Alaska Unrest: Which of these things doesn't belong?

[The Whisperer]

Amora's cloaking spell was doing its job, and the quartet that included the Enchantress, Madelyne Pryor, Jessie Grey and Ewan MacFeorais flew toward the destination of the Sentinel-carrying trucks from Roxxon. {{It still mystifies me that Roxxon is involved in this}} Ewan said telepathically to Jessie as they flew above the trucks. {{I thought they were moving toward clean energy solutions, not weapons of mass destruction}}

As the trucks moved forward, Ewan looked toward the horizon to see where the factory was located, but there seemed to be no above-ground structures. {{I think we may be headed underground}} he said in a link to the entire group as the first truck stopped and was taken by elevator pad below the surface. {{Jessie, can you sense any sort of openings beyond the one they are using for the trucks? They may have launch bays for these damned things. I don't want us getting hit by any outgoing test flights}}

 

[Jessie Grey]

{"Love nothing surprises me anymore...War is a profitable business so it's not surprising they would branch out."}She responded as they headed toward the factory.

{"There are at least 3 opening ports along the back of the factory. Those seems to be specifically for testing."}She responded to Ewan as she looked over at her mother for a moment before focusing back on the task at hand.

[The Red Queen]

{{Roxxon? Sebastian Shaw had some dealings with them once. I bet they got this Sentinel idea while chatting with him}} Maddie said to the group as they came to a stop over the elevator pad. {{I am not sure going in there is the best idea...}}

Soon another vehicle appeared. This one likely put a bit of fear into the group. It was a cattle truck full of people. {{What in the name of God is that? Am I seeing things?}} Maddie looked at Jessie and got the most terrible feeling in her heart. {{Do you think those are test subject for the Sentinels to take target practice, or are these fools making more of those human/Sentinel hybrids? Jessie, have you ever run into any of those?}}

The truck came to a stop, and soon the people were pushed from the back out onto the open tundra. Some looked like mutants that had had physical transformations, but others could have been baseline humans.

{{Do we stay cloaked and see what happens, or should we swoop in and save the day?}} Maddie asked Jessie as she kept an eye on the people. {{I don't want to start a war where one may not be needed yet}}

[Jessie Grey]

Jessie listened to what her mother said but she was already way ahead of all of them. The young Phoenix saw what was happening and it made her both sick to her stomach and angry at the same time. She watched these people being herded off like cattle for some sick end. She didn't know what it was exactly but the fury that was barely below the surface could be felt by all of those around her.

{"It's not for anything peaceful and I will not allow innocent people to be harmed for some sick mission or profit."} Jessie said. She hid what was happening to everyone below them mentally but those around her could see the fiery side of her about to be unleashed.

[The Whisperer]

Ewan could feel Jessie's pain and anger at this situation, and he knew trying to hold her back would likely be a losing gambit anyway. {{Perhaps there is a way we can free those people without causing the war you fear, Maddie? This is, after all, an area covered in ice. A TK bubble around the innocents while the soldiers or whatever they are are dispatched to another place? Say a hell dimension?}}

As he looked at Jessie, Ewan tried to call on every calming thought he had in his mind and sent them to his beloved. {{We need to keep our heads about us, but we will release those people, my dear. Do you want to handle the soldiers, or do you want to shield the innocents?}}

[Jessie Grey]

Ewan's calming thoughts helped Jessie to steady herself. {"I would very much like to handle those soldiers."} She said looking at Ewan. {"Don't worry I will give them the chance they didn't give these people."}

[Cosima De Angelis]

Cosima De Angelis was one of the first of the mutant test subjects tossed out of the cattle trucks after they came to a halt on the snowy tundra. She looked around to see if she could figure out a way out of this place, but there were no big flashy signs saying, "This way out" anywhere in sight.

As she tried to get a sense of what was going on, she felt a tug on the hem of her jacket. Cosima looked down to see a little girl with bright blue hair and the most beautiful blue-green skin looking up at her. There were tears streaming down the girl's face, and Cosima bent down to pick her up. "I want my mama," the girl said as Cosima looked around for anyone that might be looking for the girl. Then Cosima saw a soldier tossing bodies out of another truck and prayed the girl's mom was not already dead.

"We will find her," Cosima said as a soldier came up behind her and hit her back with the butt end of his rifle. "Hey! Please help me find her mother! Then I'll go with you!"

The rifle butt hit her again, and this time Cosima started to fall forward. She caught herself so she wouldn't hurt the girl by falling on her. "You really ought to learn not to hurt women and kids, you jerk!" Cosima yelled back at the soldier. If she could have, she would have cloaked the bastard in shadow and slowly choked him out of sight of his creepy compatriots. The beeping inhibitor collar around her neck made sure that was not an option.

[The Whisperer]

Ewan felt what could only be called twinge of pain as he looked at the people being herded from the trucks. {{Can any of you feel that?}} he asked the women with him as he tried to pinpoint where the center of this particular disturbance was located. He started to look around at the captives and noticed woman holding a child. {{Her. The woman with the blue-hued child. She seems to be a darkforce holder. Even if she is being kept from her powers, the darkforce is a living thing and can feel her anguish}}

As he watched the scene before them, Ewan looked at Jessie and nodded to her. {{Let's start with the soldiers on the perimeter and work our way in toward the prisoners. Amora and Maddie, any help from other realms you could summon would be of use}}

[Jessie Grey]

Jessie nodded to Ewan and smiled which had a bit of a evil tone to it. {"It will be my pleasure."}She responded as she lifted away from the group clouded her presence to the soldiers and others below. She approached the first soldiers and made quick work of them. To say she didn't enjoy this a little bit would be lying.

As she made her way to one of the last soldiers she isolated them from everyone else. "You think you can be judge, jury & executioner?.....You have no idea the hell you are about to cause those innocent people below.....However I will gladly show you." She said grabbing him telekinetically and giving him a taste of what Phoenix was capable of. She released him as he slumped to the ground. Jessie knew the others could feel how she was feeling but with what was happening before they arrived no one could blame her.

[The Whisperer]

As Ewan flew away from Jessie, he knew in his heart that his beloved was going to make short work of those soldiers she was about to face. Something about this all seemed so wrong. It was almost as if they were being pulled here for some reason. He prayed silently that the reason was not one of doom for any of them.

The mist around Ewan choked the life from many of the soldiers he faced, but he had to make sure it didn't touch any of the innocents involved in this situation. Getting them out of there was going to fall on Amora, and he prayed she wouldn't vanish on them because she felt this was, in the end, not an Asgardian problem.

{{Beloved, can you sense anyone already underground?}} Ewan asked Jessie as he banked and flew back in her direction. {{I'm afraid they might have cloaked their life signs}}

[Jessie Grey]

{"I...I can but it's very faint.There is a lot of interference."}She responded to Ewan as she made quick work of those enemies in her way. She looked at Amora who seemed less than interested being there. The young Phoenix would never forgive her if she left them but for the moment she stayed. She looked down and saw someone and floated down in front of the young lady as she walked towards her.

"Please don't be afraid.....They won't harm you any more." She said walking towards Cosima

[Cosima De Angelis]

Cosima just stood with her mouth open as she looked at the woman clothed in fire. She had never seen anyone like this woman before, but she had heard about pyrokinetics and the Phoenix, so Cosima knew anything was possible.

"Th...tha...thank you," she stammered as she looked around at the dead soldiers scattered around the snowy landscape. "We should help her find her mother," Cosima said as she lifted the girl up more securely in her arms. "She wasn't on my truck. My name is Cosima, and this is...."

The girl looked up and tried to keep from crying as she looked between Cosima and their savior. "My name is..."

There was a rumble behind the trio before the girl could give her name, and a plate opened up from the ground. A Sentinel's head could be seen moving upward.

"Is that....oh my God!" Cosima said as she looked at the robot moving out of the ground and toward them. "Please, get this thing off me so I can get her out of harm's way!" Cosima begged as she yanked at the inhibitor collar.

 

[Jessie Grey]

Jessie was about to introduce herself to the women when they were interrupted by something she hoped they wouldn't see.
"No....Not now....."She said as she saw the sentinel. It was then she heard Cosima's plea and she responded gently grapping the collar and with a burst of psionic energy she was able to remove it. "Go! Get her out of here!" She said as she turned and saw the sentinel going skyward before turning it's attention to those below it.

"You will never touch them!" She said as her voice took on an ominous tone the Phoenix side of her powers grew immensely towering over the landscape as she took to the air.

[Cosima De Angelis]

"Thank you," Cosima said to the woman as she ran with the girl toward some other mutants escapees. "I am going to get you guys out of here, but you need to trust me," she said to some teens who were trying to yank their collars off. "Oh crap, the collars!"

"Child! Do not move!" a voice rang out from behind her as Cosima turned to see a very tall blonde woman with green and gold armor covered clothes. "I am Amora, and I will help you!" Cosima would have accept the help of anyone right now, so she cared less who or what Amora was. A wave of green energy started to jump from collar to collar, and soon they all fell to the ground.

"Oh my God, thank you!" Cosima said as she found a patch of shadow and started to make an escape route for her fellow prisoners. "Anyone who is hurt or doesn't have a defensive power, use this tunnel to get out of here. You go with them," she said to the blue haired girl, but she would not budge. "I can't watch you and help them, too!"

"I can help you!" the girl said as she ran off toward one of the now mangled trucks. Soon someone exited the truck, but it wasn't the girl.

"That's a dragon! What the hell is a dragon doing here?" Cosima yelled as the dragon flew up beside the woman who was on fire.
 

[Jessie Grey]

"Well whatever the reason I am glad for the assistance ." Jessie said as she went back to attacking the sentinel. She had to take it down as quickly as possible. "If only Kari could see this...." She said quietly to herself.

Once Amora had stepped in assisting the woman Jessie could see the woman did care in her own way and that made the fiery redhead smile even if it was only a moment of kindness on the part of Amora. 

Seeing that Cosima was out of the line of fire she let loose on the sentinel with full force she slashed at the sentinel looking over out of the corner of her eye to see the dragon was joining in. She made sure to keep all her powers focused on the sentinel. 


As she engaged it in the back of her mind she thought about her family here and abroad. In another life she remembered the rise of the sentinels and what they did to those like her. She generated a massive amount of energy and launched it at the sentinels face.

[Cosima De Angelis]

Cosima stood blinking as the woman named Jessie was joined in the fight by the dragon. She still had no idea who or what that dragon was, and right now it didn't exactly matter. She wasn't even totally sure how she knew her savior's name was Jessie.  Getting people to safety was all that mattered.

"Gotta keep people away from that Sentinel area," she said in a whisper as the girl came running back out toward her. "Honey, is that your mother?"

"Don't be silly! My mom isn't a dragon. The dragon is her friend. I call her Aunt Shiara," the little blue girl said as she handed a very big gun to Cosima. "I got it off a guard over there, but I can't fire it."

"And you think I can?" Cosima asked as she looked at the energy weapon and shook her head. "That might not be the best idea, but I'll keep it for now. Did you see your mother?"

"Nope," the girl said as she tried to fight back tears.

((I'm not sure how this works, but there may be people underground)) Cosima thought loudly to anyone who might have telepathy. ((The little one's mom isn't up here anymore))

[Shiara]

The human part of Shiara smiled inside as it saw the Phoenix hovering over the battlefield. The dragoness did not fear the raptor, for they were both there to set those being held captive free.

((Great Phoenix, my name is Shiara, and I was born in the place called The Arda centuries ago. Thank you for helping us. I will tell you more once the fight is done)) the great red dragon thought as she let out a large plume of fire at the robotic nightmare that towered over the battlefield. ((The men who captured us said we were not the first. Others may be in the base below us))

[Domino]

"Oh. A dragon."

Those were the only words Domino could muster as she barreled through the Alaskan landscape in a "borrowed" SHIELD mini-jet. Some poor, deluded mechanic let her take the thing after a peck on the cheek and a well-placed knockout hypo.

"Nate, if you are listening..." she said under her breath as she then came upon the second aerial combatant, this one much more familiar. "Hope? No, not Hope..."

Domino had gotten a rather cryptic message from Cable about time travel, Bishop and the now-teenage baby he had plucked up in this same barren place a few years back. To get Hope away from Bishop, Cable had more or less sent the teen, against her will, back to this time. Cable was still up the timestream fighting Bishop and likely would be for a long time.

The problem was that Hope didn't end up where she should have, and Cable, in his own mutant messiah-like way, feared she had been captured by your friendly neighborhood Weapon X operatives upon her arrival. The fact Jessie Grey was here in all her Phoenix glory meant that Dom was likely on the right track.

Sadly enough, the dragon sort of signaled that, too.

"Now what the hell are Maddie Pryor and Amora doing helping out?" Dom said to herself as she landed the mini-jet on a ridge near the fighting, jumped out of the plane and ran toward the action. Some buffoon in bad, rented Kevlar armor tried to stop her with a few equally bad shots, but Dom laughed in his face as she shot the bastard. "I do not need the wannabe squad messing this up, moron! Ewan! Any sign of a red-haired teenage girl, likely with a huge plasma rifle?"   

[Jessie Grey]

"The Arda? I know it well."Jessie responded with a smile. "It's a pleasure to have you at my side Shiara." She responded before focusing in on what else she had said. "I know you are right...It's difficult but I can feel them below us and we must get them out!" She responded before laying the killing strike on the sentinel as her fiery talons latched onto it's head she channeled an incredible amount of power into it.

[Shiara]

Shiara smiled inside as Jessie spoke to her. There were so many here that were relying on them to end this battle and free whatever captives were in that base below them. The sight of a woman on a motorcycle threw Shiara off for a moment, but she seemed to be on the side of the angels in this fight as well.

{{What are these things made of?}} Shiara asked Jessie as she watched the Phoenix channeling energy into the Sentinel. The dragoness roared and dove at the mechanical creature, then diverted as a missile was launched from a second Sentinel. Shiara banked and dove at the second robot, using her claws to rip off the arm of the Sentinel. {{And who is the one responsible for making them?}}

[Jessie Grey]

"They are made of different metallic components to make them more durable but they are not unbeatable." She responded as she took on another one. "As for who made them.....It's a long story which goes through many entities but what we have in front of us is the end result." She responded before sending a massive psionic blast at the sentinel she was now engaging.

[Shiara]

Shiara listened as Jessie spoke of what these things were made of, and it troubled her that so many seemed to have a hand in their creation. {{It is sad that, after all these centuries, weapons of war are being perfected and set upon a world that wants peace. I'm sorry if I am droning on. It wounds my soul to see this still}}

As the red dragoness roared once more and swung her mighty tail at the Sentinel, another missile seemed to blow up in its silo, leaving a very easy entry point to the base below. {{Once these things have been dispatched, I think we have our way in}}

Another psi-voice entered the battle chatter as a second red-haired woman seemed to be sending hordes of demons at the remaining troops below. {{I am sending in my forces}} Maddie said telepathically to all those fighting in the Sentinels. {{Please try not to kill them}}

[Jessie Grey]

Jessie smiled as she watched her mothers forces do their work. She focused back on the task at hand as she looked at the opening. "I think we can do a bit better then that." She said to Shiara using the Phoenix side of her powers she opened up another one of the silo hatches even further she flew down towards the opening when she started to feel the others below them.

"I sense them....They are down there!"

[Domino]

"Ewan! Snap out of it!" Domino yelled as she waited for her answer and finally realized Ewan had been lost in some sort of feeding frenzy. "Oh crap."

The vampire looked at the pale-skinned X-Woman and finally came back to his senses. He had heard her question but had been unable to break his concentration to give her a reply. "My apologies. No, I have not seen anyone like the girl you described. But Jessie might have," he said as he pointed behind Domino as the Phoenix and the dragon flew into the ground from the exploded silo.

"And I am betting that you may be right," she said as she turned and started to run after Jessie and the dragon. "I'll watch her back!"

Dom sprinted to the silo and hooked a line to part of the damaged opening, using the rope to follow Jessie down below. {{Jessie, I'm behind you! Please keep your eyes open for a redheaded teenage girl. Nathan said the baby he was watching got tossed here in a time jump. Her name is Hope}}

[Jessie Grey]

{"Thanks for the heads up Domino. I will!"}Jessie responded simply as she went deeper into the complex till she landed on the ground and started walking forwards a group of guards blocked her path and started to move towards her.

"Ants...."She said simply her voice taking on more of a ominous tone as she held out her arms and threw them left and right as she walked through them towards the first group of cells. She psionically pulled the locked doors off the frames till she came to one cell. She thought back to what Domino had told her. "Hope?"