Katabatic Winds
Posted on Thu Mar 14th, 2024 @ 3:54pm by Erik Magnus Lehnsherr & Connor Bruin & Bobby Drake & Iris Walker & Jade Farwynd & Bliss Hawkins & Levi Rousseau & Shinobi Shaw & Ethan Hale & Aurora Summers & Kennedy Kelly
5,910 words; about a 30 minute read
Mission:
Episode 4: The Savage ConneXion
Location: Antarctica
Timeline: August 30th, 1990
Hours upon hours of travel in the Brotherhood transport vessel passed without incident. For those lucky enough to sleep through most of it, they were unaware of the transition from daylight into darkness. The polar night of the Antarctic Circle meant the sun was below the horizon, meaning that twilight was the brightest it would ever be. For anyone who looked outside, it may as well have been midnight.
The heavy metal doors from the bridge opened. Walking rather than hovering, weariness plain in his every step, Magneto descended to the open space between the rows of benches, chairs, and sofas against the wall. A wave of his hand ignited the fluorescent lighting overhead that flickered to life in protest.
"Rouse yourselves, X-Men," he said with the gravelly voice of a man who had slept but not well. "We have arrived."
Kennedy woke as the lights came on, a sharp intake of breath and a slight wince from the brightness. To Bobby’s credit, he had remained still and silent during the flight, most likely to his detriment, but she had managed to sleep on his shoulder for the entirety of the flight.
“Thanks again, Bobby.” She said in a groggy tone as she sat up and began to take in their new surroundings. “That was a really gentlemanly thing to do, I appreciate it.”
"No problem," Bobby said with slightly reddened cheeks. "Don't mention it."
Ethan had fallen asleep against the bulkhead. Somehow, however, his legs and Levi's legs had got entangled. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but he managed to get them disentangled without waking his teammate.
Aurora awoke squinting for a moment in the bright light. She hadn’t expected to sleep, but she had thanks to Bliss making the seat recline to a more comfortable position. She stretched and sat up, running her fingers through her hair to tidy it up.
Jace had opted for stretching out on one of the sofas and finishing his sleep. He put his arm over his eyes, though, when the lights came on. After a deep sigh, he slowly stretched his legs and arms and sat up. "Could use a cup of coffee," he murmured. Jace shook out the cobwebs from his mind and stood up. "Probably not any to be had, though."
Iris hadn’t slept a wink the whole way. She had spent the entire trip sitting there with her eyes closed. It had been long and boring and her imagination had started to run away with her. She sprung from her chair almost happily. “If there’s one thing you find everywhere,” she told Jace, “it’s coffee. We just have to find it.”
Jade had not slept at all, since the strange meeting and the hastened preparation to leave. While her suit afforded her insulation from the elements, the earbuds that kept her sane were playing up. Intermittently she would suddenly hear everyone's bloodstreams and it seemed as a force generated by the timpani drums when they were played. Loud, powerful. She busied herself with sorting out the medical supplies and non-perishable rations.
The sudden spike in activity made Connor startled awake with a wide-eyed, slack-jawed jolt. "BAAAAAHHHH!!!" Once his vision came into focus, though, he started to calm down a bit. His breathing still cycled heavily though.
Bliss was still sprawled underneath Connor. The head had not been very good at being a blanket. When he finally got off of her she rolled over and pulled her pillow over her head.
"Five more minutes....snorf....."
"Typically," Jace replied to Iris. "But I don't remember seeing a continental breakfast bar in the brochure. Then again, I was still pretty sleepy when we came on board."
Connor picked Bliss up off the ground and packed her over his shoulder. "GOOD MORNING," his device said with a grin on his face.
Those who followed him to the bridge were treated to the sight of an antenna field with dozens of poles lined up in neat rows powering an array. About a quarter mile away stood a larger station whose frosted windows danced with interior lighting.
"Welcome to McMurdo Station," Magneto intoned. "It's humanity's forward operation base within the continent. Research is conducted here, along with the occasional expedition farther inland." His mouth ticked up with displeasure. "The geomagnetic storm has intensified. I cannot guarantee safe passage through it on my own. For our purposes, we need to reconfigure the station's array to point away from the sky and toward our destination. The gigawatts it generates can punch a hole through the electromagnetic interference caused by the storm and help ensure this vessel is not degaussed."
"WHAT WOULD FOLLOW THAT?" Connor's face held an inquisitive look.
"It means our electromagnetically charged engines fail and we get stranded in the middle of the world's largest microwave oven!" Magneto snapped. "Any other ignorant questions?"
“Do you have specific coordinates in mind?” Kennedy asked her own ignorant questions while getting her gear together. “Or is the general direction that the shuttle is facing acceptable? Is there a computer system inside the station that controls the array or does it have to be done manually?”
Magneto pursed his lips with incredulity. "No coordinates necessary. Redirecting the pulse in that direction will suffice." He nodded due south. "And if you wish to brave the elements to adjust all 150 odd antennas by hand, then be my guest. Smart money is on the control center inside the station over there."
"So, how do we go about doing that?" Ethan asked. Doesn't the station have defense systems in place to prevent it?
"This is a weather monitoring station, not Fort Knox," scoffed Magneto. "They likely don't have any weapons, if there's even anyone there at all. Research slows down during the polar night months. Just get in there and reconfigure the array. We don't have all day."
Ethan rolled his eyes, making no attempt to hide it. He didn't however, make the sarcastic reply he'd been about to make. He was, of course talking to a very powerful mutant.
"On it," he said.
What he would have preferred doing was doing what he normally did. Flying recon. But he had no desire to freeze his ass off if he didn't have to.
Aurora stood taking in all the questions and answers, before looking at Magneto. “You’re the one who asked Professor Xavier for help, if we’re going to help then we need to know exactly what we’re getting into. Going in blind is one thing that will lead to disaster.” She paused. “With that in mind, do we know anything about the mutants on the island?”
"The Savage Land is well beyond Ross Island," Magneto said. "This is just the safest way through the storm."
Aurora sighed. “You still didn’t answer my question, the mutants? What do we know about them, if anything?”
"It is likely that at least one of them can effectively manipulate the force of magnetism." The normally brusque demeanor from Magneto showed a brief pang of grief. "But I would be surprised to encounter any mutants here and now."
"So who wants to get phased through the station and into the control room?" asked Jace.
“Let’s go,” agreed Iris. “Maybe we can find out if I can hide us while you phase.”
Jade just shrugged, then pulled her backpack over her shoulder and her hood and face cover on. She was very tech unsavvy, so she didn't feel compelled to add to this conversation. Plus, she had a lot on her mind to digest anyway.
"ME." Connor signed through his device. "I WANT TO BE PHASED."
"I'll do what I can about the ice," Bobby said with uncertainty.
"CAN YOU BLOCK THE WINDS?" Connor asked Levi. "REDUCING THE WINDCHILL WILL BE MORE HELPFUL THAN GENERATING ICE."
Bobby sighed at Connor. "I wasn't gonna... you know, never mind, Connor."
Aurora reached out her hand gently resting it on Bobby’s arm in a friendly gesture, she smiled warmly before moving her hand again. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine Bobby.”
Bobby's grousing warmed up to a pout at Aurora's touch. "Thanks..."
"The longer we wait out here, the worse off we're going to be once we get inside," Ethan said.
“Let’s get going then.” Kennedy rallied with the rest of them, looking to phase with Jace into the station. “I’ll watch the team’s six once we get inside.” Cameron’s military jargon was already invading Kennedy’s speech. “Hopefully it’s just an empty station but who knows what we’ll find.”
"So Iris, Connor, and Kennedy...who'll watch our backs on the inside...so far," said Jace. "I can only phase one person at a time. Who wants to be first and scout the entry point for bad guys?"
"I can take the lead, or I can be the rearguard," Ethan said, "whatever you guys think is best."
“Take me in first,” said Iris. “Worst case scenario, someone sees us and I duck around a corner while you get out. Then I can still scout the place.”
"Okay, Iris first, then Ethan, and then Connor," said Jace. "Scout, two frontline offense or defense, then me and Kennedy to watch our rear. Anyone else want to jump in? Uh, if it sounds good to Magneto?"
"Depends on where I'll be needed" Aurora looked towards Magneto, he was the one leading the assault it was up to him to decide who was going where.
"Must I do everything myself," Magneto groused, "or are there any X-Men present who can figure out how to access a control center without someone pulling their strings from a hover chair? See it done however, you see fit. Just see it done!"
Aurora sighed. "Fine.." She looked towards Jace. "You heard the man, count me in!"
Levi had been quiet up until this point, still not entirely confident or comfortable with the team. However, he'd come this far, and now was the time to speak up. "Count me in, wherever you need me."
Jace looked from Magneto to Aurora and back to Magneto and shrugged. "Well, okay then." He nodded to Aurora and turned to Levi, "Like Connor asked, can you block the wind? I mean, I can get us in, but the walk over there is going to suck. And maybe Bobby could break up that icy tundra or something so it's not slicker than snot on a doorknob?"
A sudden thought hit him like a bolt from the blue. "Oh crap." Jace looked at Cam and Jade and ignored the Master of Snark. "Sorry. I just kinda ran with an idea. My bad."
"Of course, I can block the wind, it's kind of my thing," Levi grinned at Jace.
Jade sighed, "I know shit about tech, but I'm happy to help, just direct me." She offered.
Jace nodded. "Protection group will work. Thanks."
With a final snorf, Bliss's eyes opened. The world was upside down, and she blinked to clear her vision. The world seemed fuzzy, almost like a haze in her head. The most dominant feature of the landscape in front of her was a distinctive pair of glutes. To confirm she reached out to confirm the owner of the glutes in question.
"Connor? You can put me down now."
Connor did as requested and set Bliss down to her feet with a pat on her head. "O-kay," he managed to say verbally, then he signed through his device, "ARE YOU GOING TO THE STATION?"
Bliss felt a bit discombobulated, maybe the storm was messing with her somehow. She began stretching to wake up her body.
"Where am I needed most?"
Connor just shrugged.
"Let's all go as a group and figure it out from there," Bobby said in a rare moment of leadership. "Come on. Time's wasting."
Although the interior of McMurdo Station was quiet, it was far from orderly. Clear signs of struggle and outright violence were everywhere. Papers were strewn far and wide like a tornado had passed through. Lights flickered from damaged overhead fixtures. Doors hung ajar from warped brackets, if not entirely torn from their hinges.
Whatever skeleton team had remained there did not seem in good straits either. The only immediate sign of them was a blood trail that streaked out of the common area into what might have been a locker room.
Ethan careful not to step in the blood, bent down to examine it and sniff it to see how fresh it was and to fix the scent in his brain so he could follow the person who had left it. the trail was obvious enough, but he wasn't sure how it would last. So, he was going to air on the side of caution.
“I haven’t been brave enough to look in there,” Iris said, effectively announcing her position as she nodded to the door behind which the blood trail led. “I can’t find anybody else around, though.”
Kennedy offered Iris a small shrug, the numbness inside of her made her a little less fearful and she immediately decided to change the plans that they had agreed to on the shuttle.
“I’ll go in there and look.” She nocked an arrow and made it glow with soft golden light before advancing towards the locker room. Mindful enough to avoid the smeared trail of blood and the larger bits of refuse on the floor she made her way inside.
Ethan paused looking down the hallway. His sight was probably the best on the team, but even he couldn't see anything significant, because the hallway hooked to the right about forty feet down. But sight wasn't the only heightened sense he possessed.
He quickly caught up with Kennedy and whispered in her ear. "There is someone alive down there. At least three maybe four. I can smell them."
“Maybe it’s the scientists who are supposed to be manning the station?” Kennedy suggested, matching the hushed whisper that Ethan had spoken in. She took a few more steps into the dark, her arrow’s light creating a gentle glow that allowed her to navigate the space. “And if not? We’ll take care of it.”
While they looked down the hallway, Connor popped the locked doorknob that kept him out of an administrator's office. He waved Iris over to him, then began signing with his free hand while typing with the other.
"IT LOOKS LIKE THE ANTENNA ARRAY IS OFFLINE. THAT IS ACTUALLY GOOD. WE CAN RECALIBRATE THE ANTENNAS MORE SAFELY THAT WAY, THEN ACTIVATE THE MAIN GENERATOR." He furrowed his brow at the screen. "THE GENERATOR APPEARS TO BE IN THE BASEMENT WHILE THE ANTENNA MASTER CONTROLLER IS NEAR THE ROOF. WE WILL HAVE TO SPLIT UP."
“Whatever we’re doing we need to stay in two groups, no one alone.” Aurora looked around. “I don’t like the feel of this place.”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Iris. “You wanna come with me to find the antenna control?”
Aurora smiled. “Sure! I don’t have Connor’s technical expertise but I’m sure we can work it out.”
This place reminded Jace of a few abandoned warehouses he'd squatted in years ago. "Sounds like a plan," Jace said. "Once we clear this floor, we can split up. Roof team for the master control and basement team for the generator."
As the others were discussing strategy Ethan said to Kennedy," Whoever they are I don't smell fear on them. Though that may, or may not mean anything."
Bobby came in from the front doors to the common area. Being impervious to cold came in handy for scoping out the immediate area. "Perimeter's clear," he said to everyone, "but I couldn't see more than that. This place looks abandoned, which is weird since there were lights on when we approached. Who cut the power?"
Jade joined them at this point as well. "Those guys could be armed, or they may have enhancements." She said, "they smell similar to the ones that attacked us in the tunnels at Niagara."
She'd been hanging back for a while, trying to snap herself out of the daze that the conversation with Cameron had put her in, trying to find her purpose again, when the waft of blood came down the corridor and her senses came to life. Then she'd hurried after the others.
The scent of live blood commingled with the stains on the floors and walls. It was difficult for Jade to keep aware.
Connor joined Aurora and Iris on the way up to the antenna master controller. That was ultimately what they were there for.
Bobby looked at Jace and Levi, boys he'd only known for a short while. "So does that leave us to find the generator?"
"I don't like the idea of dealing with enhancements again," said Jace. "But whatever happens, happens. Make the best of whatever hand we're dealt. Good luck," he said to the other team. He then turned to Bobby. "I suppose it does, yeah. Generator in the dark, creepy, basement. Freakin' horror movie vibes...you know we'll be the first, right?"
Connor, Aurora, and Iris had found a stairwell and headed up as far as it went, which was only two flights. Now they were busy peering through doors until they found something that looked like a control room. “There’s lots of computers in this one,” said Iris. ‘Which could be a control room.”
"GOOD JOB," Connor signed while he set to work. "PLEASE WATCH MY BACK WHILE I ACCESS THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. I HAVE A BAD FEELING ABOUT THIS PLACE."
A heaviness followed his words like fog on a cold morning. It was telepathically weighted with a strong sense of doom and foreboding.
~Turn back~ commanded a voice that was just beyond the audible range. ~Turn back while you can~
“Please tell me someone else heard that?” Aurora looked at Iris to see if she heard it too.
“Yeah, that wasn’t creepy at all,” Iris said, feeling the hair on the back of her neck stand to attention.
"I HAVE INPUT THE RECONFIGURATION COMMAND FOR DUE SOUTH INTO THE ANTENNA ARRAY," Connor reported. "WE WILL NOT KNOW IF IT WORKED UNTIL THE POWER IS RESTORED."
Whispers in the corners. A rolling surge of fear. Crushing weight from underneath the skin.
"Bad!" Connor shouted from his own mouth, clutching his temples. "Bad, bad, BAD!!!"
The same surge made Aurora cringe. “Get out of my head!!”
“Maybe,” said Iris, voice wavering, “we should get out of here.”
"HELP!" Connor managed to sign while moving his hands over his eyes, ears, and mouth. Sensory overload was driving him crazy.
“Connor!” said Iris automatically. Without really knowing what else to do, she crossed to him and cupped her hands over his ears. “Close your eyes,” she told him.
“I can help” Aurora offered as she did her best to shake off what was affecting her. “This might feel a little weird, Connor...just go with it.” She cautiously used her telepathy to try and temporarily shield Connor’s mind, to lessen the sensory input.
After a moment, a numbing calm came over Connor's nervous system. He was still breathing heavily, but he started to blink and nod away whatever the hell that had been.
"THERE IS A TELEPATH NEARBY," Connor surmised. "THEY WILL BE HERE SOON IF NOT ALREADY. WE SHOULD REGROUP."
Down in the basement, Bobby led the way while Jace and Levi kept a weather eye on their surroundings. Bobby felt invincible when in his iceform. His sure strides projected that confidence.
The dank basement was dark and eerie. Although the musk of most basements was lacking due to the severe cold, it still held a stronger earthen smell than before. Bobby wished he had exercised the foresight to find a flashlight.
Levi had taken up the tail position of the group so he was also keeping an eye out for movement behind them as well. He found the darkness disorienting, but he also found that lacking visibility his other senses were heightened and he could sense the movement in the air as Bobby and Jace walked ahead of him. "I don't sense any other movement down here," he spoke up.
Jace was trying to keep an eye out in whatever direction he could see. And that wasn't very many. "Good thing for that," he said in response to Levi. "If there were, it'd have the drop on us for sure."
Whatever violence had taken place on the ground floor seemed to have passed over the basement. So far, the worst hazards proved to be dodging the posts and pillars in the dark, guided as they were by a few flickering emergency lights that seemed on the verge of fading.
"Found the light source," Bobby muttered as he passed them by.
Underneath the lights was the main generator. Bobby was no expert, but the number of panels on the thing made him wonder if there were other generators that would be activated once this one turned over. There was just one problem.
"Um... is yellow bad?"
Bobby pointed to three LEDs near the activation switch. It indicated three power level conditions: Green for ON, Red for OFF, and Yellow for OPEN. The status blinked yellow.
"I... I don't know," Levi admitted, having exactly zero mechanical experience. "Do we just flip it on like a light switch?"
"Maybe," said Jace. "Could mean electrical current like that. Or something else entirely. There's only one way to find out, though. And we need some light in here. Those posts and pillars hurt toes and nose." He phased himself just in case anything went flying.
Bobby tried flipping the power source. "No good. All it does is go from yellow to red. So, open to off? How do we make it green?" He wished anyone other than him had come down here to fix this problem. "Open power? Open switch? Open... shit, I don't know!"
An arm reached between the chattering people to the fuse box. Experienced fingers danced over the switches. There were a few clicks, a mechanical hum began immediately and the lights came on.
Escapade withdrew her arm and looked around with a satisfied expression.
"Remind me when I get back to the house I'll show you guys but you need to know about basic circuit breakers. For now, let's keep your fingers away from anything with electrical stuff."
"You bet," said Jace. "I like keeping all ten of my fingers right where they're at." He guessed that it wouldn't hurt anything to know a little more about basic electrical stuff.
"Thanks, Bliss," Bobby said. "Hopefully that does the trick."
While the others were turning the key and opening the lock to the Savage Land, there was still the problem of possible survivors of whatever attack happened here. Ethan, Jade, and Kennedy had formed up to investigate the life signs their powers had detected. Slowly encroaching through the double doors and down the dark corridor, the three of them kept every sense on alert. The light of Kennedy's knocked arrow cast a faint illumination that compensated for the two of them who didn't have natural night vision.
The blood trail went beneath another set of doors marked LOCKER ROOM with polymer plates screwed on either one. Sounds of grunting and shifting bodies could be heard on the other side.
There was something else in there, something...Jade couldn't identify it. "We are walking into a trap, be ready." Her eyes turned a shining red at that moment, her wrists and hands too.
Muscle memory caused Ethan's claws to descend without his even thinking about it. "I'm ready. I'm ready for whatever happens."
Kennedy merely nodded her head in agreement from Jade’s warning, they are selected the room that had the most clear and present danger so it wasn’t surprising to hear that it was a trap.
When the doors were opened, a few people became visible, tied and trussed up like a slaughterhouse. They were bloodied and battered but alive... unlike a number of their colleagues piled up on the floor in grisly pieces. The smell was rotten but the harshest element was the abject terror on the faces of those still alive. Two men and two women struggled against their bindings and screamed against the gags in their mouths.
Jade reached out to the blood spatters in the room and tested out her control over it briefly. The augmented but not quite mutant blood felt weird. Her fascination with it made her ignore the four that were still alive. There was something more...stronger...but not in their blood, but where?
Ethan wanted to step into the room and free the hostages. That was his first instinct, but a wariness held him back as his eyes scanned the room as far as he could.
Kennedy didn’t hesitate as the door opened, her thoughts focused on the creature that set the trap rather than the hostages and the gore. That intense focus helped clear her mind, making it easier to set aside any emotions that may have inhibited her. The light from her arrow illuminated the room as she stepped inside, allowing them to see whatever was hiding in the locker room.
A blood-curdling snarl filled the room. At first, it seemed to come from everywhere, echoing as it did. The reason for the humans' fear presented itself in the eyeshine of two glowing amber eyes in the darkness. The only warning before its lunge was a high-pitched shriek. A lithe humanoid form lunged from the darkness, canine fangs and savage claws outstretched for the kill. His face and chest were matted black with dried blood.
Kennedy fired her arrow at the snarling beast, charged more for light than for collateral damage it created a flash bang of light as it made impact, blinding the creature that had been dwelling in the dark.
Jade reacted on instinct, the lively blood formed into spikes almost of its own volition. The black and red-clad mutant turned swiftly, directing the spikes into the assailant's body viciously.
Knowing the creature was distracted, though his overconfidence would have spurred him to leap into the fray regardless, jumped inside the room, running full tilt toward the snarling creature, ready to take it on. To fight it mano a mano.
"Come on and take on somebody your own size.”
"Die!" the feral man snarled. "Servants of the Creator must die!"
While Jade's blood daggers rent his thick hide, the wounds weren't deep enough to disable him. He was blinded by Kennedy's flashbang. Rather than pounce, he started wildly slashing the air around him with hands and feet. The deadly windmill of limbs made for a difficult rush from Ethan.
“Stop freaking out,” Kennedy muttered more to herself than to the creature, a touch of snotty teenage conceit in her tone. His motions were too spaztic for her to take a clean shot, especially with Ethan trying to grab hold of him, so Kennedy’s attention turned to their environment instead. Setting another arrow in her bow, she illuminated it enough to see the back corner of the locker room and where the feral man had been hiding. A shower with gallon-sized bottles of soap, shampoo, and conditioner neatly placed on a shelf were present. She smiled a little at the idea of the amazing mess she was about to make. Letting the arrow fly, it hit the middle bottle in the shower. The explosion that followed was rather lackluster, more of a bang that matched with any sound of impact against a locker, but all the slippery soaps now began to leak across the tile floor.
“Push him back,” Kennedy advised, hoping they would direct him right into the hazard she had created.
Ethan had been thinking along the same lines. He'd wanted to use his claws, not to kill him, though he wouldn't have lost any sleep over his death. He knew if he just broke the skin his neurotoxins would have kicked in and worst-case scenario the creature would have been incapacitated. The creature's antics were making that virtually impossible.
So, he decided on a novel approach he'd been thinking of, even before Kennedy's words He began to furiously beat his wings. He wasn't trying to fly, there was hardly any room for that. However, he was hoping to create enough wind to at least knock the attacker back a few feet, even if he didn't drop him to the ground.
He'd never tried it before so he had no idea how well it would work.
The gust of wind moved Ethan more than the attacker, which was good enough. Both combatants were separated from their melee. With Ethan clearly out of the way and the wolfman knocked off balance, he was set an open target with nowhere to go.
Not wanting to lose the momentary advantage they had gained, she drew another arrow and charged it with radiant energy. “We end this now.” Kennedy muttered as the creature fell and she let the arrow fly. Upon impact, the arrow rendered the feral mutant into bloody bits and chunks, adding his gore to the rest that filled the room. Kennedy barely waited for the arrow to make contact before she turned and began heading for the door. “Let’s get the hostages free and get out of here.”
Despite not knowing what to expect, the generator fuses were repaired, power was restored, and the array repositioned in the freezing antenna fields outside. Everyone began to regroup in the main common area where the administrator's office was. The surviving researchers appeared grateful for the rescue and not in need of drastic medical attention outside of nourishment and cleaning.
Before everyone could compare notes, however, a shimmering aperture appeared in the center of the common area that soon ignited with fire. A shapely woman with ornate tribal adornments like an infernal peacock walked stepped through the blazing aperture with an air of dominance. Without a word, she began flicking her fingers to and fro, flinging one and all to the floor, to the walls, even the ceiling like flies caught in a web.
"Your attempts to defy me are as futile as a whisper against a storm." Her voice held the vibrato of someone accustomed to shouting commands that were uncontested. "It will go better for you all not to resist."
Aurora was trying to move, but she was firmly pinned to the wall where she’d been flung. The initial thud had taken her breath away but that had passed, now she was simply held there by an unseen force.
Levi found himself pinned to the ceiling before he could get any defensive moves out to block whatever she was doing. He tried to position his hands to give her the storm she mentioned, but found himself unable to move at all.
Jace was quickly smacked against the wall. Pain radiated down his spine and his lungs were cleared. He gasped several times trying to breathe before he actually completed the task. Why were there always so many surprises when they went missions? At least the Niagara mission was plain old humans.
Escapade was bound to the wall, but that did not limit her effectiveness. Wreckage beginning to bring upon the would be despot as if she was a magnet...
The sorceress looked around and assessed the group. Her cruel, cobalt eyes did not find the one she sought. "Lupo reported that his Creator had returned. Tell me, pathetic pawns, where is Magnus? Does he hide among the bodies of the fallen? Perhaps he has turned back, as should the rest of you."
Though pinned down, Connor managed to form hand signs that made his device speak. "WHO ARE YOU?"
"The Savage Land obeys only one ruler, and you look upon her now."
"Oh for fuck's sake, another one with delusions of grandeur." Jade groused as she struggled against the invisible binds pinning her to the floor.
“Exactly who would that be?” Aurora looked at the woman. “Who are you?”
“What the hell is the Savage Land's ruler?” Iris asked nobody in particular.
"Zaladane..." Bobby said.
At the mention of her name, Zaladane's wicked gaze snapped toward him with an appraising stare. For a moment, she did not seem to recognize him. Then, slowly, her ruby lips spread into a wolfish grin. "X-Men? Oh, Magnus, you have fallen far, indeed."
"We... beat you... once before," Bobby managed to croak under the weight of her power.
She threw back her head with a snap that sent her raven tresses alight and laughed. "I rescind my warning. Come, if you dare, and perish before my throne."
And then, with the peal of a thunderclap, the aperture of fire seized Zaladane in its grasp and pulled her back to whence she came before spiraling into oblivion. Only the faint scent of ozone and sulfur remained behind.
"What...the...fuck just happened?" The Australian got up to her feet with a grunt. "Anyone hurt?"
Aurora let out a relieved breath as she stood freely now she wasn’t pinned to the wall. “All good here.”
Kennedy had remained with the rescued scientists, who whimpered and cried as they too were pinned to the ground. Legitimate fear of being turned into victims once more caused their outbursts leaving Kennedy distracted during the conversation with Zaladane. Once the threat had vanished, She reassured them briefly before checking on their wellbeing. “We’re fine back here.”
“Okay, I don’t even know what that meant,” said Iris from her new position on the floor, completely confused. “What is actually happening right now?”
Levi fell to the floor, gracefully landing on his toes. He flexed his hands and his rolled his shoulders, as though checking to make sure nothing was broken. "She does not get invited to the next party," he said dryly.
Jace slid off the wall and down to his hands and knees. It took a moment for him to get the strength to stand up. "Beats me," he said, responding to Iris. "Purifiers were a hell of a lot easier to deal with than that. She asked for Magnus, though. Sounds to me like Magneto has some more explaining to do."
“I swear to God, if this is a lover’s quarrel, I’m going to throttle him,” muttered Iris, rubbing the hip she had landed on.
"That was Zaladane," said Bobby. "Some kind of priestess, at least she was the last time we were in the Savage Land. I don't remember her being that powerful..."
"IF SHE IS IN CONTROL OF MAGNETO'S CITADEL, THEN WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM," Connor pointed out.
“Does this mean we have to follow her?” groused Iris.
"I'm all for just getting out of this place," said Jace. "Power's back on, scientists are safe, storms should stop eventually...mission over. Magneto and his lost love can hash it out as far as I'm concerned."
"Yeah," Bobby agreed. "Let's get back to Magneto. I think he has more explaining to do."
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