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Post by Pyro on Oct 22, 2007 18:17:25 GMT
[[ John’s arrival into DOFP, scheduled to happen in the build-up to the BH raid (some time after the others have arrived and been collected by either SHIELD or Warren). Minor ret-con to put the ‘almost not-quite breakup’ at the same time as Primer’s attack on the ‘stute (i.e. the evening after Bob’s BH Beatdown). Tagging Rogue, otherwise open - rough plan is, Rogue and John'll be being taken back to the camps about the time Warren and Co are setting off to free Cannonball, so any SHIELD-ees are especially welcome. Just to recap - future!John's dead and future!Rogue's cured and insane ]]
… and everything had been going so well.
Granted, ‘well’ probably isn’t how most people would choose to describe how things had been going. The saving Bob part, maybe – it hadn’t gone ‘badly’, at least, subsequent headfuck and subsequent subsequent failure either to find out anything about this Wolf-girl or any of the new Brotherhood, or to distract himself in the attempt, non-withstanding. The part that came after that… ‘well’ probably doesn’t cover, does it? Does it? Could have ended well, perhaps, but…
Fuck, he’ll figure it out later; right now there are more pressing matters, like reassembling what’s left of his brain after whatever the fuck just happened… finding out where the hell Rogue’s gone… and… fuck, okay, above all that…
What the fuck happened to the Institute?
5 minutes ago, John’s fairly certain (as certain as one can be, at least, when it feels like something large and rabid has clawed half your skull away…), this had been the lounge. There’d been a sofa just about here… and okay, that much still stands, but it had been the right way up then and not decomposing, the fabric gone and the rusted, twisted metal disgorging springs like twists of dark intestine, springs that crumple into damp orange dust when he tries to pull himself up…
And an alarm had gone and…
… and there’d been some sort of explosion, and…
… and the Institute had just, what, vanished?
Okay, there are mutants out there powerful enough to take out the Institute. Probably. Hypothetically, at least, even if he’d rather not think about it. Not to mention the other options – plenty of people’d want to level this place – more than a few have tried, after all. But the idea of someone succeeding, just like that? No. No fucking way, however ‘possible’ or ‘probable’ it’s just totally fucking unbelievable. Buildings don’t just vanish, craters don’t just appear, and, John’s pretty fucking certain, things don’t just go to hell in a split second leaving nothing but wasteland in their place.
Except that if he’s going to believe the evidence of his own senses – which is, after all, usually the only evidence worth considering – then… yeah, they do. Everything and everyone.
”Ro…” he starts, making a second, stumbling attempt at untangling himself and getting to his feet, and stops himself abruptly because it seems obscene to be calling for her when there’s nothing and no one, when it’s all just gone – everything. And it’d almost be funny, him apparently the last one standing after whatever-the-hell-that-was wiped the X-Men off the face of the planet – and should be, really, because when did he ever give a fuck about going it alone? – except that it’s also huge – way, way too vast to get his head around (fuck’s sake, Rogue’s invulnerable and Toni’s got to be damn near indestructible, and Bob can just reform his ice form now (right?) and… which all makes it all the more insane that they’re all just gone, and doesn't exactly give him much hope insofar as his ability to outlive them g... no, not outlive, because they can't just be dead, right? Stop thinking) - and, yes, more than a little terrifying. Because here, alone in the ruins, shakily sort-of-balanced on legs which feel as if they’re conspiring to betray him at any second, fingers darting to his pocket to close around his lighter (at least something of the old world - something halfway familiar and reassuring - survived, then) John can’t remember feeling much more helpless.
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Post by Rogue on Oct 22, 2007 19:05:54 GMT
An alarm is generally a very bad sign in the mansion. Usually means something’s gone wrong, someone’s coming to invade (again?!), or there’s a mission needing to be done, or something to that nature… so jumping up and flying off when she hears is clearly because of that fact, and not at all because the situation at hand is going downhill too fast for comfort.
Before she can get to wherever the action (whatever it is; she’s not entirely sure what to expect, really) is, there’s a flash of light, and she instinctively closes her eyes against the brightness…
…and when she opens them again all she can see for a moment is a light, clear blue color, and it takes a moment (and a nearly panicked glance downwards) to realize why. She’s outside, and way, way too high up; higher, she thinks, than she’s been before.
But she’d just been inside seconds ago. How...?
There’s some kind of wreckage down there, she notices, as she slowly lets herself lose altitude, and that sort of distracts from trying to figure out how she got here, because suddenly where “here” actually is is the more important question. The second of panic that the mansion’s been destroyed fades out because that’s definitely not new damage to whatever building it had been before; that damage has to be old. There’s no dust in the air, no smoke or fire or generally what sort of chaos it would take to level something of that size, and no sign of any recent movement, really, at all... Can’t be the mansion.
So then… where is this? And how’d she manage to get here without realizing it? Because she’s never done something like that before, and she’s pretty sure it’s nothing she’s capable of…
…someone’s down there. There’s a slight movement she couldn’t really see if not for that she’s trying in vain to see something that makes sense and so the movement grabs her attention and holds it, and she heads in that direction. Whoever it is must have some idea where this is, must have some kind of answers, right?
The closer to the ground she gets the more unnerving the shattered and destroyed building is… and then she can see the figure below better, and there’s something like dread mixed in with the relief in that she can recognize John there because there’s no one else anywhere closeby and it’s like some kind of weird nightmare except it feels really real, and she doesn’t think she’s had this dream before (because they’re usually more obviously-scary, nothing like this weird stillness at all), and all of it just has her hurrying to get out of the air and so she lands a little harder than normal (not like it hurts, though, it’s just not very “graceful” in the way she almost stumbles as she hurries over, but grace isn’t really something she’s worrying about right now).
”John?” It’s really not to confirm it’s really him (because who else could it be?), and more to catch his attention, and followed by a forced-steady (even though she doesn’t feel anything like that right now; but panicking would be a bad idea, right?) and mostly-automatic (but at least this time definitely warranted) ”Y’okay, hon?”
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Post by N.P.C on Oct 22, 2007 19:09:01 GMT
These power-suits have a lot of advantages, Agent Sitwell muses as he stands guard-duty on the Institute ruins. Usually, what he appreciates is the firepower and defensive shielding. Right now, he appreciates the ability to lock the legs in a standing position and relax while looking every bit the official guard on duty.
After all, it’s not like anyone else is going to show up here… putting us on guard duty is a classic case of locking the barn door after the horse has – what the?!? He’s startled out of idleness when his proximity sensors go off, and he turns to see a teenaged boy and girl running frantically around the site. How did they even get this close?!?
The suit kicks into high gear as he aims his pulse-rifle in the couiple's direction, the target-locking software engaging on his HUDs in less than a second. “Halt! This is a forbidden area, unauthorized personnel are not permitted. Come out with your hands up and make no sudden moves or I will fire.”
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Post by Pyro on Oct 22, 2007 19:48:22 GMT
Of course, wandering, dazed and bleary, in a skewed circle only gets you so far… that is to say, not very, and in John’s case definitely no closer to figuring out what the fuck is going one or what he’s supposed to do now. Flicking his lighter isn’t much more help, though it’s absurdly reassuring to note that that, at least, is still working as it should (absurdly, yes, because there’s no reason it shouldn’t be, right?).
Okay – click – fuck this. You’re – click – a survivor, right? Made it – click – without them before, and – click – no reason you won’t – click – again…
… except then he’d had (click) a plan and (click) Magneto to run to (click… and that’s a thought; has the same thing happened to the Brothehoo… no, can’t run there, idiot. No way. Slim chance of survival’s better than certain fucking suicide, right?) and right now this particular hand isn’t looking particularly great…
”John?”
… though it’s suddenly a whole lot better. And of course, John being John, and excepting an initial flail (where he sparks up and is all set to torch her… until he sees who it is) and a momentary lapse (where he’s grinning like a maniac), he’s nothing other than blasé about finding she’s still alive, merely shrugging at the enquiry as to his wellbeing – ”Surviving, yeah” – before turning back to survey the wreckage. ”What the fuck happened to the Institute?”
… at least, that’s how it’s meant to run – like none of this is affecting him at all – though the effect is somewhat spoiled by the mini-flood of questions which follow as he picks his way through the rubble, unsure what exactly he’s looking for, the urge to search sparked up because if she’s fine then something else might have made it through even if he’s not entirely sure what that something’ll turn out to be. And for a single mad moment before he realises how batshit insane this sounds given the circumstances he’s almost glad to have something to babble about to stop him saying anything along the lines of “so yeah, picking up where we were before this…” ”’cos fuck, it can’t have just vanished, right? That’s ridiculous, yeah? … If this is the Institute… though, it is, right? Got to be… Seriously, what the fuck?””
The last question is somewhat more serious, and John turns back to face her. ”You see anyone el…”
”Halt!”
”What the fuck?” (Full credit to him, he does manage to make the jump look like part of a fast, alert turn and not a panicked flail)
”This is a forbidden area”
… no, seriously, what the fuck? There’s… some sort of robot. A robot waving a gun and telling them they’re not allowed to be here.
”Come out with your hands up”
He almost snickers at that, because it’s crazy. A robot, in the ruins of the ‘stute, telling them to come out with their hands up… heheh…
”and make no sudden moves or I will fire”
… and that’s a whole lot less funny. Already his hand is closing reflexively around his lighter, ready to make his move, though the glance he shoots Rogue seems a whole lot less certain what said move might be, if no less prepared to make it. Okay… what do we do now?
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Post by Rogue on Oct 22, 2007 20:28:05 GMT
”Surviving, yeah.[/color] From most people that probably wouldn’t be reassuring at all, but from John it is, because it’s normal, and normal is good right about now (and, really, anytime, but in the middle of this? Yeah, definitely a good thing).
"Good..." is about the best she can respond with, and a small smile that's mostly relieved before it fades because even though he's okay this still isn't right at all and really, really needs to be figured out...
”What the fuck happened to the Institute?” [/color]
The Institute…?
No, can’t be the Institute. Because… well, because it just can’t be. There’s no way… except that there probably is a way, and she really doesn’t like thinking about that. But how could it look like this when just minutes ago it was entirely normal? It can’t (can it?), so this is obviously somewhere else (right?)…
Before she can say anything (or, really, even come up with anything at all to say that would come close to making sense, because there’s too many thoughts going on at once and anything that came out would probably be a mix of panic-relief-confusion and about fifty other things, probably, and undoubtedly be just as confusing as everything around them) he’s wandering off and talking more, and she follows, not wanting him to get too far away.
”’cos fuck, it can’t have just vanished, right? That’s ridiculous, yeah? … If this is the Institute… though, it is, right? Got to be… Seriously, what the fuck?”[/color]
She really would like to have an answer (any answer at all, even) for him (and herself) but there really, really isn’t one she can give (because the this isn’t the institute theory isn’t really a theory as much as it is firmly denying the possibility, which never seems to go over well with John anyway, and which is starting to feel stretched to her as she follows, eyes drifting over the broken and ruined building and the sense of absurd-disturbing familiarity is making her feel more and more panicky), and when he turns back towards her she tries her best to keep something like calm up for as long as possible.
”You see anyone el…”
”Halt!”[/b]
”What the fuck?”[/color]
It’s probably a bad thing, she reasons, to be glad not to have to answer John's question. But the interruption (however upsetting it itself is, because that’s not a familiar-or-friendly voice, and she’s automatically stepped a little infront of John because she’s less likely to get hurt if something happens than he is) is almost-welcome because she doesn't want to have to think about what had to have happened to everyone else or why-and-how it's just them left here...
”This is a forbidden area, unauthorized personnel are not permitted. Come out with your hands up and make no sudden moves or I will fire.”[/b]
Forbidden area? Then it can’t be the Institute, and despite the fact that it’s still a strange place with a robotic and armed person (or something?) threatening them, that’s a bit better to know – to know they can still go home after this misunderstanding (which, it has to be!) gets settled, and she automatically holds her hands palm-out, lifting them slightly, and shooting John a Don’t do anything look (and no, not thinking about a similar event, and how that ended up, not now anyway because this is not the time for that). If they can just get out of this peacefully, it’ll all be okay…
”Sorry. W’didn’ mean t’, um... trespass? I think we got… um, lost...”
Yeah, “lost” - understatement of the year, probably, and not the sort of getting lost she’s ever done before, but it has to be what happened. (And, yeah, it feels rather weird talking to a robot-or-whatever, but it’s not like there’s much better options at the moment.)
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Post by N.P.C on Oct 22, 2007 20:52:06 GMT
> " Sorry. W’didn’ mean t’, um... trespass? I think we got… um, lost... "
Agent Sitwell almost laughs at that, then does a double-take as the scanners in his suit start spewing readout. More unregistered mutants? Even crazier are the heads-up overlays he’s getting from the onboard facial recognition software. D’Ancanto? Allerdyce? That’s insane. Everyone knows Allerdyce was executed years ago, and Sitwell has done enough digging around in the histories of mutant rebels to know that D’Ancanto – “Rogue”, she used to call herself – was institutionalized somewhere. Not to mention that these portraits were years out of date.
Not that it matters. The protocols for handling unregistered mutants were clear, regardless of their identity. He signals for Sentinel backup without letting his pulse-rifle shift even a millimeter from its target. “ Attention, unregistered mutants. You have been found in violation of the Mutant Registration Act, clause 27/j. Surrender peacefully and you will not be injured. You have fifteen seconds to comply.”
With his free hand he readies the canisters of Cure to use on them when (if) they surrender. Not for the first time, he wishes the power-armor suits came with the weaponized version they built into the Sentinels.
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Post by Pyro on Oct 25, 2007 15:52:45 GMT
John catches Rogue’s pointed look, the one he shoots back aiming for an indignant ‘what, you think I’m that stupid?’ (and coming off more disgruntled ‘…fine, if you insist’, but that’s by the by), and re-pockets the lighter, dropping back behind her as she approaches the gun-wielding robot-man-thing. Diplomacy’s far more her thing, and – much as it pains him to admit it, because it doesn’t feel right, pandering to the tin-man trying to tell them they’re trespassing in the fucking Institute, for fuck’s sake – probably the best tact at the moment. Doesn’t mean he likes it, of course… but he’s sure he’d like being shot more than a little bit less (on that note; John’s hardly an expert on guns, but whatever’s trained on them… isn’t normal, that’s for damn sure. Did he somehow miss the memo where converting the ‘stute into some sort of playground for wannabe Terminators was suggested?).
< Attention, unregistered mutants. You have been found in violation of the Mutant Registration Act, clause 27/j.
… the fuck? That can’t be right – no fucking way he’d have missed that memo. He shoots Rogue a look somewhere beyond confused, not really expecting she’ll be able to offer any sort of enlightenment but more hoping she’s as baffled and he hasn’t somehow gone insane (and okay, it says something about how fucked up this is that he’s relying on her as a bastion of sanity… but it’d be sort-of reassuring, if not to the same extent, to not be the only insane one).
< Surrender peacefully and you will not be injured. You have fifteen seconds to comply
He’s not yet insane enough – if he is the insane one here – to miss a direct threat… and realistically there’s still only one way he’d ever react to one, the ‘going to stop me now?’ glance he shoots Rogue before ducking in front of her more a formality than a genuine request for approval (though seeing how well diplomacy worked out? Not like she’s got many other options). His focus shifts from the gun to the man, aiming for what he hopes is eye contact (though it’s hard to tell where the asshole’s eyes are) and summoning whatever’s left of ‘Pyro the terrorist’ in this ‘John the X-student’ (and trying his best not to think about how easy that is to do).
”Look, Robo-tard, I don’t know how many branches of the ‘I’m fucking insane’ tree you hit on the way down” – the lighter’s back out, of course, clicked slowly and deliberately, the fingers on his other hand flexing, shaping the flame as it begins to pool in his palm – ”but it’s pretty clear you don’t know what the fuck you’re dealing with. So how’s about you stop this ‘Registration’ bullshit and fuck. The hell. Off?”
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Post by N.P.C on Oct 25, 2007 16:23:03 GMT
Jasper is more than a little bewildered by the readouts his onboard sensors are giving him... as far as the suit’s systems are concerned he really is facing rejuvenated versions of Pyro and Rogue, which makes no sense at all.
Not that it really matters. The suit’s cooling units can handle Pyro’s powers and the pulse-rifle on full should at least subdue Rogue long enough for the Cure canisters to work on her.
> " Look, Robo-tard, I don’t know how many branches of the ‘I’m fucking insane’ tree you hit on the way down but it’s pretty clear you don’t know what the fuck you’re dealing with. So how’s about you stop this ‘Registration’ bullshit and fuck. The hell. Off? "
“John Allerdyce, aka Pyro. Marie D’ancanto, aka Rogue. You have five seconds to surrender peacefully or I will initiate hostilities.” He double-checks his suit’s target-lock on Rogue, just to be sure… that one, he can’t afford to miss.
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Post by Rogue on Oct 25, 2007 18:59:25 GMT
”Attention, unregistered mutants. You have been found in violation of the Mutant Registration Act, clause 27/j.”[/b]
….Okay, what? Mutant Registration Act? That hadn’t passed! There’s no way it could have with none of them noticing, is there? Because it would have been public news for a long time all over again, everyone would have seen and there would have been huge protests and probably mutant attacks from those less peace-minded than the Institute and they would have clearly known about it! She glances John’s way, and he looks just as confused as she is, which she’d pretty much expected, really.
“Surrender peacefully and you will not be injured. You have fifteen seconds to comply.”
John’s glance her way isn’t unnoticed, and she inwardly hopes that not pulling him back as he steps infront isn’t a bad idea. But really, surrendering to a robot for registration in the middle of this kind of scene really doesn’t bode well. Wherever they are, whatever’s going on, being locked up or whatever is not going to be the best way to get out of it, and she’s pretty sure she can get them both out of here without problem (unless that thing can fly…) if she has to.
”Look, Robo-tard, I don’t know how many branches of the ‘I’m fucking insane’ tree you hit on the way down, but it’s pretty clear you don’t know what the fuck you’re dealing with. So how’s about you stop this ‘Registration’ bullshit and fuck. The hell. Off?”[/color]
Under other circumstances Rogue might have been mildly amused by John’s words, but right now she’s just hoping the robot-thing doesn’t take the flames gathering in his hand as signal to shoot him, and tensed to dart out in front of him if it does (though that doesn’t look like a traditional gun, and she’s not entirely sure what it’ll do… but still, she’s more likely to be okay than he is from whatever it is).
“John Allerdyce, aka Pyro. Marie D’ancanto, aka Rogue. You have five seconds to surrender peacefully or I will initiate hostilities.”
…Okay, whatever she’d been expecting as response, it definitely wasn’t that. How could this thing know their names? (Not that that’s the weirdest thing to have happened in the last five minutes or anything, but it’s still unnerving because it knows them, and they know nothing about it or anything else going on aside from that apparently the world’s gone insane and they didn’t notice until just now.)
This really isn’t making any sense and she’s not sure if it’s a better idea to just let it get it’s way for now and try to reason with whoever later, or to grab John and get them both the hell out of here (wherever ‘here’ is) and someplace they can figure this out and find the others (because if they’re out here, who knows where everyone else is?), or to try to fight this thing…
”John maybe w' should lis'en?” She’s still got her hands in an I’m harmless, not gonna try anything, promise stance, and she edges closer to him as she speaks, barely under her breath because somehow speaking to this thing or letting it hear her now that it’s threatened them seems like a bad idea because it might be trying it’s patience or make it upset and that’s possibly the last thing she wants to do, but she doesn't know what she does want to do aside from figure out what's happened and why and how and then go home.
”We c’n figure this out a lot better if w’don’t give ‘em reason’a be upset with us…”
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Post by Pyro on Dec 6, 2007 6:11:08 GMT
< John Allerdyce, aka Pyro.[/b]
Okay... so the thing knows who he is. That's... not a problem. Because for a while he was infamous, and it would be sort of cool if the person remembering as much was anyone other than a robot with a weird-ass gun talking some bullshit about registration and surrender.
< Marie D’ancanto, aka Rogue
That's... definitely less cool...
< You have five seconds to surrender[/b]
... and that's just not going to happen, however sensible it would be to shut off the flames and just do what the man says.
< We c'n figure this out a lot better if w'don't give 'em a reason'a be upset with us...
"Figuring it out without this fuck around'd be better" It's almost a pout - almost, save for the venom - and the borderline between whatever-it-is and definitely-a-pout blurs still further when - for a single, stupid, beyond stupid second - he turns to face her. " 'nless you want to surrender. But it'd be easier knowing you've got my fucking back on thi..."
----
A second's all Sitwell needs. And sure, being unwilling to compromise his lock on Rogue's a setback, but it's not like Allerdyce is enough of a threat to warrant his using his gear at anywhere near full capacity. The weight of the thing's enough, in fact - one well-placed swing, and his would-be assailant's down like a ton of bricks.
Now comes the tricky part. Jasper's not one for faith, not usually - there's no directive for that, no protocol for dealing with God - but he's praying Rogue really is as sensible as she's been acting and will come without a fight.
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Post by Rogue on Dec 6, 2007 7:10:01 GMT
"Figuring it out without this fuck around'd be better”[/color] Rogue casts a wary glance towards their would-be attacker, then her eyes flick back to John as he spins to face her, ”'nless you want to surrender. But it'd be easier knowing you've got my fucking back on thi..."
A swipe of the robot’s weapon, and he’s down, he’s not moving…
”John!”
She should have seen that coming… Should have seen it, and warned him or moved him or gotten in the way but now John’s crumpled on the ground and she couldn’t do anything to stop it from happening...
Her first instinct is to go after his attacker, but it’s matched and then overpowered by the worry over leaving him even for a second because what if something else comes after him while she’s not looking? Her fault in the first place this happened, ‘cause he’d turned to look at her and he shouldn’t have and she couldn’t do anything in time, so she can’t let anything else happen.
Rogue drops (slowly enough, she hopes, that it doesn’t look like any sort of threatening move towards the robot-thing) on her knees at his side, trying to avoid both touching him and moving him too much but to still see if he’s okay, and okay, good, he’s still breathing, but he’s not awake.
Part of her wants to fight now, or to just escape, but she knows better than that. She can’t risk it, especially not now. She has no idea where to go, even if she does get them clear of this …thing. And if he’s hurt, and she can’t find somewhere safe for him… Surely they’ll give him medical attention as a “prisoner”, right? It makes sense?
She raises both hands again in that slight I’m harmless gesture (which makes her realize just how much she’s shaking), and sits back on her heels, looking up at the robot evenly, trying not to look either as terrified as she is or as angry as she is, trying to look harmless but not scared but probably failing especially miserably on the latter option.
”Alright. Y’win.”
F'now.
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