Back in Black (Open To All)

[Rory Ashe]

[Post at your own risk]

It had been eight months, eight long months since the man known collectively as "The Phantom" by the media had made his residence in New York. At first he seemed to be another simple mutant hoodlum, causing trouble, and mostly being mischevious. After only a couple months though, his intentions became clear and his actions took a darker side. People started turning up dead, missing, and panic began to spread as all were connected to this suited menace.

In the last few months he had become a well known name after directly engaging an armed SWAT team, and last month after blowing up two buildings. Now he was being called a terrorist, and rumors spread that he had a whole group of mutants working for him. Rumors also spread that he was working with the militant force that had attacked Colorado several months ago. Either way, throughout New York there was a hushed word on everybodies lips, spoken with both fear and intrigue; Phantom.

In a hotel in downtown New York, several policemen ran up a flight of stairs, crashing through the doors of the twentieth floor only to see a man with a completely dark suit disappear into the stairwell on the far end of the hall. The officers gave chase, tired, but somewhat happy as they realized the stairs only went to one place, the rooftop. They finally had him, he had no where to run now.

The burst through the doors onto the rooftop, the sun glaring in their eyes. Standing in the middle of the roof, facing them, was a man wearing a body covering, armored suit. He almost looked alien in it, though it fit tightly to every curve of his muscle, making him truly look like an imposing alien of some sort.

The officers all pulled out there guns, "You got no where to go now, do you dirt bag? Put your hands in the air asshole, or we'll pump you so full of holes I swear it..." The winded and angry officer yelled. The man simply stood there though, arms at his side, staring at them quietly. Suddenly, the radio came to life on one of the officers chests.

"Come in A company, we got a gun chopper from the army reserves headed up to you now, he's at the tenth floor, east side coming up fast."

Behind his mask, the man smiled. It was disappointing they were so bent on catching him that they failed to notice the dead Agents bodies in the hotel, but that was the price he had to pay for taking this road. Without another moment of wasted time, the suited man turned and sprinted toward the edge of the building.

"Son of a... STOP HIM!" Immediately, all the officers opened fire, but it was too late. The Phantom leapt off the side of the building, arms out in a perfect swan dive, then began freefalling.

Somewhere around the fifteenth floor, he saw his target, the gunship. Using the webbing under the arms of his suit, he made his way toward it as he free falled, suddenly slamming into the side of the hulking beast before they realized what had happened. Now, Rory wasn't exactly a light man, and in his suit weighed drastically more, and with the speed of his impact he caused the entire chopper to spin slightly as it lost control.

"[Green]DAMNIT! HE'S ON US! I REPEAT, TARGET HAS BREACHED THE CHOPPER... HE'S...[/color]" The pilots communication was knocked out suddenly as he was ripped from his sea, as well as the gunner, and tossed out of the hole Rory made in the side of the aircraft.

He quickly set down in the seat, trying to gain control of the aircraft, and couldn't help but notice the armament of the helicopter. Several missiles, standard weapons, one that caught his eye though was a 50. Caliber turret mounted on the front. These boys were loaded for bear, but it was far to late to gain control. The Helicopter crashed onto main street, the impact causing the missiles to detonate. A fiery plume rose into the sky as several more helicopters filled the air, mostly news and police surveillence units.

The front of the crash became surrounded with cops and SWAT in almost second, all out of their cars with guns trained on the wreckage.

"No way he lived through that... I think we finally got this bastard." One of the swat officers said.

"Wait... I see movement, there in the smoke. Get ready to fire!... We have you surrounded, there is now way out of here... Phantom... Give up." All guns were immediately raised to the hazy figure coming out of the wreckage.

Slowly he stepped, armor scarred by the explosion revealing a little skin, but in seconds the armor seemed to... Repair itself? He was limping, but obviously still alive whoever it was.

"...What's that he's got in his hands?" The SWAT officer yelled again.

As the smoke cleared and fully revealed Rory, in his right hand he appeared to be holding a large metal tube with a string of wires running from it back to the wrecked. He lifted it up, revealing six long barrels, and in the next second a deafening sound filled the air as the barrels began to spin. Fire and bullets screamed out of every cylinder, Rory's entire body shaking viciously as he turned the gun on the line of cop cars. Bullets shredded through the cars, tearing several to pieces, blowing up one, and causing everyone to run screaming. Rory slowly turned the firing gun into the sky and onto one of the surveillence helicopters, leaving the news chopper running for his own purposes.

The bullets ripped through the cab of the helicopter and tore off it's blades, in seconds the fiery hunk of metal came crashing to the ground. Just in time as well, Rory's newly acquired gun continued to spin, but began clicking... empty.

Slowly he dropped it to his feet, glancing over the torn cop cars, destroyed helicopter, and a few bodies here and there. Casualties of war, if only they knew why Rory was doing this, they would thank him. A few lives lost was worth sparing the world of destruction. He turned his eyes to the sky, the visor of his helmet scanning the horizen for something.

"Come on... I know you had to have heard that... Where are you?" Rory asked himself quietly, his notable Irish accent gone under the helmet. It wasn't the cops he was waiting for, it was something more dangerous that he knew would come for him, they had to come for him. Otherwise all of this was a waste of time, if they didn't hurry though, he would have to run before more cops came... Time would only tell what happened next, perhaps today would be the day New York saw their true attackers.

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

Ah, New York. The center of all things evil at the moment, or so everyone kept saying. All Freya ever really heard nowadays about the place was 'Phantom this', 'Phantom that'. All anyone seemed to care about was the menace known only as Phantom. Freya on the other hand? Well, up until now she didn't seem like she'd cared all that much. She went to the city plenty of times during the terrorists reign of terror and never once had a run in with him. And with Freya? If she didn't see you up to something, she usually just ignored you. Sadly... Today she wasn't allowed to ignore him.

Live coverage of the latest attack was all over the news. And at the school? Just about every student who thought themselves to be capable were itching to go try to stop it. As you can imagine that didn't sit to well with any of the adults, and when the came across a few students actually trying to sneak out.... Well Freya had had enough. She volunteered to go, but made it very clear she only did this so none of the idiotic students got themselves killed.

With her power, it was easy to travel. What was normally an hour and a half drive turned into a ten minute flight. The streak of fire that encased her dropped onto a rooftop that oversaw the scene.... It was a disaster. Rarely did you see destruction like this, even for someone like Freya who practically lived on the battle field! And all from one man, who hadn't even been proven to be a mutant! She didn't know if she should be shocked or impressed!

Up on the roof, Freya sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She really wasn't in much of a mood for this, but she'd rather be the one here then a bonehead student trying to play hero. Still, the man, Phantom.... Was just standing there? As if waiting for something. Well, he could just be waiting for another challenger to step forward. He'd already taken care of the police after all.

Using her power once more, she dropped to the ground, arms folded and head tilted. The streets were clear of all life.... Except for her and the terrorist. "I only have one question. After all you've done today, all you do is stand there? What are you hoping to accomplish?" If only she knew just who this terrorist really was....

[/justify]

[mairead]

When someone tells you there's a terrorist making a mess of New York, most normal people would cower in fear. At the school though... It seemed every capable individual was armed to go in ten seconds. Sadly, this happened to be a school, and so, even if they thought they were capable, most of the individuals happened to be students itching for a fight.

This left quite a dilemma for the X-men. Who to send out to try and stop the destruction, and who to stay and make sure trigger happy students didn't try to play Hero. It was no surprise that Freya Elensar had volunteered to go when she saw the commotion the students were causing. Most everyone even seemed to think that Freya would be enough. After all, Freya was an Elensar! There weren't that many people around that could stand toe to toe with anyone from that bloodline! Still, a few doubted. Finally, it was decided a few X-men would go, just as a precaution..... And Mairead was one of those ordered into the support team.

They took the helicopter, seeing as the Jet wouldn't be.... well overkill was the best word. The team consisted of four X-men, including Mairead. Who the others were? Well, Mairead didn't seem to know, nor care! She hadn't given them a glance since they left the school. They made good time, arriving around the time Freya had gone down from the safety of the roof to 'converse' with the terrorist. Why she bothered to do that.... No one knew. Freya did the most peculiar things sometimes, even in the most serious of situations!

The helicopter landed just beyond the destruction, hopefully far enough away that it wouldn't be damaged if a fight did break out. Mairead didn't wait with the others, disappearing from the landing helicopter and reappearing a short distance from Freya and the man in black, an annoyed scowl on her face. "I thought he was a terrorist. What the hell is he doing, just standing there?"

[/justify]

[Rory Ashe]

As soon as there was a bit of movement behind Rory, the screen on his visor flashed red at the edges, causing him to slowy turn around and face the disturbance. When he did so he found a woman standing there, a red head. Attractive, and obviously a mutant. She looked... Far more familiar than she should have. The visor zoomed on her face, causing a screen to come up showing a picture of her with words "Freya Elensar" below. Of course Rory had heard of her but, he felt as though he knew her as more than a face and name.

Not a second after she touched down another girl, younger by the looks of it, ran beside her. Rory immediately recognized the X-Men suits. Great, he was fishing for sharks and just caught a couple minnows. This isn't what he wanted and they would likely scare off what he was really after.

Rory slowly glanced from side to side, "After all I've done today? You say that as if I am done for the day." The voice that came out of the suit was smooth, and low, almost metallic sounding.

"Terrorist... Most call me that yes. But I am after a higher purpose than this. Look around you, what I did to your precious city's "finest" in only minutes." The voice said, a bit of obvious distaste at the word 'finest'. "Leave her now, or I will kill you both, your presence may ruin everything I have been trying to do and I will have killed these people for nothing." He slowly turned around to face the horizen again, though mentally he was counting.

If they didn't leave, or made even a slight movement, he would have no choice to attack. This isn't what he wanted, but if he had to do it, he would.

[Freya Elensar Ashe]

In those moments of silence.... Freya just looked bored. Truly she didn't look like she had any interest in this. But.... Seeing as everyone back at the school was 'counting' on her, it wasn't like she could just walk away. Not to mention he had killed innocents. Freya could be heartless, but that was one thing she couldn't turn her back to.

Freya shrugged at the comment she got in return. Of course she didn't recognize the voice. It barely even sounded human! "Well, that's up to you. But in case you aren't done... Well isn't that why I'm here?" One of her eyebrows raised, as if asking if this was really necessary. "Personally, I'd rather not be here, so if you don't mind, just get on with it." It was almost like she was.... taunting him? It might not seem like it from her words, but it definitely sounded like it.

All the while, Mairead seemed to be hanging back, not really trying to be a contender in this little chat. She didn't see why Freya did this. Why Freya always did this, even when she wasn't in the mood! "Hey, I'm only here if she-" Mairead nodded towards Freya "needs help. So as long as she isn't going anywhere, it's not like the rest of us are." The younger woman had moved out of the way a little more, off to where the other members of the team were gathered.

Freya meanwhile hadn't moved all that much, just stood there, arms folded lightly, until after Mairead had gotten out of the way. When she had.... Freya just shrugged. "If it means anything, I didn't even know they were coming." A short pause. "Either way, you've made a mess and ended up killing innocent bystanders. No matter what you were trying to achieve, I can't just step aside." Suddenly.... She looked serious. Still bored, yes, but serious enough that you might actually think she wasn't playing with you.

[/justify]

[cain]

How dare she. How dare she do this to me!

It was a constant thought in his head as he walked down the streets of New York. Shadow had banished him from the island, and no sooner had she done this, she destroyed his lab and all his research. He was so angry he even killed a few of his experiments and left a few injured. He stormed down the streets, his eyes scanning the area for a certain element he could use. He wanted to wreak havoc, destroy the one city that still held a constand thorn in his side. Good old New York.

His attention, however, was soon diverted when he noticed a Helicopter spinning out of control and crashing onto the city streets. People began running in all directions as dead silence followed, and a loud whining afterwards. A cruel smile grew on his face as the sound of gun fire began. Who ever was causing problems in New York was obviously worth his attention, especially when the X-Men arrived as well as...no...Freya Elensar? Didn't he kill her.

A cruel chuckle began to form, soon replaced by an evil laughter that no doubt could be heard over the silence. He slowly walked towards the wreckage, stepping through the mass of dead bodies, shattered metal, bullets and fire. That same cold smile and hatred in his eyes was kept as he looked around at the small meeting of mutants, who surrounded a man in black armor and held what looked like a mini machine-gun.

"Well, well, well. Here I am taking a stroll through the city and look who I find. A band of wannabe heroes," a look at the X-Men, "A figure who seems to enjoy mystery as well as carnage" a look to the suited figure, "and dear Freya Elensar. My, my you do look good for being dead. Correct me if I'm mistaken, but last I saw you, you were bleeding to death in France after your attempts to kill me. Ah...good times indeed."

[Rory Ashe]

An audible sigh was let out of the whatever was inside the metal suit. Slowly, the Phantom turned around to face Freya. Finally his entire suit was clearly visible to her, darkened metal encased... Who knows what. It was hard to tell, from his actions and from his words, most assumed he was human... Or at least partially human. On the front of the black helmet was a roughly painted skull of splattered white paint, the eyes of the skull matching up with the eyes of the helmet. It seemed that Rory and Freya were alone now.

Slowly he raised a hand and pointed a metal clawed finger at the red head, "Leave now... You have no idea do you, no idea of what the bigger picture really is..." Rory said with his clear, metallic voice. It was suddenly obvious that he wasn't exactly the terrorist the media made him out to be. Either that, or perhaps by "bigger picture" the man meant something like "destroying New York".

Before anything else could be done or said however, a third player entered the game. Rory jerked his head towards the new arrival, a picture of the mans face coming up on the screen of Rory's helmet. By the mans face came the words "Cain Milena". Immediately the visor turned read and at the top of Rory's screen came a single large red word; "THREAT". This only annoyed him though, he wanted the Agency to come here, not some second-rate super villian.

Maybe this was a blessing in disguise however. The Agency had never attacked Cain or his men, and vice versa. If there was any chance they could ever work together, it would be a recipe for the worlds destruction. Not to mention, Cain was already a problem to the world.

"Ugh, what do you know. I was fishing for a shark, and I caught a minnow..." Rory said somewhat cryptically, "You are not who I wanted to show up, but your blood will do I suppose"

Rory glanced around at his feet, noticing a piece of rebar from the destroyed building to his right, at his feet. Slowly he picked it up, then squeezed the end of the thin metal bar, forming it into a wicked point. Then without warning, launched it like a spear toward Cain's heart. Rory didn't attack Freya yet however, and seemed to completely ignore her. She was not a threat to him, and had not engaged him, so she was not worth his time to attack... yet.

[cain]

"I do apologize, but I just love being the uninvited guest."

The sarcasm in Cain's voice was more than a little evident. What he didn't expect was the speed and strength of the man, who managed to lift a large metal "spear" from the nearby wreckage and throw it at him like a common straw. His eyes widened as he quickly dodged the weapon, but not before it scraped along his arm, causing a large gash in the cloth and skin. He gave a small yell and held the bleeding wound, looking at the figure in obvious hate.

"I wasn't in a killing mood, but for you I'll make a willing acception!"

It was his turn to grab onto something, and what he grabbed was the blade from the helicopters propellor. As he touched it, his body changed to the same material, allowing him to lift the entire wreckage with ease.

"Die!"

He threw it at the man and took off right behind it, making sure he was able to hit the figure one way or another. His arms forming into blades, he lept over the projectile, waiting to see if the man lept into the air, knowing there would be a hit from either him or his weapon.