Riruki grabbed onto Wire as he had commanded and closed her eyes as he led them both to safety.

Meanwhile The commotion caused by Orion's entrance reverberated in Riruki's head and she screamed in terror.

*Wire kicked off of the bannister as the two swung from the chandelier. He reinforced the wires around the lighting and they swung to the opposite side of the room, over the bannister, and down on the staircase. Dominic's wires released and he grabbed a hold of Ruki to prevent her from rolling down the steps. It wasn't the best of landings, but at least they were away from the shadow men that Kaine had been producing. He stumbled to his feet, but saw Whitmore's men aim up at them. Dominic pulled Ruki down on the steps again as the bullets ricocheted on the stone bannister of the staircase. When he did get a peek before taking cover, Dominic saw a new mutant coming into the mansion. This must have been the Orion that everyone was whispering about around the school, being careful not to mention his name while Tricity was around. He did seem as badass as the tales said. He wasn't sure what they should do next as he looked at Ruki to make sure she was alright.*

*Setsuna saw Orion step forward toward her, the other men backing off. She obviously saw they weren't going to be a problem anymore as they holstered their weapons. Kilala took her sword and stood in a defensive stance, ready for an attack. She backed away slowly, not knowing what she should do. He was apparently an asset to the mansion and really a good person. Setsuna watched as the huge man approached her with his eyes blazing red. Everything seemed to quiet down as everyone watched what was about to happen. She noticed the man's hands were beginning to smoke. Kilala cut her eyes over to Cassiel.*
"Uuuuh, MIKE! What... what should I do??"
*Orion swung at her, but she rolled out of the way, standing once more in a defensive stance with her sword.*
"MIKE!!"

*Orion stepped out of the van, but was not himself. He was the play thing of General Whitmore. It had been too long ago that his brain was stripped of any remembrance of his friends or the mansion. His real self was pushed far, far back from recovery. For now, he was just a robot.

Taking Johnathon in his grip and tightening for pleasure was nothing to him. He didn't remember the boy at all. Just another person in the way of his goal to get inside and do as the General wanted. When he entered the museum, his orders were given, and Orion would obey till death. He saw the Asian woman first and decided she would be his first target. His hands began to smoke a black color as chaos stirred in his body and began its release. He tried to swing, but the woman ducked from the hit. Orion methodically sized up the woman and saw she had some training, though, she would be no match for him. The katana she held didn't make him in the least worried.

Orion shot a blast of chaos at his first opponent. She wasn't expecting that. The woman shot across the room and fell into a display case where a vase fell on the floor along with the glass it was encased in. For now, she was unconscious. He turned around and looked up at the staircase, seeing Wire and Riruki. He looked back down on the first floor and saw Cassiel and Daria. He decided they would have to go before the two on the stairs. They seemed more dangerous and may decide to stupidly interfere.*

Mike didn't hesitate with his 'stupid interfering'. He siezed Orion in a telekinetic hold and threw him back farther away from them, running forward after him as his telekinetic shield spread over his body. He drew his physical escrima staves from his back, trusting his telekinetic shield to make them hold up in battle.

"Time to see what this guy's really made of after all the hype,"[/color] he thought to Daria, Wire, and Ruki. "Get that stone back, and take out as many soldiers as you can. Leave Whitmore alive for now. I'll handle Orion."[/color]

Or at least, I'll handle him as long as I can, Mike thought as he charged toward Orion. He took his rage and, frankly, terror, the fear he felt from all of his teammates, Daria's rage at WHitmore controlling her, and the hatred from Whitmore, and focused them all into his power, amplifying them with each emotion he poured into them.

*Johnathon opened his eyes and saw he was lying on the sidewalk, under a tree. He saw the museum across the street and remembered how he managed to be in the situation he was in now. John shakily stood up and braced himself against the tree. It seemed Orion had broken the arm he once broke a long time ago saving his life. Though, these circumstances were different now...
He began to jog back to the van they had rode in, but the two soldiers that were stationed with Orion were now coming after him, now seeing he was awake. Johnathon wasn't much of a combat type. His muation would have to do the trick for now. The first man raised his gun and ordered for Johnathon to get down on the ground. John put his hands up in a surrender, but released a powerful surge of heat from his palms at the two men. The steam rushed at the soldiers, causing their guns to melt to their gloves. They screamed in pain and began taking off their gear while running away. He smiled with a cocky triumph and continued his way to the van. He jumped through the backdoor and yanked the radio from inside to contact the mansion.*
john: "HELLO?! HELLO!! TRICITY, ARE YOU THERE?? IS ANYONE AT THE SECURITY CENTER?! SOMEONE PICK UP!!"

Daria didn't trust herself. She knew if she got anywhere near Whitmore she'd kill rip him to shreds and eat him alive-and that was outside her frenzy state of mind.


She was a bit tired but that was soon covered by her want for revenge. It was new now, Daria felt like she was in control now, that while her mouth watered for the flesh of the soldiers and her mind was racing with thoughts of killing Whitmore, she was the one in charge of her body now. She felt stronger, her claws felt sharper and her fangs more intimidating. Somewhere between the mind control and being stabbed with Mike's telekenetic sword, Daria had had a revalation. Who had been controlling her all this time?

She worked as BlackCat for so long for the military base in nevada it became normal to simply 'work' for people. But no, she had joined the X-men because she wanted so badly to give back to a place that had given so much to her. She was fighting for friends and famiy now, completely aware of her actions and no longer the 'little girl' she had been when she first mutated.

No, Black Cat was dead. *

**********************************

Daria heard Mike's thoughts clearly in her mind over the commotion of Orion's entrance. She hissed loudly in Whitmore's direction. "You have something that belongs to us." the announcement was greeted with mocking laughter by the soildiers as they drew their weapons. Daria just smiled and held out her hand. In a bright flash of gold the red stone appeared in Riruki's arms. There was no one around the girl at the moment and Daria just thought it would be safer there.

The soldiers wasted no time and began to shoot. Daria teleported herself into the thick of the crowd, attacking from the inside out. They wouldn't shoot her as she stood so close to their comrades.

One by one and sometimes two by two they met their deaths. Daria's claws ripped easily through their armour and pierced right through their skin and organs. Those who were stupid enough to shoot were unpleasantly surprised by her disappearance and the death of a fellow soldier.

Somewhere in the fight she was caught off guard and knocked in the head with the but of a gun. She fell to the floor and the soldiers cleared the floor, their guns all aimed at her. One of them smirked triumphantly. "Looks like we win, huh, Kitty."

Daria's emerald eyes blazed with fire as he called her that. She Stood up quickly and simultaneously the soldiers in the eight soldiers with guns cocked and clear aim shot at the cat girl. Daria glowed a bright golder color and hissed loudly. The bullets disappeared and ended up in the hearts of their shooters.

She smiled proudly as the soldiers still aimed but fearfully so.

"Please, Call me Bast. I insist." she said bracing herself for another onslaught.

(OOC: Riruki, you may post because Kaine hasn't. Here's the order again: Cassiel, Daria, Kaine, Riruki, Wire, Setsuna, and Orion)

(as it's been 24 hours, it's now Wire's post. Daria/Riruki will no longer be posting, as she's left for vacation)

(OOC: I apologize for my absence)

*Wire saw Riruki's surprise as she obtained the red stone. He quickly grabbed her arm and they went running down the stairs as more of the unit fired at the two.*
whitmore: "DON'T HIT THE STONE YOU, FOOLS!!"
*He pulled his teammate behind a pillar, seeing Setsuna still unconscious on the floor.*
"Ruki, I'm gonna try and get Kilala."
*Dominic heard the men coming forward after Whitmore had commanded them to cease fire. He put his fingertips together and released them once more, the puppet like strings in his control. He dropped to the ground and rolled from the pillar, shooting his wires forward. They wrapped around the mens' feet and they dropped to the ground. He quickly produced more of the wires and completely bound them all. A second squad was on their way down the stairs, so Dominic had to move fast. He ducked back behind the pillar with Ruki and the only, quickest way to get Setsuna out of danger came to him. Dominic shot more wires out toward Kilala's unconscious body and tied them around the woman's ankle. He then retracted the silver strings, pulling the woman behind the pillar with them. He bent over and touched her cheek.*
"Killa?! Hey, wake up!!"
*He lightly slapped her face.*

*Kilala grasped the wrist of the person who had just hit her, opening her eyes. She saw it was Dominic and let go, bracing the back of her neck in pain.*
"That Orion can sure hit hard..."
*Wire helped her to her feet and she saw that Cassiel was fighting Orion.*
"We should help, but we gotta get the stone out of here!"
*Suna saw another person enter the museum and realized it was Johnathon.*
"What the hell is he thinking??"
*Then an idea came to her and she began explaining to her comrades. She created a forcefield in front of them and signaled for Johnathon to take cover. More of the soldiers could be heard coming across the lobby, so they needed to move fast.*
"Ruki, cast a few of your elemental blasts into my field. We'll move across the museum and toward the exit with my field protecting us...though, we'll have to move fast, since the field doesn't last very long. Dominic, you hold the stone. If the guards get too close, I'll release the shield and the elemental blasts will take them out. Then I'll create another field and we'll do the process all over again to get to the door. Dom, you pass the stone off to Johnathon so he can bring it back to the mansion. Then we'll try and help Cassiel and Daria out. How bout it?"
*She had said this very quickly as time was not on their side, but hoped they understood. Kilala had the tendency to come up with plans very fast since she's had to deal with emergency situations more than she cared to. The first soldier came around the corner, but Setsuna gave him a quick elbow between the eyes and dropped him to the linoleum.*

*Orion soared up into the air, flying toward the wall. His back hit a wall and he went falling toward the ground. He landed hard, cracking the tiles of the floor, and stood up from his kneeling position. He smirked sadistically as the unknown man came running for him. Orion balled up his fists as they heavily smoked, engulfing his hands.

Whitmore nodded to one of his soldiers and he nodded in return. The man took out Orion's blade and tossed it to him in order to counter Cassiel's attacks.

Orion grasped the hilt of the sword just as Mike had swung his staves at him. The weapons clashed as Orion held the attack. He glared down at the much smaller and younger teen with his glowing red eyes, making him look very demonic.*
"You're no match for me, boy!"
*Orion swung through the attack and knocked Cassiel back across the museum where he had first come from. After casually slinging the blade over his shoulder, the hulking man stalked slowly after Mike. Orion beckoned to his opponent to stand.*
"Come on, kid. At least put up some type of offense."
*He stopped some 20 feet away and stood in a defensive stance with his sword, waiting for Mike's next move.*

Mike recovered somewhere while he was sailing backward and looped himself up and around, flying back toward Orion. "If that's what you want..." he replied, lashing out with his powers. A telekinetic blast streaked out to catch Orion in the face, and along with it came a telepathic assault, dredging up all of his painful memories and fears, placing at the top of the list a very real fear of what Whitmore planned for his fiancé and his unborn child.

"Wire! Make damn sure that the stones aren't active! The last thing we need is Kaine coming after us right now too! Destroy it if you can!"[/color]

((As it's been 24 hours and Kaine has not posted, it's now Wire's turn.

As a reminder, the order is Cassiel, Kaine, Wire, Setsuna, Orion, since as mentioned, Daria/Riruki will not be posting for the forseeable future after having left on vacation))

*Dominic ran with Setsuna and Riruki through the museum as fast as possible. His grip was so tight on the stone, his knuckles had turned white and his hands were becoming sweaty. Setsuna's field was starting to give way, but Ruki's elemental blasts shot through and took out a couple of the soldiers.*
"KEEP MOVING!!"
*They reached the door in no time and Wire slammed into it first, running down the steps as fast as possible. Several more soldiers came running from their vans that were parked in the local area.*
"Dammit, there's like an endless supply of these guys!"
*He couldn't use his mutation because he didn't want to put down the stone for any reason unless helping his teammates. Dominic looked around to try and think of something to do.*