| X-Babies in a Cave |
| Summary: | The Xavier Teens go to investigate Supergirl's past |
| Date: | June 26, 2014 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | {$runner} |
| Social/Plot: | Plot |
| Players: |
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So, this morning, the call went out. Linda and Lana are going adventuring in order to figure out some bad that's happening to Linda lately. Bobby and Jada, being fairly awesome people, are invited along to help.
Getting the group down to Virginia's an interesting exercise but between Lana's brand new skybike (flying motorcycle for the win!) and Linda's powers it happens. The group puts down in a state forest near a lake just outside of a town called Leesburg.
"So, here's the thing." Supergirl (blonde and in costume) says as she leads the way inside a cave, "A few months back I was part of a Satanic cult led by this guy named Buzz. In this cave I was supposed to complete my initiation and kill someone. I didn't. So, they killed the sacrifices themselves and then tried to kill me. I got better. Powers, too. This cult leader's been bugging me recently and we need to find out more about what happened. So, we're here to explore the cave and see what we can find."
The cave's pretty big and its pretty much what one expects from a teen party spot: old mattresses and blankets, empty beer cans and bottles, condom wrappers and cigarette butts. There's graffiti on the walls and if one watches too long it slithers and crawls as if alive. Like watching an optical illusion too long.
The centerpiece is two bodies, though. Months old, they're long since the smelly point. Dried out. The girl is dressed like a teenager. She's laying face down and was probably stabbed six times. The man is older and dressed like a priest or a pastor with a collar and everything. Six daggers are sticking out of his back.
"Come on, X-kids. Let's figure this out." Supergirl mutters.
Linda said 'adventure', and the Jada's heard 'screw school, let's go do something else'. Since she never really got a chance to get in trouble before coming to Xavier's, she was, of course… Totally in. So when she follows in the cave, she totally has her souvenir (and completely useless) magnifying glass with her (it's basically clear plastic in a frame). #1 is sticking close to #2 and #4, but the other three are a bit more bold.
They enter the cave with a mixture of trepidation, excitement and- buh. "Oh em gee! I think they're dead." Cue one of the Jadas at the back bending over and retching. This makes ALL of them start retching a moment later, and they lean over on a rock. When they straighten after the heaving, one of them leans against a rock to catch her breath. "OH MOTHERF-" #3 holds up her hand, shaking it,"Ow-ow-ow… It stiiiings…" Adventurer extraordinare. "Dubya tee eff, guys! Rocks hurt!"
Bobby Drake arrives with the girls. He doesn't use his typical mode of transportation because explaing away an ice slide from Westchester to Leesburg might be a bit daunting. He's in civvies, a pair of tan cargo shorts with a blue polo shirt, and makes his way into the cave. He blanches at the sight of the dead bodies, having never seeing one before in his life. He gingerly steps around them and proceeds deeper into the cave. "Can we… do something about the bodies? Their families should be notified or something?" He shrugs. "I mean, in some way that *doesn't* incriminate you, Linda." When he hears #3, he makes his way over. "How bad is it?" Yeah… cue the "superhero" boyfriend. He thinks for a second. "Call me ignorant, but would that make a #7?" He shrugs, seriously not knowing the extent of Jada's powers.
It's been a whole week since Lana has gotten a detention, which is a new record for her…maybe. She had been debating ways to rectify that situation and when Linda provides skipping classes as an option she is all in. Still getting the hang of the flying motorcycle its a bit of a bumpy ride and landing, but her and whomever the other rider is survives with nothing more than some possible motion sickness. Eying the cave, she's a city girl, she gives a bit of a scowl "This seems like the beginning of a Scooby Doo episode." as she enters the cave the bodies are noted "Or maybe not." having pretty much lived on the streets of Gotham and New York dead bodies are nothing new to her, usually they weren't this old "We can call the cops when we are miles from here." she suggests. The less she has to do with cops the better, especically since she is breaking her probation just by leaving the state to come here.
Supergirl says, "The Justice League knows about this. I've got permission to look into it before they turn it over to the local cops." She looks up past the cave entrance, out into the woods, and curses. "Son of a bitch!"
There's a tall guy out there. Sandy blonde hair. Wearing a very nice black suit. His face is long with a pointed chin and long teeth, like a rat's. He isn't handsome but something about the man is very compelling. He waves at Linda and then points to the bleeding JD clone.
Apparently, what was needed to complete the ritual, months after it happened, was the blood of a virgin. Because as JD's sanguine life essence soaks into the rock two things happen.
First, a barrier of what looks like blood jelly soaks over the entrance of the cave, blocking it. Second, at the back of the cave some sort of portal opens and beyond lays hell itself. A blazing plasma soaked fire that throws out heat instantly raising the ambient temperature of the cave to a hundred degrees F.
"CRAP!" Linda shrieks as she turns and punches the barrier. It proves solid and merely wobbles. But the cavern shakes with the force of the blow and rubble falls from the ceiling. More such blows much bring the whole place down.
#3 puts her finger in her mouth and shakes her head at Bobby while #5 clarifies,"No. I'm not QUITE sure how the whole thing works, but I'm pretty sure that THIS isn't, like, enough raw material? As for Scooby Doo, #2 offers Linda her magnifying glass helpfully. #6 gets a little shrill,"Am I the only one who's thinking: Holy crap, dead body!?" Oh. Hey. A dude.
"Oh em gee, that dude totally just came out of nowhere- DUBYA TEE EFF." Things go all 'Doom 3' very quickly. And suddenly, all six Jada's are joining Linda in trying to pound on the barrier. With no super-strength, it's doubtful it's very helpful… But it's almost panicy,"Nononono…" Cleithrophobia. "Nononononononono…"
Bobby Drake nods as Jada seems to be alright. He turns his attention to Linda and the man outside, and then there's a barrier… and an open Hellmouth.. and rocks falling. "Linda, Jada, stop punching it! You'll bring the whole thing down around us and not all of us are indestructible." He says, feeling the heat from the opening he instantly covers himself in ice. The ice clings to his form and he looks nude underneath except for a modest pair of shorts that the animators threw on to appease the censors. "We can't force our way out of it. We need to think this through and fast. How do we close that opening?"
Lana is to busy checking out the dead bodies to notice the freaky dude outside. She is the type that if she had a stick she would probably be poking them with it. "What the fuck?" she exclaims at the sudden exclamation from Linda. That's when she notices the barrier and the portal to Hell "Okay, when did this turn into a Diablo game?" she winces as peices of the roof fall, a small peice bouncing off her head. Hurrying over to where her BFF is trying to take out the gelatanous barrier, she attempts to grab Linda and pull her away before there is a cave in…or it eats her "Chill the fuck down…" not that is easy when the temp skyrockets.
The temperature continues to rise. By the time Lana has her hands on Linda's arm the temperature is already spiking past one hundred and fifty. Supergirl doesn't throw another punch. "Right. Right. We need to get out of here." She looks around. "And close that." The heat isn't bothering her but she knows her friends will soon pass out or worse.
Here's the thing about Linda. As a Kryptonian her brain works very quickly. As super as the rest of her, one might say, so she works through a number of plans quickly before settling on one.
"Bobby. Lower the temperatue!" She steps away from the barrier. "Lana, you're our way through there. Blow through it." Then she grabs the nearest Jada. "You. Around me in a circle. Watch the ceiling. Call out every fallen rock you see by number. Got it? I'll make sure they don't hit anyway." Linda moves to the center of the cave, pulling the Jada with her. "Go! Go! Go!"
"Nonononono…" She's not exactly really listening at first when she's told to stop pounding on the barrier. Hell, one or two of them are developing bruises right now on their fists. "What is there to be chill about! We're locked the hell in!" Wait… Guidance,"I… That… that'll get us out of here?" So hopeful. That perks her up. Getting moved into a circle around Lana, well… that feels safe!
It helps that the task is relatively easy to understand. It takes her a second or two to work through the panic, but… if this'll get her out of here… The girls queue up in a circle, and begins calling out,"One! Four! Two!" And then a moment later, #3 and #4 chime in at the same time. Sometimes simple tasks are the best when you're panicing, and it keeps her occupied.
Bobby Drake nods to Linda as she barks out orders. He closes his eyes and concentrates, like he's been doing at school. He holds his arms up and out to the sides as he breathes in deep and concentrates more. He imagines the temprature dropping, and in doing so, the temperature actually begins to drop, to the point that condensation begins to form on the rocky surface inside the cave.
"Out of here before we are baked like yesterday's pizza." Lana agrees with Linda as sweat begins to bead up on her forehead at the ever increasing temp. As Linda shouts orders to herself and the others, the barrier is studied as is the ceiling "Bobby, do you think you can reinforce the ceiling with a sheet of ice or even beams of ice?" who knew that she actually has a brain and can use it for more than thinking up ways to cause trouble. As the temp begins to drop thanks to Bobby she waves the hem of her shirt, letting the cool air up into it as she walks up and down the barrier and tries to determine where she can blow it to cause the least amount of damage.
Supergirl focuses, trusting her BFF to do the rest. Meanwhile, Linda's responsible for three-hundred and sixty degrees of falling rubble and rock. Whenever a JD calls out a number, Supergirl turns towards it and her burn red. Heat vision lashes out and somehow turns the falling and potential destructive force to dust.
Meanwhile, Bobby's efforts are working. Close to the portal to hell, the temperature's holding steady at around 120. Near the entrance, however, he's managed to drop it to a cool 50 degrees.
Meanwhile, the JD's are happily sticking to their assigned tasks of rock-spotting,"3! Also, that looks like gypsum- Focus." She's pretty sure she's played an arcade game where the object was to spin your ship in place and shoot asteroids. Same principle, right? "Oh em gee, this is like the time my parents bought oregano off those college kids and thought they were getting high. All smoke and heat, no fun!" Pause,"Four! Six!"
"Lin, I want you to know, I do not hold this cave-thing against you…" Another of the clones finish for her,"… but no more caves, okay?" And yet another,"Bobby, noone's cooler than you!" Because, you know… Iceman. And Lana even gets cheerleading,"Come on Lana! You've broken curfews harder than this!"
Bobby Drake swallows and nods to Lana. As he continues to concentrate on the room temperature, he aims his arms at the floor, and using the same power as he would do to make his ice slide, builiding supports around the cave wherever he can.
With the supports in the works and Linda and Jada dealing with the fallout, its up to Lana to bust them out of the cave….hopefully before big nasties decide to burst through the portal. "On three people." she warns as she shakes her hands out and takes a deep breath. Even if the barrier is just the consistency of jell-o she knows it is tough since Linda couldn't beat through it, "One, two…" her hands begin to glow as she places them against the barrier a few feet from the right of center and about waist level to her "three!" she goes full charge on this one, so the concussive blast would be enough to knock even smaller cars over..possibly and it is quite deafening as well..not to mention the light show.
The barrier blasts open. Poor Linda, with her super senses, will be hearing nothing but high pitched keening for several minutes. But with the barrier gone she can act. Using superspeed she begins whisking people out of the cave. First the Jada sextuplets, two at a time. Then Bobby. Lana, on the other hand, can probably make it out on her own just before the cavern collapses into a pile of stone and dirt. Burying both the hellmouth and the murder victims.
Oh, hey, look. Fresh air! Cue most of the Jada's hugging each other, but for a pair which hug Bobby because… well… BOY! The girls even are whooping and jumping and cheering. "Oh em gee! Lana! I am making you ALL the brownies! Oh, wow! We have to find more things for you to blow up!" Lots more jumping and bouncing around and tears going on. "If that's what nature is like, then screw nature! I'm becoming an industrialist!"
Bobby Drake tries to regain his strength, having exerted himself far further than he'd ever had. He's dropped the ice armor, and is panting, physically exhausted. He hugs Jada, glad that she, and everyone else, is ok, but he's slumping.
At the explosion the barrier jiggles violently and explodes outward in all directions, soaking Lana at least it blood colored jell-o like stuff. The blast knocks her own her ass, but she is closest to the exit so manages to get out before the majority of the cave ceiling falls in, its a close one, she isn't fast like Linda. "Fucking gross." she yells, since she can't hear herself and flicks her hands, sending more to the barrier goo flying.
Supergirl rubs at her ears but doesn't stop. She lifts up into the air and spins slowly, using telescopic and x-ray vision to survey the area. Finding nothing to her liking, she sinks back down to the ground.
"HE'S GONE!" Linda shouts a bit too loudly due to her ears ringing. "WE NEED TO GET BACK TO SCHOOL! THEN I'M GOING TO TELL POWER WOMAN ABOUT THIS!"
Because Karen will freak if she doesn't. And so, everyone will get tucked away in the box they came here in and they'll get flown back to Xavier's and dropped off before Linda goes off searching for the Woman of Steel.