Invasion of Congress (Institute Away Mission)

[Rogue]

Rogue was entirely unaware of the goings on outside of her mind at the moment, wrapped in a struggle within herself.

For the most part, Template’s memories were condensed, and within Rogue’s mind, she formed a solid, whole being, memories locked within that being, so there was no overwhelming surges and flashes of things gone past.

It would have been a relief, if not for the woman’s blatant anger, and the fact that she was attacking her.

”What did you do to me?!”

Rogue shied away from the woman as she rushed her, dodging the attack, but barely. ”I don’ know…” she responded, deflecting another blow heading her way. Here, the woman’s strength was only equal to Rogue’s own, not the strangely abnormal level she’d had before.

”You put me here – how could you not know?”

”I jus’ don’…” she responded, as a pain started to form in her head. ”I didn’ mean t’…”

”Yes you did! You meant to touch me, to do this to me. I’m not the only one in here, either…”

Rogue’s eyes drifted to behind Template, where the other psykes were standing in a half-circle around them, watching the goings on with curious expressions. They all appeared half-translucent, like ghosts, or something.

All but Template. She was utterly solid, whole. Opaque.

While she’d learned long ago that the ghostly shades of spirits she’d stolen couldn’t hurt her, she had a feeling Template wasn’t like them in that reguard.

She was proven right, as, abruptly, Template lunged forwards and grasped Rogue’s throat, trying to strangle her. Despite this being within her mind, she somehow felt the need for air as strongly here as she would have in reality, and her hands came up, grasping for the other woman’s, trying to pry her off.

She could still see the semicircle of psykes, watching with anger, now. They seemed to understand that this was bad, but they also seemed unable to decide what to do. Seeing her friends – and enemies, but they weren’t the most pressing enemies, at the moment – she mouthed a ‘help me’ to them, which she was startled to hear come out as real words.

It was as if all they’d needed was permission. Instantly, they were in fighting positions – Bobby in full ice-form, Logan with claws out, John with a fireball in one hand, Magneto hovering, metal dredged up from somewhere orbiting him in small bullet-shaped objects – and moved at the two solid forms.

They couldn’t hurt her, but they could hurt Template.

The woman released her, realizing the greater threat, just as a ball of flame shot their way. Template seemed to still possess her invulnerability, as only her clothes lit on fire for, and she started frantically batting it out. It left Rogue untouched, not even her clothing catching, as she stood, trying to regain her own strength, to catch her breath.

Then Template was in the air – not by her own powers, not flying, but held in a telekinetic grip by Josh, even as Logan was flung their way by Colossus in his metallic form, his “flight” enhanced by Magneto’s powers.

But Logan wasn’t going for a kill, she noted. Template was thrown to the ground as Josh released his grip on her, and Logan easily pinned her. All the psykes moved forwards, now, and pulled her up, and with them into the rear corners of her mind. She followed, after a moment, curious as to what they were up to.


(Staying unconcious for this round, I'll wake up next time...)

[Kitty Pryde]

After grabbing Josh and pulling him from the big guys grasp she rolled away as quickly as she could. "I could phase him through the floor and leave him between floors." She said looking to Josh once again.

Looking around she noticed that Rogue seemed to be down for the count. The lady floating still above her. Bobby was now dealing with Merrick and in fact Kitty didn't know what she could do to help him. Her best bet was to find the guy who was generating the forcefield and get him out of the way quickly. She looked to Josh again waiting for him to tell her if he wanted her to take care of the big guy for him first.

Merrick stepped close to the boy again trying to get a good lock once again. When he realized the girl was close as well he tried to find a way to advance on them both. If he could get rid of two of them then they would definitely not have a chance to end this.

He looked back at the boy just in time to get hit in the face with slush. This broke his concentration a bit, and only slowed him down a fraction. He quickly wiped it away heading for them both now much quicker. "Oh so that is how its going to be. Get over here you little rugrats."

[Bobby Drake]

(( OOC: 48-hour deadline passed, skipping Riley for now, moving on… ))

Bobby makes a mental note to do more blindfolded Danger Room training. His thermal sense is damned useful for getting a feeling for what’s going on in the whole room, but is significantly lacking when it comes to details and acuity. Normally he’d just ice up a shell around his target and be done with it, but he’s not used to using thermal perception as a combat targeting sense, and he can’t quite seem to lock on with it. It’s frustrating as hell.

He’s aware of Tubby stumbling backwards from whatever Josh is doing to him, and of Kitty fading in and out (apparently she doesn’t radiate heat when phasing, at least not in any way he can perceive, which is pretty neat… something else to experiment with some day) and Riley isn’t next to Eyes anymore, so he assumes she’s gone to help out Marie. There are some bodies on the floor, probably Marie and the flying woman and some unconscious guards, but he can’t tell them apart or even tell how wounded they are.

Which leaves Eyes as his target. Bobby’s first shot barely slowed the guy down, but it did serve to establish some ranging parameters… and now that Riley isn’t standing right next to the guy Bobby can really cut loose. He extends both arms in the guy’s direction as he rushes towards them, and the slush-spray becomes a torrent, designed to trap Eyes in an opaque glacier.

It’s not something he’s ever done to a living target before, since he’d just have to dig the target back out in a few minutes before it suffocates, but it’s the only way he can think of to neutralize Eyes for the moment. Once we finish dealing with Tubby Josh can dig him an airhole, or something.

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh concentrates on his telepathic shout, reaching an mind-splitting level - for the Blob, anyway. He notices that the man's psychic defenses are abnormally low.

Finally, he ceases, dropping both hands from his temples, rubbing a little bit. Sustained linkage of that sort was rough on the ole' cerebral cortex. As he does, he sees the Blob plop down onto the ground, dazed. The steps creak under his weight.

"Yes!" Out of the edge of his vision, he sees Bobby attempting to quick-freeze Merrick, and reaches out with his powers, trying to bring the man to a halt in midair. "Iceman, I've got your back. Cool it, Merrick!" He extends a hand to focus his telekinetic control. Somehow temperature puns never become old around Bobby.

He risks another glance over at Rogue. Is she alright? His eyes then stray to Kitty, who is looking at him expectantly. "Ah... try going for that guy with the forcefield. Looks like Tubby's disabled... for the moment."

<Team, as soon as the situation is under control, get ready to bug out. We don't want our identities compromised.> Especially seeing as my face is already in the media... Josh suppresses a small groan.

[Rogue]

They’re dragging the kicking, screaming, and fighting Template into the rear of her mind, where she’s never actually been. Rogue’s assuming this place is reserved for things that even she’s not sure she wants to know, or see, or remember. Her step is timid, but she doesn’t want to lose sight of them, either, and get stranded here, because even if it’s her mind, it’s all blank walls. One section looks much like any other, aside from the darkening area they’re heading into.

She absently wonders if, since it’s her mind, she should be able to create things, manipulate the “world” around her. Maybe once she has the energy she’ll try it, but right now, she’s still exhausted from Template’s strangling attempt.

They’ve reached the backmost section of her mind. Bobby starts creaking something – an ice cage – while the rest keep Template still. Magneto reinforces the thick ice walls with metal, and the rest throw Template inside, as the two seal her up, only the front barred wall open to viewers. She tells them thanks, silently, but they understand, and some start drifting off into other areas of her mind, while a few – Bobby, Magneto, Logan – stand guard.

She notices a few locked boxes – large metal-looking trunks, with chains and locks all over the place. She doesn’t know what’s in them, but she’s not in the mood to find out, right now. Maybe another time, she’ll explore this. But if they’re sealed up this way, does that mean she doesn’t want to see them? Or had Xavier put these boxes here during one of their sessions? And if he had, why? To protect her from something?

She looks around for a moment for someone who’ll be able to lead her back to the forefront of her mind – wherever that was – so she could wake up as soon as possible, because she's not sure how to get there herself. John’s psyke is standing nearby, not near enough to look like a guard for Template’s prison, not far enough to look entirely uninterested. He’s playing with his lighter – which, she notes with amusement, is the same as the one he carries even now – and he looks up when he notices her watching him.

Without having to ask, he motions for her to follow, and she does. They’re there – wherever there actually is - soon, and she feels herself drifting back to reality…

And her eyes are open, now, and she sits up, disentangling herself from Template's body's limbs, and rising unsteadily to her feet. It' confusing, this battle scene that's going on, and she notes, with minor annoyance, that everyone else is on their feet, still fighting, and almost done. Of course she got taken down.

She really needs to work in the Danger Room more when they get home...

She looks at Template's form a moment, considering askng Bobby to make some sort of ice shackles or something, until the cops can get in, but she doesn't. She's not going to need to be secured. Her entire being is within her mind right now, in a cage...she's not waking up, not for now.

She turns away, and moves towards the team, no longer touching the ground, but not noticing it. "Anythin' I c'n do..?"

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty nodded to Josh quickly making her way toward the guy who was creating the forcefield. No problem there considering that he is alone in another room off to the side of their current location. She phases through the wall coming up behind him in an attempt to catch him off guard long enough to stick him in the floor for awhile. Just enough to disable him so that he can no longer be a threat, even though he isn't much of one to begin with.

She stepped up behind him silently. No reason for him to know what was happening. Grabbing him around his arms and pinning them to his sides she phased them through the floor, releasing him when she was halfway through and boosting herself back up to the floor they had just been on. All she could see was his head and upper body now, his arms and legs secured through the floor. She had been careful enough to make sure that the situation couldn't kill him, just hold him for a bit. "Hang tight, the cops will be here for you soon." She said with a wink making her way back to the others.


Merrick staggered back as he was hit with an even stronger force of ice, and the fact that he was suddenly lifted off his feet and pushed back by the brat from the club didn't help matters much. This was throwing him into a rage. He was sure that he would be ab;e to handle these kids and now they were getting the leg up on him.

Landing he dug his feat into the floor letting some of the ice build up around him, at least enough for the kid who was doing it to get cocky. He would then break out of it. They had only seen one of his powers and he had others he would utilize very soon.

[rileyfletcher]

Right when Riley was going to get Merrick, he noticed her and she had to look away so there wouldn't be any eye contact with him. She heard Bobby using his powers on Merrick and flew up into the air, so she would be out of his way for any more attacks. Riley noticed that everyone was handling things well. Josh had been fighting the big guy and was able to put him into a daze, she guessed he used his telepathy for it. Then Kitty had disappeared, but when she noticed the force feild down, Riley knew where Kitty had disappeared too. Bobby was busy freezing Merrick up. Then there was Rouge. Riley didn't noticed that Rouge had fallen to the ground and was tangled up with the flying woman, but it looked like they weren't moving.

Quickly, Riley rushed over to Rouge and the other woman. She landed and let her wings go back into her back. Then Riley bent down by Rouge, she couldn't touch her to see if she was still alive, but before Riley could think of something to do, to see if Rouge was ok, Rouge had awaken and gotten up. Well, I guess she is alright then.

Again, Riley looked around to see if she could help out in anyway, but it seemed like everything was under control. Though for some reason, Riley had a feeling that it wasn't over just yet. She watched Merrick being frozen, but for some reason he was to willing to get frozen. Usually people would try to move as much as they can, thinking that they could get out of a grip of a telekinetic and out of the ice, but he was just standing there. This isn't right.

Then Riley remembered about the people behind the ice wall. She knew that she would have to soon go through it and heal the people that were injured, but she would need Kitty's help and she wanted to stay around to keep an eye on Merrick, incase he was up to something and they might need her help. Even though it seems like they really didn't need her along.

[Bobby Drake]

Bobby grins confidently as the mentalist turns into a mini-glacier. Wow... he just stood there and took it... didn't even dodge. Moron!

"Don't worry, dude, I'll get you out of there before you suffocate. Just need you and your magic eyes out of the way, is all." Confident that that threat is neutralized, he opens his eyes and looks around.

Flying girl down, forcefield guy gone, forcefield down oh hell, that means the army's gonna be in here any second... gotta move fast!, Riley's with Rogue, Rogue looks OK, Merrick down, Tubby... well, geez, how can you even tell? But at least he's off his feet and looking dazed.

For lack of anything better to do he concentrates on chilling down Tubby... the guy's physically pretty tough, but maybe his "weird mass" doesn't handle cold well? Who knows, but it's worth a shot.

"I'm thinking maybe the army can take it from here, now that the forcefield is down? Anyone thinks otherwise speak up fast, otherwise let's bail the hell out before they decide to round everybody up and ask questions later."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh takes up a defensive stance near Bobby. We're almost through this one, team.

Blob shivers stupidly on the stairs, but after a moment thuds ponderously towards the X-Men. Between the first kid's mental assault and this blue kid, things seem to be tough going. Even his thick covering isn't helping much.

He takes a wild swipe with an arm at Riley and Rogue, who are standing near each other. With the other arm, he tries to smash into Josh and Bobby. His movements continually grow slower.

"Iceman!" Desperately, Josh tries to throw up a telekinetic shield over the two of them. The first massive swing bounces off, to Josh's pleasure. Unfortunately, the second has much more power behind it, and the resulting force ruptures the shield and tosses Josh against the wall behind the boys.

Painfully, he picks himself up off the ground, wincing at the sharp pain in his back. That'll be a bruise, later. He looks over - Tubby seems to have entirely stopped, and also seems to be turning somewhat blue. He no longer appears to be a threat.

Josh limps over to Bobby, holding his side. "You okay?" He's concerned, and holds out a hand. "We should probably get out of here..." That impact had a hell of a lot of force behind it.

[Rogue]

"...let's bail the hell out before they decide to round everybody up and ask questions later."[/color]

Rogue nods, and moves to walk a little closer toth egroup, in case they plan on doign the phase-thing again, only then realizing there's no ground beneath her feet. She stares down a moment, and then abruptly the foot of space between her feet and the floor closes, and she's standing.

She looks up from her own feet just as Josh is sent flying backwards, and winces slightly. She feels like her reaction times are delayed, like she's half-asleep or something. Or underwater. Running a hand across her face, brushing hair away from her eyes, she tries to collect herself. Walking towards Bobby and Josh takes too long, but yet she's there before she realizes it. Very strange sensation.

"Ready t'go when y' are. Y'all okay?" she asks, and looks around them briefly, almost expecting police to be running inside at any second, now that the glowing forcefield's gone. When had that happened? She didn't recall noticing it before. How long had she been out? Iit couldn't have ben that short, if everyone had won already. Then again, they could have just kicked everyone's butt really fast...

[Kitty Pryde]

Kitty returned to the room looking around at their handwork. She heard Bobby say something about leaving and a few moments later Josh hit the wall. Okay so they were about done here at least. It looked like they had taken care of just about everyone, and they seemed to do it pretty quickly. Not bad for a first time on their own. Kitty nodded to the group. "Lets go then. The last thing we need is to be caught and associated with these goons."

Merrick had waited. He knew the kids would forget about him now that he seemed to be frozen. He had only exhibited one of his numerous talents before and now it was time to prove he wasn't just your ordinary mutant.

He flexed his arms breaking the ice around him quickly and efficiently. The shards splintered around his body freeing him in mear seconds. A wild and malicious smile was on his face as he grabbed the eyes of the nearest kid that was facing him wanting to turn them on their friends.

[rileyfletcher]

Hearing them shouting saything that they better get going, Riley slowly walked towards them. For some reason, Riley couldn't explain it, but she felt that something wasn't right. She was trying to figure out what it was, but still keeping an eye on Merrick. Riley noticed that everyone was together and she was the only one that was still almost on the other side of the room from them.

When she was half way, that's when she heard ice breaking and her feelings was right, and that there was something else going on. Right away she was looking at the frozen Merrick. Then with out realizing her eyes locked with his. Riley never really realized how bright red they were. She tried to look away, but nothing was working. It was like she was frozen and couldn't do anything.

(ooc: I know my post sucks, it's cause I'm sick so it's really crappy. Sorry)

[Bobby Drake]

"Jo—ack!" Bobby suddenly forgets Josh’s codename in the heat of battle as the Blob sends his roommate flying against the wall with a meaty “thud”. He manages to keep his focus on Blob, though, as the cold seems to be putting the guy down for the count.

Fortunately, Josh seems to recover with just a bit of a limp, and a moment later Marie is up and around – literally up, quite a few feet off the floor, but seeming OK.

> " You okay? We should probably get out of here... "
> " Ready t'go when y' are. Y'all okay? "
> " Lets go then. The last thing we need is to be caught and associated with these goons. "

Bobby sighs with relief at Marie’s relative normalcy. Yes, granted, she’s flying… but powers are one thing and personality something else. Especially since the personality seems to have a way of sticking around after the powers fade. And everybody else seems in good shape. Cool… didn’t get anybody killed.

"Yeah, that shield of Jo-, Jo-, Impulse’s is a real neat trick, and I think that was Tubby’s swansong… he looks pretty much down. You both scared me for a second there, though… glad y’all’re OK. Anyway, yeah, we should get out of here, now that the bad guys are – "

The rest of the sentence is lost in the sound of Merrick’s ice-prison exploding. Crap, how’d he do that? No fair, he’s supposed to be a normal-bodied mind-guy!

"Crap! What does it take to stop these assholes? Don’t look at him, guys!" Bobby shuts his eyes again before turning around and shooting at Merrick with another ice-spray – it would slow him down, at least. And behind him he can sense several bodies coming down the hall – soldiers, more than likely, and he really doesn’t want to be fighting soldiers.

"We have to pull out now! Fliers, link up with Kitty, then grab me and let’s go out the way we came in!"

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh looks anywhere but the ice-prison when it explodes. Explodes spectacularly, with a shower of ice.

He uses his telekinesis to deflect some of the sharper shards, but they all get a faceful of ice nonetheless. Looking over at Kitty, he throws out his right arm. The left arm loops around Bobby.

We've gotta get out of here! Briefly, he hopes that the Army hasn't tripped over the cloaked Blackbird. If so, they'd likely be dodging missiles on the back out of Washington. And we all know how well that worked last time.

"Ready, guys?" He encases himself and Bobby in telekinetic field, ready to propel them forward. They hear scuffling down the hallway... Please don't make me try to stop any bullets. Gah.

[Rogue]

At the sound of the ice explosion, Rogue's feet lift off the gound - and stay there, again. She doesn't bother to try to land, this time, though, because she can see that something's wrong. Riley's...looking at the guy who'd just busted out of the ice.

Crap.

Despite hearing the orders from Bobby - and knowing full well she's going against them - she moves between them, hopefully to break the eye contact, but she can't be sure, her back towards the mind-controlling mutant. Someone has to take down hat guy - if the military get controlled...they could take eachother down too fast, nd this wouldn't really be over, now, would it?

With a thought, she calls to the psykes. She's got an idea, now - if she can have one of them move to the forefront of her mind, and be her eyes... Several minds within one mind outght to confuse Riddick's gaze, and disable his knowing of who he was controlling. And, since they're in a helpful mood today, it seems fitting to ask one last favor.

Cody moves to the front of her mind, as she had requested. Good, because he has no abilities, nothing to use against the other psykes if the control turns out bad. She turns, and the way she's seeing isn't normal, anymore - it's like someone is simply pointing the way. She's removing a glove as she moves to him, following directions whispered into her mind.