Xaviers!

A third group of X-Men lined up, looking at perhaps the strangest reality ripple there was -- the town and streets vanished as they hit the dimensional bubble, as a forest just sort of...popped into existence at the wavering lines.

Nailah, with a cute fluffy owl-gryphon on her shoulder and wearing her white and gold hero outfit walks up and curiously looks over the line of sudden dense forest.

Haley zoomed through the air and landed into a three point crouch next to her BFF. Talking to her younger alternate dimension self had been...more time-consuming and aggravating than she'd ever imagined, so she'd missed the departure of the rest of the team and had to play catch-up.

"...well. That's something," she stared off at the sudden forest before turning to her friend. Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands, practically squealing. "Oh. Em. Gee. Where did you get the fluffy baby oh he's so cute!!!"

"Ha-wooo," the owl replied.

"Oh that's Cowl. Get it? Like cat and owl."

"Ha-woo!" the owl protested.

"Yeah, he's totally adorbs," Diego said, giving the critter a scratch. "Whozagood fuzzball? You are!"

“OH MY GOD THAT NAME I LOVE IT,” she squealed.

"Ow," Tereza says, rubbing the ear closest to Haley. "Not so loud."

"Yeah, Haley, sensitive feral ears no likey screamy," Diego winced.

"Let's stay focused. In, we do the job, and back out again," Ryan said.

He was joined by Chloe and Rob, as the team's resident techie.

The comms sprung to life.

"OK, I'm here with...

Tosh, was it?

Tosh, and uh...I've got the mission schematics here, William said, over the intercom.

"There might be static once you go into the various, uh, dimensional pockets, so we're going to, uh, get this all out now.

Each of you has a, uh, 'dimensional disturbance translocator?' Something like that. It should help you locate the source of the signal once you enter into dimensional pockets. There should be some kind of device producing the signal; we're not entirely sure what sort of device it is, so you'll have to improvise to take it off-line. It is PROBABLY better to turn them off carefully, but they have to go off one way or another -- if you can't shut them off, smash them into bits.

Uh...yeah, that should, uh, about cover it. Theoretically, we should try to do this at similar points, but as long as, uh, no one takes TOO too long, we should be...should be alright, right?


Is that, uh...everyone's clear on that, yeah? Good luck, X-Men."

"You heard the man. I'll take point," Tereza says, not waiting for agreement as she begins moving quietly forward.

Tereza was first through the dimensional rift, which opened up into a heavily wooded area.

There was a dense fog floating in and amongst the trees, bringing a bit of a cold shiver to everyone, even the Phoenix, as they walked through. They were clearly quite a bit away from any civilization, though just how far was yet to be determined.

The forest was...quieter than one would expect. There should be birds and deer and other wildlife, chirping and twittering and all that sort of stuff. There was none of that going on here.

That didn't mean the forest was deserted by any stretch of the imagination. Those with advanced senses could tell that there was, in fact, game here. Big game, lurking somewhere in the distance. Vague scents, occasional sounds of howling in the distance.

The device beeped, indicating the source of the incursion was ahead.

"Okay, this is creepy..." Nailah says as she follows Tereza into the foggy woods.

"Ha-woo," 'Cowl' agreed, flapping just behind Nailah's head.

The distant howling puts Tereza a little bit on edge. She lets the wolf ride a bit closer to the surface as her eyes go golden and her hair gets a bit wilder. Senses alert, she moves from tree to tree, trying to get a better sense on what sort of game is in the woods.

"Something is unnatural here... we will regret coming," Mira said, not at all ominously.

Tereza Rozanov wrote:The distant howling puts Tereza a little bit on edge. She lets the wolf ride a bit closer to the surface as her eyes go golden and her hair gets a bit wilder. Senses alert, she moves from tree to tree, trying to get a better sense on what sort of game is in the woods.

The game was wild, first and foremost, and most of it not native to Britian. Lions, tigers and bears.

There were also human scents in the air -- some straight human; others mixed with the animal scents. Were-bears?

"Unnatural you say?" Diego asked, making a show of lighting up his eyes to look around with his special sight.

"Big cats and... bears maybe. Mixed with human scents," Tereza says quietly, keeping herself moving.

"Ha-woo!" 'Cowl' cried out in alarm.

Diego would see it first -- a man in a black stealth suit with a sniper rifle, taking aim and firing at the group!

"Take cover!" he shouted, pulling Haley down with him behind a fallen tree.

Startled by her companion crying out Nailah drops into a crouch, stupid quip about her being a big cat mixed with human scent dieing on her lips.

Tereza does the opposite, lunging out of cover to look for the sniper and providing her own sort of cover to some other members of the group.

Tereza charges forward through the underbrush, quickly shrinking the distance between her and the sound of gunfire. Shots rang past her, one barely clipping her as they went by.

"We've got a party of nine. Initial shot failed. Recommend Kravinoff Protocol 3" the agent said, dropping his long ranged weapon and drawing a pistol to fire at the closing wolf.

On his shoulder was a stylized black sunburst.

"Ha-woo!" 'Cowl' cried.

He remembered these assholes, and took off higher into the sky, attempting to lead the way to where they must be based, logically.

Diego popped up to look for other enemies, summoning forth his fiery arm-blade.

"Cowl!" Nailah calls out when Owill takes off. Glancing over to where Tereza ran off to she hopes nobody is pointing any guns skyward as she clambers up a tree with her claws and tries to get clear enough of the trees to take to the air after Owill.

One of the pistol shots catches Tereza in the shoulder, spinning her around, but not slowing her momentum. As she comes back around, her teeth are sharper and her nails are longer, the change taking hold as she lunges at the gunman. "Bad move," she growls.

"He said you'd be coming. And we know how to deal with you and your kind," the man said, backing up while keeping his gun focused on the attacker.

"Now!"

From the corners of the forest, the fog intensified...and changed.

Diego Zapata wrote:Diego popped up to look for other enemies, summoning forth his fiery arm-blade.

Nailah Weaver wrote:"Cowl!" Nailah calls out when Owill takes off. Glancing over to where Tereza ran off to she hopes nobody is pointing any guns skyward as she clambers up a tree with her claws and tries to get clear enough of the trees to take to the air after Owill.

Diego, Nailah and Owill would be effected first, but this X-Team wasn't short of animalistic heroes, who would find their baser instincts coming to the fore, making it harder and harder to focus on the mission, the dimensional interchange or...well, anything but food, to be quite honest.

Haley and Rob, as the two non-animal heroes in the group, would be entirely unaffected by the mist, though they'd see their teammates begin to unleash their wild sides.

I did say Haley and Rob were the only ones unaffected, didn't I?


A long time ago, before she was the Phoenix, Mira had been on a camping trip in Epping Forest.

"Nnnn....gggg.....gahhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" the Phoenix cried, as her body changed into a very large, ferocious looking wolf. Who was on fire.

This was probably not a good thing.

Tereza had already been on her way to her wolf when the fog hits her, pushing her the rest of the way. This confuses the wolf for a moment, not expecting the sudden change. She stands upright, looking down at the puny man pointing the... weapon... yes... weapon at her. That made him a threat, not food. And threats took priority as her long arm snaps out to try to grab him, the hole he'd previously put in her shoulder closing.

“Shit...guys, this isn’t good.” Haley swore, dropping her shield she’d been blocking some of the gunfire with and looking around at her feral teammates with increasing panic. “They are...*all* growly.”

Tereza Rozanov wrote:Tereza had already been on her way to her wolf when the fog hits her, pushing her the rest of the way. This confuses the wolf for a moment, not expecting the sudden change. She stands upright, looking down at the puny man pointing the... weapon... yes... weapon at her. That made him a threat, not food. And threats took priority as her long arm snaps out to try to grab him, the hole he'd previously put in her shoulder closing.

The man squeezed off one final shot, but it went sailing wide as the experienced werewolf grabbed the puny secret agent operative.

Mira, meanwhile, took to the air -- because, hey, Phoenix, and started chasing down the increasingly frightened cat...owl...thing.

THIS drew the attention of more Black Air operatives, who responded in kind by firing a bunch of bullets in that general direction.


And THAT, in turn drew the attention of a massive lion, headed on ground level towards Diego and Nailah.

“Phoenix! Get the fuck away from Cowl!” Haley shouted, trying to yank on the flying firewerewolf’s tail to let the small bird escape.

This was not a well thought out plan.

Haley Crusek wrote:“Phoenix! Get the fuck away from Cowl!” Haley shouted, trying to yank on the flying firewerewolf’s tail to let the small bird escape.

This was not a well thought out plan.

The Phoenix snarled in response, whirling to face Haley, flame darting out of her snout.

Hey, at least it wasn't chasing Cowl anymore, right? Right?

With her flight cut short by the sudden onset of, well, cat-thoughts for lack of a better term, Nailah lands in a crouch, back arched and wings splayed up and out, her tail floofed up to easily twice it's normal volume as she hisses at the advancing lion. And then she leaps, aiming to land on the larger cat's back and sink the claws of all four of her limbs into it.