Quest for the Nullifier (Heroes)

[theguardian]

Jamie waited as the ship circled the for a place to land on the ground.
His gear now strapped to his back as he stood up hesitantly gazing at the now green light.
He could feel the ship moving as the operator continued to search for a clearance to land.

He kept his guard up as he check his tranquilizer guns was in their sheaf at the sides and wait for the moment he had to leave....

[NPC]

Storm swooped into the air from the Silver Hawk held aloft by her mutant mastery of the elements such as the winds. “Iron Man, Magneto, I shall cover the jungle in the darkest clouds and the thickest mist to mask our approach.” She called out to her allies through the communication devices each carried. “It will also force many of our beast riding enemies to descend to more vulnerable altitudes.” The mutant weather witch raised her arms to the heavens and began to concentrate her near infinite powers when suddenly the Silver Hawk passed again and she felt a great weight grip her leg. “That in the…” She began to say only to look down and see X-23 hanging on to her ankle with a vice like grip. “Laura! Are you crazy, you will drag us both down!!”

Laura only laughed while looking all about the open skies. “Crazy like a fox.” She sneered the old adage then began to swing back and forth. “Just hold up a little while longer, my ride is on its way and I aint missing this scrap.” Ororo could see that this child was indeed much like her genetic template, Wolverine. However this little stunt only caused Storm to be more irate. Nevertheless she could see what X-23 was aiming for a mutate on the back of a pteranodon heading towards them.

A minute more and the Mutate was close enough to throw a kinetically charged bolo at the pair of them much like Gambits own mutant power. This caught Laura momentarily by surprise but Storm had already been marshaling her powers by this point. She could not only see the bolo’s rabid approach through the dark gathering clouds but feel it as it passed through the air towards them. Some would consider his no time to react yet Storm still raised her hand high with cat like speed and a goddess’ grace. The energy in the air crackled at her silent command, shot down to her fist in the form of blinding lightning and then directly at the approaching weapon. This took mere seconds yet in ways it seemed for all concerned time stood still. Ororo’s power still seemed to impress n only her but all who witnessed it.
With the kinetic weapon vaporized in mid air X-23 took her chance to use her teacher’s leg like a jungle vine, swing and leap into the open sky. Claws unsheathed and bourn on Storm’s building gale winds she roared with ferocity akin to Wolverine’s before sinking them into the Mutate dino-rider’s chest. “Gotcha sucker…” She snarled with a blood stained face and sadistic smile. She threw the body away quickly and took control of her new mount.

“Laura life is precious and not to be wasted even enemies!” Storm called to the young X-Man somewhat aghast at her actions. Storm was familiar with Wolverine’s blood lust and complete acceptance of lethal force. She was also aware that as Logan’s genetic double this had translated into X-23 as well, yet still it was hard for Ororo to accept death and killing so readily and she hoped that in time, as with Logan, Laura’s own blood lust could be quelled and managed to some extent. She would do her best to help guide the young woman as Xavier and now Magneto would want. “If death is avoidable the X-Men do not kill, do you understand Laura?!”

X-23 snarled at being spoken to like this in the middle of battle while swooping low on her own mount, under the pteranodon of another Mutate rider and sliced open the creature’s belly. This second death blow was as much for the mission as it was to spite Storm for her chastisements.

Seeing her words would do no good now in the midst of battle Storm again looked to the sky and continued to call forth the darkest rain clouds and the thickest mists to blacken the Savage Land. “It is done Magneto; we have the cover needed to press on. They may know by now that we are coming but they will not know when or from where we will strike from.”

[peterparker]

Peter decided that it would be best to wait for the jet to circle back around before departing. He knew he could find a tree or other natural object to attach himself to but all in all most of those were fairly close to the ground. And from their previous altitude that was cutting things a little too close for comfort. He wasn't interested in flattening himself before things even got started. He was excited to be back, even if his nerves were kicking in more than he'd like.

He watched as the fliers made their way out into the void that was the robins egg blue of the Savage Land sky and waited his turn. He chuckled when X-23 leaped out of the cargo bay and summarily took hold of one of Storm's legs. He quipped, "Why didn't I think of that?" He smirked, adding, "Oh, yeah. I don't like lightning. One flash fried Spider coming right up!" He adjusted his mask and decided it was now or never. Seeing the ground below him and calculating his velocity with that of the moving jet, he pinpointed an appropriate landing spot.

The newly suited up hero then jumped from the plane and promptly into a cloud bank. The visors covering his eyes slits on his mask started to acquire some condensation, "Oh...wonderful, wonderful." Gee, thanks, Storm. he thought to himself as he adjusted the angle of his falling form and began to pray that his vision would clear once he cleared the cloud bank. He came out of it a few moments later and was very grateful for his agility when he was barely able to escape colliding with a mutate riding atop a nearby Pterodactyl. This particular class of prehistoric beasts had wingspans ranging from a few inches up to forty feet. He was lucky that this one fell somewhere in between.

Quick feet, planted together, first kicked off the side of the mutate before the arachnid hero spun in the air and released twin web lines. The first latched onto the thick throat of the winged dinosaur and the second caught the ankle of the now dismounted mutate. Peter soon took up the position of rider on the back of the mighty beast and kept the mutated on a long enough leash to keep them both out of trouble as he began to fly into the fray. Releasing his captive, he shot the end of the web rope into the branches of a tall tree and watched as the mutate dangled there harmlessly before turning away.

Urging the beast onward with a youthful 'Woohoo!' for good measure, Spider Man, angled into the direction of an oncoming 'squad of similar beasts and riders. Legs secure on the sides of the Pterodactyl, Pete shot off a series of webs meant to momentarily blind the opposing dinosaurs and their riders. Luckily, it seemed to be his lucky day and soon enough the other winged creatures were spiraling downward out of the blue sky. Turning again in the air, Pete pumped his fist happily, "I love it when a plan comes together!"

[Aidan Veridan - Insight]

"I swear, flyers get all the cool entrances..." Insight said, pushing his glasses back on, and tapping the side of the lenses, activating the computer system and the interface on the lenses. The glasses actually projected the image directly onto his retinas from the glasses, which contained a wealth of sensor systems as well, all networked through the computers woven into his suit - it was distributed nowadays, originally it had been in one part of the suit, but after sustaining minor damage that just happened to be to that part of the suit...

He wasn't making that mistake again.

Aiden watched as most of the rest piled out, and he put a hand on the door hatch as it opened again, looking back towards Kurt. "Just put her down easy, would you?" He grinned slightly, then held his right arm out. Several black and silver components flooded out through his sleeve, assembling into a slender shield over his forearm, and a gauntlet over most of the rest - it wasn't the entire VWS, the rest of the components were organizing over other parts of his black fiber armor, though concealed by the coat he wore. A bit more low-key than Iron Man's tech... but that was more his style.

He paused for a moment, obviously waiting on something, then a green flash came from behind his glasses. "Seems about that time... look out below!" The craft was only about fifty feet off the ground still, but an unsurvivable fall for someone like him - or it would have been. He held his armored right arm out as he fell, and blue lines glowed along it, as a wide black shroud formed in the air over him, slowing his fall much like a parachute, but not entirely - didn't want to land too softly on that Mutate below.

He crashed down onto the dinosaur-riding creature, and snap-kicked him clean off the creature before lifting his hand again - two spikes shot out, electricity arcing between them, and he slammed the spikes into the dinosaur, unleashing the current into its nervous system. The creature seized instantly and stumbled in its run, falling headfirst into a tangle of trees and vines. Insight, meanwhile, jumped back up, planted his feet on it's back, and leapt off hard, twisting and pulling one flip as he slipped through the tangle and landed hard, a slight whine as he bent his knees and the shock absorbers handled the rest.

"Ten points..." he whispered, glancing up just slightly as Storm's... well... storm rolled in, and his glasses switched a few viewing modes to compensate for the obscuring water vapor. Another mutate was coming, riding a raptor, and Aidan held his arm out, not even looking, and fired - a high-tension wire trap snapped into place between two trees and clotheslined the creature, hard, putting both mount and rider down for the count. The wiring was only temporary, its strength maintained by an electric current, which burned it away into ash afterward - most of his gadgets that he launched did something similar, since they were so compact, and he wasn't really interested in having them collected and copied...

He glanced to the side, then, as Laura hit the ground, and he winced slightly, swearing he heard breaking bones... he wasn't sure he'd ever get used to that. "Come on - let's make sure the perimeter holds!" he called to her, then took off through the woods to pick off stragglers... hopefully this went better than that simulation with the students last week.

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

"Land the pterodactyls and no one has to get hurt." Tony said, dropping into what was really a very leisurely speed alongside a flight of four Mutates - all of whom rather unwisely decided to turn their weapons and powers on him, energy bolts streaking through the air towards his armor. He pulled one arm up, putting his forearm out, and a flash of golden energy slammed into the beams, altering their course just enough that each streaked past his armor with a few inches to spare.

"Your call." he said simply, lowering both arms to his sides and kicking up the power on his thrusters. The bootjets picked up immediately, and he shot out ahead of the group, then turned around, pulling his hands up as though holding a basketball. Slots clicked open on his suit's arms, and a series of smaller repulsor lenses lit up, beams curving under the influence of a powerful barrier field. The primary palm repulsors pumped energy into the core of the ball, until it glowed almost as brightly as the sun, and he threw his arms out, projecting the orb with it. There were no solid components or drones maintaining the bubble, so it would only take a second or two before the containment field decayed - which was perfect for his purposes.

He'd calculated it out so the field finally snapped right in the middle of the mutate formation, and resulted in a sudden and intensely powerful omnidirectional pulse of force, which smashed the creatures out of the sky and sent them spiraling towards the ground. He held his arms out lower, and several small flights of drones launches out, which would use their own repulsor fields to slow the enemies' descent to a nonlethal speed... but only just. Each would then shoot off in a different direction, to form Tony's own sensor net - satellite coverage was spotty here, to say the least. That done, he slowed himself with another short burn, then shot back towards the ground and came in for a landing, cutting the thrusters and moving into repulsor flight for the last few yards until he landed next to Wolverine, blasting another Mutate away with a repulsor beam.

"Anything new we should be worried about?" he asked the former Avenger - he and Logan had never exactly been buddies, but they'd had to work together enough to form at least a mutual respect, even if they tended to disagree with one another's methods. The killing, for instance. But then, it was hard for a weapons manufacturer to argue too hard before the hypocrite card got played. Well, he was getting out of that business once and for all after this business was completed... after he made sure SHIELD was equipped and got that son of a bitch Osborn's claws out of his family's company.

There was a sudden ringing sound as an axe bounced off his armor, and he turned, holding his hand up again, and blasted the creature out of the tree it had thrown from. "More of them than I thought there would be... Sauron's been busy."

[Iron Man - Tony Stark]

Luke let the jet get a little lower before he leapt out as well, and landed with a crash in front of several other Mutates, then slammed one fist into his opposite palm. "Alright, uglies, who needs a beatdown?" he asked. The creatures charged, and he rushed in headfirst, grabbing one around the throat in each hand and smashing them together, then pitching the both of them through the air and driving his elbow in a smashing blow to the solar plexus of another. He was lifted up in the air as one of the smaller dinosaurs grabbed him in its jaws and bit hard, tearing his clothes, but the creature had to snap back, letting out a pained screech as Cage grinned - it hadn't even scratched his impenetrable skin.

"Somethin' you tried to eat disagree with you?" he asked and slammed his fist into the creature, dropping it back, then he turned and rushed the others, though things were thinning out with Storm's weather effects playing hell - this attack wasn't going to be secret for long, obviously. "Is it me, or is this a bit too easy so far?" he called, grabbing yet another by the head and smashing it with his knee.



Songbird, meanwhile, had gone out with the fliers, humming in her throat at a hypersonic level - while they weren't always audible, the energy she controlled was really a form of hard sound wave or 'sound hologram', which meant she had to generate the sound to use them - she tried to keep them out of the human hearing range, though, lest she wind up like Siryn - GOD fighting with her was annoying.

The glow began at her back, then grew out into massive bird's wings and tail, allowing her to swoop down with the others into the aerial battle. She flew into another formation of riders, and let out an audible cry this time, which formed into several hands that reached out and literally smacked them out of the air. She formed a shield dome to protect against a few attacks from others, then she flew down, matching descent with Spider man, and formed a platform he could ride down in case he wanted to.

"When did you become a 'plan' sort of guy?" she asked, giving him an odd look, then she landed on the ground, not far from Luke Cage, and bowled three more Mutates off the ground - literally by forming a massive sphere and smashing it through them. She glanced over at Cage, then, and shook her head. "Isn't that something Cap says? If it seems too easy, it probably is?"

[Magneto- Erik Magnus Lehnsherr]

The Silver Hawk made another pass and Magneto stood behind the pilots chair to better view their opposition. “They are sending brain washed barbarians which Brain Child must have enhanced genetically as I did he and the other original Mutates. This is the very least resistance they could send against us.” Magneto spoke low to Insight, his tone of voice un-amused and very suspicious. He could easily tell this was but a singular strategy to slow them down, these riders were little more than cannon fodder set up as a diversion.

“Emma, what can you feel ahead of us, can you touch the minds of the true mutates or Sauron?” He looked back to the Emma Frost to which she grimly shook her head. “No Erik, whatever is happening ahead, where their base once stood, I cannot read them. There is an energy field which is blocking my senses…”

As the advanced jet streaked the sky and Magneto sought for answers other Mutate enhanced barbarians gathered in the thick jungle below. They moved with swiftness, fleet of foot to keep up with a pack of wolves sent by Lupo, a true Mutate under the command of Sauron.

These Barbarians had murder in their eyes as they skulked and shifted among the jungle shadows and foliage and these murderous eyes were currently trained on Valkyrie as she stood alone. In their view she was but a woman, a lone frail playing at war. In other words: Easy Pickings.

The Leader of the group silently and skillfully motioned for his people and the wolf pack to encircle the warrior maiden. They were ready, primed, set to leap out and take her yet as the leader himself jumped forth and lunged at the Asgardian he found himself stopping a mere foot away from Hjordis. The spiked club in the pack leaders hand would have come down on her head but as he stared into her blue eyes his face contorted in pain then looked down at his own chest to see three razor sharp metal claws protruding from where his heart once was. The Barbarian fell to his knees and then to the ground dead, in his place stood the X-man Wolverine, his costume torn up, his adimantium claws bloodied and a near feral look in his eyes.

“Watch yourself Blondie, you Asgardians are tough but I still don’t believe you’re as high fluting immortal as you would like us all to believe.” With a growl and a spin on his heel he was just in time to slice the head of a leaping wolf clean off with one set of claws while with the others to stab into the belly of another Barbarian. With these deaths the rest of the ground party advanced on them ready to kill and avenge the fallen. As Stark landed beside them Wolverine only grunted and spat. “It’s time to get messy Shell Head, no matter how many they throw at us this aint no tea party… time to crack some skulls!”

Storm had not seen the deaths at Wolverines hand or she would have raged at the example he was setting for Laura. As it was she hovered in the air using the winds and low level lightning blasts to force the flying dino-riders down into the trees. Laura also, though grudgingly, had begun to use less lethal force. The young X-Man had easily mastered riding her prehistoric beast mount and maneuvered through Storm’s winds as if she had been doing this for years. Swooping low and making tight turns she sliced at the wings of other Mutate mounts forcing them into barely controlled free falls.

“Storm to Magneto and Iron-Man. In the northern distance I can see a dome of light. It appears to be glowing, radiating some form of energy.” The weather goddess called out through her comm. link. “Could this be what Mimic described? If so it has certainly increased in size.”

“Unmoglich! Heir Magneto, You can see it.” Nightcrawler pointed out to the now dark jungle horizon before them where a dome of energy rose steadily from the trees in the distance. “It glows like a mini sun. Unglaublich! It is incredible… It must be several stories high and at least a mile wide.” Before their eyes it seemed slowly but surely to grow with every passing second. This made Nightcrawler gasp and grip tighter to the jets controls while taking only a moment to look back at Mimic, Guardian and Thena making certain they were alright so far.

“I see it Kurt… In fact I feel it.” Magneto whispered. “Everyone when you are free of battle converge on that location. We are heading there now.” The X-Men leader looked down to Kurt as if issuing a silent order. “Ms. Marvel. We will need at least one flyer, lead the Silver Hawk in… This is it…” He looked back to Emma and the rest who had stayed aboard. They were the freshest at the moment and he hoped they were ready for the battle waiting for them… it could very well be their last.

[Calvin Rankin - Mimic]

Calvin watched as the darkness swept in and the battle raged outside. He wished that he had power to fly still for he would have already been out there and yet he looked now to Thena and moved beside her, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “You are gonna be ok. I will stick by you and you certainly can take care of yourself if you want.” He smiled to her, squeezing her shoulder lightly then looked out again to the sky as the energy dome he had seen before he left the Savage Land appeared again on the horizon, far bigger and brighter than it had been before.

“Ok… that can’t be good. I really wish I had had that beer before we left.” He sighed and stood up though never moving from his only friend’s side. “The Mutate base was in that area but from the looks of it that construct is probably not standing anymore. That probably means that the Mutates are in the area protecting the energy dome and waiting on us. If the Brotherhood has not met up with them already it is our best chance at taking them while their numbers are lower.” He spoke out to Magneto then looked down again to Thena. He was worried about her almost as much as the outcome of this battle. Her mind was on her son and not on what was to come, or at least that’s how he perceived it, and she was not a warrior even if she had the spirit and the power of one inside. He wondered if she was ready for what was to come, if she could fight and maybe kill if need be. He even wondered that about himself. He had sworn not to kill and it was that oath that had gotten him killed once now. Could he keep that oath and still be of use to this team? Could he keep this oath and protect his only friend? He didn’t know but as they moved ever closer to the radiance of the energy field he knew they would soon find out. No matter what though He would stand by Thena and protect her with his life… he would not let her son grow up without his mother.

[Ms Marvel- Carol Danvers]

“Alright, I will guide you in and help clear a path for everyone to follow…” Ms Marvel snapped back at Magneto as her powerful fist came down upon the head of a dino-rider, sending him flying then falling into the jungle trees below. Carol was aware of the danger they and the world faced. This was do or die time and personal hatreds and reservations had to be put aside for the greater good yet it still grated against her nerves to take orders from the Master of Magnetism. It was against her better judgment to trust the ‘former’ terrorist and she still had to wonder what had possessed Tony Stark to back Magneto of all people for the position of head Mutant leader on the Super Human Affairs Council. Not to mention setting the bastard up as Headmaster of the Xavier Institute! In her eyes it was like asking the fox to guard the chicken coop. Never the less, for some reason, Stark trusted him and this was a joint X-Men/Avenger mission. That unfortunately meant joint command.

How she longed for the simpler, nearly black and white days when villains were villains and heroes stopped them from their dastardly plans of evil and world domination, she longed for a more heroic age. Yes that sounded a bit cartoony to her but it was in essences true of what she was feeling. If only Xavier had lived through the war instead of Magneto, the coward, whom for all she knew, had hid in his asteroid home till it was all over and waited for his chance to take advantage of a weakened world. In her eyes he was no better than a vulture picking at Charles’ bones. Charles Xavier, a man who had helped her in her darkest hour. It had been Xavier who had helped her regain, at least in part, a semblance of self after Rogue, then an evil mutant, had attacked her and subsequently stolen her powers and worse of all her life.

No… Not her life…

She had lived, spared a cold, icy death in San Francisco Bay where Rogue had thrown her, saved by Spider-Woman at the last second before death had clutched for her beating heart. No it was not her life she had lost but her sense of self and her memories. She lost the fundamental essence of who Carol Danvers was. It had been an evil mutant like Magneto, fashioned by Magneto’s world views through Mystique who had nearly destroyed her but in the end it had been a good mutant, a good man, Charles Xavier, who had helped her pick up most of the pieces of her shattered existence and helped put them back together.

As she flew stead fast ahead of the X-Men’s advanced jet into the blinding, other worldly light of the protective energy construct, as she barreled her way past defensive missiles fired in their direction, energy blasts from hidden turrets in the jungle below and more barbarian dino-riders on a mission towards obtaining a device powerful enough to war or destroy reality as they knew it… Carol Danvers… Ms. Marvel… Super Hero…. Woman… Human Being… had to wonder what the future held and what the repercussions could and would be if a man like Magneto ever got his hands on the Ultimate Nullifier.

One thing was certain though…

She would die or kill before seeing that happen.

[Aidan Veridan - Insight]

"Yeah, this is just going GREAT" Aidan muttered, ducking as a swing came from behind, then nailing his assailant hard in the gut with a back-kick before he spun around, propping himself up on one hand as he did, slamming another boot into the side of the Mutate's head and coming up on his feet again - an almost impossible looking move, but Aidan always knew exactly how to pull something off... another advantage of the way his power worked. Even so, however, he wasn't supposed to be superhuman - or even peak human. Yet, every now and then...

Another Mutate jumped out, reading an energy blast, but Insight fired with one pistol over his shoulder, without even looking, and blew it away from the tree, the force bolt taking it clean off its feet and probably cracking several ribs.

He broke into a run, trying to keep up with the fliers and the rest as they moved closer to the dome of energy, which was about the time Magneto's voice came over his comm. He looked down at the device on his arm, checking a few readouts, gathering more information... his eyes flashed brighter, and he winced, slowing, actually leaning on a tree for a few seconds before he kept running.

"It's growth is accelerating... it's a sort of event horizon, the beta particle reactions are going to start creating particles of antilithium once it reaches a great enough mass - I don't know if the damn thing will beat Galactus to destroying the earth but I have a distinct feeling it's going to be close! We have to find some way to cut off the energy source supplying it!"

[peterparker]

Peter's lithe form sprung into action, kicking and flipping and punching its way through the sudden onslaught of mutates he now found himself faced with. It was a seemingly unending wave and yet something about this didn't sit well with him. He looked up, seeing Tony and the other fliers. His new mask was helping with his vision, the tech within altering his visual perceptions just enough along the heat and light spectrum to make seeing through the thick fog easier. Multi-colored shapes bound from the jungle now, his mind making them out to be humanoid targets, the lower registers of the cold blooded creatures less easy to spot, though his spider sense aided him there. He didn't really need to see to fight, so he was doing now as he always had, relying on his instincts.

A fist collided with the side of a rather furry mutate's head as his copper and gold armored foot kicked in a wide sweeping motion to put down the herbavore known most commonly as the Stegosaur. It was fascinating, Peter mused as his body sprung back around to hook his feet around the neck of yet another assailant, the way these creatures thrived here, sheltered and protected from the rest of the world. This line of more scientific thought coming in the wake of yet another quick jab and an extended web line that carried the Iron Spider up and over the fray, "Time to change things up a little."

Peter's body landed on the sweeping branch of a tree. Spider quick reflexes came into play as organic webbing shot forth from his wrists and surrounded the mass of moving creatures into a corralling net of web. The circle tightened, ultimately trapping them all in a jumble of scaled legs and snarling teeth. The mutate army neutralized for now, Peter began swinging through the tree limbs toward what would surely become the epicenter of this particular battle. Perched high on a tree top, he watched as the energy dome began to grow, "That doesn't look good."

[Magneto- Erik Magnus Lehnsherr]

End Thread

Continued in Quest For The Nullifier Conclusion