Issue 10 - Wednesday - And things come to a head

[En Sabah Nur]

Ozymandias thrust his sword at Roland in a spinning lunge, putting his earth-born power behind the desperate blow against his more-skilled opponent. Across the quad, his statues, battered by the students, were finally knocked down, Christie's shattering under her punches, the larger one finally staggering backwards to crash to the ground.

Apocalypse gave John a good, solid kick to try to punt the mini-zilla across the campus, but found himself too overwhelmed by the concerted attacks of the X-men. Boosted by Marcus, Ryan's blasts disrupted his efforts to maintain his size, combined with the freezing effect of John's breath to force him to begin to resume a more normal size. Kaylee's efforts became more effective as his mass decreased, and the final straw seemed to be Chloe mauling his face, taking out one of his eyes with a good chunk of his flesh as well. "ENOUGH!" he roared, and a final wave of energy blasted the X-Men back. "You will one day wish you had accepted the benevolence of En Sabah Nur. When next we meet, you will be groveling at my feet for mercy." He shot a contemptuous look at Gideon and Ryan. "Particularly my treacherous horsemen."

With that, the Sphinx began picking up altitude, and Apocalypse vanished from sight as the ship reclaimed its master.

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex panicked, sending his avatar around the statue to try to catch it to give Brigid time to get out from behind it before it fell.

[Roland Sackville]

With one final blow, Roland slice Ozymandias in half, and then turned and walked wordless back to the Blackbird.

[Kaylee Williams]

Anger seemed to overwhelm her as she watched Apocalypse disappear. Tendrils of sludge flinging itself at the mutant's previous position. She could hardly control herself. "Start all of this bullshit...then run like a little bitch once it's over huh? SO STRONG YOU ARE RIGHT!?" She yelled before her gaze diverted back to Brett and she slowly walked over to him.

[Samantha McManus]

"The X-Men have always defied Apocalypse. We always will. Being strong isn't letting another define your path."

"And as you can see, one can survive defying him..."

[Lora Zalesky]

Famine shrieked as two sides of her mind waged war, one guided by Sam, the other shaped by Apocalypse. She clasped her hands to her head, seemingly in agony, as he miasma chaotically speak across the earth faster than ever, withering grass, shrub and tree, eating away at the brick and mortar of the building behind her.

The mechanical horse behind her, some inner working of it already burning, fell to the ground from the destabilized wall. Some component, apparently dealing with the power or the fuel, ruptured in a small explosion.

But that's enough to hurt when you're only a few yards away. The explosion knocked Famine to the ground, apparently rendering her unconscious...but a steady trickle of blood started pouring from her unprotected neck.

[Ryan Gabriel]

The wings vanished along with the scythe as Ryan let out a long breath, the quiet of the sudden calm suddenly hitting him. "God..." he whispered, looking around, his eyes falling on Brett, and then...

Sighing, he walked over to Lora, unsure of what he was doing as he knelt down next to her. He frowned, unsure, before glancing at Sam questioningly.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon crashed backwards unable to prepare himself for the second blast. He rolled and finally stopped after a few feet.

As he got to his feet he saw Lora on her the ground and ran towards her. Whe he arrived he moved to wrap his arms around and cradle the unconscious horseman. He cared very little for the others Ryan included more concerned about Lora than what they had done for the moment.

[Samantha McManus]

The flock indeed formed into Ms. McManus, as she regarded Ryan.

"There's a path back for her," she said. "For all of you."

[Ryan Gabriel]

"All I needed to hear," he said, putting his hand on Lora, that green-white glow lighting around her. Her vitals would grow more stable, her life signs stronger, as he flooded her with lifeforce. He didn't look back at her, but he reached into his outfit, pulling a card out and handing it back to Sam. "You're probably going to be getting a call soon... just figured you'd want to prepare yourself," he said.

[Lora Zalesky]

With that, something now held back the flow of blood that might have otherwise cost Lora her life. She lay serenely in Gideon's arms, still unconscious, but alive.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon looked at Ryan and nodded in silent thanks for what he'd done for Lora.

"A path is good," Gideon said turning to look at Sam.

[Rick Ferguson]

Rick, now finished with his duel with Lora, sank to one knee. He had gotten a fairly large dose of the Famine gunk, some of it still visible as black smears, though he was presently trying to wipe them away. Not only did the fluid weaken him, it burned like a motherfucker.

On top of that, he had exerted a lot of energy trying to hold off Lora. So he didn't feel too down on himself for almost collapsing.

Thankfully, he noted, the black miasma was no longer spreading...though it had eaten up quite a bit in the last couple of minutes or so. A lot of the ground was now dead and barren, and there had been some structural damage to the nearby buildings.

[Chloe Grant]

Chloe lay on the ground, still in dinosaur form, whimpering softly.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Having handed over the card, Ryan knelt a small ways away from Lora and Gideon, lacing his fingers behind his head, knowing the brainwashing protocols as well as anyone.

[Sean Hall]

Sean walked slowly over to Rick and put a glowing hand on his shoulder. He was tired but seeing to the wounded seemed a bit more pressing than sitting down on the ground.

"Let Gaea's blessing spread," Sean said a warmth flowing from his hand into Rick, "And bathe in the purifying light of Oshtur."

It was almost too warm for a moment, but as it faded Rick would begin to feel better gradually as the magic began to cleanse Famine's powers. He then began walking towards Chloe moving a bit slower.

[Brigid Plunder]

Brigid did indeed get out from under the statue as it fell, and looked to Alex and Christie nervously.

"Er... maybe we should get back with the others before we get in even more trouble."

[Alex Carpenter]

Alex glanced at Natalya, then back at Brigid. "Think that ship already sailed," he said quietly.

[Chloe Grant]

With an effort, Chloe shifted into human form "I'll be alright." she said "The fall just banged me up a bit."

[Marcus Kingston]

Marcus's head seem to ring as he picked himself up off the ground, that final shock wave really catching him off guard. Once he was back on his feet, he stumbled towards Kaylee. He made sure to move slowly as he stepped over the puddles of sludge that separated them. He was finally close enough to notice Brett was the one lying on the ground. He knelt down across from her and reached over, using two fingers to close his eyelids.

[Natalya Romanov]

The ice dragon seemed to be glaring at the high schoolers even as it's mistress walked up beside it, "Indeed, that ship is way out to sea now, Mr. Carpenter. All three of you, my office, tomorrow morning after breakfast. Now..." Was it possible that she might actually be trying to stop a smile? "Get your asses back inside before the Headmistress sees you out here."

[Wanda Johansen]

Wanda's ears were ringing and she had to pick herself up off the ground again. She was going to have quite a few bruises, and she needed to have her shoulder looked at, but it wasn't anything that wouldn't heal and there was a lot worse out here.

[Sean Hall]

"That's good," Sean said with a slight smile, "Was finding it a bit hard to be sure. Not much experience healing dinosaurs."

[Rick Ferguson]

Rick thanked Sean, then woozily got back on his feet, heading over to Marcus. He had gotten a sense through all the chaos that something bad had happened, but it wasn't until he got a closer look at Brett that he found out what it was.

"Son of a bitch."

[Kaylee Williams]

Kaylee slowly stood up, glancing over at Rick and Marcus for a moment. She couldn't really say anything as she was just trying to relax now, most of the microbes retreating back to her body well all the extra was left to die out in the open, cut off from her power.

She opened her mouth but no words escaped her. She simply put her hands back over her face and lowered her head.

[John Hino]

A still mildly disoriented John hurried to Kaylee's side before looking down at Brett.


"Oh God... Brett..."

[Kaylee Williams]

She looked up when she heard John's voice, almost immediately clinging to him..though softly, as she noticed he was steel at the moment. She set her head against the side of his chest as she started to cry again.

[John Hino]

He held her gently.

"I'm so, so sorry..." he said, stroking her back in an effort to calm her.

[Byrna Cooper]

From nowhere, a pair of arms circled around Ryan, pulling him into a hug.

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan sighed, leaning back against her. "I'm sorry..."

[Byrna Cooper]

He didn't need to turn around to know she was crying softly.

"No, I'm sorry.."

[Ryan Gabriel]

He unclasped his fingers, reaching his arms back behind her head to pull her up against him. "None of that, Sunflower," he whispered.

[Byrna Cooper]

"I'll cry If I want, darn it."

She smiled weakly, giving him a kiss.

"Come back all the way, Ryan.. I'll be right by your side."