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The Sins of Men and Angels; [Utopia]
Topic Started: Jul 18 2012, 07:46 AM (3,086 Views)
Wolfsbane
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Wolf Form
It had been months... Years?  Days?  Since the possessing insect had been cast out, sent away and hunted, chased down like a common animal, spurned, hated.  It had given up.  But Rahne Sinclair's will to live wouldn't let it.  Every assault it came under was crushed, thrashed to bits on pure instinct.  The Broodling may have wanted to die, but Rahne wanted to live.  And she wouldn't let it have what it wanted.  She never did.  

It was months after that casting away that the assaults stopped.  No more attacks, no more hunting.  Instantly, the Broodling's psionic representation stirred to life, recovered control over the body.  

"What... What are ye doing?" Rahne asked as the control she struggled for was viciously ripped away.  

"I'm gonna redeem muh self," the Broodling answered curtly.  "She'll see when I kill yuir friends that I am worthy."

"Yuir a fool!  She hates ye, nothin' will change that!  'Tis Reverend Craig all over again!"

"No, I... No, it's different!  Ye'll see.  She'll love me again," the Broodling hesitated, but continued.

"She never loved ye!  She used ye an' cast you aside when ye stopped being useful!"

"When you took muh use away!" the Broodling snarled.  

It was no use.  The creature would not be deterred, and it set itself up in a position of strength, of impenetrable psychic energy to keep Rahne from stopping it.


***

There, the battle was there.  She could see as she flew overhead, the Queen led the charge against a false Brood. The X-Men... What had they done?  What mockery had they made of the glory that was the Brood?

::Muh queen,:: the outcast Broodling spoke to her on the mind link of the hive, ::I should hate ye for how ye'd done me wrong.  I know in muh heart I should despise you.  But I can't.  Damn my weakness, I can't.  So dispose of me as ye will after I've slain yuir foes.::

And then she veered off towards the din of battle, against these smaller, weaker creatures.  She had had more time to grow, was much stronger.  She'd make mince meat of them.  

A scent.  A name called out.  Yes.  That would be the way to do it.  Prove loyalty to the queen by slaying the host's dearest friends.  Starting with the Roman.

The Broodling landed with a thud in front of Amara, growling audibly.

"She cannae hear ye," she snarled, and even though the voice was altered, the thick Scottish brogue was unmistakable.  

"An' I think we both know how it'll hurt her when I devour yuir head in one bite - wee little fake that you are.  She will fall, and muh Queen will love me again!"

The Broodling charged for Amara, fangs open wide, a roar in her throat.  She would settle for nothing less than the neonate's death.
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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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Synch (old)
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Ability Synchronization
Claws dug deep into the gut of a beast and pulled away leaving the insides to spill out onto the jungle floor. More and more of his friends, his family joined the fight all hellbent on the same goal. They could not fail here or the whole world would feel the consequences. Everett thought about the people he cared for most as he slashed through the brood. He could not bear having them suffer such a transformation or worse. His parents, his sister Kim… Monet. The empress and her army had to be stopped at all costs.

Everett’s wings expanded and lifted him into the sky to take on the massive swarm that was descending on them. The sharp beaked bastards snapped at him as they passed by, several latched onto his limbs in the process. Everett grunted as he snatched one off his arm and folded it up like a piece of origami. He ripped another and another apart shrieking at the horde like the predator he had been turned into.

He landed, the ground began to shake as underground brood made their presence known and even large ones, carriers broke through the gate. This fight had just gotten a lot more difficult. But would he turn tail? Hell no. He was not raised up to run from complications. He didn’t train half his life to give up when things got tough. He let the monsters know with a loud roar. Everett was here to fight until his last breath was up and that wasn’t coming anytime soon.

He believed that wholeheartedly. One of the burrowing creatures burst from the ground directly in front of him. It looked like an earthworm that had been crossbred with a xenomorph and rolled around in a vat of nuclear waste. The creature opened its wide mouth as it came down on top of Everett. The two of them vanished beneath the earth.
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Anole
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Anole took a half step back, but held himself from falling back any further. The sight of the three Brooded creatures was terrifying, not because of their form, which was completely mutated past the point of being a recognized forest dweller now, but the way that they moved with such… team work? One of the creatures took point, while two flanked its side. They were running on all fours, but for some reason Victor couldn’t shake the feeling that they once stood tall on two. If the formerly reptilian mutant still had his deep brown eyes, they would be wide with confusion and bewilderment.

No, the truth of the matter was Victor rarely had an idea what to do in situations such as these. Whenever receiving a complement on how well he had lead during a Danger Room session or something of the like, he simply smiled while on the inside the words ”If only you knew,” savagely bounced off the interior of his skull. This time was no different. His Brood form stood motionless in the midst of battle, and he was shocked that another creature didn’t whack him in that moment in his most vulnerable state. Still, the creatures pushed forward with as much force as he had initially saw them with.

In that moment, another thought popped into his head. While he wasn’t an expert by any means on their extraterrestrial invaders, he knew enough to make some rough generalizations. All of these creatures, this army they were being controlled by the Queen Brood. Well, the Queen Brood in Marrow’s body, but how could she dictate such control over each savage? The thought that the person leeching off of Marrow’s body had that much telepathic control worried him more than anything else right now. This fight was tough, there was no doubt. The younger, former mutant just hoped that the X-Men had what it took to make it count. Whatever that meant.

They always did though. They were X-Men.

When the advancing attackers breeched a ten foot radius, Victor’s Brood body jolted to life as he took a running step forward and lifted into the air. As Victor jumped over the first attacker with assistance from his newly developed insect like wings, the almost hound looking creature nipped with long rows of teeth. It made contact, but was futile in breaking the tough chitin armor. It was then that Victor’s conscious thought process caught up to his instinctual actions. Sticking one clawed hand into the neck of one of the beasts and into the shoulder of another, the Brood took flight despite the squirming and vicious cries from the beasts. He could feel ever so slowly, the dark viscous fluid running down his claws and dripping off his first knuckle as he flew through the air. It was then that his plan had slowed down to the speed of his instinctual motions, as if his plan was buffering. What did he plan to do drop them? If they possessed the same armor he did, it would surely not kill them… he didn’t think.

Finally reaching the cloud of winged minions that worked for the Brood queen, his speed was greatly decreased dodging everything he could. It was then that something large, from what he felt, flew directly into the back of his head. He knew that each one of these monstrosities had sharp claws like he did, so the creature did not intend to harm him by his own means, but make Victor’s actions cause him to fall to his own death. Instinctively, Victor released the two things he had carried up so high, and didn’t care what happened to them. In that moment, he danced a fine line of consciousness. With vision blurred, he felt himself falling that much was clear.

Hitting something of stone, it was only a minor inconvenience before falling the rest of the way to the earth.

Victor had actually hit the corner of the Temple; however, it was not enough to hold the falling force of his body, so a piece of stone broke off and left him to fall on his own accord. The Brood’s nose lie close to the ground digging up some of the natural grasses and the dirt smelled and felt cool and comforting to Victor. Breathing heavy, eyes closed, now was when Victor had felt he had just lost the futile battle he was putting up. He knew this moment would come, if he didn’t have anything, he would still be consistent. Once he reached a certain mental threshold, the former mutant lost his will. It was difficult to determine how much damage he had taken since the start of the fight in his new body, but he was well aware of the mental toll.

”Is this how it ends?” The start of a conversation… The earth rumbled around him, more creatures ambushed the X-Men from their hiding spots in the trees just beyond the fence and the earth… just beneath their feet. Though Victor did not see anything in this moment, he heard primal screams from both sides, a war brought to his doorstep, and he dropped his gun.

”No, it can’t…” Victor’s arm twitched, it had lain at an odd angle since he had fallen. ”I can’t.” His hand slowly gripped the earth that had been upturned, he pulled himself ever so slowly to a knee and then to his feet. A staggering two step, dance like move showed just how the battle had affected him. Victor gained his ground as he surveyed the battle field. As his vision came back to full functionality, he saw he had fallen to the outskirts of the battle. A wiry looking creature was hobbling back into the fight after looking a little worse for the wear, Victor grabbed the unsuspecting creature with his hand and sunk his teeth into it.

”I haven’t seen my parents in almost three years.” As he walked back into the battle another creature approached him, sinking his claws into the arms of the beast and his prehensile tail piercing his throat, he tossed the body aside.

”I’ve never kissed a boy.” Continuing back into the battle field, gaining momentum with each step, He slashed at some creatures that were holding onto their last increments of life.

”I’m not an X-Man…” This mental statement, almost angered the Brood looking Victor as he stuck his hand straight into the torso of an unobservant monstrosity that stood much taller than him. Head still woozy, he nearly lost his footing as the thing fell to his feet.

”This can’t be over.”
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Freakshow
Unregistered

Heavy-set muscles in the monster's head tugged with immeasurable strength, generating bite forces beyond the natural limitations of something its size. Teeth sunk into writhing meat and its head jerked like a wild dog, a feral growl seething around the corners of his catch. He could feel bones break under the roof of his mouth, cracking in half with the brute force of the bite. The hadrosaur cried, limbs flailing, shifting into little blades that all struck and slashed. But the durable, plated and gnarled scales fended off any serious damages, nothing more than scratches lacing the monsterous visage.

With one final jerk and a heavier bite, the Broodling dinosaur gave a cry that was cut short. It hung limp in the monsters out, which gave a victorious snarl. Its head raised from the ground, the neck of the monster still in his mouth, and he turned. Its eyes glowed feverishly, its mouth working in a habitual chew. Despite death, the matter of the Brood-infected reptile still writhed. He could feel it reaching into his tongue, into the roots between teeth. They groped for a new hosts, but in the monster's mouth they found something fighting it.

The infection withered and died.

The primal beast surveyed the fight. The turned X-Men were fighting back with the very weapons that made the Brood Brood. Claws and tails slashed at the infected animals and primitive humanoids, the X-Men rallying for their last pitch of survival.

Claws raked at a nearby Brood, slashing it clean through. He pressed through the endless tide with hungry aspirations. Behind the flood, he knew the one that brought this upon them was there. He could taste her in the air, more pure, more Brood than any other.

Above, the sun began to darken. The fleeting shapes of aerial fauna disturbed by the biological virus filled the air. Their shapes were insignificant, most too small to be a bother to the large, horse-sized beast. But Kevin knew that numbers would surpass fighting ability. How many mutants here had trained in combat outside of their powers? Transformed, they were in new shapes with new limbs, new bodies that worked purely on instinct.

If instinct was all they had to fight with, maybe that was enough.

The monster padded forward, step by step, ripping and tearing at brood after Brood. Orange eyes were fixed on his prey -- the one growing the jagged blade from her arm, the one that started all of this, the one that had once been one of theirs. Globs of salivation seeped between biting teeth at the mere thought of his meal.

He'd do what needed to be done. One bite and all of this could be over.

Kill the Queen.

Kill the Brood.

One swift bite and --

A swarm of the alien virus clustered around one of their own, pushing him away, isolating him. The swarm was a zerg rush, bashing him back and forth. Though he was fighting back, there was only so much he could do against those numbers as they corralled him away. They disappeared into the rustling trees, shrill cries dimmed out by brush. The pyrokinetic Rusty had been taken into the trees, surely to meet his end at the hands of infected creatures all driven by single purpose.

The flickering psychosis of monster and man was twisted. Between the Brood Queen and between Rusty, between the endless hunger for destruction and that stupid fokkin' prawn.

The monstrous megamorph gave a roar, direct and threatening. It rolled through the Brood tide, a vile promise of his return. The monster turned and ripped at the ground, shooting through the battlefield and disappearing into the woods at a breakneck speed.

Lucky for Rusty, Kevin didn't hate him that much.

<Exit Freakshow and Rusty. Thread to be posted later.>
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Sarah Vale
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Technopathy
The countdown was as painful and uncomfortable as the infection that had taken hold. Knowing that they had a limited time frame, that at any moment, the creature that used to be Marrow might come back and try to take control of their minds, and knowing what would happen if their plan failed. Sarah tried to focus on working with Danger, making certain that the network was up and running as smoothly as possible, helping with the transitions. By the end of the day, concentration or not, she had to admit to being thoroughly freaked out – her headache had increased, and the first time she had coughed up blood, she’d gone through a minor panic attack.

It was probably cowardly of her, but she’d taken to having Shoe follow her around. The change was definitely getting stronger, and the very thought terrified her. Trusting in the plan only went so far into alleviating her fear of death. Waking up in pain was one thing – but Rachel’s warning had Sarah leaping to her feet from the chair she’d been sitting in. It wasn’t much warning, but it was enough, with Shoe standing mere feet away from her. By the time she felt the Brood Queen’s tug, Sarah already had her hand on the port of the robot’s chest, and her pain multiplied as her body was broken down into coding and sucked into the machine.

The pain from the conversion was so much better than the pain from the infection, and she felt the unique sensation of her body spinning into the machine, translating to fit within Shoe’s workings, while still feeling the machinery through her powers. Reconstituted within the robot, she had to reconfigure for a moment, running a scan to make sure that she was unharmed within the workings. Once certain of her ability to remain intact, Network strengthened her link to Danger’s systems, realizing with sharp certainty what Scott had been told. They were on borrowed time, unless Dr. McCoy managed to figure out a cure.

By the time her heavy metal feet had escaped the confines of the temple, war had begun, and it was only through the linked network that allowed her to tell friend from foe. She immersed herself in the technology for a moment, calling up every view from every camera that had survived around the complex. As if strings were connecting her to each of those linked within the neural network they’re created, she dove into the fray, her seven foot purple and silver frame moving swiftly.

Energy blasts exploded from the repulsors in her metal palms, and for a few minutes, Sarah stopped thinking like a human, and instead followed Shoe’s lead. She could hear the fight all around her, and processed each sound as it came and went, aiming and firing without conscious thought. A blast knocked an attacker over, and the robot pounced, coming down with a solid metal fist into what was supposed to be the head of some poor creature. The strength of the Box robot crashed through the chitin armor with a slick crunch, and she gripped the stinger at the end of the creature’s tail, ripping it off viciously.

A heavy body slammed into her, and the rockets in her feet fired back, sliding the stinger she’d stolen up until she dug it deep into the grooves of her attacker’s armor. Yanking it out, ignoring the beast’s attempts to scratch at her paint, Network shoved a hand into the soft belly of the Broodling and fired a blast. The splattered result might have grossed her out, if she hadn’t been so focused. The neural network linked her to a thought, a quiet one, and she didn’t second guess herself before taking flight, shaking bits of guts from her hand.

Locating Anole was simple, and she powered straight into one of the Broodlings that flew into her path, driving the larger creature straight to the ground, where she landed on it with the full force of her heavy metal body. The crunch was disgusting, but Sarah straightened, stomping an extra time just to be sure, before stepping over to the mutated Victor. The stinger she’d used before was dripping ooze, and the hand she raised was covered in goop, but if she’d had lips, she would have smiled.

“Need a hand?” The rhetorical question was said in Sarah’s voice, although there was a metallic undertone from the robotic vocal chords. Without bothering to wait for a response, she tilted her head up, aiming her free hand to the sky, and fired a series of blasts. Two of her targets were knocked end over teakettle, hurtling through the air towards the ground. Teeth and claw marks speckled her paint job, scoring the metal, but Network moved with precision. A broodling hobbling towards the fight, claws extended, mandibles clicking, was met with an addition Sarah had made to Shoe – a bladed hook firing from her wrist, slicing deep into its flesh, where it hooked and dragged the monstrosity back to the robot. She stabbed the stinger into it, tearing a gaping wound, and extricated her hook from the innards, winding it back up until she was ready to fire again.
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Marvel Girl
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As she darted out of the courtyard, she worried. Not for herself, not for the children, not for the X-Men, not for her Father. She worried for her mother. So much weight resting on her now, so much depending on her now. It was far from the first time such had been the case, and likely, if survival were to be had, it would be far from the last. All the same, she missed that comforting presence. That rapport, instilled from birth. That rapport had been severed when she was still a young girl. Cut and torn from her, violently. For a decade or more after she'd live with that hole in her mind, a vacuum that could not be filled. In the weeks since her arrival, it had bloomed once again, and for this Brood, for this creature to take that from her again?

One did not mess with the bonds of love like that, and it made victory over these things all the more desirable.

She flew up. Upwards, faster, faster, as quick as the buzzing wings at her back could carry her, and with a instinctual flare that she was not wholly certain of being her own, she and a clod of other transformed students punched a whole through the black cloud circling the skies of Utopia.

Ripping, tearing, slashing, biting, gripping, punching, kicking. The storm of insects and had-been birds and dinosaurs clashed with the X-Brood, and the ripping and tearing gained an accompaniment of whoops and screaches.

"This is who they'll try to punch through first!" She shouted. "Take as many down as you can!"

She felt then a shadow grow over her, and as three warriors descended upon her, she banked out of the cloud, entering a freefall as she was tackled by them, shrieking as she was slashed at, gnawed at.

The earth grew steadily closer, and despite the armor now protecting her from Brood assault, she knew then that if she couldn't get free, the ground would not be so forgiving to this new carapace. She punched, kicked, and at last, reached hear hand to the gaping, snarling maw of the creature latching on to her from the side. Putting every ounce of new-found strength into her arm, she tore free the mandible pincer, using that momentum to plant it in between the plates of her second assailant, both breaking away with harsh screams as she let the wings unfold once more, swerving from the ground in time to tear the wings from the third, sending it spiraling into a rut of the rock soil below.

Darting over the landscape, she swung her legs forward, toppling over a large-ish bipedal creature before rolling back into sustained flight, scouring the battlefield for signs of her father.

::Danger,:: she thought, hoping that their robotic queen would hear her. ::Show me Cyclops::.

And then, in a feeling not unlike an epiphany, her plea was answered, and she knew where to go.

"Dad!" She shouted, coming up behind him. "Franklin's holding it off, he's going to go try help Mom reinforce the web. No clue on Beast though. Any word on Infection levels? How much time do we have?"
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Cyclops
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Punches from the Punch Dimension
Cyclops, in his black and gold armored chitin, darted and wove through the enemy swarm, and though his mutant understanding of spatial geometry had been lost in the transformation, the back up of his mental imprints that he had entrusted to Danger held, and coupled with new instinct, he was a god of the sky. Long limbs, made longer by the restructuring of his dna folded beneath him in a triple bend that he now used to spring off the ground when he swept low, or to catch at the debris to give him purchase when he stopped to survey this battle straight out of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.

He snapped his head back at that thought. Scott was not what one might call an art lover, usually unable to appreciate the subtlety of plays on color and light for obvious reason. That had come from the neural net which meant that there was a slight leak in one of the fire walls so that some data was leaking through. Rachel had been cut off from the telepathic support system during her transformation. His hatchling... daughter fighting in the midst of this. Despite the new terminology the insectile configuration his mind had been thrown into, Cyclops retained enough of himself to feel pride in his child, which was not unusual, as he had often been proud of the younger X-Men despite his inability to show it, but this was the first time it was flesh and blood, and that made a surprising difference.

His many lensed eyes cycled what he was seeing into the new folds and creases of his brain, and saw the battlefield in more than three dimensions, layers of heat, of wind, of projected flight paths. From behind him, several enemy drones spiraled towards him, and he launched himself upwards and over in a backwards flip, his wings snapping out to catch him on the downward arc. It was so natural all of this, he thought to himself as he snapped out his clawed hands, literally shredding the tiny flock of drones. The one that escaped the quick death was crushed between Cyclops's double row of fangs. He spat out the flesh, the blood, appalled at himself but knowing that he would use tooth and claw to destroy this army who tried to invade his hive.

His wings began to buzz, preparing to launch off, and over the rising sound like a plague of locusts he felt her more than heard her, and he turned, focusing his attentions on this girl of his swarm, his daughter, changed in the way that he was. Unable to stop himself, he reached out a clawed hand and rested it along the new contours of her cheek, "Rachel..." he said, the new reverberations in his throat rattling the r and lingering on the the l. "Look at you..."

She delivered her report and he nodded, or at least what served as a nod, and he said," Good, Franklin might just be powerful enough to hold her steady while he still has a human form. Your mother needs to hold that net as tight as she can in case the safeties fail. Danger's been showing me the progress of the wormholes... We're running out of time." He clicked chitinous eyelids down over the primary pair of eyes, he navigated the mental web of their group overmind and said, "McCoy's joined the swarm. He's in the middle of the metamorphosis. He won't be able to tell me if he managed a cure until he's done re-evolving." Snapping his head upwards, he looked up at the nearly invisible distortion that indicated the stasis field around the biosphere, and his new way of seeing showed the shimmer there. "The field is still holding, but we need to swat every last bug, every last soldier, drone, worker, queen. If there is a delay between the wormhole opening and the start of the eradication procedure, we need to take down anyone or anything that attempts to flee..." The wings on his back burst into a furious buzz and he said, "Even if it is one of our own swarm. No one leaves the Savage Land, Rachel, not if they are infected. No one."

He glanced around, looking for the skrull warriors who were supposed to be fighting with them this day, and said, "If anyone mutant, brood or skrull makes for the wormhole, no matter who it is," he turned his new face on her, and if he was unreadable before, now there was no humanity in his face to at least give a comfort, "If they go for the wormhole, rip their head off. Kill them with tooth, claw or stinger. This does not spread, not one inch outside the biosphere. If we can't cure it, we all die to save our race, and humanity's race."

Again he brought up his hand to her face, bringing them close, his forehead touching hers, strange eyes staring into each other, "We are not dying today, Sweetie, but if we do, we die as ourselves, no matter our shapes, no matter the twists of our dna. If I die, I die knowing that for a few weeks I was given the greatest gift a man could have in a daughter, and I die knowing that because of how I raised her, even if it was some far flung future me, she turned out to be a young woman who would lay down her life for the world."

Then, he let his wings pull him away into the sky and he slashed out with claws and fangs, raining blood and core from the infected enemy down below, cutting a pathway to the Queen through her vile army. And though he never forgot that he was Scott Summers, Son of Chris and Kathy, husband of Jean, father of Rachel, brother of Alex, a mutant, an X-Man... as he tore through the army, eventually he came to the point where he did not shake the shreds of flesh from his claws, and he did not spit out the blood trapped in his jaws.
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Derek Addams
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Derek was betting on several things back when they first hatched this plan to use Danger as a sort of "kite string" for the entirety of the Utopian population. It was the hope that he had been clinging to ever since the prospect of becoming a monster again had become all but inevitable. That whatever ever happened, the X-Men were going to win, even if it cost them everything they had, and everything they were.

One of the things he wasn't banking on when it happened, however, was how much he was going to enjoy it once it began. The seedlings within him had been twisting their way into his brain, seeking and nestling in the parts of him that were the easiest and most familiar to exploit and strike. His anger, his love for the fight. They found an unexpected ally in his loyalty to his friends and home, not unlike their own to their hive and mother. There, they festered and waited until the clarion call of their queen beckoned them to attack, and they did so with venomous glee.

And Derek welcomed it.

A la meringue... count to three...

The X-Men had the plan for how to deal with the spores overall. Derek had been preparing for how to deal with the ones in himself. He'd been meditating on the last time he'd been through something like this. And that's what made him realize he had a bit of an edge that some of the people in Utopia wouldn't have. He'd been through it before, and this time, he knew what to expect.

The euphoria of release after the transformation, the awareness of voices not his own, and the willingness to serve his new master. All the things he knew were coming.

And then, once man and brood had become one, came the jarring senses granted him by the Cold Queen.

One...

It was cut off. His queen was gone, but no, no she wasn't. She was there, speaking to him, giving him different knowledge, a different calling. The creature swerved and landed, snarling as it's host's consciousness continued to count, as if he were whispering in it's ear.

Two...

The primal haze of the broodling's instincts were becoming more aware of the mind and memories of Derek Addams, Bruiser of the X-Men. The same rage, ferocity, and loyalty to their Queen that it had heeded to come forth. Even now, his voice was becoming louder. And with it, a sense of unity that had, for a moment, evaded him.

Then came the shout from another of his kin. One that held a kind of superiority even though all underneath their Queen were of the same fold, mere drones before her greatness.

"Booossssss...." the words escaped like a vacant hiss before it all snapped into place, and with it, the broodling's head jerked upward, launching itself after the general, it's voice shouting in a voice that bore no resemblance to the crackly and wheezy shrieks it had been emitting before.

"THREE!!!"

Derek tore after Scott, flanking him as he ripped through potential attackers with his new claws. He, as well as the brood, thrived on it. Their mutual love of the fight, and loyalty to their hive, their home. As he landed beside the general and his hatchling, he listened to the report, and could feel them. His family, his kin. The ones he loved. Part one of the plan had worked, for the most part.

"Well, now... that wasn't so bad..." He took a small comfort in knowing that he could still quip at a time like this. It meant not only did the plan work, it worked almost perfectly.

And now he had new orders. Ones that were met with a grin. The man within him was determined and focused on keeping this cockroach infestation from spreading any further, and the broodling within him was thirsty for blood.

"I gotcha covered, Boss."

And with those words, he took to the sky, ready to tear through any creature that dared approach that swirling point in the sky.
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Marrow
Unregistered

In the Mindscape
Marrow rolled across the ground as that lashing tail struck, one two three times, digging up the arid rock in swaths of acid-laced fervor. She righted herself grabbing at the swinging weapon and spinning the Queen’s mental shape around, letting her go and lunging forwards as she staggered, latching onto her back and digging in spurs of astral bone, climbing her massive back with a snarling hatred.

The Queen reached for the imp at her flank, trying to lay hand on her, throw her clear. She found grasp and wrenched the small girl away, tossing her like a ragdoll against a rocky crag, leaping into the air, those six prehensile arms arching down to seal a gruesome fate.

But Marrow scrambled away, swinging at one with a sharpened shaft of chitinous bone, cutting it free. She slashed again, like a batter swinging for a grand slam, cutting loose another two and sending the Queen into a shrieking stagger. She barked in some long-forgotten tongue, lunging a hook-clawed foot at the girl, raking at the carapace across her stomach. Marrow howled in psychic pain, striking out again with clawed fingers. The Queen caught her wrists, pulling her in close.

“I hope you feel this a satisfying end to your torture, this foolish bout. Know that even now I have turned every one of your compatriots to my fold. And soon you’ll be nothing but a memory to be lost in a library of greater memories. Ones worth recall.”

The mutant’s mental facsimile growled as the Queen wrenched her arms downwards, screamed in primal defiance as she began to pull, to tear arms from joint and socket. And with that scream came assault. Spikes of bone shot from her wrist in all directions, piercing clean through the Queen’s hands. In that moment, Marrow found new strength in this astral realm, growing in size to match her foe. This sanctuary that had once been her mind, now lain siege by these invaders from another world, it was hers, and it always would be. Her back erupted in a spout of blood, spines of bone curling back around her body, the force of them cracking through the carapace of the Queen’s mental defenses sending her backwards, end over end, the spears breaking off, Marrow hunching down as she focused on being whole again, the mental shape of her arms fixing themselves.

The Queen stood, and Marrow dove at her, sending the two rolling down that hill, towards the endless field of brood corpses. It became a knockdown, drag out brawl. One for the ages. The mental shockwaves emanating from the crack of each punch, each claw, each stab, shuddering the mind of the Queen and Marrow alike.

The Realm of the Real

A herd of X-Brood tore over one of the large soldier-carriers, and she grimaced, stepping forwards from her perch, teeth emerging in a furious scowl as the pain from the war waging in her own psychic landscape began to increase.

Her eyes shot skyward, to the flickering biospheric shield of the Savage Lands, this primeval prison built eons ago. She watched as her new Swarm clashed with this upstart faction. Clenched her fists as she saw her people falling. With this… confrontation… in her mind, she did not have the full extent of control she wished. Distressing, but only that. She would triumph, and lay siege to this world. This Quadrant. This Galaxy. She was the New Brood. Imperiatrix. Empress.

And if she needed too, she would take up arms alongside her Warriors Prime.

Marrows face, what had once been such, anyhow, began to tear and stretch, that true face punching through the old gapes. Her form bulged. Stiffened, and in the span of a few moments she was ripping withering chitin from her frame, bigger, stronger.

She would taste the blood of these false brood today.
Soldiering across the wall, the hulking, insectoid creature prowled amongst the battlefield. Cyclops. She would kill him for herself. Keep his skull as a trophy, a cup from which to drink.
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Synch (old)
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Ability Synchronization
The burrowing brood emerged from its place beneath the surface; its mouth wide and vibrating from the roar. It surveyed the field for a brief moment looking for its next meal. Its eyeless form settled on a broodling that was once a little girl. Saliva dripped from its teeth, the rings of its body coiled as it moved through the dirt picking up speed. As the beast rose up to bring down its massive form on her, it paused. That last thing it ate was not sitting well, not going down without a fight. It screamed in pain as its stomach ballooned in places before a spike shot straight through. Next, two claws burst free grabbing either side of the torn flesh and pulled and pulled. The thrashing around lasted only a moment before its insides came spilling out onto the battlefield. As the brood fell to the ground lifeless and torn nearly in half, Everett rose from the muck and blood and guts. Guess the empress never told the thing to chew its food first.

He did not bother with pulling the entrails off his body as orders came in from Cyclops. Everett understood and put himself back into the fight taking out anything he could find that was not fighting for them. He tackled a once tribesman to the ground and mounted. Claws slashed and ripped and tore through the brood’s face before finally finishing him off with a slash across the throat. As soon as the deadly blow was delivered, Everett was on the move again wasting no time. His wings pulled him into the sky again. Once at a suitable height, he descended on the ground forces with as much speed as he could muster. Just before making contact with one of the larger beasts, he turned and stuck his head out so the sharp crest would go straight through like a dagger. And that was exactly what happened. The large brood wailed as one of its eyes was rendered useless. Before it could reach and grab him, Everett pulled away, crawled to the other side and put his arm elbow deep into the other eye.

Its long tail lashed out knocking over a few of its kin while Everett flew off to deal with the others, specifically the ravenous beast that was sneaking up behind Network’s merged form. As the broodling left the ground, claws wide open, he descended on it knocking it to the side. The two bodies tumbled for a second during which Everett managed to wrap his tail around its throat and grabbed its lower half. He yanked until the damn thing was ripped into two pieces and flung aside. “Don’t stay still for long, keep moving,” he said to Network. The jungle was filled with the brood and an attack could come from any direction. Staying in motion was a sure way to avoid any surprises. Everett yelled and rushed back into the fray.
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Anole
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The chaotic nature of the battle kept Victor from truly orchestrating anything worthy of noting; instead he fought for something that he felt was fleeting. His survival. It was a distant, almost tangible item, that was just out of the grasp of the insectoid’s reach. Frustrating yes, but Victor found that each kill was a moment to relish in. Each creature that lay at his feet was another that would not endanger one of his fellow Utopian’s.

Slowly, the former reptilian mutant’s mind slipped away from the battle. Autopilot. Claws sunk into the chitinous armor of creatures once natural. Teeth tore at vital parts of attackers. The newly converted Brood felt nothing. Even in the midst of a tangle with what once looked to be a jungle cat, where his side was somewhat ravaged by the distorted, elongated claws, he was numb. Survival truly was second nature, and while he started the fight with the intentions of saving those he had grown to love, he was fighting for himself. For his life. In the moment, Victor feared himself, while he had not felt himself physically, he hardly felt himself mentally now. He fought to bring his thoughts, his quips, his sarcastic pokes to the forefront of his mind, but they were held back and though his insectoid eyes had looked blank before they truly were now.

The Broodling now stood amidst a small pile of bodies, motionless.

”Need a hand?”

The words from an old friend caused tense muscles in Victor’s Brood body to loosen. He looked over, while not wanting Sarah to actually stop and see him in this form, he welcomed her with about as welcoming as demeanor as possible. Victor looked over Sarah with amazement, she truly was one of the most brilliant mutants he knew. She had developed a method of resisting the Brood’s influences and remained somewhat human with some technological enhancements. In his Brood voice, Victor responded “Preferably the one without the hoo-“. He stopped mid response. A creature that had been shadowed by Sarah’s technologic build had just leaped for her. Murderous intent.

Stepping in front of his friend, not with the intent of defending himself, but just forcing her out of the way of the creature. Luckily, one of the X-Men brood knocked the creature to the side. He was able to determine that it was Synch that threw the life saver to the two. “He’s right.” Victor said to Sarah even though he was just as much to blame. He had taken his mind away from the battle on his own accord this time. “Come on Sarah.”

Entering a sprint, Victor headed towards one of the larger creatures that was now heading towards the temple. He knew he would need another person with him to take this thing down, and Sarah would be the perfect person to help him. Without looking to his side, he hoped that Sarah had been at his flank mid stride. “I need you to take out those tree-trunks this thing uses for legs. I’ll take care of the rest.” Victor assumed that this had once been one of the long-necked, omnivore dinosaur that inhabited the jungle. It was now twisted and warped by the Brood mechanisms to do the queen’s bidding. Victor looked to his side to see that Sarah was in agreement.

He then lunged toward the creature, sinking his claws into the long neck and climbing up.
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Kitty Pryde
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The battle had begun and taken over the grounds surrounding the Utopia Base in full force with just about every creature you could imagine in the Savage Land becoming infected with the Brood Parasite and rallying behind the Brood Queen's call from the largest of the dinosaurs to the smallest of insects all were hell bent on destroying the X-Men. With Kitty's transformation just finishing up she used her new found strength and weapons to go after some of the first to scale the Utopia wall. She tried using the skills and martial arts techniques she learned from reading her books and training with Logan. But adjusting to the new body caused her to lumber and leave herself wide open for attack.

While Kitty engaged an infected Raptor she was quickly realizing the martial arts she had been training with for the last 2 years were going to be of no help here she saw an incoming stinging tail from another dinosaur flying towards her as she instinctively tried to go into her phase mode but as soon as the tail made contact with Kitty it threw her a few feet back as Kitty skidded through the grass while the Brood infected dinosaurs roared at their small victory. While Kitty struggling back to a vertical base noted to herself. “Note to self, Important safety tip... Phasing and Martial Arts do not work in this body.”

With Kitty's only defensive and offensive skills in her human form taken out of the equation she had to quickly adjust to using the new Brood body and help her teammates fend off the attack, As Kitty made a b-line back to the 2 dinosaurs that previously took her down and did her best Wolverine impression and pounced on them slashing and clawing at the face of one of them with her claws, While using her tail to stab and fend off the other. With the two Brood infected Dinosaurs taken care of Kitty stood up to see her handy work as she looked down on the carnage she created. “No wonder Logan is always so grumpy...”

But there was no time to dwell on the fact she had just savagely taken two lives, As Cyclops was speaking saying that if anyone tried to make a break for the worm hole they would need to be neutralized before flying off to meet the Brood Queen herself. But before Kitty could choose her next course of action she was surrounded by 3 more of the same Brood infected Raptors most likely from the same hunting back as the other two she had just killed who were looking to avenge their fallen brethren. “Oh great.”
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Jean
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Telepathy, Telekinesis
Franklin and Jean JP


She was the Phoenix; she who rises from the ashes.

There was just enough time, she thought, as she felt the alien illness well-up in her blood; she was wrong, it was more wishful thinking than anything, but as her students and friends around her transformed or fought to stop the inevitable, she did her own fighting, making her way to Danger. Though the transfer of the neural net was complete, she had to be there. Danger would save them, it was an advanced machine but machine nevertheless.

:: Danger, progress. Have we lost any minds during the change?:: she thought to Danger as she entered the chamber. She had to be there to save any minds severed during the change, but instinctually, she couldn't shake the feeling that she needed to be at the center of the hive. Queens were always at the center.

"All minds are present and accounted for," Danger said, the robotic body emerging from its storage compartment. She extended a hand a map of the battle appeared in holographic form. "High probabilities suggest a near total transformation to unaffected ratio. Unmetamorphisised consist of Designate: Jean Grey, Franklin Richards, Sarah Vale. Wormhole openings in less than half an hour, cure has not been implemented. Eradication proceedings -coming online. Countdown has begun..."

She looked at the map and frowned in confusion. "Why so much slower with me?" she wondered aloud as she extended her thoughts into the matrix and along the delicate filaments that extended out like a web to the Brood-X-Men. Her eyes looked at the map as her mind went to her transformed family fighting against an overwhelming horde. In truth, 'the why' didn't matter so much, by some unfathomable miracle, she had extra time; time she'd need to use well.

"But the cure is done? And on its way?"


"I have not been informed of a cure, Designate Jean Grey, but Doctor Henry McCoy inserted something in the air dispersal columns. Statics suggest that would be the cure. Infected to Unaffected are astronomical, lowering of external shields has already begun per direc..." Her voice suddenly drained off, and she cocked her head as if listening to something.

::Shut off The Nuwali Function:: sounded in the heads of the Brood Queen's followers and now they came in a shrieking, tangle of limbs and wings.

Coming for Danger and Jean...

Coming fast.

The shrieking command cut through so many minds that Jean heard it across the mentalscape and her gaze flicked toward the projected map and then out the window, seeing the massive enemy army come toward them like the crashing wave of the ocean.

"Good," Phoenix said grimly. "If they're focused on us, then they aren't trying to infect the outside world," and closed her claws into a fist. Claws? She looked amazed at her transformed hands, down to her elbows, and her four fingers on each hand fused together into two. "But not much time, Danger."

Fiery energy flared up from the hive's... Utopia's central hub; it was a challenge and a declaration - we are still alive! The massive image of the phoenix screamed defiance and unfurled its wings. Enemy Brood enveloped by the fiery phoenix were torn apart, atom by atom in a fiery explosion.

:: My Brood. Show them the fire that runs in your veins! And the courage in your hearts! :: She sent her call through the neural net.

Franklin was barrelling through the temple, seeking out Jean, using Danger's net to guide him like a homing beacon. He constantly cycled his powers through himself and as the infection roiled in his blood, patches of scales erupted and retreated, wing buds rose and fell on his back. His eyes segmented and then soldified, changing the world in a kalidescope of normal vision, thermal, sonic... "No no no," he snarled, and as he rounded the corner to see what appeared to be a fiery phoenix incinerate a huge mass of broodling cannon fodder, he called out, "Jean! Drop your power! It's me! It's Franklin!"

He stumbled into the room, and saw Danger there, working within the complex holographic map of battle. His head was starting to clutter, and feelings of being under attack, of attacking back, screeches and horrors were in his mind, "Jean," he called to her over the din in his brain, "The firewalls are dropping, keep it together! If you transform, we lose the net! Rachel's already shifted! You have to hang on!"

Phoenix reached out and grabbed his shoulders as he stumbled through, the telltale Brood marks showing that he too was struggling to fight off the change. She sent a worried look toward Danger; if it fell, they and the world were all doomed.

"I'm trying," she said through gritted teeth as her mind tore through a second wave of invading Broodlings. "But I can't stop my DNA from changing." Her teeth hurt as she felt secondary jaws straining to form. Her power was the mind, perhaps it was just taking the Brood virus longer to cross the blood-brain barrier, but it would happen.

This was a diversion. The realization hit her between the eyes. The Broodlings' attack was a distraction to keep her from what really mattered. "I have to get back to Danger, to the net; they're what matter. Can you seal this room?" She asked. It was just delaying the inevitable, but wasn't that what life was all about.

"I can," Franklin said, and he extended his hands, summoning the last of his power as the transformation threatened him, "No... no, wait..." he said, and he turned back to her, "Jean, I have a better idea. I'm going to to fall either way, once I release this power, I'm going to fall, I can already feel it coming over me... but there's no reason that we both have to. Trust me, I might not know what I'm doing, but my powers haven't failed me yet."

He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, taller than her, though he was some years younger, and turquoise light streamed from him, through her, shuddering her transformation to a halt, solidfying her human form, the call of the Brood Queen was no longer answered by the infection in Jean's cells.

Franklin smiled a wan smile and said, "Too bad I don't have the strength to save us all..." Then, he collapsed, crying out in agony as his limbs twisted and changed shape, his body took on an insectoid configuration, his youthful and open face hidden suddenly behind deep blue armor that changed colors as he writhed in the throes of metamorphosis.


"No," she began but the speed of his transformation was quickly overtook him and in the blink of an eye, the valiant young man was gone and a Brood warrior took his place. "Sacrifice," the word slipped from her lips. Whoever his parents were, they had raised a hero. "But not in vain," she told him, not knowing if the pain was too much but she suspected some part of him would hear her.

Her thoughts spread throughout Utopia, into all the X-Men as once again she felt the weight of being connected to a hundred other minds. :: I'm here. We still have a fighting chance.::

As Jean returned to her duty of keeping the net up and supporting Danger's work, another wave of brood things came for her again, larger, more than insects but not as large as some, beelining straight for her, taking advantage of her distraction. But as they approached, there was a sudden clacking screeching keen, and the thing that had been Franklin Richards unfolded itself eight feet tall if it wasn't twisted in a low and dangerous crouch. Extending arms that ended in long scythe-like blades, the brood in magnificent blue armor threw itself into battle, slashing, attacking, biting, killing, hardly noticing as plates of armor were ripped away by its foes. It simply shrugged a new plate into place and continued to make minced meat out of the attackers until there was nothing but bloody chunks.

Turning its head to a degree that should have been impossible, the brood warrior turned its many lensed eyes on her and spoke in an altered version of Franklin's voice through bloodied fangs. "I'll protect the Queen's chamber. The enemy swarm will not reach you, I swear it. Go, quick, into the room."

Then, placing itself as a sentry, the soldier waited for more to come... and it waited impatiently.

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Marrow
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In the Mindscape
As the Queen and her mental prisoner brawled in the astral grit, the Queen’s defenses growing increasingly ragged under the primal, reptilian remnant of Marrow’s own psyche’s assault, she spat curse upon irritating curse at the woman’s mental shape. Taunt after taunt. Despite the blows struck against her, the queen’s face remained a defiant smirk, a cruel splitting grin in her mouth meant to mock and deride everything the girl did.

“A tail now as well? My, my. You really do want to be me, don’t you?”

The Queen pulled herself to her feet, tossing the girl against a craggy outcropping with a force that, had it been anywhere but here, would have sundered her bones to splinters and pulverized her innards to meal. Not here though. Here Marrow felt a different sort of strength and resiliency. Even as she slowly became the spitting image of her opponent, she was filled with a sudden surge of hope. If she could only gain the upperhand, she could top whatever this woman was doing in her body, stop these Brood. She had to.

She owed everyone that much.

Pulling herself back to a fighting stance, the monstrous Marrow regarded the queen with a savage expression. Shouting in a full on rage, she powered forward at a sprint, leaping towards the woman, blades of bone born on both arm.

The Queen’s projection felt the rapid stinging slashes of the assault, blocked them with the hard armor plates of her arms, blow for blow before catching the woman’s weapons, wrenching them free and tossing them aside as her tail wrapped around Marrow’s throat, driving her face first into the ground. Once. Twice. Again. Again. The Queen slammed her to and fro, and in this realm where all was symbolic, she was forced to draw from around her, to force that astral healing into effect by borrowing more of that astral material from The Queen, her sole companion in this bleak and blasted realm. The Queen drew her in close, looking her in the eye.

“Look at you. So defiant. So willing to sacrifice everything if it means stopping me. So stupid, like most of you short lived species. Quick to throw yourselves on a sword if it means buying a few extra moments for others you’ll never meet.” Her grin grew wider, horrifying. “I tire of this little game. You’ve sold yourself into my palm, Marrow. You’ve excised the useless parts of yourself for me, your day dreams and flights of fancy, and what is left now is nothing but an angry shell. All hate and rage and violence. You’ve become a wonderful little soldier.”

She clenched her tail around the girls throat, and in that instant, Marrow’s mind, or what remained of it, felt a ripping, tearing pain as her astral shape burst into a spectrum of vivid light.

She saw things, glimpses of an old past that now seemed so long distant. An angry girl in a wide open space with an old leader.

”I can't remove your anger and pain.” Cyclops said. “I don't know how. But maybe, maybe if you can be shown that there is the hope that you can rise above it, you can be whoever you want to be.”

A quiet moment with a little brother who’d never been a brother at all.

::Marrow,:: came Artie’s telepathic voice, quiet and hushed. ::I just ask... I just ask that you try.::

An offer of aid in a turmoiled time.

“I’ll help you,” Jean offered. “I can help make you as strong on the inside, as you are on the outside. But it won’t be easy, nothing worthwhile ever is.”

And as her astral shape erupted into impossible levels of bright, she let loose a primal shout, a barbaric yawp that sent even the Queen staggering. And then, nothing, blackness, light. Nothing. No longer did two stand in this arena, only one.

The Queen quirked a brow at this odd development, and then shrugged as she moved back to her throne, sitting in it with a snide grin.

“Good. Now with that out of the way, we move on to more important things.”

The Realm of the Real

They thought themselves evenly matched, but though they had the strength of Brood and still retained their precious and much lauded free will, she possessed numbers and a hive-mind. Her swarms moved as one, moved in flowing cohesive units that appeared from the distance as singular, massive creatures constructed from masses of smaller ones. Schools of brood attacking and attacking and attacking.

And then, as the largest of them roared, she sent out another wave of thought, and the jungles surrounding Utopia erupted in terrible screams and roars, and another horde began to spill from between the trees.

::Overtake them! Kill them, rally for the focal point of the wormhole and be ready to reign our conquest on the rest of the world!::

And they followed her order, for she was the Queen. Her mind stretched over the battlefield, found Wither, found Jack, even Rahne, disgraced and distressed.

::Your mother loves you all. Prove that you reciprocate by filling your mouths with the blood of these primate-pretenders.::

As her form pulsed and undulated, she smiled at the chaos she was helping to create. The fear inherent in many of these treacherous children, these yellow-gold monsters who had found solace in the arms of another Queen. Had she been capable, she might have felt pangs of hurt and jealousy. But unlike her host, she was above such petty things.

She felt a wavering as the protection over this blasphemous neural web keeping her from her children wavered, the onslaught working its point and providing an in to pull it apart, to break through it and take control of this second horde of X-Men Brood. But as soon as it had appeared, it sealed up once again, and she let loose and angry growl, sending an offended dictate to her children.

::Destroy everything. Spare nothing.:

She took then to the field. These bastard children still looked to Cyclops as their leader. Their head? She'd cut that head off at the shoulders, then.
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Sarah Vale
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Technopathy
When this was over, and Sarah was back in her real body, she was pretty sure she’d have to vomit. Right now, her movements were calculated, mind translating the never ending stream of data with the efficiency of the machine she had merged with. She was simply too busy to think about just how disgusting the ooze drizzling from Shoe’s metal was, or the fact that she was pretty sure there was an entrail dangling off her shoulder. It was so much simpler, as Shoe calculated distances and trajectories, allowing her to fire at the most opportune moment, giving her feedback on exactly the best way to demolish the armor of the bug before her. Sectioning off portions of her attention was easier than she’d expected, a small part of her mind strongly linked to Danger’s network, monitoring it.

Honestly, seeing Anole’s viciousness in taking out the Brood was impressive, and if she’d been able to grin as a robot, she would have. Ignoring the fact that Vic looked about as creepy as could be – even if Sarah wasn’t phobic about bugs, it was still weird as hell to see her friends looking so insect-like. His sentence was interrupted, although she let out a low chuckle, rotating the wrist that controlled the hook, only to step sideways as Synch came darting out to tackle her attacker. She was a bit surprised when Vic jumped in front of her, but Synch obviously had the monster taken care of, turning to remind her to keep moving. The tall robot nodded, glancing sideways at Anole.

“Got it. Shiny metal target, on the move,” Her metallic tinged voice replied, fingers clinking slightly as she flexed each fist. Taking off after Vic, she ran instead of flying, robotic boots coming down hard and dangerously heavy with each step. Every few feet, she fired a blast, or in one case, she leaped into the air, coming down with a disgusting snap onto a smaller broodling in her path. Seeing where Anole was headed, she sped up, nodding at him in agreement.

“On it,” Sarah replied shortly, making certain to use the neural network to broadcast what was about to happen, so that any of their people could get out of the way. The monster was going to go down hard. The units in her feet fired, blue light glowing as she flew forward towards the large beast, circling once, scanning and analyzing each leg. There had to be a weak spot, one she could take advantage of. Diving under the belly, she raked the stinger in her hand through the plated armor, before coming to a hind leg. One hand gripped the plates of armor, and she abandoned the stinger deep into a joint, punching with enough force to squeeze her arm inside the flesh. Firing a blast, she blew a chunk from the beast’s leg, feeling the large creature shudder.

The area was open, it was vulnerable, and Sarah flew backwards, retreating across the battle field for a single moment. Targeting that spot, that one zone, the rockets in the suit fired, and she moved at top speed, blue vapor trailing out behind her as she slammed into the broodling’s leg with full force. Fists in front, energy blasting, she heard the creaking snap as she powered straight through the leg, coming out on the other side, bloodied and gross. The leg crumpled beneath the beast as it tried to step, and Sarah grabbed the other leg as it fell, heaving upwards until the massive monster crashed to the ground.

Within the machine, Network continued to monitor the system, and she realized instantly when the horde’s attention seemed to turn to the temple – to Danger. There was little to be done, nothing that wasn’t being done already, but Sarah still turned to the temple. With the larger beast taken out, she flew high, aiming for the enemy fliers. Energy blasts took out wings, sending the beasts spiraling towards the ground, and she was high enough to see when what seemed like a second army appeared for the battle. It was a terrifying sight, and if she’d had the time to consider it, she might have thought of just how futile this looked.

Instead, she strengthened her link to the web, because there wasn’t much time left and she knew it. Danger and Jean had to know what was coming, and Sarah sent a pulse of urgency through the network, signaling that they were about to have a serious problem on their hands. Claws. Whatever. With a metallic sounding shriek, Network dove from high, energy streaming from her palms as she crashed straight into one of the large creations, sending smaller bodies and bits of bug anatomy careening from the larger mass. Claws and teeth dragged across her metal body with irritating screeches as she blasted her way back out of the mass.
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