Abyss had over the years grown apart from his brethren, from the spurned and lovesick Venus, the soft and cuddly Pluto, the scheming mars and Saturn, The insane Mercury, and the ever bloodthirsty and dependable Jupiter. Yet it grabbed all of their attention when that old spot was scratched. Russia was kidnapping mutants from Antarctica. They had been nearly enslaving mutants for about a year now, or so they had heard, And so the seven of them were back together even if just temporarily. They were already arguing about how to do things. But it didn’t matter; it still had a tinge of the good ole days.

There were eight of them total, the seven of them and one of his favorite order members, she had distinguished her self over the years, and my my how she had grown, Power wise that is. She could go toe to toe with him lately it was great fun to be able to say that of an ally that wasn’t red and looked just like him. They had flown into Finland and had a recently purchased, fast armored car waiting on them. They wouldn’t stop till they hit Moscow or were physically forced to stop.

Abyss glanced over to pinkie and grinned “you want to drive or do you want me to?” The car was black with a red stripe down the middle of it, hardly inconspicuous and looked both fast and nearly invincible. The Russian border wasn’t far off and after that it was a pretty strait shot to Moscow. Russia’s former capital and the sight of some of the most horrific mutant attacks on the world….or that is what the history books would say after tonight.

Aura over the years had grown to almost live on the battlefield, her newest powers enabled her to forgo sleep and eating for long periods. She had enjoyed the Australian front like some girls might have enjoyed their weddings. The way she saw it Moscow had started something they would never Finnish, once word of Mutant kidnappings from Antarctica reached her ears, she had almost not needed the order to head for Moscow. Their orders were quite simple, the way Aura enjoyed them without much restraint.

She looked at her large red friend, she enjoyed fighting with Abyss over the years her admiration for the lug had made her want to develop her power as much as she could. Abyss was raw strength, he had seemed almost a god when she first found Sanctuary, an immortal with a level of power completely out of her class. Aura looked at their van and smiled, the order provided some nice vans, and she privately wondered which auto dealer was making a fortune selling these, they went through alot of them, certainly true that time Aura ran explosive filled vans into a city and well.....but it was best not to get excited, not to much. Instead aura pulled a joint from behind her ear, and lit with a lighter taking a long deep drag from the herbal wonder.

"You can drive, they revoked my permit again after i ran into that daycare" She said thinking back, to the incident and licked her lips, she had felt a bit bad at first but mostly because a few had died before she could start absorbing their aura's. Still it was mostly a joke Aura had never really applied for any driving privlage not that it mattered much. Aura got in the van, it was large enough for a good sized strike force. Taking another drag, aura closed the door, the dance would begin soon and fountains of crimson would rain upon them all.

“Permit?” Abyss should have known better, it was exactly her sense of humor but he fell for it any how. He shook his head and smiled at her indulgence. He opened the void far away from them and then a another closer. Five clones came out the closer void and Mercury jumped out of the other, the beast knew that there would be blood and soon. He was more than anxious. Abyss snapped mercury up back into the void, a disgruntled howl being all that escaped before he disappeared again. He couldn’t risk only opening the one void near them; it was almost certain Mercury would try to kill them if they got with in range. They loaded into the van and abyss took the wheel, threw the radio on. And after every one was mostly in the van he took off. They were hitting higher speeds as the came to the chain link fence that stood between them and rush and drive strait through. They would hit a road that wasn’t dirt soon enough and then the real fun would start. The ride was bumpy but fun.

Saturn looked to Aura and put on a hopeful smile, where his typically permanent frown and pouty lip would be. “puff puff pass?” he asked.

Jupiter sat in the van staring across from him at Pluto with disgusted look while sipping out of a flask. Pluto sat staring wistfully out a window. Mars had moved to a shotgun position. Venus lay down in the very back with an arm thrown across his face. He was humming some romantic sounding tune.

Abyss was putting a lot of speed into it on the dirt road, when he got onto pavement and pushed the petal all they way down. They wouldn’t be stopping for anything short of traitorous mutant that would pay the price of death for such idocy.

Aura looked around, seeing abyss and several of his clones nearby made her thing she looking at Abyss through a shattered mirror, each was very different, made obvious once again by the array of personalities in the van. SHe laughed at Saturn and passed the joint. She liked Saturn she wondered just what his limit was on the stuff, it was good rich bud, but the vice Aura wanted was still just past her reach and would be for some hours, she shivered a bit just thinking of the sensation taking another's aura was like heaven she loved it and in truth she had back in Australia began taking kids just to take then energy, she had even taken to much a few nights and become sick from it, but she had done her best to hide evidence of that.

The van was well reinforced and Aura was pretty sure unless a mutant sided with these humans, nothing short of a tank was going through the van and even then, would the contents of the can really be better for them, pulling her hands through her hair, she quickly began working it into a braid hardening pieces of her aura to hold the hair ties until they were needed. She really had to return stateside and meet Kasumi again one of these days.

"How long until they can pick up their jaws and try to use their army?" she said with a laugh. The army, Police it did not matter, with the eight of them, their was nothing that would stand up for long, she had to admit Mercury worried her a bit more then the others. STill after all these years she had a hard time telling them apart without considering their poses and general demeanor. "I wish i spoke russian, always nice to be able to understand a man's dieing screams" she said thinking to herself, her green eyes closed a bit as she imagined the chaos.

Jupiter looked over to the Aura breaking his glare at Pluto, “well that depends on if they know what this van racing toward their capital means. If they do, they might manage to mass enough people to give us something to do. If they don’t then it will be laughable to crush whatever they randomly have on hand. I have taken a liking to quick work my self. Throwing buildings helps the death toll climb faster. Two birds with one stone an all that.” Jupiter raised an eyebrow at Aura. “You let them live long enough to scream. Tsk tsk.” He chastised her half jokingly.

Saturn glanced around at the other clones noting that the others disapproved, But weren’t stuck up enough to bother forcing their beliefs on others. He passed the J-stick back to Aura. It was good stuff and he wondered if quality was getting better down in aussieland.

They had all ready flown through one town and a police car had followed them for all of one block before giving up on the hopeless chase. Moments later they dodged a hastily put up road block. The next road block would get a surprise. Just as he predicted a road block was set and waiting for them about eight miles away. Mars linked out of the passenger seat and in front of the two cars blocking the narrow road. He clapped them together and then hoped back into the void. Road block and cops gone in nearly an instant. It was as Jupiter had said. Laughable.

"Either way, they will fall as the dance commences, and their screams echo in my mind in a long rhapsody of pleasure, besides..." She said as she took the J-stick and took another deep hit, letting her mind focus a bit better breathing the skunky smoke through her nose. "The dieing produce the most euphoric sensation when i absorb their Aura's" she said with a smile, not quite getting the joke. "I Like the slash and burn method myself works in any jungle" She said honestly, her version of it however, was to slice through buildings and letting them calapse as she moved on.

Aura passed the j-stick back up Saturn as she saw the first cop car start to follow them, then abandon the chase only a few moments later, she was dissopointed. "I use some Prisoners of war the job of growing it, if it is not good quality or if they touch it....i make furniture" Aura replied and tilted her head, she really did need a new lamp, the last one had a bullet hole through the jaw, a fact that Aura only recalled when she had no need to fix it.

She Hopped out of the Van with Mars in time to watch him slam the two cars together with enough force to make body and car one substance. Their Actual opposition was gone, but aura gave a quick wave over her shoulder as she advanced upon a liqueur store set nearby, Aura did not really drink, but she was board from the long ride. Closing her eyes a second, she opened them flexing her well toned body, which the silk Chinese dress hugged her well toned body. Her hand's stayed at her side as she was still almost twenty feet a way, still as her aura surrounded her it quickly filled in the gap. She took a few steps, Forward and raised her hand over her head, as she did a single ten foot long, three foot wide blade, cut a gash into the store front stretching almost ten feet into the small building, an alarm immediately went off, amid the sound, of smashing class, as the aura cut through racks and bottles with no visible effort, the clerk who had been hiding behind the register finnaly decided to run, Aura however pointed her other hand at him, he got only got a few feet, as aura, made a whip from her aura, which rapped around the mans neck, and turned solid, she then dragged him to her without much effort, as her first bladed flowed into her general aura, as the whip grew tighter around the man's neck, as hss eyes rolled back, her Aura disopeered entirely and she put a hand to the man;s forehead. She moaned slightly as the mans body trembled, his face began to sink in and his skin began to crack as it dried as sher body robbed his Aura of it's energy and his body's reserves of water and fat. Stepping a way from the withered body a few moments later, she smiled as she Opened the passenger side door again. "Thanks for the pit stop, i needed a snack" She commented, looking within the van, she realized Mars had gone, likely back to the void.

Abyss laughed at Aura’s snack stop. “ I will never get used to seeing the empty bag humans you leave.” He quipped “ and my pleasure, I am surprised that Jupiter didn’t make it out in time to grab some drink.”

“I got my own thanks.” Jupiter replied as the van shot forward once more.

They started barreling through and made it out of through another couple of small towns. Apparently they were staying out of the way after they heard what happened in the other town. It would more than likely be a clean ride until some sort of Russian military managed to intercept them.

Saturn toked up again and snorted one of those incredibly high laughs. Passing the nearly drained joint back to Aura for its last rights.

Pluto had by this point gone into meditation…the things you learn in the Antarctic these days.

A mere hour later with no more interruptions brought them within the Moscow skyline. It was pretty, but it would be the last time anyone had the chance to think it.

“You guys ready to get this started?”

"A Human a day keeps the morgues in pay" she said changing an old saying she had heard slightly. "One day AByss you will not have to see those vile sacks of fuel, because they will all be as flat as Moscow will soon be" She said, her voice turning to barely hidden anger

Aura took the joint and took one last drag off it, before putting it out by solidifying her aura and pressing it against that. She smiled as Moscow came into view, and as they entered the city limits. Here the Humans had put up a shabby defense in Aura's opinion, Several tan jeeps as well as a dozen uniformed men stood behind a laughable concrete wall. They held their fire, until they saw the door Open and girl surrounded in a pink aura emerged.

Chaos finely grasped the heavens, as gin fire broke out, but Aura had not waited, instead she rushed the line, forming a a three foot long blade with her hand, stretching the blade out further she formed a hammer head at the end of it and swung the hammer Hard, she broke through the concrete wall and grains that remained shot like bullets against one of the jeeps, the hammer itself continued on knocking into the jeep, which began to wrap around it before it flew into the third story of the office builing to her side, making glass rain down on the streets, even as she finished the swing, the hammer began to melt back into her Aura, as she kept moving forward. "You know, where a city truly ends is still up to interpretation" she said with a smile as she kept moving forward.

Abyss released mercury in the distance on top of one of the larger buildings in the city. Mercury was asking for destruction and it was for the best that he got started further from them. A howl and a crash could be heard thundering in the distance. The other clones spread out and started heading toward different parts of the city. Today was the day that Moscow falls; Abyss would be surprised if it took them more than a couple of hours. Particularly if these pathetic rifle carrying humans were the best they had to offer.

Abyss Trotted up to the brick wall an set a hand on the top and then clearing it with ease. His next move was to grab one of the jeeps and send it sailing toward the middle of the city. He then Ran again toward a second row of cars. They were more than likely from off duty soldier showing as fast as they could. He chunked one after another toward the middle of the city and that was when he saw the tanks. Coming their way. Tanks were fun but no match for what they brought with them today.

Jupiter was plucked from what ever he was doing an placed ontop of the second tank in line, he glanced around for a moment disoriented and then began his attack again. First he Bent the tanks barrel that he was on and then hoped toward the first tank just like Abyss knew he would, he grabbed the turret of the first tank and began to play wack a mole with the others.

Aura let her aura flow out to her maximum range as she ran, bullets bounced off her shield flying in random direction, Aura leapt at a police car which had just screeched to a halt, as it saw the first wave of destruction, he only looked forward As Aura' Blade came down through his car, cutting the man into half, the blade Continued on, even slicing into the ground a bit. Aura Leapt from the Car throwing her hand to her side, as she did, a pink hammer, struck the corner of a six story hotel, again small pulverized chucks of brick and morter, raced off like bullets against people and building alike. Aura moved passed the unstable, building, smashing the glass door of the next building and moved just inside the building anf moved her aura up, against the structure of the building, within moments, loud creaking noises could be heard, and within a minute the building tipped over, smashing into the building Next to it and killing anyone standing next to it.Stepping back out from the building she smiled as her aura again formed the hammer, bringing it down on the sidewalk before her, the pavement began to crack and crumble in the area, as it fell into the sewer tunnels below. As aura moved on she observed just how far the pavement had cracked, and a car skidded to a halt just before the new ditch, at the same time she heard a news helicopter approach. Aura moved next to the car, and slipping her aura under the car, and threw the car into the Helicopter the combined wreckage landing before a nearby home, and spreading fire.

Insanity was in the air and it was eight against a city and the city was going to lose. Abyss was still launching cars, Jupiter was toppling tanks and crushing them like a frat boy smashes beer can’s in the distance a wild and nightmarish shape leapt from one skyscraper to the next toppling them over and digging himself out from the wreckage. Just to start over again, every so often a human or mutant would freeze with in his reach instead of running and he would tear into the being in frenzy. Life was meant for draining and the meat for eating. Everyone other than Mercury was meat.” Venus walked through the streets of Moscow with two large metal chains they both ended in massive anchors and tore through buildings like a knife and hot butter. Mars and Saturn were taking turns launching each other towards the building tops just to slam into them at full force leaving only rubble. Mere minutes had gone by and already the north end of Moscow would never be the same. The sirens and screams of terror echoed through the other wise silent streets.



Pluto had hoped he could manage to save some lives but it was looking impossible…the only one separated and the one doing the most chaotic damage was his mental depraved Mercury…Mercury was separated from the others so would be the first target to go after. But he wasn’t mentally stable and he felt bad about what he had to do, however hesitation only meant letting him take more lives for his own twisted pleasure.

Pluto lifted a small round stone and began to run in the direction of his biggest baddest brother. He wouldn’t kill him if possible but he would gladly incapacitate him. He saw mercury standing in the street preparing another leap. Pluto launched the stone and skipped with a loud crack off of Merc’s head. At first the monster tipped over and laid there. Pluto was congratulation himself on a well placed throw up until the moment that mercury had launched himself at Pluto. The onslaught was on its way and there was no stopping it now. Mercury slmmed into Pluto just as Pluto threw a punch. Thunder cracked and the ground shook. Titans would fight this day. Mercury Grabbed Pluto’s shirt front and whipped him around like a discus throw in the Olympics. When he released with all of his might however, Pluto snagged mercury with his tail and both of them launched almost comedic into a buildings wall and then out the other side.

Aura had lost track of the others, but she could hear very loud impacts coming from all over and assumed that could only be the Abyss squad. Aura used her Aura whip to wrap around the neck of a human police officer. he Was brave he kept shooting even after his feet left the ground, recalling her method to take out the helicopter she flung the human high into the air and moved on. She was in the Business section of the City and she liked that, it meant she would be causing economic hardships. Spotting a gas station she rushed at it, her hammer turning intoa sword as she swung, cutting through the gas pumps, which brought the roof of the gas pumps down on them, the electric lighting sparked and that was enough to cause a fire which quickly began to consume the oil left in the station's reserves.

Aura ran to the enxt building this one was made out of brick, but it mattered little, she struck the building with the blade cutting through the side of the building, but it did not fall, instead Aura hardened her aura on either side of the wall she was facing, She moved the Aura more toward her body, and the wall quickly began to calapse, Aura looked up at the screaming people, then ran blasting through the far wall of the building, which began to calapse entirely. Aura could feel bits of the building striking her aura's but they barely registered in her mind, even as she pulled a survibing human from the rubble, with a whip from her other hand and used him to strike the building across the street, the frail human body struck the concrete wall, and went through it, through his blood rained down on the street, even as she heard an explotion behind her which she assumed was the gas station. At thsi rate, the City would be rubble in no time at all, still Aura had to admit to herself, she had been hoping for more of a challenge.

Russia was running out of options too much was getting destroyed too fast. It was about that time that they decided to get a bit rougher with the opposition, they new the day was coming and soon, but two day after the blasted Chinese framed them again! Phalanxes of foot soldiers moved in on a kamikaze mission equipped with rocket launchers and flame throwers. There were two full battalions of each. If the capital was going to be destroyed it was going to be on Russian terms. All hell broke loose when the order to open fire was given. Rockets blasted and fire pressed forth in bursts. Was there any more hope for them than ten minutes before? Not likely.

Abyss in all of his perceptive glory began launching projectiles at the soldiers from a distance. The flam thrower units just aided the chaos. Once the first flame thrower imploded and then exploded the rest of the troop dominoed in a cascading explosion.

Pluto and Mercury moved further into the city taking their brawl through buildings and causing just as much destruction as they would have if they were trying. The local journalism did their best to document what even the optimists were seeing as the end.

Aura laughed as she heard marching feet closing on her location, their was no hesitation, Aura charged even before she saw the opposition, as she turned the corner, bullets and rockets clogged the air, the bullets slid off her barrier ricocheting in random directions, the half dozen rockets that struck her barrier slowed her down, but not by as much as the troops had hoped, Aura emerged into their ranks from the Smoke, cutting the first Solider down almost as an after thought the secound her ship wrapped around turning sharp as it wrapped around him, cutting the man into a half dozen pieces. She formed Two whips from her hands, and began moving through the formation, her whips cutting into all they touched, each cut from the extremely sharp cables cut through flesh as if it were the air. As The Smoke cleared Aura noted the two dozen bodies around her, Aura had trouble finding the real number, as most of the bodies were in pieces.

Their were still a lot of human soldiers, and for the first time she spotted the Snipers on the building tops around her, The Humans had reorganized at an impressive speed, and Aura Now watched as a dozen men with flame throwers Advanced on her, behind them several troops were trying to put together machine gun emplacements. Picking up the torso of one of the human soilders, she held it in front of her as she charged the Flamethrower men, two more whips forming around her, which shot forward through the middle two Flame thrower men, the whips from her Hands grabbed another two, even as she used the torso to hold off another of the flame thrower men. The Body did not last long, as Aura had to throw it aside most of the flesh removed anyway. Aura let the two whips from her hands flow back into her aura to reinforce it, as rockets against struck her aura.

"Annoying fleas!" she screamed, as she kept moving forward, letting her remaining whips disable another two soldiers, though nether blow was fetal, they would never work again. Grabbing one of the still loaded rocket launchers, she looked up at the Sniper who thought his job was to ping her to death. The bullets stung a bit more then the regaler shots she had taken so far. Aiming the launcher at the building she fired, her shot was low and instead of hitting the roof it broke through a window and exploded under the roof causing several feet of it to calapse.. Throwing the launcher aise, Aura brought her whips to her hand, and each one grew into a shorted spike from her fist's and toes. Claiming the building to the top, she almost lost her grip when a rocket from below blasted the roof next to her, getting to the top, She found the sniper, who was reloading, grabbing him by the next she mad eher aura around his neck solid and when he breathed in to scream she cut off the extra room made by his neck. Docking into stairwell, she dropped the man who was barely a wake as oxygen swiftly began returning to his brain, Aura placed her hand on his head, and began to absorb the man's aura, licking her lips she watched as the man's body wither, tossing him down the stair well, the quick way, she sat down and lit a joint, her bliss only broken as Rockets hammered the building. Minutes later, Aura felt her power reemerge and she walked back onto what wa sleft of the room, roughly a third was gone, now, looking up into the sky she saw a half dozen Jets streaking to the city, to stop them.

"Nuh-nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh nuh X-FORCE!" It was a poor play on an old super hero theme. Batman. Honestly, who came up with silly names like that anyway? Max was technically saving his strength for battle and that meant the team was regaled with only one of his voices. He wouldn't be cloning himself anytime soon on this mission if things went according to plan.

"Come on! This is like one of our only family outings. Don'cha just love it when we're all together?" Max hopped out of his seat, for the third time since they took off from London, and hugged Dryad, Strike, Ghost, and the team's newest and most reluctant member: ...well, Jude hadn't picked out a code name just yet.

"Max. Save it for the beasties."
"Don't make me pull this jet over, 'cause I will." Papa bear Emulator, was in the throws of landing the X-Force's fastest plane, Voyager. It wasn't the Blackbird, but it wasn't exactly something one would find on any respectable market either. The cloaking made it especially nice when pulling into a parking spot near the fray in down town Moscow. "You know the drill guys, we've run it a hundred times in simulation. Dryad, Max you're on field control. V and Myself are distractions. Ghost, Strike you guys get the beasties."

Jude cleared his throat. "Oh and Jude... uhm, you're--"
"with Ghost, I know."
"We're going for a minimum of casualties and damage. Don't get fancy 'cause fancy gets you dead. Let's go." The speech was mostly for Emulator's piece of mind. He didn't like pulling Dryad and Jude into this, but from what their informant had said, they were going to need all the help they could get.

Max was waiting at the hatch even before most everyone else had unbuckled their harnesses. "Try not to die." Volcana winked at Jude and helped Max open the door to hell on Moscow. She stepped out onto the rubble strewn streets like it was a Tuesday and Russia just happened to have her favorite boutique stores. Who knows, maybe they did? She zipped off into the air taking the point as she always did. Fly girls made for the best bait -- especially when they can super heat the tanks one of the beasties chose to crush like beer cans. That aught to get at least one bad boy's attention.

Ghost grumbled from the back, no incorporeality meant she was no longer Volcana's back up. Maybe they'd run the simulations a hundred times, but never as the team was now. Emulator synched with Ghost, taking her incorporeality, and he ghosted after Volcana as a second target to waggle in the faces of the fighters. Emulator pestered the two that were launching themselves at building tops with not-so-nicely placed jets of pressurized air. He meant to make it personal so that they might come after him.

Max waited for Dryad outside the plane and together they made for the line of military that was... well, there was a pink mutant chewing through them and they were shooting each other in their attempts to shoot her. Oh, no now she was on the roof of a building. That made their job easier at least.

Dryad and Max took temporary shelter in a still smoldering building and went to work. Dryad made the small growing things between the cobble stones grow so much faster than normal. The plants writhed and crept their way into the streets in a large line that stretched in an arch around the red behemoths that remained on the ground. The plants separated them from the frightened soldiers. She was ready to grab at the ankles of any who crossed the line, but it was a delay tactic at best from the looks of the red ones. Man, were they making the villain models bigger and scarier these days?

The Moscow streets looked like a very wild place indeed and with that small bit of cover, Dryad afforded, Max made his way toward the men with the guns. He was doing what he did best... No, not multiplying. Okay, what he did second best: talking. His mental control was only close range, only affected those who were willing to listen or those he touched, and non-mutants. Military regimes and innocent bystanders almost always fit that bill. Max's eyes bleed to a solid chocolaty brown and he worked his way through the crowd touching a shoulder here and there as needed. They didn't have to speak the same language to get the telepathic suggestion, because it was a suggestion they were all too willing to accept.

"Run, get out of here. Let the mutants fight their own. Leave. Go far away. Find shelter and be safe." He didn't have to tell them twice, the infantry phalanx turned tail and ran.

That left Strike, Ghost, and Jude for finding optimal positions to subdue their targets. Strike chose to take a fire escape up "To survey." is what he'd said, but Jude and Ghost both knew it was to look for the pink girl who'd gone to the rooftop and seemingly disappeared.

Ghost and Jude took the low route, between buildings and hopefully around the back of their forces. Something smacked of familiarity about these red ones to Ghost, but honestly, she'd subdued so many angry faces in the last few years it was hard to remember who all the repeat offenders were. "It's an older memory than that." Jude commented on her thoughts as they made their way over the hood of a car and into the back of a mostly-standing brick building some meters behind the main rumble.

The plan was simple: distractions distracted and lured the group farther apart, crowd control got rid of the "innocent" so the mutants could duke it out on their own terms, and the the rest were the strike team, meant to find ways to incapacitate their enemies to prevent further destruction, chaos, murder... or whatever else they were up to that was bad.