Veridian Under Siege

[ngm_villains]

Time: 11:00 am Friday
Where: Veridian Dynamics
Who: Purifiers, Vargas, Marcelo, Sage, possibly others
What: The Purifiers have chosen to make a statement, and Marcelo's corporation is the unfortunate target.
Warnings: Possible violent content.

The time had come for the Crusade to make a big statement, to show its power and purpose to a world that seemed drifting towards damnation. The Brethren had made their orders, and Vargas was to lead a handpicked group of Purifiers in an assault on a major corporate power that had aligned itself with the mutant curse. Originally, Vargas had insisted they assault Shaw Industries directly but it had been vetoed by the Brethren on the grounds that Shaw Industries was a virtual fortress, possessed not only of defences but of actual weapons systems that would likely have turned any effort at attack into a bloody debacle, let alone the presence of numerous powerful mutants, but also because Veridian was an international corporation and the effects of the attack would echo beyond the borders of the United States.

They would make the approach by two directions, one from underground, blasting into the subbasements of Veridian and the other from the ground, approaching in an armoured helicopter. The attack from the ground would be directed by twenty armoured Purifiers, men equipped with heavy weaponry and armour proof against all but the strongest of attacks. From the air would descend another twelve, modern-day Disciples and Apostles, armed the same but made up of the most experienced and capable members of the organization, all former military men, mostly former special forces. Along with them would go Vargas himself, brandishing the blade he'd found many years ago, near the beginning of his personal war against the forces of genetic corruption.

Though he was the commander of this mission, he knew that in the end, he was naught but a servant, a faithful slave to the One True God, the Lord of Hosts. He had spent the journey to the Veridian Dynamics tower in prayer and contemplation, eagerly imploring the Lord's blessing in what they had to do. Their misson was to make a wreckage of Veridian Dynamics and seize Marcelo Alencar da Silva as a hostage. Vargas would have preferred that he be made a bloody example of, but the Brethren were wise and believed he had value as a hostage. Getting Veridian, the most important company to so far subscribe to the Shaw girl's blasphemous drive to accept mutants into the body politic to abandon the plans and getting rid of a prominent mutant sympathsizer to Brazil would be victories. He would trust his masters, both Earthly and Heavenly. He was a soldier, pledging his sword for Father, Son and Holy Spirit. To doubt or question was not his to do.

As they approached, they opened up fire against the side of the building. It was then that they got their first surprise. While the Vulcan cannon they used was capable of shattering individual panes, it wasn't capable of inflicting collateral damage. In fact, it was barely doing the job on individual panes as it was. Clearly, the glass being used in Veridian wasn't ordinary. But it didn't take long for enough of the top few floors to be cracked open for the teams to go in, lead by Vargas himself. The security guards armed with tasers and net guns were another small surprise, though the tasers were useless against the armoured shell of the Purifiers and even the nets, while somewhat inconvenient, assumed ordinary human targets or close to them. Knock-out gas would have been highly effective, save for the full NBC protection offered by the Purifier armour. 

In the end, the difference lay almost as much in the intent of the Purifiers. Veridian security had likely been organized around preventing theft and vandalism against motley bands of supervillains or mere terrorists, not military-trained men with heavy weaponry bent on making a statement about the enduring power of their faith before the world.

Comments

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy raised an eyebrow as he settled more firmly into his seat. "If I 'fall out,' I'm taking you with me. Always wanted to find out who bounced better."

[ngm_xmen]

"Old times would require you dressing up in Cyclops' cast-offs, meu amigo," Sunspot reminded his freakishly lucky married friend. He still hadn't figured out how Doug managed to get Rachel.

He seemed unconcerned about falling out of the Blackbird, but that didn't stop him from harnessing himself in. He didn't want to have to run to Manhattan after all.

[talk_to_you]

"Hey, except maybe for Dani and Rahne, none of our 'graduation' costumers were exactly works of art," Doug said.

Doug, not being able to fly--at all--strapped himself in.

[ngm_villains]

The approach to Veridian Dynamics' tower would be simple enough and from a distance the building looked intact enough. But the Blackbird's systems would be able to detect several hostiles, Purifiers in powered armour as well as one individual who read as having a genetic anomaly that didn't register as mutant. Finally, there were still dozens of human genetic signatures in the building, though one winked out the moment the scanner picked it up. That, and a few mutants.

If the Blackbird chose to deploy onto the roof, anyone emerging from it would be greeted with heavy machine gun fire from a few Purifiers taking point on the roof of the building.

[canadianwildboy]

Nobody said anything about landing on the roof. It wasn't even in his top five choices.

"I'll take the roof. The rest o' you land this bird and keep 'em busy."

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy wasn't the least bit worried about Wolverine going alone. He stretched and unharnessed himself.

"Meet you in the middle," he promised the elder X-Man.

[talk_to_you]

Doug finished powering up his tablet. "Once we're in the building, I'll start talking to the security systems, see what I can do."

[ngm_xmen]

"Just leave some for me," Sunspot advised. "These fudidos picked the wrong company to mess with."

Despite his family being business rivals with Veridian Dynamics, Bobby had respect for them. And it was his countrymen in trouble.

[ngm_villains]

The Purifiers were not complete idiots. The arrival of the X-Men meant trouble. It would not take long for them to sound an alarm. Those on the rooftop scattered, spread wide, and would fire up blinding, deafening flashbang grenades to try and disorient the heroes. A dedicated attack with their grenade launchers would likely follow, the idea being to put as much firepower on them as possible, as quickly as possible.

And if that didn't look to work, to sound a retreat. They hadn't come here to fight with X-Men, much as some of them would have relished the chance to kill such prominent mutants.

[canadianwildboy]

Logan took a flying leap out of the back of the Blackbird and descended /rapidly/ with claws extended.

Good thing those grenades wouldn't do much to him. Wouldn't be the first time he fought blindly. Just their luck, Purifiers stank. He didn't need eyes to find them. There would be no retreat for them. He'd chase them down. Let them see how it felt for a change.

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy got up and watched Wolverine jump out of the Blackbird toward the roof.

"The old man has all the fun." He glanced at all the kabooms coming their way.

"We need to pincer them before they run away. Catch them between Wolverine and us. They're wetting themselves already. You two take the front entrance. I'll come in from behind."

Then Jimmy jumped out of the Blackbird. Though he missed the building and headed for the street. His strength wasn't going to fail him now.

[talk_to_you]

Doug took control of the Blackbird, bringing it in safely for a landing.

"You ready?" he asked 'berto.

[ngm_xmen]

Sunspot got out of his seat with a stretch. "Ready to punt some Purifiers out of a building, meu amigo. I hope you have the change for the parking meter."

[ngm_villains]

Probably ordinary, rank and file militants of the Purifier movement would have fled. But these were handpicked men, who were perfectly willing to die for their cause. With the grenades launched, they'd open fire with a round of fragmentation grenades before activating their flamethrowers, so that their genejoke enemies could recieve the purifying benediction of holy flame.

They would back off as needed to avoid being sliced and diced, but they weren't about to break and run in the face of mutant opposition.

[canadianwildboy]

If they wanted to die for their cause, Wolverine was more than happy to help them out. Grenades and flamethrowers pretty much just pissed him off.

At least one Purifier was assisted in making the leap into empty space from the building roof.

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy hit the ground with a solid thud. The cement cracked under him, but he got up and dusted himself off. He gestured for the people who had stopped and stared at him to continue evacuating.

Then he went against the current to get inside. He had some Purifiers to rip up.

[talk_to_you]

Doug used his tablet to activate the Blackbird's weapons for a moment, using a brief burst of fire to clear himself and 'berto a path. He popped the jet's hatch. "Let's roll!"

[ngm_xmen]

Sunspot charged out of the Blackbird and straight for the front of the building. There was 60 floors of bad guys to get through. He was ready to take out any Purifiers that got in his way.

[ngm_villains]

The Purifiers did their best to fight and hold against the mutant fiends, but it wasn't long before it was clear that they were overpowered. They reported what had happened to squad leader and they were given permission to disengage, those that were still active, of course.

Except for one Purifier who remained there, before crumpling to the ground, totally independent of any injury inflicted by any of the X-Men. A bloodcurdling scream issued from the Purifier as silvery grey veins appeared on the exposed parts of his face.

[canadianwildboy]

Wolverine finished clearing the roof and started down through the building. There weren't as many as he'd hoped. They were either light to start and they were bugging out.

[talk_to_you]

Doug had already managed to tap into the building's computers, using wifi and talking to it. Sage's message, however, gave him pause.

"Situation's getting way bigger than us," he said. "We need one of our big guns."

Fortunately, he had a psychic link to just such a one.

Hon? We could use a hand. Vargas.

[nohoundsallowed]

Rachel hadn't been at the mansion. She had been using one of those rare beasts known as a day off. She had gone out for some retail therapy. She wasn't quite prepared for her husband's message.

She blinked down at the bags in her hands.

Be there in a few heartbeats.

[ngm_xmen]

Jimmy found using his knives to open armor like clam shells a diverting past time. Until most of the clam shells ran away. He puffed out a breath and took stock of what was happening around him.

[ngm_xmen]

Sunspot eyed the Purifier screaming like a banshee. But not like Banshee because that would hurt more.

"Uh, we got one bigot being strange and silvery."

[talk_to_you]

"That's... that's definitely not right."