Rifts in Reality: Falling Down

February 10, 2019:

X-Men and Avengers free the creature of the Rifts.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

*

It has all come down to today. And there is no small portion of exhaustion among the heroes that have been working tirelessly to fight.

Sometimes a fight will be quick; an enemy will show and a battle will happen and one side will be victorious on the war.

And then there are battles like these, where endurance is truly the key. Weeks of trying to stop the portals from pulling more people into the rifts between, while other groups struggle to try to turn the tide back, only to find that more portals open, and more people are endangered.

It is like some other force is deliberately acting against them: it cannot be this random, that as soon as it seems like an area inside the rifts is cleared, a portal opens when the heroes move on.

In fact, the longer it goes on, the more it is exactly that. Something is countering all the moves the heroes make. And often, it even feels mocking. There was one instance where portals were closed, and a small victory party was held to try to lift spirits, and someone laughed that at least they knew those six were closed… and exactly six more opened on those exact spots within the rift, and two dozen people were flung into the midst of the 'party'.

The creature, the energy entity that occupies the sky inside the rifting dimension, has started to collapse into the far sector, exhaustion perhaps taking its toll. It sparks energy when portals open, true, but it also acts like a whipped animal, writhing and collapsing as these things happen.

Today, though, a final move is planned. Many heroes have themselves been unable to show up due to exhaustion, but those that are left and able have been mobilized. The creature either must be sent home, or it must be destroyed. Tony Stark has a new invention to neutralize the portal creation by forcing the creature into paralysis, and the invention has gone into effect an hour ago. Most of the last of the people are being removed. A choice needs to be made.

Yet as the heroes gather to discuss it, the monsters seen now and then throughout the dimension have headed directly towards the invention's site: thirty or more of the large, eerie alligator-like creatures converge towards the tech (and assembly of heroes), as if they were all of one mind.

"Look out, we've got incoming," Iron man calls over the communications. "Two packs; east and southeast. Guess they aren't just weird random monsters after all?"

Nathaniel Richards has the superior endurance of the people of the distant future. He has been sleeping 3.7 hours every 24 for weeks because that is what his diagnosis computers told him it is the minimum amount for an adequate performance.

Adequate meaning he has not been a patient and clear minded as he usually is. But by Bohr and Hawking, this alien critter is frustrating.

"Have we tried anything new to communicating with the Rift's creature?" He asks while he reviews Stark's schematics for this latest invention. He is usually happy to study the amazing things Tony manages to do with primitive 21st Century tech, but today he feels little joy. He is tired.

*

Cracking her knuckles, America adjusts what is left of her jacket and then finally sighs and rips it off. She has taken a beating trying to get things in order. Bites, scratches, and other general wounds are all for the most part sealed up on her body but still very obvious. Bandages where people could apply them as well. She rolls a shoulder and looks to Tony with a nod, "Got ya, southeast and east." She looks back at the others and nods.

"Hey, I got southeast. Rest of you may want to look toward the east." She grins, "If you wanna help me, that's fine, just be aware I'm gonna be working out some frustrations in that direction." She then looks to Nathaniel a moment and gestures in the direction of the creature, "It's that way, feel free to go try and shake its hand."

*

Sage, for her part was standing by what serves as the technical support, her voice pitched enough that she could be heard by anyone nearby, "Charles could have ordered this thing killed this thing outright, if he had chosen to, once the people were rescued. He seemed to believe that it was trapped here, and seeking a way to return to its own world. I see no reason to destroy it if we ca find a way to do that very thing."

*

Diana is standing with the others, wearing a dark navy blue hooded robe with her arms peaking out through the side slits, her golden bracers adorning her forearms. She stares at the others while Tony speaks, then lets her gaze trace over everyone else in-turn.

After Chavez speaks, Diana then looks in the direction that Stark had announced the monsters coming from and she reaches up to pull the clip from her pinned back hair. Her hand then reaches for her sword and shield as her hair comes down across her shoulders. She releases a light exhale and prepares for this… whatever it is that is coming.

"They will soon regret this." She quietly says, her sword held at her side now, gripped within her leather wrapped hand.

*

Psylocke stands among the heroes, many stronger. Many more powerful. But none more resolute. Before anyone can lead the charge, Betsy closes her eyes and lets the winds that wash over her, wash /through/ her, diffusing a sense of peace and power to be bestowed upon the heroes there gathered. Courage, determination, inner peace, and above all, hope. Because if hope is lost, then the battle is lost already. <I have faith in every one of you. Of us. Quiet your mind, focus, and we will prevail, no matter what it takes.>

*

"It's a good thing I can do anything, then," Tony comments tiredly to Sage. "It /should/ be able to communicate. We've got a way that should have worked. But it isn't responding at all. I feel like we're yelling at somebody that can hear us, but has a gag in their mouth, lately," Tony complains with a laugh, with a shrug that shows decently, even with the armor he's wearing. But then he listens to himself, and reconsiders, looking towards Nathaniel and Sage again. "What if that's not far off. We need to look at what else is looking at this thing. I mean, if somebody poked my portal-maker, I'd send my drones out."

Tony looks to Diana and America. "Can you see if you can determine what's behind those alligator things? If there's structure, what's controlling them?" he suggests. "Take anyone with you that you need; they're nasty in numbers, and they teleport."

The creatures aren't milling about, they are strategically moving close to the water, and they spread out as they approach, taking cover in groups, teleporting in little hops to different places, their fanged jaws grinding in an eager manner. Normally they simply have gone after food. It is like something has given them a real cause.

*

Sage nodded to Tony, as she watched the heroes arraying to their set locations. She had fought with Betsy before, and they ahd done well enough, but with Tony in the loop and his equipment brought through, it seemed she might be the one ending up actually being the tech support, "I have never been able to get a reading on these things, the worm, for lack of a better term, or these alligators. Whatever mind it is, it is not human enough for me to communicate with it."

*

Looking back, America nods, "I'll see what I can do for you, Iron Guy." She nods her head, "Gonna be tough to do while they are under my foot or have a fist buried in their face. I'll put all effort into it." She then floats up and flies off to form her own personal proverbial line in the sand as she lands. She flexes up her arms a moment and then she stretches her arms up, "Come on then, lets not play too many games."

*

Nathaniel has never paid much attention to the 'alligators' besides of blasting them when they become a danger. But now Tony's words make him consider. "Patters. Maybe they are part of the creature's systems. Let me review some past encounters quickly." Sage's words have given him something else to consider too. If a telepath as powerful did think this being was sentient, or at least something worth preserving, maybe they should try something different.

*

"Wiser words have rarely ever been said, or in this instance, thought." Diana says in response to Psylocke's mental transfered words. She shrugs off her hooded robe and she nods once to Stark before she watches America take off to the high road. In but her armor and with wielded weapons, Diana starts off toward the incoming creatures, making sure to note their teleportation abilities.

With her nimble ability to lunge, leap and fly, Diana is not far behind Chavez and within fractions of a second she arrives with the other and raises her shield up high. "Something tells me these are not the gaming types." The Themysciran says back to to her powerful companion in this fight.

*

Noting Diana's path in America's wake, Psylocke draws her sword from a scabbard on her back and makes for the other pack. She travels quickly, but steadily, carefully watching the creatures for patterns in their movement. If they can be directed, then there is intelligence behind their strategies. And they are clearly not just out for a snack. There can be just as many tells in actions as in thoughts. Anything she can observe and relay back could be helpful to the group as a whole.

*

"I doubt it. Then again, maybe making an assumption because one is like some magical fanged demon-monster nightmare and the other is literally part of the walls of an energy dimension. Didn't seem overly related, to me," Tony chuckles to Nathaniel.

"But, well. Demons did start /all/ of this. I agree if Xavier thinks it's an innocent creature, we should respect it as much as possible." Tony diverts his attention back into the tech. "I'm going to get a gate aligned to those coordinates we projected as a possible home, start opening links up. Maybe if it feels the place where it belongs, we'll get some response positively…" Tony's now busy.

In front of Diana and America, and now also Psylocke, the creatures abruptly disperse and fall back, as if unwilling to be punched in their snoots as effectively. Here and there one charges out across and teleports to the side elusively. What are they doing? They're elusive. More of them continue to gather, though the numbers are hard to see, with the confusing teleporting.

Then, four of them make a sudden move on the singlular Psylocke, two behind and two flanking, to attempt to abruptly ambush and overwhelm her!

*

Nathaniel is quiet a few minutes. Then groans. "We have been… foolish. Those creatures might not be native. They were sighted in New York during the invasion! Now they are here, and their numbers are growing. But perhaps they never belonged at all."

Because they were not native to Earth he made the assumption they were native to the rift creature dimension. But what if they are intruders? "We should…" fight, because they are way too close. Iron Guard seals the armor in a second, standing between them and Tony's device and blasting the closest one with a repulsor blast.

*

At the sudden proximity of the creatures, Psylocke can feel a psychic presence of unprecedented proportions around her attackers. "Tony," she begins, speaking into the communal comm as she is turning to brandish her sword in different directions. "These guys aren't absent, they're simply blocked. Somethin's put psychic shields around them, to block telepathic and psychic attacks - and probes." She thrusts her sword upward as one creature lunges, coating her sword with a thick, dark ichor as it plunges up through the skull of the beast. Pulling her katana from its sticky, meaty sheath, she slashes at others, keeping them at bay for a moment longer. "Also, there are a lot of 'em. Might take me a few more minutes to kill 'em all…" Her tone is some combination of confidence and sarcasm. "But I wouldn't say no to a li'l help down 'ere." Another lunge, another plunge. This time through the neck of the beast, but Psylocke tumbles backwards with the weight of the beast, into the waiting jaws of one behind her.

*

Sage lifted her head, as she heard Betsy's words, "Psylocke, if we give you the room and the time, can you break the walls blocking them?" her mind was already racing, "What if these creatures are not here to protect the worm, but are here to prevent us from sending it back where it belongs?" She moved away from th rig she was standing at, though she was still on comms, as she crew her guns, moving to assist Betsy in her fight. She had fought them before, and while her blasts were not as effective as she would like, she still send a wave of psionic energy at a pair that were still in the water, trying to keep them away from the X-Men. The guns she would use if she could get a clear shot

*

There's a continued sense of the creatures retreating before America and Diana. Drawing them further out. Then, suddenly moving to engage, in the same style of tactic used on Psylocke. They teleport out, lunging erratically, trying to maneuver the women into the water where they are more physically adapt. One will bite and teleport away, and another will appear where it was, already in mid-bite, to try to lock down and catch the hero-prey. They are ruthless, acting very smart, and strong.

Once those three front liners are engaged, more of them come for the tech position, like a small stealth group of assassins. Tony's forced to turn away from what he's doing and join Iron Guard in trying to just… protect the tech at this point. "I feel a little targeted back here. Clearly we're doing something somebody really doesn't like—-" Tony says. "Good to know, Psylocke. So they have a commander of some kind? Something we haven't seen?"

"I'm putting up a shield around these generators; that should keep them out while we get this open, Iron Guard; going to need both of us on it. Keep up cover while I get that going." Cover is very needed, the assassin group has snuck in, one of the teleporting monsters aims a giant CHOMP for a power module.

*

Turning her gaze back quickly to where Betsy is, America blinks, "Either these things are getting smarter or they remember me…" She then rushes off as quickly as she can, which, is franly pretty damn quick. She lunges right for the one that is about to chomp down hard on Psylocke before it gets a chance. She then spins around once in the air and attempts to throw the beast like a bowling ball right into the ones going for Tony's equipment, "Alright, this is just annoying!" She states and puts her hands on her hips, "I'm here to kick some gator ass and none of them want to oblige. A girl could get a complex." She then lands and looks back to Psylocke, "You gonna be ok?" She asks and then starts glaring around slowly.

*

Diana saw the creatures moving toward the member of the X-Men first, apparently finding her to be most attack-worthy, but upon witnessing Psylocke's prowess with her finesse and weapons… its clear that they made a poor choice.

Taking action, Wonder Woman lunges forward and OVER an initial onslaught of fangs and spikes to actually use their long bodied forms to run OVER them. She shield bashes one daring jumping creature away and jams her sword into the mouth of another!She has no ability to work against psychic shields, however. She just does her very best to battle back these nightmarish monsters! When the teleportation starts to take more effect, Diana finds herself swinging where creature was-but-no-longer is! She stays on the defensive though, landing in the water for moments, only to try to walk up out of it again before the monster she steps on teleports away again!

*

"Oh, definitely," Psylocke groans through gritted teeth as she slashes her katana through the neck of the spider-alligator-teleporting-thing that's latched onto her thigh, just before America puncherizes it. "Happy to de-blockerize all of these little guys, if I can just—AGH!" One has just popped up at eye-level for Psylocke out of nowhere.

"Clever girl…" And a thrust of her katana pierces a lung - or where a lung should be, if these guys follow any sort of bio-organic schemata that she's ever seen. "But not clever enough. If I didn't know better, I'd say they were tryin' to draw as many of us into this fight as possible."

*

"We need to move back, even if they continue to attack us, we need to form a ring of protection around Stark and his machines!" Sage would do what she could, trying to clear the way for Psylocke to retreat, which was made easier by America's arrival, "The more we fight them, the further away they get, the more chance they'll have to destroy whatever chance we have to finish this."

*

"What I feel is we have been played for fools," states Iron Guard. The 'metalliced' voice not hiding his anger this time. He is usually icy calm, but he is not now. Being taken by an idiot really touches a chord. "These so-called alligators are not in the same dimensional frequency than the creature. They have been devouring humans lost here. They are parasites and they might be the cause of the whole problem. And they are not animals!" He double blasts another critter, and then reconfigures his right hand guard into a very large vibro-sword, it buzzes and crackles with energy. "Can you punch through their telepathic defenses, Psylocke? I can stun one or two if that makes it easier?"

*

"Well no, they don't belong here any more than the giant dinosaur-bird we saw weeks ago," Tony agrees with Nathaniel. "But I think saying we underestimated them is, um, accurate," he remarks as he blasts an incoming creature, while multitasking with the shield. Finally it erects around the tech center, like a bubble-dome of shining blue transparent hexagons. Iron Guard is outside of it: Tony and the tech within it. "You should be able to blast through back towards me, but. Probably better not to walk through it, though," warns the inventor.

And then Tony's back into his portals. "Okay, starting up—-" he says, distracted. There are a few alligator types remaining in the assassin group, and some outside the shield, that attempt to teleport through it. They explode into gooey black fragments as they try; it's pretty terrible to watch. The others turn on Nathaniel, and begin to coax him backwards away from the dome, teleporting away from his shots. Intentionally, no doubt, keeping him busy.

*

Diana starts to fall back as she hears the advice of the others, which is obviously quite sound in its logic. With continued sword strikes to cause the creatures to teleport away, and shield blocks to keep herself safe from those that teleport TO her to try to strike her, she manuevers her way back to protectively cover their base-point.

Once returned far enough, Diana's sword and shield are slid away and she spins around to let some of the creatures come at her… lets them gather up and just as her reflexes feel a teleport attack coming for her she lunges and slams her bracers together! A kinetic blast of energy bursts from the point which Wonder Woman's arms cross, it rolls across the area and ravages the environment, it catches some of the creatures as they come out of their portals, while others escape it by jumping away, but those that aRE caught are sent tumbling away in a fanning wave of raw power.

*

Glancing over at Diana, America lets out a whistle, "Hot and hot." She states simply and nods her head, "That is one impressive-" And CHOMP comes down the teeth of an alligator creature right on to America's left arm. She pauses in her praise of Diana only to slowly turn her head toward the creature that is trying to chew on her. It looks so proud of itself until its eyes look up to see the glare of America staring down at it. The thing blinks once.

"You proud of yourself? You proud of what you've done?" The thing only gets a moment to contemplate the mistake it has made before it suddenly has a hand driven into its snout so hard that a cracking sound is heard. Then the thing is wrenched off of her arm and thrown high into the air. The burst of wind that follows is like a tornado as America flies straight up and kicks that thing right into the sky, sending it flying before she turns her gaze downward, spins around once and comes crashing down with a foot that sends two more flying into the distance.

America lets out a snort and is about to brush her hands off when there's another CHOMP and she look sat her right leg and stares at the alligator creature down there, "Really?"

*

And now it feels as if the critters can also understand them. Nathaniel frowns, trying to think while he fires. Misses. Alright, they also have surprisingly good reflexes. But it doesn't matter.

They might be smarter, but their attempt to push him against the shield is fairly transparent. He is not giving an inch. They can bite his armor all they want. Neurokinetic armors don't react well to unwanted bites. They find so when the armor manifest huge spikes that tear through the one of the alligator maws when it bites him. "Dodge that," he quips, smirking under his helmet.

*

Once Sage had drawn back enough to form part of the ring, she looked towards Betsy, having heard the suggestions from the team as they fought, "Psylocke. I am not as strong as you are. You have the power to weaponize your abilities in a way that I cannot." She took a moment, mentally shutting down what processes she needed to, leaving others unguarded, "Take what power I have and add it to your own." For the first time in, well, ever Sage actually sounded uncertain. Allowing that much access to her mind was not something she enjoyed the thought of, much less the doing.

*

Psylocke blinks at Sage's suggestion, although it was on the edge of her mind already, as Sage had been contemplating it. Retreating quickly to a safe distance, and closer to Sage, at that, Psylocke closes her eyes briefly, searching for the exact fingerprint of Sage's psychic energy, and she opens her eyes again the moment that she's found it. Siphoning it steadily, so as not to take too much, or to overwhelm herself, Psylocke seems to be powering up, as a pinkish purple aura begins to glow around her. She watches the beasts as they alternately chomp and then retreat, punched or otherwise, toward America. And with her hands upraised, Psylocke hones in on the frequency of the psychic shields around the creatures. It may be invisible to others, but now it is apparent to her as a cold, blue-white glow. Her eyes take on a purplish light, and Psylocke releases a psychic blast at exactly the same frequency that protects the creatures. In all directions, she can see the bluish-white wave as if in slow motion, attempmting to shatter their defenses in the same way that a resonant note sung can shatter a wine glass.

*

The creatures leave Nathaniel mostly alone after that, they try to stay on the other side of the force bubble from where he is, and continue to make attempts to teleport through the dome, it appears. Or they are just being a distraction for something else that is coming….

Psylocke stabs through the shields, and feels the network of protection flare and senses the mind protecting them try to adapt. It is a magical conduit, some sort of dark, crawling demonic magic that defended them in a shadowy recess of the mind. There's a demon present, and it's lurking not far away, within the shadow of the water of the submerged subway, not more than a block from psylocke's side, close to where the assassin group came from….

"Okay, starting up," Tony calls. A large portal begins to manifest nearby where he is, and slowly starts to change locations, as he tries different configurations…..

*

After having completed her kinetic attack, Diana had stepped back and reached for her lasso as well as the javelin that was also on her back. She gives a glance over to America who's dealing with the biter on her arm and for a second Diana shows a light smirk before she looks back to the sweeping destruction she'd left ahead of her, and the creatures that had survived it.

Wonder Woman starts to run forward, her tall metal armored boots thudding on the ground as her lasso unfurls at her side and with a lashing swipe she smatches up a fanged creature only to pull it TWOARD HER where she skewers it on the javelin and then torsses it aside into three more, all four of the bodies go rolling end over end amongst each other.

She ducks beneath another that had dove for her head, and turns to sweep the golden glowing lasso out to grab hold of it and toss it forward ahead of her, while her javelin is then THROWN right through it, only to lodge into the side of a structure. Diana LEAPS at said structure afterward, grabbing her javelin and wall-running up it to stand on the top corner, her glimmering lasso of truth spiraling around her body to wrap around her as she surveys the land.

"We should hurry!" She says over her comms to whomever can hear her.

*

Sage did hear the battle around herself, of course she did. She had not shut down her hearing. But the focus she needed to keep her mind under her control, especially with someone, willingly offered or not, using it for their own ends made doing much more than standing where she was a struggle. She stayed upright, and occasionally, should the need require it, she fired her weapons, but she no longer moved as a human might. She had had to shut those systems done, so to speak. She was simply a tool now, until the work was done. one with guns, sure, but still a tool.

*

Once the possibility of hostile presence and interference within the Rift creature dimension becomes clear, the puzzle pieces start to become clear in Nathaniel's mind. They have been fixating in the symptoms. A creature too alien to communicate or understand them? But Xavier did manage. So why not they? Because someone was impeding them.

He flies up, over the forcefield, turning toward the alligators gathering at the other side. Repulsors too predictable? He hits them with a wide-area sonic blast, tracking their teleportation with the armor sensors. If Tony's forcefield can stop them to the point it kills them, then other things will also stop them. All he needs is figure out how their vanishing trick works.

*

Psylocke slows her movements - slows down time as /she/ perceives it, to watch all that occurs around her - as the psychic shields are pierced, as they ripple, and as those ripples in psychic energy follow one another, revealing a path back to their source. The ripples that bounce at the source and reflect back out toward her again are at a slightly different frequency, and their hue is a bit darker than what she saw before.

Psylocke has taken all she dares to take from Sage, but she has not given all that /she/ has to give, not yet. She can reach deeper. Give everything. But someone needs to know, in case she doesn't survive the loss - or any potential backlash.

"Tony, Sage…everyone else," she begins into the comm, "I'm goin' for another blast. There's somethin' older and more powerful out there than anythin' we've seen so far, an' it's not far from where I am. It was protectin' the creatures. It's probably protectin' the Port-a-Portal yonder, too. I don't know how much of what I've got left that it'd take to knock 'im out of play, but I know how much I'm goin' to use. Pay attention to where I focus. If I can't get back up after this, you'll all need to know where 'e is." All the while, Psylocke is slowly approaching in the direction of the demonic presence, without entering his bubble to make him move. "Here goes nothin'…"

*

The vanishing trick appears to be an ability related to using the dimension itself in some way: bending it just a little, and leaping to the new area. It's unlikely they can teleport on their own, without being here, but this place makes them able to squeeze through in a way similar to how the demons themselves are used to in their own home dimension: wherever that is.

"Everyone, rally to Psylocke. I'll just focus on keeping myself and the tech operational: I feel like if you can shut that thing down, we won't NEED to protect this anymore. Like Wonder Woman said: get the lead out," instructs Iron man. "I'll be fine, go," he calls to Nathaniel.

It is probably a realistic suggestion. Psylocke's entry of the area causes the place to warp, and some new features to appear: long lines of fiery spokes glitter on the surface of the water: runes, from the magical caster, spiraling outwards, floating unnaturally. Under the murky water is… something, that the eye can't pick out.

*

"Psylocke, take as much as you need." Sage's voice was slow, stilted, as she unmoored the few anchors she had remaining, reaching down to remove the walls she had built to keep her telepathy under her control. It was not some outside force that kept Sage at the level of power she wielded, but her own need to control her mind. «If I fall, there is a place, just under my right fourth rib, it will…reboot me.» Those words she shared only with Psylocke, and with Tony, in quick succession, as she freed her mind, literally.

*

More sounds of fight come from where Wonder Woman had gone, the ledge she'd gone up ontop of on the structure. She battles with some of the gators up there, its a dance of catching them before they can teleport away, or using her powerful reflexes to skewer them with her Amazonian javelin the instant that they come out of their movement ability… in the end she leaves a full circle of dead/injured beasts atop that building as she then leaps from atop it and lands back onto the ground.

"Be careful, Psylocke." Diana says over her comms. She's never met this woman, she doesn't even really know who she is completely but that does not mean she doesn't care for her. "We do not want to lose you."

Diana is starting back toward where the others are, hoping to reinforce them and prepare for whats to come.

*

"Afirmative," Nathaniel flies quickly, to find Pyslocke. He is not sure how much protection can he offer, but his forcefield can take tac nukes and stop psychic blasts. So if whatever monster is down there strikes back, he will be ready.

"Some remnant of the demon invasion, I expect," he offers. "Whatever worked back then, should work now. I am still going about those case files. Been busy."

*

«I will focus on taking down psychic defenses and cleaving the mind of this…whatever it is. I'd try and communicate, but I see no point. We have seen its capabilities, and its intentions. If I can do my job, you may still be left with the physical battle…with whatever is left.» The thought is the last that she will send to the others, knowing now that they are inbound. She will have to make her move now.

As her aura begins again to glow a deep violet around her physical body, a similar light shines from her eyes as the aura takes the shape of butterfly wings, and with hands outstretched toward the demonic source of the psychic power she senses. Honing again on a specific frequency, she will try to slice straight through it - and if she is powerful enough, perhaps she can reverse its flow to turn it back on its source, as well. A singular blast of psionic waves, enough to be heard even by those without psychic powers, resonates from Psylocke, and she blasts the presence with everything she has. No sooner has she released the very depth of her own powers, than she draws her swords. One visible, one invisible. Only after a few seconds does the psionic sword begin to glow with a faint violet-pink light as she screams and charges the presence. She can only hope that she can recharge enough by the time she reaches him to allow the sword to do any good at all, as for now she stumbles, and with each stumble, the sword's light goes out again. She can barely stay on her feet.

*

The pool around the entity that Psylocke seeks suddenly froths with an angry heat, bubbling up from below, as if a deeper connection to hell formed. Heat rises in bubbles and thick steam. They have the attention of whatever lurks below. Psylocke's attack rocks the owner of the mind and magic below, and it begins to surface with a disgusted roar…..

And something changes elsewhere. Tony reacts very quickly. "The worm's up and moving! Whatever you did, do it more!" Tony calls into the comms suddenly. He moves quickly, opening the gate that had the highest probability, based on what they know…

With a lurch, the worm floods the area the dome was in. The creatures fall apart and all over themselves, as the forcefield disappears in a blinding blue star of intense energy and light. "Get them home when that's done, Iron Guard," Tony instructs, in false calm.

The dimension begins to shudder, as the worm holding it together twists and churns, escaping through the portal that was held open for it. The comms from Tony cut out, with the deluge of energy.

In a rage, boiling water heaves open, and spears of blisteringly hot magic are flung outwards, as the demon reacts, attempting to exact vengeance, even as the dimensional space shivers.

*

"Reality shifting, incoming warpstorm," warns Nathaniel. "I am dropping space-time anchors, but I think our goal should be to destroy the demon as fast as possible, and then withdraw." He is trying to track down the creature, not easy giving the interference and its mystical nature. "Deploying Class 10 forcefield, but only three seconds, it is not compatible with the anchors." But the forcefield does stop the mystical storm and the boiling water. "Three, two… one. Field down! Ah… chaos magic, my armor is shorting!" And shifting as it does, like quicksilver.

*

Sage felt the blast of Psylocke's energy, her focus suddenly snapping back into hyper relief as she felt the creature/demon erupt into full on anger, sensed the shivering of the rift all around them. She was still wearing her glasses, but out from around the edges crackled that incandescent blue lighting that usually only escaped her when she was working with genetics. "A demon. It's signature matches those that escaped from Limbo." If only the Queen of Limbo was here now. "No." Sage's word was heavy, final, as she heard Nathaniel's report, the light leaking out like water. Across the distance between where he was and she was there was nothing, but along the edges of the segments of his armor that same blue began to run like water. Shoring up his connection to his systems, augmenting the power of his weapons. Sage did not speak beyond that, but Nathaniel might well be able to feel her there, in the back of his mind, like a breath unasked for on the back of the neck.

*

The creatures begin falling apart. Everything begins to fall apart. This is obviously not good. America looks around quickly as she hears the call outs about what might be happening and then suddenly something begins to burst up out of the water. America lands with a thud near to Diana and then states, "Any ideas besides punch it? I'm probably gonna go with punch it but I'm always open to suggestions."

*

Psylocke has regained her footing somewhat by the time she reaches the surfacing demon, and her psionic sword is glowing more steadily now. "Anger is good, anger causes discord in the psyche," she says into the comm. "I'm going in." With a leap, she reaches to plunge the psionic sword toward the skull of the demon. Simultaneously, she tries to plunge her katana into the throat of the demon. There is no time to waste. Every moment that she doesn't act is a moment that he can use to reorganize his thoughts, and strategize. So whether her attack is affective or not, and whether or not she is physically ready, she has to do it now, or she may never have another chance.

*

There was no thought in the demon, of fear, or self-preservation. It knew only rage…and hunger, and endless hunger. Shards of what appeared to be ice exploded from its body as Psylocke's attacks hit home. But it was not ice that the heroes would feel, those who managed to be unfortunate enough to be within the radius of the attack. No, this was a more insidious poison. It was doubt, rising high in the mind and looming large.

The attack was not skilled enough to make the feeling seamless, as the demon might have been able to give the world and time. No, the heroes knew the feeling was not within themselves, but that did not make it easier to battle against as the sheer power of the thing, honed after so many months of feeding.

*

Usually it is impossible to connect to Nathaniel's neurokinetic armor. It is attuned to his brainwaves and protected by firewalls designed millennia in the future. But chaos magic brought them down, and when he feels Sage connection, he lets her pass. A cyberpath's help might be what he needs to recover control of the suit.

He has no idea of what Sage is able to do. The powersource of his armor is Hyperspace itself. The Bleed. The source of all energy. But it can also go in psychic power? Well, of course it can. "Sage, break off. It would drain you too much." But… it can also be used in tandem with his normal powersource. It takes him a few seconds to channel the psychic energy into an amplifier. Which configures at freakingly fast speed. Safeties are off, he realizes, along with most of the armor safeguards. But then again, it is one of those situations, right? He fires the blast anyway!

*

«I can't.» Sage's voice was a throb in the back of Nathaniel's mind. She had let down her firewalls, she had abandoned the endless, every vigilant control of her mind. And power, once freed, power wanted nothing more than to be used. And so it flowed from the woman into his armor, flooding his systems, as she stood still frozen in place, the battle flowing around her as the light spilled down her face like water, crackled from the ends of her fingers.

*

The situation was dire. This wasn't a situation that could be punched out of but…maybe. Kicked? America flies up next to the others and says, "Perhaps we should just let this thing collapse on to itself?" She asks and then tilts her head before she looks to an area to the right and simply, well, kicks. If this works a star shaped glowing portal will appear that leads directly back to the world they came from, and she'll look to the others, "Go through it if it holds steady. Lets leave this thing to this dying space."

*

Wracked with pain, Psylocke makes one last attempt to plunge her katana into the heart of the demon, one last effort, before she falls down into the water, and backpedals, doubled over. She makes her way, stumbling, toward the others, leaving her sword embedded deeply in the demon. If there's a portal, she's ready to take it. But only if she can get the others to safety. She finds her way to Sage, concern creasing her brow. "God, I've never rebooted a human before…."

*

"I will disengage," replies Nathaniel, but first he is blasting the demon's mind with psychic energy. Suddenly it becomes very obvious how to do it. Except not. Those are Sage's thoughts! It is quite alarming Sage's mind works so much like Nathaniel's, since he has been trained for enhanced logical thought, telepathic-plug-ins and computer communication since he was in the crib.

And so they fry the demon's mind with deadly, surgical precision, pilling on the massive damage Psylocke's psychic knife has already caused.

Then, as his armor functionalities are restored and restarted, he shuts out the link with Sage. As gently as he can, but it is still a warsuit.

*

Psylocke's katana speared the demon, which looked, because her puppet master overlord forgot to mention it before, almost exactly like the alligator creatures, the thing thrashing in pain as demonic energy flew out, again and again, though now, it was not powerful enough to do damage. And what chance it had to live and fight another day ended when the blast from Nathaniel impacted what remained of its mind. It's body blasted apart, the last remnants of the power that had held its form together exploding outward, most of it's impact hitting the shields that were still held in place by the two iron men's technology. What might have been felt by the heroes as they gathered to make their escape through the portal in reality that America had kicked in (out?) felt like claws of pain. But, in the end, it was not such of a much. All of these heroes had long ago learned to deal with pain.

As for Sage, as Betsy pressed her fingers against Sage's ribs, and as Nathaniel severed her connection to him, she collapsed, unconscious. And finally, thankfully, the light faded from eyes and hands.

*

"No time for rebooting, Sweet Pea, we gotta dash." Psylocke grabs Sage and darts for the portal. "Thank God for turning it off and on again…" If Sage wakes up again while en route, she'll find herself bouncing across Psylocke's shoulders as she runs for the portal, making mental note to be sure that everyone else gets out safely, before diving in herself.

*

A look at the others as they go through, she pauses when Psylock does and gestures, "Go on, I go last. I kick the portals." She nods her head as she then watches Diana slip through the portal before she lets Psylocke go through, "Don't worry about the smart guy inside the force fields. I'm sure he has his way with things and if not I'll come back for him." SHe looks toward where Tony was or is and just yells, "You better get out safely or I'm coming for you!" She then nods to Psylocke and heads on through herself, making sure to head out. Here's hoping Tony handles his own business cause she hasn't got time to fight through to him at this point.

*

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License