8316/One Small Step For Man...

One Small Step For Man...
Date of Scene:	14 July 2019
Location:	Tranquility Base - The Moon
Synopsis:	The X-men go to the moon seeking a crashed Cybertronian probe.
Cast of Characters:	Shadowcat, Rogue, Wolfsbane, Marvel Girl, Sunspot, Siryn, Cannonball, X-23, Cyclops, Beast, Smart Alek, Batman, Cypher

---

Shadowcat has posed:
There had been a lot of buzz around the school for the last week. What starter as whispers turned into spoken rumors and then was confirmed over the course of just a few days. There was potentially some information about Megatron's race on our Moon. A signal found on old satellite telescope data, but no one had known what to look for in the way of Cybertronian communications until now. A signal that ended near the Moon on the same day an amateur astronomer reported seeing a lunar impact event.

It took some convincing, but eventually it was cleared for X-men, New Mutants and a few students to go on a retrieval mission. Even better, the site itself is just a few miles from Tranquility Base, the site of the first steps on the moon. The group will be teleporting in near enough to see the historic site from a short distance. But the plan is to not actually walk amongst it, don't want to muck up the astronaut's footprints.

From there, a hike to the impact site. Salvage anything possible. Transportation is via teleport portals, courtesy of Blink, who seems both excited and nervous about the prospect. She's set up in the Danger Room.

Everyone going have space suits with enough air for six hours. There are also weapons, an assortment of conventional and laser guns, suitable for space, just to be safe.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is in a space suit.

Her eyes are glancing around, right to left, looking at the inside of her own helmet.

She's quietly just singing to herself. ~Cause even when I dream of you... The sweetest dream would never doooo... I'd still miss you, baby...~

Its just mumbling singing to herself, because she's internally utterly and completely terrified of this entire situation.

Wolfsbane has posed:
A wolf in space? Not quite, but wolfgirl is close enough. Rahne would never have thought she'd be setting foot on the moon instead of having the occasional urge to howl at it, but while space suits bring benefits with them, such as being able to actually breathe, they have some drawbacks as well. Claws are of no use, senses are limited regardless, and depending on how they fit, they can be awkward. But, the chance to see the moon in person was too good to pass up, even with plans being made to start a new life of her own in Mutant Town.

Not much for weapons, she's accepted whatever may be necessary there but she's primarily volunteered for the 'gatherer' portion of all this. "Do ye think we'll find anything weird up there?" she wonders to nobody in particular, tapping the front of her helmet a few times.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Space! Rachel hasn't been in space, though she did share her consciousness with the space firebird long enough that the idea isn't completely terrifying. It's kind of peaceful, right? The moon isn't going to end any time soon.

Telekinesis is also helpful for the whole moving around bit, course-correcting herself until she can get a better feel for how gravity works here. Also, the reflective visor hides the fact that she's actually grinning.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto volunteered to go to space despite not knowing much about 'Cybertronians' until a few hours ago. It has been almost three years since last time he was in space, after all. Plus, these guys look like Warlock cousins. Surely NOTHING could be wrong with them messing with technorganic business again.

Besides, it is just the moon, right around the corner and all. And it is daylight there. He technically wouldn't need a full spacesuit, just a breather and a com. But just in case he is wearing one. "Who else has never been in the moon before? Blue Area doesn't count."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty has on her space suit, carrying the helmet under her arm for now. "So these are special suits, unstable molecules," she comments, still pretty amazed by the technology of them. "Much better fitting than NASA had," she says. Everyone will have been through Danger Room simulations on the suits and know how they work by now. There are controls on one sleeve showing oxygen left, suit integrity and the like.

Kitty walks around, saying, "The suits are somewhat self-sealing in the event of a rupture. If it's small. Everyone has patches on their equipment belt as well," she says. She begins handing out weapons, singing to herself as well. "Fly me to the moon, and let me play among the stars. Let me see what spring is like on a, Jupiter and Mars..."

Kitty grins and gives Rogue's arm a poke as she walks past on her way over to Blink. "So, Clarice, you got this?" she asks. Blink is standing before a portal, the other end of which is way up in the air above the school, looking out towards the moon. The Asian mutant nods. "Oh yeah, got this. Totally," she says, but looking nervous. "So...not sure how long I can keep it open. Will close it after you and wait for your call on the radio to open it back again. Though if we miss touch, I try opening one every 15 minutes after you've had 3 hours, right?" Kitty nods in agreement.

"Ok, good," Kitty says, grinning. "Don't forget the gravity is 1/6 what it is here on Earth. You super strong people and fliers especially. Don't jump yourself into space or something," she says. "Speaking of, our suits are resistant to cosmic rays and other radiation. But we should keep an eye on our sensors just to be safe," she adds.

Siryn has posed:
Out of all the things Theresa Cassidy has worn in her life this was a first. She takes care to ensure the seals and straps, and anything else that would be important, is fastened securely. If she was going to space (and who wouldn't if given the chance?!) she was not going to be that person who has an 'oops' because of a clothing malfunction. Giving a little tug on the helmet to ensure it's secure she lets out a breath and glances around at the others.

"Might be something out there. Hell, seen enough to know there's something out there in general. Wouldn't be so far fetched to think there's something on our moon, too." A nod is given toward Roberto. "First for me. This is going to be really weird with no powers."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie walks out with his space suit, and laser rifle across his back. He will offer a fist bump to the Brazilian. "Think we can get away with bringing a couple rocks back?" He will ask the man. He looks around the room, and "Good question, are these suits set up to work with out powers Kitty? " He will ask as some have been set up for them.

X-23 has posed:
X-23 adjusts her suit some. If she's nervous, she doesn't show it. But then, that's not unusual...she doesn't show many emotions period. She doesn't bother with weapons, and merely waits patiently near Kitty.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott goes around to each person, double and triple checking suits and that safeties are on for all weapons. "You may experience vertigo. You may feel like you cannot breath enough if you exert yourself. You may feel disoriented. If this happens, call out on comms. Close your eyes. Stop moving. We will retrieve you. Do not attempt /anything/ off the cuff. Space does not reward improvisation. Think. Then act," he tells everyone after Kitty finishes. "This may be a once in a lifetime experience for some of you, so don't mess it up by messing around."

Scott finishes by checking he can bring up transponders for all the suits on his forearm display and nods to Kitty.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy tips her head over toward Sam at the question posed. She wasn't sure of the answer herself to be honest. "Even if they do I'm not expecting my own powers to work. You know what they say from that movie-" She pauses as Scott chimes in to give further info about what they were about to do. It wasn't reassuring in any way.

"No one can hear you scream in space."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's eyes look over to Wolfsbane at her question and she just summons up a grin. "Find anything weird on the moon?" She repeats, then glances around at the rest of them. "Besides all'a us?" She draws in a breath and looks upward. "I hope not."

She feels the poke from Kitty and looks to her, smirks inside her helmet. Scott gets a biiigger smirk. "So... no flyin' and no accidently shreddin' my own space suit with my strength."

She exhales sharply and glances down again, shifting her space booted feet. "I'm gonna die." Big sigh. "Its inevitable now."

Sunspot has posed:
"Actually we super-strong people know how to handle being super-strong," points out Roberto. "It is the others that will have to get used quickly to be able to lift six times more weight. Careful there with big things. It is not the weight that gets you, it is the inertia." He offers with a smile.

A final checkup to the suit, verifying all lights are green. "I'm ready. Onwards!"

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy gets into uniform, becuase the space suit is going to be stuffy enough on top of that, what with his fur and all. And it's a little loud, since his air circulation needs to handle any fur that gets into the air exhaust. Radioing to the others. "I feel helpless in microgravity. Everything I know doesn't work."

Shadowcat has posed:
The Danger Room doors close and a red flashing light starts up. Charles is in the control room, saying into the comms, "Everyone, helmets on and secure. We will begin depressurizing the Danger Room now." Once everyone's suits show as secure on the Professor's console, there is a hissing as the air is pumped out of the room. Blink is in a suit with them in the Danger ROom, but staying behind on Earth.

"Ok," Blink says. "Here we go. Might take me a few to get it placed just right," she says. She's looking through the portal she has open, and air is blowing through into the vacuum of the Danger Room, though her porta is high up so the air is thin there. Blink gazes at the Moon and opens a second portal.

Grey dust and dirt come pouring out of it into the Danger room, a little cave-in before it stops.

"Ok, overshot into the moon," Blink says. She motions with both hands as she says in a cheery voice, "But, hey. Moon rocks! Right?" She sighs at the response and turns back to her first portal, looking through it again as she closes the one that spilled the moon dust through.

Blink opens another portal, this time it's about a mile above the Lunar surface. Finally she opens another that is just a few inches above the surface. "Ok, you're good to go," she says over comms.

Kitty is grinning ear to ear. She hasn't been in space in some time. "Alright, let's move," she says, starting walking towards the portal. Even before stepping through, they can see the Lunar surface, mostly powdered dust with some larger boulders and rocks about, and signs of craters in the distance. There is also, several hundred feet away, signs of something manmade. The bottom of the Lunar Module from Apollo 11, and an American flag they left behind.

(like this minus the astronaut: )

Rogue has posed:
Rogue gently leans back and forth from one moon boot to the other, she watches Blink struggle with the portals and it makes her breath a bit softer. But finally, when the portal is adjusted properly and Kitty speaks up, saying its time to go?

This results in the southern belle just rushing toward the portal. She doesn't waste any time, she just starts jogging toward it and jumps through it!

Once on the other side, with her eyes clamped shut, she sails several meters before forcing herself to land via her flight power...

She opens her eyes. "Okay... okay." She looks around, eyes up into the deep blackness of space. "Yes."

Wolfsbane has posed:
Wolfsbane waits as patiently as she's capable of being, through there is excitement and anticipation running through every part of her. What will they find? Anything? Nothing? Will they be..alone? She even has her own blaster! It's a hand-held pistol-like thing, hopefully enough if she needs it, if she can aim it properly. Maybe it has auto-targeting like some of those video games!

After a couple false starts with Blink's portals - it /is/ quite a distance - eyes widen when the third time's the charm and everyone starts going through. Immediately, the effects of the shift in gravity are felt, but she's already got it in mind to move carefully, deliberately, not putting too much into her movements beyond just what's necessary. Whatever she's meant to have access to in order to help get what they're after, she's ready for that side of things. "I..think everything is reading th' right way so far. This is so different.." She sounds quiet, almost at a loss for words. "Look..it's Earth!" She points at the familiar planet, way off in the distance. Blink really did it!

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will blast just a moment before heading tot he portal. He confirms his power made no breaches and then steps up, and does the slow step for the first step but moves aside quickly as there is a decent amount of people coming through the portal

X-23 has posed:
X-23 moves through the portal, being certain to step slow and carefully. Once she's boots down on the lunar surface, she starts looking around. "Do we know how close we are to our target?" Most of her powers aren't terribly useful here, but her senses are still pretty keen, so she's sweeping the surface visually to see what can be seen that might look out of the ordinary.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy holds his breath and hops through the portal. His suit did take some work, just to get boots large enough for him. "Wearing boots is an adventure in itself," the Doctor continues to grouse. "I feel like I have no traction, and in Microgravity, no meaningful use of leverage. I wish I had time to train properly. The twinkie has landed." The last bit coming as his feet hit the gray surface.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel steps through the portal along with the others, letting her mind range out around them. It's one more way to keep tabs on the group, at least. And if she senses another mind out there, then it will //definitely// bear investigating.

Once she's through the portal, she takes a few steps away from the group, just enough to test out her grasp on gravity without endangering anyone else if she makes a mistake.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy waits until the big hitters who may still have useful powers go through before venturing through herself. A secure hold is maintained on the weapon she was given, and she takes one last big breath on Terra Firma before stepping through. The weightlessness was a bit odd a sensation as she finds herself floating lightly toward the surface to impact, and land.

"Bit like flying. Only less with the falling part."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott moves through the portal, steps aside and scans the horizon all around them. It is close here, grey against black. He taps on his forearm display and moves to get ahead of the group in the direction of the objective. If he notices the grandeur of the panorama or the specialness of the moment, it does not show. It is one more mission in space to get done. His focus is on getting them there and back safely.

"X-23, flank me twenty meters right and keep sharp," Scott says. "Rachel, bring up the rear so you can catch anyone who gets out of control. Maintain the triangle with everyone else in the middle. Spacing on Kitty."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto powers up and flies through the portal, trying to get through before the more crunchy people does. Just in the case there are moon monster bots or something. Probably not, but they are looking for maybe a crashed spaceship. Made by robots.

"Looks clear," he comments, still scanning. "Man, I can see the flag and everything. I think I have watched the landings on TV a thousand times."

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek has handled countless weapons in cyber-space, the weapon in the real world is no different to him, though the fact he's so sealed from the world, he finds it semi-disheartening. He eventually moves through the portal.. and blinks a bit, as he sensations of a new world roll through him. The unstable molecules do a good job however of overloading the easily overloaded walking tricorder. He simply states, "Moon."

Scott's tactical orders are latched onto as he raises his weapon, time todo a Raid, at least it's not a 40-man like those old days of WoW.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty lets a few others go through, watching Rogue run past. "Don't be the first to face plant on the moon, AM," she calls, laughing. Kitty is an uber geek and she is more jazzed about the Moon than she is some other planets. She steps through, moving away from the portal to make room for others. And then just stops to take in the sight.

Kitty lets out a joyous laugh, reaching over to clap Siryn on the shoulder. "We're on the Moon!" she says. She turns and looks around the lunarscape, then looks up into the dark sky. "Oh my God. Look at the Earth. It's so beautiful," she says. The orb of the Earth is hanging just above the horizon. About four times as big as the moon appears in sky. Blue and beautiful.

From there Kitty turns to look over at Tranquility Base. "I'd so love to go see Neil Armstrong's footprints," she says longingly. "But, don't want to mess up whatever survived the rocket's backblast. "Still... I mean... wow. Think of what it was like for them to come here? In a space craft with walls that might as well have been aluminum foil for how thick they were. Just... so amazing," she says, awed by it all.

The destination is a good forty-minute walk across the lunar surface. The little mechanized rolling cart comes through on big knobby wheels, ready to roll behind them to help carry salvage back.

X-23 has posed:
"Affirmative." X-23 replies to Scott, moving to the position he indicates for her. It takes a little to get used to moving up here, but she adapts quickly, little puffs of dust from her steps.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is testing her flight while the others are getting used to walking around on the ground. She's testing it by flying forward, backward, side to side, several feet before adjusting again.

"Face plant?" Rogue scoffs inside of her helmet, her filtered voice over the comms still sassy as ever. "I'm like a mountain goat. Meeeeehhhhh."

She flies upward now, tempting fate. Going up a good ten feet before she slides to a halt. "Huuhh!" Excitement spilling out of her. "Huuuhuhuhuh! Its like ice skatin' in four dimensions.... trippy." She's clearly not focusing or listening to Scott's orders.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will take a moment looking around, but then he does move more into mission mode. He makes sure to keep the ones who are unexperienced with the environment in sight. Sam checks to make sure he has a few tether lines on his belt, and asks "We walking or flying to our destination?" He will ask Scott.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yes, sir," Rachel nods to Scott's directions, taking a few more steps back and away from the portal to give everyone else room to come in. Up. Over. What's the appropriate preposition here?

She keeps an eye on the rest of the team coming through, but she also takes a moment to look back at the Earth below them, quietly thoughtful. It looks so small from here.

Cyclops has posed:
Once everyone is through and roughly assembled, Scott takes cue from Kitty and starts off toward the objective site. They could move faster, he would like to, but in space slower is faster and not everyone is used to breathing hard in a suit with a fixed rate of flow. So the walk is leisurely and leaves plenty of time for enjoying the moment and beauty of being in space. The moon's surface is reasonably well lit, the sun reflects off the earth and casts it in a decent light. Shadows in craters are long and stark, and above all, it is quiet. There is breathing, the sound of others on comms, but nothing else. No crunch of boots on the surface, no cars or sirens in the distance, no insects or birds.

Partway through the walk he raises one hand to his helmet to snap a some images and then taps on his forearm display again. After that it is back to scanning and periodic check-ins with everyone.

Wolfsbane has posed:
For the travel from the portal to the point in question, Wolfsbane gravitates toward those she knows best and is most comfortable with, namely some of the original New Mutants she was partnered up with for so long. It's tough not to get distracted, but the need for caution helps keep her focused enough to follow along and acknowledge anything over the comms. A couple times, she picks up a moon rock of a different shape and size, then drops it to watch the effect of less gravity in action. Mostly, she's quiet aside from an occasional sound or word marveling at a particular sight or view.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy tries to have fun with this. Serious mission or no, he's trying to learn, and makes a game of it. As the group moves leisurely, he follows up the rear, and starts playing. At first trying to walk. Then making short hops, and then he goes for it, and starts making larger hops, before finally doing flips in mid air before landing back on his feet.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto doesn't go far, since Scott said something about keeping formation. He glances to Sam to see if he would agree with it... but no, of course he would. So not straying far, for now. "Okay, coming down," he lands with a thud, which is maybe heard because sounds does transmit through the ground. He still has to work on the landings, flying is new for him.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy finds herself staring down toward the vast expanse of the moon as the light gravity slowly pulls her in again. When Kitty pats her back she jerks her head up to grin broadly at the brunette. "Aye. Fokkin' amazing," she agrees as she slips back into her brogue for a moment. "Ah, guess it's work time though." Her attention turns toward the objective as she follows along. Every now and then she gives a good little push to let herself sail through the 'air' a bit more than before. She couldn't fly by her usual means. Yet it did allow her to have a similar control of how she moves.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek takes a bit though as much as he tries to make a gaming session out of this, the mutants abilities simply try their best to soak up all the various wavelengths of energy around him.

    He pauses a moment, "Never seen that before." He glances to his right, The moon's lack of an atmosphere allows for a truely wide gambit of particles. His eyes scan over to the massive earth and then back to the rest of the group, "So much out there... We're just little ants."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde goes around to each person, assuring they are good before radioing back to the school, "This is Tranquility Base. Beginning trip. You can shut down now, Blink," she says. Blink steps over to the portal, stepping through to rest her foot on the moon. She laughs and then steps back through. "Just had to touch it at least, for John," she says. Or J'onn for those who know the true identity of the science teacher who had offered to take Blink into space. "Ok, best of luck," she says, and the purple-rimmed portal winks out.

Professor Xavier's voice comes over their comms. It's very crackly, not very good reception at all. "Team, best of luck. Your sensor feeds... **static** ... more radiation than expected but nothing dangerous. Continue on and... **static*** ... in touch. Earth out."

Kitty checks her readings. "More particles than expected. Strong solar wind," she comments. Sunspot might be basking in it, even with his suit blocking some of it. Everyone took iodine pills before leaving, just to be extra safe.

The walk to the destination allows people to hop like the astronauts in the videos, a step just wanting to come off the ground practically in the light gravity. But soon they reach a jagged gash across the lunar surface. A round crater, but at the bottom the ground is broken open, leading down into some sort of subsurface caves. "There are old lava tubes here," Kitty says of the structure. "There is talk of making some airtight and then turning it into a below-ground moon base," she comments. She runs some scans and says, "There are small bits of metal debris around the crater, but I'm detecting something metallic further below ground. Think we need to go down in the caves," she says. Kitty turns on a light that is attached to her wrist. Everyone has one, as well as a light on their helmet.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Those who test the gravity too far may feel the slightest tug of extra 'gravity' as Rachel lets her mind and her telekinesis wrap around them, ready to give them a tug before they can actually go shooting off into space. She won't interfere unless she needs to, but she's being cautious all the same.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue suddenly touches down beside Kitty and reaches around to pull her into a hug. "Picture time!" She announces without waiting for Kitty's response. So she raises her camera up and takes a pic of herself smiling in her suit, and whatever expression Kitty happens to have on her after having someone suddenly just drop out of the stars and land beside her! The southern belle is enjoying this way too much... "Ellie's gonna love this!" She says as she starts to moon boot walk away looking down at her space camera. She looks up to see Hank making big leaps and she cheers him on!

Sunspot has posed:
Sunspot does indeed bask in the solar radiation. Much more intense than in Earth, even in the tropic, although they are not planning to stand around enough time he will get an interesting power boost.

But he is receiving more than enough to stay powered indefinitely. Which sounds like a good plan. That is, until Kitty mention caves. Drats.

"Are we looking for something in particular, Kitty?" He asks through the coms. "Power sources? Or computer data? Or even survivors? I mean, Cibertronians can survive in the vacuum, right? Like Technarchs."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott sighs to himself when they get to the caves and Kitty says that is their direction.

"Rogue, Sunspot, Cannonball, Theresa, down first since you get back out on your own. Watch for traps and sentry weapons."

Scott crouches down at the mouth of the nearest cave and scans into it.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde laughs as Rogue lands by her and gets the camera out. She gives a big grin as Rogue points the camera their way. "Moon cheeeeeeese!" she says for the photo, then laughing and saying, "If you can manage to send that back to her from here? Best Tweet of all time." She goes over to take a look down at the immense lava tube, large enough to fit city blocks and running off several football fields in length one direction. "I'll rig some ropes, just in case anyone needs out and the fliers aren't available. Not to mention if we need to pull any pieces up and out," she says.

Kitty stops the little lunar rover thing and glances down into the tube. "I don't think it can handle the terrain in there, probably have to leave it here," she says. She begins pounding in some anchors and securing the lines, dangling them down so they can be accessed by someone from below easily enough.

Wolfsbane has posed:
Wolfsbane's eyes go very wide as they reach the cave area. "It's so../big!/" she exclaims. If there's a cave system on Earth of this scale, she has not seen it. Before any thought is given toward getting down there, she waits for the others to investigate and ensure it's safe to go. She watches Kitty work with their rover, but inevitably her attention returns to what they've come to.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie starts to say something to add in but stops himself. Scott is in charge of this mission. He will look to the other three, and says "Pick a direction and keep an eye on it. Once we are down, we can ferry folks others down." He will kick the blast on and head down, head first into the hole.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy comes to a stop near the edge as teh others look over into it. Let those who were more scientifically inclined than her do the initial viewing. Kitty's information earns a nod from her, and then when Scott suggests she be one of the first in her hands spread in an obvious shrug. "Works for me. I'll just-" Sam barrels off earning a laugh. Her own departure is a bit more subdued as she just steps off the edge giving a mock salute toward Scott as she goes down. "Be seeing you all soon."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue sweeps over to the cavern system and after peering inside it above the others she just adjusts her body in mid air and starts to glide down into it where the ropes were dropped. Once inside she uses her wrist computer thing to turn on a helmet light. "Nice place." She quietly says over the comms, looking this way and that, floating down toward the distant floor. Eventually she reaches the 'floor' and holds her hands out to do a push up and come back up onto her feet. "Tracks down here." Rogue reports. "Draggin' tracks. Not Dragon, draggING. I... think anyway. Could be a dragon."

X-23 has posed:
X-23 waits for the ropes, but her descent via them will be aggressive. After all, what's a little broken leg? It'll heal. She descends down the lava tubes.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto lits the helmet headlight and flies down the lava tunnel, "large enough," he comments. "It would be nice to have a more potent light source. But..." he glances at X-23. "Supersenses should help, I think." He hovers a few yards into the tunnel, trying to figure out depth and advancing with some wariness.

"So how old is this thing?" He asks for the science team. "Was here before the crash or because the impact was so violent it cause lava flows?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel moves to a spot near the edge of the canyon where she can keep an eye on things from above, still just letting her mind roam to keep tabs on everyone in the group. So far, so good. No panic. No strange minds. Just a normal day on the moon.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek blinks a bit as he looks down the crater, "So bright.. Must be radiation like the professor said... light, radiation, radio, all the same.. different colors and shapes" he shrugs, He bends down and starts to play with the lunar soil.. "Little meteorites.. all broken apart.. Titanium is higher.. well, it is whiter.."

He waits for the expeditionary force to clear the way while he daydreams with the unfamiliar sensations.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde finishes getting the ropes and cables ready. "Scratches?" she says, frowning as she hears that. She looks over to Scott, hesitating. "I mean if it was something Megatron's size, it wouldn't be just scratches it would be pulverizing the smaller rock, I'd think.

She peers down into the cavern. "Want to send our stealthy people ahead to scout? Maybe Wolfsbane, Laura, Jubilee. Maybe Rogue and Sunspot for extra protection but staying out of sight?" she suggests. "While the rest of us follow behind with the equipment." They are carrying tools for salvage after all.

Kitty tells Roberto over the comms, "Um, let's see." She and Hank peer over at the walls. "Well, you can see where the impact hit the tube and affected it. Fractures, impact quartz. Would say the lava tube was here already before it hit," they agree together finally.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy lands lightly when she hears the others talk of the drag marks. Curious, she turns the light on her helmet to shine onto a few of them which she approaches to examine. "Bigger question is, which direction were they going? In or out?" Even as she tries to scan over them to figure out tell tale signs of which way they were going she notices a few of the others going in. "This is how horror movies start."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie smiles, and says "Yes, but it is a horor movie for them not us." He will wait for the others to come along, and makes sure, he keeps a signal from the scouts "You see something odd, let us know asap. " He does lean down himself and pockets some of the grit and rocks from the dragging spot.

Cyclops has posed:
"Keep big guns with each of the scouts, Scott says. "Stealth is electronics up here. Everyone's heat signatures, em transmissions and radar reflections will give them away.

"Could be anything or one out here," Scott notes to Kitty. "Any idea if... Yep, read my Theresa."

Rogue has posed:
Rogue starts to walk along side the tracks / scratches on the floor of the giant lava tube tunnel. As she moves she glances back to the others, her right hand goes up to grab that gun that she'd been given, some kind of space rifle...

"Ya'll sneaky types try'n get a scout ahead. I'm gonna lower my helmet light down t'a dimmer settin'." She glances down at this space rifle and she grimaces. "I hate guns." She mutters, but knows she can't damage her suit on this mission with punches...

A thumb flicks the switch to prime the weapon and she watches the display count up its ammo shots. "God, I feel like I'm in one'a those dumb video games... Hambone would be better with this thing probably..."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty ends up beside Theresa, looking down at the scratches. "Good question. Maybe even both," she says, not able to make any determination. "There's sure a bunch of them," she says. "Well, it's been here a long time so hopefully whatever it is, isn't active anymore." She begins trekking forward while the scouts move off ahead of them. "Not that we need to be hostile with whatever's here. But, I don't know that we should assume anything is friendly necessarily, either," she says. "Just, you know. Be careful."

X-23 has posed:
X-23 moves forward down the tube. Tactical training is second nature, and she's very good at being sneaky. She stealthily approaches, and when she gets closer, she'll give her report.

"Some type of alien spacecraft here. Being serviced by some type of smaller drone or robot. Several of the smaller drones."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto stands close to Sam and Terry, his helmet light on the opening hatch. "Looks like there is something alive here. Or at least active." He takes a couple pictures of the spaceship, but otherwise he stays at a prudent distance. "Are we expecting hostiles here? I mean, was this a spaceship of the good guys or the bad guys?"

Wolfsbane has posed:
Wolfsbane makes her way in with the others, taking the lead given the uses her senses allow. Even sight is key down here. They go on further, and she echoes the others in saying, "I'm no' sure whit this is but I'm gaunae get a recording for everyone. It's like some robot a' work, but I'm no' sure whit it's doing. Harvesting?" She adds, "I dinna see any..aliens." Activating a recorder, she gets some visuals that, now or later depending on what the suits allow, people can review for further details.

Cyclops has posed:
"Unknown, Sunspot. X-23, we're not sneaking past any advanced sensors in these suits. If they have space drones, they know we're here already. Once you've got backup, break cover and test responses. Nothing hostile, just see if they will ignore you."

"Get ready to cover X-23 and exfil everyone. Let's hope they don't mind visitors."

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek hmms.. as he hears robots over the comms. He begins to head down the way leading up the tail end of this ragtag group. He's got to see this himself. He looks to others, "I always wanted to talk to an alien computer.. it's like foreign exchange but better.." his own head lamp is off, the radiation and heat that bleeds from the surroundings is enough for his own senses. "Yeah.. are these the good aliens or bad aliens?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty listens in on and views the video. It can be seen on the control panel on everyone's wrist. "Megatron is a warrior. A warlord possibly even. And at war with others of his kind. We don't know if these are his side or the other side. He was on Earth and inactive a lot longer ago than this thing crashed. Could be the other side looking for him. Or his own side looking for him. An attack force. A supply run. A probe. We just don't know. That's what we're hoping for, to get more insight into what their situation is, and from a source other than just having Megatron tell us and we have to guess if it is the truth. I was hoping for some computer memory or something."

As Alek focuses on his surroundings, he gets little flashes. Communications between the active robots. More like impressions than hearing words. They are vigilante but don't seem aware of any threats. However, he also senses aggression despite the lack of a known threat by them.

Siryn has posed:
Theresa Cassidy glances toward Kitty with a nod though she doesn't look convinced about the age of them. "How can you tell how old it is? This is the moon. Things don't age the same without wind and rain and stuff." At least that seems reasonable to her. The view they got of Tranquilty Base certainly had seemed as if it were in good shape still.

When the radio comes over with mention of drones she frowns, and glances over her shoulder. "I'm not really great at fighting in tight areas. I'll wait at the base of the crevace to help get folks out quick if we need. Cover the entrance in case someone else shows up too," she adds with a mumble.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel maintains her distance from the main body of the group, keeping up the rear guard watch just in case anything may sneak up on the group from behind. "I vote that the killer space robots have no interaction with the future mutant killing robots if at all possible," she notes over the comms, quiet.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will make sure to put a hand out to Alek, and says softly "Lets get an idea if they are good or bad, before we go talking to them. and remind me next time warlock is in town, I will introduce you to him. " He will say "I think I remember the intergalatic greeting Doug used if you want me to try it.

X-23 has posed:
"Understood." Laura replies to Scott. She waits till she can see the others approaching, and only then does she intentionally move out from her stealth position, moving to a position where she can be seen by the smaller bots, out near the center of the tube.

Wolfsbane has posed:
Wolfsbane begins to move back to a safer area, preparing to return to the surface to aid with things as needed and be ready for a quick evac if things go south. She's seen what she needed, shared it, but anything more serious may not be for her to get involved with right now. "Be careful," she urges.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is taking up a position near the cavern tube entrance to where the craft is parked/crashed. She's fiddling with her gun while the others are doing their thing, listening to comms. She activates another switch on it and brings a scope up out of its central body. "God, I hate guns." She mutters as she raises the weapon up and tries to peer through the scope with her helmet glass.

"Lotsa space nerds about, be careful." She says over the comms. "I'll start shootin' if they do..." Carol Danver's gave her some weapons training at least. Even though she despises using it...

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "Umm.. Guys.. The robots are talking to their ship... and it's talking.." he pauses a moment, "back. They definitely know were here now and perhaps a bit threatened." The high frequency spectrum of radiation precieved like little flashes of colors and sometimes as clicks whatever his messed up brain likes to do at the time."

Sunspot has posed:
"Yes, Warlock would be good for this mission," comments Roberto, looking at Sam. "Okay, I am seeing only one of the little robots moving. The others seem inert," so Roberto starts walking towards the 'live' robot trying to be non-threatening. "Megatron? Is that a codename?"

What was the robot trying to do? He examines the access hatch and looks back at the group. "Should I open this? Looks like the robot is trying to open it."

Shadowcat has posed:
As Alek relays that information, the additional things that might be robots, begin to move. Yep. Definitely robots. The turns to face X-23. And from the ship, a turret with two barrels on it raises up out of the metal surface. The ship isn't quite upright. Rather than the turret being on the top, it's angle forward. That doesn't spot the gun barrels from trying to elevate towards X-23 though. The robot that was working in a panel closes it and turns away, and a small missile pops up on its shoulder. That also points towards X-23's direction and then a plume erupts behind it as it launches towards her!

X-23 has posed:
"Contacts are hostile." Laura replies. A missile is a bit excessive. She launches herself towards the side wall, though she hasn't taken the microgravity into account with her reflexes; she ends up sailing into the wall harder than she should have.

Shadowcat has posed:
The rocket hits where X-23 had been. The robot appears to have compensated for the gravity, but not for Laura's reflexes. The missile detonates as it hits, sending chips of rock in all directions, but thankfully not hurting anyone.

The rest of the robots begin to advanced, weapons starting to become apparent.

Further back, the blast cannot be heard, but it can be seen. "Crap, is everyone ok!" Kitty cries, starting to rush forward towards the bend in the lava tube.

There are enough ridges, boulders and such that people can take shelter from fire. The robots are advancing however.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto starts when missile is shoot at Laura, not having heard any warning signal of hostility. He never made it to the hatch, obviously. Instead he takes off and heads straight for that working missile turret, staying out of the firing angle. Then he raises a hand and releases a plasma blast. Not knowing how tough the alien metal is, he doesn't hot full force. Still, that blast would have destroyed a human-made gun turret from a light armored vehicle.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will start to tell the others the introduction that Doug used to talk to the other one but at the firing it seems a little late for that. He moves towards where Alek is to make sure the kid is taking cover.

Marvel Girl has posed:
From the rear, Rachel stiffens as she hears the sounds of fire, her mind ranging immediately ahead of her to the others to try to get an image of what's going on deeper in the tubes. "It would be great, if just //once// the robots were nice," she mutters under her breath, moving to find a place where she can see while maintaining cover.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek is quick to take cover, which involves bending down and curling into a ball behind a rock or two, "I wish we could talk quietly not shoot each other." He looks to Sam, "I don't think your greeting worked."

Shadowcat has posed:
The shots from Roberto hammer the robot. Bits of metal go flying, though he seems to be made of some hard stuff, and he's still up and active. The robot points one of its arms towards Roberto and it become a barrel that starts to rotate and light up, before launching some sort of laser beam in Sunspot's direction.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is trying to provide cover fire and protective fire from where she is positioned behind a big moon rock outcropping. "This is insane." She says, repeating it after every burst of three rounds. "This is iiiinsaaaaaane!" There's actual terror in this because of the fact that if her suit is damaged, or any of them, a real possibility of actual death is on the line.

Cyclops has posed:
"You're not kidding," Scott agrees with Rachel. He stands up and advances up the tube from boulder to boulder with his laser rifle in firing position. He drops down near Laura and rights her with one hand while firing at a robot. It takes a laser blast.

"Time to kick ass, X-23," Scott says to her with a smirk. He fires and moves to new cover. "Don't let them back us out of the cavern while we have people in there!"

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty starts forward, hurrying across the floor of the lava tube. "I'll try to draw some fire!" she calls out over comms. "Darn it I wish I had Lockheed, but he kind of needs air to fly," she says. Kitty pulls a gun off of her shoulder but doesn't try to fire it yet. Instead she runs out from behind a boulder, right in view of the robots and the ship.

Two of the robots open fire on her, while the gun turret that was about to try to target Roberto, sees Kitty and focuses on her instead. The gun barrels glow orange and then shoot thick laser beams at her.

The weapons fire passes through the phasing mutant, the turret lasers scoring the rocks where they hit. "You do NOT want to get by that turret!" Kitty calls as she runs, trying to keep them from realizing the shots are passing through her for now.

Sunspot has posed:
"Hrmph, lasers," because lasers barely work on Sunspot. Unfortunately they work fine on the spacesuit, even with the unstable molecules cloth. So Roberto receives alarms of integrity loss right away. Good thing they didn't hit the oxygen tank.

"Maldicao..." grumbles the young man. Things got just a bit more dangerous for him. But he has energy to remain as Sunspot for a while, and there is plenty sunlight out of the cave. Still, he better to be conservative with his power, and that means flying down to punch the robot instead blasting again.

X-23 has posed:
Laura shakes her head a little as she hits the wall at high speed. And then Scott takes the reins off. She'd already done the math. A human can stay conscious for 15 seconds in vacuum.

X-23 can do /a lot/ of damage in fifteen seconds. And they were given suit patches.

She braces her legs against the wall, and then...SNIKT. Out come the claws from both hands, the hiss of escaping air from her suit going around. Fifteen. She launches herself at the robots. Time to show what adamantium can do. She slashes through the first one almost like it was made of butter, and then launches herself at another like a deadly ricocheting bullet. Fourteen.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Taking out the turrets," Rachel says grimly, peeking out from behind a rocky outcropping and extending a hand toward the source of the fire to wrap her mind around the alien metal. Robots are slightly more complicated. There's a lot of moving parts, they move themselves, they try to hit teammates. But guns? Those she can crush, with a scream of metal in the faint atmosphere around them as they crumple and turn inwards toward the ship itself.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to Alek keep your head down. He stands up and says "Ah got the big gun." He blasts forward an orange blast of his field flaring when one of the smaller blasts hits it, but Sam is almost invulnerable while blasting and those beams are not enough to test him. He hits the remains of the torrent flying through it, turning the big gun to scrap, but he does fly past the fight to have to do the move he learned from Kurt, cutting his power, and doing a flip before kicking it back in to reverse directions

Rogue has posed:
After not having a lot of success with the rifle, Rogue grunts and just tosses it aside. She turns to her left then and places her gloved hands on the sides of a large chunk of moon. She grits her teeth and starts to rip the massive dark gray boulder up into the air, lifts it up over her dome-covered head and throws it at the ship / at the turret with the laser weaponry that fired on Kitty. "Heads up!" Rogue barks out into the comms as she throws that rock with all her might, in low-gravity enviroment.

Shadowcat has posed:
A rocket hits the ground at Kitty's feet while a laser blast passes through her again. The feet is eerie because except for the words of teammates, it's quiet. The explosion throws up bits of rock and dust, but there's no sound to it, no feeling of a pressure wave since there isn't any air to translate that to anyone.

When the dust settles, Shadowcat is still there. She unphases as she brings the laser rifle to her shoulder, aiming at one of the robots and shooting. It hits it in an arm, the metal scoring and the arm hanging useless after. Kitty jumps then, leaving 20 feet as she forgets the Lunar gravity in the moment of the fight, she tumbles in the air as well, not expecting to be off the ground so long, and bounces off a wall to fall to the ground behind some boulders.

The turret that seems the worst threat is taking hits, twisting awkwardly from Rachel, and then dented heavily by the huge boulder thrown by Rogue and blasted through by Cannonball, his protective shield keeping his suit intact.

Robots are firing back, a mixture of lasers and rockets that are flung towards the heroes. One robot is down, sliced apart by X-23. Three are damaged from shots by Kitty, Sunspot and Cyclops but are still in the fight, and two more or still undamaged. One turns towards Rogue to fire on her.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto punches through the robot armor, shattering the internal mechanisms and almost tearing it on half. He expected the glove to take damage, but fortunately this time the unstable molecules manage to adapt and survive without holes.

He turns to the next robot, but it gets crushed by a large chunk of moon. "Good aim," he says with a nervous chuckle. It is a bit unnerving not to be able to hear the usual sounds of super-powered combat.

X-23 has posed:
The big guns are for heavier hitters on the team; X-23's a scrapper. She's best when she can just go "berserker barrage" and clear the field. Claws slice through the legs of the one she launches herself at, before she stabs it center mass. Twelve. It's off to the next nearest, using jumps rather than trying to run in the microgravity.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott continues pressing forward, cover by cover, rock by rock. His shots are precise, and his movements staccato, offbeat, to avoid easy targeting.

He sees on robot turning to fire on X-23 and lays a trio of laser bolts into its chassis before moving on.

"Press the advance, watch for reinforcements!"

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek hmms as he cowers from his spot... "I wish we met under better circumstances.. we didn't want to damage your ship, but sadly we can't talk the same language.." he talks over the comms, "they are protecting their ship, we scared them. I can't understand their language, but that I can understand."

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel winces as Kitty goes flying toward the wall, turning her attention instead to stabilizing her teammates. "Just a friendly reminder, gravity here on the moon is experiencing some technical difficulties," she says in a flight attendant voice. As they fire weapons or feel the kickback from a shot, or as they may start to spin out of control from a hit, they can feel the slightest nudge keeping them from shooting too far in the opposite direction. It does mean, though, that she's too occupied juggling X-Men to take shots at robots for the moment.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will call out "If this thing is like the other, it can think and talk." He will head back in and come in to a hover above the robot confident in his field to protect him. He will look down at it and tries talking " You aint going to win this fight, stop shooting we don't want to hurt ya no more than you already made us. " He looks at the Robot and tries the ah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong. Not exactly something expect to say in the middle of combat, but stand down darn it."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde manages to get turned with Rachel's help, getting her feet onto the wall to lessen the impact. She ends up behind the boulders and back on her feet much faster than she would have. She runs forward towards them, seeing one of the robots turn towards X-23's back. It raises a hand which turns into a laser barrel as the hand lifts at the wrist.

Kitty runs right through the previously undamaged robot, phasing through it and coming out the other side. Sparks shoot from it here and there, quickly dying with no oxygen to sustain them. The robot shudders, damaged, but righting itself as it moves jerkily to raise it's gun barrel again. Kitty calls, "It's slowed, hit it!" to whoever is free to take a shot at it.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue is quick to duck underneath shots from the robot firing upon her, her seventh sense tingling that danger sense inside her mind. She ducks down beneath another rock, not one as large as that of the one she'd thrown, but large enough to guard her upper body. So she gathers it up and holds it in front of her as she leans forward and lunges toward the robot firing on her, attempting to Moon Smash the little bugger into the dirt with the beach-ball sized boulder! "This is a lot more satisfyin' than that gun was." She mutters.

Cyclops has posed:
"Guns have their charms, just like you do, Rogue," Scott says gruffly. He breaks cover to pour fire into the robot Kitty damaged and disappears again.

"Good thinking, Cannonball."

Rogue has posed:
The robot is smashed back into a rock outcropping, then smashed again as the space suited southerner just starts pounding them into small pieces with the beach ball sized rock. Again and again until its little parts just flop about into the dusty cavern floor. She then spins around and keeps hold of the boulder in both of her gloved hands, her fingers adjusting position upon the rock's craggily surface to find a better hand holding grip. She searches for another target. "I'm a lot more charmin' than a gun, Cyke." Rogue quips back.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto kicks the robot Kitty short-circuited, sending it flying towards a distant wall. "I think that was the last one, except for Sam's friend." Seriously Sam, you are not Doug. Roberto facepalms at what Sam is trying. The gesture somewhat clumsy due to the helmet.

"Alright, what are we doing with the spaceship?" He asks. "Usually it would be too heavy, but under the moon gravity I bet Rogue and I could pull it out of the cave."

X-23 has posed:
With the smaller bots dispatched, X-23 pops claws back in, then grabs for the adhesive patches. One on one hand, one on the other. Problem solved. She looks back to the others, making certain everyone else is all right.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over, and says "Well it was as close as Ah could get to what Doug said, and Ah figured if it didn't work it would start shooting at me, and Ah was going to fly up, and back down and do the whole meteor punch type thing if Ah had to.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty gets back to her feet, dusty moon dust off of her space suit. What a great sentence that will be for her to type in her mission report. "Everyone ok?" she asks, checking her sensors and assuring herself there are life scenes from everyone being reported. "Whew. Everyone's suits instact?" she says, checking her own.

"My oxygen is low. Unfortunately each time I phased I lost air," she says with a frown. She starts moving over towards the ship. "Laura, you good?" she asks as she sees X-23 is having to use patches on her hands. "Alek, you ok? Want to come see what you can make of the ship?" she asks.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek gets up from his rocky hideout, "Fine yeah.. lots of noise and such. I should have expected it. They weren't really alive but.. they wanted to be." He wanders over to the ship and looks it over. His eyes glow brighter blue then usual as he begins looking at the materials and the technology, he smiles, "It has stories to tell all right.. sadly it's wings are broke, it won't fly again.. too bad. It has alot of memories indeed."

Sunspot has posed:
"My suit has a large hole," replies Roberto. "But I will be fine as long as I stay powered. Uh... maybe I can patch it," he adds seeing Laura doing just that. Well, he will try.

"We still have two hours to go, Kitty," unless they can reach Blink and get her opening a portal before time. "Maybe we can share oxygen with you, though."

Cyclops has posed:
"Rachel, top up Shadowcat with 8% of your O2," Scott says, looking at the readout on his forearm display to see who has the most air. "I'm sure you could move the ship, Sunspot, but it would bring the attention of half the world's space agencies and superhero teams. Shadowcat, salvage op is your lead. I'm going to recon the immediate area."

Rogue has posed:
When the coast was announced clear, Rogue tosses the big rocky boulder down beside her onto the dirt where the parts of the smashed robot were beside her booted feet. She exhales softly isnide of her moon helmet and starts to walk around the ship in question. "Yeah.... we could lift it." She says as she visually scans over the rest of her team then. "But why? We can't take it back with us. It wouldn't fit inta one'a Blink's gates."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Got it," Rachel nods to Scott as she comes out from cover to join Kitty. "You know, I was honestly curious how the phasing on the moon would go. Loss of oxygen is the least horrible outcome I had in mind." So encouraging. At least she sounds like it's supposed to be, as she sets up the transfer to add some oxygen to Kitty's tank.

X-23 has posed:
"I will be all right." Laura replies. "I should have enough oxygen for the remainder if I conserve." A little hypoxia never hurt anyone.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over to Alek, as he lands, and says "Can you copy its stories and data, so we can put it on hard drives and figure it out once we back home?" Sam will move over to Berto, to use his own patches with Berto's, to try to cover the other's New Mutants punctured suit.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde watches Alek, but moves over to help Roberto apply the patch to his suit. The suits are designed to be able to share air, so the transfer won't be difficult for Rachel to achieve. "Rogue, don't even try to tell me you didn't enjoy that immensely," Kitty says as she looks at the boulder that Rogue was using in the fight.

Kitty smiles to Rachel once her friend can see Kitty's face through her helmet. "Thanks for the assist Rachel. I totally forgot about the gravity for a minute there," she says, shaking her head at herself.

Kitty looks over as she hears Alek. "Wow, I really wish I knew how you do that," she tells the student who has already shown himself immensely helpful on missions. Kitty smiles to Rachel and then moves over to touch Alek's shoulder. "You did good, Alek," she tells him with a smile. "So, lets see if we can bring its memories back with us," Kitty says. She begins grabbing the tools. Phasing helps but the computer core they find inside the ship has to be removed the old fashioned way to avoid damaging it. "I had to phase the whole suit of course," Kitty tells Rachel. "But I lost the air in it when I did. Could only go in little pulses as I had to phase back so the suit would hold the air as the tanks pumped out more.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek says, "I could try to transfer the memories wirelessly but... I don't know enough of it's protocols. If I could touch the core I could remember them... I may talk in some wierd gibberish for a while but it could work." He watches Rachel pick up the tools, "Old fashioned way works too, just need to be careful we don't break anything too badly.""

Rogue has posed:
Rogue shows a smirk over to Kitty when she says that bit about enjoying this. "No comments." She responds in casual indignation since Kitty had gotten an earful about how Rogue didn't want to come on this mission to begin with, because she 'hates space'.

"Just don't phase outta your suit there, Miss Kitty." She quips back to her friend now as she starts to walk back to where she left her space rifle. She leans down to pick it up and brush some of the dirty off, then slide it back onto her back where it slips into its holster there. She may hate it, but its probably really epxensive and important to someone...

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel gives the ship a long look, working through a few options on how to get to the core for the memories. "Cyclops, you're pretty good with machines and taking them apart and putting them back together, right?" She doesn't really wait for an answer, though. "If you take a look and get a feel for it, I might be able to link up with you and..." She raises her hands, making a sort of exploding outward motion. "I'd definitely need a guide, though, or I'll end up disintegrating the whole thing or something."

Well, at least she's honest about it.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto spends a few minutes patching up the suit, until the lights to green and he reads it is in working order again. "Good, it worked. Now I won't explode if my powers are neutralized or something. Thank you."

Because he has bad experiences with giant robots and getting mutant powers neutralized.

"How do we go inside? Phasing or do we try the hatch?" After all, there might be more robots inside, among other things.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will make sure Berto's suit has plenty of air sharing his own if needed. He then will more around gathering robot parts as well as rocks. Might be neat things to take back might be useful to examine who knows.

Cyclops has posed:
"Copy, Rachel," Scott says. He turns and bounds confidently over to join the others.

"Just like a motorcycle. A giant space motorcycle," he says dryly and starts taking a look, asking Kitty and Alek for guidance on what they need and steps along the way to help him help Rachel piece it together.

"Bring anyone else in you need to, Rachel, all yours," Scott says. He surrenders himself to Rachel's link, which comes surprisingly strong and easy, used to working with Jean and the others. He is aware of he sees and is doing, but more guided to look and explore by the needs of the others.

Shadowcat has posed:
With Alek and Kitty providing guidance, and Rachel using Scott's skills and her telekinesis, the ships computer core is successfully retrieved after quite a lot of work. It's of a size that Rogue can carry it easily enough, certainly back to the little motorized buggy back up on at the crater. "I'm not sure if it was a ship, or a probe, or what," Kitty says, looking at it and shaking her head. "Hopefully we can decipher their memory structures," she says as the group makes their way back through the lava tubes.

The group exits, whether flying or climbing, emerging back in the floor of the crater. As they exit the lava tubes, their suit's sensors start beeping. Increated levels of radiation are being detected. When one of the fliers goes higher, the reading goes up as being in the bottom of the crater seems to be sheltering them somewhat.

The radios crackle. Professor Xavier's voice can barely be made out over static. "... receiving... *static*... olar flare affec... *static* ... *static*... not receiv... *static*... trying... *static*."

Attempts to get communications through are failing. Oxygen levels are getting low, thirty minutes left or less. Kitty looks worried. "Did you catch what? Did he say something about a flare? Maybe a solar flare going on?" she asks. "Can Blink open a portal in one of those?"

The answer may be forthcoming. A purple-rimmed portal starts to form in the sky above them. But it barely starts to open before it collapses. It happens three more times over the next few minutes, but the new attempts don't even do as well as the first one.

Cyclops has posed:
"That's what it sounded like. Options team?" Scott asks, assessing the situation himself. "I'm not a physicist, how do we make safe from a radiation spike and get more oxygen if required?"

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek has really bad ringing in the ears as the solar flare radiation seems to have decided to be an audio experience for him. He clapss his gloved hands over his ears, "so loud... the sun is definitely stronger now.. we should stay underground if we can't get out?" he questions, "Not sure on how we breathe though...." his voice becoming more shrill, the gears beginning to grind, it's not a good thing at all.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over to them, and says "Let me check something." He will take to the air, heading towards the moon landing area. He makes sure not to land in the air or disturb the sand around it. He spends a moment looking around the area, as he thinks hard "Rachel, can ya put me on a solo line with Scott?"

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Safe from the radiation is probably fine back down in the caves," Rachel grimaces. "The comms couldn't reach us down there, so it's probably similar. The oxygen...is a bigger problem." She catches the inside of her cheek between her teeth, trying to work through options. "If we could //find// some, I could at least hold it in? But it's not like the moon is swiss cheese full of oxygen pockets." She paces, or as much as one can pace when steps are slow bounces, which is just //extra// frustrating.

"Yeah, I got you," she answers Sam, linking the two of them while she continues to think.

Sunspot has posed:
"The Blue Area," suggest Roberto. "Mare Serenitas, should be northwest, maybe two hundred miles." Too far for him with the remaining oxygen, but not too far for Sam and Rogue that are far faster fliers.

Otherwise he has no idea. But he is quite sure Xavier's side they will find a way to reach them, even if they have to call the Fantastic Four or the Justice League. Meanwhile he is going to try to save oxygen by sitting down and keeping calm.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty watches the portals as they keep trying to form, and keep failing. "Um..." she says, thinking. "We... ah... there's water on the moon. But not where we are. Um we could... there's the solar radiation but... we... there's no reactions we could do with it to make oxygen," she murmurs.

Kitty's voice cracks. "Shit. Oh shit. I'm sorry guys. I didn't think this could affect Blink," she says. She checks her oxygen gauge, seeing how it is slowly counting down.

Something else happens. One of Illyana's teleporting discs starts to form on the edge of the crater. "Come on Illyana!" Kitty yells excitedly. Only to see her disc fail as well.

Kitty's shoulders slump she walks over to Rogue. "Shit. Have I killed us?" she says to Rogue, looking over at her friend.

Rogue has posed:
When the display of no home return ticket is watched, Rogue starts looking around to the 'brains' on this mission. When they don't entirely seem to know what to do she just gapes inside her helmet. "I knew it!" She proclaims, and tosses the alien space core down onto the ground, not interested in carrying it anymore if they're all gonna perish. "God...... damnit, I knew it!"

A moon rock is kicked by the steel toed tip of her boot and its sent rocketing off toward Uranus!

"Son of a bitch, I'm gonna die on the moon, Sandra Bullock was right." She raises her gloved hands up over her glass encased face and tries to touch her forehead out of reflect, but it just thumps against her glass cover. This enrages her more! "I hate space!" She screams loudly.

She turns to look up to where Earth is. Its not THAT FAR. "Maybe I can make it. What did ya'll say it was, two hundred miles away?" She's not great at judging distances.

Rogue lowers her eyes down to look at Kitty when she approaches. Kitty gets one gloved hand from the Belle to rest on her shoulder. "Ya killed us... I mean, probably. Yeah."

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Not all of us," Rachel assures Kitty, reaching over to set a hand to her shoulder. "The last time I was with one of you and I was going to die, I ended up here instead. So I'll probably survive." Thank god no one can see her face when she says it. It's much easier to lie with her voice than with her face.

Cyclops has posed:
"Alright, everyone underground," Scott says firmly, confidently. "Conserve oxygen, we'll wait this out and teleport when it stops. We're /not/ dead yet. Don't go there."

Scott moves to usher the team underground and then hears Kitty's advice. He stops and looks at her, then looks around. "I guess we hunker down here," he says. He sighs and takes a seat with his laser rifle butt in the ground between his feet.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will think along the private line to Scott. "Not finding anything here, had hoped there might have been something the left for weight issues." He will hover on the surface a bit and says "I can split my air with Alek and Kitty, to give them longer. He is a kid, and with her martial arts training she should be able to maybe control her breathing better.... I have already died once, this is gravy time, and who knows get me back into the atmosphere, maybe I will come back.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue turns to follow after their fearless leader. "'Come on to the Moon Mission, Marie, it'll be a spacey cake walk. Come on to the Moon Mission, Marie, think of all the hot alien men you'll meet up there!'" She's muttering as she goes, back to the cave, leaving that alien core where she'd dropped it without remorse.

Once she's back inside she finds a shady spot to settle down into, working a nice butt groove into the moon dust as she's still grumbling, glancing down at her oxygen meter on her wrist.

"I think I could make it back t'Earth." She says again. "Its not THAT far out there." She glances to the others then and sighs. "But then I'd be leavin' ya'll t'die up here alone. Guess thats not very nice... I have so much livin' t'do though!"

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel finally settles down on the ground, sitting cross-legged to stare at the moon dust. Quietly, she holds her hands about a foot apart, concentrating intently on...well, something. If she could just...make the air into //air//, then maybe...

There's a sudden *PUFF* around the group as atmosphere flickers into existence and promptly explodes outward into the vaccuum of space - notably about a twenty-foot radius of it and not an amount that matches the space between her hands.

"Well. That's not going to work with tanks," she says quietly.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek tries to keep calm... he just sits down and stares at the soil... "Found people who were like me once in my life. Now I get to die up here in a place I could only dream of going, with a group of people I would have only dreamed of being with. I guess dreams end don't they." His eyes glow slightly as he stares at the soil, "40 percent oxygen... and yet unable to be breathed."

Shadowcat has posed:
A few tears stream down Kitty's face inside of her helmet. She rests her hand on Rogue's where she touches her. "It's like... I don't know, two days probably," Kitty tells Rogue, shaking her head. She looks over to Rachel, watching as she tries to turn transmute matter. "Probably rupture the tanks just trying," Kitty agrees.

She moves to kneel next to Rachel. "You know, I'm glad you came back to us, Rachel. I've been glad to have you in my life. I know your Kate had to be proud of you, because I am. How you've handled all of this. What you've come to mean to us." Kitty will give Rachel a long hug if allowed. "And I know your mom is proud of you as well," she says.

Kitty looks over to Alek. "Alek, you've been a joy to have at the school. You are one of us. You definitely belong and we've been lucky to have you."

Cyclops has posed:
Scott looks at his friends thoughtfully, each in turn. His shoulders settle down, that ever-present tension easing. For once, he smiles a bit. Not something he has done much of in long time.

"Sounds good, Sam," he says over the private link. "You did good today... I'm proud of you."

Scott switches over to the public link in time to catch Alek's comment.

"They're exceptional, Alek. You're right," Scott agrees. He looks up at Earth and just sees it.

"It's actually beautiful. Earth."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will come back down to the area where the rest of them are. He will walk over to have a seat beside Alek, and puts his arm around the kid. "Gotta keep your hopes up kid." We have made it out of worse than this." He will move to subtly hook his suit to Alek, to start putting half his air into the kid's suit.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel returns Kitty's hug, tighter than the others might realize. She's not much for public displays of affection, but...Well. She didn't exactly get to say goodbye last time. "Mom," she says. "I can at least try to reach Mom, though the Phoenix. I don't know if anyone will be able to do anything they're not already doing, but..." But at least she can say goodbye.

She takes a deep breath, ducking her chin to focus. Power's never been her problem. Control always has. Ironic.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue looks over to Kitty and just smirks at her. "Two days?" She says then. "God. Why didn't we tell Carol we were coming up here... she'd have solved this already by now." She gives a momentary glance / glare to Scott. "Or ya know, at least brought MORE AIR." Another heavy sigh. "If I'm gonna die, I want everyone t'know that I'm pretty sure Gambit has been replaced with a synthetic replicoid and is actually a lizard man in disguise. I think the real Remy is being held in a prison somewhere, bein' tested on no doubt." She picks up a rock and tosses it into the dusty drifts on the cavern wall.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott looks at Rachel like he might say something, but looks away again. Scott gestures at the buggy.

"There are two small emergency cannisters in there, but they add minutes. We're learning the lesson about relying too much on our powers too late. Something I meant to take you all to task on," Scott says with a self-derisive snort. "I hate coming down on you guys, by the way. /Hate/ it. Every time. I was just trying to keep you alive."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty nods to Rachel and says, "If you reach her, tell her I love her too, ok?" She rises, realizing one of the worst things about space suits is not being able to wipe tears from your cheeks. She walks over to Scott and hugs him, unless he pushes her away. "We're a long way removed from you and Jean finding me hiding from the Hellfire Knights in that attic," she says of the day she first met Scott Summers. "You've been a father at times, and a brother at others. But always you've been the best, Scott," she tells him before she lets him go.

Another of Blink's portals makes a slash of purple light. It opens enough they can see her face inside of a space suit, before it snaps shut and fizzles away. Kitty's shoulders slump. "Sam, I never got to see your farm. I would have liked to visit some time," she tells him.

She moves over to Rogue again then. "I always figured we'd die in some... tragic... bowling alley accident," she tells Rogue, managing a sad smile. Kitty's suit starts to beep, the warning that her oxygen is almost out. She slowly settles down to her knees. "The Earth is beautiful isn't it?" she asks, looking up at towards that ball of blue up above.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek looks at the computer core, as everyone seems to growing desperate and it's beginning to rub on him as well, "I can try and transfer the data in my head to there... it doesn't need oxygen... someone maybe be able to transfer me back. Not sure I'd like to live in an alien computer though.. if I could." He looks to Sam a bit trying to shrug him off perhaps noticing the subtle attempt to attach the hose but his mind is loss at the moment to really fully notice.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will sit back, once he has given the kid any air he could have. He looks around the room, and says softly "A man, could not ask for a better family. Ah am proud to call each and every one of you brother and sister. It was one hell of a ride, and ah am glad Ah was able to be there with you all." He then just goes quiet.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Yeah, we know, Scott," Rachel says quietly, smile wry. "Just for the record, since, you know. Running out of oxygen and all that? It's okay to have feelings. And to tell people about them. 'Cause I bet there's someone you wish you'd told something right now. Just a feeling." It's hard enough trying to hide things from psychics when they're not from the future. It's just not even fair after that.

She lets her tight grip on her mind ease, letting the world outside come in. It's almost easier here, where they're the only people around. Of course, oxygen deprivation does weird things. Belatedly, she turns toward Rogue. "Did you just say Gambit was a lizard-person?"

And then she giggles.

Definitely the end times.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue smirks over at Kitty's words before she shakes her head and just looks down at her lap and listens to the others talk, listens to Scott open up a bit. She doesn't respond to that. A glance to Rachel is had and she grins again inside of her helmet. "I'm ninety percent sure've it. I was gonna try t'find ways t'prove it, but I kept tellin' myself he'd slip up and expose the truth eventually himself." Heavy sigh is released then. "Now I'm sure he's gonna terrorize everyone and likely turn more've inta lizard people since we're not there t'stop it."

Eventually though, Rogue just leans over onto her side and curls up into a ball. She'll reach a hand up to turn off the light that is on inside her helmet and she'll go back to quietly signing her Aerosmith song until she stops.

Cyclops has posed:
Scott hugs Kitty with a smile and presses his helmet to hers before she moves on.

"That ship sailed," Scott replies to Rachel. And she can feel how strongly he means it. He is bitter, but done. "I wasted my life on what I didn't have instead of moving on. That's what I got for listening to feelings. I'd do that different."

Scott tosses a moon rock and lays back.

"Doesn't matter," he mutters.

Shadowcat has posed:
Everyone's suit alarms have gone off, and been shut off by now. It starts to get hard to talk, to move, as the oxygen levels drop in the suits. Bodies slowly settle to the ground as there is nowhere to go, and eyes start to droop.

Kitty lies back on the Moon's powdery surface. Gazing up towards the rim of the crater. Another portal starts to form, then fizzles out. "Pretty..." she manages to whisper of the purple color of the failed portal.

Her eyes don't want to stay open but she blinks, trying to keep them there. Wanting to look into space to the last.

A bright light comes over the rim of the crater wall, shining down on the group where they lie on the ground. Kitty thinks to herself how glad she is to see the Sun one last time before she's gone...

Batman has posed:
There is no sound in space. No air to carry it. The solar flare that ripples impossibly large through the immensity of space lays waste to all but the most close range, tight band communications. Instead a haze of static fills the frequency, an endless white noise with the faintest of indiscernible voices like unreachable, unknowable ghosts. There is a tranquil beauty in the deathly pall that sinks across the group. The breathtaking majesty of the blue Earth suspended on a field of night. So close, yet so far away ...

"*static*-quency. Wait." The static over the communications band dims suddenly, replaced by a man's voice. Deep, resonant, and grave.

The light crests the edge of the crater like the dawning son, the heavy shadows bleeding away under its gaze. But then it shifts, the rays of the light rolling left and then to the right. As eyes adjust, the beam is seen to be cast not by the sun at all but some sort of search light affixed to ... something.

"I have them."

As the search light blinks off momentarily, a shadow like that of a great, looming beast momentarily eclipses the sun. When the light returns, the shadow is directly overhead. Not just a shadow but a ship with stylized bat wings stretching out to encompass the group. It slowly begins to settle in the crater a short distance away, a heavy-looking hatch at the base opening and a short flight of utilitarian stairs more like a ladder extend beyond it.

There's no further words from the ship. No urgent command. Just an open airlock and the passive, patient blinking of red running lights.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel looks up a bit from where she's slumped, squinting at the dark shape. "That is a //weird// note to die on," she murmurs, twisting to take a look around herself. Granted, the last time she thought she was going to die, the whole process was a //lot// more confusing. She's pretty sure there was more fire though. And she was alone. But...the others are still here.

<< Guys. GUYS. >> Her brain is jumbled, but at least it doesn't take oxygen to use it to communicate. << Spaceship. Guys. You gotta get up. Spaceship. >>

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek stirs awake, "But Mom, the kids make fun of me and the food tastes purple." He looks up at the spaceship, "Spaceship?" He pokes Samuel and he drags himself to his feet, "Someone is here to save us.. hopefully.. let's get going."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty stirs. Her eyes flutter and she sees a familiar shape above her. How odd she would think of this as she's dying, her brain manages to think.

Rachel's thoughts sound in Kitty's head. Like a clarion's call they give her a moment of clarity. Kitty chokes out something, the lack of oxygen probably not resulting in the sound being anything near what she meant to say. It sounded like, "Oose." The girl slowly forces herself to move, imposing her will on muscles that scream for the lack of air.

Kitty crawls to the space ship, managing to move a few feet at a time. She reaches Rogue, a hand poking her friend, not having enough air to try to talk. Kitty keeps crawling towards the air lock.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie does not move from the poke other than bit in the direction he is poked. He maybe still there but if so he is out. Sam's air was running possibly the shortest after he had shared it trying to give his friends and the kid a chance. He does seem peacfull.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue had been one of the first ones to turn off the annoying alarm going off inside of her helmet. So the arrival of the Bat-themed savior ship is not seen by her. The poke from Kitty is also not responded to, so when Shadowcat starts to crawl away, she's leaving the Belle behind who's just motionless and laying there in the moon dust in a fetal position with her helmet dark. Entirely unresponsive, she seems to be!

Marvel Girl has posed:
Basic first aid: Please put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others. Normally, Rachel would follow those instructions. But she's not thinking perfectly straight just yet. Which means as she stumbles up to her feet, bracing herself in a three-point stance, she reaches out with her mind to wrap the others in a telekinetic bubble and...Well. Normally she'd be a little more careful, but right now she's not really together enough to do anything less than fling them all into the hold.

And then she stumbles her way after them, because she doesn't have enough sense to do the same for herself.

Batman has posed:
A figure appears in the hatchway, clad entirely in what looks to be a black suit of armor save for the outline of a bat in neon white-blue that appears to be lit from within somehow. The helmet is an impassive black mask that taper into two pointed ears at the top. The Batman, though in some form of armored space suit version of his usual suit.

Prepared for everything indeed.

"Everyone inside," the Dark Knight growls at those conscious enough to move. The black reflective face plate shifts from right to left, the clear byproduct of quick thinking. He sidesteps the gathered group as they are telekinetically flung through the airlock, moving with as much controlled grace on the surface of the Moon than he does on the rooftops of Gotham.

When he reaches Rachel, the only one not being psionically flung through space, he loops one arm through hers and hefts her up. If she can?t match his pace under her own power, he half-carries half-drags her at a clip towards the airlock.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde's body is about to give out when suddenly she feels herself floating, carried into the air lock. She spots the familiar, dark clad figure and her lips move to speak, but no sound comes out at all this time. Kitty grabs hold of the control handle for the air lock as she's being settled back down to the ground. She manages to keep her eyes focused. Watching as Rachel is carried into the ship. The moment everyone is in, Kitty is pulling the handle.

The welcome hiss of air pressuring the air lock can be heard through their suits. Kitty fumbles at the latch of her helmet, removing it and then sucking in a deep breath or two. "Rogue," she says, reaching over to unfasten Rogue's helmet and pull it off. Kitty's head starts to clear a little bit as she checks for signs of breathing, and looks to see who else need help pulling their helmets off.

Smart Alek has posed:
Alek might be more concious due to Samuel's sacrifice of air and he's able to think even though another one of his idols has rescued his new 'family' perse. "Need the computer in the cave to bring back home. It's why we were here." He coughs and sputter.. he checks Samuel for signs of life.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"Thank you, spaceship man." Rachel has no idea who Batman is, but he's the person who's showed up with a spaceship and air, so he's okay for now. When she pulls off her helmet, the ever-present psychic illusion that hides the markings on her face is gone. She hadn't bothered with it while they were wearing helmets, and it wasn't exactly a high priority while she was running out of air. "We got everyone, right?" she asks, turning in a circle to take a quick head-count.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie 's helmet is removed for Alek to check for life, and for a moment it is unsure Sam seems to not be breathing, but then he takes a big gasping breath coughing and starts to breath sorta normally. He will cough, and asks "Is everyone ok?" his first thought still about the others.

Rogue has posed:
Rogue's helmet comes off and her eyes are closed, her expression is peaceful. She looks entirely unconscious. But the drama is not for long though, she suddenly stirls and her eyes shoot open, she sucks in a breath of air and shouts out the first words that pop into her head. "Beavers and Ducks!" She doesn't even know why she said it, or that she said it at all. Instead, the southern girl is just frantically looking around at her new surroundings and moving to try and sit up off of the floor and onto her backside.

Her gloved hands are grabbed at and she rips them off to expose her bare fleshed fingers and with them she starts to rip at her space suit to try to tear it off down to the black spandexy undersuit she has on beneath it, completely uncaring for the well being of the suit. Just rip rip, tear, shred, until she's sliding out of it and in the much smaller and tighter fitting undersuit... Now she's just crawling back across the deck of the ship.

"Where the fuck are we?!" She asks, then looks up at Batman. "Who the fuck is that?!" Do punches need to be handed out? This is what the Belle is trying to frantically decide.

Batman has posed:
"It's not going anywhere," Batman's voice, partly digitized by the helmet he wears, crackles at Alek, "I'll recover it. You all need medical attention first. Hypoxia is dangerous."

Seeing Rachel mostly conscious and active, he points a finger at her and immediately starts throwing around orders: "You. Pull the tab on that black case and take normal breaths. Oxygen concentrator should help regulate oxygen levels." On the wall there hangs something not unlike a black suitcase, albeit with a series of buttons and lights as well as a red pull-tab.

As Rogue begins to panic, the Dark Knight levels the reflective faceplate hat her. Pausing for a moment.

"I'm Batman."

That said, he begins to move towards the front of the ship and explains as he goes: "I have a facility nearby. Too long a trip to fly you back, especially with the solar flare. I'm taking you there."

Marvel Girl has posed:
As it happens, semi-conscious Rachel is very good at following orders. Entirely conscious Rachel, less so, but these are pretty reasonable orders.

"Aye aye, captain bat spaceship man," she salutes on her way to the oxygen. It takes a try or two, but she manages to get the oxygen flowing. Although she does take a deep breath before going back to normal breathing.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde looks relieved as Rogue comes to. Mouth to mouth was going to be awkward with her old roommate, even before accounting for the whole coma and passing out on top of her thing that would have resulted. Kitty slides back way from her as she sees Rogue tearing the suit away.

"It's ok. We're safe," she tells her. Kitty lifts her eyes up to where Batman is standing. "Thank you," she tells him, drawing a deep breath just to feel her lungs as full as they can get with air.

Kitty checks on Scott and Samuel, though she's looking pretty woozy herself. "Scott, wake up," she tells him, gently patting his cheeks after assuring herself that he's breathing.

Kitty looks back to Batman again, her eyes expressing her gratitude at the levels she can't really show. Kitty gets her wits about her enough to guard her thoughts. "He's a friend," Kitty tells Rachel. "Blew up a Sentinel that was fighting me in Gotham one time," she says, recounting the day he fired missiles from the Batwing as the Sentinel chased Kitty and Lockheed across the lot around a warehouse where FoH were taking shipment on the metal monstrosities. That was also the day that Samuel died for the first time.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will slowly set up, lookins around at people. He waits for his eyes to focus starting to count people, and going through role call "Sunspot, wolfsbane, Shadow Cat, Rogue Batmans.. wait Batman...what's batman doing here, what happened."

Batman has posed:
The Spacecraft - not yet seen around Gotham in order to have earned a contemptible nickname like the Car or the Plane have - is not designed for long haul flights. It's a shuttle, and it shows by the way Batman does not attempt to leave the lunar surface. Instead the craft skims along it at speed, the regolith racing past below. Suddenly, it changes direction and darts downwards into a similar rocky tube wide enough to house it. Once it settles onto a section of the tunnel floor too smooth and flat to be natural, it begins to sink down as an elevator lowers them into a subterranean complex.

The base itself is not flashy. There are no trophies, no signs of it being lived in. It has more the appearance of a laboratory, with various items of technology in different states of construction or deconstruction. The medical area is cramped but impeccable, filled with the materials that the ship itself lacked.

"The facility has zetaport access," Batman explains, remaining in his armored space suit even as the artificial atmosphere negates the need for it, "Solar flare has it offline, but once it's over you can use it to return to Earth. You're safe here until then."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde sees to her teammates, making sure everyone is up and strapped in before she heads up to the cockpit to take a seat, fastening the shoulder harness about herself. "So... I really should have guessed," she comments to Batman as the shuttle lands and enters the subsurface base. She leaves the seat once the shuttle is stopped, going back and helping everyone off if any need assistance.

Kitty will check on Rogue especially before wandering the base slowly. She'll say to Rachel, "So, Batman operates out of Gotham. He's a hero there. And we've crossed paths a few times," she says. Kitty's being very guarded in her thoughts to make sure to not let details flit through her mind that Batman won't want revealed.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel eventually gets her brains back in order, once there's enough oxygen to actually fuel it. Which is when she realizes she hasn't been hiding the markings on her face and quietly resumes projecting the normal facade. As normal as you can be while one a moon base.

"What's a zetaport?" she asks as they reach the base. "Also, why do you have a moon base?" At least she's asking and not digging in brains. And she seems genuinely curious.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over as he slowly stands up, and says "Both very good questions, also, do you have any water around here?"

Cypher has posed:
There is a nimbus of purple light, as Blink opens a portal from earth. It's hard to see the other side of it, but somebody is... rapping? In Spanish.

Mamita yo sé que tú no te me va a quitar (duro!)
Lo que me gusta es que tú te dejas llevar (duro)
Todos los weekends ella sale a vacilar (duro)
Mi gata no para de janguear porque (yeah)
)A ella le gusta la gasolina (whatcha say)
Dame más gasolina! (Hey)
Como le encanta la gasolina (whatcha say)
Dame más gasolina! (Hey)
A ella le gusta la gasolina (yeah)
Dame más gasolina! (Yeah)
A ella encanta la gasolina (yeah)
Dame más gasolina! (Hey, hey hey!)

...Of course, when he walks through, it's Wonder Bread himself, couldn't get any whiter if he showed up in a sleeveless sweater and khakis (he's actually in a black and yellow uniform)... Doug.

But right now, he's feeling the *flow*, and putting some hip action into it.

Batman has posed:
"Research and development," Batman says to Rachel without looking up from the monitor he's currently examining, "A testbed for new equipment that may be unsafe on Earth. Also in case the X-Men end up stranded on the Moon."

That done, Batman gestures to what looks to be an archway built into the wall but with no power feeding through it at the moment, "Instantaneous teleportation back to a secondary location on Earth. I'd prefer your own people came to collect you, though." It's bad enough they've seen one secret facility, without potentially throwing another into the mix.

Batman is fetching a metallic canteen of water from what looks to be a mini-fridge and handing it to Sam when the portal opens and Doug steps through. He stares, though the helmet he wears shows nothing but a dark reflection of the base around them.

Marvel Girl has posed:
"I appreciate your preparation for this particular situation." Rachel smirks ever so slightly, stepping toward the archway to give it a curious look as well. She has so many questions about this whole thing. But she's picked up enough to know better than to ask all of them at the moment. She's definitely looking around though. How could you not look around?

"Hey!" she exclaims as Doug shows up, relief crossing her features. She couldn't even hallucinate that. "Did you guys get our message?"

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks to the Dark Knight, and says "Thank ya sir. Looks like our ride is able to get through to here, not sure if it is your shielding or what, but we do thank you much and if your ever stuck on a moon, and we can help we will do all we can to help."

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde gets out of her space suit finally. She's wearing spandex beneath, and when the water comes out she definitely gets some as well. Another problem with space suits. No wiping tears as you think your friends are about to die, and tough to drink while in them.

Kitty smiles as Doug shows up, though blinking in surprise at his arrival. "I guess Blink got through then," she says. She turns back to Batman. "Thank you," she tells him again. That's not something she's going to be able to say enough in the days to come. She gives a tentative little jump. Jumping in the space suit was cool enough. Doing it in bare feet in Lunar gravity? Very cool. She looks over to Doug. "Everyone back home knows we're ok?" she asks.

Cypher has posed:
"I had to sift a lot of garbage background noise out of it. It would've been pretty much unrecoverable unless you're me, or like, The Oracle." Doug says, before he looks over at the gateway and then says, "Yeah, but I want to take a look at this thing you found before you bring it back to Earth. I mean, I'm not as arcane as U.S. customs, but you know." He glances up at Scott, and then says, "Rules are rules."

Then he looks over at Batman, and says, "This is Batman's moon base? Man, people would start asking a lot of questions if they knew you had a *base on the moon*."

Then he says, "Where is it?"

Finally, as he's trying to get his hands on that Cybertronian tech, he says, "Oh hey, Kitty, this is the completely inappropriate time, which is precisely why I'm choosing right now in front of Batman and *everybody*, but would you be interested in going out on a date with me? No strings attached, just dinner in Moscow and then looking out over the Moskwa, courtesy of the Illyana Express. I have reservations, and if you turn me down... I'm gonna have to ask Sam. And if HE turns me down..."

Batman has posed:
Batman continues to pass out bottles of water, crossing his arms in the spacesuit. As Doug speaks, he watches him impassively until he is finished. When he is, he looks to Kitty pointedly and even though his face is not visible through the helmet, the vibe is effectively conveyed by body language alone.

"Device isn't here," he says, voice crackling through the suit's internal speakers, "Priority was recovering your friends from a potentially lethal situation."

A pause, "When I recover it, you'll have it." After he's had his own look at it, of course, "It isn't going anywhere."

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie looks over, and says "You better go with him Kitty, my Russian is horrible, and Ah would make Americans look horrible Ah am sure." He will offer a smile, and as Batman says this he sighs a bit and says "Those robots did not like that baw weep buisness ."

Shadowcat has posed:
The spot. Much referred to. Rarely seen. It's where Kitty is currently put by Doug. To help her cause at least, her mouth drops open showing she wasn't expecting to be asked out. And just as Kitty is pointedly looked at, she does her best not to look back though Batman's presence is definitely weighing heavily on her at the moment.

Kitty runs a hand through her hair. "Ah, I... it's been, recently broke up and," she stammers, completely caught off guard. And flummoxed. Muchly with the flummoxed she is. "Could we just... you know, dinner would be great, but, I don't know that I'm ready," she says, blushing as everyone is about. Rachel would definitely pick up thoughts of her previous boyfriend though Kitty is stomping on them so hard to avoid thinking things she doesn't want revealed.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel turns a sidelong glance in Kitty's direction, clearing her throat with a suspicious cough that sounds a lot like 'almost just died' and 'feelings are okay.'

"Man. Oxygen. Must be the canned stuff doing weird things to my lungs." She's trying to keep her mind to herself, even if she's not keeping her //thoughts// to herself. No need to dig.

Cypher has posed:
Doug turns on his heel, and looks up at Batman. "It's really *interesting*, you've definately got a plurality of technologies running through this base, based on what I'm seeing you've taken disparate technologies from at least *three* extraterrestrial races along with really cutting-edge human tech and reworked them together into an existing system. I'd love to pick your brain on how you did this sometime, sir. This indicates that either you're a brilliant engineer, you have access to some brilliant engineers, or *both*--"

Then he glances back to Kitty, and beams. "Then we won't go! I said 'no strings', didn't I?" He seems completely... inclined to roll with it, before he glances over to Batman, and says, "This is that really curious linguistic impasse where we have to trust each other regarding a piece of sophisticated alien technology when another source of that tech has already BEEN abused."

"Then again, I'm also REALLY curious to see what you do with what you find. I've been running Batman tracings since you took down Rupert Thorne. That was a masterwork of data collection. So... no arguments from me."

Batman has posed:
"I'll pass my findings on to your people at the Xavier School," Batman explains to Doug, his tone difficult to read as warped as it is by the speaker, "Would be easier for you to trust me. Don't see how you're going to get out there and recover it yourself."

The faceplate turns from Doug to regard Rachel, Sam, and then Kitty in equal measure, "I suggest taking advantage of those teleportation portals while you can. The resources here aren't scarce but not designed for a long stay."

The talk of picking brains and past exploits seems to wash off the Dark Knight, his body language showing him to be calm but displeased about something.

Shadowcat has posed:
Kitty Pryde nods her head in agreement with Batman. "We should get back while we can," she agrees, "If the zetaport is working." The X-men certainly have friends they can call in to get access to one if they know where it needs to go to.

Kitty turns back to Batman. "So, thank you again, sir," she tells him. "For my life and my friends' lives," she says. Her eyes want to say more than she can in front of her friends, but they'll have to impart that for now.

Kitty will turn back to them. "Come on, let's get back home," she says.

Cannonball has posed:
Samuel Guthrie will move to get all their stuff, including Rogue's ripped suit, would not do to less a mess on batman's clean moon base. "Oh got a few moon rocks for ya Cypher."

Cypher has posed:
"Mmm, I'll add them to the collection." Doug says, before he says, "He has a *moon base*, how cool is that? This guy devotes his life to terrorizing burglars and brutalizing the mob, and he has a *moon base*...!" He trails off, as he follows the others.

Marvel Girl has posed:
Rachel is a little reluctant to go when there's still so much to explore here, but she knows better than to impinge upon that hospitality. She doesn't need to read minds to know that. "Yeah, thank you," she adds, more serious. "And, uh. If you ever need to know anything about Sentinels, give us a call."

Batman has posed:
When the portal activates again, Batman does not move to follow them through it. He remains standing by the console, the light flashing off the reflective black surface of the armored spacesuit he wears. His reactions are so minimal as to be unnoticable, save for Kitty to whom he nods once but says nothing. The portal itself opens on to a Justice League facility in Metropolis, and from there it is a relatively simple trip back home. One small step.