<<< The Proving Grounds, BH Team 1 training session

Time of Day: 12:00
Place in the Timeline: October 21st

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The training area still had a distinctive smell. The stench of burning hung in the air. It was like charcoal, a scent that you could taste at the same time. Singe marks marred the walls and floors of the training room. The area was pretty rudimentary but it would serve their purposes. They were going to fight each other for the purpose of making the team stronger. The scent and the visible destruction were the remnants of the training session that Primal had led earlier that morning. It was time for Amelia’s group to begin. Magneto had put her in charge of gathering this group. He had said that he may also show up for a supervisory role and the check the progress of the session.

Amelia’s session was going to include almost half of the members of Magneto’s faction. The two new members Dazzler and Rage were included. Dazzler’s powers were pretty straightforward. She conjured light from sounds in a variety of ways. Some of these constructs were “hard light.” Rage on the other hand would probably be a bit more unexpected in how she implemented her powers. The rage bringer could work her teammates into a blood thirsty frenzy or drive her enemies blind with reckless rage. Koen Taylor, 1337, was a similar example. He was a captive among their ranks and Cutter was normally his keeper. Amelia wondered what kind of tricks he could pull of with his cyberpathic mind in a battle setting like this. He had done well with constructing the device to amplify her voice for the rally in Mutant Town.

Some members of the “Old Guard” were to be present as well. Her fellow Acolyte, Saint, was involved too. His dazzling blaze and beguiling hypnotic stare could work independently or in combination to deadly effects. Gambit was a mixed bag of tricks. He was adept with using his powers to detonate objects by activating the energy within. He was also a skilled fighter. Finally, the unstoppable Juggernaut was about as subtle as a freight train. If something needed to be crushed, he was the one to call.

The members were set. “The purpose of this is to work together. You were successful at Wolf’s Head,” Amelia said with a hint of bitterness in her voice, “But we may not have the same fortune facing the X-Men later on. We can use teamwork to strengthen ourselves. Creativity and improvisation can be used to throw an enemy off balance.”

As Amelia spoke she reduced a pile of barrels to ether. She gathered them above the group. “Let us begin,” she said. The barrels re-materialized and fell toward her “enemies.”

Crimson-on-black eyes quietly surveyed their surroundings as Gambit leaned against his staff. One of the last to arrive, he hung at the rear of the small group as they listened to the Acolyte lecture on the value of teamwork. Juggernaut, Rage, Dazzler, 1337, Saint, himself, and Amelia... psychotics, murderers, thieves, and antisocials... the idea of teamwork was laughable. He'd rather be out working on his bike than try to exercise teamwork with these crazies. He was used to working with people who actually cared about him... people he could trust with his life.

“But we may not have the same fortune facing the X-Men later on. We can use teamwork to strengthen ourselves. Creativity and improvisation can be used to throw an enemy off balance.”

“Gon' take mor'n a few training sessions to get this team crackin,” the Cajun muttered to himself. Suddenly, the barrels that had been in the same room with all of them vaporized, clearly the work of the Acolyte. Despite the fact that Gambit had known what Amelia was capable of, it didn't make the action any less impressive.

“Let us begin,”

The fifty-five gallon drums rematerialized overhead and immediately began to rain down on the rest of them, threatening to crush all those caught under their impressive weight. Gambit wasted no time in flinging a couple of charged cards at the metal containers, causing two of them to explode into large fuchsia blooms of fire as Gambit immediately made his way toward his attacker. Leapfrogging over the massive form of the unstoppable landmass in his way, he landed a few yards from his target and quickly closed the distance between the two of them. “Don't s'pose I could talk you out of dis nonsense and me and you go some place more comfy, eh chere,” he shot at her with a mischievous grin on his rugged face.

Cain nodded slowly as he listened to the talking.

"Creativity and improvisation can be used to throw the enemy off balance."

"So can my fist," he muttered to himself.

Cain was standing next to the red-eyed Gambit. His thick arms were rolled over his chest, crossing and folding against one-another. Standing perhaps two feet higher than everyone else, on average, Cain was a titan compared to the rest of the team. He didn't mind being set higher than everyone else, nope. He had followed the logic of "bigger is better" for all his life. Besides, who was going to stop him?

"Red-eye's got a point, lady. I ain't too good at teamwork. Why isn't Tom here? He n' I work together pretty well. We should work with who we balance well with," he groaned. He wanted to be paired with Black Tom. The guy was just a cheerful chap and Tom's concussive blasts and brain's balanced perfectly with Cain's unstoppable inertia and, well... the lack of on-the-spot intelligence. He wasn't built to be smart or cunning. He was the epitome of brute strength. Cain would even wager his helmet that he could beat Razorback's Big Pig in a head-on collision.

"God this place smells crappy. Did they let Pyro take a shit in here or what?" he complained, unaware of the materializing fifty-five gallon drums. The only thing that set him in motion were the colorful explosions of two of the drums. He wheeled awkwardly on a heel, his body arcing over the new girl, Rage. A pile of the drums fell upon his back with audible thunks and pangs. His massive shoulders flexed, his skin drawn tight over his bones and muscles. Even standing still, some of the barrels splintered upon contact with him, leaving nasty holes in their sides.

Taking the beating, Cain looked down at the girl, a smile playing on his face. "Not a good place to be standin', little lady. How 'bout some of that juice to let Papa Juggs go nuts?"

Amelia Voght spoke to them. This was a training session, to work together. It seemed as though the others on her team for this session didn’t like the idea. Rage wasn’t one hundred percent on it, but if she was to go far in the Brotherhood she had to work with her team. The dark haired mutant spent so much time by her self. Perhaps it was time to be more… social.

“Let us begin,”

The rage bringer looked up at the barrels that had formed over head raising her arm for cover, seconds later she hear the audible clunks they had made on the Juggernaut. She lowered her arm and looked up at him with a grin on his face. "... How 'bout some of that juice to let Papa Juggs go nuts?" Her hazel eyes looked up at him, Tina was appreciative that he saved her from a concussion just then but thought he was insane. No one had ever asked to get a dose of her powers on purpose.

But she saw where he was going with it. It wouldn’t be a bad idea. “If you’re sure.” Rage didn’t wait for a response before her eyes turned red. She let the waves of hate and rage flow to the Juggernaut. He wouldn’t attack her while she was using her power. But if he were to attack Gambit, there would be nothing she could do. She controlled the rage that went into people, but not what that rage would make people do. She gave him a small dose, enough to get him agitated and angry. What it would do to someone like him, the dark haired mutant didn’t know.

Tina would wait for him to turn away from her before she would let up on her power. Her power immobilized her, but using it on her enemies or friends (depending on the situation) made up for it. While calling out the rage she was safe from any direct attack. But if, for instance, the Juggernaut made the wall come down on her the rage bringer would completely defenseless. Not to mention if she powered down before he would turn away he could very well turn the attack on her.

The low dose of rage would continue to flow.

Life in the Brotherhood's Murderworld was never pleasant, but Taylor was getting used to it somewhat. The brief respite for the concert had helped for a while, but the cyberpath hadn't left the HQ since. He'd never thought about how much he'd like to see the sky until he couldn't. Nevermind that, he didn't really want to see the sky, but he did want to see his dear computer again. The more Taylor thought about all the updates and patches she was due for... It made his heart break.

Within his first week in the Murderworld, Taylor had frozen the cameras and fed them 48 hour loops, so that hopefully nobody would notice. Sure, he'd joined the terrorist organization under less than optimal circumstances, but if he wasn't going to have freedom, he'd at least keep his privacy. If anybody were to check his room and glance at the cameras, they would obviously see that he was laying on his bed, arm over his face, when the cameras showed him reading a book: AI for Dummies.

He'd been told a week ago that he was to attend a training session, and he did notice the fact that the training room had been the same place he'd been caught while first sneaking into the complex. That wasn't an overly pleasant experience... His thoughts were quietly interrupted by a light beeping from his watch.. Time to go.

The moment he entered the training room, he could smell the stench of burning... stuff. Apparently the earlier team hadn't cleaned up after themselves. Inconsiderate bastards... They couldn't even spare a bit of air freshener? Taylor vaguely nodded at whatever it was Amelia was saying, but the words "Lets Begin" shot him back into full awareness, as did the mass of barrels raining on them. Taylor cast about for something of use, settling on the floor. The floor of the training room was equipped with a network of hydraulics. Every group of four tiles could rise, effectively smashing anybody standing on it against the ceiling.

In short order, Taylor created a curtain of partially raised platforms. He could hear them weakening under the barrage of barrels, but they held. That was the important thing.

The idea of training was something Dazzler wasn't too fond of. She already had a grasp on her powers, and had been using them for quite some time. She didn't think there would be any benefit from this exercise. However, she did sign up to be part of the Brotherhood and she was going to do as told. As Amelia pointed out this was an exercise of teamwork not individuality; which apparently they all needed to work on. So there's is a point to all this, Dazzler thought.

"Let us begin," said Amelia as she materialized 55-gallon barrel above their heads.

As they rained down Dazzler created a shield to deflect the barrels. Gambit sprinted toward Amelia throwing his energized cards and blowing up a couple barrels. Juggernaut then moved to cover Rage with his massive body. The barrels busted and dented as they impacted his large frame. Close by was a young man, 1337 or something, ducked under part of the floor. "Teamwork," Amelia's words rang through her head. Working together wasn't hard for Dazzler. After all being part of a band calls for all of its members to work together.

Dazzler focused and created extra supports for 1337's makeshift shelter. As creative as it may have been it wouldn't have been good if the hydraulics gave way and crushed the boy. Looking back to Amelia he saw that Gambit was engaging her. While Amelia was distracted with Gambit, Dazzler stretched her hand out and fired a couple photon blasts. Of course Dazzler wasn't using enough energy to seriously hurt her, but Amelia would definitely know when they hit her.

It was only a matter of time till the Brotherhood members came to blows. Of course, a big training fight wasn't the type of scrap that he had in mind. Still, this was going to be good for them as it encouraged teamwork and to work out aggression. Also it was a good way to settle grudges. A shame that Primal had been allocated to the other fight, Kyle had looked forward to stabbing his team-mate in the back. Cutter was there too, leaving Saint with the few people that he didn't have particuarally strong feelings for, in the good way or the bad way.

On the opposing team, there was Amelia. The glamorous, older Acolyte, pretty much the closest thing that the Brotherhood had to a calming influence. She had showed in the past that she was trustworthy, but Saint had yet to see if she truely had that brutal streak that himself and Primal shared. Then there was 1337, or Koen, or whatever he was called. Saint didn't know much about him, but he looked too scrawny and small to be much of a threat. What was he going to do with his technopathy in the training room. Beeper them to submission? Not much of a challenge, unlike the rest of the team he was on. Then there was Dazzler. She was the wild card in the fight. The light based powers could easily dominante the fight and Saint knew that she would have to be one of those who needed to be taken out fast. However, as much as she was a threat, there was a bigger one. The Cajun Gambit, was the the most dangerous in Saint's view, out of the group. He was the most versitile, experienved fighter and he could do melee as well as ranged. Saint figured it would be better to let the more aggresive members of his group deal with him, then mop up the remains.

At least his team didn't exactly lack in power. Juggarnaughts name did what it said on the tin, as did his newer teammate Rage. One was the poster child for "28 days later" disease and the other was basically a human bulldozer. But with what they had in power, they lacked in all round. Both had major weaknesses, yet Saint had no major weaknesses, just no speciality. They would have to use tatics to win this.

Ducking underneath a barrel that Amelia dropped on them, Saint looked back, seeing that his teammates were alright. Now, back to buisness. Saint decided to try and take some of them out at a distance. Moving closer to his "team", he manifested four blades on each hand. Now would they try for the weakest link, currently hiding behind some tiles being helped by Dazzler, or would they go after the stronger three?

Ah, perfect! Saint saw that Koen had raised the floor to get from the barrels. While this gave him shelter, there was a large gap perfect for targeting. Aiming, he threw one hand's worth in the hole, the other aimed directly at Dazzler, who seemed to be targeting Amelia. Get them while they are distracted!

"Jugs, Rage, don't give them an inch, otherwise they will be all over us"

The rain of the heavy drums had served to scatter the crowd. From there the attacks began with some teamwork from the start. Koen caused the floor panels to rise and shield himself. Dazzler set to work by providing solid light pillars to reinforce the panels against the heavy barrels. Juggernaut loomed over Rage in an effort to shield her from the damage. Her powers weren’t offensive or defensive. Perhaps it was Juggernaut’s desire to save her pretty face from harm but she was safe. He then asked her to ramp up his aggression with her abilities.

In a flurry of cards that resulted in violet explosions, Gambit dispatched several of the barrels. He leaped nimbly over some debris and closed the distance between him and Amelia. “Don't s'pose I could talk you out of dis nonsense and me and you go some place more comfy, eh chere,” the Cajun said with a devilish grin.

If Amelia didn’t know Gambit, she may have been swayed by his charms. He possessed a certain je ne sais quoi that seemed to work like magic if you weren’t prepared for it. Though his option was certainly more interesting than trying to lead a gaggle of unorganized terrorists, it wasn’t the time or the place to entertain such ideas. Amelia took a step back and braced her feet. That was part of the mystique of Gambit’s strategy; disarm them with a smile. In the room Amelia had the most experience with her abilities and Gambit would be in the second position. That experience didn’t keep her from getting hit by a blast of light from Dazzler. Amelia jerked with the impact and grabbed her shoulder. It was good that Dazzler was not using lethal force.

"Jugs, Rage, don't give them an inch, otherwise they will be all over us!” Saint called out.

“Perhaps we could form a different sort of team than what you had in mind Gambit,” Amelia suggested and then called out, “Dazzler, Koen we’ll work together against Saint’s teams.”

Amelia rubbed her arm to dull the slight sting that lingered. Then to Gambit she said, “They are all dangerous but if Juggernaut become blinded by Rage’s powers, I don’t know if he’ll be able to stop at all.”

Taylor sent a thankful glance toward Dazzler. He'd positioned himself towards the edge of his shelter, so he could get out quickly if if collapsed, but her help made it possible for him to focus less on saving his immediate skin and further engross himself in the training room's available technology. There were cameras and microphones all over the room, projectiles in the walls, and several other devices that would need a bit more time for him to figure out.

Amelia's voice sounded over the noise, assigning the teams. It was Gambit, Dazzler, Amelia and him against Juggernaut, Rage, and Saint. Well, Juggernaut counted as two people, so the teams were even.

First things first. Taylor knew his powers weren't combat effective so he would need to find use for himself outside of the direct line of fire, starting with replacing his own hearing with the audio feeds. If the opposing team was going to make any sort of plans, he would know and inform his teammates. Locating the source of sounds, once people got to moving around, would get somewhat cumbersome, but he could handle it. Probably.

He didn't even notice when Saint aimed four psionic blades his way, giving a yell of surprise when they finally caught his eye. He only saw a flash of purple before finding himself with two shallow cuts on his left shoulder, and a paper-cut on his neck. Luckily his reflexive spasm of shock and pain made the fourth blade miss entirely.

"... if Juggernaut becomes blinded by Rage’s powers, I don’t know if he’ll be able to stop at all."

That was all he needed. It took only a moment for him to aim those hidden projectiles at the woman. Several crossbows emerged from the walls, several shooting brightly colored confetti into the air, while about five shot actual arrows.

He could feel it. The Rage. He could feel the tingling sensation at the tips of his fingers begin to subside, substituted by a white-hot warmth that made him feel as though his fingertips were going to melt off. He felt this feeling begin to bubble within the pit of his chest. It surged and swelled like an ocean, tapping into the vast amounts of supressed anger and angst he had been holding in for so many years. The feeling extended, threading its way through the thick coils of his musculature, filling them with powerful vigor. His lungs filled with a hot air and the whites of his eyes began to become bloodshot under the effects of Rage's influence.

And he became angry.

"Jugs, Rage, don't give them an inch, otherwise they will be all over us," he heard from their "team leader", Saint. Of course, Cain was amped up to give a damn about inches.

He turned, his hulking body angling to face towards the gathering of the mutants that were supposed to be their opponents. Amelia, Gambit, 1337, and Dazzler. He didn't care about what they could do. Veins on his neck began to pulse visibly, reaching up to those stretching over the thin layer of skin of his skin. His temples throbbed, his breathing heavy. His bloodshot blue eyes looked at the others as they did whatever they could to defend themselves against Amelia's initial assault. Dazzler had manifested pillars of light to support the hydrolic shield 1337 produced. He took a deep breath, his back to Rage, his chest filling with more air. He leaned forward, his jaw dropping, his vocals unleashing a deep, trembling roar that would have set ruin to the entire facility if he had any sort of sonic powers.

His bellow was met by the firing of various shots of confetti from the walls. Crossbows? When did 133t go to the Medieval State Fair and get those old-school weapons? Unable to react to their speed, for he was too angry to give a damn about the flying pieces of confetti or the arrows that were launched towards Rage. Instead, he stood where he was, his mind working on the easiest way to calculate who was the most delicate, whimpy, dainty little bitch here.

He decided it was Taylor and Dazzler. Hiding behind those pillars of light and machine, they seemed like such great sissies to the colossal mutant. He gritted his teeth, the grating sound of bone against bone echoing within his skull just as the five arrows came from nowhere. Instantaneously his body was punctured in three places. They weren't deep, hell, they didn't even hurt. They just sank in deep enough so that the barbs of the hook could catch a thin sliver of flesh. His eyes shot from the pillars to arrows stuck in his flesh -- three of the five that were shot. He was in ample position to take the blow, as all he did was turn around. Only problem was, he got angrier.

His breath seethed between his teeth and he pressed his foot into the ground. The thunderous stampede that was the Unstoppable Juggernaut was off. His heavy footsteps caused tremors in the ground around him, his feet fracturing the substance of the flooring with every step. He crossed the area between himself and Rage to Dazzle and Taylor in their little tree-fort. His hulking bash, a giant wall of meat and flesh and rage came upon their defenses like a tsunami.

Juggernaut had turned from her and slowly but surely the Rage bringer brought her power down. Her rage on him would wear on him for a while; she could see it in his stance and his eyes. Crossbows had emerged from the walls. Tina looked at them and they fired, the confetti was distracting that she couldn’t tell five of them had real arrows.

There was a sharp pain in her right shoulder. Looking to it she saw the arrow had shot through. Three others hit the mass of muscle that was the Juggernaut. A gasp and groan escaped her lips. With a shaking anger she looked at her opponents. Rage knew she wasn’t the strongest, compared to her team mates she was the weakest. It was probably why she was the first to be hit with an attack. But that would come at a price.

The Cajun man known as Remy was reckless when he was affected by her rage. Tina muttered, “Sorry Mr. LeBeau.” Her eyes once again had become red only this time, she was sending out a full of blast of her rage on Gambit. A risky move on her part but she kept her power flowing. Soon the training area would have a mass of chaos, from both the Juggernaut and the Cajun. The Unstoppable mass of mutant muscle didn’t disappoint.

Well, his attack hadn't gone as well had he had hoped. Flying blades that he had aimed to skewer the young mutant hadn't worked as effectively as he had hoped but he had still drawn first blood. Strike one to team outnumbered. It wasn't much but it was a start. Seeing as how the human battering ram Jugg's was going after Dazzler and Koen, hopefully distracting the pair from being using any more of Murderworlds toys for a while. Honestly, crossbows? Even in this place, that was odd. Saint knew for a fact that this room had things that could turn the course of this battle much more effectively than some wooden sticks that belonged in the fifteen hundreds. He was just glad that those robots had been removed for this session. Fighting robotic versions of the rest of the group was weird enough when he did it the first time, let alone the second.

His eyes flickered across the area, looking for any sign of weakness from the opposing side. Too his side Tina's eyes glowed red again and Saint knew that she was using her power again on the opposing team. That meant she couldn't move at all. He considered picking her up, but not knowing if that would affect her while she was attacking the others, he decided that he had better to stay and cover his assets by protecting her. Luckily, Saint's knives were ranged. Now it was time to try and take out some of the other teams harder hitters. Firstly, the more mature Amelia. Sure she could dodge, but was she fast enough?

"Fly my pretties, fly" he muttered under his breath as he threw two handfuls of blades towards her, his focus making them stronger. It was an odd fact, but when he was standing still, Saint's knives were much stronger and faster than when he was moving. Strongest still when he used them as an extension of his own hands or arms, like claws or nails. He wasn't no Wolverine, but he had proved before that his blades could dice it up as well as some of the others. He remembered the one time he had met someone who had claws like him, only his had been made of heat rather than energy. All that could be said of that encounter was that whilst Kyle had come away with burn marks up his arm, his opponent, his name escaping the British mutant, was left in hospital. Of course, that fight had been five against one, but still, it wasn't like they had any choice in making it a fair fight. Not like here and now. This was prettily even matched. Now, if he got Amelia, that would throw the odds in his teams favour greatly.

Just as Gambit was awaiting a response from the older alluring woman, a ray of photon energy struck the object of his flirtation in the shoulder. Amelia pressed a palm over the stinging flesh as she shouted orders at her team. Apparently one or two of them had forgotten who's side they were on... a perfect example of why this exercise was so necessary. He whipped around just in time to see Juggernaut trying a little too hard to pulverize his opposing faction, pretty much ignoring the crossbow fire as he swung meaty fists.

“Perhaps we could form a different sort of team than what you had in mind Gambit... They are all dangerous but if Juggernaut become blinded by Rage’s powers, I don’t know if he’ll be able to stop at all.”

The Cajun hadn't expected any other answer than the one he got from his superior, but he was still a little disappointed. Why spend a good day like this one making war when there was so much potential to make something else? Still, there would be other opportunities.

“Votre perte mon amour. Peut-être un autre temps,” he said with a roguish grin as he spared the woman a glance. He'd gotten the message. 'Quit flirting and get back to work by doing what you can to take out the big guy.' “Tell you what, we win dis thing, and I get a kiss from you. We lose, and you get a kiss from me. Deal?”

Without waiting for a reply, Remy immediately set to work. Staff in one hand, energized cards in the other, he quickly shifted from the rogue womanizer to the team mind-set that had come from his time with the Thieves' Guild and then the X-Men. “Dazzler, you're with me on Juggernaut. I want him down now! Taylor, quit playin defense and get some offense, and quit messin with crossbows.” Raising his staff, he batted three of the projectiles out of the way with an uncanny display of reflexes and speed.

“Dis here's Arcade's ol' hangout. I want the heaviest hittin stuff in this room out here now. Spread cover fire over all three of 'em. Keep 'em off balance,” he shouted as several blades soared past him toward where he had been only moments ago with Amelia; he spared only a glance over his shoulder for the Acolyte, completely confident that she could take care of herself. She was one of the big guy's chosen, after all.

Suddenly, his crimson eyes flashed brilliantly in anger and he stopped dead in his tracks, whipping around to find where she was. That all-too familiar feeling... did she even know what kind of fire she was playing with? What gave her the right to just go messing around in a guy's head. The bitch and her team needed to die... that's all there was to it. His staff landed beside him with a dull clank as he dropped on his hands and knees, eyes focused on the far-off image of the girl responsible for the churning rage in his head. Suddenly, the floor around his hands began to irradiate with fuchsia energy, spreading across its surface at a surprisingly rapid pace. Soon, the entire floor in front of him glowed with kinetic energy. “If that's de way you wanna play it,” Gambit muttered as he began to sweat slightly from the exertion.

Suddenly he jumped to his feet, scooping up his staff in both hands and backed several feet away. “Bonne nuit,” he spat at the rage-bringer, the behemoth, Saint, Dazzler, and Koen. It didn't matter who would be consumed in the fiery explosion, as long as she never messed with his head again.

Dazzler watched as her photon blasts hit Amelia in the shoulder. She reeled back from the impact, and stepped back from Gambit. She didn't realize before, but neither of the two had engaged the other in combat. In fact the only thing they were engaged in was conversation. If Dazzler hadn't been so arrogant about knowing and controlling her powers perhaps she would have remembered that this wasn't a battle royale; it was teamed. Amelia, 1337, Gambit, and herself versus Juggernaut, Rage, and Saint. I'll be paying for that one later, she thought. “Dazzler, Koen we’ll work together against Saint’s teams,” Amelia called as if reminding her.

Immediately moving into action 1337 began controlling the machines of the battlefield. Many crossbows were revealed and shot at Juggernaut. Confetti was tossed into the air, a good distraction tactic, but the goal was to stop Juggernaut, Rage, and Saint; not throw them a birthday party. Two of the five arrows bounced off his metallic armor, but three hit their mark. His face, at least what Dazzler could see through the mask, didn’t even wince in an ounce of pain. The only contortion to it was of anger. Apparently Rage had been living up to her codename and had been amplifying Juggernaut’s anger. Pressing his foot into the ground he quickly charged 1337 and Dazzler. The ground rumbled and buckled around his feet with each thunderous step. “Cover your eyes!” Dazzler yelled to 1337, “Nothing we throw at him will stop him while he’s charging!”

Stepping in front of 1337 Dazzler threw her arms into the air and emitted a bright blinding light. The light was brighter than a flash bulb, but not so intense that it would damage their eyes.. In other words they would be safe without their welding masks. She quickly turned and grabbed Koen by the wrist, and leapt to the side dragging him with her. “Dazzler, you're with me on Juggernaut. I want him down now! Taylor, quit playin defense and get some offense, and quit messin with crossbows,’ Gambit yelled to the two.

Dazzler stood and got her bearings as Juggernaut ran passed her. She held out her hands and fired a few more photon blasts at his back after he passed. It was probably useless, but at least it was something. Soon she saw a deep pink glow emanating around her and several of the others. She knew that glow and knew it wasn’t a good thing. It was the same color as Gambit’s cards turned before he threw them and they exploded. “Shit,” she cursed seeing the glowing floor creating a shield just in time for the explosion.

Dust, shrapnel, and debris scattered throughout the room. Luckily Dazzler’s shield was strong and held up against the attack and she escaped unscathed. She looked at Gambit standing looking smug and cocky with the feat he just pulled. “What the hell is wrong with you?!” She demanded stalking toward him, “Are you trying to kill us all?”

Seeing his face she quickly realized that he had become Rage’s second victim of her attacks. Dazzler immediately began emitting a change glow of blue, green, and yellow hues. She didn’t know exactly if her powers would counteract Rage’s or not, but if they could Gambit would soon feel himself start to calm and have a feeling of inner peace. “Snap out of it,” she said.

“Tell you what, we win dis thing, and I get a kiss from you. We lose, and you get a kiss from me. Deal?” Gambit asked.

Amelia spared a second to crack a smile. The devil had his charms. Before she could reply to him with a witty yet slightly suggestive remark, the Cajun bounded off to tend to the task at hand. Gambit barked out some suggestions to their team. That was a good idea. Koen had utilized some of the traps left over from the Arcade’s tenure of Murderworld but Amelia was sure that there were more dangerous weapons with a bit more stopping power than crossbows. It was a nice try but with Juggernaut they could probably push the envelope a little bit more.

Amelia surveyed the “arena”. She looked around to see that Rage’s eyes were bleeding red, she was using her power against someone and the Juggernaut was charging. The red head’s eyes came to Saint, her fellow Acolyte. He grinned and threw two handfuls of his blades. They set sail through the air straight for her. She reacted quickly by making herself go into the gaseous state. As a vapor she was nearly invulnerable to damage. As an extra stroke, she teleported Saint across the room to her previous position in the direct path of the blades.

Amelia dashed across the room closer to Dazzler and Koen, leaving Saint to deal with the consequences of his blades. She reformed and then realized that the floor was glowing strangely pink. Gambit was using his powers to charge the floor. Rage must have been using her powers on Gambit. The section of the floor was going to detonate any moment. Dazzler threw her shield up to protect them from the blast. Amelia reverted back to the gaseous state. Debris flew through the air and smoke swirled around them.

Dazzler lowered the shield and began to emit some lights, they had a calming effect. Amelia wondered if they would do anything against the outright onslaught of the rage bringer’s assault. Still a vapor, she sailed across the room and rematerialized next to Rage. Amelia didn’t get physical very often. She usually restrained from violence. She drew back her fist and punched Rage in the jaw. Rage had a good strategy, she could enrage one of her opponents, Gambit in this case, and he would take out the entire team. Not today.

[Saint gave me permission to teleport him]