866/Rescuing Kidnapped Emma

Rescuing Kidnapped Emma
Date of Scene:	10 June 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Emma Frost, Gypsy Moth, Raven, 285, Phoenix, Sinister

Emma Frost has posed:
Friday's don't often seem like a negative day. It's the last day of the traditional work week as well as the school week is wrapping up. However things at the Academy of tomorrow have been hectic with the sudden absence of Emma Frost who last anyone heard was going to sleep until noon, but it's nearing nine o'clock p.m. And as often as she's gone off on vacations or business trips, Emma's always been in contact.

No one has heard a thing from her.

Much of the administration is in hidden chaos though the aura of the building is one of uncertainty when it's so used to feeling coordinated to the minute when Frost is around.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil arrives in front of the school. She checks the business card she had "acquired" after her encounter with Miss Frost. This seems to be the place. She rings the front bell and tells the person that answers that Miss Frost had asked her to stop by.

Raven has posed:
The signs have all been pretty clear, if you're paying attention, which Rachel usually is. A more clever or guileful person would probably have spent Friday asking around for information, but Rachel...well, let's just say going to people for help isn't the first option to occur to her. Instead she climbs the Academy's staircase to the top floor and lets herself first into the hallway leading to Emma's penthouse, then into the apartment itself. The doors are locked, but Rachel doesn't tend to care about such things, just teleporting calmly through them until she's in the headmistress's suite, examining for clues.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alejandra is one of the very few not panicking. Where people couldn't handle administrative tasks or squawked and ran in circles the Spaniard has been going back and forth, smiling at people and offering assistance. She tends to be on Emma's wavelength. This is being shared with everyone around her. A deep breath is taken and then she exhales as she is examining her surroundings carefully. So at this moment she is moving up the stairs from her office and tilting her head as she walks around. Eventually she ends up at the front of the school. Sybil gets a blink.

"I'm afraid Ms Frost is not available this evening," the brunette in her burgundy dress is calling as she steps into view. "May I ask for your name? I might be able to offer you some assistance. I'm one of the instructors here..."

Emma Frost has posed:
In the penthouse there doesn't seem to have been a struggle, but everything Emma would take with her in her busy day is exactly where it was left. the bed is unmade and her phone, tablet, smart watch that allows her to control her car are all exactly where they were left. Everything except Emma herself.

Down at the base of the skyscrapper, Sybil and Alexa would have a few people pass them by as they head out of the school to enjoy their weekends, few actually knowing about Frost's absence and even fewer worried about it.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean had tried the Academy several times over the course of the day, hoping to schedule a meeting with Emma on a day when she wasn't recovering from a stroll through dozens of traumatized psyches.

When that didn't work, she tried contacting her via Frost Industries.

And when that proved to be a bust, she hit the CEO/educator's DMs with a Hail Mary missive.

All of that brings her to the Academy after dark, where she walks the halls with curious purpose and a telepathic cloak. This is her first time on the grounds; if there are maps online, she'll certainly be checking them against her progress periodically. If not, she'll have to settle for skimming bits and pieces of information about the place from the students she ghosts past; either way, the target is the same: Emma's penthouse, where she'd naturally expect to find her fellow telepath.

Of course, since she isn't a teleporter, gaining entry upon her eventual arrival will mean staring intently at the lock as narrow bands of telekinetic force weave their way into its opening.

Inside, Raven hears tumblers rising and falling with the redhead's manipulations.

Raven has posed:
That's not Emma coming through the door, because that's not Emma who left. Emma would never leave her bed unmade. Rachel uses the time to abandon Rachel, to instead become Raven, to vanish into her sorcerous persona (and, not incidentally, conceal her identity as Rachel's clothes absorb and congeal and shift into Raven's). There's nothing in this room Emma wouldn't miss if Raven broke it by hurling it at an intruder's head, but, well, tough. She stretches her now gloved arm out toward the kitchen and seizes the block of kitchen knives in a telekinetic aura, aiming them at the door like a missile battery.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil says, "I am called Sybil, and that is all of my name you need to know. So Miss Frost is not here then? She did say to drop in at my convenience."

Emma Frost has posed:
Jean would have an easy enough time, even if another telepath should happen by, the X-man would have the skill to easily make it by with a bit of effort on her part. Finding the headmistress' bedroom would be an easy enough task, find the elevator with access to the top floor and activate said button.

Just as Raven was preparing her improvised weapons, just as Sybil and Alejandra as well as various other's in the building would get a telepathic broadcast.

<<I've been taken. In a basement - far down. New York.>> The message comes through in quick successive bursts as she's reading another mind for the information.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alejandra arches a brow at Sybil's statement, tiltign her head slightly as she does. There's a pause while the brunette takes a dep breath. "I am afraid she appears to have other business this evening. I apologize for the inconvenience." She presses her red lips together tightly for a split second but then she is all smiles as she comes out past the counter. "If you would like to come in during normal hours she will likely be back. Otherwise, I do know the school quite well and I might be able to assist you?"

A broad, almost grandiose gesture follows. The glint of purple and green from small gems. Alexa, unbeknownst to Sybil, is reaching out to get some sense of the magical entanglements upstairs. All it takes is peering into a gem of the correct colour... "If you'd like to come with-" Andhen the broadcast comes. She pauses.

"One moment. I apologize. It seems something has come up."

That's when the lightshow really starts. Red, then orange, then blue. No yellow or green. IT swirls together, an ovular portal of light opening quickly in front of her. Alexa begins to hum along, choice bars to reinforce the weaving of magic.

Raven and Jean would probably see it forming. It's pretty distinctive. "Rachel. ... Ms. Grey? Mmm. I think I am going to need your assistance, dears. Did you find anything?"

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil hears the broadcast and studies the portal as it forms, magic is not her thing but se is familiar with it. She says, "I should come along...I may be useful." She does not know the others, but the other Brunette evidently does.

Phoenix has posed:
It doesn't take more than a minute or so before the knob twists, the door opens, and there's a red-haired woman wearing a shirt from Violent J x Jay Z's Hard Knock Carnival tour with black jeans standing in the doorway.

At the sight of knives pointing towards the door, she adopts a defensive stance with one palm forward and her other hand lightly pressed against her temples and calls, "Hands up, powers down-- " before Emma interjects.

A beat afterwards, she begins to quietly wonder aloud, "-- alright, well, if she's in New York, then why-- "

-- before a colorful portal appears out of nowhere. Green eyes flick towards the disturbance and its accompanying voice, but her outstretched hand doesn't waver.

"Oh, you know, just some floating knives and a mysterious, hooded girl," she says to the newcomer, eyes shifting back to Raven.

Raven has posed:
Raven doesn't acknowledge that someone just called her by her human name. She just shakes her head at the question. "Nothing that Emma didn't just already tell us," she explains as she flings a careless hand kitchenward. It might look like she's trying to direct your attention that way until the thirteen knives that had been hovering in midair in an aura of black anti-light fling themselves back into the block they belong in. Each knife slides into its correct slot without her looking at it, which is probably impressive if you're paying that much attention to little things.

Emma Frost has posed:
<<I'm in the warehouse district in Hell's Kitchen.>> Emma broadcasts, followed quickly by a specific address when the sense of fear as someone instantly silences her mind from broadcasting. The blonde woman obviously can no longer help herself. She has to rely on someone anyone to come rescue her.

The white queen has never been this helpless and it's obvious by the speed of her thoughts that got through and the lack of confidence in her mind.

Phoenix has posed:
Jean doesn't watch the knives going back into the block because the rest of Emma's message brings her eyes snapping to Alexa, who she takes a brisk step towards. "What's your range?" she presses, tipping her chin toawrds the teacher. "Can you make it from here to Manhattan? If not, do you have a jet?"

Tiny fires begin to burst all across the redhead's being.

"Anything?"

While waiting for an answer, she flicks her eyes towards Raven long enough to confirm, "You're not as ominous as you look, right?"

Raven has posed:
"I'm worse," Raven informs Jean, her voice flat, her face (what can be seen of it under the improbable shadows of her hood) coldly calm. "But I'm here for the same reason you are." She looks to Alexa for the answer.

Alexa (285) has posed:
"Manhattan? That shouldn't be a problem. Give me a second." There's a pause as Alexa is considering this, looking around Emma's office and then drawing a slow breath inward.
"You may come along as well, Sybil. We have a lto to do i na very short time so please stay close." The brunette chooses to step through the portal she has opened and into the office completely, smiling beatifically as she surveys the people in front of her. A beat is skipped. "You're wearing the perfect colour for it, in fact." That is offered to Jean as Arika turns to the room at large.

"Through the portal. The door is closing now, so step lively, please." Alexa gestures for Sybil to join them before taking a deep breath. "Alright. Let's see..." Alexa begins to sing. Her voice is pure and strong, her pitch perfect. As she sings wordlessly the woman raises her hands in front of her. The gestures follow and as light glints off of the rings she is wearing it stays in the light, motes floating in the air in front of her.

It is not a short spell. Coming upstairs was the span of a second. It takes a few moments for Alejandra to weave this particular one, a swirl of colour surrounding the people in the room.

"Raven is not anyone you need to fear," Alexa murmurs in a gentle voice, the singing stopping even while colours layer. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo... The strongest undercurrent is green, at the moment. "While I finish this- you should plan. Jean, can you make sure any observers don't remember we were there?"

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil steps through the portal following Alexa, and suffers a momentaru bout of disorientation. She lets out a nearly subliminal pulse of telekinetic energy to get a picture of her surroundings. She says, "I am a gyosy, I have seen Magic before I have a few tricks of my own, though I am not a user of magic."

Phoenix has posed:
On the other side of the portal, Alexa gets a lingering look before Jean brings her hands up and shuts her eyes.

"Yeah," she murmurs, reaching into nearby minds to ensure that they find the group of oddly dressed and/or on-fire people stepping out of a colorful portal to be the least interesting thing around wherever Alexa's dropping them off. At the same time, her t-shirt and jeans burn away to reveal form-fitting green and gold.

"She's in Hell's Kitchen... warehouse district," she continues in a distant voice. "I dunno who got that message... but she's not doing well."

Alexa (285) has posed:
Eventually everything goes white as all the colours of the spectrum blend together. It only lasts an instant, and comes with a brief sense of vertigo. Like being in a falling elevator. New York City is at a lower elevation to Metropolis, and it shows when people's ears abruptly begin to pop. Otherwise...

It's not dark, not in the city. The group appears near the mouth of a dak alley by a cracked sidewalk in a bad neighborhood in the middle of Hell's Kitchen. A homeless man and a fairly well-dressed hood who is probably dealing out of his duffel bag both blink at it- and proceed to forget anything evver happened as the spell is concluding.

"The warehouse district is- a couple blocks..." Alexa looks a little dizzy, if anything. She shakes her head quickly and then takes a deep, long breath. "Mmm. I should really practice doing that more frequently. Check to make sure you have all your things, please." They do, fortunately. "And... Plans, anyone? I could perform a search but that would take- time. If she isn't shielded as it is."

Raven has posed:
Raven doesn't shrug at Alexa's request for a plan. She doesn't move much, actually. She just says, "There's not much planning to do. Emma's probably being held by someone who can suppress her telepathy. The other option is she's being held by another telepath who can keep her from winning a psychic battle with him but can't keep her from calling for help, which makes no sense, so whatever is suppressing her power is proximity-based. Don't bunch up when we get there. Spread out so we can't all be caught in the radius."

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil can "see" things with her powers, a trick moist other telekinetics rarely master, but the range is fairly short. She says, "If he can suppress powers, we need to have more than just powers to rely on." She checks out her lock picks and other tools in her handbag. She knows not to rely only on one trick.

Emma Frost has posed:
The alley seems rather non descript but as Alexa said, it's a few blocks and hard to pinpoint a location you've never been to based on just an address without a map on hand.

The specific warehouse Emma broadcasted the address for was actually not too far, just on the other side of the street and looks awfully abandoned, and for good reason. The roof had collapsed some time ago and the lightwash from the city was bouncing off the clouds and dimly lighting the room with an eerie grey soft light glancing between fallen I-Beams and debris all over the ground, from wall to barely standing wall.

Phoenix has posed:
"We have an address," Phoenix says, getting progressively farther from the ground with each step out of the alley. It flashes in each other woman's mind, then. "It's just a matter of splitting up and finding it." Glancing towards Sybil, she wonders, "Do you guys have radios? Otherwise, we're a little limited in communications options..."

ONE BRIEF SEARCH MONTAGE LATER

"Now," Phoenix whispers, hovering near the rear entrance of Emma's address with the telepathic cloak drawn over the group, "as for the //rest// of the plan: can we teleport inside? Because otherwise, we might be looking at a forcible entry-- maybe two-pronged. If the power dampening is tech-based, we'll maybe wanna find and disable it, but finding Emma is priority one."

Raven has posed:
Raven says to Jean, "There's almost no chance whatever the dampener is can affect all of us. It needs a medium to work on. Something that can stop psychic powers wouldn't affect magic because they're nothing alike. But it is best not to take chances."

Emma Frost has posed:
Still hidden underground, with the entrance path seemingly blocked and obscured by the debris of the collapsed roof of the warehouse. Not to mention the various armed men standing around, likely paid guns. Two are around a burning barrel of trash, one smoking, the other telling war stories. Many more are scattered around the place.

Emma hasn't been able to broadcast a thought for roughly fourty minutes. So somethings blocking her powers, or suppressed them.

Overhead a storm is rolling off the waterfront and a distant rumble of thunder rolls faintly through the clouds.

Raven has posed:
Raven observes the men flatly, as a snake might observe a mouse. "Do we need a plan for them?"

Alexa (285) has posed:
"To be honest..." Alexa pauses for a second, tilting herhead slightly as she does so and taking a deep breath. "We could do this quietly or we could just set them all on fire. We can take a vote if you'd prefer." She is already gesturing, indigo crackling around her fingertips like static as she does. "I don't think we particularly need a plan."

Phoenix has posed:
"Yeah, sure," Phoenix whispers with a glance towards Raven, "but if I was gonna kidnap someone who I thought might get me in trouble with superpowered teenagers, I'd probably have more than one kind of dampener."

She then closes her eyes, and as her feet touch the ground, her consciousness leaps into smoking man's in search of a place to take root.

She doesn't intend to linger there, just to use his mind to get a bead on where - and how - his fellow guards might be stationed, in the hopes of finding some who are alone.

"Quiet," Phoenix whispers, temples cradled in either hand.

Emma Frost has posed:
Good thing for Jean they all met up right at the start of this easy job they got and discussed where each would be. All eight of them.

Heh, easy money.

They all thought at the time. Seems like they are about to get much MUCH more than they ever possibly imagined.

Six are outside, the two around the fire remain there, one stands just to the side of the large loading door, one more is walking past him with his hands behind his head and his gun dangling from around his neck. the last two are pacing slowly by a different wall each.

Inside two guards are milling about, one kicks at a piece of metal, bored out of his mind. The other sits in the one not totally ruined chair in what was the managers office, picking at his finger nails with his knife.

Raven has posed:
Raven is quiet when Jean asks her to be, waiting for Jean to decide quiet time is over.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Apparently Alexa got the same wrong impression. The crackling dulls to the barest sizzle, though the indigo light still wreathes her hands. More complex gestures. No singing this time.

Phoenix has posed:
"Besides the two by the barrel:" Phoenix continues, voice growing flat and distant, "Two posted separately near the walls. One in an office. One kicking metal around the warehouse floor."

As for the two by the loading door?

Bouncing between psyches, the redhead finally settles on the man actually posted beside the door. Pink light flares in his eyes and those of the man with the slung gun who's still at the edges of his vision; a shotgun of nostalgia is leveled and fired ad both men's inner children.

If it works, they'll feel compelled to toss their stupid, boring /real/ guns aside to play cops and robbers with air guns, which can be cool things like grenade launchers, or rocket cannons.

After a few beats of silent concentration and rhythmic breathing, she opens her eyes enough to see Raven and Alexa in pretty much the same places, causing her head to twitch between them as wrinkles flicker across her brow.

"So..." she whispers. "... if you guys have any... y'know, stealthy maneuvers you're maybe thinking about making... this'd be the time for 'em."

Raven has posed:
    "I have one," Raven creaks, her voice as flat as ever, so who knows how it can be so ominous. She draws her cloak tightly around her, holding its edges closed until it's impenetrable from the outside. She flies up into the air, hundreds of feet, above nearly anyone's field of view, then moves to above more or less the center of the rubble and lowers herself down.
    About thirty feet up, it gets weird.
    Raven's back is to the Hellions as she drifts down from the sky, so they can't see exactly what happens. They can only see her cloak flare open, twisting and rippling as if in the wind, but in a shape and pattern that makes no earthly sense; it twirls like a vortex, but without ever getting tangling. The instigation of this impossible movement seems to be an explosion of tentacles made of black energy, long and sinuous and somehow slick-looking, that flash out across the warehouse rubble to grab at each guard and drag them in simultaneously toward the vortex of Raven's cloak. Her cloak must be hungry: the men, who have barely had time to scream, vanish into a space filled primarily by a somewhat small, teenaged girl.
    When they're gone, Raven's cloak settles around her, and she turns back to face the others, a hand raised to gesture them forward.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alejandra takes a deep breath and then holds it for a second, her chest pressed forward slightly as she concentrates upon what is in front of her. The ripples of indigo lightning are spreading out from her hands now, growing in intensity in front of her and swirling in front of her and then she pauses for a second and laughs. A soft, rich sound that follows as her gaze travels upward to watch Raven tentacles lashing out aobve.

Soon, Alejandra's expression fades to a thoughtful frown but she does nothing other than to clap her hands together so that the lightning vanishes with hardly a spark. "That... Would concern me if it were anyone else," she notes. Then the woman is smiling again andstarting toward the warehouse in her elegant, very blue dress looking more like she'd just gone ballroom dancing than she was about to blow a hole in the side of a warehouse.

"That will do, darling," Leja calls to Raven, shrugging her slender shoulders as she steps across the rubble.

Sinister has posed:
"Are we decent?"

The voice is cheerful and upbeat, pleasant enough, a male baritone, the words spoken crisply, the accent only perceptible to the trained ear with so few words given. The Master of the House, as it were, is poised to enter the room where Emma Frost is being kept.

Two levels beneath the main floor of the warehouse is a simple imbedded laboratory, one of the many scattered all over the bowels of the city and surrounding countryside. It's not the most advanced or secure, but it serves its purpose. Everything is dull tan and gray, sealed and shielded from common forms of energy, brightly lit and immaculately clean. Brain surgery could be performed in the room without any harm of contamination to the patient.

From the racks of surgical tools, analytical equipment and sample jarr stored in see-through cold chambers, it's likely the room may have been used in the past for just that.

Seated and restrained in the center of the room is the missing person in question, a light above her, a crash cart with sterile tools to her right. At the other end of the room, the door slides open, and the presence of her captor seems to slither into the room before he does.

Tall, lean, pale, perfectly dressed and groomed, Sinister steps into the room marked Dissection Lab A-13, a self-amused smile on his lips. "Well. Decent as you come, anyways. Your taste in accoutrement leaves nothing to the imagination."

Phoenix has posed:
Not only does Raven's maneuver look weird, Phoenix's efforts to keep tabs on the eight men's psi-signatures means that when they're all - more or less simultaneously - drawn into an abyssal nightmarespace, she abruptly finds herself being stabbed in the brain with a screaming icicle.

"Fu-- !" the mutant shouts as cradling turns to clutching and she crumples nearly to her knees. Her head jerks up in time to see impossible appendages disappearing into an impossible space; a beat after that, she remembers to breathe.

"What'd-- " comes out after her first lungful, only for Alejandra's laughter to bring her head jerking in the teacher's directio with deeply etched bemusal. "Two of them were subdued!" she exclaims, gesturing sharply towards the loading area with both hands-- and following, because even with her outrage, there's still a job to do. "That was completely unnecessary-- those were people!"

Raven has posed:
"They're still people," Raven says, flatly. "They're just people who can't get a signal out from where they are. They're in less danger than if I'd bashed them over the head and risked concussion. Now do you want to sit here and argue about it, or finish this so I can let them out again?"

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma's eyes flair for a brief moment as Sinister walks in and she squints at him with her rage uninhibited. She will not apologize for sleeping nude, but she does struggle against her restraint for a moment just to show the fight isn't out of her. She doesn't have words as she grits her teeth at the man that's invaded her kindgom.

Alexa (285) has posed:
"Mmm. No door," Alexa muses, shaking her head slowly. She glances back at Jean and Raven, aneyebrow lofted as she considers them. "They will probably be somewhat psychologically rattled but I promise I will tend to them and be sure they aren't scarred for life before shoving them into a cell." The Spaniard's accent is thicker now but she manages to deliver it without any malice, just a faint smile and a shrug.

"I would be far more worried about whomever is left." With this Alexa begins to glow. It's pure light white, emanating from her person, and not at all like a spell- the pure, WHITE glow is illuminating the sorceress until her hair glows golden and everything around her is bright as a noon day in the sun. She sings out a single word sharply, in some ancient language. One syllable, and a sharp gesture with her left hand like cleaving a piece of meat.

The wall in front of the Spaniard explodes outward into rubble, scattering into a neat splayed pattern like the wings of a butterfly to Alexa's left and right. Somehow this makes no noise. Whatsoever. aside from the last bits of rubble as they tumble against one another and fall. Just a pop and the world splits.

Alejandra just shakes her head and scans what is in front of her, making her way toward the nearest means of heading down. "I suspect we'll find a great deal more resistance further down. Jean, keep watching for- someone. If that was all the guards then something is seriously wrong."

Phoenix has posed:
"Already on it," Phoenix tersely murmurs as her attention shifts from Raven to the wall-rending song.

And when it reaches its conclusion, the last bits of rubble it leaves make no noise either, floating in tableau until Phoenix clenches her outstreched hand and turns them into powder.

Crossing the spell-made threshold, she brings her hands back to her temples to roll with Alejandra's suggestion even as she firmly reminds: "Phoenix." A wary squint turns from the teacher to the ground and her psyche extends out in search of further minds.

Raven has posed:
Raven grimaces and draws her hood closer around her face, the improbably shadows that always cover her face threatening to be banished by Alexa's white light. She waits until the swell of power is done and hovers through the new entrance, but slowly, with her hands up in a warding gesture, ready to conjure at a moment's notice.
She isn't giving much thought to stealth. Either Alexa's display alerted everyone, or there's no one worth worrying about being alerted.

Sinister has posed:
There's no conscious minds above ground in the warehouse now, but there is a sign of someone below ground - there's something beneath the warehouse, or at least, some*one*. The source of the mind is coming from beneath a pile of collapsed structural beams and metal roof plating.

-=*=-

"Oh don't look so cross," Sinister admonishes gently, walking over to the crash cart beside Emma. He doesn't so much as give her unclothed body a second glance, remaining dispassionate. Detatched. "I would have preferred to have had your cooperation, but I've never yet had someone willing to do what I ask; it's become more effective to simply sequester subjects and exact the information I need." His hand moves over to a laser-honed scalpel --

Pause.

Sinister looks up and sighs. "It's difficult to find worthwhile help these days. Then again, given your current state of affairs, I'm sure you share the same lament."

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma's fists remained balled as her wrist keeps her attached to the chair, as well as her ankles and a strap across her midsection.

"You never asked for my cooperation!" Emma barks, "You just stole me out of my bed!"

The White Queen is not pleased with the situation. She can only hope someone got her message when Sinister's henchman made the small mistake. This feeling of helplessness is what's driving Emma, fear of being out of control. It's not something she reacts to well.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alejandra takes a deep breath and turns. shaking her head as she looks around carefully, clicking her tongue. "Well, the first floor is definitely clear. Or they are sleeping, I suppose. A blind man would likely have noticed that." This stated in a conversational volume. She too seems to think there's no one worth alerting. Right next to them, atl east. Alejandra keeps a hand raised but she doesn't do more, instead continuing to search for stairs... Or an elevator... Something. "Emma did say down, didn't she?" The woman tilts her head slightly. "I would rather not do the same thing to the floor. That really would alert everyone."

Phoenix has posed:
Slowly, one green-sleeved arm extends towards a pile of collapsed structural beams and roof plating. Phoenix inhales; metal clatters against metal, the rubble jittering in her grasp.

"One mind," she softly says as beams float through the broken wall and plating is swept aside. "Emma's or the bad guy's. Gonna try and touch it; can either of you do communication?"

Without waiting for an answer, she takes another breath and tries - gingerly - to scan the mind below.

Raven has posed:
"No," Raven says shortly, in response to Jean. No other response is required. She shoots Alexa a glance, asking with her eyes the same question Jean asked...and staying near the teacher, this time. It seems wiser.

Sinister has posed:
"And would you have given it if I asked, Miss Frost?" Sinister changes his mind, and reaches for the syringe instead of the scalpel. "Let's be honest with ourselves. If I had come to you and asked you for genetic samples, would you have given them to me?" He looks her directly in the eyes, his own flaring for a moment with crimson energy.

Thudding shakes the ceiling above them, heavy footfalls moving fast.

The debris is pushed away from the wall, and behind them is a secured doorway leading to either stares or an elevator. The tan and gunmetal gray door is heavily secured and the material is a thick polymer alloy, resistant to most forms of heat, cold, blunt force and electricity. This is no mere warehouse. This is someone's hidden facility. A keypad at the right waits for access codes, while a single red scanner eye shines from the top of the door's archway.

Alexa (285) has posed:
"Alright. I can manage." Alejandra nods once and then she glances down at herself. She's frowning for a second, tapping her foot on the floor. Then the woman shrugs and tears off a piece of her left sleeve. She pauses, then tears one from her right as well. Some gestures are made and then a piece of blue fabric is extended to Raven. She takes the initiative to gently tie it onto Jean's arm herself. "As long as we have these and I don't get hit in the head..."

<We should be in contact. At least for now. Mind your knots.>

Alexa has a distracted air about her as she looks around. Slow, deep breathing. But she's stable enough.

Emma Frost has posed:
"I would have said no. Cause that's an incredibly creepy question! Why not disguise your thing as a blood drive or something much more feasable than kidnapping people from their homes!" Emma says, after the roof shakes, suddenly feeling confident that she does have good help. This despite her not being able to hear anything in her mind for the first time since she was thirteen.

Raven has posed:
Raven ties the cloth around her arm, using her teeth, like a junkie tying off before an arm pop. It gets the job done, though. <Now what? I can get us down this shaft, but I'll have to let those men go to do it.>

Phoenix has posed:
"-- no-- " Phoenix's teeth are bared in a slowly deepening grimace. "-- no, worse-- there's-- a guard? In the hallway below, between us and an elevator to-- nothing-- hh--"

The redhead's eyes pop open as her head snaps back in recoil; upon fixing it, she finds herself staring at a locked door she only half-remembers approaching. "He's-- he's not well," she whispers while pressing her hand to the door and gulping a lungful of air. "A mutant sick with rage..."

kh-THOOM! KLONG!!

Telekinetic force explodes against the door as Alexa ties her off, serving little purpose beyond alerting anyone on the other side.

"I can take us down," she exhales while shutting her eyes again and splaying both hands across the polymer surface. Telekinetic energy splashes out across its face, seeking cracks to pour into so that the X-Man can try taking a different sort of blunt approach to the problem: wrenching the entire door out of its frame.

"But we have to get through this first," she concludes as senses beyond those of mortal women search for purchase. "Alternatively... we can take out eight guys. But there's that mutant..."

Sinister has posed:
"And thus we are at an impasse, and my actions remain sound. Be patient. I don't intend to keep you here for long, and you can return to whatever it is you spend your time doing," Sinister retorts. "Now, please refrain from struggling. I don't wish to have to lock your entire body down for something as simple as a tissue sample. The procedure is usually painless."

-=*=-

The door's weak spots are unavoidably its joints. While reinforced, there are structural flaws in the polymer alloy, and a TK of Jean's level will have no trouble pulling the door right off its hinges. As the group approaches, the scanning orb lights up and traces up and outwards in a thin red beam from the entrance of the door to about fifteen feet behind it. The door to the elevator gives way with a scream and groan of shearing matter.

Emma Frost has posed:
Appearing to resign herself to her fate, Emma looks down at her exposed knees and then asks. "Why me? What are you planning to do?"

Alexa (285) has posed:
"I think we've been detected," ALexa murmurs, lifting her hand to point at the scanner in front of her. She clicks her tongue against the roof of her mouth and then sighs softly as she does. "A strange mutant, full of rage..." The woman taps her foot lightly against the ground as she considers this for a moment. "We could probably just dump all eight of them in the middle of the street and let them sort themselves out. They aren't likely to come charing down here and we are in a little... bit of a hurry."

Alexa starts toward the elevator. If she isn't stopped she's getting in with no further ado. "We can always drop them on that mutants head, I suppose." She's already pulling out... a tube of red lipstick? With which she intends to write on the walls.

Raven has posed:
Raven also enters the elevator, feet not touching the ground, cloak whipping with the speed of movement, hands still ready for warding. Alexa's presence is calming, which is good: Raven had to unleash a significant amount of anger to capture the guards above, and that anger has been wanting off its leash ever since. Now she's focused again. Now she's ready to unleash some Hell.

Phoenix has posed:
Since stealth means nothing at this point, the door hits the ground outside with a hip-twist and a tremendous CLANG!! before Phoenix follows suit in entering the elevator.

"Take him as gently as possible," she murmurs on the way down, palms out before her and at the ready. "It's possible he's here of his own volition, but I kinda doubt it."

Sinister has posed:
With the precision of a well-trained, veteran surgeon, Sinister swabs Emma's right arm and draws a blood sample quickly. True to his word, apart from a little pinch of needle insertion, it *is* painless. "Because your continued survival is so important to the wellbeing of mutantkind that I cannot risk your no," he explains. Reaching for an unknown compound in a bottle on the cart, he applies a greenish fluid to the needle site and wipes off Emma's skin. As he does so, the wound seals itself completely, leaving no trace that a sample was ever taken.

A monotone voice announces over hidden overhead speakers, "Intruders detected. Subject: Jean Grey, Identified. Subject Zero-Zero: Unidentified Female, Mutant. Subject Zero-One: Unidentified Female, Bridge Energy Detected."

Sinister steps back from Emma, and places the blood sample into a rack of other samples. He presses a button near the wall rack, and the samples retract into the wall itself, vanishing. "It seems your cavalry has arrived, along with dear Miss Grey. I'll be interested to see how she fares against my test subject."

-=*=-

The elevator shaft opens up to the three above and down into complete darkness. Red emergency lights tint everything in strange colors. The doors to the hallway below are wide open, the same red light against darkness pouring out from the lower level.

A gutteral, incoherent howl rumbles up from the hallway into the elevator shaft. Magic users will detect something unholy emanating from deeper inside. Rachel might find it unsettlingly familiar.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma thrashes her head about, her hair whipping back and forth as she screams when the needle enter's her secured arm.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!"

Then one Sinister starts to back off. "I'm going to kill you." Emma says, her voice lowered into a harsh gravelly whisper her brows furrowed and her hair is a mess. This is not her finest hour.

Alexa (285) has posed:
With her array of symbols drawn out on the walls of the elevator breathes a quiet sigh and looks up toward the speakers overhead. She frowns briefly and purses her lips, tilting her head as she does so. "I should probbably avoid relying on my power then," she muses before glancing at the cloth band she is wearing.

<Best to communicate via mind now,> Alexa suggests in a voice that isn't quite a whisper. <Just in case. We have one mutant filled with hate and rage and, presuably Emma is... Somewhere.> The woman reaches toward her symbols and threw them to draw forth a lance of red light, like a beam from a laser. Smoke peels off of it in wisps just being exposed to the air. <I'm cutting through the doors until we find her. Any objections?> Heels clicking against the floor Alejandra stalks off down the hall.

Yes, the Spaniard really will cut through anything between her and Emma. Doors beware.

Raven has posed:
<Watch out for the demon. Guard your emotions,> is Raven's only contribution as she flies down the hallway ahead of Alexa. That's not foolishness, that's tactics. Alexa's power is bound up in attacks, while Raven can conjure a shield if she needs to. Best for her to be in front, even if she is opening every door she sees and checking inside it.

Phoenix has posed:
Phoenix, meanwhile, doesn't get more than a couple of steps out of the elevator before she plants her fingertips to the sides of her skull with a deep breath.

{{Okay,}} she things, {{Subduing him is on you guys; I'm just gonna try and manage him a little...}}

Exhaling, she then casts her psyche into the churning tempest that is the mystery mutant's. Her muscles immediately tense upon contact and sweat begins to burst across her forehead as she draws loving thoughts - of friends, family, and teammates - into an aegis to protect her astral self from being immediately ripped asunder-- or worse.

If she's able to make it in, she'll shout, {{Hello?! Who are you-- why are you here?!}} into the maelstrom.

Sinister has posed:
"I've watched your progress your entire life, Emma. I am doing what what is best for you -- what is best for mutantkind -- even if you will never understand or appreciate it. Even if the world never comprehends the taxing labors I undertake on its behalf." He looks over at the humbled woman, and speaks softly, gently. "You're still a young woman, and while you are very strong and very capable, you do not yet have the experience or breadth of vision to understand how much I care. A child cannot comprehend why its parents won't let it do whatever it pleases, why its parents make it do things it does not like. It rages against its parents, 'I hate you', because it's not allowed to eat sweets until its teeth rot from its head." He reaches up and unclasps the cloak that had been fastened around his neck, hanging at his shoulders, and gently lays it over and across Emma's nude form. "Rage at me all you like, Miss Frost. Perhaps, someday, you'll understand what needs to be done."

-=*=-

<<... saw ... hell! ... family ... !!!>> That's the only thing Jean will get in response, before blistering chaotic hate floods in.

"nnnggggGGGRRRRAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

The floor shakes, harder, more, the footsteps falling like weighted iron on the floor of the lower hallway, running towards the group of rescuers. That's when they get the first sight of him.

He's clad in some kind of black containment-armor, styled almost like that of a medieval knight, a band of red through a muzzled visor glowing where eyes should be. The seams of his armor give off curls of black, pixellated smoke that do not follow the laws of physics. Streams of erratic glowing red lines trace down his arms, legs, torso, converging on a large band on his neck. A very basic, even crude, magical seal is carved into a black stone on the collar. He slides to a crouched stop, glaring at the girls (so much as anyone can tell); his arms lunge towards one of the doors in the empty rooms of the hallway, his fingers gripping the material and gouging it. Contact with the material causes the darkness of his body to spread into the material of the door along with the red glowing leylines, as he wrenches it free. Sparks fly, and a sign above the door reading 'DISSECTION LAB A-2' goes dark.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil has been keeping back, her abilities are more subtle than the others, she could not rip open a vault door or hole up an elevator full of people. She knows, however, the value of having a reserve. She quickly detects the approaching armored figure. She carefully tryies reaching THROUGH the armor to whatever is inside...hopefully the magic does not block her.

Alexa (285) has posed:
"Put down the door," Alexa suggests in a soft voice, her green eyes intense as they study both the man in the containment suit and the door that has suddenly been torn free of the walls. "We don't have any particular desire to hurt you if you cooperate," she continues as she takes a deep breath. "But I do have to insist you give. Emma. Back."

The beam of light that the Mage held to her left side extends now, like a whip of brilliant red, lashing toward the extended door to carve into it. Hot enough to sear through metal and stone. That is, unfortunately, going to take a moment. Multiple lashes of the... 'light whip' that leaves a brief glowing after image in the patterns it traces it strikes.

Raven has posed:
Raven isn't afraid of the demon. She has ways of dealing with them. But she does understand when someone else has taken the lead, and in this case her duty is to fall back to Alexa's left side, away from her whipping hand, and to raise her own left hand, palm out, fingers splayed. A disc, two-dimensional but four feet in diameter, flashes out in a rush of black anti-light and stabilizes, forming a shield to protect herself and her teacher.
"Aim for the seal on its neck," Raven advises anyone listening. She doesn't yet know if that will end the spell or free the demon from its corporeal shell, but either way will make it easier to deal with.

Phoenix has posed:
{{Saw-- what happened to them-- ?! Please, just-- let me he--}}

Green eyes and unpainted lips open until they can't, filling the hallway--

"yyyYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA--"

-- with agony and rage mixed and muddled together into a rending, soul-searing symphony.

And heat-- terrible, oppressive heat permeating the hidden spaces almost as if by design. Perhaps the facility's atmospheric controls are built for such sudden shifts, but this particular one can probably be traced back to Phoenix, whose body is alight with flames that intermittently twist into broad wings and wicked talons while setting the air around her ashimmer.

Seemingly endless, as if unfettered by a need for air, Phoenix's scream echoes until it becomes inescapable, matching but not quite exceeding the violence of wrenched doors and burning metal. As it fills ears and the spaces between them, the heat, too, builds-- until it seems to radiate-- no, explode from within, threatening to set tempers alight as it does so.

Infernal hate becomes psychic rage, leaving its crucible to writhe in boiling agony for lingering seconds until she finally crumples, cold and silent and dark.

Sinister has posed:
And in that moment, Sinister makes good on his claim.

Spreading his hands wide, he projects both a telekinetic force field and a psychic shield, warding the anger of the Phoenix towards himself, away from Emma, so much as he is capable of doing so. The backlash reaches even into the second level of the lab, and he drops to one knee, gritting his teeth.

-=*=-

Subject Zero's agonized cry is drown out in the keening scream of the phoenix as it lashes out at everything around it. He drops the doorway, magical effect leaving it as he does. Alexa's lashes are visible, glowing in the metal, her whip marks having hit home. 'Zero' drops to hands and knees, panting, the armor scorched.

-=*=-

Getting to his feet once more, Sinister goes quickly to the control panel in the laboratory, pressing buttons, fingers flying over the keys as text rolls up the monitor in front of him. Hydraulic hisses and pops echo all over the lab as samples are retracted into walls and sent down jet tubes to some unknown location. Computer files begin erasing themselves. Alarms go off over the small laboratory as sensitive data is being purged, biological materials destroyed or relocated. Electricity sizzles through empty rooms, doors opening, some only partially. Ozone taints the air along with acrid smoke from burning and overloading electronic components.

With the laboratory and its contents set to autopurge, there is one last detail to attend to - Emma Frost herself. Sinister pads across the room towards her.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Powerful psychic rage floods Sybil. The energies of the Pheonix resonating with her own psychokinetic energies, Syvil suddenly can see throough this whole complex...and knows exactly where Emma is and that she is being threatened. She focuses all the energy and anger that was now within her to one goal...focusing on stimulating the pian center of that creature threatening Emma.

Emma Frost has posed:
Covered by the awful man's jacket Emma's eyes widen as Sinister starts to approach her. She gasps, her breath sucked in through gritten teeth.

"What are you going to do?" Emma asks, the fear in her voice leaking out past her emotional walls, she's scared and what's worse she can barely hide it. She can't stop him from what he wants to do. She is beyond powerless in this situation. He was right. She is a child.

Raven has posed:
    Raven has been controlling her thoughts and emotions since she was three. Her mental discipline is second to none; with years of experience and a frighteningly powerful mind, anger is nothing to her.
    Anger amplified through the Phoenix is another thing.
    Raven's shield shatters, and not prettily. Sharp shards of black magic spray out, embedding themselves in Zero's armor as well as slicing into poor Alexa. Raven ignores it with vicious hate in her heart. She gestures toward the floor and black energy explodes, pelting the hallway with yet more shrapnel as a large chunk of steel and concrete and rebar hovers straight up into the air, four feet high, chest level. Then it fires forward like a bullet, or maybe more like a train, plowing into Zero and driving him thirty feet back before Raven's unstable magic makes the projectile explode like a grenade right in his face.

Sinister has posed:
<< I would concern myself with what's in front of me first, if I were you, >> he states telepathically to Sybil. << Miss Frost is in less danger than you are. >>

Sinister is no pretender when it comes to duels on the psychic battlefield. As an Alpha level mutant (mutate to be technical), he is aware of Sybil's attempt to reach out and into his mind. This pauses his steps towards Emma; he responds with his own telekinesis, the equivalent of slapping away a hand reaching for his throat. His response is measured, intended only to ward away Sybil's attempt, and not to harm her in return. Not, at least, until he has her genetics catalogued.

With the explosions and rage of battle going on overhead, he quickly returns his focus to the imprisoned telepath. Standing at her chair, he thrusts aside the crash cart, well out of the way, and then --

-- releases Emma. "As I said before, once the procedure was completed, you can return to your daily affairs," Sinister calmly states. "I can make no guarantees about Mr. Albright above, but I'm certain you and your associates can handle him." A smile spreads across his face. "Good day, Emma. I look forward to speaking with you again someday - on different terms, in a different place, and with your clothes *on*."

Sinister turns on his heels, takes one step, and is gone in a snap of reality closing in on itself, teleporting away.

-=*=-

Zero goes flying.

Whatever poor magecraft assembled his collar is absolutely demolished, both by the assault of the phoenix and Raven's superior - and more intense - magical assault. The armor tears away in jagged pieces, the concussive force of the explosion doesn't just release the demonic energies stored in his body; his flesh is seared and abraded away across his chest, right hip and right shoulder. Albright collapses to the ground, unmoving, bleeding profusely. He groans, consciousness slipping away rapidly.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil is used to being undetected, her powers are subtle and indirect...but she knoes telepaths like Emma can sense her actions. She had hoped whoever was dealing with Emma would be distracted...but it is not to be. As far as raw power goes, she is pretty low on the TK scale. It is not raw power that makes her abilities unique...

Emma Frost has posed:
Sinister knows exactly what he's doing as he releases Emma, but that doesn't stop her from rushing him, with too much distance to cross before he disappears in a blink of reality. With Essex's departure, Emma's mind is unleashed and she reaches out and around trying to find who is around, who needs to pay for her suffering.

Rage. Anger. Terror screaming from above her head, Emma looks up to the ceiling as her mind reaches out into Alexa's Raven's and Sybil's minds, supressing the emotion with her own boiling rage barely kept in check.

Sinister has posed:
At this point, only Subject Zero - an EMT named James Albright - is left of Sinister's machinations. The laboratory's systems are nearly dead, the lights flickering.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alexa has hardly moved since the rage hit her. She's got an internal war raging, half-hidden behind green eyes. The voluptuous, lavishly appointed Sorceress tenses and slackens slightly as her mind fights its own struggle. It isn't just anger, but Anger: a spiritual manifestation of all their accumulated malevolence.

"Begone!" That's almost a muttered whisper, a flash of green as her eyes twinkle as she banishes it with Emma's aid. Funny how that works. Confronting her emotions physically, on the astral plane? Alexa shakes her head then and with a deep breath she steps forward... To see Subject Zero all but implode.

The brunette is quickly on her knees, blue silk pooling around her, suddenly turning purple as it is dipped into the deep red of blood. She takes a deep breath, staring at what is unfolding front of her. "Someon... Find the demon. Make sure it went back."

That is when Alejandra begins to glow again. Her eyes close and she ends up sitting perfectly erect as it flutters about her. First, the glow washes over her clothing and her dress is mended. Around her steel untwists as the scores and rents in the reinforced laboratory door are being mended.

The white glow washes out any details that can be made out of herself or James Albright for a few seconds, a column of purity around them both that mends frays nerves and soothes the mind.

The Light Force.

James Albright may have been dead for a second. It's hard to tell. But that doesn't mean anything under the effects of Light.

Raven has posed:
"It's gone," Raven mutters, her face averted from everyone as she regains control, doing her mental best to shake off Emma's psychic help (<I need to do this on my own or everyone bled for nothing!>) and get her own emotional calm. What she regains is shaky, but it's real, and it's hers. She gets her composure back and says, "I'm going after Emma." A pause, then she forces herself to add, "I'm sorry." With that admission made, she lifts into the air and flies down the corridor toward the dissection room, where Emma lies.

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil heads towards the dissection room, this place sickens her, she knows Emma is there and alone now...she will see about opening the door with her lock pickd if needed.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma bends down after she misses Sinister when she tried to grab him. Bent over she grabs the long coat he had tossed on her earlier and slips into the sleeves. Disgusted by the warmth already in the sleeves and shoulders of the thing she finishes buttoning it before she walks over towards the door and smiles as she waits for it to open, her arms crossed across her ribs below her chest and she notices her bare feet for the first time and is annoyed. She just knows she's going to step in something filthy.

Emma pulls her mind out of Raven's without helping further, but she does scan around, finding everyone and asking silently through thought, <<Is there anyone else with you?>>

Raven has posed:
"Someone who calls herself Jean is here. She's out cold. I don't know her. She got mad and lit herself on fire but didn't burn, so I'll call her Moses Girl," Raven answers, aloud. She's had enough of psychic communication for one day (but doesn't untie the cloth around her arm). She floats closer to Emma and asks, "Are you alright?"

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil makes short work of the lock...being able to "see" the pins is a great advantage when working a lock. Even if she can not manipulate them directly with her telekinesis...she can sure FEEL where they are. Once the door is open the group can easily reach Emma.

Alexa (285) has posed:
In the mean time the light fades and Alejandra drops like a doll whose strings have been cut. Oh, hey. The blood stains are out of her dress. Small blessings. She's lain atop Albright like cordwood... Apparently unconscious. At least for a moment.

Maybe it was a little TOO much Light Force, okay?

Sinister has posed:
"... two dollars... two dollars..." James Albright mutters for some reason, drifting in and out of consciousness. But mostly out.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma stands tall on the other side of the door, her hands still crossed as Raven seeps through the wall and nods once before lifting her hands to run through her sweat drizzled hair and sighs softly.

"I'll be okay." Emma says with a nod before she moves closer to the door just as Sybil opens it and she is holding her hand out to help the woman back to her feet.

"I don't know what you all encountered, but you did a wonderful job." Emma says, the idea going through her mind slightly visible on her face. She's going to teach them, how to be better and better together.

"Who else." Emma asks, feeling Alexa just as she fades out and Emma's bare feet start to move her down the hallway, closer to to the two women and one man out.

Raven has posed:
    Three unconscious people. Well, at least only one of them is male. Raven looks around and spots a single gurney, then closes her eyes in irritation: what good is a gurney? It only gets everyone up to street level, and then what?
    Breathe. Release.
    Yes.
    "I have some guards trapped in my mind. I'm going up to street level to kick them out. I suppose we all may as well stay here until everyone is back on their feet, unless Jean had a stroke or something." No mention of that possibility in Alexa. Raven knows she's just exhausted. "I'll be back in a few minutes." And with that, Raven's flying toward the elevator, to disgorge half a dozen men from inside her mind. Could be worse for them: they could have been in her soul.

Alexa (285) has posed:
Alejandra is slowly stirring, fortunately. Deep breaths are taken as she straightens and slowly looks around. The Spaniard is pale, something that is impressive and of itself. Each face nearby is scanned carefully and eventually her gaze shifts to Emma. A few blinks follows. Alexa sways slightly as she rises to her feet. Just shy of being too dizzy to stand, apparently.

"...Emma? Are you okay?" It's going to take the brunette a moment to compose herself bu the relief on her face? That is genuine. "We should get out of here."

Gypsy Moth has posed:
Sybil says, "I suspect leaving would be a very good idea." We have Emma, that is what we came for. She is a Gypsy, the Gypsy way is take what you are there for and leave.

Emma Frost has posed:
Emma nods to Raven, purging your mind and ... cloak from half a dozen unwanteds, then walks she nods to Sybil as well. "Then lets get going. However, we're not leaving Alejandra or Jean." Emma demands as she steps over towards Alexa, her feet clapping on the floor as she approaches Alexa and extends a hand towards the teacher.

"Get up. You're not beaten yet." Seems Emma is going to force dignity into her employee, that's what it's like under her, she doesn't only expect you to be your best, but she'll let you know she wants you to push yourself.

Raven has posed:
It is not nice in Raven's mind, but it's not too terribly bad either. Raven evicts the former convicts of her mind and spreads her palms at them in a gesture that's half shrug and half invitation to come at her, bros. They decline the invitation, and run. Raven lets them go.
On her way back downstairs, Raven takes quick assessment of everyone. "Are you okay?" she asks Alexa. "Jean needs the gurney, but you can stay here and rest if you need a ride up."

866/Rescuing Kidnapped Emma

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