A Bear of a Time: Mesomorph Park

[Cptdragon9]

Brimstone was doing his level best to lay in as many shots as he could without hitting the flying nun… mage… dragoon.. whatever the heck that chick was. He finally had to give up with the barrage of ordinance and settle for attempting to pick off the stragglers buzzing around the outside edge of the field of engagement.

Then he heard the commotion behind him, watching a bear being shot out the back of the building (the one that had tried to go for Ashmire and was summarily rejected by a ward). That when he saw both Sara and Megan down. “Teeth and Toenails, how did she get out?” he swore as he tromped over to where the heir apparent had crumbled. He could smell it, that weird electrical odor that came from brushing against magical wards. Clearly Megan had clumped right into one and fried herself.

Well, at least she wasn’t charging into battle.

He then turned his attention towards Sara, wince a moment as another bear slammed into the ward above him, sending a spray of what could have been battle aura, or maybe something more celestial in nature; accompanied with a puff of fur as the bear’s skin seemed to roll and distort before the bear dropped to the ground, sliding down the length of the magical barrier.

Man, they sure were determined. BS’s gaze rolled towards the house where Ashmire had been left unconscious. Were all these bears just for Ashmire? Or did they have a general hard-on for all things mutant. The last batch did seemed a bit more determined to unhorse… er… un-dragon him in the last engagement. Somehow this was one theory he really didn’t want to test.

Instead he checked Sara’s pulse, noticing it was a bit shallow and rapid, and she’d broken out in a cold sweat. Too much excitement. Poor kid (though she wasn’t quite a kid anymore, not for a while now). He eased an arm under the Soothsayer, then inched his other arm around Megan, lifting them both up and carrying them into the house, leaving the battle to the Vashtalian guards.

It wasn’t going to be much longer. There were fewer and fewer bears buzzing about, but that didn’t seem to diminish their resolve as they continued to zip around, dishing it out as well as they took it, filling the skies with a flurry of laser-driven eyebeams.

[Solem'cleavu]

((seems like as good a place as any to wrap it up especially since there were few bears to begin with))

Between the barrier that was erected around the house and the efforts of the security forces stationed at the ranch it was no small feat that by the time the pursuit forces arrived the last bear was being chased down and destroyed. Arturia herself standing on top of the barrier and looking around when the lead soldier in the pursuit group shifted to his humanoid form and landed next to the young Dragoon trainee. The girl just looking up at the taller man before she nodded. "Captain, seems you got here just a second too late we didn't leave anything for you. However I would like your team to begin patrolling the general area just in case another group of those things is coming in from a different direction."

The captain simply nodded back to her before he headed back up and relayed the orders to the others. In the meantime a hole opened up in the barrier below her feet and she just lowered herself down below it, the hole closing above her. Once Arturia had made it to the ground she made her way back inside the house to check on everyone.

[Cptdragon9]

Brimstone whipped about when he heard the front door open, a gun already in hand (a testament to just how quick mutants really were when they weren’t beat up, drugged, or otherwise diminished in capacity), but reholstered the piece when he saw it was that dragoon chick Arturia. “Think we’re gonna need a coupla healers here. I think Sara’s pushed herself and Megan.. Well I think she fried herself on one of the wards.” He gave a derisive sniff towards Ashmire. “He should be okay. I just shut him down fer a few.” The idea that he was strong-arming Megan mentally left a bad taste in his mouth. Not that he hadn’t pulled the same stunt himself, and probably for the same reasons; but it still raised his hackles whenever the kid tried asserting himself like that. Probably why they didn’t get along too well to begin with.

He then stood up, a thought crossing his mind. “Better check on the perimeter too. If them bears got in, some of Megan’s live stock might have gotten out. We don’t need the locals pissed off at her right outta the gate.”

[Solem'cleavu]

Arturia simply nodded a bit to Brimstone before giving a loud whistle out the door. Shortly afterwards two of the priestesses on duty would be in the building and moving to take care of both Sara and Megan. In the meantime the dragoon had made her way over to Blue before gently nudging his side with her boot. "Wake up little one the battle's over." The white armor clad girl then looked back over to Brimstone as he seemed to start making his way outside. "There hasn't been any breaches to the were-rabbit pen and the scouts reported earlier that none of the little critters have escaped. You can relax for a bit Brimstone."

[Star]

::Blue came awake with a groan as he squinted up at the girl before he stood up and gave a feline like stretch before stretching his wings and shaking his reptilian head. He saw Grandpa Brimstone and bounded over to see how he could help. He wasnt too concerned about his father. He knew his father could handle himself. He was a little out of sorts over the fact that Rozalina had knocked him out of the action without any problem and the knowledge of his inherent weakness made him frown even as he trotted up beside Brimstone.:::

[Cptdragon9]

"There haven’t been any breaches to the were-rabbit pen and the scouts reported earlier that none of the little critters have escaped. You can relax for a bit Brimstone."

He did, giving a long sigh as he let some of the tension out of his shoulders, the whole effect looking as if he were deflating; before holstering the gun and turning back to tend to Ashmire. Yeah, the punk-ass kid was tough; but mutants Did have their limits, and with a temperamental ice dragon for a mate and a whole gaggle of kids gnawing on him, coupled with a feminist killer robot for a bodyguard, well BS might have felt a tiny smidge of compassion.

So he kicked the prone body with a steel-toe boot. “Geddup,” he grunted. “Quit slackin’,”

The body merely groaned.

(Blue) saw Grandpa Brimstone and bounded over to see how he could help.

“Hey kid,” Brimstone softly grunted, scratching the dragonette under the chin. “Ya did pretty good too. Ya just got a little too excited. Take after yer ma.” He gave a slight nod towards the blade, already feeling the ebb and flow between the duo (clearly an emotional link) “Ya know yer Auntie’s got…” then he realized why they were here. “Oh. You know already. Good. Auntie Megan needs a peer group.” He craned his neck around as he watched the womenfolk being tended. “Yep. You’ll fit right in.” He then turned and booted Ashmire harder with the boot, most likely leaving a good sized bruise, but only getting a louder grunt out of the prone form….

[Star]

::Blue looked at his dad before he grinned and said with much excitement.."Allow me." Blue began jumping up and down on Ashmire's back and calling out.."Hey Dad! Wake up Dad! Daddy get up!!, Come on Dad! Lets go play with the bears Daddy! Come on lets go!!" He was grinning clearly enjoying himself...."Come on!" Blue then hit Ashmire's feet with a fire dart...."I said Get up!"... The drake then bouced off and watched with satisfaction as he dad dealt with the flames now marching up towards his pants' leg. "He will ge tup he heals rather quickly, I didnt do as bad as momma does, she is fercious the one female I will bow down too." Blue was certainly a different breed as he didnt like to bow down to the women and in some instances faced down his big sister Bonnie. He usually got his hide slammed around by Dante for it because Bonnie was the leader and Dante was the muscle so Blue had to find other ways to get free of those two. and he was doing a damn good job of getting by on his own.:::::

[Solem'cleavu]

Watching Ashmire deal with his pants being on fire, while amusing, left Arturia hoping that Blue's little stunt wouldn't end up setting the place on fire. Just in case though she did mutter a bit under her breath causing a blob of water to form above Ashmire however for the time being she simply held it there against the chance that it was either needed or not needed. In the meantime though she herself walked over to blue, leaning down a bit to pat him on the shoulder. "Brimstone's right Blue, you get too worked up and when you do that you start becoming reckless. That was why I had gotten after you earlier and why we tried to get you out of the picture earlier for which I suppose I will need to thank your blade for the assist in that matter.

I will put in a request with both Lord Dracon and the Colonel to transfer back to the Militant base as one of your combat instructors. It is clear that they don't seem to be teaching you the control you need to learn in order to fight effectively. Besides it would seem Dante is getting that training directly from Lord Clawrift and is already making great strides in that area so if you have any hope of being a match for him you will need training in that area as well."

[Star]

::Blue immedietly snapped to attention as Arturia spoke to him and he blushed a dark shade of red when she mentioned thanking his blade. when she mentione dhaving them both transfred back to the militant base he prayed for divine intervention and they got shipped right back. He missed Maurice and the Colonel and the strict routine. He was one that needed to know his schedule and have strict guidelines to follow are as Arturia has so clearly pointed out he became a loose cannon. The fact that she wanted to train him herself was something to look forward to and so he nodded and snapped her a smart salute. "Yes Ma'am, I will follow your orders. place me where ever you want me.".. He understood that play time was now over as Rozalina also understood and began to sing a battle hymn.::::

[Cptdragon9]

Ashmire’s groans deepened as Blue took up the cause to rouse his father.

Of course he hadn’t expected to get backhanded by anyone, his full attention had been on getting Megan under control. Apparently somebody had taken offense to his mode and method. As his brain slowly surfaced, he could register the complainant now and it all made perfect sense. Brimstone had never seen eye to eye with his mode and methods, especially when it came to his occupation (which Ashmire found totally hypocritical knowing that his tutor had been trained as a sniper and assassin in his day), but clearly Ashmire had crossed a line when using his talent (again way hypocritical knowing his mentor used the selfsame tactics as his bread and butter.

So Ash had expected the inquisition from Brimstone. What he hadn’t expected was to find his britches on fire. He suddenly was jerked away as searing pain burned into his flesh, making the mutant writhe and holler as he tried to extinguish the flames by slapping himself, then rolling on the floor, charring the hand-woven wool rug that Megan had probably paid a pretty penny for.

(and... it's Ash Wed!!!!)

[Cptdragon9]

Brimstone fully understood the undertaking it took to train a mutant. They weren’t exactly a tractable breed, and most of the Militant’s methods up to now included the use of drugs and intense aversion and psycho-therapy. Not exactly the most conducive to a happy healthy learning environment. Still it seemed that the Colonel had tried to incorporate the mutants into what constituted as “normal” learning situations, which was lots of classroom studies, application, and field training. In short: boring.

Perhaps having a Dragoon in attendance would help.

He turned to Arturia. “Ya might wanna see if you c’n find the older Shrike. She went through the program. She might have some insight on keepin’ ‘em in line too.” He hadn’t seen the metallo-morph in some time and assumed that she was working in earnest with the Militants, getting them safe and secure in their new digs.

[Solem'cleavu]

Arturia sighed as she released the spell keeping the blob of water afloat letting it pour over Ashmire and putting out the flames. She did nod to Blue though and chuckled at his reaction, motioning to him while she looked at Brimstone. "You see Brimstone, why couldn't he be like that last time I saw him at the militant camp?" Kneeling down a bit so that she was eye level with the little mutant. "If it's one thing you must learn is that Military life is very structured. There is no room for the little temper tantrums you were having the last time I saw you at the militant camp and the one you tried to have during this last battle. You let your emotions get the better of you you're as good as dead in battle. Follow the orders you are given and only question your superiors when a particular order is given that you know will prove counter to the mission at hand. We will go over this in more detail later."

Standing back up then before she started thinking about Brimstone's suggestion, nodding a bit afterwards. "If I see her I'll ask if she wishes to help with the training but to be honest I hadn't seen her at all myself the last time I was over at the base."

[Star]

::Blue sighed unhappily as he was spoken to about his emotional uphevals and his temper tantrums and even though he saluted and said yes ma'am the heart seemed to go out in him and he shuffled off his head down and his shoulders slumped as though he had been reprimanded. He found an area off in a far field where no one was about and making targets out of some of the dead bears lying around he let the countryside turn an eerie blue as he let his breath weapon loose, he needed to think and sort stuff out so he made sure the bears were nice and barbecued before he grabbed a few hunks and trotted off to eat and think as he sunned himself in a field of clovers surrounded by mutant bunnies.::::::

[Cptdragon9]

The mutant bunnies had originally scattered when Blue was torching the fields, but once the young dragon had settled down to sun himself, they timidly stretched out, tiny pink noses twitching and wrinkling when they caught his scent. It took one brave hare to hop out into the sunlight, followed by a second and third. Soon the mutant was accompanied by a whole trace of rabbits that were casually grazing around him, occasionally cautiously sniffing him. One seemed intent on licking his toenails, apparently finding a bit of salt to his liking. One would never know that these cute little bunnies transformed into carnivorous killer gigantic 8 ft tall were-rabbits every turn of the full moon.

[Cptdragon9]

While Brimstone and Arturia talked “shop”, Megan finally awoke from her own “hair raising” encounter with the magical wards. The heir apparent wasn’t a morning person to begin with (even though it was after noon by this point) and she was in the depressive loop of her manic-depressive personality. It was a general handicap of most mutants; one that was a side note to having been trained for battle and having a super-charged system. Not everything was going to be perfect and mental stability was not necessarily necessary when genetically constructing a super soldier.

Needless to say, when she found herself blinking in the light on her back, her brain still in a bit of a swirl with not all neurons firing in sequence, and with strangers hanging over her, she reacted predictably; which is to say she took a swing at them before she tried to roll away. She ended up rolling off the cot and landing roughly face first on the floor. That didn’t seem to stop her as she finally got her feet under her. Twisting once more to make a broad swing to keep back whoever was operating on her, she stumbled towards the door in escape mode….

[Solem'cleavu]

The priestesses of course knew the routine seeing as how either one of the two of them are usually filling in at the castle's infirmary wing when Serenity is out and about. So when Megan woke up and started flailing about they both stepped out of the way and let her "escape". Instead they just followed Megan out the door and towards where Brimstone and Arturia were mostly to make sure Megan didn't end up hurting herself. At least they were still on the first floor.

[Cptdragon9]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

It was Brimstone that caught her as she stumbled blindly out of the building. Of course he could hear her crashing into walls and tables, sending everything flying, so merely stood to the side of the doorway and snaked and hand down to grab her about the collar and heft her up. He was also tall enough to do so and hold her at a length where she could flail about and not hit anyone, mainly him. It was like hold a wet pissed-off tomcat by the nape of the neck. He even got a nice later of spit strewn on him to further equate the image.

“Will you calm down?” he asked, holding her up as if she were last week’s garbage, trying to avoid the twisting limbs. When it seemed she wouldn’t, he sighed and squinted his eyes. She suddenly went limp and he then swung her so he could sweep and arm under her, cradling her in his arms. “Teeth and Talons. She really should switch to decaf.”

……

Sara’s awakening was less dramatic. Granted she was a bit apprehensive, waking up in unfamiliar settings, but she unlike her best friend, she didn’t spaz. In fact once she spotted the badged insignia denoting the Vashtalian healer in attendance, she relaxed; the images of Tristan and the horrors he represented fading quickly to the background. She couched her head a bit, feeling the familiar pain when she overtaxed herself before trying to sit up.

Her body thought that was a very bad idea and she had to resign herself to laying back down on the cot. She looked up at one of the healers. “Is the site secure?” she managed to murmur with quite a bit of effort.

[Solem'cleavu]

The priestess that was attending to Sara simply nodded as she got a cup of water and placed it on the table next to Sara. "Yes it is and I would like to be the first to thank you for assisting our forces in this matter. However you didn't have to push yourself so much as you are still recovering from your past ordeals."

[Cptdragon9]

“Megan was in trouble. There was no other option. I am her Soothsayer, by Tooth and Talon, and her friend. She needed me.” The girl slowly sat up again, trying to shake away the pain and cobwebs.

　

And failing badly. She ended up laying back down on the cot again before looking about, squinting past the pounding pain. “Besides I don’t think I did much to help. Where IS she?”

　

“Right ‘ere,” Brimstone replied as he carried the limp heir apparent back to the temporary triage. “Ya’ll know I’m still for that daily tranquilizer therapy, right? Someday she’s really gonna hurt herself.” He once again gently placed her back on her empty bed before turning to the others. “Is that it? Did we get ‘em all?”

[Solem'cleavu]

The priestess just sighed as she flicked Sara's forehead lightly. "I'm not talking about when you cast your initial barrier you did a fine job protecting your friend until some of us could get there to help you. What I'm saying is that you did not have to push yourself when you went on the attack since you are still recovering and do not have efficient control over your magic just yet. Now you just lay there and rest and let us take care of things." The woman just sighed a bit once Brimstone came in and dropped Megan into the empty bed. "there are no more threats in the area Sir Brimstone. However there are reports of another force attacking one of the Rhydinian coastal cities which is quickly getting under control itself now that Lady Melissa on there."

[Cptdragon9]

Brimstone rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Bees in a bonnet. Bruin tempest in a teapot. Why does it seem like my little mountain was stuffed to the gills with them things? Hopefully they didn’t maul anyone too badly.” He could well imagine the litany of lawsuits pending against him, what with him seeming to house such dangerous creatures (unbeknownst to him, of course; but that mattered little in a courtroom setting).

Instead he shouldered the long muzzled weapon, the tip still smoldering from overuse. “Well we should go lend a hand then.” He pointed at Sara immediately, even as she shifted in her cot to attempt to stand. “Oh no you don’t. I need you here to keep Her in her seat. She’ll listen to you at least… mostly.”

If Sara had taken any sort of affront to BS taking up the mantle of mutant in charge, she didn’t reply. Instead she lay back down in the cot. Besides she couldn’t do much else as the room kept spinning every time she did any sort of effort.

BS nodded then turned away a moment, wondering how Power Girl was handling the homefront….

[Cptdragon9]

Ashmire was pretty much keeping quiet, though he was quite attentive to the conversations around him, probably absorbing the gossip and bit of information for use later on; probably to save his own hide from eminent destruction.

But now that the excitement was over…

“Blue!” he called out, seeing the mutant dragon child becoming the focus of Megan miscreant mini-monsters. “We should be getting back ta Mom. Looks like its over for now anyhow. We should let the girls rest. Maybe we can come back later and you can rub shoulders with Auntie Megan when she’s feelin’ better.”

[Solem'cleavu]

((speaking of where is Power Girl? Still apparently busy with other stuff or did she quit playing on these boards?))

"I wouldn't bother assisting the forces in that coastal city Brimstone." Arturia had spoke up then, the lady having followed Brimstone to the makeshift infirmary. "Just got word from Lady Onyx, they're pretty much done over there already as they only got a handful of those bears left to take care of. They would be finished and gone by the time you got there so not much point in going."

[Star]

::Blue heard his father call his name and he got up and changing forms he hiked back to the house having to shoo the rabbits away from around his feet so they wouldnt trip him. he jumped over the fence and walked up to the house.."I am right here Dad!, We leavin?"... Blue was sitting there looking like a black-haired version of Ashmire, he even had the insolent slouch going for him as he waited for his dad to wrap up hatever family business he was currently involved in. He was tired he wanted some food and about a 4 hour nap once they got back to whereever in the hell they were going.:::

[Cptdragon9]

(actually haven’t seen Powergirl on any board for a while. I sent a line out to see what’s up…)

Brimstone nodded shallowly taking in stride that the bruin outbreak had been finally contained. Okay he wasn’t the one that had put the bears in the volcano, but he had inadvertently helped released them. Plus he wasn’t at all comfortable with the death toll. It wasn’t their fault that they were bred to be hyperactive bad-guy hunters. In that measure they were much like the mutants themselves; born to fight.

“Well as soon as I can catch a lift from somebody, I think I need to get back to the bar and assess the damages. Kara’s probably worried sick about me too, bless her heart.”