Attack on Xavier's (Thread 3)

[Apocalypse]

It was late at night when he came. Most everyone in the mansion was asleep and unsuspecting of what would happen in only a few short moments…

Apocalypse had finally had enough of the X-Men. They had organized that attack after all, that had killed his first Famine. But no matter, he won that fight, little did the X-Men know. Despite what they had lost, they still had counted that fight as a victory.

What naive fools. Apocalypse never lost. He always came out on top. Always.

He floated over the school, silent and deadly. It was easy for him to bypass the security measures- he had learned everything about their cyberpath the second she had hacked into Famine’s base. Anything she had set up would be easy to get around. Shielding his mind and cloaking his presence from other telepaths in the Institute? Child’s play. Anything other security measures? Not even worth mentioning.

No one could stop him now.

He smirked, and then floated away from Xavier's. His smirk only grew wider as he heard an explosion coming from behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn around and look.

Big A has left the building.

The attack had obliterated the kitchen and the dining room and a couple surrounding rooms. Damage was widespread throughout the rest of the institute. It was on fire- anything that hadn't been damaged in the explosion would soon be consumed by flames.

Xavier's had been just about destroyed.

[Cyclops]

Cyclops walked towards his bedroom it was a quiet night, peacful and little did he know the danger that was flying over head at this very moment. Scott was nearly at his door when everything went to hell. He felt the heat before he heard the bang, the world seem to slow down around him as the heat from the explosion warmed his face and a large piece of what Scott assumed was rubble from the wall or ceiling fell on top off him, the great weight pinning him to the ground. For the moment he was surprised that nothing hurt but even in his shocked state the mutant knew that once the adrenaline flowing through him wore off he'd be in a lot of pain.

It was hard to breath, he knew that as much and impossible to move much. He strained hard to try to move the weight from him but he couldn't. It was too heavy, everything started getting dimmer, the noise his ears heard becoming more muffled until eventually, he passed out.

[jean]

Jean was sitting in bed reading one of her novels while her TK was being put to use as her hair brushed moved on it's own and styled her luscious strands of red. It was a perfect night, but of course it had to be ruin. Thanks to Apocalypse cloaking himself mentally, Jean was unaware of the danger above her home. One minute she was reading, the next she found herself in a storm of heat, flames and debris as the mansion had begun falling apart from the attack. All went dark....

A moment later, Jean Grey's green eyes flickered open to the damage that'd be done to her beloved home. The bed room was absolutely leveled...she should have been dead, but she wasn't. She was floating as a cocoon of flames and psychic energy had wrapped itself around her body in order to save her life. She didn't recall doing that...it was the doing of whatever was in her her subconscious. Either way, Jean Grey had survived. She looked towards the door as her face was stricken with horror.

"Scott!" she cried seeing the man trapped under a piece of the ceiling. He wasn't moving either. The flames around her body faded away and she immediately floated over towards him using her TK to lift the giant chunk of debris off of him and carefully lifted his body towards her. Taking him in her arms, she checked him over for a pulse. He was still alive and that was a bit of a relief, but still. Who was responsible for this? She wouldn't put it past Magneto and the Brotherhood to pull off something like this, but they have been of rather peaceful terms with the X-men since Apocalypse showed up. The latter's name popped up in her mind...Jean closed her eyes and gritted her teeth while cradling Scott's body. En Sabah Nur would not get away with this.

[Cyclops]

Scott's body was limp in Jean's telepathic grasp his breathing whilst there was shallow and haggard whilst his pulse was weaker then normal but no means life threatening. It was obvious that he wasnt in life threatening danger now but he needed medical attention or the treatment of a hospital.

[Sage]

Surprisingly, Sage had been asleep. Well, more of a half-asleep, really. She had dozed off while researching information on Apocalypse. They had been so underprepared in that attack on Famine, and it had cost them. That could never happen again, so now she spent almost all of her time doing research. Research into anything she could find about Apocalypse. Research that, to her, took precedence over things like reprogramming her computers and even sleeping. She would work until she would just about pass out, then get up and do it all over again. Sage knew that it probably wasn’t the healthiest thing to be doing, but they needed to stop Apocalypse, no matter what. Besides, she’d never really had what people would call normal sleeping patterns, anyway. But that was all beside the point, at least now.

The explosion had startled her awake. She threw herself forward off her chair, curling into a ball and shielding her head with her hands. The second the roar from the explosion subsided, she rolled upright, pulling her gun out and pointing it at the door. It wasn’t the first time she had been awoken by some sort of explosion- spending a good portion of her life in war-torn Afghanistan had assured that. Old habits died hard, after all- and no matter how long it had been since then, Sage doubted that she would never forget those.

It took her a second to realize that she wasn’t back in Afghanistan, but in her room in Xavier’s, and that she wasn’t pointing her gun at the door like she had assumed. Part of the ceiling had collapsed along with the wall- she was looking out into the hallway, and the familiar smell of smoke was in the air. The mansion was burning.

Sage tucked her gun back into its holster then stepped forward. Her shoes crunched glass underneath her feet- glass that had previously been in both her window and the monitors of her computers. She glanced down at her arms- they were covered in cuts. She quickly brushed off her arms, knocking off most of the bits of glass that still stuck to them. She could worry about the rest later. She grabbed her glasses from where they sat on her dresser, sliding them on, then made her way out into the hallway. She needed to her out of here, now.

[Storm]

Ororo Munroe was fast asleep in her comfortable bed, resting from a long day of working. Running a school was a challenging task, taxing on both the body and mind, but she was up to the task. The African Goddess laid motionless in her bed as she dreamed of her childhood. She hadn't always been considered a goddess, but a street rat. As a child she stole to survive and to please her old master, Achmed El-Gibar. Times may have been rough back then, but she found peace and happiness amongst her ragtag group of friends that had been placed in similar conditions as herself.

Her dreams of a time passed were interrupted by the sound of several explosions. The room shook from the force of the blast waking her from her sleep. Ororo looked around her room for a moment before tossing the covers from her satin, night gown clad body. "By the Goddess! What is going on?!" Just as she was about to exit her bed to investigate the roof of her room began to collapse right around her. She quickly pushed herself back against her wall as large chunk of the roof landed in an angle over bed that trapped her in her position. A pile of rubble crumbled at the edge of bed leaving only a small portion of light to enter.

"Oh no," she managed to say before her breathing picked up. Ororo started to hyperventilate as she pressed her back against the wall. Anyone that knew her knew that she was extremely claustrophobic due to an experience in childhood. Her eyes darted around the dark area frantically. She tried her best to calm herself down so that she could think properly, but that task was proving to be impossible at the moment.

[Christian Frost]

Christian Frost had just come back to Xavier's from a show with his troupe in London. He was physically and mentally exhausted and had just fell asleep when the room around shook with a loud explosion he jolted up from his sleep just to be greeted with another explosion this time causing the room around him to crumble a top of him. It looked as if the debris had crushed the teacher completely covering him in the rock and concrete. In mere seconds a fist of diamond burst through the dust and debris. Christian pulled himself through the mess his diamond form shining in the flickering flames that had engulfed the room.

The thought flicked in his mind "My things, on fire." Without thinking he began grabbing anything he could. Costumes, jewelry, his laptop, his clothes. His mind began going a million miles per hour. He just absent mindedly began grabbing at things. Millions of dollars of material possessions burned around him. At the sight of his closet he dropped everything he had been holding. Everything in the huge closet was burning in front of him. Holding a burning Versace suit in his hand as it disappeared in ash and flames he crushed it in his fist "someone is going to pay dearly for this." His thoughts of revenge were interrupted by the flickering thoughts of others around him. He closed his eyes and let his telepathic feelers search for the closest mind in trouble and since his room was right next to Ororo's it was hers that he latched onto strongest. Dropping the inflamed rags that had once been an impeccable suit he rushed out of the room. The two liked each other well enough both having a distinct disdain for his sister Emma. He secretly admired the womans regality and inner strength but as he reached into her mind he could only sense panic. As he delved past the static that her mind naturally created because of her weather abilities and kept most telepath's out he could read the sheer panic that was brimming to take over.

Christian burst through the door, a diamond foot breaking through the closed wooden door. He made his way to the remains of what had been her bed. It was completely crushed by the roof that had fallen in on itself. He dropped to his knees and began digging, sensing the woman was buried underneath. A few moments later he pulled the woman out and could see the sense of panic written on her face that he had read on her mind. Picking her up in his arms he bum rushed through the wall of her room using his diamond hardened shoulder and holding her close to protect her from the impact. As he ran through the walls heading for the exterior of the school he took down several walls around him. He made his way to the front steps of the school. When he was sure they were far away enough from the school in case there were more explosions he lightly placed the beauty down on the ground and looked around. As his own panic subsided he remembered "The Children!" he shouted excitedly and made his way back towards the school.

[Cannonball]

In his recent days, Sam had been doing a lot of working out and not a whole bunch of sleeping. But really, it could only be expected that he would get his abs all firm and sexy for swimsuit season. Times like this were trying, of course; beauty did not come easily, even for the beautiful. Anyhow, at this hour, the young mutant would normally be fast asleep, and waking up in a few hours.

Unfortunately, though, his exercise schedule was limiting the amount of focus he had to sleep. For a good two hours, the young man had been sitting on his bed, flipping through books he had read numerous times, and had very little interest in reading again. Nevertheless, it was something to do. He was going to have to wake up in a few hours anyways.

Ender shows up at the colony with Valentine, finds the fantasy game, blah blah blah, grabs the Queen’s head, blah blah blah. This book’s dumb, Ah’m done with it. Sam really needed to update his book collection, because this was the same old story, no matter how many times he read it. In frustration, the young man rubbed his eyes and sighed dramatically.

But then...blammo! Sounded like someone took the Blackbird and smashed it into the side of the wall. Not good. The din was accompanied by violent shakes, like there was an earthquake or something, and the smell of smoke.

Oh...oh God. Smoke. In a rush, the young man sprung from his bed and put on a pair of sweatpants, for this was a children's school and he would not be caught in his boxers in front of the students. During this, Sam began to draw the energy to activate his blast field, and, by the time he was at his door, he was close enough to being invincible that he wouldn't have to go through the safe way to turn his metal doorknob.

As the bumpkin opened his door, his fears were confirmed. A fire. At the Institute. It…it could not be. This was unreal. What the heck was going on? Many of the other staff members were congregating in the hallway, and his worries continued to pile up. “Ororo, Scott! What…what the heck is going on?”

[jean]

Jean kept her telekinetic hold on herself and the unconscious Scott Summers as she maneuvered through the debris and into the main hallway of the staff's sleeping quarters. She kept her mind focused and attempted to remain calm although the emotions of fear, rage and confusion were racing through her veins. She caught sight of Sage and Sam and floated towards them with Scott's body in tow.

"I don't know!" she responded to Sam. "Scott is in bad condition. He took a bad hit, we need to get him some medical attention and we have to make sure the children and everyone else is alright and that everyone gets out." she looked to Sam and then back to Tessa. What sucked about being a telepath was that she could feel everyone's panicked states in conjunction with her own. She wanted to know what the cause of this attack was, but the mysery we could be solved later, as of now they had to make sure everyone lived through the night.

"Sam, help Christian scout out the survivors and get them out to safety. Tessa, can you watch after Scott and get him out please?" Jean's mind moved Scott's body over for the the other telepath to take.

[Christian Frost]

Christian still in his Diamond form walked back into the crumbling building. Flames licked at his glittering form as he made his way through the hall way where he spotted Jean Grey holding and injured Summers. He looked pretty banged up but Christians present form stopped him from caring to deeply for him or anyone at that particular moment. It wasn't even until he heard the voice of Grey barking orders at the others that he stopped heading towards the children's dorms.

"Sam, help Christian scout out the survivors and get them out to safety."

Christian looked over at the man Jean was speaking to. He took in all 6 feet of the blonde yokel. His muscles hid the frame of a lanky farm kid and he seemed to be filling out and growing into his looks. "Yes, you the one with the hideous haircut and the slack jawed expression. Could you stop catching flies in your mouth and help me do something, besides watch the rest of these idiots run around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off." He crossed his arms as if he had been waiting for hours when it had only been mere seconds while Sam realized he had come into the hallway.

He quickly gave up waiting for the other man and began making his way towards the children's bedrooms. He headed towards the males Dorms where he heard the light cry of a female voice. Glancing back to see if Sam had followed him he turned towards the rooms and continued to move forward.

[Sage]

Sage gritted her teeth, placing a hand on her forehead for a moment. She too, could hear everyone's thoughts. With a few exceptions, everyone was thinking pretty much the same thing: pain, and pure unadulterated panic. She looked over at Jean- the younger telepath had a look on her face that Sage was sure was similar to one of her own: the pain of hearing the thoughts of others.

Her mind was racing. Who could have done this? The security measures she, along with some of the other X-Men, had placed up would have stopped any humans from getting onto the base. She would have noticed any unfamiliar mutants coming onto the grounds with her powers... it had to be someone powerful. Powerful indeed, to get around the telepaths and the security measures... powerful... powerful. Good God, it was Apocalypse. Or one of his remaining horsemen. They were the ones who had attacked the mansion. And they might even be waiting outside the mansion, to finish them off as they exited...

Sage bit her lip, her mind still racing. Well, they certainly couldn't stay inside the mansion. It was on fire, after all. They would just have to take their chances.

She glanced around at the rest of the teachers who had gathered around. With a slight frown, she noted Pete wasn't one of them. She knew he'd be okay, though. He had to be.

"Yes, I can take him." She responded to Jean, glancing over at Scott. No life threatening injuries, he was just out cold, it seemed. She couldn't really throw him over her shoulder and carry him out, but it wouldn't have been the first time she had carried (or dragged, as the case may be) someone bigger than her out of a burning building.

[Cannonball]

Immediately, Sam was given orders, much to his pleasure. A grin escaped him, looking Jean in the eyes. "Yes ma'am!" He turned his attention to Christian, and made a gesture to head towards the children's rooms.

"Yes, you the one with the hideous haircut and the slack jawed expression. Could you stop catching flies in your mouth and help me do something, besides watch the rest of these idiots run around like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off."

His tone was snooty, and, dare he say it, bitchy. It was almost as if he didn't understand that there was a disaster going on. But the thing was, Sam did, and he had absolutely no time for Christian's catty nature, leaving all there was to do: smile causticly.

And so Sam did, and followed the man to the male dorms. A faint cry could be heard, and the bumpkin managed to catch up to his fellow X-Man in time to be only a few feet away. "Ah know you heard that. Think it came from down the hall, but Ah ain't sure why a gal would be in this wing."

The young mutant continued at a sprint, his blast field protecting him from any flames or debris. All of this that was happening was so surreal; he did not understand who would do such a thing to a school, or why. Undoubtedly, children had been killed in this blitz, and undoubtedly, someone would pay.

[Storm]

By now, Ororo was nearly curled up into a ball. She was trying to fight off the fear that had been with her for so long. She took in some deep breaths to calm herself, it slowly but surely was starting to work. Thankfully she wouldn't be trapped long for another member of staff had come to her rescue. She looked up at Christian with thankful eyes as he carried her off to safety in his diamond form. Ororo felt a little... helpless in his arms . That was a feeling that she did not like at all. As they finally made it outside, her eyes rested on the burning building that was once their school. She had a mixture of feelings coursing through her mind and body. If she was going to be any use to them, she had to calm down.

Taking in one big, calming breath, Ororo's eyes flashed white as she rose into the air. She concentrated on the parts of the building that were burning and created several rain clouds to put out the flames. They would salvage whatever it was that they could after this ordeal was over with. She didn't even have to ask who would do such a thing, the answer was already obvious. Apocalypse. That asshole would die if it was the last thing that she did.