Welcome to Gaia! ::

Where: New Base/Prison Complex
Company: Alphas
Thoughts: Too easy......this is bad


He could honestly tell Lynette wasn't in her usual bubbly mood. Certainly she was very nervous about the current plight of what they were going to do. And although he understood what she was thinking of, he knew that there was a big difference between holding back a little of strength to not kill a normal human with one strike, and smelling burnt flesh as you scorch them alive. Her power was certainly much more dangerous in an area because one mistake could mean a lot of property damage and lost lives. Even his agility and quickness couldn't match the level of destruction she could potentially wreak.

It still didn't mean he couldn't help out in anyway he can. By teaching her something to defend herself without becoming Ms. Barbecue Grill. And although it was still hurting someone, she is less likely to kill someone than she would be if she pulled out the fire. She joked about signing something and how the idea sounded great and he shook his head in response, "Nope. You don't have to sign in. And if you don't feel like you're learning anything, you can ask me to stop teaching at anytime," he answered. In some ways, it sounded like one of those advertisement commercials, and he intended for it to sound that way because it sounded pretty silly and Esben was trying to lift her spirits a little bit. Hopefully it worked as they both left to go out onto the field.

The group split up, each of them after certain objectives, and Esben quickly noticed that one of their group (Aurelie), was more than a little flirty. Esben was no stranger to that, even if most flirty comments weren't directed at him while he was living on the streets. You tend to learn a lot just from observation, so when Aurelie noted that there was a lot more watching her a** than any of theirs, he just plainly noted, "And that's different from any other day how?"

It's just an observation, and a pretty obvious one. If you're a pretty girl, walking down a busy street, you would expect at least one or two group of guys spitting some game to take you home. And Aurelie obviously fit the bill.

As the group got to the first group of guards and Bella began to sing her song, Wukong took out at least two of the guards. He expected Raine to have the rest and she didn't disappoint. Quite frankly the experience would of been....shocking to see, making Esben's hair on his forearms and his long red hair on his head stand on end because of his proximity to it. It looked very amusing to see.

"Remind me to not piss you off, the consequences could be electrifying for me," he said in jest while tying up the guards. His hair was going to take time to lose the charge and go down, right now he sort of looked like he belonged in an 80's rock band with the really huge hair. He was just missing a guitar and stage makeup. Bella congratulated them on good work, and Esben took it as encouragement. For his first mission, it was going pretty well. But as Esben waited for the go ahead to continue, he had a nagging thought in his head: just how long was their luck going to last? As the old proverb goes: all good plans don't survive when on the field. Something had to go wrong. And he had to be ready for it, static charged hair and all.

He lightly grasped the metal rod on his hip, the telescopic staff he feels he would have to use soon. He had a feeling he would have to fight for his life, aiming to knock out or kill rather than just knock out.

If she ever had any second thoughts about her relationship with the Slovenian, no trace of it met her expression. Right now, staring into his honey brown eyes brought her nothing but joy - especially when he called her important. When her lips met his, she had half a mind to linger in his room and forget about the mission entirely. It was tempting, but the thought that Kat might worry about where she was bade her to pull away, albeit reluctantly. Her fingers slipped into Dom’s and she pulled him along.

“Yes…” Aurie said with a slight shake of her head. “She’s not harmed a hair on anyone’s head over me.” She assured her boyfriend, knowing too well that her flame for Leo had been a thorn in Kat’s side… but even still, she had supported Aurelie’s feelings for the man despite her own.

Bella briefed them on their assignment when everyone crowded into the room, though Aurelie had a difficult time focusing solely on the latina’s words, given the warmth and safety that Dom’s embrace provided. When she floated off the floor to make resting his chin a little easier, they shared a wink before buckling down to listening to the Alpha leader. As soon as Bella finished, Aurie made a beeline to Kat, assuring her boyfriend that her bestie was warming up to him little by little. “No one can hate that face for long.” She shot back over her shoulder, lips quirked upwards. When they got to the Italian, she was quick to express her disappointment that they weren’t on the same team.

They soon fell into banter though, Kat making idle threats about Dom’s well-being. Aurie squeezed his hand to assure him that her bestie was only joking - for a lot of people it could be hard to tell. Regardless of the polio or cancer threats, she could not help but laugh at the preposterous suggestions.

Kat’s wistful tone gave the telekinetic reason to pause, and she couldn’t have missed how her roomie fell silent at her horror over Gideon hurting her. Kat explained that her and the wolverine clone were the same and that she would have done much worse in his shoes. “But that’s you…” She said with a small smile, her cerulean eyes purely sincere. Gideon had more time with the X-men and knew better than to hurt someone intentionally - especially a woman. “Guys shouldn’t hit girls.” She covered, knowing too well that her time to explain away her horror was running too short. “Admittedly the situation doesn’t sound like it was ideal…” She shrugged, but his time with the X-men should have taught him not to go for violence as the first answer.

Isabella interrupted them then, and the blond could not help but come to her friend’s defense - both out of her loyalty to the Italian, and to try and keep the peace between Bella and Kat for a little longer. The sound manipulator’s condescending remark inspired more ire, making her apology a little more clipped than she intended but she offered nothing up for her tone.

Leo made his presence known by his silent, stalwart stance next to Bella, and Aurelie met his eyes for a second - the heady mix of emotions glimmered in the varying accents of blues in her irises, all of them transparent and easy for her friend to read. Quickly, she looked down, her eyelashes brushing her cheeks to cut off his view. More than anything, she needed him to not notice any of what she felt right now. Given how he had always seemed to miss cues when she had wanted him to see them, she guessed the fates would work against her again.

Before they parted, Dom offered to replace the picture on Kat’s dartboard with one of the Alpha leader’s, even going as far as to suggest drawing a few lewd pictures on her face before handing it over. Her bestie seemed to find amusement over that, her features lifting into a smirk. “I think that proves he isn’t?” She asked with a giggle, doing what she could to leash her agitation until the Italian wasn’t in sight. Even as angry as she was, Aurie knew better than to give Kat another reason to hate Bella. “Straight men are always thinking about their p***s.”

The Columbian ordered them to make their goodbyes quick, and as soon as her roommate was out of earshot, Aurie heaved one breath before venting to Dominik about the whole fiasco, not even thinking about the fact that Bella would be able to hear what she said. “It’ll be the last time I try to help keep Kat’s temper at a low simmer.” She vowed, incredulous to the fact that Bella had seen fit to speak to her in such a manner for simply trying to help. The telekinetic nudged her boyfriend when he called her cute, returning the hug and finding comfort there.

He suggested they jump ship and head to the Omega mission, and she sighed. “If only it wouldn’t throw off both sets of orders.” She murmured woefully. They moved through the portal, and Aurie made a joke to Dom, Siege, Wukong and Glitter about how she thought the view would be better from their standpoint, doing what she could to quell any vexation she had felt minutes ago. “Of course you are,” She winked at her boyfriend. She opened her mouth to flirt back at him when Esben spoke up, asking how it was different than any other time. It surprised her, but she flashed a grin in his direction. “I guess it isn’t.” Aurelie said.

Bella had issued the order for her to disable the guns on the MRDs, and the Amish woman muttered how she wished her roommate were here, as she was more suited to the job. Dimitri must have heard her, as he made a joke about the bullets. Blue eyes rounded back on him, and she stuck her tongue out. “I’ve got that part.” She assured him, sending a telekinetic shove his way so that he would know she took the joke as just that. The guns and comms she also sent his way to melt down. “You just make sure that their equipment is the only thing that gets too hot.”

What surprised her was Bella’s sudden encouragement, and she stole a glance at her boyfriend to try and gauge his reaction… How could she go from patronizing her to encouraging her in less than ten minutes? Talk about whiplash. Given that they really did not have time for her to try and figure out just what was going on in the sound manipulator’s head right now, she pressed on. “Thanks.” She returned, the barest hint of confusion tinging the edge of her response.

Once all of them were knocked out, Aurelie was asked to move the MRD’s into the woods and the blond nodded, lifting a few at a time and placing them far back in the line, purposefully putting them high up on the branches despite that not being in the orders. It would take them extra time to get down, thus giving them that much more time to get in and get out. “And now we wait.” She said, falling back to the forested area with the rest of the group, staring out into the compound.

Somewhere inside that building was her best friend - that thought caused a shiver to run up her spine and back down. “I hope everything is alright in there.”












OOC: Sorry for the wait...please let me know if I have missed something.

Luke glanced over at Alex, chuckling a little at her question. It wasn’t so much that it was silly, that her curiosity amused him. “It definitely does. I be makin’ those daisy’s grow.”, he joked, deliberately using incorrect grammar to put his point across. She was definitely one of the more normal people he’s crossed since joining the Alpha’s…Though that wasn’t saying much, considering that he’d spent most of his time with Omega’s. Briefly, he wondered how Gracie and Daylia were doing. They had a mission with their evil Red Queen, which meant that he hoped they came back in one piece.

“I think you’re right about the training wheels…”, Luke muttered under his breath as he watched his new friend walk through the barrier, giving Flairer what he hoped was an encouraging wave. He glanced over his shoulder at Eden Fesi, who seemed like an all right brother. Though his gaze was a little too intense for someone that seemed so passive. “…Do you think it’s too late to go back and get some?”

Eden didn’t change expressions at his joke and Luke swallowed hard as he dodged through the portal. Note to self; Fesi was not a laughing man. It was disconcerting… But by far, not the worst thing he’d ever done.

Siren gave them directions, and he let Flairer answer for them both—Merely nodding his head. It wasn’t long after that they broke off from the main group and started to scuttle up a hill. “You’ve got the tough part of this gig… You’ll have to pay attention to our surroundings, and what’s happening with the Alphas…Keep me up to date of any situation down below that looks like it might be going bad. I can help them from here.”

Alex didn’t seem to be started by his moving trees, and he felt a small bit of approval. Most people freaked out, or wouldn’t go near them. Then again, she was a mutant at an Academy full of them…She’d probably seen weirder. Like pod people. Taking his aim as quickly as he could, he took out camera after camera. Geesh these people had enough of them, didn’t they? Talk about paranoid. He only stopped when a tree branch kept wiggling in front of his scope. The hell?

Sometimes the plants he was connected to weren’t always clear in their demands. Closing his eyes a second to concentrate, he finally understood what it was trying to tell him. “There’s someone approaching Reni’s group from behind.”, he spoke to Flairer, looking down the sights to get a better idea of what he was dealing with. He would never be able to say Renaissance Man's code name in it's entirety without tripping over it. Reni was better. “It’s a soldier.”

He adjusted his aim and fired three times at the intruder, a hit, a miss, and then a hit. When the soldier didn’t get back up, he tried to reach out with his plants to grab the man…But he was too far away. His ability was limited, unfortunately. Still, the guy was down for the moment. Hopefully he didn’t wake up before it was time for the fireworks to start. “That could have been bad…”

Siren’s response came through the comm and he turned his sights back to her group. They’d already taken out a whole set of trained soldiers? Jesus, damn. No wonder the government was afraid of them… They were freaking scary. “Understood Siren. The camera’s facing both groups have been disabled, as well as those on the main door.”

He reached into the flack jacket pocket and grabbed a new mag while Alex checked out the crash from Leonardo’s group, nodding his head when she gave him a good synopsis. “You’re not wrong about that. Things usually get a lot uglier than this, I’d imagine.”

Luke knew that the girl beside him was either anxious or a little nervous, because the tree branch she was holding on to saw fit to b***h about her tight grip in the back of his head. He’d learned a long time ago not to respond to the whispers from plant life that echoed in the back of his mind. Most normal people thought he’d gone off the deep end. “I don’t think any of us ever gets used to seeing the damn strange things we do.”

“We just learn to deal with it.”

Luke looked over the tree tops for a moment as he locked the new mag in place and cocked the weapon. He started looking back down the sight, only to shift to get a little more comfortable. He wanted to take the cleanest shots possible. He mostly tuned his immediate surroundings out, only to stop what he was doing when Alex started talking about a moose. What? Turning slightly he looked at Alex, expression quizzical, though he gave a half grin. Freakin crazy, these X-Girls were. Pretty, but certifiable. “…You should be glad we haven’t seen a moose. They’re mean as hell… Though I’m not even sure we’re in Canada anymore… It was snowing there. It’s not here.”

Forrest let it go for the time being, though he couldn’t help but chuckle ‘moose’ under his breath every now and again. While watching the area, he thought he saw something glimmer in the distance. He blinked, and suddenly it was gone. “Did you see that?”

Waiting a moment, he saw it again—high in the sky and still a ways out. About a klick, if he had to guess. Bringing his comm to his lips he tilted his head, trying to figure out exactly what he was missing. If he hadn’t of looked in that spot, at the exact right time, he had a feeling he wouldn’t have seen it at all. “Siren…You said to report anything unusual. There’s something coming towards you. It’s high up, but the air around it…. It just doesn’t look normal.”

Maybe it was nothing, but he would let the Alpha leader decide what to do with the intel.

“There’s something out there, that’s for sure…I just don’t know what.”, he spoke to Flairer after a moment, hoping that with her enhanced senses she might be able to see what his eyes couldn’t. So far, this mission had been running like clockwork. Way too smooth, in his opinion.

Aʆєxaηdra Ӎaʀiʆèηє Agηèȿ
Codename:Flairer

❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀

(())

Unlike Luke brought it up, she honestly hadn’t thought of it that way. She figured Luke had it worse considering he had to shoot and aim correctly. But, he did have a point. Her part in this duo task might be the harder of the tasks. “Alright. I will do my best for the team.” She replied, feeling like she said that more for herself than to acknowledge she heard Luke’s words.

After they were up in the trees, she started on her task of keeping an eye on their surroundings. At least with her enhanced sight, she didn’t have to squint to see details, such as the cameras getting shot at one by one. Forrest really did have good aim. Though, she tilted her head when the shots stopped. She didn’t realize the cause until she looked over at Forrest to see a tree branch in front of his scope. “Huh?” She couldn’t stop herself from saying at the odd sight.

Only after Forrest said what the tree branch was trying to tell him did she get why the plant did what it did. She nodded and turned her gaze towards that group in particular. She shifted her gaze to look behind the group instead of directly nearby them or around them like she had before. She caught sight of the solider just as Forrest said out loud what she saw. “At least it is only one.” She tried to be optimistic. But, she wasn’t sure optimism would make the situation any better.

Luckily, Forrest took the guard out quickly. She didn’t keep her eyes on the sight. Violence still wasn’t something she was accustomed to. “Yes, it could have been.” If there had been more than just one solider, Forrest may not have had the time to take all the guards out. And if that had been the case, Renaissance man and his group would have had a huge problem to deal with.

She turned her attention to Siren’s group and noted they had completed their task quickly. Maybe even a bit too quickly. Though, she supposed even if the sight of the fallen guards wasn’t too pleasing, she was glad to see all of the group looked to be okay. “Seems like things are running smoothly.” She whispered softly before focusing on Renaissance Man’s group again.

The group over there seemed to be handling themselves well too. She saw them handle the guards and the car without any problem. She told Forrest what she saw so he knew what was happening. “Yes, they usually do.” She hated to admit that. But, she didn’t feel it right to lie to Luke about the matter. “I am glad to see this mission has not gone ugly.” She hoped it stayed that way.

Considering the idea of plants having voices and feelings of their own was hard to grasp, she didn’t consider her grip might be upsetting the tree. Ignorance was truly bliss in this case. She only started to relax her grip once she had been up long enough to feel like she wouldn’t fall. “I believe you are right there. I wonder what happens when we actually start getting used to those sights?” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know.

In an attempt to lighten up the air, she mentioned the idea of seeing moose from the conversation she had Lyn some time ago. She wasn’t expecting the quizzical expression. Maybe her jest had been inappropriate after all? Luke didn’t act like it was as he mentioned the temperament of moose and the idea they might not be in Canada at all. “I had no idea they were like that.” She admitted honestly. “Though, you are right….it is not snowing here. If we are not in Canada….I wonder where we are?”

She couldn’t help but wonder about that. She figured though that Luke wouldn’t know either. And all things considering, that detail probably wasn’t that important.

Alex did her best to keep an eye on both groups, doing her best not to fluster at Luke’s teasing whisper of the word moose. Since she didn’t have two sets of eyes, she had to divided her focus between Siren’s group and Renaissance man’s group. So far, she hadn’t seen anything worrisome. Besides the solider Forrest saw and shot at earlier, she hadn’t seen anything else she would put in the bad news category. She honestly started to feel that maybe this mission might go smoothly. That would be really nice if it did.

However, that hope got crushed a bit when Forrest asked her a question. “Hm? See what?” Her focus had been on Siren’s group, not seeing what Luke saw. She looked towards the sky and other spots she hadn’t given as much attention to as the two groups. Only when Forrest started to tell Siren about the suspicious sight did she catch a sight of the strange object as well. Unfortunately, all she could see was a brief glimmer before it disappeared.

She frowned as she de-enhanced her sight so she could enhance her hearing. Hearing all the noises amplified caused her to cringe a bit. She still hadn’t adjusted to using her enhanced hearing so much as her enhanced sight. Slowly, she shifted through the many different sounds while squinting, showing her discomfort. Her concentration got disturbed when Forrest talked again. She barely kept herself from grunting in pain, seeing as his voice, currently, sounded like it came out of a megaphone.

“Yes, it does seem like something is around. I wish we knew what it was.” The fact they didn’t unnerved her the most. She went quiet as she focused once more on trying to hear any unusual noises. After a few minutes, she heard a sound that stood out to her. She tried to register what the sound could be. However, the sound went away just as quickly as the glimmer. “I think I actually heard it. It is definitely not an optical illusion.”

The frown grew when she couldn’t catch the sound again. She de-enhanced her hearing to allow herself to enhance her sight once more. “I wish I heard the sound long enough to register what it was. Then maybe I would have some idea what we are seeing.” She said with a bit of a sigh at the end. “Guess all we can do is try our best to keep an eye on it. Will not be easy with how it seemingly has some sort of…reflector and all.” She remarked while keeping her eyes to the sky. “Unless you have an idea how we can see it better?”

❃❂❁❀✿✾✽✼✻✺✹✸✷ ✶✵✴❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❖❤❥❦❧ ☀

"We will drink our fill of Alpha
Then, of golden sunshine that spills into Outside the Prison Camp
Till our brains intertwine with Luke-Forrest "

Name: Isabella Stone
Location: MRD Facility
Team: Alpha



Blake asked if she wanted to make a wager about which team would get back first, and she hid a small smile, despite the things that were happening around her. He always seemed to chime in right when she needed a pick me up. She honestly couldn’t have asked for a better friend. Unfortunately she didn’t have time to reply before leading her team through the portal. Everything but their current assignment was placed on a back burner, filed neatly in the back of her mind for later examination. It was the only way she knew how to do this. She couldn’t be the Siren and Isabella Stone at the same time…They weren’t the same people, not by a long shot.

Green eyes lingered on her teammates while she scanned the area, and some of the conversation caused her to bite her tongue. Either it was offensive, or hilarious.

Out of all things that Dimitri could have chosen for his uniform, the songstress couldn’t quite wrap her head around the fact that he’d chosen a full blown tuxedo. Considering the debacle with Leo’s uniform not half an hour ago, she could almost imagine what he thought of it. Practical, it was not. But to each their own. Style points, Dimitri commented easily… Ay, dios mio. What was she going to do with him?

Most of her Alpha’s seemed happy to be back on the surface, and Isabella couldn’t disagree. As high tech as the X-Men fortress was, hidden deep underneath Alkali Lake, there was no substitute for fresh and real sunlight. From the point in which they left the portal, and started towards the base, everything seemed to run easily. The soldiers went down without much trouble, and Glitter and Wukong were able to deal with anything she hadn’t.

Bella found Gabriel’s sudden personality change to be a warning. He was an awkward boy, not a cool, calm and collected soldier. Isabella had watched him cling to his routine and his weaponry without so much as glancing up from the work bench. A pretty girl just walking by made him turn ten kinds of red.

The commentary about Aurelie’s back side should have made him trip over his own two feet, or at the very least resemble a tomato. Even Esben had more of a reaction, and he barely knew the telekinetic. What was going on with him, that hadn’t been a problem two hours ago? He agreed to her stipulations…But it made her wary, forcing a commanding response from her lips. “It had better be, Siege.”

Her eye twitched at the comment Dimitri made towards Aurelie about women, and she shook her head. Of course she knew he was just teasing, though she would have been remiss not to comment. “Watch it, Playboy…”

A ‘woman’ could also have him benched and bored out of his mind for the next two weeks.

She could hear the slight confusion in Aurelie’s voice when Isabella offered her encouragement, but didn’t question it for the time being. Just because they didn’t have the same faith in Katerina, didn’t mean that she wouldn’t support her as needed. The songstress had literally been shot, bailing Aurelie and Leo out of trouble not so long ago…Was it so unthinkable that she might also care for her now?

The Alpha leader wanted the former Julliard student to see that she could survive without her friend. Not just because the EX-Hydra agent was dangerous, and may not always be on their side, but because they all needed to learn to stand on their own two feet. Showing her team mates their strengths, asking them about their wellbeing, putting her foot down when someone undercut her leadership… It was all part of managing a team.

Not all of them would like her at the end of the day, but she could live with that. It wasn’t a popularity contest… It was the very thin line between making right and wrong calls where it absolutely mattered. So long as her team came home, safe and sound—and hopefully learned something from the excursion…Isabella wouldn’t complain.

Aurelie strung up their prisoners so that they couldn’t easily run for help, and the rest of them waited. It was the worst part of a mission, more often than not. Waiting for puzzle pieces to land in place so that they could finally move on. Aurelie seemed worried about what was happening in the building, and Isabella gave a humorless smile… “Don’t worry. If something was wrong…We’d know.”

Isabella might not have trusted Katerina; but the Alpha Leader knew exactly what she was capable of. Years of living and working side by side with Gideon left her more prepared for the truth than most. She’d deliberately added Julian to the infiltration unit because of his unique skill set. They were a lethal and disgustingly efficient amalgamation. The only other person that she could have combined with Katerina to form a similar effect would have been Leo. This was literally the exact reason Katerina hadn’t been pulled from active duty… She was useful, despite the fact that she was a walking cautionary tale.

Not more than a few minutes later, Julian appeared in a puff of smoke, and Isabella tried to conceal the fact that his sudden presence made her jump. She was hard to sneak up on, but it wasn’t as if she could hear a teleporter before they arrived in her immediate vicinity. Once the disturbance in the air hit, it was already too late. He passed her a key to unlock the collars, but before she could ask for an update, he was gone again. Efficient, indeed.

“All right—That’s our queue…”, Isabella spoke to the rest of her team, pulling away from the shade of a tall tree as she exhaled. The Siren didn’t seem outwardly nervous, but this was the first mission they’d had as a team since the Sentinel attacks on the Academy. She’d done a run just like this one several times with Scott; It was always the same…In and out. She paused for a moment, giving her teammates a once over. As soon as they crossed the wall, there was very little room to turn back. “Keep in mind that some of the prisoners might not want to leave. This is a government facility. By leaving, they are breaking the law, and we are facilitating that. If they wish to remain… That’s their choice. We’ll free who we can, and then Manifold will take it from there.”

“Allegra, please help anyone that needs it over the wall—Mind the barbed wire.”, she finished quietly, voice disappearing as her form blurred and skipped out of sight. The Siren used concentrated sound waves to accelerate her movements, lithe form becoming an unstable picture as she went up and over the wall. Isabella landed silently on the green and looked around for guards and or prisoners.

~The other team should be covering half of the yard, but keep an eye out for shots from that area as well. We’ll primarily handle the right side. Siege, Glitter, and Dice—Watch our six, and keep an eye out for anyone trying to sneak up on us. Any prisoners we free, we’ll send back towards you for protection. Expect that guards will come after you, likely with intent to subdue you or do harm.~, the songstress reiterated, sensitive ears picking up the subtle sounds of footsteps coming closer. She made a quick deduction that it was two soldiers, escorting a mutant. ~Allegra, Wukong, and Playboy…You’re with me.~

The auburn haired Colombian pressed forward and motioned towards the individuals she’d heard previously. Pressing her back to the wall, just around the corner, she waited for the MRD to pass her by. Once they did she reached out and snatched a taser from the belt of the man nearest to her. Bella used the weapon as it had been intended and shocked the soldier, getting a small taste of what it was like to be Glitter. She left the other soldier for Allegra, Wukong, or Playboy to deal with, eventually pulling the taser away from her target. The man fell to the ground, nervous system blown, seemingly temporarily paralyzed.

Isabella dropped the taser and turned to the prisoner they’d been escorting, giving the wide eyed man a comforting smile. “My name is Siren…”, that was how most of the conversations with the trapped mutants would start, if they even asked once things got rolling. Isabella or one of the others would explain their purpose, give them the option to leave, and then send them back towards Glitter, Dice, and Siege to prepare for extraction.

They moved through a few small groups of mutants and guards before Luke’s voice cracked to life over her comm. She turned in the direction she imagined he’d be facing, though she didn’t see anything. Listening hard, she did notice that there was an odd sound that shouldn’t be present among rolling hills and low mountain ranges. It was definitely mechanical—but she couldn’t immediately place it. It wasn’t a Sentinel. Switching her comm device to Leo’s channel, she issued a warning, partially out loud, and partially carried through her silent sound waves. "There’s something in the sky. Behind the watch tower on the left. Forrest said he saw something—I haven’t yet… But I can hear engines."

~It’s getting closer.~

Her attention was taken from what was in the sky to a more immediate threat, another set of soldiers. Up until now, the fights had been simple—quick. For the most part, they’d had the element of surprise and sheer numbers on each group they’d crossed. That benefit would soon be circling the drain as the fighting grew more intense. For a fleeting moment she debated on pulling the plug and sending her team back because of the disturbance Forrest had mentioned. There was an unknown factor, and something about it left her stomach feeling unsettled. But they were already attracting attention, the search and rescue portion of the mission in full swing. More and more, mutants saw them freeing others and came forward on their own to have their collars removed. Taking the collar from the last person that stood near her, she tossed the key to Wukong while she prepared to deal with the newest hazard.

~We still have a lot of ground to cover. Be sure to watch each other’s backs… It’s been a piece of cake so far—which makes me think it’s been too easy. We might have some trouble coming in, so be quick, but be careful.~, Isabella warned her group as she narrowly avoided getting clipped by sudden gunfire that came from one of the watchtowers. There really wasn’t any chance for cover in an open field, all she could do was react and move. Thankfully, it hadn’t been a sniper. ~Siege or Glitter—Clear that tower as quickly as you can.~

The young woman fell back on years of training and automatically ducked low, the edges of her form blurring as it had before. Sound was everywhere… From voices, footfalls, and gunfire, to something as natural as the wind moving in the trees… There was always something she could pull sound waves from. There was always something to pull strength from. If the men overhead weren’t bad enough, there was an entire contingent of at least eight coming from the far left. Her fingers moved as she wove invisible waves together, a faint hum in the air as she threw a sonic boom near the soldiers’ feet. It detonated loudly as intended, the concussive force causing some of the soldiers to lose their orientation. She sprinted ahead and grasped the arm of the first man to recover, bending it in a way it was never meant to go.

~Drop the gun.~, she ordered firmly, her hypnotic words emphasized with the pressure she placed on the back of his elbow. Nothing ever turned out well when missions turned into a fire fight. The Siren would do whatever was necessary in order to isolate the weapon as quickly as possible, and found a deep seated feeling of resignation as the man resisted…

The young woman released a sharp, concentrated shriek that caused the man to do as she’d requested out of sheer pain. He dropped the gun to cover his ears, but it was useless. Psionic shielding prevented the rest of her team from suffering the ill effects of her voice, but they would still find the sound startling and unpleasant. The soldier became dead weight after a moment and she let him go, an apology temporarily written into her features.

Isabella hated this. It was necessary.

Emerald eyes hardened as she focused, moving on to the next target. At least two of them had escaped her blast and was headed back towards Siege, Glitter, and Dice. She hoped that the men in the watchtower weren’t too much trouble, not when there were more inbound. The sooner the soldiers were subdued, the sooner they could gather up the rest of the mutants and go home.

(OOC: Tell me if I missed something....)

Raine followed the rest of her assigned team through the portal and into the woods, doing her best to appear mission-ready. Even though she'd been with the Alphas for what seemed an eternity, she still got the soft flutter of butterflies in her stomach every time they went on a mission. It was never from a place of insecurity. Practically speaking, she probably felt more knowledgable and comfortable with her power than most, given their team training regimen and her individual study of it. Sometimes, she wandered if it was her internal energy stores, bursting to be released.

The sounds of nature around here assaulted her senses,the Alphas splitting into their assigned groups and setting out on their defined paths. The brunette followed in silence, or as close to it as she could manage as they trekked through the woods. Eidolon and Kali split off to fulfill their separate mission, Forrest and Flairer heading towards the highest vantage point to get eyes on the situation. With the approaching group of soldiers, hazel eyes moved between the view through the tree line and Siren, mimicking the girl's low position as they observed.

The woman used her powers to attempt to lull the soldiers to sleep, while Allegra disposed of their weapons. Wukong leapt into action, incapacitating one of the soldiers with sheer force, while Raine disposed of the remaining soldiers with a few arcs of electricity, which passed easily between the bodies. When they were all down, the firefly's hands dropped to her sides, electricity still sparkling along the ridges of her hands as she willed the energy back inside her. Esben's hair stood on end from his proximity to her powers, a sight that would have made her laugh if they weren't in the midst of a prison break, as he made a bad joke to her about her powers.

"Like I've never heard that one before," she responded with a small grin in his direction. "In all seriousness, though, I'm sorry about the residual effects. It's usually best to stand back a ways, if you can." Given that it was their first mission working together, no doubt he would take away several lessons by the end. She was getting close to being considered an Alpha veteran, she she still managed to learn something new about her or a teammate's powers with every passing mission.

Bella praised them for their work, to which she gave no reply - she appreciated the affirmation that they were doing a good job, but she didn't need it. Not until this was all over and done with. They broke the tree line, securing the incapacitated guards. Aurlie asked how long they would be out, thanks to the songbird's powers, her expression dropping slightly when their leader stated it wouldn't be long enough. She wasn't sure what answer she'd been expecting.

At the songstress' urging, they were on the move once more, their local telekinetic removing the bodies of the MRDs from the path and concealing them from immediate discovery. At this point, they were sitting until their companions retrieved the key that would allow them to infiltrate the base. She nodded to Siren as the woman walked them through the plan once they were ready to proceed. At the end of the day, any danger was worth it to release the prisoners being held inside.

Aurelie expressed her worries about what was going on inside, to which Bella reassured the blonde that if something wasn't going according to plan, they would know it. It offered some sort of comfort, the brunette knowing that the woman was right, though the tenseness in her stomach didn't dissipate. They continued to wait until Julian appeared before them, producing the key they'd been waiting for to release the collars on the prisoners. Without a word, he was gone again, the Alpha leader announcing that it was time for them to move forward as she stepped away from their shelter. The firefly regarding her intently as she gave them some last minute reminders regarding what to do with prisoners that didn't want to leave.

It made her sick to think of the egregious violation of human rights that the prisoners had been forced to go through, and the thought of leaving just one behind, whether it was of his or her own volition or not, was repugnant. But, if it came to that, they had no choice but to leave them.

Once they'd reached the wall, their resident telekinetic was asked to help those over the wall that needed it, Siren taking care of herself by disappearing into a blurred form. In the back of her mind, she reminded herself to ask the Songstress how she'd done it - it could prove valuable information in the future. Even though the girl's form wasn't visible anymore, her voice lingered in the firefly's ear, placing her on the outside to watch their backs and make sure that they weren't surprised from behind, and protect the prisoners once they were freed. Her eyes fluttered to Dice and Siege, who were also assigned this task, giving them a small nod to show she understood the command.

"Allegra, if you would be so kind," she asked the blonde, flashing her a small smile as she gestured towards the top of the wall with her head. Once she was on the other side of the wall with her comrades, the brunette set to scoping out the yard. Things were going to get hairy from this point on, and they needed to be ready. Siren's encouragement came with a warning that things may have been too easy so far, the sound of gunfire erupting around them from one of the watch towers. She immediately dropped low, turning her attentions to their leader as she called for the firefly to take out the tower as quickly as possible.

"I'm on it," she responded, electricity glittering across her skin once more as she ran towards the tower, trusting her teammates to cover her where needed. As she approached the door, she never stopped running, throwing her hands forwards and releasing a ball of electricity to slam into the door and throw it off it's hinges.

The ends of her hair stood on end from the static electricity surrounding her form, sparks flying as she started up the metal staircase. The first man she encountered almost caught her by surprise, the firefly throwing her back towards the wall as a shot rang out, whizzing past her. Throwing an arc of electricity towards the man, strong enough to knock him off his feet, his body spasming wildly for a moment before falling limp. Stepping over him, Glitter continued through the tower, dispatching of two more soldiers before she reached the top, where the gunmen firing on her friends were perched.

One turned his weapon in her as soon as she entered the room, electricity striking the gun and igniting a shower of sparks that caused him to cry out and drop the gun, which allowed her to close the gap between them. A flash of electricity illuminated the area as she punched him with all her strength, the extra energy transferring directly into his skin and sending him back against the wall. Lunging at the second gunman as he rounded on her as well, she grabbed for any exposed skin she could get her hands on, the voltage streaking across her skin transferring easily into him, sending his body into convulsions that only stopped when she removed her touch.

Breaking heavily, she ran a hand back through her hair, not that it did anything to alleviate the static that made it unruly. "Siren, the watchtower is clear. I'm securing the soldiers and then I'll be rejoining the party." Looking at the two men, she sighed slightly, grabbing one under the armpits and dragging him back towards the stairs, where she could stash them in a room she encountered one floor down. It took longer than she would have liked to get both bodies down the stairs (trying her best not to bang them around too much, which she couldn't explain even to herself) and into the storage room she'd picked out for their temporary cell. Once she had dragged the other soldiers she'd incapacitated there as well, wiping the sweat that had started to bead on her forehead, she closed the door and hit the knob and hinges with concentrated arcs of electricity, the heat melting them shut.

"That should keep them busy for awhile," she muttered to herself, taking just a moment to catch her breath before moving back down to the main door to the tower, sealing it shut as she had the storage room in an attempt to prevent someone else taking up the position of the former gunman.

He had hoped looking like a normal group of friends would have averted any eyes that had taken interest in them - the tokens, the shopping, the pizza. The exit had been in sight when a woman bumped into him and her purse started going off like a bank alarm. The cowboy grimaced, grinding his teeth. “Well.. we almost made it.” He mumbled to the group with a shake of his head. He made a transmission on their radios to inform the Omegas that they had been rooted out into the open, and he all but pushed Charlotte and Roland toward the exit, insisting that they get the kids to safety. For now, he would be the distraction.

It did not take long for Narcissa and her cavalry to appear, and the Omega leader did what she could to clear the way for his partners to get the kids out of the mall, and he allowed himself to focus more on the immediate threat than following them out. After his updates to the team, the woman who had outted them sneered as she tried to lift her feet to no avail. “Lady, I told you... You needed to stick around. Or did you miss the memo?” He asked with a toothy grin, doing what he could to hide any ill-effects from the cuffs; it was going to take a minute to recover from breaking through that technology. Being a free mutant with scientific advances was getting infinitely harder.

The woman struggled some more, and Blake could visualize steam coming out of her ears in her vexation. Her hands balled into fists and she made a swing toward him but he made sure he was just out of her reach. “Careful now, I’d hate for you to break your ankles from having your feet so firmly planted to the ground… It’s not going to give way until long after we’re gone.” He would have tried to reason with her, but he knew it would fall on deaf ears. Extremists such as these would likely never see the good in mutants - even if one person stopped a natural disaster.

All of them expected it when the Sentinel crashed through the ceiling, but it did not stop his aggravation from forming all the same. A robot was the last thing they needed. Glass showered down on them with the giant’s entry, and Blake was certain more than a few stitches would be in the team’s future. Worried about his partners for the assignment, he asked for an update. “Take good care of them, Paladin.” He said, the southern gentleman in him hard to kill. “Get them to safety.”

The ground shook moments later, followed by a fiery mouth that he immediately placed. As he strode up next to one of his old recruits, he reminded her to use language more befitting of a lady. She returned the grin, thankfully not missing a beat from his borrowed facade. “Then I’d say we need to see to taking care of that robot.” He joked, nodding toward it just as Measure grew a few stories too tall to fit in the shopping center. “Well, not mine personally the way you were… but we fly under the same flag.” It was an effort to keep the bitterness out of his tone, but he somehow managed it. Alice hardly needed to know about team politics just walking in, and how hard he had been trying to transfer to a different group.

Instead, he wanted to know what had brought her here - clearly she had not been on the team roster before they left, and he doubted very much that Emma would have sent a newly promoted member last minute. Rather than ask about it in the heat of everything else, Blake lifted his communicator and informed Cissa of the new addition to their ranks, stating that she would likely want to return home with them. “Will do.” He said, keeping his commentary to the leader concise for more than one reason.

“Sentinels.” Blake answered tersely, the memory still fresh enough to leave a gaping wound. It had not been a good day. “We moved the entire school after their surprise attack.” The way he said it made it clear she would find out soon enough; for obvious reasons he could not disclose that information here. “I’m guessing you were out and about when it happened?”

Narcissa requested backup detail for Aren, who had served as a distraction for the behemoth mutant slayer, and Blake lifted his chin at the order before cutting their conversation short by transforming into a cloud of particles too small for most eyes to see and speeding toward the Sentinel at a near inhuman rate. Molecules moved far faster than a solid person could. He stopped short, remembering too well he needed to pace himself after his rendezvous with the MRD earlier.

Alice flew past him and requested to get someone who could tear it apart from the inside, but he merely chuckled. “You open that panel, and I’ll take care of the rest.” He said, coming up just behind her. Normally he would have just exploded through the casing, but if he wanted to decimate the parts inside, he needed to save what energy he had left.

Aftershock did exactly as requested, and Blake struggled to keep his balance. “You’ve gotten a little too good at that.” He grimaced, realizing what was happening two seconds too late. “Al--Aftershock!” No one caught her in time, and the girl slammed relentlessly into a pillar. Swearing under his breath, the Texan ground his teeth, all too aware of the orders chirping in his ears.

Angrily, he complied, pushing his hands through the internal circuiting, only to re-form behind it. As soon as he took shape, the wires sizzled momentarily before falling completely apart. Sparks flew and it did not take much more to beckon enough smoke to cause him to cough. Clenching his teeth, Blake passed through the robot a few more times, making sure to hit every portion of the metallic body. By the time he was done, the once oversized-humanoid mutant hunter was reduced to a smoldering pile of ash. “Nothing left to repair unless they have an alchemist.” He informed their leader tiredly. “Where’s Aftershock?” He asked moving toward the specified re-group point with the blond nowhere in sight. She had wanted to go home - and the Texan would not leave her here.


OOC:
Let me know if anything needs changed.