X-23 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cutting_edgex23) wrote2008-09-04 10:24 pm
cutting_edgex23) wrote2008-09-04 10:24 pm
Attacking the Purifiers
By the time X returns from Milliways, she is fairly sure she has developed a sound strategy for finding the baby, given what information she's been able to scrounge. Corroborating data would be optimal, but there is no time.
And then abruptly there is even less time, as Nori slams her way out of a meeting with Cyclops and into the common room.
She is out for blood. Purifier blood. So are Julian and Anole. And Cessily.
This is going to be problematic. But X will do all she can to buy her team time to get bored. Or afraid. She does not care which.
It's a start.
***
Five churches into their search, however, it does not seem as if Surge will give up. Or Julian. And X cannot afford to be frustrated, because they have found a likely location.
Crouched on a rooftop across from the church, X scans the building using nothing but her own senses. There is less chance of glare if she does not use a scope. "There are seven Purifiers on the outer perimeter. They are equipped with anti-mutant weaponry. And anti-telepathy implants. I can smell them."
No wonder Miss Frost and the Cuckoos could not find anything. They need to be informed.
She is silent for a few moments, listening (and looking) intently.
"There are two units on the roof. Guards are most heavily concentrated at the side entrance. That is where our target is."
Beat.
"We should enter somewhere else. It is safer."
Surge does not actually disagree, and they move out. X's body is strung wire-tight, every sense on the alert for trouble. No one is going to die tonight. Except Purifiers.
She will not let them.
Julian provides their opportunity to slip inside--X does not flinch, even though she can recognize the sound of a spine snapping. Some things are efficient. Cessily takes out a second guard, giving Anole the time to slip away, heading for an area high in electricity usage. That should be the compound's computer banks.
He is gone for a long time.
X can feel Surge lose patience, but she does not have the time to deal with her team leader. One of the guards must have missed a check-in. Reserve troops are moving in very fast.
X's attention is caught, very briefly, when she hears Surge scream "Fry you bastards!" It does not last. Six Purifiers with guns arrive from a side corridor, and she needs to disable them before--
FWOOM
--before one of her teammates gets shot. Or hit by falling masonry. "Surge, get d--hulp"
There are newcomers on the scene. None of them are Purifiers. They have masks. The woman in the lead has just stabbed Julian through the chest. With her hand.
Everything goes very still.
Julian is bleeding.
His heartbeat is slowing.
Several internal organs have been perforated.
He is going to die.
"Come to me, children. Come to Deathstrike."
She keeps talking. X does not pay attention. She is evaluating these new opponents. Only one of them will present a significant threat--Deathstrike.
She is also, not incidentally, inserting herself between the clawed woman and Julian's crumpled frame. Once she is situated--
"You are not allowed to touch him." Not just him. All of X's teammates are off limits.
And this, of course, is when she attacks, claws out and death her only mission objective.
Pixie's decision to teleport them out could not have come at a worse time.
And then abruptly there is even less time, as Nori slams her way out of a meeting with Cyclops and into the common room.
She is out for blood. Purifier blood. So are Julian and Anole. And Cessily.
This is going to be problematic. But X will do all she can to buy her team time to get bored. Or afraid. She does not care which.
It's a start.
***
Five churches into their search, however, it does not seem as if Surge will give up. Or Julian. And X cannot afford to be frustrated, because they have found a likely location.
Crouched on a rooftop across from the church, X scans the building using nothing but her own senses. There is less chance of glare if she does not use a scope. "There are seven Purifiers on the outer perimeter. They are equipped with anti-mutant weaponry. And anti-telepathy implants. I can smell them."
No wonder Miss Frost and the Cuckoos could not find anything. They need to be informed.
She is silent for a few moments, listening (and looking) intently.
"There are two units on the roof. Guards are most heavily concentrated at the side entrance. That is where our target is."
Beat.
"We should enter somewhere else. It is safer."
Surge does not actually disagree, and they move out. X's body is strung wire-tight, every sense on the alert for trouble. No one is going to die tonight. Except Purifiers.
She will not let them.
Julian provides their opportunity to slip inside--X does not flinch, even though she can recognize the sound of a spine snapping. Some things are efficient. Cessily takes out a second guard, giving Anole the time to slip away, heading for an area high in electricity usage. That should be the compound's computer banks.
He is gone for a long time.
X can feel Surge lose patience, but she does not have the time to deal with her team leader. One of the guards must have missed a check-in. Reserve troops are moving in very fast.
X's attention is caught, very briefly, when she hears Surge scream "Fry you bastards!" It does not last. Six Purifiers with guns arrive from a side corridor, and she needs to disable them before--
FWOOM
--before one of her teammates gets shot. Or hit by falling masonry. "Surge, get d--hulp"
There are newcomers on the scene. None of them are Purifiers. They have masks. The woman in the lead has just stabbed Julian through the chest. With her hand.
Everything goes very still.
Julian is bleeding.
His heartbeat is slowing.
Several internal organs have been perforated.
He is going to die.
"Come to me, children. Come to Deathstrike."
She keeps talking. X does not pay attention. She is evaluating these new opponents. Only one of them will present a significant threat--Deathstrike.
She is also, not incidentally, inserting herself between the clawed woman and Julian's crumpled frame. Once she is situated--
"You are not allowed to touch him." Not just him. All of X's teammates are off limits.
And this, of course, is when she attacks, claws out and death her only mission objective.
Pixie's decision to teleport them out could not have come at a worse time.