Sept 28: This Thread Is Full Of Spiders

by **John Hino** » Thu Apr 30, 2015 6:58 pm

John silently led the charge down the subway tunnel, in full X-Gear with his mystic club at his back. Fear that they were already too late clawed at his thoughts as he approached the maintenance door.

(open mission)

by **Will Stanton** » Fri May 01, 2015 12:55 am

Will was there, in a post that will get elaborated upon when my brain isn't dead from work!

He had sent word to the school legal team to get clearance, but there was no way that was happening in time--it would have to be an after-the-fact thing.

by **Melissa Castro** » Fri May 01, 2015 10:24 am

Melissa trailed after them, using her telepathy to keep things clear behind them and keep an eye out for ambushes ahead of them.

by **Ryan Gabriel** » Fri May 01, 2015 11:27 am

Ryan was on foot, keeping good time with John. The only sign of his powers were his glowing eyes, picking out the rats and various critters and plants around them, but not much else. Yet. It had been too long since he'd had a mission, though, so he was on point, ready, and secretly eager for whatever would come.

by **Narrator** » Fri May 01, 2015 7:10 pm

Nothing keeps them from the maintenance tunnel and the hatch leading down. The tunnel at the bottom of the shaft is dark, but this time they (presumably) came prepared. The cobwebs that are visible right away quickly grow thicker as they move through the tunnel. The amount of nearby critters quickly drops to almost nothing around them and Ryan would begin to feel a strange sensation that seems to be tugging at him from all directions.

As they continue on they quickly come to the spot that Melissa had come to and the tunnel opens into a large cavern, maybe 50 feet across. The cobwebs in here are much thicker than what any reasonable spider could produce and there are huge round cocoons scattered throughout the cave in egg-clutches of twos or threes. They are maybe two feet big and unlike what Ryan might expect from eggs give off no sense of any life-force whatsoever. If anything they feel like black pits of nothing to his power. A distant chittering echoes through the cave, possibly from the tunnel that continues at the other end of the cave.

by **John Hino** » Fri May 01, 2015 7:28 pm

"Holy hell..." John said, shuddering.

by **Will Stanton** » Sat May 02, 2015 2:17 am

"What in God's name..."

by **Ryan Gabriel** » Sat May 02, 2015 6:40 am

"God's got nothing to do with this," Ryan answered in alarm. "I can sense things that are alive. Those things? They feel like the opposite of life. This is going to get uglier."

by **John Hino** » Sat May 02, 2015 11:24 am

"There's no telling what else they've brought from Yomi already," John agreed, "Be on guard for anything."

by **Melissa Castro** » Sat May 02, 2015 9:33 pm

"Not picking up any activity at the moment, but that could change quickly."

by **Will Stanton** » Sat May 02, 2015 10:05 pm

"No time to talk when lives are at stake," Will said, starting forwards.

by **John Hino** » Sun May 03, 2015 9:26 am

John again took point, eyes warily studying the darkness.

by **Ryan Gabriel** » Sun May 03, 2015 11:10 am

Just wanting to cut to the inevitable, Ryan raised his hand. "Try to look away," he said, giving them a moment to do so before letting out a blinding flash of light that settled down to more normal levels after he hopefully dazzled whatever they were about to see.

by **Narrator** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:26 pm

A strange rattling screech comes from somewhere in the cave, followed by what almost sounds like wood against stone. When the light dims to a more reasonable level they can see something skittering away in the distance. It's not very big, maybe the size of a watermelon but a dirty white. Meanwhile one of the nearby eggs gives off a faint tearing sound as whatever is inside it begins to move.

by **John Hino** » Sun May 03, 2015 1:48 pm

"Are you trying to get my sister killed?" John hissed.

by **Will Stanton** » Sun May 03, 2015 4:55 pm

"Guys, argue later. Problems now."

by **Melissa Castro** » Mon May 04, 2015 6:35 am

"Agreed." She reached out to whatever was scuttling down the hallway, trying to see if it had enough of a mind to grab.

by **Narrator** » Mon May 04, 2015 9:45 am

Nothing there. Whatever it is, it doesn't seem to have a mind in the traditional sense. While everyone is bickering one of the eggs next to them tears open and what looks like part of a human skull pushes it's way out of it. Somewhere underneath it spindly legs are working to free itself from the egg.

by **John Hino** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:04 am

John's eyes shot to the tearing sound.

"Oh no you don't," he said, charging up a breath to ice the thing.

by **Melissa Castro** » Mon May 04, 2015 1:44 pm

Seeing John inhaling, Melissa quickly ducked out of the way, trying to avoid stepping on anything else.

by **Narrator** » Mon May 04, 2015 1:52 pm

Whatever the skull-thing was, it is now encased in ice after John hits it with a beam of concentrated cold. Here and there more of the eggs begin to twitch and rustle.

by **Melissa Castro** » Mon May 04, 2015 1:57 pm

"Well, shit. Move!" Melissa says, gesturing down the passageway the the other creature had scuttled down.

by **John Hino** » Mon May 04, 2015 2:02 pm

"Don't need to tell me twice," John said, hurrying onward.

by **Will Stanton** » Mon May 04, 2015 4:11 pm

"Just fantastic. We should have brought Teri along," Will said, hustling, forgetting that spider things weren't technically insects.

by **Ryan Gabriel** » Mon May 04, 2015 8:56 pm

Ryan went against one of his usual rules and turned around, flying backwards after them as he focused on those points of oily non-life in his senses. The word abomination went through his mind as he sent a rush of lightbolts back in their wake toward those points. I really hope they don't take a sharp turn and I end up crashing into a wall...

by **Narrator** » Mon May 04, 2015 9:59 pm

Ryan's wings cuts through most of the cobwebs hanging in the cave. His light-bolts sear right through the eggs and the skull-spiders inside, leaving behind smoldering shells of spider-silk and bone fragments.

While Ryan is bringing up the rear the rest of the group makes their way into a tunnel that looks rougher than the one they had followed here from the tube tunnels. Less bricks and more exposed bedrock. The path does make a gentle turn (though far enough in that Ryan will probably notice by the time he reaches it) and past it the tunnel opens into another large chamber. This time they come out on a ledge that is a good 10 feet above the ground of the cave. A narrow set of stone stairs follows the wall and leads down to the ground. In the middle of the room is a large alter that looks like it has been at least partially made up of bones and cobwebs. On it a humanoid figure in a dark sack of some sort is struggling weakly against the two woman holding it's arms and legs down. Yui Kumo is standing next to the altar, currently with her back to the group of X-Men, distracted by some preparation or another.

by **Will Stanton** » Mon May 04, 2015 10:38 pm

Will nodded at John, pointing at the center, and holding his finger to his lips.

He crept to the edge of the ledge, crouched down, flattened out, and tried, as best as possible, to match the color and texture of the ledge, as he tried to slip down over the side quietly.

by **John Hino** » Tue May 05, 2015 9:54 am

It took every ounce of John's usually considerable self control not to jump down there and start swinging. Instead, he used his armor to blend into the shadows and creep as far down the stairs as he could without revealing himself.

Please be Zuki...

by **Melissa Castro** » Tue May 05, 2015 10:33 am

Melissa flattened herself down on the ledge, using her telepathy to help John and Will coordinate their timing.

by **Narrator** » Tue May 05, 2015 12:07 pm

So far none of the people in the room seem to notice them. At least until a fourth woman enters the room right across from the ledge from what must be a vertical shaft. How she managed to traverse it isn't exactly clear but she seems to be descending head-first, arms reaching out of the shaft, grabbing it's ledge and flipping herself over to swing down to the floor. Her eyes wander across the ledge and it seems like she's squinting vaguely in John's direction but then Yui says something that draws her attention and she walks over to her, forgetting about what she thought she might have seen.

by **Ryan Gabriel** » Tue May 05, 2015 5:59 pm

Ryan went dark well before they got to the chamber, keeping low and against the wall as they peered down. He knew to fight the urge to jerk back when the woman peered up in that general direction, since motion would be more of a definite tip-off than his creeping teammates.

Not wanting to interrupt the telepathic chatter and distract John and Will, he glanced at Melissa and gave some easy-to-read hand signals. 'They (the bad guys) see them (John and Will), you and me, hit hard, me left, you right.

by **Melissa Castro** » Wed May 06, 2015 8:34 am

Melissa was busy doing several things at once, trying to keep Will and John in contact and trying to mentally watch to see if they'd been spotted. She flashed a couple of hand signs of her own. Wait signal.

by **John Hino** » Wed May 06, 2015 9:40 am

John breathed a quiet sigh of relief that he avoided detection. To be safe, he inched back further into the darkness.

"Will. We need to get between them and Mizuki somehow," he thought to the others through Melissa.

by **Will Stanton** » Wed May 06, 2015 6:53 pm

Working...

Will tried to continue to inch along the wall and then floor, closer and closer.

by **Yui Kumo** » Thu May 07, 2015 9:42 am

Suddenly Yui's voice booms through the cavern. "I don't recall extending my invitation to the rest of the family."

by **John Hino** » Thu May 07, 2015 10:07 am

"Well fuck."

John stepped forward. "I don't recall needing an invitation to save my sister."

by **Yui Kumo** » Thu May 07, 2015 10:23 am

"If you absolutely must have front-row seats to her death then who am I to deny you the pleasure. Saves me the hassle of hunting you down and putting an end to this miserable lineage once and for all! Rin, make sure he doesn't get in the way."

The woman who must be Rin steps forward to stand between John and the altar, taking up a martial arts pose, waiting for John to make a move. Will, Ryan and Melissa seem to have gone unnoticed.

by **Melissa Castro** » Thu May 07, 2015 10:35 am

As good a signal as any. Melissa thinks to the rest of the team before she shuts off the contact, her shimmering frame grabbing the edge of the ledge and, using her super strength, launching herself towards the woman on the right holding down the struggling form.

by **Will Stanton** » Thu May 07, 2015 5:52 pm

Will continued to slide forward, hoping to use the distraction to rescue Mizuki.

by **John Hino** » Thu May 07, 2015 8:52 pm

John hefted his tetsubo and entered his fighting stance.

That's right. Eyes on me. Ignore the angel about to shoot you.

"I trust you know what this is," he added before coming in with a feint.

Who is online