Logs:Raid Redux Part Two: Raid Harder

Raid Redux Part Two: Raid Harder
CN: Violence, descriptions of blood
Dramatis Personae Polaris, Lily, DJ, Matt, Jax, Mirror, Hive, NPC-Carnage	2021-11-06 "We are not having chaos until after I find Joshua. Thank you." (Concurrent with the tanks' side of raid, Part of Prometheus Plot.)
Location <MA> Dirac Research Laboratory - Western Mass
The blazing amber-gold of Massachusetts' autumn foliage is muted by the blanket of night, with only a sliver of the waxing moon's silver glow to illuminate the way. The familiar sprawling campus -- with its winding hiking trails, its fitness center with huge picture windows (and small pond), tennis court, wide roof deck (with cafeteria attached) -- has not changed much since their last visit. The hole left in the wall previously has been patched; the parking lot is now surrounded by temporary chain-link fencing and a security check-point (as if that would stop anyone). Some construction vehicles (a bull-dozer, a small crane) are parked nearby; work is being done on the facility, apparently. The night obscures most of the sky, but -- every so often -- a shadow will pass by one of the many extremely tall light-posts mounted in the parking lot or around the facility. Spherically-shaped shadows, humming and buzzing in silent watch. What few guards can be seen at their posts seem a little more wary; not expecting trouble, but still reeling in that post-attack daze that implies that raids can, in fact, happen here. They might be here to rescue Joshua but here is a Joshua, hands in pockets, looking languid-casual as ever as he strolls just a little ahead of the group, a haze of illusory visual static overhead more or less obscuring immediate sight of the group from circling cameras above. << We're sure we can't kill them. >> A bit flat, a bit idle-curious, across the mental connection, as he watches the nearest guard-post. What Mirror takes care of overhead Jax is mirroring for the guards; nothing for them to see but the darkness and the trees. He refrains from sighing outwardly but, hived, the inward reflection of this is hard to suppress. << Answer ain't gonna change. We're here to get people out. Minimum of damage. Smash the bots, disable the guards, get the prisoners free. Not no more'n that. >> Matt is not moving quite so languidly, but then, Mirror!Joshua is tough competition in the looking-nonchalant department right now. He's at Jax's left hand, trailing him just slightly, his powers easily and evenly bolstering his entire team. << So it goes, >> is all he adds, almost reflexively and with virtually no emotional inflection. He darts an opaque sidelong glance at Polaris. There is a strange thrumming energy to Polaris tonight. She walks like she would rather be dancing or running or at least moving more swiftly than the steady pace set by her team lead. To less familiar eyes she probably looks manic, but this energy is contained and focused on their objective. Her powers stretch out farther and stronger and more dynamic around them even before Matt starts augmenting them, mapping out the positions of the drones and effortlessly overloading the battery of the nearest one. DJ looks, contrastingly, extremely sedate. For those used to Flicker's jittery motions, he's simply walking, quiet and steady at Jax's side, dark in his tactical gear, a number of pouches strapped to his belt. Not so much as a stray fidget. In the commingled space of their shared mind his thoughts are carefully schooled like he's had a lot more practice with this than their couple crash-course scenarios. He glances to Mirror with only a very small sideways twitch of lips, reaching down into one pouch and taking up a stance by their door. The next drone drops from the sky as its battery overloads. Lily is twitchy, her jaw tense as she keeps pace with the rest of the wizards. Her focus is on her extended senses, the drones surrounding them, the ball bearings in her own belt-pouch, on not killing anyone with her borrowed power, on switching out at any moment. Her position is almost the same as in practice — mirroring Polaris on the other side of Jax and Matt. Drones begin falling out of the sky, one by one -- short-circuited wherever they can be found. With each successive bzzt, they tumble from the night-sky silently, either crashing to the ground or ferreted somewhere safe -- though it's hard to see them in the dark sky, it's clear to both Lily and Polaris there are considerably more around this time... but, so far, they've managed to take them all out without raising the alarms. The facility remains silent; neither the guards nor the various cameras catching sight of the silent, nigh-invisible group disguised by Mirror!Joshua and Jax's abilities. << I take back all my complaints from the ride here, >> Mirror decides a moment later, eyes closed, leaning up against the side of the building, << this is great. Better than television. They are not subtle, are they? >> One of his arms has curled across his chest; the other, lifting, twists sinuously into a long black tentacle, writhing up into the night and then dissolving into nothing. << Don't gotta be subtle. Just gotta be effective. >> Jax frowns at the continued thumps of drones hitting the grass. << -- s'a lot of those. You need a rest, you let me know. >> Matt emits a very soft "mm" and adjusts the spread of his powers, steadying and sharpening Lily's borrowed magnetokinesis. << You'll not want for entertainment tonight, I'm sure. We're about to get a lot less subtle on this end, too. >> An uncomfortable twitch passes across DJ's expression. Just briefly, in time with a similar inward shudder across their collective mind. He presses his fingers harder against the handful of ball bearings he holds, rolling them against his palm. << Bots or guards? Both? >> Polaris glances at DJ, her jaw tightening. Then she sucks in a deep breath and nods without actually turning to Jax. << I will. But between Matt and the magnetic storm and Lily-me? >> Her eyes lift to the sky that scintillates wildly to her senses as she bricks another drone. Her vibrant presence in the hivemind certainly does not feel in need of rest. << I can do this (all night) for a while. >> Matt’s power calms Lily’s borrowed, eases some of her own nerves. Tiring out does not appear to be an immediate problem — as drone after drone falls, Lily seems more like she’s burning off excess energy than draining her own reserves. <<We’ll be fine. Bots. Guards. Whatever.>> She’s impatient as her power whips out again and another drone plummets. The majority of the drones appear to have been cleared around the perimeter; there's no more immediate threat of them within either Lily or Polaris's range. But... Then there's a distant klaxon -- radio chatter -- movement among the anxious-but-tired guards. They suddenly look significantly less tired, several of them pulling their radios to speak -- several more running up to wave some of them down. Suddenly, the light surrounding the facility blazes bright, as several recently-installed high-powered LED panels flash on -- creating a brilliant halo of illumination in what is nearly a 50 yard radius surrounding the facility. For an instant -- however long it takes Mirror!Joshua and Jax to adjust -- the group are, one way or another, very visible to the guards. Mirror just glances up, when the lights come on. Lifts a hand, slightly, to shade their eyes. Glances over to Jax, eyebrow quirking. Lowers their hand again, their illusory camouflage simply dropping. "Found us." In other circumstances, Jax might facepalm. In this one, he is a bit preoccupied. Shortly after the lights come up a bubble of shield goes up over the group in place of the illusion Mirror just dropped. The light around them is shifting, slightly, warping very faintly -- sensible more to Matt than anyone else as it bends and flows towards the photokinetics, absorbed hungrily inwards. "Oh," he says, as the group shimmers more neatly out of sight, "I'm gonna put my money on both." "Calisse de Viarge de marde--" The profanity is just a perfunctory grumble as Matt squints his eyes shut, arm thrown up too late to stop the light blinding him. But when he feels the shift in the flow of the light the corner of his mouth twitches up and his powers sink deeper into Jax's and Mirror!Joshua!Jax's, cranking up their absorption rate exponentially. "Bon appétit, mes gars." DJ's breath catches for just a moment. There's a flash of memory that surfaces in all of them; similar bright lights, a klaxon siren, a trio of very unfamiliar bots, larger and more menacing than their oh-so-friendly soft-white medical Sentinels pincering in around them. Pull in a deep breath, let it out again. One of their hive straightens from where they've been leaning against the wall, rolls the small metal beads against their palm again. << Alright, then. Both. >> Polaris's complicated attunement with the invisible magnetic storm stutters for a moment, her own breath catching and her powers reflexively reaching for Sentinels that aren't actually there. << No. We're here. We're now. >> She recollects herself and strains the impressively distant edge of her magnetic senses. "Good news, I can't find anything to fry." << That is good, right? >> “Is that good news?” Lily’s question echos the other woman’s thought. Her control didn’t so much stutter as unfurl when the remembered bots appeared. She’s spinning the magnetokinesis back into place now, a filament of her own power reaching at the same time for DJ. She hasn’t switched yet, but fills her hands with ball bearings anyway. One of the guards at the station above got a glimpse of their image flicking in and out of existence. There's yelling from above; somebody shouting something about 'teleporters'. More bots are rumbling from the interior; Lily and Polaris can feel them as they surge toward the doorways -- the sound of windows shattering from above. As four -- no, five -- drones surge in overhead, they immediately zoom in on the group -- sensors immediately picking up the anomaly that accompanies no appearance on a visible light spectrum, but a very distinct presence via their inner 'sonar'. thwpthwpthwp -- the darts that start to fire off aren't... very well targeted, really; the drones aren't good at aiming with just one set of sensors -- but it's still enough to keep the group on their toes. On top of that, Matt immediately picks up a very distinct tingling in the building behind them -- the arrival of incoming labrats. Guards are appearing at the windows above, armed with assault rifles -- scanning the area, shouting, pointing at where the five drones are hovering and unleashing their barrage of darts. They might not see them, but they figure something is definitely up. Inside -- at the front hallway -- a squad of guards is assembling at the exit; four in total, with two more in tow. Matt can feel the labrats -- but he can feel two more mutants standing near the exit, where the guards are setting up to intercept and force the labrats back with tasers and, if necessary, assault rifles. He also feels a third mutant -- up above, where the guards are arriving at the windows the drones emerged from. DJ's handful of ball bearings is gone nearly the moment their incoming guards begin to take their places -- two of the guards nearest the exit have grown wristlets of metal before he's in motion, blipping upward to grab one of the incoming drones and lodge it squarely in one of the windows the guards are stationing themselves at Then back on the ground, re-arming himself like he never moved. Hive's presence is growing more concrete in their minds, the feel of the incoming reinforcements becoming a little bit sharper. << Your friend's back, Jax. >> comes with the feeling of the shadowmancer arriving upstairs. A regretful touch up against DJ's mind -- << -- and yours. >> -- closer, down here, a mind hungry for blood. Mirror!Joshua just tips their head back, sedate as the barrage of darts starts to fly -- and thud harmlessly off of the shield that wraps over the team. "Wait, that's not Dusk?" Their brows quirk up, thoughts focusing on the bloodthirsty mind Hive shows them. Overhead, a spike of light spearing through one of the nearer drones. For all their cavalier exterior, inside there's a growing agitation in their mind, impatient, anxious: << Where is Joshua? >> << Matt, we got this held down for now. They turn the field back off in there, don't split your attention on us. just put a lid on the chaos. 'specially that shadowmancer. >> Another flare shreds a drone behind Mirror's into pieces, but the others can feel Jax's attention steering Hive's -- sharp and wary and focused on what the group inside is doing. He hasn't put any shields up inside yet, but he's poised to do it if they open fire on the approaching labrats. Matt was already straining his powers toward the shadowmancer and the blood person, a mental cat's cradle stretched tight though not to the point of breaking. At Jax's instruction he grits his teeth, relucantly lets go of his teammates' powers and throws the full force of his attention toward the building. His suppression field is impossible for the Prometheus mutants--guards or labrats--to feel over their own technologically generated one, but to the hive it feels like a sudden change in air pressure. He pushes his mental demarcation of the field's boundaries toward DJ. << You'll be depowered if you go in. I'm working on pinning them individually but it'll take me a moment. >> DJ is tossing another bracelet of ballbearings towards a third of the squad of four guards. << Don't go in. Got it. Are -- we going to try and get the hostile labrats out? >> This question is met with an almost immediate tension from Hive, wordless but felt through all the team. Polaris does not seem much fazed by the comparative weakening of her magnetokinesis as Matt withdraws. She seizes hold of one guard's ball bearing bracelet and hurls it toward their one undecorated comrade, socking them sloppily in the face and following the punch through far enough to dislocate the puppeted guard's arm. Hive's tension lingers in her body for just an instant, but she powers through it and grabs a remaining drones to sling at one of the guards taking (currently useless) aim from the windows In reluctant answer to DJ's question, Hive reaches out ahead, sweeping the hostile Prometheus labrats up into the network, for a brief moment. In the shared mindspace info-dumping is a much quicker task, not telling but sharing, not showing but being -- for a moment, the labrats are experiencing his perspective as he explains who they are and what they're here to do, that they can come with them, have a life on the outside, that the team will do their best to meet their needs (blood included, if that's your jam!), that they're not going to force anyone to leave but the offer is always open, that he was, once, where they are, working for Prometheus as well, that he genuinely wants to help them build community, build a life, on the other side. Just for a moment, and then he's gone again. Lily’s tension doesn’t pass when Hive’s does — her teeth remain clenched as she focuses on staying in control of the magnetokinesis without Matt’s help. The other two ball-bearing laced guard’s arms get yanked out of their sockets with a practiced twist of power before they are both being bodily tossed back. The last drone is overloaded soon after. She reaches out to Jax and Matt, mental nudge questioning without words if she should be Matt, help shut down the approaching danger or bolster while his attention is elsewhere. DJ's use of the drone as a barricade obstructs two guards from firing; the drone's pincer-like legs dangle out from the building's side, electrical sparks flashing from side to side -- cracks in the concrete from where it's displaced physical matter. The guards inside are shouting, stumbling back in shock. Down below, two -- now three -- of the guards cry out, feeling something wrapping around their wrists -- Polaris's power sends one of the 'magnetized' guards slamming into the fourth, unmagenetized -- dislocating the magnetized guard and breaking the unmagnetized guard's nose. The other two are taking aim -- as two more guards arrive to supplement them. Jax's scything blade destroys one drone; Mirror!Joshua's spike destroys another. Polaris uses another drone to slam into a second window, obstructing yet another guard's view from above. Along with DJ's destroyed drone, that leaves only one drone left -- only for Lily to overload the drone's batteries, causing it to drop to the ground like a sack of lead. The four guards at the entrance (six, but two have been disabled by Polaris; two are magnetized, two are not) are about to open fire on the escaping labrats... only for Lily's power to yank the magnetized guards back and dislocate their shoulders. They go down screaming, just as the remaining two try to open fire -- only for Jax's shield to SLAM down in place. ping-ping-ping -- the guards lower their guns and step back, starting to retreat -- there's only two left standing, with the other four on the floor... in front of them, a hoard of incoming escapees -- and behind them, some very powerful spell-casters. They don't like their odds -- and are making a strategic withdraw, trying to drag some of their comrades out of the line of fire. _ _ Meanwhile, upstairs, the shadowmancer is extremely confused -- he's just stepped out of the limits of the suppressor's range, but his power isn't... doing anything? Downstairs, the second mutant contractor hasn't experienced this moment of confusion yet, as he's not yet had reason to use his power -- but he's helping the two guards dragon the rest out of the hallway, down a side-passage. The labrat accompanying the guard -- the one Matt sensed, the one Hive identified as 'blood-thirsty' -- is just standing off to the side. A red-head, missing one eye and his left forearm. He looks... blank-faced. Like he's in a state of shock. Mirror glances up at the broken drones above. Glances over to the door. Glances back up. There's a sudden queasy rippling across their body, their form shifting and melting like wax -- their clothes suddenly now slightly ill-fitting, their hair shortening, skin lightening, until Peter is standing where Joshua just was. Heedless of the chaos happening inside, they slip into the doorway, stepping on top of one of the downed guards and then over them to demand of the arriving labrats behind Jax's shield: "Where is Joshua?" Jax is carefully moving his shield as the guards retreat -- dropping it, putting up a new one farther down the hall and closer to the fleeing guards -- to give the labrats space to emerge from the building. << Hey! We're over this way -- DJ can get anyone that needs a lift out to the vehicles quick, >> he's offering, helpful softly-glowing dots of floor-lights illuminating a path to the team like he's an flight attendant orienting them to their ride. The labrats had tried to retreat from the guards as they got ready to open fire, but had nowhere to go with more and more of their fellows piling up behind them. The ones at the very front seem kind of confused to not be dead or at least bleeding. The teenager whose superpower really seems like it might be "presence of mind" is the first to recover, stretching out a hand to gingerly touch the iridescent bubble protecting them. "That's -- that's Jax Holland!" they exclaim, jubilant, and start moving forward as the shield blinks out and re-situates. "This way!" They start encouraging the others on, pointing out the lighting on the floor that lead them out into the cool if overly bright night. Matt has closed his eyes again, in concentration this time. He keeps the mutant guards and the bloodthirsty labrat suppressed individually now and lets the wider field drop away with a slight relaxing of tense shoulders. << DJ, you're clear right up to the building's outer wall--their suppression grid is still up. >> His eyes open again, his focus snapping to the labrats as they approach the exit. << I need to know who has volatile powers, preferably before they come out of the field. >> Though even so saying he's poised to drop a blanket of suppression on the exit--just in case! DJ blips into place by Jax with a nod and a small wave to the approaching labrats. << Teleporting's a little bit of a queasy ride, but you'll get there quick and in on piece. >> He's ready to whisk away anyone who looks in need of taking him up on the offer, focused Very Intently on this task and not on anything else that might be going on in their network currently. Secondary to everything going on outside -- among raiders, labrats, and guards -- the mutant labrat with red hair is staring blankly at a wall somewhere near the entrance, ignoring the panicked yelling, the guards running past him dragging their comrades -- even the other labrats stumbling by him (several who see him give him a wide berth, brief flickers of panic and terror rolling over their eyes). Hive's presence creeps forward into Carnage's mind, linking him to another mind, deeper in the facility -- one similarly tinged with red, with hunger -- with teeth and claws dripping with crimson. << you with us? >> Carnage, continuing to stare blankly out, responds -- his voice muted, almost telepathically muffled -- but with something fierce and blood-soaked churning beneath the surface: << ...the fuck are you? >> The labrats push down the corridor in a not-completely-disorderly mass. Only the teenager ushering them stops to squint at Mirror!Peter. "Weren't you like -- downstairs?" They shake this off. "Joshua should be in the back, his cell's way at the end of the block. Your other guys are still down there with the stragglers, I'm sure he'll be up!" With that they're shouldering their way back into the press of escaping labrats as they start to panic and all pile out the door at once. "Terese, hold up we need to listen to the --" The rest of this frustrated request dies on their tongue when DJ blinks into view. "Flicker the Swift!" They step out of the field as if physically drawn toward the teleporter. "Take Keir and Lisa first," they're tugging a young woman forward along with a person covered in soft purple and white fur, though their eyes never completely leave DJ. "They said you died!" Polaris encourages the retreating guards along a none-too-gentle shove by the wrists of those with already bruised and dislocated limbs, then turns her attention up to the guards who had been firing from the second storey windows, stretching out her senses to feel for anyone or anything coming out to interfere with evacuation. Her concentration shatters when the unlikely labrat leader blurts out one of Dawson's many legendary epithets among Prometheans. The array of lights rigged on the outside of the building fluctuate as she struggles to reel her powers back in, having pushed them to her enhanced yet unstable limits. Either Lily didn't hear, or is choosing not to listen, to the labrats looking at her brother <<not brother not my brother>> in awe. A quick scan of the air again with Polaris' power and Lily switches, losing the senses of the auroras and replacing them with heightened awareness of every mutant around them. Most of her focus goes to Polaris, crudely copying the steadying hand Matt had given her earlier, while the rest bolsters Matt himself. What remains of the guards that haven't retreated aren't making any moves -- a lot of the initial courage is evaporating in the face of a crowd of emerging mutants. Below, a few guards are 'encouraged' to continue leaving via Polaris's push -- two or three stragglers are up at the windows, trying to decide whether or not it's worth taking their shot -- they appear to be collectively deciding it... well, isn't. Void-touch guard makes an attempt to grab one of the lab-rats and fold him out of space, stepping toward the edge of the suppression field -- only to stare in blank confusion when nothing happens. The lab-rat shoves past him; he stumbles back. The shadow-mancer upstairs is still struggling to just... fire his powers. The fuck?! The suppression field is still up, but he's reaching out from the walls, and... the fuck?! He's definitely not going to open fire without his powers to back him up. Meanwhile, the red-head -- Carnage -- just stands at the edge, letting the lab-rats slip by without a word. His brows furrowed. He doesn't even seem to notice that his powers have been muzzled. Despite the raiders' calm instructions, their teenaged shepherd's preternatural togetherness, and the fact that Carnage is just standing catatonic while they pass, many of the labrats are shoving away from him in abject terror, pushing those ahead of them out the exit in a tumbling heap, their thoughts a similarly jumbled mess nearly impossible to untangle. "No, no everyone stop --" The teenager has been trying to hold back the exodus, but now they lift off the ground, flying a little unsteadily but higher and higher, searching the crowd of their labmates. "Gemma? Gemma where are you -- shit!" << Who the fuck died and made Liberty boss where's Allan >> << Oh God oh God we're all gonna die! >> << Where is she, though -- >> The press of bodies surge out unabated. The ground is rumbling around them, rocks and detritus and broken pieces of drones floating up weightless. People are not floating -- other than the teenager apparently named Liberty, who was already flying. At least, not yet. Mirror, meanwhile, is melting again, an ooze of skin and facial features as they step back out of the lab and into the cool night air. A shift, a warp, and now a Matt 2.0 is standing there, one hand folded across his chest and the other lifting to cup his face in one hand. His ability has stretched out and is clamping down, quiet but firm, on all the labrats coming out of the facility. "We are not having chaos," he says, simply, "until after I find Joshua. Thank you." (Quietly, a shield forms itself into a kind of slide beneath the labrat who'd been floating up into the air when Mirror clamps down on their powers. Jax is still resisting the urge to facepalm; perhaps that will come later, when they are back in the van.) "I do think," he agrees mildlly, "that no chaos is generally better. If you're missing a friend, let me know and probably Hive can let you know if they're here -- otherwise please go with DJ to the vehicle." Suddenly, Carnage -- still standing off to the side, blank-faced -- convulses, clutches his stomach with his one hand, and -- proceeds to drop to a knee, vomiting profusely. Matt's powers remain firmly clamped on the hostile mutants, though he spares a bit of attention to gently correct Lily's crude imitation of his steadying touch. When Mirror!Matt's suppression spreads out over the labrats his eyes go wide and he starts to slam down on that before Jax neatly intercepts the flying labrat's freefall. "Oh dear. I'm metastasizing again." He says this somewhat blandly, as though it were but a mild if frequent annoyance. "It was only a...Matter of time." His thoughts are a bit less cavalier. Just a bit. << Be careful ferrying them. I think Gemma is the one who-- >> His mind starts to supply an unhelpful memory, a blinding burst of nonexistent colors and geometries in his senses, but he cuts it off. << --warps space. >> DJ looks a little bit like he might also be ill, slightly paler, slightly less steady than he was. He does not lose his last meal, though. He just nods at the labrats' greeting, and doesn't bother to correct them. He takes the labrats he's directed to, making his quiet introduction and disclaimer before vanishing in a blur off into the distance. Liberty "eeps" when they start to fall, then continues "eep"ing as they slide safely down to the ground. "I'm trying to find my friend," they retort, "so there won't be..." They look back and forth between Matt and -- Matt, too overwhelmed, at last, to continue playing leader. "Right. Sorry. Who's the DJ, though?" Their eyes tick between the team members and finally settle uncertainly on Polaris's green hair. Behind them the last stragglers -- save Joshua, Skye, Kilroy, and Nathaniel -- have made it out, looking back with some mixture of horror, disgust, and mild sympathy at Carnage as he retches blood. A small, dark haired teenager with black, black eyes wiggles her way out of the pack and goes to Liberty's side. "I'm not going to do the thing," she says, very solemnly. "Can we go now?" Amidst the chaos of the labrats escaping -- amidst the several Matts who are present -- there is a brief psychic spike of one more mind, akin to an animal flush with fear and desperately gnawing at its own leg to escape the bite of a trap. Despite the mute, child-like nature of the voice, the emotion churning behind it is so strong that it briefly pushes out across several minds at once -- like a feral cat yowling in anguish: << don't -- don't leave me here I don't want to be here I don't -- >> The red-head who was previously vomiting blood suddenly straightens up, and -- without a word or glance spared to anyone -- bolts. Running straight out the door, and... decisively not toward the buses. Instead, he runs for the woods. Somewhere in the sea of panicking chaotic escaping labrats here is one -- quiet, slowly-trudging, he's been leaning up against one of the raiders but now is just supporting himself heavily against a wall as he makes his way out into the night. Joshua blinks against the bright floodlights, lifts one hand to shade his eyes as his gaze sweeps the scene. Lands on one Matt -- then another. A very small twitch pulls at his mouth. "Huh," is what he says, soft. "So that's what it takes." He's making his way unerringly towards the nearer Matt with his somewhat ill-fitting uniform. "We going home?"