well engaged in combat with the aliens and realizing that this was probably the best way that he could help after all. Given an order, Rusty didn’t hesitate. He immediately moved for the door and took one last look behind him as the one who called herself ‘Queen’ started shouting. The room was awash in red light as Scott unleashed his power, so much so that Rusty had to shield his eyes with his forearm. He could hear the Queen shouting and saw only her silhouette as the beam hit her with full force, driving her backwards.

In the end she moved away, calling for help and making an aerial exit on the wings of some horrifying creature. Rusty caught his breath and turned, running down the hallway and out the door. His nerves, pulsing with fright wanted nothing more than to fight. It was a conditioned response in him, and it always had been.

But right now he was more concerned for the other students, the less trained students…the ones without any significant offensive capability. Scott wanted them all in the shelters. He wouldn’t let him down.

(exit Rusty)
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Kitty Pryde
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The room continued to fill up with various X-Men and a surprising appearance by the Skrull boy Nat'Ren. Colossus had used his radio to call in the X-Men higher ups to aid in the situation, While Kitty talked Rusty Collins down from lighting their infected friends and the whole temple complex on fire in an attempt to burn out the infested. But the young Skrull didn't seem to be much of a help as he tried to rally the X-Men to kill the infected X-Men which sprung Colossus into action going after the Brood Queen only to be stopped by the recently transformed Jack Russell.

But as Cyclops entered the room, He ordered everyone behind him while Jean tried distracting the Brood Queen. While the Brood began their assault targeting Jean, Scott tried to fight back but without his visor he knew he could potentially do more damage than good as the fighting ensued, Jean was giving telepathic orders for the X-Men to fall back to their shelters. Kitty stood steadfast behind Cyclops as she watched the Skrull boy helping their cause and running for Cyclops visor so he could better fight off the Brood, Once the visor was back in his possession, Cyclops thanked Nat'Ren for his help and charged Kitty with the duty of taking care of the young boy.

No sooner did the orders come out however did the Brood Queen strike out at Nat'Ren, Which forced Cyclops to throw the boy out of the way, Kitty quickly rushed to Watermelon head's aid pulling him up from the ground. He was clearly a major target for the Brood. The Brood and Skrulls seemed to have quite a history battling each other off. “Come on you've been help enough.” Kitty said to the boy as the fighting ensued behind them. However it didn't seem all was going too well as it sounded like the Brood Queen had gotten away from Cyclops.

But Kitty wasn't going to stay around and find out she had been given her orders to fall back to safety with the Skrull boy and that's what she was going to do whether Nat'Ren wanted to or not. As Kitty held a firm grip on the Skrull boy whos head did quite resemble that of a watermelon, She escorted him through the complex and over to the safety shelters Jean had instructed them to. “So this is how your people party huh Nat?” Kitty added trying to keep a open dialogue with the boy as she tried to move him through the complex.
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