PRELUDE TO ASCENSION - 6/? By Various X-Men Mansion - West Wing - Doug Ramsey's Room Up in Doug's room, Warlock wasted no time in plugging himself into the wall outlet. As he absorbed energy, he snaked out another tendril towards the rooms mainframe jack. Doug: *Time to do a little investigating, Warlock* Warlock: --Query? Does friendDoug have reasons for concern.-- Doug: *Oh, yeah.* *Things have changed. There's only a couple of the old crew here. These new X-Men frighten me* Warlock: --Self detects no overt hostility towards Douglockbeing.-- Doug: *Yeah, but they're creepy. That Bishop guy worries me.* Warlock: --Accessing net now. First Query. Location of team members selfdesignation "New Mutants"-- The data came quickly. +Rahne Sinclair (Wolvesbane) Licensed government operative, Washington, DC. +Sam Guthrie (Cannonball) Formal: fugituve. Whereabouts unknown. Last known location Taos, New Mexico. Private: Team Leader of covert mutant strike force, X-Force. +Illyana Rasputin (Majik) Reverted to preteen youth. Powerless, X-Mansion. +Roberto DaCosta (Sunspot) Formal: fugitive. See Guthrie, Sam. Private: Operative of X-Force. +Amara Aquila (Magma) Wherabouts unknown. +Danielle Moonstar (Mirage) Wherabouts unknown. She was thought to have returned to Asgardian dieminsion as a Valkyrie. +Douglas Ramsey (Cypher) Deceased. +Boom Boom (real name unknown) Formal: Fugitive. Private, Member of X-Force. +Warlock - Deceased. +Russel Collins - Aressted for Mutant terrorist acts. +Sally Blevins (Skids) Arrested for Mutant terrorist acts. +X'ian Coy Minh (Karma) Whereabouts unknown, searching for her family. +Headmaster Magnus (Magneto) Presumed Dead. New evidence shows otherwise. Doug: *Let's find out more about that last one* CLASSIFIED Doug: *C'mon. We can break that* Warlock: --Negative. Documents are protected by hardware break in main Cerebro room-- Doug: *SO Xavier is hiding something* Warlock: --Affirmative-- Doug: *I think its time we paid a visit to Cerebro.* Warlock: --Visit unnecessary. Self is compensating-- A tendril snakes out and through the heating duct. Doug becomes nauseated, disoriented. The tendril reached Cerebro and thinned itself out to breach the two separated wires. The key, Doug realized, was focus. Just ignore sensory data unless it exceeded a certain threshold that Warlock's subsystems determined. At the moment, he was focussing on the computer screen, through a pair of square eyes that Warlock had manifested. Data on internet connections and messages scrolled past. There was suprisingly little. Douglas finds that Charles has accessed some internet files posted secretly by Magneto. He also posseses a letter by Gabrielle Haller which says in part; "The governments of Germany, Israel, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the USA are trying to track down and arrest Magnus before he can do any harm. They have a specially trained operative to apprehend him, but I am convinced that he is in fact an assassin... If we can reason with him Charles, we must, it is his only hope, they will not let him go in peace." At the bottom, typed on, was an addendum. "It is my belief that Magnus is not, in fact dead. As best I can determine, I believe that he was the one that rescued me in Antarctica. Whether he remains there, is uncertain. I believe that he would seek to improve his defenses, thus it is likely that he seeks to reinstate Graymalkin. I also believe that he will make his annual pilgrimage to Isreal and contact Dr. Gabrille Heller. This would be the time to intercept him. Use of force, possibly deadly, cannot be ruled out." Warlock: --Selfteacher Magneto is functional!-- Doug: *Yea. Maybe he can make some sense of what's going on. I certainly don't trust the professor. Before he was.. mysterious. Now, he's just creepy.* Warlock: --Affirmative. Logical choice of action: find teacherfriend-- An Apparition appears, hazy. It attempts to scan Doug/Warlock's minds but Warlock's psi shields hold. Doug finds that he can translate/read the incoming telepathic thoughts like a radio reciever, but the apparition can not hear him because it can not his mind. Gamesmaster: "I am the Gamesmaster. Your presence in this continuum is disrupting the established order. If you wish to remain alive, you will cease your interference in the greater game. Your master is being dealt with. Interfere with any of the 12 and I and my fellow councilman will not be merciful." X-Men Mansion - Basement Elevator (Wolverine, Jubilee, Rogue, Gambit) Rogue: (To Wolverine) "What exactly did you have in mind, darlin'...How about me and Jubes 'gainst you and Remy here, or do you think we're too much of a match for y'all?" She smiles and laughs a little at getting Wolvie's goat, and knowing that a danger room session is needed to release a little steam. "C'mon...guys against girls," She says further, resting her arm on Gambit's "Should be interesting to see these two eat a little humble pie, eh Jubes?" Jubilee: "Don't you mean drink? All I ever see these two snarf is beer!" Gambit: "Nah, it's moi and Jubilee 'gainst you two, eh? Logan's call, Logan's game." X-Men Mansion - Danger Room On the way to the Danger Room and Gambit stops in the warm up room long enough to pick a rope with weights. Colossus appears in the danger room and armors up at Gambit's side without a word, his mind seemingly elsewhere. This makes the sides uneven so the Danger room similates Longshot and places the hologram on Logan's team. Gambit: "Dis oughtta be fun!" He shifts impatiently, waiting for the exercise to start. An automatic sequence begins and the computer generates a setting of smog and gaslight. Victorian buildings seperate the teams and announces that they are on the banks of the Thames within Victorian England. The goal of the game is tag. Physically touching an opponent removes them from the game. Weapons and clothing do not count. Rogue: "Kid gloves off ah guess..." She removes her gloves. Out of the London mist the danger room forms a park jutting up to the Thames, a bridge from the park leads across the river to the city proper. Wolverine and company are on one side while Gambit and company are in the park. Gambit: Whispers orders to his teammates, suggesting that Jubilee attempt to get Rogue by blinding her and then moving in for the tag. Jubilee: "Natch'. I got her." Gambit: Cautions Colossus to hang back from Rogue as he has no distance attack. Gambit then moves to the bridge while energizing the weights on the end of his rope. Colossus: He is not in the best of moods. He plans on going all out to get out the emotions he is feeling. Colossus moves and uproots a nearby tree, and throws it at Longshot and Wolverine, but Colossus picks up another tree and readies it as a bat. Rogue: She calls down, the teasing in her tone, "Yah all better give up now, Ahm not aimin' to be nice!" Then she belly flops the rive in a power dive sending a typhoon size wavefront at the others. Gambit dodges and Colossus is unaffected by the deluge and holds his ground but Jubilee is dowsed. Rogue pauses long enough to catch her laughter before zooming over for the tag on Jubilee. Wolverine: Wolverine is already moving by the time the tree reaches him, and he uses the cover of the wavefront to vanish from view. Longshot: "What an odd thing to come flying through the air. I don't recall trees being able to fly, or even the desire to do so. But I suppose it's important to the tree to get where its going, so I'd best get out of the way." and dodges the tree with ridculous ease and grace at the last possible second in much the same way we would dodge an errant dandelion seed. "Oh, Gambit's on the bridge. Aren't I suppose to get him? Wolvie? Oh well. Gambit! Catch" and hurls a handful of razor sharp blades in Gambit's direction, while his eye glows errantly. Gambit:Gambit dodges the blades, barely. (They slice up the tail of his coat.) He then leaps with and whirls the rope ends over his head. He then lets it fly at Rogue, with the energized weights circling toward her. He then leaps off the bridge with great haste, stumbling slightly on the wet wood and heads towards his team. Wolverine: Using Rogue's splash to cover his movements, Wolverine dives under the bridge and starts crossing via the underside supports. (To himself) "I don't care if Petey is going through a rough time right now, I don't appreciate him chuckin' trees at me. Not that it woulda hurt a guy with an adamantium skeleton but there's room for only one psychopath on this team." He crosses the bridge. (To Himself) "Hope Rogue and Longshot are keepin' 'em occupied. Wish the Danger Room would have given us the elf instead of pretty boy. This woulda been over real quick. But then again, I wouldn't had the chance to do this." -SNIKT!- Wolverine claws his way through the planks of the bridge hoping to take Gambit's feet out from under him and tag him. (Out Loud) "Hey Gambit, let's get this over with! I'm gettin' thirsty!" -but Gambit is gone. Rogue: Swoops down to tag Jubilation but notices she's chokining on the water. She lands next to her, "Jube? Yah OK?" She reaches over to in an effort to administer first aid. Jubilee: Spins and tags Rogue. "Tag! You dinosaurs are gettin' soft!" Rogue: Slumps on her keister. "Funny. Yall be singin' a differ'nt tune if yahd drowned. Yer lucky s'only tag girl, I coulda nocked yah into tommorrow." Longshot: Runs across the bridge to join the fray. Colossus: Takes his tree-bat and smashes it on the bridge destroying it, just as Gambit clears it, making life difficult for Longshot. Colossus grins as he thinks, "Perhaps maybe Wolverine was under the bridge?" Colossus picks up Jubilee and runs south to the cover over a small gifts shops awning (H7). Jubilee: "Easy Petey, not so rough!" Longshot: (Falling to the water) "Darn. There was a bridge here a minute ago." A suspension cable lashes out and Longshot catches it and swings to the other side. ---------------------------- (The text of these and all the RPG Story Posts are combined from the actual moves of the players with minor editing plus my added filler. Most dialog belongs to the players.) The Players Warlock: Jennifer.L.Lehoczky@williams.edu (Toby Elliott) Magneto: rivk@midway.uchicago.edu (Naomi Gayle Rivkis) Colossus: dn961@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Matthew S. Mccarthy) Rogue: jav41196@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Jennifer Vodvarka) Gambit: V534YYNN@ubvms.cc.buffalo.edu (Matt Dempster) Majik: glaw@Jade.Tufts.EDU (Gabe) Apocalypse: david@coral.cs.jcu.edu.au (David Conlan) Wolverine: musgse@meaddata.com (Steve Musgrave) Cannonball: tnieboer@nyx.cs.du.edu (Toby Nieboer) Cyclops: CHL701S@vma.smsu.edu (Christopher Lenger) Touchstone: uplink@cwis.unomaha.edu (uplink)