Issue #1: "The English Opening"

[phencerx]

While slashing through the vines with minimal effort, Peter once again smells that noxious brimstone and takes notice of the shadow beasts of pure darkness that seem to have been birthed out of the two, now unconscious, grappling men. Hesitating for a moment to see if he'll need to sift focus, the beasts disappear as quickly as they appeared. Turning back to Morgana he sees her eyes open and her face turn from a peaceful slumber to a look of complete and utter horror and shout the first word to leave her mouth that didn't sound completely deranged.

Instantly Peter shifts from termination to interrogation. He deftly positions his left hand and it's searing knives just centimeters from one side of her face while extinguishing his right hand and drawing his trench knife to the other side of her face with the tip resting on her temple as he begins to hear the same sizzle as when he had pressed his pistol against her.

Still smiling with that same murderous grin, Wisdom begins to speak in a calm voice that makes his expression that much more terrifying. "Answers...now. I'm inside the depth of your shield so if you try anything at all I don't like, I'll turn your brain into bloody swiss cheese."

=================================
HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 3/9
REGENERATION: 3/panel (1/panel if not in sunlight for over 24 hours)

ACTION 1:
Close Combat (3)
Position himself for interrogation, ready to pierce Morgana's skull from both sides if she tries to attack.

Action 2:
--
MODIFIERS:
Reflexive Dodge 3
Weapons expert (MI-6 training)

EQUIPMENT:
Twin Pistols +3
Throwing Knives +1
Trench Knife +2
Tactical chest armor +1

HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 0/9

[Gris]

Pryde falls into the dark, a quiet and calm nothing that embraces her as she hits the ground. There is a faint hope that what happened is the dream, a nightmare full of nonsense, but she can't fool herself. She just wishes to somehow survive the experience and perhaps a soothing, dreamless sleep.

But she's out of luck.

"Kitty?" a voice, unknown yet close, intimate even. No one called her that, not anymore. She felt warm, cozy, the yellow light of the sun dared her to open her eyes as soon as fabric rustling betrayed an opening of curtains. Pryde felt safe, but that wasn't her teenage room, was it? The voice calling her moniker may be female, but there was nothing motherly on her playfulness.

She knew, and yet she didn't.

"Come on Kitty" the bed waved, voice closer. Why was she afraid to open her eyes? "I did warn you about staying late, didn't I?" fingers tickled at her sides, making her twist and turn, unable to delay the unavoidable.

"Nobody likes hearing 'I told you so', Rachel" she answered, eyes finally open. She knew the redhead woman sitting in their bed, that woman smiling down on her as Kate rubbed her eyes. But that wasn't possible, was it?

"What you don't like is being told what to do" Rachel leaned closer, idly playing with Kate's hair. "But even if I can't boss you around you are still my Kitty" added before a sweet, short peck on her lips. "Shower time, already got mine while you snored" she finished, turning around to rummage through the wardrobe.

Kate looked at Rachel, a hand tracing the lingering warmth on her lips, wondering. She knew her, yet she didn't. She loved her, but how? Things were wrong, but when it feel that good, how wrong could they be?

[UrbanBlue]

"Oh my Stars and Garters."

McCoy decides to get close to Wisdom and offer the "good cop" to his "bad cop"

"Look, we don't want to hurt you. Just give us the information, or my friend here may have to get rough."

Actions:
None.

Energy: 4/6

[phencerx]

"Speak for yourself boy. This here is what I'm paid to do." Looking back to Morgana, "Let start with something easy, where exactly are we and who ordered you to attack us?"

[mcr]

Morgana recoils slightly, or as well as she can considering the vise Wisdom has her in. She withdraws more from the cold iron pressed against her than the hot knife, though its effects aren't quite so pronounced as the giant makeshift cannon he was wielding under the effects of the Pym Particles. Nonetheless, Wisdom is able to hold her fast, and her magic seems muted for the time being. The plant life around them seems strangely sterile - inert, as if the spark of life itself has left them, leaving in its place an eerie almost crystalline diorama preserved in a single moment in time.

She spits, speaking in an old Welsh dialect, hoping to stir in Wisdom some sense of kinship, and perhaps, loyalty:

"Why should I tell you anything? I am your true ruler, rightful heir to Uther Pendragon, Queen of all England, and you have brought these traitors, usurpers and invaders here! And I can only assume you are here to finish me off! Did the old man send you two?"

She points to Wisdom and Betsy before finally answering Wisdom's question.

"I have told you before: You are in my prison, and you do not belong here! Return whence you came at once. Strike me down and you will never leave.
=================================================================================
-- Meanwhile --

Pryde ponders upon the memory of Rachel when a man she doesn't recognize draws her attention. His eyes are empty, an endless black threatening to swallow her whole:



"Hello, little girl. How do you like your new friends?"

Shadows form around her, hulking, menacing specters with a single burning eye, vaguely reminiscent of the Sentinels that had hunted the elder Pryde and her Mutant friends nearly to extinction.

Objects move about along planes and angles impossible except within the dreamscape Kitty now occupies. One by one, the images of her friends, her memories, fade from view, replaced by the Mindless Ones.

A hand grips Kate's tightly, a cold sweat clamming up the dainty palm of a young girl, her face ashen. The girl, wearing the visage and wielding the voice of Elizabeth Braddock tugs, almost violently:

"Kitty? Kitty we need to leave. Now!"

But the girl makes no movement, the man drawing closer with the shadows swirling around, under, and above him like a hydra's heads, snapping at Kitty. Much like the plants that had been chasing her when she was awake.
=======================================================================
[[Gris - We can move this to a side-scene if you like, but hopefully you won't be here long - your normal actions may not have the same effects they usually would, but you should still be able to interact with the people here beyond just a memory.

None of the other conscious folks can see or hear what is going on with Kitty except that she seems unusually cold and sweating, as does the Betsy-double.]]

[phencerx]

"Well aren't you a cheeky little monkey." Peter brings all the blades even closer. The smell of Morgana's burning hair fills his nostrils as it makes contact with his burning knives. "Nice accent love. Attempting to build a rapport while still trying to show strength in a clearly compromised position are we? I'm not your average bloke. This here is my living. Still though, I like your play. In another place I might even ask you for a drink and a snog."

Looking around to get a head count on his entry party, he spots the Yank still looming over his shoulder. Then Azazel guarding over the two unconscious men, followed by Pryde looking shaken to the core, and finally an unsteady Elizabeth and another yet to be identified blond girl. Could this be who they were sent for. She had been hidden rather well so Peter had to assume she was important for some reason or another.

Looking back to Morgana speaking casually, "But really, let's talk about strength. Maybe you're right. Maybe if I slice you up here and now we will be stuck here. Seems to be a nice enough place." Peter then narrows his eyes and takes on a more sinister tone, "But I don't have to kill you to keep you down. Sure you can heal yourself right as rain," Wisdom moves his left hand again to place two of the hot knives directly over Morgana's eyeballs, "but just how long would that take if I were to give you a little makeshift lobotomy?"

Pausing for a moment to let that sink in, Wisdom returns to a more pleasant tone, hand still hovering over Morgana's eyes. "We were sent here to retrieve the girl. Normally I'd take her and call it a job done and forget the rest of these blokes you've been controlling, but let's be honest, you've made us go through a lot of trouble just to get to this point. To me, fair play would be you release your control over all your new pets and then we'll sod off 'whence we came at once' with everyone and leave you here to do as you wish."

=================================
HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 3/9
REGENERATION: 3/panel (1/panel if not in sunlight for over 24 hours)

ACTION 1:
Close Combat (3)
Staying positioned to keep Morgana in check while remaining ready to follow through on his threats.

Action 2:
--

MODIFIERS:
Reflexive Dodge 3
Weapons expert (MI-6 training)

EQUIPMENT:
Twin Pistols +3
Throwing Knives +1
Trench Knife +2
Tactical chest armor +1

HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 0/9

[Black Sam]

Azazel considered the fallen puppets for a minute, crouching between them for a better look. He reached out with his bladed tail to prod the Multiple Man, careful not to impale him on the point, then moved it to turn the chin of the other.

"Does this mean you talk now?" He considered the departure of the shadow-creatures. "Who shall I wake? Did you know I once almost killed Churchill, but Father changed his mind. I stalked the fat man all over his home, Chartwell, for an entire evening and he did not notice. How was it he said to the children?

"Eeeny, meeny, miney, mo.
Put the baby on the po.
When he's done,
Wipe his bum.
And tell his mother what he's done."

He moved his tail to the other unconscious man with each switch of the verse until he found himself back at Multiple Man.

"And what is it you have done, hmm? No, this is stupid – better to fight a giant twice than an army..."

With that, Azazel's devilish appearance shimmered, replaced by the dapper gentleman, not a spot on his illusory tuxedo.

"Mr. Giant Man, wake up." He shook Pym's face gently but firmly, then gave it a slap. "Wake up, American, I have saved you and you are in my debt. Wake up now or I will leave you here, I have questions..."

********************

HEALTH: 3/4
ENERGY: 16/18

ACTION ONE: 4 stones into Telepathy/Illusion to glamor himself
ACTION TWO: Wake up Pym

ATTACK: none
DEFENSE: 3 (RD) 
MODIFIERS: Enhanced Vision (see in darkness); Healing Factor (heal 1w stone/hour); Limited Prescience (shift stones allocated to other actions into Teleportation after other stones are revealed); Metal Defense 4; Reflexive Dodge 3

HEALTH: 3/4
ENERGY: 12/18
REGENERATION: 7

[Gris]

"I don't like girls" Pryde mumbled, unsure. "Do I?" her musings interrupted by the impossible presence of a creepy man, furthering the feeling that she was lost. "Rachel?" she asked, looking around to see nothing but shadows, fiery eyes locked on her. Vulnerable, without seeing an exit, someone reached for her in the darkness. In such situation she didn't even have the presence of mind to protest about her moniker, although she didn't seem to mind when Rachel used it.

It was Elizabeth Braddock, wasn't she? And yet it wasn't? Without time to question the nuances of what was going on, the priority was to get away from the looming threat of that terrible man, if he was just a man, and get out of there. But where was that? Without boundaries but neither landmarks she was lost. Just the ground felt solid, seemed true, so perhaps there was nowhere else to go but down.

Afraid to lose the only one close to a friendly face in that place, but also wanting to feel something real in that place, Pryde hugged that Elizabeth Braddock tightly and tried to use her powers to sink on the ground, away from the immediate menace and into the unknown.

---

If it's going to be a short one it should be fine to keep it here for clarity instead of moving back and forth I guess.

Health: ? / Energy: ?

Action: Embracing Elizabeth tight and phasing to get them both down and out of there.

[OurLadyWar]

The salty geezer seemed to have the witch in hand. Elizabeth found she flinched from the torture, having never been exposed to interrogation like that. Even in her brief recruitment period with S.T.R.I.K.E she had never seen these kinds of methods. For now, as her senses returned to her, she adjusted her grip on "herself". She wrapped an arm around her and kept her arm across her shoulders to support her. Something told Betsy to not let this one stray too far from her grasp or her attention.

[mcr]

Morgana's Cheshire grin replaces her dour scowl for a brief moment:

"You are not the first of your lines to challenge me, knave. You and that accursed girl!"

It is unclear whether she means to implicate Betsy, her double, or both. Continuing, she muses:

"'E'er and anon, from Camlen fall, sons and daughters of Britannia shall arise to defend Her glorious realm until returneth One that wieldeth Excalibur before, and save all of England, Her one true Ruler'. Do you not know the words of the old man? Truly?"

Her grin widens, and it may seem that she believes she knows more than you do on this subject.

"T'is no matter. An offer made."

She pauses, choosing her words carefully and shifting to modern English so you all can understand:

"You wish for me to remove my control over all before you, and in return you promise to release me and leave me, me and mine unharmed? Do you all assent?"
===========================
-- Meanwhile --

Pryde holds the girl tight, preparing to phase and weather the storm, but where she is a shadow, accustomed to slipping through the cracks in the world, in this dark realm there is nothing but shadow. The forms of the Mindless Ones pass through Pryde, engulfing the realm in unnatural blackness, the stranger fading as the light does, leaving nothing but his terrible blackened eyes and a haunting, sinister voice:

"Why have you come here?"

A single flower blooms from the darkness, the last source of color and life outside of Pryde and her ward. It speaks, somehow, carrying a message from Morgan le Fay:

"You wish for me to remove my control over all before you, and in return you promise to release me and leave me, me and mine unharmed? Do you all assent?"

The eyes of the dark one snap to the source of this message, temporarily leaving Pryde a window to escape his gaze.

[Gris]

With nowhere to go, all Pryde could do was hold on, endure and keep both Elizabeth and her out of harm, but for how long? The darkness made her shiver, hug the other girl tightly as if it was the only real thing to anchor herself to. As an impossible and yet welcome way of getting out appeared, Pryde hesitated for a moment. The voice of the witch spoke not only of her, but also of some unknown quantity of her people. Who that woman considered her own could prove to be a problem if their interests clashed, so maybe they'd have to bargain for the exact terms.

Then again, she was in no position to argue, facing an unknown entity under rules she couldn't understand in a dreamscape of sorts where she had no advantage. She was starting to feel more and more like herself, and not like old Kate had the reins, at least partially, once more. The voice of her older counterpart was no longer part of her own, but she didn't talk either, so something was weird in there, as Rachel's memory felt more and more distant, not belonging to her. Pryde may be strong willed, but she knew when she held no winning cards.

"I assent! Just get us out of here!" she replied, using the momentary distraction to run away with Elizabeth in hand, trying to win some time.

[Black Sam]

Azazel slapped the man once more for good measure.

"Doctor, come rouse this man," he called out to McCoy. "I have questions for him."

"...Do you all assent?"

His head snapped over to the fallen woman being menaced by the British man. He replayed the conversation in his mind – he wasn't entirely sure who she was or what she'd been going on about, so he waved her off, consenting by default.

[OurLadyWar]

Betsy hefted her double closer to her side once more, making sure she was keeping her upright and supported. She looked to her companions, specifically Wisdom. "The fey keep their promises and expect us to, as well. If we agree to her terms, we're bound to them." Elizabeth sighed, adding: "I assent."

[phencerx]

Peter listens to Morgana's "offer", and while thinking it over hears his comrades ascent one by one. "Aye, I've read the words of the old tosser. And you're a clever girl with your wording. Princess over there is right about being bound to the terms of your agreement which sounds just like what a tart like you wants." Moving his blades even closer to Morgana, he can see her perfect eyebrows starting to burn away.

Widening his own malicious grin to match Morgana's, "I'll ascent to your terms with one little caveat. All of us leaving you and yours alone only applies to this hellish realm of yours here that makes the East End look like bloody Buckingham Palace. If we catch you in our realm or any other, all bets are off." Placing the tips of his blades directly on Morgana's skin now, "Do you assent?"

=================================
HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 3/9
REGENERATION: 3/panel (1/panel if not in sunlight for over 24 hours)

ACTION 1:
Close Combat (3)
Still staying positioned to keep Morgana in check while remaining ready to follow through on his threats.

Action 2:
--

MODIFIERS:
Reflexive Dodge 3
Weapons expert (MI-6 training)

EQUIPMENT:
Twin Pistols +3
Throwing Knives +1
Trench Knife +2
Tactical chest armor +1

HEALTH: 4
ENERGY: 0/9

[mcr]

--Elsewhere--


====================================================================================
-- Meanwhile --

"An offer made..."

Wisdom's skepticism about the hidden meaning behind Morgana's words is no doubt well-placed, slippery she-devil that she is. But even as he threatens her, she seems oddly amused, a far cry from her previous shock.

"A bargain struck."

Her words echo as she becomes transparent, gradually fading from view and Wisdom's grasp, until the last image you see of her is a pair of eyes and a smile, before they too vanish. Like the Cheshire cat, she is gone, leaving you to discover whether or how she may have extracted the best end of the bargain for herself.

The color fades from the trees and plant life, turning brown, then black, before disintegrating into dust, the ground beneath you crumbling yet somehow leaving you upright, as if floating on air.

Quicksilver runs by you, as if trying to escape something, before the black shadow is ripped from his body, sucked out of him and leaving him comatose.

As it does, Pryde and Betsy's double stir. Around you, save for the members of your team, and your former enemies, stands an endless emptiness. Time seems to stretch on end, and for the longest of moments, all is still, until you feel a sudden mental tug, pulling you back to the real world.

Though Shaw himself is no longer present, you find that Emma and the sisters have remained, and a man you vaguely recognize giving instructions to some of the manor attendants. He bears some resemblance to the lady whose portrait hung in the foyer, and you can guess that he may be a relative of hers:



It is unclear how much time has passed here, exactly, though there are several beds and medical equipment set up where the shambles of a ruined lab used to be.

He has his assistants help the three comatose individuals to beds, and hook them up to various medications, turning his own attention to Betsy's double as he helps the wobbly young girl up to another, examining her, barely giving the rest of you any mind.

Emma and the girls awaken shortly, and the eldest Frost rubs her eyes and yawns:

"I'm glad you made it back."