20 miles N of Westchester (Random Fight Scene)

[Warren Worthington III]

Privately, Warren has to admit that his aerial sessions with Josh have long since stopped being flying lessons - Josh has learned everything he can teach, which isn't really that much. But he enjoys them too much to put an end to them, so he's never admitted that out loud. He suspects the other boy feels the same way.

Their early evasive-manuevers training has degenerated (advanced?) into a high-speed game of tag that both know, though neither admits, that Josh could win at any time simply by grabbing Warren with his TK. Without that, they are almost evenly matched: Josh tires out faster, unable to rest on the wing, but his endurance is improving. Warren can still stay out of his grip by means of trick rolls and switchbacks and taking advantage of wind-currents, Josh can stay out of Warren's by dint of sheer speed.

Warren's advantage is greatest at night, where his windsense is far more useful than sight, and so more and more their exercises have been conducted at night. In that sense, tonight is not unusual.

And the shooting star streaming through the night sky isn't that unusual, either. At first.

But when it grows large enough to show a disk to Warren's keen senses, then crashes out of the sky to strike the ground perhaps twenty miles away... that's unusual.

"Want to go check it out?" he asks over his shoulder, but doesn't even wait for a reply before circling around Josh to scoop him up... he knows the other boy too well by now to expect him to say no. At least that's one advantage of our practice sessions, he thinks.

Another is that they've learned to fly together longer and faster than either of them can on their own. He keeps meaning to invite Daniel on one of these flights... from what he's heard of the new student's power, they might hit hypersonic speeds if they worked as a threesome... but hasn't yet gotten around to it.

"Maybe you should give the Institute a call, let them know where we're headed?"

(( OOC: This is setting up the Random Fight Scene thread.
Rules for this thread:

• Open to Warren, Josh, Larza, Riddick, Jubes. (1-2 others can join if they want, first-come-first-served.)
  
• Freeform until combat starts (it'll be obvious, your opponents will appear and attack). After that, strict rotation in order of initial posts.
  
• Each player plays their normal char and one of the opponents (it will be obvious who runs which one once they appear, I'm keeping it a surprise for now)
  
• Each combat post, post combat actions (attacks, evasions, pulling teammates out of the line of fire, diving in the path of a shot, that sort of thing) for your two chars. (Of course, this can and should also include reactions, thoughts, observations, speech, actual RP-type stuff as well.)
  
• Don't post the EFFECTS of your own attacks. Leave that to the attackee. (Eg, X posts "X throws a thermonuclear hand grenade at Y," Y posts "Y smacks the hand grenade back at X with her tennis racket", X posts "X stares in horror as the hand grenade gets stuck in his teeth before exploding".)
  The exception, of course, is when one of your chars is attacking the other.
  
• PLEASE don't RP your char as a gratuitously powerful combat machine. Nuff said?
  

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Gosh. Life must have been boring before I knew how to fly. Josh realizes that it really hasn't been that long since Warren took him up over the lake that one rainy day, but it sure seemed like it had.

Warren swoops around and plucks him out of the sky. Josh relaxes a little. It's nice to take a break every so often. Though he's never found the limits of his telekinetic powers, constant lift tended to drain him somewhat quickly. Fortunately his stamina was getting better and better, and Warren was always happy to give him a lift when he tired.

>Maybe you should give the Institute a call, let them know where we're headed?"

"Good thinking." Josh pulls his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. He tended to wear a zip-up track sweatshirt whenever they had a flying lesson - which weren't really lessons anymore, but who cares? Whatever anyone else said, the wind got cold, and Josh frankly couldn't understand how Warren could fly around with no shirt on. At least he always feels warm- dunno how he manages that. Josh smiles a little and holds on tighter as he dials.

A minute or two later, he closes the phone shut and stows it. "Storm says it's a good idea, but to be careful. Something about her and Logan leaving to take care of some business, and not being able to rescue us." He scoffs a little. "As if."

He squints into the distance. "What do you think it was?"

[Warren Worthington III]

> "Something about her and Logan leaving to take care of some business, and not being able to rescue us. As if"

Warren laughs. "Yeah, I know what you mean. They're so swamped these days I think the team should be renamed the Ex-X-Men."

He thinks about that for a few minutes as they fly north, wondering if this is the right time to raise the question, and then decides what the hell.

"Actually, that reminds me of something I've been thinking since the rave..." he pauses, a bit uncertain, then plunges on.

"Do you think it'd make sense for the students to form our own unofficial team? We seem to get into trouble anyway, might be worth it to at least train together, know what we're all capable of, bail each other out without waiting for the "official X-Men" to get involved."

> "What do you think it was?"

Warren laughs again. "Hey, even my eyesight isn't up to making out details at this kind of range. Some kind of meteorite, I guess. Or, you know, maybe alien invaders. But we'll find out in about... hm... ten minutes or so."

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

Josh considers the idea. "That's actually not a bad plan. At the very least everyone should be familiar with everyone else's powers. That keeps both you and your teammates from sticky situations. I think that Bobby and Kitty would be interested in working on that, too. I think they're feeling a little isolated from the rest of the X-Men, because of the age gap, and would welcome some direction."

"Speaking of fitting in, how are you enjoying Institute life? It's been some time since you first came to live here. Do you like it?" Josh was curious. When they were together, he and Warren would talk about anything under the sun, but his move to Xavier's was one thing Josh hadn't managed to ask him to date.

I hope it's aliens. That would be crazy... X-Men in space! He shakes his head at the absurdity of it.

[Warren Worthington III]

(( OOC: Still vamping until the others who signed up join in: Larza, Riddick, Jubes. If something's blocking you, let me know what it is? Thanks. ))

> "how are you enjoying Institute life? It's been some time since you first came to live here. Do you like it?"

Warren flies in silence for a while, trying to come up with an answer to that and finding it surprisingly difficult.

"Well, the glib answer is it beats living at the Worthington Center for the Suppression of Inconvenient Mutations. Of course, that's not saying a whole lot." It's not really possible to shrug while flying at high speeds carrying a passenger, but the twitch in his shoulder muscles communicates the idea well enough.

"I guess I don't really feel much like I live here. Um, there. I spend half my time on the road, it seems -- which reminds me, I keep meaning to ask: was that really you last Saturday? I nearly blew that take out of sheer surprise. Since when does your TP reach clear cross-continent?"

"Anyway, though, like I said, I don't spend much time with folks here, with the always-appreciated exception of my favorite flying buddy. Which is my own fault, really, I should make more of an effort to be social. It's just hard, sometimes, when I --"

Warren cuts off as he clears a hilltop and spots their target, less than a mile away. The crater is unmistakable, as is the half-mile-long trench of smoking trees and plowed earth trailing roughly westward, a few hundred yards from a local road. He can just barely make out a large rock, maybe the size of a VW bug, still glowing with the heat of re-entry. Fortunately there's not a lot of traffic at this time of night here in the middle of nowhere, but he's pretty sure that's a pickup truck parked by the side of the road.

He describes the situation and adds "Well... so much for the alien invasion theory, looks like a meteorite. Which is still pretty cool, huh? Somebody else seems to have spotted it already though. I say we come in low and quiet, don't spook them any more than we have to... sound good?"

[riddick]

(Question: Where is this thread taking place? I know its in OOC but is it like a town? Abandoned building?)

[Warren Worthington III]

(( OOC: The meteorite strikes down in a clearing 20 miles north of westchester, close enough to wherever it is you happened to be that when the meteorite made a big BOOM getting these was no big deal, but sufficiently in the middle of nowhere that it won't be surrounded by police and ambulances for another couple of hours. ))

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

"Yeah, it was!" Josh shouts over the wind. "I was getting a telepathic headache and couldn't sleep, so I went downstairs to get something to drink. Danny was outside by the pool, so I went outside to chat for a bit." He cranes his head around to look at Warren, and keeps talking.

"I guess his power is mutant amplifying or something, so I had him zonk my telpathy and I could reach past the West Coast! I can't believe I found you... usually it's much more general that than, and it blew my mind that I was able to with an expanded range to boot. I hope I didn't scare you - I cut off abruptly." Josh looks abashed. "Danny had a brain freeze or something and fell in the pool, so there I was playing intercoastal telepathic footsie with you, and suddenly I had to lift him out!"

>"Anyway, though, like I said, I don't spend much time with folks here, with the always-appreciated exception of my favorite flying buddy...

Josh grins at the comment, and opens his mouth to say something, but they abruptly crest a hill and it's there.

Wow, a meteorite. This is a once in a lifetime thing. Somehow floating through the Danger Room's recreation of the solar system (which is actually really, really cool) pales in comparison to the smoking hulk in front of them.

"Sounds good. The last thing we want to do is bring the cops down on ourselves. Things are touchy enough after Alcatraz." Josh says, eyes fixed on the extraterrestrial object.

[theonavarro]

Jubilee had snuck out of the Mansion, she needed to get out, all her training sessions, authorized and otherwise, and all the tension around the house, was starting to get to her. She couldn't stand being in the mansion anymore, it was starting to get to her, she still wanted to become an X-Man, to help keep the peace and go on missions and whatnot. She wanted to have her own leather uniform with the fancy "x"s. Jubilee wandered through the fields, enjoying a break from the Mansion and all its residents. She didn't want to use her powers right now, even though she could barely make out the outline of her own feet in the darkness. For a few hours she was just going to be a regular teenage girl, for a few hours there would be nor reason for anyone to call her a "freak" or a "mutie", she was just Jubilation Lee, an Asian-American girl who had been orphaned at a young age.

She stopped and leaned against a tree, feeling the rough bark against her back, she took in the cold, fresh air and looked up at the thousands of stars that watched over her from above, she ran her fingers through her hair and slid down to a sitting position. She sighed and relaxed her muscles, she was finally relaxing, something that she found that she could only do when she was away from the Mansion. Those doubts about her loyalties, those wild thoughts about joining the Brotherhood were becoming more and more frequent. But she was adamant so as to not give in to her dark urges, to keep strong and do what was right, after all, the Brotherhood freaks were terrorists, they hurt innocent people to make a point, then again, the X-Men hurt the Brotherhood freaks to make a point. Jubilee wondered why all of the students had to go through danger room training, wasn't the point of the Institute to promote peace and harmony? To provide a safe environment from mutant teenagers? And if so, then why were they all forced to endure combat training, what about those students with subtle mutations, the ones could blend in with society? Could they really go on to live normal lives after being trained to be part of a mutant spec ops team?

Jubilee looked up at the stars again, and felt incredibly small, very cliche, but nevertheless, the feeling of tinyness was there. it was when looking up at those illuminating balls of fire that she saw it, a streak through the night sky, at first she thought it was a mutant, maybe a pyrokinetic with the ability to fly, but when she saw it disappear behind some trees and heard the huge sound it made on impact a few miles away, she wasn't so sure. She scrambled to her feet, if that really had been a mutant, then he or she would need help, now, if it wasn't a mutant... well she wanted to check it our either way. Jubilee ran in the fallen objects direction, after running for a while, she came to a clearing, the first thing she noticed was a huge rock lying in the middle of a crater, the next thing she noticed were that Josh and and that super rich bird-guy, Wally or something, were looking at the rock.

"Hi guys," she said, "Is this the thing that fell out of the sky?" She didn't even know why she asked that question, the answer was obvious enough, "So, is it like an asteroid or a comet or something?"

[Larza]

A job, they called it.

Larza called it driving miles into the middle of nowhere, trying to find someone who was barely worth her effort, only so she could deliver a warning. Not kill him, and get the high pay she usually got. No, they wanted her to *warn* him.

She was driving, heading towardsher destination when a large shiny object fell out of the sky. Her interest was caught immedietly. Shiny object? She was there. Big shiny object hurtling from space?

Did one even have to ask?

She pulled off the road, got out of her "borrowed" car, and started walking, as she couldn't very well go off-roading in the fragile sedan.

When she approached, she wasn't the only one, she noted with some unease. Glancing from one to another, she saw no threat - though there was one among them with angellic wings, which, in her mind, was fairly interesting.

Okay, more than fairly - it was intreguing, and a little bit awesome.

[Warren Worthington III]

As Warren swoops in closer, he notices a couple of other figures moving around in the woods. A little closer and he recognizes Jubilee (good to see he and Josh aren't the only ones from the Institute who got interested!) and fails to recognize a slim, long-haired woman in goth garb.

He notices the new girl spot him, and she doesn't seem to freak out, so he decides to go ahead and land openly. "So, that's not something you see every day, huh?" he comments as he touches ground, pointing towards the cooling rock and continuing to walk towards it.

He's looking the new arrival over more carefully than the rock, so he doesn't see the flicker of greenish light that appears over it when the group gets within about thirty feet of the thing. Fortunately his windsense notices when the light manifests into solid matter, specifically into four faintly-glowing Dopplegangers of the four of them.

"What the --?" he turns as his own counterpart takes a literally flying leap towards him, clearly hostile, just barely manages to intercept a powerful blow to his head with a reflexive block of his left wing, and reflexively strikes back with his right. Unfortunately, Warren Prime seems to share all of his template's hard-earned flight skill, because he skirts the edge of Warren's attack, seeming unaffected by it.

"Incoming!" he shouts out as the other three Dopplegangers get ready to attack.

(( OOC: And we're off! Order is Warren:Josh:Jube:Larza, each player runs both their char and their char's doppleganger.

The dopplegangers have all of your powers and skills but no real personality, they're just out to subdue the invaders. They don't necessarily attack just their own duplicates, it's a free-for-all.

See initial post on this thread for more details.

Have fun! ))

[Josh Dalton Worthington]

>"Incoming!"

Josh's jaw is agape as he sees a seemingly identical copy of Warren attack the other boy. What the f--

His thoughts are interrupted when his own copy gives him sneer and launches itself at him. Oh, god. He reflexively catches it in a TK grip and attempts to just get the thing away from him, causing it to land on a rock outcropping about 30 feet away. It snarls at him. I hope I don't look like that when I'm mad.

Josh launches himself into a telekinetically assisted jump, leaping impossibly onto the rock face, and throws a punch. The clone ducks to the side and follows up with a kick to his abdomen, nearly toppling him off the edge. Damn it! He steadies his footing and TK-lifts a rock, tossing it at the copy's head. The clone freezes it in midair, throwing it in Jubilee's direction.

Shit! What the hell is this thing? It has my powers? He takes a defensive step back, weighing his options, his hands up and prepared for another attack.

[theonavarro]

Jubilee screamed when she saw the clones, she watched Josh and Warren being attacked, her own clone lunged at her, pulling at her hair, the clone had unintentionally saved her from Josh's rock, Jubilee was on her back in the dust, her clone scratching at her face, slapping and pulling her hair. Jubilee continued to scream, fireworks going in all directions, none of them seeming to hit the clone.

Jubilee rolled over, pinning the clone down, she held the clone by the wrists and sat on her chest, the clone was shooting fireworks at her, but Jubilee wasn't hurt by them, it was then that she realized, the clone had Jubilee's exact powers, and as Jubilee could absorb her own fireworks and suffer no physical harm, she and her clone could absorb each others fireworks. Jubilee struggled to keep her clone pinned to the ground, both of them were angry and starting to lose control of their powers, they were in the middle of what looked like a firework twister, bright streamers and motes of energy twirled round them, randomly exploding, Jubilee's face was bleeding, from where the clone had scratched her, there was dust and sweat getting in to her eyes and the clone was bucking and writhing, trying to break free.

The clone finally did break free, sending Jubilee rolling to the side, her back hit a rock and she let out a small whimper, she thought back to her training sessions and swung her lungs, getting back on her feet, she might not be able to hurt her clone with her fireworks, but debris from the explosion might help. Jubilee created fireworks in the ground, just below her clones feet, the ground exploded up-wards, sending the clone flying. Jubilee reeled from a headache, she had never used a move that required so much concentration in the heat of battle before. She was feeling dizzy and nauseous, things were not looking good.

[Larza]

"So, that's not something you see every day, huh?"

"Not really. I have hte tendancy to avoid things that fall from space. This one caught me on a bored night." she responded wryly, arms crossed and looking at the object. Then, suddenly, there were people - identical matches to those standing around her, an herself.

Well. This is new. And interesting. And a little weird."

Her "twin"'s silver eyes locked with hers, and a hand was raised. With a sinking sensation, Larza realized what was about to happen jsut in the nick of time, and ducked the silver blade that could have easily killed her.

"You did not just do that!" Larza was a little irked. She was unique, no one could copy her. Usually. In this case, apparently so.

With a blast of empathic pain aimed at "Larzaclone", she returned fire, but the other kept avoiding the hits, still shooting at her from her position standing on the rock.

A burst of pain, emathic attack-style, was being returned. She used it to fuel her own attack's strength, but she was sure this would be an endless cycle of tiring attacks that would get neither empath anywhere.

Larza stopped returning fire. Sooner or later, the other would weaken when she ran low on blood iron - and then she could strike. In the meantime, she kept moving, ducking and dodging the blades. Some of the stray ones headed towards the others in the group.

(Yeah. Just...feel free to get stuck by one if you're in the mood for serious injury... )

[Warren Worthington III]

Warren's mind is whirling... they're being attacked by their evil twins? What kind of demented soap-opera planet did that meteor come from, anyway? Worry about that later, Warren. Concentrate on not dying, now.

The nice thing about Danger Room training is you get used to absurd things happening, and learn not to let them throw you. Even while bewildered, he's automatically blocking a whirlwind of blows from his clone's wings, noting that the clones have their training as well as their powers. Great. Well, at least they glow, we won't have trouble telling who's who. Another part of his mind is tracking the fight... Jubilee and Josh in hand-to-hand, the new girl trading knives with herself that seem to come from nowhere.

When Jubilee surprises her clone with a below-ground explosion that leaves her looking woozy, Warren decides it's time for a little teamwork. "Jubilee, switch partners!" He launches himself towards Jubilee Prime as she flies back from the explosion and attempts to slam her hard into the ground with a slap from his wings.

His clone takes off after him, just a few feet behind him, and takes advantage of his distraction to wind up a high-powered two-wing uppercut.